Master, Who on Earth Are You

Here, one could often see enormous fragments of worlds drifting through the void. Their laws were incomplete, and an aura of desolation and primordial chaos permeated the air.

No one knew how long they had traveled before a heart-pounding energy fluctuation suddenly surged from ahead.

Gu Changge took a single step forward, and the scene before him abruptly transformed.

It was a chaotic battlefield beyond the power of words to describe.

There was no longer any complete concept of space. It was as though heaven and earth had been beaten back into their original state of primordial chaos.

The laws were not merely broken—they had been thrown into complete disorder, entangled with one another and forming destructive storms.

The terrifying aftershocks of energy became waves that towered into the heavens, endlessly battering everything around them. Even time itself seemed distorted and unstable here.

This place was like a permanent scar left behind after unimaginable existences had clashed with all their might.

Merely standing at the edge of the battlefield, one was exposed to destructive storms powerful enough to tear ordinary immortals and gods apart.

Had Gu Changge not been surrounded by an invisible domain of the Dao, Little White would likely have long since been shredded by the destructive force that filled every inch of this place.

Gu Changge’s brows drew together slightly.

He tried sending a wisp of divine sense into the battlefield’s core.

Buzz—!

A terrifying will, filled with brutality, deathly silence, and ominousness, reacted like a venomous snake that had been disturbed. It suddenly followed his divine sense back and launched a vicious counterattack!

The will was so powerful that even Gu Changge, who had already reached the Immortal Emperor Realm, sensed a hint of danger from it.

Something even more perilous seemed to be lurking deeper within.

Gu Changge decisively severed that wisp of divine sense. His expression remained calm, but his gaze grew more solemn.

This place was extremely dangerous. It would be unwise to venture deeper recklessly.

His master’s aura had once lingered here. Had he encountered the terrifying existence deep within this battlefield?

The thought flashed through Gu Changge’s mind, bringing with it a faint yet impossible-to-ignore unease.

From what he had seen, the destructive aura lingering across this battlefield was of an extremely high level. It was absolutely not something that could have been left behind by an ordinary clash between immortals.

If his master had been caught up in a battle of this level…

He suppressed his thoughts. The most pressing matter was to determine his master’s whereabouts and intentions.

Time Reversal!

He formed hand seals with both hands. Fragments of time flowed through his eyes as he unleashed an ultimate divine ability, attempting to trace the past of this place.

The images were blurred and indistinct. The energy was too violent, and the interference too severe. He could only see a few fragmented scenes.

A figure whose aura shared the same origin as his master’s had once remained here for a long time.

Afterward, that figure transformed into a streak of light and departed. Its aura was quickly dispersed and concealed by the battlefield’s remaining torrents of violent energy.

His master had left. Gu Changge understood this clearly.

He stood silently at the edge of that chaotic battlefield, gazing at the place where the remnants of his master’s aura had already faded away.

Yet at that moment, a fog deeper than the chaotic battlefield itself surged within his heart.

“Master, who are you, exactly?”

For the first time, this question appeared so clearly in Gu Changge’s mind.

His thoughts returned to a distant past—to Daoist Zizhu, the guide he had spent only a little over ten days with at the Azure Profound Sect in the Eastern Region.

According to what he had learned later, his master had indeed been a prodigy in the Central Region back then, but at the height of his strength, he had been no more than a Saint.

It was only with a treasure such as the Primal Chaos World Crystal that he had managed to break through the barriers of the Profound Yellow World and travel to other worlds.

How could a Saint from a lower realm have appeared in the ancient battlefield at the heart of the Immortal World?

This contradiction forced Gu Changge to reevaluate everything.

Could these entirely different images truly belong to the same person?

Had he sensed it incorrectly?

Was this aura merely similar to his master’s, rather than truly belonging to him?

His mind settled into stillness as he used his Immortal Emperor Dao Heart to examine it carefully.

Though the aura was faint and damaged, its most fundamental Dao resonance could not be faked. It originated from the same source as the feeling he remembered from Purple Bamboo Peak. It was absolutely not an imitation or illusion.

Gu Changge suddenly realized that he might never have truly known his master.

If Daoist Zizhu had really been nothing more than an ordinary Saint from a lower realm, how could he have any connection to an ancient battlefield so terrifying that even an Immortal Emperor had to approach it with caution?

But if his master had actually been a great expert of the Immortal World, why would he have disguised himself as a Saint from a lower realm and hidden away on Purple Bamboo Peak in such a remote place of the Eastern Region?

His master was likely far more mysterious than he had imagined.

This seemingly simple journey to find his master appeared to be leading him toward an even more magnificent and turbulent game of chess.

Gu Changge took one last deep look at that chaotic battlefield, which seemed capable of devouring all things.

His gaze had already returned to calm, but deep within his eyes, there was now an additional hint of curiosity and anticipation.

He turned and took a single step. His figure quietly merged into the void, as though he had never stopped there at all.

On the way back, however, what he saw was even more shocking.

Countless fragments of the Immortal World drifted through the chaos. Some were large, others small, but all of them were desolate, their immortal aura slowly dissipating.

Beneath countless immortal domains, the great worlds had seen their spiritual veins wither into ash. The earth was cracked, and all life had perished.

Traces of Dao principles remained in the air, bearing evidence that the worlds’ origins had been forcibly extracted. It had all been done by the forces of the Immortal World.

Only then did he truly realize how rampant the Immortal World’s plundering had become.

The revival of the Profound Yellow World’s origin was like a beacon in the darkness. Sooner or later, it would attract even more powerful covetous eyes.

The crisis had never truly been resolved.

Gu Changge withdrew his wandering thoughts. The aura surrounding him remained solemn as his gaze slowly swept over everyone.

Only after the commotion had gradually subsided did he finally speak. His voice was low and clear, and every word struck the hearts of those present like a heavy hammer.

“The Immortal World has shattered.”

The moment his voice fell, the entire scene fell deathly silent. The uproar and shock from moments earlier seemed to have been frozen in place by an invisible force.

Xuanyangzi’s body, which had just settled into his seat, suddenly stiffened. His lips moved slightly, and only after a long while did he manage to squeeze out a sentence.

“What did you say? The Immortal World has shattered?”

Mo Yu’s crimson-gold eyes suddenly contracted, and the ancient immortal aura around him fell into disorder once more.

The destruction of the Myriad Spirits Heavenly Palace and the shattering of the Immortal World overlapped in his mind, sending a tremendous shock through him. His fists clenched subconsciously as countless questions surged into his heart.

Xiao Ruobai and the others stirred faintly. Though they were all steady of mind, they could not conceal the impact this news had brought them.

Gu Changge nodded slightly and continued.

“That is precisely the case. The Immortal World had already fallen apart long ago, transforming into countless fragments scattered throughout the chaos.

“This is also the fundamental reason why so many cultivators throughout the ages, despite cultivating all the way to the pinnacle, were still unable to ascend. The path of ascension was severed long ago when the Immortal World shattered.”

At these words, everyone’s minds were thrown into even greater turmoil.

Xuanyangzi let out a long sigh, his face filled with sorrow and bewilderment. He had devoted his entire life to cultivation. Though he had never expected to ascend immediately, he had always regarded the immortal domains as his ultimate destination.

Now that he knew the Immortal World had shattered, he could not help feeling disappointed and lost.

Gu Changge continued, “The unexplained depletion of the Profound Yellow World’s origin was not caused by some change in the laws of heaven and earth. It was caused by the scattered fragments of the Immortal World.

“Those forces that depend on the immortal fragments, such as the Chengyun Immortal Hall, have long treated the lower realms around them as source farms.

“They crazily siphon away the origins of these worlds to nourish their own forces and stabilize the foundations of their immortal fragments.”

As soon as these words were spoken, anger and solemnity flashed through everyone’s eyes.

Only now did they realize that the decline of spiritual energy in the Profound Yellow World and the severing of the Imperial Path had actually been caused by immortals.