Chapter 363 The Birth of Zhukun

Silence.

Deep within that rift, the sleeping presence gave no response. It was as if Shen Wen's Soul transmission was merely a breeze blowing across the water, failing to even stir a ripple.

But he did not give up.

The dragon phoenix ancient armor glowed faintly within his body, and a purple-gold light flowed along his arm, merging with the Tuoshe Ancient Emperor Jade in his palm.

That light flowed along the channel of his Soul transmission, surging together into the depths of the rift.

The aura of Zi Yan. The aura of the Ancient Void Dragon Royal Clan Bloodline.

This time, the sleeping presence moved.

It did not wake up, merely turned over. But that slight movement stirred the entire space.

The runes around the rift trembled violently, and the silver-gray light surged like boiling water.

The rock beneath Shen Wen's feet began to crack, and countless fine fissures spread in all directions.

An ancient and hoarse voice rang in Shen Wen's mind.

The voice was very soft, as if it came from an extremely distant place, carrying an unconcealable fatigue and weakness.

"Who... are you?"

Shen Wen did not answer, merely amplified the aura of the dragon phoenix ancient armor a little more.

The purple-gold light flowed through the Soul transmission, and the aura belonging to the Ancient Void Dragon Royal Clan Bloodline was clear and pure.

Deep within the rift, the sleeping presence trembled violently.

"My daughter... is my daughter still alive?" The voice suddenly rose, carrying irrepressible excitement amidst its weakness. "Is she... is she okay?"

Shen Wen was silent for a moment.

"She is very well," he said. "She has already evolved into a Dragon Phoenix and is currently within the Void Ancient Dragon Clan, conquering the four Dragon Islands."

Deep within the rift, there was silence.

For a long time.

So long that Shen Wen thought the presence had fallen asleep again, the ancient voice finally sounded once more.

This time, it was much calmer than before, yet carried an indescribable complexity.

"What are you... to her?"

Shen Wen said, "Her partner."

"Partner..." Zhu Kun repeated, his tone carrying a bit of bitterness and a bit of self-deprecation. "I have been trapped here for so many years, I did not expect that she would even have a partner..."

He paused, then suddenly asked, "How did you know I was here?"

Shen Wen did not respond, and Zhu Kun continued to ask.

"Did you come here to save me?"

Shen Wen did not deny it.

"The Seal of the Tuoshe Ancient Emperor is not so easily broken," Zhu Kun's voice calmed down, carrying the indifference of someone who had seen it all. "Your current cultivation is not enough."

Shen Wen did not speak.

Zhu Kun continued, "However, you have the ancient emperor tuoshe jade on you, as well as that Space Power that even I cannot see through. Given time, there may be a chance."

He paused, his tone becoming a bit more serious. "When you can step into the Dou Sheng realm, come find me again."

Shen Wen did not leave immediately.

He stood before that spatial rift, his gaze falling upon the layered runes, and was silent for a moment.

The Seal of the Tuoshe Ancient Emperor was far more complex than he had anticipated.

Those runes appeared to be independent, but in reality, they were interconnected; moving one would affect the whole.

Forcibly breaking it was not impossible, but the price to pay would be too high.

But he still spoke.

"I can try to release you."

Deep within the rift, the sleeping presence moved slightly.

Zhu Kun's voice sounded again, carrying a bit more helplessness than before. "Don't even think about it. This is a Seal created by the Tuoshe Ancient Emperor, specifically designed to trap the fools who covet his Immortal Cave. Being able to keep one's life is already a blessing."

His tone was flat, as if he were speaking about something that had nothing to do with him.

But Shen Wen heard the unwillingness beneath that flatness.

Trapped for thousands of years, guarding someone else's Immortal Cave, watching the years slip away—who could truly be content?

Shen Wen did not speak.

His aura began to skyrocket.

Soaring from Dou Zun, it surged all the way to the mid-stage of Seven-Star Dou Sheng before the momentum of the climb finally slowed.

Shen Wen stood in the air, the Qi and blood around his body surging into the sky like tangible smoke, illuminating the entire underground space in a crimson red.

Eight ancestral talisman phantoms rotated behind him, purple-gold Dragon scales covered his entire body, intertwining with the crimson Qi and blood, and his whole being radiated a heart-trembling pressure.

The entire magma layer began to surge.

The magma, which had been relatively calm, was like it was stirred by a giant hand, churning up waves a hundred feet high, crashing against the surrounding rock walls, emitting a deafening roar.

Shen Wen did not stop.

Gu Treasure Art.

Silver-gray light surged from his body, intertwining with the power of the space ancestral talisman, transforming into an invisible giant net that shrouded towards the spatial rift.

Qiankun Xuantian Palace. A phantom of an ancient palace appeared above his head, and the dense runes on the palace body lit up simultaneously, covering the layered Seal runes around the rift.

The moment those runes touched the light of the Xuantian Palace, they began to loosen, decompose, and dissipate, like melting snow under the scorching sun.

great desolation monument.

The stone tablet flew from his palm, expanding in the wind to a hundred feet tall, and smashed fiercely into the Void Realm above the rift.

The runes on the tablet pulsed violently, and an ancient and domineering suppression force poured down, pinning the struggling Seal runes tightly.

Tuoshe Ancient Emperor Jade.

The deep cyan jade piece floated in front of Shen Wen, the luster flowing on the jade piece becoming brighter and brighter, creating an increasingly intense resonance with the sleeping power deep within the rift.

That resonance was like a key, slowly unlocking the door that had been tightly closed for thousands of years.

The Seal began to manifest.

The runes that had originally been hidden in the Void Realm now emerged one by one.

Dense and layered, spreading from the edge of the rift to hundreds of feet away.

Every rune pulsed violently, emitting a light of resistance, attempting to repel the force that was forcibly prying them open.

But Shen Wen did not give them a chance.

dark holy scythe.

A pitch-black scythe flew from his body, with dark light flowing along the blade. Shen Wen raised his hand to grip the handle, and the power of the eight ancestral talisman within his body surged into the scythe body simultaneously. The light on the blade became increasingly intense, brighter and brighter, until it was blinding.

He raised the scythe and slashed down.

The blade light sliced through the Void Realm, and wherever it passed, the space was easily torn open like fragile paper.

The Seal runes that were struggling violently shattered and dissipated the moment they were touched by the blade light, turning into countless tiny specks of light.

The blade light landed on the rift.

Boom—

A deafening roar echoed in the underground space. That spatial rift, which had been sealed for thousands of years, finally cracked open under this slash.

Shen Wen shouted coldly, his voice, wrapped in powerful Dou Qi, piercing through layers of spatial barriers and going straight into the depths of the rift:

"Dragon Emperor, now is the time!"

Deep within the rift, the sleeping presence awakened suddenly.

The next moment, a vast purple-gold light erupted from the rift, illuminating the entire underground space as bright as day.

The light was too dazzling, so much so that Shen Wen couldn't help but squint his eyes.

An incomparably huge figure rushed out from the rift.

That was a Dragon.

A purple-gold giant Dragon, its body several thousand feet long, covered in purple-gold scales, each the size of a millstone, flashing with a cold luster in the light.

The Dragon head was held high, its horns like swords, and its pair of golden vertical pupils were filled with the ecstasy of seeing the light of day again.

The giant Dragon's massive body paused in mid-air, then began to shrink rapidly.

The purple-gold light became increasingly intense, completely shrouding its form. In just a few breaths, the several-thousand-foot-long Dragon body shrank to the size of an ordinary person.

The light dissipated.

A figure fell from mid-air and stood steadily beside Shen Wen.

That was a middle-aged man.

His head of long purple-gold hair was draped behind his shoulders, his face was resolute, and between his brows, he carried an innate majesty.

A pair of golden pupils were particularly striking in the darkness, his gaze landing on Shen Wen, carrying a bit of scrutiny, a bit of appreciation, and a bit of disbelief.

"Good fellow," Zhu Kun spoke, his voice deep, carrying a bit of emotion. "You really succeeded."

He looked down at his hands, then looked up at this space he had been separated from for thousands of years, took a deep breath, and a complex expression flashed in those golden eyes.

Shen Wen was about to speak, when his expression suddenly changed.

"Watch out!"

Before the words had faded, that spatial rift that had just been torn open suddenly lit up.

Countless runes surged out from the depths of the rift, like venomous snakes, crazily biting towards the two.

Those runes were no longer in the loose, individual form they had before, but condensed into one force, carrying a terrifying aura that could destroy the heavens and the earth.

The Formation of the Tuoshe Ancient Emperor had a counter-measure force.

Zhu Kun's expression also changed.

He had lived for thousands of years and naturally knew what this meant. The Tuoshe Ancient Emperor was able to trap him here back then, and it certainly wasn't through any fair and square means.

When that Dou Di set up the Seal, he had already thought of how to counter if someone were to forcibly break the Formation.

That power was too vast; even with his Peak Dou Sheng cultivation, he dared not take it head-on.