The End of an Era

"There is a girl named Qingqing..."

Ethereal, empty, and pure. Dark brows gathered the essence of frost, autumn waters held the poetry of the gathered dawn. Red lips were soft and charming, white teeth were crystalline and pure...

Though Xiao Chen's body had split apart, blood staining the Yellow Clay Altar, sealed forever within the Demon Well, a tall phantom still seemed to stand by the abyss, his sorrowful words echoing endlessly:

"Bones of ice and jade, red powder turns to yellow earth. Today I part with Qingqing; in the next life we shall meet again..."

Ancestral God Suiren scattered with the wind, turning to yellow sand, vanishing forever from this world.

Keke wept bitterly. Freed from the Ancestral God's restraint, it sobbed as it rushed to Xiao Chen's phantom, stretching its small beast claws again and again toward its tall figure.

But it grasped nothing. The phantom shattered like crystal glass, disappearing completely into the void.

"Ya-ya, ya-ya..." the little beast wailed, heartbroken. It lay prone where the phantom had vanished, pawing the ground over and over, crying loudly, its small claws clawing desperately at the sky.

He had bidden farewell to the Half-Ancestors and to himself. As King Wen had foretold, Xiao Chen had been buried with the Half-Ancestor beneath the abyss.

The War Swords, the Golden Divine Halberd, the Dark-Iron Seal, and others shot in all directions. The shattered Stone Man broke apart and soared into the sky.

Keke was like a cuckoo weeping blood, its sobs so bitter that all who heard were moved. Its large, limpid eyes brimmed with tears. It crawled onto the Yellow Clay Altar, calling incessantly for Xiao Chen and Qingqing, its tears soaking the altar that sealed the Demon Well.

The pitiful little creature curled into a ball, weeping mournfully, then fainted on the Yellow Clay Altar, crystal tears still hanging from the corners of its eyes, arousing pity in all who saw.

The Dead City was utterly silent. The empty streets held not a single shadow. It was as if this place were a realm of emptiness, cold, secluded, and desolate.

A breeze stirred, lifting the yellow sand that was all that remained of Suiren's body, spinning it through the deathly still streets.

The Dead City seemed to have lost its former demonic power. It no longer held that soul-shaking, dread-inducing presence.

A middle-aged scholar descended from the sky, a feathered fan in hand and a silk headband on his brow—elegant and refined. It was King Wen, who calculated heaven, earth, and all human affairs.

He raised his head and wept loudly three times. He buried the yellow sand that was Suiren's remains beside the Demon Well and stood in silence for a long time.

"In a thousand or a hundred years, when zithers and flutes harmonize and silk and bamboo music drifts, will anyone remember that Suiren was buried at the edge of an abyss? Will anyone know that Shennong was also buried at the end of the heavens?..."

Then he picked up the curled, unconscious Keke, wiped the tears from its eyes, and stared at the Yellow Clay Altar for a long time before saying: "Yin and Yang do battle, weeping blood-dark Xuanhuang... How could we forget? We will not forget."

The wind rose, carrying mournful sounds through the Dead City, as if someone was keening.

"Last time, I did not tell you all of human affairs. Today, I will show you the end of the five-thousand-year rise and fall. In those five thousand years, humanity reached a pinnacle of prosperity. They had forged a unique path of civilization, but in the end, they destroyed themselves..."

King Wen waved his hand, and a phantom scene appeared in the air above the Yellow Clay Altar—towering skyscrapers, layer upon layer, piercing the sky. When night fell, neon lights flashed, and the bustling night capital was brilliantly lit.

On the wide streets, vehicles sped. In the vast sky, spaceships soared toward the stars. It was a dreamlike scene.

"Mortals also had the mortal path, but in the end, they destroyed themselves... Everything was knocked back to the starting point. In the next five thousand years, the Divine Kingdom descended, and illusion and reality reversed."

Images flashed rapidly.

"Rumble..."

The Dead City quaked. The nine ancient lamps revolved above the sealed Demon Well, blazing with light that shot to the heavens.

The illusion had not yet fully dissolved. The Dead City was to fulfill its final purpose.

King Wen wept loudly three times, then took Keke and soared into the sky.

The great battle beyond the heavens continued, but it belonged to the Ancestral Gods. Those below the Half-Ancestor level could not interfere. The Nine Provinces trembled, and the future of the human world would be decided in this battle.

Blood-stained fallen blossoms withered between heaven and earth. Within the Dead City, crystalline petals drifted in the wind.

In the distant sky beyond the Dead City, cultivators watched. They could not see the battle outside the heavens, so they gathered in Yong Province to gaze at the Dead City, but none dared approach.

Especially the direct disciples of the Half-Ancestors—their fury mixed with fear. Would it all end like this? Or was this only the beginning?

"Boom!"

Dark light burst from the Dead City. The nine lamps radiated billions of rays, interweaving with the deep, dark light of the city, surging in all directions.

The radiance fell upon the Nine Provinces like a great rain. Many legendary figures, as if summoned, flew into the Dead City.

Illusory beings below the Half-Ancestor level flew in continuously, swallowed by the Dead City. Some were great figures renowned across the world. They were not swallowed into the Demon Well but were sealed within the buildings of the Dead City, becoming part of its army.

King Wen watched all this from afar and sighed: "The illusion of the past five thousand years, reflected in the hearts of men, has been shattered..."

The mountains and rivers of the Nine Provinces trembled. The Four Worlds collapsed.

The land of the Nine Provinces seemed to clear. Vast territories appeared beyond the seas—great cities, deserts, ancient islands—all from the Four Worlds.

With the shattering of the illusory Four Worlds, everything false vanished, and the vast regions shrunk millions of times. The illusion dissolved; all that was real was preserved, scattered throughout the void.

When all grew still, the Dead City fell silent, its light completely withdrawn. Only the nine lamps flickered.

Then the nine lamps shot into the sky, flying to every corner of the Nine Provinces. One lamp settled over each province, a long-burning, undying ancient light. From that day, the Nine Provinces were fully unsealed. Finally, the lamps plunged into the earth beneath the Nine Provinces. The Primordial Ancient Village vanished along with the lamp of Yong Province.

The great battle outside the heavens continued, but the destruction of the mortal world had ended.

"Haha..." Hu Ben laughed, then his smile vanished. His cold gaze swept the surroundings. "I survived after all!"

Ao Lituo, the Son of the Sun God, also soared into the sky, letting out a long roar. His golden hair flew wildly, blazing like a resplendent sun.

But they had paid a heavy price. The bloodline inherited from their fathers had dried up; only the essence of their maternal lineage remained. Their divine power was reduced by more than half.

Ye Xiao let out a bitter laugh. Though they had survived, the cost was too great. Perhaps from now on, the world would belong to the younger generation.

Yes. The illusory Half-Ancestors had fallen. The Ancestral Gods battled beyond the heavens; the real Half-Ancestors had gone to aid them. Who would return alive?

Perhaps this world would change utterly. Who would be the master of this land? No one could say.

A new era was about to dawn.

The blood-stained, withering blossoms gradually faded from heaven and earth. The auspicious rays that had marked the birth of new Ancestral Gods also slowly receded.

Days passed. In a few days, the constantly trembling rivers and mountains of the Nine Provinces gradually calmed.

But no one knew the outcome of the battle beyond the heavens.

The ultimate illusion did not manifest. The Eternal Divine Kingdom did not descend. But where was the Yellow Emperor? Where were the Half-Ancestors who had rushed beyond the heavens? None had returned.

One year, two years... ten years passed. The figures from that battle never reappeared. Everything seemed annihilated in the river of time.

The name Xiao Chen became taboo among the disciples of the Half-Ancestors—the title of a demon. No one wished to speak it.

The spiritual energy of the Nine Provinces flourished greatly. The cultivation of mortal practitioners advanced by leaps and bounds, breaking the old barriers and giving birth to true experts.

The illusory strong had perished. The real strong had vanished. Ten years later, the top young cultivators of that era reached their peak and began their age.

As Xiao Chen had foreseen, the Three-Headed Golden Lion King reappeared in the world, defeating all opponents in the Western Regions and beginning his legendary tale.

The Nine-Headed Divine Serpent shook the Southwest, dominating a region. This was a newly emerged expert, and no one knew his past. He too began a legend of invincibility.

An unexpected cultivator rose: Hai Yuntian, known as the Sunflower King. Golden sunflowers bloomed one after another, and he caught up from behind, becoming known with his sister as the Twin Prodigies of the South Sea.

The descendants of Taihao, Hou Yi, and Yu the Great were famed along the eastern coast, hailed as the Five Strong of the Qi Refiners.

Special mention must be made of Niu Ren. Ten years later, he was known as the Bull Demon King. He and his six sworn brothers called themselves the Seven Sages, renowned across the land, and ordinary experts dared not contend with them.

Lande, who possessed divine bloodlines; Lan Yu, who commanded the Winged Dragon King; and Shirod, who commanded the Evil Dragon King—they were called the Three Kings of Light, standing out among their peers, but they had traveled far to the West.

Ya Zi, Suan Ni, and Pi Xiu, the three dragon sons, dominated the Southern Frontier, and no one dared to challenge them.

Many young experts had risen in the World of Immortality in those years. In a decade, many naturally became famous, but even more faded into obscurity. Quite a few died in the Nirvana realm. Of the 'Top Ten Young' of the Great Shang Empire and the Roman Empire from ten years ago, only a few remained. One who had not been among the top ten and had suffered repeated defeats—Chu Xingkuang—rose to prominence.

And those who were already considered top young experts a decade ago—Zhao Zhongyang, Xue Wu, Meng Xienue, Cang Hai, and others—climbed even higher, their fame spreading across the world.

Liu Mu, the Spatial King, and Jin Sanyi, the Lewd King, also shone brilliantly, making their names known.

The Central Plains boasted eight War Gods...

And some of the strong from that era vanished, like Dugu Jianmo.

The political powers of the world also shifted. Zhao Lin'er came to the throne once more. She had not died. She forced her elder brother to abdicate. Besides gathering a group of experts, she had also grasped a secret weapon. She opened an underground secret palace that contained the secret weapons of the previous five thousand years' self-destruction—a crystallization of a civilization that should have been lost to history.

This was a new era, with experts emerging in abundance, contending for supremacy.

But aside from the Three-Headed Golden Lion King and a few others, no one truly dared to consider themselves unmatched in the world.

Because it was unknown whether Hu Ben, the Son of the Sun God, Ye Xiao, and others would fully recover from their injuries, and whether those old figures who had fallen or not remained a mystery. Several Golden Immortals of the Chan Sect had not fallen. Several of Tongtian's great disciples might still be alive... The disciples of the once-glorious Half-Ancestors still held unknown and terrible power.

And most importantly, the overseas regions held countless mysteries.

On Dragon Island, the savage dragons had yet to truly emerge. When they shook heaven and earth, they would inevitably stir up endless turmoil.

Furthermore, there were the War Valley of the War Clan, the Beauty Mountain of the Beauty Race, the Winged Dragon Island of the winged dragon race that had broken away from the savage dragons, and countless great cities, deserts, wildernesses, and secret valleys scattered across the seas. Some regions had already sent forth experts of formidable strength.

In these ten years, too many things had happened. The power structure of the mortal world had changed drastically.

A little beast that loved to cry had traveled the world these ten years, causing headaches for many. Even when the Three-Headed Golden Lion King came to provoke, he had gained no advantage.

Of course, the crying little beast had experienced many dangers itself, but it had survived them all. Though still childlike and prone to tears, it had become increasingly clever and cunning.

Wherever the 'Crybaby' passed, most people would retreat. But later, for some unknown reason, it suddenly disappeared.

For this, the Little Defiant Dragon, the Dragon King of that time, emerged, battling far and wide in search of Keke's whereabouts.

This also drew other Dragon Kings into the open. The King War began anew.

Ten years of tumultuous change in the world. And where was Xiao Chen, who had once silenced all the world's experts with his fighting, now?