In another corner of the Abyss. A dazzling beam of light streaked across, piercing into one of the abysses—that dim, icy chasm, vast as the deep sea, a swirling vortex, a turbulent lake. Suddenly, a terrifying power, a disruption of fate itself, erupted from within.
“Whoosh!”
Sauron’s figure emerged from that abyss. He wore ancient silver robes, his long hair bound in a topknot, his expression composed and detached, like a grand Confucian scholar immersed in study, effortlessly elegant and refined.
He stood with his hands clasped behind his back, his gaze fixed upon the Gate of Primal Beginning, his eyes growing ever brighter.
Figures stepped out one by one from the mouth of the abyss: Zhen Ru, Candice, Vandler, and several other powerhouses from different races. Without exception, all were at the Domain Ancestor realm. These were the ones who had recently pledged allegiance to Sauron, staking the future and destiny of their respective races upon him.
“They are coming?” A chilling light ignited in Zhen Ru’s eyes as she ground her teeth together fiercely. “After waiting so long, it’s about time they showed up!”
Sauron remained indifferent, nodding slightly. “Indeed. Shi Yan is already rushing toward the Gate of Primal Beginning. It won’t be long now before he reaches it.”
“Then what are we waiting for?” Zhen Ru snapped.
Sauron ignored her, looking up into the void, toward that falling shaft of light, suddenly sending out a wisp of his consciousness.
Only then did he smile faintly and say, “Let us go.”
A colossal wheel suddenly materialized from the entrance of the abyss. This wheel was inlaid with gold, silver, iron, stone, precious jade, and brilliant diamonds; its intrinsic material was unknown, yet it radiated a pale yellow glow. The wheel was immense, like a giant island, crisscrossed by countless lines. These lines were not static; they moved and shifted constantly, like the meridians of a living body or the rivers of the cosmos.
As the wheel appeared, everyone felt a momentary disorientation, a sudden, binding sensation that their futures were being manipulated, their destinies grasped.
The Wheel of Fate!
This artifact had never appeared in the Primal Era, yet it was tempered personally by Sauron. Across all heavens and earth, across the vast expanse of spatial domains, every living being seemed to have a thread of destiny connected to it, discoverable by the Wheel of Fate.
With the Wheel of Fate manifested, it settled beneath Sauron’s feet. Carrying everyone, it swept forward with a rushing howl, hurtling violently toward the Gate of Primal Beginning.
“Crack! Crack! Crack!”
Stars falling from the void, shattered domains—the Wheel of Fate struck them, instantly turning them into dust, dissipating as the purest light of energy.
Zhen Ru, Candice, Vandler, and the others, standing atop the massive wheel, felt a subtle aching deep within their souls, as if a line within them had been drawn taut, on the verge of snapping.
They stared at Sauron in horror, their hearts uneasy. They suddenly realized: once trapped by this Wheel of Fate, Sauron held the thread of destiny within their very souls. If he were to sever it, their souls would shatter instantly, vanishing into nothingness.
…
In another corner. In the void, a pitch-black tunnel slowly condensed, its shape shifting unpredictably until it morphed into a devouring black hole.
Egar, Rupert, You Yu, Yuan Zu, and others emerged from the black hole. A sharp glint shone in everyone’s eyes; their power had clearly advanced significantly.
Yuan Zu, still in his human form, looked back at the Devouring Black Hole after stepping out, his gaze complex. “It has been a long time. I never expected our reunion would herald the end of yet another era…”
The Devouring Black Hole suddenly contracted violently, shrinking into a single black dot, which then burst apart with a sharp bang.
A shadow, completely shrouded in darkness, emerged from the explosion. This figure was little more than a silhouette; no discernible features could be made out. The moment he appeared, the faint light points of nearby stars winked out, all sources of light instantly swallowed completely, causing the world to gradually fade into gray gloom.
Egar of the Devourer Clan stood respectfully nearby, his gaze toward the shadow filled with sincere awe.
This was the Progenitor of their Devourer Clan. All members of their race were forged from the flesh and soul that this being had condensed. He was the ancestor of every Devourer.
“In the Desolate Domain, both Hui and I fell into silence. At that time, Huang fractured into five parts. Had you dared to venture deep within, with your level of power, you could have surely integrated and refined his avatars one by one—perhaps… he would no longer exist,” the Shadow whispered toward Yuan Zu, his voice sinister and ephemeral, like a banshee shrieking right beside one’s ear, making everyone profoundly uncomfortable. “It is a pity that you are as timid as ever, daring not to venture deep even when you knew he lay dormant in the Desolate Domain.”
Rupert, You Yu, and the others also looked at Yuan Zu in surprise, their expressions turning strange.
Yuan Zu did not become angry, for he knew how terrifying this shadow before him was. He knew this being had been the nightmare of nearly all living things during the Primal Era. If not for the existence of the even more dazzling and tyrannical Huang, this figure would have been that era’s Demon God.
In the Primal Era, at the peak of the Shadow’s power, Yuan Zu would retreat three leagues upon encountering him. After an entire new era of transformation, the Shadow’s power had not fully recovered, while Yuan Zu had accumulated the power of an entire age. Only then did he dare stand before the Shadow, without fear of being instantly devoured into ash and nullity in the next moment.
“The Desolate Domain, after all, is his domain. Within his realm, he is the sole True God, the author of the rules,” Yuan Zu said with a wry smile, making no attempt to hide his fear. “Especially knowing that you and Hui were also nearby, also in slumber, how could I dare risk venturing there?”
The Shadow snorted coldly. “You have skulked for an entire age. Why are you suddenly bold now? Why did you not dare to fight at the Gate of Primal Beginning back then, yet you dare now?”
Yuan Zu laughed, replying candidly, “Because you are weaker now, and I have grown stronger…”
“Not much stronger than before,” the Shadow stated flatly, studying him. “More cautious and fearful than before. I only hope you can hold off Hui; I do not expect much help from you.”
Yuan Zu chuckled lowly, not arguing with him. When facing an equal, he always knew how to adapt.
“Let us go, to the front of the Gate of Primal Beginning. That brat should have opened it by now. Once the gate opens, his day of reckoning will arrive. And I shall reclaim the sliver of Devouring Profundity that is mine,” the Shadow’s voice was chillingly sinister. “By devouring him, I shall recover my peak and surpass Huang!”
…
Before the Gate of Primal Beginning. Shi Yan, Zi Yao, Han Tian, Xi Luo, and the others were gathered. The Gate of Primal Beginning was also an abyss, the largest one. Its surface resembled black mirror glass, upon which countless Primal Runes writhed, shifting in a single breath into millions of complex patterns. No one could decipher these patterns; they held profound mystery.
“In the Primal Era, we fought bloody battles around this very spot. Every time one of our kind perished, a portion of those runes would stir. The opening of this gate seems to require the prerequisite of countless souls being extinguished. Regrettably, we were almost entirely wiped out, and it never truly opened…”
Zi Yao gazed at the Gate of Primal Beginning and murmured, “The cataclysm of the Star Sea, the wars between races, the shattering of stars, the demise of domains—it seems all of this was for the opening of this gate. Sauron’s speculation was not wrong; he created the favorable conditions, and these runes have come alive.”
Hearing her words, the others finally understood, grasping the source of their earlier confusion.
The Pagoda of Profundity radiated a blinding light, and billions of runes drifted out from it, settling onto the Gate, connecting with the runes already there, as if striving to form a complete whole…
In fact, Shi Yan didn’t need to do much at all.
He merely stood there, watching the Pagoda of Profundity fly out, watching it take charge of everything. He felt like an outsider in this moment.
Yet, here, a profound sense of familiarity resonated within him. He felt certain he had seen this gate before. He tried to recall the details, but the memory remained elusive.
He did not know that when he first descended, his soul had traversed infinite space, crossing multiple universes, entering precisely through this spot. At that time, he was purely a soul, leaving only a vague imprint in his spirit. But the harder he tried to grasp it, the weaker his soul had been then, rendering him incapable of understanding the truth.
“Boom!”
Suddenly, the Gate of Primal Beginning ignited fiercely. Countless Primal Runes transformed into surging flames. Simultaneously, Shi Yan’s primary soul was pierced by a violent, sharp pain.
Amidst the piercing pain, he felt himself transform into lightning, stabbing into the burning Gate of Primal Beginning.
Under the gaze of everyone, the Gate of Primal Beginning suddenly underwent a massive transformation, becoming an immeasurably huge vortex of flame, spinning violently. From the depths of that vortex came an intense suction.
A powerful attraction for everyone’s soul!
Shi Yan’s divine body involuntarily rose into the air, like a moth drawn to a flame, plunging headlong into the heart of the fiery vortex.
“Go!”
Zi Yao cried out, her eyes brighter than ever before, following closely behind Shi Yan into the vortex core.
Han Tian, Xi Luo, and the others, who had been hesitating, saw Zi Yao move and immediately understood that the Gate of Primal Beginning must have opened. Without further thought, they all leaped in.
Soon, those who had arrived first followed suit, entering the vortex core one after another.
The colossal flame vortex, upon closer inspection, was formed by countless Primal Runes, saturated with the power of the origin, exquisitely strange and miraculous. The vortex did not cease its burning because Shi Yan and the others entered; instead, it raged more violently, as if it could never be extinguished.
“Rumble! Rumble!”
Simultaneously, terrifying fluctuations erupted from within all the abysses of the Endless Abyss. These tremors even extended outward from this place, impacting the infinite star river beyond. Many regions of the Void Sea began to collapse, and even more domains inexplicably disintegrated!
Billions upon billions of living beings, powerful martial artists, and entities of various races—many were affected by this shockwave and died instantly where they stood!
“It has begun…”
Sauron murmured softly, standing on the Wheel of Fate, accelerating the wheel’s passage speed.
Amidst the roaring of the Abyss, the Shadow and Yuan Zu, leading You Yu and the others, also rushed toward the gate. Both the Shadow and Yuan Zu were vibrating uncontrollably; the flesh and sinews within their Primal Bodies seemed to boil.
In the void of the heavens, a sphere of azure lightning, within which surged rampant, fierce life energy, suddenly descended.
Within the azure thunderball, a life soul tree capable of covering the sky and earth was faintly visible, the ancient tree permeating every corner of the sphere, releasing dense vitality.
Huang also arrived right on time!
…RS