Almost at the very same moment, every one of the great restricted zones erupted with an aura akin to that of a divine being — unsettling the heavens, shaking the earth, sweeping outward across billions of miles.

Every great restricted zone was in motion. The ancient supremes had stirred. Someone was about to enter the world.

The Immortal Burial Ground — a mysterious ancient land, said to hold the burial sites of Immortals. Across the ages, countless heroes had ventured in and never returned. This place admitted, but never released. It was among the most treacherous of grounds in the Eastern Wasteland.

In ordinary times, it lay in desolate silence — the enormous burial mounds mute and still, not a single living creature in sight. But now, at the heart of the burial ground, light blazed upward into the thirty-three layers of heaven.

Something was coming out. With the Immortal Path on the verge of manifesting, the ancient supremes could no longer keep their stillness — and one by one, they had begun to respond.

From within the Immortal Burial Ground emerged a being, wrapped in clear radiance, its true form hidden from sight. But its vital energy was peerless in the current age — let slip even a single strand of it and the surrounding wilderness collapsed into ruin.

This bore no resemblance to a being that had spent everything it had, one teetering at the edge of decay. It was still peerless and supreme, holding a dominance within the mortal realm that nothing could challenge.

This was the full force of a storm — not a scouting servant, not a figure of Emperor’s Child caliber, but a genuine ancient supreme. It had truly emerged.

In the space of a single instant, it reined in that escaping strand of energy — yet from the crown of its skull, light still blazed upward in a pillar that connected to every heaven above.

That could not be concealed — it seemed tied to something inherent in their condition.

In that very instant, the wailing of ghosts and the crying of gods filled the air. Heaven and earth shuddered. Every divine spirit seemed to recoil in fear — blood rain poured down one moment, divine flowers burst into bloom the next, their radiant petals spinning through a mist of red, utterly eerie and unsettling to behold.

For a radius of several million miles, every living creature and cultivator trembled without exception.

A supreme enters the world — even with every trace of its energy concealed, with everything drawn inward, it still felt as though a supreme deity had returned to the mortal realm. The instinct to fear needed no rational thought to produce it.

The being from within the Immortal Burial Ground stood with its hands clasped behind its back, gazing upward at the sky — as though lost in the memory of a turbulent past, the sight of daylight once again making it feel as though it had crossed countless lifetimes.

In truth, it truly had crossed countless lifetimes.

Its every movement caused the ten heavens and all the earth beneath to tremble. At a single step, a great road of immortal light appeared beneath its feet, connecting straight toward the south — and in the space between a finger’s snap and a blink, it stood outside the Ancient Forbidden Land.

Only a single step — and it was already here. Not unlike the return of an ancient Great Emperor; though the Emperor’s aura remained concealed and unreleased, the entire Southern Region’s population still fell into a panic, and those in the surrounding area could not help but drop to their knees.

An ancient supreme enters the world. The very Grand Dao of heaven and earth cries out in lament. Every living being bows in reverence, every clan across every heaven submitting of its own accord.

The supreme from within the Immortal Burial Ground arrived outside the Ancient Forbidden Land, its gaze penetrating deep into the restricted zone. Its eyes were profound — like an ocean compressed into two points, unfathomable beyond reckoning. Look more closely, and within them universes appeared and collapsed, the heavens shattered and were reborn, creation began and ten thousand beings first breathed.

That gaze stirred something deep and primordial — like coming face to face with one of the creators of the age when the sky was first separated from the earth, and the soul could not help but tremble.

The supreme from the Immortal Burial Ground fixed its gaze on the ruins revealed beneath the chasm within the Ancient Forbidden Land — as well as the pair of immense stone gates standing there — and took a step forward, as though the urge to enter was difficult to resist.

“What a pity — a figure from the old days has been suppressed here. And now this place has changed hands like this. I wonder if he still endures within.” The supreme from the Immortal Burial Ground murmured to itself. The moment those words escaped its lips, every sage kneeling far away felt the hair on their bodies stand on end.

It was rumored that the original master of the Ancient Forbidden Land had not been a woman — that the master had changed at some point. And now, from the lips of an ancient supreme, that rumor was confirmed as truth.

The supreme took another step, moving to enter the Ancient Forbidden Land — unclear whether it sought to settle a grievance on behalf of an old acquaintance, or whether it intended to step onto the Immortal Path.

“ROOOAAAAR!”

At that moment, before the pair of immense stone gates, a towering figure appeared — its entire body covered in golden fur, terrifying to behold, wrapped in dense, heavy mist, awe-inspiring and overwhelming.

The crowd recoiled in fear. That roar was too monstrous in its power — and every cultivator in the Southern Region felt a strange sense of familiarity upon hearing it, and were shaken to their core.

“This is…”

People were stunned — and then the realization hit. At irregular intervals, the restricted zone had erupted with violent disturbances, and a demonic roar had been heard. This was that same roar.

There was another supreme being of limitless power within the restricted zone? Beyond that woman — there was also a colossal figure, like a peerless demon sovereign?

“You… still endure — but not as you once were. Your time is past.” The supreme from the Immortal Burial Ground spoke quietly, as though mildly surprised.

This was a towering creature, standing at the height of ten full body-lengths — materializing from thin air. Its golden fur was enough to inspire dread; its vital energy surged like a tide, utterly at odds with the “past your time” the ancient supreme had just declared.

It was bound in shackles that clanked and rattled — heavy and unyielding, forged from divine-gold.

Every sage present felt the hair on their scalp stand on end. If nothing had gone wrong, this was likely the original master of the Ancient Forbidden Land — the true Desolate.

Then who was the woman? The crowd felt a chill cut through them that raised every fine hair on their bodies, their hearts seizing in their chests, shaking with a shock that went beyond what words could carry.

“Had she not come, I would have quietly faded away. I could no longer hold on — it was she who made it possible for me to live.” The true Desolate spoke in a low, rumbling voice. Within the golden fur, amid the swirling primordial chaos, a pair of eyes appeared — crimson as fresh blood — and the sight of them sent a shudder through all who looked upon them.

The supreme from the Immortal Burial Ground halted and did not enter. For though it was barely perceptible, the powerful figure with golden fur all over its body had let slip a thread of suppressive aura — meeting the ancient supreme head-on, neither yielding to the other.

“It was a mistake that you did not come with me when you had the chance, choosing instead to stand alone here.” The supreme from the Immortal Burial Ground spoke without a trace of feeling.

“You and I must have our battle — but not today.” The man covered in golden fur, his eyes burning ever more red, released a domineering supremacy that surpassed all else, and in an instant swept through the entire Eastern Wasteland.

Then, in a flash of light, he was gone.

“I will wait for you — I look forward to doing battle with you, the only one to have survived.” The supreme from the Immortal Burial Ground spoke with cold indifference — as though nothing in the world concerned it, as though it stood above and apart from everything. Its bearing made this abundantly clear.

Everyone was deeply shaken. Who was the man covered in golden fur, his blood energy blazing into the heavens? He seemed to possess an extraordinary history and origin — somewhere in the ancient record, a peerless figure who left traceable roots.

Whoosh!

The supreme from the Immortal Burial Ground turned and walked directly toward the great rift where the Immortal Path lay, departing from the Ancient Forbidden Land — standing alone there, hands behind its back, gazing at the enormous fissure stretching thousands of feet in length.

And then, much later, the space where it stood shattered in an explosion of radiance — and in an instant, it was gone.

From this day forward, the Northern Star Region was engulfed in upheaval. Every one of the several great life-restricted zones erupted with tremors still more terrifying than before, column after column of light blazing into the heavens above.

Word spread that each column of light represented one of the ancient supremes — one light for one being, each one the brilliant culmination of an era’s glory, the Dao of that supreme, never to wither.

Each life-restricted zone held at least one column of light piercing the heavens — and the Ancient Primordial Mine might hold three, or even four — perhaps the most of all.

Yet the beams had all risen together, and no sage could distinguish one from another, their nature impossible to read clearly. But people could sense and perceive the Dao of the many Great Emperors, drawing near in this single age to the true forms of several ancient Emperors — something that had never happened in any generation before.

Never before in any single age had there been a scene like this — not one supreme emerging, but all of them moving at once.

From this day forward, the powerful figures across the entire cosmos came pouring in as though drawn by flame — moths to a fire. The numbers grew and grew, boundless and endless, a gathering of brilliant stars.

This was a great age — and with so many powerful beings converging at once, none who were there could deny it. Quasi-Emperors were no longer limited to the first two that had appeared; there were more.

Heaven and earth surged with mighty energy. The star regions convulsed. The Northern Star Region underwent a change of staggering and terrifying proportion: the five great continents — the Eastern Wasteland, the Northern Plains, the Central Region, the Southern Ridge, the Western Desolation — all began to emit light at the same time.

“What… is that?”

The crowd was so startled their souls nearly flew from their bodies. The five continents were lit up like five ritual altars of different colors, each one radiating its own distinct hue — as though they had come back to life. A formation of this magnitude was unprecedented, beyond anything the world had ever seen. What could a formation this immense possibly be trying to reach? Could this, in truth, be the Immortal Path itself?

A deafening boom.

People watched in astonishment as the five continents rose into a haze of shifting light — and at the same time, the enormous void rift outside the Ancient Forbidden Land erupted and expanded even further, cracking apart again and again.

Indistinctly, the sound of a true dragon’s roar and the cry of a phoenix ascending through nine heavens rang out, echoing across the entire land.

The Immortal Path was truly opening. It was drawing closer by the moment. People felt as though they could sense the aura of the Immortal Domain — as though that world’s immortal spirits were roaring as they descended, carrying with them a mighty and overwhelming divine presence.

“Hum!”

A divine spear hurtled through the void — ten million strands of auspicious light trailing behind it, crossing the vast depths of the cosmos, tearing open the fabric of space as it plunged straight down into this land.

A Quasi-Emperor — without question, a supreme Quasi-Emperor had arrived. In this age, the Northern Star Region had been suppressed, producing none that were visible outside of one whose power dominated even the underworld. Yet beyond this region, someone had achieved it.

“Clang!”

At the same moment, in the vast reaches of space outside the Northern Star Region, a small golden vessel — barely two to three meters in length — surged with a sudden and dramatic intensification of energy. The being within made a direct breakthrough from the Great Sage realm all the way to the Quasi-Emperor in a single instant.

“I have been held down for so long — at last, my Dao fruits are returned to me. I await the opening of the Immortal Path!” A voice rang out from within the golden vessel.

Had Ye Fan been present, his heart would surely have jolted — for this was the very same individual who had once tampered with him, whose interference had been detected by the old monk of the Western Desolation in the final moments before his passing, and broken apart by the power of a dissolving Dao.

After the appearance of these two Quasi-Emperors, both kept a low profile and moved quickly to conceal their presence — for they could feel the immortal light rising from within the life-restricted zones, and knew that keeping away from that radiance was the wisest course.

Hum!

Another enormous resonance, and a blue-gold Emperor’s Tower appeared — thirty-three stories high, each story representing one of the thirty-three supreme heavens, and from every level descended streams of primordial energy like curtains of cascading rivers from above. It flew straight into this great world.

And it did not stop — it did not diminish its light. From the Western Desolation to the Northern Plains, then to the Central Region, then to the Southern Ridge, and finally into the Eastern Wasteland — it circled through every magnificent landscape, hovering and observing above each one as though inspecting and taking measure.

“What a magnificent world — to have left behind the footprints of so many Great Emperors!” A voice rang out from within the Emperor’s Tower, as though filled with boundless emotion.

With a thunderous crash, it came to a brief halt when it passed the Undying Mountain. It peered inward. The ancient supreme within that mountain retained all its dignity and made no response.

But when it stretched a thread of divine consciousness toward the Enlightenment Tree — and then turned its attention toward the Black Tortoise divine medicine — a cold snort rang out from within the mountain, sending the entire Emperor’s Tower shuddering.

“Boom!”

At the same moment, an aura of terrifying power erupted — a headless knight rose into the air, mounted upon a stone beast whose hooves the size of enormous bowls smashed apart the fabric of space.

Boundless Emperor’s aura surged forth, sweeping through heaven and earth, charging forward in a frenzied onslaught.

“BEGONE!”

Though it had no head, its voice rang out like a thunderclap tearing apart the vast heavens, shaking the entire boundless sky to its core.