The rumbling continued, resonating like a mighty bell, reaching deep into the heart and branding itself into flesh and bone.
After a long while, Xi Yue gently wiped the corners of her eyes. At some point, glistening tears had gathered there.
Her heart trembled. This was both a memorial invocation and an ancient history, carrying an undying spirit and soul.
The man turned around, his sword-like brows slanting toward his temples. The moment he saw Xi Yue, a trace of tenderness appeared in his resolute eyes.
He was Xu Mingxuan, the reigning sovereign of the Eternal Xu Family. He had already been a supreme-level figure many tens of thousands of years ago, and now he was even more unfathomable.
He was also Yao Yue and Xi Yue's father, and had showered them both with affection since childhood.
"Haha, Xi Yue, come here." With a soft chuckle, he beckoned to Xi Yue, motioning for her to approach.
Without hesitation, she immediately stepped forward and walked toward him.
The closer she drew to that red glow, the more clearly she felt its vast, biting aura, as though it had crossed countless ages, surging forth from the distant past.
It was not killing intent, but a kind of "presence," as though it spanned the ages and had become eternal.
At the center of the red glow, a tattered piece of ancient cloth lay still.
The rag was not woven from silk. It was extremely worn and badly creased, riddled with holes, almost rotted through.
Yet even in such a ruined state, its might had not diminished in the slightest. Ancient patterns flowed across it, its symbols rumbling amid divine sounds. Cries of battle rang out, and an aura of slaughter soared into the sky, staining this place blood-red.
Xu Mingxuan gazed at the rag, his expression growing increasingly solemn. His voice was low. "This is our Xu Family's Ancestral Artifact, the Bloodied War Flag from the Immortal Ancient era. It once drank the blood essence of supreme experts and was bathed in Immortal King blood. It returned bearing the shrouded bodies of two Immortal Kings."
Then he turned back and glanced at Xi Yue, his eyes blazing, as though a fierce light burned within them.
"This war flag carries the glory and splendor of this realm. One day, it will rise again, charge into the other realm, and drink the blood essence of the Foreign Realm's creatures once more, carrying on our ancestors' dying wishes."
He handed over the sandalwood incense he held. It had been made from divine wood, blended with all manner of precious and sacred medicines, and even infused with the essence of divine medicines.
Xi Yue took it and was just about to bow in worship when a thunderous boom rang out, like the beating of a divine drum in the primordial Ancient Heavenly Court. Wind and clouds shifted across heaven and earth, and deep violet lightning crackled with tremendous force, its divine might shaking the world.
Immediately afterward, the previously motionless Immortal King Burial Shroud suddenly trembled and began fluttering continuously. Hundreds of millions of rays of golden light burst forth, enveloping this stretch of heaven and earth, as though it were about to awaken on its own!
At the same time, Xi Yue's sea of consciousness shook violently. Chaos qi surged and roiled like waters bursting through a dam.
A small pagoda emerged from her sea of consciousness. Cast from bronze, it gleamed green with hints of gold. Phantoms of all manner of auspicious beasts manifested around it: true dragons roared, Immortal Phoenixes beat their wings, and qilins howled...
The pagoda seemed both real and illusory, poised between a phantom and a tangible object. Yet there was nothing visibly extraordinary about it. It seemed to be no more than an ordinary bronze artifact.
But that was merely its outward appearance. All manner of symbols were engraved upon the pagoda, none belonging to this era. They were profoundly mysterious, abstruse and obscure, resembling symbols of the Great Dao, yet also seeming to embody the ultimate truths of heaven and earth.
The pagoda had five stories, concealing a cosmos within, as though it suppressed the ages and looked down upon the cycles of eras.
This is the design on my left hand? Its true form is actually a bronze ancient pagoda like this?
She was filled with wonder and excitement. The pagoda's origins were a mystery, but it was unquestionably extraordinary. Although she did not know exactly what level it belonged to, surely it could not be weaker than the Immortal King Burial Shroud.
After all, it was the appearance of this pagoda that had made the Immortal King Burial Shroud tremble incessantly.
The Immortal King Burial Shroud was inscribed with immortal Dao formations and could rightly be called an immortal artifact. Yet this ancient pagoda could make it tremble. Even if it was not an immortal artifact, it could not be far beneath one.
"So that means the object born alongside me is an immortal artifact?" Xi Yue grinned, revealing a mouthful of white teeth, translucent and faintly gleaming, as though carved from jade.
Before she could rejoice for long, however, waves of exhaustion washed over her mind. She felt utterly depleted, as though all the vital essence in her body had been drained away and she was about to fall asleep.
Then her consciousness sank, as though plunging into endless darkness and entering that chaos. Her body swayed, on the verge of collapsing at any moment.
When her consciousness sank completely, her body went limp and was caught by a pair of large hands.
Looking at his unconscious daughter in his arms, Xu Mingxuan immediately grew anxious. Only after examining her with his divine sense did his expression relax.
Although he did not understand why Xi Yue had fainted like this, she was in no danger. On the contrary, she had gained tremendous benefits, so he did not investigate further.
Morning came, divine light shining everywhere as vital essence rolled in waves.
Xi Yue slowly awoke. A ray of dawn light fell squarely across her little face, delicate as carved jade. The beginnings of a beauty were already apparent; she was destined to become another dazzling pearl.
She stretched her body, her bones crackling.
Her sea of consciousness was not hazy as it might have been after sleep. Instead, it was exceptionally clear, as though an invisible hand had swept away the fog within it.
Her primordial spirit seemed to have undergone a tempering, experiencing some inexplicable transformation that placed it far above those of cultivators at the same level.
Moreover, she seemed to have fallen into a great dream spanning the ages, living through millennia in a single dream. Within that haze, she had glimpsed an unparalleled figure from afar.
It was a woman of peerless grace and matchless beauty. Her bearing suggested she stood in a realm of transcendence, as though she had walked out of the eternal past, untouched by dust and towering above all heavens.
With a casual wave of her delicate hand, she could shatter the spacetime of countless ages and divert the river of time.
That figure seemed both real and illusory, hazy yet genuine. Her true face was unseen-or perhaps Xi Yue had seen it, only to forget it, concealed behind a veil of mist.
"Who was that? The female emperor of later ages, or Luo of The Heavens, or perhaps..." she murmured, then shook her head.
That had nothing to do with her now. Since she was already here, she would climb to the pinnacle of cultivation and see what scenery awaited her there.
She examined her condition. Her primordial spirit had grown considerably without any apparent cause, and deep within her sea of consciousness, the Bronze Ancient Pagoda floated up and down.
Her flesh had also grown somewhat stronger. She now possessed a full ten thousand jin of strength. Apart from that, there seemed to be no other changes.
"Hahaha, Xi Yue, you're finally awake." Xu Mingxuan walked in from outside the hall. After examining her and discovering that her primordial spirit had grown considerably, he burst into laughter as well.
A little head peeked out from behind him, along with a hand. It was Yao Yue.
"Father, Sister, how much time has passed?" Xi Yue lightly
scratched her head and asked.
"One month." Yao Yue threw herself at her and began squeezing and kneading her again. "You have no idea how many old monsters have visited our Xu Family lately, wanting to take you as their disciple. Even some old fossils from the Immortal Academy and the Sacred Academy came."
Xi Yue was somewhat bewildered. She had merely taken a nap. Why were all these old monsters suddenly fighting to take her as their disciple?
Seeing her puzzled expression, Xu Mingxuan explained, "When you paid your respects to the war flag that day, you triggered astonishing phenomena throughout heaven and earth, stirring some of the old monsters in the Nine Heavens. They recognized how extraordinary you were and wanted to take you as their successor."
Her expression changed slightly. This was hardly a good thing. Those old monsters of the Nine Heavens and Ten Earths wavered in their allegiances, and they might not even emerge to fight a bloody battle when the great calamity struck heaven and earth. Each harbored their own hidden schemes; they were not easy people to deal with.
She was genuinely afraid that this father she had acquired would send her off to become some old monster's successor, entangling her in inexplicable karma and bringing a reckoning upon her in the future.