Immortal aura billowed, immortal music drifted on the breeze, and the Great Dao stretched vast and majestic. Spirit birds danced through the air, occasionally giving a clear, ringing cry. It was a scene of deep, distant wonder—a true immortal paradise!
Feeling the world around him, so utterly different from the Cultivation World, Ling Tian felt a faint excitement stir within him. It was not only because this was the Immortal Realm, but also because he was a little closer to his birth parents.
"Father, Mother, your child has returned!" Ling Tian murmured, as if he had returned to the moment he first descended to the Lower Realm.
He remembered his mother's heartbroken cries, and the resolute expression on his father's face. Ling Tian grew more and more excited, and the light in his eyes grew even more determined. "Wait for me. Sooner or later, I'll rescue you!"
It took a long while for Ling Tian's emotions to settle. He began surveying his surroundings, but soon his brow furrowed.
Though the immortal aura here was far denser than in the Cultivation World, there was not a trace of green around him. Everywhere he looked, the land was red and desolate. A light breeze swept by, stirring clouds of dust, and the faint stench of burning hung in the air. The few spirit birds swooped down like hawks and falcons, then rose again with chunks of flesh clutched in their talons, drops of blood falling in their wake.
Looking into the distance, he saw a mangled corpse where the hawks had landed. Its owner was unrecognizable now; deep wounds showed beneath the tattered clothes, and white bones gleamed through.
"Caw, caw..."
A few shrill cries rang out. Following the sound, Ling Tian saw more hawks descending. Corpses lay scattered everywhere, and the