The Demise of the Ancient Era

At that time, this vast universe was not called "Nine Heavens and Ten Earths", but "Nine Heavens Domain".

Back then, the Nine Heavens Domain was not a broken universe abandoned by the heavens as it is now, but a dazzling part of the great and boundless Eternal Immortal Domain.

The laws governing the universe are perfect and flawless, and the great Dao's teachings resonate day and night in the void. There is no such thing as the despairing shackle that "only one person can attain enlightenment in a lifetime."

In that golden age, there truly were immortals in the Nine Heavens Realm.

Not only are there immortals, but their numbers are enormous, and a hundred flowers bloom.

There are countless powerful individuals who can pluck stars from the sky and overturn rivers and seas.

Even the legendary Immortal King, who transcends time and can reshape the world in the blink of an eye, truly exists in the deepest part of the Nine Heavens Domain, sitting high in the clouds, overlooking the reproduction and life of countless beings.

At that time, the spiritual energy in the Nine Heavens Domain was so rich that it turned into liquid rivers, and the sky was filled with seven-colored immortal spiritual energy.

You could pick any wild grass by the roadside and it might contain a life force that would make even the most powerful emperor envious.

At that time, the Emperor was not yet the ruthless and cunning mastermind behind the scenes who schemed against all living beings.

He was just a young man who had just embarked on the path of cultivation, but he had an identity that made countless peers envious—the closed-door disciple of a true immortal of the world.

His master, whose Taoist name was "Tian Shu", was a true immortal who had reached an extremely profound level on the path of destiny.

The cave dwelling of the Celestial Pivot True Immortal is located atop a celestial mountain in the Nine Heavens Domain. It is a place where spring reigns all year round, cranes fly in pairs, and purple mist swirls around, making it a true paradise on earth.

At that time, the Emperor was pure of heart and knew nothing of the cruelty of the outside world.

His favorite thing to do every day was to sit beside his master's futon and listen to his master tell stories of wonders and strange events in the myriad worlds, as well as the mysterious laws of fate.

"Disciple, although your physique is the legendary Chaos Sacred Body, your truly terrifying talent lies in the Great Dao of Destiny."

The Celestial Pivot Immortal always liked to stroke his long beard, looking at the young Emperor with an appreciative and profound gaze, and speaking earnestly.

"The Chaos Saint Body is impervious to all laws, ensuring your physical body remains indestructible through countless eons; however, the Law of Destiny allows you to see through the cycle of cause and effect in this world, enabling you to seek good fortune and avoid misfortune."

"As long as you cultivate diligently, you will surely have a place in this Eternal Immortal Realm in the future."

"Even... one day, you might be able to reach the Immortal King realm, a realm that even your master has never been able to reach."

Back then, everything was so wonderful.

There was no dark turmoil, no crisis of lifespan depletion, and no infighting among the supreme beings.

All that remains is a pure pursuit of the Great Way and a yearning for the infinite possibilities of the future.

Under the protection of the Celestial Pivot Immortal, the Emperor grew up carefree, planting the seeds of the Law of Destiny deep within his soul, where they took root and sprouted.

until that day.

It was a clear morning without any warning. As usual, the Celestial Pivot Immortal sat on the edge of his cave, gazing at the distant Immortal Realm dome.

However, his brows were tightly furrowed, and his eyes flashed with an emotion called "fear" that the Emperor had never seen before.

That was the fear of true immortals.

The master said nothing, left no teachings, and simply left quietly that night.

He left silently, like a drop of water merging into the ocean, without causing a ripple.

Only on the jade table where the Emperor usually meditated, there was a jade slip that emitted a faint immortal light.

The contents of the jade slip were very short, consisting of only a few words, yet they carried an undeniable severity and urgency.

"Stay inside the cave, activate the protective mountain array, and no matter what happens outside, do not step out! Remember! Remember!"

My master was gone for several decades.

For ordinary people, several decades may be most of a lifetime;

But for an emperor who has already embarked on the path of cultivation and has a long lifespan, several decades is merely a short period of time spent in seclusion.

However, these decades were the most agonizing and bizarre period of the Emperor's life.

At first, he followed his master's teachings and stayed obediently in the cave, studying the laws of destiny day and night.

But as time went on, his incredibly keen sense of fate began to frantically warn him.

He sensed that the great Dao of heaven and earth was beginning to stagnate.

Those powerful auras that were originally active throughout the Nine Heavens Domain are disappearing at an incredible speed.

In order to find out what was happening outside, the Emperor mustered his courage and sent a wisp of his divine sense through the gap in the mountain-protecting immortal array.

He witnessed a scene that sent chills down his spine.

The entire Nine Heavens Domain seemed to have been drained of all its vitality overnight.

The once bustling and vibrant immortal city has become a desolate dead zone. Those true immortals and great powers who used to be high above and preach the Dao are as if they have disappeared, and not a single one can be found anymore.

Not only true immortals, but even those slightly stronger immortal beings have vanished without a trace in these past few decades.

A suffocating, deathly silence filled the air.

It was a silence more terrifying than death, like the silence before a storm, as if the whole world had been muted.

The Emperor's laws of destiny roared wildly in his mind, as if countless invisible threads were pulling at his soul, telling him: disaster is imminent.

But he had nowhere to escape.

Although the immortal array left by his master protected him, it also became a cage that completely imprisoned him.

He could only watch helplessly from this isolated cave as the outside world slid step by step into the abyss of destruction.

Finally, the immense catastrophe that swept across the entire Nine Heavens Domain and even the entire Eternal Immortal Domain descended.

On that day, there was no thunderous roar, no earth-shaking tremor, only a chilling feeling that originated from the depths of the soul, which instantly spread to the hearts of every living being.

The Emperor stood in the plaza of his cave dwelling, raised his head, and looked up at the sky in terror.

He saw that the once flawless dome, flowing with seven-colored fairy light, suddenly appeared like a shattered mirror, with crisscrossing, bottomless black cracks.

The sky is collapsing.

As the sky shattered, countless brilliant stars lost the pull of the Great Dao and fell from the sky like beads from a broken string.

They disintegrated in mid-air, turning into a rain of fire that crashed down on the vast earth, leveling countless magnificent mountains and cities.