In the starry sky, the radiance was blinding and exceptionally dazzling. The crippled immortal was shattered into pieces, crushed by a massive golden hand, his blood splattering across the cosmos and his primordial spirit obliterated.
“Ah—” A howl of grief and indignation echoed, filled with unwillingness—the final struggle of a soul. A true immortal in despair!
How could he accept this? After restoring his cultivation, he had believed he would reign supreme over the world. He had become a flawless true immortal, yet he had been defeated by a mere mortal—a cultivator in the human realm.
Especially since, two thousand four or five hundred years ago, he had personally crippled Shi Hao, severing his Dao with the Immortal-Severing Curse, treating him like a weak and insignificant weed.
Who could have imagined that one day, he would be slain by that very weed, ending his life?
It was too humiliating. His hatred surged like a tidal wave. To die like this was filled with disgrace. Which flawless true immortal had ever been killed by a human-realm cultivator? He might have been the first.
This would be recorded in history, forever nailing him to the pillar of shame.
For generations to come, people would surely speak of him—how, in a single battle, a true immortal had fallen, becoming nothing more than a foil to highlight the dazzling brilliance of “Huang.”
A true immortal was, after all, a true immortal. Even with his primordial spirit shattered, he had not completely perished.
That was his imprint—a wisp of true spirit attempting to flee.
Unfortunately, the massive golden hand descended, drawing him into its palm and sealing him there.
This was the imprint of a true immortal. Shi Hao wanted to study it, to uncover the secrets of this realm.
“Just kill me!” the true immortal roared.
To fall into Shi Hao’s hands like this was a fate worse than death.
True immortals were too powerful. Even with his primordial spirit shattered, he still had a chance to revive. But now, Shi Hao had seized that very imprint.
*Poof!*
In the cosmos, the shattered body and scattered blood were refined into a potent elixir—a vial of concentrated immortal blood!
This was the great medicine of the human body, harvested by Shi Hao.
Soon after, the bronze palace was seized, becoming his spoils of war.
Suddenly, Shi Hao flipped his palm, as if an entire universe were collapsing. With a *bang*, he crushed a distant creature beneath it, shattering it instantly.
In the past, there had been four crippled immortals. Two had already been slain, and the remaining two met their end today.
The last crippled immortal had not yet recovered to his peak. How could he possibly withstand Shi Hao in his current state? Thus, he was obliterated in an instant—body and soul, utterly annihilated.
“A karmic debt is now settled,” Shi Hao said calmly.
Back then, the Kun Peng, gravely wounded and on the brink of death after returning from the battlefield, had been ambushed by four true immortals. Now, all four had fallen, slain beneath this starry sky.
Shi Hao had inherited the Kun Peng’s legacy. Today, he had avenged it.
This battle shook the heavens and the earth. Who could have imagined that a mortal cultivator would slay a true immortal? It was an unimaginable, glorious feat.
“Truly defying the heavens! This will surely be recorded in the annals of cultivation history!”
“Slaying an immortal while still mortal—Huang has done it! A battle unparalleled through the ages!”
…
Across the world, all clans were astounded.
Every powerful figure learned of the outcome immediately, and none were not horrified. They all wondered—just how strong was Huang? How had he managed to kill a true immortal?
Even the great forbidden zones could not remain calm. They, too, were startled by this achievement. Huang’s performance was too monstrous.
At the Immortal Fall Ridge, the two young men from back then had long since matured into middle-aged experts of formidable strength. Yet after witnessing this battle, their faces turned pale.
In the past, they had sought to kill Huang, even asking their true immortal ancestor to intervene—yet they had failed to eliminate him. At the time, they had been indignant. Now, everything was clear.
A true immortal could not suppress Huang. If they dared to act, they would be the ones slain instead!
“We’ve incurred no small karmic debt!”
The two exchanged glances, their hearts uneasy. The crippled immortal of the Immortal Palace had emerged precisely because they had informed him, urging him to take action.
Though it had taken over a thousand years for him to act, and though the Immortal Palace itself had a deep grudge against Shi Hao, these two had still played a significant role.
“No matter. Our clan’s master is invincible. Our lineage fears no one.”
Yet soon after, their clan’s master punished them, ordering them into seclusion. If they dared to involve themselves in further karmic entanglements, they would be executed on the spot!
The tone was utterly severe.
“Why?” The two were terrified.
There was no explanation. A massive hand reached out, seizing them and nearly tearing them apart. They were suppressed beneath a mountain, forbidden from emerging.
Clearly, the master of the Immortal Fall Ridge possessed profound foresight. He had glimpsed a fragment of the future and feared being entangled in an unfathomable karmic storm!
Nine years later, Yun Xi gave birth—a healthy infant, radiant with divine light and wreathed in wisps of immortal energy, entering the world.
Even Shi Hao had not expected Yun Xi to carry the child for a full nine years before his birth. The duration was astonishing, defying all expectations.
“He’s born!”
Many exclaimed in shock. Not only those of the Heavenly Court but also distant factions monitoring its movements were stunned.
It was a baby boy, and his birth was accompanied by celestial phenomena.
In an instant, spiritual energy surged, divine light rolled like tides, and the Great Dao resonated. Countless rules of heaven and earth intertwined, gathering and descending upon the child.
This child was extraordinary!
At that moment, Shi Hao acted. With a flip of his palm, he blotted out the sky, dispersing all the Great Dao rules and divine radiance.
Especially the cascading laws from the heavens—he shattered them completely.
“Master, these are the ripples of the Great Dao, the order of the world. Using them to baptize the child might grant him great fortune!” Chi Long was puzzled.
“My path is that of the Seed Within. If he is blessed by the heavens, surrounded by the marks of the Great Dao, it may not be a good thing,” Shi Hao said.
Gazing at the sky, he murmured, “One day, even this world may collapse, all realms may fall.”
When the Great Cleansing came, nothing would remain eternal.
Even so, this child was special—far too extraordinary. His cries were resonant, like the tolling of a golden bell, brimming with vitality.
Moreover, his body was crystalline, covered in a layer of precious light, innately resilient and imbued with innate magical power.
“Tsk!”
Many gasped in astonishment.
“Woof!” Even the pup of mysterious origins couldn’t help but bark.
This child was born with innate magical power. If he were allowed to grow, his potential would be terrifying!
“Leave him to me. I’ll make sure he becomes the second Wu Zhong Immortal King!” the pup declared.
This matter even drew the attention of the master of the forbidden zone, who studied the child with great interest.
Yet he had no intention of taking a disciple. This era was too chaotic—there was no time to nurture a peerless expert before the Great Calamity arrived.
Yun Xi cradled the infant, her face filled with contentment and adoration. Holding him was like holding the entire world. Her joy was boundless, her maternal radiance resplendent.
On this day, a tiny bird, no larger than a palm, flew from the lower realm to the upper realm, carrying a small white cauldron in its beak.
Shi Hao was stunned. It was the Five-Colored Sparrow—the mischievous little bird from Stone Village. After so many years, it had come to him on its own, ascending from the lower realm.
The small white cauldron in its beak was familiar—the very same one that had emerged when the black-gold cauldron of Stone Village had shattered long ago.
During the descent of the Seven Gods, Shi Hao and the Vermilion Bird had wielded the ancestral cauldron in battle. Its outer metal shell had cracked and fallen away, revealing its true form.
After that battle, the small white cauldron had vanished.
It had only reappeared when Shi Hao married Yun Xi, delivered to Stone Village by the Five-Colored Sparrow.
Shi Hao had studied it for a long time but found nothing beyond its potent medicinal properties.
Later, he had left it in Stone Village. Now, the Five-Colored Sparrow had brought it back.
“The heavens bestowed blessings upon this child, yet you refused them to avoid divine jealousy. Use this cauldron to baptize his body regularly in the future.”
For the first time, the Five-Colored Sparrow spoke to Shi Hao in human language.
“What kind of cauldron is this?” Shi Hao asked.
“A medicinal cauldron—extraordinary,” the sparrow replied. It explained that this was an ancient cauldron used by immortals to refine elixirs, containing immense medicinal properties.
Boiling water within it could cleanse impurities and ward off calamities.
Moreover, it told Shi Hao and Yun Xi that if they were willing, they could seal the child inside the cauldron and release him countless generations later.
Tears welled in Yun Xi’s eyes, her heart aching. She nearly broke down in sobs.
Shi Hao understood. This era was too perilous, too terrifying. The horrors to come might already be foretold.
For safety’s sake, the Five-Colored Sparrow suggested sealing the child in the cauldron, preserving him for a future golden age of peace and prosperity.
“Why are you so kind to me?” Shi Hao asked suspiciously.
“The ancestral sacrifice spirit of the Immortal Ancient Era asked me to look after you,” the sparrow admitted frankly.
“Just what are you?” Shi Hao pressed.
“I believe I come from beyond the Boundary Sea.”
This statement shocked Shi Hao to his core, leaving Mu Qing and the others petrified, their minds roiling with disbelief.
“You come from beyond the Boundary Sea?!” Shi Hao’s emotions surged violently.
“I don’t truly know who I am. I only vaguely remember coming from the Boundary Sea. During the Immortal Ancient Era, I perched on the ancestral sacrifice spirit’s true form, permitted to nest there as its neighbor.”
The sparrow explained that it was merely a wisp of divine sense, not a true physical form—more like a fragment of a soul.
It had forgotten too much, its memories hazy. But it was certain it came from the Boundary Sea.
“Don’t mistake me for a supreme expert. My cultivation is truly mediocre. My Dao foundation must have been severed, leaving me with little combat power and no hope of recovery,” it said bluntly.
Most importantly, it knew nothing of what lay beyond the Boundary Sea. Its past was lost.
With that, the Five-Colored Sparrow dropped the cauldron and flew away.
The master of the forbidden zone mused, “It shares great karma with the ancestral sacrifice spirit. In this life, the truth will be revealed.”
“Liu Shen, how are you now?” Shi Hao sighed, missing the Willow God and the little pagoda. If only they could return.
In the end, Shi Hao could not bring himself to seal the child away—mainly because Yun Xi was too unwilling, her eyes brimming with tears as she begged to be sealed alongside him.
“We won’t seal him completely. Let him slumber in the cauldron, waking periodically,” Shi Hao proposed as a compromise.
If an unstoppable calamity arose, he would seal the cauldron completely and send the child away.
From then on, Yun Xi spoke to the sleeping child daily. Every so often, he would awaken, blinking his bright eyes at her.
This was enough for her. She clung to the cauldron, refusing to part with it.
“Shi Hao, I found a notebook left by my master. This world holds great horrors!” Cao Yusheng arrived with urgent news.
The origins of the dark creatures—how they had entered the Nine Heavens and Ten Earths—had long been a mystery.
Recently, Cao Yusheng had discovered his master’s sealed notes, uncovering the truth.
Tears streamed down his face. “My master is dead. He and the war spirits hiding in the Three-Life Copper Coffin emerged to seal the breach, but they never returned. The dark creatures invaded successfully—meaning they perished completely!”
Though he had long suspected his master’s death, having it confirmed so starkly, knowing his master had died in agony, was unbearable.
The supreme beings among the dark creatures could corrupt the Void God Realm, the Spirit Realm, and all other mentally constructed worlds.
They had crossed over from the realm of spirits!
The dark creatures could shift between spiritual and physical forms, making them terrifyingly unpredictable.
“The darkness comes from the depths of the Boundary Sea, lurking in the Foreign Lands…”
This was written in Cao Yusheng’s master’s notes. During the Immortal Ancient Era, they had fought against the dark creatures, clashing with the Foreign Lands.
After all, even Yu Tuo, the ancient ancestor of the Foreign Lands, had evolved from a dark creature.
“The Seven Kings of the Borderlands wept as they burned their kin’s bodies and severed their comrades’ heads.”
This passage sent chills down Shi Hao’s spine. As he read the notes, his heart could not remain calm.
Some mysteries were finally answered.
Shi Hao had once boarded a blood-stained black ship, where he saw a stone cauldron filled with heads—many belonging to immortal-level beings.
“Those were warriors who had already fallen in battle. Their bodies could not be left to the dark creatures, lest they be reborn as unimaginably powerful dark beings!”
In the ancient Imperial Pass, some had witnessed the Seven Kings of the Borderlands beheading their own commanders. The reasoning was the same.
From these notes, Shi Hao learned that in the future, no matter what, the heads of powerful beings must be severed to deny the dark creatures any advantage.
Bodies without heads could not be resurrected as dark creatures.
Shi Hao, Tianjiao Ant, and Cao Yusheng immediately set out to investigate ancient sites and the depths of the cosmos, tracing the path of the dark creatures’ invasion.
They were silent. The darkness from the Boundary Sea was too horrifying.
When the Great Cleansing came, they would emerge in full force, unleashing utter devastation.
Moreover, the Foreign Lands were inextricably linked to the dark creatures. This meant that terrifying figures like An Lan, Chi Wang, Wu Shang, and Yu Tuo would return.
It also meant the Borderlands’ seal would not hold!
In fact, they suspected the dark creatures could release the Foreign Lands’ forces at any time.
“The final battle will stem from the Boundary Sea—the Great Cleansing!”
Shi Hao was troubled. No wonder Liu Shen had gone to the sea beyond the dam instead of attacking the Foreign Lands. It sought to end the calamity at its source.
But would it ever return?
In truth, throughout the ages, supreme experts had crossed the sea for this very reason!
“Two ancient artifacts once emerged from the Boundary Sea. One fell in the Burial Grounds—the Origin Artifact. The other fell in the Foreign Lands, also called the Origin Artifact.”
This, too, was recorded in Cao Yusheng’s master’s notes.
Both artifacts were sacred and flawless, their radiance illuminating all heavens!
“No mention of the Rotten Wooden Box!” Shi Hao frowned.
The Boundary Sea—again, it all led back there.
“In the Emperor Fall Era, there may have been an emperor. Some say he perished in that age, others claim he left faint footprints as he ventured into the depths of the Boundary Sea…”
“We speculate that he was no emperor. This world has none!”
The notes were shocking. The final pages revealed earth-shattering secrets.
The Boundary Sea—so many mysteries pointed toward it!
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