The Immortal Pavilion stood due east of the Li Lineage's divine hall, on an island in an immortal lake as smooth as a mirror.
Ever since the Lineage had risen to prominence, it had acquired heavenly and earthly treasures and rare wonders over the long years.
There were also numerous immortal arts of the imperial Dao, cultivation methods created by patriarch-level figures of the Li Lineage, and insights into cultivation accumulated over many eras.
All these foundations of the Lineage were stored inside the Immortal Pavilion for the younger generations of the Li Lineage to study and cultivate.
Apart from the ancestral tombs, the Immortal Pavilion was also the most heavily guarded and sacred place in the Longevity Li Family, a forbidden ground unto itself.
Around the immortal lake island, strands of divine chains of order hung down, outlining ancient formations that numbered in the thousands and tens of thousands, completely enveloping the island.
All along the way, Li Xunyuan sensed more than one terrifying presence, each as deep as an abyss and as imposing as a mountain, hidden in the surrounding void.
They were presumably the Li Lineage elders guarding the Immortal Pavilion.
"Greetings, divine child!"
In front of the Immortal Pavilion, the black-robed elder guarding it bowed respectfully to Li Xunyuan.
"Divine child, you may take anything in the Immortal Pavilion that catches your eye. There is no limit on the number of items."
The elder forced a faint smile onto his withered, aged face as he spoke.
Perhaps because he had not spoken with anyone for so long, the black-robed elder's dry, wrinkled skin unfolded as he smiled, making him look particularly sinister and frightening.
"All right, I understand!"
Li Xunyuan nodded lightly. Now, at last, he understood the joy of wielding great power and holding a high position.
This felt unbelievably good!
Every cultivation resource in the Li Lineage was being directed toward him without reservation.
He had been born with the innate chaos sacred body Dao embryo and the Longevity Immortal Pupils, and he also had 206 immortal bones and the system to assist him.
If he still couldn't suppress an entire era with all that, then all he could say was that the mother of noobs had opened the door for a noob: he was noob to the core.
"Divine child, please!"
The black-robed elder flicked a finger. A drop of essence blood and a golden token shot simultaneously from his fingertip, then landed precisely in the recesses on the Immortal Pavilion's doors.
Creak, creak, creak!
As the essence blood and token sank into the doors, the magnificent golden doors of the Immortal Pavilion, as though cast from immortal gold, suddenly burst with dazzling divine light.
Hum!
A void passage appeared out of thin air. Immortal Qi swirled around the doorway, Dao charm flowed, and a weathered, desolate, primeval presence continually spread from within.
On the surface, the Immortal Pavilion was only a pavilion, but in truth it was an independently opened small world.
Li Xunyuan stepped into the Immortal Pavilion, and the void passage closed behind him.
Opening the Immortal Pavilion required the essence blood of a direct descendant of the Li Lineage, a patriarch's token, and the activation of the formations across the immortal lake island.
None of the three could be omitted.
Not even a Great Emperor in person could budge the Immortal Pavilion's restrictions in the slightest. Such were the foundations and confidence of the Longevity Li Family!
Nine Heavens Peak was one of the hundreds of divine mountains set aside for the Li Lineage's heavenly talents to cultivate.
Ethereal immortal charm drifted over the mountain, where vegetation flourished. It looked as though it had been carved from fine jade, its scenery as beautiful as a painting.
Inside a simple yet elegant pavilion on Nine Heavens Peak.
A white-haired youth with delicate, handsome features and an otherworldly bearing lay pale-faced on a bed.
The youth's presence was feeble, like a candle flickering in the wind, ready to go out at any moment.
On closer inspection, faint gray mist coiled around his body.
His whole body gave off an ominous, eerie air of deathly stillness and calamity. He was in a very bad state.
The youth was named Li Tianji, an unparalleled heavenly talent of the Li Lineage.
He had opened nine Life Palaces and awakened the Fate and Karma Physique.
A purple-haired youth sat on the edge of the bed. He had a jade-like bearing, purple lightning flashed in his eyes, and his presence was unfathomable.
Behind him, the faint manifestations of nine mysterious immortal beasts rose and sank, majestic and powerful.
Each immortal beast manifestation could suppress the nine heavens above and strike the netherworld below, incomparably domineering, supreme beneath the heavens!
The purple-haired youth was named Li Cangtian. He had opened ten Life Palaces and awakened the Heavenly Hegemon Body.
He was Li Tianji's blood brother and the ninth holy son of the Li Lineage.
"Little brother, I'll definitely find a way to break the calamity. Trust me!"
Li Cangtian clenched his fists, his eyes red. Strands of purple-gold immortal fire burned in his pupils, as if they could burn away time and space through the ages.
"Brother, don't waste your strength. It's no use. The patriarchs in the Lineage have already tried every method worth trying. This is a dead end with no solution."
Li Tianji's expression was calm, his gaze as tranquil as water. He had long since seen through life and death.
The Fate and Karma Physique was also known as the Calamity Physique. Because its bearer knew too much of the karma in the world, he was cursed by the Heavenly Dao, which sent calamity to haunt him.
No bearer of the Fate and Karma Physique in any generation had lived past ten. From ancient times to the present, there had never been a single exception.
Li Tianji was already nine this year, and his tenth birthday was not far off.
The fate of the Fate and Karma Physique was even more tragic than that of the Ancient Sacred Body, with no way to survive at all.
Someone with the Ancient Sacred Body could not cultivate, but could still live as an ordinary mortal, working at sunrise and resting at sunset, spending an unremarkable life.
But someone with the Fate and Karma Physique had no choice. Only death awaited him.
The only way to eradicate the calamity was to have another bearer of the Fate and Karma Physique die in the original bearer's place.
Other than that, there was no other way.
Unfortunately, there could be one and only one bearer of the Fate and Karma Physique in an era.
Only after the bearer of the previous generation had fallen would the next be born.
When the flower bloomed, no leaf was seen; when the leaf grew, no flower appeared.
"I promised Father and Mother that I'd take good care of you. Heaven never seals off every path. There has to be a way!"
Li Cangtian turned his back on Li Tianji and secretly wiped away his tears, his tone unwavering.
"Cough..."
Li Tianji coughed up a mouthful of black blood, his face growing even paler.
"Brother, all these years... I've held you back. If it weren't for me, your cultivation wouldn't have fallen behind, and you wouldn't have stopped at the position of ninth holy son."
Li Tianji wiped the black blood from the corner of his mouth and looked up at Li Cangtian's back, his eyes full of heartache.
His brother's Heavenly Hegemon Body was no inferior to any of the rare divine physiques possessed by the Li Lineage's heavenly talents.
Ever since their parents had passed away, his brother had been taking care of him, searching day and night for the source of karma to suppress the power of calamity.
If not for him, perhaps his brother would have entered a whole new world over the years...
One thing was certain: he would never have ended up in his current situation.
"You little brat, what nonsense are you spouting? I'm your brother, the person closest to you in this world!"
Li Cangtian rubbed his eyes, concealing his tears.
He took a deep breath and turned around, speaking gently to Li Tianji. "Even if the sky falls, I'll hold it up for you. Even if it comes to death, I'll die before you do!"
Li Tianji lay on the bed, tears welling in his eyes. He smiled foolishly. "It's so good to have you, Brother."
To have such an elder brother in this life meant his journey through the mortal world had not been in vain.
"I'm going to challenge the other holy sons and that newly appointed divine child, and fight out a place for you under the heavens!"
Li Cangtian gently patted Li Tianji's head and carefully tucked him in, then rose to leave.
Although he was the Li Lineage's ninth holy son, the authority he could exercise in certain matters was limited.
To cure his little brother, he had already invited the Li Lineage's patriarchs five or six times, until they had grown tired of his requests for advice.
All of them were helpless against the Fate and Karma Physique and had no solution.
For now, they could only rely on the source of karma to suppress the power of calamity to a limited extent.
If he could awaken the ancient patriarchs sleeping in the deepest part of the ancestral tombs, there might still be a sliver of hope.
But that required him to strengthen his own standing and show enough outstanding talent and potential to resonate with them!
Challenging the other holy sons and the newly appointed divine child was one of the few opportunities he had!
While caring for his little brother, Li Cangtian had not neglected his cultivation.
He had fused with that drop of ancient Heavenly Hegemon Blood from the Immortal Pavilion, broken past the ninth limit, and opened a tenth Life Palace!
Taking advantage of his breakthrough in Life Palaces, he had mastered and integrated the nine immortal beast divine abilities of the Heavenly Hegemon Body, and his combat power had advanced by leaps and bounds.
Now he could enter the Emperor Forbidden Domain and fight opponents above his level!
Li Cangtian had absolute confidence in challenging the holy sons ranked above him. No matter what, he had to try!
"Brother, lately I've kept having the same dream, a very realistic dream!"
Just then, Li Tianji called out to Li Cangtian as he was about to leave. Staring at him intently, he revealed the greatest secret he had held in his heart during this time.
"In my dream, I saw the back of a peerless figure in red. By himself, he trampled through the heavens and earth above the clouds and suppressed the six paths of reincarnation!"
"In this era, the Li Lineage will produce an invincible Heavenly Emperor, a supreme figure who can suppress an entire era!"
"He will lead the Li Lineage to the very heights of glory, with the myriad races paying homage and all the heavens honoring them!"
"..."
Listening to his little brother's account, Li Cangtian paused. Deep in his hegemon pupils, the Purple Yanyan Immortal Fire flickered gently, glimmering with an inexplicable light.
He knew that his little brother's Fate and Karma Physique possessed the heaven-defying ability to foresee a little of the future, and that its predictions were seventy to eighty percent reliable.
So he could not bring himself to disbelieve his little brother.
Hum!
Just then, Li Tianji's brow glowed. A Karma Seed wreathed in immortal mist flew out from between his eyebrows, then entered Li Cangtian's forehead and vanished.
"Brother, this is the mark of the person in my dream. It's a little indistinct, but if you meet him someday, you'll sense it in your heart."
"If you get the chance, you must befriend him, or even follow him. Remember, you must not make an enemy of him!"
Li Tianji urged him.
"I understand."
Feeling a faint warmth between his brows, Li Cangtian nodded and answered hoarsely, then left the pavilion without looking back.
Once Li Cangtian had gone far away, Li Tianji's handsome face suddenly flushed red and twisted into a terrifying grimace.
"Ah!"
Eerie, ominous black markings spread instantly over his entire body, and the pain made him groan involuntarily.
"Pfft!"
Li Tianji struggled upright, bent over, and vomited pool after pool of black calamity blood.
The eerie power of calamity instantly corroded broad patches of the floor, and its ominous presence lingered for a long time.
After struggling for quite a while, Li Tianji finally sank back onto the bed, powerless.
He stared at the pavilion ceiling and smiled lightly, free of care. "Leaving the Karma Seed and paving the way for you in advance... that's the last thing I can do for you before I die, Brother..."