Turmoil Approaches

“What a pity… We failed!”

Ancient Emperor Lei Peng’s voice rang out, carrying an indescribable weariness and a cold trace of mockery.

It was impossible to tell whether he was mocking his opponents—or themselves.

Indeed, in the end, all their efforts had come to nothing.

No one understood better than these Supremes from the forbidden zones just how meticulous their plan had been.

From the very beginning, when they had begun laying out their scheme, they had known that Battle Asura had a mysterious powerhouse hidden behind him. They had even faintly sensed that there was more than one. That wariness had been etched into their very bones.

To ensure a single lethal strike and eliminate all future trouble, several forbidden zones had set aside their differences and joined forces. Seven Supremes had been dispatched in total, and they had plotted for a long time.

They had chosen the precise moment when the human prodigy would relax after his victory to launch their attack, killing the prodigy first.

Then, the seven of them would join forces to encircle and annihilate the mysterious powerhouses behind him.

They had believed their calculations flawless.

They had accounted for Little Black’s strength being comparable to that of a Great Emperor. They had even anticipated that other powerhouses might come to his aid and had prepared countermeasures in advance.

But they had never imagined that Little Black’s strength would be so overwhelming.

Four Supremes had surrounded him in a desperate assault, yet they had still failed to hold him back.

They had never imagined that one of the Supremes who had intercepted the reinforcements would be gravely wounded within a few breaths and carried in the opponent’s hand like a dead dog.

Even less had they imagined that Xiao Ruobai and the others would each possess an Ultimate Imperial Weapon. Such foundations were enough to overturn any prediction.

Yet what chilled their Dao Hearts most, even surpassing the bitterness of failure, was another incomprehensible mystery.

The two figures before them were genuine, complete Great Emperors!

But the Xuanhuang Great World had only just awakened. The myriad Daos had not manifested the heavenly omens that accompanied the birth of a Great Emperor. How, then, had these two become Emperors?!

This violation of common sense was an anomaly that made them even more uneasy and fearful than the five Imperial Weapons.

This was no longer something that could be described as mere resources or hidden strength.

This was an anomaly powerful enough to overturn their understanding of the world!

The narrator’s sighs were hidden within the deathly silent wind. The expressions of every Supreme from the forbidden zones grew increasingly grim, while rotten auras churned with unwillingness and viciousness.

“Since we have already acted and become tainted by cause and effect…”

Beside him, Ancient Emperor Tianming slowly raised his head. Gloomy Netherworld death qi swirled around him, while ghostly flames burned within his eye sockets. His voice was like a frigid wind blowing from the Nine Hells.

“Then there is no turning back.”

Ancient Emperor Lei Peng slowly closed his eyes, then opened them again. The final trace of emotion in his gaze had faded away, leaving behind only an ice-cold resolve unchanged for countless ages.

He looked toward Great Emperor of Annihilation and Little Black, then slowly said:

“And this Southern Region shall be the place where you fall, Emperors!”

Ancient Emperor Lei Peng’s words were like the tolling of a bell pronouncing final judgment. Before their echoes had faded, a sudden change erupted!

“Boom—!”

The entire Xuanhuang Great World suddenly let out a wail that pierced through the ages and made the souls of all living beings tremble!

It was not a sound, but a violent tremor originating from the world’s source, as though the very foundation of the universe had been shaken.

The firmament dimmed in an instant. The sun and moon lost their light, while the stars swayed as if they might fall at any moment.

The laws of the Great Dao descended into chaos. Across countless regions, mountains collapsed, seas roared, and the earth’s veins erupted in scenes of apocalyptic destruction.

“It has begun…”

Ancient Emperor Lei Peng muttered indifferently. The final trace of humanity in his eyes vanished completely, leaving behind only a pure will to destroy.

Almost at the exact same moment—

In the Eastern Region, within that dead zone capable of devouring even light, the Burial God Abyss suddenly split open, forming a gigantic rift stretching hundreds of thousands of miles!

Black-red baleful qi surged into the heavens like the breath of a primordial beast awakening from slumber, dyeing half the sky an ominous crimson.

In the midst of the baleful qi, three enormous, indistinct figures—each larger than a mountain—slowly rose to their feet. Their icy gazes crossed endless space and locked directly onto the battlefield in the Southern Region.

At the same time, another dreaded life forbidden zone in the Eastern Region, the Fallen God Ruins, erupted with a thunderous boom.

The entire ruin seemed to come alive as the earth transformed into a swirling vortex of quicksand that devoured everything.

At the center of the vortex, four crimson lights ignited. Carrying mockery and cruelty, they gazed toward the south.

In the Central Region, the Reincarnation Sea—which lay at the heart of the continent and was said to connect to the mysteries of reincarnation—suddenly began to boil.

The seawater surged backward into the sky, forming a blood-red waterspout that connected heaven and earth. Deep within the eye of the sea, an ancient palace constructed from countless white bones and resentful souls slowly emerged from the water.

Three figures shrouded in the divine light of reincarnation sat upon white-bone thrones. Their auras were obscure and unfathomable, as though they controlled the rebirth and death of all living beings.

At the same time, the Void Cave, facing the Reincarnation Sea from afar, unleashed endless storms of nothingness. Wherever they passed, space, time, matter, and energy were reduced to nothing.

Two figures that were neither wholly real nor wholly illusory walked out of the cave. Every step they took caused the surrounding world to perish.

In the Northern Region, the Frozen Glacier, and in the Western Region, the Ancient Yellow Springs Desert, apocalyptic phenomena erupted as well. Five figures slowly emerged.

From the six forbidden zones, the auras of sixteen Supremes erupted without restraint at this very moment!

The spiritual energy of heaven and earth was frantically drawn away and injected into the various forbidden zones, sustaining the Supremes’ manifestations in the world.

The laws wailed. Space collapsed inch by inch. Light twisted, and all things lost their original colors, leaving behind only despairing grayness.

Together with the six figures above the bronze ancient city in the Southern Region—including the Golden Crow Ancient Emperor—there were now a total of twenty-two self-maimed Supremes.

Their auras linked heaven and earth, stirring the deepest fear and wailing of the Xuanhuang Great World.

“This… this is…”

“The aura of a Supreme—there’s more than one! They’re all here! They’ve all awakened!”

“Could this be the Dark Turmoil?

“The true Dark Turmoil has arrived!”

Throughout the Xuanhuang Great World, whether in ancient sacred lands that had withdrawn from the world or in the scattered cultivators’ settlements struggling to survive, the most terrified screams rose from the depths of their souls at this moment.

They were not sensing one or two terrifying auras, but twenty-two of them, unrestrained and piercing the heavens.

It was as if twenty-two black suns of destruction had risen simultaneously in different corners of the world!

The entire Xuanhuang Great World had become a scene of doomsday!

“Run! Run now!”

“Where can we run?! There is no sanctuary left beneath the heavens!”

“The Supremes have all emerged! They intend to destroy the world! Destroy it!”

Amid this utter chaos, some old cultivators with extensive knowledge stared at the pillars of destructive light rising into the sky and let out even more desperate, incredulous roars.

“They’re insane! They’ve all gone insane!”

“The Burial God Abyss, the Fallen God Ruins, the Reincarnation Sea, the Void Cave… Every forbidden zone! Every single forbidden zone has moved!”

“What happened?! According to the ancient records, even during the most devastating Dark Turmoils of the past, only a few Supremes from one or two forbidden zones would emerge to harvest the essence of living beings and prolong their own lives…”

“Why this time? Why have all the ancient Supremes from every forbidden zone emerged?!”

“Twenty-two Supreme auras! Unprecedented throughout the ages! Never before has anything like this been heard of!”

“This is not a harvest. This is a purge! They intend to overturn the Xuanhuang Great World completely and rebuild it from the ground up! Terrifying! This is a catastrophe beyond all imagination!”

These cries of terror were like cold blades, piercing the hearts of everyone who heard them.

They gave the people a clearer—and more despairing—understanding of the disaster before them.

This far surpassed any turmoil recorded in history.

This was the true end of the world.