Immortal King Hunyuan paced back and forth within his immortal palace. Again and again, he watched the fragmented battle images, focusing especially on that ancient, unadorned bell.
“Ignores defenses, suppresses all laws, obliterates Dao fruits… This simply makes no sense!”
He growled under his breath, yet his voice carried a sense of powerlessness.
“Just what is his origin? Could that Golden Crow be an ancient relic from several epochs ago?”
The moment he thought of that possibility, even he felt a tremor of fear in his heart and dispelled any thought of opposing him.
After Immortal King Qingwei returned to her immortal palace, she immediately activated the strongest protective formation.
A trace of pallor colored her incomparably beautiful face as she said to her trusted maidservant,
“Prepare a generous gift at once. No, prepare three! With the humblest attitude, send them to the Golden Crow Ancestral Court to congratulate Immortal King Lu Xuan on his return to the Immortal Domain, and to apologize for our previous… rash interference.”
She recalled the scene of that bell giving only the slightest tremor and forcing the four Immortal Kings back. That was an absolute disparity in strength, one that left her unable to even think of comparing herself to him.
Immortal King Qingmu and Immortal King Xuangui gathered once more. The two looked at each other in silence, the atmosphere heavy and oppressive.
“We both misjudged him.”
Immortal King Qingmu let out a long sigh.
“What he possesses is a power beyond the scope of our understanding. That bell, and the Dao charm surrounding him, likely involve secrets that even we cannot touch. From now on, the Immortal Domain should revere him as supreme—at least until we understand the source of that power…”
Immortal King Xuangui nodded silently. His divination through the tortoise shell had failed once again, and the backlash made a thread of blood spill from the corner of his mouth. In a hoarse voice, he said,
“The workings of heaven… are a mass of chaos. Everything related to him is shrouded by the power of that bell. It cannot be peered into.”
Compared with the fear and confusion of those at the highest levels, the lower-ranked cultivators, while shocked by Immortal King Lu Xuan’s strength, were even more inclined to deify him and weave all sorts of legends around him.
“Have you heard? That new Immortal King of the Golden Crow race uses a divine bell that has existed since the era when heaven and earth were first opened! With one toll, even Immortal Kings will fall!”
“I knew the Golden Crow race had profound foundations. As expected, they were hiding an ultimate trump card we knew nothing about!”
“From now on, who in the Immortal Domain would dare refuse to submit? Immortal King Lu Xuan is the symbol of invincibility!”
In taverns, in marketplaces, countless cultivators discussed it with spittle flying. Though they did not know the precise origin of that bell either, it did not stop them from elevating Lu Xuan and the bell to a divine altar.
Unknown power was often transformed at the lowest levels into an even more mysterious myth, and this storm of public opinion sweeping across the Immortal Domain
invisibly further consolidated the supreme prestige that Lu Xuan and the Golden Crow race had just established.
Because of a bell of unknown origin and an Immortal King bearing an unknown inheritance, the Immortal Domain had fallen into an unprecedented upheaval, standing on the eve of transformation.
Every gaze, every scheme, was focused on that Golden Crow Ancestral Court bathed in the radiance of the newborn sun, waiting for that mysterious Immortal King’s next move.
Within the Golden Crow ancestral land, an almost uncontrollable ecstasy surged through the Golden Crow clansmen!
“We won… We… survived?”
A young clansman murmured to himself. His face still bore tear tracks that had yet to dry and congealed bloodstains, yet his eyes were filled with dazed disbelief.
He pinched himself hard. The sharp pain instead made him split his lips into a grin as he laughed and cried at the same time.
“We’re alive! We survived! The Immortal King! He is our Immortal King!”
The grief, indignation, and humiliation that had been suppressed for far too long were all transformed in this instant into supreme reverence and fervent faith toward that figure!
“Immortal King Lu Xuan!”
“Long live the Immortal King!”
No one knew who shouted that name first. Immediately after, cries like mountains roaring and seas surging gathered together, shaking the newborn Fusang divine tree, making even the freshly sprouted spirit grasses sway.
All the clansmen, regardless of the severity of their injuries, regardless of age, struggled and supported one another as they deeply knelt in Lu Xuan’s direction.
This bow was utterly devout, coming from the depths of their hearts.
With the support of the clansmen, the Golden Crow clan chief walked unsteadily yet with extraordinary firmness to the very front.
The old clan chief looked at Lu Xuan, who had descended before the main trunk of the newborn Fusang divine tree, and tears once again blurred his vision.
He broke free of the supporting hands, straightened his tattered golden robe, and, with the most solemn ceremony of the Golden Crow race when paying homage to a sovereign, deeply bent his spine.
“This old man, Jin Qing, leads the remnants of the Golden Crow race in thanking the Immortal King for the grace of saving our lives and remaking our destiny! The Immortal King’s divine might shall shine through all eternity!”
His voice was choked, yet solemn.
Lu Xuan looked at the old man before him, who had nearly shed the last drop of blood for his race, then looked at the scarred clansmen behind him whose eyes burned with raging flames, and his heart was slightly moved as well.
He extended a hand and lightly lifted the air. A gentle yet irresistible force supported Clan Chief Jin Qing and raised him up.
“Clan Chief, there is no need for such ceremony. We are both Golden Crows. This is my duty.”
His voice had softened considerably. It no longer held the coldness he showed when facing outside enemies, yet it did not seem overly warm either.
Clan Chief Jin Qing rose and looked at Lu Xuan’s young yet profound face, feeling that bloodline pressure of the same origin, yet vast as a sea of stars. Besides excitement, his heart was filled with countless questions.
When had such an astonishingly talented powerhouse appeared in the clan?
Why had they never heard of him?
Where had that mysterious and powerful bell, and those divine abilities so different from the present Golden Crow inheritance, come from?
As if seeing the doubts in the eyes of the clan chief and all the clansmen, Lu Xuan swept his gaze over the crowd and slowly spoke, his voice clearly entering every clansman’s ears:
“I know that all of you have questions in your hearts. My name is Lu Xuan, and I bear the pure bloodline of the Golden Crow.”
He paused, as though recalling the distant past, his tone carrying a trace of vicissitude and indifference.
“I did not grow up in this era. When I was still young, an ancient senior of our clan, now long since passed away, used supreme divine abilities to seal my life aura and bloodline fluctuations, then sent me into the deepest part of the Sun Ancient Cave—the ultimate forbidden land that even the clan chief may not easily set foot in.”
The moment these words were spoken, all the clansmen held their breath. Even Clan Chief Jin Qing revealed a look of shock.
The deepest part of the Sun Ancient Cave!
That was the forbidden land guarded by the Golden Crow race for generations. It was said to contain the secret of the race’s origin, but it was also filled with endless danger and unknowns. Among the explorers of past generations, few had survived.
An ancestor had actually sent a young Golden Crow in there?
Lu Xuan continued speaking according to the persona he had devised.
“That senior seemed to have deduced the workings of heaven and foreseen the calamity the race might suffer in the future. Thus, he took this desperate measure, hoping that in a hopeless situation, he could preserve for the Golden Crow race a thread of the purest bloodline and… hope.”
“Deep within the ancient cave, relying on the meager legacy that senior left behind and the sun source power of the forbidden land itself, I grew alone and cultivated alone. Time and space there were disordered, and the laws were vastly different from the outside world. I did not know how the years passed outside. All I could do was temper myself without cease and comprehend the older, more primordial Great Dao of the Sun that remained in that forbidden land.”
His words outlined a lonely and arduous scene.
A young Golden Crow, alone in an ancient forbidden land filled with danger on all sides, resisting the unknown in solitude, relying on instinct and the legacy of a predecessor to struggle for survival and silently cultivate bitterly.
This greatly resonated with all the clansmen. It was as if they saw a young brother of the clan, in a corner no one knew of, enduring unimaginable loneliness and hardship for the possible future of the race.
“Until recently,”
Lu Xuan’s voice rose slightly.
“when my cultivation reached perfection, I sensed in the unseen the violent fluctuations of the race’s bloodline. I sensed that overwhelming sorrow and despair…”
His gaze once again swept over the ancestral land, ruined and then newly reborn, and his voice grew solemn. “Thus, I emerged from seclusion.”
He did not explain the origin of that bell in detail, only attributing it to opportunities he had obtained in the forbidden land and divine abilities he had cultivated himself.
This explanation both accounted for why he was so powerful and why he had never appeared before, and it also attributed his return today and his turning of the tide to his care for and resonance with the race.
It perfectly created the image of a new king with a tragic past, formidable strength, and deep feelings for his race!
“So that is how it was… An ancient ancestor actually left such a contingency for our race!”
Clan Chief Jin Qing came to a sudden realization, trembling with excitement.
Although he still held doubts about it, he understood that even if Lu Xuan was not as he had said,
so what?
Such a powerful Immortal King, coupled with the bloodline resonance upon him—so what if he was hiding something?
“Heaven bless the Golden Crows! Heaven bless the Golden Crows! The heroic spirits of our ancestors have protected us, allowing our race to welcome you in our darkest hour!”
“The Immortal King has endured countless tribulations and still not forgotten the race. We… kowtow in thanks to the Immortal King!”
All the clansmen bowed deeply once more. This time, besides fervor, their eyes held even more heartfelt tenderness and respect.
On their own, they imagined the countless years of loneliness and danger Lu Xuan had endured in the forbidden land, regarding his present strength and that “resonance with the race” as the deepest love for the Golden Crow race.
Lu Xuan accepted this reverence calmly.
He knew that this identity would allow him to completely integrate into the Golden Crow race and become their true pillar.
He raised a hand, signaling for everyone to rise, and his tone regained its authority.
“The past is past. The road ahead is long. Since I have returned, the Golden Crow race will no longer be permitted to suffer bullying. The urgent priority is to repair the ancestral land, recuperate, and increase our strength.”
His gaze turned sharp. “The blood shed today will not flow in vain. All who participated in forcing our race, and all who watched coldly from the sidelines, will ultimately pay the price.”
“And now,”
he looked toward Clan Chief Jin Qing.
“Clan Chief, tell me the current situation of the clan, as well as the detailed reason why Ao Sheng and the other two forced your hand.”
Clan Chief Jin Qing had been helped up by Lu Xuan. Hearing him inquire about the reason for their coercion, hatred and a trace of bitterness immediately appeared on his face.
He led Lu Xuan toward a discussion platform naturally formed by enormous roots beneath the newborn Fusang divine tree, with several core elders following closely behind.
On the platform, the traces of war had not yet been completely erased. Charred blackness intertwined with newly grown tender shoots, telling of the tragedy from not long ago.
The clan chief took a deep breath, calming his surging emotions, then spoke in a deep voice:
“May the Immortal King see clearly. Those three old thieves, Ao Sheng, Taishi, and Yuanchu, forced our race on the surface because they coveted several sun source mines controlled by our race and our ancient alchemy secret arts. But in the final analysis, it was for a legend passed down only in the most core records of our race—”
He paused. A trace of reminiscence flashed through his eyes, and his voice lowered somewhat:
“Legend has it that in the most ancient era of our race, long before the order of the Immortal Domain was established, our race once produced a supreme existence whose brilliance shook the ancient and illuminated the present—the Golden Crow Heavenly Emperor!”
The Golden Crow Heavenly Emperor!
That Emperor Radiance giant-level existence who had once dominated the Realm Sea.
When the clan chief spoke this name in an incomparably solemn tone, the several core elders present subconsciously straightened their backs, their faces revealing both shared glory and incomparable regret.
“The Heavenly Emperor’s cultivation reached the height of creation itself. He once ruled the heavens and illuminated myriad worlds. His might was far beyond what today’s Immortal Kings can compare to.”
The clan chief continued, his tone filled with yearning.
“According to the oldest bone-book records within the clan, before the Heavenly Emperor vanished into the long river of history, he left behind a hidden treasury. Within it were his lifelong cultivation insights and core inheritance. It is said that it contains… the secret to breaking through from king to emperor!”
The four words “breaking through from king to emperor” seemed to carry some kind of magical power, making the surrounding air freeze for a moment.
The breathing of the elders grew heavy, their eyes flashing with longing and excitement.
Immortal Kings already stood at the apex of the Immortal Domain, overlooking the reincarnation of eternity, while the single word “Emperor” existed only in ethereal legends, representing the supreme realm beyond Immortal King, true transcendence, and indestructibility through myriad tribulations!
This was the ultimate goal that all Immortal Kings dreamed of!
Clan Chief Jin Qing’s voice carried grief and anger.
“Those three, Ao Sheng and the others, somehow learned of this absolute secret that had only ever been passed down orally among the highest level of our race! They were convinced that our race possessed the method to open the Heavenly Emperor’s hidden treasury, or perhaps even to directly obtain his inheritance. Over the years, their open and hidden probing and suppression never ceased. Recently, they seemed to have lost patience, or perhaps they obtained some definite information. At last, they tore away all pretense and joined forces to attack us, threatening us with extermination to force us to hand over clues and the key to the Heavenly Emperor’s hidden treasury!”
After he finished speaking, he looked at Lu Xuan with burning eyes, carrying anticipation, and also a trace of imperceptible probing.
This Immortal King who had returned from the forbidden land had obtained such a powerful inheritance. Could it… also be related to the Heavenly Emperor?
Did he know the whereabouts of the hidden treasury?
However, beyond all the elders’ expectations, after hearing this “secret to breaking through from king to emperor” that was enough to drive any Immortal King mad, Lu Xuan’s face showed not the slightest change in expression.
He even… furrowed his brows slightly, a trace of disapproval flashing through his eyes.
As a transmigrator bearing the inheritance of Donghuang Taiyi, he naturally understood the true nature of this so-called “breaking through from king to emperor.”
In the system of Perfect World, after Immortal King came the realms of Quasi-Immortal Emperor and Immortal Emperor. How could such realms be achieved with some so-called “secret manual”?
A dead object such as a secret manual might record some experiences and insights of predecessors, and it might contain certain powerful divine abilities. But to think that relying on it would allow one to follow a map step by step and steadily “break through from king to emperor” was simply a fool’s dream!
This path was filled with unknowns and danger. More than anything, one needed to charge forward, comprehend, and fight for oneself!
What mattered was walking one’s own Dao!
Moreover, viewed from the height of Donghuang Taiyi’s inheritance, although the “Emperor Realm” of this world was powerful, it was not unattainable.
His, Lu Xuan’s, Dao lay in fusing Taiyi’s inheritance with the laws of this world and walking a path that belonged to himself, not in pursuing some illusory so-called “Heavenly Emperor secret manual.”