At this time, deep in the secret realm, a vast and boundless ancient plain of black and yellow lies across the vast sky and earth. Stretching ancient mountains rise from the depths of the earth, with towering ridges reaching up to the gray-gold sky. Countless abysses line the mountains. Criss-crossing, the bottom of the abyss is deposited with thick black and yellow ancient soil. Occasionally, an ancient Daoist rhyme slowly rises from the depths of the cracks and spreads along the surface of the mountain rock. Wherever it passes, large areas of rock layers emerge one after another with ancient textures from when the mountains and rivers were first formed.
In the distance, tens of thousands of floating landmasses lay silently in the void. Between these landmasses stood enormous ancient mountains, their bases facing the sky and their peaks sinking into the earth. A continuous, undulating sea of dark yellow clouds flowed slowly along the edges of the mountains.
There was no sun or moon in the world, only twelve extremely blurry ancient star shadows suspended in the deepest part of the sky. The star shadows were connected to each other, yet each maintained an immeasurable distance. A heavy ancient aura permeated the entire world, and even ordinary Fate Souls and thoughts extending outwards would feel a heavy pull from the depths of the earth.
On the edge of this Xuanhuang Ancient Plain, a group of cultivators from the Chi Lineage were slowly moving forward along a huge rocky ridge that stretched across the plateau.
Chi Tongyue walked at the front of the group, wearing a dark blue long dress with fine dark blue Dao patterns embroidered on the edges of the sleeves. Her long hair was tied up with an ancient jade hairpin, and her cold face carried an undisguised solemnity. Her gaze moved slowly along the vast ancient plain in front of her, sometimes looking up at the twelve blurry star shadows in the sky, and sometimes looking down to observe the dark yellow patterns that kept appearing under her feet.
As a cultivator at the Eternal Silence Realm · Supreme, she could clearly sense the strangeness of this world. The Eternal Silence Origin, which could easily tear apart mountains and rivers, had become extremely slow under the invisible pressure around her. Every time her Fate Soul extended outward, a thick, Xuanhuang Ancient Resonance would slowly press down along the depths of her soul, forcing her to narrow her detection range.
Holding a dark cyan ancient staff, Chi Tianhong walked slowly beside her. The wrinkles on his aged face were tightly taut, and worry was faintly visible between his brows. Every few steps he took, he would look down at the rocky ridge beneath his feet. The bottom of the staff would lightly touch the ground, and an extremely fine circular ripple would appear on the originally hard black yellow rock layer. The ripple would not spread outward, but instead sink rapidly into the depths of the rock layer, as if even the traces of his power were quietly absorbed by this earth.
Chi Ninghua and several Chi Lineage stood guard on either side of the procession, followed by numerous Chi Lineage stewards and disciples. Their expressions varied; some gripped their natal weapons tightly, their gazes constantly sweeping across the distant mountains; some frowned, secretly activating their Fate Soul essence to resist the invisible pressure surrounding them; and some disciples with weaker cultivation had beads of sweat on their foreheads, their steps growing heavier. The once orderly procession moved slowly across this Xuanhuang Ancient Plain, each step requiring far more life essence than usual.
"Elder Tongyue, something's not right about this ancient plain!"
Chi Tianhong spoke slowly, his voice low and solemn. He raised his ancient staff, pointing to the massive mountain that stretched across the sky in the distance, a hint of doubt appearing in his aged eyes.
"I just used my Fate Soul to investigate and discovered that the base of that mountain did not actually rest on the earth, yet the Xuanhuang Ancient Resonance it carried was heavier than the entire mountain range beneath my feet. Even the spatial laws surrounding the mountain were constantly sinking into its interior!"
Upon hearing this, Chi Tongyue slowly raised her head to look.
In the distance, a massive mountain lay silently between heaven and earth, its body a deep, dark yellow color. Tens of thousands of ancient patterns covered its ridges, its base suspended in the void, while its peak extended downwards, as if the entire mountain was bearing some immeasurable ancient existence.
The originally intact spatial patterns around the mountain slowly curved along the edge of the mountain, eventually sinking into the depths of the mountain. Even the ancient rocks floating in the sky were silently drawn towards that mountain.
Chi Tongyue's brows furrowed slowly, a deep wariness appearing in her cold eyes. "The Xuanhuang Ancient Resonance here is extremely strange. None of you should rashly activate large-scale divine abilities, especially not to tear space apart at will!"
She slowly turned around, her gaze sweeping over the numerous Chi Lineage cultivators behind her. Her voice was clear and steady. "Everyone, gather your Fate Soul essence and do not stray too far from each other. If you sense anything unusual about the ground beneath your feet, immediately move closer to the elders!"
Everyone readily accepted the order. However, the moment Chi Tongyue finished speaking, a very deep tremor suddenly resounded from the depths of the entire Xuanhuang Ancient Plain.
Boom--! The vibration did not have an earth-shattering roar, but instead seemed like some kind of huge existence, slowly taking the next step between distant heaven and earth.
The solid Xuanhuang rock ridge beneath their feet suddenly sank. Several Chi Lineage disciples staggered and nearly fell to their knees. Chi Ninghua immediately raised her hand, and a Xuanqing Hongmeng pattern appeared in her palm, firmly protecting the disciples beside her.
But just as the pattern unfolded outwards, an extremely heavy, ancient power slowly pressed down along the pattern, causing her arm to tremble violently. The defensive light barrier that could have been easily deployed was now being forced to contract continuously. Chi Ninghua's expression changed drastically.
"Such a profound Daoist aura!"
She suddenly looked up in the direction from which the tremor came. There she saw that tens of thousands of ancient mountains that had been lying quietly in the distance were now simultaneously sinking in an extremely subtle way. The mountains did not collapse or the rock layers shattered. All the mountains were simply sinking slowly along some imperceptible ancient trajectory, as if the entire world was being gradually supported by some much larger entity.
Thump! A second tremor followed.
Tens of thousands of ancient landmasses that were originally suspended in the sky sank down at the same time. The Xuanhuang cloud sea surged rapidly along the edges of the landmasses, and large areas of ancient spatial patterns bent one after another. Even the twelve blurry star shadows that were suspended in the depths of the sky showed a very slight tremor at this moment.
Chi Tongyue suddenly looked up, her usually cold eyes filled with intense shock. She finally realized that the two tremors were not from an ordinary mountain collapse. They were the footsteps of some ancient being. With each step, the entire world would bear an immeasurable pressure.
Chi Tianhong also noticed the abnormality at this moment. He slowly tightened his grip on the dark blue ancient staff, and the expression on his aged face suddenly became solemn.
"Everyone... be careful!" Thud! A third tremor suddenly resounded throughout the heavens and earth.
The colossal mountain that stretched across the sky in the distance slowly parted to the sides at this moment. The originally thick layers of black and yellow rock gradually cracked along the depths of the mountain ridge, and large areas of ancient Dao patterns slowly retreated to both sides, revealing a bottomless gray-gold void between the mountains.
In the depths of the void, there were no intact mountains or rivers, nor sun, moon, or stars; only an ancient aura, so thick it defied description, was slowly spreading outwards along the cracked mountains.
Immediately afterwards, an enormous, dark yellow figure slowly emerged from the depths of that gray-gold void.
The first thing that appeared were two curved and ancient giant horns. The two horns showed a deep black-yellow color. The roots of the horns were submerged into the huge skull. The body of the horns slowly extended upward along the void. An extremely ancient Chinese character "START" was suspended at the tip of each horn.
The two characters had no fixed form; their strokes constantly appeared and disappeared. Whenever one of the "beginning" characters slowly dimmed, an ancient mountain range in the distance would sink into an unfathomable abyss. Whenever the other "beginning" character lit up again, a previously dormant remnant of the abyss would reappear with new beginning patterns. The ancient Daoist rhythm of the entire world flowed slowly along the two horns, as if the beginnings and ends of countless worlds were steadily supported by those two giant horns.
Then, an enormous, dark yellow head slowly appeared. Its shape resembled that of an ox, with a broad and thick forehead. Dark yellow fur slowly hung down along the skull, each hair like a vein of the earth that had not yet fully unfolded. The ends of the hairs sank into the surrounding void, causing large areas of spatial patterns to curve inward.
His eyes were always half-closed. In the depths of his left eye lay an extremely ancient beginning Beginningless, while his right eye concealed an unfathomable Endless. There was no ordinary pupil light between his eyelids, only a heavy, ancient aura that made one's heart palpitate slowly flow. Even the ever-sinking mountains and rivers around him gradually calmed down under the gaze of those half-closed eyes.
Behind the enormous head was a dark yellow spine that stretched across the sky and earth. Twelve ancient star spots emerged on the spine, slowly aligning along the spine. Among them, the ox-shaped star spot always emitted a deep and heavy dark yellow glow, while the other eleven star spots were hidden in extremely blurry ancient patterns and had not truly manifested.
However, just as the bull-shaped star shimmered gently, the entire Xuanhuang Ancient Plain sank downwards once more, as if twelve primordial shadows were pressing down on its spine at the same time, yet it was easily borne by them.
Its four hooves slowly emerged, their color a deep, dark yellow, like the oldest, dark yellow soil of the End Land. Each giant hoof trod on a different ancient void, without any light beneath them, and not even a complete footprint was left.
However, the space supported by the four hooves was constantly sinking inward, and the originally vast and boundless laws of heaven and earth slowly gathered under the hooves, eventually sinking into that immeasurable depths of the primordial chaos.
Finally, a slender black and yellow tail slowly dropped from behind. At the end hung a constantly rotating word "End". The ancient writing slowly rotated along the void. Every time it rotated, an ancient cause and effect that had not yet reached its end was forcibly carried deeper around it. The life path that could not really end was also slowly gathered under the pull of the word "End".
The colossal figure finally emerged from the gray-gold void. It lay quietly at the end of the Xuanhuang Ancient Plain, its body like countless ancient mountains overlapping each other, its spine bearing the shadows of the twelve Primordial Chaos. With each breath, vast mountains in the distance slowly rose, only to sink back into the earth with the next exhale.
Its two horns pierced the Rift of Beginningless in the depths of the sky, while its four hooves stood firmly on the land of the end. Its slender tail extended continuously along the void behind it, with the character "end" at the end always hovering in the depths of the yet-to-be-reached end.