As silence lingered over the Big Dipper Starfield and the danger passed, the region beyond Big Dipper finally erupted. Figures appeared one after another.
People elsewhere could no longer hold back. Their hopes, cherished through the ages, seemed to burst open at last.
Had they succeeded?
Yet that success left a hollow place in their hearts. The strange calm lacked the majestic force they had imagined for an ascension to immortality, as though the whole world were holding back its longing.
To the world, becoming immortal ought to mean soaring skyward in splendor, shedding one's mortal shell and ascending. Only such a vision of transcendence could be a true miracle.
It ought to shake all creation and fill people with awe and yearning.
"Perhaps... this is what becoming immortal means. Nothing remarkable, just drifting away in quiet peace."
The Quasi-Emperor's murmur held a touch of ease, but beneath it lay endless doubt.
No one had ever seen a true immortal, much less known how one cast off mortality and ascended to heaven.
Perhaps this was the ultimate truth.
Yet the Immortal Gate they had broken open still hung high before them. Its unclosed doors seemed to offer one last chance.
Even with that chance within reach, unease stirred in their hearts. They feared the journey into the unknown.
With the Dao Origin Divine Hall holding sway, no one dared act rashly.
But within the ancient, mysterious Big Dipper Starfield, several hidden scenic regions manifested once more after Jiang Yun and the others disappeared, seeking a glimpse of the Immortal Road.
Aged cultivators gathered. Though their backs were bent, flames of defiance and hope flickered in their eyes.
The sands of life slipped silently through their bodies. Only the desire to become immortal still burned within them.
"We mean no offense