The Board Has Been Set, Time to Return to the Present World
The Board Has Been Set, Time to Return to the Present World
Cultivation knows no passage of years—several thousand years flashed by in the blink of an eye.
Gods’ Ruins had gradually faded into legend. As the environment of heaven and earth changed, more and more Cultivators appeared, yet fewer and fewer people had ever laid eyes on Gods’ Ruins.
For many, Gods’ Ruins had instead become something like those ancient tales from before the Dark Gap—immeasurably distant, yet truly existent, having left its traces upon this world.
“It connects to the legendary Celestial Domain, and within Gods’ Ruins there stands an incomparably ancient towering tree. It is said to be the path to the Celestial Domain, deeply connected to the Jianmu Tree of old.”
“And the Lord of Gods’ Ruins was a supreme expert from the Era of the Great Annihilation, his cultivation profound beyond measure, reaching through heaven and earth... If you are lucky enough to encounter Gods’ Ruins, you might even receive that senior’s guidance.”
“It is said that someone once entered Gods’ Ruins and obtained a Stone Engraving within. In just a few short centuries, he became a great Cultivator, and has now founded his own sect.”
“Though you may never have such a chance—I hear that senior has already ascended to the true Celestial Domain. Gods’ Ruins now has no master, which is why it has gradually vanished from the world, never to be found again.”
In various tribes, elders told the younger generation stories of Gods’ Ruins, and every face brimmed with yearning and aspiration.
Whether young or old, all pursued the Path of Cultivation, and becoming an immortal was the lifelong pursuit of nearly everyone.
Though distant and faint, it at least gave everyone something to hold onto.
And the existence of Gods’ Ruins seemed to tell them all—ascending to immortality truly existed.
Scenes like this played out almost daily in tribes everywhere. Any Cultivator or sentient being knew of Gods’ Ruins’ existence.
Cultivators searching for Gods’ Ruins were beyond counting, but sadly, those who truly found it were few and far between. It was as if invisible Array Patterns and barriers surrounded Gods’ Ruins, sealing everything away.
Thus it stood apart from the world, establishing itself as a Forbidden Area.
“Senior, I must leave this place now. Thank you for your guidance over these years. Though you never took me as your disciple, in my heart, you are no different from a shifu.”
“You taught me so much, and even awakened the inheritance in my bloodline. I, Yuan Yu, will never forget this great kindness for all eternity.”
At this moment, within Gods’ Ruins, shrouded in boundless immortal mist—
Mountain ranges towered, ancient peaks rose high, and many broken palaces and pavilions stood scattered about.
A breathtakingly beautiful woman in feathered robes stood atop a solitary peak, gazing with reluctance at the white-robed figure before her, her words full of respect and unwillingness to part.
That white-robed figure was hazy, his features indiscernible, revealing only a pair of weathered, profound eyes—as if he had once sat watching over all the heavens, had once gazed across primordial antiquity, yet nothing could diminish his unmatched grace and otherworldly transcendence.
He stood with hands clasped behind his back, seemingly gazing into the sea of clouds, his silhouette solitary and lonesome, with only a Peach Tree at his side for company.
“You should indeed be leaving. And I should be leaving as well.”
“That you and I met at all—this too can be counted as fate.”
The white-robed man shook his head gently, his tone calm, without the slightest ripple of emotion.
The feather-robed woman named Yu fixed her bright eyes upon his back, and finally said with reluctance, “Back then, I stumbled into Gods’ Ruins by mistake and was nearly slain by the Array Patterns here. Had you not intervened and saved me, Senior, I fear I would have long since perished, body and soul annihilated.”
“Over these thousands of years, I have listened to your teachings on the Dao every day, gaining endlessly from them.”
“Yet even now, I do not know your name.”
“If I wish to repay your kindness in the future, I fear I will have no chance—I may not even know whether I can ever see you again.”
Hearing this, the white-robed man seemed to smile, then gently shook his head again.
“A name is nothing but a label. Knowing it or not truly matters little.”
“You need only know that I am the Lord of Gods’ Ruins. Nothing else is necessary.”
“You bear the Celestial Phoenix Bloodline. Cultivate well after you leave, and one day you will reach my current realm. Perhaps in the distant future, we two may yet meet again—who can say?”
“In the distant future... will such a day truly come?”
Hearing these words, endless light suddenly bloomed in the eyes of the beautiful feather-robed woman—a light of longing and yearning.
Before she could finish speaking, the white-robed figure ahead smiled faintly and waved his hand—and she was already beyond Gods’ Ruins.
She found herself suddenly standing in an unfamiliar mountain range, the surrounding scenery utterly different from thousands of years ago.
The beautiful feather-robed woman’s face held a trace of loss, as though there were still many words left unsaid.
She stood there quietly for several months before finally transforming into a divine rainbow and departing.
Over these thousands of years, she had lived day and night alongside that mysterious Lord of Gods’ Ruins.
From the awe and fear of the beginning, she had gradually discovered that the Lord of Gods’ Ruins was not frightening at all—rather, he was gentle and refined, easygoing and natural—and over time, her feelings had turned to closeness, dependence, and reverence.
A figure like that, unmatched in grace, transcendent beyond the mundane, was among the very strongest in this world. He could casually tear through the barriers between worlds and travel to other universes—his methods reached the heavens, beyond imagination.
Even before the Era of the Great Annihilation, he would have been a supreme existence beyond the power of words to describe.
Back then, she had been nothing but a little Celestial Phoenix who had just stepped onto the threshold of cultivation. To witness with her own eyes what a so-called supreme expert looked like, she had risked her life, flapping her wings and plunging headfirst into the vast and mysterious Gods’ Ruins.
And then she had stayed there for thousands of years, undergoing a complete transformation, reborn in body and soul.
“Senior said he is leaving too—what did he mean? And that mysterious ancient tree he guards, the one called the Tree of Epoch—why does he guard it?”
The feather-robed woman held far too many questions in her heart, but she understood these were things that must not be asked—they touched upon that senior’s secrets.
During her time in Gods’ Ruins, she had often seen that senior carefully tending a small Peach Tree, planting it beside his courtyard, weeding and watering it daily like a mortal would, with great meticulousness.
He had also said that after he left, that Peach Tree would guard the Tree of Epoch in his stead, waiting for the right moment to arrive.
Of course, the feather-robed woman could not understand these words. She merely engraved them in her heart, intending to slowly comprehend them in the future.
“The board has been set. The legend of Gods’ Ruins should be able to spread and endure.”
“In that case, it is time for me to return to the present world. This stretch of history will be recorded in the annals and histories as ancient history.”
After the feather-robed woman departed Gods’ Ruins, the white-robed man—none other than Gu Changge—
smiled faintly. Then his vast divine sense swept outward, comprehending the many changes this universe had undergone over these thousands of years, and only then did he nod in satisfaction.