At the highest realm of the Forbidden Lands, in the uninhabited forbidden zone.
The Ancient Dragon stirred, focusing its divine will into a point to communicate with the other eleven Forbidden Lands.
Eleven mysterious Divine Lanterns flickered alight.
"Has the Emperor Witch not emerged from seclusion yet?" a deep voice asked.
"It has been ten thousand years of seclusion, aiming to break through to the Great Saint of Four Dao. It will likely take another thousand years, by which time the events uniting the destiny of the Heavenly Rain Realm with the Realm Grand Array will also be nearly complete."
"Have the future Emperors of the Heavenly Rain Realm not noticed?" a shrill trumpet-like voice questioned.
"And so what if they have noticed? They merely see the unification of the Heavenly Rain Realm's destiny with the Realm Grand Array as a positive event. They even intend to conquer and occupy the Realm Grand Array, vying for the vacant spots of the Great Saints. Haha."
"This is even better for us. They have also dragged two other realms into the conflict. When the time comes to pry open the Realm Grand Array, they will bear the backlash from the Way of Heaven for us."
The Old Dragon's head rested horizontally between the heavens and earth, smiling with satisfaction.
"Excellent, truly excellent. When the time comes, we will all have a chance to break through to the Emperor Realm. We can then escape this realm and go to other realms, or even to the Great Heaven. Our prospects will be boundless."
"Additionally, the deaths of cultivators from our realm should be accelerated. Let them battle more fiercely. It would be best if no great cultivators remain native to our realm, so that the destiny can be dispersed. Our chances of breaking through to the Emperor Realm will increase."
The Twelve Forbidden Zone Masters showed no regard for the life or death of their realm, just as Chen Xia had said—the entire realm was merely a chessboard for them, and cultivators like Wang Yangzi were their chess pieces.
To win the game, sacrificing some pieces was natural, and if necessary, even the chessboard itself could be destroyed.
They had bided their time for over a hundred and fifty thousand years. Now, finally, they had waited until the Grand Array was at its weakest, seizing a slim chance. They were no longer content to remain under the shadow of others and sought to attain the Great Emperor's realm in the All Heavens World!
The Heavenly Rain Realm was merely one part of their scheme, ceding half of its upper echelons, and the near-annihilation of the Holy Court's Holy Ones.
Even Wang Yangzi's death was under their control.
Within the realm, they were the pinnacle under the Great Emperor. Once the Emperor Witch attained the Great Saint of Four Dao, they may well match the Great Emperor.
The Twelve Forbidden Zone Masters, achieving the First Mastery.
Harmonious and symbiotic.
In the Immortal Realm.
Within the Fuyao Immortal Sect.
Xu Zhen had been a Holy One for many years, but due to conflicts between the Fuyao Immortal Sect and other sects, and the Great Sage Chen Xi's persistent refusal, Xu Zhen had never gone to the realm.
News of the war ravaging the realm had now spread throughout the Immortal Realm and reached the various sects, with many in the Fuyao Immortal Sect discussing it.
"Word is that the Forbidden Zone Masters of the realm have taken action, yet they still cannot defeat the Heavenly Rain Realm and are being suppressed by the combined forces of the Heavenly Rain Realm and two other realms."
"The latest news says the Heavenly Rain Realm has occupied half the territory of the realm. The fighting must be incredibly fierce. Is the Heavenly Rain Realm really that powerful? From my reading of the 'Myriad Realms Record,' it seemed the Heavenly Rain Realm was merely a minor realm."
A fellow cultivator replied, "From the perspective of our Immortal Realm, the Heavenly Rain Realm is indeed a minor realm. But considering the All Heavens World, the Heavenly Rain Realm is quite formidable, with a few future Emperors."
"But the realm is not weak either. The records say the Twelve Forbidden Zone Masters of the realm are the pinnacle under the Great Emperor."
"Who can say for certain?"
"Isn't the realm supposed to be a grand array we established to suppress and eliminate threats? Why are we not supporting the realm?"
"I'm not sure. Perhaps it is because the conflicts between the Immortal Realm and the God Realm are intensifying, and war is imminent, so we cannot spare any resources."
As the two cultivators walked and chatted, news of the realm spread throughout the Immortal Realm, though it was already two thousand years out of date.
It was not the Immortal Realm's fault for delayed information—it was simply too far from the realm. Receiving any news at all was fortunate.
Few truly cared about this news and merely listened for entertainment.
But there were certainly those who paid attention.
Today, a woman stood atop a mountain peak in the Fuyao Immortal Sect, tearing open the void with one hand to forcibly open a Star Gate.
"Why bother?" the Great Sage Chen Xi asked worriedly.
"You know why," Xu Zhen replied without turning, her eyes determined as she looked ahead at the Star Gate.
"The realm's destiny is too chaotic now, like turbulent waters. Even the Great Emperor is unwilling to go. What use is there for you to rush over? Besides, the Star Gates can no longer reach the realm—someone has deliberately sealed off its location."
The Great Sage Chen Xi tried to persuade her.
"But I am not the Great Emperor," Xu Zhen refuted.
"Which is why you cannot go!" The Great Sage Chen Xi grew more anxious.
"Eight thousand years ago, you told me only Holy Ones could go to the realm. I entered secluded cultivation and realized the Dao of the Holy One. Then I spent thousands of years more to become a true Holy One."
Her tone grew heavier, until it was resolute.
"After becoming a Holy One, the Fuyao Immortal Sect faced a crisis, and I stayed to wholeheartedly handle it, intending to repay the sect for taking me in..."
"But there are some things more important to me than the Fuyao Immortal Sect."
The Great Sage Chen Xi did not know how to respond, looking at Xu Zhen with trembling, sorrowful eyes carrying an unspoken anguish.
She had long anticipated this day would come.
"Go then." The Great Sage Chen Xi smiled sadly. "Go bring Chen Xia back. The Fuyao Immortal Sect is vast enough to accommodate you both."
"Yes." Xu Zhen nodded resolutely, her pretty face filled with stubbornness.
Her tiny figure stood in the celestial vault, unhesitatingly stepping into the Star Gate.
Thus, this pivotal figure of the Fuyao Immortal Sect's revival ultimately left the sect.
In the 1,500th year of the Realm's New Calendar.
The Forbidden Zone Masters' schemes finally surfaced as they personally led the remaining Holy Ones into battle.
Outside Border Town, they beheaded a Great Saint of the Heavenly Rain Realm, hanging the severed head above the town gates and lighting Divine Lanterns in a show of force.
The morale of the entire realm soared, the remaining Holy Ones filled with renewed vigor.
The Heavenly Rain Realm flew into a rage, immediately accelerating their plans for warfare. After nearly a thousand years of relative peace, the two sides clashed once more.
This time, the carnage was even more horrific. All twelve Forbidden Zone Masters took the field, battling the future Emperors of the Heavenly Rain Realm and the other two realms to a stalemate, though they seemed slightly suppressed.
As a result, deaths and injuries in the realm skyrocketed once more.
Chen Xia frequently looked up to observe, perceiving from an outside perspective that this was all a scheme.
Estimating that they could no longer remain patient, he noticed something odd during his observations.
One of the previous Forbidden Zone Masters, the demonic hound from his past, was now missing from the twelve.
The Forbidden Zone Masters could be replaced, just as the blood-flesh sculpture in Triumph Ridge had once been a Forbidden Zone Master.
Chen Xia's eyes narrowed slightly.
With a single step, he arrived within the Thread of Time, traveling into the past to investigate the entire history of the realm.
With divine powers, he gazed into past and future events, overlooking them as the Way of Heaven itself.
Nothing could escape his sight!
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!
pression Bureau] Transported to a fantasy world overrun by demons and monsters, Gu Qingfeng becomes a jailer in the Demon Suppression Prison of the Great Yan Dynasty's Demon Suppression Bureau. From this point on, bizarre cases frequently occur in the Demon Suppression Prison, once known as hell on earth and infamous for its gloomy, terrifying atmosphere! Why do the demons and monsters in the prison wail miserably every night? Why has the corpse demon, capable of transforming into various beauties, donned black stockings and switched careers to become a foot massage therapist? Why has the eye demon, expert in soul-snatching and illusions, turned into a VR headset? Why is the fox spirit performing otaku dances? Are all these occurrences a twisted expression of demonic nature, or a descent into moral depravity? After peeling away layer upon layer of mystery, all clues ultimately point to a jailer named Gu Qingfeng. Gu Qingfeng: "Hehehe... My dear demons and monsters, whose card shall we flip today?"
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.
