Shrouding the Heavens

"Eh! Could this Treasure Box finally be opened?"

Inside the Courtyard House, Yan Kuan had been about to look inward again and carefully examine his extraordinary Battle Qi Cyclone when he suddenly sensed an unusual movement from the Bagua Treasure Box in his robes. He quickly opened his eyes and looked over.

"What is this?"

Before Yan Kuan's eyes, the seemingly ordinary Bagua Treasure Box suddenly rose into the air. The trigrams on its surface spun and shifted wildly, while the Yin-Yang Diagram at its center abruptly opened, scattering strange Golden Light. A beam of Golden Light struck him squarely in the face, and in an instant, countless pieces of information flooded his mind.

"All things have a place of birth and origin. The human body contains the foundation of all its essence and qi, known as the Life Source Wheel, also called the Wheel of Life... The initial realm of cultivation is called the Wheel Sea... Cross the Sea of Bitterness, forge the Life Spring, pass the Divine Bridge, reach the Other Shore..."

It was as though a Dao Sound in Yan Kuan's mind was endlessly imparting cultivation knowledge and profound principles to him. Yet he could not calm himself at all. His mind held only countless cries of disbelief.

Damn... that Flame Emperor avatar was a real bastard. He could've sent me to any world. I would've accepted being thrown into Swallowing the Starry Sky before its upheaval, so why did it have to be Shrouding the Heavens? This was Shrouding the Heavens! People died here way too easily...

Yan Kuan simply could not settle his emotions. Although he had merely gained some knowledge about this world, he could now basically determine where he was.

The Shrouding the Heavens universe. The strongest experts of this world surpassed those of the Great Thousand World in Grand Overlord by countless times. They casually plucked stars and seized moons, shattered galaxies, and many aged Supremes of the Life Forbidden Zones regarded All Beings as nothing more than weeds. Whenever they had a need, they would unleash a Dark Turmoil.

At the thought of this, Yan Kuan could not help but shudder. The weak in the Shrouding the Heavens universe were truly pitiful. In ordinary times, they could live out their lives in peace, but several decades from now, as the influence of the Azure Emperor attaining the Dao gradually faded, an age of chaos would begin.

The Golden Age was a feast for the strong and a chaotic age for the weak. Do not think that avoiding the affairs of the cultivation world meant there was no danger. As the path of cultivation opened, the worlds of mortals and cultivators would no longer be as clearly divided as before. Even if you caused no trouble, disaster might still fall from the sky.

On the Ancient Starry Road, Golden Serpent Fourth Lord had slaughtered the Long-Armed Divine Ape clan over some grudge, even completely destroying their Ancestral Star. Such things would not be isolated incidents during the Golden Age.

Moreover, with the opening of the Path to Immortality, the Life Forbidden Zones, which had not seen powerful figures emerge for a long time, would become active as well. The greatest Dark Turmoil in history would even occur.

The Forbidden Zone Supremes launched Dark Turmoils to harvest the living beings of the world. On an entire planet, they would leave behind only a few weak seedlings, while hundreds of millions of wronged souls wailed and sank within their Immortal Platforms. The very thought of such a scene was terrifying.

Fortunately, Yan Kuan's hometown was Blue Star. As the Human Ancestral Star, it possessed Emperor Formations left from the Mythological Era. Even Forbidden Zone Supremes could not invade this place.

That was certainly fortunate. Looking across the entire universe, there was nowhere more reassuring than this place. Yet at the same time, with the arrival of the Golden Age, Blue Star's path of cultivation would also open. When that happened, he would have to worry about being drawn into conflicts between cultivators.

Still, I have time. With my foreknowledge, I'll first try to make something of myself. If that doesn't work, I can cling to Ye Hei's thigh. That guy may be ruthless toward enemies, but he treats his own people quite well. As long as I don't die, I might even make it into the Immortal Realm someday.

Yan Kuan quickly formed a plan in his heart. After condensing his Battle Qi Cyclone, he had already stepped onto the path of cultivation. With his foreknowledge, as long as he did not die early from bad luck, entering the Immortal Realm several hundred thousand years later should not be a problem. Perhaps he could even bring his whole family along.

But the Immortal Realm seemed to have enemies too, as well as that Above the Heavens place. That Chen Hongmao really had nothing better to do—why had he opened up so many maps?

Yan Kuan grumbled inwardly. The Shrouding the Heavens he knew had the smallest setting among a trilogy, while Perfect World had the Endless Sea of Realms, and Sacred Ruins had Above the Heavens.

The Five Great Secret Realms, including the Wheel Sea, were only mortal cultivation. Beyond that were True Immortals, Mortal Immortals, Immortal Kings, Half-Step Quasi-Immortal Emperors, Quasi-Immortal Emperors, Immortal Emperors... Counting it all out, Yan Kuan suddenly felt very small.

Other transmigrators either aspired to stand at the peak of the world or achieve supreme hegemony, but he knew his own limits. With the cheat he had, at most it could only support him through the levels of mortal cultivation. Beyond True Immortals, even the Grand Overlord of the Great Thousand World seemed insignificant.

When Yan Kuan thought of the hell mode awaiting him in the future, he suddenly felt that he was worrying too much. If the sky fell, the tall ones would hold it up. That Milk Baby who would achieve Eternal Dominance was blocking the enemy's fountain anyway. There was no need for someone as small and weak as him to fret over such matters.

What he urgently needed now was cultivation. He did not need to become the pinnacle of his era, ascend the heavens singing, and become a Supreme Great Emperor, but he at least needed to make something of himself on Blue Star. Only then would he have the qualifications to protect himself and his family.

With that thought, Yan Kuan's mind immediately cleared. He opened his eyes, only to find that the Bagua Treasure Box had already returned to calm. Above it floated a scroll of Golden Book Jade Scroll.

"No wonder I could never find any trace of cultivators. With spiritual qi this thin, those people with even harsher requirements for cultivation environments probably wouldn't dare wander around casually at all!"

Yan Kuan picked up the Golden Book Jade Scroll. Neatly written standard script covered the entire golden page. It was a handwritten record containing a great deal of information, including both the Wheel Sea Chapter of the cultivation scripture that had just entered his mind and all kinds of miscellaneous knowledge about the cultivation world.

From it, Yan Kuan learned more about the obstacles and common knowledge of cultivation. He also basically understood why, during his six years in this world, he had not encountered a single person with cultivation.

Cultivation in the Shrouding the Heavens universe had become increasingly difficult after the Ancient Desolate era. After the Azure Emperor vanished ten thousand years ago, his Imperial Might remained, and cultivation throughout the universe entered a period of decline.

Life Ancient Stars as famous as the Ancestral Star, such as the Beidou Burial Emperor Star and the Ziwei Ancient Star, had also been greatly affected. Taking Beidou as an example, a Great Ability at the Second Heaven of Immortal Platform was already among the absolute peak experts of the era.

As for Blue Star, the Human Ancestral Star, it had simply entered the End of Dharma. Cultivators existed only deep within uninhabited mountains or in certain spiritual lands of cultivation. They were basically unseen in the outside world because the spiritual qi was simply too thin.

Cultivators would appear in large numbers in the future only after the Nine Dragons Pulling a Coffin incident more than twenty years later. Before that, the cultivation world and the mortal world were almost two separate worlds, with only a very small amount of contact.