The End of a Lifetime

Another half a year passed.

Ziwei Ancient Star was a land of gifted people and spiritual abundance.

It was an incomparably vast star, rivaling Big Dipper, Gou Chen, Flying Immortal, and the other most ancient life-bearing stars in size. Spanning the deepest reaches of the universe, it was the most radiant place among the countless surrounding galaxies.

Moreover, it had been the Human Race's most important ancestral star and sacred land during the Primordial Era. In that age when the Myriad Races coexisted and waged endless wars, Ziwei had been a sheltered harbor for humanity, safeguarding its future and hope.

The reason was simple: this brilliant star had produced two Dao Provers during the Primordial Era. Both were human, both were incomparably powerful, and both had laid firm foundations for humanity's future rise.

The legacies of those two Dao Provers were now the two great divine churches of Lunar Essence and Solar Essence.

Since the early days of Primordial Antiquity, the two divine churches had stood guard over Ziwei Ancient Star, following their ancestral teachings and protecting the foundations of the Human Race.

On this day, the Lunar Essence Divine Church on Reed Continent, Ziwei Ancient Star, welcomed an unfamiliar visitor.

"You said you wished to pay your respects at our imperial ancestor's former residence?"

Deep within the divine church, amid misty drizzle, the current head of the Lunar Essence Divine Church stood before countless spirit tablets in an ancestral hall as majestic as a mountain. With some surprise, she regarded the uninvited visitor outside.

She was a woman in the prime of her beauty, named Si Yanning, with a full figure, jade bones, and skin like ice. Her smooth black hair was arranged in an elegant spiral bun, and fine ripples spread through her ink-black silk dress. The imposing aura of a Saint King radiated from her, lending her dignity and grandeur.

Opposite her stood an old man who looked over seventy. He had sharply defined features and a lean frame, and his plain robe seemed woven from moonlight essence. A ruler of mingled black and crimson was tucked at his waist. Though he showed not the slightest trace of a cultivator's aura, he possessed an unfathomable presence.

"Indeed. I have long heard of the Human Emperor's profound mastery of the Lunar Essence Great Dao, and have come expressly to seek a little guidance."

With a smile in his eyes, the old man nodded gently, took a jade box from within his robe, and tossed it toward the woman.

"I have no wish to disturb you. This is a gift for our first meeting."

There was no reverence for the Human Emperor in the old man's words, which made Si Yanning frown slightly. Yet the presence he exuded was too powerful. Though she was a top-tier Saint King, only a hundred years of cultivation away from becoming a Great Saint, she still dared not meet his gaze.

She caught the jade box he tossed her. The moment she opened it, she felt an inexplicable energy course through every limb and bone. It was an extraordinarily special vitality, rippling from a silver-gray stone the size of a goose egg.

"Primordial life stone?!"

As the head of the Lunar Essence Divine Church, Si Yanning quickly recognized the nature of this divine material. Then understanding dawned on her, and a terrifying chill rose along her spine. Even a Saint King as powerful as she felt her primordial spirit tremble.

Only after a moment did Si Yanning steady her emotions. She closed the jade box and put it away, striving to preserve the dignity and bearing of an Extreme Dao lineage as she bowed slightly to Yuangeng.

"Forgive my discourtesy. This junior is Si Yanning, the current head of the Lunar Essence Divine Church. How should I address you, Senior?"

"Lunar Essence, Yuangeng."

Yuangeng clasped his hands behind his back, quite pleased with his introductory gift. That life stone had clearly saved him a great deal of trouble.

Just as I thought!

Si Yanning felt bitterness rise in her throat. She had first heard the name Yuangeng a year ago, when a tremendous upheaval occurred in the Primordial Ancient Mine on Big Dipper Ancient Star. Their church's Quasi-Emperor had activated a certain secret artifact left by the Human Emperor to observe the universe, and brought back this name.

He was an ancient supreme who could slay a sublimated supreme in single combat. His strength was utterly unfathomable.

"Please follow me, Senior."

At that thought, Si Yanning suppressed every notion in her heart and readily led the way, guiding Yuangeng out of the ancestral hall and deeper into the Lunar Essence Divine Church.

At this point, the Lunar Essence Divine Church clearly still retained the prestige of a foremost human lineage. The Human Emperor's blessings endured, and the church had no shortage of Great Saints. Deep mountains and towering ridges stretched through its ancestral grounds, while dragon veins and earthly energy connected heaven and earth. The scenery was quite splendid.

Before long, Si Yanning brought Yuangeng to the summit of a towering mountain. There stood a stone platform built from mountain rock, where an inexplicable rhythm of the Great Dao pulsed, soothing the primordial spirit of every living being.

"Senior, this is where our imperial ancestor cultivated in seclusion during his final years."

Si Yanning stopped near the stone platform. This was both a forbidden zone and a sacred site of the Lunar Essence Divine Church, connected to the Human Emperor. Every member of the church felt a reverence for it that arose from the depths of their bloodline.

"..."

Yuangeng said nothing. Paying no further attention to this little girl of the Lunar Essence Divine Church, and ignoring the various formation patterns the church had laid around the platform, he ascended it step by step, savoring the path that human emperor had once walked.

"Reflect the Ancient!"

Suddenly, he uttered this command in the Immortal Ancient Language. The next instant, the Eternal Ancient Ruler flew up from his waist of its own accord, and a faint Dao resonance spread from it to envelop the stone platform.

Soon, even Si Yanning could see a broad-backed man who had appeared at the platform's highest point. He sat on the ground facing the morning sun, seemingly cultivating, pondering, and calculating, troubled over the future and his descendants.

"Imperial Ancestor!"

At the sight of that figure's back, Si Yanning fell to her knees and kowtowed without hesitation. Through the connection in her bloodline, she could be certain that the figure was the Lunar Essence Human Emperor, the true ancestor of her lineage.

"Human Emperor!"

On the stone platform, Yuangeng too met the Lunar Essence Human Emperor's gaze across the years. Though he had lost all his cultivation, his eyes shone brightly. He carefully observed every subtle change in the Human Emperor's energy as he cultivated, comprehending the Lunar Essence Great Dao within him-so similar to his own, yet entirely different.

Without question, the Human Emperor was the foremost practitioner of the Lunar Essence Great Dao in the age of Shrouding the Heavens. Yuangeng had personally come to Ziwei Ancient Star to visit the Human Emperor's former residence precisely to experience that mighty Lunar Essence power for himself.

Like the Human Emperor of old, he too sat cross-legged upon the stone platform, sensing the Human Emperor's Great Dao, scriptures, Taboo Method, and development of his Human Body Secret Realm... To Yuangeng, the Lunar Essence Human Emperor was a rare fellow traveler on the same path. Even in Immortal Ancient times, it had been exceedingly difficult to find such a kindred cultivator.

"Hahaha! Lunar Essence Human Emperor-what a Lunar Essence Human Emperor!"

The Lunar Essence Human Emperor's figure lasted a full day and night. Yuangeng spent that day and night studying his Dao. Only when the clouds dispersed and the rain cleared, and the morning sun's rosy light shone upon Ziwei Ancient Star, did the Human Emperor's image fade and Yuangeng's laughter ring out from the stone platform.

"Senior!"

Si Yanning had also seized this opportunity to cultivate for a day and night. Though Yuangeng had not instructed her personally, the occasional traces of energy he revealed had still benefited her greatly. Yet just as she was about to thank him, she suddenly discovered that the old man's aura was declining at a visibly rapid pace.

Si Yanning was utterly shocked. She could see it clearly: Yuangeng had truly grown old. The lifespans of his flesh and primordial spirit had reached their limits, and as his allotted end

arrived, he was moving irreversibly toward the end of his life.

Yet Yuangeng showed none of the awareness of a dying man. Holding the Eternal Ancient Ruler, he felt age and weakness envelop his entire body and opened his arms, welcoming this inevitable process in the cycle of life.

"The first lifetime ends!"

In a daze, Si Yanning heard a dreamlike murmur escape the dying old man's lips. Then she saw a qilin-shaped fruit appear in his hand. As he swallowed it in one gulp, a fresh, youthful vitality blossomed anew from that dying body.

"The second lifetime begins!"