The Celestial Realm: A New Beginning and a Mysterious Coffin

To everyone, it felt utterly surreal—having ascended from the deepest reaches of the Death World into the legendary Celestial Realm.

One moment, deathly vapors churned and yin mists roiled, a somber tapestry stretching across the void. The next, spiritual energy coiled and swirled, flowers of a thousand hues bloomed in riotous splendor, and the land unfolded in all its majestic beauty—a scene of vibrant life and boundless vitality.

The sheer contrast was staggering, making it all feel like a dream.

"Wahaha...!" Sha Polang burst out laughing, tumbling head over heels three times before bellowing, "Your ol' man has set foot in the legendary Celestial Realm! Death is not the end—maybe it's just the beginning. How true! How damn true! Glorious new life, here I come! Beauties of the Celestial Realm, your ancestor is here!" He howled like a wolf howling at the moon, spinning a legend in the darkness.

"Death is not the end—perhaps it is just the beginning." Coming from the deepest abyss of the Death World, where utter desolation turned to vibrant life and the Celestial Realm manifested, the saying was almost apt. And Xiao Chen's mind flashed to the Ancestral Dragon Skin Map. Perhaps it marked an even greater turning point.

"Ya ya, ya ya!" Keke was ecstatic, rolling over and over in the soft celestial grass like a little snowball.

"Not bad at all. The spiritual energy here is rich and truly suitable for cultivation. Your ancestor has arrived at the new center of the myriad worlds." The skull suspended in midair, its eye sockets flickering with an unsteady light.

"I want to eat lots and lots of celestial fruits! And I want to find my lazy mommy and my cool daddy!" The little one's big eyes sparkled with hope, its tiny fists clenched tight.

"Who makes all that racket, disturbing my cultivation?" A roar erupted from a valley not far away, shaking the forests and churning the rivers as a cloud of demonic mist shot into the sky.

"Who's there? Roll out!" Sha Polang barked back without hesitation.

"The stars shift, the seas change, a thousand cycles of reincarnation, a hundred lifetimes of tribulation—this ancient king has finally emerged from seclusion!" A monstrous tiger, mountain-like in size, burst forth, spewing black mist that drowned the forest and blotted out the sun.

"Where did this mangy cat come from? Asking for a beating, are you?" Sha Polang charged in with supreme self-confidence, grabbed the dozen-zhang-long tiger by the tail, and swung it like a flail, hurling it away.

ROAR! The tiger's massive tail lashed back, sending Sha Polang flying. He smashed through a hill in a plume of dust and rubble.

"Well, damn me sideways. Is this what the Celestial Realm is like? Even a stray cat can be this domineering? How am I supposed to make my grand entrance now?" Sha Polang coughed and struggled to his feet.

This tiger demon rode a cloud of demonic mist, its aura dark and oppressive, with clouds swallowing the sun—very much the style of a ten-thousand-year-old great demon.

Xiao Chen and the Little Defiant Dragon couldn't help but laugh. At first, when the tiger had burst out with such a grand display, they'd thought some ancient relic had emerged from the depths of time. But it was all show—nothing like the legendary demons they'd imagined.

The Nine-Headed Serpent stepped forward and transformed into his true form, coiling around the mountain peaks like a serpentine range, his nine massive heads looming over the giant tiger.

"Who are you people?" The great demon sensed trouble. The two before him alone had reached the Half-Ancestor realm, and those still waiting—especially the skeleton—sent chills down his spine. He turned to flee.

But the Nine-Headed Serpent's body stretched out, surging to over a thousand zhang in length, coiling around the tiger and pinning him to the mountain. Sha Polang dove down, expanding his own body to hundreds of meters, and sat on the tiger's neck, beating him savagely.

"Tie him up and interrogate him for news of the Celestial Realm in recent years."

Surrounded by Xiao Chen, the Little Defiant Dragon, and the three skeletons—a motley crew of fearsome powerhouses—the demon god's spirit was completely crushed. He was subdued by Sha Polang and the Nine-Headed Serpent without much trouble.

"Don't kill me! My ancestor is the guardian beast of the Otherworld faction! If you harm me, you'll all die without a burial place!" the tiger roared.

But the Little Defiant Dragon simply reached out a giant dragon claw, grabbed him like a dead dog, and flung him to the ground at Xiao Chen's feet.

"We need exactly this kind of demon god to get information."

Hardly any torture was needed. The tiger confessed everything willingly.

Over the past ten thousand years, the Celestial Realm had appeared calm but was seething with undercurrents, like a slumbering volcano about to erupt into all-out war.

The tensions between the various major factions were extremely strained, the situation complex and tangled. Rumor had it that ancient relics from a billion years ago had emerged once more, intent on settling all old grudges once and for all.

The Otherworld faction's strength had grown considerably, largely because, after the final battle in the Nine Provinces over a hundred thousand years ago, the Otherworld had produced four Ancestral Ancestors in succession. Those ancient relics of a bygone age had truly intimidated many. As a result, the Otherworld faction now wielded far more influence in the Celestial Realm.

Many were wary, no longer daring to ignore that faction's power. If they provoked an Ancestral Ancestor-level ancient relic into descending upon the Celestial Realm, even a genuine giant might find it hard to stomach.

"We need to establish our own power in the Celestial Realm. I think this guy would make a perfect mountain guardian," Sha Polang said, a gleam in his eye as he stared at the tiger demon and chuckled evilly.

"Don't... don't you dare! My ancestor is the guardian beast of the Otherworld faction! Don't—" The tiger was frantic, but he couldn't move a muscle.

"If not for your ancestor, we wouldn't have bothered with you. Now, you'll serve as our guardian beast. When we catch your ancestor, he can take your place." King Yan Luo personally laid an ancient curse on the tiger, ensuring that any betrayal or attempted escape would result in excruciating pain like a thousand claws tearing at his heart.

In the tiger demon's eyes, this group was utterly ferocious—a band of great demons risen straight from hell.

"You guessed right. We really did just come up from hell."

Hearing King Yan Luo say that, the tiger's limbs went weak. What kind of people were these? He wailed internally. He couldn't even hide his thoughts from them.

"Curse me a 'dead skeleton' one more time, and I'll make you spasm a hundred thousand times a day."

"No, no! I dare not! I am willing, truly willing, to serve as the guardian beast for the great demon kings who have come from hell. It is my honor!" The tiger lied through his teeth, his heart as cold as ice. He had made such a grand entrance only moments ago, and now he was as meek as a kitten.

"I think this spot is perfect. Let's set up our sect right here," suggested King Qin Guang.

"What powerful figures are there in this region?" Xiao Chen asked the tiger.

"One thousand five hundred li to the west, there's a band of monkey demons. The strongest, a demonic ape, should be at the seventh heaven of Half-Ancestor. Three hundred li to the east, there's a stretch of sheer cliffs with a flock of vultures. Their king is at the sixth heaven of Half-Ancestor...."

"Are those the strongest?" Xiao Chen cut him off.

"No. Five thousand li to the south lies a range of divine mountains with a Flame Cave. A fire crow lives there, savage beyond belief—utterly vicious and cruel. Every day it demands spirit blood and spirit flesh from all the lesser demons. It rules over tens of thousands of li, and they say it may have reached the War Ancestor realm."

The Celestial Realm was truly vast. Tens of thousands of li—that was larger than many entire worlds—and here it was only a tiny corner of the Celestial Realm.

"Are all the beings in this region demon gods?"

"Yes, the vast majority are demon gods, with only a few scattered cultivators from other races. After all, the apex of this region represents the will of the demon race."

"How so?" Xiao Chen pressed on.

"They say that within several million li of here, there are a few great demons who have shaken the ages. Legend has it that the ancient progenitor of the demon race also dwells in this endless stretch of demon mountains."

"The ancient progenitor of the demon race..." The old skull floated up, muttering to itself: "Could that be the one from the old days?"

The group exchanged glances, not expecting to land right in the territory of a bunch of demon gods.

Afraid they might leave and kill him, the tiger quickly added, "Those great demons pay no attention to outside affairs. If we don't disturb their cultivation, they rarely leave their mountains."

"Then I ask you, how far is the Otherworld faction's headquarters from here?"

"Very far. You have to cross the domains ruled by the Floating Island and the Stone Corpse—two major giants. Who knows how many tens of thousands of li that is."

"In that case, this is a good place. We'll set up our sect and cultivate here," Xiao Chen finally decided.

But before that, he had to make a sweep and clear out the various demon gods within ten thousand li.

The Little Defiant Dragon personally took action, capturing a group of demonic apes to serve as mountain-guarding attendants. The three skeletons went to the sheer cliffs several thousand li away and brought back all the vultures in captivity.

As for Xiao Chen, he went personally to deal with the fire crow, heading toward the divine mountain range where the Flame Cave was located.

It was a stretch of lush, verdant immortal mountains, shrouded in drifting mist. The trees were lush and thick, and there was no sign of scorching heat at all. Spiritual energy flowed and multicolored light swirled—an excellent place for cultivation.

The cliffs were covered in dragon grass, divine orchids, and other rare herbs. In the cracks of the precipices grew ancient divine trees laden with fruit, their fragrance wafting on the breeze.

Keke's eyes went wide. It dashed forward in delight, gathering a huge pile of celestial fruits before nibbling on them with happy cries. Naturally, it remembered to hand Xiao Chen a few bright red, glistening divine cherries.

As Xiao Chen surveyed the immortal landscape and searched for the Flame Cave, he felt something unusual about this place. This fire crow was no ordinary creature.

Having reached his level of cultivation and experienced so much, his vision was far more keen. He immediately recognized that this place gathered the ancestral roots of a hundred veins, concentrated the spiritual energy of ten thousand mountains—a true sacred ground.

Even in the Celestial Realm, he doubted there were many such blessed caves and divine domains.

The dragon grass on the cliffs, the ancient divine trees in the crevices—they had grown for who knows how many tens of thousands of years. Clearly, they had transformed from ordinary plants by absorbing the dense spiritual energy of this land.

One could imagine just how extraordinary this immortal domain truly was.

Moreover, Xiao Chen sensed an ancient, primordial essence here. The cliffs, the withered trees, the ancient vines, the ravines and valleys—all had been weathered and settled by the passage of time, bearing a remarkably ancient air.

This place was more than a blessed cave—it was an ancient sacred land whose essence had been sealed within itself.

The more he looked, the stronger that feeling grew. The spiritual roots of a thousand mountains and ten thousand valleys converged here; he doubted there was another such treasure land within millions of li.

"Is this fire crow really something special, then? How else could it occupy such a sacred cultivation ground? Or is its true strength far beyond that of an ordinary War Ancestor?"

Xiao Chen's expression grew serious. He placed Keke on his shoulder and walked slowly forward.

The little one didn't care about any of that, just kept eating with great relish, its big eyes constantly scanning the surroundings, memorizing every divine herb and strange tree.

Finally, Xiao Chen found the fire crow's hidden cultivation site.

Ahead, an ancient path paved with bluestone led to the waist of a towering, jade-green mountain. All the other lush peaks around it were shorter.

"This bluestone ancient path is clearly imbued with primeval essence—not something built by later generations. I really want to see what kind of figure is hidden here."

At the waist of that majestic mountain, he finally saw an ancient cave wreathed in raging flames. He could sense that the temperature inside was terrifyingly high, yet the outside world remained unaffected, all green and lush.

And right at the mouth of the flame cave grew a banana tree, its leaves blazing with flames that licked at the air beside it. Yet the leaves themselves were emerald-green, strikingly divine.

Only two leaves grew on the tree. One leaf shimmered with fiery light, its yang energy extremely strong. The other was cold and dark green, condensing into crystalline flakes—its yin energy equally heavy. The two energies of yin and yang swirled in a delicate balance, stirring up clouds of chaos, with faint rumbles of wind and thunder.

This was definitely a supreme treasure—yet someone had casually planted it at the cave mouth without any protection.

"Could this be a divine root that existed before the creation of heaven and earth?" Xiao Chen was astonished. He could sense that this strange banana tree contained a primeval essence so powerful it was staggering.

"Ya ya..." Keke was filled with curiosity. It blinked its big eyes and reached out to pull off one of the banana leaves.

But just then, the two emerald-like banana leaves swirled with chaotic mist. A mysterious, immense force lightly deflected the little one's paw.

At the same time, threads of yin-yang chaos thunder flickered into existence.

"Don't touch that!" Xiao Chen frowned. If they forcibly plucked those leaves, the chaos thunder would explode, obliterating the entire mountain range.

As Xiao Chen stepped into the ancient cave, he immediately felt an unbearable heat—far more intense than he had imagined.

If both he and Keke hadn't reached the Ancestral God realm and advanced even further, they wouldn't have been able to endure it.

That tiger demon must have been lying, or else he had no real understanding of the strength of the being in this Flame Cave. No ordinary War Ancestor could possibly occupy such a place!

"So hot!" Keke muttered softly.

The Flame Cave was a strange place—so close to the outside world, yet no terrifying heat escaped. And inside, even powerful divine sense and perception could barely penetrate; they could only reach a very limited area.

Xiao Chen concealed his original appearance and made Keke turn into a little tabby cat to stay hidden. The little one was unhappy about it but obeyed—after all, the form of the Heaven-Defying Clan was too striking; if recognized, it would bring disaster.

They walked deeper and deeper into the cave, which extended far into the heart of the mountain.

Just then, Xiao Chen suddenly saw a tall figure kneeling ahead, as if pleading for something.

He strained his divine sense to the utmost, piercing through the mysterious flame that blocked perception, and heard the man's voice.

"I beseech the Ancestor to lend me the Chaos Plantain. My clan will surely repay this debt in the future."

But a long time passed, and no one in the cave responded.

The man knelt again and spoke: "My clan merely seeks to track down the remnants of the Nine Provinces who fled over a hundred thousand years ago. We need the Chaos Plantain to divine the trajectory of the Ancestral Dragon Ship. We will not stir up further trouble in the Celestial Realm."

Hearing this, Xiao Chen was deeply startled. This man was clearly an Otherworld expert who wanted to borrow a supreme treasure to track the heroes who had escaped on the Ancestral Dragon Ship over a hundred thousand years ago. This was very bad news. Xiao Chen's killing intent surged—but he quickly calmed down. This place was too strange; he didn't want to act rashly.

The Chaos Plantain grew right at the cave mouth, yet this man hadn't dared to pluck it. Instead, he had come in, knelt, and solemnly begged. That meant this fire crow had a terrifying background—it was definitely no mere War Ancestor.

Because the man kneeling before him was at least a ninth-heaven Ancestral God; otherwise, he couldn't have entered this blazing ancient cave. The power of the flames was too terrifying. Yet after a very long time, there was still no response from within the cave.

The kneeling figure stood up and said, "This junior will return in seven days. I hope to move the senior with my sincerity. My clan will not forget your kindness." With that, he turned and walked out.

Xiao Chen and Keke quickly slipped into the shadows, hiding to the side. Fortunately, this flame cave was truly unique—it blocked the perception of powerful beings, so even a strong divine sense couldn't detect them.

Xiao Chen gestured to Keke, and the little one crept stealthily along with him, following the man out. Since this was an Otherworld strongman, there was no need for courtesy. They planned to pull him into Paradise Lost once they left the flame cave.

After all, the master of this flame cave was too mysterious and beyond their expectations. They didn't want to act rashly inside.

But when they followed him out of the Flame Cave, the man was extremely cautious. He vanished in a flash of light, disappearing without a trace.

It seemed he didn't want anyone to know he had been there. He had used a special divine light escape technique from ancient legend, one that was not inferior to Xiao Chen's Eight Aspect Worlds. In the blink of an eye, he was gone.

Xiao Chen silently lamented the missed opportunity, but he was not too worried. After all, this man would return in seven days. Xiao Chen could set up an ambush then.

Xiao Chen and Keke emerged from the ancient cave. There was no activity behind them—the master of this place seemed indifferent to their intrusion and departure.

"How strange..." Xiao Chen marveled inwardly. He felt something was off.

"Ya ya, let's go in and take a look!" The little one was also curious and wanted to explore further.

"Alright. Let's just treat it as a friendly visit," Xiao Chen said. Having seen the extraordinary nature of this ancient cave, he had long abandoned any thought of subduing the fire crow.

When they returned to the scorching, unbearably hot depths of the cave, Xiao Chen carefully observed his surroundings. The walls of the flame-wreathed cave were covered in many carvings.

After careful examination, Xiao Chen confirmed that they depicted figures and events from ancient legends, all recorded here.

They stopped only when they reached the place where the Otherworld strongman had knelt.

The ancient cave was unfathomably deep, and this was not the end. But here, on a stone platform, sat a three-foot-long, very short stone coffin. It looked utterly malevolent.

"Ya ya..." Keke, fearless as always, jumped directly onto the platform and lifted the lid of the three-foot stone coffin.

Xiao Chen wanted to stop it, but it was too late. Fortunately, nothing dangerous happened.

"Ya ya!" Keke cried out in surprise.

Inside the three-foot stone coffin lay the corpse of a crow, its whole body dark and lusterless, without a trace of life.

"How bizarre!" Xiao Chen exclaimed. It was just a crow corpse.

He had a faint sense of unease, but since they had already opened the coffin, there was nothing to fear.

"Let's get out of here, fast!" He decisively took Keke and retreated. But before leaving, he couldn't resist taking the stone coffin and the crow corpse along to show to the old skull.

They flew back at top speed, reuniting with the others in the blink of an eye.

"Old sir, with your vast knowledge, please take a look at this three-foot stone coffin. What's so strange about it?" Xiao Chen showed it to the old skull, revealing the crow corpse inside.

"I...!" The old skull lost its composure completely, crying out in alarm. "That is no auspicious bird!"

"..." The crowd was speechless.

Then the old skull yelled, "Seal it! Hurry up and seal it with eighty-one layers of seals!" It looked genuinely panicked, its eye sockets shooting out flames.