Above the Rules

Immortal Emperor Cangwu's legs lost their strength. His entire body floated in the void, slowly falling backward.

His hands hung by his sides, blood still dripping from his fingertips. His disheveled long hair slipped past his pale cheeks, revealing those azure eyes that had finally lost all their luster.

Immortal Emperor Cangwu's body was no longer burning. His life essence had burned out completely, and the last trace of power remaining in his body was only enough to keep his heart beating for a few more breaths.

The void after the great battle was terrifyingly quiet. Broken weapons floated, corpses and bones floated, and shattered banners floated.

Various crests still remained on the shattered banners; some were intact, some were incomplete, and some were completely illegible.

Those crests had once represented glory, pride, and legacy, but at this moment, they were nothing more than a few scraps of cloth drifting in the void.

His gaze swept aimlessly across the void, catching sight of a human cultivator's corpse drifting over from afar and passing by him.

The cultivator's chest had been pierced by some kind of sharp claw, leaving a fist-sized hole with charred edges.

His face still bore the expression he had in battle—not fear, not pain, but sheer focus.

He was focused on the enemy before him, focused on the sword in his hand, focused on that split-second life-and-death decision. Then, death descended in an instant, leaving him no time to even change his expression.

Immortal Emperor Cangwu's eyes followed the corpse, watching it slowly drift further away, gradually shrinking until it finally disappeared into the profound darkness.

He had lost.

He had originally thought that he understood the Alien Beast King perfectly. Relying on the precognitive abilities brought by the Great Dao of Time, he believed he could seek the method of victory from the future, obtain battle strategies from times to come, and securely defend the Wanluo Immortal Realm.

Yet, he never expected that the enemy was not simply devouring spiritual energy, but was capable of devouring time, space, karma, and reincarnation.

The enemy had long since completely devoured the ending of defeat that they had foreseen, allowing them to only see the dawn of success, unaware that darkness had already quietly descended behind them.

However, Immortal Emperor Cangwu had also left a backup plan. Through countless secret arts, he had kept this Cangwu's Final Dao: Dirge of All Things hidden for thousands of years.

It was the culmination of half a lifetime of painstaking research, something he had never used before, all for the sake of countering a desperate situation like today's.

Although he could not kill the enemy, banishing them to another void could be considered leaving behind a final glimmer of hope for the Wanluo Immortal Realm.

Immortal Emperor Cangwu slowly closed his eyes.

Those azure eyes finally lost their last trace of light.

Sigh...

It was unknown whether he was sighing over his own defeat, sighing for the hundreds of thousands of cultivators who had marched to their deaths alongside him, or sighing that this void, ravaged by the flames of war, had finally quieted down.

Immortal Emperor Cangwu thought of something at the very end.

His lips moved slightly, seemingly murmuring a name, or perhaps saying something else.

But the voice was too soft, too faint, so much so that even the darkness of the void could not swallow it.

Then, he opened his already dimmed eyes, and a resolute light suddenly flashed within those azure pupils.

Using all his remaining strength, he raised his right hand. A jade token appeared before his eyes. A trace of nostalgia surfaced in his gaze, and then he forcefully crushed it.

Immortal Emperor Cangwu's entire body began to radiate a dazzling azure light. His form gradually turned transparent, ultimately transforming into a cluster of pure spiritual energy of the Cangwu Great Dao.

It drifted across the void, drifted past rifts, drifted over the Northern Wasteland, drifted above the mountains and rivers of the Wanluo Immortal Realm, passed through the boundary wall between immortals and mortals, pierced through layers upon layers of spatial barriers, and flew toward the Jiuxiao Realm.

A sphere of light fell from the sky, plunging into the depths of a vast ocean.

A massive whirlpool was smashed into the surface of the sea, with waters churning and waves surging to the heavens.

But the whirlpool soon subsided, and the waves quickly calmed down.

The cultivators practicing near the sea region did not even notice any anomalies; they only felt that the winds over the sea that day were slightly stronger than usual.

Little did they know that thousands of years later, this place would become an Immortal Emperor's secret realm that would shock the entire Jiuxiao Realm, drawing cultivators from countless factions to scramble toward it.

...

Gu Changyuan watched as Immortal Emperor Cangwu's body transformed into spiritual energy and departed in a predetermined direction, after which the surrounding void plunged into boundless darkness once again.

When the darkness faded, Gu Changyuan had already returned to the side of the great Cangwu tree where he had first stepped into the inheritance space.

But the moment he appeared, he sensed that this space was not the same as the inheritance space he had been in previously.

On the other side of the parasol tree, where the roots coiled together, a person was sitting.

It was a man in azure robes, but not the Immortal Emperor Cangwu who had just burned his life essence to fight one against three on the battlefield.

Rather, it was a younger, more vibrant Immortal Emperor Cangwu, one whose edges had not yet been worn away by time and battle.

He sat cross-legged under the parasol tree, leaning against the trunk in a casual posture. Before him was a small wooden table, and there was nothing on it.

On the other side of the wooden table, there was an empty seat.

That seat was clearly waiting for someone.

Gu Changyuan gave him a glance, walked over to the wooden table, and sat down in the empty seat.

Do you know me?

Immortal Emperor Cangwu slowly shook his head.

I do not.

Then why did you bring me here? Whether it was drawing me in through my disciple or letting me watch from the sidelines during the final battle, there must be a reason.

Gu Changyuan's gaze fell upon those azure eyes.

You expended so much effort; it couldn't possibly be just to let a stranger watch a playback.

Immortal Emperor Cangwu did not deny it.

He pondered for a moment, seemingly organizing his words, or perhaps recalling something from a very, very long time ago.

I truly do not know you. His voice was very soft, as if he were muttering to himself, yet also as if he were confiding in Gu Changyuan.

It is just that a senior once mentioned you.

A senior?

My benefactor.

Immortal Emperor Cangwu shifted his gaze away from Gu Changyuan and rested it on the parasol tree.

Without him, I could not have reached where I am today.

That senior once mentioned a person to me.

Immortal Emperor Cangwu continued speaking.

He said that person could change the landscape of this world, could achieve what he could not, and could end this invasion that has lasted for an unknown number of tens of thousands of years.

Gu Changyuan's brow twitched slightly:

How are you so certain that person is me?

Immortal Emperor Cangwu looked at him, the corners of his lips curling up slightly into a noncommittal smile.

I am not certain.

I do not even know his name or his face. I only heard the senior say that he is very strong, so strong that even the senior is no match for him.

He said that person is setting up a layout, playing a very, very grand game of chess.

Until your appearance. The moment you entered, this remnant soul of mine sensed an anomaly. Even though your cultivation is extremely high, you were able to bypass the dual rule restrictions of the secret realm and the Heavenly Dao to enter, this is not simple.

It is not something that can be achieved by relying on some magical treasure or secret art. Rather, your very existence stands above certain rules.