No one knew where the boundaries of the universe were.

Even the cultivators with the highest cultivation in the Upper Xu couldn’t know its size, so when this once-in-sixty-thousand-years Pangu Desolate Domain appeared above everyone’s heads in such a magnificent manner, that fear sprouted alongside yearning.

It was like a vast ruin.

Like the largest ship in this universe, drifting from unknown depths, making that era which had long departed from the cultivators flow backward in legend in an instant.

The Upper Xu immortal realm had over a hundred star domains. Most people didn’t know that at this time the Saint Immortals of the Three Heavens had already entered the Desolate Domain, but the increasingly close, increasingly large, and increasingly clear Desolate Domain made everyone’s hearts waver.

However, what approached simultaneously was darkness.

At first, everyone only paid attention to the Desolate Domain, ignoring everything else, until that nearly substantial darkness suddenly came alive at a certain moment, surrounding the entire Desolate Domain with fangs and claws bared!

“What—what is that?”

“This situation doesn’t seem right…”

“Have all the Saint Immortals gone in?”

“What exactly is that?!”

…

Different voices of discussion, but the same shock and fear.

However, no matter how the cultivators of the Upper Xu immortal realm were horrified, that darkness still acted like thick ink, and after swallowing the Desolate Domain, it actually continued swallowing toward the Upper Xu!

Only then did people discover that the stars in the sky had all disappeared.

No sun or moon, no light.

Everything was devoured by this gradually covering darkness, and the world began to become silent and cold…

But the people who had already entered the Desolate Domain knew nothing of what was happening outside.

Everyone was entering the Desolate Domain for the first time.

The moment they threw themselves into the Desolate Domain, enormous pressure like a wall of waves on the sea crashed toward them, as if enraged, wanting to crush these ants who dared to offend the Great Venerable’s dignity!

Fortunately, they had the Changye Scrolls.

At the instant the pressure approached, the originally pitch-black Changye Scrolls all simultaneously burst forth with bright light, but it wasn’t blinding—rather, it carried a gentle warmth that made people feel intimate. The light enveloped them, and the pressure, upon arrival, dissipated without a trace at the edge of the light.

Pangu the Great Venerable had once made Changye Scrolls to illuminate the universe.

Though now only remnant scrolls split into thirty-seven pieces remained, their power greatly reduced, all who held these black scrolls in their hands seemed to be holding a bright star.

The surrounding world was immediately illuminated.

They were in the palm of Pangu’s hand.

When the Great Venerable fell in ancient times, the flesh and blood on his body transformed into soil and rocks, his hair became grass and forests, and the blood vessels flowing within his body all became rivers.

However, two eras had passed after all.

From the remote ancient to the ancient, now it was the present ancient.

Those rivers that had once flowed endlessly had completely dried up during these countless years of drifting through the universe.

After Jian Chou landed, looking in all directions, all she could see were empty and flat riverbeds, leading to unknown depths both forward and backward.

She couldn’t help but think of those underground rivers flowing in the depths.

Looking to both sides, the walls all retained traces of water flowing past, but looking deeper, the cave walls were all deep blood-colored.

Those who entered the Desolate Domain, including several Immortal Venerables, plus Xie Buchen who was brought in by Jian Chou, were exactly forty people—no more, no less.

Upon entering, everyone didn’t act rashly.

Only after they confirmed that these Changye Scrolls could indeed protect them did they breathe a sigh of relief.

That Daidai, a white skeleton frame wrapped in pink gauze, patted her chest. Clearly a skeleton, yet her voice was sweet and delicate: “It seems we don’t need to worry too much this time. Those people who came to the Desolate Domain sixty thousand years ago were too unlucky—they didn’t encounter Changye Scrolls first, so they all died inside, with only Mengpo Tianmo surviving. Calling it a ‘Saint Immortal graveyard’ was just us scaring ourselves.”

“We cannot be careless.”

When White Crane Great Emperor entered, he hadn’t brought his deer.

People all said that deer was his pet, but he protected it like his lifeline.

Hearing Daidai’s words, he frowned, very much disagreeing: “Back then, there were also Immortal Venerable-level cultivators who entered, but they all perished inside. The incident sixty thousand years ago almost buried all the top forces of the cultivation world, and for tens of thousands of years, no particularly powerful cultivators emerged. We should still be cautious. Though all of you came for the Great Venerable’s inheritance, when we deliberated earlier, we already made it clear that finding the key to restoring reincarnation is the priority.”

When he said this, he actually turned to look at Jian Chou, who was walking at the very back, and added: “In the remote ancient era, during the long night, Pangu the Great Venerable established reincarnation. However, judging from the situation these past several thousand years, the reincarnation in the lower realm has been completely overturned, likely due to the remnants of the ancient long night causing trouble. Only the Yuanshi Realm, because of the tribulation punishment left by the Great Venerable, was spared. But hundreds of years ago, it also experienced the danger of collapse. This time, the Desolate Domain will only stay near the Upper Xu for thirteen days, so we must hurry and head to the ancestral land as quickly as possible.”

In the Desolate Domain, “ancestral land” referred to Pangu’s skull.

Pangu was the ancestor of humanity, and later people weren’t much different from him.

The key to cultivators’ cultivation mostly lay in the ancestral aperture between the brows, and all consciousness was in the spiritual platform of the mind—Pangu should be similar.

Jian Chou felt White Crane Great Emperor’s gaze but didn’t react.

She knew this was simply because she was the one who had turned the tide back then.

After all, with the ascension of lower realm cultivators, news from the lower realm would also reach the Upper Xu, and such major matters related to reincarnation would naturally be closely watched by the Immortal Venerables.

Aside from Jian Chou, the other Saint Immortals of the Upper Xu obviously all knew about what White Crane Great Emperor spoke of, and they all nodded in agreement.

Afterward, everyone moved forward.

Though protected by the Changye Scrolls, the pressure of this Pangu Desolate Domain was truly terrifying, even suppressing the cultivators’ divine consciousness to at most probe around a hundred zhang.

The blood vessels in a human body, from limbs to torso, from fingers to arms, all became increasingly thick. So their advance also had a very clear direction.

On this riverbed formed from blood vessels, everyone only needed to head toward the wider end.

Proceeding this way, at least the general direction wouldn’t be wrong in the early stages.

But after walking forward for a while, Jian Chou discovered someone had appeared beside her, while Xie Buchen, Fu Jiansheng, Yingxiu, and others who had been walking not far from her had all moved to the sides.

Luye Laozu’s footsteps were very steady.

She walked beside Jian Chou, glanced at White Crane Great Emperor at the very front, then said to her: “The matter of the lower realm’s reincarnation collapse is considered a secret among secrets in the Upper Xu’s Three Heavens, not easily revealed to cultivators. Yet Friend Jian Chou has had no contact with the Three Heavens for decades, but upon hearing White Crane’s words just now, showed not the slightest surprise.”

Jian Chou couldn’t help but turn to look her over.

This Luye Laozu was stunningly beautiful.

Her brows and eyes carried a hint of seemingly present yet absent smile. When she looked at you, it made you feel her gaze lingered for you, but when she turned her eyes away, it made you feel you couldn’t leave the slightest trace in her heart.

Like a breeze.

When it blew past, it stirred many things, but took nothing away, and wouldn’t change anything.

When the Eight Extremes Daoist Venerable and others obtained the River Chart, they couldn’t comprehend it after decades of viewing, but she had only looked at it for such a brief half day before casually tossing it aside and ascending. After reaching the Upper Xu, she further defeated Immortal Lord Bixi and quickly became one of the three Immortal Venerables of the Great Luo Heaven.

She was Laozu in the Yuanshi Realm, and still Laozu in the Upper Xu.

Jian Chou thought she must have fully comprehended the River Chart.

“I thought that regarding my lack of surprise about this matter, Laozu yourself wouldn’t be surprised either.” She slowly smiled, making a subtle point: “After all, you and I might be the only two people in these tens of thousands of years who have fully comprehended the River Chart. Those with the intention to peer into heaven shouldn’t be just me alone.”

Luye Laozu’s footsteps immediately paused.

There was actually some change in her expression.

When she looked at Jian Chou again, her gaze carried gradual complexity, as if recalling some distant and illusory matters, only saying softly: “Indeed, those with the intention to peer into heaven are not just one, but not everyone dares to act. Therefore, I admire you.”

Admire.

These two words, coming from Luye Laozu’s mouth, would probably make anyone else who knew her doubt their own hearing.

Jian Chou was also momentarily stunned.

However, when her gaze met hers, she could see from the other’s profound pupils the stormy waves contained within that calm.

Luye Laozu continued walking forward, her robes embroidered with azure billowing in the wind, her voice carrying more sighs: “From the moment you came to the Upper Xu, I knew you had already comprehended it. At that time, I thought there truly was such a person in the world. Daring to act this way, daring to plan this way, even daring to face the fate after all this ends. I didn’t dare. I love wine, am greedy for food, enjoy fighting, want to wander—a future like stagnant water, knowing everything, is truly terrifying…”

More frightening than the unknown was the known.

So when she comprehended the River Chart and faced the choice, she didn’t choose the path that Jian Chou had chosen at this moment.

Others might not understand what she was saying, but Jian Chou knew.

These words were too heavy.

She fell into silence, not speaking for a long time.

Luye Laozu didn’t know how to describe her feelings at this moment either. Seeing Jian Chou’s reaction, she was even more certain that she indeed knew very clearly what she would face. There were countless things she still wanted to say, but perhaps all of this held no meaning for her?

So she still smiled.

Finally, she only said: “The River Chart—I’ve put it away for you.”