Chapter 1 The Crack

*Kacha!*

Streaks of lightning dragons rolled through the ink-black sky, illuminating the imperial capital in intermittent flashes of light and shadow.

On the sixth floor of the Linxian Tower, a red silk banner hung outside the window. The Crown Prince leaned against the window, idly twirling a Qiankun Circle in his hand, listlessly surveying the scene outside.

The imperial capital in the drizzle was hazy and mysterious. Few pedestrians were out and about, and those who were hurried along.

The imperial capital, normally teeming with hundreds of millions of people, was uncharacteristically quiet and serene.

"How boring, how utterly boring..."

With a whistling sound as the Qiankun Circle cut through the air, the Crown Prince sighed softly, a playful note in his indifferent tone. "Since he was going to come sooner or later, why bother sending such a small fry to his death?"

As his words drifted away, a figure suddenly appeared in the quiet, empty private room.

It was an ordinary-looking old Daoist, yet he was anything but ordinary. His appearance was so natural, as if he had been there since time immemorial.

Even the Crown Prince's eyes flashed with a hint of apprehension.

"To be able to pass on this deity's words, his death is his life's greatest honor. What's so boring about that?"

The old Daoist snapped his fingers casually, and the many candles in the private room flickered to life. In the dim light, he sized up the small figure draped in red silk, his gaze lingering for a moment on the Qiankun Circle at his fingertips.

"On the contrary, it's you who has taken two years to deal with these small characters, which has surprised this deity somewhat."

He stood with his hands clasped behind his back by the window, gazing into the distance at the imperial palace, at that towering platform that resembled the spine of the heavens. A cold smile flickered across his impassive face. "The Tianqi Platform? For mere ants to dare to speak of 'Imperial Heaven' is truly preposterous!"

"Small characters?"

The Crown Prince chuckled, a glint of fire in his eyes. "Then you underestimate Wu Zhi Qi! Though that monkey is greedy for power and craves immortality, his supernatural abilities are not to be dismissed."

Within the Divine Court's heavenly network, his rank was no higher than Wu Zhi Qi's. Although he was currently slightly stronger, once he advanced to a fourth-order god, the two would be nearly equal.

To suppress that monkey, the Qiankun Circle had almost been shattered.

"Before this deity, how many can be considered more than small characters?"

The old Daoist stood with his hands clasped behind his back, his tone calm yet self-assured, as if it were only natural.

The Imperial Heaven Divine Court had dominated the heavens and earth for countless millennia not only because of the supreme Divine Emperor, but also because it was all-encompassing, embracing all the strong in the world.

Whether Daoist, Buddhist, demon, devil, or ghost, all those who were extraordinary had the possibility of ascending to immortality.

It was this accumulation over one epoch after another that allowed the Imperial Court to truly rise above the universe, even surpassing the Daoist and Buddhist paths.

And even among the countless powerhouses gathered from all epochs, he was a powerhouse in his own right, second only to the Central Five Emperors and the invincible, unparalleled Battle God Qingtian.

The rest, the Five Directional Travelers, the Eight Classes of Heavenly Dragons, the Ten Directional Heavenly Humans, all had to bow and pay their respects when they saw him.

"Ha! I've heard that the Imperial Heaven Divine Court has the Central Five Emperors and the Battle God Qingtian, followed by the Four Great Divine Generals and the Five Directional Travelers. Are you that Southern Great Divine General?"

The Crown Prince raised an eyebrow, a sneer on his lips. "If you were truly invincible, why would you be returning from tribulation today?"

"Hahaha!"

The Crown Prince's words were filled with undisguised contempt, intending to provoke the other party. But the old Daoist did not get angry upon hearing this. Instead, he laughed and shook his head, laughing until the Crown Prince frowned, his face hardening. "What are you laughing at?!"

"In the ancient years, the Divine Emperor taught the law to the world, using great supernatural powers to subdue the four peerless powerhouses of the time, combining them into the Four Extremes... In addition to me, there are also the Eastern Extreme, the Western Extreme, and the Northern Extreme three great divine generals. I came from the demon race, the Eastern Extreme came from the Daoist sect, the Western Extreme came from the Buddhist sect, and the Northern Extreme came from beneath the Abyss of Demons..."

The old Daoist suppressed his laughter and said faintly, "The four of us came from different backgrounds, with different supernatural powers. We often fought with each other, even regarding each other as great enemies..."

"So what?"

The Crown Prince clenched the Qiankun Circle, a hint of impatience in his tone. "You talk too much nonsense. I will not accept your surrender, even if you have been subdued by that Divine Emperor!"

Despite his words, the Crown Prince hesitated for a moment for some reason, not using the Qiankun Circle to unleash the sealed space.

And he and the old Daoist had only just met, only feeling that he talked too much nonsense. He did not know that if he allowed other gods to see him so peacefully talkative, they would be shocked.

"That was long before the 'Upheaval'. The Divine Emperor suddenly left his seclusion to go to the Outer Heavens. That day, he left in a hurry, only giving two orders. First, the Divine Court was to be governed by the Azure, Red, Gold, and Black Emperors. Second, the Eastern, Western, and Northern Extremes were to be transferred to the lower realm to suppress the rebels..."

"Not this world's mortal realm, but the true Human Realm!"

At this point, the old Daoist finally turned around, looking at the Crown Prince, whose body was shaking. His voice suddenly rose, booming like thunder, "Eastern Extreme, are you not awake yet?!"

Eastern Extreme!

The old Daoist's eyes burned like fire, his heart filled with anticipation.

The reason he was so tolerant and talkative with the Crown Prince was not for any other reason than that this person was his former colleague!

He had thought it would take thousands of years to find his trace, but he had sensed the aura of the Eastern Extreme twenty years ago.

If not for this, he would never have come to such a place of contention when his cultivation had not yet recovered.

"Eastern Extreme..."

The Crown Prince's body trembled violently, his eyes blazing with light.

In an instant, he only felt the world turned upside down. His heart was filled with this shout, and it struck his primordial spirit with extreme speed.

*Boom!*

In just one strike, the Crown Prince felt his mind completely shattered. Scattered thoughts suddenly soared to the limit. In a daze, endless scenes seemed to flash before his eyes.

The towering Divine Court shrouded in endless divine light...

The great world spanning the void... the Human Realm!

Western Continent, Eastern Continent...

Wang Lingguan, Wei Shaoyou, Gou Huang...

And the old Daoist who stood with his hands behind his back at the pinnacle of the sky, spewing out infinite terror, his expression indifferent, but his aura seemed to be more majestic and vast than heaven and earth.

Old Celestial Master?!

A name that could not be erased even after endless years and the changes of two realms exploded in the Crown Prince's heart.

"Sa Wuling?!"

The endless scenes shattered.

In the final moment, his soul was reshaped. Looking back again, he saw the old Daoist, who was standing with his hands clasped behind his back in the fragments of shattered images, suddenly look up, across the years and space.

As if he had seen himself!

*Boom rumble!*

It was as if thousands of thunderbolts were crashing down, and ancient stars were falling head-on.

This gaze was indifferent and calm, yet terrifying to the point of being boundless.

With just one glance, his newly reshaped primordial spirit shattered again, and this time, it was even more thoroughly shattered than before.

"No!"

A low roar filled with extreme fear and unwillingness exploded in his heart.

In the next instant, as the Southern Extreme old Daoist's expression changed drastically, the Crown Prince fell to the ground, his body trembling like a sieve, letting out mournful cries and screams like a ferocious beast at the end of its road.

"Primordial spirit shattered? How could this be?!"

The Southern Extreme old Daoist's eyes blazed. With one step, the mana around his body surged out like a flood, pouring into the Crown Prince's body with extreme speed.

His mouth also chanted a long incantation, and a halo unfolded behind him. The ten great supernatural powers intertwined to form a slowly rotating wheel seal, heading toward the Crown Prince's brow.

"Hoo!"

Suddenly, the Crown Prince, who had been howling with his eyes closed, sat up, avoiding the wheel seal's suppression, and said in a hoarse voice, "I'm fine."

"Hmm?"

The Southern Extreme old Daoist frowned and retracted his immortal arts and mana, but he raised a hand and pressed it on the Crown Prince's shoulder, piercing through his body. He discovered that the primordial spirit, which had been shattered a moment ago, had been completely reshaped.

"How could this be?"

The old Daoist was stunned. With his knowledge, he was somewhat unsure.

"My emotions were agitated, and I couldn't suppress them for a moment..."

The Crown Prince took a deep breath and slowly got up. The Southern Extreme discovered that his body was still shaking. This was not from cold, but from fear, fear from the inside out.

"What is in the Human Realm? That makes you so... afraid?"

The Southern Extreme's expression was solemn, even with a hint of suspicion.

The four of them were among the top ten in the Divine Court. Adding the Daoist and Buddhist sects, and some other hidden old antiques, there would not be many who could defeat the three of them working together.

The Human Realm's Heavenly Will had been defeated countless times, nearly collapsing. How could there still be someone who could defeat the three of them?

Not to mention fear.

"He..."

The Crown Prince clenched the Qiankun Circle tightly, forcibly suppressing the throbbing in his heart, and exhaled a long breath of turbid air. "A near-sage!"

"What?"

The Southern Extreme's heart shook greatly, almost suspecting that he had misheard. "How is that possible? He, who is he?!"

Longevity, immortality.

Transcending, entering sainthood.

Nine revolutions of the Golden Core, three sacrifices of the primordial spirit, this is longevity, casting the foundation of creation, entering the gate of immortality, this is only the beginning of the road to sainthood.

But since ancient times, only a few have been able to reach this step.

Let alone 'near-sage'?

The emergence of one could transform a heretical path into an orthodox one, just like the Confucian school of that year!

This was a truly peerless figure, a being that would only be born after the accumulation of endless years!

How could such an incredible existence be born in a mere lower realm?

"I... I don't want to mention this person..."

The Crown Prince covered his face with his hands, shielding his eyes and expression, avoiding the topic as if the past was unbearable to recall, and instead asked in a deep voice, "What exactly happened to you back then?"

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"I can't say what exactly happened in that battle, and you can't hear it either. You only need to know that the Central Five Emperors, the Battle God Qingtian, the nine venerables of the Daoist sect, the three Buddhas and four Bodhisattvas of the Buddhist sect, most of them have fallen. Those who have not fallen have either disappeared without a trace, or are in secluded cultivation to heal their wounds, or have been suppressed..."

The Southern Extreme waved his hand to set up an isolation supernatural power, his expression becoming serious.

"So terrifying..."

The Crown Prince felt a chill in his heart. Having received the memories of that 'Eastern Extreme', he knew very well what kind of beings those people in the Southern Extreme old Daoist's mouth were.

He could not imagine what kind of upheaval could cause these giants, who were above all spirits, to fall into reincarnation...

"If it weren't for the birth of an invincible existence in the Buddhist sect, all the worlds would have fallen in that battle..."

The Southern Extreme old Daoist sighed, also unwilling to mention that battle.

Looking back at the towering Tianqi Platform, his eyes were deep and unpredictable. "My plan originally had no great certainty. If you and I join forces, we can..."

"Reap the rewards in advance!"