The moment the Celestial Emperor sensed his curse destroyed by Yuan, a resolute glint flashed in his eyes. Without hesitation, he raised his hand, drawing forth his Celestial Qi. "Your Majesty! What are you doing?! You can’t use such a powerful technique without any warning!" A man bearing a unique white and gold robe hastily approached the Celestial Emperor and exclaimed after seeing this. "The results will be catastrophic, and the Celestial Council will be all over this!" "I am well aware," he calmly responded. "However, I cannot let him return to the Nine Heavens. Even if I receive backlash for this, I am willing to bear the responsibility." The man fell silent upon hearing the unwavering composure and clear finality in the Celestial Emperor’s tone. He was certain that unless someone forcefully stopped him, the Celestial Emperor had no intention of backing out. However, the technique the Celestial Emperor was about to unleash would not just destroy the entire Dragon Spiral Mountain, it would cause irreversible damage in the Seventh Heaven! ’Once I reduce Dragon Spiral Mountain to nothingness, his path to the Nine Heavens will be severed. And if he is already making his return… then he will be cast adrift in the boundless void of the universe—no different from death itself,’ the Celestial Emperor mused inwardly. Meanwhile, in the Seventh Heaven, the Heaven’s Mandate began backing away from the Dragon Spiral Mountain when they saw the slit in the sky. "T-The Celestial Emperor is going to personally intervene! Fall back!" General Wang shouted before hastily creating a portal for them to escape to. Witnessing this, the Holy Dragon Emperor paid them no further heed and turned back toward Dragon Spiral Mountain, where the lifeless bodies of thousands of his fallen clansmen lay. The members of the Holy Dragon Clan who were still alive gathered around him. "I never imagined that our Holy Dragon Clan would perish in such a situation," sighed the Dragon Emperor. He turned to look at the others and continued, "I won’t blame you if you wish to leave." "There’s no way we will abandon you and the Dragon Spiral Mountain!" "That’s right! We have spent our entire lives here, and we will spend our last moments here!" The members of the clan voiced their refusal to leave. The Holy Dragon Emperor smiled and said, "In that case, we might as well spend our last moments trying to protect our home." He turned his gaze to the colossal sword in the sky, now descended more than halfway through the rift, its presence looming like a divine judgment. "That is the Celestial Emperor’s ’Divine Judgment’, right? Despite being in this world for over a million years, this is actually my first time seeing it," one of the elders remarked. "The ultimate execution technique, powerful enough to kill even a 9th-level God Ascension cultivator with ease…" "This will sound weird, but it feels like an honor to die to such a magnificent technique…" Once the Holy Dragon Clan had mentally prepared themselves, they charged toward the sky in preparation to fight against the Divine Judgment. Meanwhile, countless eyes across the Seventh Heaven—and even those gazing down from the Eighth and Ninth Heaven—watched the unfolding scene in stunned silence. The earlier battle had already stirred the realms, but none had foreseen that the Celestial Emperor himself would take action. "What did the Holy Dragon Clan do to incite the Celestial Emperor’s wrath?" "Who were those individuals in black? They appeared out of the blue and nearly defeated the invincible Heaven’s Mandate!" These people were full of questions and speculations. Meanwhile, the other Royal Dragon Clans had already mobilized, dispatching emissaries to the Celestial Emperor’s Palace with urgent demands to cease his assault on the Holy Dragon Clan. Unsurprisingly, the Celestial Emperor had sealed the doors to his palace and completely ignored their demands. This enraged the Royal Dragon Clans, yet they were powerless to prevent the Celestial Emperor from obliterating Dragon Spiral Mountain. All they could do was bide their time and prepare to seek retribution once the deed was done. At last, the Celestial Emperor completed the technique and, with unwavering authority, swept his arm downward. In that instant, the sword hanging in the heavens surged with power and plunged forth, its descent no longer gradual but swift and absolute. The sheer pressure radiating from the sword was so overwhelming that all cultivators below the God Ascension Realm from the Holy Dragon Clan plummeted from the sky like helpless flies. Even the Dragon Spiral Mountain began to sink into the waters beneath it, crushed by the weight of its descent alone. "This is really too much…" The Holy Dragon Emperor muttered as he struggled to stay in the air, much less fight it. "Those strong enough to withstand the pressure unleashed their most formidable techniques upon the descending sword, shaking the heavens and earth with their onslaught. Yet their efforts were in vain. The blade remained unscathed, as if they were hurling raw eggs against an immovable mountain. The Holy Dragon Emperor suddenly charged toward it, his form erupting into that of a colossal silver dragon. With a thunderous roar, he lunged at the descending sword and sank his fangs into it, desperate to halt—or at least slow—its relentless fall. The others followed suit, but alas, their efforts were futile against the Celestial Emperor’s overwhelming prowess. "Haaa…" Just as the sword was about to bring ruin upon Dragon Spiral Mountain, a faint sigh echoed through the heavens, soft yet boundless. Then, the space just above the peak of the Dragon Spiral Mountain warped and twisted, and like a ghost drawn from the void, a solitary figure draped in black robes and a face veil appeared out of thin air. This figure exuded an unfathomable presence far beyond the Holy Dragon Emperor, and just their presence alone was enough to slow down the descending sword. "This presence... it can’t be!" Gasps of shock rippled through the spectators as they beheld the sudden arrival of a figure who had reached the pinnacle of cultivation—the appearance of a Cultivation God.