Calamity of Tomorrow

Central City, within a certain training room.

Jue Ji stood to one side, her expression cold and indifferent, as she looked across at Wei Cangsheng and asked, "Why have you dragged me here?"

Wei Cangsheng smiled and said, "I haven't had time to properly stretch my limbs since waking up. And now, I must deal with such a fierce youngster tomorrow. You should help me warm up a bit; I've nearly forgotten how to wield my sword."

Jue Ji responded indifferently, "Haven't the numerous Daluo Heaven debates been enough for your warm-up?"

Wei Cangsheng chuckled, "How can those little demons compare to Zhou Bai? The boy is so fierce that teaching him a lesson without harming his life is no easy feat."

At this point, a trace of sorrow flashed across Wei Cangsheng's face, "According to those righteous deities, at most... I only have three more months to live."

Jue Ji looked at him unexpectedly, "Three months?"

"I thought I could hold on for a few more years, but the distortion from the Heavenly Dao has had a greater impact than anticipated. Now I can only place my hopes on Zhou Bai." Wei Cangsheng gave a wry smile, "Zhou Bai has reached his current level of cultivation, and he must already have his own philosophy and understanding of the world. Changing him won't be an overnight matter."

"Tomorrow is just a beginning, I can at most leave a deep impression on him. Then you'll take the first place from him, blunt his sharpness, and make him realize that there are mountains beyond mountains, and people beyond people. Only then will it be good to teach him."

At this, hope flickered in Wei Cangsheng's eyes, "In the next three months, I intend to rectify each and every one of his bad habits, completely sever the ties between him and the demons, and in the end... pass on all the human race's legacies to him."

Jue Ji nodded silently, not saying a word.

As Wei Cangsheng spoke, the smile on his face gradually faded, and the unwillingness deeply hidden in his heart began to surface, "Jue Ji, there are only so many humans left. Once ruling the world with a population of over ten billion, the human race is reduced to just this..."

"I cannot accept it, I truly cannot. If only I could have another ten years, just ten years..."

Jue Ji's gaze seemed to soften somewhat, "Come on then, let's loosen up those muscles."

...

On the other side, after checking on Qian Wangsun's situation and feeling that there was no immediate danger with him following Li Xiuzhu, Zhou Bai walked towards his dormitory.

Along the way, he pondered the current situation. With the arrival of the Sky Flipping Sect Leader, Li Xiuzhu, the more he thought about it, the more he felt Central City was shrouded in layers of complexity and intricacy.

Especially with the presence of the Four Righteous Gods, the Immortals from Wanxian Island, the four major sects, and even the Heavenly Demon and the Mysterious Female, and now even Li Xiuzhu's presence indicated that the Sky Flipping Sect might also get involved…

"The current situation is too complicated. Especially with so many of the world's most powerful and dangerous figures converging here in Central City, who knows what they might do."

Zhou Bai calculated the strength of all parties, feeling that, with his foundational cultivation together with the power of the Heavenly Man Nine Calamities and the strength of the gemstone, he was more than capable of protecting himself, yet somewhat powerless to interfere with the current situation. This made him feel an even greater urgency for enhancing his strength.

Although he had been gathering laziness values, harvesting fate to strengthen his Primordial Spirit, and also enhancing the star dot Tang Ruhai in recent days, his power had soared dramatically in a short time. But faced with an increasingly mysterious situation, it was still not enough…

"Not enough, it's still not enough. I need stronger, much more powerful strength," Zhou Bai thought to himself, "If I could get my hands on the Human Emperor Sword, my combat power could greatly improve, but I'm afraid something might happen before the end of the discussions in Daluo Heaven."

"And even if I did get the Human Emperor Sword, if I could hold the Human Emperor Sword in my right hand and the End of Dharma Heaven Deformed Sword in my left, then my strength would naturally be greater, and I'd be more confident in doing anything."

The End of Dharma Heaven Deformed Sword was one of the many methods Zhou Bai had thought of that could quickly and easily cause a qualitative change in his strength.

With that in mind, Zhou Bai quickly returned in the direction of the dormitory building and then entered the underground Artifact Refining Room again.

With a thought, the Ice Glacier Sword shot out, directly inscribing dense runes on the wall as a prohibition.

"Tina, protect the law for me."

"Meow!"

The cat's figure emerged behind Zhou Bai. Zhou Bai slapped his forehead and released the third-tier Greedy Steel, then repeatedly reviewed the blueprints of the End of Dharma Heaven Deformed Sword in his mind.

"Now, I might not be able to gather all the materials I need. I should not aim for perfect refinement right off the bat. It would be better to divide the refining process into smaller goals, completing them over several attempts."

Originally, because he lacked a ninth realm mutant life form, he didn't even know whether the Abyss Nether Dragon Armor could be successfully crafted, so he hadn't planned on refining the End of Dharma Heaven Deformed Sword right away.

Moreover, this Primordial Spirit armament is no small matter—neither its power nor its difficulty is less than that of my Apocalypse Heavenly Skeleton Armor.

So his original plan was to collect materials step by step and start refining only when everything was ready.

But with the appearance of the Heavenly Demon, and even Li Xiuzhu and the Sky Flipping Sect, Zhou Bai felt as if Central City was a massive powder keg, ready to explode into chaos at any moment.

He felt a heavier pressure and finally decided not to worry about it and to start refining the End of Dharma Heaven Deformed Sword today.

"I will first use the third-tier Greedy Steel today and try to refine the sword embryo of the End of Dharma Heaven Deformed Sword. At least by doing the preparatory work in advance, once I have enough materials, I will be ready to complete the refining of the End of Dharma Heaven Deformed Sword at any time."

Although Zhou Bai also wanted to use the fourth-tier Greedy Steel, which was said to be comparable to the material of an Immortal Artifact, for each upgrade from the first to the fourth tier, the required amount of materials increased nearly tenfold.

In the past half-month, Zhou Bai had just barely gathered enough through discussions in Daluo Heaven to meet the needs of the third-tier Greedy Steel. The fourth tier was far out of reach.

Next, Zhou Bai referred to the blueprints recorded in his mind and contemplated how to refine a sword embryo with the incomplete materials.

Half an hour later, he nodded to himself: 'It's not a big problem. Just to make a sword embryo, there's enough Greedy Steel.'

The next moment, Zhou Bai's gaze sharpened as he released his Primordial Spirit power suddenly. The refining furnace was ignited, releasing flames that soared into the sky.

With a sweep of his Primordial Spirit power, Zhou Bai had thrown the Greedy Steel into the furnace's flames. Then, with both hands, he formed one Taoist incantation after another, beginning to refine the sword embryo of the End of Dharma Heaven Deformed Sword.

This time, the Taoist incantations Zhou Bai cast were completely different from any he had done before. Each incantation appeared twisted and warped, as if drawn by a child, filled with a bizarre and eerie sensation.

At the same time, as more and more Taoist Primordial Divine Power mixed with the incantations entered the Greedy Steel, the entire piece of steel began to twist and turn.

Zhou Bai thought silently: 'The End of Dharma Heaven Deformed Sword is different from any Primordial Spirit armament I've refined before. In addition to Greedy Steel, it also requires specially drawn runes.

With the effect of these runes, the End of Dharma Heaven Deformed Sword can connect to the void, sensing the twisted force of the Heavenly Dao in the mysterious abyss and the streak of destiny belonging to the mutants.'

Accompanying his actions, Zhou Bai felt as though the sword embryo before him gradually transcended the barrier of the Material World, establishing a connection with the void.

...

Hundreds of kilometers away from Central City, in a canyon, a female Taoist sat cross-legged on the ground, watching the blueprints of the End of Dharma Heaven Deformed Sword in her mind.

'How on earth did Zhou Bai obtain this thing?'

The more the female Taoist looked at the blueprints of the End of Dharma Heaven Deformed Sword, the more she felt an indescribable sense of familiarity, as if the sword was inherently meant to be a part of her.

'I must find a way to obtain this sword, but what exactly is this Greedy Steel?'

At that moment, the female Taoist suddenly clutched her head, feeling a surge of restlessness throughout her body as if something mysterious was calling out to her.