The instant he arrived at the edge of the ancient realm, the void ahead rippled, and an ancient, unadorned green lamp appeared out of thin air.
The flame within was no ordinary fire, but a pure and gentle light of wisdom, as though it could illuminate the human heart and guide the road ahead.
The green lamp swayed faintly, its flame pointing toward the depths of the ancient realm.
“Fellow Daoist, please follow the lamp.”
A gentle and calm voice rang out from within the flame. It was none other than Immortal King Randeng.
Lu Xuan nodded and followed the guiding green lamp, flying into the Primordial Ancient Realm.
Along the way, he saw many wondrous sights.
There were innate spiritual roots planted in the void, exhaling and inhaling chaotic qi.
There were ancient thunder spirits playing within a sea of lightning, commanding thunderbolts.
There were mysterious cultivators with ethereal auras fishing beside tributaries of the River of Time…
The foundations of this ancient realm were unfathomably deep.
In the end, the green lamp led him to the center of the ancient realm, into a tranquil sea of bamboo.
At the heart of the bamboo sea stood a simple thatched cottage. Before it were a stone table and two stone stools.
An old man in a plain gray robe, with a lean face and gentle, wise eyes, was seated upon one of the stone stools. In his hand he held an oil lamp similar to the guiding green lamp, quietly waiting.
There was no oppressive aura about him at all. He seemed to have completely merged with this bamboo sea and with this stretch of heaven and earth. Yet his very existence gave one the feeling of an ancient beacon that could illuminate the lost and steady the hearts of men.
He was Immortal King Randeng.
“Fellow Daoist Lu Xuan, you have had a tiring journey. Please, sit.”
Immortal King Randeng smiled faintly, gesturing for Lu Xuan to take a seat, and poured him a cup of clear tea. The fragrance of the tea mingled with the scent of bamboo, refreshing the heart and spirit.
“Many thanks for your invitation, Fellow Daoist Randeng.”
Lu Xuan cupped his hands and sat down. He could sense that this Immortal King Randeng’s cultivation was unfathomable; he was likely already a giant-level existence among Immortal Kings.
He might even have touched upon the Emperor Light domain. His Dao was also unique, seemingly related to “guidance,” “protection,” and “wisdom.”
“There is no need to stand on ceremony, Fellow Daoist.”
Immortal King Randeng looked at Lu Xuan with a peaceful gaze, as though his eyes could see through many secrets.
“Fellow Daoist proved your Dao as a Chaos War Immortal in the Realm Sea and defeated the outstanding talents of countless realms. Your name has long since spread throughout many ancient realms. This old man took the liberty of inviting you here first because I wished to meet a rising star as astonishingly gifted as you, and second… because I also sensed upon you a trace of an indescribable karmic connection with this stretch of ancient history, and with that bygone era.”
Lu Xuan’s heart stirred. This Immortal King Randeng was indeed extraordinary, to actually be able to faintly sense his connection to the Emperor Fall Era.
“Fellow Daoist Randeng has keen insight.”
Lu Xuan did not deny it, but neither did he elaborate.
“This journey of mine is also to explore karma and comprehend my own Dao.”
Immortal King Randeng nodded. He did not press further, merely stroked the green lamp in his hand and said slowly,
“Karma is like a lamp flame, brightening and dimming without certainty, yet there are always traces to follow. The Primordial Ancient Realm has existed for a very long time and has weathered countless vicissitudes. Perhaps it holds some ancient imprints… that Fellow Daoist may find of interest.”
His words were profound, seeming to carry a deeper meaning.
Lu Xuan understood. This might be yet another important opportunity for him to seek out the lost ancient palace and unravel the mystery of Emperor Fall.
He lifted his teacup and, with this unfathomable Immortal King Randeng, began a conversation in this tranquil bamboo sea concerning the Great Dao, karma, and ancient history.
Outside the window, bamboo shadows swayed, and the lamp flame was like a bean of light, as though reflecting the time and secrets of eternity.
The bamboo sea was quiet, and the fragrance of tea curled upward. As Lu Xuan listened to Immortal King Randeng’s peaceful words, the questions in his heart regarding that mysterious green-robed quasi-Immortal Emperor surfaced once more.
He set down his teacup, looked directly at Immortal King Randeng, and asked the question that had lingered in his heart for a long time:
“Fellow Daoist Randeng, in the previous battle of the Realm Sea, that green-robed Emperor Venerable who acted to suppress dozens of dark giants… might Fellow Daoist know his origins?”
Immortal King Randeng’s fingers, which had been tending the lamp flame, paused slightly. A trace of reminiscence and complex, unreadable emotion flashed through his eyes.
He fell silent for a moment. Even the flame of the green lamp seemed to sway gently with him, reflecting the vicissitudes of eternity.
“Him…”
Immortal King Randeng’s voice carried a distant sigh.
“If this old man’s guess is not wrong, the one Fellow Daoist speaks of should be that fellow Daoist who called himself ‘Nameless,’ and came from the ‘Xuanhuang Great Realm.’”
“Xuanhuang Great Realm?” Lu Xuan found the name unfamiliar.
“That was an ancient realm… that has long since ceased to exist.”
Immortal King Randeng’s tone carried compassion.
“At the end of the Emperor Fall Era, when the dark turmoil burned at its fiercest, the Xuanhuang Great Realm bore the brunt of it. It was completely corroded and devoured by darkness… the countless living beings within that realm, together with its brilliant civilization, were all turned into nourishment for the darkness. It was a great tragedy of the Realm Sea.”
Lu Xuan’s mind trembled. An entire great realm had been completely devoured?
What kind of appalling calamity was that!
“Then how did he…”
Lu Xuan pressed.
“According to extremely ancient rumors,”
Immortal King Randeng continued, his voice low.
“At the final moment when the Xuanhuang Great Realm was about to sink completely and its realm walls were shattering, all the surviving experts within sacrificed their own flesh, blood, and divine souls. They burned the last source essence of the entire great realm and worked together to tear open a transcendent fissure, sending out the most astonishingly gifted child that realm had produced from ancient times to the present, the one who bore its final hope and all its resentment.”
“That child was him.”
Immortal King Randeng’s gaze seemed to pierce through time and space, seeing that tragic and heroic scene.
“He carried the posthumous will and blood feud of the entire Xuanhuang Great Realm and drifted through the Realm Sea. No one knows how he spent those years. They only know… when he next appeared before the eyes of the world, it was six hundred thousand years after that great calamity.”
“He revealed himself in a certain forbidden land, and had already proven his Dao as an Immortal King!”
Even Immortal King Randeng’s tone could not help but carry a trace of amazement.
“Six hundred thousand years—for an Immortal King, how brief a span is that! And the moment he emerged, he carried monstrous hatred and killing intent, his target clear: he killed only dark Immortal Kings!”
“He was like a vengeful ghost, roaming the Realm Sea, searching for every Immortal King-level existence connected to the source of darkness. In the beginning, though his strength was formidable, the dark forces of the Realm Sea were deeply entrenched and intertwined, and he encountered mortal peril many times. The most famous incident was in the ‘God-Burying Starfield,’ where more than twenty dark Immortal Kings joined forces to set an ambush and surround him! That battle shattered the starfield and reduced laws to ash. Everyone believed that this vengeance seeker, so astonishingly talented yet so ill-fated, would finally perish… After the battle, he did indeed disappear. His aura fell utterly silent, as though he had been completely erased by darkness.”
“Because of that, the Realm Sea fell into silence for half an epoch.”
Immortal King Randeng paused and took a sip of clear tea, as though calming the heaviness brought by recounting this history.
“Many people gradually forgot him, believing he was merely another fleeting wave that had risen and vanished amid the struggles of the Realm Sea.”
“However…” Immortal King Randeng’s voice suddenly turned grave. “Just when everyone thought he had long since fallen, he… appeared again!”