689: Chapter 689 Central Main Hall

Yuyao Pass, Central Main Hall.

This massive hall, which had dominated the ancient wind and sand of the Northern Region for eons, possessed a grandeur that surpassed all immortal palaces and towers in the world.

Its entire body was cast from ten-thousand-year black iron melted with star-fallen divine gold. The pillars were like the spines supporting the heavens, engraved with killing Dao patterns inherited from the Ancient Demon Chaos era, each one faintly emitting a heart-palpitating Evil Qi.

The dome spanned ten thousand miles, embedded with crushed star jade. By day, it channeled sunlight; by night, it gathered starlight, shining as brilliantly as if a piece of the galaxy had been carved out.

This place was the symbol of the supreme authority of Yuyao Pass—the Demon-Suppressing Lingxiao Hall.

From the moment Half-step Earth Immortal Jiang Wuya issued the Great Dao decree and proclaimed it to Nanming Province, the million soldiers and the guarding Elders of each hall in Yuyao Pass bowed in solemn silence, none daring to disturb the hall in the slightest.

The interior of the hall was vast and solemn, where no wind entered and all sounds were hushed.

A tall and solitary figure in green robes stood quietly in the center of the hall.

It was Chu Changsheng, who had just succeeded as the commander of Yuyao Pass.

After ten years of drifting and floating in the Void Realm, his posture remained gentle and upright, his brows and eyes as handsome as before, as if time had not left a single trace upon him.

However, deep within those profound eyes lay the vicissitudes of the Myriad Heavens and Worlds, an indifference to the cycles of life and death, and a profound foundation that ordinary people could never reach even after exhausting billions of years.

Having shed the sharp edge he possessed back in the Southern Region, he was now as steady as a mountain, deep and imposing.

For a long time, Chu Changsheng's gaze flickered slightly. His Divine Thought sank into his Sea of Consciousness, and he spoke indifferently:

"Realm Spirit, retrieve the cultivation Realm of all my Disciples."

In the next instant, the cold and ethereal System panel appeared before his eyes, every word clear and undisguised:

[Xuanyuan Zhanxian: Void Refining Late Stage Peak]

[Jian Tanghuang: Mahayana Early Stage]

[Chu Zhanxiao: Void Refining Late Stage Peak]

[Luo Xiaojiu: Void Refining Late Stage]

[Li Jiuyou: Void Refining Late Stage]

[Burial Son: Void Refining Middle Stage]

As lines of Realm data leaped into his view, Chu Changsheng stared blankly, indescribable distraction and trance surging in his eyes.

He had been trapped in the Void Realm, isolated from the world, unaware of the passage of time, feeling as though it had only been a snap of his fingers.

But he had never expected that the young, naive, and fragile youths who used to follow behind him no longer needed him to shield them from the wind and rain.

Xuanyuan Zhanxian, who had once just begun to show his talent, was now at the half-step Mahayana stage, his edge threatening the Nine Heavens.

Jian Tanghuang, who was always calm and self-possessed, had been the first to break through to the Mahayana stage, standing at the pinnacle of the world's Cultivators.

Chu Zhanxiao, bearing a blood feud and cultivating bitterly day and night, had endured and bided his time, his cultivation surpassing all his peers.

And then there was the lively and nimble Luo Xiaojiu, the Li Jiuyou who defied the Dao to recultivate, and the Burial Son who bore a strange destiny...

A group of youths had actually all ascended to the Nine Heavens, shaking one side of the world with their might.

"So... so much time has passed."

Chu Changsheng murmured softly, his voice filled with a trace of trance and melancholy.

"Realm Spirit, tell me precisely how long I have been stranded in the Void Realm."

[Heavenly Lord, your duration of stay in the Void Realm: ten years.]

The cold, mechanical prompt fell, confirming his conjecture.

"Good."

Chu Changsheng exhaled a breath of stale air, his mood gradually calming.

Just as he was about to retract his Divine Thought, the voice in the depths of his Sea of Consciousness, which had been silent for a long time, suddenly rang out with a faint, lingering tone:

"Realm Spirit, did you forget something?"

The moment the words fell, the entire Demon-Suppressing Lingxiao Hall suddenly shook—not a tremor that moved the earth, but the space itself trembling.

The countless crushed star jade embedded in the dome dimmed simultaneously, as if the moment some existence descended, it swallowed all the light in this world.

A jade-gold figure stepped out from the Void Realm.

This figure was not tall, even a few inches shorter than Chu Changsheng.

But with every step he took, thousands of Great Dao Laws cascaded and intertwined behind him like a waterfall. Chaos Qi surged beneath his feet, and chains of order circled around him. The killing Dao patterns engraved throughout the hall seemed to feel a supreme suppression, collectively emitting a low hum, as if wailing in submission.

Realm Spirit.

Chu Changsheng had never seen him appear in such a form.

In the past, the Realm Spirit was merely a cold, mechanical voice in his Sea of Consciousness, occasionally carrying human-like teasing, but never standing so vividly before him.

The jade-gold form was between reality and illusion, the face blurred and indistinct. Only in those eyes were reflected the life and death, the Reincarnation of the Myriad Heavens and Worlds, the collapse and rebirth of galaxies, and the endless vicissitudes of time.

"Oh?"

Chu Changsheng raised an eyebrow slightly, with no shock on his face, but his tone carried a hint of playfulness: "Aren't you afraid of being discovered by those existences? Why are you willing to reveal your true form?"

The Realm Spirit did not take his joke.

He just gazed quietly at Chu Changsheng, and in those eyes containing the vicissitudes of eons, a rare, complex, and indescribable emotion emerged.

This emotion was too faint, so faint it was almost invisible, but Chu Changsheng had accompanied him for many years; even the slightest fluctuation could not escape his perception.

"Heavenly Lord."

The Realm Spirit spoke. The voice was no longer the cold, mechanical one from the Sea of Consciousness, but low, slow, and carrying a certain unspeakable weight—

"My time is running out."

The smile on Chu Changsheng's face slowly faded.

"What do you mean?"

The Realm Spirit did not answer immediately.

He raised his hand, and this jade-gold palm swiped gently across the Void Realm.

In an instant, an invisible, great power shrouded the entire hall, and all perception from the outside world was completely cut off.

The crushed star jade stopped glowing, the Dao patterns on the hall pillars were silent as death, and even the air seemed to have frozen.

After doing all this, the Realm Spirit looked back at Chu Changsheng, his voice carrying an unmaskable fatigue: "They have already sensed me. I cannot continue to stay by your side."

"They?" Chu Changsheng's gaze suddenly tightened. "You mean—"

"Do not ask, cannot say."

The Realm Spirit interrupted him, his tone calm but unquestionable: "Although your cultivation now far surpasses the past, compared to those existences, you are still like an ant looking up at the sky. Knowing their names itself is a calamity."

Chu Changsheng was silent.

He knew the Realm Spirit was never alarmist.

After ten years of drifting in the Void Realm, his understanding of this world was no longer comparable to that of the boy from the Southern Region back then.

He knew that there were higher Realms above Body Integration and Mahayana, and he knew that at the end of this Star Domain, there were forbidden zones that even the Heavenly Dao could not reach, and ancient existences that even time could not erase.

It was just that he hadn't expected this day to come so quickly.

The Realm Spirit did not delay any longer.

He waved one hand, and in an instant, brilliant light shone—countless Magic Treasures, Divine Abilities, and spiritual materials poured out like a flood, densely covering the entire floor of the hall.

These treasures, any one of which would cause outside Cultivators to break their heads fighting for it if thrown out, were now casually piled on the ground by the Realm Spirit like trash, clattering together.

And in this mountain-like flood of treasure light, five things were particularly eye-catching—

They were five bronze fragments of different shapes, each only the size of a palm, with broken edges and covered in rust, looking completely unremarkable.

But the moment they appeared, the blood and Qi in Chu Changsheng's body surged uncontrollably, and the spiritual power in his Dantian vibrated crazily, as if something in the darkness was frantically summoning him.

The Realm Spirit raised his hand, and the five bronze fragments floated slowly, hovering in front of Chu Changsheng.

"Heavenly Lord, these are the fragments of the Bronze Immortal Palace, the supreme ancestral artifact of the Ancient Divine Martial era."

The Realm Spirit's voice suddenly became solemn: "The Bronze Immortal Palace, ranked in the top three supreme divine weapons of the Divine Martial era, is said to have been forged from Nine Heavens Immortal Gold mixed with Chaos Mother Qi. The hall itself forms a Great World, capable of suppressing eons and severing the galaxy."

"In a catastrophe at the end of the Ancient era, the Bronze Immortal Palace shattered, its fragments scattering across the Nine Heavens and Ten Earths. After countless epochs, most have been annihilated in the river of time."

He tapped his fingertip, and the five fragments simultaneously emitted a low hum. Beneath the mottled rust, ancient Dao patterns flowed ceaselessly.

"When you collect all the fragments, you can re-refine them and forge a supreme divine weapon that truly belongs to you."

Chu Changsheng reached out his hand, and the moment his fingertip touched one of the fragments, a cold and vast aura surged into his body along his fingertip.

Boom—!

At this moment, it felt as if billions of thunderbolts exploded in his Sea of Consciousness!

He saw that eons ago, a magnificent immortal palace cast entirely of bronze lay across the starry sky. The hall was shrouded in Chaos Mother Qi, and every inch was engraved with the true meaning of the Great Dao from the beginning of heaven and earth.

The immortal palace shook, and thousands of stars fell because of it; even ancient Emperors had to retreat three times.

The image flashed and disappeared, but Chu Changsheng felt his very Soul trembling crazily.

This was just the fragments. If it were the complete Bronze Immortal Palace, what kind of terrifying existence would it be?

The Realm Spirit did not give him much time for reflection.

He beckoned again, and four Jade Slips flew out from the pile of treasures, each emitting a completely different yet equally terrifying aura.

The first was hot as fire, with the faint sound of a Qilin roaring.

The second flashed with thunder, containing a domineering power that could destroy heaven and earth.

The third was heavy and ancient, as if carrying the power of the eternal earth.

The fourth was incomparably sharp, with Sword Qi soaring into the sky, as if wanting to sever the Nine Heavens galaxy.

"Heavenly Lord, these four Jade Slips are the Qilin Treasure Technique, the Thunder Emperor Treasure Technique, the Divine Stone Treasure Technique, and the Nine-leaf Sword Grass Treasure Technique."

The Realm Spirit pushed the four Jade Slips in front of Chu Changsheng, his voice carrying a meaningful tone: "These four Treasure Techniques were all left behind by heaven-reaching powers of the Ancient era. Any one of them, cultivated to the extreme, is enough to dominate a Star Domain. And they—"

He paused, his jade-gold eyes gazing deeply at Chu Changsheng.

"They will all eventually come to your side."

"They are you, and you are them. You share honor and disgrace, and are connected by the same breath."

These words were vague and mysterious. Chu Changsheng frowned slightly and was about to ask further, but the Realm Spirit waved his hand impatiently, pointing to the pile of dazzling treasures on the ground.

"As for that trash—"

His tone suddenly became casual, even carrying a bit of disgust: "Take a look, use what you can. Anyway, I can't take them with me."

Chu Changsheng looked down at the pile of "trash" on the ground.

Heaven Rank top-grade spiritual materials, rare-in-ten-thousand-years immortal gold and divine iron, top-grade Medicinal Pills that even Body Integration powers would be jealous of, countless Divine Abilities and Secret Manuals... any one of these items, if taken out, would be enough to cause a bloody storm in the entire Nanming Province.

The Realm Spirit actually said, use what you can?

Chu Changsheng's mouth couldn't help but twitch.

But he had no mind to look closely at those treasures.

He raised his head and looked at the Realm Spirit again, his gaze profound and calm.

"Where are you going?"