Silent Death Seals Their Vows, The Truth of the Great Tribulation

Taizhen smiled at his words, her gaze clear and bright as stars. "Since we came together, it's only right that we leave together."

Her fingertips lightly brushed the Kunlun Mirror, its surface rippling with a warm, flowing radiance. "Besides, with me by your side, if we encounter danger, we can join forces and watch each other's backs to retreat safely."

Donghua looked at Taizhen, a flicker of helplessness passing through his eyes, but in the end, he simply smiled.

"Very well. Since the passage is sealed, you'll come with me. Let's see what kind of world lies beyond this rift."

Having settled the matter, both of them executed their Evasion Techniques, streaks of light cutting through the sky as they sped toward the other end of the Space Rift.

The scene before them suddenly opened up, yet it shook the soul.

Before them stretched an endless expanse of desolation.

Bitter winds howled, whipping crimson sand across the land. In the distance, collapsed mountain ranges lay like the carcasses of giant beasts, and even the sky was shrouded in a dead, gray pall.

Dead ancient trees thrust their jagged branches toward the sky, like the earth's desperate hands reaching for salvation.

Though Donghua had never set foot on the Western Continent, he knew that its Spiritual Mechanism had withered and all things had declined.

Yet the land before him was even more barren than the Western Continent with its ruined earth veins—not only was there no Spiritual Mechanism at all, but it seemed even the Dao rhythm of heaven and earth had been severed, leaving only a heart-stopping, eternal stillness.

Just as Donghua was about to take out the Jade Disk of Creation Fragment he had been nurturing in his Primordial Spirit to sense the location of the other fragment—

"Ah!"

A piercing scream suddenly tore through the dead silence!

"Let's go see."

As Donghua's words fell, the Primordial Sky Measuring Ruler bloomed with Mysterious Yellow Qi. Several spiritual treasures emerged around him, their Clear Radiance forming a light barrier that also shielded Taizhen. The two transformed into streaks of light and followed the sound.

Following the sound, they quickly found the source of the scream.

Looking ahead, they saw the Illusory Daoist's true spirit, which had fled earlier, now in a miserable state.

His originally clear true spirit was entangled in thick, ink-like Sha Qi. Those Sha Qi were like living things, constantly corroding the true spirit, making a teeth-grinding sizzling sound.

The true spirit twisted violently within the Sha Qi, letting out wails that sounded nothing like a human voice.

Donghua stood still in the void, his gaze calm as he watched the scene—neither the satisfaction of revenge nor unnecessary pity in his eyes.

The mysterious yellow qi on the Primordial Sky Measuring Ruler in Donghua's hand flashed. He did not attack the true spirit, but instead transformed it into a beam of clear radiance, temporarily dispersing the soul-corrupting Sha Qi that coiled around it.

This act had nothing to do with grudges, nor good or evil—it was simply because they were both Seekers of Dao, trudging forward on a difficult path.

The true spirit gained a moment's respite. Its illusory face was full of disbelief and relief, and then it bowed to Donghua.

"Thank you, fellow Daoist, for helping me escape the agony of this Sha Qi devouring my soul."

The light of the true spirit grew fainter and fainter, yet from within it separated a pure, flawless Mysterious Light that slowly drifted toward Donghua:

"I have nothing of value, only a single Dao inheritance, gained by chance. I gift it to you, fellow Daoist."

One Great Dream Kalpa turns to emptiness, Body falls, Dao fades, no wind to blame. Willing to gift this remnant art to you, May it become your first merit on the path to enlightenment.

"Go and cultivate, go and cultivate!" As the lingering echoes faded, the true spirit dissolved into specks of fireflies, scattering into the wind and merging with heaven and earth.

Taizhen gazed at the slowly dissipating true spirit and asked softly, "Will we... also have this day, when body falls and Dao fades?"

"No." Donghua's voice was calm but resolute. He turned to look at Taizhen, his gaze deep as the starry sky of eons. "Even if the road ahead is against the current of karma, as long as we walk hand in hand, we will cross it together with ease."

Donghua paused briefly, his words like the mountain wind among the clouds:

"I do not know what the countless kalpas ahead may hold, but Taizhen, would you be willing to walk with me, to witness the Dao together, and watch the clouds roll and unfurl?"

Taizhen was momentarily stunned, then a faint smile curled at the corners of her lips. The radiance flowing from the Kunlun Mirror at her fingertips quietly mingled with the Mysterious Yellow Qi of the Primordial Sky Measuring Ruler:

"If I walk with Donghua, even an immeasurable kalpa would be as clear as a moonlit breeze."

No more words were needed. The two figures shone in harmony against the desolate land, as if they had been meant to stand thus since time immemorial.

As the true spirit completely dissolved into heaven and earth, a bronze ancient door covered in verdigris appeared in its place, along with a withered, dead willow branch.

Donghua did not refine or comprehend these items. Instead, he lightly brushed his sleeve, storing away these two mysterious objects. Then he looked around at the barren land shrouded in crimson Sha Qi, a glimmer of understanding in his eyes.

"I think I know where this is."

"For such a vast amount of Sha Qi to accumulate and remain undispersed through the ages, I can think of no other place than the Beast Tribulation Battlefield from the dawn of heaven and earth."

"You mean this is the Extreme North Land..." Taizhen followed softly, a hint of incredulous realization in her voice.

"Correct." Donghua nodded. Even he had a trace of surprise in his eyes.

No one could have predicted that the Space Rift would send them straight from Buzhou Mountain at the center of the Primordial Wilderness to this place at its northernmost edge.

"This place is not only an extreme land of peril, but also where heavenly secrets are hidden and karma is in chaos. Once I find what I need, we will leave quickly."

Aside from those who had personally participated in that tribulation, perhaps no one understood the history of this land better than Donghua.

Legends often said that the beasts, though physically powerful, only knew slaughter and devouring, remaining ignorant and unenlightened.

Thus, when the Dragon, Phoenix, and Qilin clans rose, each commanding the scaled, feathered, and beastly races, they united the Myriad Races of the Primordial Wilderness to wage war. In the end, they slaughtered the beast race to the last, and heaven and earth were purified.

Yet the truth was far heavier than the rumors suggested.

Among the beasts, though most were mindless and devoid of intelligence, a rare few possessed spiritual awareness. Once their intellect awakened, their cultivation far surpassed that of ordinary beasts, and their Supernatural Abilities and combat prowess were nothing short of terrifying.

Among them emerged an anomaly like Shenni. Not only did it possess supreme intelligence, but it also suppressed all with unrivaled ferocity, establishing the Beast Dynasty with strict order and crowning itself the Beast Emperor. It then stirred the Great Tribulation of Beasts, intent on destroying the Primordial Wilderness.

The Great Tribulation of Beasts was ultimately quelled only under the command of former Chaos Gods and Devils like Hongjun, Yangmei, and Luohu, who fought bloody battles to utterly crush Shenni and the Beast Dynasty it had built, pacifying the great calamity.

What the Dragon Phoenix Three Races later exterminated were merely the remnants of beasts left after the tide had already turned.

Though the beasts were slain, the corpses of countless beasts and members of the Myriad Races who had fallen transformed into a vast, oppressive Sha Qi that settled and refused to dissipate, lingering for eons without fading.

From then on, the spiritual veins of the Extreme North Land were utterly destroyed, its vitality severed, reducing it to an eternally barren, deathly wasteland.

In this desolate land thick with Sha Qi, Donghua held the Jade Disk of Creation Fragment, following the faint, elusive guidance of Dao resonance. Mysterious Yellow Qi swirled around him, shielding Taizhen as they steadily advanced through the sky-obscuring Sha Qi.

Donghua's gaze sharpened. In the distance, a Jade Fragment lay embedded in the ground—it was precisely the fragment that had been sent flying earlier.

But now it was dull all over, devoid of any trace of Dao resonance or the slightest gleam of treasure light, like an ordinary, worthless stone.

If not for the guidance from the fragment in Donghua's hand, one could step right over this Jade Fragment and never spare it a second glance.

Just as Donghua was about to step forward and retrieve it—

"Rip!"

A ferocious, murderous intent erupted abruptly from the void. The surging Sha Qi on the left was forcibly torn open, and five claw shadows, condensed as solid as ink, streaked through the air!

Where they passed, the very space was gouged with five clear scars, and a dense, ink-black Sha Qi crazily gushed out from the cracks.