Morning mist hung like gauze, shrouding the Stele Forest in the God Tomb.
Pale golden sunlight pierced the fog, casting mottled shadows across the blue-gray stone steles.
Bai Ye was holding a soft cloth and wiping an ancient stele engraved with the words "Divine Demon lineage" when the old, halting sound of footsteps suddenly came from behind him.
He turned and saw Elder Liu leaning on that long-mottled wooden staff, slowly making his way over.
Five hundred years had nearly drained the life force from this Heavenly God Peak cultivator.
His cheeks were sunken, his skin sagged like the bark of an ancient tree, and his originally cloudy eyes were now even dimmer and more lifeless. Every breath came with an obvious rasp.
With every step, his wooden staff struck the ground heavily, as though the slightest exertion might send him toppling over.
"Bai Ye, come here."
Elder Liu's voice was as hoarse as sandpaper scraping against stone. He sat down on a stone bench and gestured for Bai Ye to come closer.
Bai Ye walked before him and lowered his eyes, listening quietly. He could clearly sense the vitality within Elder Liu's body, flickering like a candle guttering in the wind.
His lifespan had truly reached its end...
"Old man... my lifespan is nearly exhausted." Elder Liu sighed. His gaze swept across the Stele Forest before him, his eyes filled with complicated emotions: reluctance, regret, and a trace of relief.
"I have cultivated for three hundred thousand years and been stuck at the Heavenly God Peak for more than one hundred thousand. In the end, I still failed to touch the threshold of the Divine Venerable Realm."
"Now that I have little time left, I intend to enter a death seclusion and stake everything on one final attempt, to