Revival of Heaven and Earth

Gu Changge stood in this familiar world, feeling the spiritual energy around him. Although it was thin, it felt incredibly intimate. The subtle sense of alienation he had developed from being in the primal chaos of the outside world vanished in an instant.

He raised his hand, and immortal light circulated in his palm. The most docile sphere of light, radiating a deep sense of yearning and attachment, the origin of the Xuanhuang World, emerged.

What is taken from Xuanhuang, must return to Xuanhuang.

He muttered softly, his tone calm but carrying an unquestionable resolve.

Before his voice had even faded, he flicked his finger. The dazzling sphere of origin light transformed into a gentle streak of light and shot into the sky. It did not fly toward any specific location but directly merged into the firmament above, integrating into the most fundamental web of laws of this world.

In the Central Domain, at the Daozang Academy, before an inconspicuous thatched hut in the forbidden grounds of the back mountain.

An old man dressed in an old grey robe, his eyes tightly shut, sat hunched over on a worn bamboo stool, seemingly blending into the surrounding rocks and vegetation.

He was one of the true hidden trump cards of the Daozang Academy, an Old Blind Man who had long ignored worldly affairs and sealed himself here for countless years.

His cultivation had reached the very peak of the Quasi-Emperor realm, just half a step away from the supreme throne of a Great Emperor!

However, this half-step was like an uncrossable chasm.

Yet, who could have imagined that thousands of years ago, this old man sitting withered here, his aura as obscure as an ancient well, was once a peerless genius who shook Xuanhuang and outshone an entire era?

He was the brightest star of that age, the most talented individual in the last ten thousand years, possessing the true potential to prove his Dao and become a Great Emperor!

He had once swept through his peers without a rival, advancing triumphantly until his cultivation reached the peak of the Great Sage realm!

Later, relying on his stunning, age-defying talent and unyielding will, he ascended to the peak of the Quasi-Emperor realm in a desperate situation where the world was flawed and the Great Dao was obscure. But just as he prepared to take the final step, he could advance no further!

He acutely sensed the anomaly between heaven and earth; the Xuanhuang Great World seemed to be marching toward its demise.

He resolutely embarked on a journey to uncover the truth. After enduring untold hardships, he finally glimpsed that terrifying formation stealing the world's origin at the edge of the world barrier, and understood the root cause of the severed Emperor's path and the world's decay!

At that time, young and vigorous, with soaring ambitions, he intended to use his peak Quasi-Emperor strength to defy the heavens, forcibly break the formation, and fight for a future for Xuanhuang!

However, he encountered unimaginable resistance. A terrifying puppet exuding the genuine pressure of a Great Emperor made its move!

That battle shattered the heavens and split the earth. Although he relied on his peerless talent to forcefully repel the Great Emperor puppet, he also paid a tragic price.

His Dao foundation was damaged, and because he had touched the backlash of the Emperor Dao's taboo power, the Dao origin of his eyes was destroyed, leaving him forever blind.

Disheartened, he knew deeply that he could not reverse the grand trend with his own strength alone. Thus, he hid his name and sealed himself in the back mountain of the Daozang Academy, the place that had once given him his enlightenment.

On one hand, he used the vast righteous energy and foundation of this place to slow the passing of his lifespan; on the other hand, he harbored a slim hope of guarding his old home and waiting for a variable. This wait lasted for endless years.

Suddenly!

The Old Blind Man's seemingly immutable figure trembled violently!

His eye sockets, which had been hollow for an unknown number of years, seemed to twitch slightly.

Hmm?!

A gasp of unbelievable shock squeezed out from his dry throat.

In that very instant, he clearly felt that the world had changed!

The sensation of the origin draining away, which had entangled him his entire life, caused him to fail on the verge of success, and plunged the entire Xuanhuang World into despair, had stopped!

Not only that, but the spiritual energy of heaven and earth was actually recovering! Although it was extremely faint, the trend had been reversed!

The draining of the origin has stopped? The world is recovering? How is this possible?!

The Old Blind Man abruptly stood up from the bamboo stool. The obscure aura around him fluctuated uncontrollably, causing the surrounding void to distort slightly.

His withered fingers trembled slightly, not out of excitement, but out of extreme shock and a rekindled hope that even he himself dared not believe!

He knew better than anyone what this meant!

It meant that the eternal gloom that had crushed Xuanhuang, severed the Emperor's path, and buried his glorious future, had been torn open!

Who is it? Just what divine being possesses such heaven-defying means to reverse this grand trend of the world's decline?!

Is it an opponent of the one who laid the formation back then? Or has the destiny of my Xuanhuang World not yet ended, giving birth to a heaven-defying existence?!

He attempted to use his Quasi-Emperor divine sense to deduce the heavenly secrets and trace the source.

However, the moment his divine sense touched the source of that change, it was like a clay ox entering the sea, or like crashing into an invisible, intangible, yet indestructible barrier. He was gently pushed away by a soft yet irresistible force.

The heavenly secrets were chaotic, a complete blur!

I cannot calculate it, I cannot calculate it at all!

The Old Blind Man's face was full of horror, even more alarmed than when he faced the Great Emperor puppet back then.

The realm of the person who took action is far beyond my imagination! Their means can no longer be fathomed by the Emperor realm! Could it be a true Immortal?

He staggered a step, steadied his figure, and his hollow eye sockets looked toward the void, as if trying to pierce through an endless distance to see the existence that had created this miracle.

After a long while, he slowly calmed down, but his withered face radiated a long-lost brilliance called vitality. It was the light of a spark reigniting from the dead ashes that had been silent for ages.

In the Eastern Wasteland, at the Pavilion of Heavenly Secrets, atop the Star Observation Platform.

Master Tianji held a compass, concentrating on deducing the heavenly secrets, trying to capture that fleeting source of the variable.

Suddenly!

The Vientiane Star Sundial in front of him, passed down through the ages and used to observe the destiny of Xuanhuang, violently erupted with unprecedented light!

On the star sundial, the pillar of light representing the overall destiny of the Xuanhuang Great World had originally presented a slow but irreversible trend of exhaustion and greyness. At this moment, that grey undertone seemed to be forcefully erased by an invisible giant hand!

The trend of exhaustion came to a screeching halt!

Not only that, but the pillar of light even began to be re-tinted with an extremely faint but undeniably real lustrous vitality from the bottom up, at a speed visible to the naked eye!

Although it was far from recovering to its peak period, that cliff-like plummeting momentum had been completely halted, and it had begun to reverse for the better!

The Mandate of Heaven has changed?!!

Master Tianji abruptly stood up, his voice trembling violently from extreme shock and agitation, even his beard quivering slightly.

The compass in his hand let out an overwhelmed buzz, its needle spinning madly. Finally, with a crack, it actually fractured with a fine line, unable to withstand this sudden and violent backlash and fluctuation of destiny!

How is this possible?! Exactly what kind of mighty power can reverse the declining destiny of a Great World?! This is simply defying the heavens and changing fate, reshaping the universe!

He was so agitated he could hardly control himself. His old face flushed red, and his hands trembled slightly from excitement.

He tried to perform a calculation, only to find the heavenly secrets in a state of primal chaos, as if completely obscured by an invisible giant hand. He couldn't calculate any clues at all.

Staggering a few steps, he walked up to the star sundial and tremblingly stroked the pillar of light that was radiating a trace of vitality. His eyes were filled with unbelievable ecstasy and deep awe.

"No matter who it is, this is an act of boundless merit that saves the billions of lives in our Xuanhuang world! Truly boundless merit!!"

Qingxuan Sect, Purple Bamboo Peak.

The Great Emperor of Annihilation was sitting quietly in the bamboo forest. The Dao rhythm of annihilation flowed around him, faintly resonating with the Pagoda of Eternal Geniuses.

Suddenly, the Dao rhythm around him paused slightly. His imperial eyes, which seemed to have witnessed the rise and fall of eternity, slowly opened, flashing with a very faint trace of surprise.

"Hmm? The loss of origin has stopped?"

The Lord of Annihilation muttered to himself in a low voice, the surprise in his eyes turning into a trace of realization and deep shock.

"So thorough, so clean and decisive. Did His Lordship take action?"

He looked toward the direction where Gu Changge usually cultivated in seclusion, his eyes filled with awe.

Only by serving under Gu Changge could he begin to comprehend the inconceivable divine abilities and mighty power required for such an earth-shattering feat—one that could reshape the heavens and the earth, and reverse the declining fate of a great world.

"His Lordship's achievements shake the heavens and the earth. I am in complete awe."

He slowly closed his eyes and immersed himself in the state of the Dao once more, but his mind was more tranquil than ever before. Following such a Lord, there would be no more confusion on the path ahead.

In several other restricted life zones...

Wills that had slumbered for eons all sensed the change.

Some flashed with suspicion, some revealed a brief flicker of interest, but ultimately, the vast majority chose to fall silent once again.

To them, as long as the world did not continue to deteriorate, it was already rare good news.

As for what caused this change, they did not care, or rather, they were unwilling to easily get involved before the situation was clear.

The highest-level existences in the Xuanhuang Great World were all emotionally stirred by this sudden upheaval.

They knew that the wheels of the era might have been pushed by an invisible giant hand toward an unknown, yet no longer desperate, direction.

Soon, the news spread.

"The heavens and the earth are beginning to recover!"

In an instant, the entire world was shaken, and all living beings seethed with excitement.