The Ancient Emperor’s tomb… was gone!
On the barren, shattered continent, the gathered experts stood frozen, staring dumbly at the empty abyss.
Some still clutched their tokens; beneath their black robes, their lips trembled.
The tomb had vanished. What good were tokens now?
A bizarre cocktail of emotions churned inside them—shock, bitterness, absurdity.
What exactly had that young Holy Son done to the tomb?
This might have been the real Ancient Emperor’s burial ground, brimming with supreme opportunities and secrets—how could it just disappear like that?
Silence stretched on, thick and eerie.
Everyone stood lost, unsure what to do.
They had come for the tomb, for the fortunes within.
Now everything had been whisked away.
What else was there?
Some laughed without humor, some forced bitter smiles, some covered their faces and sighed.
“A Holy Son from a top-tier High Martial world… truly too overbearing.”
“He straight-up relocated the Ancient Emperor’s tomb and didn’t even leave us scraps.”
“I hate it! But what can we do? The strong prey on the weak. That’s what you get when the other side is a Holy Son from a supreme sacred ground.”
The experts sighed endlessly, helpless and dejected.
They had schemed and fought for so long—only for this ending.
“Where did he take the tomb?”
“Probably used some secret method to haul it back to his top-tier High Martial world.”
“After all, even if it’s only suspected to be the Ancient Emperor’s tomb, it would still attract the attention of supreme experts.”
“The Void Heaven is no simple place. In the primordial era, an Emperor sat here. Trillions of worlds stretched across its vast, magnificent expanse—no less glorious than any realm of the Nine Heavens.”
They exchanged theories, then could only exhale long, mournful sighs.
The tomb was gone. Staying served no purpose.
Rumble…
As the tomb disappeared, the profound laws that had bound this region began to unravel.
It felt as though the heavens themselves were collapsing.
Many experts broke into cold sweat.
“Leave!”
Without hesitation, they erupted with terrifying auras, stomped the ground, and shot skyward as streaks of light, fleeing into the void.
Rules descended—blade-like law threads slashing at their primordial spirits, crushing their bodies.
Sacred-tier artifacts radiated brilliant light, barely holding back the horrifying suppression.
BOOM!
A deafening explosion.
In the void, a mushroom cloud bloomed like a black hole devouring everything.
The experts’ faces grew colder.
The continent that had once borne the great tomb shattered into fragments.
The rules of the Void Heaven annihilated it completely, as if an invisible hand had wiped it from existence.
“Seems the tomb was the anchor…”
“What secret did that continent hold? Why did the rules erase it entirely?”
The expert perched on the ferocious bird looked grave.
“Perhaps, in the primordial era, that continent was once a remarkable world.”
He sighed, glanced at the now-dull token in his hand, and gave a wry smile.
All that effort—for nothing.
Still, he glanced at the Northern Palace Holy Lord.
The man’s primordial spirit flickered under the corrosive rules, looking as if it might burn away at any moment. His expression was utterly wretched.
Compared to him, the bird-riding expert counted himself lucky.
He laughed heartily, then urged his mount onward.
A streak of light pierced the Void Heaven and vanished.
The rules pressed relentlessly; lingering would only cause severe damage.
Even sacred artifacts could only delay the harm to their spirits.
The experts wasted no time and fled one after another.
The entire region collapsed completely. Terrifying rule-blades swept through again and again.
Pfft!
In the darkness of the void, a corner was suddenly sliced open.
If anyone had been there, they would have seen a spine-chilling sight through that rift.
Beyond it lay silent, lifeless continents—magnificent yet dead.
Like the hidden underside of the Void Heaven.
Still. Cold. A mournful song seemed to drift from that crevice.
…
Five Phoenix Continent.
A beam of white light tore through space-time and crashed down from the heavens.
BOOM!
The ocean exploded outward, waves parting as if cleaved by an invisible blade.
On the sea surface, the white light dispersed.
Then, a majestic scene emerged.
A colossal palace city, vast as an immortal citadel, surrounded by towering walls and sealed gates. At the front stood a mysterious wordless stele.
Countless sea creatures trembled in terror and fled into the depths or far away.
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Nine phoenixes cried triumphantly, wings beating.
Lu Ping’an sat calmly in his Thousand Blades Chair, white robes fluttering.
Looking at the tomb he had truly hauled back, his expression turned odd.
Rumble!
Suddenly!
The nine phoenixes transformed from the Phoenix Feather Sword could no longer bear the weight.
The moment the tomb entered Five Phoenix, it grew unimaginably heavy.
Mysterious runes surfaced across the once-dead tomb—runes so profound that even Lu couldn’t decipher them.
Just glancing at them made his mind feel as if it might be devoured.
Terrifying!
Lu quickly looked away.
The next instant, the entire tomb plummeted, threatening to sink into the ocean depths.
Lu frowned slightly.
He summoned the Spiritual Pressure Chessboard. Lines danced in his eyes.
A piece fell—plink.
A white stone slid across the board from one node to another.
Ripples spread across the sea.
A colossal wave erupted.
An entire island was forcibly dragged over by Lu and wedged beneath the tomb.
BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!
The tomb smashed down, crushing the island. Mountains collapsed; the land cracked.
Yet the tomb’s descent halted, as if it had taken root, clamping firmly onto the island.
However, Lu’s frown deepened.
Above the tomb, a vortex suddenly formed…
Spiritual qi was being sucked in from every direction!
Rumble!
Spiritual qi answered the call, spiraling in from all corners of the world at terrifying speed.
BOOM!
The gathering qi thundered like the roar of heaven and earth.
Countless experts felt it.
Many paled.
The instant the tomb appeared above the vast sea, cultivators meditating on the surface looked up in horror.
“What is happening?! This oppressive aura…”
“It’s suffocating… all the spiritual qi is being drained!”
The Origin Waterfall trembled.
Beneath the sundial, Qi Liujia—who had been deducing formations—shuddered.
His withered face twitched. He slowly opened his eyes.
“Hm?!”
He clutched his chest.
“The world’s spiritual qi is being pulled by some terrifying force… the pressure is overwhelming.”
Qi Liujia murmured.
He turned, gaze piercing through the waterfall, trying to see the sky beyond.
The world’s protective barrier had not yet fallen…
What was this sudden oppression?
He emerged from the Immortal Legacy Ruins and hovered in the air.
His coarse robes flapped as he closed his eyes again, sensing.
The next moment, his expression changed drastically.
“The collapse of the world’s protective barrier… is accelerating?!”
“No— I sense Young Master Lu’s aura…”
“Young Master Lu has returned, yet the barrier’s collapse is speeding up instead?”
“This makes no sense…”
Qi Liujia’s face twisted.
He looked toward the distant sea, then shot forward, parting the waters as an immense force propelled him.
He was not alone.
Ni Chunqiu, Du Longyang, and the others cultivating on their primordial spirit platforms also felt the strange pull.
They could no longer meditate.
Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!
Streaks of light flashed across the sea.
Cultivators from all over the vast ocean raced toward the vortex of spiritual qi.
…
Lu ignored the approaching figures.
His brow stayed furrowed.
“As expected, that dead world lacked spiritual qi. The tomb slumbered, unable to awaken…”
“But the moment it arrived in Five Phoenix, it became a parched sponge frantically absorbing water.”
Lu tapped the armrest of his chair.
“But I can’t let you drain Five Phoenix dry.”
Lines danced in his eyes. His primordial spirit surged like a storm, severing the tomb’s connection to the continent’s spiritual qi completely.
Then his eyes shifted.
He activated his authority—Spiritual Qi Delivery.
He began pumping amplified spiritual qi directly into the tomb.
Rumble!
The restless Five Phoenix instantly calmed. The suffocating sensation vanished for many experts.
Yet those rushing over still witnessed it.
They saw the palace city above the sea.
Clouds and mist scattered.
A wordless stele towered ten thousand zhang high, piercing straight from the ocean into the clouds.
“What is that?!”
“A tombstone?! Heavens… why is there a wordless stele?!”
“Is this an ancient tomb? Who is buried inside?”
Every cultivator who saw it from afar lost all composure.
This was too magnificent, too bizarre!
Seven-colored radiance burst forth from the palace city, dazzling and intoxicating.
Faint immortal music drifted through the air; flowing light and color painted a celestial realm.
BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!
Countless people accelerated, streaking toward the tomb.
Before the tomb, Lu’s figure flashed and vanished.
On the island carried by the giant whale, in the center of the lake—
Lu returned.
He leaned back in his Thousand Blades Chair, gentle breeze brushing his hair.
His face was slightly pale…
This trip had drained an enormous amount of spiritual qi.
But hauling back an entire ancient tomb made it worthwhile.
The spiritual qi delivery continued; he could feel it pouring out of him far faster than the tokens had ever absorbed.
While playing Go to recover, he maintained the flow into the tomb.
He had no idea how long this process would last.
…
Qi Liujia arrived first.
As a Mighty Being, his speed was unmatched.
He hovered before the tomb, old face filled with shock and awe. The radiant light shooting skyward shook him to his core.
“What… is this?”
There was no doubt—this was no ordinary palace city.
As a descendant of the Ancient Emperor and heir to the Liujia Array Sect, he had read records of many things.
He flew along the massive walls covered in profound array runes.
Reaching out, he touched the stone and felt the weight of countless ages.
“These are… array runes from the era of the Ancient Emperor ‘Ha’!”
Qi Liujia’s lips trembled.
He stared at the wordless stele. It bore no inscription.
Yet an overwhelming majesty pressed down on him, making it hard to breathe.
“Could this truly be… the tomb of the Ancient Emperor?!”
The thought terrified even him.
It distracted him completely from the accelerating collapse of the world’s protective barrier.
Whooshing sounds filled the air.
Cultivators from across Five Phoenix poured in.
Du Longyang, Ye Shoudao, and Ni Chunqiu—the three half-step Mighty Beings—arrived fastest.
Everyone was stunned by the breathtaking sight.
An ancient tomb had appeared out of nowhere.
“Senior… whose tomb is this?”
Du Longyang asked.
Qi Liujia did not hide his guess.
When the others heard “Ancient Emperor’s tomb,” chills ran from their feet to their crowns.
The tomb of the Ancient Emperor?!
On Five Phoenix Continent… the Ancient Emperor’s tomb had appeared?!
“It’s only a possibility. We can’t confirm it’s truly his.”
Qi Liujia clarified.
Even if it wasn’t, it had to belong to an unparalleled supreme expert.
Yet Du Longyang and the others did not doubt it for a second.
“Wolong Ridge Secret Realm, Nine Prisons Secret Realm, Immortal Legacy Ruins… and now the Ancient Emperor’s tomb. Is Five Phoenix truly returning to the primordial age of cultivation?!”
Ye Shoudao’s single sleeve flapped wildly as his heavy yet excited voice echoed.
Qi Liujia froze.
“The primordial age of cultivation?”
He asked Ye Shoudao what that meant.
They explained everything they had learned from Five Phoenix’s transformations.
Qi Liujia’s brow furrowed deeply.
“Could it be… that none of this was arranged by Young Master Lu?”
“Is it really the return of some primordial cultivation era?”
“Was Five Phoenix a mighty world back in the Ancient Emperor’s time?”
Qi Liujia’s thoughts grew chaotic.
The Void Heaven hid great secrets.
It was said no High Martial world could be born there.
His own past failure proved it.
Yet against all odds, Five Phoenix had shattered the rules and risen.
Was it truly because that ancient era was returning?
Outside the tomb, more and more cultivators gathered.
Li Sansui, the Li siblings, and others arrived.
“Master.”
Li Sansui bowed slightly to Qi Liujia.
Overlord, Nie Changqing, Ning Zhao, and the rest stared at the tomb in awe.
The terrifying aura radiating from it made their hearts pound.
…
On the lake island.
Lines filled Lu’s eyes as he watched Qi Liujia fall into self-doubt. The corner of his mouth twitched.
Another one completely fooled.
Five Phoenix had only ever been a Low Martial world. What “condensed glory of the primordial age”?
Lu knew best—everything was fake.
This tomb was merely relocated from elsewhere.
Fake was fake, no matter how real it looked.
Still, the tomb would serve as a new ruin, undoubtedly filled with immense opportunities.
“It doesn’t really look like the Ancient Emperor’s tomb…”
Lu shook his head.
He had once seen the real Ancient Emperor in the river of time.
That domineering presence, that aura that lorded over all heaven and earth—it was utterly world-suppressing.
Even in death, such a being’s tomb would radiate pressure capable of crushing realms.
As he continued pumping spiritual qi into the tomb, Lu grew more certain—this was probably not the Ancient Emperor’s.
But even if it wasn’t, the owner had to be an unparalleled genius of their era.
Lu didn’t particularly care whose it was.
He never worried too much about the dangers of ruins he created—people died in those too.
This tomb would be no different.
Danger always came with opportunity.
He hoped Five Phoenix’s cultivators would seize great fortunes here and grow faster.
Once the tomb finished absorbing spiritual qi and reached saturation, he would open it.
With the eleven tokens now in his possession (including his own), he wondered why the system required more than ten.
Probably because ten were needed to open it.
Leaning back in his Thousand Blades Chair, Lu frowned slightly.
He looked up, gaze piercing the void.
Beyond Five Phoenix, the protective barrier continued to flake away…
“Bringing the tomb back seems to have triggered some rule, accelerating the barrier’s collapse… At this rate, it will be completely gone in three days.”
Lu murmured.
“Fine…”
“It’s better this way. Five Phoenix is now High Martial. The protective barrier had to fall eventually. Some hidden crises need to be dealt with early so the continent can focus on ascending to the next level.”
Lu smiled faintly, eyes glinting.
He closed them and drifted into a light nap.
Meanwhile, the entire Five Phoenix Continent surged like a storm because of the tomb’s arrival.
…
Three days passed in a flash.
BOOM!
As the sun rose over the sea on the third day,
A crisp shattering sound rang through every corner of Five Phoenix.
Everyone felt it—a piece of their heart seemed to vanish, leaving an empty ache.
Before the tomb,
Qi Liujia, who had been sitting cross-legged on the sea and had finally calmed from the shock of the Ancient Emperor’s tomb, lifted his head.
He let out a long, mournful sigh.
At last…
The protective barrier that had shrouded Five Phoenix for so long…
Had completely dissipated.
