The one-legged elder departed, clearly a gesture of goodwill from the forbidden zone, offering Shi Hao a kind warning—a true immortal might soon strike against him!
Time flowed like a river. Shi Hao presided over the Heavenly Court, and in the blink of an eye, centuries passed without any major incidents. The so-called crippled immortals had not recovered, nor had they arrived.
In this era, Shi Hao was already eighteen hundred years old, yet his face bore no trace of time. He remained youthful, his gaze as clear as ever.
His cultivation had grown even more profound and unfathomable.
None but the masters of the forbidden zones knew that the years he had experienced were unimaginably long—so ancient it was terrifying!
If not for the fact that it wasn’t just a dream, he had already lived eight lifetimes, spanning hundreds of thousands of years, with this eighth life alone lasting over ninety millennia.
What an ancient and horrifying span of time!
Outsiders were unaware, and even Mu Qing, Chi Long, and the others sensed nothing. Shi Hao had not shared this dreadful experience with them, lest it shake their Dao hearts.
Shi Hao could feel that time struggled to leave its mark on him. In this eighth life, it was as though he had gained some inexplicable power.
Within the grand palace, Shi Hao formed hand seals, drawing boundless essence from the void. Around him, auspicious mists surged, immortal fog billowed, and the concentrated essence of heaven and earth condensed into liquid.
“Come!”
With a sharp cry, Shi Hao’s hands blazed with light as he extracted the primordial essence of the world!
*Hum!*
The entire palace radiated divine light that pierced the heavens, shaking the cosmos. The scene here was extraordinary—all plants and trees grew wildly, withered wood revived, and seeds sprouted.
Even in the distant snow-capped mountains, vegetation burst through the ice, blooming and bearing fruit, exuding vibrant life energy.
At the same time, all members of the Heavenly Court were bathed in this essence. Without needing to cultivate, they were submerged in the laws and spiritual purity, absorbing it effortlessly.
“This is…” They looked up in unison at Shi Hao, who now hovered mid-air, channeling the primordial essence raining down from the heavens.
A brilliant divine liquid manifested around him, exuding the aura of immortality.
“Is this divine source liquid?” Zhu Lin gasped.
They recognized it. Shi Hao had once brought back some source stones from the Immortal Domain, which aided cultivation.
But there hadn’t been much!
Back then, he had suffered a strike from Immortal King Ao Sheng, causing most of the source stones on him to shatter, dispersing into essence. Only a few remnants remained.
Now, Shi Hao was forging this substance himself, creating it through sheer will!
In the past, others had attempted similar feats, but the great immortal clans had to expend tremendous effort, mixing in divine herbs and other treasures to refine mere traces of immortal essence before blending it with heaven and earth’s essence to produce such liquid.
But this was entirely different. Shi Hao was directly extracting the primordial essence of the world!
This liquid naturally contained traces of immortality.
Most astonishingly, this divine source liquid could seal living beings within it. Once encased, they would enter slumber, untouched by the erosion of time.
“This… this is creation! This is life essence—it can seal those on the brink of death!”
Mu Qing, Shi Zhong, and the others shouted in excitement.
They had tested it themselves. Sealed within the divine source liquid, their vitality remained intact, untouched by decay, as though time had bypassed them.
The divine source liquid was difficult to preserve, solidifying rapidly.
Only Shi Hao could refine it at will, extracting the world’s primordial essence to create this substance. No one else in the Heavenly Court could replicate it.
Once solidified, the divine source became an excellent cultivation aid—pure, untainted, and brimming with primordial essence that could be absorbed directly.
Mu Qing, Chi Long, and the others understood why Shi Hao was refining this substance. It was an act of defiance against the heavens, for extracting the world’s primordial essence risked inviting calamity.
Yet Shi Hao persisted. He intended to bring this divine source liquid back to Stone Village!
Even he was already eighteen hundred years old. One could only imagine how many generations Stone Village had seen.
The next moment, Shi Hao stood at the village entrance, staring blankly at the settlement.
It had changed little. After several expansions, it had remained unchanged. Later generations had built new towns elsewhere.
This place still retained its original appearance.
Eighteen hundred years had passed, and Stone Village remained, but where were the people of the past?
Shi Hao’s nose tingled with sorrow. Despite his immense power and the trials of countless years, his heart still held a tender place—reserved for Stone Village.
Not just the elders of the old chief’s generation, but even many of the later generations had long passed, buried beneath the yellow earth.
Da Zhuang, Er Meng, Pi Hou, and the others still lived, but they were now frail with age. Their cultivation had never been strong, and they had survived this long only because Shi Hao had once cleansed their bodies with his own blood.
Their parents had long turned to dust.
Shi Lin Hu and Shi Fei Jiao—once the village’s leaders—had guided the hunters in Shi Hao’s youth, providing food for all.
But they, too, were gone.
And the warm-hearted aunties—none remained.
Shi Hao wanted to weep. Despite all he had endured, despite his supreme cultivation, his heart ached. The people of his past were gone forever.
This time, he had returned with the divine source liquid to seal those whose lives were fading, preserving them for the future—until the day he could reverse time and grant them another lifetime.
“Grandpa Chief, rest in peace,” Shi Hao murmured.
Shi Yun Feng was nearly two thousand years old. By all rights, he should have returned to dust long ago, but Shi Hao had once forcibly extended his life with immortal blood and divine medicine.
Yet time was merciless.
For centuries, the old chief had lingered in a half-slumber.
How long could a mortal elder’s lifespan truly be?
Had he been awake, the old chief would never have allowed Shi Hao to seal him with divine source liquid. He had once said he was content, ready to reunite with his old friends in the afterlife.
“Xiao Hao, do you truly wish to seal us? Let us pass naturally. We’ve witnessed the splendor of this life—what more could we ask for? We’ve experienced all there is. Death comes for everyone, and returning to the earth is the most natural and fitting end,” Da Zhuang said.
They were all old now—their legs unsteady, eyes clouded, hair sparse, backs bent.
He, Er Meng, Pi Hou, Hu Zi, and the others of their generation had begun cultivation under poor conditions. Their strength had never reached great heights, far inferior to Stone Village’s descendants.
Even with Shi Hao’s efforts to cleanse their bloodlines and bodies, they grew frailer with each passing year.
“Xiao Hao, let us go peacefully. This act defies the heavens. We fear you’ll suffer karmic retribution,” Er Meng said, coughing as he patted Shi Hao’s shoulder.
How many could still call him “Xiao Hao”? Very few remained.
Shi Hao’s nose stung, tears threatening to fall. Stone Village stood unchanged, but its people were gone. The uncles, aunts, and elders of his childhood were nowhere to be seen.
Back then, the villagers had doted on him. With no parents, it was the villagers and the old chief who had raised him.
But those rough-spoken uncles, those kind yet fierce aunties—all were gone. Shi Hao wanted to wail. Time had stolen everyone he knew.
When he had once refined immortal blood medicine, he had tried to preserve them, but they had refused. They had departed with smiles, unwilling to waste the medicine, insisting it be saved for his future needs.
“Xiao Hao, don’t grieve. Death comes for all—this cannot be changed.”
Hu Zi wrapped an arm around his shoulder, breathing heavily, his voice thick with sorrow as he gazed beyond the village, into the wilderness. “We don’t want to leave you either, but it’s time. These years, we’ve grown so old, so useless—we even reminisce about our childhood, about raiding the Azure-Scaled Eagle’s nest, about so many people…”
Shi Hao’s eyes burned with unshed tears.
He pulled them close. “You are my brothers—the ones who grew up with me. I won’t watch you wither away in time. Let me be selfish just this once. Stay with me a little longer… walk with me a little further…”
They clung to each other, choking back sobs.
How hard it was to part with Stone Village!
The people of the past were all gone.
In the end, Shi Hao sealed them as he had the old chief, submerging Da Zhuang, Er Meng, and the others in divine source liquid, preserving them within.
Stone Village remained, but its people were no more.
That day, some heard a heart-wrenching cry from the depths of the wilderness—a sound of profound sorrow.
Shi Hao knew this was inevitable, yet he could not let go.
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