“Who dares claim to be the hero of this world? None but I, the Great Heavenly Venerate Cao!” Cao Yusheng roared with unbridled passion.
“Woof!”
In the next moment, a tiny pup no taller than a palm pounced on him, pinning him to the ground with its paws on his face. Unable to rise, the pup stood triumphantly on his head and howled at the sky, “Awooo—”
“Look at this grown man, flattened by a mere pup! How shameless to still be shouting like that!”
“Calling himself a ‘Great Heavenly Venerate’ when he can’t even handle a little dog? Utterly pathetic. Stop embarrassing yourself!”
Passersby sneered and jeered at Cao Yusheng, mocking him mercilessly.
“Wait, doesn’t this seem familiar? Didn’t we hear that Wang Da was kidnapped, and a little dog was involved?”
Along the road, many were heading toward the sacred ruins of Mount Sumeru.
Once the supreme sanctuary of the ancient monks, Mount Sumeru had been shattered in a great battle long ago, its main peak vanishing into the void of chaos. Now, only ruins remained—a vast, broken mountain.
Legends spoke of Mount Sumeru’s former glory—towering into the heavens, encircled by stars, the fourth tallest peak in the world, eternal and unyielding, home to divine herbs. At its summit once grew the Bodhi Immortal Tree, a supreme elixir of immortality.
But time had eroded its splendor. The ancient monks had fallen in the great war of the Immortal Ancient Era, their legacy reduced to dust.
Even the mightiest could not escape the tides of fate.
Shi Hao and his companions advanced unhindered toward the ruins.
The ancient mountains along the path stood tall and broken, remnants of a once-magnificent landscape. The air still carried faint traces of an extraordinary aura.
Most peaks had been cleaved in half, their summits obliterated in the cataclysmic battles of the past. Ancient vines, some as thick as houses, coiled around the shattered ridges, shrouded in misty spiritual energy.
As they ventured deeper, the vegetation thinned, revealing ancient ruins—crumbling walls, glowing rubble. The bricks and tiles of the monks’ temples had once been sacred, some even gilded, housing immortal monks. But all had turned to smoke.
That battle had annihilated everything.
The once-invincible Golden-Bodied Monk King, who had withstood the assaults of Yu Tuo and An Lan, had his indestructible form shattered.
That day, his six-zhang dharma body collapsed, and Mount Sumeru split asunder, its main peak disappearing forever.
Buddha’s blood stained the heavens, and the six realms mourned.
The battle had shaken the cosmos, the monks unleashing divine techniques—Buddha King’s Palm, the Monk of the Future, the Undying Monk of the Past—painting the world crimson with blood.
Yet, defeat was defeat. The ruins stood as a testament to their fall.
Like a cycle, the day would come when war would reignite, when the great reckoning would descend, engulfing not just the Nine Heavens and Ten Earths, but all realms.
Some said the main peak of Mount Sumeru would return, that a Buddha would rise from the ashes to join the final battle.
“This place is enormous. How many disciples did this sect have back then?” Cao Yusheng marveled.
They had traveled far into the mountains, passing countless temple ruins, the sheer scale of the land staggering.
“Once, this was a Buddha Kingdom, home to countless monks, billions of souls who worshipped the Golden-Bodied Monk King,” the pup mused, its expression complex, as if recalling ancient memories.
“What do you remember?” Shi Hao asked.
The pup smacked its lips. “Ah, the lotus seeds from the Merit Pond in front of the Monk King’s statue—so delicious!”
Shi Hao: “…”
Cao Yusheng: “…”
They had expected melancholy, but the pup was still drooling over those lotus seeds.
“This damn mutt has no heart!” Cao Yusheng muttered under his breath.
Mount Sumeru loomed ahead—vast, towering, yet broken. To Shi Hao and Cao Yusheng, it resembled a colossal plateau, dwarfing even the mightiest mountain ranges.
Legend said the land had shrunk due to the Monk King’s magic and the changing heavens. Otherwise, it would have been even grander.
The broken mountain, gray and jagged, was surrounded by towering cliffs. Few plants grew nearby, save for ancient, dragon-like trees.
Yet, the summit itself was lush, carpeted in greenery and fragrant flowers.
Even in ruin, it remained extraordinary.
Faint chants still echoed through the air, dissuading any from establishing sects here, lest they lose themselves to the lingering scriptures.
Ding-dong…
A melody, pure as a mountain spring, flowed through the moonlight, dancing over rocks and bamboo.
A woman played the zither amidst swirling mist, her fingers dancing like sprites. Birds, even divine phoenixes, flocked to her, enchanted by her music.
“Truly the Princess of Inviting the Moon. This melody stirs my soul,” someone sighed.
The player was none other than the princess of the Eternal Dynasty, her music resonating with the Great Dao.
“The Ten Crown King has arrived!”
A man strode forth, majestic as a dragon, his presence commanding awe. A legend of the Borderlands War, he had once clashed with the Imperial Clans of the Foreign Lands.
His arrival caused a stir, drawing countless gazes.
In the distance, Cao Yusheng and the others paused at a sign.
“Woof!” The pup bared its teeth in fury.
“Who wrote this?!” it growled.
“Don’t cause trouble,” Shi Hao warned, holding it back.
The sign read: “Dark creatures and dogs forbidden.”
No wonder the pup was livid.
“Damn them! How dare they insult me!”
Wang Da’s kidnapping had enraged the Wang Clan. Though the culprit remained unknown, they knew a pup had intimidated the Immortal Domain’s elites.
Later, they learned the dog might have been bluffing, its former powers gone.
This sign was likely their doing, as Wang Shi was one of the gathering’s hosts.
The pup seethed, grinding its teeth. If not for Shi Hao’s restraint, it would have charged.
“Wait and see. No need to rush,” Shi Hao soothed.
The pup relented, deciding to observe.
Then, a silver-haired girl appeared, no older than twelve, her hair shimmering like snow, her eyes bright as rubies.
The Lunar Jade Rabbit, cradling a snow-white qilin, had arrived.
“A little rabbit!” The pup’s eyes gleamed. In a flash, it transformed into a white rabbit and scampered after her.
“That damn lustful mutt!” Cao Yusheng fumed.
“Ohhh, what an adorable bunny!” The Lunar Rabbit immediately dropped the qilin and scooped up the “dog-rabbit.”
Shi Hao facepalmed. She was a rabbit herself—was she complimenting her own kind?
The qilin, rudely awakened, sulked on the ground.
The pup, meanwhile, endured vigorous ear-pulling and cheek-squishing.
“Woof!” it yelped.
“Oh? Even your barks are cute!”
The pup nearly spat blood. Cute? At its age? It nearly bolted in humiliation.
Cao Yusheng snickered.
They ascended the broken mountain.
In the distance, a graceful figure in white sipped tea, her beauty ethereal—a fusion of Qing Yi and Yue Chan, the fairy of the Heaven Mending Sect.
Familiar faces abounded: Great Xu Tuo, Lan Xian, the Little Heavenly King, Tuo Gu Yulong…
Soon, Shi Yi the Dual-Pupiled and the Banished Immortal arrived, drawing murmurs.
“The young elites of the Borderlands War—who knows how strong they are now?”
Then, another stir—someone new had arrived.
“Wang Shi! The most talented heir of the Wang Clan!”
“The tenth dragon of the Wang Clan, blessed by the Great Dao!”
The crowd erupted, many rising to greet him.
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