Rumble...
The sound was not piercing, but it was as heavy as something rolling slowly up from the deepest reaches of heaven and earth.
At first, it echoed only above the heavenly vein.
Low and distant, as though some ancient structure were slowly cracking open.
Then-
The sound began to spread.
Layer after layer.
Realm after realm.
Like invisible ripples, it spread from the Heaven Marrow Mining Vein, passed through mountains, crossed realm rivers, swept over countless immortal domains and forbidden lands, and finally-spread across the entire Nine Provinces Heavenly Continent!
At that moment.
The sky changed.
It did not turn black.
Nor did it darken.
It cracked!
Across the once boundless Immortal Firmament, arcs of lightning slowly emerged.
They did not flash.
They did not burst.
Instead, they seemed frozen in place.
Like scars across the heavens, forcibly embedded deep within the clouds by an invisible force.
They crisscrossed.
They spanned endless territories.
From afar, it looked as though an unseen hand had gently clenched the sky over the entire Nine Provinces Heavenly Continent, then slowly squeezed it until it cracked.
No one knew where they came from.
Nor did anyone know where they led.
That was not lightning.
It was more like cracks in the heavens.
Deep within the forbidden land of the Nine Netherworlds.
Endless dark mist churned.
An ancient being who had sat cross-legged for hundreds of thousands of years slowly opened his eyes.
His pupils had long since turned grayish white.
Yet the instant he looked up, they trembled faintly.
"Has the sky... cracked...?"
His voice was soft.
As though he dared not be certain.
Yet he said nothing more.
For he sensed an aura he could not comprehend-
That aura was not strong. It could even be called exceedingly faint.
Yet it seemed...