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Over the course of a hundred years, the world underwent immense changes.
To ordinary people, this might span a lifetime. Even for cultivators, below the sixth realm, a hundred years could amount to nearly half a lifetime. Especially during this century, the scale of transformation far surpassed that of the previous millennia.
First and foremost was the flattening of Tianjian Mountain, an impact far from one-time, but enduring and profound.
What was Tianjian Mountain? It was the main gate of Tianjian Sect, the stronghold of the foremost power in the world.
For tens of thousands of years, Tianjian Sect had birthed more than one tenth-realm cultivator, solidifying its influence across the Five Domains.
Such a massive force, even if to decline, would do so slowly, taking thousands or tens of thousands of years to completely fall. Yet now, it was trampled underfoot in one fell swoop.
What was more critical was that those who died weren't just disciples of Tianjian Sect. Before Tianjian Mountain was flattened, it coincided with Tianjianzi's 800th birthday celebration.
At that time, Tianjian Mountain gathered all the powerful forces allied with Tianjian Sect. However, the result was that these powerful individuals perished along with Tianjian Mountain.
This led to catastrophic losses for most powers across the Five Domains. Facing assaults from the demonic forces afterward, the local powers of the Five Domains were utterly routed.
In the first ten years of this century, the demonic forces accomplished the feat of unifying the Five Domains.
It's worth noting that even during the heyday of Tianjian Sect, many powers in the Five Domains were subdued, but it was never truly unified. Yet now, this was achieved by the demonic forces.
To be precise, the reason why the demonic forces were able to achieve this was entirely due to Lin Yuan.
If Lin Yuan hadn't destroyed the main arteries of the righteous forces across the Five Domains, even if the demonic forces wanted to unify them, it would have been a protracted struggle, far exceeding ten years.
Of course, the so-called unification of the Five Domains by the demonic forces was only a superficial one. In the dark, there were still many remnants of the original powers of the Five Domains attempting to launch a counterattack and reclaim what was once theirs.
But with Lin Yuan around, all resistance was futile. Lin Yuan didn't even need to leave his palace; simply dispatching his Yin and Yang avatars would inflict heavy losses on the resisting forces.
Even so, such resistance continued to occur. It's just that the intervals between each one gradually lengthened, indicating that the resistance forces also knew that they were no match for the demonic emperor Xiahou Yuan.
In the Eastern Domain, in a coastal city, inside an inn, a storyteller was enthusiastically narrating.
"The other day, a group of strong individuals arrived in the coastal area, suspected to be disciples of the Qingshui Sect from a hundred years ago.
This Qingshui Sect was eradicated by the demonic forces back then, and now that its remaining disciples have resurfaced, it's definitely not a good sign."
This storyteller seemed quite well-informed, even offering some personal insights.
"As I see it, things in the Eastern Domain are about to get turbulent again."
The storyteller's words were tinged with a sense of lamentation. For ordinary folks like them, turmoil in the world was certainly not a good thing.
In a corner of the inn, an elderly man with white facial hair took a sip of wine, a look of contentment on his face.
If a ninth-realm expert were present, they would notice that this elderly man had an unfathomable aura, clearly also a ninth-realm expert.
However, unlike other ninth-realm experts, he didn't vie for power or wealth; he simply enjoyed traveling the Five Domains and appreciating fine wine.
"The osmanthus wine in this coastal city is becoming more and more flavorful."
The old man nodded in approval.
"Oh, Grandpa, please don't drink too much."
"Did you hear what the storyteller just said?"
"The Eastern Domain is starting to become unstable."
A young girl in her teens tugged at the old man's sleeve.
"Oh."
The old man replied nonchalantly, then continued to savor the osmanthus wine.
"Grandpa."
The girl became somewhat anxious, unable to hold back her question. "Do you think the Five Clans will take action?"
"Why are you, a young girl, worrying about such matters?"
The old man gave the girl a stern look, but seeing tears welling up in her eyes, he quickly consoled her.
"I don't know if the Eastern Domain will become unstable, but some time ago, someone from the former Di Fire Sect came to me, asking me to intervene and occupy a source of earth-grade vitality."
"Ah?"
"Did you agree, Grandpa?"
The girl's eyes immediately lit up again.
"Of course not."
"An old man like me should enjoy his twilight years."
The old man shook his head and said.
He didn't have the courage to oppose the demonic emperor. Who was the demonic emperor? He was the strongest in a hundred thousand or a million years.
Ordinary cultivators might not understand the concept of cultivating one's soul to a hundred thousand feet, but as a ninth-realm expert, the old man understood the difficulty and almost inconceivable shock of it.
"Besides,"
"The Five Domains under the rule of the demonic forces are no different from before."
The old man glanced at his granddaughter, his face showing a hint of amusement.
More than ninety years ago, when the demonic forces unified the Five Domains, the old man saw it all. Originally, he thought that the suffering of sentient beings was about to begin.
After all, with the demonic forces ruling the world, how good could things be in the Five Domains? All living beings would be herded together and become resources for the demonic cultivators, right?
However, as time passed, the old man suddenly realized that such a scene had never occurred at all.
After unifying the Five Domains, the demonic forces voluntarily spread a cultivation system called the Way of Martial Arts.
This cultivation system had a low threshold, and the demonic forces even sent people to explain it. Such a good thing had never happened in tens of thousands or hundreds of thousands of years.
Previously, the major powers of the Five Domains would never have shared their techniques for the sake of maintaining their own positions, let alone send people to guide others.
This is simply...
The old man couldn't describe this move.
He just felt that the thoughts of that demonic emperor surpassed those of ordinary people.
"Grandpa, I want to go to the Central Domain and visit the sacred land of the demonic path," the girl whispered.
The sacred land of the demonic path was where Lin Yuan cultivated.
Over the past century, this sacred land had become a holy place for the Five Domains, with countless cultivators visiting to pay their respects. Of course, to avoid disturbing the demonic emperor, all cultivators could only observe from fifty miles away.
"The sacred land of the demonic path?"
The old man hesitated.
But just thinking about how he had never done anything antagonistic towards the demonic emperor in all these years, his expression immediately became calm.
"Alright."
The old man nodded, agreeing to the girl's request.
In the depths of the palace, beside the spring of vitality.
Lin Yuan sat cross-legged, his aura completely restrained. He sat there as if standing in another dimension, seemingly illusory.
[Name: Xiahou Yuan (Lin Yuan)]
[Identity: Guardian of the Gate of the Myriad Realms]
[Bound Talent: Unrivaled Insight]
[Current Status: Consciousness Descended]
[Remaining Residency Time: One hundred and forty years]
"There's still one hundred and forty years of residency time left."
Lin Yuan glanced at the virtual text below his gaze, silently pondering.
Unknowingly, it had been one hundred and sixty years since he arrived in this world. Half of his three-hundred-year residency limit had quietly passed.
"Sixteenth realm."
Lin Yuan examined himself.
In the past hundred years, he had broken through two realm, from the fourteenth to the sixteenth.
However, upon entering the sixteenth realm, Lin Yuan faintly felt that this realm seemed to be the limit of this world. Beyond this, there might be a possibility of triggering the world's innate rejection.
Like being directly banished beyond the world?
"No."
"The limit of the world should not be just the sixteenth realm."
"Is it because of that 'black hole' in the north?"
Lin Yuan's thoughts surged, and his gaze once again turned towards the north. Over a hundred years ago, Lin Yuan had noticed a giant black hole at the extreme north, beyond the endless northern seas.
This black hole devoured the vitality of this world's heaven and earth every moment, causing the upper limit of this world's strength to decrease continuously.
Five thousand years ago, even a hundred thousand years ago, there were still traces of eleventh-realm experts. However, in recent tens of thousands of years, there were barely any tenth-realm experts left. Perhaps in tens of thousands of years, ninth-realm experts would become legends.
It was because of that 'black hole' that the upper limit of this world had decreased, and it was almost unable to accommodate Lin Yuan anymore.
"For tens of thousands of years, whenever a tenth-realm expert was born, they would disappear from the Five Domains within tens or hundreds of years, probably heading towards that 'black hole' in the north."
Lin Yuan's expression was pensive.
After the demonic forces unified the Five Domains, he was able to browse through a vast number of books and learned about the final whereabouts of those tenth-realm experts over tens of thousands of years.
Just as Lin Yuan was contemplating that 'black hole'...
As if sensing something, he made a surprised sound and turned his gaze towards the east.
Under Lin Yuan's perception, thirty miles away from the palace, two figures were stealthily approaching. One was an elderly man with ninth-realm strength, and the other was a teenager in her early teens, who was curiously looking towards the palace.
Lin Yuan's gaze fell on the girl.
"The Bai family still has descendants."
Lin Yuan closed his eyes, feeling emotional.
The Bai family had a great connection with Xiahou Yuan. Before Xiahou Yuan became proficient in demonic techniques, he fell in love with the legitimate daughter of the Bai family.
Later, due to Xiahou Yuan making too many enemies, the Bai family was implicated and wiped out from top to bottom.
The Bai family had a special significance to Xiahou Yuan.
Back then, when Luan Er of the Tianjian Sect went by the name Bai Qing'er and approached Xiahou Yuan, she was able to gain Xiahou Yuan's trust because of her disguised identity as a descendant of the Bai family.
Otherwise, how could someone as ruthless and unfeeling as Xiahou Yuan invest so much emotion in a woman? In the end, due to being forced by his mentality, he was suppressed at the bottom of the Great Abyss.
However, now...
Lin Yuan once again sensed the aura of the Bai family from the girl.
This kind of aura was not like Bai Qing'er's disguise, but a familiar feeling that truly came from the depths of her bloodline.
Thirty miles away from the palace.
The old man was somewhat nervous. They were already close to the palace, much deeper than the fifty miles they marked out.
"Xiaobai, are you sure it's safe to get this close?" the old man asked again.
Originally, he had brought the girl here to visit, just like other cultivators, staying fifty miles away from the palace and slowly touring.
But as the girl toured, she led the old man along a small path, entering within fifty miles of the palace until now, where they were only thirty miles away.
This made the old man break out in a cold sweat. Just thinking about how thirty miles away was the demonic emperor Xiahou Yuan, who had flattened Tianjian Sect with a single step, made the old man's legs feel weak.
"Grandpa, what are you afraid of? I specifically heard about this path. Many people have walked it before, just to get closer to the sacred land for better observation."
The girl led the way in front, her tone unusually excited.
"Are you sure?" The old man was beginning to regret bringing the girl here. Although she wasn't his own granddaughter, he had picked her up from the wild. However, the old man couldn't fake his feelings for the girl and had always treated her as his own granddaughter.
"Absolutely sure! Before us, many people have walked this path to visit, and nothing happened."
The girl reassured him.
"I hope so."
The old man breathed a sigh of relief. The fact that many people had walked this path made him feel better. Even ordinary people could approach without any problems, so they shouldn't encounter any issues either.
The girl had been walking along this path for so long without encountering anyone. Now, she met a tall man and immediately stepped forward to chat, "Are you also here to observe the sacred land?"
"Observe the sacred land?"
The tall man turned his head, glanced at the girl, and didn't answer.
"Don't be shy. Besides observing the sacred land, who else would come here?"
The girl thought the tall man was just shy and approached, saying, "Since we've met, you can follow us. My grandpa is amazing, he's a great expert in the Five Domains."
The girl extended an invitation.
The tall man remained indifferent, neither agreeing nor disagreeing.
This made the girl somewhat frustrated. What's wrong with this person? He's like a mute. Did he even understand what she said?
"Let me tell you, my grandpa is a ninth-realm expert. Do you know what that means?"
The girl began to pour her heart out, revealing family secrets, "On the vast land of the Five Domains, there are fewer than a hundred ninth-realm experts, and my grandpa is one of them. You can follow us, and you don't have to worry about safety."
"Did your grandpa pick you up?"
Finally, the tall man spoke, his voice deep and magnetic.
He did not detect the aura of the Bai family from the old man.
"Huh?"
"How did you know?"
The girl widened her eyes, sure she hadn't mentioned this to the tall man.
"Are you..."
The girl's eyes lit up, "Are you a fortune-teller? Did you realize right away that I'm not my grandpa's real granddaughter?"
"Xiaobai," the old man sensed something, his voice trembling, unable to even look directly at the tall man.
However, his voice was so weak at this moment that the girl didn't notice.
"I didn't expect you to have some skills. I always thought fortune-tellers were just deceivers."
The girl became interested. The tall man was able to see that she and the old man had no blood relation, obviously not ordinary.
"Come here."
"You help me calculate when I can become a strong person like my grandpa."
The girl stood on tiptoe, patting the tall man's shoulder, saying, "Don't worry, as long as you're accurate, I'll reward you. Let me tell you, my grandpa has a lot of treasures. Just pick any one."
"Xiaobai." The old man saw the girl dare to pat the tall man's shoulder and almost had a heart attack. He started to feel dizzy, his consciousness beginning to blur.
Just as the girl stood on tiptoe, patting the tall man's shoulder...
The air seemed to solidify.
One after another, figures appeared around them.
Each figure emitted the aura of the peak of the ninth realm.
Twenty figures of the peak of the ninth realm, quietly standing nearby.
The leading figure's aura surpassed even the ninth realm.
However, these figures appeared behind the girl, and coupled with her low strength, she didn't sense anything unusual, still unaware.
But the girl didn't know, while the old man next to her sensed it clearly, his forehead covered in cold sweat, his legs trembling, almost kneeling down on the spot.
"Step back."
The tall man stood with his hands behind his back, calmly saying.
Immediately, all the figures that appeared disappeared as if receiving an order.
The path returned to its original state.
Only the old man knew what had just happened.
He and the girl had just passed through the gates of hell.
"You resemble an old friend of mine."
The tall man smiled faintly.
He reached out and patted the girl's head.
"Oh my."
The girl didn't know why, but facing the tall man's gesture, she didn't have any sense of resistance, standing dumbly in place.
"Go back."
"Practice well."
The tall man raised his right hand.
With a light wave.
The old man and the girl felt darkness before their eyes.
When they opened them again, they found themselves back fifty miles away.
"Grandpa, what's this?"
The girl was bewildered, unable to react for a while.
What's going on?
Wasn't she just chatting with that tall man?
"Xiaobai!!!"
Only the old man recovered.
He directly grabbed the girl's collar.
Then—
He ran in the opposite direction of the palace like crazy.
Several hours later.
Tens of thousands of miles away from the palace.
The old man finally stopped.
Fear still filled his face.
"Do you know who that person was just now?"
The old man took a deep breath, raised his right hand as if to give the girl a slap, but ultimately couldn't bring himself to do it.
"Huh?"
"Who was he?"
The girl blinked her eyes.
By now, she had vaguely realized something.
"He is..."
"He is the Demon Emperor."
"He is Xiahou Yuan, the Demon Emperor?"
The old man's voice trembled.
"He is the Demon Emperor?"
Xiaobai widened her eyes again.
After a long time.
Xiaobai suddenly remembered a question.
This question was embarrassing to ask before, but now that she had just seen the Demon Emperor and hadn't died, she naturally wanted to ask it.
"Grandpa."
"Everyone says that the Demon Emperor Xiahou Yuan is unfathomable."
"How strong is he exactly?"
The girl looked at the old man expectantly.
"How strong?"
The old man seemed to see the tall man's figure again in front of him.
"He should..."
"He should be as strong as the heavens." (And above! :D)
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