“Willow God!”
Shi Hao stood before the towering black willow tree, his emotions turbulent. Willow God had actually entered the Ultimate Land in such a manner.
What was the true Willow God doing now? Engaged in a bloody battle or trapped in the dark abyss? Shi Hao’s heart surged with unrest. He wished he could charge over immediately.
Willow God, peerless in grace and grandeur!
Shi Hao couldn’t help but marvel. Whether in the past or present, Willow God had always been extraordinary!
Abandoning its physical form, its primordial spirit charged into the darkness, striking forth with undiminished brilliance. Such courage—who could compare?
Boom!
In the Sea of Realms, waves surged, triggering a tsunami. Another dark storm descended, this time exceptionally terrifying, sweeping over the island.
It was the manifestation of rules, the embodiment of order. Dao runes surged violently in the black ocean, sweeping across the island.
Shi Hao stood motionless, his current strength allowing him to withstand the dark storm. Waves crashed against him, dark hurricanes struck his body—yet he remained unshaken. An ordinary Immortal King might have been torn apart.
The dark storm carried countless Dao symbols, lashing toward the willow tree. Torrential rain poured, lightning flashed, and thunder roared—it was as if the world itself was ending.
Shi Hao stood silently, his expression grave as he watched.
Boom!
Suddenly, the willow tree awakened. Under attack, its entire body erupted with dark radiance, surrounded by swirling nebulae and infinite chains of order.
The towering tree trembled, and thousands of black branches straightened like divine spears, piercing into the storm.
It had revived, proving its sentience. A new primordial spirit had been born—one of immense power—dispelling the dark storm without suffering severe damage.
Such prowess far surpassed that of ordinary Immortal Kings!
Shi Hao wasn’t surprised. Willow God had always been an Immortal King. At this level, once its true primordial spirit departed into darkness, how could the newly born spirit be weak?
This was a super-evolved being nurtured by an Immortal King’s body. Over millions of years, its cultivation must have advanced by leaps and bounds, achieving astonishing heights.
In truth, any being that fell into darkness in the Sea of Realms and revived from oblivion—especially an Immortal King—would never be weaker than in its past life.
Then, with a thunderous roar, thousands of black branches shot toward Shi Hao, their dark radiance overwhelming, their aura terrifyingly powerful!
Shi Hao swept his right hand forward, and as his palm opened, golden chains of order—like golden willow branches—pierced through the void to meet the attack.
This was the authentic Willow God’s technique, strikingly similar to the opponent’s own!
Boom!
The two forces collided violently. Shi Hao remained unmoved, while the dark willow trembled, clearly shocked that its opponent had countered its assault with a nearly identical technique.
“Who are you?” The dark willow’s divine sense rippled through the air, its countless black chains of order and swaying branches exuding an overwhelming aura.
This was a supreme expert, rivaling the mightiest of kings—a worthy dark incarnation of Willow God.
“Your kin and disciple from a past life,” Shi Hao replied. In his heart, Willow God was family, his mentor, who had given him so much.
“Stone Village… Shi Hao?” The dark willow’s tone carried suspicion.
Shi Hao’s eyes blazed with divine light. He was stunned—this dark willow knew of these things. Had it regained memories of its past life?
“Yes, I am Shi Hao. I once lived with Willow God in Stone Village.” Shi Hao reminisced about those bygone days, now lost forever. Back then, he had been but a child, and Willow God—charred and blackened—had only a single tender, emerald-green branch, reviving from death and starting anew.
Compared to the millions of years that followed, those mere decades were but a fleeting moment in Shi Hao’s life. Yet, they had left an indelible mark, shaping his entire existence.
“It is you!” The dark willow’s swaying branches slowly lowered, hanging naturally. After a long silence, it spoke: “There was once a stele here, sealed with a primordial spirit’s imprint, briefly recounting fragments of the past.”
Shi Hao understood immediately—this dark willow knew fragments of its past life!
Because Willow God had willingly descended into darkness, not by accident, it had prepared thoroughly, leaving behind information for its newly born spirit.
In the end, this willow followed Shi Hao away.
Though this was not the Willow God of old, with a different primordial spirit, Shi Hao still felt a special bond, regarding it as family.
Much like the current dark Huo Ling’er, whose nature remained untainted and whose personality resembled her past self, the dark Willow God was the same—and it even retained fragments of its past memories.
The same body, a different spirit—truly, a tale of past and present lives!
Yet, this was not the Willow God of yore. Shi Hao couldn’t fully embrace it as he once had. If it had been the original, he might have shed tears, disregarding the dignity of an Immortal King.
Now, both were Immortal Kings, their relationship intimate yet complex—familial, yet tinged with distance.
Retracing his path, Shi Hao used formation arrays to return with this supreme expert. The journey was arduous, as some stretches couldn’t be traversed via formations, requiring another twenty thousand years of flight—just like before.
To outsiders unfamiliar with the Sea of Realms, such a revelation would be shocking. Even an Immortal King needed so long to traverse it—what kind of bizarre place was this?!
The round trip consumed over forty thousand years. When Shi Hao finally returned to the Immortal Domain, it caused a massive stir.
His forty-thousand-year disappearance had sparked rumors—some believed he had ventured into the deepest reaches of the Sea of Realms, never to return.
Pessimists even speculated that Shi Hao, in his arrogance, might have perished in the abyss.
Heaven’s Court was overjoyed.
Immortal Kings from all factions came to pay their respects.
Yet, when they saw the dark Willow God, many were stunned and wary, sensing its overwhelming aura—this was a supreme king!
Some even recognized it, noting its resemblance to the ancient Sacrificial Spirit.
“Fellow Daoist, could this be…?” someone ventured cautiously.
“Indeed, it is the Sacrificial Spirit,” Shi Hao confirmed.
Some shuddered, hesitating before warning Shi Hao that such a dark being, if harboring ill intent, could be catastrophic.
Moreover, such creatures might leak dark matter, polluting and corrupting other realms.
“It’s like Huo Ling’er—having exhausted the dark substance, it became a super-evolved being. Just like Yu Tuo from the Foreign Realm—you’ve fought him. Do you still sense dark corruption now?” Shi Hao countered.
Though wary, the kings tested Willow God and confirmed the absence of dark erosion.
Regardless, with Shi Hao—a supreme king—present, none dared provoke a confrontation.
Their trust in Shi Hao stemmed from his seventy-thousand-year reign of terror—single-handedly quelling chaos in the Sea of Realms, slaying kings and vanquishing foes.
If he were tainted, he wouldn’t have fought so fiercely.
Millennia later, another dark upheaval erupted. A horde of lost beings from the Sea of Realms, led by terrifying kings, invaded the Immortal Domain.
The dark Willow God joined the fray, charging at the forefront alongside Shi Hao. It personally slew a supreme king, achieving a monumental feat!
The conflict raged for years, ending only when every invader was annihilated.
Repeated assaults had damaged the Immortal Domain. Ancient fortresses at its borders had long crumbled.
Now, travel between the Immortal Domain, the Foreign Realm, and other worlds had become far easier.
The Lower Realm was no exception. Whether the Great Dao was complete or fragmented, nothing could hinder an Immortal King’s steps.
The Nine Heavens and Ten Earths fared the worst.
When Shi Hao first emerged from the Ten Reincarnation Seals, he had discovered this realm nearly destroyed by kings, its inhabitants forced to flee to the stars.
Some kings’ return paths were anchored here—such as near the Immortal Tomb.
Some protected this realm; others sought to corrupt it.
Over seventy thousand years had passed since Shi Hao entered the Immortal Domain. In that time, the pathways between realms had gradually interconnected.
Once, realms had sealed their borders, wary of each other and the denizens of the Sea of Realms.
Now, such precautions were pointless. The beings of the Sea of Realms had already marked all realms, charting their coordinates upon return.
“Some paths remain treacherous, but most are now easily traversed. This signals the coming of great chaos!”
Shi Hao sighed.
The implications were clear. With realms increasingly accessible, conflicts—between realms or against the Sea of Realms—would escalate.
In the ensuing millennia, Shi Hao amassed strength, pondering the path from King to Emperor!
Now, Heaven’s Court stood formidable. With Shi Hao at its helm and the dark Willow God’s return, these two supreme experts were unmatched. Coupled with the likes of Second Under Heaven and the Immortal Gold Daoist, their might was undeniable.
And if one counted Shi Hao’s mount—the Golden-Haired Hou—their collective strength was truly terrifying.
Boom!
One day, a deafening tremor erupted from the ancestral lands of the Heavenly Horned Ant. A colossal golden ant, crowned with a single horn, burst forth with boundless radiance, illuminating the cosmos.
The pinnacle of strength!
Many Immortal Kings were roused by this overwhelming power, which shook the Immortal Domain itself.
The Heavenly Horned Ant had emerged triumphant, ascending to the level of the Ten Calamities—its body peerless, its spirit nearly matching an Immortal King’s.
The Ten Calamities were so named for their fearsome might. Against an Immortal King, they could hold their own, each possessing unique abilities.
They were anomalies—once unleashed, unstoppable, even kings would tread carefully.
The Heavenly Horned Ant’s strength was legendary—overpowering all with sheer force. But its true trump card was its berserk state. Once enraged, its power—including its spirit—would surge dramatically.
Shi Hao had witnessed this firsthand long ago.
The Heavenly Horned Ant had succeeded, its strength now rivaling its father’s!
With its current power, it could replace the elder Heavenly Horned Ant among the Ten Calamities.
“Excellent. We’ve gained another king-level combatant. Next time I enter the Foreign Realm, I won’t need to retreat hastily. We’ll sweep through them!” Shi Hao declared coldly.
With him, Willow God, Second Under Heaven, the Immortal Gold Daoist, the Golden-Haired Hou, and now the Heavenly Horned Ant, their combined force was unstoppable.
“I must break through too!” the Crimson Dragon roared.
Mu Qing, the Thunder Spirit, the Imperial Butterfly—all trained relentlessly, yearning for greater heights. Yet they sighed, knowing the path was arduous.
The Heavenly Horned Ant returned, demanding Shi Hao release He Wushuang for a decisive duel.
Shi Hao agreed, knowing this was the ant’s obsession. Without defeating this Immortal King, it would never find peace.
He released He Wushuang’s spirit, with the dark Willow God standing guard to prevent mishaps.
“Xiao Hao, any news of your brother?” Fifteen Master Shi Zhongtian asked worriedly in the stone chamber.
The elder fretted over Qin Hao’s fate. Though distant in childhood, blood ties ran deep.
“I’ve searched and divined, but my efforts were blocked—likely by a king’s interference. Otherwise, I’d know if he lived or died,” Shi Hao frowned.
He suspected ties to the Eternal Calamity.
“And my grandson? And Zi Ling, Yun Xi… are they well?” the elder’s voice trembled with longing.
“They’re safe,” Shi Hao reassured. “I sealed them away in lands beyond kings’ divination, fearing detection.”
Most were near the end of their lifespans. Though the Immortal Domain’s immortal essence could sustain them, the coming cataclysm posed too great a risk.
He even considered sealing more of Heaven’s Court to weather the unprecedented storm.
“How I miss them… my great-grandson…” the elder lamented.
“Little Stone may emerge. I revived him long ago—he’s been training there. If he becomes a king, he’ll aid me,” Shi Hao revealed.
“What? My great-grandson… Wonderful!” Shi Zhongtian rejoiced.
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