The Ruler of Eternal Antiquity

Half a year later, on the Qilin Ancestral Star.

As the life-bearing star where the Qilin Emperor had been born, and a pilgrimage destination for billions of Qilin throughout the universe, this star had been nourished by the Heavenly Heart Imprint and Imperial Dao Laws for many years. The vital energy of heaven and earth was exceptionally abundant here, with dragon veins rooted throughout the land, lending it an extraordinary grandeur.

In the deepest reaches of the ancestral star lay a majestic mountain range stretching for millions of miles. This was a great dragon vein the Qilin Emperor had moved from the depths of the universe. Like a True Dragon coiled upon the earth, it was exceedingly rare, sufficient to anchor the fortune of the Qilin imperial lineage for a million years.

Today, at the very center of this enormous dragon vein, where the reclining dragon cradled its pearl, vast quantities of heaven-and-earth vital energy seethed. The Dao rang out in waves, and celestial radiance blazed so brilliantly that even the sun in the sky could not compare.

A closer look revealed that the dragon vein's innermost region was shrouded in inky immortal light so dense it could not be dispersed. Within it burned pitch-black Dao Fire, carrying a bone-piercing chill that froze every law and Dao.

The region around Yuangeng had almost been swallowed entirely by densely packed Extreme Dao runes. Profound lunar essence Dao resonance surged, intertwining and merging in the void until it formed inscrutable runes that circled him.

Before him, the two pieces of dragon pattern black gold and phoenix blood red gold had long since vanished. In their place was a ruler blending crimson and black. It had neither a keen edge nor a blade, its contours smooth and rounded, and it floated quietly beneath the dragon vein's vital energy and lunar essence immortal light.

A ruler was precisely the artifact Yuangeng had chosen to forge this time. He used this Divine Form to bear his Immortal Ancient Dao Fruit, to measure the boundless void and gauge the passage of time.

At this moment, the ruler was merely an unfinished artifact. Yuangeng drove those inscrutable runes into its body. They were all manifestations of his lunar essence laws, the fruits of five hundred thousand years of cultivation, now branded in their entirety upon the immortal gold ruler.

Whenever a lunar essence rune merged with the immortal gold ruler, its Extreme Dao might grew a little stronger. Shadows of a True Dragon and a Phoenix flickered across it from time to time, acquiring an undying radiance as they bathed in lunar essence immortal light.

"Whew!"

At one point, Yuangeng suddenly let out a long breath and rose from the pitch-black lunar essence mists. Every Extreme Dao rune around him had vanished. Only the immortal gold ruler remained suspended in the void, crimson radiance mingling with dark light, majestic and sacred.

"What an extraordinary artifact-forging method."

The Qilin Emperor stood at the outskirts of the dragon vein, having witnessed the entire forging process. He felt as though his eyes had truly been opened. Although Yuangeng's method drew on many ideas from the present age, it was still fundamentally an Immortal Ancient Method, emphasizing the unity of cultivator, artifact, and heaven and earth. It possessed a quality that transcended the mortal world.

Behind him, several young-looking men and women with deep-blue hair stood respectfully, also watching the immortal gold ruler take shape. They focused all their attention on it, unwilling to miss a single detail.

Without question, these were descendants of the Qilin Emperor. The old emperor's eldest son had been born when he was still very young and had lived for more than ten thousand years, naturally leaving many children and grandchildren. The Emperor's Blood ran strong in this lineage, and with the Qilin Emperor teaching them personally, there was no shortage of Quasi-Emperors among his grandchildren.

"It's only a method. I can teach you a few more in the coming days. When it comes to forging artifacts, what matters most is that the cultivator is strong enough."

Yuangeng shook his head and took the newly forged artifact in hand. His ruler was not a massive weapon, but a neat, precisely measured foot in length. The dragon pattern black gold and phoenix blood red gold had fused into a deep crimson-black hue. Dragons and phoenixes soared across its surface, all tinged with the dark light of the lunar essence source.

With a gentle push, he sent the crimson-black immortal gold ruler out of his hand. Though it had neither a keen edge nor a blade, it pierced the void in an instant and appeared at the Cosmic Frontier, amid a vast, desolate expanse of stars.

Immediately afterward, incomparable fluctuations of the Great Dao erupted from the immortal gold ruler. Dragons roared and phoenixes cried as its might enveloped countless surrounding galaxies. Starlight accumulated over billions of years surged, all of it drawn into the ruler.

Yuangeng also entered the cosmos and watched the immortal gold ruler's might climb higher and higher, his expression showing neither joy nor sorrow. He drew a deep breath, and boundless rays of light suddenly burst from his chest. Illusory shapes stirred there, resembling a reclining True Immortal, then a giant kun spanning the sky, before turning into a little tree that breathed in unison with Yuangeng's essence, energy, and spirit.

This was Yuangeng's Dao Seed, a supreme treasure born when the Primordial Ancient Realm had been at its most flourishing. As the core of the Immortal Ancient cultivation method, it was a vital bridge connecting the human body to the world beyond.

It had cultivated in union with Yuangeng's life for many years and had now grown to the pinnacle of the Human Dao. With just one further step, it could enter the immortal Dao and evolve an eternal, indestructible universe within itself.

"Old friend!"

Gazing at this wondrous seed of Immortal Ancient, Yuangeng could not help becoming a little lost in thought. Just as he had when he first obtained it all those years ago, he cupped the Lunar Dao Seed in his hands and recalled his past.

Boom!

At one point, Yuangeng's aura suddenly surged. Torrential lunar essence laws sent his robe, woven from moonlight essence, snapping in the wind. This was his cultivation in the Immortal Ancient method, the power he had accumulated over hundreds of thousands of years.

That surging magical power became a vast ocean, shrouding galaxy after galaxy in lunar essence mists. Then, like young swallows returning to their nest, it all poured into the Dao Seed.

Before his eyes, the Dao Seed's aura rose at a frenzied pace. Originally only the size of a fist, it swelled rapidly as immense quantities of magical power and Dao laws poured into it, until it seemed to have become an entire galaxy. Then it abruptly contracted and returned to Yuangeng's hand.

Yuangeng pressed his large hand against the Dao Seed once more. Following its master's will, the immortal Dao seed slowly transformed. In the end, its color, size, aura, and Dao resonance became exactly the same as those of the immortal gold ruler. Only its form remained ethereal and indistinct, its interior impossible to discern.

"Hah!"

Then Yuangeng held the ruler formed from the Dao Seed in one hand and the ruler forged from immortal gold in the other. His mind was connected to both, and he guided them to overlap, merge, and unite as a single artifact.

Both had been cultivated in union with Yuangeng's life and were perfectly suited to his Great Dao, so their fusion met no resistance. As the ancient, profound, transcendent aura upon the immortal gold ruler reached its peak, a faint smile finally appeared on his face.

Rumble!

As that immense Extreme Dao aura rippled across the Cosmic Frontier, some of the most fundamental laws of heaven and earth seemed to stir. Boundless tribulation light completely engulfed the region around Yuangeng. Dao Fire blazed, heavenly lightning flashed, and heavy water shimmered darkly... An unfathomable will locked onto the ruler in Yuangeng's hand.

"A heavenly tribulation... for an artifact!"

Far away, behind the Qilin Emperor, a blue-haired young man felt his entire body trembling. He was the Qilin Emperor's fourth-generation descendant. Despite having cultivated for only five hundred years, he already stood firmly at the pinnacle of the Great Saint Realm and was almost certain to become a Quasi-Emperor in the future-a prodigy among prodigies.

"Watch carefully. This is an opportunity for you."

The Qilin Emperor smiled and summoned the Eternal Blue Gold Staff, sheltering his third- and fourth-generation descendants behind him. Yuangeng's Extreme Dao ruler had clearly stirred certain supreme laws, bringing down this heavenly tribulation.

Just as they concentrated on watching what sort of terrifying tribulation the immortal gold ruler had summoned, Yuangeng finally acted. Ultimate Dao Laws surged across the ruler, and a magnificent lunar essence universe instantly unfolded behind it, swallowing all the tribulation light.

In the next moment, the lunar essence universe dispersed, and the immortal gold ruler flew back into Yuangeng's hand. The tribulation light that had seemed poised to overturn the universe had vanished completely, without a trace remaining.

Amid the stars, Yuangeng stroked the ruler that bore his Immortal Ancient Dao Fruit. In his heart, he had already chosen a name for this artifact.

Eternal Antiquity.