Chapter 1306: Long-Awaited Wang Gu

The Wanggu Continent lay in utter desolation.

Bleak winds, not born from the sea, but spontaneously generated from different regions due to the unyielding pressure of heaven and earth, grew in intensity. Swirling together, they swept across all directions, ultimately engulfing the entire Wanggu Continent. Their mournful whispers, wherever they passed, sounded like a tragic dirge.

In the wind, the vast mountain ranges in various regions lay like rigid ancient dragons, their backs no longer covered in green scales, but instead by layers of dark brown rock crust. Vegetation could no longer grow. Only lingering underground fires, seeping from fissures in the mountains, scorched the ranges in every region, leaving them like charred corpses.

It was the thirty-first year of the Human Race's Lixia Calendar. Twenty-seven years had passed since the Sword-Wielding Emperor had unleashed that sword strike towards the heavens. These twenty-seven years had been arduous for Wanggu.

The constant rumbling from the sky, like a relentless countdown, weighed heavily upon all the races of the Wanggu Continent, a sound akin to a death knell. Under its influence, all races were forcibly made equal in the face of death. Consequently, despair not only swelled across the heavens and earth but had also grown for twenty-seven years in the hearts of all living beings.

Thus... even before the frost descended, a grim chill had already permeated the world. The entire Wanggu transformed; mountains resembled corpses, and all vegetation withered. The alien substance grew increasingly dense. The sky, oppressed by leaden clouds, seemed crushed and matted. Even when a sporadic, bloody afterglow from the setting sun seeped through cloud gaps, the light and shadow it cast upon the cracked earth were merely mottled, like knife scars. Survival became increasingly difficult.

Even in the sparsely populated northern Wanggu, dull thuds frequently echoed across the ice plains. Millennia-old dark ice, in these passing years, cracked and fractured in large sections. These ice shards, carrying ancient, sealed wails, swept across the land with the cold wind, pressing withered wild grasses into ground-level carcasses. As for the south, it was even more desperate, with tribal wars erupting over resources, forming battlefields everywhere.

In the countdown to death, more resources translated into better offerings, which represented a tribe's hope for survival. This was also an edict issued seven years ago from the Sacred Land beyond the sky: "When we descend, the five tribes with the most offerings shall not be annihilated." Consequently, wars became frequent.

It wasn't until a year ago, with the changes in the sky, that wars gradually diminished. Only on the battlefields, littered with corpses, did the wind-dried black blood remain as witnesses to the chaos. At this moment, the wind came from afar, sweeping over the battlefields, but it could not carry away the lingering stench of blood. It could only make the faded prayer flags, wrapped around the hilts of broken swords, flutter in the wind, emitting a death-like wail that became part of the wind's lament.

The entire Wanggu Continent lay under a heavy suppression. The Forbidden Sea was no different. Its once surging waves had long solidified into ink-black walls of water; the entire Forbidden Sea… had become an ice sea! The ice layers occasionally cracked, and some had connected the patterns of these cracks, discovering they formed a progressively completing prophetic map of Wanggu's collapse. Perhaps it was the heroic spirit of the Sword-Wielding Emperor, leaving a warning for Wanggu.

And today... The final stroke of this map of Wanggu's collapse was being completed amidst the cracking sounds emanating from within the ice. During this process, the sounds of glaciers cracking grew louder and louder, echoing ever more rapidly, like the heartbeats of all the races on Wanggu at this moment.

This also included Feng Hai County! Within Feng Hai County, all the forces of the Sacred Wave Great Region and the Black Spirit Great Region had converged. Among them were the Seven-Blood Pupils, Xu Qing's former acquaintances, and his worshippers from the Black Sky Tribe. Although each of them was mentally exhausted, having endured twenty-seven arduous years, now... every single one of them bore expressions of steely resolve, determination, and... a will to die!

Wu Jianwu, Kong Xianglong, and Zhang San were prominently among them. All the forces of Feng Hai County, led by Marquis Yao, unleashed a grand formation, consolidating all their power, and gazed towards the sky. Also, in the immortal palace beneath Feng Hai County, Xu Qing's divine body sat cross-legged, and in the Phoenix Hall behind him, Zixuan had already opened her eyes.

Not only was Feng Hai County like this, but the rapid heartbeat-like sound also strongly resonated within the Moon Sacrifice Great Region! The Crown Prince, Ninth Grandfather, Eighth Grandfather, Third Grandmother, and others stood before the medicine shop in the Kugu Mountain Range, looking up at the sky with grave expressions. Behind them, Ling'er stood. She had grown, tall and graceful, surrounded by draconic and serpentine forms, her expression resolute. The entire Moon Sacrifice Great Region was in turmoil, a sign that the Revered Moon Palace, the supreme treasure commanded by Fifth Grandmother, was operating at full power.

And similar scenes were unfolding across the entire Wanggu. In the ancestral hall of the Underworld Bone Tribe, deep in the Western Desert, the current king of the tribe sat on a throne built from millions of alien bones, gazing into a bone mirror in his hand. The mirror did not reflect his own face, but the rapidly changing sky above the Wanggu Continent.

Within the Mingli Great Region, located in the eastern part of Wanggu, the Heavenly Festival Tribe, the strongest race in this region, had its various mother nests writhing wildly. The gigantic cocoons were covered in eye-shaped patterns, and now every eye was oozing green pus. And in the largest mother nest, the tribe's Insect Mother sat cross-legged in the center, its twelve tentacles twitching unconsciously. Three of them were already broken, and viscous bodily fluid still dripped from the severed ends. It was attempting to deduce the tribe's path to survival!

And there was the Totem Spirit Tribe, located near the south. As a tribe that had rapidly grown in recent years by devouring smaller tribes, they worshipped their own tribal ancestors as totems. But at this moment, on the Totem Plaza, nine of the twelve totem poles were already breaking. Their tribal chief, with blood streaming from four eyes, his expression distorted, gazed at the sky, descending into madness!

Aside from the tribes possessing deities, all other myriad races were in the same state at this moment. All stood ready for battle, in that tense atmosphere, under that desperate suppression, harboring fear for the future amidst their bitterness. Yet, they had no choice but to face it. All raised their heads, looking towards the sky!

Especially... the Human Race! In the central part of Wanggu, the Human Great Region, on the Qiwu Terrace of the Imperial Capital! The Empress stood there, clad in a gilded imperial robe and wearing the Human Emperor's Crown. The twelve strands of crimson-gold tassels hanging before her remained perfectly still in the wind, mirroring her unwavering heart. Each tassel was adorned with a phoenix marrow pearl, tempered by divine fire. On one side, they reflected the Lixia Empress's forehead, making the bloody divine pattern there appear even more demonic. But on the other, they reflected the black snow extending for countless miles outside the Imperial Capital!

To be precise, it was not snow. It was fragments of the Sky-Veil Sword Qi, which had protected Wanggu for twenty-seven years, scattering across the world as it shattered! They fell upon the land, the mountains, and the rivers, emitting helpless, fragmented sounds.

Amidst these sounds, someone swiftly approached from behind the Empress. The newcomer was a young man, wearing a four-clawed dragon robe, with long hair draped over his shoulders, a slender face, and an air of competence. It was Ning Yan. He was no longer the chubby boy who had been used as a weapon by Er Niu back then. Now, Ning Yan had shed his youthful naivety; his expression was resolute, and he carried a certain imperial dignity befitting a Crown Prince.

Approaching, he stood behind the Empress, gazing at the world outside the Imperial Capital. After a moment, his eyes fell upon the Empress in front of him, and he spoke in a low voice. "Mother, the Flaming Moon Profound Sky Tribe has sent back our envoys and declared that their tribe will seal themselves off in the coming days, strictly forbidding others from entering. They have stated their non-involvement in our war with the Sacred Land."

"Not only the Flaming Moon," Ning Yan continued in a low voice, "but also the Northern Fate Royal Tribe in the north, the Scarlet Earth Great Luo Tribe in the west, the Nether Abyss Skeleton Tribe in the south, and the Divine Descent Tribe in central Wanggu, have all isolated their territories from the outside world. Across the entire Wanggu, all tribes that worship deities have done the same."

The Empress remained silent. She had long anticipated this; it was merely Ning Yan's reluctance that led him to dispatch envoys to Flaming Moon. Deities were indifferent, and it was in line with their nature to observe at such a time.

The Empress raised her head, gazing at the sky. The entire sky was churning, forming a colossal vortex. The sheer scale of the vortex was astonishing. As it rotated, it was as if the sky had had its eyes gouged out, shedding murky blood-tears, and more and more sword qi fragments rained down. And at the center of that vortex, only those who had reached the Divine Platform realm, or the Quasi-Immortal realm among cultivators—a realm not seen for tens of thousands of years—could perceive... a continuously cracking blood-stain deep within the vortex!

The Sword-Wielding Emperor's strike back then had formed a veil of sword qi, covering the sky. It could have extended Wanggu's lifespan by thirty years, preventing the descent of Ancient Immortals and Sacred Lands... But now, its collapse had accelerated seven years ago and was currently in its final stages, three years ahead of schedule!

Faintly, the Empress's gaze penetrated the crack, discerning magnificent Sacred Lands beyond the veil of sword qi, and the figures of cultivators emerging from within them. Among them were some... who were Quasi-Immortals! Wanggu's last Quasi-Immortal was the Sword-Wielder, but the Sacred Lands... their lineage had not been broken!

And beyond those Sacred Lands, the Empress saw a colossal figure. It was... the Ancient Immortal who had brought twenty-seven years of suppression to all the races of Wanggu! Merely looking through the crack caused the Empress's mind to instinctively ripple. She could sense the opponent's terror. Although her divine authority was special, it was utterly insignificant compared to the aura emanating from the opponent. How could a Quasi-Immortal contend with a True Immortal! Therefore, she could envision the outcome: the moment the veil of sword qi shattered would be the moment Wanggu's catastrophe descended.

"Unless... a sacrifice!" The Empress's hand pressed down on the white jade railing in front of her. She turned her head, looking towards the Southern Phoenix Continent!