Tracing the Turbid Qi, Echoes of the Old Era

The chaotic void trembled incessantly.

With the Nine-Colored World Gate of the Heavens as the core, layer upon layer of spatial ripples expanded outward, sweeping across billions of miles of vast, empty expanse. The Primal Chaos Dao energy, which had remained eternally stagnant, erupted into total chaos, surging like a violent, raging sea. Countless fine spatial fissures crisscrossed the void, constantly being born, annihilated, and spreading through the nothingness.

Since the Great Sealing of the Ages, this Primal Chaos Domain, which guarded the origin of the Heavens, had never experienced such violent turbulence.

Standing atop a high platform in the void, Lin Chen stood with his hands behind his back. His robes fluttered slightly in the violent Dao winds, yet his figure remained as steady as a pillar supporting the sky, rooted in the eternal chaos. Regardless of the world turning upside down around him, he remained unmoved.

His gaze was as calm as water, locked firmly onto the trembling Nine-Colored World Gate.

The collision of energy just a moment ago was certainly no illusion.

Within the nothingness beyond the realm, not only was there the surging of demonic turbid energy that had lain dormant for eons, but it was also mingled with a trace of ancient god-demon Dao resonance that had long since vanished from the river of time. Two diametrically opposed forces, which should have been locked in a life-or-death struggle, had fused together to strike at the Supreme Seal he had personally laid down. The conspiracy hidden behind this was far more terrifying than a simple invasion from beyond the realm.

Rumble—

The trembling of the gate continued.

The nine-colored divine light flickered on and off. The once dense and orderly Heavenly Dao patterns were now largely dimmed and disordered, and countless ancient runes flashed frantically, emitting a buzzing sound as if on the verge of shattering. The black cracks spreading across the barrier of the seal were still expanding at a speed visible to the naked eye.

Wisps of ink-black turbid energy seeped in through the cracks. They landed without a sound, yet possessed a terrifyingly eerie power of erosion.

Wherever this turbid energy passed, the pure Primal Chaos Dao energy instantly decayed and mutated, becoming murky and violent. The orderly Dao patterns in the void rapidly collapsed and dissipated, the once-stable laws of space and time crumbled layer by layer, and the Heavenly Dao order of the entire region fell into silent disarray.

Lin Chen's eyes darkened slightly as he raised his hand and pressed down gently.

An invisible and intangible Supreme Chaos Dao power spread out quietly. It lacked earth-shattering momentum, yet carried the primordial majesty that governed all Daos.

The violent Dao winds raging around him instantly subsided, the spreading spatial fissures closed entirely, and the turbulent chaotic currents returned to stability. In just a few breaths, the Primal Chaos Domain, which had been in such turmoil, returned to its eternal, peaceful state.

Though everything appeared to have returned to calm, the palpitations deep within the Nine-Colored World Gate had not ceased in the slightest.

They were merely being forcibly suppressed by Lin Chen's Supreme power, preventing any further leakage of turbulent energy and deceiving the divine senses of all who might be spying from the Heavens.

"Nothing but burying one's head in the sand."

Lin Chen whispered to himself, a cold glint flashing in his eyes.

He knew that while the surface turbulence could be easily quelled, the hidden danger deep within the seal had already taken root. The barrier of the Heavens, built through eons of sealing, had long since been secretly eroded, developing flaws in a time unknown to anyone.

Those wisps of black turbid energy that had seeped in appeared weak and scattered, but in truth, each strand was rooted in the origin of the Heavens, making them nearly impossible to eradicate.

He stopped watching, and a point of golden light suddenly ignited between his brows.

Pure, refined Chaos divine sense surged out like a tidal wave, transforming into a boundless net of Heavenly Dao. It instantly enveloped the entire Primal Chaos Domain, then pierced through the gaps in the Nine-Colored World Gate's seal, following those thin wisps of black turbid energy to trace them back to their ultimate source.

His divine sense wove through the cracks of time and space, crossing layers of dimensional barriers and sweeping over thousands of star domains and territories.

In the lower Heavens, the mountains and rivers appeared stable, with all races thriving in a scene of peace and prosperity.

Yet, under the piercing clarity of Lin Chen's divine sense, all hidden darkness had nowhere to hide.

In every Great Thousand World, Middle Thousand plane, and even the smallest border realms, the depths of the world's origin were entangled with fine, black, turbid threads. These threads were extremely covert, perfectly blending with the Heavenly Dao's fortune to evade the detection of all Heavenly Dao Saints and plane Supremes, silently gnawing away at the foundations of the worlds.

Some planes saw their fortune shift, leading to an imbalance between good and evil, with demonic beasts and fierce creatures multiplying inexplicably; others suffered from distorted space-time, where shadows of the past and present appeared frequently. Many ancient forbidden lands and dark abysses grew increasingly thick with dead, silent energy, causing ancient, sleeping horrors to gradually awaken.

A thousand types of anomalies, in the final analysis, were all caused by this eerie turbid energy.

Tracing the source all the way, digging layer by layer.

Lin Chen's divine sense finally penetrated the final layers of the sealing barrier, arriving in the void beyond the realm, a place where no one dared to tread.

There was no Chaos Dao energy here, no space-time order, no sun, moon, or stars—only boundless silence and darkness.

Cold, desolate, and void; these were the only themes of this realm.

Yet, in the deepest part of this silent darkness, Lin Chen's divine sense captured a scene of a completely different nature.

Endless darkness converged into a vast, boundless turbid sea. The pitch-black water churned and rolled, emitting a terrifying aura that corroded the Heavenly Dao and annihilated the laws. All the turbid energy that had seeped into the Heavens originated from this Outer-Realm Turbid Sea.

And in the very center of the turbid sea floated a massive, dilapidated ancient palace.

The palace was entirely dark blood-red, its stones mottled and covered in dense cracks. Countless ancient and hideous god-demon patterns were carved across its structure, and even after eons of dark erosion, it still retained a tyrannical and monstrously terrifying momentum.

The palace gates were mostly shattered, and a constant stream of pitch-black turbid energy poured out from within, merging into the Outer-Realm Turbid Sea before quietly seeping into the Heavens through the gaps in the seal.

The moment Lin Chen's divine sense swept over the plaque of the ancient palace, a line of blurred, fragmented ancient seal characters slowly came into view.

[Hall of Ten Thousand Demons' Return to Ruin]

As those four characters appeared, countless sealed memories instantly revived in Lin Chen's mind.

Eons ago, when the world was first settled, gods and demons rose together, and chaos reigned.

It was a dark age where humanity withered and gods and demons ruled. The ancient god-demon tribes dominated the universe, slaughtering without end, tearing apart the heavens and earth, and trampling upon all living beings. Countless planes shattered, the order of the Heavenly Dao collapsed, and the entire nascent Heavens stood on the brink of extinction.

And this Hall of Ten Thousand Demons' Return to Ruin was the core sanctuary of the ancient god-demon alliance, the symbol of the dark order of the old era.

Back then, when he ascended to the pinnacle of Chaos, he swept away the demons beyond the realm, suppressed the ancient god-demon turmoil, razed thousands of demon nests, and personally ended that dark, chaotic age. He remembered clearly that this Hall of Ten Thousand Demons' Return to Ruin had been crushed by his palm, annihilated along with countless god-demon leaders into the dust of time.

The ancient demon palace, which should have been completely destroyed and ceased to exist, had actually reappeared in the depths of the void beyond the realm.

"The echoes of the old era have returned after all."

Lin Chen's eyes suddenly narrowed, and the deduction in his heart became clear in an instant.

This was not an invasion by a new dark force from beyond the realm.

This was the remnant of the ancient chaotic age, the residual power of gods and demons that had not been completely eradicated. After eons of dormancy, they had quietly reborn in the darkness beyond the realm, gathering their strength.

When the great war concluded, the heavens were left scarred and in ruins, awaiting restoration. To stabilize the nascent Heavenly Dao and protect the myriad living beings, he chose to seal the outer-realm passages and fix the order of the heavens, allowing all things to recuperate.

He had assumed that the main body of the gods and demons had been completely annihilated and that the scattered remnants posed no threat. He never imagined that the core origin of the Hall of Ten Thousand Demons' Return to Ruin had survived, lurking in the outer realms for eons, silently eroding the seal and secretly plotting against the heavens.

Enduring for ten thousand years, it remained silent until the moment it chose to strike, aiming to overturn the entire order of the heavens.

The instant Lin Chen's divine sense locked onto the Hall of Ten Thousand Demons' Return to Ruin—

Hum!

The Outer-Realm Turbid Sea surged violently. From within the dilapidated ancient hall, a cold, aged, and raspy divine sense suddenly awakened, rushing forth to collide with him!

"Chaos Supreme... eternal and undying, you truly are still standing guard here."

The ancient voice spanned the void and darkness, carrying endless resentment, hatred, and unwillingness, echoing throughout the entire outer-realm airspace.

This divine sense was broken and weak, yet it contained the monstrous malice originating from the era of ancient gods and demons, saturated with the deathly silence and madness of eons.

It was the remnant will of the God-Demon Hall Master!

Eons ago, he had been severely wounded by Lin Chen and left on the brink of death, lingering in agony and lurking until this day.

Lin Chen's divine sense remained unmoved as he faced this sinister, ancient remnant. His voice was cold, echoing through time and space: "A wretch clinging to life, yet you dare to stir up trouble and disturb the peace of the heavens?"

"Peace?"

The ancient remnant suddenly let out a low, eerie, and manic laugh. The laughter was raspy and fractured, filled with sorrow and madness.

"What you call peace is the pain of the annihilation of my god-demon race! The order you established is a cage that suppresses all things and imprisons vitality! For eons, we have been trapped in darkness, eroded by nothingness, suffering every single day! Now that the seal is decaying and the Heavenly Dao is flawed, the order of the old era should return to the heavens!"

As the words fell, the Outer-Realm Turbid Sea erupted in a frenzy!

Endless black turbid energy surged into the sky, converging into countless hideous phantoms of gods and demons, densely suspended in the dark airspace. These phantoms took various forms, all condensed from the remnant souls of ancient gods and demons, their auras violent and fierce, carrying the malice of eons of slaughter.

Countless god-demon phantoms roared in unison, their monstrous ferocity stacking and spreading, slamming fiercely against the barrier of the heavenly seal!

Boom! Boom! Boom!

Three consecutive earth-shaking roars!

The Supreme Seal, which had already developed cracks, instantly twisted and buckled violently. Countless golden Dao patterns shattered and annihilated over a large area. The black cracks on the seal barrier widened instantly, becoming as thick as mountain ravines.

More and denser black turbid energy poured into the Primordial Chaos Domain of the Heavens through the cracks.

This time, the turbid energy was not a thin, subtle infiltration, but a surging torrent like a broken dam!

In an instant, the winds and clouds in the Chaos Domain rose again!

The void that had just been calmed trembled once more. The Dao rhymes of the entire airspace were thrown into complete chaos, and the originally pure Primordial Dao Qi was instantly stained by vast swathes of black.

Countless powerhouses, ancient exotic beasts, and remnants of darkness hiding on the fringes of the chaos were now in an uproar.

They clearly sensed that the power of the Boundary Gate seal was rapidly weakening, the terrifying aura of the outer-realm darkness was constantly pouring in, and the eternal order of the heavens was loosening and collapsing!

"The seal is broken!"

"The Dark Age is returning!"

"The chaotic world is coming, and opportunities are everywhere!"

Countless hidden divine senses grew restless. Greed, madness, fear, and excitement intertwined, filling the entire chaotic void.

In the myriad planes of the lower realms, one natural disaster followed another.

Countless forbidden lands revived, filled with black mist; countless fierce entities emerged, causing mountains and rivers to tremble; natural anomalies occurred frequently, with earthquakes, lightning tribulations, and spatial turbulence appearing one after another, leaving the myriad races in a state of panic.

The turmoil of the heavens had truly begun.

Standing upon a high platform in the void, Lin Chen watched the rapidly expanding cracks in the seal and felt the ancient god-demon malice rushing toward him. His expression remained calm and ripple-free, with only a sharp, cold glint flashing deep within his eyes.

An old enemy who had lurked for eons had appeared, and a conspiracy hidden for ten thousand years had finally surfaced.

But he felt no fear.

Eons ago, he could trample the chaotic world of gods and demons and stabilize the heavens. Eons later, his Dao body was perfected, his Dao power was heaven-reaching, and his foundation far exceeded what it had been back then. Even if his old enemy were reborn and darkness returned, he could still suppress all enemies and protect the heavens.

Lin Chen slowly raised his right hand. The Primordial Chaos divine power flowed in his palm, and thousands of Supreme Dao patterns slowly emerged, shining with brilliant golden light to suppress the darkness.

"Lurking wretch, plotting for ten thousand years."

"Today, I shall settle the old accounts from eons ago."

As the words fell, the sound of the Dao roared through the heavens.

Just as he prepared to strike to reinforce the seal and purge the remnant power of the outer-realm gods and demons, a sudden change occurred!

Deep within the surging, violent Outer-Realm Turbid Sea, at the very bottom of the Hall of Ten Thousand Demons' Return to Ruin, a faint, extremely eerie, and profound dark purple light suddenly began to glow.

This wisp of light was extremely weak, hidden within the boundless dark turbid energy, so much so that even the newly awakened remnant of the God-Demon Hall Master had not noticed it.

Yet, in Lin Chen's eyes, which could perceive all Daos, this purple light contained a terrifying level of power that far surpassed the ancient gods and demons, far surpassed the outer-realm demons, and even transcended the current understanding of the heavens.

It was ancient, mysterious, vast, and boundless.

What made Lin Chen's heart tighten even more was that the moment the dark purple light flickered, the Chaos Supreme Dao Seed that had been dormant within his body for countless eons trembled uncontrollably for the very first time.

At the same time, an extremely weak, ethereal, and unknown heartbeat drifted slowly from the deepest, furthest, and unreachable ultimate darkness of the outer realms.

Thump—

A single heartbeat, light as nothingness, yet it resonated through the ages and shook the very origin of Chaos!

Lin Chen's figure faltered for the first time, a trace of incredulous gravity flashing through his eyes.

He understood in an instant.

The revival of the Hall of Ten Thousand Demons' Return to Ruin, the riot of the Ancient God-Demon Remnants, the spread of the Heavens' Turbid Qi, the loosening of the Boundary Gate seal...

None of this had ever been the end of this eternal conspiracy.

It was merely a ruse designed to draw him out and test the bottom line of the heavens!

The existence truly lurking in the ultimate darkness beyond the realm, the ultimate terror truly capable of overturning the eternal heavens and shaking his supreme Dao foundation, was only now showing signs of awakening.

At the end of the darkness, in an unknown game of chess, the first move had already been quietly played.