“Your Majesty wishes to witness the Emperor’s Fall. Do you know the perils within? That stretch of spacetime has long since congealed, filled with ill omen and strangeness, and there is an unimaginable backlash of karma as well. Those without great karma, great will, and great fortune who step into it will find ten deaths and no life.”
Lu Xuan calmly lifted his teacup and took a light sip, feeling the Dao-law ambrosia dissolve within him, nourishing his soul.
He set down the cup, his gaze meeting that of the Lord of the Restricted Zone.
“The road ahead has already stagnated. Without danger, there is no way to break the deadlock. Since I have come here, I have already made my preparations.”
He paused, then took out the bronze fragment that came from the Six Paths of Reincarnation Immortal King and placed it on the stone table.
“This object originates from the Emperor’s Fall. Upon it is a trace of my aura.”
The Lord of the Restricted Zone’s gaze fell upon the bronze fragment. For the first time, a clear ripple appeared in those warm, tranquil eyes.
He extended a somewhat illusory finger and gently touched the fragment, closing his eyes to sense it.
A moment later, he opened his eyes. A flicker of understanding, and an even deeper curiosity, flashed within them.
“As expected… an aura of the same source. Though faint, its essence is identical.”
He looked toward Lu Xuan, his tone carrying a hint of probing. “Interesting. Your Majesty’s origins seem to be even more… extraordinary than I imagined. This stretch of ancient history appears to have long since borne your imprint.”
He did not press Lu Xuan on his exact origins. At their level, some secrets were understood without being spoken.
“Since Your Majesty bears such karma, and has this connection to the Emperor’s Fall, perhaps… you truly possess a sliver of qualification to peer into that forbidden spacetime.”
The Lord of the Restricted Zone spoke slowly.
“I can guide the way for you and open that long-sealed passage. But whether you can reach it, what you can see within, and whether you can return—all will depend on your own fortune.”
“That is enough. Many thanks, Daoist friend,” Lu Xuan said solemnly.
The Lord of the Restricted Zone rose. His white robes fluttered as he walked toward the ancient, vigorous tree and gently pressed his palm against its trunk.
“This tree is an anchor of spacetime, rooted in the ages, connected to certain nodes that have long since been forgotten.”
He explained softly, while the seemingly peaceful aura around him abruptly became ethereal and lofty.
Strands of strange spacetime laws diffused from within him and resonated with the ancient tree.
The entire pure land began to tremble faintly. The clear surface of the lake was no longer calm; what it reflected was no longer the sky, but countless shattered and flowing scenes of spacetime, as though myriad worlds were being born and destroyed within it.
The branches and leaves of the ancient tree moved without wind, rustling softly. That sound seemed to come from the distant past, containing the power of the years.
A hazy gate of light, constructed from countless spacetime runes, slowly appeared before the ancient tree.
Beyond the gate of light was an indescribably distorted passage. Broken stars, overturned palaces, and a spreading black blood mist could be vaguely seen…
That was the rift leading to the Emperor-Fall Era!
“The passage is open. Your Majesty, please.”
The Lord of the Restricted Zone turned sideways and said to Lu Xuan. His figure seemed to have become even more illusory from opening the passage.
Lu Xuan rose to his full height and cupped his hands once more toward the Lord of the Restricted Zone. Then, with a firm gaze, he looked toward the chaotic scene beyond the gate of light.
Without the slightest hesitation, he stepped forward. Chaotic energy coiled around him, and the illusory image of the Chaos Bell rose and fell above his head as he resolutely entered the passage that led to the mystery of the ages!
The instant his figure vanished within it, the gate of light shook violently, then closed.
The island at the heart of the lake returned to silence, as though nothing had ever happened.
The Lord of the Restricted Zone stood alone beneath the tree, gazing at the place where Lu Xuan had disappeared. He murmured softly, with a trace of expectation and emotion:
“A seeker of the Dao who crosses spacetime… I hope you can bring back a different answer and unravel a few of the mysteries behind the sorrow of this Emperor’s Fall.”
In the breeze, his figure appeared ever more lonely and transcendent.
The moment Lu Xuan stepped into the gate of light, it was as though he had crossed the barriers of eternity. The scenery around him instantly became bizarre and dazzling, and his sense of spacetime fell into complete disorder.
The intense confrontation or vast ancient history he had expected did not immediately appear. In its place was a deathly stillness and desolation that seeped into the marrow.
Lu Xuan steadied himself. Chaotic energy flowed naturally, protecting his body and resisting the omnipresent grief and chaotic laws that seemed capable of eroding the ages.
He lifted his eyes and looked ahead, and his heart could not help but sink.
Before him was not the complete world he had imagined, but a boundless, shattered void.
Within the void floated countless enormous… tombs.
These tombs took all manner of forms. Some were like collapsed mountain ranges, some like overturned stars, and some were the skeletons of unimaginably massive creatures, piled together and sealed away by some unknown force.
They hovered there in silence, without any markings, without any offerings, bearing only the mottled traces and scars left by the passage of time, exuding an aura of death and ending so dense it could not be dispersed.
Every great tomb seemed to have buried an era, a supreme giant, a glorious yet tragic past.
The laws here were filled with the meaning of “ending” and “burial.” Even the chaotic energy seemed somewhat stagnant in this place.
“The Emperor-Fall Era… Is this the sight of the Emperor’s Fall?”
Lu Xuan’s heart turned cold with awe.
Rather than an era, this stretch of spacetime was more like a vast and boundless collective graveyard, burying no one knew how many earth-shaking existences.
He did not linger. Following the faint guidance transmitted by the bronze fragment in his possession, as well as the resonance of that trace of same-source aura within himself, he walked toward the depths of this graveyard.
His footsteps fell upon emptiness, yet it seemed as though he were treading on the dust of history—soundless, yet heavy.
Who knew how long he walked, or how many silent great tombs he passed, before the scene ahead finally changed.
At the center, encircled by countless tombs, an ancient cave appeared.
That ancient cave did not exist upon any tangible earth, but hung suspended in the void. Its entrance was deep and dark, as though it connected to the very source of the universe.
In stark contrast to the deathly silence around it, the entrance of the cave was constantly gushing forth with dense chaotic energy and resplendent immortal mist!
The chaotic energy was incomparably pure, far surpassing that of the outside world, as though it were the origin from the dawn of creation.
The immortal mist billowed, containing abundant vitality and indescribable fragments of the Great Dao. Merely taking a breath of it made one feel as if one’s cultivation had advanced.
These two powers, which should have been opposed, merged perfectly in this place, forming a strange balance. They transformed into bizarre and dazzling rays of light, illuminating the heart of this deathly graveyard.
This ancient cave was like the sole source of life in this kingdom of death, and also like the final destination of all secrets.
However, what made Lu Xuan’s gaze sharpen even more was the sight surrounding the ancient cave.
At the edge of the surging chaotic immortal mist, indistinct and shadowy, there were actually several dozen figures!
These figures were not solid bodies. They were more like projections that had crossed spacetime. Their clothing, their auras, and their Dao rhythms were entirely out of place in this Emperor-Fall Era, and were instead closer to the “modern age” in which Lu Xuan resided!
They surrounded the outer perimeter of the ancient cave. Every one of them possessed a powerful aura, at least at the level of a True Immortal, and several among them had even reached the level of Immortal Kings!