An inexplicable presence arose within the universe. Quasi-emperors were seized with terror, and aged Great Saints on the verge of entering stillness also felt it in their hearts — deeply unsettled, sensing that the world had changed, that a great transformation was at hand. It was as though they glimpsed a corner of what was to come!
“What is happening? What will occur?”
“Can it be that the ancient supreme beings, having entered, have affected the entire world — that some unpredictable upheaval is about to unfold?!”
The world was shaken. Not only the most powerful — even ordinary cultivators in that moment sensed something was wrong. Wisps of immortal breath rose and billowed from that great rift, spreading outward. There was an overwhelming sense that something terrible was about to happen.
Yet all was calm within. Two separate groups of supreme beings had entered one after another, without a sound — as though swallowed by the sea, leaving no ripple. This kind of immortal ascension was too uneventful, without a trace of turbulence, making it feel unreal.
None could say how long it lasted. The great rift of the immortal path was healing, slowly closing. This lifetime was truly coming to an end, the curtain descending for good!
And yet, in these final moments, a world-shaking sound rang out. The entire immortal path shattered — then began to expand once more!
All of this was caused solely by an explosion inside the primordial chaos cave, from which a human figure flew outward, halting all of it, propping open the massive rift of darkness.
This person blazed with light all over, possessed of a supremely powerful force. Light rain cascaded from his body in all directions — like stars scattered across the sky, brilliant and resplendent, dazzling beyond comparison.
An immortal… was this what an immortal was?!
The crowd was shaken. So-called ascension — soaring upward with the glow of dusk, ascending in broad daylight — amounted to no more than this. This was the scene of immortal ascension people had imagined.
The place was too blindingly bright. All the light rain was striking outward, spreading into the six directions and eight wastes — more brilliant than the explosion of every star across all the heavens, beautiful to the most extreme degree, terrifying to the most extreme degree.
“Ah…”
A mournful roar rang out. The figure was screaming. The sound was chilling and desolate, supremely terrifying — shaking the great universe, filling all who heard it with a sense of hopeless despair.
In that moment, near the Eastern Desolation, many Great Emperor formation inscriptions shattered — unable to withstand the sonic wave, shaking every heart.
Ancient forbidden zones, Purple Mountain, Mount Sumeru, the Ji Family, the Jiang Family — from all these places, great path runes rushed outward in haste, barely managing to block this vibration. Otherwise, the ancient ground of life within the Northern Dipper Star Region would have cracked apart under this single roar, destroyed utterly!
What was this? Everyone was horror-stricken. Clearly something had shifted within the primordial chaos cave. This was absolutely not a harmonious presence — certainly not an immortal descending upon the world. This was an ancient supreme being who had come back out!
“Heavens — what is inside that primordial chaos cave? Why would it leave an ancient supreme being in such a state? Is it that he is dissolving into the Dao — is that boundless light rain the extinction of his life essence?”
“His life has reached its end. This existence is coming to its close, filled with despair and unwillingness!”
The crowd recognized him — an ancient supreme being. None knew what had happened. He had retreated out of the primordial chaos cave, this roaring and wailing that made every heart tremble.
The light rain flew itself out. His body was drenched in blood, flesh torn and mangled. Crystalline drops of blood like transparent red gemstones scattered and fell, brilliant and dazzling, spilling across the ground. Gleaming white fragments of bone were exposed.
What manner of power could have left even him in such a state? It was staggering beyond words.
“In this lifetime, it is both right and wrong — and yet it has come to this. There is hope, and yet there is also despair!”
This ancient supreme being’s voice was low and heavy. His words were filled with grief and sorrow. Ten thousand ages of waiting — and it had come to this result. In the end, he had not become immortal. What kind of feeling was that?
Not to mention himself — even onlookers felt grief for him just at the sight of this outcome. It was too pitiable. Such a grievous price had been paid, and it had all turned to nothing in the end.
“What happened?” Throughout this universe, every quasi-emperor went pale with dread, every single one of them gripped by a cold terror, their spirits utterly restless, feeling the horror of it all.
The first group had contained seven supreme beings. With such numbers, what could not be broken? Why had he come to be in this condition? By all logic they should certainly have ascended — nothing could have stopped their advance.
And yet, the reality was not so. This ancient supreme being had met a tragic end. Something unimaginable had evidently occurred; the outcome was grim.
“One step short. I am past my prime. Had I still been in my glory days, becoming immortal this lifetime would have been certain!” He roared out, at full volume. He had once been a supreme being of the highest wisdom and discernment — yet now, overcome with extreme disappointment, he had grown despondent, utterly unlike his usual self.
He had lost that bearing of one who held all heaven and earth within his grasp. What remained was only unwillingness — and despair!
“The other supreme beings have not come out. Can it be that they have all become immortal?” someone said, trembling.
Boom!
In that very instant, from within the primordial chaos cave came a tremendous sound. Blood spurted outward in vivid streams — startlingly brilliant, making hearts lurch, every pore stinging as though pierced by needles.
Fresh crimson blood — like flying red diamonds — splattered upward from the primordial chaos cave, mist filling the air. Gleaming white chunks of bone came tumbling out — a harrowing sight.
What kind of scene was this? Ancient supreme beings were perishing!
This was beyond anything the heart could bear. Who had ever witnessed it — who had even heard tell of it? Those were Celestial Lords of the mythological era, Emperors of the Primordial Age, Great Emperors of the Desolate Antiquity — the most powerful beings in all of recorded history. And yet one had fallen this way?!
How could it be? How could it be so? No one believed it. No one could accept this reality — it was too cruel.
Everyone had believed those ancient supreme beings, after waiting through ten thousand ages, had finally ascended to immortality, bringing hope to those who came after, validating that immortality was achievable — not a formless and empty dream.
Yet the reality was this bloody, this grievous — a sinking feeling in every heart, a great sorrow. That was a Great Emperor-level figure — someone who had once reigned over the myriad heavens, with all the primordial universe prostrating at their feet, unrivaled beneath all the heavens. And yet they were to close out so miserably.
This was a weight too great to bear. People were unwilling to accept it.
“Ah…”
Another roar rang out. A third supreme being came crashing out, drenched in blood, swaying on the spot — on the verge of collapse. A voice of grief and anguish echoed throughout heaven and earth.
“Why has it come to this — slaying a hundred lifetimes of cause and effect, reversing the years of ten thousand ages, all for this one lifetime. My Dao, my path — where do they lead?!”
A supreme being cried out in anguish to heaven and earth, in such despair. Each of them had been the central figure of their age, the most powerful beings across all of history — brilliant years that illuminated the entire span of ancient history.
And yet, in the end, it had come to this — pitiable and lamentable alike. A lifetime of pursuit had ultimately turned to nothing.
“Beneath heaven and earth, I alone am supreme…”
Another aged voice rang out — refusing to submit to time, seeking to contend with heaven itself. Yet defeated is defeated. Having failed to ascend, after the vicissitudes of ten thousand ages — what more was there to say?!
“Upon the immortal path… I hear my own funeral song — the dream of ten thousand ages, broken!” A fifth ancient supreme being appeared, filled with boundless grief and desolation. To hear it was to feel a cold ache in the heart.
“I refuse to accept this!”
“And yet this is the outcome — was it wrong? Was it right? Whoever achieves the Dao in this lifetime shall be the immortal!”
“There is no right and no wrong. It is only that we were born in the wrong era. Or perhaps it could be said — we should not have sought this at all. Immortality… ha ha!”
…
The supreme beings’ grief resonated through heaven and earth, a warning to those who came after. Was this the curtain falling on the immortal path? What had they encountered inside? Everyone wanted to know.
“Those who waited — you were also wrong. This lifetime counts as neither right nor wrong. The right moment, the right place — only the right person was missing.”
Of those who had entered, two had been killed in a shower of blood, blown apart at the entrance of the primordial chaos cave. It was not that they were weaker than others — only that their years were too many, their final twilight had come at last, and they could hold on no longer.
This outcome was grim. Several had come back out, and some remained inside — alive or dead, unknown.
“This lifetime… this lifetime!”
This lifetime had brought great sorrow. This lifetime had brought helpless grief. This lifetime had brought mourning and lamentation!
Boom!
A great sound rang out. The ancient forbidden zone exploded. That pair of massive stone gates swung open. A woman of peerless grace appeared in white garments, robes billowing — ethereal as an immortal, looking in this direction. She was moving to act.
And beside her, the towering man covered all over in golden fur also stepped forward — advancing together with her, their intent aligned.
“Amitabha!”
From the distant Western Desert, a Buddhist chant resounded throughout heaven and earth. The entire Western Lands blazed with Buddhist radiance. Mount Sumeru in particular shone with ten thousand streams of light, the great path reverberating, pressing down upon the mortal world.
Mount Sumeru reached into the heavens, as though it could divide the two realms of mortals and celestials. The Great Thunder Sound Temple perched upon it blazed with light, sending out tremendous chants, followed by the sound of sutras being recited.
Dong…
At the same time, from the Northern Region came the toll of a bell — shaking the primordial universe. The Wushi Bell rang. In this moment it had fully reawakened!
“What is happening?”
Within the Northern Dipper Star Region, all three of these places were profoundly mysterious, impossible for ordinary people to truly fathom. Today, all three blazed with light — an immeasurable light, no less powerful than the breath emanating from the great rift of the immortal realm.
“Ah… no, Wushi — you cannot do this to me!”
The first to stir — the first to make a sound — was not those three places. It was the Sacred Cliff!
Light surged into the heavens there. A presence unparalleled across all ages blazed outward. A divine roll of canonization — brilliantly dazzling — began to rapidly loosen, then fell away from the most majestic main peak.
And in the very next moment, a total of three hundred and sixty-five seal runes flew up, then exploded, transforming into three hundred and sixty-five beams of immortal light that plunged into the roll, making it even more resplendent, so blinding that no one could keep their eyes open.
“No! No!” From within the Sacred Cliff came a roar — but it could not change anything.
The Sacred Cliff cracked open. A massive primordial immortal source emerged — iridescent and luminous, suffused with ten thousand radiances — as an elemental spirit within it struggled frantically. Then a stone coffin flew outward, within which lay a body — an aged Daoist.
“What… my body is still here, so close!” The Undying Daoist was filled with regret and hatred. The several severed pieces of his elemental spirit all struggled.
Hum!
The Canonization Roll blazed. It drew in the several fragmented pieces of elemental spirit, then wrapped around the Daoist corpse and transformed directly into an undying immortal rainbow, shooting into the immortal path. Divine light blazed — incomparable and unrivaled, piercing straight through the primordial chaos cave!
“That is the Canonization Roll left behind by the Wushi Great Emperor. He… is still alive!”
Dong!
The bell rang, long and deep. Purple Mountain cracked open. That place — called the Ancient Imperial Mountain in the Primordial Age, said to be capable of drawing near the divine — split into four pieces. A great bell flew outward, primordial chaos energy billowing from it, surging directly toward the Southern Region!
Eight thousand years had passed. The Wushi Bell had once again shaken the world. It had entered the world — manifesting in the mortal realm once more!
“The Wushi Great Emperor has also acted. Is he truly still alive?!”