That year, the Heng Emperor was twenty-four thousand three hundred and five years old in his second life.
Yuangeng had to admit that he had grown old once again.
Just as in the twilight of his first life, his flesh and Primordial Spirit were aging irreversibly. As his essence, energy, and spirit drained away, even the most basic Dao comprehension and cultivation became difficult to sustain, leaving him easily exhausted and unfocused.
In this state, he inevitably thought of many things. Across the ages, countless self-severed supreme beings and Ancient Emperors must have undergone this process within the forbidden zones. Without the Heavenly Heart within them, their deaths would draw no one's notice. However glorious their attainment of the Dao had been, they died in obscurity.
Of course, he was nowhere near that point. To Yuangeng, aging was merely another part of experiencing life.
That day, four vast rays of heavenly light crossed over from beyond the Chaos Gate of the Immortalizing Minor World. They transformed into four tall, imposing men, descending upon the Undying Mountain and arriving amid its pitch-black peaks.
"Heng Emperor, it has been many years. To think that even an unrivaled being like you has grown old."
The speaker was a burly man with a face covered in a curling beard. A great bow resembling a True Dragon hung on his back. His gaze was filled with wistfulness as he looked at Yuangeng, and his voice carried a touch of emotion.
In his eyes, although Yuangeng still had a young man's face, his hair had already turned completely white. He was hollow within, like a candle about to burn out. However brilliant and fierce its flame had once been, it had now burned down to its final stretch and was approaching its end.
"Birth, aging, sickness,