And in the core of the Solar Star, deep within the heart of the Fusang tree, Lu Xuan remained in seclusion, utterly unaware of the clamor and drastic changes in the outside world.
All his mind and spirit were immersed in the ultimate deduction and sublimation of his own Great Dao.
Chaos roared, battle intent burned, the Three Corpses revolved… An astonishing transformation concerning his future path of Dao was quietly gestating in the silence.
When he emerged from seclusion, it would surely shake heaven and earth!
The Immortal Realm had entered a new era dominated by the Golden Crow Heavenly Emperor and the Heavenly Court.
Yet undercurrents still surged silently in the depths of the Boundary Sea, throughout the myriad heavens and worlds.
An even greater storm was brewing.
Deep within the Boundary Sea, time had lost all meaning.
The fierce battle between the Nameless Quasi-Immortal Emperor and Emperor Cang had already continued for several thousand years!
To mortal beings, this was the rise and fall of dozens, even hundreds of dynasties.
To True Immortals, it was a long period of seclusion.
But to the two Quasi-Immortal Emperors locked in battle, it was merely one all-out struggle amid their endless lives.
Their battlefield had long since ceased to be confined to the innermost core of that source of darkness.
Terrifying energy storms and collisions of the Great Dao swept outward like tides of destruction, driving them from the deepest reaches of the Boundary Sea all the way toward its comparatively outer regions!
Wherever they passed, all things withered and laws collapsed!
A vast continent drifting in the Boundary Sea, formed from the remnants of some ancient world long since perished, was swept by the aftershock of one of Emperor Cang’s palm imprints of annihilation. In an instant, it silently turned to dust, along with whatever faint spark of civilization might have been gestating upon it, vanishing completely.
Next, a void river spanning a sea of stars, condensed from pure spatial laws, was corroded by the dark origin power stirred up by Emperor Cang. The river ceased to flow, its spatial structure utterly disintegrating into a stretch of chaotic nothingness.
There were even dark Immortal Kings lying dormant deep within the Boundary Sea, hoping to reap benefits from the sidelines, who drew too close and were swept by a stray strand of emperor-level Dao law. They did not even have time to scream.
Their enormous demonic bodies and immortal kingly Dao laws melted and were obliterated in an instant like ice and snow beneath the sun!
An Immortal King giant, powerful enough to unleash catastrophe across the heavens, was thus destroyed in both body and soul, as though he had never existed!
This horrifying scene spread rapidly through the Boundary Sea like the most terrifying plague!
Whether they were Immortal Kings belonging to the dark camp, or ordinary Immortal Kings from the myriad heavens and worlds tempering themselves or living in seclusion within the Boundary Sea, all were completely shaken by this incomprehensible and dreadful sight!
“Emperors… emperors are waging war!”
“How is that possible?! Aside from the source of darkness, there is actually another emperor?!”
“Retreat! Hurry, get away from that region! Anyone dragged in will die without question!”
“That is… the power of annihilation! Completely different from darkness! Who is campaigning against the dark emperor?”
Countless immensely powerful divine senses, carrying undisguisable shock, fear, and traces of incredulous fervor, shot from every corner of the Boundary Sea toward the direction in which the battlefield was moving.
The Immortal Kings manifested one after another, standing atop the barriers of their ancient worlds or the remnants of shattered stars, gazing from afar at the battle that would decide the fate of the heavens.
They saw two figures, so blurred that their exact forms could not be discerned, yet both emanating auras that towered above the myriad Daos, colliding fiercely in the Boundary Sea.
One figure was wreathed in hazy divine light of annihilation. Wherever he passed, all things returned to ruin, carrying a sense of tragic resolve and determination.
The other figure merged into boundless darkness, devouring everything, radiating cold and cruel imperial might.
Every exchange between them seemed to redefine earth, water, fire, and wind, opening and ending miniature universes.
Every stray wisp of aura was enough to make Immortal King giants tremble with fear, making them feel their own smallness and fragility.
“Rumble—!”
An even more violent collision erupted in an empty starfield in the central region of the Boundary Sea!
The Nameless Quasi-Immortal Emperor used the Annihilation Heavenly Art to evolve a spear of return to ruin that spanned the sea of stars. Around its shaft coiled the afterimages of the Xuanhuang Great World’s collapse and the cries of endless living beings as it stabbed fiercely toward Emperor Cang!
Emperor Cang roared, condensing dark origin power into a dark heavenly stele engraved with billions upon billions of twisted demonic patterns, meeting the strike head-on!
The spear of return to ruin and the dark heavenly stele collided with ferocious force!
Indescribable destructive energy expanded outward in a sphere, instantly clearing all matter within a radius spanning several star systems!
A few lifeless stars that were relatively close by vaporized directly, like blocks of ice thrown into a furnace!
Farther away, some Immortal Kings who were spying on the battle, though separated by an endless distance, still felt their Dao fruits violently tremble. Their divine souls seemed to have been struck by a heavy hammer, and their expressions changed in horror as they retreated once more!
The result of this collision was still that the Nameless Quasi-Immortal Emperor held a slight advantage!
Although the spear of return to ruin failed to completely pierce through the dark heavenly stele, that ultimate Dao charm of annihilation seeped through, causing Emperor Cang’s blurred body of darkness to ripple violently. His aura showed clear signs of disorder!
“Roar! You cannot kill me!”
Emperor Cang let out an enraged roar. Dark origin power surged madly, repairing his injuries, but compared to several thousand years ago, his aura had already dimmed by a trace.
After several thousand years of continuous fierce battle, facing the Nameless Quasi-Immortal Emperor’s annihilation Dao that contained the hatred of all living beings and was incomparably firm and fierce, even he, an ancient dark Quasi-Immortal Emperor, felt unprecedented pressure and depletion!
As for the Nameless Quasi-Immortal Emperor, he remained silent, his offensive surging like a tide.
His azure robe was also stained with a few dull marks, signs of corrosion by dark origin power.
For him, sustaining such an extreme outburst for several thousand years was likewise an enormous burden.
But the eyes hidden beneath that hazy radiance grew ever firmer, ever colder.
He knew Emperor Cang was right. In this place, dark origin power was nearly inexhaustible; a prolonged battle was unfavorable to him.
But he had no choice, nor any regret.
His Dao was, by its very nature, to be practiced amid destruction and sublimated amid annihilation.
The battlefield of the two Quasi-Immortal Emperors continued to move through the Boundary Sea, like two suns of destruction. Wherever they passed, all things gave way; only emperor-level laws roared and collided!
The kings of the Boundary Sea could only watch from afar, their hearts surging, yet not a single one dared approach in the slightest.
They knew that the outcome of this imperial battle would directly affect the structure of the myriad heavens and worlds for countless epochs to come!
Would darkness continue to shroud everything, or would a new glimmer of dawn arrive?
Everyone’s heart rose into their throat.
And in the Immortal Realm, Lu Xuan, secluded in the core of the Solar Star, seemed to have also sensed the earth-shaking fluctuations of the imperial battle in the Boundary Sea. The chaotic qi and battle intent coiling around him became even more turbulent and surging…
The storm had arrived!
Within the Boundary Sea, the two Quasi-Immortal Emperors had waged war for several thousand years. Their vast imperial might and the destructive aftershocks of their collisions had long since ceased to be limited to a single corner of the Boundary Sea.
That terrifying aura, towering above the myriad Daos, was like a boulder thrown into a calm lake. The ripples it stirred crossed endless spacetime, reaching the myriad heavens and worlds, and naturally also alarming the newly reborn Immortal Realm.
The Immortal Realm, Lingxiao Treasure Hall.
The Golden Crow Heavenly Emperor—Xi Huang—was seated upon his treasured throne, listening to reports from all sides and handling the affairs of the Heavenly Court.
At present, his imperial might grew more flourishing by the day. He ruled the Immortal Realm, blessed by its fortune, and felt he had already stood at the summit of the myriad heavens and worlds. He was just about to unfurl grand ambitions and establish supreme achievements.
Yet at a certain moment, his majestic expression suddenly changed. He abruptly rose from his imperial throne, his gaze like two tangible golden torches, piercing through the Thirty-Three Heavens as he stared fixedly in the direction of the Boundary Sea!
He had sensed it!
That vast, icy dark imperial might, filled with the meaning of devouring and destruction!
And another unfamiliar imperial might, likewise towering above the myriad Daos, yet carrying the Dao charm of tragedy, resolve, and annihilation!
“This is… an imperial battle?! True emperor-level existences are clashing in the Boundary Sea?!”
There was a trace of trembling in Xi Huang’s voice that even he did not notice!
As an Emperor-Light Immortal King, he had already touched the threshold of that domain. More than anyone, he understood that what those two auras represented was the true Quasi-Immortal Emperor realm that had transcended the level of Immortal Kings—the realm he yearned for even in his dreams!
Especially that dark imperial might. Its depth and terror made even him, the Heavenly Emperor who ruled the Immortal Realm and gathered the fortune of myriad worlds, feel a burst of heart-pounding dread!
The emperor light he took such pride in seemed so… insignificant and dim before that pure dark emperor!
“The source of darkness… truly has such an existence…”
Xi Huang murmured to himself. His fists clenched unconsciously, the knuckles turning white.
He had always known darkness was terrifying, but he had never imagined it to be at such a despair-inducing level!
The ambition with which he had established the Heavenly Court seemed, at this moment, to have been doused with a basin of icy water.
And what shook him even more was that unfamiliar Quasi-Immortal Emperor who wielded annihilation!
“Who is he? In the myriad heavens and worlds, aside from the dark emperor, there is actually another imperial sovereign? He is waging war against darkness?!”
An incredulous light burst from Xi Huang’s eyes. It was the excitement of seeing a fellow traveler, of seeing hope, but it was quickly replaced by an even deeper sense of powerlessness.
Because a battle of that level was one in which, even as the Heavenly Emperor, he had no qualification to participate!
He could only be like those Immortal Kings in the Boundary Sea: a distant, powerless observer.
This realization was like a sharp thorn, piercing deep into his proud heart.
It was not only Xi Huang. In the entire Immortal Realm, every expert whose cultivation had reached the Immortal King level, such as King Pan and Hunyuan Immortal King, was shaken by the fluctuations of the imperial battle transmitted across endless spacetime. They manifested one after another, gazing toward the Boundary Sea with solemn expressions, their hearts surging with towering waves.
At the same time, throughout the myriad heavens and worlds, in various ancient worlds, secret realms, and even some ancient ruins drifting in the Boundary Sea…
In the Primordial Ancient Realm, deep within a tranquil bamboo sea, Randeng Immortal King held a green lamp. Its flame flickered faintly, illuminating his unperturbed face.
He sighed softly, with the compassion of one who had seen through the affairs of the world. “The imperial battle has begun; the epochal tribulation approaches… Can the spark of hope burn away this darkness of eternity?”
In the Myriad Beasts Ancestral Nest, a sleeping immemorial ancestral beast opened eyes like the sun and moon, letting out a low roar filled with awe toward that destructive power, as well as battle intent.
In the Star Sword Domain, the current Sword Master stood atop the highest sword peak. The ancient sword in his arms hummed without cease as he gazed in the direction of the Boundary Sea, his eyes filled with yearning for a higher sword Dao and emotion at his own insignificance.
And in a chaotic ruin somewhere in the Boundary Sea, two fellows who had been arguing endlessly over a rare divine herb also stopped at the same time.
“Hiss… Old Tu, did you feel that? This commotion… damn it, it’s a little frightening!”
The fake-medicine seller put away his frivolous expression. Rarely, a grave look appeared on his face as he subconsciously touched the precious gourds at his waist.
The Butcher remained cold, but the cleaver he carried on his back emitted an unprecedentedly intense hum. It was resonance with ultimate slaughter and destructive power… and yearning.
His icy gaze turned toward the direction from which the fluctuations came, and he said curtly, “Emperor realm. Very far.”
“Nonsense, of course I know it’s the emperor realm!”
The fake-medicine seller rolled his eyes, then smacked his lips.
“But… why does this scent of annihilation feel a bit familiar? It’s a little like a certain Dao charm on that brat Lu Xuan we met before, though the level is worlds apart…”
The Butcher was silent for a moment, then said, “Same source, different fruit.”
“Exactly!”
The fake-medicine seller slapped his thigh.
“Looks like our path isn’t wrong! As long as we deduce our methods to the extreme, we may not necessarily be unable to take a look at that realm! Old Tu, put in some effort. Don’t let that kid Lu Xuan get there ahead of us!”
The two exchanged a glance, both seeing in the other’s eyes an even more blazing fire of Dao-seeking ignited by the imperial battle.
They stopped arguing and each found a place to sit cross-legged. Borrowing the Dao-charm fluctuations transmitted from that distant imperial battle, they actually began to verify and deduce their own methods!
Throughout the myriad heavens and worlds, countless ancient and newly risen powerful beings were all, in their own ways, paying attention to this ultimate battle that would decide the course of the future.
The figures of the Nameless Quasi-Immortal Emperor and Emperor Cang continued to collide and move through the Boundary Sea, like two ancient gods who had opened heaven and earth locked in a world-ending contest of strength.
Their battle was not merely a struggle for victory or defeat. It was more like they were redefining the pinnacle of “power” for this Boundary Sea, which had lain silent for countless epochs, and also pointing out the direction of the road ahead for all later generations who glimpsed this scene—as well as… the despairing hardships upon that road.
All observers understood that no matter the result of this battle, the structure of the myriad heavens and worlds would be thoroughly changed because of it.
An even more magnificent, yet also bloodier and darker era was slowly drawing open its curtain amid the rumble of this imperial battle.
And in the core of the Immortal Realm’s Solar Star, deep within the heart of the ancient Fusang tree that supported heaven and earth, the chaotic qi in Lu Xuan’s place of seclusion spun ever more rapidly. Faintly, Dao sounds like the opening of heaven and earth echoed within… It seemed that he, too, had reached a critical moment.
Ten thousand years, on the scale of the Boundary Sea, was but the snap of a finger.
However, to those beings closely following that imperial battle, these ten thousand years seemed incomparably long and agonizing.
The war between the Nameless Quasi-Immortal Emperor and Emperor Cang still continued.
Their battlefield had long since spread across vast regions of the Boundary Sea. Wherever they passed, stars were annihilated, ancient worlds turned to dust, and countless shocking traces of destruction were left behind.
The auras of the two emperors had both clearly declined compared to ten thousand years ago.
Emperor Cang’s blurred body of darkness was no longer as solid as it had been at the beginning, and the dark origin power coiling around him had also thinned considerably.
Clearly, under the Nameless Quasi-Immortal Emperor’s annihilation Dao, which contained the hatred of all living beings and was incomparably firm and fierce, he had suffered tremendous depletion and injury.