Chapter 349 - Karmic Annihilation Formation

The wooden sword was glowing with so much karma and destruction that it felt like it couldn't possible grow any stronger. Yaan had accumulated as much karma and destruction as possible, even tearing apart the entire Spirit Plane, all so that he could activate this formation.

And as for the effect of the formation?

The name - Karmic Annihilation Formation - told the world everything that needed to be known. The sole purpose of this formation, was to destroy karma.

A blinding burst of power erupted from the tip of the sword. As soon as Yaan felt the power surging through the wooden sword, he stabbed down into the karmic link between himself and the Primordial Devil. He made sure to direct the attack away from himself, sending the flow of power through the karmic chain, towards the Primordial Devil.

The wooden sword, covered with pure black karmic chains, released a condensed beam of those karmic chains into the karmic link between Yaan and the Primordial Devil. The strength of the attack was phenomenal, and the black karmic chains, each imbued with the ultimate power of destruction in this world, immediately pierced into the karmic link.

Yaan felt an immense resistive force. As he stabbed down, the rebound was attempting to thrust him back and away from his target, but he clenched his palm around the sword's handle, refusing to let go. He continued to stab in further and further, watching without blinking as the destructive karma seemed to endlessly replenish within the sword as it was released. It was as if there was no end to the power that he could channel through this attack!

He watched as the green karmic link slowly turned black. He watched as the karmic link trembled and became covered in cracks and abrasions, as the destructive karma endlessly surged in.

The cracks and darkening of the link continued to spread further and further, and the karmic link between Yaan and the Primordial Devil…actually started to break down!

However, how could something as ethereal as karma be destroyed by a simple attack?

As the karmic chain broke down, Yaan, the wooden sword, and the fragment of the Spirit Plane beneath his feet which was covered in the thick karmic chains from the Central Hall of Rebirth, started moving along the chain. As Yaan destroyed the ending of the chain, the chain shortened, but it was still a karmic link connected to himself after all. This resulted in him and everything around him being dragged through the world…towards the Primordial Devil.

Yaan didn't realise it, but he wasn't the only one affected. Every single fragment of the Spirit Plane which was connected to those 39,000 karmic chains was dragged behind him, bringing a very sizeable portion of the devastated Spirit Plane along with him. This was caused by the Karmic Annihilation Formation, which would continue to power Yaan's strike with the karma that he took from the Spirit Plane itself.

Gradually, Yaan lost track of time, but at a certain point, the world around him changed.

Suddenly, the destructive space of the destroyed Spirit Plane could no longer be seen, and without warning….

WOMP!

Yaan, the other Spirit Plane fragments, survivors and 39,000 karmic chains, found themselves dragged into the karmic river! For most, it was their first time entering the river. Many hadn't even heard of the karmic river before…

But to Yaan, it didn't matter; he had a goal, and he wouldn't let go no matter what. He narrowed his eyes when he felt that his karmic destruction attack was being suppressed here…

However, Yaan saw an opportunity.

Previously, his attack had been fuelled by the 39,000 regions of destruction and the 39,000 karmic chains, but in the karmic river, karmic chains were in abundance; thousands passed by every single second!

Yaan's eyes lit up with the light of countless black karmic chains. Ferocity filled his gaze, and gradually, a few of the smaller karmic chains from the river were dragged towards him…

Slowly, more and more fragments from the Spirit Plane tore into the karmic river, much to the shock of the survivors.

But still, it wasn't enough!

"I need more…" Yaan muttered.

"I need to destroy the karma between us…if I don't destroy the karma, then I will fail to accomplish one of the two requirements to defeat the Primordial Devil. I need to do this…because the Primordial Devil is the greatest obstacle standing in the way of my path."

Yaan's voice contained boundless killing intent. He had worked too hard to reach this point; he could not fail here!

"More karma, more destruction. I will take…all of it."

As his savage words echoed across the river, suddenly, an aura of destruction exploded from Yaan's body. At this point, he had actually pushed his attack so far that the wooden sword was struggling to handle all of this power of karma and destruction…

But it still wasn't enough!

Yaan allowed the karma to rampage in every direction. He greedily devoured the karmic chains into his blade, which was still under the activation of the Karmic Annihilation formation. More and more karmic chains flooded towards him, until the ordinary karma became too much for this formation to handle.

Yaan was drawn into a strange state. In this state, he managed to directly shatter those karmic chains that were blocking his path! Everyone who had survived up until this point by desperately clinging to a fragment of the Spirit Plane was a powerful individual, and most of those people were watching Yaan intently right now. When they watched him shatter the karma that blocked his path, they couldn't help but shudder.

They could feel the power that Yaan was using to persist in this reckless path of destruction, forcing the Karmic Annihilation Formation to surpass the limitations of power which should be possible in this world. He was not using dao comprehension, or cultivation, or anything of the sort…it was simply the power of Yaan's will. It was the will of a single person who had been pushed too far over the course of their life, driving them into this seemingly hopeless end.

This was the will of someone who understood the hopelessness of their situation, yet refused to give up on hope.

Thousands of giant cracks opened up in the karmic river, and fragment after fragment of the Spirit Plane shot towards Yaan. Under this assault, he remained steady and unmoved, devouring the karmic chains and the destructive aura into his sword.

He channeled everything that he could into his blade, whilst anything that he could not use was destroyed. The more Yaan used his burning will to force the Karmic Annihilation Formation to reach its pinnacle of power, the more cracks appeared in the karmic river.

The power of destruction flowed through Yaan's body, causing his illusory facade to break down. His 'true appearance', the illusory reflection of his Dao Soul, was finally revealed to the world.

His entire body was covered in abyssal black cracks. These cracks were now being widened, further and further, as the black karmic chains forcefully attempted to tear Yaan's very dao into pieces.

For a moment, it was as if all of the chaos was subdued. All that was left, were the gazes of many powerful beings, staring at Yaan in shock. They could feel the torment, the desolation, emanating from his Dao Soul. They could finally see that using this formation was causing him unspeakable agony, and that the more he forced his way along this path, the more devastating his injuries became.

Yaan's expression remained unchanged, even as his Dao Soul was on the verge of collapse. He knew all too well that there was an extremely high likelihood that he would end up destroying himself and everyone else along with him within the karmic river…

But he had no other choice. Continuing on forwards was walking to his almost certain death, but not walking forwards was the same as rolling over and accepting his defeat.

Between an almost certain defeat, and a certain defeat, Yaan had decided to bet everything on the slim ray of hope in the former.

The silence that rilled the karmic river in this moment was like the quiet before a storm.

The instant, that those surviving divinities and other fortunate powerhouses all stared at Yaan in shock, the karmic river finally broke down entirely.

BANG!

The cracked walls of the karmic river shattered completely, sending explosions of karma erupting in all directions. Screams could be heard amidst the destruction and chaos, but Yaan didn't let his gaze move away from the karmic link before him.

The destruction of the karmic river was the final burst of momentum that he had been looking for. As the karma all around him erupted, and the world itself trembled, Yaan continued to channel the karma and destruction through his sword. The entire river of karmic destruction was forcibly dragged towards him, forcing the few survivors who clung to the remaining intact fragments of the Spirit Plane, to follow Yaan…

To the Qi Plane.

WAM!

The world quite literally shook. Across the four planes…no, across the remaining three World Planes, every single living being felt the world shaking. For those who had comprehended the dao of karma, this trembling feeling was many times stronger. Those who had completely comprehended the Heavenly Dao's earthly dao of karma showed expressions of disbelief as their dao comprehension was torn away from their Dao Souls, and they were forced to act in order to suppress their injuries.

Explosions of karma and death continued to echo through the world as the entirety of the Spirit Plane, along with the karmic river, and the very dao of karma itself, completely collapsed. Yaan stood at the forefront of this chaos, and with a piercing gaze, he stared up at the shocked Primordial Devil, who suddenly leapt to his feet as he felt Planet Yushu shaking…and he found Yaan suddenly standing just a hundred feet before him.

Yaan stood there, as countless fragments of the Spirit Plane, and an untold number of enormous karmic chains, forced their way through an endless number of cracks in space onto the Qi Plane. The Qi Plane was being forcefully expanded, and the destruction inflicted to the world was beyond anyone's expectations.

But it was as if Yaan had nothing to do with this.

The Primordial Devil slowly looked down. He saw the wooden sword, and the black karmic chains which were now beginning to dissipate. He also saw the karmic chain between himself and Yaan, the karmic link which had existed between them for so long, crumble to ash.

Before long, all of the karmic links that existed in this world because of the Heavenly Dao's dao of karma…were destroyed.

He understood what had happened, but he simply couldn't believe it.

His heart demon…Yaan…had destroyed the dao of karma in this world!

"Primordial Devil…have you been expecting me? Knowing you, you must have been anticipating our 'fight' for some time now. Unfortunately for you, I never had any intention of fighting fairly. Primordial Devil…you have been waiting for our fight to begin, but I have been fighting against you since the moment of my birth. Go ahead, make your first move - not that it matters. After all, I have already made every move necessary in order to defeat you. Primordial Devil…you have already lost."