At the command, the Chaos Bell rang out with a thunderous peal. A mystic-yellow golden light, condensed to the utmost, tore through the void, disregarding the distance of space and time, and instantly plunged into the depths of the mist over the Boundary Sea!
“Roar—!”
From deep within the Boundary Sea came a howl filled with agony!
That flicker of dark fluctuation collapsed in an instant!
Vaguely, one could see that wherever the golden light passed, a small region of the Boundary Sea’s mist was forcibly swept aside.
It revealed the twisted void behind it, as well as wisps of dark origin aura that were purified away in an instant!
One strike!
Across the boundless Boundary Sea, he had annihilated a dark creature that had attempted to spy upon the Immortal Domain!
The Chaos Bell trembled slightly, withdrew that golden light, then shrank and sank into Lu Xuan’s body.
He still stood at the edge of the Boundary Sea, his robes fluttering, as though he had merely done something utterly insignificant.
And yet, the entire Immortal Domain was deathly silent.
All the Immortal Kings who had witnessed this scene, including Qingmu and Qingwei, who were close at hand, stood frozen in place like clay idols and wooden statues.
They had sensed the terror of that dark creature’s aura within the Boundary Sea. It was absolutely an existence no weaker than an Immortal King!
They had felt even more keenly the despair-inducing oppression of the Boundary Sea itself!
But Lu Xuan… with the boundless Boundary Sea between them, had delivered a casual strike, and it had actually directly…
What level of strength was this?!
And that bell—what heaven-defying object was it?!
Fear, shock, disbelief… all manner of emotions surged like a tide, drowning every Immortal King.
Lu Xuan slowly turned around. His gaze seemed to sweep across every corner of the Immortal Domain, and his calm voice exploded like thunder in the mind of every Immortal King:
“If I encounter enemies from the Boundary Sea, I will naturally take action.”
“As for matters within the Immortal Domain…”
His voice abruptly turned cold, carrying a chill that froze the soul:
“Keep to your place, and you may remain safe.”
“If anyone harbors improper intentions, their fate shall be the same as that wretch!”
As his words fell, he stepped forward, and his figure vanished from where he stood, returning to the Golden Crow Ancestral Court.
He left the kings of the Immortal Domain behind in endless silence, tasting the unquestionable warning contained within those words.
At this moment, no one dared mention the title of Guardian Honored King again, and no one dared harbor even the slightest scheme.
Before absolute power, all calculations and political maneuvering appeared so laughably absurd.
Lu Xuan, the Golden Crow Immortal King, had announced the manner of his existence to the entire Immortal Domain with his unparalleled, domineering strength—he was the rule!
Lu Xuan’s strike from the edge of the Boundary Sea, annihilating a dark creature across the void, seemed to still be echoing within the Dao hearts of the kings of the Immortal Domain, bringing them endless shock.
And in a hidden spacetime somewhere in the Immortal Domain, within a Daoist field that seemed to have transcended the passage of time and fallen into eternal silence, a figure slowly opened his eyes.
His entire body was shrouded in a hazy halo. His aura was ancient and profound, as though he were the symbol of all endings and final destinations.
It was none other than Immortal King Wuzhong!
That earth-shattering scene at the edge of the Boundary Sea had just been clearly reflected in eyes that seemed capable of piercing through the cycles of eternity.
Unlike the fear and wariness of the other Immortal Kings.
In Immortal King Wuzhong’s eyes, there first flashed a trace of extreme astonishment.
Immediately afterward, it transformed into an ever more intense admiration and fervor.
“What a divine bell! What a Lu Xuan!”
Immortal King Wuzhong murmured to himself, his voice carrying a strange rhythm, as though it could stir ripples in time.
“To be able to mobilize the power of chaos so easily, precisely lock onto and annihilate a dark projection across the boundless Boundary Sea… Such might is already beyond the means of an ordinary Immortal King. His potential far surpasses the likes of Ao Sheng by hundreds and thousands of times!”
He had already been paying attention to Lu Xuan after he slew the three great Immortal Kings, but at that time, he had mostly regarded him as a formidable Immortal King of tyrannical strength.
But that strike just now had allowed him to see something deeper—absolute control over power, an understanding of the essence of chaos, and the supreme Dao rhythm contained within that bell, one that surpassed the Immortal Domain’s understanding!
“How can such a person be allowed to remain outside our fold, or even become an enemy?”
A sharp light flickered in Immortal King Wuzhong’s eyes.
“The unrest in the Boundary Sea worsens by the day, and the source of darkness is beginning to stir. A great calamity will surely come in the future. As for the Immortal Kings of the Immortal Domain now, they are more than capable of preserving what they have, but lack the drive to advance; they are unworthy of bearing a great responsibility. This Lu Xuan is decisive in killing and conquest, possesses limitless potential, and holds such a supreme treasure. If we can truly draw this man into the Primordial Ancient Realm, then those people from the Foreign Realm will be nothing to worry about!”
His desire to win Lu Xuan over became stronger than ever before.
This was no longer simply to avoid conflict or make use of his power. He had truly seen in Lu Xuan a possibility—one that might change the Primordial Ancient Realm!
At the same time, the myriad races of the Immortal Domain had fallen into even deeper waves of shock because of that brief yet astonishing scene at the edge of the Boundary Sea.
Within the Golden Crow ancestral land, after a brief deathly silence, there came fanaticism and pride like a volcanic eruption!
“The divine might of an Immortal King! The divine might of an Immortal King!” A young Golden Crow warrior was so excited that he partially revealed his true form, his wings burning with blazing flames as he raised his head and let out a long cry.
“To strike across the Boundary Sea and annihilate a dark creature! What heaven-reaching means are these! With such a king in our clan, why should we fear that we will not prosper!”
Clan elder Jin Qing had tears streaming down his face, his body trembling slightly from excitement. He seemed to see the glory of the Golden Crow clan in the era of the Heavenly Emperor of old being re-created in the hands of this new king!
The faith and loyalty of all Golden Crow clansmen reached their peak at this moment.
Lu Xuan was not merely the benefactor who had saved them from dire straits, but the supreme leader who would guide them toward unsurpassed glory!
As for the other races and powers of the Immortal Domain, after their initial extreme shock, they fell into immense panic and complete submission.
Those clans that had once maintained dealings with the forces under the three Immortal Kings, Ao Sheng, Taishi, and Yuanchu, and had even secretly coveted the Golden Crow clan’s legacy—
At this moment, they were already scared out of their wits. Their clan leaders convened meetings overnight and issued orders in trembling voices:
“Quick! Take out the most precious treasures in the storehouses! No, open the treasury and allow the Golden Crow clan’s envoys to choose at will! We must obtain their forgiveness!”
“From this day onward, all disciples and sect members must perform the great rite of kneeling whenever they encounter a descendant of the Golden Crow clan! Those who disobey will be expelled from the clan, and their life or death will no longer matter!”
“Immediately destroy all tokens and records related to those three Immortal Kings. Cut ties completely!”
Some ancient existences among the powerful primordial divine beast clans were also startled awake from their slumber, their expressions incomparably solemn.
“The Golden Crow clan… has produced an extraordinary existence.”
A primordial Li Dragon coiled within a chaotic nebula let out a deep dragon’s roar.
“His strength can no longer be simply defined within the scope of an Immortal King. Pass down my order: when the dragon clan encounters a Golden Crow, they are to treat them with the rites reserved for an imperial clan. There must be no negligence.”
“The Dao of the Sun can actually evolve to such a degree? The power of chaos can actually be controlled as freely as one’s own arm and fingers?”
Within the ancestral land of the Blood Phoenix clan, a figure wreathed in eternal fire let out a sigh of astonishment.
“The Dao of that Golden Crow Immortal King is also enlightening to our clan. Perhaps… we should send envoys to befriend him and discuss the Dao.”
As for the ordinary races and itinerant cultivators, who were the most numerous, they completely deified the name “Lu Xuan.”
The Boundary Sea was a forbidden zone of death that even Immortal Kings spoke of with utmost caution!
For Immortal King Lu Xuan to annihilate an enemy with a strike across the sea—in their eyes, these were already methods akin to those of a creator deity!
“Immortal King Lu Xuan should be the strongest expert in the Immortal Domain!”
“What veteran Immortal Kings? Before Immortal King Lu Xuan, they are all nothing but clay chickens and pottery dogs!”
“From now on, the Immortal Domain should honor the Golden Crow above all!”
An invisible wave of voices swept through every corner of the Immortal Domain. A new order—not at the negotiating table, not in the assemblies of kings, but beneath the display of absolute power—was sincerely acknowledged and accepted by all living beings.
The heavens of the Immortal Domain had completely changed.
It was no longer a situation where many Immortal Kings stood side by side, restraining one another.
An invisible yet incomparably heavy mountain pressed upon the hearts of all living beings, and upon the Dao hearts of all Immortal Kings—that mountain’s name was Lu Xuan.
And at this moment, the source of all this upheaval had already returned beneath the Fusang divine tree, as though he had merely done something insignificant.
Unlike the radiant splendor of the Immortal Domain, where the laws were relatively orderly,
the Foreign Realm was shrouded in an even more primitive and savage aura, one that even carried threads of strangeness and ill omen.
The earth was dark red, a purple evil moon hung in the firmament, and the air was filled with dense dark matter.
In the deepest part of the Foreign Realm, within a grand hall constructed from black divine metal, a supreme meeting that would determine the future course of blood and fire was taking place.
At the center of the hall, a constantly twisting source of dark light hovered in the air, exuding a heart-palpitating pressure.
Around the light source, dozens of blurry yet powerful figures sat encircling it, each one emanating a vast aura of immortality and indestructibility.
They were none other than the core power with which the Foreign Realm waged war upon the heavens—the Undying Kings!
These Undying Kings were of all different forms. Some were shrouded in roiling black fog, revealing only scarlet eyes.
Some had massive bodies covered in cold metallic scales; others were entirely human in form, but their auras were even more terrifying than demon gods.
Their mere existence here caused the surrounding void to continuously shatter and re-form.
“Everyone,”
an icy voice came from that dark light source. It was the will of one of the Foreign Realm’s most ancient giants, Chi King.
“The Origin Ancient Artifact must be obtained. It is the key to initiating ultimate evolution, discerning the origin of the world, and even transcending this heaven and earth. And it lies within the Primordial Ancient Realm.”
From another direction, a terrifying aura that seemed to annihilate ten thousand Daos fluctuated. That was another giant—Wushang.
His voice carried a metallic force.
“Although the Primordial Ancient Realm is already shattered, there are still a few troublesome rats guarding it. More importantly, that group of hypocrites from the Immortal Domain will never sit by and watch us attack the Primordial Ancient Realm. They will certainly interfere.”
An Undying King whose body was wrapped in black chains spoke coldly.
“Although the Immortal Domain is currently rife with internal strife, if we launch a large-scale assault on the Primordial Ancient Realm, they will surely put aside their grudges for the time being and join forces against us. Even if we can win in a direct clash, the price would be too great.”
“Then we will make it impossible for them to join forces, or… leave them with no attention to spare.”
Chi King’s will sounded once more, carrying calculation.
“Dispatch a sufficiently powerful force to launch a frontal feint against the Immortal Domain! Make it seem as though we intend to wage a decisive battle with the Immortal Domain, drawing all of their attention and high-end combat strength.”
The aura of the giant Wushang condensed slightly.
“Making a feint to the east while striking in the west? Not a bad idea. But the Immortal Domain is no fool. Ordinary harassment will not be enough to make them go all out.”
“That is why the force for this feint must be strong enough!”
Chi King’s voice was firm and decisive.
“This king and Wushang will personally lead it!”
As soon as these words were spoken, a slight commotion stirred within the hall.
Two giants mobilizing at the same time—this was something that had not happened in countless epochs!
Chi King continued, “In addition, mobilize thirty Undying Kings! Bring the Dark Canopy and the World-Eroding Grand Array, and point our blades straight at the Immortal Domain’s most prosperous region—the ‘Thirty-Three Heavens’! Put on a stance that shows we are willing to fight at any cost to tear open the Immortal Domain’s barrier!”
Thirty Undying Kings! Along with two giants! This was almost equivalent to nearly half of the Foreign Realm’s top power on the surface!
With such a massive lineup, the Immortal Domain would absolutely be unable to treat it lightly. They would certainly face it as though confronting a mortal enemy, mobilizing every Immortal King they could to the border for a standoff. Even those old fellows in slumber might be awakened.
“With such a lineup, the Immortal Domain will surely respond with all its strength.”
The giant Wushang approved of this plan.
“At that time, their rear will be empty, and their attention on the Primordial Ancient Realm will drop to its lowest. The other surprise force we have lying in wait near the Primordial Ancient Realm can then seize the opportunity to move and take the Origin Ancient Artifact with thunderous momentum!”
“Precisely!”
Chi King’s will revealed a chilling killing intent.
“The key to this operation lies in speed and ruthlessness! The force feinting against the Immortal Domain must fight fiercely and with imposing momentum, ensuring that they hold down the Immortal Domain’s main forces. As for the force seizing the Origin Ancient Artifact, they must conceal their movements and succeed in a single strike! Once they obtain it, they are to immediately flee far away and must not linger in battle!”
“Everyone,”
Chi King’s dark light source swept over all the Undying Kings.
“For the glory of our race, for the chance of transcendence, this battle allows only victory, not defeat!”
“For the glory of our race!”
All the Undying Kings responded in unison. Terrifying killing intent and dark aura surged into the sky, shaking the entire core of the Foreign Realm and causing even the purple evil moon outside to dim.
An earth-shattering conspiracy aimed at the Immortal Domain and the Primordial Ancient Realm was thus decided.
A vast army formed by two giants and thirty Undying Kings would serve as the overt move, drawing fire.
The true killing blow, however, was hidden in the dark, its target pointed directly at that which concerned the ultimate secret—the Origin Ancient Artifact!
The Foreign Realm’s army, like a tide of darkness, began gathering under the wills of the two giants toward the chaotic borderlands adjoining the Immortal Domain.
The clouds of war were unprecedentedly heavy.
They were about to sweep toward the Immortal Domain, which was still immersed in the shock brought about by Lu Xuan and had not yet clearly sensed the crisis to come.
And at this moment, Lu Xuan, who had just returned to the Golden Crow ancestral land, also faintly felt that beyond the Immortal Domain, spacetime seemed to be transmitting some kind of unsettling throb.
The Chaos Bell trembled faintly within his body, as though it had sensed the thick, inextricable darkness and killing aura from the distant Foreign Realm.
“A storm is coming…”
Lu Xuan gazed in the direction of the boundless Foreign Realm beyond the Immortal Domain, his eyes deep. “It seems it won’t be that easy to cultivate in peace.”
Time flowed on, stars revolved, and tens of thousands of years quietly passed since Lu Xuan had established his might at the edge of the Boundary Sea.
During these tens of thousands of years, the Immortal Domain sank into a strange calm.
The Golden Crow Ancestral Court kept its gates tightly shut and rarely interacted with the outside world. Only that newly born Fusang divine tree grew ever more majestic.
The solar essence flowing among its branches and leaves had almost condensed into substance, its radiance illuminating hundreds of millions of li, like a primordial star that would never fall, silently proclaiming the supreme existence of its master.