Chapter 1875: Departure

The master of the forbidden land agreed to take him to the world beyond the embankment.

For that place, Shi Hao harbored both dread and longing. He desired to go there, yet he also felt apprehension. If not for having no other choice, he would not willingly set foot in it.

“Are you planning to bring others along?” The master of the forbidden land frowned.

This was Shi Hao’s request—he did not intend to go alone. He wanted to bring his family and some from Stone Village, allowing them to comprehend the Dao as well.

That place was extraordinary, filled with countless secrets. If they could truly gain something, the benefits would last a lifetime. Yet, it was undeniably perilous.

Shi Hao had been there before. Setting aside everything else, the lightning abyss alone was enough to stir greed. There were numerous Thunder Pools, and in the past, he had subdued one, reaping immense rewards.

Of course, life and death hung by a thread.

Beyond the embankment, one could easily stumble upon the corpses of True Immortals—a sight too horrifying. A single misstep could lead to a gruesome death.

“You must think carefully. That place is no sacred paradise but a land of great peril. Not everyone who goes there will gain something. If danger arises, even you could perish, body and soul obliterated,” the master of the forbidden land warned.

“I won’t cross to the other side of the embankment. I know my limits,” Shi Hao replied.

The master of the forbidden land said no more, giving him time to prepare—clearly allowing him to choose who to bring.

“Mu Qing, Zhu Lin, Shi Zhong—all of you, return!”

Shi Hao summoned them back to Stone Village. Among the eight hundred disciples, the most outstanding few had to be taken for tempering, allowing them to comprehend the Dao there.

Moreover, the Crimson Dragon was not exempt. Shi Hao then ascended to the upper realm to find the Heavenly Horned Ant, ensuring he wouldn’t miss this opportunity.

The most dangerous places were best suited for tempering the bodies of the strong.

“Bring Cao Yusheng as well!” Shi Hao added after some thought.

Cao Yusheng had not entered the Immortal Domain and remained in the Nine Heavens and Ten Earths. Shi Hao knew he was slumbering in a special ancient land—the same place where the little dog had been unearthed.

Originally, he hadn’t wanted to disturb him, but now it seemed too passive to let him sleep indefinitely. Was he truly planning to bury himself prematurely?

Nearby, the Crimson Dragon took human form and approached, holding a Thunder Pool in his hands. He gazed down at it with a strange expression.

Inside, three creatures resembling True Dragons, each only as long as chopsticks, swam amidst the lightning.

Thunder Spirits!

Born from heavenly tribulations, they fed on lightning and thunder, fearsome creatures that resembled dragons—ruthless and formidable, unafraid of divine punishment.

These were also beings to be taken along. Near the embankment world was a lightning abyss, the perfect place for the three Thunder Spirits to grow.

Over the years, though their cultivation had advanced, their progress had not been as rapid as expected—largely due to the unsuitable environment.

Such creatures were rare treasures. How many could be seen in an entire epoch?

Originally, they had belonged to the Wang Clan, a long-life aristocratic family. Back in the borderland imperial city, the clan had tried to ambush Shi Hao during his tribulation by releasing the Thunder Spirits, only for him to subdue them instead.

“They truly resemble my kind,” the Crimson Dragon sighed.

Legends said these creatures did not belong to the mortal world but had another origin, descending alongside heavenly tribulations.

Some speculated they might be connected to the origins of True Dragons—perhaps, under the right conditions, they could transform into dragons.

In Stone Village, butterflies fluttered gracefully. A golden divine butterfly rose from the vicinity of the Nine Dragons Coffin, its wings beating as it approached, trailing golden light—a sacred sight.

That was the Imperial Butterfly. Over the years, it had alternated between waking and slumbering, spending most of its time in Stone Village without venturing far.

Long ago, it had received immense benefits—encountering the remains of an immortal-level Imperial Butterfly from the previous epoch, inheriting its essence and gaining immeasurable rewards.

Not only had it received inherited imprints, but also the gift of refined blood. How could it have digested all that at once? Only through slumber could it slowly absorb the essence.

Thus, it cycled between sleep and wakefulness, repeating the process over and over.

Now, summoned by Shi Hao, the Imperial Butterfly had to follow.

Compared to it, another being had slept far longer—the Divine Striking Stone, which had remained utterly motionless all this time.

The reason was simple: the materials it had devoured were too extraordinary—Chaos Stone, World Stone, Law Stone… all treasures even True Immortals could scarcely obtain.

In the past, Shi Hao had been generous, feeding it all those supreme materials.

The time had come. The group gathered, ready to depart with Shi Hao for the master of the forbidden land.

Cao Yusheng seemed half-asleep, dazed and struggling to believe the changes of the past century or two. When he was pulled from his burial site, he had been utterly bewildered.

“You swept through the world, killed five Supreme Venerables, and even slaughtered the crippled immortals?” Even now, he kept asking, unable to fathom it.

“Fatty, stop sleeping. If you keep this up, you’ll miss the final spectacle of this epoch!” the Heavenly Horned Ant said.

“Exactly! Even if we know we might die in battle, it’s better than fading away in ignorance,” the Crimson Dragon, Mu Qing, and the others agreed.

The forbidden land lay in ruins, desolate and silent—a place of eerie stillness.

Shi Hao, the Heavenly Horned Ant, Mu Qing, and the others stood motionless, waiting to depart.

The master of the forbidden land said nothing more, only sighing softly. Across the vast expanse, the earth began to crack, rumbling as rocks shattered.

Beneath the ground, ancient formation patterns emerged, interwoven like molten iron flowing in the darkness—radiant and dazzling.

This was an ancient formation, hidden beneath the forbidden land!

“Once you go, you cannot return for a hundred years. Think carefully,” the master of the forbidden land said calmly yet coldly, issuing a final warning.

Shi Hao’s heart skipped a beat. They would have to endure there for a century. If they failed, they would perish.

No one backed out. There was no retreat. They all felt an urgency to rise, to carve out their own path to the Dao.

Shi Hao had brought them precisely because he saw that this world was withering, entering an era of declining laws. Many had truly reached their limits, losing the chance to attain the Dao.

He wanted to take them there, to a different world, to seek that very opportunity.

Boom!

The formation patterns on the ground intertwined like molten iron, growing increasingly intense until they erupted with a deafening roar, forming a massive array that enveloped everyone.

Whoosh!

Amidst immortal mist and chaotic light, the void was torn open, pierced through.

The Heavenly Horned Ant, Mu Qing, and the others were astounded. The power of this formation was overwhelming—was it truly piercing through worlds? They sensed an unprecedented force.

Time distorted, space shifted. In the distance, the river of time manifested, with shattered worlds floating like duckweed on a vast sea.

Was this real? They wondered if they were trapped in an illusion.

The master of the forbidden land sighed, reverting to half a snow-white skull on the ground. He carried too many regrets, too much sorrow.

In the past, he had fled from that place, his body destroyed and Dao extinguished, leaving behind only an unyielding obsession. Too many memories were tied to the world beyond the embankment.

Boom!

Shi Hao and the others shuddered violently. Amidst fragments of time and the shifting of broken universes, they traversed the void, leaving the forbidden land and soon arriving in a mysterious ancient realm.

Thud!

Heaven collapsed, earth split. Immortals wept, demons wailed. Sun and moon fell, and the world seemed to return to its primordial state. Through countless terrifying visions, they reached their destination.

Darkness and dread enveloped them as they crashed down, shattering the silence and shaking the ground violently.

“We’re here. This is the place,” Shi Hao declared with certainty. He had been here before with Sanzang and Shenming.

The silence was absolute, devoid of sound, the gloom making it seem as though they had reached the end of creation, witnessing the desolate, broken truth of eternity.

In an instant, everyone’s hair stood on end. Instinctively, they sensed the terror of this place—a single misstep could mean death.

Ahead stood an embankment—vast, imposing, blocking their view.

“True Immortals?!”

The moment they arrived, everyone except Shi Hao shuddered. They saw indistinct figures hanging from the embankment, exuding an aura that threatened to tear their bodies apart.

Corpses of True Immortals, suspended on the mysterious embankment, as if they had crawled over from the other side.

“Hmm?!”

Shi Hao scrutinized them closely, his blood running cold. He was even more shocked than the others. When he had come here with Sanzang and Shenming years ago, this corpse had not been present.

Back then, they had found several skeletons, their immortal blood still flowing, their undying aura lingering—but none like this one.

“Did this corpse crawl over from the other side of the embankment in the past two hundred years?” Shi Hao frowned deeply, sensing the horror of this discovery.