The Saint Lord Nearing His End, and the Unactivated Blind Box

The Dying Holy Lord and the Unactivated Blind Box

Great Qin Era, three thousand and twenty-sixth year, spring.

Primeval Holy Land.

Tonight, without wind or moon, the nine main peaks of the entire holy land were all shrouded in a nearly solidified purplish hue. That was the wondrous spectacle of the holy land's grand protective array, the Purple Qi Comes from the East Great Array, operating to its absolute limit, yet the hundred thousand disciples throughout the sect felt not the slightest sense of security; instead, their breathing was tightly gripped by an indescribable sorrow and depression.

The Primeval Bell tolled without wind.

"Dong—dong—dong—"

The muffled bell tolls resounded across ten thousand li of mountains and rivers, each sound more withered than the last, each sound more desolate than the last.

This was the Fallen Bell.

All disciples with any experience knew that this bell was not tolled for an invading enemy, but to send off their Holy Lord—Ji Changkong—who had lived for a full three thousand years.

Deep within the Primeval Holy Hall.

An emaciated, withered old man sat quietly cross-legged on a futon carved from the Ten-Thousand-Year Black Ice Jade Marrow. He wore the purple-gold Eight Trigrams Dao robe symbolizing the supreme power of the holy land, yet worn upon his body, it appeared utterly empty, as though merely a skeleton draped in gorgeous silk.

He was too old.

His skin resembled shriveled tree bark, his head of silver hair lacked a trace of luster, his eye sockets were deeply sunken, and only a single pair of eyes retained a glimmer like a flickering candle in the wind amidst the darkness.

Ji Changkong, one of the three great human holy lords of the Canglan Realm, had once swept across the Demon Domain for eight thousand li with a single sword and deterred the abyss demons for three hundred years.

Yet before the River of Time, even a supreme mighty figure standing at the pinnacle of the mortal world ultimately proved to be nothing more than a patch of loess.

"The Heavenly Road... where is it?"

Ji Changkong slowly raised his withered palm, seemingly wishing to pierce through the heavy void and touch the illusory Immortal Realm.

His voice was hoarse, dry, and carried endless reluctance and sorrow: "This old man has bitterly cultivated for three thousand years, asking myself that my natural talent is not inferior to the ancients and my willpower can be compared to the sun and moon. Yet why... does this heavenly dao not even deign to bestow a single sliver of a chance to attain immortality?"

"For hundreds of thousands of years, Great Emperors have not manifested, and immortal gates have not opened. Could it really be that cultivators of our generation can only struggle and wait for death in this mire of the mortal world, turning to the dust of calamity?"

No one answered him.

Outside the hall, several dozen grand elders and peak masters of the holy land all knelt for a long time without rising, their expressions mournful. Among them, the weakest in strength was also a Dao-Slaying King who dominated a region, yet before destiny, they were equally as insignificant as ants, able only to watch helplessly as this towering pillar that had sheltered the holy land for three thousand years walked toward the end of his life.

Despair.

An internal despair born from the severance of the dao, spreading like a plague throughout the entire Primeval Holy Land and even the entire Canglan Realm.

Compared to the depressed and heavy Primeval Holy Hall, the Library Pavilion at the edge of the holy land appeared exceptionally aloof and tranquil.

A green oil lamp flickered like a bean, illuminating layers upon layers of ancient bookshelves.

Su Chen stood before an archaic wooden table, holding a soft feather duster in his hand as he leisurely brushed the floating dust off a tattered volume of ancient classics.

He wore a green robe that had been washed somewhat pale, his posture upright, his features handsome, and his eyes warm like jade, exuding a calmness and transcendence that did not belong to his age.

The tolling of the death knell outside faintly reached this place, causing Su Chen's movements to pause slightly before he softly let out a sigh.

Ji Changkong is about to die.

Su Chen had already come to this world for a full three years.

As a transmigrator, he possessed neither supreme cultivation aptitude nor astonishing background; he had merely relied on the opportunity of the Primeval Holy Land recruiting handymen to sneak into this nearly isolated Library Pavilion and become a leisurely guarding disciple.

The Canglan Realm was a cruel world of immortality where the strong preyed on the weak and entire sects were routinely wiped out.

Su Chen knew his own capabilities very well, so over the past three years, he kept a low profile, doing nothing every day besides reading and sweeping, acting like a mortal who had seen completely through the world.

Yet only he himself knew that the reason he was so calm was because there had always been an unactivated "blind box" lingering within his mind.

That was a mysterious orb of light radiating Chaos Qi, and no matter how Su Chen tried to communicate with it over the past three years, it had yielded no response.

Yet at the very instant when Ji Changkong's life came to an end and the Primeval Bell tolled for the ninth time.

"Hum—"

A crisp chime, audible only to Su Chen, burst forth without warning in the depths of his sea of consciousness.

[The host's current world "Heavenly Dao is incomplete" and "historical fault rate reaches 99.9%" have been detected, meeting the activation conditions.]

[The "Myth Editing System" has been successfully bound!]

A cold, mechanical voice imbued with a certain supreme majesty echoed beside Su Chen's ear.

In Su Chen's previously tranquil eyes, a trace of ripples finally stirred.

System... you are a full three years late. He whispered inwardly, yet his tone held no resentment, only a sense of dust settling into peace.

[This system aims to assist the host in reshaping the cognition of all realms and interfering with the River of Time.]

[Function Description: The host can consume "Karma Points" to out of nothing edit, create, and manifest any myth and legend, historical ruin, ancient figure, or daoist spectacle.]

[Rule: Once the mythical content edited by the host is observed by the powerful beings of this world (especially sons of luck and contemporary mighty figures) and causes them to firmly believe in it, the system will collect their overflowing mental fluctuations and worldly karma, converting them into "Karma Points".]

[When the "spread value" of a certain mythical concept reaches 100%, that myth will completely merge into reality, becoming the unquestionable, true history of this universe's past, present, and future!]

Listening to the system's explanation, Su Chen's breathing involuntarily grew slightly hurried.

Fabricate myths and tamper with reality?

Resurrect the illusory gods and Buddhas of the heavens in this incomplete world devoid of any traces of immortals?

This was no longer a simple cheat. This was handing the authority to create worlds and toy with destiny directly into his hands!

No wonder the system required a historical fault rate of 99.9%. Su Chen looked at the void before him thoughtfully.

He had not spent the past three years in the Library Pavilion in vain.

Having scoured all historical records of the Canglan Realm, he found that the history of this world contained a terrifying fault line.

About one hundred thousand years ago, the Canglan Realm suffered an unimaginable catastrophe. All ancient classics, inheritances, and orthodoxies were completely destroyed, and even the Heavenly Dao was left fragmented and incomplete.

Today, one hundred thousand years later, cultivators only knew that the Great Emperor was the limit of cultivation. As for whether there was any realm above the Great Emperor, or if becoming an immortal was merely a lie, no one knew at all.

There was no past history, and no hope of ascension.

This was practically a blank canvas tailored specifically for Su Chen!

[Novice gift pack has been issued.]

[Congratulations, host, you have obtained the initial Karma Points: 100 points.]

[First-tier editing permission unlocked: Can create "illusion-grade" Law projections, or materialize "mortal-grade / weak spiritual-grade" physical items.]

Su Chen immediately dove into the system panel, where countless names and concepts he knew well were densely listed in the exchange catalog:

"Great Heavenly Venerable of the Primordial World", "Investiture of the Gods", "Journey to the West", "Legends of the Ancient Heavenly Court"...

Every mythological system was vast enough to make one tremble.

However, looking at those supreme concepts that required hundreds of millions or billions of Karma Points just to exchange, Su Chen quickly calmed down.

With 100 Karma Points, what can I do?

Su Chen typed the two characters "Heavenly Court" into the search bar.

Soon, an entry matching his current budget leaped into view:

[Entry: Desolate Ancient Heavenly Court - A Corner of a Fragment (Illusion Grade)]

[Description: Can consume 100 Karma Points to simulate a large-scale historical backtracking phenomenon involving the "collapse of the ancient Heavenly Court." This phenomenon contains an extremely faint aura of primeval Laws, enough to pass for the real thing, but possesses no actual lethality.]

Looking at this entry, the corners of Su Chen's mouth lifted slightly.

Enough.

A true top-tier chess player never needs to put all the gods and Buddhas on the board from the very beginning. In this world that has despaired of the Immortal Dao, even just the projection of an ancient fragment is enough to stir up a storm that overturns all understanding.

And the person most suited to be this first audience member...

Su Chen turned his head to look at the Primeval Holy Hall, which appeared lonely and desperate amidst the purple qi.

Ji Changkong, aren't you resenting the ruthlessness of the Heavenly Dao and the lack of a path to immortality?

Since that is the case, I will show you... the truth of shattered immortal gates and a blood-stained Heavenly Court.

With a thought, Su Chen hesitated no longer.

"System, exchange for [Desolate Ancient Heavenly Court - A Corner of a Fragment (Illusion Grade)], drop location—above the Primeval Holy Land!"

"Begin editing background sounds and Law fluctuations..."

"Phenomenon, rise!"

The Primeval Holy Hall.

Ji Changkong's longevity fire had burned down to its absolute last flicker.

His soul perception was gradually peeling away, and his eyes could no longer see the scene before him, leaving only a vast, empty darkness.

It is coming to an end, then... He sighed inwardly.

However, at the very moment when he was about to close his eyes and completely return to annihilation—

"Rumble—!!"

An indescribable, deafening roar suddenly exploded across the entire heaven and earth!

That was not the sound of thunder, but rather sounded more like some colossal entity that had slumbered for countless epochs turning over in the ruins of time, shattering the chains of eternity.

"Pfft—!"

Outside the hall, the dozens of Grand Elders and peak masters kneeling without end changed expression at almost the exact same time, spitting out a mouthful of blood.

This was not because they had suffered an attack, but because at that very instant, an unimaginable, terrifying pressure that surpassed all Grand Daos of the Canglan Realm descended from the void!

That pressure was ancient, primordial, and noble to the extreme. Merely the aftermath of its leakage caused these Dao-Slaying Kings, who usually shook their territories with their prestige, to tremble in soul and nearly fall to their knees.

"What is going on?! Is a powerful enemy attacking our Primeval?"

"No! This is not spiritual pressure, this is... Heavenly might! These are Laws that do not belong to this era!"

Horrified beyond measure, everyone raised their heads to look at the sky.

The next moment, they completely lost their voices.

They saw that the "Purple Qi Comes from the East Great Array," which had enshrouded the holy land for three thousand years, failed to endure even a ten-thousandth of a second against this pressure, melting and dissolving silently like fragile glazed glass.

Immediately following that, the pitch-black night sky was suddenly shrouded by a layer of strange, blood-colored mist.

Within that blood-red mist, the faint sound of a mighty river surging echoed forth.

That was not the flow of mortal waters, but... the River of Time!

Swish, splash!

The river water flowed backward, and time reversed.

Amidst everyone's blank gazes, a giant golden fissure slowly cracked open above that churning River of Time.

Endless immortal light gushed forth from the fissure, illuminating the entire dark night as if it were midday.

"Th-That is..."

Inside the Primeval Holy Hall, Ji Changkong, who had originally closed his eyes to await death, abruptly snapped open his dual pupils!

Two blinding beams of divine radiance erupted from his eyes, and his originally depleted vital energy miraculously experienced a return of light at that very moment, surging frantically.

He stared fixedly at that golden fissure, his aged body trembling violently due to extreme shock.

"This aura... This supreme aura that surpasses the Great Emperor and transcends the suppression of the Heavenly Dao..."

"Could it be... The Path to Immortality has opened?!"

No, that was not right.

Before Ji Changkong could even feel excited, the scene within that rift completely doused his overflowing fervor into a bone-chilling coldness.

That was not the Immortal Realm.

That was... a ruin.

Through the golden light curtain that blotted out the sky, everyone could faintly see towering, thousand-foot-tall terrifying palaces standing high above the layered clouds.

Those palaces were forged entirely from immortal gold and divine jade, radiating an eternally undying brilliance. Yet now, these immortal palaces—which symbolized supreme and ultimate nobility—were all shattered and collapsed, countless fragments of immortal gold scattering across the void like the tears of gods.

An immensely wide white jade grand staircase led straight to the vault of heaven; that was the path to ascend to heaven before which even Great Emperors had to bow their heads.

Yet at this moment, that grand staircase was covered in dark red bloodstains.

The bloodstains were not yet dry, and as every single drop of divine blood fell, it crushed the surrounding void, evolving into one broken minor world after another.

"The... The Heavenly Court..."

In the netherworld, ancient mortal ancestors seemed to be weeping bitterly in the void, and those intermittent murmurs pierced through the barrier of time, landing in the deepest recesses of everyone's souls.

"The Ancient Era Heavenly Court... has collapsed..."

"The absolute barrier... between heaven and earth..."

"The gods have fallen... The Immortal Path... is severed..."

Those murmurs carried boundless despair and desolation, sounding like the final sigh at the destruction of an epoch.

Following that, the imagery flashed.

At the end of the broken grand staircase to heaven, an imposing figure standing tall between heaven and earth faintly appeared.

He wore a tattered Nine-Dragon Emperor robe, his entire body bathed in blood, and the immortal sword in his hand that seemed capable of slashing apart the universe had snapped into two halves.

He simply stood quietly atop the ruins where myriad immortals had spilled their blood, his back turned to all living beings in the Canglan Realm.

Even as the Chaos Qi around his body churned, and even as the River of Time roared at his feet, he no longer possessed a shred of vitality.

That was the corpse of an Immortal Dao supreme being.

Even in death, he would still suppress the ninety thousand miles of the vault of heaven!

"BOOM--!!"

The divine manifestation stopped abruptly at this point.

The blood-red mist blanketing the sky, the River of Time, the towering Heavenly Court, the bleeding emperor's corpse... Everything vanished into nothingness in an instant, as if the soul-shaking sight from just now had merely been a fleeting hallucination.

The night sky returned to tranquility once more.

Within the Primeval Holy Land, there was a deathly silence.

Everyone stood rooted to the spot with blank minds, and only the scenes they had just witnessed were branded fiercely like hot irons into the deepest recesses of their souls, impossible to erase.

Inside the Primeval Holy Hall.

Ji Changkong stared blankly at the empty sky, two streams of turbid tears sliding slowly down his withered cheeks.

"So that's how it is..."

"So that's how it was!"

Instead of going mad, he let out a laugh of extreme desolation.

"It's not that our generation is incompetent, nor is it that this old man's innate talent is lacking..."

"It's just that as early as the Ancient Era, that supreme Heavenly Court had already collapsed!"

"The Immortal Path... was already severed back then!"

[Ding!]

Inside the Library Pavilion, the system's prompt tone suddenly rang out frantically like raindrops in Su Chen's mind:

[Detected that contemporary powerhouse "Ji Changkong" has experienced a violent shock to his Dao heart, generated extreme awe toward the myth "Ancient Era Heavenly Court" edited by the host, and formed a deep logical closed loop.]

[Dissemination rate of the "Ancient Era Heavenly Court" entry increased: 0.01% -> 5%!]

[Obtained Karma Points: +2,000 points!]

[Detected that Primeval Holy Land powerhouse "Heavenly Sword Guest" has undergone self-rationalization... Obtained Karma Points: +400 points!]

[...]

Listening to the continuously soaring Karma Point prompts beside his ear, Su Chen, who stood beside the green lamp, slowly withdrew the feathered whisk in his hand.

He closed his eyes slightly, feeling the surging, mysterious power representing karma and Heavenly Dao rush through his mind, and the corners of his mouth curved into a profound arc.

This first round not only preserved Ji Changkong's life, but also firmly planted the seed of "myth" in the hearts of this world's most powerful group of people.

"This is merely the beginning."

Su Chen murmured softly.