Chapter 1313: The World Mourns Together

Had he been seen before? He felt incredibly familiar. In the spiritual imprints revealed by Number Nine, this person was depicted with immense significance, his deeds shaking past and present!

Unfortunately, Chu Feng had seen it too quickly then, unable to thoroughly review his life. Now, he felt helpless.

However, he clearly remembered that in that glorious yet terrifying past, whenever the most crucial moments arrived, whenever the heavens themselves seemed to suffocate, his figure would materialize.

It was always so, from ancient times to the present. Each time, he was able to turn the tide!

Scene after scene, a great bell would strike out, leaving no match in heaven or earth, the river of time itself bowing at his feet.

To Chu Feng's regret, during those most momentous historical periods, which concerned life and death across the heavens and earth, the final critical junctures of the grand scheme, this person mostly revealed only his back, always shrouded in mist, his true face never seen.

Just as now, he stood with his back to the world, accompanied by a broken bell.

In the past, his great bell suppressed the heavens, and he seemed insurmountable, standing tall between heaven and earth, like an eternal, unsurpassable monument.

His life was too glorious and brilliant; he had no unconquerable foes. He swept through everything with devastating force; with a wave of his bell, ten thousand immortals were subdued, he swept across heaven and earth, unrivaled from ancient times to the present.

His life was a triumphant song, with no low points. From his youth, he continuously suppressed all opponents, fighting his way to unparalleled heights, leveling all forbidden lands, and with a single leap, achieved eternity, suppressing past, present, and future.

Never had there been such a person, radiant with boundless light, who began contending for supremacy from the age of twenty, and from then on had no equal, truly the foremost under the starry sky.

Later, even above the starry sky, he was unrivaled.

But, what was difficult to accept was...

Now, he still had his back to everyone, but he was slumped over the broken bell, covered in blood, with signs of decay. It was hard to imagine what could have happened in the past for such a supremely talented, peerless figure to fall into this state.

What changes had occurred? What had he encountered to reach this point, so tragic?

Even Chu Feng felt a tremor in his heart. He carefully recalled the scenes he had witnessed in Number Nine's spiritual imprints. This was truly an unyielding and powerful man, who would eventually wither, lying dead upon his shattered, fragmented bell.

Ah, Chu Feng remembered. In the ending seen by Number Nine, during this man's final battle, after reaching the pinnacle of his brilliance, he pierced through the heavens, but he himself turned his back on both foes and old friends, covered entirely in blood, and collapsed.

In the background, simultaneously, his weapon, the great bell, exploded, accompanied by his own rain of blood. This never-defeated man withered away and fell.

At that moment, it was as if countless people roared and wept. All beings seemed to chant his name, recalling his achievements; the world offered a collective sacrifice, and then the world fell silent together.

When immersed in that history, and sinking into that vanished river of time, Chu Feng was moved, feeling a sense of tragedy and desolation.

Such a mighty powerhouse could not escape the day of his demise.

“This person belongs to the Lesser Netherworld,” he mused, “he visited my birthplace, swept across heaven and earth, living a brilliant life. Yet, amidst the ancient currents of time, he still encountered calamity and fell into eternal silence. It is truly regrettable.”

Chu Feng gazed at that peculiar vortex world, trapped in an unnameable emotion.

The Seeker carried a collapsing world on its back, within which black behemoths roared in sorrow, and supreme powerhouses lay dead on the broken bell. All of this stirred one's heartstrings.

Suddenly, Chu Feng's body tensed, his hair stood on end. The Seeker, with disheveled hair and wearing decaying gold-thread jade robes, had appeared before him, almost pressing against his face.

Moreover, the Seeker was sniffing, its nose constantly twitching, about to touch Chu Feng's face.

This gave him goosebumps all over. He was on the verge of fighting back, of battling to the death, but he also knew that the gap between them was too vast, and it would not end well.

What was it doing? Was it really going to eat him? Did it find his flesh exceptionally delicious, or did his cells contain too much vital energy and potential? Chu Feng's mind raced with wild thoughts.

At this moment, he felt an itch in his nose; the other party's decaying hair had already touched his body.

Just then, he saw the discontinuity of time, the destruction and rebirth of star rivers, all appearing as anomalous phenomena on the Seeker's body.

Fortunately, these phenomena were not present on the Seeker's hair. If they had been, it might have brought misfortune to Chu Feng upon contact.

The Seeker continued sniffing, making Chu Feng unbearable. The contact between them was too close; they were practically touching.

Were you going to eat him, or what did you intend?

“I'm a man!” Finally, Chu Feng could no longer endure it. He blurted out, “What exactly do you want?!”

He roughly perceived that the Seeker was acting purely out of instinct.

“Heh heh…”

Suddenly, a sinister laugh echoed, carrying a hint of chill and terror.

Chu Feng felt a chill run down his spine. Was it going to attack him? No, it wasn't the Seeker.

Who was that? He was greatly startled. In such a place, a creature daring to appear so close to the Seeker was absolutely heaven-defying. Could it be a high-ranking member of the Karma Hunters had appeared?

Chu Feng abruptly turned his head. He saw endless thick fog, but no figure. Looking back at the Seeker, it showed no reaction, ignoring the sound.

“Who's there?!”

Chu Feng demanded, feeling uneasy about the voice, as his muscles tensed, his body, vital energy, and spirit reacting intensely.

This was an instinctual reaction, as if he had encountered a natural predator.

“Chu Feng?” From the dense fog, a voice emerged, somewhat hoarse and chilling, sending shivers down his spine.

Chu Feng was greatly surprised. Who was that person who could recognize his identity? This was incredible. Had someone in the Yang Realm seen through his origins?

Could it be Taiwu?!

“Which one?!” he shouted.

At this moment, he disregarded the Seeker, which was right in front of him, feeling that the entity in the fog posed a greater threat and harbored ill will towards him.

“Heh heh…” This time, a woman's laugh emanated from the fog, somewhat soft and insidious, seemingly not unpleasant, but it made Chu Feng's skin crawl. He increasingly felt danger approaching!

“There's a woman over there!” Chu Feng signaled to the Seeker, pointing in a direction.

However, the Seeker ignored him. It ambled through the area, stopping occasionally, at times lowering its head, at times gazing at the sky, appearing somewhat agitated. It seemed to have sensed something.

But it didn't seem to be directed at the creature making the sound in the shadows.

“Chu Feng, long time no see. I’ve missed you a little.” The hidden person spoke again, their insidious tone laced with coldness, making one's scalp tingle.

“Who exactly are you, neither male nor female? Get out here!” Chu Feng roared.

In this situation, an enemy had unexpectedly appeared. What were its origins?

Then he saw them: a pair of eyes emerged from the dense fog not far away, a lifeless grey, devoid of any luster. As it gradually approached, he could see that these eyes were somewhat resentful and sinister. What was this situation?

As Chu Feng's hair stood on end, he immediately unleashed an Ultimate Fist strike, while simultaneously preparing to recklessly unleash his wooden spear.

However, after the fist print struck out, the mist in that area dispersed, and the pair of eyes also transformed into mist. Chu Feng's attack was useless.

“Heh heh, what a delicious scent, a bountiful blood feast. I’m very curious how you survived back then.” The voice was neither male nor female, at times hoarse, at times insidious, constantly changing. It shifted left and right, east and west within the dense fog, lacking a fixed form.

Chu Feng's body stiffened, increasingly feeling danger approaching. At this moment, a certain artifact within him began to rotate, moving slowly, making him realize what he had truly encountered!

Within him, the gray mini-millstone ground and spun by itself. The golden symbols Chu Feng had carved on it glowed. Was this a warning, or self-defense?

He knew then: the voice in the fog must be related to the gray substance!

Chu Feng's eyes reddened. Back then, to enhance his strength, avenge his family and friends, and kill the enemies from the Yang Realm who had invaded the Lesser Netherworld, he had not hesitated to travel to foreign lands and cultivate sinister alien arts. This led to him being increasingly eroded by the gray substance, making his life worse than death.

Ultimately, he was forced to reincarnate because his body had deteriorated to its extreme, his path forward was cut off, his potential squeezed dry, and his soul light obscured, making him unable to cultivate normally.

Chu Feng had narrowly escaped death countless times. Even with the crude stone disc from the City of Light and Death, he couldn't completely eradicate the gray substance. It wasn't until he reached the mud statue sitting at the end of the reincarnation path and delivered a final strike that he finally escaped his predicament and cleansed himself of the gray substance.

As for that gray substance, he had melted it within his body, fusing it with the black and white mini-millstone to form the gray mini-millstone.

Now, the gray mini-millstone was reacting, spinning on its own, leading Chu Feng to guess that the gray substance had reappeared!

“Heh heh, another epoch has begun; this time, it's the Gray Epoch!” In the dense fog, the pair of eyes reappeared, like dead fish eyes, devoid of life, filled with venom and chilling coldness, and approached Chu Feng.

Chu Feng gritted his teeth, increasingly realizing the horror of this gray mist. And this seemed to be an "old acquaintance." Back then, a particularly dense mass of gray substance had escaped from his body, presumably crossing the boundary membrane with people from the Yang Realm and entering it.

Could it be it?

“Little Ash, is that you?!” Chu Feng shouted.

“You seek death!” The gray substance coldly rebuked.

This was a gray substance with self-awareness, different from others. It was incredibly sinister, transforming into a humanoid form, staring at Chu Feng and closing in on him.

Chu Feng felt doubt. The Seeker had appeared, carrying a world on its back, with supreme powerhouses lying dead on the broken bell inside, and black behemoths. This was already very strange. But now, how had the gray substance also come along? Were they all coming for him?

With a low roar, the mass of gray substance, now in humanoid form, pounced, charging at Chu Feng, and said, “I greatly miss the nourishment you provided back then.”

Chu Feng was enraged. After everything he had been through, tormented to the brink of death by this gray substance, it dared to bring up old matters again and even try to kill him. This was utterly intolerable.

His stone jar and Samsara soil were ready, but none of them reacted as intensely as the gray mini-millstone, which spun rapidly on its own, trying to rush out of his body.

Chu Feng's body trembled. He had a premonition and directly and actively drew it forth, making the two millstone wheels, upper and lower, appear in his left and right hands respectively, and then he met the gray substance.

“Ah…”

At that moment, Little Ash shrieked, actually being absorbed by the gray millstone, and then a portion of it was refined away.

“You…” It was simply unbelievable. What kind of person was this, who could refine it?

Its origin was extremely extraordinary. The gray substance had gained sentience, transformed into a tangible body, and was hailed as the essence of gray substance's essence. It had long become sentient.

Theoretically, it was almost uncontrollable. Yet now, someone was actually refining it, and it was its former host, its past “blood meal.”

With a cry of agony, it broke free from Chu Feng's hands, dispersing into gray mist, and manifested a pair of eyes, staring fiercely at Chu Feng from a distance.

Then, the boundless, endless mist enveloped Chu Feng from all directions. The gray substance was hidden within, ubiquitous, infiltrating Chu Feng's body from various directions.

The gray mini-millstone rotated, instantly returning deep within Chu Feng's body. Then it began to spin wildly.

Any gray substance that entered his body was refined and absorbed by the mini-millstone, becoming a part of it. At this moment, Chu Feng clearly felt the gray mini-millstone strengthening, growing, and solidifying, becoming an immeasurable artifact!

“Ah…” The gray substance cried out loudly, terrified to its core.

Chu Feng gritted his teeth and said, “Little Ash, you dare to try and harm me again? This time, I’ll make you call me daddy!”