The enormous cocoon shrouded in thunder had become somewhat smaller over the subsequent few hundred years. The rolling purple and red thunder within it had also gradually faded, as if disappearing.
Nearby, the Big Yellow Dog was a little worried. It always felt that Chen Xia seemed malnourished, so it specifically studied the Thunder Dao to provide some nourishment for Chen Xia.
However, its journey in learning the Thunder Dao was not smooth. Often, the thunder was loud but the raindrops were small, unable to summon true thunder.
The Big Yellow Dog also felt somewhat guilty, thinking itself too useless.
It was also aware that Chi Yu had left the Blue Sky Sword Sea. Moreover, not only Chi Yu, many disciples had also gradually left the Blue Sky Sword Sea over time.
Not everyone was willing to accompany the Blue Sky Sword Sea through its final twilight years.
Furthermore, the disciples all had great futures and experiences in life ahead of them. It was impossible for them to remain shackled to the Blue Sky Sword Sea.
Chi Yu's departure still made the Big Yellow Dog heartbroken. In the first few days after hearing the news, the entire dog was stunned, staring blankly at the sky.
Zhang DaoMing couldn't stand to see this and consoled it, "There are no eternal feasts in life. As long as you survive, you will reunite in the future."
The Big Yellow Dog propped up its head, still feeling very downcast. "What if Chi Yu can't survive?"
"That would be fate. But no one can predict the future. Rather than worrying about what's to come, it's better to live well in the present, right?" Zhang DaoMing gently advised.
"Mm," the Big Yellow Dog nodded its head, still feeling glum with a dazed look in its eyes as it stared at the enormous cocoon, thinking about something that frightened it.
What if Chen Xia died in the future?
Just thinking about this question made the Big Yellow Dog feel heartbroken again, unable to cheer up.
Chi Yu's departure was like a knife that sliced open a long gash in its heart.
Yet the Big Yellow Dog didn't resent anyone, only blaming itself for being too useless. If only it had become an emperor, then Chi Yu wouldn't have had to leave and Chen Xia wouldn't have endured the sidelong glances of the Three Elders.
The one thousandth year of Chen Xia's cocoon transformation.
The Three Elders, who had been silent for a long time, spoke up. Standing atop the Azure Sky, facing the entire Sword Sea, they solemnly declared:
"From this day forth, any cultivator who leaves the Blue Sky Sword Sea should never return, regardless of life or death. There is no place for you here."
The disciples and elders below fell silent. Although they had already known in their hearts that the Blue Sky Sword Sea was declining more and more, hearing these words directly from Elder Taishang still felt unbelievable.
The Blue Sky Sword Sea, which had flourished for multiple great eras in this star realm, had finally reached its time of destruction.
After speaking, Elder Taishang added another remark, unrelated to the Blue Sky Sword Sea but directed at the Sword Forest Path:
"You have another thousand years. If you don't break out of your cocoon by then, get out of the Sword Forest. This wellspring nurturing sword qi isn't meant for your cocoon transformation."
The time allotted was already very generous, at least that's what the Three Elders thought.
Aside from the Three Elders, no other Elder Taishang spoke up.
The entire Blue Sky Sword Sea seemed to completely sink into silence, like a dying elder awaiting the final moment of dissolution.
This was the first thousand years of decay. After the Three Elders' pronouncement, three formal disciples left together. When departing, they knelt to the ground facing the Blue Sky Sword Sea and performed the grand ritual of respect.
"Get lost! Don't come back once you've gone out!" shouted the Second Elder of Laws and Precepts, who was in charge of records.
"Thank you, Master, for your nurturing grace!" the three disciples said in unison. They were all personal disciples recorded under the Second Elder of Laws and Precepts.
"Hmph!" The Second Elder of Laws and Precepts let out a cold snort, clasping his hands behind his back without responding.
The three formal disciples stood up together, also not saying anything more, and headed towards the distance.
"Go make something of yourselves out there, don't disgrace the Blue Sky Sword Sea's reputation!" An abrupt shout rang out.
The three formal disciples turned around excitedly and bowed deeply once more, vigorously replying:
"Yes!"
Perhaps thousands of years later when the Blue Sky Sword Sea had been destroyed, they could still carry its legacy to distant lands.
The 1,200th year.
For the first time, an elder left the Blue Sky Sword Sea. He was a newly advanced elder whose cultivation was not high, only at the First Layer of Overturning the Seas. But his family background was not bad; a Boundless Heavenly Realm elder from his clan personally came to retrieve him.
No one from the Blue Sky Sword Sea tried to stop this. If this had happened in the past, a Boundless Heavenly Realm cultivator daring to intrude into the Blue Sky Sword Sea would have been slapped to death with one palm by the saints.
But now, no one tried to stop him or even came to see him off.
If he wanted to leave, then so be it. The Blue Sky Sword Sea would not keep him.
This was the first formal elder to depart, but certainly not the last.
Gradually, more left.
The Blue Sky Sword Sea originally had 280 formal elder seats. By the 1,500th year, only 200 remained.
The other 80 elder seats had been cleared out from the Supreme Great Hall and tossed into the Sword Sea.
At present, there were exactly 200 elder seats left, but this was definitely not a coincidence. The elders' departures had only just begun.
Elders with prospects, prestigious backgrounds, and connections would never stay to face the end of the great era with the Blue Sky Sword Sea.
They returned to their clans to take shelter. Although they would still be impacted, they would certainly survive and have their own future paths ahead.
Perhaps they could even become a mighty Boundless Heavenly Realm master. They should not bind themselves to death with the Blue Sky Sword Sea.
If even the formal elders were leaving, how could the disciples still want to stay?
Most of the disciples who were still willing to remain in the Blue Sky Sword Sea now either wanted to take advantage of benefits like studying profound arts and divine abilities in the Heavenly Pavilion, or had gained the favor and inheritance of some great figure who didn't want to leave.
These were their opportunities.
These disciples lingered, hoping for opportunities.
Then in the 1,700th year, a new piece of news joined the wave of cultivators departing.
Someone from the Fourteen Sons of Vast Sky had left.
Moreover, it was one of the front-running emperor seeds. Without a word, he had severed ties with the Blue Sky Sword Sea and disappeared to parts unknown.
The Fourteen Sons of Vast Sky that the Blue Sky Sword Sea had once established now seemed like a joke. There weren't even fourteen left, only thirteen.
Yet everyone knew it wouldn't stay thirteen. No one knew how many would remain in the end, but some dared to boldly predict the answer.
Zero.
If neither the disciples nor the formal elders wanted to stay in the Blue Sky Sword Sea, then the promising emperor seeds had even less reason to remain.
It was very possible that all of the remaining emperor seeds would end up at zero.
That same year.
Pan Dadao came to see Chen Xia in his cocoon, his aged body hobbling along with white hair and clouded eyes. He stared blankly at the cocoon.
The Big Yellow Dog sat to the side, paws crossed as it carefully inspected Pan Dadao for a while. Then it couldn't help sighing:
"How is it that everyone has gotten so old?"
"The cycle of life and death is normal," Pan Dadao chuckled lightly, his gaze still fixed on the cocoon. Shaking his head, he continued in a low voice:
"It's just a pity that I probably won't get to see Chen Xia again in my lifetime. I wanted to properly bid farewell, but there's no chance left."
The Big Yellow Dog quickly consoled: "Don't worry, hang in there a little longer. Chen Xia should emerge soon. I see the purple lightning is already gone and the cocoon has shrunk a lot."
"I see," Pan Dadao nodded along, eyes clouded, the corners of his mouth wrinkled in a faint smile.
"If I don't get to see it, I hope you can deliver a message for me."
"What message?" the Big Yellow Dog asked.
"Thank you," Pan Dadao replied.
In the 1,800th year, Pan Dadao peacefully sat in meditation and passed away in his cave residence.
The funeral was not grand. There was no purple gold coffin, just an ordinary wooden one.
Those who came to see him off were only Zhang DaoMing and the Big Yellow Dog.
It rained lightly that day.
After the rain, a modest grave was erected.
nd fell into a coma while saving his younger sister from an out-of-control car. He became a vegetable. No one knew that his consciousness had crossed into a world of cultivation. Over the course of sixty years, he began as the lowest kind of mine slave, struggling to survive amid mountains of corpses and seas of blood. By sheer chance, he eventually obtained the complete memories of a fallen Immortal King. Alchemy, medicine, formations, feng shui, physiognomy, artifact forging… Every great inheritance of the cultivation world was now his. But when he opened his eyes again, he discovered that ten full years had passed in the modern world. To pay for his treatment, his father had sold the family’s shop and house, leaving himself covered in lasting injuries and illness. His mother had cared for him day and night, and more than half of her hair had already turned white. His younger sister, who had been only fifteen back then, was now twenty-five. To help repay the family’s debts, she had been forced to lower her head and put on a smiling face in places of glittering lights and endless revelry. Only then did Chen Xuan understand that what he had lost was not merely ten years. He had lost the life his entire family was meant to have. The good news was that he had brought back the memories of an Immortal King’s entire lifetime. The bad news was that his soul had returned alone—his cultivation had not come with him. Spiritual energy was scarce, resources were depleted, and the modern world still had firearms, surveillance, capital, and laws. If he wanted to protect his family, break free from everyone’s control, and become truly invincible beneath the heavens, he would have to start all over again.
he colors of other people’s emotions. Light red meant anxiety. Gray meant exhaustion. Orange meant excitement. Yellow... meant repression. At the same time, he could gain unlimited control over one of those colors. Pale cyan: relaxation. Using this ability, he started offering “two-yuan hugs,” spending an afternoon exchanging emotional-color experiences with others. Then came his final female customer of the day— a girl whose emotional color was pure black... —— A week later, Xu Chuan had become skilled at using pale cyan—Relaxation—treating it like a bottle of menthol balm whenever he needed it. That was when he discovered he had unlocked another unlimited emotional color: Purple, the color of fear. So these emotional colors refresh every week? Fine, I take it back—I’ll never call you useless again... —— Much later, after Xu Chuan had accumulated countless emotional abilities, one night, he suddenly found himself inside someone else’s dream. There, he could use the emotional colors he possessed to paint. And in her dream, he painted her a shower of pink shooting stars, spreading across the depths of the night sky...
s + Rent Collection Wealth】 At the start, he inherited a rundown house in the urban village from his grandfather. The house had no tenants, but the moment he was diagnosed with a terminal illness, a self-proclaimed empress from the Tianxuan Continent arrived as his first tenant. Ye Chuan soon discovered that with every new tenant moving in, not only did he receive massive daily payments, but he also obtained unique items related to their backgrounds. 【Acquired Bai Qianshuang’s related item: Tiger Strength Pill—dramatically enhances physical power!】 【Acquired Bai Qianshuang’s related item: Deer Blood Pill—significantly boosts vitality!】 …… From that day on, all sorts of bizarre tenants began appearing in the house: the empress from Tianxuan Continent, an apocalyptic sorceress from the Magic Realm, a mysterious scientific girl who fell through a spacetime rift… Every single day, he received strange, powerful items and endless money. Then one day, he suddenly realized—he had become invincible. Enough, enough! Stop giving me more!
orn and Humiliation】【Forced Love】 In his past life, Lin Ran was betrayed and murdered by his girlfriend and family, while the yandere female aristocrat, who had treated him as a mere plaything, avenged him by doing in his enemies. Upon seeing the yandere female aristocrat lying in the same coffin, ready to die with him, Lin Ran realized how profoundly mistaken he had been. Reborn, he abandoned the fickle campus beauty and wholeheartedly embraced the yandere female aristocrat's arms. "Ran! If I dig out your eyes and turn them into a specimen, you'll only be able to look at me!" Lin Ran: "Darling, kiss me!" "Ran! If I break your legs, you won't run away anymore, right?" Lin Ran: "Love, hold me tight!" "Ran! If..." Lin Ran: "Hush now! Love me more!" Luo Yao: ... Seeing his scumbag dad: "Take him out!" Seeing his stepmother: "Get rid of her!" Seeing his brother: "Eliminate him!" Seeing his white moonlight: "Send that to Southeast Asia!"
