"This feeling, it feels familiar yet unfamiliar." Zhi Xuan muttered in his mind. He had once felt and seen the vision of the fall of the Ancient Heavens. However, what was before him was something completely different, and somehow he felt something familiar yet also unfamiliar. "Great Saint, do you know what kind of form the Ancient Being has?"

  Zhi Xuan channeled his divine sense, a small, measured wave, to send the question into his Sea of Consciousness, while remaining focused on controlling the Seven Star Boat that moved slowly between the shadows of the ancient stone buildings.

  The Will pressure around him grew heavier, forcing his Devil Tree of Life to work nonstop. Inside the Sea of Consciousness, Ruo Xianxue, the Ancient Devil, snorted. The sound of his snort carried an ancient, startling tremor.

  “I am a Great Saint from a very old era, Monkey. But even in our time, the Ancient Beings known as the Primordial Progeny were already gloomy legends,” Ruo Xianxue countered, his tone containing cold authority and unrivaled knowledge. “They were the Worshiped, not those who chose sides. Their form… does not have a fixed shape. They are manifestations of the Law of Heaven and Earth itself, sometimes shown in the form of the Primordial Abyss.”

  "Not only that," Ruo Xianxue continued calmly, his twin pupils sharpened and carried deep ancient weight. "Even I, who once rejected the concept of Heavenly Dao, never saw the Ancient Being directly. But some of my memories from the Forbidden Plain, the Ancient Being is something that has eight wings and a body that is as if the Primordial Abyss itself."

  Ruo Xianxue walked around the Tree of Life, his dark robe dragging on the grass. "When Heaven and Earth separated, the Nine Heavens were shattered. No one knows where the Ancient Being truly is. Here, it may only be one of its scattered wills."

  Ruo Xianxue stopped walking and stared at the Heavenly Samsara Wheel, his forehead slightly furrowed as if looking directly at Zhi Xuan. "But you, you are the thing I cannot understand the most. You carry the Nine Heavens Bead, carrying me and perhaps... You truly are a descendant of the Ancient Heavens like in that vision."

  "Nine Heavens Bead," Zhi Xuan muttered in his mind, his voice containing deep annoyance. He had heard the Nine Heavens Bead mentioned repeatedly; he was not interested in listening to the Ancient Devil's hypotheses, which were usually filled with nonsense and something uncertain. "And I carry the soul of an Ancient Devil who always disturbs my cultivation."

  Zhi Xuan let out a rough sigh. He ignored Ruo Xianxue's last question. He did not have time to be trapped in riddles of fate; he had to focus on survival and the mission that had to be completed in six days. The urgency of the mission was more important than discussing something he did not know was right or wrong.

  He advanced the Seven Star Boat, sliding slowly through the dark, ancient stone alleys. The pressure of the Ancient Being’s Will felt increasingly real, like a cosmic burden pressing down on his spiritual fortress. The Dead Mist around him was so thick that the distant ice-blue light of the Taiyin Holy Pool only looked like a faint pulse in the distance.

  Suddenly, Zhi Xuan inhaled sharply and stopped his boat. In the middle of the silent alley, he channeled his divine sense, and this time, he did not aim downward, but upward, passing over the roofs of the towering stone buildings.

  RUMBLE! CRACK!

  The sharp and rumbling sound of essence colliding was heard from the air ahead, followed by screams of anger and shouts of warning. Someone was fighting. The turbulent aura up there was a strong Consciousness Transformation aura, at least two, maybe three cultivators. The wild essence fluctuations indicated that they were fighting ruthlessly, ignoring the environment constraints.

  Zhi Xuan narrowed his eyes, the red rings in his sapphire pupils pulsing. He controlled the Seven Star Boat, positioning it behind the shadow of a slanted stone tower. He did not want to get involved. The power he possessed was not the issue, but the Ancient Being's Will around him would take advantage of any disturbance.

  “They are careless,” Zhi Xuan hissed in his heart, cursing the stupidity of those mortal cultivators. “Fighting like that in a place where the Supreme Law resides.”

  The battle in the air heated up. Explosion after explosion of spiritual essence shook the Dead Mist, producing shockwaves that rippled through the stone alleys. He could hear hysterical screams from one of the cultivators.

  "You dare steal the Pure Yin Essence Crystal! I will destroy your Dao!" a voice shouted.

  "Only a fool would fight here!" countered another voice, who was more out of breath. "Fool! We will fall!"

  BANG!

  One last deadly explosion was heard, followed by a scream of pain. Zhi Xuan felt the essence fluctuation of one of the Consciousness Transformation cultivators collapse, like a building whose foundation was destroyed. The figure, already severely injured, lost his balance.

  "NOOOO!" The voice turned into a deafening scream of horror.

  Zhi Xuan looked up. Through the gap in the slanted building roof, he saw a streak of dark purple light shooting down from the sky. The light was uncontrollable, plunging helplessly, pulled by the deadly attraction of the Primordial Will. The figure was a gray-robed cultivator, his body covered in blood and his essence destroyed.

  Just as the figure approached the building roof line, the cultivator let out a final scream full of despair, a plea not directed at his enemy, but at a higher power.

  "DON'T LET ME TOUCH IT!" However, the Primordial Ancient Tomb had no mercy.

  BOOM!

  The figure hit the ancient stone alley in front of Zhi Xuan hard, only a few tens of meters from the Seven Star Boat's position. The mortal body made a horrible cracking sound, but that was not what made Zhi Xuan tense. What made him tense was the next scene.

  As soon as the cultivator touched the ground, a very subtle yet massive spiritual wave exploded from the surface of the stone alley. The wave did not tear mortal flesh or bone; it penetrated directly the layer of spiritual essence and the Will fortress.

  Above the shattered body of the cultivator, a green Soul Fire began to become visible, faintly. That Soul Fire, which was the Divine Wheel's Soul Fire, trembled violently. Zhi Xuan saw with his own eyes. The Soul Fire, which should have been eternal in the Lower Realms, began to dim at a terrifying speed, as if an invisible hand was squeezing it. The cultivator did not emit a sound of physical pain; he let out a heartbreaking moan, a voiceless scream that came from the depths of his soul.

  "Help! Anyone! Take me! My Will… My Dao…"

  The scream was muffled, like a voice from a bottomless abyss. In the air, the two remaining cultivators immediately stopped their fight. They hovered high, their faces pale, staring down with horror that surpassed anger.

  This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report.

  "That bastard touched the ground!" one of the cultivators in the air shouted, his voice filled with horror.

  "There's nothing we can do! Quick! We must leave!" the other replied.

  They turned quickly, ignoring the suffering of their comrade who now lay helpless below. They did not dare to descend. They did not dare to violate the Ancient Supreme Law. Zhi Xuan watched the Soul Fire above the cultivator's body dim, its light becoming faint, yellow, then dull white. The pressure of the Ancient Being's Will around him felt strange, as if something was devouring and plucking.

  In a matter of quick breaths, the Soul Fire completely extinguished, like a candle blown out by a cosmic wind. The mortal body below remained in place, not destroyed, but lifeless and empty. His Dao Will had been plucked, his soul had been imprisoned. Silence descended upon the Primordial Ancient City, even the Dead Mist around Zhi Xuan felt quieter. There were no more moans, no more screams. Only absolute silence that carried the weight of death.

  That cold silence spread, enveloping every strand of dust in the ancient stone alley. Zhi Xuan felt the layer of essence around his Devil Tree of Life tighten, an instinctive response to the horrible phenomenon he had just witnessed. The cultivator was not killed by essence; he was destroyed by the Ancient Supreme Law. His soul, which was the core of his Dao, was plucked and imprisoned by the Primordial Ancient Tomb. This was a sight far more terrifying than the destruction of a mortal body.

  "Did you see it, Monkey?" Ruo Xianxue hissed, his voice in the Sea of Consciousness now containing no ridicule or arrogance, but only coldness and full calculation. "That is the Supreme Law demanding. That cultivator's soul is now one of the cries you hear, a part of the Ancient Being's eternal prison."

  Zhi Xuan clenched his jaw, the red rings in his sapphire pupils radiating a cruel light. He was not surprised, but he respected the cruelty of the Law. A cruelty that surpassed the concept of a Devil.

  "I understand," Zhi Xuan countered, his voice in his mind flat, yet a layer of steel enveloped it. He channeled more essence into the Seven Star Boat, forcing it to move again, away from the empty corpse lying in the ancient stone alley. He moved more carefully, the Seven Star Boat hovering only a few meters above the ground, but always within the safe limit. Every fluctuation of the Will below him felt like a deadly warning.

  "First Heaven. Storm of a Thousand Thunders," Zhi Xuan muttered. He had to practice the Heaven-Grade Martial Art he had just obtained. He could not waste time. Six days was a short time, and this Ancient Being's Will was the perfect enemy to test his resolve.

  He took a deep breath, his Cleaving Metal Lungs working brutally, purifying the air under the cover of Xiao Die's rainbow dust. Zhi Xuan extended his left hand out of the Seven Star Boat. Between the gaps of the ancient stone buildings, he found a slightly open space, where he could move without attracting the attention of other cultivators hovering at altitude.

  The Ocean-Shattering Thunder Sword shot into his palm. Its jet-black blade, cracked and half-damaged, felt cold and sharp. Zhi Xuan channeled essence into it, the essence that had been perfected by the Heaven's Breath Grass, now radiating a strong Devil Metal aura.

  "Storm of a Thousand Thunders!"

  Zhi Xuan did not attack a visible enemy. He attacked the empty air in front of him. The Ocean-Shattering Thunder Sword was unsheathed to the side, a quick and measured movement. It was the movement of the First Heaven, a direct demand to the Heaven Law.

  RUMBLE! CRACK!

  In Zhi Xuan's Sea of Consciousness, the Sky above the Devil Tree of Life thundered. In the real world, no black clouds appeared over the Primordial Ancient City, but around the tip of the Thunder Sword's blade, a thin Thunder aura, invisible to the mortal eye, began to swirl. The aura, although faint, carried the weight of the familiar Thunder Law. The Thunder aura did not spread; it was tightly bound to the sword blade, a manifestation of Zhi Xuan's mastery. The Thunder did not destroy; it judged. The sharp and pure aura of Thunder was a total contrast to the rotten aura of the Dead Mist around him.

  Zhi Xuan felt the Ancient Being's Will around him react. The dead and rejecting Will rustled, as if repelled by the sanctity of the Thunder Law. Thunder is the Heaven Law, and this Primordial Will is the decaying Earth Law. The brief clash between the two Laws sent a subtle yet deadly shockwave through the air around him.

  Zhi Xuan sneered coldly. The smile did not reach his eyes, but it was a smile of brutal satisfaction. "It works. Pure Heaven Law repels the rot of the Primordial Will."

  He swung the sword again, this time faster and stronger. Storm of a Thousand Thunders! The thin Thunder around the Thunder Sword's blade condensed, becoming a sharp, dark purple sheath. The Thunder now emitted a sizzling sound, a muffled yet deadly manifestation of Thunder. He practiced, moving slowly on the Seven Star Boat, swinging the Thunder Sword and forcing the Thunder Law to respond to his will. Every swing was a clash between the sanctity of Heaven and the rot of Earth.

  Zhi Xuan practiced nonstop. In the Primordial Ancient City shrouded in Dead Mist, the Black-Haired Devil created a muffled personal Thunder storm, cleansing the rotten air around him, step by step. Three hours passed as quickly as a stick of incense burned.

  Zhi Xuan did not stop. The Ocean-Shattering Thunder Sword in his hand now felt hot, radiating a stable Thunder aura, as if the half-damaged blade had achieved momentary perfection. He had practiced the First Heaven until proficiency, able to control the manifestation of Thunder with his will.

  "Enough," Zhi Xuan muttered in his heart. He drew back the Ocean-Shattering Thunder Sword, and the Thunder around him subsided, disappearing into the blade. He let out a long breath, a breath that carried brutal satisfaction.

  Now, he not only had a map, but he had a will purifier. The First Heaven Thunder Slash would be his shield, repelling the rot of the Primordial Will. He stored his sword and channeled more essence into the Seven Star Boat, forcing the flying artifact to move faster, deeper into the Ancient City.

  He moved over the ancient stone streets, always maintaining a safe distance from the cursed ground. In his Sea of Consciousness, his stable Devil Tree of Life no longer trembled wildly, but stood firm, its strong roots responding to every clash of the Primordial Will with cold composure. The dead and demanding Will below him felt like a layer he could cut through, not an unavoidable wall.

  About an hour later, the Seven Star Boat approached the center of the Ancient City. There, the towering ancient stone buildings became more magnificent, more massive, as if their architecture was designed to withstand a cosmic burden. In the middle of the circular building formation, the ice-blue light of the Taiyin Holy Pool shone with a blinding strength, a brutal visual and spiritual contrast.

  In the middle of the circular building formation, the Taiyin Holy Pool shone. Its ice-blue light radiated with a blinding strength, a brutal visual and spiritual contrast to the darkness and Dead Mist around it. The Pool was not ordinary water; it looked like a giant crystal disc embedded in the floor of the Ancient Tomb, radiating pure Yin essence that was cold and purifying.

  Zhi Xuan stopped the Seven Star Boat. He hovered far above the Pool, between the peaks of the massive buildings. From this height, he could see that the Taiyin crystal disc was of incredible size, radiating a fluctuation so pure that he could feel its cold essence piercing to the bone. This essence fluctuation was very similar to what he felt in the pocket world of the Jade Immortal School, but thousands of times stronger and purer.

  Around the Taiyin Holy Pool, dozens of cautious cultivators were hovering, all in the Consciousness Transformation realm or higher. They were not fighting. They were all busy with their respective tasks, some using spiritual net artifacts to filter the Yin essence floating in the air, others trying to set up formations on the nearest building peaks.

  They came from various factions, their robes showing the emblems of the Hongmeng Empire, some smaller Sects located in the Gray Territory, and even a few Solitary cultivators. They all kept their distance from each other, a caution born from the Ancient Supreme Law. No one dared to cause trouble near this purest Yin Spring in the Lower Realms.

  Zhi Xuan channeled his divine sense, observing their formations. They all operated within strict safe limits; any cultivator who moved lower than the safe limit in the air was immediately pulled back by their artifacts or comrades. No one dared to take the risk like the cultivator who had just been killed.

  Zhi Xuan stared at the tallest tower ahead, an ancient stone tower that towered like a pillar piercing the Dead Mist sky. The tower was closest to the Taiyin Holy Pool, the most dangerous and purest place. Zhi Xuan focused on the tower. It was the most effective point, but also the most challenging. The Thousand Heavens Sect Formation required him to be at the peak of that tower to ensure the Formation was stable.

  On his shoulder, Xiao Die, who was now invisible behind the folds of the sky-blue robe, suddenly became very restless. The chirp emitted by the Thousand Feathered Moth sounded like pure heavenly music, but now the tone of the chirp contained a strong resonance, almost like ecstasy. Xiao Die was a fortieth-ranked Heavenly Insect, a creature born near the trace of Taiyin. This pure Taiyin Holy Pool was a natural magnet for him.

  "Calm down, Xiao Die," Zhi Xuan muttered in his heart, sending a soothing will. "I know this calls you. But if you appear now, you will draw unnecessary attention."