"Over these five hundred years, numerous hidden figures have clashed with the Lord of Desolate Eternity, many of them from the Nineteenth Epoch. The Lord of the Instant Civilization of the Nineteenth Epoch was defeated and perished. The Ancestral Dragon of the Nineteenth Epoch was routed and fled. The Lord of the Lost Civilization of the Nineteenth Epoch was defeated and forced into submission. The Lord of Desolate Eternity is truly too formidable, possessing a power that transcends countless epochs." As Wanwan recounted these earth-shattering victories of the past five centuries, a lingering dread still clung to her.

Lu Yuan listened to Wanwan detail these landmark battles spanning five centuries, then casually stated, "The Desolate Ancient One is strong, but no matter how strong he is, I will still beat him senseless, beat him dead."

Wanwan looked at Lu Yuan. She knew the Eternal Lord was an eternal existence, transcending everything; Lu Yuan shouldn't have the slightest sliver of a chance to win. Yet, for some inexplicable reason, she felt Lu Yuan might actually succeed—a feeling she found impossible to articulate.

Lu Yuan waved a hand. "You should stay in my new Sword World for a while." With a sweep of his voluminous sleeves, he tucked Wanwan away. Lu Yuan shifted his footing, manifesting his Sword Steps in the void. This was the only way; Wanwan simply couldn't keep up with his speed. His current Sword Step speed was unparalleled in the world, even swifter than when he first began mastering it.

Within this realm, there were seven levels of speed.

The sixth level was the Realm of Swiftness.

The seventh level was the Realm of Nothingness.

Lu Yuan vaguely sensed that his current Sword Steps were transitioning from the Realm of Swiftness toward the Realm of Nothingness.

Shortly after Lu Yuan departed, several figures appeared in the sky.

Each of these individuals was at the rank of a Civilization Deputy Lord.

"Young Master Huang Qing is dead," one Civilization Deputy Lord stated.

"Who killed Young Master Huang Qing?" another asked. "How dare they? Young Master Huang Qing's status is supremely noble; who would dare kill him?"

One of the Civilization Deputy Lords carefully surveyed the lingering aura of the entire area. Utilizing his extremely specialized ability, he reported, "The person who slew Young Master Huang Qing did not use a single overt move." This Deputy Lord was titled the Observing Civilization Deputy Lord; he could even observe scenes from long ago. He was a Deputy Lord from the Second Epoch who originally belonged to the Lost Lands but was later incorporated into the Desolate Ancient Dynasty.

"Although Young Master Huang Qing lacked extensive combat experience, he was still a Civilization Deputy Lord of the First Epoch. The perpetrator killed him without employing a single technique? Did they perhaps use sorcery, demonic arts, or other evil methods?" someone speculated. "No, no means whatsoever were used. It appears Young Master Huang Qing was simply annihilated by sheer presence alone," the Observing Civilization Deputy Lord replied.

"What! Annihilated by sheer presence alone? To destroy a figure from the First Epoch merely with aura—who is this person, to possess such divine ability?" Another Civilization Deputy Lord started in shock. He found it truly unbelievable; such a power was unimaginable, possessing too great a might.

"Let me consult the Celestial Mechanism Karma Plate to see who it was." The Observing Civilization Deputy Lord activated a plate made of bone armor—his Celestial Mechanism Karma Plate. It operated via the iron law of karma and could investigate causality.

"Ah!" As soon as the Observing Civilization Deputy Lord activated the Celestial Mechanism Karma Plate to peer into the identity of the assailant, his eyes instantly went blind. Through time and space, through causality, a sharp, terrifying aura shot directly toward him, blinding his eyes. The Observing Civilization Deputy Lord cried out in pain as black blood began to flow from his eyes.

"What happened?" someone nearby immediately asked.

The Observing Civilization Deputy Lord found himself blind. Normally, a blinded Civilization Deputy Lord could instantly recover, but he realized he wouldn't be able to heal for at least a year. "The one who struck is a supremely great being. Because I attempted to spy on him using the Celestial Mechanism Karma Plate, his greatness, his supremacy, his invincibility, burned my eyes to blindness."

"This... is this even a human?"

"A figure of this caliber... perhaps the Ancestral Dragon made the move."

"Indeed, only the Ancestral Dragon possesses such terrifying strength."

The Observing Civilization Deputy Lord initially wished to say more, but on second thought, he held his tongue. In truth, he vaguely felt it was not the Ancestral Dragon. The Ancestral Dragon’s aura was vast and imposing, but this aura was sharp, incomparably sharp. Still, in this world, besides the Ancestral Dragon, who else could achieve this? The faction of the Instant Civilization had already fallen, and the Lord of the Lost Civilization had submitted. The Lords of the Immortal Ancient Civilization and the Law Ancient Civilization were subtly considered insufficient. And the Lord of the Undying Civilization naturally belonged to their own side. When had another supremely great, vast entity, approaching eternity, appeared between heaven and earth?

...

Lu Yuan soared through the sky, treading his Sword Steps.

No matter where he flew, it was all territory belonging to the Desolate Ancient Dynasty.

But Lu Yuan paid it no mind. In the Desolate Ancient Dynasty, only the Lord of Desolate Eternity was worth considering; he paid no attention to anyone else.

Lu Yuan landed on a planet.

He was looking for wine.

The wine he possessed was from five hundred years ago. He wanted to see if any new vintages had emerged in the intervening five centuries.

Upon landing, Lu Yuan discovered that security on this planet seemed extremely strict. Identity tokens were checked frequently. The current tokens were entirely different from those five centuries prior; they were now called Desolate Tokens (Huang Ling). Anyone without a Desolate Token could be branded a member of the Anti-Desolate Faction and summarily executed.

Though this was Lu Yuan's first time seeing the Desolate Token, and despite its multiple layers of protective mechanisms, Lu Yuan's boundless divine power and supreme might allowed him to fabricate a Desolate Token with utter ease, casually embedding some personal details.

Since emerging from seclusion, Lu Yuan had encountered nothing that could truly halt him.

"Did you hear? They captured another group of dissidents again."

"What? More dissidents arrested?"

"What kind of dissidents were they?"

"It's said they were remnants from the factions of the Music Civilization and the Confucian Civilization from back then."

"Heh, that's just a medium-sized catch."

"Right. The largest faction of dissidents was the remnants of the Law Ancient Civilization, the Martial Ancient Civilization, and the Instant faction. The Music and Confucian groups are merely medium fry."

"One dissident group after another is being caught. I don't think the Anti-Desolate Faction can hold out much longer."

"Of course not. Just look at the current age and the power of the Desolate Ancient Dynasty. With the might of the Eternal Lord, no one can resist. Any who oppose them invariably face annihilation of their lineage," someone remarked.

"Truthfully, life now isn't necessarily better than five hundred years ago. Five centuries ago, we were carefree. Now? It's tragic. We have to surrender thirty percent tax on any treasure we obtain—tax, tax, tax everywhere. If it were only that, fine, but the people of the Desolate Ancient Dynasty are unbearably arrogant, treating us like livestock and beasts. Just recently, Zhang Liang, a dignified Celestial Venerable, managed to secure a beautiful wife, and those brats from the Desolate Ancient Dynasty snatched her away, even his wife!" a cloaked cultivator grumbled.

"Are you looking to die?" a nearby yellow-robed cultivator cautioned. "What age is this? You dare speak such things? Walls have ears; the Desolate Guard Army is everywhere. If the Desolate Guard Army overheard those words, they would likely execute you on the spot and wipe out your entire clan." The Desolate Guard Army—a truly terrifying term. It was the force the Lord of Desolate Eternity used to monitor the cosmos. If anyone dared speak ill of the Desolate Ancient Dynasty, and the Desolate Guard Army overheard, they could be killed immediately. The Desolate Guard Army had become an incredibly formidable force, commanded by the Lord of the Dao of Desolation Civilization.

Hearing this, everyone instinctively glanced around, wary of being overheard.

The reputation of the Desolate Guard Army was too terrifying.

The current era had essentially arrived at the age of absolute rule.

"Speaking of which, did you all hear? I recently heard that the son of the Lord of the Dao of Desolation Civilization, Young Master Huang Qing—who is also the leader of the Desolate Guard Army—was killed." The yellow-robed cultivator mentioned.

"Impossible! Who would dare kill Young Master Huang Qing now?" those nearby were deeply shocked.

"Exactly. I doubt even the major renowned dissident groups would dare kill Young Master Huang Qing now. If they truly provoke the Desolate Guard Army, and the Army mobilizes in full force, those dissident groups won't last long."

"Besides, Young Master Huang Qing himself isn't easy to kill."

"Is this news inaccurate?"

"Why would I lie to you? This news is absolutely certain; it is entirely true. Young Master Huang Qing really was killed," the yellow-robed cultivator insisted. "Moreover, I have inside information: the experts from the Desolate Guard Army immediately went to investigate and discovered that the attacker's power was extremely high. They don't know who struck, and they even suspect it was the Ancestral Dragon."

"The Ancestral Dragon? He is currently the top expert among the dissidents. If he made the move, it's understandable."

"But he was injured by the Lord of Desolate Eternity. Has he recovered so quickly?"

Lu Yuan, overhearing their discussion, unexpectedly gathered a piece of intelligence: members of the Music Civilization and the Confucian Civilization had been captured, and he had happened upon them. Naturally, he had to go and rescue them.

Lu Yuan spread his divine sense and soon located them. A group was currently escorting the captured personnel of the Music and Confucian Civilizations, still on this very star. That must be where they were heading—a palace, perhaps. Lu Yuan immediately shifted his Sword Steps and moved straight toward the location. Boom! A great wind instantly swept across the star. Lu Yuan's Sword Steps were so fast that wherever he went, violent winds erupted—one of the inherent weaknesses of the Sword Step technique.

This palace was named the Immortal Questioning Palace (Wen Xian Gong).

It was unclear who built this palace, but it had now been commandeered by the Desolate Ancient Dynasty.

Currently, many experts from the Desolate Ancient Dynasty were gathered within the Immortal Questioning Palace. They had originally intended to capture the main body of dissidents from the Law Ancient Civilization, but the Law Ancient faction had learned the news and escaped ahead of time. Consequently, they had only managed to capture minor dissidents like those from the Music and Confucian Civilizations. Because of this, the experts of the Desolate Ancient Dynasty were quite displeased—they aimed for a big catch but only secured small fry.

And present this time was one of the great experts of the Desolate Ancient Dynasty, a master from the Eighteenth Epoch: the Lord of the Dao of Desolation Civilization.

He was also the commander of the Desolate Guard, one of the most terrifying figures in the cosmos.

(First update delivered.)