"Mr. Ye, are you alright?" Lin Qingtan asked with concern.
Ye Feng didn't respond.
He stood in silence, the weight of divinity pressing on his soul. As the God of Creation, he now wielded the authority to birth stars and shatter realms. He could create all things—and erase them just as easily.
Yet, as he faced the strange Demon King before him—spawned from a foreign, malevolent race whose only goal was to annihilate the myriad worlds—Ye Feng felt... resistance. A hesitation he couldn't comprehend. If he truly wished, he too could absorb all of creation into himself. Why then, did he still hold back?
"Hey, look at that ancient monument!" Lin Langtian and Lin Dong exclaimed simultaneously, their gazes locking on a massive stone tablet erupting from the mountain below. Their spirit beasts remained motionless, unbothered by the celestial battle overhead.
"Did you sense that too?" Lin Langtian asked.
Lin Dong nodded slowly. "Yes. A law of heaven and earth I've never felt before… desolate, lonely… a kind of quiet power. I tried to grasp it—but it vanished."
"That's the Great Desolate Ancient Monument," Ye Feng said, his voice calm. "It houses the Great Desolate Sutra, left behind by its previous master. The essence of the sutra lies in the word 'desolate.' But don't mistake desolation for death. Desolation suppresses life—not to destroy it, but to prepare the world for renewal. The five elemental cycles of the Heaven and Earth Kings rotate endlessly. After winter's desolation… comes spring."
The two brothers were shaken by his words. Silently, they sat cross-legged, entering deep meditation to comprehend the surrounding natural laws.
Suddenly—
Boom!
A roar shattered the calm. Chi Hao and Ying Huanhuan faltered in their coordination, and the Demon King seized the moment. Slipping through the crack in their formation, he broke free.
"Heh… Ice Lord," the Demon King sneered. "In this reincarnation, you're far weaker than before. How disappointing. Farewell!"
He turned into a swirl of black mist and shot into the sky like a fleeing shadow.
Buzz—
A ripple surged through space.
In the blink of an eye, a transparent, cube-shaped cage materialized, trapping the Demon King mid-air. Flames—brilliant, multicolored—began to seep into the cage.
"What—what is this?!" the Demon King screamed.
The multicolored fire surged, its temperature rising terrifyingly fast. Thunder cracked in the distance as the flames consumed the black mist.
"Heavenly Flame ! That's… that's a Heavenly Flame! Why is one here?!"
Panic consumed him.
Then came the screams—horrific, soul-rending cries that shook the skies. The Heavenly Flame burned relentlessly, compressing the black mist until only a single, pure-black bead remained.
"A relic?" Ye Feng murmured, startled.
It wasn't just the color. The object left behind from the Demon King's destruction truly resembled a relic.
Ye Feng raised his hand. The dark bead floated before him, pulsing with eerie energy. But it wasn't darkness as known in the heavens and earth—no. It was something purer. Colder. A darkness untainted by life.
"What is that?" Ying Huanhuan asked.
"I've never seen anything like it," Ye Feng admitted. As he held the bead, a deep disgust rose in his chest—an inexplicable revulsion.
Why did he feel this way?
"Is it edible?" Chi Hao asked casually.
Ye Feng didn't answer. He wasn't sure—and didn't want to find out just yet.
---
In the Eastern Profound Region of the Four Great Realms lay the Chaos Demon Sea—a vast, treacherous territory. Even cultivators in the Shengxuan Realm would need half a year of flight to cross it.
Bigger than the entire Mysterious Realm, this sea concealed a precious relic of the ancient era: the Honghuang Tower.
Said to be bathed in ancient Primordial Qi, the tower held power strong enough to cleanse bones and rebirth marrow. This was a sacred ground where even the weakest could transform—if they survived its trials.
Protected jointly by five great families, the Honghuang Tower opened just once a year. Only three entry slots were granted—to the victor of the martial arts competition.
"Master, the ancient talisman is there." Ying Huanhuan pointed toward a lone pagoda rising from Wuhui Island in the center of the sea.
Ye Feng nodded. "Let's go."
"You're not joining the martial arts competition?" she asked.
He shook his head. "Too troublesome."
The Honghuang Tower was a stone colossus with eight floors, steeped in an ancient, mighty aura. Though time had carved lines into its surface, it stood unshaken—as if defying the passage of millennia.
"Who goes there?! Leave this place at once! You're not allowed near the Honghuang Tower!"
An old guardian barked from the tower's base. But Ying Huanhuan didn't bother to explain. She waved her hand, casting a shimmering shield of ice around the old man. His curses continued silently within.
"Open."
Golden light flashed from her fingertip—and the tower responded.
Boom.
The massive stone gate creaked open. A wave of ancient air swept outward, filling the area with the scent of a bygone era.
As they stepped inside, they immediately sensed the density of the Primordial Qi. Each floor was richer than the last. Though this energy tempered the body, it also carried immense weight. Beyond a certain threshold, the energy would erode the cultivator from within.
For this reason, not even the top three martial competitors dared step past the fifth floor.
To reach the eighth floor? Even Death Profound experts dared not attempt it.
The tower was dimly lit by moonlight pearls embedded in the walls, casting a pale glow. The silence inside was almost sacred.
Empty.
That was their first impression.
There were no furnishings, no artifacts—only the wild aura of the Primordial.
"Nice," Chi Hao grinned. "This is a paradise for body cultivators. If I'd known earlier, I would've dragged Chi You here."
By the seventh floor, Lin Dong, Lin Langtian, and the others had reached their limit. Exhausted, they slumped to the floor, unable to continue without invoking Heavenly Flame or ancestral talismans.
"Chi Hao, you all stay and cultivate here," Ye Feng instructed.
"Yes, Master," the group replied in unison.
Chi Hao, Wu Yun, Wang Yan, Qin Shi, Huang Pujing, and others remained behind, sitting cross-legged as they absorbed the pure energy of the wild.
At the center of the seventh floor stood a shimmering golden film. Beyond it… the fabled eighth floor—untouched by any mortal footstep.
Inside the film, a shadow moved.
Ying Huanhuan's pupils sharpened like blades. "That man…"
She had already seen through the veil—into the forbidden floor.
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