Qin Meiling turned slowly, her fingers remaining poised over the lute strings. "Brother Chen, the Qin Clan has never sought dominion over history. However, this gate is not merely stone. It is a seal. Whoever crosses it without the proper harmony will only become another part of the bone pile in this valley."

  At that moment, a violent fluctuation of energy exploded from behind. A streak of sapphire-blue light shot forward at a frantic speed, shattering several coral formations in its path. Han Shanshan landed with a thud that shook the base of the trench, his aura of pure rage causing the surrounding water to boil.

  "Harmony? To hell with harmony!" Han Shanshan roared, his bloodshot eyes glaring hatefully at Qin Meiling before scanning the surroundings as if searching for Zhi Xuan. "Where is that little rat? I know he was following your group, Qin Meiling! Come out, Gu Fengyan! Stop hiding behind a woman’s robes!"

  Zhi Xuan remained motionless within the shadows, regulating his breath to synchronize with the energy pulses of the secret realm. He watched as the Holy Sons began to gather at this point. Before long, Bai Wuchen, Shen Jiuxiao, and the others also made their appearance, each accompanied by their clan’s elite disciples.

  "Look at this," remarked Wang Mingshen of the Wang Clan, his gray pupils peering at the Immortal Gate with scrutiny. "These ancient scripts... they are summoning something. This gate is not currently closed; it is waiting for a spiritual sacrifice to open completely."

  At the mention of a sacrifice, the atmosphere before the valley of bones became deathly still. Han Shanshan laughed crudely, his hands beginning to form energy seals that summoned a giant whirlpool in his palm. "A sacrifice? If a sacrifice is needed, why don’t we use that wanderer who lacks an imperial bloodline? He is nothing but useless dust anyway."

  "Brother Han, you are far too obsessed with your personal vendetta," Bai Wuchen interrupted with his authority as the host. "This gate requires a resonance of laws, not merely cheap blood. Holy Maiden Qin, is your lute capable of opening the way without the need for a life sacrifice?"

  Qin Meiling closed her eyes and began to pluck a melody that was incredibly slow and heavy. "I can try, but I need someone to stabilize the gate's pillars on the other side—someone with a physique strong enough to withstand the shocks of the spatial laws leaking from the cracks in the stone."

  Zhi Xuan realized that this was his moment. If he continued to hide, he would lose the chance to be the first to sense the energy from behind the gate. He released his shadow concealment technique, slowly emerging from the darkness beside a massive dragon skull.

  "If it is only to stabilize the pillars," Zhi Xuan said, his voice ringing clearly through soul transmission, startling the Holy Sons who had not realized he was so close. "This Zhi is willing to lend something as heavy as the remnants of that gate."

  Zhi Xuan stepped out from the embrace of the shadows, each footfall on the silver sand creating ripples of energy that pushed back the seawater. His sudden appearance caused Han Shanshan to snort in hatred, but Chen Jianyun and Bai Wuchen watched him with a deep glint of interest.

  Zhi Xuan waved his hand gently, and the Heavenly Trifold Reincarnation Cauldron floated low above his hand. The weight of the Xuan-Huang energy immediately made the dense surroundings seem to bow beneath the soul artifact. The bronze furnace emitted a powerful yellow aura.

  The sight of the Heavenly Trifold Reincarnation Cauldron manifesting in Zhi Xuan’s palm instantly silenced the rushing water at the bottom of the trench. The bronze furnace was not large, but the Xuan-Huang aura flowing from within it spread like the roots of an ancient tree, providing a weight so real that the silver sand beneath Zhi Xuan’s feet sank.

  "That Divine Furnace," whispered Ye Xishui from atop her Heavenly Leaf, her mournful eyes showing admiration. "Senior is truly using it again."

  "What kind of artifact is that?" Shen Jiuxiao of the Shen Clan narrowed his eyes, his armor vibrating as he felt the resonance of the cauldron's weight. "Even from this distance, I can feel a very dense law of the earth. Its weight feels as though it carries an ancient mountain from the Primal Era."

  "That is the essence of Xuan-Huang," Chen Jianyun said in a raspy voice, tightening his grip on his ancient sword, which was now humming in fear. "A law that transcends ordinary elements. So this is why you are so confident, Zhi Xuan? You carry a cauldron capable of suppressing destiny?"

  Zhu Yanghai laughed loudly, clapping his hands with enthusiasm. "Hahaha! Look at your faces! I told you, this Zhi Xuan has more secrets than all your clan libraries combined."

  Han Shanshan growled, his teeth chattering as he saw everyone's attention focused on Zhi Xuan. "Just a piece of junk furnace! Don't get arrogant yet, Gu Fengyan. We’ll see if that furnace can save you if the gate shatters and sucks out your soul!"

  Zhi Xuan ignored Han Shanshan’s shouting. Instead, he allowed the Divine Furnace to grow larger above his hand, as if it were about to swallow the ruins of the Immortal Gate. Zhi Xuan turned his head, offering a thin smile that radiated an eternal chill toward Han Shanshan.

  "Even though this furnace has a thousand cracks due to the storms of the void," Zhi Xuan said, pointing to the faint fractures on his Divine Furnace. "The remnants of that gate are not a worthy opponent to face the walls of heaven and earth's energy when they are separated."

  With a grand wave of his arm, Zhi Xuan sent the Heavenly Trifold Reincarnation Cauldron hurtling toward the age-worn pillars of the Immortal Gate. The moment the cauldron struck the gate's energy, a massive boom echoed throughout the Secret Realm, creating a shockwave that forced the elite disciples behind the Holy Sons to retreat several steps.

  Burst of Xuan-Huang light exploded as the Divine Furnace slammed into the gate pillar, creating a weave of yellow energy threads that instantly stitched the cracks in the ancient stone. The immense pressure from the cauldron acted as a dimensional stake, forcibly locking the once-shaking space into stillness.

  Qin Meiling did not waste this opportunity. "Now!" she cried.

  The fingers of the Qin Holy Maiden danced over her lute strings with invisible speed. The melody she produced was no longer soft, but a grand symphony that resonated with the ancient scripts on the gate’s threshold. The sound vibrations seeped into the pores of the stone, harmonizing the remaining wild energy with Zhi Xuan’s Xuan-Huang weight.

  WUUUNNNNGGG—!

  The Immortal Gate, once dark and silent, began to glow with a blinding sapphire light. In the center of the stone ruins, a small black hole appeared and slowly expanded, revealing a dimensional vortex leading to the heart of the Ocean Chaos. A bone-chilling cold wafted from behind the opening, carrying the scent of a long-forgotten eternity.

  "It’s open!" Han Shanshan shouted. Without waiting for a signal, he triggered his spiritual essence, shooting like a water spear toward the center of the gate. "The Heavenly Ascension Fruit is mine!"

  "You fool!" Bai Wuchen hissed as he joined the dash, followed by the other clan groups moving like a multi-colored eclipse under the sea.

  Zhi Xuan remained in his position, his hand still raised to control his cauldron. Under his divine sense, he felt that this gate did not merely lead to a treasure room, but to a space-time labyrinth. As the Holy Sons entered, their bodies were instantly scattered, swallowed by different vortexes of light.

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  Qin Meiling stopped plucking her lute. She looked at Zhi Xuan with a very deep gaze and bowed slightly. "Thank you, Brother Zhi. Without the weight of your cauldron, my melody might have shattered halfway. I shall enter first." With a flick of her purple robe, Qin Meiling and the Qin Clan group vanished into the portal.

  Behind Zhi Xuan, the Heavenly Leaf Sacred Pavilion, floating atop their Heavenly Leaf, moved to enter. From above, the density and fluctuations of energy gently brushed against Ye Xishui’s veil. However, her mournful eyes were fixed on Zhi Xuan, who was still holding the Divine Furnace.

  "Senior," Ye Xishui called out through soul transmission, her voice melodious and full of restrained emotion. "Xishui will wait for Senior inside."

  Zhi Xuan only gave a faint nod without turning around. His gaze remained fixed on the churning dimensional vortex within the cavity of the Immortal Gate. Once Ye Xishui and the Heavenly Leaf group were swallowed by the sapphire light, a suffocating silence returned to the valley of bones. There was only the sound of rushing water and the hum of the Heavenly Trifold Reincarnation Cauldron still locking the dimensional pillars.

  "Now, little Zhi," Ruo Xianxue’s voice echoed in Zhi Xuan’s sea of consciousness, cold and authoritative. "While the law of space is stable because of your artifact, this is the thinnest gap between heaven and earth. If you do not split yourself now, you will never be able to do so under the watch of Divine Transformation practitioners."

  Zhi Xuan wheezed through gritted teeth. He felt his Divine Wheel spinning in the opposite direction—a painful sensation that felt as if it were twisting his soul in two. "Do it, Great Saint!"

  Zhi Xuan immediately sat cross-legged among the piles of ancient dragon bones. He moved his hands in a series of incredibly complex secret seals, triggering the Divine Creation Devil Art. Instantly, a dense black aura containing the killing intent of six thousand Slaughter Seals exploded from his meridians, clashing with the pure silver light of his Heavenly Path.

  "Ugh—!" Zhi Xuan groaned, stifling a cry. Fresh blood seeped from the corner of his mouth, but the blood was not red; it was split into pitch black and brilliant gold.

  Ancient devil scripts crawled out from his skin, wrapping Zhi Xuan’s body like a cocoon made of eternal darkness. Inside that cocoon, a phenomenon beyond mortal logic occurred. Zhi Xuan’s whole soul began to tear, pulled by two opposing forces of law.

  "Chaos is the beginning of everything," Ruo Xianxue’s voice sounded cold, melodious, and as if from a distant past. "When Heaven and Earth separated, good and evil were not yet determined. Severing consciousness does not make the consciousness rebellious or different. Rather, the primary consciousness will be the beginning of all for the other."

  Zhi Xuan’s body shook violently within the cocoon of devil scripts. The space around him began to crack, not from water pressure, but because the law itself was being forced to branch. Every nerve felt as if it were being pulled by burning chains, separating memories, emotions, and spiritual essence into two different poles.

  "ARRGGHH—!"

  Zhi Xuan roared silently, his voice muffled by the density of the Xuan-Huang essence from the cauldron still hovering above him. The Pillar of Slaughter on his forehead emitted a terrifying blood-red light, absorbing all the negative emotions, anger, and bloodlust he had ever felt during the slaughters in the southern regions.

  Meanwhile, the Divine Wheel began to separate the pure golden light, gathering every drop of Dao understanding and purity he had built since the beginning of his journey. The process occurred over a period described as ten full days within the Ocean Chaos Secret Realm. For the Holy Sons and Maidens of the Ancient Clans, it was perhaps only the beginning of their quest for the Heavenly Ascension Fruit.

  Under the guidance of Ruo Xianxue’s invisible hand, Zhi Xuan’s raga began to divide. A dense black shadow slowly detached from his physical body, forming a silhouette that radiated an aura of ancient darkness capable of making the entire Secret Realm tremble; the ground shook, and the air solidified until the rocks beneath him shattered into pieces.

  The silhouette was the Ancient Devil Body, the primary vessel and main consciousness carrying the Heavenly-Blood Physique, the Ancient Heaven blood, and the six thousand Slaughter Seals. Ruo Xianxue dropped a bead of her own blood, and the form solidified into a body where the left half was pitch black. His entire left side was covered in ancient devil runes similar to Ruo Xianxue’s Ancient Devil Monument.

  On the other side, the remnants of pure golden light began to gather and solidify, forming a body that looked much more refined and majestic. This body possessed no darkness at all; his skin emitted a soft silver glow, like a newborn moon. This was the Second Body, the manifestation of the Heavenly Path and the Dao understanding he had tempered for hundreds of years.

  KEDUBRAK—!

  Purple lightning struck within the water, hitting the cocoon of devil scripts which exploded, scattering light in all directions. In the middle of the silent valley of bones, there now stood two figures who possessed the same face but radiated completely different existences. The Divine Furnace hummed low; after holding the Immortal Gate for days, the cauldron shrank and was drawn toward the second body.

  The Primary Body—the Ancient Devil—stood with dark purple hair stretching down to his waist. His left eye was no longer sapphire-blue, but glowing red like a boiling lava crater. The Slaughter Seal pattern on his forehead pulsed cruelly, as if he were the center of all destruction. His robe had turned pitch black with a texture resembling ancient dragon skin, emitting a cold aura capable of freezing the soul of anyone who looked at him.

  Standing before him, the Second Body—the Heavenly Practitioner—wore a pure white robe surrounded by a transparent pendar of the Divine Wheel. His eyes remained a clear sapphire-blue, radiating peace and a deep understanding of laws. He looked so pure, as if even the smallest sin could never touch the hem of his robe.

  "Your Majesty," the voice came from the white-robed Zhi Xuan, his body like clean marble. He bowed slightly toward the Devil figure. "The path you take, the Ancient Heaven and Ancient Devil in one body, is full of silence and endless time."

  The Ancient Devil figure—the primary body—only stared with his cold, flashing red eyes. No words left his lips, but the will radiating from him was so heavy it felt like a mountain crushing the horizon. His consciousness was the root, yet he had discarded the Heavenly Path and Dao attachments to become a pure vessel for absolute, bloodthirsty power.

  "The Heavenly Path will also be full of danger and opportunity," a raspy, heavy voice echoed from the primary body as he slightly parted his lips. "You will still have a consciousness distinct from mine. However, the goal will always remain the same."

  The white-robed Zhi Xuan nodded slowly. He felt a strange mental bond; although their bodies were separate, he could feel every breath of the Ancient Devil as a heartbeat in the depths of his soul. He still possessed the Weaver Transformation cultivation, all Heavenly understandings, and held the memories of promises made.

  "I have no need for artifacts or the like," the black-robed Zhi Xuan spoke again, waving his hand and letting all the artifacts float toward the white-robed Zhi Xuan. "Ruo Xianxue and the Nine Heavens Bead will also be with you."

  The white-robed Zhi Xuan accepted the vortex of artifacts with a calm motion. The Nine Heavens Bead slowly entered his chest cavity, pulsing in sync with a heartbeat that now felt much lighter—yet also more fragile without the physical strength of the Heavenly-Blood Physique. He looked at his own palm; the pure light flowing there was the essence of the Heavenly Path cultivation he had purified for centuries.

  The white-robed Zhi Xuan looked at his primary body one last time. Under the pressure of the dark trench, the Ancient Devil figure looked like an unshakable monument of death. Without another word, the Ancient Devil turned away, his steps creating cracks in space as he walked toward the deepest part of the bone valley, where the concentration of origin energy was most dense and deadly. He needed no gate; for him, every inch of darkness was a place to devour.

  "Great Saint," said the now white-robed Zhi Xuan, exhaling slowly and looking at his palm. "We succeeded."

  From behind the shadow of the Devil Tree of Life now residing within the Nine Heavens Bead in the white-robed Zhi Xuan’s body, Ruo Xianxue manifested her silhouette. Her double-pupiled eyes stared intently at the Ancient Devil retreating into the darkness of the trench, then shifted to the white-robed youth before her.

  "Succeeded?" Ruo Xianxue smiled, but it was more of a thin smirk filled with divine elegance. "Your primary body is now an empty vessel that only knows a hunger for power—a figure that will use his physique and blood to annihilate the Dao. You owe me another debt of destiny; without my blood as a guide, your consciousness would have shattered, and you might have been an empty puppet."

  "Owing you a debt of destiny is nothing new to me, Great Saint," Zhi Xuan replied. Even though he was now the manifestation of the Heavenly Path, the glint in his eyes remained that of the same man—cunning, alert, and calculating. "His Majesty cannot be known by anyone; it would bring catastrophe upon me. Fortunately, if I am injured, His Majesty will not be shaken by me."

  "I will check my artifacts first," Zhi Xuan murmured, sitting cross-legged for a moment and closing his eyes.

  There, in his sea of consciousness, Zhi Xuan walked with calm steps. Before him, everything remained the same. He stood beneath the Devil Tree of Life which held the chaos pearl, the place where the Kun Peng fetus was still sealed by ancient devil runes. Zhi Xuan exhaled, stroking his chest, relieved that the pearl had not reacted to the separation earlier.