Departure into Chaos

At these words, Little White’s dragon eyes immediately lit up, flashing with delight and pride. He quickly bowed and replied, “Little White obeys!”

As he accepted the order, he instinctively lifted his head slightly and shot a quick glance from the corner of his eye at Little Black.

There was an unmistakable hint of smugness in that look, as though he were saying, “See? When it really matters, Honored Master still takes me along! I get to go out and witness the grand occasion again. Sure enough, I’m the one Honored Master relies on most!”

Gu Changge took in Little White’s subtle display of smugness but did not call him out on it. Only the faintest trace of amusement flickered through his eyes.

An invisible, intangible force imbued with the profound mysteries of supreme law instantly entered Little Black’s brow.

Little Black felt the pressure of the third heaven of the Immortal Lord Realm abruptly compressed and refined. The aura he revealed externally settled firmly at the level of the peak Heavenly Immortal Realm.

“The laws of this world can currently bear only the power of the Heavenly Immortal Realm,” Gu Changge explained. “Although your cultivation is higher, you must restrain your strength to this level under normal circumstances.”

Little Black’s heart trembled at these words, and he immediately understood the deeper meaning behind Gu Changge’s warning.

Gu Changge gave a slight nod, then casually swept his sleeve.

In the next moment, light and shadows shifted, and space itself was rearranged.

When Little White and the others came to their senses, they found themselves back atop the familiar Purple Bamboo Peak.

The following morning, atop Purple Bamboo Peak.

Gu Changge stood at the edge of the cliff in a plain white Daoist robe, his hands behind his back. Daoist resonance flowed around him, blending him seamlessly with heaven and earth.

Behind him, Xiao Ruobai, Fang Hanyu, Ling Xi, Fatty Wang, and Mo Yu had all arrived.

Every one of them looked spirited, their eyes filled with barely suppressed anticipation and a trace of nervousness at venturing into the unknown.

“Since everyone is here, let us depart.”

Gu Changge’s voice was calm. Without making the slightest movement, an invisible force already enveloped them all.

In the next instant, they felt the scene before their eyes rapidly rise and transform, while the sharp sound of space being torn apart rang in their ears.

In only a few breaths, they had pierced through the thick yet warm world barrier of the Xuanhuang Grand World and entered a completely different domain.

Chaos!

The familiar blue sky and white clouds, mountains and rivers, were nowhere to be seen. In their place was an endless, desolate void that defied description.

It was not absolute darkness. Rather, it resembled a hazy gray backdrop in which every color had been mixed together and diluted to the extreme.

“Is this the Chaos beyond the worlds?” Fatty Wang clung to the invisible barrier Gu Changge had raised, his eyes wide as he muttered to himself.

The magnificent sea of stars he had imagined was nowhere to be found. The primal barrenness of Chaos far exceeded their expectations.

A thought stirred in Gu Changge’s mind.

“Roar—!”

A deep and solemn dragon’s roar rang out. Little White’s enormous dragon body unfolded through the Chaos.

His dragon scales were dark and seemed capable of absorbing all light. Only his dragon eyes shone like two golden lanterns, illuminating the murky Chaos ahead.

His thousand-zhang-long body wound through the void. On every scale flowed the patterns of Heavenly Immortal laws, slightly smoothing the chaotic currents of primal energy around him.

“Climb aboard.”

Gu Changge was the first to step onto the dragon’s head.

The others followed closely behind, landing atop his broad back, which was as spacious as a plaza.

A layer of sturdy immortal light formed around Little White of its own accord, protecting everyone securely.

Gu Changge turned and looked at Ling Xi. “Do you have any special mark, aura, or recollection of the external characteristics of the Canglan Grand World?”

Ling Xi tried hard to recall. After a moment, spiritual light flowed from her fingertips as she sketched the outline of a glowing sphere in the air.

Its edges pulsed faintly with a unique rhythm, like breathing. The entire form radiated a warm, heavy, yet vibrant golden-yellow halo.

The light was not dazzling. Instead, it gave off a steady, embracing sensation, as though the afterglow of the setting sun had soaked into an ancient land, or as though the most abundant wheat fields of late autumn were rippling gently without wind.

“This was how the Canglan Grand World appeared when I looked back after breaking through the world barrier all those years ago,” Ling Xi said. “But it is difficult to determine direction in the Chaos, and I do not know where it is now.”

Gu Changge nodded slightly. His eyes narrowed, and his divine sense, possessing the might of an Immortal Emperor, spread vast and silently into the depths of Chaos like an unseen tide.

Yet the chaotic energy was like the thickest of swamps. Even an Immortal Emperor’s divine sense was greatly weakened and disrupted within it, and the range and clarity of his perception were far inferior to what they would have been inside an orderly world.

As far as his divine sense reached, there was nothing but more chaotic currents, shattered streams of turbulent laws, and scattered, lifeless debris drifting through the void. That unique aura was nowhere to be found.

A moment later, Gu Changge opened his eyes.

He pointed in a direction—a region where life was relatively more active amid the Chaos.

“We will search as we travel in this direction. Little White, keep us steady.”

“Yes, Master.”

Little White, the black dragon, let out a deep and steady roar. Adjusting his course, he rode the immortal light and began advancing into the depths of Chaos.

During the first few days, the disciples were still filled with curiosity.

They saw enormous fragments of immortal realms wrapped in chaotic currents and drifting slowly through the void. Ruined palaces stood upon them, their immortal radiance dim.

From a distance, they also sensed several world bubbles that emitted faint light and rotated slowly. Some were newly born worlds, while others were in decline.

However, the deeper they ventured, the more oppressive the sights became.

They saw a world whose barrier was riddled with holes. Its inner origin was being forcibly extracted by some formation, transformed into a streak of spiritual light that flowed into a sinister immortal vessel suspended beyond the world.

Several cold-faced immortals stood aboard the vessel, manipulating the formation.

“Are those people from an Immortal Domain plundering the origin of a lower world?”

Xiao Ruobai’s expression darkened. As natives of the Xuanhuang Grand World, they instinctively loathed such acts.

“The strong prey upon the weak. That is the norm in Chaos.”

Gu Changge’s tone was calm, yet it carried a hint of chill.

He did not approach. He merely flicked a finger from afar.

A wisp of imperceptible sword qi crossed tens of thousands of miles of Chaos and struck the core of the immortal vessel with pinpoint precision.

The immortal vessel, along with the several True Immortals and Heavenly Immortals aboard it, vanished soundlessly from the Chaos as though erased by an invisible hand. Not even a speck of dust remained.

The plundering formation collapsed along with them.

The world below seemed to tremble slightly, as if sensing the sudden disappearance of the fatal threat. Faintly, it transmitted a trace of grateful intent.

Having done all this, Gu Changge looked as though he had merely brushed away a speck of dust.

But to the disciples behind him, the sight delivered an immense shock.

For the first time, they had witnessed so directly the bloody and ruthless side of Chaos. For the first time, they clearly understood what their master’s power meant within this boundless void.

It was not the gentle guidance and protection he offered within the Xuanhuang World. It was the true supreme authority to decide life and death, one that stood above all rules.

The group continued onward.

They passed one world after another. Some had intact world barriers and radiated powerful light, brimming with life.

Others were utterly silent, leaving behind nothing but empty shells that spun helplessly through the Chaos…

The excitement and curiosity had long since faded from the disciples’ faces. In their place was a heavy solemnity.

Chaos was no paradise.

It was a dark forest, a hunting ground of naked plunder.

If not for their master defying heaven and changing fate, the Xuanhuang World of the past might well have met the same fate.

Ling Xi gazed out at the boundless chaos, thinking of her distant homeland. Her face grew even paler as her slender fingers clenched tightly around the front of her robe.