The Origin of the World

Azure Profound Sect, Purple Bamboo Peak!

Gu Changge leaned back on a long chair crafted from thousand-year-old purple bamboo. His plain white robe draped casually over the ground, while his thoughtful gaze fell upon Lingxi, who was cultivating not far away.

The young girl wore a tight-fitting martial outfit, sitting upright and cross-legged on a bluestone platform. Spiritual energy flowed around her like a gentle stream.

As she circulated the Heaven Devouring Dao Art, a faint trace of golden imperial aura occasionally leaked from the depths of her sea of consciousness. It condensed into faintly discernible patterns in the morning light. That was the unique mark belonging to Empress Lingxi of the Tianlan Great World. Even after reincarnating, the imperial sharpness in her bones could not be concealed.

Gu Changge slowly took a bite of a spirit fruit. The sweet juice melted in his mouth, but his eyes gradually grew profound.

He recalled the scene he had previously glimpsed with his Divine Eye of Insight: after Lingxi reached the peak of the Great Emperor realm in her previous life, in order to pursue a higher realm, she used her supreme imperial body to forcefully shake the realm barrier, forcibly tearing open a rift within the violent space-time storm.

However, just as she was about to step into the legendary Immortal Domain, a dazzling golden blade of law light suddenly slashed out from the rift.

That was absolutely not the ordinary repulsive force of a realm, but a chilling killing intent containing deliberate targeting. It instantly pierced through her imperial body, nearly causing even her immortal divine soul to completely dissipate.

"A peak Great Emperor is capable of withstanding realm storms, so how could she fail to block a single law from the Immortal Domain?"

At the same time, he thought of his own master, Daoist Zizhu!

The world barrier was so sturdy that a peak Great Emperor had to rely on a powerful imperial body and supreme mighty force to open a spatial rift. Yet, his master had traversed the great worlds merely by relying on the Chaos Realm Crystal.

But if the Chaos Realm Crystal truly possessed such power, why was it left behind in a secret realm of the Xuanhuang Great World? And why was it coincidentally found by his master?

Clouds of doubt rose in Gu Changge's heart as his fingertips unconsciously stroked the smooth skin of the spirit fruit.

According to the cultivation logic of the Xuanhuang Great World, cultivators at the Great Emperor realm had already touched the essence of the world's rules. Even if the laws of the Immortal Domain were stronger, they should still have the power to contend with them, rather than being killed in a single strike.

No, this question must be solved. In case he went to the Immortal Realm in the future and encountered a similar situation, it was better to figure it out in advance.

He subconsciously called out to the system in his mind, his tone carrying a bit of inquiry, "System, analyze the reason why Lingxi was slain by the laws of the Immortal Domain in her previous life. Why were the laws of the Immortal Domain so abnormally violent?"

"Ding! This system is a sign-in system and only provides services related to sign-in rewards. It does not accept consultations for 'a hundred thousand whys'. The truth of the world needs to be explored by the host yourself. Please do not rely on the system."

The mechanical notification sound rang out in his mind, carrying its usual business-like tone.

Gu Changge raised an eyebrow. "You always drop the ball at crucial moments. Other than giving away cultivation bases and imperial weapons, you act just like an accountant who only knows how to slack off."

Complaints aside, he was not the least bit angry.

With his cultivation at the peak of the Great Emperor realm, he did not need to rely on the system to answer his doubts anyway. Since the system refused to speak, he would investigate it himself.

Gu Changge slowly closed his eyes, and the imperial might that was originally restrained around him quietly dispersed.

There were no earth-shattering phenomena, only a very faint wisp of azure light spilling from between his eyebrows. Like a stone thrown into a calm lake, it rippled outward in invisible circles, spreading along the spiritual energy veins of Purple Bamboo Peak at a speed imperceptible to the naked eye.

This wisp of divine sense easily broke through spatial restrictions, sweeping across the various states of the Eastern Region in an instant and heading toward the other great regions.

In just a few breaths, Gu Changge's divine sense had become like an invisible yet incredibly dense giant net, entirely enveloping the mountains, rivers, and all living beings of the entire Xuanhuang Great World.

At first, he did not notice any abnormalities. Although the concentration of spiritual energy in the air was not as rich and vast as recorded in the ancient era, it still maintained a basic, stable circulation. Cultivators from the major factions were still breathing and cultivating step by step, and everything seemed to be in perfect order.

But when he focused his perception on the deeper level of the world's origin, his brows slowly furrowed.

In his perception, the origin of the Xuanhuang Great World should have been a boundless, majestic ocean of energy with vibrant dao resonance, beating powerfully like a heart. It was the foundation of life that supported all cultivators in breaking through their realms and maintained the operation of the world.

Yet at this moment, that ocean of origin actually presented an unsettling state—it was evaporating at an extremely slow speed!

It was not a sudden loss, but rather as if its life force was being continuously extracted by countless invisible, fine needles.

Every time a trace of origin power was stripped away, it carried a faint, indescribable sense of exhaustion. The originally bright and vibrant light of dao resonance also grew dim, its vitality greatly diminished.

This was just like a towering ancient tree. It might look lush and leafy on the outside, but its inner roots were being quietly gnawed away by borers, its life force slipping away bit by bit.

Right at this moment, his divine sense swept past an extremely secluded sect forbidden ground in the Central Region.

There was an old cultivator with completely white hair at his temples and deep wrinkles. He had been stuck at the peak of the Great Sage realm for thousands of years. At this moment, he was burning his remaining lifespan, doing his utmost to assault the barrier of the Quasi-Emperor realm he had dreamed of.

Vast spiritual power surged through his dried-up meridians, drawing upon the surrounding world's origin power in an attempt to nourish and temper his foundation, which had already developed cracks.

However, the origin power surging into his body carried a distinct sense of sluggishness. Like rusted gears, it was difficult to perfectly fuse with his own power.

In the end, he fell short of success at the last stage. The powerful backlash force caused him to cough up a mouthful of dark golden sage blood. His aura instantly withered, and his eyes were filled with despair and unwillingness.

This scene, like the final piece of a puzzle, made Gu Changge instantly understand!

The reason no one in the Xuanhuang Great World had proven their dao to become a Great Emperor for tens of thousands of years was not at all because the cultivators of this realm lacked talent or comprehension. Rather, it was because a problem had long since occurred with this world's origin!

The continuous loss of the origin led to a massive decline in the world's carrying capacity.

The origin power required to communicate with and absorb at the Great Emperor realm far exceeded that of any other realm. Now that the origin's vitality was insufficient and its total amount was continuously decreasing, it was like a piece of increasingly barren land that could no longer nurture towering trees.

Even if someone with stunning and brilliant talent touched the threshold of the Great Emperor realm, they would fail due to the lack of sufficiently powerful and vibrant origin power to support them. They might even cause their dao foundation to shatter and die a Dao-vanishing death from forcibly assaulting the realm!

Gu Changge suddenly opened his eyes. The depths of his eyes no longer held lazy indifference; instead, a sharp light that pierced through eternity flashed past.

Where exactly was the life origin of this world—which had nurtured countless living beings and carried eternal legends—flowing to?

And who possessed such heaven-defying means to continuously extract the foundation of a great world without making a sound?

He stared at an invisible point in the void, his gaze bottomlessly deep, as if wanting to pierce through layer upon layer of spatial barriers and endless planes to directly reach the hidden source of the truth.

An incense stick of time later, Gu Changge withdrew his divine sense, his expression somewhat gloomy.

"It seems," he muttered to himself in a low voice, his tone calm yet carrying an unquestionable decisiveness.

"I need to find some time to personally pay a 'visit' to these neighbors who don't understand the rules and have unclean hands."