24: Chapter 24 Ancient Immortal Sects

Xuanyuan Zhanxian's pupils contracted sharply, as if pierced at the softest part of his Soul by the truth contained in these words—contracting into a pinhead-sized black dot.

And deep within this black dot, a sky full of thunder exploded!

"Myriad Heavens and Worlds—"

Jian Tanghuang's voice flowed slowly in the twilight, calm as a deep, ancient well, yet carrying an indescribable weight.

Every word was like heavy iron salvaged from the depths of ancient time, falling into the sea of his heart, one by one, stirring up monstrous waves!

"This world you see, the sun, moon, and stars you know, the mountains and rivers you stand upon, and even this entire cultivation world you are in—"

She paused.

Her slender, fair hand lifted, and her fingertips gently pinched the void, as if picking up an insignificant speck of dust.

"Are nothing more than a speck of dust in the vast Universe and the boundless Void Realm."

This pinch shattered Xuanyuan Zhanxian's perception of the world that had lasted for millions of years!

She reached out, her slender fingertips tracing a pale golden trajectory in the twilight—this trajectory was carved like a blade, branded like fire, leaving long-lasting patterns in the void, as if tracing the Laws and veins of the deepest secrets of the Myriad Heavens and Worlds that ordinary people could not understand.

"And beyond what we call the 'Immortal Realm,' it is not empty."

Her voice dropped suddenly.

It was as low as if it had come from beneath the Nine Heavens, carrying an ancient chill, carrying the smell of rust precipitated from a mountain of corpses and a sea of blood over the ages.

"That place is the eternal battlefield, beyond the boundary of order, it is—the place where light and darkness clash, the land where life and death fight!"

"There are exotic races from outside the territory where Chaos has not yet opened, greedily coveting the vitality and Law of every orderly world. In their eyes burns a deep-seated hatred for 'order,' and their sharp teeth long to tear apart every inch of peaceful land!"

"There are chaotic Vicious Beasts born from the primordial storms of the Universe, feeding on worlds, taking civilizations as snacks—their bodies are larger than stars, and their roars can shatter the galaxy! They come from nothingness, wanting to drag everything back into nothingness!"

"There are even eerie existences, banished by the Myriad Heavens countless epochs ago because they committed taboos and distorted the Dao—"

Her voice finally had a trace of trembling.

Not fear.

But the instinctive awe of someone who has witnessed the truth for that truth.

"They have never given up on returning! Constantly peeking from the nothingness, looking for cracks in the barrier! Their resentment is longer than the River of Time, their madness is more unfathomable than Chaos!"

She paused and looked at Xuanyuan Zhanxian.

These eyes, which had always contained three parts of a smile and seven parts of detachment, now reflected the last glimmer of sunset on the horizon—

The sunset was like blood, like war beacons, like an eternal battle flag!

It also reflected a murderous, iron-blooded color.

"They are constantly trying to tear, pollute, and devour the barrier of the Immortal Realm!"

Her voice calmed down again.

Calm as if stating a fact that had already been proven by countless blood.

"The Immortal Realm is the—standing between the Myriad Heavens and Worlds and the boundless Chaos, the endless nothingness."

She spoke word by word:

"The first, and the last line of defense!"

Xuanyuan Zhanxian's breathing stopped.

"And the Immortals who ascend to the Immortal Realm, from the moment they step into the Immortal Realm, are no longer free-roaming seekers of the Dao."

Jian Tanghuang's gaze passed over him, casting into the void distance, as if penetrating the boundary wall, seeing that precarious yet eternally enduring barrier.

Her voice carried a heaviness carved into her bones and blood.

"They are warriors, they are sentinels, they are the ones guarding that precarious, yet eternally enduring barrier—"

"Guardians!"

"Guardians..."

Xuanyuan Zhanxian repeated the word under his breath.

These three words.

Heavy as a mountain!

So heavy that he needed to use all his strength to lift them, so heavy that he needed to find the most solid corner in the deepest part of his heart to place them!

The scene he imagined of Immortals riding the wind, free and enjoying long life, was shattering inch by inch—

These images had once been the lifelong dream of countless Cultivators, the light he used to comfort himself in the most difficult years.

At this moment, the light shattered into powder!

Where the powder flew, what emerged were barriers, war beacons, blood, and eternal watch!

It was one lonely figure after another, standing in the boundless darkness, with their backs to the billions of worlds and endless living beings behind them, facing the eternally roaring nothingness!

"Correct!"

Jian Tanghuang took up the conversation, her beautiful face wearing a solemnity Xuanyuan Zhanxian had never seen before—

This was a solemnity belonging to the Divine Phoenix Immortal Emperor, a solemnity that could only be settled and carved into the bones after experiencing mountains of corpses and seas of blood, and witnessing the falling of stars!

"Why do you think Immortals have to go through thousands of hardships, endure the Nine Heavens tribulation, before they can ascend?"

Her voice was not high.

But every word was like a hammer!

Beating on Xuanyuan Zhanxian's Divine Soul!

Every strike made his Divine Soul tremble, every strike shattered a layer of his past cognition!

"Is it for a higher Realm?"

She asked and answered herself, a faint, bitter smile appearing at the corner of her mouth.

"That is indeed correct. A higher Realm means you have enough strength to face more terrifying enemies, to shoulder heavier burdens!"

"Is it for a longer Lifespan?"

She continued, the smile deepening, deep enough to see the endless vicissitudes hidden within.

"Perhaps. A longer Lifespan means you have time to repair the wounds of the barrier, have the years to wait for the arrival of reinforcements, have the Lifespan to—"

She stopped.

Her gaze fell on Xuanyuan Zhanxian's face.

In this gaze were thousands of words, finally turning into one plain, yet heavy, sentence:

"Pass down this responsibility of guardianship, generation after generation!"

Xuanyuan Zhanxian felt his heart being clenched by an invisible hand!

Clenched so hard he couldn't breathe!

"Every ascending Immortal, no matter which world they come from, no matter whether they were righteous or evil, good or bad before—when they step through the Ascension Gate and undergo the baptism of the Immortal Realm's Law, their fate is bound to the Immortal Realm!"

Jian Tanghuang's voice continued to flow, calm as if recounting a truth that had been verified countless times by countless generations.

"In the end, they all have to walk that path—defending the frontier, protecting the common people!"

She looked into Xuanyuan Zhanxian's eyes and said clearly, word by word:

"Whether they volunteer or are conscripted, but—"

She paused.

This pause was as long as an epoch!

"In the end, no one can truly stay out of it!"

Xuanyuan Zhanxian fell into a long silence.

The mountain wind whistled, blowing his robes to flutter, but it couldn't blow away the stormy waves in his heart!

These stormy waves were too high, high enough to drown the boundary between heaven and earth; too fierce, fierce enough to collapse all the imaginations he had built up for millions of years about the Immortal Realm!

The Immortal Realm.

This ultimate destination dreamed of, yearned for, and even mythologized by countless Cultivators!

This only hope that made countless people grit their teeth and persist in desperate situations, and struggle to seek in the darkness!

This name that carried so much longing and desire—its truth was actually so cruel and heavy!

It is not a paradise, but the front line!

Ascension is not liberation, but bearing burdens!

Immortals are not free-roaming travelers, but—Night Watchers!

Xuanyuan Zhanxian closed his eyes.

In the moment he closed his eyes, he seemed to see such a picture—in the boundless darkness, an invisible, yet real, barrier stood there!

On this side of the barrier were thousands of lights, common people, and the joys and sorrows of endless worlds!

On the other side of the barrier was the eternally roaring nothingness, the greedily peeking exotic races, and the Vicious Beasts that fed on worlds!

And on the barrier, stood countless lonely figures!

Their backs were turned to all the light of the Myriad Heavens and Worlds!

Their faces were facing the eternal, inextinguishable darkness!

It didn't know how long it had been before Xuanyuan Zhanxian found a trace of clarity from this huge impact.

He opened his eyes.

There was still an unscattered storm in his eyes, but there was also a glimmer of light, stubbornly shining in the depths of the storm.

A name emerged in his mind, carrying even deeper fog.

"Then..."

His voice carried an imperceptible tremor—he vaguely felt that what he was about to hear would be something even heavier than all the previous truths!

"What kind of existence is the Taiqing Heavenly Sect?"

He looked at Jian Tanghuang.

His eyes were full of complexity.

Being able to casually take out supreme secret techniques like 《One Qi Transforms Three Pure Ones》, being able to let a character like Patriarch Tian Yuanzi personally descend, actively gift it, and call him a successor—

what role does this Taiqing Heavenly Sect play in the Immortal Realm, in that cruel battlefield Jian Tanghuang spoke of?

Jian Tanghuang was silent when she heard this.

The complex light in her eyes circulated again, circulating more violently than any time before!

There was recollection, recollection as if she could see the dust of countless epochs!

There was reverence, reverence as if looking up at a peak whose top could not be seen!

There was an unspeakable heaviness, heavy as if carrying the fate of the entire Myriad Heavens and Worlds!

Even—

there was a trace of extremely faint sadness.

This sadness was extremely faint, as faint as a tear falling into the River of Time, which would be washed away in an instant.

But it was also extremely thick, thick as blood that had solidified for countless epochs, impossible to dissolve!

"Taiqing Heavenly Sect..."

She sighed softly.

This sigh seemed to have traveled through ancient time, carrying the weight of the dust of time, from the beginning of the world, drifting to the present, and falling gently on Xuanyuan Zhanxian's heart.

"That is a—"

She raised her head and looked at the boundless night sky, her voice becoming distant, distant as if telling a myth from the beginning of the world!

"An ancient Sect that has spanned countless epochs, run through the River of Time, and lived almost as long as the Immortal Realm itself!"

Xuanyuan Zhanxian held his breath.

Even his heartbeat missed a beat!

"Since the Chaos was first divided, the clear and turbid were first judged, and the prototype of the Myriad Heavens and Worlds had just appeared—"

Jian Tanghuang's voice continued to flow, every word like a bell ringing from the beginning of the world, carrying the echoes of the beginning of heaven and earth!

"The Dao lineage of the Taiqing Heavenly Sect had already ignited the first spark of inheritance in the initial Holy Land!"

She reached out, as if to hold that invisible flame in the void.

This flame had burned for countless epochs and had never been extinguished!

"Its existence is not to dominate a certain Immortal Realm, not to plunder the resources of the Myriad Heavens and Worlds, not to pursue the supreme prestige of self-transcendence!"

Her voice gradually became solemn, every word seeming to carry the echo of some ancient oath!

"It has only one eternal purpose—Guardianship!"

"Guarding the survival of all orderly living beings in the Myriad Heavens and Worlds, guarding the stable operation of the Dao Laws, so that they are not disturbed by enemies from outside the territory, and are not completely devoured by the darkness of the Return to Ruins!"

Jian Tanghuang's voice became louder and heavier, heavy as if an invisible mountain was pressing on every word!

"From the day the Dao lineage was established, until today—"

She paused, her gaze like a torch!

"Every generation of Disciples of the Taiqing Heavenly Sect has spent their whole lives doing one thing—"

"Defending the frontier, slaying demons and eliminating devils, protecting the safety of billions of living beings!"

Xuanyuan Zhanxian's heart trembled violently!

"For countless epochs, the Taiqing Heavenly Sect's Dao lineage has not been broken, the torch has been passed on, talents have emerged in large numbers, and the strong are as numerous as the sands of the galaxy, impossible to count!"

Jian Tanghuang continued, her tone carrying a heartfelt admiration.

This admiration gushed from the deepest part of her heart and could not be suppressed!

"The Immortal Realm is vast, divided into one hundred and eight Immortal Domains, and the core of the defense of every Immortal Domain—"

She looked into Xuanyuan Zhanxian's eyes, word by word.

"There must be Disciples of the Taiqing Heavenly Sect sitting in town!"

Xuanyuan Zhanxian's pupils shrank slightly!

"Those Immortal Emperors and Immortal Venerables who once shook the Universe and were famous for eternity—"

Jian Tanghuang's voice continued.

"Eight or nine out of ten, have sought the Dao and practiced under the Taiqing Heavenly Sect, or were inspired by its Dao lineage, or inherited its Legacy!"

She paused.

Then she said something that shocked Xuanyuan Zhanxian's mind:

"It can be said that the Taiqing Heavenly Sect has long surpassed the concept of an ordinary Sect!"

"It is the mainstay of the Immortal Realm's combat power, the tactical core of resisting foreign enemies, and the cornerstone upon which the order of the Myriad Heavens and Worlds is maintained!"

She paused, took a deep breath, and then exhaled slowly, the exhalation carrying infinite weight.

"It is also the most solid barrier and backbone!"

Xuanyuan Zhanxian only felt his mind shaking violently, shaking so hard he could not control himself!

He seemed to see a scroll that was incomparably grand, yet incomparably tragic—

In the vast and boundless cold Void Realm, a colossal, invisible city wall, forged from the flesh, blood, and Divine Soul of countless Immortals, stood towering!

Inside the wall were billions of worlds and endless living beings!

Outside the wall were eternal darkness and roaring monsters!

Upon the city wall stood countless lonely figures—

Behind them were the lights of a thousand homes; before them was the boundless darkness!

And the four words "Taiqing Heavenly Sect"—were the sturdiest foundation stones of this city wall!

It was the battle flag that forever fluttered in the most dangerous places!

Such an existence, such history, such sacrifice and steadfastness—he had never seen a single word about it in any classic!

This was no longer a secret; it had been erased from the common cognition of the Myriad Heavens and Worlds by some power, whether actively or passively?!

Why?!

Was it to allow Cultivators in the Lower Realm to continue holding onto their beautiful yearning for the Immortal Realm, focusing on their cultivation without distraction?

Or was it to ensure that those destined to become guardians could have a period of pure, personal time to pursue the Dao before stepping onto that path?

Xuanyuan Zhanxian did not know.

But he knew that from this moment on, the palace in his heart regarding the Immortal Realm had been completely rebuilt—

It was no longer a fairyland of jade towers and carefree freedom.

Instead, it was a majestic pass forged in blood and iron, engulfed in the flames of war!

Jian Tanghuang saw Xuanyuan Zhanxian's expression was so shocked that he was almost speechless, and she knew that the waves stirred in his heart far exceeded imagination and that he must still have many doubts, especially regarding the "Ancestral Realm Heavenly Lord" mentioned by Patriarch Tian Yuanzi.

She pondered for a moment and decided to reveal a bit of the legend that had been sealed in the oldest memories of the Immortal Realm.

"Senior Brother, do you know—"

Her voice rang out, pulling Xuanyuan Zhanxian back from his shock.

"The Taiqing Heavenly Sect has endured infinite calamities and faced crises where its lineage was nearly severed several times. Why has it always been able to be reborn from the ruins, rise again from desperate situations, and stand tall for countless epochs without falling?!"

Xuanyuan Zhanxian shook his head subconsciously.

At this moment, his brain was somewhat numb from the impact of too much information, and he could only instinctively follow Jian Tanghuang's narration.

"Because—"

Jian Tanghuang's voice suddenly lowered, as if she feared disturbing some slumbering heroic spirit!

The look of reminiscence and reverence in her eyes was intense to the extreme, so intense that it seemed about to overflow!

"In the oldest and most glorious era of the Taiqing Heavenly Sect, it once gave birth to—"

She paused. Then, word by word, she spoke extremely slowly and heavily!

"The universally acknowledged strongest being of the Myriad Heavens and Worlds!"

"The strongest being..."

Xuanyuan Zhanxian repeated in a murmur. These three words. They were as heavy as a thousand jun!

They were so heavy that he needed to use all his strength to lift them, so heavy that he needed to find the most solid corner in the deepest part of his heart to place them—

Yet, searching through his entire heart, he could not find a single place to put them!

Because these three words were too heavy! Heavy enough to crush the ages!

"At the end of the Primordial Era, at the beginning of the epoch transition—"

Jian Tanghuang's voice carried an imperceptible tremor; this was not fear, but an instinctive awe when facing power beyond imagination!

"There was once a great calamity that nearly buried everything!"

She looked into Xuanyuan Zhanxian's eyes, word by word. "At that time, the only Ancestral Realm Heavenly Lord recognized by all the supreme experts of the Myriad Heavens and Worlds came from the Taiqing Heavenly Sect!"

"Ancestral Realm Heavenly Lord?"

Xuanyuan Zhanxian repeated this unfamiliar title. An indescribable, heavy sense of oppression originating from the depths of his Soul struck him inexplicably, causing his breath to catch!

The name alone seemed to carry the power to awe the Myriad Heavens!

Jian Tanghuang nodded, her expression becoming unprecedentedly solemn, even carrying a sacredness akin to a pilgrimage.

"Senior Brother, since you have entered the path of cultivation, you should know that the Universe we inhabit can generally be divided into the Three Realms—"

She held up one finger. "The first is the Mortal Realm, which is the billions of Lower Realms where we reside!"

She held up a second. "The second is the Immortal Realm, the higher-level world after Ascension!"

She held up a third. "The third is the Divine Realm, which is even more ethereal in legend and can only be glimpsed by those who reach the pinnacle of the Immortal Dao!"

She paused. Then she held up a fourth finger!

When this finger was extended, Xuanyuan Zhanxian clearly felt the surrounding air solidify, and the Laws of the world stopped operating!

It was as if even the Dao itself was holding its breath for the name about to be spoken!

"However, above the Divine Realm—"

Jian Tanghuang's voice was as light as a whisper, yet so heavy that it felt as if the entire world were pressing down on every word!

"There is still the Realm of Origin, and that is—the Ancestral Realm!"

"The Ancestral Realm is not a specific world, but a collective term for the source and end where all Laws, all existence, and all concepts of the Myriad Heavens and Worlds are first born and finally return—"

She spoke word by word, ensuring that every syllable was branded into Xuanyuan Zhanxian's heart!

"It is the root of the Dao, the beginning of all things, and the boundary between existence and non-existence!"

Xuanyuan Zhanxian felt his consciousness trembling! The root of the Dao... the beginning of all things... the boundary between existence and non-existence... these concepts had completely exceeded the limits of his cognition, like a blind person trying to imagine color, like an ant trying to gaze up at the firmament!

"There are five Ancestral Realms, each governing one of the five most fundamental, most primordial powers in the Universe—"

Jian Tanghuang's voice continued. "Taiqing Chaos, Divine-Demonic Origin, Grandmist Creation, Void Spacetime, and the most mysterious and unfathomable Eternal Creation!"

"These five Ancestral Realms are the foundation stones of all existence in the Myriad Heavens and Worlds, the starting point of all Laws, and the ultimate possible destination for all existence!"

She paused. Then she spoke a sentence that made Xuanyuan Zhanxian's Divine Soul tremble!

"And the Ancestral Realm Heavenly Lord—"

Her eyes seemed to be burning with flames; that was a pure description of supreme power!

"Is a supreme existence who has received the recognition of an Ancestral Realm Origin, wields the authority of an Ancestral Realm Origin, has deeply fused their own Dao with the Ancestral Realm Origin, and has reached the theoretical pinnacle of the cultivation system of the Myriad Heavens and Worlds—above the Sacrifice Dao Realm, truly transcending the shackles of life and death, Karma, and destiny!"

She looked into Xuanyuan Zhanxian's eyes, word by word, with resounding clarity!

"Each one of them is, in the true sense, an Incarnation of the Dao, a walking Law, and an undying legend!"

Xuanyuan Zhanxian completely held his breath! Even his thoughts seemed to be frozen! Ancestral Realm Heavenly Lord... above the Sacrifice Dao... these concepts had completely exceeded the limits of his cognition, like a blind person trying to imagine color—no, even worse than that! Like an existence that had never existed, trying to imagine existence itself!

Jian Tanghuang paused slightly here. The complex light in her eyes grew deeper, so deep that it seemed to pierce through endless time and space, seeing that tragic era which was too distant to reach, yet had truly changed the fate of the Myriad Heavens and Worlds.

Her voice was unconsciously tinged with a sense of distance and sorrow.

"That was—"

She spoke, every word seeming to carry the taste of rust and blood!

"A final great calamity sufficient to return the Myriad Heavens and Worlds to Chaos and cause all existence to perish completely!"

Xuanyuan Zhanxian held his breath!

"The enemies from beyond the territory poured out in full force, like a plague of locusts, obscuring the starry skies of the Myriad Heavens—"

Jian Tanghuang's voice continued to flow, and what flowed out was blood and fire, mountains of corpses, and seas of blood!

"Vicious Beasts of Chaos were born from the Void Realm, their forms indescribable, their power capable of shattering star rivers—they tore through the temporary barriers constructed by the countless Immortal Realm coalition forces, burning the flames of war directly into the hinterlands of the Immortal Realm!"

"And those taboo, bizarre existences that had been banished for countless epochs and had long since become twisted and insane also sensed the shaking of the barriers of order, crawling out from the deepest parts of the abyss of time and the fault lines of destiny—"

Her voice finally held a trace of tremor!

"Carrying extreme hatred and a desire for destruction toward all living beings and all orderly Laws……"

"The Myriad Heavens and Worlds were in imminent danger, on the edge of true life and death!"

Xuanyuan Zhanxian seemed to see that doomsday scene—mountains of corpses and seas of blood, stars falling, mighty experts wailing, and the Myriad Heavens grieving together!

Immortal Emperors rushed forward one after another, heading to the forefront of the battlefield!

But their resistance, in the face of enemies of such scale and level, was as fragile as moths flying into a raging fire—often a glorious strike, only to vanish in an instant, their Dao extinguished and their bodies perished!

The Divine Lords of the Divine Realm, those ancient existences who were legendary even in the Immortal Realm, were also forced to awaken from their slumber, resisting with their lives, setting up countless Primordial Divine Formations—yet they still retreated steadily, suffering heavy casualties, their divine blood dyeing countless star rivers red……

An indescribable sense of suffocation gripped Xuanyuan Zhanxian! This suffocation was too heavy, so heavy that he could barely breathe!

"Just when everyone had fallen into despair, thinking that doomsday was imminent, the Myriad Heavens were about to collapse, and all orderly existence would be completely swallowed and returned to eternal nothingness and Chaos—"

Jian Tanghuang's voice suddenly rose! As it rose, it carried an impassioned reverence that pierced through the dust of history, carrying a faith and radiance sufficient to make the stars of the ages tremble!

"The Taiqing Heavenly Lord stood out!"

She lifted her head. Her gaze seemed to pierce through the night curtain of Changsheng Peak, pierce through the barriers of this world, and cast toward the endlessly distant, long-sealed other shore of time—seeing that towering, lonely, yet resolute figure!

"No one knows what his state of mind was at that time!"

Jian Tanghuang's voice began to tremble slightly. Not from fear. But from a shock and empathetic sorrow when facing the ultimate sacrifice!

"Perhaps it was compassion, perhaps it was resoluteness, or perhaps it was simply fulfilling the unspoken destiny he had shouldered since the day he took hold of the authority of the Taiqing Ancestral Realm!"

She paused. Then, word by word, she spoke extremely slowly and heavily!

"He used his own Immortal Dao Fruit as a catalyst, and the Taiqing Ancestral Realm as a medium, to communicate with the root power of the other four Ancestral Realms. Finally—"

She took a deep breath. "He unleashed a forbidden technique that had been inscribed in the deepest part of the Origin since the birth of the Ancestral Realm, yet one that no one had ever attempted, nor dared to attempt!"

"What…… technique?"

Xuanyuan Zhanxian's voice was incomparably dry! Dry like the wind blowing from the depths of a desert, dry like the faint breath left in his throat after being impacted by countless pieces of information!

"Eternal Suppression of the River of Time!"

Jian Tanghuang spoke word by word. She spat out the name that seemed to carry the roaring sound of the River of Time!

Once this name was spoken, Xuanyuan Zhanxian clearly felt the surrounding time and space trembling, as if the name itself carried the power sufficient to suppress the ages!

"He stripped those invaders—who were nearly impossible to kill or erase—along with the vast battlefield they occupied, which had been completely polluted and turned into a dead zone—out of reality, and forcibly sealed, banished, and exiled them into—"

She paused. Then she spoke a sentence that Xuanyuan Zhanxian found hard to believe!

"The deepest part of the River of Time, that 'river section' which was disordered, rushing, and filled with the unknown and terror, a place that even Ancestral Realm Heavenly Lords could not easily set foot in!"

"Sealed…… into the River of Time?!"

Xuanyuan Zhanxian could not believe it! This had completely exceeded the scope of his understanding of "power" and "Divine Ability"! This was direct interference with and exile of existence itself, of the dimension of time!

"Yes!"

Jian Tanghuang nodded heavily, her eyes filled with an inescapable solemnity and sorrow. "Not killing, because they cannot be killed!"

"The roots of those existences have long been connected to the Origin of nothingness and Chaos, nearly existing as concepts. They cannot be killed off, they cannot be exterminated; even if wiped out for a moment, they will be reborn in the 'nothingness'!"

"The only way is to completely sever their connection to the present, to reality—"

She looked into Xuanyuan Zhanxian's eyes. "Let them drift endlessly in the surging River of Time, which is filled with Chaos and paradoxes, forever lost, forever unable to find the coordinates and path to return to the 'present world'!"

"But such a Seal……"

Xuanyuan Zhanxian already realized something. His heart sank abruptly! It sank as if falling into a bottomless abyss!

"Requires a sacrifice!"

Jian Tanghuang's voice lowered. It was as low as a dream-talk, yet every word was like a knife, slicing at the listener's heart!

"It requires the sacrifice of everything of the caster—"

"His Physical Body, his Divine Soul, his Immortal Dao Fruit which he had painstakingly cultivated for countless epochs and which represented all his insights and achievements regarding the Dao, and even all traces of his existence left in the Myriad Heavens and Worlds, in the River of Time, and all his Karmic connections with other living beings……"

She paused.

Then, speaking word by word, she made her tone extremely light yet heavy!

"Everything will be completely consumed as fuel to anchor the Seal and drive the power of the Ancestral Realm's Origin!"

In her eyes, a crystalline light seemed to flash by.

It was so fast that one might think it was an illusion.

"From this moment on—"

Her voice continued, every word sounding as if it came from an eternal abyss, carrying endless sorrow and reverence.

"Between heaven and earth, within the Myriad Heavens and Worlds, both upstream and downstream of the River of Time..."

"There shall no longer be a Taiqing Heavenly Lord!"

"No one remembers his name, no one knows his face, and even many details regarding that final catastrophe have become blurred and fragmented with his complete disappearance!"

She looked into Xuanyuan Zhanxian's eyes, speaking word by word.

"He exchanged the complete annihilation of his own existence for another era of breathing room for the Myriad Heavens and Worlds—"

"Exchanged for the... possibility that we can still stand here and speak at this moment!"

Silence!

A deathly silence!

Only the mountain wind wailed, like a dirge played for that nameless hero!

This dirge had sounded since the beginning of creation, continued to sound until now, and would continue to sound until the end of time, until the day the Myriad Heavens and Worlds turned into nothingness!

Xuanyuan Zhanxian felt his throat tightly blocked by something!

It blocked him so thoroughly that he could not utter a single word!

His nose felt sore, so sore that it was as if thousands of words were stuck there, yet not a single one could be spoken!

Indescribable emotions surged within his chest—this was shock, sorrow, the immense impact of an incomprehensible sacrifice, as well as a bewildered yearning for that supreme Realm and breadth of mind!

He opened his mouth.

He tried a few times.

Only then did he arduously squeeze out a few words:

"Then... then isn't he... truly... completely..."

He could not continue.

Jian Tanghuang turned her head slightly, looking toward the boundless night sky.

A faint, extremely complex smile appeared at the corners of her mouth.

In that smile, there was sorrow, reverence, confusion, and also—a trace of elusive hope.

"Dead? Body and Soul destroyed, no traces left, all Karma erased?"

She said softly.

"Perhaps he is... dead, completely annihilated."

She paused.

Then she said something that made Xuanyuan Zhanxian's heart tremble!

"But since then, in the Myriad Heavens and Worlds, there have been legends that cannot be verified or falsified!"

"Some say—"

Her voice was as light as the wind, yet as heavy as a mountain!

"At the end of some of the most chaotic and dangerous 'stretches' of the River of Time, lucky travelers through space and time occasionally catch a glimpse of a blurred figure sitting quietly! He is like the sturdiest reef, suppressing the terrifying undercurrents at the deepest part of the river, guarding that Seal exchanged at the cost of his own existence!"

In her eyes, a light seemed to be flickering!

"He has never left!"

"Others say—"

She continued, "At the final moment of casting the Eternal Suppression of the River of Time, in the midst of complete annihilation and the ultimate sacrifice of everything, the Taiqing Heavenly Lord instead attained the legendary supreme Realm above the Dao of Sacrifice, truly achieving transcendence and going to a higher plane that we cannot understand or observe!"

She looked into Xuanyuan Zhanxian's eyes.

"His sacrifice is both an end and a beginning!"

"Still others say—"

Her voice became even lighter, as light as a whisper, as if she were afraid of disturbing something.

"He did not truly die, nor did he transcend, but during that ultimate sacrifice, a wisp of his undying true spirit managed to escape into Reincarnation, to be reborn!"

She paused.

Then, speaking word by word, she was extremely slow and light.

"At this moment, he might be in some inconspicuous corner, within some ordinary shell, starting his cultivation anew, silently protecting this world he once gave everything to protect in another way..."

She paused.

Her gaze returned to Xuanyuan Zhanxian.

This gaze was clear and profound, clear enough to reflect the deepest secrets of his heart, and profound enough to see through the mists of eternal time and space.

"There are many opinions, and no consensus."

She said softly.

"As for the truth, perhaps even the other Heavenly Lords of the Ancestral Realm might not be able to explain it completely."

"But there is one point that all beings who know that sealed history and all those standing at the pinnacle of the Myriad Heavens and Worlds universally agree upon, without any objection—"

She spoke word by word.

Although her voice was light, it was as heavy as a falling star!

It carried an unquestionable, ancient, and inherited belief!

"If not for the Taiqing Heavenly Lord's self-sacrifice to suppress it back then, there would be no Myriad Heavens and Worlds existing today, no land beneath our feet where we can still settle and live, and certainly no—"

She looked into Xuanyuan Zhanxian's eyes.

"Possibilities for the future!"

Xuanyuan Zhanxian remained silent for a long time.

It was as if he had lost the ability to speak.

A stormy sea surged in his heart; countless thoughts, countless questions, and countless indescribable emotions intertwined and collided—in the end, they only coalesced into one most primitive, most direct, and most self-related question!

Like a drowning man grasping at the last straw!

He arduously squeezed out from his parched throat:

"Junior... Sister..."

He raised his head, looking toward Jian Tanghuang's eyes that seemed to see through everything.

His eyes held the bewilderment after being bombarded by countless pieces of information, confusion about his own existence, and—a trace of humble hope for the "truth" that even he hadn't realized!

"You just said... you saw through my identity... who exactly am I?!"

Jian Tanghuang looked at him quietly.

In those eyes, as clear as glaze and as deep as an ancient pool, his current unease and search were clearly reflected.

Complex light flowed again.

There was pity, understanding, and a trace of extremely faint reminiscence—but more than that, it was a kind of nearly cruel... calmness.

She shook her head gently.

The movement was very slow, yet it carried an unquestionable firmness.

"Senior Brother—"

Her voice remained gentle, like a spring breeze brushing over willow branches, but it carried a determination to sever all delusional thoughts!

"This question should not be answered by me!"

She looked into Xuanyuan Zhanxian's eyes, speaking word by word.

"At least, not now! And it is even more inappropriate for it to be spoken by my mouth in this manner!"

Xuanyuan Zhanxian was stunned.

The light of hope in his eyes dimmed a little.

"Why?! If you know, why can't you tell me?! Junior Sister, I—"

"Senior Brother!"

Jian Tanghuang interrupted him.

Although her voice was light, it carried an indisputable power—this was the majesty belonging to an Immortal Emperor; even though only a trace was revealed, it was enough to make Xuanyuan Zhanxian's heart tremble!

"I can tell you about the Immortal Realm!"

She paused.

Then her tone changed, becoming exceptionally serious!

"But—"

"Some things must be sought by yourself, realized by yourself, experienced by yourself, and decided by yourself!"

She looked into Xuanyuan Zhanxian's eyes, speaking word by word, clearly.

"The answer I speak may not be true for you! That is merely my knowledge, my judgment!"

"And your Dao, your path—"

She paused, then spoke word by word, with resonant conviction!

"Must be uncovered, verified, and borne by your own hands, step by step, amidst blood and fire, confusion and Epiphany, loss and gain!"

She turned her head slightly.

She avoided Xuanyuan Zhanxian's persistent and burning gaze, looking toward the outline of the mountains sinking into the night in the distance.

Her voice was as light as a breeze that could dissipate at any moment.

"Besides... Senior Brother, although I have recovered some of my memories and insight from my past life, I must admit—"

She turned her head back.

She looked straight into Xuanyuan Zhanxian's eyes.

She said frankly and directly, "I cannot see through that layer of mist shrouding you either!"

"This mist is not a simple Seal or concealment. It is more like a kind of—Chaos and unknown originating from a higher level and a more essential nature!"

She paused.

"Even if it were me in my past life, if I wanted to forcibly pry into it, I would likely suffer a severe backlash! And the one who could set up such a mist, or... the one who could make you born with such a mist..."

She did not continue.

But the meaning was already self-evident!

To be able to make her, an Immortal Emperor of a past life, feel troubled and unable to see through—either the setter's Realm far exceeded hers! Or, it involved certain taboo secrets regarding the Origin of existence that even an Immortal Emperor could hardly touch!

Whichever it was—it was by no means something that the current Xuanyuan Zhanxian, or she who had recovered part of her memory, could easily touch upon or reveal!

The night wind blew.

It brought the wailing of the pine waves and also brought a deep chill.

Xuanyuan Zhanxian stood on the spot.

He looked at Jian Tanghuang's eyes, which remained clear and bright in the night, yet were filled with things that could not be spoken.

He only felt that the flame in his heart, which had just been ignited by learning of the existence of the Immortal Realm—was instantly shrouded in a thicker, deeper mist!

The road ahead was vast and uncertain.

His Origin was a mystery.

But he knew—from this day on!

Some things were completely different!

A moment later.

He couldn't help but ask, his tone carrying a trace of imperceptible yearning, and his eyes flashing with a look of expectation:

"Then... can we also walk out of the Taichu Continent one day?!"

He longed to see a wider world and pursue a higher cultivation Realm!

Jian Tanghuang turned her head to look at him.

The night wind brushed past, lifting her ink-black hair.

A confident and firm light flickered in her eyes, like a burning flame!

She lifted her chin slightly, and a Soul-stirring smile curled at the corners of her mouth.

In this smile, there was the pride belonging to the Divine Phoenix Immortal Emperor, the warmth belonging to a companion on the same path, and even more, a certainty that spanned eternity and pierced through time and space!

"Senior Brother, follow me obediently!"

Her voice was not loud, but every word was clear, like a brand carved deep into the Soul!

"I will take you to see a bigger world—how about it?!"

Her voice was full of temptation!

No, this was not temptation!

It was an invitation, a promise, a resonance sent from one Soul to another, traversing endless time and space!

In this voice, there was the surging of wind and thunder, the sea of stars, and the endless mystery and magnificence of the Myriad Heavens and Worlds calling out!

Xuanyuan Zhanxian looked into her eyes.

These eyes were clear and profound, clear enough to reflect the deepest desires in his heart, and profound enough to hide the light of the entire Universe!

He suddenly smiled!

This smile pierced through all the shock and confusion of this night, pierced through the heaviness and perplexity brought by the mystery of his Origin, leaving only the purest light belonging to a seeker of the Dao!

"Good!"

He responded without hesitation!

His voice was not loud, but firm as a rock, resonant as gold and jade!

He was not a person without his own opinions.

After the Revered Master's instructions, plus the conversation between Jian Tanghuang and Patriarch Tian Yuanzi just now, he had already determined—the Junior Sister before him was by no means an ordinary person!

She was a ball of fire, able to light up the path ahead!

She was a sword, able to cut through the mist!

She was a ray of light, able to pierce through the darkness!

And he, was willing to follow this ball of fire, hold this sword, and rush toward this ray of light!

He believed that by following Jian Tanghuang, perhaps he could really walk toward a wider world and open a magnificent journey of cultivation—no, not perhaps!

It was certain!

Because at this moment, in the deepest part of his heart, a voice was echoing:

A bigger world is waiting!

An endless journey begins from this night!

The night wind howled.

The mountains were silent.

The stars above the firmament quietly watched the two figures on Changsheng Peak—

One was once the Divine Phoenix Immortal Emperor, reincarnated, and regaining memories!

One whose Origin was a mystery, shrouded in mist, yet filled with yearning!

They stood side by side, facing the boundless night sky!

Facing the vast, unknown, and infinitely possible—future!