One Hand Reaching the Immortal Domain, the Shattered Western Immortal Domain
One Hand Reaching the Immortal Domain, the Shattered Western Immortal Domain
At the end of this road, one could see crimson clouds filling the sky, where endless blood-colored radiance spread.
It was as if heaven and earth were weeping blood—utterly shocking.
Even the entire firmament had sunk into that eerie, heart-palpitating shade of blood-red.
This was an unimaginable road of no return, like walking along the edge of a cliff. Blood-red mist billowed, and a wind carrying the stench of blood blew across the path.
All around were ancient traces—the broken walls and ruins of heavenly palaces and towers, as well as the remains of stars that had fallen from who-knows-where, smashing out abyssal craters ten thousand zhang deep. Some lakes had long since dried up, nothing like the scene Gu Changge had witnessed on his previous visit.
Within those lakes, corpses could still be seen—some as enormous as golden giants, toppled over like collapsed mountain peaks.
There were also crystalline, jade-like bones flowing with radiance, small and exquisite—their owner in life must have been a woman of peerless beauty.
Beyond that, there were the bones of all manner of races: massive skeletal remains like those of True Dragons, and various other kinds. The deep pits on both sides of the road were buried full of countless corpses, packed densely together.
The last time Gu Changge came here, he had seen a verdant, boundless landscape, with heaven and earth glowing and immortal aura permeating and interweaving. But now, only desolation and ruin remained.
A terrifying great battle had occurred here in the meantime—those bloodstains were still fresh, not left behind from some ancient era.
Now, even the end of this road had collapsed. A horrifying great rift valley had appeared there, completely severing heaven and earth.
Some stars hung fallen in that place, boundless Chaos Energy pervaded the air, and even beings who set foot here would find it nearly impossible to locate the path forward, to find the true Immortal Domain.
“Before the Era of Immortal Burial, this road was actually a heavenly path opened up by all living beings marching to assault the Source Realm. The great army marched in grand procession and was buried here. Countless epochs have passed—some have long since decayed, while others remain buried in the deepest depths, awaiting the day they rot away.”
The Big Red Bird flapped its wings, following behind Gu Changge. Gazing upon these scenes, its expression was incomparably complex.
In a trance, it once again saw that magnificent era—that era of pressing forward without retreat, of all the Progenitors of the Great War Against Heaven charging one after another, heedless of life and death. Its blood, long since gone cold, gradually began to heat up once more.
“The Great War Against Heaven—you should still remember how it ended.”
“They were all failures. There’s nothing worth commemorating.”
Gu Changge’s flat words were like a basin of cold water, abruptly dumped over the Big Red Bird’s head, chilling its heated blood and leaving it full of astonishment and bitter smiles.
Indeed—these were all losers of the Great War Against Heaven.
So what if they had fought with everything they had? In the end, hadn’t they still fallen upon that road, never even qualifying to fight their way into the Source Realm?
A bunch of failures unwilling to accept death.
Gu Changge lacked the Big Red Bird’s sentimentality, and he could not possibly feel such deep emotion about it as it did.
Although in the Big Red Bird’s eyes, he too had been one of the foremost leaders of the Great War Against Heaven, to Gu Changge, these failed Heavenslayers were no different from ordinary ants.
Their so-called hot-blooded passion was something he could not feel either. For in his vision—across epochs so long they could neither be counted nor imagined—just how many times had the Great War Against Heaven occurred?
Truly beyond counting.
The True Worlds of this cosmos were vast beyond measure. Before each Great Purge arrived, there were always some fish that slipped through the net of previous Purges and survived.
Or perhaps some powerful beings who perceived the truth ahead of time would gather together of their own accord, attempting to change this eternal, unchanging fate.
Again and again, like reincarnation—yet not reincarnation.
In the eyes of the Original True Ancestors, these were merely fish trying to leap out of that river. But after leaping out of the river, they simply dried up and died upon the shoals.
“The Immortal Domain can no longer make contact with the Beyond—some shocking upheaval must have occurred.”
“Was it the doing of other True Worlds, or is it related to the Other Domain?”
Gu Changge and the Big Red Bird proceeded onward. At the far end ahead, they saw a grand and imposing stone gate. However, a severed abyss lay in the middle—bottomless, as if some terrifying power had directly cut across it, making it impassable.
That stone gate was magnificent and towering, standing at the end of this road, stained with blood. Blood seeped out from the cracks of the gate, and the surroundings bore the marks of a great battle, exuding a terrifying aura that made one’s heart palpitate.
It seemed that merely approaching it would cause one’s Physique to rupture and explode.
One could imagine just how terrifying the strength of those bloodstains’ owners had been.
“This is the Road of Severed Horizons.”
“Without the cultivation of an Immortal King, one cannot cross it. It is the greatest barrier separating the Beyond from the Immortal Domain. Within this abyss are buried who-knows-how-many supreme experts who attempted to cross, only to fall and die within.”
The Big Red Bird spoke with a somewhat complicated expression. It had once been the Artifact Spirit of that stone gate ahead. After awakening its memories in later ages, it had used an extremely special method to split off a portion of its soul, passing through the Restriction ahead, and only thus was it able to come to the Beyond.
Its true body, in fact, still remained within that stone gate ahead.
Gu Changge nodded. He was well aware of everything the Big Red Bird spoke of. Back then, the Road of Severed Horizons had also been established by Gu Qingyi.
A million-kilometer Restriction Zone had been set up here—if intact, it could block even Immortal Kings from crossing. But now, countless epochs later, it had likely long since lost much of its power.
And a large part of the reason the Severed Horizons came into being was not actually that the Beyond’s rules were broken and unable to accommodate power surpassing the Celestial Realm. Rather, the Beyond needed a relatively peaceful and stable environment in which later generations could multiply, thrive, recover, and grow strong.
In these vast True Worlds of the heavens, besides facing the Great Purge of the epochs, one actually also needed to guard against invasions and conquests by other True Worlds.
The Source Realm radiated across all the heavens. Because of the existence of the three Original True Ancestors, many terrifying races and powers had been born under their command. Those races and powers either occupied certain True Worlds, or launched grey, white, and black tri-colored Grand Sacrifices from within the Source Realm, clearing out unruly elements ahead of time.
After all, the Great Purge of the epochs existed to cleanse the True Worlds of the heavens, restoring all order to the state approved by the Original True Ancestors.
These so-called Grand Sacrifices took the destruction of worlds and the reshaping of order as their goal—but in reality, they were still for the sake of annihilating worlds. Or rather, to sacrifice all living beings, beseeching the three Original True Ancestors to grant supreme power or authority.
The Original True Ancestors were omnipotent, and could naturally bestow eternal life and higher realms upon those races with ease.
Faced with the Great Purge, not everyone had the courage to become a Heavenslayer.
Afterward, Gu Changge led the Big Red Bird forward, striding out to cross this abyss. Terrifying sounds rose from below.
All kinds of Restrictions triggered, peerless killing intent erupting like supreme Sword Qi, directly piercing through this space and shooting into the Beyond, striking down countless stars and shocking innumerable living beings and Cultivators.
However, Gu Changge’s expression did not change in the slightest. He walked as if on level ground, a hazy aura seemingly flowing around him.
All the radiance that fell upon him dissipated into nothingness, unable to halt his steps.
He soon brought the Big Red Bird before that gate ahead and stopped there, as if he could perceive and discern the situation on the other side through this portal.
“I can open this gate.” The Big Red Bird’s eyes showed nostalgia, then it spoke with certainty—for its true body resided right here.
The grand stone gate bore ancient, simple stone textures, stained with blood. Some places were damaged, giving it a very archaic air.
And as Gu Changge brought the Big Red Bird here, the stone gate seemed to produce some kind of resonance. Those damaged patterns gleamed with luster, then became utterly resplendent.
The Big Red Bird was overcome with excitement—it had never imagined that one day it would be able to return to this place.
Its figure grew faint and blurry, transforming into a streak of divine light, about to charge into the stone gate.
However, Gu Changge’s gaze shifted slightly, and he suddenly reached out to stop it.
“This stone gate no longer holds any life. Your true body has likely long since dissipated.”
He spoke, his tone calm and without ripples.
The Big Red Bird’s figure halted, stopping dead right before the stone gate, unable to believe it.
Its figure solidified once more from its faint state, landing before the stone gate. Finally, it seemed to quietly sense for a moment—then let out a miserable laugh.
“It really has dissipated... I can’t sense its existence anymore.”
“Back then, this stone gate could withstand thousands of troops and ten thousand horses. Now it’s all broken and incomplete...”
In the end, it was merely a wisp of a Dao soul split off from its true body, sent out to find Xianer’s reincarnation. Its true body had actually been lodged within this stone gate all along.
“What exactly happened here? Were these bloodstains left only in recent years?”
The Big Red Bird spent a long while recovering from its grief before it could accept this fact.
Gu Changge nodded lightly. It was evident that some kind of upheaval had occurred in the Immortal Domain only in recent years.
Moreover, some time ago, when he attempted to draw the Immortal Domain down into descent, he had ultimately failed.
When the heavenly rules of the Beyond made contact with the Immortal Domain, a peerless, vast killing intent had spread forth.
This meant that a super-powerful being within the Immortal Domain had acted to prevent all of this.
Perhaps they intended to protect the Beyond through this method.
Gu Changge speculated, thinking of the so-called Other Domain. When True Worlds were conceived and born, yin and yang energies divided, producing Yin and Yang True Worlds.
Before the Forbidden Epoch, both the Beyond and the Immortal Domain were parts of the Yang True World.
And the part standing in opposition was the Yin True World. In the eyes of the Yang True World, that place was the Other Domain—locked in constant warfare, their contradictions irreconcilable.
There were also some races of the Yin True World that had long since been accepted by those ancient clans and Dao traditions of the Source Realm.
Hearing this, the Big Red Bird’s figure trembled. It abruptly thought of something, an expression of disbelief on its face, yet full of bitterness.
Among the True Worlds of the heavens, the Mountains and Oceans True World could actually be considered quite renowned.
But countless epochs had passed, and many True Worlds had already perished within the River of Time.
Nowadays, if the Mountains and Oceans True World wished to recover its former glory, besides defending against the great enemies of the Other Domain, it also had to face adversaries from other True Worlds.
Some True Worlds’ World Spirits, in order to strengthen themselves, did not hesitate to drive the races and Dao traditions within their worlds to wage war across the heavens, devouring the Sources of other True Worlds.
Such things had happened frequently since the ancient epochs—at times even crueler than the descent of the Great Purge.
Gu Changge nodded lightly. He felt that the reason for the Immortal Domain’s upheaval was most likely that a great war had occurred—some invading races attempting to find the root of the Mountains and Oceans True World, pursuing it upward.
No matter what, the root of the Mountains and Oceans True World was dissolved within the Beyond.
Moreover, according to Gu Qingyi’s plan, the vast majority of the Mountains and Oceans True World’s Heavenslayers from back then were still within the cycle of reincarnation.
Many had reincarnated into the Beyond, though they had yet to awaken their past memories.
Afterward, Gu Changge’s gaze fell upon the grand stone gate before him, which seemed capable of propping up heaven and earth.
Those four characters simply made one’s divine soul tremble, one’s heart quake. They were clearly sacred, yet they also carried a great majesty that made one’s Primordial Spirit shake.
“With the upheaval in the Immortal Domain, trying to open this gate from here is utterly impossible.”
“I just wonder whether the Demon Lord has any way...”
The Big Red Bird flapped its wings around the area, finally speaking in dejection, feeling that this gate could not be opened.
It desperately wanted to know the current state of the Immortal Domain.
But to push open this gate would require at least the strength of an Immortal King. And in the current Beyond, even as the world’s environment changed, who possessed the strength of an Immortal King?
Although Gu Changge was unfathomably mysterious, his strength beyond imagination, even he could not possibly break this rule.
Boom—
However, just as the Big Red Bird thought this, its eyes suddenly went wide in disbelief.
Gu Changge’s expression was calm, a hazy aura coiling around him.
He placed his palm forward and gave a gentle push.
It was an astonishing turn of events, as if a prehistoric colossal beast had opened its eyes—carrying resplendent showers of light, yet also boundlessly terrifying.
The ancient stone gate emitted a light that pierced through the ages. It was too holy, like the first light after the creation of heaven and earth, leading toward immortality and eternity.
Upon the stone gate, all kinds of imprints emerged, narrating the secrets of creation, the mysteries of chaos. Numerous ancient ancestors appeared, though too blurry to see clearly.
Faintly, the distant sounds of the Dao drifted over, washing over one’s divine soul, making one feel as if undergoing an evolution.
The stone gate was pushed open, cracks appearing within, from which bloody rain seeped out, splattering down and smashing directly against the surrounding stone walls—a shocking sight.
The Big Red Bird was so shaken by this scene that it could not speak.
Could it be that Gu Changge already possessed strength comparable to an Immortal King?
At this moment, Gu Changge’s figure was blurry and hazy, like a flickering mass of light, as if he could command all the heavens, making the infinite beings of the universe kowtow and worship. High above all, he directly pushed open that gate.
The Immortal Domain and the Beyond were connected because of him. This place erupted with boundless light, directly illuminating the surrounding universe. The radiance rushed out from the Celestial Ancient Continent, reflected throughout the Beyond.
Cultivators and living beings of many universes sensed the fluctuations there, shaken to the extreme, seeing endless light and shadow emerging at the ends of heaven and earth.
A hazy road ran through that place, and then a strange aura descended. The rules of heaven and earth began evolving at close range, spiritual energy boiling ceaselessly.
The True Daoists and hidden figures of every race and Dao tradition felt this most keenly—all frozen in place, unable to believe it.
“Could it be... the Immortal Domain has descended?”
They murmured, feeling that the heavenly rules of the Beyond were undergoing an unimaginable transformation at this moment.
“These are characters from before the Celestial Ancient era...”
On a broken continent—primitive, with towering ancient trees, yet inhabited by living beings and races—
A group of young men and women were exploring a ruin that had suddenly appeared. At this moment, a young maiden was staring in shock at a stone stele before her, exclaiming in astonishment.
The writing upon it was unfamiliar—not the script of the current era.
Moreover, this stele was unimaginably ancient to them. Ten thousand years was already an immeasurable span of time, let alone units counted in millions of years.
They were studying the characters on this Stone Engraving, seeking to understand that once supremely glorious and resplendent era.
The forebears fought a hundred battles without dying, their hot blood surging. To resist the Other Domain, though they died ten thousand deaths, their hearts knew no regret.
Every time they heard the elders of the tribe speak of this fragment of ancient history, they could feel that unyielding spirit and fighting will flowing in their veins.
Rumble—
“There are descendants of the Immortal Domain here!”
Suddenly, sky-piercing killing intent pervaded this place.
A group of beings from the Other Domain appeared, riding fierce beasts, trampling across the sky, sweeping forth to ravage this broken continent, hunting down the descendants of the Immortal Domain.
Nowadays, the beings living in various regions were a mix of Immortal Domain and Other Domain inhabitants.
But there were also surviving beings of the Immortal Domain, hiding in various places. The supreme experts disdained to act personally—
And those survivors were precisely the hunting targets of the Other Domain’s various races.
On this primitive continent, many elders and men changed expression drastically, their faces instantly turning pale.
“Hahaha, found them again! There are Immortal Domain descendants here!”
“This batch of prey—none of you fight me for them!”
The Other Domain beings all laughed loudly, seated upon their fierce beasts like gods on high, looking down upon this tribe of several thousand people.
They were cold and cruel, lofty and superior, carrying the amusement of a cat toying with a mouse.
But at this moment, every man of the tribe stepped forward. There was no fear on their faces, no dread—only resolve. They took up their weapons, shielding all the elderly, children, wives, and daughters behind them.
The old, the young, the wives and daughters behind them were equally steadfast—no panic, no cries of alarm.
The backbone of the Immortal Domain’s remnants would never fall.
“Truly boring.”
This scene made the Other Domain beings lose interest. Their mocking smiles vanished, replaced by coldness—for they could not witness the panic of facing death and despair.
This kind of slaughter... they found it dull.
“Kill them.”
Their leader spoke, and all the Other Domain beings began drawing bows and nocking arrows.
But at that very moment, in the depths of this broken continent, boundless light erupted.
Faintly, a gate could be seen piercing through the sky, connecting to a vast and boundless world, with all kinds of phantom figures surging forth.
The group of Other Domain beings were all stunned by this sight, horror unconcealable in their eyes.
Someone reacted, unable to hold back an excited murmur:
“The Western Immortal Domain was destroyed long ago, trampled underfoot by our race’s supreme experts. Then what is this...?”
“It’s said that the Western Immortal Domain concealed a mysterious road and a gate. When the Western Immortal Domain’s King fell, he used supreme Transcendent power to shroud them... but all this time, the experts of every race have been searching.”
“Could it be... that today it has appeared?”