The old man’s eyes widened as he felt the dominant pressure emanating from Zhi Xuan. Although Zhi Xuan’s cultivation base was officially at the peak of the initial stage of Weaver Transformation, his killing intent and comprehension of the laws felt like those of a master who had lived for thousands of seasons.

  "Weaver Transformation?!" the old practitioner trembled. "Lord... please forgive my insolence. I did not know a sovereign was crossing this path."

  Zhi Xuan did not offer a verbal reply. He simply raised the black jade token given to him by Xu Han high into the air. Upon seeing the token, the old man’s face twisted into pure terror. He immediately descended from his coffin and prostrated himself upon the scorching sand.

  "The Shadow Envoy Token... You are a guest of Lord Xu?" the old practitioner’s voice shook violently. "Please forgive me! Lord Xu gave orders that anyone bearing this token must be escorted directly to the Valley of Heaven’s Ruin!"

  Zhi Xuan lowered his hand, the red light from the token fading. "The Valley of Heaven’s Ruin? So that is the place."

  "Correct, My Lord," the old practitioner replied while remaining bowed. "Lord Xu has been there for the last seven days, preparing the formation to open the ancient tomb. The Collapsed Wilderness... it has truly opened."

  Zhi Xuan narrowed his eyes. The memory of his conversation with Xu Han in the woodworking shop of Cangyun Village replayed in his head. The promise made hundreds of years ago was now only one step away from being fulfilled. However, he also felt a strange premonition; Huang Tu was not merely a barren land; it was something shrouded in deep mystery.

  "Lead the way," Zhi Xuan commanded curtly.

  "At once, My Lord! Please, board my Guiding Spirit," the old man waved his hand, and his ancient coffin expanded, emitting a green light capable of piercing through the sandstorms of Huang Tu.

  Zhi Xuan leaped onto the coffin, standing with his arms crossed. As the coffin shot across the horizon toward the northwest, Zhi Xuan looked back for a moment, staring toward the direction of the Savage Sea he had just crossed. He whispered internally, "One day, I will return without the struggle of crossing that cursed sea."

  The ancient coffin sped like green lightning across the endless expanse of red desert. The winds of Huang Tu, carrying sharp crystal shards, battered Zhi Xuan’s robes, but the protective energy of his Weaver Transformation cultivation created ripples that deflected every grain of sand before it could touch his skin.

  Below him, the land of Huang Tu revealed its true face. This was not just a desert; it was the mass grave of a forgotten era. Zhi Xuan saw ruins of towers that once reached the clouds, now broken and buried in sand, and dry riverbeds whose floors were lined with the remains of ancient armor that had rusted over countless years.

  "My Lord," the old practitioner’s voice broke the silence, trembling as he steered his coffin. "The Valley of Heaven’s Ruin is a place where the laws of nature no longer apply. There, space and time overlap. Lord Xu... he has risked much to find the exact point."

  Zhi Xuan remained silent, his eyes fixed on the dragon-fang mountains drawing nearer. He felt the aura ahead of him shift; it was no longer the foul stench of death belonging to the Black Corpse Sect, but something far more majestic, heavier, and... dangerous. It was the aura of the Collapsed Wilderness.

  Suddenly, the horizon before them seemed to crack. The sky, which was originally blood red, was split by a giant fissure emitting a cold, silvery-white light. This light did not illuminate; rather, it absorbed all the colors around it.

  The green coffin slowed and landed on the edge of a profound abyss, at the bottom of which lay a valley filled with a vortex of gray energy. In the center of the valley stood a giant stone altar surrounded by pillars of light that pierced the heavens.

  Zhi Xuan shot downward and stood upon the valley floor. He turned to the old practitioner with a sharp glint in his eyes. "Leave. Do not let me see you again."

  The old practitioner did not wait for a second command. He hurriedly turned his coffin, leaving a trail of trembling green mist as he fled from the oppressive aura emitted by Zhi Xuan and the valley below. Zhi Xuan stood at the edge of the steep cliff, staring at the gray energy vortex swirling at the base of the Valley of Heaven’s Ruin.

  In this place, his mind sensed a tangible disorder; it was as if every breath of air here was a fragment from thousands of different years forced into one. He stepped forward, his body falling freely toward the valley, but before touching the ground, his shadow crept through the air, positioning his body with the elegance of a dragon descending to earth.

  At the center of the giant stone altar, a man in a deep blue robe embroidered with silver cranes sat cross-legged. His face remained youthful, but the lines on his forehead showed the immense mental burden of sustaining a formation this large. Xu Han slowly opened his eyes. His clear pupils radiated a momentary relief before shifting into a flash of deep admiration.

  "Three hundred years is a long time to polish wood, yet but a blink to awaken a dragon," Xu Han’s voice echoed, clear and authoritative, cutting through the roar of the energy vortex. "Welcome to Huang Tu, Brother Zhi. I knew you would not let that promise rot beneath the dust of Cangyun Village."

  Zhi Xuan stepped toward the altar, each footstep on the ancient stone floor creating a thud of laws that stabilized the wild gray energy. "Your peach wine that night still leaves a taste on my tongue, Brother Xu. It would be most impolite to let the giver wait too long in this parched land."

  Xu Han let out a soft chuckle that seemed far too delicate; he rose to his feet. His crane robes rustled, and a profound Weaver Transformation aura radiated from his body. "Brother Zhi... or should I once again call you Gu Fengyan?"

  "Names are of no importance, Brother Xu," Zhi Xuan replied flatly. He sensed a slight oddity in Xu Han’s tone. "Gu Fengyan or Zhi the Craftsman, those are merely names spoken by those in the past."

  Zhi Xuan thought to himself afterward; he felt that Xu Han was hiding something deep, something even he could not penetrate. "Great Saint, why does the aura feel like... I am facing a woman? Am I going mad for thinking Xu Han is a woman?"

  Zhi Xuan did not wait for an answer, choosing to brush aside thoughts that might have been scrambled by the boredom and illusions of the Savage Sea. He chose to ignore the creeping, strange feeling, stepping closer to Xu Han and standing three paces away.

  "Brother Xu, so what have you discovered at this altar?" Zhi Xuan asked, staring at the stone structure. "The Valley of Heaven’s Ruin—a name that surely holds secrets regarding the understanding of the Upper Realm."

  Xu Han did not answer immediately. He walked slowly around the altar, his slender fingers touching ancient symbols carved into the stone surface. These symbols did not resemble the script of typical Daoist practitioners; they were more like cracks on an ancient tortoise shell trying to freeze the concept of creation.

  Stolen novel; please report.

  "This valley holds the path to the Underworld," Xu Han said, stopping right in front of a fissure emitting silvery light. "I have previously studied this Collapsed Wilderness and found that beneath these Nine Plains, there lies a hidden Underworld that may hold the understanding of the Upper Realm."

  "The Underworld?" Zhi Xuan narrowed his eyes, his sapphire pupils flashing sharply. "You mean, we aren't looking for a way to climb to the heavens, but rather digging into the bowels of the earth?"

  Xu Han gave a thin, cryptic smile—a curve of the lips that felt far too soft for a man who had spent hundreds of seasons in a barren land. He gazed into the silvery fissure with a deep look, as if he could see beyond the darkness within.

  "Sometimes, to see the sun, you must pass through the darkest night, Brother Zhi," Xu Han answered softly. "The Upper Realm is not merely a high place, but a different level of existence. In this Valley of Heaven’s Ruin, we might gain a sliver of knowledge regarding the realm after the Sacred Passage. Or perhaps, discover why there is an Underworld beneath the Nine Plains where we stand."

  "And, I have also heard news of the departure of Sacred Passage experts to the upper realm," Xu Han continued, sighing softly and tapping his foot on the altar. "I have always been curious about what it would be like to go to the Upper Realm without using an Emperor Monument like the Ancient Clans."

  Zhi Xuan frowned slightly. He observed Xu Han's behavior, which seemed increasingly different. "How do you know about the Emperor Monuments that are only possessed by the Ancient Clans?"

  Xu Han froze for a moment, his fingers—which had been tracing the ancient carvings—stopping mid-air. Xu Han then turned around, looking at Zhi Xuan with eyes that flickered momentarily with hesitation before he let out a small, slightly nervous laugh—a tone that felt foreign coming from a serene Weaver Transformation expert.

  "Ah... that," Xu Han brushed his hair back from the wind with an extremely delicate motion, almost mimicking the gestures of someone tidying their makeup. "Brother Zhi is truly sharp. The secrets of the Ancient Clans are not easy for wandering practitioners like us to come by, are they?"

  He cleared his throat softly, trying to return the gravity to his voice despite the strange flush lingering in the corners of his eyes. "Actually, some time ago, I happened to establish a good relationship with one of the pureblood descendants of an Ancient Clan. It was from them that I heard rumors of the Emperor Monument. They complained about how rigid and closed the path to heaven is if one only relies on such heirlooms. That is what sparked my curiosity to find another way within this Ruined Wilderness."

  Zhi Xuan remained unmoved, his ice-cold eyes fixed on Xu Han. The explanation was logical, but his instincts, tempered by life-and-death battles, whispered of disharmony. The scent of peach wine he once smelled in the woodworking shop seemed to return, but this time it was mixed with a very faint aroma of heavenly flowers that should not have existed in a parched land like Huang Tu.

  "A companion from the Ancient Clan..." Zhi Xuan murmured lowly. "You have quite a wide circle for a practitioner who spends his time dissecting clouds and oceans, Brother Xu."

  Xu Han laughed again, this time more freely, yet still maintaining an impenetrable mystery. "The world is vast, Brother Zhi, but for those who seek the truth, our paths often cross in unexpected places. Now, forget about the Ancient Clan. Focus on what is before us."

  Xu Han stepped toward the center of the altar, where a pillar of gray light pulsed in sync with the heartbeat of the Huang Tu earth. He spread his arms, and instantly, thousands of intricate formation seals began to crawl out from beneath his blue robes, locking into position on the ancient stone surface of the altar.

  "The time has come," Xu Han said, his voice once again heavy and full of authority, though his eyes occasionally reflected a gentleness that contrasted with his surroundings. "This formation will open the space separating Huang Tu from the entrance of the Collapsed Wilderness. Brother Zhi, I need your help to stabilize the western axis."

  Zhi Xuan wasted no time. Even though suspicion regarding Xu Han’s true identity still lingered at the back of his mind, he knew that in a place like this, doubt was the fastest path to death. He shot to the western side of the altar, slamming his palm onto the stone surface.

  Instantly, a thick brownish-yellow aura exploded from his body. The Law of Earth manifested into pillars of incredibly heavy energy, locking the stone altar in place so it wouldn't shift an inch as the gray energy vortex began to rage. On the other side, Xu Han began chanting in an ancient language that sounded like a mournful song—a frequency that made the soul of anyone listening feel miniscule.

  WUNGGG—!

  The silvery fissure in the valley’s sky suddenly expanded, resembling a giant eye opening. An extraordinary spatial pressure slammed into the altar. Zhi Xuan felt his meridians vibrate violently; it was as if a giant hand were trying to squeeze his entire spiritual essence out of his body.

  However, in the middle of that energy storm, he saw Xu Han standing tall, his crane robes fluttering wildly, and strangely, a very thin pink glow momentarily enveloped the man’s body before disappearing, swallowed by the gray light.

  Right then, the pillar of light at the center of the altar exploded. A boom surpassing any thunder Zhi Xuan had ever heard shook the Valley of Heaven’s Ruin. The space before them split completely, revealing a gate made of swirling black mist that emitted a coldness capable of freezing the soul's essence.

  Xu Han turned toward Zhi Xuan, his face now pale from exhaustion, but his eyes shone with a burning spirit. "The door has opened! Beyond that mist is the Wilderness Path—the territory leading to the Collapsed Wilderness."

  Zhi Xuan withdrew his hand from the altar, letting the Earth Law energy remain as a protective shroud around his body. He stared at the black mist gate, then turned toward Xu Han, who was now waiting for him at the threshold of the void.

  "I didn't come this far just to stare at a door, Brother Xu," Zhi Xuan replied coldly. He strode forward, his black-and-white robes rustling sharply. "Lead the way. Let us see if this Underworld is more honest than the Nine Plains above."

  The two of them leaped into the black mist vortex simultaneously. Instantly, gravity vanished. The light of Huang Tu’s twin suns disappeared, replaced by an eternal darkness decorated only by streams of gray energy shooting past like falling stars. During that cross-dimensional journey, Zhi Xuan momentarily felt Xu Han’s hand touch his arm, a touch that was very delicate, warm, and possessed a vibration far from the touch of a rugged male practitioner. But before Zhi Xuan could react, the touch vanished, replaced by a heavy air pressure as they landed on hard ground.

  They had arrived. The sky above them had neither stars nor sun, only motionless gray clouds. Before them stretched a plain filled with ruins of floating palaces and leafless black trees. This was the Ruined Wilderness, a place where ancient knowledge slept beneath the ruins of civilizations destroyed by the Gods of the Upper Realm.

  Xu Han stood beside Zhi Xuan, taking a deep breath as if inhaling a scent he deeply missed. "Finally... after thousands of seasons of searching. Brother Zhi, welcome to the home of the forgotten."

  Zhi Xuan remained vigilant. His sword was not drawn, but his sword intent already enveloped a ten-zhang area around him. "Don't celebrate too soon, Brother Xu. I feel thousands of eyes watching us from behind those ruins."

  Zhi Xuan stepped forward, but his mind remained focused on that warm touch from earlier. Whoever Xu Han really was, he had clearly drawn Zhi Xuan into a conspiracy far larger than a mere search for an ancient tomb.

  "Then let them watch," Xu Han whispered as he stepped alongside Zhi Xuan, his voice once again flat and mysterious. "In this place, only those with an iron will have the right to walk."

  The footsteps of the two created thin ripples on the layer of silver dust covering the ground of the Collapsed Wilderness. Every time Zhi Xuan's foot landed, he felt a strange sensation, as if he were not stepping on soil, but on a pile of solidified memories. The silence in this place was absolute, the kind of silence capable of driving a mortal practitioner mad in mere seconds.

  "This place... has no flow of Heaven and Earth essence," Zhi Xuan murmured, his voice flat, but the vigilance in his eyes did not diminish in the slightest. He tried to draw energy from his surroundings, but all he found was a cold void. The spiritual essence here had long since died, or perhaps, had been forcibly drained by something much larger in the past.

  Xu Han walked slightly ahead, his crane robes glowing dimly, becoming the only source of light in the gray twilight of the Collapsed Wilderness. "You are right, Brother Zhi. The essence here evaporated long ago with the fall of civilization. What remains is Origin Essence—this is why this place is the key to the Upper Realm."

  Zhi Xuan stopped his pace right in front of a broken pillar. The pillar was made of jade that had turned black, yet on its surface, carvings depicting a war between giants and creatures with wings of light were still visible. As he brought his divine sense closer, the pillar suddenly emitted a low humming sound.

  WUNGGG—!

  From behind the ruins of buildings floating in the sky, black shadows began to elongate. They had no physical form, only silhouettes of humans with eyes glowing a faint purple. One by one, they emerged from behind the shadows of the black trees, surrounding Zhi Xuan and Xu Han with unnatural movements.