Totem Pillar

A terrible aura enveloped this stretch of heaven and earth. Su Ye felt as if a mountain had been laid across his back, the pressure so immense that he could barely resist.

It pressed down on more than his body. The force weighed on his spirit, too, making him feel as if he were standing alone against tens of thousands.

The power of faith.

Terrifying indeed.

But Su Ye wasn't frightened. Radiance flowed around him, making him look like a Young Divine, while the blood and energy in his body surged straight into the sky.

"What powerful willpower."

The man in black robes praised him. He stepped forward, and a terrifying scene appeared behind him: a world collapsing without end, countless living beings dying in the cataclysm. The whole vision was a living hell, enough to make anyone's Divine Soul tremble.

"You're not going to use such a low-level illusion against me, are you?"

Su Ye chuckled. The scene behind the man was terrifying, but that was all it was. For someone who used to enjoy watching horror movies at midnight, this sort of thing was nothing special.

"This isn't an illusion."

The man in black robes answered solemnly. His eyes were full of awe and fear. "This is a cataclysm that once took place in heaven and earth. Now, it will be reflected in this world."

Rumble!

The world roared. Endless radiance poured down from the sky, and the entire valley shook violently. Then the earth split apart. The people kneeling on the ground, their hearts full of devotion, didn't realize disaster had arrived. They remained kneeling, motionless.

Su Ye watched the ground below split apart and furrowed his brow. Runes flowed through his gaze as he fully activated his Samsara Eye.

Everything before him was real, not an illusion.

But how was that possible?

The radiance had no destructive power. How could it cause the whole valley to collapse?

Su Ye had no time to think. He rushed down to awaken the bewitched villagers and get them out of there as quickly as possible. Otherwise, they would all die.

A mocking smile spread across the man in black robes' face. He didn't stop Su Ye. Instead, he spread his arms as if embracing the world. At that moment, he seemed to be its ruler.

"Wake—"

Su Ye stared in horror at the person before him, who had turned to dust. The man had been alive just a moment ago. Though controlled, he still had life within him—Su Ye could sense it clearly. Yet the instant he touched him, the man crumbled into dust and vanished. Even his clothes were gone, as if he had never existed at all, as though everything had been nothing but an illusion.

The villager Su Ye had just touched wasn't the only one disappearing. The others, too, began to crumble into dust, vanishing without a trace.

It wasn't just the villagers. The earth and rocks began to disappear as well. Everything was like a dream or a bubble.

"Open!"

Su Ye shouted and pushed his Samsara Eye to its limits, trying to see through it. But everything before him remained unchanged.

Either his Heavenly Eye couldn't see through it—after all, the Samsara Eye was never particularly good at perceiving things—or everything before him was reality, not an illusion.

"It's over."

The man in black robes spoke softly. The world around them continued to collapse. The ground sank, the mountains crumbled, the plants withered, and everything returned to the Void.

Chaos spread. All things perished.

"Haah... haah..."

The man in black robes panted heavily as he stared at the region of Chaos before him. His face was deathly pale, his expression horrified. He had caused this terrifying scene with his own power, yet even he was shaken by its sheer destructiveness. Soon, however, his shock turned to excitement. With this power, he would be invincible in this age.

But why didn't his opponent have a Guardian?

As a powerhouse with Marquis Level strength, he shouldn't have needed to use such powerful force against someone in the Blood-Moving Realm. And yet he had used it anyway.

He had sensed that the youth was exceptionally gifted and likely came from a major power. If so, a powerful Guardian would surely be protecting him. His attack had been meant not only to kill the youth, but also to destroy the Guardian behind him.

The Guardian would have been killed the moment they appeared. But from beginning to end, they never showed themselves. It made him feel like an idiot.

"What terrifying power."

Suddenly, a voice came from the altar, tinged with shock.

The smile on the man in black robes' face froze. He turned toward the altar and saw a figure standing there: Su Ye, who should have been dead.

"Let go!"

When the man in black robes saw Su Ye dare to touch the Bronze Pillar, his eyes turned bloodshot. He lunged at him. The Bronze Pillar was his foundation, his hope of becoming a god and an ancestor in the future.

Su Ye withdrew his hand as the man in black robes charged at him. It wasn't that he feared the man. He feared the Bronze Pillar, because he could sense a power within it that made his heart tremble.

"You've lost your reason. Your fate is sealed."

Su Ye stood still, the aura around him growing stronger and stronger. Endless radiance surged out from within him, and runes converged in his hand, forming a long spear.

The spear shot forth like a dragon.

"Pfft."

Its radiance pierced straight through the man in black robes as he charged at Su Ye. A violent gale tore his body apart, turning him into a cloud of blood mist.

After killing the man in black robes, Su Ye showed no joy. His expression was grave. First, he hadn't been able to save the villagers.

Second, there was something strange about the man in black robes. Though he had expended a great deal of energy, a cultivator who had opened a Heavenly Passage should have been able to recover from that kind of exhaustion quickly.

Besides, his cultivation was powerful. Even if he couldn't use the terrifying Divine Ability from before, he could still use other Treasure Arts.

Su Ye was only in the Blood-Moving Realm, while his opponent's combat strength rivaled a Marquis. Killing him should have been difficult. Yet the man had lost his reason at the end, giving Su Ye the chance to land a successful strike.

Su Ye looked at the Bronze Pillar standing atop the altar. It looked extremely ancient, with patches of verdigris all over it. Anyone could tell it was an artifact from a distant age.

Runes flowed through Su Ye's gaze as he studied the enormous Bronze Pillar before him. His Samsara Eye was far inferior to the Double Pupil and the Fiery Golden Eyes in terms of perception, but it was still a Heavenly Eye. It could see things beyond the reach of mortal eyes.

A sacred world appeared in Su Ye's eyes, a peaceful and tranquil land. The people living there led happy lives. Old or young, middle-aged men or children, they all wore sincere smiles.

The people of this land lived in such harmony because it had a powerful Sacrificial Spirit to protect it.

But then a cataclysm struck. Faced with this terrible disaster, even the powerful Sacrificial Spirit was unable to withstand it.

The earth sank, and everything was buried.

This was the Samsara Eye's tracing of Destiny, which could follow Karma back into the past.

By tracing Destiny with his Samsara Eye, Su Ye learned where the ancient Bronze Pillar came from. It was the Totem Pillar of the ancient kingdom that had been destroyed.

A Totem Pillar was a treasure forged by a Sacrificial Spirit, imbued with its power. It could gather the power of faith, and even across hundreds of thousands of miles, it could channel the Sacrificial Spirit's power to guard a region.

Such things were generally found only in powerful tribes and ancient kingdoms. After all, great tribes and ancient kingdoms covered vast territories, while each had only one Sacrificial Spirit. It couldn't run around everywhere.

"So it's a Totem Pillar. No wonder it can gather the power of faith."

Su Ye understood. Looking at the Totem Pillar before him, he smiled and said, "I wonder if you're the remnant will of that ancient kingdom's Sacrificial Spirit, if the passage of endless ages has given you sentience, or if a wisp of some powerful being's consciousness has attached itself to you."

He was certain that the man in black robes' strange behavior at the end had something to do with the Totem Pillar. The man might even have been its puppet.

"Don't think you're off the hook just because you're keeping quiet. You'd better answer me honestly, or I'll suppress you in a cesspit."

Su Ye smiled as he spoke, but his smile was cold.

"Young man, since you discovered my presence, why didn't you run? Do you really think I can't control you?"

A cold voice came from within the Totem Pillar. The enigmatic patterns across its surface began to shine with dazzling radiance. A powerful, vast force spread out, setting heaven and earth roaring.