The Imperial Weapon Returns

On Purple Bamboo Peak, clouds gathered and drifted apart, painting a scene of tranquil harmony.

Gu Changge sat quietly beside a stone table. His divine sense spread out like invisible ripples, silently sweeping across the entire Xuanhuang Great World.

At the foot of Dao Origin Mountain in the Central Region, voices rang out everywhere as heaven’s chosen battled for supremacy. Their destinies converged like dragons and tigers, stirring the winds and clouds.

Ancient freaks and outstanding heroes of the current age were competing for the opportunities within Dao Repository Academy. It was a scene of uproar and splendor befitting a golden age.

Yet Gu Changge’s gaze merely swept over that hubbub before moving on.

His divine sense descended into the depths of the Azure Profound Sect, into the Cangyun Secret Realm shrouded by layers of formations and the power of the secret realm.

Within the secret realm, spiritual energy had grown so dense that it had condensed into an ocean of liquid essence. The laws of the Dao hung in the air like chains, clear and visible.

Led by Xuanyangzi, all the peak masters and elders of the Azure Profound Sect, along with even its core disciples, were cultivating in seclusion there.

Their minds were free of distractions, their auras deep and steady, and their cultivation was rising at an astonishing pace.

Senior Brother Xuan Yangzi had become increasingly composed, leading the sect in its quiet development. Very good.

His gaze inadvertently swept across the Burning Heaven Palace as well.

Everything Lie Tianxiong had done was laid bare before him.

Gu Changge shook his head slightly and let out a chuckle.

Such petty squabbling was of no benefit to the larger picture, but it did add a little vitality to this world. For now, he would let Lie Tianxiong do as he pleased.

Now that the origin of the Xuanhuang Great World had been replenished, spiritual energy had revived, and the myriad Dao had revealed themselves, cultivation had become easier for all living beings. The world truly presented a thriving and prosperous sight.

This was precisely what Gu Changge had hoped to see when he reversed the world’s decline back then.

With a thought, an object appeared in his hand.

It was the ultimate imperial weapon that Emperor Qingcang had once carried into countless battles, stained with the blood of innumerable alien powerhouses!

The battle halberd made no sound, yet it naturally radiated a desolate and tragic battle intent—a fierce will that would rather break than bend.

It lay quietly in Gu Changge’s palm, the halberd’s body cold to the touch. The dark-red marks upon it seemed like dried imperial blood.

Gu Changge gently brushed his fingertips across the halberd, sensing that wisp of will which, despite having endured the passage of countless ages, had yet to fade.

His gaze seemed to pierce through the endless river of time, allowing him to see the proud and solitary figure who had fought to the very last moment for humanity.

He spoke to the battle halberd as though talking to himself, or perhaps communicating with it. His voice was calm, yet carried an indescribable meaning.

“After lying dormant for countless ages, you must have felt lonely.”

“Now, the world has changed. Though the descendants of humanity still squabble among themselves, outstanding heroes continue to emerge, and the world is filled with boundless vitality—far surpassing the desolation of the era in which you fought those bloody battles.”

“Come,” Gu Changge said as he slowly rose to his feet. “I’ll take you to see what this world you once gave your lives to protect has become.”

As his voice fell, Gu Changge took one step forward, and his figure vanished from the summit of Purple Bamboo Peak.

The next moment, he appeared within the vast expanse of the Xuanhuang age.

The battle halberd saw the current state of the Xuanhuang Great World, where spiritual energy soared and life flourished.

It saw countless cultivators who had been trapped at bottlenecks for years break through one after another. It saw newly established sects and clans dotting the mountains and rivers like sparks.

It also saw the forbidden regions of life that had once brought humanity endless blood and tears disappear.

Compared with the despair of the past—when the heavens and earth had been collapsing and there had been no successors to carry on the struggle as the Great Emperor fought to protect the world—this sight was worlds apart.

The imperial weapon conveyed a vague thought:

The duty of guarding this land has been fulfilled. The old enemies have vanished with the drifting dust and smoke. The descendants are doing well.

Perhaps the mission could finally be passed on.

Gu Changge sensed this thought and nodded slightly.

A point of light, resembling the dawn of primordial chaos, condensed at his fingertip. He gently touched it to the battle halberd.

The light merged into the weapon. The countless cracks and lingering Dao injuries that had marred its body for ages began to heal and vanish at a speed visible to the naked eye.

The dim halberd once more radiated a restrained yet profound luster. Its battle intent—the will to bend neither before anything nor anyone, to cleave through the heavens—became purer and more complete.

The imperial weapon had been completely restored by him, returning to its full might as an ultimate imperial weapon.

Once this was done, Gu Changge’s figure blurred, and he returned to the outside of Emperor Qingcang’s ancient tomb.

He did not enter the tomb. Instead, he stood atop the desolate mountain range before its entrance.

His gaze swept over the ancient mausoleum below, where the Great Emperor’s remains lay buried, then turned toward the distant Xuanhuang Great World, faintly visible in all its flourishing vitality.

He then turned his hand and gently drove the newly restored Sky-Piercing Battle Halberd into the highest peak beneath his feet.

Clang—!

The clear ring of metal resounded like a dragon’s cry, scattering the silence that had lingered here for countless ages.

The Sky-Piercing Battle Halberd pierced directly into the hardest rock at the summit. Three inches of its blade sank into the stone, while its shaft stood straight toward the heavens. Under the dim sky, the halberd’s edge gleamed with a dark, shadowy light.

An imperial might and awe-inspiring battle intent, unassuming yet as weighty as a mountain, slowly spread outward like ripples on water. An invisible barrier gently enveloped the entire region surrounding the imperial tomb.

This barrier was not an absolute seal. It was more akin to a form of selection and protection.

Those who approached with malicious intent and heavy killing aura would feel their souls pierced with pain and find themselves unable to advance even a single step.

Those with pure hearts and reverence, however, would feel as though they were bathing in a spring breeze. They might even sense a trace of that unyielding battle intent washing over them.

“You no longer need to remain dormant in darkness, nor do you need to fight any longer,” Gu Changge said calmly to the battle halberd, his voice echoing through the empty land.

“Stay here, bathed in the light of the sun, moon, and stars, and attuned to the rhythms of heaven and earth. Guard the final resting place of your master, and witness with your own eyes how prosperous the mountains and rivers he once protected will become.”

“If fate brings those in later generations here—if they possess the heart to do so—they may come and sense the spirit your master embodied in those years.

“Your mission has changed from protecting this land through bloodshed to silently bearing witness. Perhaps this, too, is a form of fulfillment.”

The Sky-Piercing Battle Halberd stood erect atop the mountain. It trembled faintly and gave off a deep, prolonged hum, as if responding—or bidding its final farewell.

Then all its radiance withdrew completely. Apart from the invisible barrier of imperial might, it looked no different from an ancient stone halberd planted atop the mountain and weathered by wind and rain. It had become one with the mountain, the tomb, and the world around it.

It was no longer an imperial weapon of slaughter to be fought over and worshiped.

Instead, it had become a symbol, a monument—a silent and eternal sentinel.

It watched over the tomb, and it watched over the distant mountains and rivers that its master had once fought and bled for, now bursting with renewed life.

Gu Changge cast one final look at the halberd and the tomb. His figure slowly faded, as though merging into the void, and disappeared.

Outside the imperial tomb, the mountain wind continued to blow. Only the battle halberd pointing silently toward the heavens remained, telling of the brutality of the past and the hope of the future.

On Purple Bamboo Peak, Gu Changge’s figure quietly emerged, as though he had never left.

The tea on the stone table was still warm, and the clouds continued to gather and drift apart.

The farewell and arrangements he had made before the imperial tomb were, to him, merely an ordinary matter in the course of his endless years.

Once his thoughts were settled, he no longer dwelled on them.

From that day onward, the years flowed on in silence, while the clouds changed and the world passed through the seasons.

Following his own established method, Gu Changge gradually integrated the ten portions of World Origin into the veins of the Xuanhuang Great World.

Each infusion of origin was like a silent spring rain, nourishing all things.

A year passed in the blink of an eye.