The sight unfolded before his eyes like a vast painting beyond the limits of imagination. Deep in an unknown stretch of space and time stood an immense palace, its full form meticulously forged from dark, weathered bronze—so enormous it defied description. It did not float lightly in the void; instead, it seemed to have been torn violently from some unknowable place by an irresistible force. Vast cracks ran through its body like savage scars, bearing witness to a past of bloodshed and tragedy. Countless broken bronze pillars and shattered halls lay scattered like toys callously abandoned by the gods along the banks of a seemingly endless, terrifying "river of burial" formed from pure spatial turbulence. This was the Ancient River of Buried Gods—a river that flowed with death and destruction.
At the heart of the shattered main hall stood a towering, indistinct figure, as if it were the sovereign of this world. Shrouded in chaotic flames of light, its face was lost in their depths, impossible to discern. Only an unrivaled majesty that looked down upon the ages and dominated heaven and earth surged toward him like a roaring tide, filling him with awe. In its hand, it gripped a giant axe that seemed to have been forged from stars. The blade gleamed with the sharpness of creation itself, shining with a cold, dazzling light, as if it could sever every bond in the world. Now the axe faced a churning, seething shadow ahead, a terrifying mass made of nothing but darkness and destruction, as if it were a living thing. The shadow resembled a sleeping behemoth, radiating an aura that chilled the soul.
"Those who defy the Immortal Hall... no matter how far away, they must be slain!"
A cold, majestic proclamation, vast as if it had come from before time itself, boomed through Xiao Yan's consciousness like divine thunder from the ninth heaven. His very soul trembled. Alongside the declaration came the stunning sight of the indistinct figure swinging its giant axe, charging toward the endless darkness with unwavering resolve. As the axe swept through the air, stars seemed to fall and heaven and earth to collapse, as if it would tear the boundless darkness apart.
"BOOM—!!!"
An indescribable collision erupted. It was as if the entire universe trembled and shattered beneath that blow, then gathered itself together once more and began anew. Light and darkness intertwined in its wake, creating a scene of breathtaking, dazzling extremes—only to vanish in an instant. The vision ended abruptly amid that ultimate clash of light and darkness, leaving behind only Xiao Yan's deeply shaken soul, echoing through the endless void.
[ Ding! The gears of fate have quietly begun to turn. The core destiny node "Elegy of the Bronze Immortal Palace" has been precisely detected! You have successfully come into contact with the third Immortal Palace Fragment (core remnant), as if opening a sealed, mysterious treasure chest! Ultimate mission triggered: Reunite the Immortal Palace and trace its origins! ] [ Mission details unfold like an epic: gather all the Bronze Immortal Palace fragments scattered across the boundless world, repair its shattered core, trace the astonishing cause of the palace's destruction, and uncover the ancient secret veiled beneath layers of mist! ] [ Mission rewards are like an unknown treasure, closely tied to the fragments' completeness and the host's depth of exploration, and hold limitless possibilities! ] [ Failure penalty: chilling as an icy wind. The Immortal Palace fragments will disintegrate completely, and the ancient secret will be buried forever beneath endless dust, never to see the light of day again! ] [ Warning: the ultimate mission has begun. The host's fortune is now deeply bound to the Immortal Palace fragments, as if wrapped tightly in invisible threads! Wherever a fragment lies, there the storm rages at its heart. The storm of fate is about to sweep in! ]
The system's notification was cold and grand, like the tolling of fate's bell deep within his soul. Each chime shook the walls of his heart. At the same time, the Immortal Palace's fragmentary will and torrent of information, as pure and powerful as the first rain after the creation of heaven and earth, poured into Xiao Yan's exhausted body and soul like a breached dam, restoring his vitality. Another portion, like stars drawn by some invisible force, crossed the bounds of space and flowed toward the slumbering soul-light of Yao Lao in Xiao Yan's mind, as if ordained by fate.
"Ugh..." Xiao Yan groaned unconsciously in his coma, the faint sound like a feeble cry from the depths of an abyss. Bathed in immortal light, his shattered body began to heal at a visible speed, like new shoots pushing through the earth in spring. Broken bones were deftly joined by an unseen force, as if sculpted by a master craftsman. His damaged organs were gently soothed by a mild energy, like a lake brushed by the spring breeze. New strength began flowing through his parched meridians, like long-dry riverbeds receiving much-needed rain. Even the wounds to his soul rapidly healed beneath the comfort of that ancient will, as if warm sunlight had dispelled the cold gloom. His fading breath, like a dying campfire given fresh fuel, began to revive and rise stubbornly, as if it would break through the shackles of darkness and welcome a new dawn.
Even more astonishing was Yao Lao's soul-light, dim as a sleeping star. When this vast, pure energy from the Immortal Palace's origin, imbued with supreme Dao resonance, poured down like sweet rain, it was as if a parched desert had suddenly been engulfed by a flood. It was activated in an instant!
The soul-light burst into a brilliance it had never shown before, like the rising sun piercing the darkness, illuminating everything around it in a dreamlike glow. It quickly grew denser and stronger, faintly outlining the indistinct shape of a white-haired elder. Though the outline remained blurred, it exuded an otherworldly air. A boundless soul pressure belonging to a Peak Dou Zun spread uncontrollably from within, surging outward like a roaring tide. Though the pressure lasted only an instant before quickly drawing back and falling silent, the slumbering Soul Origin was being restored and strengthened at an unprecedented pace, like a sleeping seed about to break through the soil and bloom in a dazzling display beneath the spring rain. The day of his awakening was already close at hand!
"The Immortal Palace core?! H-how is that possible?!" You Lao's withered claw froze in midair, as if caught by a binding spell. Beneath his hood, the eerie green soul-flame swayed wildly like a candle in the wind, on the verge of going out. He let out a scream of disbelief and utter terror, sharp and grating as a wail from hell. He stared fixedly at the dark-gold pillar of light piercing heaven and earth atop Demon Peak, and at the enormous Bronze Fragments within it, radiating majestic immortal might. His gaunt body shook violently with shock and greed, like a fallen leaf tossed about in a gale.
"Hahaha! Heaven is on my side! Heaven is on my side!" His fear was swallowed in an instant by boundless joy, and You Lao burst into hysterical laughter. The sound echoed through the air, brimming with madness and greed. "It's a core fragment! Ten thousand times more precious than the Woe Poison Body! The Hall Master—the Hall Master will surely reward me handsomely! Maybe... even grant me the chance to enter the Saint tier!!" His voice brimmed with anticipation for the future and longing for power.
His euphoria clouded his mind, stripping away his usual reason and composure. Capturing the Woe Poison Body, seizing the Green Lotus Core Flame—all of it became insignificant before the core fragment of the Bronze Immortal Palace, no more than dust. His withered claw abruptly turned away. Abandoning Xiao Yan, who was within his reach, he became a sickly green streak of light and lunged toward the dark-gold pillar atop Demon Peak like a ravenous wolf, consumed by reckless greed!
"The fragment... is mine now!!!" His shriek, laden with boundless greed and arrogance, echoed across heaven and earth.
At the edge of the Desert of Buried Immortals, space was cleaved apart as if by a blade and split open with a thunderous roar!
A figure in blue robes burst forth like a fiendish god charging out of the depths of hell, smashing through the solid spatial barrier with irresistible force. He appeared beneath the warped, blood-red sky at the edge of the Desert of Buried Immortals, his entire body radiating a sharp and violent aura. It was Xiao Zhan!
His face was dark as the sky before a storm, heavy with clouds. The bloodied wound in his left shoulder had split open again from his forced passage through space, and blood flowed in a steady stream. Gray-black deathly power seeped from the wound in thin, snakelike strands, bringing an icy pain, as if countless steel needles were stabbing him at once. Yet all this physical agony was negligible beside the anxiety burning in his heart. The violent pulse from the Mother-Child Heart-Linked Soul Jade had abruptly stopped. Immediately after, a dark-gold pillar of light shot from the direction of Demon Peak, piercing the heavens like a sword and erupting in a dazzling radiance. It was the aura of an Immortal Palace Fragment! His Yan'er and Xiao Yi Xian were there! And something had surely happened!
"Soul Hall... you old dogs!" Xiao Zhan's eyes burned crimson-gold, blazing with rage hot enough to boil the seas and scorch the sky. Feeling his master's palpable killing intent, the Seven-Colored Little Snake coiled around his wrist let out a shrill, mournful hiss, as if shouting its support for the battle to come. He ignored the violent, surging spatial turbulence and the bone-eroding poisonous miasma at the desert's edge. His body became a blazing crimson-gold shooting star as he drove his speed to the limit and charged fearlessly toward the source of the dark-gold pillar.
In his wake, the violent folds of space were forcibly smoothed flat by an invisible hand, leaving the way level and clear. The deadly bone-eroding miasma was instantly incinerated by the combined flames of Dragon-Phoenix Dou Qi and the Green Lotus Core Flame, like a red-hot knife slicing through solidified butter—effortless and smooth.
At the summit of Demon Peak of Bones!
It was like the heart of hell's furnace, radiating an aura that chilled the soul. Viscous Chaos Demon Flame roiled like a living thing, licking at countless enormous bones scorched red-hot, as if it meant to devour them whole. The air warped beneath the extreme heat, crackling with sharp pops like a demon's sneer. The terrifying pressure of the demonic flames was like an invisible mountain, enough to reduce a Dou Huang expert to ashes in an instant, vanishing without a trace in that blazing world.
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