Atop the walls of the Imperial Pass, the wind carried a deadly chill.
Mu Chen stood quietly on the battlements, his gaze slowly sweeping over the figures gathered along the wall.
Meng Tianzheng, the old relics of the Immortal Families, the leaders of the great traditions... all had gathered here, the atmosphere heavy as iron.
Countless eyes rested on him, filled with reverence and a lingering terror that had yet to fade.
Even across the Heavenly Abyss, the might of the battle between Immortal Kings had shaken them all.
"The danger to the Imperial Pass has passed," Mu Chen said, his voice reaching every corner of the battlements. "I trust you all saw the battle beyond the Heavenly Abyss just now."
He paused, his gaze passing over their varied expressions. "This victory was not mine alone."
"Someone whose name had been nailed to the pillar of eternal shame helped me escape, held back the Immortal Kings, and dragged them into destruction with him."
Silence fell over the wall. Only the banners snapped in the wind.
"You should all have heard of the Gu Tribe's defection in the last era," Mu Chen said evenly. "Today, I will tell you another truth."
He raised his eyes toward the Heavenly Abyss, where lingering chaos energy and ripples of shattered laws of space and time still surged.
"At the end of the Ancient Immortal Era, the Nine Heavens and Ten Lands were on the verge of collapse. The kings had fallen, and the tide could no longer be turned. At that time, Immortal King Without End and Immortal King of Reincarnation sought out the Gu Ancestor and entrusted him with a task."
"They asked him to feign defection and lead his entire tribe into the Foreign Domain, planting a hidden piece deep within the