Establishing Xuanmen, the Physical Southern Heavenly Gate Rises
Canglan Realm, Primeval Main Peak.
The Primeval Holy Land was no longer what it had once been.
After Ji Changkong returned from the Second Lecture at Zixiao Palace, he formally renamed the Primeval Holy Land—Primordial Xuanmen!
Ji Changkong became Primordial Xuanmen's first Sect Leader, while Lin Qiye, its first Holy Son, was appointed "Chief Disciple of Xuanmen and Demon-Subduing Protector."
As for Su Chen, who had remained in seclusion at the Library Pavilion, he was honored as the "Primeval Supreme Guest Elder." His standing surpassed everyone else's, and he did not even need to bow to the Sect Leader.
On the vast square before the main peak's great hall, hundreds of radiant lecture platforms floated in midair.
Ji Changkong wore purple-gold Daoist robes. His hair and beard were white, but his face was youthful and handsome. Dense purple-gold Merit Golden Light surrounded him as he taught the Xuanmen Scripture of Virtue to tens of thousands of powerful cultivators from the Canglan Nine Provinces and more than a dozen surrounding Minor Thousand Worlds.
"Follow heaven's will and answer the people's needs. Do good deeds and cultivate virtue. Those blessed with merit are untouched by evil and spared the Calamity Cycle..."
Ji Changkong's mighty voice echoed between heaven and earth.
Whenever he reached a profound point, Golden Lotuses formed from spiritual energy drifted down from the nine heavens and entered the disciples listening below. Countless cultivators broke through on the spot, then bowed their heads in gratitude.
At the very front of the lecture platforms, Lin Qiye sat cross-legged on a bluestone, dressed in plain green and carrying the Broken Sword on his back.
The second level of his Eight-Nine Profound Art burned within him like an ancient furnace that would never go out, radiating the steady, mountain-like power of the Indestructible Vajra. The Heavenly Eye mark deep in his forehead glimmered faintly, ready to pierce every illusion in the world.
Boom!
At that moment, an immensely deep, vast tremor rang through the void above the nine heavens!
It did not herald disaster. It was an auspicious omen so exalted that the spiritual energy throughout Canglan Realm surged with joy and the Dao's laws rapidly condensed!
High above, the blue sky spanning tens of thousands of miles suddenly rippled like water. Boundless Creation Purple Qi poured from the void, wrapping the entire Canglan Realm in the brilliance of a purple-gold pearl!
Hum—!
A pure-gold Heavenly Dao Merit Pillar, dozens of miles wide, thundered down from the highest reaches of the sky. It struck the lecture square on Primeval Main Peak, split in two, and entered Ji Changkong and Lin Qiye!
"Is that... a Heavenly Dao Merit Pillar?!"
The tens of thousands of powerful cultivators listening below cried out, their eyes filled with shock and envy!
With that immense, pure blessing of Heavenly Dao merit, the Purple-Gold Auspicious Cloud above Ji Changkong's head swelled severalfold. Immortal light wreathed him as his cultivation rose again, bringing him close to the rank of a true Human Immortal!
The Eight-Nine Profound Art within Lin Qiye roared like dragons and tigers. A layer of intricate Merit Divine Runes emerged faintly across his dark-gold bones and skin, sending his physical defenses soaring once more!
"Xuanmen has been established to teach all living beings. The orthodox lineage has returned to its rightful place, and the Heavenly Dao has bestowed its blessing!"
Feeling the immortal power and merit brimming within him, Ji Changkong wept with joy. He led the sect's hundreds of thousands of disciples in a deep bow toward the void:
"Primordial Xuanmen thanks the Heavenly Dao! We thank the Dao Ancestor for his grace!"
But before anyone could recover from the shock of merit descending from heaven, another upheaval came!
Hum—!!
An ancient pressure, many times greater than before, erupted without warning from the purple clouds stretching ten thousand miles above Canglan Realm!
It was no illusion or projection of divine sense. It was a genuine Supreme Law fluctuation from a physical object of the highest order!
And it was not only Canglan Realm that felt it.
Powerful beings throughout the Ziwei Star Domain, the Heavenly Demon Great Realm, the Primordial Demon Realm, and all thirty-seven surrounding Great Thousand Worlds sensed the terrifying fluctuation above Canglan Realm. In alarm, they tore open the void and projected their divine senses toward it!
"What happened?! What's going on in Canglan Realm?!" Supreme Mystery True Lord's divine sense crossed the starry expanse as he cried out.
"What terrifying immortal pressure from a physical object! That's no ordinary spiritual treasure!" The First Demon Emperor, the Netherworld Blood Emperor, projected his divine sense there as well, his face trembling.
Under the stunned, reverent gazes of countless beings across the heavens and myriad worlds, the purple clouds above Canglan Realm parted with a thunderous roar!
A majestic gate ten thousand zhang tall, seemingly carved from supreme Immortal Gold and Nine-Heavens Divine Jade, rose inch by inch from the void and took its place atop Canglan Realm's nine heavens!
The vast gate was pure white, covered in magnificent reliefs of ancient Heavenly Soldiers and Generals fighting bloody battles and gods and demons bowing their heads.
On either side, twelve Nine-Dragon Glazed Immortal Pillars, each so thick that dozens of people would be needed to encircle it, pierced the clouds. Nine lifelike divine dragons wound around each pillar, radiating a vast draconic pressure that seemed capable of crushing the stars!
Above the towering gate hung a black plaque that cleansed the soul and suppressed every evil presence throughout the heavens and myriad worlds.
On the plaque were two golden characters formed naturally from the laws of the ancient Immortal Dao—
[Southern Heaven]!
Not a fragment! Not a phantom!
It was the complete, unmistakably real Southern Heavenly Gate of the Desolate Ancient Heavenly Court!
"The... Southern Heavenly Gate?!"
Ji Changkong stared up at the enormous gate floating above him, radiating authentic immortal might. His eyes nearly popped from their sockets, and even his breathing stopped!
The palm-sized fragment of white jade he had found deep in Sorrowwind Valley months ago flashed through his mind!
Back then, he had thought it was the only relic the Heavenly Court had left behind.
But now... an entire Physical Southern Heavenly Gate, majestic beyond imagination, stood openly above the nine heavens of Canglan Realm!
"Heavens... it's real! The Southern Heavenly Gate has reappeared! The gateway to the Ancient Heavenly Court... has awakened!!"
Supreme Mystery True Lord's divine sense shrieked across the stars, his soul trembling with excitement!
"The Southern Heavenly Gate of the Heavenly Court... the supreme gateway of the Ancient Era!" Ancestor Tu Shanye of the Primordial Demon Realm trembled from head to toe.
"Impossible! How could an ancient immortal structure this perfectly preserved still exist?!" the Netherworld Blood Emperor roared, beside himself.
Real!
It was too real!
The Immortal Restrictions flowing across the towering white-jade gate, the True Dragon pressure radiating from the twelve Nine-Dragon Glazed Immortal Pillars, even the faint traces of weathering along the gate's frame—all of it acted upon the laws of the real universe!
No matter how any Tribulation Transcendence Stage or Half-Step Human Immortal expert across the heavens and myriad worlds probed it with divine sense, they could not find the slightest flaw or hint of falsehood!
After all, Su Chen had spent a full fifteen million Karma Points for the system to reconstruct it directly from matter and laws at the universe's most fundamental level: the Physical Southern Heavenly Gate!
Rumble—!
The instant the Southern Heavenly Gate stood in Canglan Realm's nine heavens, the realm's cosmic standing began to soar!
Its fractured lands expanded on their own, its dried-up spiritual veins erupted, and the concentration of spiritual energy throughout Canglan Realm multiplied several times over in moments!
Even the void around Canglan Realm filled with layer upon layer of immortal mist, cradling the realm like a paradise of Divine Immortals above the nine heavens!
And just as powerful beings across the universe stood speechless before the Physical Southern Heavenly Gate—
Hum—!
The white-jade gates of the Southern Heavenly Gate, shut for countless ages, slowly opened a crack with a heavy rumble!
Boundless pure immortal qi and majestic heavenly might surged through the gap like a tidal wave, sweeping across the entire Canglan Nine Provinces!
Before the steps of the Southern Heavenly Gate, a straight-backed figure in rough homespun clothes, the Broken Sword on his back, walked through the void and slowly climbed the long stairway to the towering gate!
It was the first Holy Son—Lin Qiye!
Lin Qiye stood beneath the Southern Heavenly Gate, straight as a spear. The Heavenly Eye Talisman Seal deep in his forehead blazed with an unprecedented dark-gold radiance.
The Eight-Nine Profound Art thundered through him, resonating with the entire Southern Heavenly Gate in a way nothing else could!
Countless beings across the heavens and myriad worlds held their breath as they watched.
Lin Qiye slowly turned and looked down over the vast stars and the Canglan Nine Provinces. One hand rested on the Broken Sword at his back as his voice rang like the Heavenly Dao's great bell throughout the star domains of the heavens:
"The gateway to the Heavenly Court stands, and Orthodox Xuanmen has returned to its rightful place!"
"All who cultivate Orthodox Xuanmen and amass Heavenly Dao merit may pass through this gate, enter Canglan, and receive the Heavenly Court's protection!"
"But those who bring disaster upon the people and gather the baleful energy of the Calamity Cycle... the Demon-Subduing Heavenly Soldiers will bring them to justice!"
His voice shook the heavens!
His might bore down upon myriad worlds!
At that moment, seeing Lin Qiye beneath the Physical Southern Heavenly Gate, Merit Divine Runes flowing across his body, every powerful being throughout the heavens and myriad worlds cast aside their last doubts and dropped to their knees in reverence!
A pilgrimage!
At that moment, cultivators across the universe began an unprecedented pilgrimage toward Canglan Realm, toward the Southern Heavenly Gate, toward Orthodox Xuanmen!
And behind this spectacle that shook the heavens—
Inside the quiet, peaceful Library Pavilion on the rear mountain of Primordial Xuanmen—
Su Chen still wore his green robes and leaned comfortably back in his chair. His slender fingers gently swirled his teacup as he gazed through the window at the Southern Heavenly Gate rising above the nine heavens. An inscrutable light glimmered deep in his gentle eyes, as though he were looking down upon the whole universe.
"The Physical Southern Heavenly Gate stands, and Xuanmen's order is established."
A knowing smile curved Su Chen's lips as he murmured:
"The next act... it's time to place the Investiture of the Gods, where the winds of change blow and the gods take their places, upon the board of the heavens."