At the heart of the Bloody Battlefield—the Forbidden Land—lay a scene both eerie and surreal. Piles of bleached bones sprawled beneath a field of blooming flowers, where a snow-robed beauty stood alone. The juxtaposition was unnatural, a discordant harmony that exuded an air of profound mystery.
The heavens and earth trembled violently, snapping Shi Hao out of his daze. He withdrew his gaze from the distance and turned it skyward.
The battle had ended. Had the two supreme beings determined a victor?
Who had won? Who had lost? The brief silence weighed heavily over the blood-soaked plains, stretching for hundreds of thousands of miles. All fighting had ceased as people stared at the sky in anticipation.
A crimson moon hung overhead, veiled in mist, casting the world in a hazy, blood-red hue. Tension gripped every heart, for the outcome of this battle would shape the fate of entire clans. Defeat would mean the annihilation of so-called imperial and royal bloodlines, their once-glorious legacies reduced to ashes.
Silence.
The world was mute, devoid of even the faintest sound, plunged into a terrifying stillness.
The Bloody Plains, moments ago a chaotic battlefield where the Celestial Clan and the War Clan clashed relentlessly, now seemed frozen in time.
Everyone waited, desperate to know the final result.
Even the most renowned mercenary groups—the Reincarnation Mercenaries and the Heavenly Deity Mercenaries—had ceased hostilities, standing by for the verdict.
“Woo—”
Suddenly, the deep, resonant bellow of a Kui Bull horn echoed across the land, shaking the earth for tens of thousands of miles. It was the War Clan’s signal—a call for immediate, unconditional retreat.
“What? Us? Has the War Emperor… lost?!”
For the War Clan, the sound of the horn was akin to the arrival of doomsday. Faces turned ashen as despair gripped them. The order was clear: withdraw at once, without question. What did this mean?
“How could this be? We are the War Emperor’s descendants! War is our life, our madness! Our ancestors have dominated three thousand provinces! How could our War Emperor fall to another?” someone howled, unable to accept the truth.
From the distance, the Kui Bull horn’s mournful call rumbled like thunder from the underworld, shaking the earth, demanding the War Clan’s immediate withdrawal.
It was a devastating blow.
The War Clan’s forces retreated like a receding tide, their steps heavy with reluctance, panic, and fear. Morale shattered, they left behind fields of corpses.
Small mercenary groups trembled, their faces pale with terror. They had gambled, siding with the War Clan, and now feared the Celestial Clan’s retribution.
“Did… we win?” The Celestial Clan stood stunned before erupting into cheers. Roars of triumph surged across the Bloody Plains.
They had feared the worst—that their newly awakened Heaven Man might not match the War Emperor. Yet here they stood, victorious.
“Slaughter them! Today, we erase the War Clan from existence!” someone bellowed.
Battle cries soared to the heavens as the Celestial Clan’s morale surged. Weapons gleamed, ready for a decisive counterattack.
But then—something unexpected happened.
“Woo—”
The mournful call of a rhinoceros horn resounded, ancient and desolate, as if echoing from a bygone era.
This was no war cry—it was the Celestial Clan’s signal for retreat.
What? Why? Confusion spread like wildfire.
The Celestial Clan was withdrawing? Not pursuing their advantage? What had truly transpired between the Heaven Man and the War Emperor?
Many looked to the night sky, baffled.
“I knew it would end like this,” murmured the leader of the Reincarnation Mercenaries, waving a hand. His forces melted away into the darkness.
Nearby, the Heavenly Deity Mercenaries departed in silence.
In truth, the high-ranking figures of both clans—the Heavenly Deities—had remained silent all along. They had known the outcome from the start.
The two supreme beings had clashed, but not to the death. At their level, they understood each other too well—perhaps even better than their own kin.
A battle to the end might have claimed one life, but the victor would be left drained, teetering on the brink of death.
Thus, though their duel beyond the heavens had been fierce, it had not been a fight to annihilation.
To do so would have only invited the predation of other clans, leaving both weakened for millennia—perhaps never to recover.
The leaders of both clans knew this. And so, while their supreme beings dueled, they had thrown their armies into battle, seeking a resolution within controlled limits.
It was an unspoken agreement—a final gamble, sanctioned by their ancestors.
For if the Heaven Man and the War Emperor had fought to the death, the consequences would have been catastrophic, unpredictable.
They could not afford such recklessness.
“It’s over,” Yun Xi whispered in relief. After days of fleeing across tens of thousands of miles, the nightmare had finally ended.
She hadn’t noticed the snow-robed woman in the Forbidden Land, her gaze fixed on the horizon.
“What are you looking at?” she asked, noticing Shi Hao’s distant stare toward the depths of the forbidden zone.
“Nothing. You should leave first,” Shi Hao murmured.
Yun Xi hesitated only briefly before nodding. She understood—lingering might only burden him.
Shi Hao’s attention remained locked on the Forbidden Land. Broken chains of order shimmered in the air. A woman standing amidst bones and flowers—how could he not be wary?
“Was it you who summoned the thunder earlier?” The snow-robed woman’s voice was melodic, her eyes sparkling with amusement.
Shi Hao’s heart skipped a beat. Had she witnessed his battle with the True God? The Thunder Emperor’s technique was indeed hard to miss.
A bridge of white jade materialized before him, bypassing the chaotic chains of order.
After a moment’s hesitation, Shi Hao stepped onto it, entering the Forbidden Land.
Bones littered the blood-stained ground like a scene from hell, yet flowers bloomed amidst the carnage. And before him stood a woman of peerless beauty.
His gaze fell upon a shattered cocoon, glowing faintly beside remnants of shed skin. A chill ran down his spine.
Had she… just emerged from that cocoon?
The thought sent shockwaves through him. Legends spoke of a supreme expert who had fallen here in ancient times. Could it be her?
The cocoon was freshly broken. His mind reeled—this was more staggering than the duel between the War Emperor and the Heaven Man.
Keeping his composure, he feigned solemnity. “Ten thousand years have passed like fleeting clouds. Congratulations on your rebirth, fellow Daoist.”
“Thunder Emperor… you’ve reincarnated?” The woman smiled, her beauty eclipsing even the macabre surroundings.
Shi Hao froze. He had meant to deceive her, but now he was the one stunned. What was her origin?
“Back then, when you knelt before me as my disciple, you were so full of vigor and ambition. Now you stand there dull and witless. Pitiful,” she sighed, her voice like celestial music.
Shi Hao’s mind blanked. Was she some ancient monster? The Thunder Emperor’s master? How old was she?
This… might be the most ancient being alive.
“The dream of the Immortal Ancient has faded, the epoch has crumbled. Will you not bow to your master?” she chided. “Let me awaken your dormant wisdom, restore your memories of past lives.”
Shi Hao felt dizzy. Was he truly the Thunder Emperor’s reincarnation?
“You… recognize me?” he ventured.
“All things speak truth—if one knows how to listen,” she replied, her gaze profound, almost pitying.
“You can see the past? Peer into previous lives?” he asked, bewildered. Had he encountered a being who mastered reincarnation?
“Turn around, and it is the past. Lift your eyes, and it is the future. Hold a thought, and it is the present,” she intoned, radiant and saintly.
Shi Hao’s scalp prickled. Just how formidable was she?
“Disciple, will you not kneel?” she pressed.
Shi Hao wavered. Bowing to an elder wasn’t a loss, but this was all too sudden.
Then he caught it—a flicker of mischief in her eyes, a sly quirk of her lips.
He had been played.
That playful glint didn’t belong to an ancient relic. It was the look of a clever girl.
He scowled, irritation flashing across his face.
Seeing his realization, the girl laughed. “Little brat, trying to fool me? You’re the glutton the Demon Blood Ghost God Tree mentioned, aren’t you?”
Shi Hao nearly choked. Her shift from solemnity to cheekiness was jarring. And how did she know about that old tree from the Yuan Heaven Secret Realm?
“Where is the Demon Blood Ghost God Tree now?” he asked.
“Gone home,” she said airily.
“You… come from the depths of the Untamed Wilderness?” His heart pounded.
“Not entirely stupid,” she smirked. “I’ve just left my homeland. For the tree’s sake, I won’t beat you up. Anyone else, I’d hang them upside down!”
Her demeanor shifted effortlessly—aloof one moment, sly the next, then brimming with bravado.
Shi Hao’s face fell. He no longer believed her wild claims.
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