The Erased Truth of the Calamity Cycle

At the edge of the Ancient Star Abyss.

The cold, black vacuum of space had filled with a vast tide of dark-red baleful qi. The moment drifting meteorites and abandoned planetoids touched it, they crumbled like ice dropped into acid, silently decaying into wisps of black smoke.

Riiip!

A vast fissure was torn through the void.

Seven figures radiating the immortal light of karma stepped out of the fissure one after another.

At their head, Lin Qiye carried the Broken Sword on his back, dark-gold divine light flowing around him. Ji Changkong moved with an immortal's grace, radiating the mighty aura of a Half-Step Human Immortal. The baleful pressure of Supreme Mystery True Lord, Tu Shanye, and the Netherworld Blood Emperor shook the void. Canghai Old Daoist rode an auspicious cloud, sweeping his sleeve to shelter the young Golden Core Stage cultivator Ye Chen at his side.

The Purple-Gold Lotus Seal formed from Ye Chen's Dao-listening token cast a gentle shield around him, protecting him from the deadly stellar winds that could have crushed a Golden Core Stage cultivator to dust in an instant.

Six of the seven were supreme powers whose names shook the heavens. The last was a young child of fortune who carried boundless possibilities for the future.

Yet when these seven Dao Listeners, bound to the great Dao of Zixiao by karma, saw what lay deep within the Ancient Star Abyss, every one of them drew a sharp breath. They froze in place as though plunged into an icy abyss!

Terrifying!

A terror beyond the limits of mortal understanding!

Across hundreds of millions of miles of ruined stars ahead, the remains of a purple-gold dragon skeleton, too vast for words, stretched through space like a winding primordial mountain range.

Every scale on those bones spanned hundreds, even thousands of yards, and was covered in dense primordial Immortal Dao runes. Though it had fallen countless ages ago, the lingering pressure from deep within its bones still left even a Half-Step Human Immortal like Supreme Mystery True Lord struggling to breathe!

Opposite the dragon's remains, a towering blaze of great-sun divine fire formed the boundless Phoenix-Blood Nebula.

At the heart of those raging crimson flames, the enormous skeleton of a bird hung motionless in the void, its spread wings wide enough to cover an entire solar system. Drops of crimson divine blood as large as planetoids fell through gaps in its bones, burning permanent black holes into the surrounding space!

Two supreme beings who had surpassed Heavenly Immortals in the primordial age, perhaps reaching Golden Immortal or an even higher realm...

They had destroyed each other here in a clash of unimaginable brutality!

"Wh-what kind of terrifying divine beasts are these?!"

Supreme Mystery True Lord's voice shook uncontrollably. He gripped the sword at his waist with both hands.

"That dragon... Even as a bare skeleton, its pressure surpasses everything I've cultivated over ten thousand years! Could it... could it be a Golden Immortal True Dragon?!"

"More than a Golden Immortal!"

Tu Shanye, the Nine-Tailed Celestial Fox Ancestor of the Primordial Demon Realm, gazed ahead with nine-colored eyes full of fear and submission born from the depths of her bloodline. Trembling all over, she dropped to her knees amid the stars and shrieked:

"That is... the ancestor of all demons! The source of the dragon race—the Ancestral Dragon!"

"And the noble skeleton within the divine fire... is the sovereign of all birds—Yuanfeng!"

As the Demon Realm Supreme, Tu Shanye sensed the pressure of those superior bloodlines from the dawn of the Primordial World more clearly than anyone!

Before the remains of the Ancestral Dragon and Yuanfeng, even she, a Nine-Tailed Celestial Fox feared throughout the heavens, was as insignificant as a little wild fox that had only just gained awareness!

"The Ancestral Dragon? Yuanfeng?!"

The Netherworld Blood Emperor's eyes darted between the two colossal primordial corpses. He swallowed hard and blurted out:

"Supreme beings who surpassed Golden Immortals and may even have reached Daluo... Who could possibly have killed them?! Is there a monster in this world more terrifying than they were?!"

The powerful cultivators exchanged looks, their eyes filled with deathly dread.

Even Ye Chen, sheltered within the shield, had gone pale. Though he was only at the Golden Core Stage, the protection of his Primordial Desolate Physique and Zixiao token let him sense the world-destroying despair within the ruins.

They had thought Dao Ancestor Hongjun's first lecture had taught them the whole truth of the universe. But the sudden sight of the Ancestral Dragon's and Yuanfeng's remains thrust an even vaster, crueler primordial age before their eyes!

Just as the tension reached its peak,

the Heavenly Eye Talisman Seal deep within Lin Qiye's forehead erupted with dazzling dark-gold light!

Boom!

The Heavenly Eye opened, piercing every illusion!

Through Lin Qiye's Heavenly Eye, the lingering primordial Laws deep within the silent Ancient Star Abyss responded to the eye and True Lord Erlang's battle intent. They began to intertwine and transform!

A vision of history reaching across endless ages erupted in the depths of all seven souls!

Crash!

Time flowed backward, and a sea of blood surged to the heavens!

It was as though they had entered the early Primordial World, shortly after heaven and earth first formed, before the Heavenly Court or the Netherworld existed!

There were no stars in the sky, only Purple Qi and murky storms of chaos.

Hundreds of thousands of True Dragons roared across the vast oceans, their bodies blotting out the sky. Tens of thousands of divine phoenixes soared through the highest heavens, their wings like clouds hanging from the firmament. On the ground, countless qilin divine beasts as huge as mountains galloped and roared!

It was an age when three dominant races ruled heaven and earth!

Dragons commanded all waters, phoenixes ruled the skies, and qilin held dominion over the land!

Then the vision changed!

As the three races multiplied and expanded, slaughter and greed accumulated throughout heaven and earth. The once-clear Laws of the Heavenly Dao were gradually tainted by dark-red Heaven and Earth Baleful Qi!

Calamitous qi reached its peak, and baleful qi surged skyward!

Kill! Kill! Kill!

The champions of all three races seemed to lose their minds. Fighting for the supreme status of rulers of heaven and earth, they began a brutal final battle that engulfed the entire vast Primordial World!

The Ancestral Dragon spat out his dragon pearl, shattering half the starry sky;

Yuanfeng burned her essence, turning the waters of the highest heavens into a surging sea of blood;

The Ancestral Qilin shattered the earth, unleashing endless eruptions of subterranean fire!

Divine blood drenched the nine heavens and ten lands. Billions of living beings became ashes in the catastrophe! The three once-mighty races lost all their finest warriors and exhausted their fortunes in that slaughter, until they fell into utter decline and ruin!

At that point, the vision shattered with a roar.

"Pfft!"

As though struck by a crushing blow, Supreme Mystery True Lord and the Netherworld Blood Emperor spat mouthfuls of blood. The savage vision had nearly torn their souls apart!

Yet what drove them to deeper despair than the backlash was an ancient voice, desolate and vast, echoing through heaven and earth at the vision's end:

"Heaven and earth are not benevolent; they treat all things as straw dogs."

"When karma becomes entangled and baleful qi surges to the heavens, a 'Calamity Cycle' arrives!"

"Dragons and phoenixes bringing good fortune is but an illusion. Beneath a Calamity Cycle... All Beneath the Saints Are Mere Ants!"

"A Calamity Cycle..."

Ji Changkong murmured the words, deathly pale and trembling violently.

"This wasn't a blood feud... This wasn't an invasion!"

"This was... heaven and earth healing itself! When karma accumulated to its limit, the Heavenly Dao unleashed a Heaven and Earth Great Calamity!"

His words struck like a revelation!

At the words "Heaven and Earth Great Calamity," a hundred thunderclaps seemed to explode at once in the minds of Supreme Mystery True Lord, Tu Shanye, the Netherworld Blood Emperor, and the others!

At last, they understood!

Why had terrifying beings like the Ancestral Dragon and Yuanfeng, who surpassed even Golden Immortals, perished together and brought their races to ruin?

It was not because they lacked strength. It was because they were caught in a Calamity Cycle! Once Heaven and Earth Baleful Qi reached its peak and karma clouded the mind, even a supreme ruler was nothing but a piece moved by the Calamity Cycle!

"The Heavenly Dao... What a ruthless Heavenly Dao!" The Netherworld Blood Emperor could not hide the fear shaking his voice.

"Could the Ancient Heavenly Court have collapsed later because of an even more terrifying Calamity Cycle?!" Canghai Old Daoist suddenly asked, offering a possibility that chilled everyone to the bone!

Of course!

The Ancient Heavenly Court had ruled the nine heavens and commanded countless gods and demons. Even a war god like True Lord Erlang had fought and bled!

That had been no ordinary war. It had plainly been a Heavenly Court Calamity Cycle, grander and crueler than the Dragon-Phoenix Primordial Calamity!

In an instant, every piece of the puzzle fell perfectly into place once more!

From the fall of the three races in the Dragon-Phoenix Primordial Calamity, to the collapse of the Ancient Heavenly Court and Severing the Connection Between Heaven and Earth, to the resurgence of myth and the opening lecture at Zixiao Palace...

Before the Calamity Cycle framework Su Chen had woven, the long, vast history of the heavens revealed a horrifying precision and cruelty!

"We... We've spent our lives cultivating, fighting for fame and gain..."

Supreme Mystery True Lord looked at the cold remains of the Ancestral Dragon and gave a bitter, despairing laugh.

"If we cannot transcend, if we cannot attain the great Dao... when the next Calamity Cycle comes, won't we end up just like the Ancestral Dragon and Yuanfeng, reduced to ashes scattered between heaven and earth?!"

Behind Canghai Old Daoist, Ye Chen was only at the Golden Core Stage, but those words ignited an unprecedented resolve in his eyes.

Even the mighty could be reduced to ashes. Only by cultivating immortality and seeking the Dao could he take control of his own fate!

An overwhelming fear for their survival and a desperate longing for the great Dao erupted like a volcano in the souls of all seven Dao Listeners!

At last, they understood why Dao Ancestor Hongjun lectured at Zixiao Palace and guided them toward the Ascension Path!

Only by attaining the Dao, by transcending the Three Realms and the Five Elements, could they preserve even a shred of their true spirits through a Heaven and Earth Tribulation that destroyed all things!

As the mighty cultivators of the heavens sank into profound terror and understanding of the Calamity Cycle,

within the Library Pavilion of the Canglan Realm,

Su Chen withdrew his divine sense from the Ancient Star Abyss. A deep, satisfied smile touched his lips.

Hearing system notifications surge through his mind once more, he knew the second wave of mythic ideas had taken root completely!

[Ding!] The Ancient Star Abyss: Dragon-Phoenix Primordial Calamity ruins have manifested successfully! The concepts of the "Dragon-Phoenix Primordial Calamity," "Heaven and Earth Tribulation," "Karmic Baleful Qi," and "All Beneath the Saints Are Mere Ants" have been forcibly implanted across the myriad worlds!

[Mythic transmission has caused a complete upheaval!] Awareness of the "Calamity Cycle and the danger it poses" among the mighty of the heavens: 100%! Desire to "seek the Dao and transcend" among the beings of the myriad worlds: 100%!

[Karma Points soaring!] Feedback from the Dao Listeners' extreme fear of and sudden insight into the "Heaven and Earth Tribulation": +1,200,000! Karmic feedback from the surge of fear among the beings of the myriad worlds: +2,800,000!

[Congratulations, host. Total available Karma Points: 5,800,000!]

"Five million eight hundred thousand Karma Points, and a universe gripped by fear of the Calamity Cycle, desperate to seek the Dao."

Su Chen tapped his slender fingers lightly on the wooden desk, his eyes gleaming with the inscrutable light of one who saw the whole board.

"Now that they feel the danger, when the Second Lecture at Zixiao Palace begins... those old monsters won't come merely to 'listen to the Dao.'"

"They'll offer everything they have and beg me... to grant them a Calamity-Avoidance Method."

Su Chen rose with a sweep of his sleeve and stood by the railing. Gazing at the night sky, where stars streamed across the heavens, he murmured:

"For the next act... it's time for the Witch-Demon Calamity—the one that spanned the witch and demon races and shattered the land of the Primordial World—to manifest across the myriad worlds."