Jin Zhifei was defeated, and in a most humiliating manner—trampled underfoot by Shi Hao, his face pressed into the dirt. He was one of the rare prodigies of the Jin Clan in recent times!
The crowd erupted in agitation. The Jin Clan members nearly charged forward to settle the score with Shi Hao.
However, this was the Imperial Pass, a place where reckless actions were forbidden. They had no choice but to suppress their fury.
A genius of their clan, a man who had ascended to the Severing Self Realm before the age of forty—a feat so dazzling it was rare even across the Nine Heavens—had suffered an unprecedented disgrace here, bringing shame upon the entire Jin Clan!
“What a disgrace…” A Jin Clan elder gnashed his teeth, his gaze icy. That stomp had not only crushed Jin Zhifei’s face but also felt like a blow to their own dignity.
A young man in his twenties, brimming with vigor, had just defeated a renowned prodigy of the previous generation. What a glorious achievement!
Shi Hao, his black hair cascading freely, sat unmoving atop the Southern Luminous Fire Rhinoceros, his eyes sharp as lightning as he calmly surveyed the Jin and Wang Clans.
This battle had revealed his terrifying potential to all. Like a blazing sun rising into the sky, his future held boundless possibilities!
Whispers and discussions spread among the various clans. Many believed this young man was destined for greatness, perhaps even becoming an unrivaled sovereign whose name would echo through the ages.
“So this is Huang? Meeting him surpasses all rumors!”
“No wonder he triumphed in ten consecutive battles at the Great Scarlet Sky frontier, slaying ten kings. Truly formidable, with limitless potential.”
Praise flowed freely from the cultivators of all clans.
“Move out!” At that moment, the great knight atop the Devouring Sky Beast gave the order. The armies of all clans mobilized, setting forth in unison.
Shouts and beastly roars filled the air as the cold glint of weapons illuminated the heavens. The massive force, brimming with killing intent, stepped onto a colossal teleportation array—truly embarking on their campaign.
Shi Hao rode atop his Purple-Gold Rhinoceros, the beast enveloped in swirling violet mist and radiant holy light as it followed the army forward.
Jin Zhifei gritted his teeth so hard they creaked. The humiliation was unbearable—his mount had been seized and ridden by another. For a warrior, there was no greater loss of face.
After standing motionless for a moment, he too set off, determined to venture beyond the pass.
“Zhifei, if you’re not in peak condition, you shouldn’t go!” an elder advised.
“No, I came to the Imperial Pass to temper myself. Besides, I’m interested in several ancient legacies beyond the pass. I won’t miss this chance!” Jin Zhifei declared.
As a free agent, he was not conscripted and could act independently once outside the pass.
“Uncle, I’ll accompany you!” Jin Zhan offered. Known as a peerless genius of his generation, he was the Jin Clan’s foremost prodigy in recent times, bearing the boundless hopes of his entire clan.
Jin Zhifei shook his head firmly. “No, I’ll go alone. There won’t be any issues. Stick to your own plans and don’t disrupt your rhythm. There’s no need to worry about me.”
“Heh, friends of the Jin Clan, there’s no need for concern. Beyond the pass, it’s that brat who should fear for his life,” Wang Changhe interjected with a smile.
“Let’s hope so,” a Jin Clan member nodded.
The vast army marched into the teleportation array—squadron after squadron of armored warriors from various clans, all formidable.
Shi Hao also stepped forward, vanishing in a flash of light.
Moments later, he appeared before a massive altar, where an even larger force had gathered, stretching as far as the eye could see.
Some creatures were of staggering size—golden giants thousands of feet tall, twin-headed ancient flood dragons as thick as mountain ranges, and azure wolves as massive as peaks!
Clearly, the army led by the great knight on the Devouring Sky Beast was just one contingent among many assembled here.
“Beyond this point lies the world outside the pass. You must all be cautious.”
“Remember, slaying the enemy is protecting your wives and children, safeguarding your kin. A true man should aspire to stand atop the heavens, with ambitions vast enough to swallow mountains and rivers. The battlefield is where you prove yourselves—let your blood compose the symphony of war!”
Several elders stood atop the grand altar, rallying the troops.
“Now, set forth! May every one of you return alive after your battles!” one elder proclaimed, placing golden bone fragments into the altar’s crevices.
**Boom!**
In an instant, a radiant curtain of light erupted, enveloping the area in a vast celestial diagram that covered all the cultivators below.
In the distance loomed towering walls built from the remnants of stars, piercing the heavens.
Before them, the altar glowed, opening a passage. To step beyond it was to leave the pass behind!
With a synchronized flash, everyone vanished from the area within the walls.
The void blurred. For a fleeting moment, all felt as though they were being disassembled, witnessing stars being born, decaying, and perishing in succession.
They knew they had traversed the most terrifying of boundary gates—no ordinary passage could evoke such sensations.
Whether a century or mere moments had passed, none could tell. Time itself seemed distorted. Then, with a collective shudder, they found themselves standing on solid ground once more.
Looking back, they saw a churning sea of chaos, within which stood an indomitable city towering into the boundless heavens—the Imperial Pass, now behind them, shrouded in the primordial mists.
“Is our world… beyond that chaos?”
“This is the world outside the pass!”
When they turned forward, those venturing beyond the pass for the first time were struck by the desolate scenery—like an ancient ink painting, weathered by time.
*”Lone smoke rises straight in the vast desert; the setting sun hangs round over the long river.”*
This was a boundless desert, where a blood-red sun, immense and eternal, hung like an unyielding primordial beast at the horizon, crimson and eerie.
The landscape beyond the pass was rugged and untamed.
Amid the desert, countless beacon fires burned—lit by ancestors millennia ago, some even enduring for hundreds of thousands of years without extinguishing.
A great river cut through the desert, its roaring waters never drying since ancient times.
Upon closer inspection, all felt a chill—the river’s waters were a sinister, bloody red, as if flowing with divine blood, their hue never fading.
“Legends say it’s a tributary of the Yellow Springs, originally yellow but dyed red by the blood of warriors on the battlefield, forever retaining its crimson hue and reeking of blood,” a great knight of the Dunyi Realm explained.
As the scarlet river surged, waves occasionally splashed, revealing skeletal remains—some snow-white and crystalline, others golden or pitch-black.
Countless bones lay beneath the waters, remnants of past warriors, some even belonging to immortal beings!
The number of lives lost here was beyond reckoning. This was the greatest battlefield between two realms—a land of burial.
**Crack!**
Suddenly, as someone stepped forward, bones crunched beneath the sand.
“Bones beneath the earth?”
A massive golden lion, as large as a hill, caused the desert to collapse under its weight, revealing countless skeletal remains beneath—too many to bear witness.
“This…” First-time visitors were stunned. Beneath the sands, the bones seemed as numerous as the grains themselves.
**Boom!**
Someone swept their sleeve, sending sand and stones flying, clearing a vast stretch of desert to reveal countless divine bones, still faintly glowing with unextinguished divine aura.
The sheer number was staggering, most shattered beyond recognition. The battles of the past must have been unimaginably brutal, burying countless beings from both realms beneath these sands.
“Look—a spring! And it’s… blood-red?!” a youth exclaimed.
Several dozen miles away, a blood spring gushed forth, its metallic stench detectable from afar. Beside it grew an exquisitely beautiful flower, so enchanting it was almost hypnotic.
“The Flower of Hell! No one is to approach it!” The great knight paled, fear gripping even him as he urged his Devouring Sky Beast to retreat rapidly.
“It’s just a flower. What’s the big deal?” someone muttered dismissively.
An elder riding a Pixiu roared, “What do you know? Even a Supreme Being cannot gaze upon this flower! Approach it, and you’ll die without a grave!”
This elder commanded great respect, and his lion-like roar silenced the younger cultivators, who dared not argue.
Only when he stopped did someone cautiously ask, “Elder, is this flower truly so fearsome?”
“The only relief is that it’s far from maturity. Otherwise, none here would survive!” the elder on the Pixiu declared.
The great knight’s expression was grave as he stared at the mesmerizingly beautiful yet sinister flower. “Thankfully, it’s not yet mature, or this would be a catastrophe. But in the future, this battlefield will surely drown in blood.”
The crowd listened in horror.
“Legends say the Flower of Hell has mysterious origins…”
Some claim it forms from the souls of fallen True Immortals, nourished by the blood of countless battlefield dead.
Others say it’s the aberrant rebirth of an invincible Undying Being, rooted in soil soaked with the blood of millions, devouring immortal bones to bloom.
Once, a Supreme Being, captivated by its beauty, reached out to touch it—only to explode on contact.
That same day, the Flower of Hell matured, blooming fully. Its fragrance spread for tens of thousands of miles, staining the sky crimson like twilight. Every living being within its range—friend or foe—dissolved into blood, annihilated without exception!
The endless blood formed streams, converging to nourish the flower.
Now, the youths shuddered, no longer daring to underestimate it. The sight of the flower made their legs tremble—this was a flower of absolute calamity!
“Send word back to Elder Meng Tianzheng and the others. A true Supreme Being must bring an immortal treasure to eradicate this flower before it matures, or disaster will strike.”
“It’s too late. It’s already gone,” the great knight sighed.
Indeed, the blood spring had dried up, and the Flower of Hell had vanished into the earth.
Before maturity, it possessed a strong self-preservation instinct, capable of fleeing even from Dunyi Realm experts.
“Beyond this desert lies even vaster lands—divine herb valleys, ancient burial domains, the Heavenly Beast Forest. Where will you go?” someone asked Shi Hao, Jin Zhifei, and the other free-roaming geniuses.
Several prodigies had come who could act independently, choosing their own paths for tempering.
“Since this is my first time beyond the pass, I’ll follow the army to witness the grand clash between our two realms!” Shi Hao declared.
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