"Barren Corpses," Xu Han hissed. He did not draw a weapon, but his hands formed secret mudras beneath his wide sleeves. "They are the lingering consciousness of practitioners who failed to cross this path. Do not let your eyes meet theirs, or your soul will be dragged into their eternal waiting."

  Zhi Xuan snorted coldly. "If they are already dead, then let them remain quiet beneath the earth."

  Instantly, a razor-sharp sword aura exploded from Zhi Xuan’s body. The sword intent that had merged with his will manifested as thousands of gray light blades swirling around him, creating a storm that shredded every shadow attempting to draw near. Each time Zhi Xuan’s sword blades slashed a silhouette, a voiceless shriek vibrated through the mind. Yet, the shadows seemed inexhaustible, emerging from the cracks of fractured space.

  "Do not get held up here!" Xu Han shouted, his voice rising slightly. He waved his arm, and a powerful aroma of heavenly flowers suddenly erupted, creating a path of pink light that sliced through the ranks of black shadows. "Follow my light!"

  Zhi Xuan shot forward along the path, fading into a shadow that made him resemble an eclipse. However, in the midst of his flight, he glanced at Xu Han. The man—or whoever he was—moved with an absurdity of fluidity for a stout male practitioner. His footwork was so light it almost resembled a dance above the clouds.

  The two reappeared after crossing a restrictive boundary; the gate slammed shut behind them, locking the Barren Corpses outside. Before them now stood a magnificent and towering Bronze Palace, looking as though it had once stood proudly above the clouds but was somehow buried in these depths.

  The Bronze Palace stood with an arrogance that refused to bow to time. Though largely buried by the silver dust of the Ruined Wilderness, its giant pillars still radiated an aura capable of suppressing the mind. Its bronze surface was covered in green moss that formed strange patterns, as if the metal itself were trying to recount a tragedy.

  Zhi Xuan stood before the tightly closed palace gates, surrounded by a thick fog that restricted vision. His hands were still clenched, feeling the lingering vibrations of the sword intent he had just unleashed. His sapphire eyes shifted from the grand structure to Xu Han, who appeared to be regulating his breath very gently.

  "The Eternal Bronze Palace..." Xu Han murmured, his voice sounding like a soft whisper. "This... I did not expect we would find traces of the Eternal Bronze Palace here."

  "You know of this place, Brother Xu?" Zhi Xuan asked flatly, though he sharpened his Divine Sense to probe the surroundings.

  Xu Han was stunned for a moment, then turned with a faint, somewhat forced smile. "In the records of the Ancient Clans... I mean, from the records of my companion who was a Holy Maiden of an Ancient Clan, the Eternal Bronze Palace is rumored to have close ties to the traces of the Gods in the Upper Realm. One of them is the Great Emperor Zhetian."

  Zhi Xuan narrowed his eyes, piercing through the fog to stare intently at the bronze gates decorated with intertwining dragons—dragons that, strangely, had no eyes. It was as if their creator had intentionally blinded them so they would not have to witness the destruction that befell this palace.

  "Great Emperor Zhetian," Zhi Xuan muttered. The name triggered a small resonance within his ancient heavenly memory inheritance. "The concubine who became the Great Empress, shaking heaven and earth for hundreds of thousands of years. A Great Emperor who could stand equal to the Great Emperors of the Ancient Clans."

  "A Great Emperor who refused to submit to Heaven and Earth," Xu Han added, his voice carrying a hint of admiration he could hardly hide. "Zhetian was not a descendant of Gods; she was a mortal who tore the curtain of heaven with her own hands. And this palace... is the treasure she left in the Lower Realm."

  WHUSH!

  The surrounding fog was suddenly swept away. Zhi Xuan flicked his sleeve, clearing the mist. Before the two of them, the surroundings became clear: figures sat cross-legged on the floor like statues, their faces equally eyeless, all facing the Eternal Bronze Palace as if they were witnesses to the ascension of Great Emperor Zhetian.

  A chilling silence enveloped the palace courtyard. The thousands of figures sitting cross-legged emitted no life force, yet their bodies did not decay; they looked like bronze forged into flesh, frozen in a position of eternal worship. Their ancient clothes had merged with the silver dust, creating a scene that seemed to stop the flow of time.

  "The Emperor's Followers," Xu Han whispered, his footsteps stopping exactly at the edge of the rows of eyeless statues. "They did not die of old age, Brother Zhi. They surrendered their souls to become the foundation for the Great Emperor's ascension. Look at the direction they face... not one dares to look up. They bow to a majesty too blinding for mortal eyes."

  Zhi Xuan walked slowly among the rows of eyeless figures. Each step produced a strange echo, as if the bronze floor beneath him were a giant drum connected to the heart of the earth. He felt the remnants of an extraordinarily powerful intent lingering in the air—a will so dominant that even the laws of nature in this place bowed to it.

  "Surrendering one's soul for an Emperor..." Zhi Xuan whispered, his sapphire pupils glinting coldly. "Their path of cultivation has become an offering. How pathetic, to live thousands of seasons only to end as a prison stone for history."

  He reached out his hand toward the forehead of a statue. A subtle spiritual vibration emerged and swept through Zhi Xuan’s body as he closed his eyes, touching the bronze brow. As his fingertip made contact, a silent boom exploded in the depths of his consciousness. Instantly, he saw himself standing in the midst of followers whose cultivation levels were far beyond the fluctuations of the Sacred Passage.

  "Great Emperor," a voice emerged from a man, his tone moving and full of sorrow. "This King has cultivated for tens of thousands of years and feels no regret seeing the ascension of a Great Emperor!"

  "Great Emperor," another voice came from a woman, bowing deeply with a sorrowful tone. "Our lives are but to see the birth of the Great Emperor! My heart is not heavy, my faith does not waver. The Great Emperor is before my eyes!"

  The vision vanished as fast as a lightning strike, leaving a violent tremor within Zhi Xuan’s meridians. He pulled his hand back with a small jerk, his breath slightly ragged. That sight—tens of thousands of practitioners stronger than the Sacred Passage, capable of splitting the plains with a wave of a hand, yet kneeling to surrender their essence without a shred of doubt.

  "The soul does not return to Reincarnation, but becomes part of the heart's faith in the majesty of a Great Emperor," Zhi Xuan whispered. A spark of understanding caused his Six Paths of Reincarnation Wheel to manifest around him. "Life and Death are so easily surrendered by those with faith. Conviction of the Heart can reject Reincarnation. Wavering of the Heart accepts Reincarnation."

  A Yin-Yang vortex appeared beneath Zhi Xuan’s feet, causing Xu Han to slowly retreat as he moved his fingers to activate his self-protection. Xu Han gasped at the sight of the six-colored wheel and the pressure of a True Domain so pure, it was as if the weaver of the Domain were undergoing a sudden enlightenment.

  "The Six Paths of Reincarnation Domain? Truly defying the Heavens!" Xu Han spoke with awe. "He... He is actually weaving the Six Paths of Reincarnation as his True Domain."

  Enjoying this book? Seek out the original to ensure the author gets credit.

  The waves of energy emitted from Zhi Xuan’s body were no longer just exploding spiritual essence, but a resonance of laws beginning to re-stitch the spatial order around him. The six-colored light from the Reincarnation Wheel spun faster, creating a sharp contrast with the dull bronze hue of the palace courtyard.

  "Faith in Life, Doubt in Death," Zhi Xuan whispered. He floated slowly into the air, the Six Paths of Reincarnation Wheel glowing with spiritual waves that swept the surroundings. "Submitting to Reincarnation is Annihilation; defying Reincarnation is Eternity."

  Zhi Xuan spoke those words in an extremely low tone, yet his voice carried the weight of thousands of seasons. In his eyes, the eyeless figures sitting cross-legged were no longer mere statues. He saw them as threads of fate that had intentionally severed themselves from the wheel of samsara. They did not seek rebirth; they only wished to be witnesses to the single peak they worshipped.

  Xu Han stood frozen at the edge of the Yin-Yang vortex. His blue robes fluttered wildly, but his gaze never left the floating figure of Zhi Xuan. He pressed his palm to his chest, feeling his heart pounding—a vibration he should not have felt as a practitioner of his level in front of someone with a lower cultivation base.

  "A God's enlightenment in the middle of the grave of the forgotten," Xu Han whispered, his voice nearly swallowed by the roar of energy. "Brother Zhi, you are truly mad. You are trying to steal secrets from those who have rejected the path of heaven."

  Zhi Xuan did not hear him. His consciousness now expanded, touching every bronze statue in the place. He felt thousands of wills that contained no coercion. If Reincarnation was a law that forced souls to return and forget, then the faith of Zhetian’s followers was the shield that rejected that force.

  The Reincarnation Wheel behind Zhi Xuan spun in the opposite direction, creating a space where the shadows of the palace around him seemed to warp. The six colors radiated alternately, attempting to swallow the essence of the thousands of bronze statues into its cycle. However, something extraordinary happened: Zhetian’s followers were not absorbed. They remained upright, silent, and unshakable, as if they were rocks in the middle of a raging ocean of Reincarnation.

  "I understand now," Zhi Xuan’s voice echoed, not from his mouth, but directly from the vibration of the laws he emitted. "Reincarnation is a chain for those with regrets. But for them... death is merely an honor."

  Instantly, the gray aura around Zhi Xuan exploded into sharp silvery light. The pressure of his True Domain increased, forcing the silver dust on the palace floor to fly like a blizzard. Amidst the storm, Zhi Xuan slowly landed, his feet touching the bronze floor with the heavy sound of clanging metal.

  Xu Han stepped forward after the energy storm subsided. His pale face was now adorned with a pair of eyes flashing with complex emotions—a mixture of horror and suppressed adoration. He straightened his sleeves with an extremely graceful motion, hiding the trembling in his fingers.

  "An extraordinary enlightenment, Brother Zhi," Xu Han said, his voice calm again but carrying a deeper resonance. "Intermediate stage of True Domain—this is truly incredible. Even though your cultivation is still at the early stage, your Domain has leaped to the intermediate level!"

  Zhi Xuan exhaled deeply, letting the overflowing remnants of Reincarnation energy seep back into his skin. The six-colored wheel on his back slowly faded, leaving a silence far deeper than before. His gaze was still fixed on the thousands of bronze statues, but this time with a look full of a cold, new understanding.

  "This enlightenment is but a drop of water in the middle of an ocean of nothingness, Brother Xu," Zhi Xuan replied flatly, as if the surge of power he had just experienced was a trivial matter. "However, it is enough to let me see that the gate before us is not merely a stone door."

  KREEEAAAK—!

  Suddenly, a deafening sound echoed throughout the valley. The bronze dragons seemed to come alive; their bodies writhed and their metal scales clashed, creating sparks of silvery spiritual fire. The giant gate slowly opened, revealing a pitch-black darkness within—a darkness that felt purer than any night on the Nine Plains.

  The bronze gate gaped wide, like the mouth of an ancient giant that had long been hungry and was now ready to swallow anyone who dared cross its threshold. From within that dense darkness flowed a cold draft carrying the scent of old copper and incense that had burned for unfathomable years.

  Xu Han took a step ahead of Zhi Xuan, his crane robes glowing softly amidst the creeping darkness. He paused for a moment, staring into the palace with eyes that were hard to read—there was deep admiration as well as a fear he hid within the folds of his wide sleeves.

  "This darkness... it is alive," Xu Han whispered, his voice sounding softer, almost like the sigh of a woman recounting the past. "Brother Zhi, do not use your Divine Sense too far in there. In the resting place of an Emperor, senses that are too sharp will only become a dagger that wounds your own mind."

  Zhi Xuan did not answer, but he felt that Xu Han’s warning had a real basis. He could sense that the darkness before him was not merely the absence of light, but a stack of incredibly dense Laws—a territory where the will of Emperor Zhetian still held absolute sovereignty.

  "Let's go," Zhi Xuan said shortly. He stepped inside, letting his body be swallowed by the pure darkness.

  As soon as their feet crossed the threshold, the cacophony of the silver dust storm outside vanished instantly, replaced by a silence so absolute that their heartbeats sounded like war drums in the vast room. Light from night pearls embedded in the palace ceiling began to ignite one by one, but the light was dim—a pale blue that could only illuminate a few zhang.

  The palace floor was made of highly polished black obsidian crystal, reflecting their shadows like an honest mirror. On the left and right sides of the great hall stood bronze pillars carved with the life journey of a human. Zhi Xuan stopped in front of one pillar. The carving showed a young girl staring toward a split sun, with a weaving needle in her hand.

  "Zhetian began her path as a young silk weaver," Xu Han's voice sounded behind him as he approached with incredibly light steps, nearly silent on the floor. "She had no divine bones, no imperial bloodline. She only had the will not to let the heavens determine the limit of her age."

  Zhi Xuan stroked the surface of the pillar. The coldness of the metal seeped into his soul, bringing a brief vision of a struggle full of blood and tears. "That is why she built this palace of bronze, not of gold or heavenly jade. Bronze is the metal of man—the metal forged with fire and sweat."

  Zhi Xuan and Xu Han walked deeper toward the heart of the hall, where the shadows of the bronze pillars elongated like rows of kneeling soldiers. The air inside felt increasingly thick, as if every mist had been replaced by the residue of ancient power that refused to fade.

  Suddenly, Xu Han stopped. He turned toward the darkness in a corner of the hall unreachable by the blue pearl light. His slender hands pressed to his chest, and for a second, a thin pink aura flickered again beneath his blue robes before being harshly suppressed.

  "Brother Zhi, stop," Xu Han whispered. His voice was no longer authoritative, but filled with a sharp vibration of vigilance. "Something is breathing ahead of us. Something that has waited for its master’s return for millions of suns."

  Zhi Xuan narrowed his eyes. He released a bit of his sword intent, not to attack, but to dissect the density of the air before him. Sure enough, from behind the shadow of a towering empty throne at the end of the hall, a pair of blood-red lights emerged and slowly grew larger.

  KLANG... KLANG... KLANG…

  The sound of heavy metal footsteps hit the obsidian floor, creating an echo that was painful to the mind. From the darkness emerged a creature two zhang tall. Its body was made entirely of black bronze, wearing ancient battle armor that was cracked in many places. Its face was covered by a flat mask with no eye holes, yet in its hand, it dragged a giant spear still coursing with crackling silver lightning.

  "The Palace Guardian," Xu Han murmured, his face paling under the blue light. "This is not just a spiritual puppet. It is a manifestation of Zhetian’s lingering wrath. It will not allow anyone who lacks the qualifications to approach the Bronze Throne."

  Zhi Xuan did not retreat; instead, his black-and-white robes rustled sharply as he took a step forward. "Qualifications? If this palace belongs to a human who defied the heavens, then the best qualification is to show that my will is no lower than this metal."

  WUSH—!

  The Bronze Guardian gave no warning. With speed that defied the logic of its metal body, it lunged forward. Its giant spear slashed the air, creating a spatial vibration aimed directly at Zhi Xuan’s neck. The silver lightning enveloping the spear howled, carrying the purest law of destruction.

  Zhi Xuan did not draw his physical sword. He raised his left hand, and the Six Paths of Reincarnation Wheel manifested in a small size upon his palm. "Path of the Gods: Heaven’s Bastion!"

  BOOOOOMM!

  The collision between the bronze spear and the six-colored light shield created a shockwave that cracked the obsidian floor beneath Zhi Xuan’s feet. The pressure was so immense that a regular practitioner's mortal body would have been instantly crushed into a pulp. However, Zhi Xuan’s frame, bolstered by his Heavenly-Blood Body, only trembled slightly.

  "Get back, Brother Xu!" Zhi Xuan shouted without turning.

  However, instead of retreating, Xu Han moved in a circular motion with incredible fluidity. He waved his arm, and dozens of nearly transparent pink silk threads shot out from beneath his sleeves, coiling around every joint of the Bronze Guardian. The threads appeared fragile, but upon contact with the bronze metal, they glowed with a spiritual fire capable of melting defensive formations.

  "I will lock its movements; use your True Domain to sever its energy flow!" Xu Han cried. His voice now held a strange, high-pitched tone, as if he were holding a massive weight within his chest.