The Fall of the Eternal Unknown

The Eternal Unknown was no more—utterly annihilated. The Heavenly Realm titans stared in shock, their gazes piercing the heavy black mist to the end of the Ninety-Nine Stone Steps, where they saw withered immortal trees and endless ruins.

All of this was but a corner of a strange world revealed through an open door!

At the end of the Ninety-Nine Stone Steps stood a great altar. Upon it was an open stone door.

One door connected to a world!

The collapsed giant palace had also revealed a mysterious altar, and upon it was another stone door—but this one was tightly sealed.

Pangu King, carrying the divine palace, tore through the sky like a comet striking the earth, crashing into the Ninety-Nine Stone Steps. The giant palace and the stone steps shattered into pieces.

Mountain-sized boulders rained down upon the Nine Provinces, rumbling as they struck the earth, shaking the land. Endless black clouds roiled, spreading darkness across the wilds—mysterious and ominous.

"Pangu King, you seek death!"

Lu Zhan and the other two Stone Kings were furious, losing the composure expected of primordial ancestors. The three kings rose against the heavens.

"Weng—"

The great stone axe trembled. Its blade vibrated at high frequency, sending arcs of energy like lightning sweeping in all directions. The arcs merged, sealing the skies of the Nine Provinces.

Had the Nine Ancient Lamps not held the world steady, that space would have been destroyed many times over. The consequences of a battle between kings were immeasurable.

The Heavenly Realm titans were shaken. What worlds lay behind those two stone doors? What was the true connection between the Nine Provinces and the Otherworld?

Two races, two similar stone doors—one open, one sealed. Any who saw them would be drawn into uncanny speculation.

Eons ago, when the Otherworld warred against the Nine Provinces, had it all begun at this source?

At that moment, the Nine Provinces' sky was torn open. The three kings ascended, shattering the heaven-sealing barrier.

"Pangu King! In the past, your six primordial ancestors fought our eight—five died, one was wounded, and you fled. Now you appear at last. It is time to settle everything."

Lu Zhan stood at the center, his stone form radiating a mysterious, ominous aura.

The other two kings—one whose eyes shimmered with dreamlike light, confident and powerful; the other cold and murderous, like a gleaming blade thrust into the air.

"I have been waiting for you in the Heavenly Realm for eons. But you never ascended. Otherwise, all would have ended long ago."

Pangu King stood like a giant in the sky, his face chiseled, noble and heroic. In his hand, the stone axe intimidated all the gods watching from a distance—they could not help but tremble.

"Damn it…"

The three Otherworld primordial ancestors' gazes turned icy. There was no stopping what was coming.

The Divine Diagram had come alive in Pangu King's hands. It blazed with a radiance that made even the Heavenly Realm titans change color. It expanded, covering the sky, and then tore toward the stone door.

At the same time, the demonic shadow within the door was taking a step outward, accompanied by billowing black mist that descended like curtains of darkness.

A great collision shook the Nine Provinces, the Heavenly Realm, the Death World—all worlds. In that instant, a thousand ages were linked.

In that moment, everything blurred, nothing existed. It felt as if all worlds had been utterly destroyed.

No one could see clearly. Some even doubted their own existence. Every mind went blank; perception ceased. Consciousness became like deadwood.

Then—BOOM!—an earth-shattering explosion ended the collision. The noise split heaven and earth.

The gods awoke, gazing at the sky.

The Divine Diagram dimmed and fell. The stone door was closed, leaving only a crack from which thick black mist poured.

"No—it cannot close!"

The three primordial ancestors charged upward, but at that moment, Pangu King once again willed the Divine Diagram to move. The dimmed formation diagram boomed, radiating ten thousand beams of light as it once again enveloped the stone door.

BANG.

This time there was no sound of collision. Instead, a tremor shook every world. The barely held-together Divine Diagram shattered, its fragments scattering across the Nine Provinces, sinking into the earth.

At the same time, the demonic shadow within the door faded, and the stone door rumbled shut, sealing it inside.

"How can this be?" The three primordial ancestors were enraged.

In that instant, a Heavenly Realm titan descended, wrapped in thousands of divine laws and tens of thousands of beams of divine light. They swept toward the stone door—immeasurable sealing power.

No one expected the titan to act. It was the voice of the Stone Corpse. He shouted, "What are you waiting for? If we don't seal this door now, when will we?"

No one had thought that the ruthless old corpse would be the first to act. He had always been the one to hide in the shadows and scheme, never taking the lead.

"Don't you understand? If this door opens, catastrophe will engulf all worlds!" The Stone Corpse roared. "You have always wondered about my origin. I am as old as the world itself, yet I was cultivated from a corpse. You always speculated where I came from—even I didn't know. But today, seeing this stone door, I finally understand. I am a corpse that fell from within that door. Only later did I gain sentience and cultivate to my current realm."

The Stone Corpse, who had existed since the dawn of time, whose past was a mystery even to himself—now he had a faint glimmer of recollection.

Hearing this, the gods of the Heavenly Realm were shaken. Several titans descended one after another, unleashing divine arts to seal the stone door together.

The three primordial ancestors were furious. Lu Zhan was the first to charge, his fist sweeping across several titans, displaying his supreme combat power.

Wailing howls echoed. The Death World's energy surged like an endless river toward the stone door. A mysterious powerhouse had made a move.

Not long ago, the terrifying aura of the stone door had also alarmed that world of the dead.

In truth, once the stone door was closed, it became nearly impossible to open. The Heavenly Realm titans, in their frenzy to seal it, only enraged the three primordial ancestors even more.

A mysterious powerhouse from the Death World also appeared. A chaotic melee erupted—a battle of kings!

"Enough."

Pangu King seized the shattered divine palace from the sky and carefully protected the altar and its closed stone door, making sure they were not damaged in the chaos.

At this moment, Xiao Chen clenched the stone key in his hand, a surge of emotion rising within him. Perhaps this key was connected to those two stone doors.

"Leave now!" Pangu King shouted to Xiao Chen and the others. "Follow the giant palace into the Heavenly Realm!"

With his great stone axe, he split space, directly tearing through the great world barrier separating them from the Heavenly Realm. What immense power!

He first cast the shattered giant palace into the Heavenly Realm, then teleported Xiao Chen, He Zu, and the others inside.

"Pangu King, you—"

"Do not worry about me. I can retreat easily. Do not let yourselves be drawn into this vortex. This place is out of control." Pangu King replied.

In a battle representing the strongest of all worlds, had Xiao Chen and his group remained, they would have truly been in danger. Even He Zu, though he had successfully taken the final step, was probably no match—after all, he had become a Stone King only recently.

The three Otherworld primordial ancestors were truly unmatched. They charged directly onto the shattered Ninety-Nine Stone Steps and stood before the stone door, scanning the four directions.

They muttered incantations, and eventually, a pair of eyes appeared on the stone door. They had no pupils but radiated brilliant light. Around them, black mist roiled. Only those eyes emitted an extraordinarily piercing glare, eerie and mysterious. They were eyes reflected through the stone wall!

The three primordial ancestors grew more confident. The shattered stone steps trembled, and the Ninety-Nine Stone Steps seemed to grow anew, as if a mysterious power was regenerating them.

Standing upon them, the three kings pressed down upon the other kings... It was an earth-shattering battle. No one knew the exact outcome, only that a certain Heavenly Realm titan had fallen in the Nine Provinces, while the Ninety-Nine Stone Steps crashed heavily into the Otherworld.

After that battle, the several titans who returned to the Heavenly Realm refused to speak of that day's fight. But they all searched for something in secret.

Eight hundred years later, the gods of the Heavenly Realm gradually learned that the titans were secretly investigating—searching through ancient secrets and past events.

Even many legends deemed absurd were quietly looked into. They seemed to be pursuing the truth of history, or perhaps gathering clues to find something.

Later, nearly all the titans of the Heavenly Realm were acting. The gods sensed something amiss.

"Do you know? The Heavenly Realm has an even more ancient and glorious past. The current kings are probing those hidden secrets, seeking something."

"No, I've heard otherwise. Eight hundred years ago, after they descended to the lower realm, they seemed to have seen something."

"It is said that several ruins in the Heavenly Realm hold great treasures. Are they investigating ancient legends to find those treasures?"

"No, they want to see a wider world."

"A sealed age, a world shrouded in mystery—that is what they are truly investigating."

The gods of the Heavenly Realm debated endlessly, all wanting to know what the kings were seeking. Many had their own opinions.

Time flowed like a river. Another two thousand years passed. Twenty-eight hundred years had gone by since that ancient battle. Much had happened in the interim.

But none of it concerned Xiao Chen.

Twenty-eight hundred years ago, after Pangu King sent him, Ke Zu, and the others into the Heavenly Realm, he had tried to use the stone key to open the stone door—but failed. The keyhole was nowhere to be found.

Afterward, everyone parted ways in the Heavenly Realm. He had been in seclusion ever since, only now awakening.

Over these long years, the Heavenly Realm had buzzed with rumors of the kings' search through history and legends. Many speculations circulated among the gods.

"The Heavenly Realm we know is only the tip of the iceberg."

Twenty-eight hundred years later, Stone Corpse, one of the titans from that ancient battle, finally loosened his lips and spoke that one sentence.

Digging through history, seeking hidden clues from a bygone age—what did they truly want?

After awakening from his twenty-eight-hundred-year seclusion, Xiao Chen found several soul imprints left at his retreat—messages from He Zu and the others.

After reading them, he decided to return to the Nine Provinces and leave the Heavenly Realm for now.

Twenty-eight hundred years later, as he descended upon the Nine Provinces, Xiao Chen felt a sense of dislocation.

What greeted his eyes was a land full of life: lush green mountains, the cries of apes and roars of tigers—a stark contrast to the desolate, dead world he had left behind. This was a pure land brimming with vitality.

He wondered what kind of beings now ruled this land.

"Ah... a dragon!" At that moment, Xiao Chen spotted a dragon. He swiftly pursued it, but then stopped, because on the horizon he saw figures moving and the faint轮廓 of a city.