The shock struck Xie Feng deep. As one of the Four Emperors of the Nether Domain, Xie Feng was certainly wealthy and well-traveled. She had seen the most exquisite and the grandest of structures. But this colossal floating palace before her eyes was something she had never seen nor heard of. Judging by the visible scope and the reach of her divine sense, this was merely the tip of the iceberg; the palace must stretch for at least several thousand li.

Were the Sky Cities of the Light Domain not vast enough? Yet, a typical Sky City was only a few dozen li in diameter. Even the main Sky City could, at most, span a few hundred li across. That alone was enough to earn acclaim and be a source of pride for the Winged God race.

Perhaps in the more developed Three Realms, structures of this magnitude existed, but who could possibly know? After all, the Three Realms and the Six Domains and Nine Continents had their teleportation channels severed by the Mother of All Spirits, who also set up an impenetrable Grand Array that even she could not undo. In the so-called Lower Realms—the Six Domains and Nine Continents—one would need to reach the legendary Void Refinement stage to overcome the turbulent flows within the teleportation channels and travel to any of the Three Realms.

However, this requirement was virtually impossible to meet. In the Six Domains and Nine Continents, since the end of the Ancient Era, tens of thousands of years had passed, and the Chaotic Spiritual Qi, depleted in the final battle, seemed never to have replenished sufficiently for anyone to cultivate to the legendary Void Integration level and ascend to the Upper Realms. It appeared the highest achievement had been merely a few late-stage Soul Transformation cultivators.

But now, with the scarcity of Chaotic Spiritual Qi causing the Acquired Spiritual Qi to constantly deplete without replenishment, reaching even the early stage of Soul Transformation was an exceedingly difficult feat, let alone the late stage. This situation resulted in a minority of mid-stage Soul Transformation experts becoming the supreme existences in the Six Domains and Nine Continents—a mere handful of individuals, such as the Ghost Emperor of the Underworld or the True Man of Taiyi.

Naturally, an early-stage Soul Transformation expert was already rare, and a mid-stage expert could handle two or three early-stage experts in a one-on-one fight. Thus, mid-stage Soul Transformation experts inherently possessed an extremely high social standing.

Of course, since the Mother of All Spirits sealed the connection channels between the Immortal, Demon, and Spirit Realms and the Lower Realms, and then fell into slumber, there were no lack of mighty figures in the Three Realms who attempted to traverse to the Lower Realms. Yet, no matter how they tried, they could not pass through those overwhelmingly powerful channels.

It was said that Void Refinement experts could still barely enter the Three Realms by following the channels. But for them, it was akin to flowing downstream against the sealing energy. To descend to the Lower Realms, however, the resistance encountered would likely be over a hundred times greater, and the stronger the individual, the harder it was to pass through the barrier sealed by the Mother of All Spirits using a power akin to burning the soul.

The Mother of All Spirits was an existence of immense significance, said to have existed between heaven and earth since the birth of Chaos. In the ancient legends passed down through the ages, all living things—including various divine beasts, powerful demonic beasts, races, and even the Primordial Giants—were created by the Mother of All Spirits.

For various demonic and divine beasts, the Mother of All Spirits held an incomparably high status. She was the sole deity they worshipped. Furthermore, because the Mother of All Spirits existed at the very dawn of the universe, when the cosmos was still a formless expanse of Chaos, before heaven and earth had even taken shape, it was said she was born of the primordial essence of Chaos. Therefore, the Mother of All Spirits had another name: the Mother of Chaos.

Throughout history, countless renowned and powerful figures had emerged across the Three Realms and the Six Domains and Nine Continents. Yet, to this day, none could rival the fame of the Mother of All Spirits. One might say she was the celebrity among celebrities, shining brightest. Even cultivators who had only practiced for a few days would gradually learn of the legendary tales of the Mother of All Spirits, how she separated heaven and earth and fostered countless prosperous races. According to legend, even humanity, the current rulers of the Nine Continents world, were created by the Mother of All Spirits.

For such a powerful being to use the primordial power of the universe, fueled by burning her own life force, to create a seal, the might of that barrier could naturally be imagined. Even the supreme authorities of the Immortal and Demon races could not hope to descend to the Six Domains and Nine Continents by reversing the flow through the channels.

However, the Immortal and Demon races had always produced prodigious talents, with countless geniuses emerging. They gradually developed numerous methods of sneaking through, such as using energy projection spells instead of their main bodies to send projections into the Six Domains and Nine Continents. But this method had two major flaws: first, the projector had to possess the strength of the Integration stage, while the projection’s power would be at most the peak of Nascent Soul; second, someone within the Six Domains and Nine Continents had to perform a summoning and positioning technique to force the projection through the layers of obstacles into the Lower Realms. The Heavenly General Meng Chao, whom Lei Dong once encountered, was one such projection. Techniques like the Heavenly Demon Summoning Spell operated similarly. From this, one could infer that the true body of Heavenly General Meng Chao was likely a supreme expert at the Integration stage. The sheer power displayed by just a thread of a projection was terrifying.

The Immortal Realm, the Demon Realm, and even the Spirit Realm currently influence and control the Six Domains and Nine Continents indirectly through such means. The Immortal and Demon races usually target the human race as their cooperative partner because this race possesses immense numbers, astonishing potential, and hearts filled with countless desires, making internal conflict more likely. It can be said that the dominance of humanity across most regions of the Nine Continents world today is inseparable from the backing provided by the Immortal and Demon races.

And the so-called cultivation of the Immortal Dao or the Demonic Dao itself signifies some connection with the Demon Race or the Immortal Race, respectively. Of course, such "cooperation" is usually only available to the supreme sects. Sects like the Yin Sha Sect, which can only dominate small regions like Kangzhou, were not yet qualified to cooperate with the Immortal and Demon races. Consequently, the Yin Sha Sect possessed no techniques capable of summoning the projections of Heavenly Demons to aid them.

Besides projections, there was another method called Body Clone Descent. This form of descent incurred less loss of power. Generally, an Integration stage expert using a clone descent into the Six Domains and Nine Continents could maintain the strength of the Soul Transformation stage. However, this method was extremely difficult to execute, required a huge price, and the time the clone could sustain itself in the Lower Realms was quite limited. Even more difficult was the prerequisite: the summoner had to possess Soul Transformation level strength to be able to summon the clone of a supreme expert from the Immortal or Demon Realms.

This explains why sects like the Yin Sha Sect merely bore the banner of the Righteous Path or the Demonic Path without any genuine ties or cooperation agreements with the Immortal or Demon Realms. Without a Soul Transformation expert, they simply could not summon a clone possessing that level of power. The great authorities of the Immortal and Demon Realms would barely take notice of them.

As for what the Immortal and Demon races sought, observers were not entirely clear, and those involved in cooperation remained tight-lipped. But any cooperating sect could rise to prominence in an extremely short time, as they had the support of supreme experts from the Immortal and Demon races; it was difficult for them not to develop rapidly.

Of course, after such a long time, the Immortal and Demon races still possessed some means of smuggling themselves across, though the restrictions were severe, and the required price was exorbitant. As for the Spirit Realm, they initially remained relatively compliant due to the suppression and reverence for the Mother of All Spirits. But as time wore on and the Mother of All Spirits remained dormant, some great powers and authorities from the Spirit Realm grew envious of the benefits the Immortal and Demon races gained in the Six Domains and Nine Continents. They began to secretly attempt unauthorized passage through the reverse channels. By now, the Spirit Realm’s tentacles extending into the Six Domains and Nine Continents were no longer hidden but openly practiced. However, the Spirit Realm's control over humans was weaker; they mostly focused their attention and goals on various demonic beast races. For instance, the Nether Phoenix Clan had received overtures of cooperation from the Spirit Realm. But the Nether Phoenix Clan rejected the Spirit Realm's major faction proposals because the Spirit Realm had abandoned their race, failing to bring them into the Spirit Realm, and because they were scorned by the pure-blooded Phoenixes. The Nether Domain Demon Dragon Clan seemed to harbor similar grievances and reasons. Otherwise, with the support of the Spirit Realm, the Nether Phoenix and Demon Dragon races would certainly not be inferior to the Ghost Race, at the very least maintaining an equal footing.

Setting aside the digression, while Xie Feng was deeply shaken by the immense palace, Lei Dong, who had been in a deep, comatose slumber, suddenly showed signs of reaction. The Heaven-Defying Treasure, the Soul Devouring Pagoda—which he had long since refined into his divine soul, now residing within his Nascent Soul via the Soul Refining Art—mysteriously became exceptionally active within his Nascent Soul.

Of course, Lei Dong named it the Soul Devouring Pagoda; he already knew this object was called the Chaos Pagoda, forged from a source of primordial Chaos. Primordial Chaos was the most precious substance in the universe, something even the supreme leaders of the Three Realms, including the Mother of All Spirits, coveted and would pursue at any cost.

Lei Dong had been refining the Chaos Soul Devouring Pagoda with the Soul Refining Art on and off for many years. Now, not only was the Pagoda completely merged with his Nascent Soul, but it was fused at least seven-tenths of the way. Thus, when the Pagoda became active within his soul, it generated wondrous ripples throughout his Nascent Soul.

The unconscious Lei Dong felt these ripples stir his heartstrings, and his scattered consciousness gradually coalesced.

But almost simultaneously, in a secluded corner of the dark void where no visitors had trod for untold millennia, the void rippled, and three mysterious figures silently materialized within that dim space. A giant scorpion, naturally gifted and already at the peak of the Nascent Soul stage, was about to flaunt its dominance upon seeing a foolish prey blunder into its territory, but tragedy struck instead.