The aftershock of the Xuanming Passage’s opening spread through the Northern Territories like a boulder hurled into an icy lake, sending a thousand layered waves across the cultivation world.

  Above the Everfrozen Expanse, the hundred-li fissure had now stabilized into a yawning gateway into the Nether Domain. Seven-hued streams of light poured down like a waterfall, turning a thousand miles around into a dreamlike mirage. From the depths of the rift a heady, exquisitely pure tide of Nether qi flowed forth without end.

  Facing such a world-shattering anomaly, every Nascent Soul–stage expert in the North made the same choice — they gathered at the Hanyuan Skyreach Tower.

  The Hanyuan Skyreach Tower was the Northern Nether Accord’s emblematic structure. It rose nine hundred and ninety-nine zhang and was forged entirely from ten-thousand-year cold iron, its surface carved with ancient seals that suppressed Nether energies. The tower was normally overseen by a single Accord envoy who did not interfere in local affairs; only when matters as grave as the Xuanming Passage arose would the envoy appear to preside.

  The first to arrive beneath the tower was the Ice-Soul Immortal of the Profound Ice Sword Sect. Five centuries earlier she had once entered the Xuanming Passage — the only Nascent Soul from the Northern Territories who had returned alive. Now clad in a plain white sword robe, she looked up at the tower, which was spewing seven-colored light, her eyes equal parts fearful and covetous.

  Five centuries ago, seventeen Nascent Souls from the North had entered the Passage alongside her and died within fragments of the Nether Domain. She had seen the horrors within the Nether and beheld the ancient sect relics and maddening treasures hidden in the ruins. Those five hundred years of struggle had taught her how small her strength really was and hardened her resolve to climb ever higher.

  “Envoy.” The Ice-Soul Immortal bowed before the tower entrance. “Bingpo of the Profound Ice Sword Sect, answering the summons.”

  The tower doors opened soundlessly. A middle-aged scholar in dark brocade robes stepped out — face like polished jade, a yellowed tome in hand. His gaze lingered over the Ice-Soul Immortal for a moment before he said matter-of-factly, “Bingpo Dao-ally, it has been five centuries. Your cultivation has advanced. It seems your last journey into the Nether bore fruit.”

  The Ice-Soul Immortal produced an ice-jade casket and presented it with both hands. “Envoy once guided me — I will not forget. Inside are three Nine-You Ice-Soul Lotuses, which I spent a hundred years seeking in the deepest frost.”

  The scholar took the casket, scanned it with his spirit, and a satisfied expression crossed his features. “You are thoughtful. The Northern Nether Accord’s upper echelon has taken note of you — should you return from the Nether Domain with the True Waters of the Nether River, the Accord may exceptionally grant you the title of ‘Northern Guest Attache’.”

  A sharp intake of breath. The Ice-Soul Immortal bowed her head in deeper thanks.

  Before more could be said, streaks of colored light tore the sky as a series of rainbow beams descended.

  Two Nascent Soul cultivators from the Hehuan Sect, the Twin Dao-Couple — Revered Huanxi and Lady Miaoyin — arrived together. Though only early Nascent Soul in rank, their dual cultivation techniques were fearsome in the North. They were followed by the skeletal Chan Master of the Silent Extinction Sect, the house lord of the Northern Nether lineage Ming Canghai, the Ice-Death Elder of the Frost Vale… except for the reclusive Nine Nether Tombs, six of the seven major Northern powers had sent their Nascent Souls.

  When the last streak of teleport light landed, the whole Hanyuan Tower trembled faintly.

  A man descended in a robe the color of spectral blue, his hair and beard white as frost — it was Hanyuanzi.

  His complexion was ashen, his aura wavering, yet his eyes were bottomless wells that made every Nascent Soul present feel a chill. This guardian of the Nine Nether Tombs appeared stronger — and stranger — than rumor had suggested.

  The middle-aged scholar’s gaze lingered longest on Hanyuanzi; a barely perceptible smile curved his lips. “Hanyuan Dao-ally, long time no see.”

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  Hanyuanzi inclined his head slightly and spoke little. He stood before the tower and lifted his face to the fissure in the heavens.

  Once everyone had assembled, the scholar’s expression tightened. He raised a hand and stamped out a profound sigil into the sky.

  A low hum swelled.

  Atop the Skyreach Tower, the long-silent Hanyuan Boundary Pearl flared to life. Seven columns of light — red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo, violet — shot from the pearl into the sky and pierced the fissure itself!

  The moment the columns touched the rift, the Northern sky seemed to freeze.

  From the rift came a deep, primordial sigh.

  An enormous bronze hand, armored like ancient war-plate and as large as a mountain, slowly reached out. Its five fingers spread and—astoundingly—caught every one of the seven-colored beams in its palm.

  “Envoy Mo Xuan, Inspector of the Northern Nether Accord, greeting the ‘Nether Domain Warden’!” the scholar bowed with rare reverence.

  After the hand came a bronze head the size of a peak. Its face was scarred by war; its eyes burned with a ghostly green flame. It swept that cold gaze across the cultivators below.

  Where its gaze landed, all but the Ice-Soul Immortal and Hanyuanzi staggered back with muffled groans; Nascent Souls were thrown into convulsions, their foundations shaken to the core.

  “The Nether Giantkin…” Bingpo’s pupils tightened. Five centuries ago she had seen this terrifying race devour Nascent Souls like candy beans.

  The bronze giant fixed its eyes on Mo Xuan and spoke with a voice like ten thousand thunderclaps, “Mo Xuan, this Northern land is barren; Nether qi here is too thin… were it not for the Accord’s restraint, I could drain the very ley lines of this realm in a single breath.”

  It paused, its voice shaking the hundred miles around. “Hear then: the Xuanming Passage has opened ahead of schedule. Three months hence, fragments of the Nether Domain will formally descend. The Northern Territories shall be assigned to clear the ‘Nether Battlefield’ — Sector Seven — the ancient mountain gate ruins of the Huangquan Sect.”

  The giant opened its mouth and discharged seven streaks of Nether-gray light. They struck the ground and transformed into seven pitch-black edicts, their surfaces crawling with blood-red Nether script.

  “Old custom applies. Seven Hanyuan Edicts. Within three months, four must be smashed. In the end, no more than three factions may hold the edicts — if exceeded, Northern entry into the Nether will be voided, and for a hundred years the North shall be barred from the Domain.”

  Before the words had fully faded, the giant made a strange sound — as if surprised — and the green flame in its eyes flared violently.

  It stared into the fissure for a long time, as though recognizing something. Then, with a sonorous tone, it announced: “The Accord’s highest bounty: should anyone discover this item among the Nether Domain fragments—”

  A vision of a rounded gray stone bead with natural cloud-like patterns flashed in its soul-projection. Plain and unassuming at first glance, the bead radiated a terrible transformative aura that hinted at the power to “devour all” and “reverse reincarnation.”

  “Whoever turns it in shall be granted the rank of ‘Nether General’ and allowed a thousand years of cultivation within the Northern Nether Secret Realm; their faction will be awarded ten Divine-Transformation-tier Nether Puppet Generals; and their cultivation region will be promoted by three tiers in the realm hierarchy!”

  The giant’s tone hardened. “But if any hide it… the entire clan will be executed, the family exterminated; the offender’s cultivation region will be imprisoned forever in the Nine Nether Deathlock! Mo Xuan, this decree will be broadcast to all Accord member realms within three days — take care.”

  With that, the giant hunched and in a single violent pull tore the Hanyuan Boundary Pearl from the tower’s crown.

  A thunderous crash.

  The Skyreach Tower convulsed as the Boundary Pearl was wrenched away, the seven light columns sucked into the fissure! The bronze giant exhaled a satisfied rumble, then withdrew its head and hand, and in the blink of an eye vanished back into the rift.

  The fissure remained; the seven-hued lights continued to pour out. But the suffocating pressure that had pressed down on every chest eased, slowly retreating.

  Mo Xuan’s face turned as calm as a still pool. He stared into the rift a long moment, then flicked his sleeve and his voice — cold enough to cut ice — entered every Nascent Soul’s mind.

  “You’ve all heard the rules. Nascent Souls and Golden Core practitioners are forbidden to intervene directly — the main competitors will be Foundation-stage prodigies. In three days, the scramble for the Hanyuan Edicts begins. Dismissed.”

  The six major powers’ Nascent Souls exchanged glances; their eyes swept to the seven black edicts and the air humbly filled with unspoken gunpowder.

  Bingpo the Ice-Soul Immortal, the skeletal Chan Master, and Ming Canghai stood together in tacit alliance; Revered Huanxi, Lady Miaoyin, and the Ice-Death Elder formed another. The lone Hanyuanzi remained where he was, his gaze not on the edicts but fixed toward the Nine Nether Tombs. A shard of resolve flashed deep in his eyes.

  He had sensed it — the Nether remnants’ souls were starting their final, frenzied devouring.

  And in a secluded room, Yun Che was entering the most perilous phase of forging the “Nether Mansion Aperture.” The nine burning talismans on Ami’s body thrummed and resonated with a rotting figure’s talisman in the rift’s depth across space… their fates linked by a resonance that crossed worlds.

  Which faction do you think is most likely to dominate the struggle for the Hanyuan Edicts?

  The Ice-Soul Immortal’s alliance, the Hehuan Sect’s alliance, or the lone and enigmatic Hanyuanzi?