Chapter 1272: Layer Upon Layer of Unusual Phenomena
At this moment, regardless of whether one was a mortal or a cultivator and regardless of which continent they belonged to, all living beings in the cultivation world put aside what they were doing and craned their necks to watch the Four Ancient Immortals as they transformed into four streaks of colored light and vanished into the distance.
Even cultivators with the sharpest eyesight couldn’t see another continent while standing on one continent.
“Have the Four Ancient Immortals gone to remove the seal?”
“Probably?”
Although people had speculated about it when the Four Ancient Immortals appeared, it was still just speculation. Without witnessing it firsthand, who would dare draw a definitive conclusion?
Just as doubt began to spread, low rumbles of thunder echoed overhead, and dark clouds blotted out the sky.
“Why is there thunder suddenly?”
“This is such a critical moment; why is there lightning now? Can anyone dispel it?” A Fusion cultivator frowned. Even if they couldn’t see what the Four Ancient Immortals were doing, they couldn’t have their view obstructed. The cultivator prepared to cast a spell to sweep away the clouds and lightning.
“Wait, this isn’t ordinary lightning!” A sharper cultivator stopped his companion. “Look closely. There’s something different about these lightning bolts!”
Silver lightning pierced through the dark clouds, churning in the sky. Every lightning bolt was of identical thickness, like lines that came together to form image after image.
“The images depict the Four Ancient Immortals!”
With the dark clouds as their backdrop and lightning as their paint, silver serpents danced, sketching the scene of the Four Ancient Immortals joining forces to open the heavens.
If one could stand on the sun right now, they would see all five continents shrouded beneath an impenetrable canopy of heavy, leaden clouds. This meant that every living being was fortunate enough to witness the process of opening the heavens.
Mortals and low- to mid-level cultivators were simply grateful to continue watching the spectacle. However, those great cultivators felt waves crashing through their hearts. Never in history had they ever heard of lightning behaving in such a manner.
“Could it be that this moment holds such extraordinary significance in history and carries such special meaning to heaven and earth that the firmament wishes to record it with lightning?!”
“Yes, that must be it!”
~~~
“If the Emperor-Lord and I had stayed in Great Qian instead of residing in the immortal palace, Great Qian would never have fallen!”
Guan Shanhai scoffed at this notion. “Your Great Qian’s fall was an inevitability of history. It had nothing to do with whether you lived in the immortal palace. The number of divine positions was fixed, and every one of your divine lords occupied a seat. Absolutely none of them would have been willing to give it up.
“This resulted in the loss of upward mobility for those below, turning the whole dynasty into a pool of stagnant water. With all your divine lords as sinecure holders, the cultivators beneath them would eventually rebel. There would be bound to be some who’d secretly become half-immortals or immortals, ultimately toppling your Great Qian dynasty.
“In contrast, our Great Yu abandoned the divine position system right from the dynasty’s founding and established the imperial preceptor system. If Wu Yao hadn’t interfered, I would still be in Great Yu, and every generation of imperial preceptors would have loyally assisted the emperor. Great Yu would never have fallen.”
The Midheaven Emperor-Lord snorted with contempt. “That’s nothing but your delusion. Your Great Yu was riddled with ancestral clans. With every new emperor, new clans rose to compete with the old ones for resources. The nation was plagued by clan feuds and internal strife. How could the imperial preceptor system have solved the problem?
“If you ask me, the Fate Arbiter is right. If he and I had remained in Great Qian and resolved the divine lord conundrum, Great Qian would surely have endured throughout the ages...”
“Wu Yao and I had already studied this before founding Great Yu. There was simply no way to solve your divine lord problem. It was fundamentally flawed at its root...”
The leaders of both factions argued endlessly over why their respective factions had declined and fallen, each refusing to yield.
The half-immortals and Transcendent Tribulation cultivators on both sides dared not interject. After all, they were the “divine lords” and “clan ancestors” in question.
“Look, something’s different about the sky!” someone shouted, drawing the attention of all the prisoners.
The inmates saw the dark clouds gathering above, with lightning sketching a painting of the sky opening. Only then did the leaders of both factions call a temporary truce.
“Is Heaven about to be opened?”
“What an impressive move, using the Tribulation Mandate Dao Fruit to bring about a heavenly tribulation. It’s probably not just above us; the entire cultivation world can witness this scene.”
The Midheaven Emperor-Lord clicked his tongue and marveled, “I thought our Great Qian’s Deity Investiture Ceremony was extravagant enough. As expected of the Four Ancient Immortals, they operate on a much grander scale.”
The Fate Arbiter slapped his thigh in regret. “Why didn’t I think of using my Dao Fruit this way? If I had used the Spirit Awakening Dao Fruit to transfigure the Deity Investiture Platform, I could have masqueraded as Heaven investing deities!”
Guan Shanhai shared the same view and was similarly filled with regret. “Our Great Yu’s founding ceremony was far too conservative. I should have used the Imprint Dao Fruit to duplicate a pile of top-grade spirit stones and detonate them like setting off fireworks!”
~~~
In the Demon Region, Qing He clutched her treasure pouch, as though she had obtained a supreme treasure. Inside were seeds of long-extinct species. If I plant them on Heaven’s Gate Peak, Mistress will surely reward me.
“Why’s the sky dark?”
She looked up to find dark clouds blanketing the sky. Four imposing figures were in the midst of removing the World Seal.
Thud.
Her treasure pouch dropped on the ground as she stared at the sky in a daze.
If they are undoing the seal now, the Mistress must have emerged from seclusion and gone to the imperial capital. She’s probably not the only one there; everyone I know should be present.
Yet I couldn’t even make it in time to see Mistress after her seclusion?!
~~~
Above the Spiritless Land, the Four Ancient Immortals executed Heaven-Earth Dharma Manifestation, transforming into titans capable of opening heaven.
Golden lotuses bloomed beneath the feet of the four titans, sprouting from the earth with every step they took.
Myriad demon beasts appeared, including races that were long extinct. All bowed in unison before the Qilin Immortal to pay homage.
Yin and yang energies converged, imprinting the entire Spiritless Land with the Taiji symbol. The Two Dualities gave rise to the Four Symbols, which then begot the Eight Trigrams, and so on without end.
Beyond these, the Great Huanglü Bell[1] tolled, proclaiming the news to the world. The river of time appeared and disappeared while the Nian Beast galloped across its currents...
All these events happened simultaneously across the world, leaving everyone awestruck as they witnessed layer upon layer of unusual phenomena.
Such unusual phenomena had never been witnessed before, yet they had all burst forth at once today. Anyone who beheld them would believe that the Four Ancient Immortals undoing the seal and opening the world was such a monumental feat that even Heaven saw fit to commemorate it with these unusual phenomena.
Countless cultivators were inspired by the sight, their hearts filled with heroic ambitions. They resolved to cultivate relentlessly, determined to follow in the footsteps of the Four Ancient Immortals.
Lu Yang and the others watched from nearby, doing their best to stay out of the recording orb’s view. Ao Ling, Jiang Lianyi, and Jin Caiwei each held a recording orb, capturing the scene from different angles.
“Immortal Fairy, aren’t you going to make an appearance before the recording orbs?” Lu Yang asked.
The Everlasting Immortal Fairy hovered beside Lu Yang, without any unusual phenomena, imposing aura, or divine abilities. She was just like an ordinary soul.
“No. Being in the public eye is such a hassle.”
Compared to the Four Ancient Immortals, the Everlasting Immortal Fairy kept a low profile. This was evident from the fact that she had simply listened in on the Four Ancient Immortals’ frequent Dao discourses on how to maintain an immortal’s prestige.
If it was just removing the seal, there would be no need for such complicated processes and elaborate methods. They could have simply done as the Everlasting Immortal Fairy did, quietly channeling power from the sidelines. She was so subtle that onlookers wouldn’t even realize that she was activating her Dao Fruit.
However, the Four Ancient Immortals clearly had their own ideas.
1. This is probably talking about the Yellow Bell (Huangzhong) and the Great Lü. The former refers to the first yang pitch, and the latter refers to the first yin pitch. It is also used to describe grand, solemn, and harmonious music. ☜