Liu Wuxie hadn't lied to them. He truly needed the strength of high immortals to break the spiritual array. Without their help, even he would be in danger if the Eighteen Arhat Array trapped him.

He had spent so much time wandering around, not only to stall for time, but also to locate the vault's exact position.

"Speak. What do you need us to do?" Gan Xingzhou asked grimly. At this point, he had no room left to argue. The instant the spiritual array broke, they would kill Liu Wuxie without hesitation.

"Use the blood of high immortals to light up the eighteen pillars," Liu Wuxie said calmly.

Aside from Gan Xingzhou's party, Gong Gong was the only high immortal present. However, he came from the Witcher Clan, which meant his blood might not necessarily work on the Eighteen Arhat Array.

"Liu Wuxie, you dare deceive us?!" Gan Xingzhou roared. The blood of a high immortal was far too precious, and they couldn't bear to waste even a single drop.

"You can choose not to believe me. In the worst-case scenario, we can all die together," Liu Wuxie replied with a shrug. Since the Heavenly Sealing Array had already activated, he no longer had any concern. Gan Xingzhou's group, on the other side, were the ones who would feel anxious.

Even if the spiritual array trapped him, Liu Wuxie felt no fear because time was what he lacked most at the moment. If he could cultivate here for several years, he believed he would soon step into the High Immortal Realm. At that point, killing Gan Xingzhou and the others would become effortless. Therefore, Gan Xingzhou's group was the one growing nervous, not Liu Wuxie.

They could only grit their teeth in hatred. If they attacked now, they had a high chance of killing Liu Wuxie, but they would also remain trapped here until death claimed them. If they chose not to attack, they would have no choice but to let Liu Wuxie manipulate them. Neither outcome was acceptable.

"What are you all waiting for? Liu Wuxie wouldn't lower himself to deceive you, given his character," the surrounding cultivators urged, pressing Gan Xingzhou's group to light the eighteen pillars with their blood.

None of them wanted to die there. They all desperately wished to escape this cursed place. After all, only a small number of cultivators had managed to harvest anything, while the majority had found nothing.

"Hurry up and break the spiritual array! Otherwise, we won't mind joining forces with Liu Wuxie. Even if you're all immortals from the celestial realm, it won't be easy for you to kill every single one of us!" The surrounding cultivators understood their situation clearly and moved closer to Liu Wuxie, using their numbers to pressure Gan Xingzhou's group.

Liu Wuxie also knew these people had no sincere intention of cooperating with him. They merely wanted to use one another. They hoped to use Liu Wuxie to break the spiritual array and escape, while Liu Wuxie intended to use them to pressure Gan Xingzhou's group.

Gan Xingzhou's group became increasingly annoyed. They finally realized that the situation had slipped beyond their control.

Before matters spiraled further out of hand, Gan Xingzhou finally chose to compromise. He turned toward a first-level High Immortal and signaled for him to use his blood to light the eighteen pillars.

Over the past few days, several ninth-level Heavenly Immortals in his group had successfully broken through to the High Immortal Realm by relying on the treasures they had found inside the Sacred Astral River Scroll.

Gan Xingzhou, Liang Hong, and a few others served as the group's main combat force, so they couldn't afford to weaken themselves by expending their own blood.

The chosen high immortal stepped out from the group, sliced open his palm with a dagger, and forced his blood to flow out. He smeared his blood onto the first pillar, which soon began to glow. He didn't stop there and continued to the second pillar, then the third. In only fifteen minutes, he lit all eighteen pillars.

By the time he finished, his face had turned deathly pale from severe blood loss, and his cultivation had weakened visibly. Although he remained in the High Immortal Realm, his combat strength had fallen sharply.

"Liu Wuxie, you can break the spiritual array now," Gan Xingzhou said, clenching his fists. Murderous intent churned in his chest as he slipped his right hand in his robe, preparing to strike the instant the spiritual array broke.

"Everyone retreat!" Liu Wuxie instructed, including Tang Yang, Gong Gong, and the others.

Everyone hesitated only briefly before withdrawing, unwilling to suffer injuries from the aftermath. They finally stopped after retreating 1,000 meters.

Liu Wuxie stood at the center of the eighteen pillars, his hands rapidly forming seals that sent invisible ripples spreading in every direction.

Even Gan Xingzhou and the immortals from the celestial realm stared in stunned silence, unable to understand the seals Liu Wuxie formed. The seals vanished the moment they entered the pillars, and in less than half a breath, countless runes covered every pillar.

The moment all the runes activated, the pillars released brilliant radiance as the eighteen pillars began connecting. When the final pillar linked with the rest, eighteen curtains of light shot into the sky and pierced through the heavens. Standing at the center, Liu Wuxie became completely enveloped by the radiance.

The cultivators who had retreated a thousand meters away stared in utter shock. The ground began trembling violently, and the nine mountains shook along with it as cracks spread across the earth. The Sacred Astral River Scroll began showing signs of collapse.

Without the support of the nine heavens and ten earths, and with the Eighteen Arhat Array broken, the Sacred Astral River Scroll naturally began falling apart. Even if the scroll shattered into pieces, its fragments could still serve as materials for forging immortal artifacts.

Before everyone could recover their senses, a crack suddenly split open in the sky, and a massive stream of treasures erupted from within. Ning Chou's vault could no longer withstand the spatial pressure from the Sacred Astral River Scroll's collapse and finally cracked open.

"So many immortal stones!" At that moment, everyone felt a powerful urge to curse. They finally understood why Liu Wuxie had deliberately told them to retreat.

The vault lay concealed at the heart of the Eighteen Arhat Array, and Liu Wuxie immediately swept up the treasures pouring from within. The Sky Devouring Divine Cauldron released a powerful suction force and swallowed everything.

"Shit! Stop him immediately!" Gan Xingzhou yelled. Regret began gnawing at him like a living thing. He should never have listened to Liu Wuxie from the start; they should have killed him first, even if it meant dying here afterward.

Yet regret served no purpose now. Who could willingly accept death when given a chance to survive? Besides, Gan Xingzhou's group had only followed orders and had never intended to throw their lives away for this mission.

Not only them, but even the immortals from the four astral domains froze in shock.

"Quick, grab them!" Chaos descended instantly as even more treasures hurled out from the crack.

Gan Xingzhou's group tried to form a battle formation, but nearly a hundred cultivators scattered them apart. They couldn't even complete their formation.

"This is an immortal artifact!" Leng Zizhen waved his hand, successfully seizing an immortal artifact.

"This is an immortal pill!" Gu Yue danced excitedly after snatching an immortal pill.

Even so, Liu Wuxie made the greatest profit among everyone present. He obtained hundreds of thousands of immortal stones, along with countless immortal pills. On top of that, he also collected countless immortal artifacts.

Such immense wealth would count as a fortune even in the celestial realm. The immortals who reacted the slowest could only chase after the immortal stones scattered across the ground.

The treasures erupted from the crack at terrifying speed, and Liu Wuxie managed to collect so many only because he relied on the Sky Devouring Divine Cauldron.

"Time to leave!" Liu Wuxie knew he had to depart immediately amid the chaos.

After fleeing, he immediately ordered Leng Zizhen and the other immortals in his faction to leave as well. They no longer needed to fight over the remaining treasures.

Although Leng Zizhen and the other immortals felt reluctant, they didn't dare to disobey Liu Wuxie's orders. They had already gained an enormous harvest, with each of them managing to seize at least one or two treasures.

The collapse of the Sacred Astral River Scroll intensified, and many treasures shattered under the impact, reducing to fragments that flowed into the Indigo Bamboo Astral Domain. Those fragments would slowly nourish the astral domain, allowing more immortals to be born within the Indigo Bamboo Astral Domain. 𝚏𝗿𝗲𝐞𝚠𝕖𝐛𝗻𝗼𝐯𝕖𝚕.𝚌𝗼𝗺

"We can't allow Liu Wuxie to escape!" Gan Xingzhou roared. They could no longer afford to concern themselves with the treasures and understood that killing Liu Wuxie took priority above all else.

The group of twenty-five immortals transformed into a steel torrent and chased after Liu Wuxie, slipping back into the astral domain through the cracks in the Sacred Astral River Scroll.

At that moment, the Indigo Bamboo Astral Domain also descended into frenzy as immortal energy poured down from the sky. More people broke through to the Heaven Gaze Realm and the Quasi-Immortal Realm.

The Heavenly Dragon Sect and the Heavenly Dao Society naturally became the greatest beneficiaries. The immortal energy that poured from the sky flowed through Liu Wuxie and swept across the entire Indigo Bamboo Astral Domain.

When Liu Wuxie flew above Nightmare City, the aura radiating from him surged violently. He stood on the verge of breaking through to the sixth-level Heavenly Immortal Realm. Most of the treasures still hovered above the Sky Devouring Divine Cauldron, and he still had no time to refine them.

"Everyone, come out!" Liu Wuxie roared. He had to hurry before Gan Xingzhou's group arrived.

Whether they came from the Liu Clan, the Heavenly Dragon Sect, or the Heavenly Dao Society, everyone gathered along Nightmare City's streets and looked up at Liu Wuxie.

Liu Wuxie scanned the crowd to find Xu Lingxue. When he looked at her slightly swollen belly, a trace of tenderness flashed across his face.

His parents, his in-laws, his master, his brothers, and his friends appeared before his eyes one after another. No one knew whether Liu Wuxie could survive today's battle.

As the Sky Devouring Divine Cauldron pulsed, immortal stones began exploding, forming a torrent of energy that descended upon Nightmare City. Immortal light bathed everyone as laws poured into their bodies.

His four wives, his family, his friends, the upper echelons of the Heavenly Dragon Sect, and the Heavenly Dao Society all welcomed their life-and-death tribulation. Elder Sword also began his breakthrough after Hua Feiyu helped him reconstruct his body. Even Tian Can, Di Can, and Ren Can welcomed their tribulation. The Universal Gourd had also advanced to the level of an immortal artifact.

......

As Liu Wuxie looked at the familiar faces breaking through to the Immortal Realm, a gratified smile appeared on his lips. These were the people closest to him, and the ones he loved most.

Han Feizi, Qiao Bian, Gu Yu, and the others had already reached the Immortal Realm. With the help of immortal pills, however, their cultivation began soaring rapidly.

When Liu Wuxie spotted Han Feizi's white hair among the crowd, a pang of heartache struck him.

Qiao Bian threw his head back and let out a roar toward the sky before transforming into a dragon. Although he descended from the Dragon Clan, his bloodline wasn't as pure as Gu Yu's, yet with the help of the immortal pills, his bloodline fully awakened.

Immortal runes began intertwining throughout the entire Nightmare City. The astral domain had never witnessed the birth of so many immortals at once, and everyone who saw the scene stood frozen in shock.

Liu Wuxie had used the majority of the treasures' energy to help the people around him. He didn't want any of them to die. He wanted them to live as long as the heavens themselves.