He was invincible from the beginning of the Heaven-Covering Era.

However, at this moment, the light barrier shattered, and he was stunned for a moment.

The sword missed.

This seemingly normal scene is actually the most abnormal one.

How could a cultivator at this level possibly have such a problem, unable to control the direction of their attacks? This is absolutely impossible.

It's impossible that the four of them miscoordinated their attack, causing a mishap in their combined strike or a clash of divine power that caused the attack to miss its mark. The speed at which the four swords merged was too fast, indicating that they had clearly practiced countless times before. It couldn't be that kind of problem.

However, that was not what he was concerned about at the moment. Although he paused for a moment, he quickly regained his composure and rushed directly to Zhou Qing.

"Zhou Qing, is everything alright?"

He stood in front of Zhou Qing, shielding her behind him, and asked about her condition.

"No problem, but please let me handle this. Your uncle can just watch from the sidelines."

The person in charge of this stronghold is of the same generation as Zhou Yun. The two were good friends when they were young, so it's perfectly fine for him to call Zhou Yun "uncle".

He originally intended to kill all four of them directly, but upon hearing Zhou Qing's words, he was taken aback. Did Zhou Qing really want him to kill the four of them himself?

How could this be?

Yes, although the comparison of combat strength cannot directly determine the outcome of a battle, the difference in combat strength can make the outcome very close to the truth. Only in a few cases can the weak defeat the strong, which is extremely rare.

However, he is now by Zhou Qing's side and can completely protect Zhou Qing from any harm. Since that's the case, let Zhou Qing try it if he wants. With him there, there won't be any problems.

At this moment, the four half-step Great Powers felt somewhat incredulous, but they quickly forgot about it, or rather, the possibility of them thinking about it again rapidly decreased, and the possibility of them no longer thinking about it took the lead. Their thoughts turned in another direction.

"Even if you possess the secret techniques of an emperor and the Eight Forbidden Techniques, so what? We can break through all your attacks, but can you withstand our attacks?"

"You mere Dragon Transformation cultivator dares to boast that you can fight four half-step Great Powers single-handedly? Do you think you're some young Emperor?"

"Hahaha, are there really such foolish people in this world?"

"You've got a death wish! Since you're so arrogant, today we'll make you die here!"

The four assassins, some disdainful, some sneering, some mocking, and some roaring, all stood still, waiting for Zhou Qing to emerge from behind the powerful figure so they could swiftly kill him with lightning speed.

They ignored the many irrationalities of this choice. Since they couldn't escape now, they might as well fight to the death. Surely they could kill someone like this?

"The Four Symbols Merge!"

A sword beam slashed through the sky, but it passed by Zhou Qing once again, with no chance of hitting him.

The leader of the outpost looked surprised. This time, he sensed something was wrong. The four people were not in a good state. He didn't know what had affected them, but their condition had plummeted to rock bottom, yet they were unaware of it.

"The Chaotic Ancient Sacred Technique!"

Zhou Qing unleashed a peerless secret technique from the Chaotic Ancient Emperor Scripture. This was one of the forbidden secret techniques, and it was the one with the lowest required cultivation level.

This secret technique, once revealed, displayed an extremely terrifying power, as if the past and present were in chaos.

Spacetime was completely disrupted. The spacetime around the four half-step great powers was divided into many "blocks". The time in each block was not continuous, sometimes fast and sometimes slow, resulting in chaos.

In this discontinuous spacetime, one of their arms appears in one domain, and their head appears in another. Sometimes their speed is ten times that of normal, and sometimes it is only one-tenth of normal, with huge differences.

"Terrifying, this secret technique is truly terrifying. I don't know how to break it. I can only force it open with combat power that is several levels higher than mine."

The person in charge of the stronghold was greatly shocked. Where did Zhou Qing get this opportunity? This must be a forbidden secret technique of a great emperor. This move is too amazing.

At this moment, even though these four people were stronger than Zhou Qing, they still felt helpless and found the situation extremely troublesome.

This is a forbidden imperial technique. Although it cannot help Zhou Qing raise his combat power to a level exceeding the Eighth Forbidden Level, the reason why it is an imperial technique is precisely because of this unbreakable power.

The Chaotic Ancient Secret Technique's disruption of space and time, the Primordial Emperor Secret Technique's Dao Transformation Sword, and the Beginningless Secret Technique's Return to Origin—each involves the power of fundamental rules. Faced with secret techniques of this level, it is almost impossible to break them except by using secret techniques of the same level.

At this moment, none of the four dared to move. Their bodies had been divided into more than a dozen different time-spaces. The slightest movement could cause their bodies to separate and be dismembered in this chaotic time-space.

Even more tragically, none of these four people possessed a secret technique like the "Soldier's Manual," which allowed them to manipulate external forces to break through this spacetime field without making any physical movements.

Even though Zhou Qing was only a beginner in the hall and had not yet mastered this secret technique, he had already created such an unsolvable situation.

If given enough time, it is possible to gradually reassemble and connect spacetime together; it would only take a few days.

But in a real battle, who would give them that kind of time? It's a doomed situation.

Chapter 102 The Power of Fate

At this moment, the four people were like fish on a chopping board. Although they were not in immediate danger, their lives and deaths were now in Zhou Qing's hands.

Zhou Qing walked slowly forward, step by step, each step accompanied by interwoven patterns of the Great Dao, as if he were advancing by treading on the Great Dao.

The four people immediately changed color. One of them tried to use his magic to stop Zhou Qing from coming over, and his body twitched slightly.

"what!"

A splash of blood rose and scattered across different times and spaces, appearing extremely eerie.

Zhou Qing's eyes held the illusion of endless star fields fading away. He stood not far from this chaotic spacetime field and smiled gently.

"Don't worry, you won't die. If I wanted you dead, I would have killed you long ago. Why would I have waited until now?"

Do you really think the treasures on his body are just for show? These four half-step great powers have some status in the Assassin Dynasty. Killing them is easy, but finding the small world behind them will be difficult.

"Zhou Qing, what do you plan to do to them?" The head of the outpost asked, somewhat puzzled.

“Make them submit to me,” Zhou Qing said calmly.

As he spoke, he flicked his hand, scattering countless array materials. Everything here was now isolated, and no one could see what was happening here anymore. Only the powerful figure from the Zhou family remained inside the array.

"Killing is easy, but making someone submit is difficult. They are all half-step into great power, and they are brainwashed assassins. It's even more difficult." The person in charge shook his head, not very optimistic about this outcome.

Suddenly, a deafening, grand, and resounding voice rang out, each word like a thunderclap from the heavens, filled with a sense of destiny.

"The power of fate permeates the entire universe; even if the sun and moon decay and the world collapses, fate still shrouds everything!"

"Eternal destiny, everlasting! The seed of submission has long since taken root and sprouted in your heart!"

"The power of destiny is everywhere. Your destiny is to submit to me and be enslaved by me, until the end of time!"

Zhou Qing, with a cold expression, hovered in the air, like a god who controlled destiny. All things in the heavens and all things, all fates, were under his control.

The eyes of these four people suddenly became filled with boundless bewilderment, as if they had passed through countless reincarnations in an instant, or as if they had seen their future destiny.

The appearance of this great Dao is like a dimensional reduction attack; they have no means of resisting it except by forcibly resisting it with their own hearts.

Let alone half-step Great Powers, how many Dao Slayers understand the Great Dao of Destiny? They are now completely without any means of resistance, standing motionless and bearing the full impact of Zhou Qing's Great Dao.

The conceptual Dao is always extremely difficult to comprehend. It is difficult to reach this level of understanding of the Dao without becoming a sage. One can only comprehend common things in the world such as wind, rain, thunder, and lightning.

"Fate is everywhere."

Zhou Qing remained unmoved in the void, continuing to chant.

With each chant, the four people's faces grew increasingly bewildered, and they became more and more lost in their own world.

Deep within their hearts, a seed of destiny has been planted, if someone could see it...

If you look at the threads of their destinies, you'll find countless scenes that are broken, rewritten, and rebuilt.

Although Zhou Qing was at a considerable level below them, in fact, the power of destiny had been flowing through this world from the very moment the battle began.

From the very beginning, after making all sorts of inexplicable decisions, they have unknowingly fallen into the power of fate.

If it were a saint, they would surely discover their own problem and use some means to resist this power. But these four people could not do that. They were completely unaware and unprotected, and they completely absorbed all the power released by Zhou Qing.

Boom!

Finally, they completely lost themselves, and then, as if suddenly realizing something, they opened their eyes.

Their eyes held a profound understanding, a clear and lucid gaze, as if they had seen through all things and were the true sages of this world.

“Fellow Daoist Zhou Qing, I was truly guilty of a terrible crime before, for I actually opposed you. I must thank you for expending your divine power to help me escape from this sea of ​​suffering. From now on, I will do my utmost to dedicate everything to you.”

The gray-robed man was deeply moved and felt genuinely happy. It was as if standing on Zhou Qing's side meant escaping the sea of ​​suffering, reaching the other shore, and having a bright future ahead.

The other three were also overjoyed, as if they had found meaning in their existence: to serve Zhou Qing wholeheartedly, which was the greatest meaning of their existence.

Their consciousness was not controlled; it was entirely from their hearts. They genuinely pledged allegiance to Zhou Qing's side and were willing to give up everything they had.

"Now I want you to return to your own little worlds and memorize the coordinates of all the little worlds you know. The most important thing is to find out the coordinates of the first little world," Zhou Qing said calmly.

“Alright, we’ll head back now and contribute to Fellow Daoist Zhou Qing’s grand plan,” the four replied with firm eyes.

Zhou Qing then learned about their origins, the distribution of combat power in their small world, and the methods of transmitting messages, among other things.

A quarter of an hour later, the four people crossed the void and left. When the isolation formation dissipated, the soldiers not far away all thought they were dead. No one knew that they had become Zhou Qing's men.

Their physical bodies remained unchanged, their primordial spirits remained unchanged, their auras were no different, their conversations with others were perfectly normal, and their memories remained unchanged.

When they return, they will only be considered as having failed in their mission but escaped. No other assassins witnessed the battle, no one will come here to rewind time, and no one will specifically examine the details of the battle.

And no one will tell anyone about this battle. These four people will be very safe for a period of time. They will become spies in the assassin dynasty and play an important role at crucial moments.

"People from Hell?" Zhou Qing pondered the information he had just gleaned from the four people.

In fact, they had received the assassination commission several months ago, but no matter what they did, they could not deduce Zhou Qing's location. They finally learned from their intelligence personnel that Zhou Qing was in Zhongzhou, but Zhou Qing's whereabouts were uncertain, and they did not know where he was going to assassinate. In the end, they had no choice but to choose the route he had to take to return to his clan.

It has to be said that being an assassin is not easy. One can lie in ambush for a month, hiding motionless in the void, and still fail in the end.

"Zhou Qing, you actually have such a move? Is this a divine technique you created yourself?"

The powerful figure from the Zhou family was quite surprised. That move was terrifying. He felt it was just as terrifying as the secret technique that disrupted space and time just now. Both were almost impossible to resist and difficult to break.

Zhou Qing nodded. This was normal. Having cultivated to such a profound level, he would naturally have some of his own insights. Having walked through this mortal world for so long, he had also come to understand some divine arts that utilize the power of destiny.

"This domain gate should be usable now, right?" Zhou Qing asked.

"It's been repaired for several months now. The ancestor has been waiting for you to return to the clan, as if he wants to take you somewhere."

Then, the two of them flew towards the magnificent Xuanyu Platform.

Chapter 103 On the Sun

The array platform activated, Dao traces appeared in abundance, and a domain gate emerged. Zhou Qing used this domain gate to directly traverse the void and depart.

The five domains of the Big Dipper are vast and boundless. Without domain gates, it is difficult to travel between them. The farther the distance between domain gates, the more difficult it is to establish them, and the more profound the void Dao patterns that need to be engraved.

Previously, Zhou Qing didn't know much about the Great Dao of Void. Although he often traversed the void and gained some understanding, he didn't use it for combat. Compared to his other Daos, his Great Dao of Void wasn't particularly strong.

However, after obtaining the Chaotic Ancient Scripture, his understanding of the void rapidly increased because a considerable portion of its content discussed the Great Dao of the Void.

He was even able to use one of the forbidden secret techniques, which shows how profound his understanding of the void is.