The Divine Grace Continent, having originated from the Desolate Domain, rested suspended within the thick layers of clouds, encircled by ribbons of ethereal vapor. Spiritual energy, serpentine and draconic, slithered and roamed through every corner of the continent.

The martial artists who had come from the Desolate Domain—figures like Yang Qingdi, Shi Jian, Long Zhu, and Carshun, along with their respective factions—were now cultivating here. They were accumulating profound insights, comprehending the true nature of the soul, refining their power to strengthen their Divine Power Ancient Trees, transforming their divine bodies, and advancing toward higher planes of strength.

Many among them were breaking through their cultivation realms rapidly. The stable cultivation grounds, rich with abundant heaven and earth energy, allowed their progress to be both steady and swift.

On this particular day, three tunnels, condensed from ripples of spatial energy, spanned the entire realm. They pierced through from an unimaginable, profound distance, plunging directly toward the Divine Grace Continent.

The three tunnels connected the two realms like falling segments of the Milky Way. Numerous martial artists of the Divine Grace Continent were alerted, suspending themselves in the sky as they gathered near the mouths of these three apertures.

A short while later, figures began emerging from the tunnels: Emperor Haisha, Ming Hao, Xuan He, Audrey, Azure Dragon, Di Calo, Phelit, and others, leading the martial artists of their respective clans. Laughter and robust shouts rang out simultaneously from the three tunnels, their faces beaming with joy.

The three tunnels connected, respectively, to the territories of the Soul Clan, the Black Demon Clan, and the Ancient Demon Clan. These groups represented a major power within the Cloud Realm. Having reaped immense rewards in the heartlands of those three races, they had successfully divided the cultivation materials accumulated by the three clans over tens of thousands of years.

"For the next hundred thousand years, we will never have to worry about cultivation materials again. Forget just one Divine Grace Continent; even ten continents with the same number of martial artists could be sustained by the resources we’ve secured," even Ming Hao’s usually cold face broke into a genuine smile.

Under the bombardment by powerhouses such as Heaven Shaker, Shiro, and Mantis, the ancestral lands of the Black Demon Clan and the Ancient Demon Clan were also breached. Martial artists from the Profound Sky Clan, the White Bone Clan, the Phantom Clan, and the Divine Grace Continent swarmed in like starved jackals, devouring the wealth accumulated by the Black Demon and Ancient Demon Clans.

From this day forward, the martial artists cultivating on the Divine Grace Continent were guaranteed access to the most superior elixirs, artifacts, armor, and secret manuals of profound insight. Rapid advancements in their cultivation realms were virtually assured.

Vast quantities of cultivation supplies were being transported by Xuan He, Ming Hao, and the others through the three tunnels from the Soul, Black Demon, and Ancient Demon Clans. The martial artists on the Divine Grace Continent who had been observing from the sidelines became ecstatic upon hearing of their harvest, and everyone immediately threw themselves into organizing.

"Transport everything to the Endless Sea; we will arrange unified distribution afterward—everyone gets a share. Even your descendants will be guaranteed the best materials for cultivation for millennia to come!" Ming Hao roared authoritatively. Under his direction, the cultivation resources brought from the three major races floated like miniature, stacked mountains, heading toward the Endless Sea.

Likewise, the White Bone Clan, Phantom Clan, and Profound Sky Clan were carrying out the same actions as Ming Hao and his companions.

Through the connections established by the void passages, the White Bone Clan, Profound Sky Clan, and Phantom Clan had also achieved massive gains, gathering the plundered wealth and channeling it back to their own territories.

The wealth of the Soul Clan, the Black Demon Clan, and the Ancient Demon Clan had been completely emptied, and the martial artists garrisoned there had been slaughtered. When You Yu and Rupert returned, they would only find three ruins.

...

In the expanse between the Phantom Clan and the White Bone Clan territories, there was a hidden domain gate—the entrance to the Cloud Realm.

Now, in this empty, ethereal sea of stars, Shi Yan sat quietly.

Starlight rained down from his body, while the Collapsed Star River above his head flowed gently, resembling a stream emitting brilliant starlight that spread into the boundless depths.

Floating debris, fragments of dead stars near him, were drawn by the Starry Profundity Shi Yan commanded, converging from infinite distances in space.

Gradually, this area, which had initially been nothing but void, became filled with numerous meteorites and increasingly massive stellar remnants. They slowly piled up, pulled and kneaded by enormous hands condensed from stars, forming a colossal landmass.

The foundation of this land was created from meteorites and stellar fragments, conjured from nothing. Initially minuscule, the continent slowly expanded as Shi Yan injected his energy and enhanced his profound insights.

Unsure how much time passed, as his power intervened without end, the landmass grew to be vaster than ten Divine Grace Continents, far larger than the original Dragon Lizard Star!

The continent suspended in the void gradually transformed into a miraculous region, akin to the ancestral lands of the Phantom and White Bone Clans, with faint energy gathering around it, coiling like persistent clouds and mist.

As time flowed, the new continent fully solidified. Following a mental summons from him, Emperor Haisha, Xuan He, Ming Hao, and the other strong practitioners of the Divine Grace Continent emerged from a hidden domain gate located at one corner of this land.

They began constructing palaces and cities on the new continent, planting spiritual herbs, arranging formations, channeling external floods to create rivers, piling up rocks to form peaks, and utilizing the power of wood to stimulate forests...

Slowly, the new continent teemed with vitality, boasting mountains, rivers, lakes, flowing energy, forests, and volcanoes—all the natural conditions necessary for martial artists to survive and cultivate.

The New Continent became a wonder within the Void Sea, comparable to the ancestral lands of the Phantom, White Bone, and Profound Sky Clans. Many powerhouses from the Divine Grace Continent gathered here, living and cultivating, channeling external power to carve out a broader domain and forging it into a solid nation.

Those with lower cultivation realms, primarily below the levels of Origin God or God King, mostly remained on the Divine Grace Continent within the Cloud Realm, continuing to cultivate in that enclosed, secure environment to enhance their strength.

The New Continent was situated in the Void Sea, near the entrance to the Cloud Realm, which remained an independent and absolutely safe, closed domain.

In one corner of the New Continent, an area regarded as forbidden territory had strangely become a desert—a place of swirling yellow sand, utterly barren, desolate, hot, and dry.

Deep within this desert lay a patch of absolute vacuum, where a single, majestic figure was seated.

He had been seated there for many years.

On this day, powerhouses like Mantis, Meiji, Shiro, Heaven Shaker, Judy, Dragon Lizard Ancestor, and Dracula—Ancestors of the Realms—all manifested in the sky above the New Continent. They looked down upon the continent below, their eyes shining with peculiar light.

Thirty years ago, this place was nothing but void, rarely even seeing scattered stones or stellar debris—dead, cold, and silent.

Thirty years later, a continent stood here, its energy surging, mountains towering, lakes spreading everywhere, rich vitality present in every corner, cities built in rows, and many martial artists moving about, cultivating in various zones.

This place had become a marvel, similar to the Land of Illusion, created entirely from thin air by forcefully aggregating meteorites and stellar fragments, stealing the very creation of heaven and earth.

"Let's descend," Shiro looked toward the depths of the desert.

The others nodded gently, then transformed into streaks of light, like falling stars, descending toward the heart of the desert.

In the ancient fortress at the center of the New Continent, Ming Hao, who had ascended to the Realm Ancestor level, suddenly frowned. He phased out of the fortress as a shadowy figure and stood in the void above the continent.

"Those people from the White Bone, Phantom, and Profound Sky Clans…" Emperor Haisha's voice traveled from another city. "Withdraw the protective barrier. They are here to find Shi Yan."

Ming Hao nodded.

An invisible shroud covering the entire New Continent suddenly began to split open. The continent, like an egg shedding its shell, had its outermost layer of defense retracted.

Heaven Shaker nodded secretly. "They are quite capable. Having acquired so many rich treasures from the Soul, Black Demon, and Ancient Demon Clans, they are generous enough to use them. This outer protective grand formation is no weaker than the Soul Clan's formation in those days."

"The Soul Clan, Black Demon Clan, and Ancient Demon Clan have declined, yet they have officially risen, becoming one of the most magnificent forces in the sea of stars," Shiro observed the cities below, sensing the powerful auras within. "In a few hundred more years, they might reach the level of our three clans. With Shi Yan and that woman present, anything is possible."

Thirty years later, Mantis still had not managed to reverse time and appear as a young girl, and the injuries from the last battle had not fully healed. She narrowed her eyes slightly, gazing at the solitary figure sitting in the desert, her expression complex.

As they spoke, the group descended like meteors, like rainbows, into the heart of the desert, gathering beside Shi Yan.

Shi Yan, situated in the vacuum, was clearly visible before them, yet Heaven Shaker, Shiro, and Mantis, using their soul perception, could detect no trace of his soul; they sensed that Shi Yan was fundamentally absent. This bizarre sensation made the three of them flinch slightly, realizing that Shi Yan’s level of attainment had risen yet again.

"Cough, cough..."

Shiro looked at him, coughing lightly, expectation shining in his eyes.

The others stared intently, waiting silently for him to awaken, refraining from making any loud noise.

After a long, long time, the protective vacuum shield gradually dissolved. Yellow sand seeped in, covering his body entirely. Only then did he open his eyes. At first, his pupils were clouded with confusion and distraction, but after a moment, focus returned, and life gradually shone in them. He seemed to drift through different temporal dimensions, momentarily unsure of his location.

No one spoke much; they simply watched him quietly, continuing to wait.

A quarter of an hour later, his expression calmed, his eyes glowing dimly, and he smiled faintly, saying, "You've come quite early."

As he spoke, he pointed toward his glabella. Two dazzlingly bright Primordial Symbols floated out from his brow. The two symbols radiated intense essences of Time and Sharp Metal energy, respectively. "I promised to help temper the Origin Runes of your profound insights. I am now fulfilling that promise; receive them."

The Origin Rune of Time, flowing with the essence of time, turned into a streak of light and merged into Mantis's eye.

Mantis’s breathtakingly beautiful visage slowly began to change, as if time were flowing backward. Her height decreased, her waterfall-like long hair receded into her scalp, and the fullness of her chest slightly subsided...

After several tens of seconds, Mantis reverted to the appearance of an eleven or twelve-year-old girl, petite in stature, yet possessing an even superior mastery over the Profundity of Time.

Shiro, having received the Origin Rune of Metal, became like a keen weapon capable of piercing the firmament, exuding an aura of invincibility and extreme sharpness.

His eyes filled with intense excitement and ecstasy. He bowed deeply, saying, "Thank you!"

...RQ