Chapter 6541 - 6550

Kai gave him no time to react.

The second sword strike came.

This strike had no charging, no initial stance, and not even any warning.

The Dragon-Slaying Sword cut directly into the air from the previous blocking stance, its blade tracing a straight purple trajectory.

The envoy on the left parried with his axe, all the holy light runes on his battle axe activating to form a hexagonal holy light shield.

But the chaotic fire directly devoured the runes, and the sword energy pierced through the holy light protection, striking the axe handle.

The axe handle, forged from meteorite gold, was like rotten wood before the purple sword energy, severed in one strike.

Not just the handle. The sword energy, undiminished, pierced through the envoy’s armor, through the holy light shield, and through the holy light power circulating to its limit in his meridians.

The envoy’s body was cleaved diagonally from his right shoulder to his left abdomen, golden blood spraying into the air, turning into a sky full of golden blood mist.

Upon landing, his body was already split in two, his upper body slumped on the broken stone slab, an incredulous look still lingering in his eyes.

One sword strike.

A peak third-grade Golden Immortal, killed with a single blow.

He wasn’t human—this was the only thought in the left envoy’s final moments.

How could an eighth-grade True Immortal possibly kill a third-grade Golden Immortal with a single strike?

This violated the laws of heaven and earth, violated the most basic understanding of the cultivation world for countless millennia.

But his consciousness had already dissipated, and he would never have the chance to understand this question again.

The right envoy’s expression changed drastically.

His companion, a peak third-grade Golden Immortal of the same level as him, had been cut in two without even being able to block a single sword strike.

This wasn’t human; this was a monster, a reincarnation of an ancient ferocious beast, a killing god born from chaos!

He turned and ran without hesitation, his holy light instantly burning to its peak, his entire body transforming into a golden meteor shooting eastward.

The speed was extreme, several times faster than when it came. It was the escape speed gained by burning his very essence, each breath consuming hundreds of years of his cultivation.

Kai did not give chase.

He sheathed his Dragon-Slaying Sword, his gaze calmly fixed on the golden streak of light disappearing into the east.

The east was the direction of the ruins of the Heavenly Palace, and also the location of the void passage leading to the Eighteenth Heaven.

“He will go back to report.”

Venerable Xuanbing walked to his side, his voice low. “The divine forces of the Eighteenth Heaven will not let this go. One envoy was killed with a single sword strike, and another was driven to flee in disarray. This is a great disgrace to the divine race. Next time, it won’t be a third-grade Golden Immortal.”

“So, instead of waiting for them to come down, we should take the initiative to go up.”

Kai sheathed his Dragon-Slaying Sword, his purple eyes turning eastward. “He’s going back to the Eighteenth Heaven, perfect. I’ll follow him and find the stronghold of the divine forces there.”

Venerable Xuanbing was silent for a moment, then slowly nodded. “The Eighteenth Heaven is not like the Seventeenth Heaven. The divine forces there are countless times stronger than the Heavenly Palace. Although you can kill a third-grade Golden Immortal with a single sword strike, there are many stronger beings in the Eighteenth Heaven. Are you sure you want to go?”

Kai did not answer the question.

He simply placed his hand on the hilt of his Dragon-Slaying Sword, using action to answer.

In fact, Kai was not only going to the Eighteenth Heaven to destroy the divine forces, but he was going to find the so-called Chaos Dao Palace.

Before setting off, Kai entrusted the affairs of the Ten Thousand Demon Ridge to Qingqiu, Guiyuanzi, and Venerable Xuanbing.

He no longer needed to worry about the Seventeenth Heaven; the Heavenly Extreme Palace had been destroyed, the Heavenly Saint Palace had surrendered, and the Divine Abyss Pavilion was on the side of the Ten Thousand Demon Ridge. The three forces working together were enough to stabilize the situation in the entire Seventeenth Heaven.

Even if there were still dissenting forces, they wouldn’t be able to cause any significant trouble under the combined efforts of Qingqiu, Venerable Xuanbing, and Guiyuanzi.

He took the black stone token from his storage ring and held it in his palm.

The black stone felt slightly warm in his palm, and the chaotic power resonated with the spatial fragments within it.

The patterns on the surface of the black stone reappeared, this time clearer than before, faintly forming a star map.

At the center of the star map was an ancient palace shrouded in chaotic mist, with the four characters “Chaotic Dao Palace” inscribed on its gate.

He put away the black stone and walked to the mountain gate.

Jiang Xuelan was already waiting for him there.

Clad in white, her hair as black as ink, she held a silver-white longsword in her hand.

Her face showed no fear, no tension, only her usual calm and determination.

“The Eighteenth Heaven,” she said, “This time, I can finally travel with you.”

Kai looked at her, a rare gentleness flashing in his purple eyes. “Let’s go.”

The two transformed into two streaks of light, one purple and one white, flying eastward.

There, deep within the ruins of the Heavenly Palace, the entrance to the void passage still emitted faint spatial fluctuations.

At the other end of the passage lay the Eighteenth Heaven.

Qingqiu stood on the mountain gate wall, watching the two streaks of light recede into the distance, silent for a long time. “I have lived for tens of thousands of years and have never seen such a person.”

The wind blew through her long white hair, making her voice broken and intermittent, “Perhaps the heavens of the Eighteenth Heaven should change.”

Venerable Xuanbing stood beside her, his ice-blue robes fluttering in the wind.

His gaze followed the departing purple light, his lips twitching slightly. “The remnant soul of the Ancestor is still in that brat’s sea of ​​consciousness. This Pavilion Master hopes that brat lives, not only for the sake of the Ice God lineage’s inheritance.”

He paused, not continuing.

But Qingqiu understood his meaning.

Not only the inheritance, but also the humiliation of being oppressed, ostracized, and suppressed by the gods for tens of thousands of years.

Kai shattered the shackles imposed on everyone in the Seventeenth Heaven by the gods, and now he was going to the Eighteenth Heaven, to the true lair of the gods, to continue his path.

That path might be a one-way street, but that young man seemed never to have thought of turning back.

The entrance to the void passage drew closer, and spatial power surged in like a tide.

Kai gripped Jiang Xuelan’s hand tightly, and the two stepped into the passage leading to the Eighteenth Heaven together.

Behind them, the void passage slowly closed, and the mountains and ruins of the Seventeenth Heaven disappeared into the void.

Ahead, the world of the Eighteenth Heaven was slowly unfolding, the sky there was more vast, the spiritual energy more abundant, and the enemies more powerful.

But there was no fear on Kai’s face.

He was just thinking about how to open the gate to the Chaos Dao Palace.
The void passage slowly closed.

Inside Tianjue City, Wu Heng, the president of the Void Merchant Guild, gazed at the crimson glow on the horizon. He knew Kai had gone to the Eighteenth Heaven, and now even the Seventeenth Heaven was under Kai’s control.

Kai hadn’t touched him; Wu Heng didn’t know if it was because Kai dared not, or simply disdained.

But one thing was certain: Wu Heng absolutely couldn’t let the Daoist inheritance, the Great Luo Golden Scripture, escape like this—it was an extremely valuable item.

Wu Heng immediately contacted Wu Yuan through the guild’s inter-heavenly communication array.

The Void Merchant Guild’s inter-heavenly communication array was an extremely precious ancient relic, consuming hundreds of top-grade spirit stones each time it was used, and was never used lightly unless absolutely necessary.

Wu Yuan, the president of the Void Merchant Guild in the Eighteenth Heaven, was Wu Heng’s brother.

Wu Yuan’s face appeared in the communication array.

Wu Heng relayed Kai’s information verbatim, adding at the end: “This young man possesses the Great Luo Golden Scripture, a supreme inheritance of the Daoist sect lost for tens of thousands of years. If we can seize this scripture, the status of our Void Merchant Guild in the heavens will rise to another level. Brother, you must intercept him in the Eighteenth Heaven, at any cost.”

Wu Yuan listened in silence for a moment, his fingers lightly tapping the armrest of his chair.

Then he smiled, not the usual amiable smile of a merchant, but the smile of a hunter who had discovered his prey.

“The Great Luo Golden Scripture? A supreme inheritance of the Daoist sect lost for tens of thousands of years? Interesting. A mere True Immortal Realm youth, possessing such a treasure, yet daring to venture alone into the Eighteenth Heaven. Brother Heng, rest assured, I have my arrangements.”

After finishing the message, Wu Yuan stood up, walked to the edge of the Void Pavilion, and looked down at the land of the Eighteenth Heaven.

The sea of ​​clouds surged beneath his feet. From ten thousand meters above, the nine golden pagodas of the Flame God Palace and the floating altar of the Bright Hall resembled two flames of different colors burning across the vast land.

“Kai.”

He murmured the name softly, as if savoring a delicious dish about to be served. “He possesses the Great Luo Golden Scripture and the power of chaos. Those fools from the Flame God Palace and the Hall of Light only know how to kill, but they don’t know how to strip him clean before killing him. What a waste.”

He turned around and instructed his trusted aides, “Pass down the order to closely monitor all intelligence about Kai. I must be the first to know his every move.”

The aides hesitated for a moment. “Guild Master, are we going to… capture him?”

“Capture?”

Wu Yuan shook his head. “No. We’re going to help him. Help him gain a foothold, help him fight against the Flame God Palace and the Hall of Light, help him become a hegemon of the Eighteenth Heaven.”

He paused, his smile becoming even more meaningful. “When he has trampled all his enemies under his feet, when he is grateful to us and completely unguarded, that will be the best time for us to make our move.”

…

The void passage slowly closed behind him, and the last ray of light of the Seventeenth Heaven was swallowed by the spatial rift.

Kai and Jiang Xuelan were swept along by the power of space, traversing layers of spatial barriers at an unimaginable speed.

The surrounding light and shadow constantly distorted, sometimes like a dazzling galaxy, sometimes like a deep abyss, and sometimes transforming into countless fragmented images.

These images were fragments of various worlds swept along the spatial passage: some with verdant mountains and clear waters, some with mountains of corpses and seas of blood, and some with a desolate starry sky.

Jiang Xuelan’s hand gripped Kai’s arm tightly. This wasn’t her first time traversing a void passage, but this time was different. This time there was no clear exit, no Qingqiu opening a door for them at the other end; they were forcibly entering an unknown world, chasing the spatial trajectory of a fleeing messenger.

The spatial turbulence in the passage was several times stronger than before, each turbulence containing destructive power enough to tear apart a True Immortal Realm cultivator.

Kai was surrounded by purple chaotic power, forming a semi-transparent light shield protecting the two of them.

The spatial turbulence, powerful enough to tear apart even True Immortal cultivators, crashed into the light barrier and silently dissolved, without even causing a ripple.

Chaos inherently contains the source of spatial laws; before the power of chaos, these spatial turbulences are merely trickles returning to their origin.

His purple eyes remained fixed on the dissipating golden trail ahead—the spatial imprint left by the fleeing messengers, their navigational line.

“Almost there,” Kai said calmly, as if discussing something trivial.

As soon as he finished speaking, a blinding white light suddenly exploded ahead.

The light, like a blazing sun, illuminated the entire void passage.

After the white light faded, a rift appeared at the end of the passage—the exit, the gate to the Eighteenth Heaven.

The two rushed out of the rift and landed on unfamiliar land.

Beneath their feet was dark red sand, not a natural ochre, but a deep brown formed from countless drops of blood.

Countless fragments of bone and metal rubble were mixed in with the sand, crunching underfoot.

An ancient, heavy, decaying stench permeated the air—the smell of flesh and blood rotting for tens of thousands of years, seeping into the soil, the air, and every inch of space.

As far as the eye could see, the wasteland stretched endlessly, devoid of any vegetation or life.

Only jagged rocks and massive skeletons lay scattered across the ground.

Some skeletons resembled those of some colossal beast, a single rib tens of meters long, jutting diagonally from the sand, their surfaces covered in moss and cracks.

Others were humanoid, several times larger than a normal person, their bones a dark gold color; tens of thousands of years of wind and sand had only dulled their luster, not erased their shape.

One dark gold skeleton remained in a fighting stance, arms raised high, the weapon it once held now dust, but the fighting spirit seemed to remain frozen within its bones.

The sky was a deep purple, even more so than the sky of the Seventeenth Heaven.

Three blazing suns hung high in the sky: one golden, one silvery-white, and one crimson.

Their rays intertwined, painting the entire wasteland with a magnificent yet eerie hue.

The air contained spiritual energy several times richer than that of the Seventeenth Heaven, but mixed within this energy was an inexplicable, violent aura—

the lingering killing intent left behind by countless powerful warriors who had fought here over tens of thousands of years, now fused with the spiritual energy.

“This place…” Jiang Xuelan looked around, a hint of shock flashing in her eyes, “What happened here?”

“An ancient battlefield.”

Kai’s divine sense had already spread outwards, the power of chaos transforming into invisible ripples covering an area of ​​thousands of miles. “It was a large-scale battle, and the participants were all highly skilled. The owners of these skeletons were at least at the Golden Immortal realm in life.”

His divine sense continued to probe deeper into the wasteland, sensing several extremely ancient auras in its deepest depths.

Those auras appeared and disappeared intermittently, like a giant whale occasionally surfacing from the deep sea, each appearance causing the laws of space to tremble.

Those were the remnant souls of powerful beings who perished here tens of thousands of years ago, now fused with the spatial rifts of the wasteland, existing between life and death, neither attacking nor dissipating, simply slumbering eternally in this forgotten land.

“No threat for now,”

Kai withdrew his divine sense, “but their existence affects the stability of the spatial laws. Fighting here, we can’t carelessly tear through space; spatial rifts might trigger a chain reaction, awakening things that shouldn’t be awakened.”

Jiang Xuelan nodded, keeping these words in mind.

“Let’s go, let’s find a place to stay first,” Kai said, walking forward, Jiang Xuelan following behind.
At this moment, the envoy who had escaped from the Seventeenth Heaven had arrived at a magnificent palace.

This was the Flame God Palace, the power base of the Fire God lineage of the Divine Race.

The entire palace floated tens of thousands of feet in the sky, supported by nine golden towers, their bodies forged from divine metal from beyond the heavens, and their tops burning with an inextinguishable ancient divine fire.

Below the palace was an endless sea of ​​clouds, and beneath that sea of ​​clouds lay the most prosperous land of the Eighteenth Heaven, the Flame Continent, with tens of thousands of miles of fertile fields and hundreds of cities prostrating themselves in the shadow of the Flame God Palace.

This was the foundation of the Fire God lineage in the Eighteenth Heaven, ruling this land for a hundred thousand years, and every palace master had been a Golden Immortal of the Fifth Rank or higher.

Yan Wuji sat on the Flame God Throne in the center of the hall, his body engulfed in blazing golden flames.

His face was obscured by the flames, revealing only a pair of crimson-gold eyes, which were now fixed on the envoy kneeling in the center of the hall.

The envoy’s armor was mostly shattered, the holy runes were dim and lifeless, and the empty sleeve of his left arm swayed gently in the breeze of the hall.

He had his left arm severed by Kai’s sword in the Fallen God Wasteland, and only managed to escape back to the Flame God Palace by burning his life force with all his might. He didn’t even have time to treat his wound along the way, and golden blood stained the tens of thousands of miles of his journey home.

“You mean,” Yan Wuji’s voice came from the flames, unhurried yet causing the temperature in the entire hall to rise sharply, “that you and Yan Lie, working together, were both killed by a mere eighth-grade True Immortal with a single sword strike, and your arm was severed with another?”

The envoy’s forehead touched the ground, his voice trembling, “Reporting to the Palace Master, that Kai… he possesses the power of chaos, something that counteracts all holy light and divine fire. My holy light protection was like paper before him, and Senior Brother Lie’s battle axe was cleaved in two by his sword, utterly ineffective…”

“The power of chaos.”

Yan Wuji repeated these four words, his crimson-gold eyes in the flames narrowing slightly, “The message from that good-for-nothing Tianji said that this boy possesses the power of chaos, I thought it was just some kind of unorthodox method similar to the aura of chaos. I never expected it to be the real power of chaos.”

He stood up from his throne, the flames surging with his movement, and hundreds of divine fire lamps in the hall exploded simultaneously, golden sparks flying everywhere.

The dozens of elders and disciples standing in the hall knelt down in unison, not daring to raise their heads.

“Eighth-rank True Immortal, Chaotic Power, slaying a peak Third-rank Golden Immortal with a single sword strike.”

Yan Wuji’s voice was terrifyingly calm. “Such cross-rank combat power, I’ve only seen in ancient texts. Descendants of ancient Chaotic Divine Beasts, or those lost supreme inheritances of the Daoist sect.”

He took a few steps, each step leaving a burning footprint on the ground.

“The Heavenly Palace was destroyed, Yan Lie was killed, and Yan Wu returned with a severed arm. For hundreds of thousands of years, the Fire God lineage has never suffered such a humiliation.”

He stopped, turned around, and his crimson-gold eyes swept over the kneeling crowd. “Who is willing to go to the Fallen God Wasteland and capture this boy?”

The hall was deathly silent.

No one dared to speak. Not because they were afraid of the eighth-rank True Immortal youth, but because they sensed a different meaning in Yan Wuji’s tone.

The Palace Master wasn’t asking for opinions; he was calling out names.

“Yan Po.”

Yan Wuji’s gaze fell on a middle-aged man.

The man knelt at the head of the elders’ seat, his physique as imposing as an iron tower, his face square, his brows carrying a sharpness honed through countless battles.

He was the Grand Elder of the Flame God Palace, a peak third-grade Golden Immortal, second only to Yan Wuji himself in cultivation within the Eighteen Heavens Fire God lineage, and commanded the Flame Dragon Guard, the most elite force of the Flame God Palace.

“Your subordinate is here.” Yan Po raised his head, his gaze steady.

“Take three squads of the Flame Dragon Guard, along with Elders Yan Hu and Yan Bao, and go to the Fallen God Wasteland to search for Kai.”

Yan Wuji’s voice brooked no argument. “Find him alive or dead. If you have the chance to capture him alive, bring him back. I want to personally extract his Chaos Power and see where that thing came from.”

“Your subordinate obeys.” Yan Po kowtowed and accepted the order.

Yan Hu and Yan Bao stepped out from the elders’ seat and knelt behind Yan Po.

Yan Hu, lean and wiry with a wild, predatory glint in his eyes, was the Execution Elder of the Flame God Palace, known for his ruthless methods.

Yan Bao, more composed, with a white, beardless face and sinister eyes, was the Intelligence Elder of the Flame God Palace, possessing an enigmatic knowledge of the entire Fallen God Wasteland’s terrain and spatial rift distribution.

All three were at the peak of the third rank of the Golden Immortal Realm, and together with the thirty elite disciples of the Flame Dragon Guard’s third squad, each possessed a cultivation level of at least the first rank of the Golden Immortal Realm.

Such a lineup was more than capable of dealing with a mere eighth-rank True Immortal Realm youth, or even a fourth-rank Golden Immortal Realm expert.

“Remember,”

Yan Wuji sat back on his throne, flames engulfing him once more, “The Fallen God Wasteland is no ordinary place. The spatial rifts there awaken ancient remnant souls, and the murderous intent and lingering resentment there affect the mind. Don’t cause any unnecessary trouble. Find the person and bring them back. If you encounter anyone from the Daoist sect…”

He paused, a cold glint flashing in his crimson-gold eyes within the flames, “…kill them without mercy.”

“Yes!”

The three acknowledged the order and withdrew.

Silence returned to the great hall, broken only by the faint crackling of the divine fire lamps.

Yan Wuji sat amidst the flames, his fingers lightly tapping the armrest of his throne, producing a dull thud. What

he didn’t tell Yan Po was that he sensed a trace of aura belonging to the Fire God lineage on the escaped messenger.

The aura was faint, like a deliberately concealed spy, vanishing the moment Yan Wuji stepped into the Flame God Palace.

Someone was monitoring the Flame God Palace’s every move.

And that person’s cultivation was no less than his own.

“The Void Merchant Guild? Or the Daoist sect? Or perhaps… someone from the Hall of Light?”

Yan Wuji murmured to himself, his crimson-gold eyes flickering in the flames. “Whoever it is, if they want to snatch food from my mouth, they’d better think twice before they try to bite off more than they can chew.”

Meanwhile, in Tianlan City, the location of the Void Merchant Guild in the Eighteenth Heaven.

Sky City floats tens of thousands of feet above the northernmost part of the Eighteenth Heaven. The entire city is pieced together from dozens of floating islands, connected by iron chains and teleportation arrays, forming a sky city stretching for hundreds of miles.

At the very center and highest point of the city, on the floating island, stands a completely black tower.

The tower has nine floors, each inlaid with tens of thousands of spatial crystals, refracting a seven-colored light under the sunlight.

These spatial crystals are not merely decorations, but the foundation upon which the Void Merchant Guild stands in the Eighteenth Heaven. They anchor all spatial nodes within a radius of tens of thousands of miles to the tower, ensuring that no one’s movement within this area escapes the tower’s surveillance.

This is the Void Pavilion, the headquarters of the Void Merchant Guild in the Eighteenth Heaven.

Wu Yuan stood before the floor-to-ceiling window on the ninth floor of the Void Pavilion, holding a cup of Enlightenment Tea brewed with ancient spiritual spring water. The fragrant aroma of the tea coalesced into a blurry image before him.

The image depicted the dark red sands and scattered bones of the Fallen God Wasteland, with spatial energy twisting and fluctuating within it, occasionally flashing with streaks of purple light. “President, Vice President Su has already set off.”

His trusted attendant stood three steps behind him, reporting respectfully, “She brought the Chamber of Commerce’s finest disguise artifact, ‘Thousand Faces,’ which can freely alter one’s appearance, aura, and even cultivation fluctuations. If she so desires, even a fifth-grade Golden Immortal cannot see through her disguise.”

Wu Yuan nodded, taking a sip of his Enlightenment Tea. “What’s the situation at the Flame God Palace?” ”

Yan Wuji dispatched three elders—Yan Po, Yan Hu, and Yan Bao—leading three teams of the Flame Dragon Guard to the Fallen God Wasteland. They are all at the peak of the third grade Golden Immortal realm; their lineup is very strong.”

“Very strong?”

Wu Yuan smiled, a shrewdness characteristic of a businessman. “Indeed very strong. But no matter how strong they are, they are nothing more than three slightly stronger ants before the power of chaos.

That kid named Kai, at the eighth grade True Immortal realm, can kill a peak third-grade Golden Immortal with a single sword strike. Once he reaches the Golden Immortal realm, won’t he be able to challenge beings of even higher realms?”

His fingers tapped lightly on his teacup, producing a crisp tinkling sound.

“Tell Su Jingqiu not to rush. Let the people from the Flame God Palace fight Kai first, and let her observe from the shadows. Once both sides are nearly exhausted, she can step in. Not as a member of the Void Merchant Guild, but as… a rogue cultivator lost in the Fallen God Wasteland.”

He paused. “By the way, tell her to take that thing with her.”

The trusted attendant was taken aback. “The Guild Master means… the Ancient Teleportation Jade Talisman?”

“The Fallen God Wasteland is riddled with spatial rifts; even a fifth-grade Golden Immortal wouldn’t dare to tear through space casually. If she encounters danger, without that thing, she won’t even be able to escape.”

Wu Yuan turned around, his crimson-gold eyes gleaming in the dim tower. “I can’t bear to see Vice Guild Master Su perish in such a place. She’s my most valuable pawn, worth more than ten third-grade Golden Immortals.”

The trusted attendant acknowledged the order and withdrew.

Wu Yuan turned back to the French windows, gazing at the vast sea of ​​clouds outside and the expansive Eighteen Heavens below.

His gaze swept past the Flame God Palace, landing on the floating altar of the Bright Hall in the distance, then on the faintly visible Daoist palace deep within the Azure Cloud Mountains, finally settling on the dark red deathly wasteland of the Fallen God Wasteland.

“The Great Luo Golden

Scripture,” he murmured, his voice tinged with an almost devout greed. “The supreme inheritance of the Daoist sect, lost for hundreds of thousands of years, something the entire universe has been searching for, has actually fallen into the hands of a mere True Immortal. What kind of luck is this? Or… is this a deliberate arrangement by those old fogies of the Daoist sect?”

He shook his head, dismissing the thought.

Regardless of whether it was the Daoist sect’s arrangement, since the Great Luo Golden Scripture had appeared on his territory, there was no reason to let it go.

As for Kai?

A True Immortal youth, possessing a great treasure, venturing alone into the Eighteenth Heaven.

In Wu Yuan’s eyes, he wasn’t a person; he was a piece of fat meat, a piece of fat meat coated in honey, and he only needed to patiently wait for the honey to melt before swallowing him whole.

…

Azure Cloud Mountains, Azure Cloud Cave Heaven of the Daoist sect.

Unlike the grandeur of the Flame God Palace and the secrecy of the Void Merchant Guild, the Daoist Azure Cloud Cave Heaven is hidden deep within the Azure Cloud Mountains, concealed by an ancient array. From the outside, it appears as nothing more than endless green hills and clear waters, showing no signs of anything unusual.

But the moment one steps into the array, the world transforms abruptly. The green hills and clear waters

vanish, replaced by a vast, boundless paradise of immortals.

Spiritual peaks, like swords, pierce the clouds, with waterfalls cascading from their summits, their roars like thunder.

Spiritual springs gurgle, converging into lakes where cranes dance and spirit turtles swim leisurely.

Ancient pines stand strong, entwined with vines, and spiritual herbs and mushrooms grow everywhere, their multicolored spiritual light flowing among the branches and leaves.

The air is filled with a dense, almost liquefied, spiritual energy of heaven and earth, and with every breath, one can feel their cultivation increasing at a visible speed.

This is the Azure Cloud Cave Heaven, a power belonging to the Daoist sect.

Unlike the magnificent exterior, the Enlightenment Cliff deep within the Azure Cloud Cave Heaven is utterly silent.

Enlightenment Cliff is the highest precipice in Qingyun Cave Heaven. Its summit is only a few dozen feet in diameter, barren and devoid of vegetation, with only a single, azure boulder standing at its edge. Seated

cross-legged on this boulder is an old Taoist priest with white hair and beard, his face serene, eyes slightly closed, and no trace of spiritual energy emanating from him. He appears like an ordinary old man.

Yet, anyone who cultivates Taoist techniques, upon approaching within a hundred feet of him, will feel a pressure emanating from the depths of their soul.

This pressure is not an overwhelming superiority in cultivation level, but a suppression of the Taoist hierarchy, like a novice Taoist standing before a Taoist patriarch, filled with the awe of a lineage originating from its source.

He is Jade Void True Man, the head of Qingyun Cave Heaven, a fifth-grade Golden Immortal.

In the Eighteenth Heaven, this cultivation level is enough to make one look down upon everything.

But he has not left Enlightenment Cliff for tens of thousands of years, not because he cannot, but because he is waiting.

Waiting for a sign, waiting for a person, waiting for the return of a lineage.

At this moment, he suddenly opens his eyes.

Those eyes were so clear they didn’t seem like those of an old man who had lived for tens of thousands of years. There was no weariness, no cloudiness, only a clarity that saw through the essence of all things.

“They’ve arrived,”

he murmured, his voice soft yet carrying throughout the entire Qingyun Cave Heaven.

In an instant, several streams of light shot in from all directions of Qingyun Cave Heaven, landing at the foot of the Enlightenment Cliff.

Leading them was a middle-aged Taoist priest, with a handsome face, three long wisps of beard, wearing a blue Taoist robe, and an ancient sword hanging at his waist, its scabbard engraved with the words “Tai Xu.”

He was Qing Xuanzi, the Grand Elder of Qingyun Cave Heaven, a fourth-grade Golden Immortal, second only to Jade Void True Man in the Taoist sect.

Behind Qing Xuanzi stood more than a dozen Taoist priests, all with cultivation levels above the Golden Immortal realm, their eyes filled with undisguised excitement and anticipation. “Master Uncle,” Qing Xuanzi bowed respectfully, his voice trembling slightly, “You sensed it?”

“The Great Luo Golden Scripture.”

Yu Xu Zhenren’s voice was calm as still water, yet it made everyone present’s hearts skip a beat. “I sensed its aura. It’s in the Fallen God Wasteland, on a young man.”

The Fallen God Wasteland.

This name silenced the people below the Enlightenment Cliff for a moment.

It was the site of the ancient war of the gods, where countless Golden Immortals had perished tens of thousands of years ago. The lingering killing intent and resentment still lingered, and spatial rifts covered the entire wasteland, threatening to awaken the slumbering ancient souls at any moment.

It was one of the most dangerous forbidden areas of the Eighteen Heavens, where even a fourth-grade Golden Immortal dared not venture too far.

And the aura of the Great Luo Golden Scripture was in the center of that deathly place.

“Grand Elder…” At this moment, a disciple whispered a few words in Qing Xuanzi’s ear.

Qing Xuanzi frowned, his expression changing slightly.

“What’s wrong?” Yu Xu Zhenren asked.

“Master Uncle, both the Flame God Palace and the Void Merchant Guild have sent people to the Fallen God Wasteland, most likely for the Great Luo Golden Scripture,” Qing Xuanzi said.

“The Great Luo Golden Scripture is a Daoist inheritance, so it’s normal for other forces to be eyeing it,” Yu Xu Zhenren nodded.

“Master Uncle,” Qing Xuanzi hesitated, “The Fallen God Wasteland is too dangerous. Why don’t I lead people there and bring back that boy?”

“No.”

Yu Xu Zhenren shook his head, a rare solemnity appearing on his usually calm face. “You can’t go. None of you can go. If you all mobilize in large numbers, and so many forces clash head-on in the Fallen God Wasteland, it won’t just be a matter of fighting for the inheritance, but the first major war between forces in the Eighteen Heavens in tens of thousands of years.”

He paused, his gaze sweeping over the crowd below the cliff, finally settling on a young Daoist standing at the very back.

The Daoist looked to be no more than twenty years old, with delicate features and a composure beyond his years.

Dressed in a plain Taoist robe, with a sheathless wooden sword hanging at his waist, the sword showed no spiritual energy fluctuations and looked like an ordinary piece of peach wood.

However, upon closer inspection, one could see that the wood grain subtly formed ancient Taoist patterns—the long-lost “Heavenly Wood Sword,” crafted from ten-thousand-year-old lightning-struck peach wood, nurtured with Taoist techniques for a thousand years to become a finished product.

This was Yun Yi, the most outstanding disciple of this generation in the Taoist sect, a second-grade Golden Immortal.

“Yun Yi,”

Jade Void Master’s voice softened, “Come here.”

Yun Yi stepped out from the crowd, ascended the Enlightenment Cliff, and stopped three steps in front of Jade Void Master, bowing respectfully.

He didn’t speak, simply waiting quietly.

Jade Void Master scrutinized him, a hint of satisfaction flashing in his eyes.

He had watched this child grow up, cultivating from a mere Taoist novice to a second-grade Golden Immortal in less than three thousand years.

In the Taoist sect, this speed wasn’t the fastest, but his solid foundation and unwavering Taoist heart were the most outstanding of this generation.

More importantly, he was taciturn, meticulous, and never did anything without certainty.

“Go to the Fallen God Wasteland and find the young man who possesses the Great Luo Golden Scripture.”

Master Yuxu’s voice was soft, each word clearly reaching Yun Yi’s ears. “Don’t be his enemy, and don’t deliberately approach him. The Great Luo Golden Scripture chose him; it’s fate. You only need to… appear by his side when he needs help.”

Yun Yi raised his head, looking into Master Yuxu’s eyes.

In those clear eyes, there was an emotion he had never seen before.

Not expectation, not worry, but a near-fatal certainty.

As if everything was predetermined, from the moment the Great Luo Golden Scripture was lost hundreds of thousands of years ago, from the moment that young man was born, from the moment they stood here talking, it was all destined.

“Disciple understands.” Yun Yi’s voice was soft, yet carried an undeniable firmness.

He turned and walked down the Enlightenment Cliff, his plain Daoist robe fluttering gently in the wind, his wooden sword swaying softly at his waist, making a faint clinking sound.

The people below watched him go, no one speaking.

Qing Xuanzi watched Yun Yi’s figure disappear at the exit of Qingyun Cave Heaven, and finally couldn’t help but speak: “Master Uncle, you only sent Yun Yi alone? In a place like the Fallen God Wasteland, although Yun Yi’s cultivation is not bad, he is only at the second level of the Golden Immortal Realm. What if…”

“There is no ‘what if’.”

True Man Yuxu closed his eyes again, his voice as calm as a still pond. “No matter how many people the Flame God Palace sends, they can’t hurt that young man. No matter how deep the Void Merchant Guild’s conspiracy is, it can’t reach him. The people they sent are just stones for him to sharpen his blade.”

He paused, and the corners of his mouth slightly curved into an almost imperceptible smile.

“As for that young man, now that he has reached the Eighteenth Heaven, it’s time to temper the Flame God Palace’s arrogance. The Fire God lineage has dominated the Eighteenth Heaven for too long, so long that they have forgotten that this world is not just about fire.”

Silence returned to Wudao Cliff.

Only the whistling of the wind blowing through the blue stones on the cliff edge and the faint sound of water from the distant Lingfeng Waterfall remained.

…

In the Fallen God Wasteland, amidst the dark red sand, Kai stopped.

Unaware that he was being watched by several forces the moment he landed on the eighteenth level of the Heavenly Realm, he was targeted.

He took out a pill from his storage ring and swallowed it. The pill entered his stomach, and spiritual energy circulated through his meridians, replenishing the chaotic energy he had consumed during his journey.

The dark red wasteland stretched endlessly before him, the rays of the three blazing suns casting long shadows of him and Jiang Xuelan, leaving two twisted black streaks on the sand.

He had been walking across this wasteland for several hours, passing countless skeletons and battle ruins, his divine sense maintaining maximum coverage, not escaping the notice of any disturbance.

Jiang Xuelan stood beside him, her silver-white longsword already drawn three inches from its sheath, a faint cold light emanating from its blade.

Her divine sense wasn’t as powerful as Kai’s, but the perception of the Ice God lineage allowed her to vaguely sense something.

“Someone is tracking us,” she said softly, her gaze fixed on a direction deep within the wasteland.

“Hmm,”

Kai nodded, his purple eyes reflecting several rapidly moving golden dots on the distant horizon. “Three peak third-grade Golden Immortals, leading thirty first-grade Golden Immortals. They’re still eight hundred li away from us. At their speed, they’ll catch up in less than an incense stick’s time.”

His tone was calm; he had actually sensed it long ago.

However, these people weren’t very strong, so Kai didn’t care.

Jiang Xuelan turned to look at him, her white robes standing out starkly against the dark red wasteland.

There was no fear in her eyes, only a hint of helplessness, and a slight smile appeared on her lips: “Another Golden Immortal Realm Third Grade?”
“Three this time.”

Kai drew his Dragon-Slaying Sword, purple chaotic fire slowly burning on its blade, distorting the surrounding air.

“Two last time, three this time.” Jiang Xuelan also drew her longsword, its silver blade gleaming coldly. “The people of the Divine Race are truly generous.”

“Not generous, but arrogant.”

Kai’s gaze passed over the approaching golden lights, landing on a distorted space further away.

The spiritual energy fluctuations in that space were different from the surroundings, faintly forming a semi-transparent vortex, with something shimmering with a faint golden light at its center.

“Someone is observing us from the shadows over there,”

he whispered. “Not highly cultivated, third-grade Golden Immortal, but carrying some kind of magical artifact that can shield them from divine sense. Not a member of the Divine Race, nor a member of the Daoist sect.”

Jiang Xuelan followed his gaze but saw nothing.

But she trusted Kai’s judgment.

“Should we deal with her?”

“No rush.” ​​Kai withdrew his gaze and refocused on the golden lights that had closed to within three hundred miles. “Take care of these first.”

Three hundred miles.

Two hundred miles.

One hundred miles.

The golden lights grew larger and clearer, revealing three figures in front and thirty slightly smaller figures behind. Each figure was engulfed in golden holy flames, resembling thirty-three falling meteors against the dark red wasteland.

The leading figure was the largest, his body like a moving iron tower. The holy flames on his body solidified into a solid armor, its surface swirling with dense war runes.

He stopped thirty miles from Kai, and the thirty-two golden lights behind him stopped simultaneously, forming a fan-shaped battle formation in the air, blocking all of Kai and Jiang Xuelan’s escape routes.

Thirty miles.

For a Golden Immortal cultivator, this distance was no different from being face-to-face.

Yan Po looked down at the two teenagers on the dark red sand, a hint of contempt flashing in his crimson-gold eyes.

Eighth and ninth rank True Immortals.

These two ants had killed Yan Lie and severed Yan Wu’s arm?

“You’re Kai?” His voice, like muffled thunder, echoed across the wasteland.

Kai raised his head, his purple eyes meeting Yan Po’s crimson-gold gaze.

He didn’t speak, only slightly raising his chin in response.

Yan Po frowned.

He had seen many arrogant young people, but none dared to face him with such an attitude.

Even a first-rank Golden Immortal had to treat him with utmost respect; what right did a mere eighth-rank True Immortal have?

“The Palace Master has ordered,” Yan Po’s voice held a hint of impatience, “that we see you alive or dead. Will you come with us, or will we take action?”

Kai remained silent.

He simply held the Dragon-Slaying Sword horizontally in front of him, and the purple chaotic fire on its blade suddenly surged higher, the flames hissing as they burned the surrounding holy light.

Yan Po’s pupils contracted sharply.

He felt it—the power that was completely opposed to, even restrained, the holy light.

Chaotic power.

Not a legend, not some unorthodox method, but genuine chaotic power.

“Attack!”

Yan Po didn’t waste any more words, his figure shooting out, a halberd burning with golden holy fire materializing in his hand, the halberd slashing down at Kai with enough power to split a mountain.

Yan Hu and Yan Bao attacked simultaneously from the left and right flanks. Yan Hu wielded twin blades, the blades flowing with dark red flames—the “torture fire” specially used by the Hall of Punishments to interrogate prisoners, burning not only the flesh but also the soul.

Yan Bao silently circled around to Kai’s back, wielding a slender rapier. The blade was devoid of flame, only a thin layer of silver light emanating from it—a “Spirit-Breaking Thorn” specifically designed to break through protective spiritual energy.

Thirty Flame Dragon Guards simultaneously dispersed, forming a massive encirclement in the air. Each held a standard-issue flaming longsword, the sacred flames on their blades merging together to form a fiery cage descending from the sky.

Kai moved.

He didn’t dodge, didn’t retreat, and didn’t even parry. His

Dragon-Slaying Sword swung upwards, its purple sword energy arcing through the air, colliding head-on with Yan Po’s golden halberd.

Boom!

A shockwave even more powerful than the one before the Ten Thousand Demon Ridge gates spread outwards, hurling dark red sand and dust from dozens of miles around into the air, revealing deep brown rocks beneath.

The rocks were etched with ancient battle marks, left by ancient powerhouses tens of thousands of years ago, still untouched by the wind and sand.

Yan Po was sent flying dozens of feet backward by the shockwave. His arms were numb, his tiger’s mouth split open, and golden blood seeped from the wounds, dripping onto the dark red sand.

His eyes were wide open, his face filled with disbelief.

His cultivation was more than one level higher than Yan Lie’s, and the battle halberd in his hand was an ancient magic weapon inherited from the Fire God lineage. How could he have been repelled by a mere eighth-grade True Immortal with a single sword strike?

What kind of power was this?

Kai didn’t give him time to think.

The second sword strike had already come.

This sword strike was no longer a passive block, but an active attack.

The purple chaotic fire on the Dragon-Slaying Sword condensed into a hundred-foot-long sword aura. Wherever the sword aura passed, the holy light and flames seemed to have encountered a natural enemy, automatically dodging to the sides.

Even the war runes on Yan Po’s body began to flicker, as if warning their master that the threat before them had exceeded the runes’ tolerance.

Yan Po gritted his teeth, and the holy light within his body erupted with all its might. The golden flames on the battle halberd suddenly shot up, condensing into a hexagonal holy light shield in front of him.

An ancient phantom of the Fire God appeared on the shield, its eyes crimson, spewing forth a stream of golden divine fire that merged with the shield.

This move was the Fire God lineage’s life-saving technique, the “Divine Fire Shield,” said to be able to withstand even the full-force attack of a fourth-grade Golden Immortal.

However, when Kai’s sword aura struck the Divine Fire Shield, the ancient Fire God phantom on the shield let out a shrill scream. The golden divine fire, as if encountering its nemesis in the face of chaotic fire, was instantly devoured.

The shield shattered.

The sword aura, undiminished in its momentum, headed straight for Yan Po’s chest.

At the critical moment, Yan Hu’s twin blades slashed from the side, the dark red Fiery Blade clashing with the purple sword aura, producing a piercing metallic scraping sound.

Yan Bao’s Spirit-Piercing Thorn silently pierced towards the back of Kai’s neck, its silver light almost invisible amidst the purple radiance of the sword aura.

Kai slightly shifted his body, the Spirit-Piercing Thorn grazing his ear and lifting a strand of black hair.

He struck out with his left palm, chaotic power condensing into a fist-sized purple orb in his palm. The orb shot out and slammed into Yan Bao’s chest.

Yan Bao groaned, blasted hundreds of feet away, crashing into a pile of bones, sending up clouds of ashes and sand.

A fist-sized crater appeared in his chest, golden blood oozing from the corner of his mouth, and his chest armor completely shattered, revealing the charred flesh beneath, burned black by the chaotic power. At the same time, Kai’s sword flashed, slashing at Yan Hu.

Yan Hu crossed his twin blades in front of him, dark red flames of punishment burning wildly on the blades, attempting to resist the erosion of the chaotic power.

But the chaotic fire directly devoured the flames of punishment, burning through the twin blades, charring Yan Hu’s hands black, and finally leaving a deep, bone-revealing sword wound on his chest.

Yan Hu screamed and flew backward, landing next to Yan Bao, golden blood gushing uncontrollably from the gaping wound in his chest.

The fiery cage of thirty Yan Long Guards finally descended, and golden holy fire pressed down on Kai from all directions.

Kai raised his head, his purple eyes reflecting the golden flames filling the sky.

He took a deep breath, raising the Dragon Slayer Sword high above his head, the purple chaotic fire on the blade exploding violently, transforming into concentric purple ripples spreading outward.

Wherever the ripples passed, the golden holy fire extinguished layer by layer, like candle flames blown out by a gale.

Thirty Flame Dragon Guards simultaneously coughed up blood, sent flying backward by the backlash of spiritual energy, their flaming longswords shattering into countless golden fragments.

From the moment Yan Po gave the order to attack to the complete annihilation of the Flame Dragon Guards, less than ten breaths had passed.

Yan Po stood rooted to the spot, looking at the Flame Dragon Guards howling in agony, at the Flame Tiger with its gaping wound in its chest, at the Flame Leopard with its sunken chest, his hand gripping his halberd trembling.

Not from fear, but from rage.

The Flame God Palace’s hundreds of thousands of years of prestige, the peak cultivation of the third rank of the Golden Immortal Realm, thirty elites of the first rank of the Golden Immortal Realm—all were like paper before this youth of the eighth rank of the True Immortal Realm.

He roared, burning his essence blood, holy light surging wildly within his body, forcibly pushing his cultivation to the threshold of the fourth rank of the Golden Immortal Realm.

The golden flames on his halberd turned blazing white, the color that only appears when holy light is compressed to its extreme, the temperature so high that even the air seemed to ignite, and the space within a hundred feet began to distort and deform.

“Die!”

The halberd, carrying a power capable of destroying the heavens and earth, thrust towards Kai. A blinding white holy light condensed at the halberd’s tip into a thin, hair-like beam—the strongest strike, compressing all power into a single point.

Kai raised his Dragon-Slaying Sword, its tip aimed at the incoming halberd.

He didn’t dodge, didn’t gather strength, and didn’t even mobilize more chaotic power.

He simply thrust out a single sword strike.

The sword tip collided with the halberd tip.

In that instant, the spatial laws within a hundred miles trembled violently. The ancient remnants of souls deep within the Fallen God Wasteland simultaneously let out a low sigh, as if awakened from their slumber by the power of this sword strike.

Then, all fell silent.

Yan Po lowered his head, looking at his chest.

The tip of the Dragon-Slaying Sword pierced through his chest and emerged from his back. Purple chaotic fire burned within his body, devouring his holy light, essence blood, meridians, and bones, one by one.

He didn’t even feel pain, only a chill surging from the depths of his bone marrow—the aura of death.

“You…”

He tried to say something, but the chaotic fire had already consumed his throat, leaving only silent mouth movements.

Kai drew the Dragon-Slaying Sword, and Yan Po’s body slowly fell, crashing onto the dark red sand, splashing a cloud of golden blood mist.

His crimson-gold eyes remained open until death, frozen in disbelief.

Yan Hu and Yan Bao struggled to get up and escape, but their injuries were too severe. The sword wound on Yan Hu’s chest was still bleeding, and the dent in Yan Bao’s chest made every breath feel like torture.

Kai walked up to them, looking down at them.

“Go back and tell your so-called Palace Master,” his voice was calm, devoid of any emotion, “that the Eighteen Heavens are not his territory. Here, I call the shots.”

Although Kai had just arrived at the Eighteen Heavens and didn’t yet know the extent of its power,

he was confident that with his arrival, the Eighteen Heavens belonged to him.

Yan Hu and Yan Bao exchanged a glance, a complex expression flashing in their eyes.

They didn’t speak, helping each other to their feet, and staggered towards the edge of the wasteland.

Behind him, the corpses of thirty Flame Dragon Guards lay scattered on the dark red sand, their golden blood seeping into the soil, staining that small patch of land a dark gold.

Kai sheathed his Dragon-Slaying Sword and turned his gaze to the distorted space deep within the wasteland.

The golden light in that space had vanished; the person who had been secretly observing had left the instant the battle ended, leaving cleanly and swiftly without a trace.

But Kai remembered that person’s aura—an aura that didn’t belong to the gods, nor to the Daoist sects, but possessed an indescribable…merchant’s scent.

“The Void Merchant Guild,” Kai murmured, his brow furrowing slightly.

Jiang Xuelan walked to his side. “How did you know?”

“I guessed.”

Kai sheathed his Dragon-Slaying Sword. “The president of the Void Merchant Guild in the Seventeenth Heaven is very interested in the Great Luo Golden Scripture. I have what he wants, and he won’t let this opportunity pass him by.”

He paused, a cold glint flashing in his purple eyes. “However, he’s smarter than the Heavenly Venerable. He knows that force won’t work, so he wants to try a different approach. First, observe; then make contact; then gain trust; and finally…” He didn’t finish his sentence.

In the Seventeenth Heaven, Kai didn’t attack Wu Heng not out of disdain or fear.

He knew that the Void Merchant Guild was a powerful force in many heavens, and Kai simply didn’t want to create another enemy, perhaps for the future when he might need the Void Merchant Guild.

That’s why he let Wu Heng go.

But now, it’s clear that the Void Merchant Guild in the Eighteenth Heaven knows of his arrival; it must have been Wu Heng who sent the message.

Jiang Xuelan understood at this moment.

“Then what do we do?” Jiang Xuelan asked.

“Wait.”

Kai turned and continued walking out of the wasteland. “Wait for the people he sent to come to me. Since he wants to be my friend, I’ll give him a chance. As for who schemes against whom in the end…”

He didn’t finish his sentence, but the cold smile on his lips said it all. At the edge of the Fallen God Wasteland, the dark red sand began to thin, and gray-brown rocks and scattered withered grass gradually appeared on the ground.

Kai and Jiang Xuelan had walked for a whole day. Behind them, the wasteland had turned into a dark red line on the horizon, while ahead, the outline of a city was faintly visible in the twilight.

The city was not large, with walls built of black volcanic rock, about ten zhang high. Every hundred zhang along the walls was an arrow tower, its tops burning with dim yellow lights.

Above the city gate were three ancient characters—Fire Crow City.

There weren’t many cultivators entering or leaving the city gate; most were dressed as rogue cultivators, wearing robes of various colors, with low-grade magic artifacts and storage bags hanging from their waists.

Their cultivation levels were generally below the True Immortal Realm. Occasionally, one could see one or two True Immortal Realm first or second grade cultivators passing by, who were already the highest-ranking beings in the city.

“Fire Crow City.” Jiang Xuelan uttered the name of the city gate, her gaze sweeping over the city wall. “The name is interesting.”

“It’s the territory of the Fire God lineage, so it’s normal to name it after fire.” Kai glanced at the guards at the city gate; they were just a few True Immortal Realm cultivators, not even at the Golden Immortal Realm, posing no threat to him. Just

as he was about to step into the city, a woman’s voice suddenly came from behind him.

“Mr. Chen, please wait.”

The voice wasn’t loud, but it was clear and distinct, with a perfect sense of proportion, neither abrupt nor deliberate.

Kai stopped, not turning around immediately.

His divine sense had already locked onto the source of the voice. Thirty feet behind him, a woman in a light gray dress was walking from the direction of the Fallen God Wasteland.

She walked at a moderate pace, her steps light, the hem of her dress leaving shallow marks on the dark red sand.

Her face was beautiful, without makeup, her long hair casually tied up with a wooden hairpin, a few strands fluttering gently in the wind.

She appeared simple and clean, like an ordinary female cultivator who, despite her long journey through the Great Wilderness, remained dignified despite her travel-worn appearance.

However, Kai’s purple eyes lingered on her for a moment before he noticed something amiss.

Her cultivation level fluctuated around the first rank of the Golden Immortal realm—neither too high nor too low, just enough to walk on the edge of the Fallen God Wasteland without attracting too much attention.

But the fluctuations were too stable, almost artificially controlled; the amplitude of her spiritual energy fluctuations was exactly the same with every breath, something almost impossible for a true cultivator.

More importantly, her aura was exactly the same as the “merchant’s scent” he had sensed at the end of the battle.

It was the same person who had been secretly observing from the distorted space.

Su Jingqiu walked up to Kai and stopped five steps away.

This distance was subtle, neither offensive nor distant.

She didn’t rush to speak but instead bent down and gently placed a storage bag on the ground beside Kai’s feet.

The movement was natural, like placing a casually carried bundle by the roadside.

“The Void Merchant Guild wishes to befriend Mr. Chen. This is a small gift.”

She spoke simply, her tone flat, without any unnecessary formalities or flattery. After speaking, she straightened up, nodded slightly to Kai, and then turned to leave.

From beginning to end, she left no name, no contact information, and didn’t even glance at Kai.

She came suddenly and left decisively.

Jiang Xuelan watched her departing figure, her brows furrowing slightly: “She just left like that?”

“Yes.” Kai bent down and picked up the storage bag.

The storage bag was the most ordinary kind, a grayish-white cloth bag without any markings, the kind you could buy from a street vendor for a few low-grade spirit stones.

But the contents of the bag were anything but ordinary.

The moment his divine sense probed into it, Kai’s pupils contracted slightly.

Inside the storage bag lay a jade slip and a silver-white token.

The jade slip was pure white, its surface shimmering with a faint spiritual light; it was clearly a high-grade recording jade slip.

He probed the jade slip with his divine sense, and a huge map unfolded in his mind.

The map’s level of detail far exceeded his expectations.

Centered on the Fallen God Wasteland, the map radiated outwards in all directions, covering the entire Eighteen Heavens.

Mountains, rivers, cities, sects, spiritual veins, mines, forbidden areas, and secret realms—everything was clearly marked.

The Flame God Palace was in the southwest, with the locations of its nine golden pagodas pinpointed to their height and defensive range.

The Hall of Light was in the southeast, with the coordinates of the floating altar marked below it with “Holy Light Restriction, those below the fifth rank of Golden Immortal should not approach.”

The Void Merchant Guild’s Heavenly City was in the far north, and the map marked the distribution of the thirty-six floating islands surrounding the city and the teleportation array nodes between them.

The Azure Cloud Cave Heaven was deep within the Azure Cloud Mountains in the northeast; its exact location wasn’t marked on the map, only described in small print as “Daoist Sect’s stronghold, concealed by a great array, exact location unknown.”

In addition, the locations, territories, and cultivation levels of the main experts of dozens of smaller forces were also listed.

There was even a map showing the distribution of spatial rifts within the Fallen God Wasteland, with the location, size, and activity cycle of each rift marked in extreme detail. Some places even had notes—”This rift connects to the slumbering place of ancient remnant souls; approaching is risky.”

The value of this map was immeasurable in spirit stones.

The maps of the Eighteen Heavens available on the market at most marked the approximate locations of a few major sects, with an accuracy many times worse.

This map, however, was as if it laid bare the entire Eighteen Heavens’ trump cards before Kai.

Beyond the jade slip was the silver-white token.

The token was palm-sized, with a treasure ship traversing the void engraved on the front, its lines smooth, its sails billowing, as if it might sail out of the token at any moment.

On the back was the mark of the Void Merchant Guild—a vortex composed of nine arcs, with the ancient character “虚” (Void) at its center.

A faint silver light shimmered on the token’s surface. Kai could sense an extremely subtle spatial law within it, connected to a certain array of the Void Merchant Guild. The token’s holder could activate it in a crisis, instantly teleporting them back to the guild’s safe zone.

This was a guest elder token of the Void Merchant Guild.

Moreover, judging from the token’s material and the complexity of its runes, its grade was quite high, at least second only to the guild leader.

Kai flipped the token in his palm, remaining silent for a moment.

Jiang Xuelan leaned closer for a glance, a hint of surprise flashing in her eyes: “A guest elder token of the Void Merchant Guild? They want to recruit you?”

“Not recruit.” Kai put the token and jade slip back into his storage bag, tying it to his waist. “It’s a long-term strategy to catch a big fish.”

“What do you mean?”

“A map, a token, nothing else asked, not even a name. This gift is so clean, so pure, that it feels wrong not to accept it.”

Kai looked up at the direction Su Jingqiu had left in; her greyish-blue figure had already disappeared into the twilight of the Fallen God Wasteland. “Accepting the gift means owing a favor. And favors must be repaid sooner or later.”

“Then why are you still accepting it?”

“The map is something I need. The token…” Kai paused, “I’ll keep it for now, whether I need it or not is another matter.”

He turned and walked towards Fire Raven City, Jiang Xuelan beside him. As soon as the two entered the city gate, the bustling atmosphere of the city hit them.

Fire Crow City wasn’t large, but it was very lively.

Stalls lined both sides of the streets, selling magical artifacts, elixirs, spiritual materials, and monster beast materials, their shouts rising and falling.

Pedestrians thronged shoulder to shoulder, mostly independent cultivators; occasionally, a few sect disciples in uniform robes would walk by, and the surrounding vendors and cultivators would automatically make way.

The most conspicuous building in the city was a three-story stone tower in the center, with a flag atop it embroidered with a three-legged golden crow engulfed in flames—the symbol of the Fire God lineage.

The tower’s doors were open, and the sounds of noisy conversation and the aroma of wine and meat wafted from within—it was a tavern.

Kai didn’t enter the stone tower in the city center, but instead found a secluded little inn to stay in.

The inn was small, only two stories high; the first floor was a simple dining hall, and the second floor had several guest rooms. The innkeeper was an elderly cultivator at the ninth rank of the True Immortal Realm, with gray hair and a slightly hunched back. A flicker of wariness crossed his eyes when he saw two strangers enter, but he quickly replaced it with a businessman’s smile.

“Gentlemen, would you like to stay or eat?”

“Stay. Two rooms.” Kai placed a few spirit stones on the counter.

The elderly cultivator accepted the spirit stones and handed over two wooden keys with a smile. “The two innermost rooms on the second floor are quiet and undisturbed.”

Kai took the keys and casually asked before going upstairs, “Has anything happened in the city lately?”

The elderly cultivator’s smile froze for a moment. He looked around and lowered his voice, “Sir, you must be from out of town. Fire Raven City has been rather unsettled lately. A few days ago, the Flame God Palace sent people to collect taxes and took away most of the spiritual materials from several shops.

Yesterday, another group came, not from the Flame God Palace, but wearing white robes. I heard they’re from the Hall of Light, saying they want to set up a missionary point here. The two groups almost got into a fight at the city gate.”

He paused, lowering his voice even further, “Sir, please be careful. There have been quite a few unfamiliar faces in the city recently. I wonder who they are.”

Kai nodded and went upstairs.

The guest room was small and simply furnished: a wooden bed, a wooden table, a wooden chair, and a dusty futon in the corner.

But for someone who had spent a whole day wandering through the Fallen God Wasteland, it was enough.

Kai closed the door, sat cross-legged on the futon, and took out the map jade slip from his storage bag again. He probed it with his divine sense and examined it carefully once more.

This time, he looked even more closely, his gaze lingering on every corner of the map, memorizing every mark.

His gaze lingered for a moment on the locations of the Flame God Palace and the Hall of Light, then swept over the approximate locations of the Void Merchant Guild’s Heavenly City and the Azure Cloud Cave, finally settling on a place that made him frown slightly.

In the northeast corner of the map, further north of the Azure Cloud Mountains, there was an area marked “Northern Netherworld Cold Abyss.”

The area wasn’t marked in detail on the map, only described in a few lines of red text:

“Extremely Cold Forbidden Land, perpetually frozen, with temperatures so low that even Golden Immortal cultivators cannot stay there for long.”

“Extremely unstable space; teleportation arrays cannot locate it, and flying artifacts cannot approach.”

“Site of the ancient Ice God lineage, suspected to contain remnants of the Ice God’s legacy.”

“Danger Level: Unknown.”

Kai’s gaze lingered on these lines for a long time.

The Ice God lineage.

The remnant soul of the Ice God lineage’s ancestor still slumbered in his sea of ​​consciousness.

And this “Northern Netherworld Cold Abyss” in the Eighteenth Heaven, marked “Site of the Ancient Ice God Lineage,” indicated that the Ice God lineage once had a stronghold in the Eighteenth Heaven. He

just didn’t know if any members of the Ice God lineage remained there.

Kai put away the map jade slip, got up, and left his guest room, knocking on Jiang Xuelan’s door next door.

The door opened quickly, and Jiang Xuelan had changed into clean white clothes, her long hair tied back up, holding a cup of hot tea.

“What’s wrong?” She noticed the strange expression on Kai’s face.

Kai handed her the jade slip with a map. “Take a look at this.”

Jiang Xuelan took the jade slip, probed it with her divine sense, and after a moment, looked up, a hint of surprise flashing in her eyes: “The Northern Abyss? The ruins of the Ice God lineage?”

“You know this place?”

Jiang Xuelan shook her head. “No. Although I am a descendant of the Ice God lineage, I don’t know about the ruins of a place like the Eighteenth Heaven.”

She paused. “You want to go?”

Kai was about to speak when a frail and aged voice suddenly echoed in his mind.

“The Northern Abyss…”

The voice was very soft, as if it came from a very distant place, carrying a weariness born of many vicissitudes.

It was the Northern Abyss, the remnant soul of the Ice God lineage’s ancestor.

“Senior?” Kai responded in his mind.

“That place… was once a branch altar of the Ice God lineage in the Eighteenth Heaven.”

Bei Mingyuan’s voice was intermittent, as if he was trying hard to recall. “The Ice God lineage used to have influence in every heaven, and was incredibly prosperous, highly revered among the gods. I once stayed in the Northern Cold Abyss for a time, but alas… alas, the Ice God lineage now…”

His voice carried an undisguised pain.

“Is the Ice God’s legacy still there?” Kai asked.

Bei Mingyuan was silent for a long time.

So long that Kai thought he had fallen into a deep sleep again.

Then his voice rang out again, even weaker than before: “I don’t know. So many years have passed, who could know…”

He paused, “However… I sensed a trace of the Ice God lineage’s bloodline deep within the Northern Cold Abyss. Very faint, as if… there are still clansmen alive.”

Kai’s heart trembled.

There are still clansmen alive?

“Are you sure, Senior?”

“Not sure.”

Bei Mingyuan’s voice grew softer and softer, as if he were speaking with his last breath. “That aura was too faint. It could be an illusion, a remnant soul, or even… a seal. But in any case, there must be something of the Ice God lineage there. Otherwise, my remnant soul wouldn’t have sensed it.”

After saying this, Bei Mingyuan’s voice completely disappeared, and his sea of ​​consciousness fell silent again.

Kai opened his eyes and looked at Jiang Xuelan.

Jiang Xuelan was staring at him, her eyes questioning.

“Senior Bei Mingyuan said,” Kai repeated Bei Mingyuan’s words, “that there is still a trace of the Ice God lineage’s bloodline aura deep within the Bei Ming Cold Abyss, and some members of the clan may still be alive.”

Jiang Xuelan’s hand trembled slightly, the teacup in her hand shook, and a few drops of tea splashed onto the back of her hand.

She didn’t speak, but Kai could see the turmoil in her eyes.

Of the Ice God lineage in the seventeenth heaven, only the branch of the Divine Abyss Pavilion remained, along with the lineage of the Profound Ice Venerable, totaling only a few hundred people.

If any members of the lineage were still alive in the eighteenth heaven, it would be of great significance to the Ice God lineage.

“The map says the Northern Netherworld Abyss is an extremely cold forbidden land, even Golden Immortals find it difficult to stay for long,”

Kai said thoughtfully. “But we have the bloodline and cultivation techniques of the Ice God lineage, so we should be able to withstand it. Whether we go or not is your decision.”

Jiang Xuelan lowered her head, looking at the swaying teacup in her hand, and remained silent for a moment.

Then she raised her head, her eyes no longer turbulent, only resolute: “I’ll go.”

“Alright.”

Kai stood up from the futon, carefully putting away the map jade slip and the guest elder token. “Rest tonight, we’ll depart early tomorrow morning.”

Jiang Xuelan nodded, taking her teacup back to her room.

Kai closed the door, sat back down on the futon, but did not enter meditation.

He took out the silver-white guest token, turning it over and over in his palm for a long time.

The Void Merchant Guild had chosen the perfect timing for this gift.

Just when he had finished a tough battle and needed rest and intelligence, they delivered a map so precise it was chilling.

Every piece of information marked on the map seemed to be telling him—look, the Eighteen Heavens are vast, the enemies are numerous, and danger is everywhere. But it doesn’t matter, we have all the information you need, and if you’re willing, we can become your most reliable friend.

“Friend,” Kai murmured, a meaningful smile curving his lips.

He put the token back into his storage bag, closed his eyes, and slowly circulated the Mind Concentration Technique, his spiritual energy flowing through his meridians, replenishing the chaotic energy consumed in today’s battle bit by bit. …

Ten miles outside Fire Crow City, in an abandoned mountain god temple,

Su Jingqiu sat beneath a broken statue, toying with a silver-white teleportation jade talisman.

A faint spatial power flowed within the talisman; if she infused it with spiritual energy, it could instantly teleport her to a safe area tens of thousands of miles away.

She didn’t use it.

Not because she wasn’t worried about danger, but because she knew Kai wouldn’t harm her.

At least not now.

“The things have been delivered,” she murmured to herself, her voice echoing in the temple.

She took a bronze mirror from her storage bag, its surface reflecting Wu Yuan’s face.

“Guild Master, the gift has been delivered.”

“He accepted it?” Wu Yuan’s voice came from the mirror.

“He accepted it. The map and the token.” Su Jingqiu paused, “But he accepted them calmly, without asking any questions or showing any emotion. This person… is more difficult to deal with than we expected.”

Wu Yuan on the other side of the mirror was silent for a moment, then smiled.

“If he’s not difficult to deal with, I’ll find it boring. Continue to observe, don’t reveal your identity, and only appear when he needs help.”

“Understood.”

Su Jingqiu put away the bronze mirror, stood up from under the dilapidated statue, and dusted off her skirt.

She walked to the entrance of the mountain god temple, gazing at the lights of Fire Crow City in the distance, a complex expression flashing in her eyes.

She was the vice president of the Void Merchant Guild, a third-grade Golden Immortal, skilled in disguise and social interaction, and had carried out countless missions without ever failing.

But this time, she felt an inexplicable unease.

The boy’s eyes were too calm.

Calm like a hunter patiently waiting for his prey to walk into the trap, rather than a prey being targeted by three major forces simultaneously.

…

Meanwhile, in an inconspicuous house on the other side of Fire Crow City.

Yun Yi sat cross-legged on a simple wooden bed, a wooden sword resting on his lap, his eyes slightly closed.

His divine sense was like an invisible net, covering the entire Fire Crow City, and the aura of every cultivator in the city was within his perception.

Kai’s aura was steady and deep in the small inn north of the city; he was cultivating.

Jiang Xuelan’s aura was in the next room; she was also cultivating.

The woman who delivered the storage bag had already left Fire Crow City, lingering briefly at the Mountain God Temple ten miles outside the city before heading south towards the Void Merchant Guild’s Heavenly City.

People from the Void Merchant Guild.

Yun Yi opened his eyes, his handsome face expressionless.

He had witnessed the entire battle between Kai and the Flame God Palace in the Fallen God Wasteland, from Yan Po’s arrival with his army to Kai’s slaying of Yan Po with a single sword strike, repelling the Flame Tiger and Flame Leopard, and annihilating thirty Flame Dragon Guards—he saw every detail clearly.

He didn’t show himself.

Not because he didn’t want to, but because he couldn’t.

The Flame God Palace had planted spies in the Fallen God Wasteland, and the Void Merchant Guild was also secretly observing.

If he had appeared at that time, with representatives from all three major forces present, the situation would have become extremely complicated, potentially even triggering an uncontrollable conflict.

That was not what True Immortal Jade Void wanted to see.

“To kill a peak third-grade Golden Immortal with a single sword strike,”

Yun Yi murmured to himself, his fingers lightly tracing the blade of his wooden sword

. “An eighth-grade True Immortal, to kill an opponent a whole grade higher, and that’s with the opponent burning their essence blood. Such combat power…” He didn’t finish his sentence, but a rare hint of solemnity flashed in his eyes.

He was the most outstanding disciple of the Daoist sect this generation, a second-grade Golden Immortal, already considered one of the top existences among the younger generation of the Eighteen Heavens.

But if he were to face Yan Po, he was confident of victory, but he absolutely couldn’t kill him with a single sword strike.

He certainly couldn’t annihilate thirty first-grade Golden Immortal elites within ten breaths.

And this young man named Kai was four minor realms lower than him in cultivation.

Yun Yi closed his eyes, withdrew his divine sense, and continued to wait quietly.

True Person Yu Xu said he would appear by his side when he needed help.

Now was not the time, but he knew that moment wouldn’t be far off.

The aftershocks of the battle in the Fallen God Wasteland would soon spread throughout the entire Eighteen Heavens. The Flame God Palace had lost its Grand Elder and thirty elites; this grudge could not go unavenged.

The Hall of Light is definitely watching too.

The Void Merchant Guild’s true colors will be revealed sooner or later.

And Kai, this young man who stirred up the entire Eighteenth Heaven upon his arrival, will soon find himself under the watchful eyes of countless people.

At that time, he will need not only force, but also allies.

And Qingyun Cave Heaven is his best choice.

Outside the window, two of the three blazing suns had already set, leaving only the last silvery-white moon hanging high in the sky.

The silvery moonlight shone on the black stone walls of Fire Raven City, enveloping the entire city in a cold, silvery glow.

In the distance, towards the Fallen God Wasteland, the dark red sand turned deep brown under the moonlight, and the scattered bones and battle relics were faintly visible in the night, like a silent tombstone.

Kai opened his eyes in the inn.

His purple eyes lit up in the darkness, like two burning purple flames.

He stood up from the futon, walked to the window, and pushed it open.

The silvery moonlight shone on his face, outlining his features as if sculpted by a knife.

He gazed north, towards the direction marked “Northern Abyss of Cold Light” on the map, his purple eyes reflecting the distant horizon.

There, low-hanging clouds revealed a faint, almost imperceptible, icy-blue halo, like the aurora borealis frozen for millennia, silently swirling in the night.

The Ice God lineage.

He murmured these two words in his heart.

In his sea of ​​consciousness, the remnant soul of the Northern Abyss had completely subsided, without a trace of movement, but Kai could sense that the remnant soul was still there, only too weak, each awakening consuming his remaining strength.

“Northern Abyss of Cold Light,” Kai murmured, “I hope what you’re looking for really is there.”

He closed the window, sat back on the futon, and activated the Concentration Technique at full power, the chaotic energy surging through his meridians.

The next morning, as the first golden sun peeked over the eastern horizon, Fire Raven City awoke in the dawn.

The silvery moon had not yet fully set, and the crimson sun had just peeked out, three blazing suns simultaneously hanging in the sky, enveloping the entire city in a magnificent golden, silver, and red glow.

Kai opened his eyes from his meditation.

After a night of cultivation, the power of chaos had surged through his meridians for six full hours. The barrier of the mid-stage eighth rank of the True Immortal Realm had shown signs of loosening, but a breakthrough was still some distance away.

The power of chaos required an enormous amount of resources; relying solely on meditation, it would likely take years, even decades, to break through a minor realm.

He needed more resources, more battles, and more opportunities.

And the Northern Cold Abyss might be the next opportunity.

Kai stood up, stretched his limbs, and his bones cracked slightly.

He walked to the window and opened it, the cool morning breeze carrying the bustling atmosphere of the city rushing in.

Many cultivators were already walking on the streets, and vendors were setting up their stalls, their shouts rising and falling.

Smoke curled from the chimney of the three-story stone building in the city center, filling the air with the aroma of roasted spirit beast meat and spirit wine.

A slight noise came from the next room—Jiang Xuelan getting up.

A moment later, a knock sounded at the door.

“Come in.”

Jiang Xuelan pushed open the door, now dressed in clean white robes, her long hair tied back up, and a silver-white longsword hanging at her waist.

Her complexion was much better than yesterday; a night’s rest had restored her from the exhaustion of the Fallen God Wasteland, and her eyes regained their usual cool gleam.

“Let’s go.”

Kai checked the supplies in his storage bag; there were still plenty of pills left, and enough crystals as well.