【Simulated ninety years ago, the Heavenly River Sect’s Xuanming Heavenly Venerable fell into demonic possession and perished together with the Dao Transformation Sect’s Five Elements Heavenly Lord at the same place.】
【That day, the entire sky over Zhongzhou transformed from daylight to darkness, as two great suns clashed continuously!】
【One radiated a Verdant Sun glow, seemingly brimming with vibrant life force. Wherever this light shone, plants bloomed in profusion, turning deserts into dense forests; the other emitted the Death Sun’s pitch-black hue, embodying the end and death itself. Wherever its aura spread, countless lives withered and perished.】
【Two suns suspended in the Nine Skies, nine days in total! Suddenly, they exploded with a deafening roar!!】
【Through your “Outsider Seventh: Cangtian Has Eyes,” you heard the maddened voices dissolve into countless murmurs, as if two voices were roaring right beside your ears!】
【“Come, bet everything on this gamble.”
“The victor will possess all!”
“He has abandoned us!”
“For the path! For the future! For survival!!”】
【Life and death… a struggle of Dao merging! The winner will reclaim everything… seizing a glimmer of life!!】
【How long passed, you do not know, until you finally awakened. From the Old Ghosts, you learned ten years had elapsed. Through Cangtian Has Eyes, you glimpsed the battle of the Nascent Soul Heavenly Lords and comprehended the paths of the two. You combined their Dao with your own sword techniques to forge a new method—
—The Sword of Five Elements Creation and Final Extinction.】
【This development, different from your previous life, plunged you into deep contemplation. You dispatched people to investigate and even ventured personally.
In the end, at the place where the Nascent Soul Lords fell, you brought back an infant.】
【Simulated one hundred eleven years: you stockpiled vast quantities of spiritual materials and medicines, going so far as to mortgage all sect resources to the Immortal Alliance by taking out a millennium-long loan.】
【Simulated one hundred twenty years: acting on the Old Ghosts’ advice, you began constructing the Heavenly Emperor Spirit-Sealing Arrays in all major mortal cities under the Three Sects Mountain’s jurisdiction.】
【Simulated one hundred thirty years: you achieved the Golden Core Completion breakthrough, Su Xiaohei reached the late Golden Core stage, and your second disciple Ma Zhen forged a Core Formation. An extraordinary treasure descended from the heavens—the Taiyan Stone.】
【Simulated one hundred sixty-six years: a nameless Nascent Soul Lord launched a surprise attack on the Bear Clan in the Southern Border, massacring the entire family. For over half a month, they rampaged unchecked, leaving a million dead and wounded before retreating calmly.】
【Simulated one hundred seventy years: the five domains erupted with the Yaksha Calamity, with self-proclaimed Nine Nether Cult cultivators controlling yakshas to slaughter mortal cultivators and sacrifice entire cities in blood rituals. For a time, the five domains teetered on the brink of chaos.】
【Simulated one hundred seventy-three years: the Immortal Alliance’s merged Dao leader, the Heavenly Yin Heavenly Lord, succumbed to demonic possession, turning the alliance’s core into a wasteland.】
【The following year, the Immortal Alliance’s dark division’s Dark Prison Heavenly Lord fell to possession, shattering the dark division. Demonic cultivators emerged, rampaging throughout Zhongzhou!】
【Simulated one hundred seventy-five years: the Nine Nether Yaksha Calamity worsened, with the sky and earth cracking open giant dark fissures rumored to connect to the Nine Nether Land.】
【Simulated one hundred eighty years: the five domains’ Nascent Soul Heavenly Lords fought the Nine Nether Cult across Zhongzhou; the land trembled, and the sky fractured with streaks of cracks. Above, the silhouettes of countless Heavenly Lords battling were projected.】
【You leisurely drank a cup of tea, watching the spirit bird you had raised for thirty years in its cage. You released it, and as it flew out, it soared like a dragon plunging into the sea, breaking through the skies straight into the Nine Skies!】
【Simulated one hundred eighty-one years: you were the first to proclaim “Support the Immortals, Exterminate the Nether.” You struck hard against the Nine Nether Cult and the White Bone Yaksha. Through your political acumen, you united tens of thousands of sects in Zhongzhou, forming the “Destruction of Yaksha Calamity Alliance.” A disciple under the Xuanming Heavenly Venerable of Heavenly River Sect—whose Dao had perished—was appointed alliance leader.】
【Simulated one hundred eighty-two years: with the Old Ghosts’ assistance, you successfully ascended to Nascent Soul. Wielding three Lingbao treasures, you earned the right to contend with veteran Nascent Souls.】
【Simulated two hundred years: the Destruction of Yaksha Calamity Alliance swept through with unstoppable momentum, winning battle after battle. Within just twenty years, most of Zhongzhou’s White Bone Yaksha and Nine Nether Cult were eradicated. You even nearly killed Li An, who was on the verge of becoming a Yaksha Lord, with a single sword strike.
That same year, Su Xiaohei broke through to Nascent Soul and took the Dao name “Xuantian,” proclaiming himself Xuantian True Lord.】
【Seeing this Dao name infuriated you, so you found a trivial excuse to give him a beating.】
【Simulated two hundred five years: you paused the campaign against the Nine Nether remnants to purge the Destruction of Yaksha Calamity Alliance internally. Dozens of Golden Core disciples were executed for corruption, and a veteran Nascent Soul was found colluding with the Nine Nether Cult. You and Su Xiaohei personally killed him at the alliance headquarters, where blood rained for three days straight!】
【Since then, the undercurrents within the alliance fell silent…】
【Simulated two hundred twenty years: wielding the Immortal Alliance’s power to punish the disloyal, you systematically expelled major sects that shirked responsibilities. That same year, the alliance leader, acknowledging his own lack of virtue, wished to abdicate in your favor.
You refused three times, but ultimately, under the concerted efforts of the Three Sects Mountain’s old guard and Su Xiaohei’s group, you were forcibly installed as alliance leader.
You exclaimed, “You’ve truly made my life miserable!”】
【Simulated two hundred fifty years: reports surfaced of Nine Nether fissures emitting poisonous energies corrupting the land. You ordered formation arrays built at all such locations across Zhongzhou to suppress the pollution.
That same year, all major cultivators in the alliance were required to practice the Heavenly Emperor Law.
Though this technique does not increase cultivation directly, it generates contribution points based on one’s progress. These points could be exchanged for restricted items like Core Formation secrets under the Immortal Alliance’s regulations.
In an instant, countless Qi Refining and Foundation Establishment cultivators hailed the Qingyang Alliance Leader’s grace as greater than the heavens!!】
【Simulated three hundred years: after years of reform, the Destruction of Yaksha Calamity Alliance became an ironclad unity. Low- and mid-level cultivators knew only the alliance’s mission without loyalty to their own sects, while high-level cultivators grumbled but could do nothing.
Seeing the time was ripe, you shockingly turned public resources into private gain, renaming the alliance the Qing Emperor Divine Palace. You selected an auspicious day to crown yourself emperor atop Three Sects Mountain.
The alliance’s hardliners rebelled, colluding with Nine Nether remnants and external families. Five Nascent Souls and over twenty Golden Cores launched a fierce assault!
That day, all in Zhongzhou witnessed the might of the Heavenly Emperor Spirit-Sealing Array; that day, you completed your coronation amid a storm of blood; that day, your name thundered across the five domains for two days!!】
【Qingyang True Lord, Qing Emperor—
Su Bai!】
【Simulated three hundred fifty years: you planned a southern inspection tour to supervise Zhongzhou’s disloyal factions and urge formation construction. Yet an external Nascent Soul somehow slipped past the Heavenly Emperor Spirit-Sealing Array and assassinated you with a treasure of Nascent Soul rank!!
You were grievously wounded and had no choice but to entrust the array’s completion to the Qing Emperor Divine Palace’s second-in-command, Xuantian True Lord Su Xiaohei.】
【Simulated five hundred years…】
Qingyang Peak soared into the clouds, crowned by a proud slab of Qing Rock. Rooted within the rock grew a peach tree, its branches lush and broad, its canopy like a massive umbrella shading the entire mountaintop.
A Daoist robed in dark garments sat cross-legged upon a peachwood chair, drawing out a long spear. The spear was ancient and simple, emitting a faint chill. Wine spilled over a smooth slab of Qing Rock, mingling with the scent of peach blossoms that wafted strongly to the nose. The spear’s tip lightly touched the wine-soaked Qing Rock and slowly rotated…
“Shuling, I suspect you.”
A breeze whispered past, gently swaying the peach blossoms. The voice echoed quietly across the tranquil peak, carrying a trace of confusion and accusation.