Shi Hao lowered his head, gazing at the wine pot on the stone table. It was ancient and unremarkable, yet wisps of chaotic energy and immortal mist seeped from its spout.
Would picking it up truly trigger something monumental?
He raised his eyes to the woman seated across from him, searching her gaze for any hint of abnormality. Yet she remained serene, neither joyful nor sorrowful, utterly unperturbed.
“You’ve already gained much just now. What insights have you gleaned?” the woman spoke. She was not peerlessly beautiful, but there was a tranquil grace about her, transcendent beyond the mortal world.
“The vast cosmos, the myriad gods and demons, infinite mysteries—boundless as the sea,” Shi Hao replied. As he closed his eyes, the lingering taste of immortal wine still danced on his tongue.
For a fleeting moment, he seemed to relive the sensation of tiny cauldrons, divine towers, and war spears leaping into his mouth, transforming into symbols and unfolding into the profound wisdom of ancient scriptures.
He had indeed grasped much—priceless treasures. In that instant, he felt as though he were ascending, transcending the mortal coil.
Yet now, as he pondered again, his expression gradually shifted—first solemn, then pale.
“Why… why has everything faded?” Shi Hao shuddered, straining to recall. But much had blurred beyond recognition.
“I told you, these gains are of no benefit to you. Even if you fully accepted and inherited them, it would only amount to recreating ‘us.’ Only by forging your own path, breaking through the existing constraints one day, will the ‘Immortal Ancient Laws’ you drank hold meaning. Only then can they be mutually verified,” the woman answered.
“A single cup is hardly enough for verification. Even a whole pot is but a dozen cups, all artificially brewed—far from the true brilliance of the Immortal Ancient Epoch,” Shi Hao said, reaching for the wine pot.
“You are far too confident!” The woman’s expression turned unusually stern. Her jade-like arm lifted, her delicate hand pressing down on his.
“May I not?” Shi Hao asked, his gaze clear.
“You may. But I must warn you first, lest you regret it without the chance.” She cautioned that if Shi Hao failed to meet the conditions, touching the pot would reduce him to ashes.
“I am willing to try!” Shi Hao brimmed with confidence. If he couldn’t meet such conditions, how could he hope to survive the coming upheavals?
“Hear me out. If you do meet the conditions, the consequences will be far more terrifying—a path with little hope of survival, triggering cataclysmic changes!” Her tone was severe, a stark contrast to her earlier calm.
Shi Hao froze. Whether he met the conditions or not, it was a death trap? Then why bother?
“In the latter scenario, there lies a sliver of hope—a path we’ve theorized but cannot confirm. If it exists, it would be wondrous indeed,” the woman said.
“Oh?” Shi Hao studied her lively eyes, clear as water, reflecting his own image.
“Surviving… would the rewards be great?” he asked.
“For you, escaping this trial might mean escaping the calamity of this epoch,” she replied calmly, her serenity restored.
“Epoch calamity?” Shi Hao frowned, his heart quaking. Was this era doomed to wither?
“Have you made your decision?” the woman asked.
A long silence followed. No words, no response. Shi Hao remained mute until, at last, he nodded. “I have.”
The woman withdrew her jade-white hand, sitting cross-legged opposite him, watching in silence.
**Dong!**
It was as though a celestial bell of time had been struck, its chime resonating across the ages, echoing through the myriad realms.
This was the sensation Shi Hao felt upon touching the wine cup—a deafening toll reverberating through his soul, shaking his very essence.
His body trembled violently. His hand seemed to crack, on the verge of disintegration. For a moment, his mind went blank. Could he not even pass this trial?
The woman’s expression also shifted, tense. Was another life about to be extinguished?
**Hum!**
The wine pot trembled, chaotic energy and immortal mist swirling together. Shi Hao’s hand stabilized, the cracks ceasing to spread. With a sharp exhale, he channeled the Willow God’s techniques to heal his wounds.
Then, with a mighty grip, he seized the pot. A thunderous tremor shook the ruins of the metallic structure, as though the very stars trembled in response.
As Shi Hao lifted the pot, the void shattered—as if he had provoked some forbidden taboo.
This was nothing like when the woman had held it. The commotion was overwhelming.
Lightning, thick with chaotic radiance, rained down in endless torrents!
Yet there was no time to ponder. Once the pot was in his grasp, he raised it to his lips and drank deeply, determined to consume it all.
The fractured void gradually stilled, the lightning vanishing as abruptly as it had appeared—an eerie calm settling in.
The woman was stunned. This was nothing like what she had envisioned. Where was the cataclysm? Nothing had happened.
It was too quiet. Defying all reason!
“Nothing?” Shi Hao glanced at her mid-drink.
Then he paid her no further mind, for within his mouth, weapons, spectral figures, and scriptures surged forth—like an entire world, an entire epoch, unfolding in grandeur.
**”Heh heh…”**
A chilling laugh rang out abruptly, piercing the soul. Just as peace had returned, this eerie sound emerged—without origin, without source.
Even the woman at the stone table could not trace it, nor see its maker.
“It’s here!” Even someone as enigmatic as her shuddered. A third eye, radiant and beautiful, split open on her forehead as she scrutinized the void, then the cosmic sea.
A divine light erupted from her brow, piercing the heavens above and the netherworld below, blazing into the starry expanse!
Yet even this revealed nothing.
**”Heh heh…”** The laugh persisted, still cold. Then, a voice spoke: “At last, I’ve found you.”
The words sent a chill down Shi Hao’s spine. Who was this? Why seek him? Where were they? Why couldn’t he sense them? His spiritual perception had always been sharp, yet now he was utterly helpless.
“Your true self resides in the ancient past, yet your divine sense descends before your manifestation?” the woman murmured, her gaze fixed on the distance as though watching the flow of history itself.
Shi Hao jerked his head up, a foreboding gripping him.
The void crumbled. Time dissolved. A rain of light cascaded as endless chaos split apart. At the edge of the world, a blurred figure stood.
It advanced, pushing stars and moons before it, trailing boundless chaos, striding across the river of time—drawing nearer, an embodiment of terror!
The woman despaired. Even one as mighty as her sat motionless, resigned. Bitterness and defiance etched her face.
“Was this necessary?” she sighed. “To cross tens of thousands of years, braving immense karmic backlash, risking your own demise—just to kill a sapling?”
The figure remained indistinct, yet its towering, regal stature was unmistakable—a sovereign of unmatched majesty!
With each step, it traversed the river of history, its hands propelling celestial bodies, its presence shaking all realms!
Though it had not yet arrived, its aura was overwhelming—drying seas, extinguishing suns, annihilating all in its wake.
Shi Hao felt as though he had plunged into hell, his body and soul on the verge of collapse.
Who was this? A being from the ancient past, come to slay him?
“To you, time is a river, flowing inexorably forward—dare not oppose it, lest you perish by karma. To me, it is but a ring, not a river. Even at great cost, it is not irreversible.”
The voice carried no anger, only an immeasurable authority, shaking past, present, and future!
“Are you afraid? To go to such lengths for a mere sapling suggests you are not as mighty as we imagined,” the woman taunted.
“Not fear. Merely convenience. Seated in the ancient past, I sensed a ripple. Why not erase it?” the figure replied.
Shi Hao’s mind reeled. This being, from tens of thousands of years ago, had foreseen him?
What kind of heaven-defying power was this?
This was beyond comprehension!
“Pretty words. This was no solo endeavor—it was a collective divination, was it not?” the woman sneered.
“Opportunity seized. More than one has been erased—brief sparks in history, beautiful yet fleeting,” the figure answered.
Shi Hao’s blood ran cold. What a cruel, horrifying fate—to be annihilated by a whim, with no chance to resist.
Worst of all, they sat beyond his reach, in an era long past.
The helplessness was suffocating.
“Your actions disrupt too much. Forcibly reversing time—do you not fear triggering the ultimate calamity?” the woman challenged.
“Fear? This is hardly the first time,” the figure said.
“You come from antiquity to erase him. What if, in the future, another comes for you? Those tied to him by fate will be dragged into this karmic storm. Do you not dread that?”
“A possibility. But will those tied to him be strong enough? If so, they too shall be removed,” the figure replied.
**”Heh heh…** You are too assured. One worth crossing time to kill cannot be ordinary… There must be a singular path of survival!” the woman declared.
“Then let us see if such a being exists.” The figure prepared to strike. An attack across time would shatter heaven and earth, unleashing cataclysm.
**Boom!**
Suddenly, at the edge of the world, a tremor shook existence. A figure emerged, crushing the past, present, and future underfoot, severing the river of time itself!
“What?! It exists!”
A woman, shrouded in mist and chaotic light, her figure slender, robes fluttering. A ghostly mask adorned her face as she gazed down upon the cosmos.
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