The Castle of the Dead

Rolling black clouds blotted out the light of heaven and earth. In an instant, endless darkness descended, like a funeral shroud falling from the sky. Waves of grim, terrifying aura flooded the world.

Within the surging clouds of death, a towering ancient castle flickered in and out of sight at the horizon. Rivers of blood surged up from within the castle, casting a凄艳 red glow through the black mist. The world fell into a deathly stillness—no sound at all, a silence that seemed eternal.

The ancient castle bore the weight of ages, as if it had crossed the void from a forgotten epoch. It was like a vortex of death, slowly drawing in the endless death energy that shrouded the ten directions. The roiling black clouds were gradually devoured.

The dark mist faded, but the heavens above grew even more sinister and dreadful. Endless white bones floated around the castle, forming a vast sea of bones. The grim castle stood above that bone-white sea, an image of unspeakable horror and desolation.

Several gray-winged humanoid skeletons flew out of the castle, their deathly aura spreading across the sky as they gazed down upon a solitary island deep in the ocean below.

It was a lone island in the vast sea.

On the island, dense forests stretched for miles. Apes howled and tigers roared. Ninety percent of the land was covered in primeval woods—ancient trees blotting out the sun, ferocious beasts and birds of prey crying out as they flew and ran. It was a scene straight out of a primordial age.

But then, an intensely cold and deadly aura swept in from the distant sky, and the island, which had been alive with the cries of savage beasts, slowly fell silent.

Deep within the island, it seemed some ancient primordial monster let out a few angry roars. Apart from that, there was only silence.

Xiao Chen, lying unconscious on the sandy beach, seemed to feel the bone-piercing cold. His body twitched involuntarily a few times.

After a long while, the deathly aura gradually receded. In the distant sky, the vast sea of bones carrying the ancient castle slowly disappeared beyond the horizon.

Only then did the world begin to recover its vitality. Several dozen beast roars like dragon cries sounded from deep within the island, and gradually the island returned to its former liveliness.

The sun blazed overhead. After an unknown length of time, Xiao Chen awakened from his coma. The sound of waves reached his ears. Slowly opening his eyes, he saw the blue-green sea surging before him. He was lying on a hot, golden sandy beach.

The scorching sunlight made him dizzy. His whole body burned with pain. His throat was parched, his lips cracked. He struggled to sit up and took in his unfamiliar surroundings.

Scorching heat waves brought a salty, fishy wind. Flocks of seabirds soared over the blue waters. From time to time, giant fish leaped from the sea, stirring up heavy waves.

From deep within the island came the thunderous roars of savage beasts, so loud they made his ears ring. Xiao Chen felt as though he had stepped into a primal age.

Near the shore, a grove of lush green coconut trees cast a patch of welcome shade. Clusters of ripe, brownish-yellow coconuts hung together, tempting against the green leaves.

His dry mouth seemed to produce a little saliva. Xiao Chen forced himself to stand up, staggered forward.

The blazing sun was blocked, and the burning pain finally eased.

A sea breeze rustled the emerald coconut fronds. Xiao Chen finally felt a trace of coolness.

Ripe coconuts occasionally fell to the ground with a thud.

Flames seemed to flicker in his throat. It felt as if smoke were rising from his mouth. Parched beyond endurance, his whole body aching, he stumbled, gathered a pile of coconuts, then sat down heavily.

He used his energy to crack open a coconut and gulped down the sweet, refreshing water. The feeling was indescribably wonderful. For Xiao Chen, dying of thirst, the coconut nectar was better than any divine liquor.

So he had arrived in the World of Immortality!

Thoughts churned in Xiao Chen's mind. Where had Lan Nuo gone? And those legendary figures who had shaken the ages—did they truly live in this world? He was filled with questions. Of course, he did not know that the Royal Celestial Maiden Zhao Lin'er had also entered this realm.

Finally, he knelt silently, bowing to his parents across the void. From now on, immortal and mortal would be forever parted.

He was a decisive man. He forced himself to set aside his grief and began to consider how to survive in this strange world.

Sitting quietly on the sand, his back against a thick coconut tree, Xiao Chen's skin shimmered with a crystalline luster. His body seemed bathed in a faint halo. The essence of heaven and earth gathered around him. The coconut grove grew thick with spiritual energy, and a faint, hazy light swirled in the air.

The roars of beasts continued. This was no pure land. His first priority was to recover as quickly as possible. Xiao Chen began to circulate his cultivation technique, guiding the vegetative essence of plants to heal his injured body.

His cultivation method originated from a mysterious stone carving.

He had grown up by the Yellow River. When he was seven years old, a rare drought struck. The section of the Yellow River in front of his village nearly dried up, revealing a huge stone stele. When the mud was cleared away, the front of the stele bore four ancient characters: "Eternally Settle the Yellow River."

An ancient legend had long been passed down on both banks of the Yellow River: when Yu the Great tamed the floods, a divine stele descended from the Nine Heavens and settled eternally in the river, ensuring that the floods would never return.

Thus, when the stele emerged from the riverbed, the villagers immediately thought of the ancient legend. They cleaned the mud from the stele and burned incense in worship day and night.

After cleaning, the back of the stele also revealed carvings—a mysterious and complex diagram. The villagers could not understand it and called it the Heavenly Script.

The talk of "Heavenly Script" filled the young Xiao Chen with endless fantasies. Every day he would go and stare at the stele until, two months later, heavy rains fell, the Yellow River rose, and the stele sank forever to the riverbed.

But by then, the mysterious and complex diagram had long been seared into the young boy's mind. Later, when he began to practice martial arts and walk the path of cultivation, he finally understood what that complex carving truly was.

It was an ancient and mysterious Heaven-Bestowed Qi-Refining Diagram!

Xiao Chen did not know whether that mysterious carving could compare with the legendary divine scriptures and precious tomes. But from the age of ten, he began to cultivate it without interruption. Over the next decade, he constantly learned martial techniques from others, but he never changed his core cultivation method.