The smoke of the great battle gradually dispersed. The remaining enemies were either exterminated or had fled.
The mountains and rivers of the Ancient Realm lay shattered, blood dyeing the starry sky, but in the end, this homeland had been defended.
The allied forces of the various sides began clearing the battlefield, treating the wounded, and gathering the heroic dead. The air was filled with the relief of surviving calamity, and with a grief that could not be dissolved.
Lu Xuan briefly reunited with Wuzhong Immortal King, Pan King, Heavenly Sword Immortal King, Immortal Gold Daoist, Second Under Heaven, and the other peak existences.
They nodded to one another in greeting. Everything was understood without words.
Had they not stood shoulder to shoulder in this battle, the Ancient Realm would have long since fallen.
Immediately after, Lu Xuan’s gaze turned toward the valley sealed beneath layer upon layer of spacetime restrictions—the place where the Primordial Gate stood.
This gate was the trigger of this catastrophe, a disastrous passage connected to the dark source of the Realm Sea. It absolutely could not be left behind.
Still less could it be used or opened once more by any faction!
“If this gate is not removed, the Ancient Realm will never know peace.”
Lu Xuan’s voice was deep and solemn, speaking the thoughts of all who knew the truth.
Wuzhong Immortal King nodded. The spacetime seal he had laid down before was indeed powerful.
But after this great battle, after the impact of the dark giant’s aura and the strange fluctuations of chaotic Dao charm from the gate itself, the seal had already loosened considerably. It was by no means a long-term solution.
“How does Daoist friend intend to deal with it?”
Pan King asked, and everyone looked toward Lu Xuan.
He controlled the Chaos Bell and bore a mysterious inheritance. Perhaps he had a better method.
Lu Xuan did not answer at once. He took a step forward and arrived above the valley.
Looking down, the broken stone wall still stood there, and upon it, the vague outline of a doorway flickered in and out beneath the light of the seal.
It emanated an ancient and chaotic aura that made one deeply uneasy.
Even while sealed, it seemed to possess life, slowly attempting to establish contact with the dark source on the far shore of the Realm Sea.
“The material of this gate is special. It has deep connections with the source of the Ancient Realm and even the rules of the Realm Sea. If we destroy it by force, it may trigger unpredictable consequences, and may even detonate the darkness behind the gate ahead of time.”
After carefully observing it, Lu Xuan reached this conclusion.
This was also the reason Wuzhong Immortal King and the others had only sealed it before, rather than destroying it.
“In that case, we shall seal it completely and exile it to an eternally unknown place!”
Heavenly Sword Immortal King’s tone was sharp as he offered the most direct suggestion.
Lu Xuan shook his head slightly.
“Exile is not a foolproof plan either. Since this gate could be sensed once, it can be sensed a second time. Only by severing all its connections with the outside world from the root, making it forgotten on the level of concept itself, can this be resolved once and for all.”
When everyone heard this, thoughtful expressions appeared on their faces.
To seal it on the level of concept?
That involved the very source of the Great Dao. How difficult would that be!
Lu Xuan said no more. He took a deep breath, and the Chaos Bell emerged above his head once again.
But this time, the Chaos Bell did not erupt with earth-shaking might. Instead, it became exceedingly restrained.
The scenes of sun, moon, stars, earth, water, fire, and wind manifested upon the bell’s surface flowed slowly, releasing a tranquil Dao charm that seemed capable of embracing all things and returning them to chaos.
He slowly raised both hands. His ten fingers moved as though plucking zither strings, outlining countless chaotic Dao patterns complex to the extreme.
These Dao patterns were not attacks, nor were they simple defensive restrictions.
They were sealing divine patterns that contained his understanding of the essence of “chaos”!
“Taiyi Forbidden Art—Chaos Return-to-Origin Seal!”
With his low shout,
countless chaotic Dao patterns, like living spirit serpents, flowed out from his fingertips and merged into the spacetime seal Wuzhong Immortal King had laid down below.
A wondrous transformation occurred!
The brilliant light of the spacetime seal began to draw inward, its structure becoming even more complex and even more tenacious.
At the same time, it was dyed with a faint chaotic hue, as though it could assimilate all things.
The power of the seal was no longer merely separation. Instead, it began to actively and slowly erode and assimilate the special Dao charm and material properties emanating from the Primordial Gate!
This was not violent erasure, but a far more brilliant and thorough method.
It was slowly “dissolving” the existence of the Primordial Gate into the surrounding chaotic spacetime background!
Like a drop of ink falling into the sea, until in the end, it could no longer be distinguished from the ocean!
At the same time, Lu Xuan drew upon the source power of the Chaos Bell, and a condensed strand of black-yellow qi descended.
It was not suppression, but like the finest of brushes.
Upon that chaotic seal, it outlined the phantom of a miniature chaotic universe, constantly arising, perishing, and evolving!
This phantom was like a real, newly born universe, enveloping the entire sealed valley within it.
It formed a system of its own, possessing independent and ever-changing spacetime laws and Great Dao trajectories.
Viewed from the outside, that valley seemed to have “vanished” from the map of the Ancient Realm.
Or rather, it had been overlaid with a constantly shifting chaotic veil of mist.
Any divine sense or deduction that attempted to probe, locate, or even “recall” its exact coordinates
would be interfered with and misled by this chaotic veil of mist, ultimately coming to nothing!
This was not merely concealment in space, but obscuration and confusion on the level of karma!
After doing all this, Lu Xuan’s face grew even paler, and his aura weakened somewhat.
Casting such a supreme sealing technique involving the source of the Great Dao was an enormous burden even for him.
He looked toward the area that seemed to have already fused into one with the surrounding chaotic void, without the slightest trace of anything unusual remaining.
Even the very concept of the gate was beginning to blur. In a heavy voice, he said:
“This seal is founded upon my Chaos Great Dao, fused with the profundity of the spacetime seal, and further outlined with the source power of the Chaos Bell as a ‘Chaotic Veil.’ Unless someone whose realm far surpasses mine, and who is likewise proficient in the Dao of Chaos, expends an enormous price to forcibly deduce it, this gate will remain silent for all eternity, forgotten by spacetime and chaos.”
Wuzhong Immortal King and the others sensed the seal that had perfectly merged with the environment, no longer revealing the slightest flaw, and their hearts were greatly shaken.
They could feel that the area had truly disappeared from their perception.
Had they not personally watched Lu Xuan cast the art, it would have been difficult even to determine its exact location!
“Daoist friend’s sealing art is unfathomable, enough to confound ghosts and gods!”
Wuzhong Immortal King praised him sincerely.
“With this, the hidden danger should be eliminated.”
Pan King also let out a breath of relief.
Yet Lu Xuan did not fully relax. He looked toward the area shrouded by the chaotic veil of mist, his gaze profound.
“Though this gate has been sealed, the dark source it represents still exists. The threat in the depths of the Realm Sea has not gone far. We… must still temper ourselves and press onward.”
Everyone fell silent, all knowing that his words were true.
Sealing a single gate had only resolved an imminent crisis.
The darkness on the far shore of that boundless Realm Sea was the true sword hanging over the heads of the myriad heavens and realms.
After this battle, a loose alliance against the darkness, with Lu Xuan, Wuzhong Immortal King, the Ancestor Sacrificial Spirit, and several top Immortal Kings of the Realm Sea as its core, had already begun to take shape.
The road ahead was destined to be filled with thorns and challenges.
Lu Xuan gave one final look at the Primordial Gate that had been sealed away for eternity.
Then he turned and left this valley, which bore too much pain and too many secrets, together with everyone else.
Beneath the starry sky, the shattered Ancient Realm began its arduous reconstruction.
And after a brief rest, the guardians also turned their gazes toward an even vaster future.