Deep within Mist Valley, inside the Inheritance Palace.
The outer stone shell of the Black Stone Stele fell away completely, revealing a torn page roughly the size of a palm. Dark gold all over, it floated silently where the stele had stood.
Rumble!
The instant the torn page was fully revealed and its aura reached its peak, a dazzling pillar of dark golden light erupted from it, instantly piercing the layers of restrictions within the Inheritance Temple itself.
The brilliant golden light tore through the dense mist. Its overwhelming power seemed poised to break free of the secret realm's confines as it pierced the Crystal Wall Secret Realm's overlapping spatial barriers.
"This commotion..."
Yang Zheng's pupils contracted slightly. Even with his cultivation as a Universe Master, he felt an irresistible repulsive force field in the face of this sudden eruption of golden light.
The pillar of light exuded a violent yet exalted aura that prevented him from approaching immediately. He could only stand where he was and quietly wait for the phenomenon to subside.
"What a spectacle!"
Far away, in the Withered Bone Star Domain within the Northern Border Alliance's territory.
Deep in a valley steeped in the aura of death, a figure seated cross-legged on a throne of piled white bones abruptly opened his eyes.
Those eye sockets burned with sickly green flames, set in a shriveled face as wrinkled as the bark of a thousand-year-old dead tree-
It was Black Skeleton Venerable's original body!
"Damn it! A Universe Master!"
Black Skeleton Venerable's harsh, grating voice rang out. His clone-the clone he had equipped at enormous expense-had actually fallen in the Crystal Wall Secret Realm, killed by a Universe Master he had no hope of fighting.
"That Inheritance Palace..."
"That Universe Master must have discovered the Inheritance Palace."
Without