In less than half a breath, the man had appeared before Li Yan.
The stranger wore a luxurious purple robe, his silver hair flowing in the wind. The air around him shimmered with the aura of the Stars.
Li Yan took a closer look and concluded that this must be the Purple Micro Star Lord, one of the Four Emperors of the Old Heavenly Court.
As if he had already known Li Yan would come, the man explained his purpose before Li Yan could speak.
"I watched the heavens and the Stars. Their orbits turned, and Purple Micro revealed its sign: you have arrived."
Li Yan was secretly astonished. He hadn't expected the man to have foreseen his arrival.
As befitted one of the Four Emperors. From his title, he was clearly the master of the Stars above.
By reading the celestial signs, he could predict that Li Yan would come here.
But since he had foreseen Li Yan's arrival, could he also see why Li Yan had come?
Facing the Purple Micro Star Lord, one of the Four Emperors, Li Yan cupped his hands without bowing or showing disrespect.
"Your Excellency, Star Lord, can you divine the purpose of my visit?"
The Purple Micro Star Lord didn't put on any lofty airs. His voice was calm, as if speaking to a friend.
"Ha, young friend, you've put your finger on the heart of the matter."
"This Star Lord foresaw that an outsider would enter the Abyss of the Netherworld, but I couldn't divine your identity."
"I imagine you..."
The Purple Micro Star Lord fell silent for a moment, leaving his thought unfinished.
He counted on his fingers. "No matter how I divine it, I can't learn your identity or the purpose of your visit."
The Heavenly Soldiers nearby and the Ancient Dragon Ao Jiao all looked astonished.
In the Old Heavenly Court, the Purple Micro Star Lord could divine fate through the Stars. If he wished, he could read a person's past and future lives.
Yet Li Yan was the one exception. No matter how the Purple Micro Star Lord harnessed the power of the Stars and calculated, he couldn't divine Li Yan's fortunes.
"Hmm, you really are quite unusual, young friend."
"Only Ancient Gods can interfere with my divinations."
"And yet you have no Divine Core, while I still can't observe you through the Stars."
Clearly, the Purple Micro Star Lord was curious about Li Yan's arrival.
But he wasn't afraid. This was the Abyss of the Netherworld.
No one could die here, and no one could harm another. All that remained was an endless stillness of time.
While the Purple Micro Star Lord was curious about Li Yan, Li Yan was more eager to get things done.
The immortals of White Jade Capital had set their sights on his body. He had come looking for the Old Heavenly Court so that these people could return to the world of cultivation and stand against White Jade Capital.
There was no need for beating around the bush. He went straight to the point.
"I've broken the seal at the outer edge of the Abyss of the Netherworld."
"Everyone in the Old Heavenly Court can return to the world of cultivation at any time."
When Li Yan finished, the Purple Micro Star Lord first froze, then covered his mouth and chuckled.
"Young friend..."
"It's rare to have you here. I can show you around the Heavenly Court."
"Come with me."
Seeing that the Emperor seemed to be avoiding the subject, Li Yan pressed him directly. "The entrance to the outside world is already open."
"If the people from White Jade Capital discover it, they might seal it up again."
"What? Don't you want to leave?"
At Li Yan's words, the Purple Micro Star Lord exchanged glances with several Heavenly Soldiers, and they all burst into laughter.
"Young friend, if we wanted to leave, we would have done so long ago."
"Every living being in this Abyss of the Netherworld is undying and indestructible, beyond the cycle of reincarnation. We've truly attained eternity!"
"What do immortals and gods seek?"
"Isn't it to transcend life and death?"
The Purple Micro Star Lord swept back his long sleeves, clasped his hands behind his back, and lifted his head to meet Li Yan's gaze.
There was undeniable sense in what he said.
Why did people cultivate immortality?
Wasn't it to transcend time and the cycle of reincarnation?
Every living being in the Abyss of the Netherworld, young or old, regardless of cultivation, had become undying and indestructible.
As long as they remained here, they never had to worry about their lifespans running out.
Standing tall with his chest out, the Purple Micro Star Lord began expounding his Dao to Li Yan, imparting his beliefs.
His voice rang out, impassioned and fervent.
"Everything in the universe will one day exhaust its lifespan. Even the Golden Crow, burning for billions of years in the heavens, will eventually collapse and vanish."
"Worlds disappear into the eternal darkness with every passing moment."
"Even if you live for billions of years, you'll never escape the fate of death."
"But here in the Abyss of the Netherworld, no matter your identity or cultivation, every living being—even one as lowly as a mayfly—has the same right to eternal life."
As he spoke, the Purple Micro Star Lord raised an index finger, and several blue butterflies glowing like will-o'-the-wisps alighted upon it.
The butterflies shimmered with beautiful blue light. The Purple Micro Star Lord gently stroked one. "Look. Here, all beings are equal."
Listening to him, Li Yan fell into a brief daze.
Here...
Here, everyone lived forever, and all things were equal.
Even the ants crawling on the ground had the right to eternal life.
What else did cultivators seek, if not a paradise beyond the world?
After a moment's daze, Li Yan shook his head hard.
"No."
"This place... is no paradise beyond the world."
Li Yan's words surprised the Purple Micro Star Lord. His long, white eyebrows arched upward.
"Oh? This Star Lord would like to hear your insight, young friend."
Li Yan looked around at this little world within the Abyss of the Netherworld.
"This place is a prison called immortality."
"Everyone in the Abyss of the Netherworld is imprisoned here forever."
"The Stars blaze because they move; trees bloom and wither, and that is what gives them grace. You've locked the sun's rising and the moon's setting, turning each breath into a pendulum that swings back and forth. This eternal stillness is nothing but a tombstone dressed up as 'immortality,' where even decay is an impossible dream."
"You're like frogs at the bottom of a well, forever limited to this tiny world."
"If this is immortality, I'd rather rot than stay in this prison."
When Li Yan said this, not only did the Heavenly Soldiers react—even the Purple Micro Star Lord's eyes trembled.
This young Daoist before them had spoken a cruel truth.
In the Abyss of the Netherworld, even death was an impossible dream.
Imprisoned in a cage called immortality, their wills had gradually withered.
"The mighty Old Heavenly Court has been reduced to rats in a sewer."
"You call yourselves enlightened and immortal, yet you're trapped in this little world."
"Star Lord? Heavenly Emperor? What a joke. How dare fireflies in a well compete with the moon among the Stars?"
Li Yan's string of blunt words left even the Purple Micro Star Lord utterly ashamed.
Behind him, the Ancient Dragon Ao Jiao looked at Li Yan with growing admiration.
"Who would've thought my Ancient Dragon clan had such a gifted debater?"
"He makes so much sense. He's dressed those human immortals down until they don't know where to put their faces. Ha!"
The enormous Ancient Dragon swished its tail. Li Yan's words had given Ao Jiao immense satisfaction.
But faced with reality, the Purple Micro Star Lord fell silent for a moment before speaking coldly.
"That's easy for you to say, young friend."
Before you continue