Chapter 1247: The Outside World is Extremely Dangerous

"Huh? Why?" Lu Yang wondered. What puzzled him even more was that someone seemed to have said the same thing just moments ago.

"How do you evaluate the Battle of Zhongshan?"

"The greatest of all time."

From ancient times to the present, in terms of scale and intensity of engagement, the Battle of Zhongshan truly ranks first.

"Without the barrier created by the power of national destiny, what do you think would have been the outcome of the Battle of Zhongshan?"

Lu Yang was startled; this was something he hadn't considered, and he immediately shivered. Without a doubt, it would have been a catastrophic battle, causing immense suffering!

One could see hints of this from the battle between the Immortal Fairy and Grey Bean. They fought from the Demon Realm all the way to the Spiritless Land and back again; it wouldn't be an exaggeration to say they fought through heaven and earth. The Battle of Zhongshan was on an even larger scale. Without the barrier, wherever the fighting occurred, there would have been widespread casualties.

"Yao Sheng was merely a puppet created by the mastermind, which indicates the mastermind's true power is even greater."

"The Battle of Zhongshan consumed more than half of the accumulated national destiny power. If I were to fight the true mastermind, the cultivation world would undoubtedly be destroyed."

"This world cannot accommodate a battle of that magnitude. Our fight would have to take place outside the Box World."

Inside Prisoner Peak, the task of printing newspapers was assigned. The content of the newspaper astonished them: the Great Qian forces and the Great Yu forces had temporarily ceased hostilities.

"Is the world's seal about to be broken?"

The Central Heavenly Emperor showed an envious look. Everything he had done was to break the seal and see the outside world. Now, ironically, the seal was about to be broken, and he was imprisoned. "What luck." The Central Heavenly Emperor didn't know whether to cry or laugh.

"Look on the bright side," Sima Ming comforted him. "Back when Yao Sheng broke into the Immortal Palace, he told us the clues to the Dao Fruit of Time were in the Ask-the-Dao Sect. He also said his goal in breaking the seal was the same as ours."

"We're certainly luckier than that Yao Sheng. At least we'll get to witness the unsealing process; he won't even get to see it."

"That's true," the Central Heavenly Emperor nodded.

With the publication of the new edition of the *Cultivation Weekly*, the entire cultivation world was abuzz with discussion.

"The Four Ancient Immortals have all appeared?! They're going to break the world's seal?!"

The Four Ancient Immortals were synonymous with antiquity and mystery. For the past 300,000 years since the end of ancient times, countless people had painstakingly searched for traces of them, but all had failed without exception. Only the Celestial of Heavenly Response had appeared after Lu Yang and Meng Jingzhou completed their tribulation. Surprisingly, the other three immortals had now all appeared at once!

"But what does 'breaking the Box World seal' mean? What is the Box World?" Most mortals and cultivators had never left their county or state in their entire lives and had no idea what the world truly looked like. As they wondered, the text on the newspaper transformed, forming a transparent cube diagram, with labels on its six sides indicating where Great Xia was, where the Demon Realm was, where the East Sea was, and so on. These people felt as if a cloud had lifted, and only then did they understand what the world truly looked like.

According to the newspaper, the world map had become even larger?

"I thought the world was already big enough, but I never imagined there were worlds beyond it."

"But this doesn't seem to concern us, does it?"

So what if the world map got bigger? How did that affect them? What shocked them the most was still the appearance of the Four Ancient Immortals.

Those cultivators who knew the true appearance of the world and understood ancient history, especially those capable of traversing the void and traveling through the cosmos with their physical bodies, were extremely excited and agitated. Many didn't hesitate to spend lavishly, booking entire restaurants and brothels. Some patrons in brothels, upon hearing this news, directly emerged from their rooms to excitedly chat with friends next door. The family patriarchs, who had been quiet, now stirred, developing a desire to explore the outside world.

"To think we would be so fortunate to witness the day the Box World opens!"

"They say a grand era is upon us, restoring the ancient customs. This must surely be a glimpse of its arrival!"

"What exactly is it like outside?"

"It's hard to say. I'm afraid the outside world is fraught with dangers."

"Why do you say that?"

"Consider how small our world is, yet how many cultivators, Half-Immortals, and Immortals have emerged from it."

"According to ancient records, the outside world is boundless, and there must be even more cultivators. Perhaps those with cultivation levels like our Integration stage can be encountered casually!"

"In my opinion, on the day the seal is broken, we should venture outside together, so we can look out for each other."

"That makes sense."

"The imperial court will certainly dispatch exploration teams to the outside world. It's a pity we aren't government officials; otherwise, we'd be much safer."

"Let's just pray to the Four Ancient Immortals that we don't encounter cultivators significantly stronger than us out there."

Taking advantage of the situation, the Golden Coin Merchant Guild promptly launched "Outside World Exploration Personal Accident Insurance."

Emperor Xia, Abbot Mingyu, Zhu Tian, the Old Dragon King, and the retired Snow Emperor, representing their respective major powers, conducted a detailed discussion regarding the unsealing of the world. Jiang Ping'an, Immortal of Time, Jiang Lianyi, Ao Ling, and the Immortal of Nine Heavens, who were behind them, were all hands-off leaders, only vaguely aware of their own factions' situations. Thus, these true administrators had to step forward to discuss the intricate details. The appearance of the Snow Emperor greatly surprised the other four; they had never heard of a Snow Emperor in the Far North.

"Snow Emperor, are you the ruler of the Far North?"

The Snow Emperor sighed. He hadn't even enjoyed his retirement for two days before the Immortal of Nine Heavens called him for a meeting. "Not entirely. In our region, they all think I'm a legend, not a real person."

"Then..."

"But don't worry, I'm the strongest fighter in our Far North. After this meeting, I can certainly implement the results there. If any of those youngsters don't believe me, I don't mind letting them know what it means for the Snow Emperor to manifest." In his youth, the Snow Emperor was also an undefeated presence throughout the Far North. However, after becoming a Half-Immortal, he gradually tempered his nature. Everyone exchanged glances. However, since the Snow Emperor had spoken so frankly, it seemed there was no need to worry about the cultivators in the Far North being disobedient.

Emperor Xia spoke first: "Once the Spiritless Land is opened, countless cultivators will undoubtedly venture out. This is certainly not viable and will hinder management. I believe we should set up a massive formation that can verify cultivators' identities and inspect the items they carry. Anyone wishing to enter or leave the world must pass through this formation." However, Emperor Xia's speech made everyone present a little awkward, especially the Old Dragon King and the Snow Emperor.

"Why is everyone so quiet?"

"Uh, in the territories we govern, it seems we've never registered cultivators' identities."

The prerequisite for verifying a cultivator's identity is knowing who they are, but the East Sea and the Far North clearly lacked this information. The Demon Realm was slightly better, but Zhu Tian hadn't fully cataloged all the demon races there either.

"So, our first step is to register all cultivators' identities and create identity documents?" Emperor Xia sighed, realizing the preparatory work was more extensive than he had imagined.

"Actually, there's a way to save time," the Snow Emperor said, having thought of a good idea.

"What method?"

"We can ask Senior Immortal of Time to stop time. When we go to register identities, whoever we're registering can move while time is stopped, and then we'll have them stop moving once registered."

"That way, not to mention registering all cultivators' identities, even registering all cultivators' and mortals' identities worldwide wouldn't take a second."