The Immortal Domain was boundless and vast, stars revolving around it. It had been a sacred ground for cultivation, yet now, one corner was suffused with an indissoluble blood-colored hue and grief.
The Golden Crow Ancestral Court—the place where the glorious Great Sun once resided. The Fusang Divine Tree stood tall enough to prop up the heavens, liquid solar essence flowing between its branches and leaves, its radiance illuminating hundreds of millions of li of territory.
But now, this sacred pure land had been reduced to scorched earth.
Fractured giant Fusang trunks burned with inextinguishable black flames. Resplendent Golden Crow feathers mixed with dark red divine blood, scattered everywhere.
The void was suffused with destructive ripples from shattered laws and a bloody stench thick enough to make one gag.
The surviving clansmen had gathered within the restrictive light barrier at the very heart of the Ancestral Court, their numbers less than one-tenth of what they had been at their peak.
Most were wounded, their wings broken, flames of wrath burning in their eyes—yet deeper within lay unconcealable despair and sorrow.
The Golden Crow Clan Chief, an old man in a golden robe, gripped the cracked Sun God Staff and stubbornly held up the tottering final barrier.
Pale golden blood trickled from the corners of his mouth, his aura feeble, yet his spine remained straight and unbent.
He glared furiously at the three figures above the heavens, lofty as divine mountains, emanating an aura that suppressed the myriad worlds.
They were the three renowned Immortal Kings of the Immortal Domain—Ao Sheng, Taishi, and Yuanchu!
Immortal King Ao Sheng was enveloped in blazing immortal radiance, his dragon qi coiling around him, his eyes like cold lightning, carrying an unquestionable dominance.
He looked down from above, his voice icy.
"Old Golden Crow, do not be so stubborn and foolish! Your race is among the oldest living beings in the Immortal Domain. Your bloodline contains the secrets of creation, and the Solar Origin points directly to the root of the Great Dao. Such treasures are not for your clan alone to monopolize. Hand over the Source cultivation method, offer up the core of the Fusang Divine Tree, and this King may, for the sake of old times, grant your race a thread of survival—demoted to immortal slaves, continuing your lineage."
Immortal King Taishi's aura was ethereal, as if merged with the Great Dao, yet his words were sharper than a blade.
"The resources of the Immortal Domain belong to the virtuous. Your Golden Crow clan has occupied the power of the Solar Source for too long. Your virtue does not match your position, and it is only right that you yield. Those who resist stubbornly will only face complete clan extinction."
Immortal King Yuanchu was taciturn, but the Primal Chaos aura flowing around him was the most oppressive.
Though he did not speak, the invisible pressure he exerted was even more terrifying than the other two, as if the very heavens and earth were rejecting the Golden Crow clan.
The Golden Crow Clan Chief's beard and hair all bristled, and he laughed in extreme fury.
"Hahaha... what fine words—the virtuous shall possess it! What fine old bonds of the Immortal Domain! Our ancestors stood shoulder to shoulder with the co-founders of the Immortal Domain, shedding blood, establishing the universe! And now you covet the secrets of our bloodline, committing such banditry without a shred of shame! Are all the Kings of the Immortal Domain blind and deaf?! Will you just stand by and watch them commit this genocide?!"
His roar shook the Immortal Domain, spreading to countless ancient traditions and imperishable great sects.
Yet what answered him was a deathly silence.
Some powerful divine senses swept across the battlefield with cryptic scrutiny, carrying cold observation or perhaps a trace of imperceptible sighing, but without exception, they swiftly retreated, as if afraid of being tainted by some inauspicious ill-wind.
Within an ethereal immortal palace, an ancient existence murmured, "Golden Crow... what a pity. But the power of Ao Sheng and the others is immense, with far-reaching entanglements behind them. For old sentiments long sealed in dust, it is not worth it."
In another Primal Chaos cave abode, an indifferent voice spoke, "The Solar Origin is indeed tempting. The Golden Crow clan has guarded this treasure mountain for too long. To hold the jade is to invite the crime."
Worse still, some sneered in secret, "Fight. Struggle. No matter who wins or loses, it weakens one side; how is that bad for us?"
Coldness, calculation, watching the fire from across the river... such was the attitude of the Kings of the Immortal Domain! Before profit, so-called warm righteousness, so-called Immortal Domain covenants—they were as thin as a sheet of scrap paper!
The Golden Crow Clan Chief watched those retreating divine senses, feeling that icy silence, his heart sinking into an endless abyss. Grief, fury, and a trace of relief that even he could not admit—look, this was the Immortal Domain they had sworn to protect with their very lives!
"Since you are stubborn beyond reason, then extinction it shall be!" Immortal King Taishi lost his patience.
He raised his hand and struck. A beam of Immortal King laws, brilliant to the extreme, transformed into a true dragon, roaring as it tore through the void before violently crashing into the restrictive light barrier.
"Boom—!"
The barrier twisted violently, cracks spreading like a spiderweb.
The Golden Crow Clan Chief sprayed a mouthful of golden blood, his figure swaying on the verge of collapse.
"Clan Chief!" The clansmen cried out in grief, the despair in their eyes deepening.
"Fight them to the death!" Some young clansmen's eyes tore at the corners, burning their very source to transform into small suns, intending to rush out and self-detonate.
"No!" The clan chief shouted hoarsely to stop them, but it was already too late.
Just at this moment—
"Dong!!!"
A bell toll seeming to originate from the dawn of creation rang out without warning from the depths of the Ancient Sun Cave—the most core forbidden ground of the Golden Crow Ancestral Court!
The bell sound was not ear-piercing, yet carried an indescribable ancientness, boundlessness, and majesty!
It ignored the barriers of space and time, resounding directly in the depths of every living being's Dao Source, and within the minds of all Immortal King-level existences in the Immortal Domain!
Time seemed to freeze in this moment.
Immortal King Taishi's heaven-destroying palm hung suspended in midair, the condensed Great Dao runes seeming frozen.
The space-time lockdown laid down by Immortal King Yuanchu rippled violently, nearly collapsing.
The cold arrogance of absolute control on Immortal King Ao Sheng's face cracked for the first time, turning into shock and alarm.
And those young Golden Crows who were about to self-detonate had the violent energy within their bodies forcibly smoothed by a gentle yet irresistible force.
All eyes, carrying unimaginable shock, turned in unison toward the Ancient Sun Cave!
"Hummm—"
Scarlet-gold divine radiance was no longer merely light, but like a flood bursting a dike, surging from the depths of the ancient cave!
Brilliant, boundless, supreme!
It broke through the remaining restrictions, pierced through the stable barriers of the Immortal Domain, and shot straight into the depths of the endless void!
A supreme pressure that towered above all immortals and looked disdainfully upon past, present, and future came crashing down, like a slumbering primordial divine emperor suddenly awakening!
"This... this is Immortal King aura?! And... so pure!"
An Immortal King from a distant realm cried out involuntarily, no longer able to maintain composure.
"No! This isn't ordinary Immortal King pressure! It carries the aura of the Solar Origin, yet... transcends above it! Which ancient ancestor of the Golden Crow clan has returned?!"
In another Life Forbidden Zone, an ancient existence was startled awake, its divine senses fluctuating violently.
"What a terrifying bell toll... what kind of artifact is that? It can actually shake this King's primordial spirit!" An Immortal King who walked the path of soul refinement felt a surge of heart palpitations.
Throughout the Immortal Domain, powerful wills were stirred—some shocked, some solemn, some greedy, some fearful.
That long-lasting, heart-chilling silence was completely shattered by this sudden bell toll and pressure!
Within the Golden Crow ancestral land, the surviving Golden Crows felt a bloodline resonance, originating from the same source yet as vast as a sea of stars. First came disbelief, then ecstasy erupted like a volcano!
"It's the forbidden ground! The inheritance of the Ancient Sun Cave!"
"Immortal King! Our clan... our clan has an Immortal King too!"
"Heaven has eyes! Heaven has eyes!" The old Golden Crow Clan Chief's face streamed with tears. The grief and indignation that had kept him from collapsing now transformed into an overwhelming flood of emotion.
He bowed deeply toward the direction of the ancient cave.