A Great Calamity in the Otherworld

The moonlight was bright, the Yellow River surged. A hundred years had passed in a fleeting instant. On the five-story ancient tower that had long since forgotten the turning of the ages, Ge Qian stood by the river's edge.

Under this moonlit night, Ge Qian's mournful cry shook the heavens. Five primordial demon cities collapsed, and an Upper Ancestral God's forehead bone shattered, throwing the Otherworld into chaos.

Nine powerful beings with the potential to rival a Stone Man King had their foundations utterly crushed—a great and early calamity.

This was an extremely grave and dire outcome. No one knew what had happened.

Lu Zhan and the other Ancestral Gods were all alarmed. They arrived at the scene at once. Five Stone Men crawled out from the rubble, their bodies shattered. As for the Upper Ancestral God, his soul and bones were fractured, and he could no longer stand.

“How could this be?” Lu Zhan's eyes shot out cold lightning, scanning the eight directions for the killer.

“Report…” A frantic, terrified voice drew near. A cultivator of the Otherworld flew close, prostrated himself, and wept: “Great Ancestor, disaster has struck! Three of our primordial demon cities in the Celestial Realm have collapsed…”

“What?!” Lu Zhan roared in fury. “Was Lang Ya not stationed there? And he had allied with several Stone Kings of the Celestial Realm—how could this happen?”

This was an extremely serious consequence. He had reason to suspect that someone was about to launch a full-scale assault on the Otherworld, and this was merely the prelude.

“It is he—that little wolf cub who did this…” Lu Zhan's face darkened to the extreme.

His eyes shot out two terrifying beams, piercing through the barrier of worlds and landing on the Nine Provinces. His killing intent blazed as he searched for something.

When an ancient lamp rose abruptly in the void, its hazy radiance swept out like a fire burning in Lu Zhan's heart, his powerful divine sense withdrew at once.

“It really is that little wolf cub—he has gained the recognition of an ancient lamp and merged with it. I cannot pinpoint his location.” Lu Zhan's voice was icy, his expression savage. “He has destroyed eight of our cities and wounded nine of my men. Once I finish my affairs, I will hunt him down through heaven and earth and take his life.”

On the five-story ancient tower by the Yellow River in the Nine Provinces, Ge Qian stood in desolation. Before him floated an ancient lamp, its faint flame flickering, making his sickly face appear even paler.

Xiao Chen was astonished. Ge Qian and this ancient lamp were in perfect harmony, as if they were of the same blood, the same body.

The ancient lamp was of extremely mysterious origin. Not even the Otherworld had been able to take it away. It had been the source that burned the sacred bone fragment to give birth to the Divine Diagram.

“What did you just do?” Xiao Chen asked, shocked and uncertain.

“With all my heart, though my strength was insufficient, I severed the foundations of eight Stone Men and destroyed the future path of an Upper Ancestral God.”

Ge Qian stood on the tower, gazing up at the stars. There was no joy in his voice, only a faint melancholy.

Such a feat would shake the world. Even a Stone King would be wary. Yet he felt no sense of accomplishment—that was truly astonishing.

“How did you manage it?” Xiao Chen was genuinely shocked. Renmo Ge Qian was too powerful. He remained in the Nine Provinces while shattering the primordial demon cities of another world.

At that moment, the gods of the Otherworld were also greatly perplexed. They cautiously questioned Lu Zhan.

“Great Ancestor, what exactly happened?”

As for the several Stone Men whose foundations had been severed, they were ashen-faced and equally confused. Even now, they did not understand why this had happened.

“It is that little wolf cub…” Lu Zhan's eyes grew deep.

In ages past, after the Dragon Clan had swept through the Nine Provinces, Lang Ya, the Otherworld Ancestor, parted with a sliver of his incarnation and came to the ruined land, carrying back a comatose child.

The gods frowned at this. They had all heard something of Ge Qian's past; the name Human Demon had a great origin.

Lu Zhan swept his hand through the void, and images of that bygone day appeared.

Lang Ya brought back the child and pointed at his forehead, causing specks of light to diffuse into his mind.

In the end, the child was raised on the flesh of the nine sons of the Ancestral Dragon. As he grew, he gathered the divine power of the nine sacred dragons into one body.

The nine dragon pearls left by the nine sacred dragons had been granted to cultivators of great potential. The faces of those people appeared, and the others suddenly understood.

They were precisely the several great experts whose Stone Man foundations had been destroyed. One could assume that the master of that Otherworld primordial demon city in the Celestial Realm was also among the nine who had received dragon pearls.

The gods did not know what Lang Ya had done by pointing at Ge Qian's forehead, but they could roughly guess. Lu Zhan's words confirmed their speculations.

“This little wolf cub had exceptionally rare talent. Lang Ya was moved by it and intended to raise him as a butcher's knife…”

But the result had not gone smoothly. Many changes had occurred.

The gods already knew what happened later. The Human Demon's prestige shook the world, and the gods were deeply wary of him.

By the Yellow River, the water roared, and the moonlight was like snow. Ge Qian stood in the shadow of the ancient tower, his face gray, his eyes dim against his sickly, pallid complexion.

Forsaken by heaven, spurned by the ways of the world—the Human Demon's foul name resounds through the ages. He bore so much.

“I killed my own nine elder brothers…”

The tenth son of the Ancestral Dragon! Xiao Chen was stunned. He had never imagined that Ge Qian was actually the tenth son of the Ancestral Dragon, his fate filled with unimaginable suffering.

A life of hardship, a tragedy without end. Someone else had guided his life, leading him down a twisted path. The name of Human Demon would be cursed for a thousand ages.

“It was not your fault. After years of hiding, there will come a day when you rise.”

The dragon pearls of nine Ninth-Heaven War Ancestors had merged into the bodies of those nine great experts. The primal essence of the Dragon Clan was inexorably linked to Ge Qian.

He had been raised on the blood sacrifice of his nine elder brothers, absorbing all their divine power. Today, by making an offering to the Ancestral Dragon, he erupted completely, causing the dragon essence absorbed by those who bore the dragon pearls to ignite.

In the Otherworld, Lu Zhan and the gods had naturally deduced all this.

“This little wolf cub is too ruthless…” The gods felt a chill run down their spines, grateful that they had no connection to those dragon pearls.

Those nine great experts were all outstanding figures with the hope of rising another step, of standing shoulder to shoulder with the Ancestral Gods. Yet in an instant, Renmo Ge Qian had severed their path and destroyed their hopes.

At this moment, those nine great experts had long since surpassed anger. They were utterly despairing.

Yes, Ge Qian had long possessed the ability to do these things, but he had kept silent, waiting until they were at the critical moment before striking so decisively.

The dawn was right before them, clearly within reach. The bitter cultivation of all those years had been undone in a single moment. At the very doorstep of their goal, he had cast them into the abyss and trampled them into hell.

This was a truly ruthless man. He had shattered the bright future of nine great experts, destroying their hope at the final moment.

Xiao Chen handed the purple jade bracelet to Ge Qian. “I think this is meant for you.”

But the Human Demon's expression was dark. He did not reach out to take it, retreating into the shadows. “I am not worthy of accepting it…”

“I will go to that place for a look, then leave immediately…” His eyes were ancient and weary, filled with desolation.

“What are you going to do? Where are you going?”

“What else can I do? I cannot kill Lang Ya, I cannot kill Lu Zhan—but I will not give up.” Renmo Ge Qian gradually grew resolute, his eyes shining with ever brighter light.

At the same time, the ancient lamp before him grew more luminous, finally hovering above his head, as if illuminating his path ahead.

“Have you not yet become a perfect Upper Ancestral God?”

“Merely a hair's breadth away, but it is like another layer of heaven.” Ge Qian gazed into the void. “Although I do not fear Stone Kings, I can sense that there is a great evil within the Otherworld. I cannot enter it…”

Xiao Chen frowned. “Could it be that the seal on the stone gate at the summit of the Ninety-Nine Stone Steps has been broken?”

Several thousand years had passed. He thought that Lu Zhan and the others might have already unraveled the seal inscribed by the kings with the Three Sovereign Mirror. Besides the demonic shadow behind the stone gate, who else could be that great evil?

“Lu Zhan and the others will come to kill me. If I kill Lang Ya, perhaps the great evil within the Otherworld will emerge, drawn by me. Then you may act…”

In the end, Ge Qian departed, taking the ancient lamp with him into the Celestial Realm. He would do battle with Stone Kings, even if the kings of the Celestial Realm had allied with the Otherworld. For revenge, to temper himself, and to draw the attention of the Otherworld, he went.

The ancient lamp burned bright, merged with Ge Qian, and vanished. The five-story tower by the Yellow River, which had stood for a hundred years without decay, crumbled to dust and scattered in the wind.

A month later, an unexpected figure appeared before Xiao Chen. He was a middle-aged scholar with a fair complexion and deep eyes that seemed capable of perceiving everything in the world.

“It is you.”

Xiao Chen was greatly surprised. Thirty thousand years ago, this man had cast a divination for him, predicting his death, which had indeed come to pass when he fell in the Dead City.

This man was none other than King Wen of Zhou, who claimed to be able to calculate heaven, earth, and all the affairs of the world. Thirty thousand years later, he had reappeared.

“A great calamity approaches…” Those were King Wen's first words upon seeing Xiao Chen.

Xiao Chen was startled. “You who calculate heaven, earth, and all the world—what have you seen now?”

Without any greeting, King Wen of Zhou explained unprompted: “No one can truly know past, present, and future. All I can grasp are fragments of the truth.”

“What did your divination reveal?”

“I have deduced that a being who does not belong to this world has come into it. His power exceeds the limit permitted by this world…”

Upon hearing this, Xiao Chen drew a sharp breath. What terrible figure had this man, who could calculate the heavenly mysteries, glimpsed?

“A great evil—the calamity will arise from the Otherworld.” That was the result of King Wen's calculation.

“Can you be more specific?” Xiao Chen frowned, instantly thinking of the great evil that Renmo Ge Qian had sensed. What figure had appeared in the Otherworld? Was it the demonic shadow from within the stone gate? Various signs suggested otherwise.

“It is connected to the Heavenly Steles. The specifics are hard to calculate. Today I have come to seek your aid, to borrow your power and the power of the Heavenly Steles for a more thorough divination.”

Xiao Chen immediately brought out the Heavenly Stele he had obtained and activated the Heavenly Stele Profound Art to assist King Wen. Mysterious runes swirled around the middle-aged scholar.

“That great evil does not belong to the myriad heavens. In this world, he is gathering the Heavenly Steles…” At this point, King Wen spat a mouthful of blood. “Someone in the Otherworld has extracted a Heavenly Mark and is together with the great evil. I do not know what they intend.”

Having said this, King Wen of Zhou sat cross-legged, bit his middle finger, closed his eyes, and traced blood-red lines on the ground. Mysterious symbols flickered with light.

After a long while, he stopped. “You must go to the Otherworld, retrieve the Heavenly Mark, and summon the Heavenly Stele. Otherwise, a great evil will breed within the great evil, with consequences beyond reckoning.”

King Wen had not yet left when Shi Zhongdi and the old stone turtle appeared. They directly handed the Five Emperor Tower to Xiao Chen. “Though we cannot ascertain exactly what is happening, our instincts tell us it is extremely dangerous. Listen to this wandering diviner and go to the Otherworld. Take this Five Emperor Tower with you; it can conceal your aura from detection…”

“You …” Xiao Chen was irritated. Why would these two old things not go themselves but instead send him?

“It is not that we are unwilling to make the journey. Rather, this matter seems to be connected solely to the Heavenly Steles. If we go, we will most likely fall—both of us have this ominous feeling. Only you, perhaps, can resolve the crisis.” The old stone turtle said slowly.

“Just recall the Heavenly Stele and retrieve the Heavenly Mark, and the crisis will resolve itself.” At that moment, King Wen suddenly opened his eyes, shooting out two beams of divine light, though he coughed up several mouthfuls of blood.

“We have already deduced the new coordinates of the Otherworld…”

In the end, Xiao Chen, with the Five Emperor Tower hovering above his head, entered the Otherworld.

No sooner had he set foot in that world than he sensed the great evil.