The Death of First-Generation Heaven's Envy

The surroundings were still pitch black, even the ground beneath his feet was deep darkness, but Bai Qiuran had indeed touched a substantial "bottom".

Stepping onto this foothold, Bai Qiuran looked around. It was pitch black all around. He wanted to cast a spell to illuminate the area, but this darkness was extremely peculiar, just like the darkness he encountered when entering the Land Where Gods Fell.

After finally managing to conjure an Undying Fire using the Fire Seal, Bai Qiuran, by the dim light, saw a series of Straw Sandal Print emitting a faint blue glow on the darkness below.

He composed himself and followed the footprints.

After walking for an unknown amount of time, Bai Qiuran finally saw a stone platform appear in the darkness ahead, with a figure sitting on the platform, his back to him.

Seeing this, he perked up and quickened his pace to the stone platform.

"This disciple, Bai Qiuran, pays respects to the First-Generation Heaven's Envy. I have a few questions, and I humbly request your guidance..."

Bai Qiuran bowed respectfully while impatiently turning to face the person, and then saw the "First-Generation Heaven's Envy".

He fell silent, deeply shaken.

A skeletal, mummified corpse sat cross-legged on a stone platform, its clothes tattered and its eyes sunken, clearly lifeless.

Beside his feet was a line of deeply carved Hieroglyphs, with some black stuff inside, perhaps the dried blood of this predecessor.

It's clear how much resentment and helplessness he felt when he wrote those words.

From this angle, Wisdom Immortal, who was hanging sideways on his waist, also saw the text. He remained silent for a long time in the darkness, and then began to translate the text for Bai Qiuran in a low voice.

"It's all a scam. There's no such thing as an Elixir of Immortality. I'm doomed. I'm trapped here by our Creator and can't get out. My people are doomed too."

"I won't live to see the day when I can defeat Eastern Emperor Taiyi. I am human, not a god, and my lifespan has its limits."

"I don't understand. Heaven created me, and I was born after Eastern Emperor Taiyi, proving that I am a more superior creation than him. Since Heaven allowed me to be born into this world, why would it help Eastern Emperor Taiyi to deal with me?"

"I can't understand it! I'm not reconciled! My people have to be slaves to the Heavenly Gods! I'm not reconciled!"

After reading the last line of text, Wisdom Immortal paused, then said, "Old Bai, he's really dead."

"Yes, I know."

Bai Qiuran remarkably calm. He had pursued this outcome for over three thousand years, only to discover, to his surprise, that the first Heaven's Envy had long since died here, that aside from a feeling of emptiness, he felt no significant emotional fluctuations.

"Hehe."

Looking at the corpse, he gave a bitter smile and muttered to himself, "Is there truly no way forward for us, Heaven's Envy?"

"Old Bai, listen to me."

After a moment of silence, Wisdom Immortal said, "The First-Generation Heaven's Envy is dead. He didn't know how Heaven's Envy could cultivate True Essence. Now, you are the one who has progressed the fastest and gone the furthest among all the Heaven's Envy. You must believe in yourself. This path must be paved by yourself. You already have some True Essence in your body, although not much, but it is at least a hope. Now... let's go back first."

Bai Qiuran brought this nameless First-Generation Heaven's Envy out of the giant pit of Penglai Divine Mountain and buried him next to the Stone Stele in Penglai.

Perhaps he had already given up all hope, because when he came out, Heavenly Dao did not bother him again.

After burying the First-Generation Heaven's Envy, Bai Qiuran rode the Clear Autumn Waters and left Return Ruins. He did not go to Fusang to find the Three-Legged Crow and Xi He, but flew straight towards the mainland. Along the way, he was not in a good state of mind. Wisdom Immortal called him many times, Bai Qiuran did not respond. He just relied on his instinct to control the sword and stared blankly at the sea.

The flow of time in the Return Ruins is different from that in the outside world. Since they hadn't reached the mainland, they had no way of knowing how much time had passed. They only knew that it was noon when they went in, and it was already night when they came out.

The two gradually flew Vast Sea, and the coastline appeared before them, but Bai Qiuran remained expressionless, staring blankly ahead.

What jolted him awake was a pungent, acrid smell. Bai Qiuran focused his eyes and Mobile in the direction from which the smell was coming. Then he saw flames shooting into the sky at one corner of the coastline, with billowing black smoke forming a column that rose into the air and coalesced into strange and twisted shapes.

He remembered that it was a human settlement by the sea, and he was responsible for protecting this land in the east. He and Jiang Lan had both visited the Human Race living on this land.

He changed direction and arrived above Settlement, where a group of tall Heavenly Gods were carrying out a massacre.

They set fire to the Settlement and used their weapons to overturn all Settlement walls and houses. The Human Race in the Settlement screamed and ran in all directions, but were blocked by the Heavenly Gods were walking in the streets.

Some of them grinned as they pinned the women to the ground and humiliated them, while others, who looked down on Human Race, simply threw them into their mouths and ate them.

The entire Settlement, under the actions of the Heavenly Gods, was transformed into a Hell scene.

Bai Qiuran landed on the ground, looked at the Heavenly Gods who were running rampant in the Human Race Settlement, and asked, "What are you doing?"

The Heavenly Gods turned around in surprise, and upon seeing him, they all laughed, "Ah, it's Marshal Bai! We've come down to the mortal realm on the orders of the Heavenly Emperor to deal with these disobedient Mortals. Marshal Bai, here are a few pretty Human Race women. Would you like to have some fun? You should try something different every now and then."

"Oh."

Bai Qiuran waved to him.

"Come here."

The Heavenly Gods thought Bai Qiuran was going to reward him, so he and the Book of Questions came to Bai Qiuran's side eagerly. Seeing that Bai Qiuran not tall enough, he deliberately shrank his body and knelt on one knee in front of Bai Qiuran.

Bai Qiuran patted his face, then suddenly reached into his mouth and released a burst of Sword Qi, severing the upper half of his head.

You're right.

Tossing half a head aside, Bai Qiuran looked past the corpse in front of her at the Heavenly Gods.

"It's time for me to try something different."

"Marshal Bai has gone mad!"

Soon, the cries of terror from the Heavenly Gods echoed throughout the Settlement.

A moment later, Bai Qiuran threw away the last Heavenly Gods corpse he had torn to pieces.

After casually pulling seawater from the Vast Sea to extinguish the flames, he stood in the center of the Settlement, looking at the mountains of human corpses around him, and desperately exhaled.

The salty smell of seawater, the stench of blood, and the strange smoky smell of extinguished flames mingled together in his nostrils, making him somewhat restless.

The Heavenly Gods had been here for some time. Most of the people in this Settlement were dead, leaving only a few Human Race hiding in the ruins, desperately trying to cover their breath, trembling and afraid to make a sound.

Bai Qiuran stood there for a moment, then took out paper and pen from her Storage Bag and sketched a picture on a blank Painting.

His thoughts were a jumbled mess: mountains and rivers, land and sea, Heaven and Earth and earth, gods, Human Race, State and Society, birds and beasts, flowers and plants, cultivation. And the pen in his hand followed his chaotic thoughts, letting the brushstrokes flow freely onto the blank Painting.

The amazing thing is that the seemingly unrelated patterns merged into a perfect painting on the Painting. By the time Bai Qiuran came to her senses, the painting was already completed, and the space within it had been constructed.

He blew the ink dry, scanned the area with his Spiritual Sense, and located the survivors hidden in the ruins. He also sensed that a large number of ghosts were being generated and wandering in the ruins.

There is no Ghost Realm in this era. These Souls would have been devoured by the Heavenly Gods and turned into their food, or they might have escaped and become wandering ghosts in the wild.

Bai Qiuran reached out and pulled the survivors over. He threw them in front of him, and they looked at him with terrified eyes.

Bai Qiuran was in no mood to speak at the moment. With a single unfurling of the Painting, he encompassed all the survivors and ghosts within Painting.

He put away the Painting, walked out of the Settlement, and looked up at the dark night sky.

"Wisdom Immortal."

After a moment, he said softly, "You're right. Perhaps I have to forge my own path ahead."

"Have you figured it out?"

Wisdom Immortal asked with some surprise.

"Yes. The different eras, the interference of the Heavenly Dao, the hostility of the Heavenly Gods —all of these are merely obstacles, not reasons for me to stop moving forward."

Bai Qiuran her head and replied, "Restraint me is myself; I am running away... The most crucial issue is not whether I can or cannot do it, but whether I want to do it."

He glanced at the ruins behind him and whispered, "This is how Foundation Establishment is achieved, so that Human Race will no longer be humiliated by the Heavenly Gods!"

Holding the Painting in his hand, he began to walk forward.

God, you are truly corrupt and depraved, treating human life worse than that of pigs and dogs.

Gods, are you truly heartless and cruel, forcing Human Race to its doom?

God—you dare to be my enemy?!