The crowd wailed and mourned, their cries piercing the heavens, echoing across the vast sky.
Five crimson coffins loomed ominously, carrying the mangled remains of five dragons—none left whole, some reduced to mere pools of blood.
Who could have imagined that the mighty Five Dragons of the Wang Clan, once roaring through the heavens and earth, would meet such an end—slain by none other than Wang Changsheng himself!
“Ah…” Someone wept bitterly, tears of blood streaming down their face. But what could they do?
Seek vengeance? That would mean slaying their own ancestor. The descendants of the Five Dragons were torn between grief and fury, their hearts bitter and conflicted. Yet, they knew—the Wang Clan had narrowly escaped calamity.
The same cause had borne different fruits, a truth as unpredictable as fate itself.
As the decree from the Immortal Domain descended, the Jin Clan and the Feng Clan were shrouded in despair. The outcome forced them to cleanse their own ranks, a brutal purge.
But the Wang Clan, led by Wang Changsheng, remained untouched.
On this day, Jin Taijun seemed to age a hundred thousand years in an instant. Her wrinkled face sagged, her snow-white hair brittle and falling with the wind, as if her life force had burned to its last ember.
“Thud!”
A man’s head rolled, accompanied by a low roar and the terrified screams of his kin. Jin Taijun swung her blade mechanically, numb to the carnage.
That day, she personally executed many of her descendants—her own grandsons, even her own daughter.
Her bloodline was nearly extinguished.
While Wang Changsheng had willingly slain his five sons, Jin Taijun had been forced to butcher her own. Those who had dealings with the Dark Creatures had to die, no matter how close. The sight was unbearable, her lineage left in ruins.
The Feng Clan faced the same fate. Their patriarch, too, had received the decree, compelled to execute those who had conspired with the Dark Creatures.
This patriarch, a figure of great cultivation, nearly saw his Dao heart shatter. Of his seven remaining sons—all towering pillars of the clan—none were spared.
A storm of blood swept through the cultivation world.
It was no exaggeration. Many cultivators sensed it—the heavens wept rain tinged with crimson, an omen of the countless fallen, a celestial phenomenon born of tragedy.
Two great clans crumbled, their halls drenched in blood.
The terror of the Immortal Domain’s power was palpable. They had forced the patriarchs to slaughter their own, driving two mighty lineages to ruin.
Yet, Jin Taijun and the Feng Clan patriarch survived, spared to atone by hunting the Dark Creatures.
“Ruthless. The Immortal Domain’s lot are no saints—cold-blooded and merciless. But I like it. Haha…” The one laughing in such dark times was none other than Fatty Cao.
Having endured the arrogance of those clans for so long, their near-annihilation was a cause for celebration.
The world trembled. The revelation that the Eternal Clans had betrayed them, colluding with the Dark Creatures, sent shockwaves through all.
“Wang Changsheng buried his sons to refine his arts, his will unshakable. Jin Taijun destroyed her own heart, half-broken. What a difference!”
Tuo Gu Yulong, Tianjiao Ant, and others murmured, wary of the former.
The mystery of the lost rotten wooden box remained unsolved.
**Crack!**
Great fissures split the heavens as the Nine Heavens and Ten Earths clashed. The Age of Decay was in full swing, two months since its onset. Several Eternal Clans had been purged, nearly erased.
And now, the Age of Decay marched ever closer.
“Ah…” A cry echoed—Zheng De, the Quasi-Supreme, wailed as his lifespan dwindled rapidly. His body withered, his vitality fading.
The change was terrifying. A man of virtue like Zheng De nearly perished from old age!
Across the Nine Heavens and Ten Earths, many renowned figures met similar fates, extinguished by the encroaching decay.
Meanwhile, the Immortal Domain’s forces withdrew, leaving only a token presence to maintain balance. Soon, they too would depart, leaving this world in silence.
Over these two months, Shi Hao bid farewell to many. Tuo Gu Yulong, two of the Wei Clan’s Phoenixes—they waved and stepped into the Immortal Domain.
The Ten Crown King and the Banished Immortal exchanged nods, rivals turned comrades in mutual respect.
Some he saw off; others, like the Six Crown King Ning Chuan, he ignored. Had the chance arisen, he might have slain them outright.
Some factions from the Immortal Domain sent envoys, making farewells risky. Shi Hao only ventured for true friends.
“Brother, won’t you come?”
That day, Shi Hao secretly saw off Qin Hao. He hadn’t expected his younger brother to leave for the Immortal Domain.
Qin Hao’s mysterious immortal bone had caught the attention of a certain Immortal King’s lineage. Qin Changsheng had arranged it, fearing the “Longevity Calamity”—a nightmare that had haunted him for an era.
“Demoness, who was the man you fancied back then? Could it have been me? Haha…” Shi Hao teased as he bid her farewell.
Once, the Demoness had boldly claimed she already had someone in her heart, that Shi Hao wasn’t her type.
“Prove yourself. Fight your way into the Immortal Domain, and then you’ll be my type!” She rolled her eyes, but as they parted, her smile faded.
With a sigh, she embraced him gently. “Take care.”
And then she was gone.
“You’re not leaving?” Shi Hao asked Cao Yousheng, embedding the Wang Clan’s elder brothers’ formations into his body.
The other five dragons’ formations were lost, slain by Qin Changsheng.
“I’ll stay. My Dao is here. If things go bad, I’ll bury myself and return in another era!” Cao Yousheng thumped his chest.
But his eyes reddened. “Will I remember you then? Or myself? Or those I never want to forget? An era, two eras later—who will remain?”
He left to seclude himself, vanishing from the world.
The Heavenly Dao Sect migrated en masse to the Immortal Domain. Qing Yi was the last to leave, glancing back repeatedly, as if waiting for someone.
At the last moment, she fled, teleporting away, fearing an ambush on Shi Hao.
In a quiet glade, a figure landed behind her.
“Qing Yi?”
The white-robed beauty turned, eyes brimming with unspoken words.
“We’ve merged into one,” she whispered, tears glistening.
“I know. You’re not the Qing Yi of before,” Shi Hao said softly.
“Qing Yi was always me!” she insisted, yet her voice trembled.
“Your wish is to become immortal?”
She hesitated, then looked up, tears falling. “I want to… but I’m torn.”
“You will.”
“Come with me. Or wait—I’ll find a way to bring you to the Immortal Domain.”
“No. My path lies here. I’ll seek the Great Dao in this world.”
“Are you doubting me?”
“Go. Even in the Age of Decay, I won’t be trapped. True enlightenment comes in adversity.”
Silence stretched between them.
She knew—this was farewell, likely forever.
Tears streamed down her face as she memorized his features, imprinting them into her soul.
“I hope… we meet again on the path to immortality. Just stay alive. A million years from now, reappear.”
With that, she left, sorrow in her heart, unsure if she was Qing Yi or Yue Chan.
“Years later, I may regret this. If we meet again, I’ll choose differently.”
Stepping through the Immortal Gate, she vanished, laden with regret.
Each walked their own path. The Nine Heavens fell silent, the departed leaving behind chaos.
The Immortal Domain’s armies withdrew.
The Dark Legion, too, vanished, their miasma receding.
For the Age of Decay had arrived.
Alone on the darkened continent, Shi Hao fished, witnessing truths beyond mortal ken.
“Darkness shaped it all,” he murmured, a solitary angler casting his line across eternity.
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