A colossal qilin, tens of thousands of li in length, burst from the primordial mine of Tai Chu and spanned the heavens of the Northern Domain, shaking every heart!
It bore an ancestral dragon’s head, its body covered in blue-violet scales shimmering with a cold metallic luster. Across its skull, one talisman seal after another appeared — a pillar of light that pierced the heavens, tore open the universe. After hundreds of thousands of years had passed, a sovereign of the imperial Dao had presided over this world once more.
“My staff — come!”
Two words rang out from within its mouth, shaking every heart. The entire Eastern Desolation trembled three times. It subjected the three realms and six paths to its Pressure Aura, its qi surging to rival the constellations. In this world, it alone reigned supreme!
Boom!
A dazzling blue light shot in from the outer domain, streaking across the dark universe, cutting through boundless cold star fields, and descended directly toward the Northern Dipper star domain.
“What is that?!”
Everyone was stunned. With a single light cry, it had summoned a weapon of supremely devastating power, now fully awakened in this moment, billowing with the unmatched majesty of a primordial emperor.
It was blue — dazzlingly, crystallinely blue — radiant with eternal brilliance, illuminating the entire Eastern Desolation, descending rapidly toward the Northern Domain, its divine might surging for hundreds of millions of li.
This was a truly awakened emperor-level weapon. Every wisp of its Pressure Aura made the Great Sages tremble. No matter the distance, even the patriarchs of great sects could not help but drop to their knees — too terrifying, the gap too immense.
Streams of blue light blazed forth, dimming the sun, the moon, and every star in all the heavens — nothing could compare to this artifact. Before it, nothing else possessed the slightest radiance.
“It’s… the Qilin Staff!” Someone was so shocked they could barely breathe out those words, their body visibly shaking.
“That is the ancient emperor weapon of the Fire Qilin Cave — to think it has flown back!” Everyone’s expression turned to one of utter disbelief.
The Qilin Staff was the supreme divine artifact of a great primordial imperial clan — known throughout the world. It had vanished for a time, and when the Eternal Star Domain was attacked, it had been suppressed by the Dao Yan lineage using an immortal garment and an ancient emperor array, without the time to be fully awakened. This had ultimately led to the death of the Great Sage Yan Qi of the Fire Qilin Cave, and left the ancient prince Huo Qizi to wander the remote fringes of the universe — his current whereabouts still unknown.
However, many years ago, the Qilin Staff had already returned. No one dared suppress it indefinitely — not even the Dao Yan immortal garment, its equal in rank, could manage it!
For once the Qilin Staff, a supreme divine artifact, revived on its own, the most terrifying battle of divine artifacts would erupt — one of them would inevitably shatter, an outcome too terrible to contemplate.
Years ago, it had already returned to the Fire Qilin Cave. But with the Immortal Road about to open, it had been taken away by that clan to the outer domain — and yet now it had been summoned back by the power of the primordial mine of Tai Chu.
At this point, everything was clear: the Ancient Sovereign within that vast blue-violet sphere of light, tens of thousands of li across, was none other than the Qilin Ancient Emperor!
The crowd was stunned, none of them willing to believe it. It surpassed the understanding of all people.
“How can this be — the Qilin Ancient Emperor is still alive? Hundreds of thousands of years have already passed. Even if he had attained the level of an imperial Dao expert, he could not have survived this long!”
“How did he manage it? Have not all the Ancient Great Emperors perished in seated meditation? Yet he has lived for hundreds of thousands of years, defying all precedent!”
…
The whole world was shaken!
Who knew how many people were watching — mouths falling open, then a wave of cries breaking out. Too unreal — many felt their scalps go numb.
Of course, this only applied to ordinary cultivators. Those at the Great Sage level — those who shook an entire domain, the great sect patriarchs — had all been mentally prepared. By now, the signs had made it abundantly clear: within the life Forbidden Zones there would surely be existences of this level, or even those who were precisely this.
The Qilin Ancient Emperor had emerged. He was still alive!
This news shook the Northern Dipper, spread throughout the world, then rapidly propagated into the depths of the universe. The news made the ten thousand domains of all the heavens tremble!
Once the supreme sovereign of an age — his Pressure Aura had suppressed the nine heavens and ten earths, commanding the universe across all eight wastelands. All living beings had submitted wherever he passed. After a long span of years, he had defied the heavens and returned.
His appearance carried a different significance from the emergence of the two Ancient Sovereigns. For the first time, in the most genuine terms, it was proven to the mortal world that among the Ancient Emperors of old, there were those who had not yet died. The significance was immense — it would overturn the fixed understanding long held in the minds of many people!
Boom!
Blue-violet radiance erupted, flooding the sky and inundating the Northern Domain. In that instant, the enormous qilin transformed into a middle-aged man. A full head of thick blue hair cascaded downward, and purple pupils — sharp as celestial blades — surveyed the mortal world with supreme disdain!
He stood tall and imposing, wreathed in immortal qi, standing in the open air. With a raise of his hand, the Qilin Staff forged from Eternal Blue Gold flew forward toward him.
“Father!”
A voice came — trembling, tearful, holding sorrow, joy, and bitterness all at once. She clutched the Qilin Staff tightly, having followed it all the way from the outer domain to this place.
She was a woman of peerless beauty — long water-blue hair, a slender jade form, a fair and lovely face streaked with tear marks. She wept tears of joy, driven to the extreme of emotion, rushing forward as though frenzied, utterly unlike the composed and otherworldly grace she normally carried. It was none other than Huo Lin’er.
She had never imagined there would be a day of reunion, a day of seeing him again. Her entire body was trembling. In those years, her father had already been in the twilight of his life when he sealed away both his children — that had been a parting that could only mean farewell forever, a heartbreak that tore one’s very insides.
For they had known: that parting was forever. They would sink into slumber, and their father would not long afterward perish in seated meditation. Even if the two of them revived hundreds of thousands of years later, there would be no meeting again.
That had been a pain that — even looking back now — still ripped through one’s heart and lungs. Who could have imagined that after hundreds of thousands of years, they would still meet again, in a scene such as this?
Huo Lin’er could no longer hold back. She burst into great, wrenching sobs and threw herself forward, rushing into the arms of that imposing man, crying until the sky seemed to darken, completely unlike her usual self.
In his youth, this middle-aged man had surely been unparalleled in his handsomeness. Now, his bearing was even more extraordinary — divine and martial, possessing an unmatched and supreme presence!
Within those deep eyes, ripples appeared. Warmth came over his face. He gently patted Huo Lin’er on the shoulder and said: “Do not cry. Wait until your father has carved out an undying universe, and together we will ascend to immortality.”
His voice was soft and gentle, yet it carried a supreme dominance. The ten thousand Dao of heaven and earth all keened with sorrow, submitting to his oppression, all trembling.
This was the primordial emperor. His every word and act was a law unto itself. Unmatched in the world, no one to contest his supremacy!
“Father… I am afraid. I do not want to be separated from you again!” The always-resolute Huo Lin’er — as a great imperial clan’s princess of the heavens — rarely showed such an expression of panic.
“Do not be afraid. Your father will be fine. Wait for me to return!” The Qilin Ancient Emperor said with resolve, his eyes filled with stunning brilliance.
“Father… I beg you, take me with you. Do not make me leave alone — even just for a little while.” Huo Lin’er wept.
“You cannot stay by my side. Otherwise, you will spend your entire life suppressed under my Dao. As I am now, I can only control it for so long — and the longer it persists, the more it will inevitably affect you.” The Qilin Ancient Emperor gently pushed her away, giving her no more room to speak. He stroked her cheek with his hand, and then his eyes blazed with sudden intensity. From between his palm and fingers burst a cluster of brilliant light, which wrapped around Huo Lin’er, tore open the starry sky, and sent her directly into the depths of a distant part of the universe.
“Father!” In the ancestral grounds of the Fire Qilin Cave, on a great star, Huo Lin’er was struck with grief. She wept until her eyes were blurred with tears, her heart gripped with a terror beyond words, and she sank powerlessly to her knees. Perhaps this time, it truly would be a farewell forever!
Their exchange had been brief, seemingly plain — yet it was laden with feeling. The Ancient Emperor was protecting her, unwilling to let her suffer the slightest harm, his heart filled with an immeasurable reluctance to part.
Her father had gone to fight in a battle of blood, to struggle with all his strength, to wage war on the Immortal Road — and he might also face the threat of other Ancient Emperors and Great Emperors. This might well be a road of no return.
A hero sets forth and never comes back!
To take her along and ascend to immortality together, never to be parted again — she had heard this said since she was very young, and now that day had truly arrived. What manner of outcome would it bring? Huo Lin’er’s heart trembled. She had never felt so helpless as she did today.
The Qilin Ancient Emperor took one final look toward the depths of the universe. Gripping the divine staff of Eternal Blue Gold, he took a single step forward — and arrived directly before the great rift of the Immortal Road in the Southern Domain.
“You have come. We may act now!”
The Daoist from the Immortal Mausoleum spoke, still sitting cross-legged on that ancient war chariot, an immortal sword crosswise on his knees, his entire being shrouded in primordial chaos.
On the other side, the master of the Undying Mountain rode upon the colossal divine tiger, gripping the great battle halberd forged from Dragon-Pattern Black Gold, bearing down upon all the heavens with a presence that could swallow mountains and rivers — he too gave a nod.
Not far away stood four others. The great life Forbidden Zones had all sent their Ancient Sovereigns forth. They had arrived here and were about to begin a heaven-splitting, earth-shattering assault.
This place seemed on the verge of shattering. The laws of heaven and earth were turning to ash. A terrifying aura billowed outward, penetrating past, present, and future!
Never in any age had it been like this day — seven beings at the level of the Ancient Great Emperors gathered together, appearing in the same era, breaking open a wonder that had never existed since the beginning of time.
They had drawn in their divine power fluctuations. Simply standing there, they were already enough to bring the boundless heavens to ruin. The entire great universe seemed on the verge of annihilation — reaching to the farthest reaches of all six directions and eight wastelands, even in the deepest recesses of the universe, this terrible aura had been felt.
This era defied the heavens. This era was unprecedented. This era could never be replicated or witnessed again!
Ten thousand ages of waiting, endless anticipation — all of it erupted in this era. The final and most desperate campaign was about to unfold. They would charge into the immortal realm and truly ascend.
“The right time, the right place — both have arrived. Kill your way in!”
The Qilin Emperor raised his resplendent blue divine staff and was the first to move — charging toward that enormous rift, crashing against the tightly shut, magnificent city gate, unleashing the most devastating assault.
In this moment, the true fluctuations of an Ancient Emperor emerged, suppressing the ten thousand ages of all the heavens, shattering past and present and future. The power was too terrifying — in this instant, even in the farthest depths of the universe, a dreadful aura had been felt.
Yet the Qilin Emperor was not bringing destruction upon the world. His peerless slaughtering power had not sent a single wisp sweeping toward the outer domain’s stars, nor did it ripple across the Eastern Desolation — it was all directed toward the immortal gate.
The most brilliant light burst forth. The most dazzling radiance shone. A primordial emperor had struck. The most powerful assault force this world had ever seen had appeared once more!
“Carve open a luminous universe. Carve out a path to immortality!” The Ancient Sovereigns roared as one!
All of them moved. They struck together. In this moment, the vibrations of emperor weapons shook the entire universe. Undying immortal light blossomed. The Ancient Great Emperors presided over all under heaven. The most powerful beings the world had ever known, from ages past to the present, struck in unison, fighting their way into the immortal realm!
Seven silhouettes — like seven undying monuments — standing before the Immortal Road, using their blood and their lives to advance. The battle hymn echoed through the nine heavens, transformed into the most stunning brilliance across ten thousand ages!
This era permitted only success — not failure!