Rolling ink-black clouds swept across the sky, stealing all light from the world. Endless darkness descended like a funeral shroud, and a grim, terrifying aura seeped into every corner of heaven and earth.
Amidst the churning death-clouds, a towering, ancient castle loomed on the horizon, flickering in and out of view. Waves of blood-red light surged up from within the castle, casting a mournful, crimson glow against the black clouds. The world fell into a deathly stillness—not a single sound, a silence that was more terrifying than any roar.
The castle bore the weight of ages, as if it had crossed the void from a forgotten epoch. It was a vortex of death, slowly drawing in the deathly aura from all directions, swallowing the rolling black clouds.
The darkness gradually faded, but the heavens above grew even more ominous. Endless skeletons drifted around the castle, a vast sea of white bones stretching across the sky. The grim castle stood atop that bone sea, a sight of unspeakable horror and desolation.
Several humanoid skeletons with gray wings flew out from the castle. An immense wave of deathly energy rolled outward as they gazed down at a solitary island deep in the ocean below.
It was a lonely island in the vast sea.
On the island, dense forests stretched far and wide, filled with the cries of apes and the roars of tigers. Ninety percent of the land was covered by primeval woodlands, with towering ancient trees that blotted out the sun. Ferocious beasts and savage birds screamed and soared—a scene straight from the wildest ages.
But then, an icy, bone-penetrating death aura rushed in from the distant sky, blanketing everything. The island, once filled with the roars of primordial beasts, slowly fell silent.
From the island’s depths came a few angry growls, as if some ancient beast were disturbed. Aside from that, there was absolute stillness.
Xiao Chen, who lay unconscious on the sandy beach, seemed to sense the piercing cold. His body twitched involuntarily a few times.
After a long while, the grim death aura slowly receded. In the distance, that vast sea of bones, carrying the ancient, weathered castle, gradually vanished over the endless ocean.
Only then did life begin to stir again. Several dozen beast roars—like dragon cries—echoed from deep within the island, and the island gradually regained its former vitality.
The sun blazed overhead. How long had passed? Xiao Chen awoke from his stupor. The sound of waves reached his ears. He slowly opened his eyes to see a blue-green ocean stretching before him. He was lying on a hot, golden sandy beach.
The scorching sun made his head spin and his body throb with pain. His mouth was parched, his lips cracked. He struggled to sit up and surveyed this unfamiliar environment.
A hot, salty breeze carried the smell of the sea. Flocks of seabirds glided over the blue waters. Giant fish occasionally leaped from the waves, sending up great splashes.
From deep within the island came the thunderous roars of primordial beasts. Xiao Chen felt as though he had been transported back to the age of chaos.
On the shore, a grove of green coconut palms cast a patch of cool shade. Clusters of ripe, brownish-yellow coconuts lay piled together, enticing against the green leaves.
His dry mouth seemed to moisten. He struggled to his feet and stumbled forward.
The blazing sun was blocked. The burning pain gradually faded. A light sea breeze rustled the emerald leaves, and finally, Xiao Chen felt a hint of coolness.
Ripe coconuts occasionally fell to the ground with a heavy thud.
It felt as though flames were leaping in his throat, smoke rising from his mouth. He was utterly parched, his body wracked with pain. Staggering, he gathered a pile of coconuts and then collapsed onto the ground.
He shattered one with a burst of energy and drank deeply of the sweet, clear coconut water. For Xiao Chen, who was burning with thirst, it was better than the finest nectar.
So he had come to the World of Immortality.
His thoughts were a whirl. Where was Lan Nuo? And those legendary figures from history—did they truly live in this world? Doubts flooded his mind. Of course, he did not know that the Royal Celestial Maiden, Zhao Lin'er, had also entered this world.
Finally, he knelt silently and bowed to his parents across time and space. From now on, immortals and mortals would be forever separated.
He was a decisive man. Forcing himself to set aside his grief, he began to think about how to survive in this strange world.
Sitting quietly on the sand, his back against a thick coconut tree, Xiao Chen's skin shimmered with a faint luster. His body seemed to be enveloped in a hazy glow. The essence of heaven and earth gathered around him. A subtle, auspicious radiance swirled in the coconut grove.
The roars of beasts continued. This was no peaceful land. His first priority was to recover. He circulated his cultivation technique, drawing in the essence of grass and trees to heal his wounded body.
His method of cultivation came from a mysterious stone carving.
He had grown up along the Yellow River. At the age of seven, a rare drought had struck. The stretch of the Yellow River near his village had nearly dried up, revealing a massive stone stele. After washing away the mud, the front of the stele bore four ancient characters: "Ever-Pacify the Yellow River."
An old legend had long circulated along the river's banks. When Yu the Great tamed the floods, a divine stele had descended from the nine heavens to settle the Yellow River forever, ensuring the waters would not rise again.
Thus, when the stele emerged from the riverbed, the villagers immediately thought of that ancient tale. They cleaned the mud from the stele and burned incense before it day and night.
Once the stele was scrubbed clean, carvings appeared on its back—a mysterious and complex diagram. The villagers could not understand it and called it the Heavenly Script.
This talk of a "Heavenly Script" filled the young Xiao Chen with endless fascination. Every day, he would go and stare at the stele. Two months later, heavy rains came, the Yellow River swelled, and the stele sank forever beneath the waters.
But by then, that mysterious, complex diagram had been etched deep into his young mind. Only later, when he began to study martial arts and walked the path of cultivation, did he understand what that stone carving truly was.
It was an ancient and mysterious Heaven-Bestowed Qi-Refining Diagram!
Xiao Chen did not know whether that mysterious carving could compare to the legendary divine manuals and sacred scriptures. But starting at the age of ten, he practiced it tirelessly. Over the next ten years, he learned various techniques from others, but he never changed his core cultivation method.
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