After Shi Hao departed, a beam of immortal light flew over from a distant and unknown place, landing directly before the gates of the Heavenly Dao Divine Path, radiant and flawless in its sacredness.
It was an immortal weapon—a Measuring Ruler, pure as jade. This was no ordinary immortal artifact; it had been awakened and activated, exuding an overwhelming, peerless might.
At any moment, it could unleash a devastating strike, wreathed in layers of terrifying immortal energy, suffusing the air with an aura of apocalyptic destruction!
Alas, the Desolate One had long vanished, leaving no trace behind.
“Desolate One, do you dare to face me in battle?!” roared the severely wounded elder, his fury making his hair stand on end, wishing he could cleave the Desolate One in half on the spot.
The starry skies remained silent, with no response.
After paying their respects, the trio mounted their immortal artifact and surged into the cosmos, determined to pursue him.
In truth, Shi Hao had heard them—but he paid them no mind.
Originally, he had planned to ambush them ahead, but sensing the extraordinary nature of the Measuring Ruler, its brilliance infused with the terrifying divine will of some ancient existence, he chose not to reveal himself.
Chaos and disorder reigned across the heavens and earth.
Though no one deliberately spread word of this battle, news of it still leaked, sweeping across the world. For a time, the entire realm fell silent, and all who heard of it couldn’t help but sigh—truly, the Desolate One was formidable!
That had been a force from one of the immortal domains, three supreme experts lying in ambush for him, yet he had still departed with ease, nearly slaying one of their accomplished Daoists!
Lately, the world had been abuzz with news of the Desolate One, all rumors centered around him.
Thirty years of seclusion to temper his blade, ascending to the rank of Supreme—now, he had grown powerful to such an extent!
“That’s just like him—never bowing, never yielding, not even to the forces of the immortal domain. He refuses to forsake his dignity. It’s just… what a pity for the Desolate One,” sighed an elder softly.
“Why say it’s a pity?” his disciple asked, puzzled.
“By acting this way, he has already made his choice. He will never enter the immortal domain now. And in this decaying land where immortality is unattainable, no matter how peerless his talent, he cannot defy time. In the end, he will perish,” the elder lamented.
The Desolate One had made his decision resolutely—he would not bow, would not kneel. But by staying, how could he achieve immortality? In the current era, no one could cross that threshold. What would happen when the Age of Decay arrived? The outcome was already sealed!
Many things didn’t need to unfold for people to foresee the result.
The Desolate One’s fate had long been determined, and everyone knew it.
“What a tragedy—a Supreme under five hundred years old, the first of his kind in this era! Even in the ancient Immortal Epoch, there was said to be no such monstrous talent!”
“The Desolate One… what a cruel fate. The ancestor of the Crippled Immortal lineage is an ancient yet still-living Immortal King! With such a figure wielding boundless power, how could he ever enter the immortal domain? If he dared show his face there, death would be certain!”
If it were just a True Immortal, perhaps it could be managed—but an Immortal King?
Moreover, would True Immortals be lacking? A single expert from such a lineage could bring about a calamity!
“A peerless talent, his blood spilled in the borderlands—all for naught!”
Many lamented for Shi Hao, feeling it was a waste. Such a man, encountering the right winds, could have transformed into a dragon—only lacking the right opportunity!
Now, he would be trapped in this decaying land, destined for hopelessness, severed from immortality. No matter how extraordinary he was, he would eventually wither and die in this realm.
His lifespan would not be long—with the Age of Decay upon them, he had at most ten thousand years left.
“An unparalleled genius, the foremost of this era!”
“The youngest Supreme in history—how tragic!”
“The strongest young expert since ancient times!”
These were the unreserved praises of some, who spared no words in their admiration. In terms of cultivation alone, he truly deserved such acclaim.
Yet, it was still a pity—what awaited him was a world of decline and decay, devoid of hope, steadily marching toward ruin.
In the end, in this Age of Decay, he would be left to watch the passage of time in solitude, as his contemporaries perished one by one.
But even so, even if Shi Hao never entered the immortal domain, his fate already sealed, there were still those unwilling to let him be, unable to release their hatred!
This was naturally fueled by the likes of the Wang and Jin families, as well as factions like the Immortal Palace and clans hostile to the Sinful Blood lineage.
“You all praise the Desolate One, but I disagree. Even if his talent is unmatched, his bloodlust is too great. Slaughtering our fellow cultivators—he deserves punishment!”
An elder stepped forward, his cultivation not weak, openly questioning from afar.
“The Desolate One only killed those who deserved death—what’s wrong with that? Fighting in the borderlands, slaying the invincible Imperial Clans of our enemies, his battle merits are glorious! Was his killing not justified?” someone retorted.
“Nonsense! Resisting foreign enemies is our duty—every cultivator of our world bears that responsibility. And that was all in the past. What I speak of is now—he actually pursued and tried to kill Elder Jin Tai Jun, a venerable senior! Such insolence!” the elder declared with righteous indignation.
Naturally, a group of people echoed his words.
“Venerable Jin Tai Jun? What a poor joke! What has Jin Tai Jun ever done but act tyrannically, repeatedly provoking the Desolate One? During the border wars, she was the epitome of a capitulator, even willing to sell out the hardworking and meritorious Desolate One to the foreign realm—utterly shameless! And now, rumors say the Jin family colluded with Dark creatures. I say the Desolate One did well to pursue her—it’s just a shame he didn’t finish off that old witch!”
These words stirred a massive uproar, with many joining in to condemn Jin Tai Jun.
“Silence! How dare you insult Elder Jin Tai Jun? Where is your proof? How can you slander such a venerable senior?”
“To be so shameless—fine, then I ask you: what proof do you have that the Desolate One pursued Jin Tai Jun?”
Clearly, some were deliberately muddying the waters, dragging the Desolate One into the mire.
Certain families sought to absolve themselves while condemning him.
Before leaving, perhaps they had one last chance to strike—since the Desolate One was doomed never to enter the immortal domain, they saw no harm in kicking him while he was down.
The targeting was blatant, with the shadows of certain clans clearly visible.
“Hah, you all glorify the Desolate One too much. To me, he is nothing but a sinner!” another voice interjected.
This provoked public outrage. “What sin has the Desolate One committed?”
“He executed those with merit! When the Dark creatures invaded, he first captured Wang Da, then ambushed Wang Wu and others—the Nine Dragons of the Wang family, who once rendered great service in the borderlands! At a time of life-and-death crisis for our world, the Desolate One struck them down without regard for the greater picture, acting only out of personal vendetta!”
Some frowned at this, finding it increasingly excessive—an obvious attempt to confuse the issue.
Such claims couldn’t withstand scrutiny.
“Ridiculous! What great service did the Wang family’s Nine Dragons ever render in the borderlands? From past to present, who has ever heard of it? They were exiled there—originally, the Wang family hadn’t planned to send a single soldier, chilling the hearts of many!”
This was the truth. Back then, when Meng Tian Zheng fought desperately in the borderlands, the Wang family’s dragons had instead seized the chance to raid the Great Elder’s rear—the Heavenly Deity Academy—just to kill the Desolate One.
In such dire times, they dared such acts—how brazen!
In the end, the Great Elder, enraged, returned to the academy personally to execute them, forcing Wang Chang Sheng to intervene. Their death sentences were commuted to exile in the borderlands.
Yet, over all these years, until the war’s end, no one had heard of any great deeds from them—only repeated attempts to harm Shi Hao.
Even after being refuted, others still stepped forward.
“Even so, the Desolate One was wrong. The past is past—why did he still capture and kill Wang Da and Wang Wu? He disregarded the greater good,” declared a cultivator calling herself the White Lotus Holy Mother.
“Greater good your ancestor! Have you no shame? How can you say such things? Why did he capture Wang Da? Because Wang Da provoked him first, trying to suppress Cao Yu Sheng—only to be captured by the Desolate One instead! He got what he deserved! And all these years, how many Dark creatures has he slain? None! Useless, contributing nothing. Many suspected they colluded with the Dark creatures—and sure enough, at Mount Xumi, Wang Wu and the Wang family’s eighth elder were caught red-handed!”
The White Lotus Holy Mother flushed with anger.
“Lies! There’s no proof! And I ask you—why did the Desolate One kill Wang Shi? Clearly, he lacks perspective, willing to strangle our world’s talents!”
“No proof? The Dark Supreme who appeared at Mount Xumi was colluding with the Wang family—caught in the act! And Wang Shi? When the borderlands were in peril, he didn’t emerge. Only after peace was restored did he strut about, calling himself a genius. And at Mount Xumi, he tried to capture the Lunar Jade Rabbit, provoking the Desolate One to strike. Should the Desolate One have stood by and watched this so-called ‘genius’ seize his friend? Was Wang Shi’s behavior for the greater good? What kind of logic is that?”
“Exactly! A longevity-seeker like Wang Shi, who never contributed, never fought Dark creatures—yet he tried to capture the Desolate One’s old friend, and the Desolate One was supposed to ‘consider the greater good’ and not interfere? What a farce! What a ‘White Lotus Holy Mother’!”
The crowd’s fury grew, and the White Lotus Holy Mother struggled to respond.
With a cold sneer, she finally said, “Regardless, the Desolate One is an ingrate. After the border wars ended and Meng Tian Zheng fell in battle, Elder Wang Chang Sheng once offered to take him in, to bring him into the Wang family. Not only did he refuse, he then targeted Wang Chang Sheng’s descendants—such ingratitude, such treachery!”
“White Lotus Holy Mother, have you no shame?”
This time, even bystanders found her words excessive.
After his return, did the Desolate One need anyone’s charity? Where couldn’t he go?
“Elder Wang Chang Sheng likely intended to pass down the Pacifying Chaos Art to him—a gesture of valuing talent. Yet this ingrate not only refused but now opposes the Wang family!” the White Lotus Holy Mother insisted.
Many couldn’t bear it. The Wang family’s hostility toward the Desolate One had been common knowledge—even a child could see it. Her twisting of facts was disgraceful.
Back then, the two Supremes of the Immortal Academy and Sacred Academy had both remarked that the Wang family had acted too hastily—clearly aiming to trap the Desolate One and seize his Indestructible Scripture, among other things. Their motives were too transparent.
“At that time, Elder Wang Chang Sheng could have killed the Desolate One with ease—yet he didn’t. Instead, he extended an olive branch to one who bore enmity toward the Wang family. Truly admirable,” the White Lotus Holy Mother said.
“Would Wang Chang Sheng have dared?”
After the border wars, with the Desolate One’s unparalleled merits, who would dare defy the world to kill him?
The two Supremes of the Immortal and Sacred Academies, bound by life-and-death ties to Meng Tian Zheng, would never have allowed it.
Moreover, by then, the Desolate One’s cultivation had soared—below the Supreme realm, none could kill him. If he had died, the culprits would have been few, and the only ones with open grudges were the Jin and Wang families.
At the time, Jin Tai Jun had been gravely wounded, nearly annihilated—incapable of acting.
Had the Desolate One been slain, the first suspect would have been Wang Chang Sheng. No matter his thoughts, in those days, he wouldn’t have dared strike.
Otherwise, he would have been reviled by all. At the very least, if the Wang family wished to remain in the Nine Heavens and Ten Earths, they couldn’t defy the tide.
Back then, the Desolate One stood with the current of history.
Had Wang Chang Sheng truly been deranged, heedless of consequences, the Wang family would have suffered. The two Supremes of the Immortal and Sacred Academies might not have been able to kill him, but they would have slaughtered his entire lineage.
“Wang Chang Sheng’s intentions were obvious to all! His so-called ‘kindness’ back then was a joke!”
“After the border wars, the Wang family couldn’t wait—their greed was too blatant. Even a child could see their motives. And you beautify them? I’m ashamed to share the same world as you.”
As for Shi Hao himself, he had sensed the disturbance early—someone was deliberately muddying the waters. His response was simple and direct: he headed straight for the source.
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