The return of Xuantian King, who had failed in his ascension attempt, caused a great uproar within the Xuanhuang Realm.
Countless cultivators sent inquiries, yet he ignored them all. After all, this matter was too shocking. If word were to spread, the despairing cultivation world would instantly plunge into chaos, as if the end tis had arrived.
Hiding away alone, Xuantian King reviewed his gains from the attempt and pondered the aning behind the words of that Faceless True Immortal.
The Xuanhuang Realm, after a period of uproar, gradually returned to calm. With the collapse and disappearance of the Ascension Passage, the Immortal Realm’s great tribulation seed to have slowly lost all influence upon the lower realms.
About a year later, however, Xuantian King suddenly noticed a subtle shift in the landmark position of the Xuanhuang Realm.
The change was extrely small.
Had he not been constantly vigilant and had his strength not skyrocketed after being bathed in immortal spiritual energy—he might have overlooked it.
But Xuantian King, who had been prepared, could not possibly ignore such a detail.
Another three years passed.
By constantly monitoring the landmarker’s nurical fluctuations, Xuantian King finally confird that the entire Xuanhuang Realm was drifting toward a certain direction within the endless void.
What shocked him even more was that it wasn’t only the Xuanhuang Realm.
Every cultivation realm he could observe or connect with—was the sa!
The conclusion was clear.
Sothing within the endless void was pulling every cultivation realm toward itself!
Recalling the Faceless True Immortal’s words—
“Hurry and flee. If you delay any longer, it will be too late.”
Xuantian King felt a chill run down his spine.
In that instant, perhaps he did consider abandoning everything and fleeing alone.
But as the most gifted cultivator of the Xuanhuang Realm, he could not bear to watch his holand march toward destruction.
Thus, Xuantian King made a noble decision—
He would take the Xuanhuang Realm and flee together with it.
Even though he already possessed a half-immortal body, attempting to move an entire world was nothing but a delusion.
Not to ntion resisting such a terrifying and unimaginable force of attraction…
Yet Xuantian King did not give up.
After exhaustively studying the texts he had seized from immortals, and combining them with his own vast knowledge, the scholarly Xuantian King deduced a grand, unparalleled formation.
He nad it the Floating-Starry Sky Grand Formation.
According to his calculations, resisting the mysterious pull of the endless void could not be achieved with only the resources of the Xuanhuang Realm.
Even if he hollowed out the realm entirely, it would not suffice to withstand that terrifying, inconceivable power.
Therefore, one of the formation’s functions was to lock onto nearby pocket worlds and minor realms, seize them, and initiate wars of realms.
This would allow him to plunder resources, replenish his own realm, and at the sa ti form a chain effect—like iron-linked ships—slowing down the speed at which the Xuanhuang Realm was being dragged away.
It was truly killing many birds with one stone.
However, constructing such a formation was impossible through his strength alone.
Only by uniting and mobilizing the vast majority of the Xuanhuang Realm’s power could the Floating-Starry Sky Formation be completed.
As for revealing the truth of the situation to the public and calling for unity…
Xuantian King had considered it.
But after thoroughly observing the conduct of cultivators across the Xuanhuang Realm, he decisively abandoned the idea.
If they were told of the crisis at this mont, the vast majority of them would choose to flee imdiately.
Choosing to stay and follow the Xuantian King to save the Xuanhuang Realm was almost impossible—practically zero chance.
Yet, constructing the Floating-Starry Sky Formation required the power of these cultivators.
Therefore, the Xuantian King decided to first unify the Xuanhuang Realm and better coordinate its strength.
He was, after all, a once-in-a-millennium genius, and now the only half-immortal in the Xuanhuang Realm.
Moreover, he had inherited nurous immortal techniques from the Ascension Passage.
Accomplishing this goal was not particularly difficult.
As expected, after persuading twelve other top-tier cultivators with extraordinary talent to beco his aides, the Xuantian King swept away all resistance within just a few years.
With him as the leader and the twelve Dharma Kings as his deputies, he established the Xuantian Sect, a power that dominated the Xuanhuang Realm.
All beings in Xuanhuang submitted.
The Floating-Starry Sky Formation was constructed with unprecedented efficiency.
It soon began successfully capturing and conquering other worlds.
The speed of the landmark's deviation was also gradually slowing down.
Everything seed to be moving in the right direction.
The Xuantian King appeared to foresee a bright future where the Xuanhuang Realm would escape calamity.
However, the arrival of an unexpected guest completely disrupted his plans.
The mont the purple aura appeared in the Xuanhuang Realm, the Xuantian King could vaguely discern the visitor’s background.
A half-immortal body not yet fully purified, and incomplete immortal spiritual energy.
It must be a cultivator like him, who had escaped the collapse of the Ascension Passage.
Naturally, the Xuantian King was on high alert for this opponent, who matched him in strength.
Yet the visitor claid he was rely passing by, staying only briefly before leaving.
If the two half-immortals fought, it would inevitably leave irreparable damage to the Xuanhuang Realm.
After much deliberation, the Xuantian King chose not to strike.
Little did he know, this decision would sow the seeds of future calamity.
While the Floating-Starry Sky Formation captured yet another world, during the interval when the Xuantian King personally went on a campaign, the one who called himself the Grand Mage of Heavenly Capital actually lured many native Xuanhuang cultivators into his sect,
teaching them nurous techniques, secret arts, and divine powers.
Upon his victorious return, the Xuantian King imdiately understood the Grand Mage’s intention.
He sought to use these cultivators to shake the authority of the Xuantian Sect, stir up rebellion, and, when both sides were weakened, harvest the spoils.
The ultimate goal was the immortal spiritual energy within the Xuantian King himself.
But the Xuantian King would never yield to such sches.
He imdiately charged into Heavenly Capital, confronting the Grand Mage directly.
Although he sustained minor injuries, his opponent was far more severely wounded, forcing him to behave more cautiously thereafter.
Yet the Grand Mage refused to leave, and the Xuantian King had few good options.
Fearing the opponent might act recklessly, the Xuantian King decided to simply ignore him.
From this battle, however, he gained subtle benefits.
With so immortal spiritual energy seized from his opponent, he might even reconstruct a true immortal body directly in the lower realm.
Once infused with true immortal power, the resources needed to activate the Floating-Starry Sky Formation would be greatly reduced.
The Xuanhuang Realm could then quickly extricate itself from danger.
Still, the Xuantian King underestimated so cultivators’ treachery, or the Grand Mage’s talent for deceiving hearts and minds.
Those who entered Heavenly Capital eventually united at the critical mont, just as everything seed to be heading in the best direction,
launching a sudden assault against the Xuantian Sect.
From that mont, the history of the Xuanhuang Realm completely diverged onto another path.
…
Recalling all of this from the past, the young man’s expression beca distant.
He looked up, as if he could see that terrifying existence that absorbed and devoured everything.
“Thousands of years have passed… is it already within reach?”
[Translator's Note: I previously translated (大法師) as 'Grandmaster' when the character was first ntioned. After further consideration, I believe 'Grand Mage' is the more appropriate term. While 'Grand-master' is not incorrect, as the word can also carry that aning, 'Grand Mage' better suits the context]
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