Within the separate courtyard, light circulated within Gu Changge's palm.
Vast swaths of Immortal Substance and Creation Substance emerged, bursting forth with bewildering and fantastical radiance, as if all the inconceivable and ineffable auras of all worlds were interwoven within.
His gaze was calm, yet deep within his pupils surged a chaotic substance. Then, a fissure like a tear appeared before him, within which currents of spacetime turbulence collided, causing billions of layers of void to rise and fall in tandem.
As he channeled the Immortal Substance and Creation Substance together into that fissure, chaotic particles began to be born and gestated within.
In just a single breath, a miniature world was created within that void fissure, and then that miniature world continuously expanded, devouring Immortal Substance and Creation Substance in the void, transitioning toward a medium-sized world...
And Gu Changge watched this process all along. During this, he raised his head to gaze into the distance, fell back into contemplation, and then with a casual wave of his hand, he completely erased all traces of aura fluctuations before him.
"In the current Vast Expanse, wanting to open up a world that is not governed or shrouded by the Heavenly Dao's Will is basically impossible."
"Unless one tears this original sheet of paper in two, but such a commotion would be far too enormous. What if one were to fold the original blank paper in half and overlap it?"
During this period, Gu Changge had been attempting to leave a backup plan beyond his original plan.
He had a premonition in his heart that unpredictable variables would arise in his future plans, so in the process, he needed to leave behind more means to respond.
In this process, to ensure the plan was foolproof, he also had to deceive himself in advance, making himself unaware of this plan of his own.
Only by severing that corresponding part from all his thoughts and ideas could he ensure that no flaws or oversights remained.
Just like the period when he walked the myriad worlds as the Lord of Heaven's Proxy and the Demon Lord, truly concealing his true ego consciousness in the deepest recesses of his soul.
"However, the time is not yet right."
In the following years, an unimaginably terrifying war erupted between the Dark Clans and the Land of the Nine Heavens.
The surrounding universes and spacetimes were shattered. The Gravekeeper's strength, though having reached the End of the Path level, was ultimately defeated under the combined might of the Dark Clans' four High Priests. His blood spilled across infinite spacetime, piercing through unknown depths of void dimensions, and his true form fell to an unknown place.
With the Gravekeeper who guarded it gone, the gates of the Land of the Nine Heavens were thrown wide open. The native inhabitants, who had never experienced the carnage of war, were encountering such a scene for the first time and instantly fell into chaos.
The ruler of the First Heaven perished at the very first moment. Struck by a black giant hand that reached out from the endless black mist, his body was directly torn apart, and his True Soul within turned to dust in an instant.
The vast First Heaven rapidly collapsed. Although many ancient existences who had revived appeared to resist, they simply could not withstand the overwhelming numbers of the Dark Clans, which were like a tide with no end in sight.
Continents shattered one after another. The surrounding stars, trembling, directly burst apart. Countless billions of living beings, along with the universes they inhabited, disintegrated entirely. Endless blood rain and Dark Matter, like a torn corner of heaven and earth, poured down upon every corner of the First Heaven.
It was a desperate and tragic battle, with ruins and debris everywhere, devastation as far as the eye could see, and heaven and earth seemed to be weeping.
Only the ancient tomb within the First Heaven where "Heaven" was once buried remained eternally unmoved, filled with an aura of cold, lifeless desolation.
Dense mists flowed, turning into ribbon-like substances that draped over the hills, mountains, and ravines. All laws and fluctuations, upon reaching there, were dispersed directly by an invisible aura.
Even a Dao Realms existence standing there would be affected, losing all their formidable Dao arts and cultivation.
The First Heaven was routed. The surviving beings and cultivators tried to flee toward the Second Heaven, but the ancient teleportation arrays had long been destroyed by the Dark Clans. Dao Realms existences called for help, but whether the other Heavens received the message, no one knew.
Amid their screams, the Dark Beings surged forward and engulfed them.
Countless beings despaired. Some even received news that the Land of the Nine Heavens had long prepared to deal with the Dark Clans, and that the lowest few Heavens were mere cannon fodder to stall for time, while the true army to meet the Dark Clans had long gathered above the Seventh Heaven.
Outside the Land of the Nine Heavens, within the oscillating void turbulence, layers upon layers of spacetime overlapped. The ancient warships of the Dark Clans hung suspended there, as if cast from immortal Dark Divine Gold, radiating an inextinguishable light that made hearts quiver with despair.
Within the towering, boundless black mist, one could also see one figure after another, their auras reaching the Ancestral Dao Realm, standing like eternal demonic shadows.
After defeating the Gravekeeper, the four High Priests did not leave but remained stationed within the dark army, intent on pressing the advantage to tear apart the Land of the Nine Heavens.
After the Second Heaven collapsed, the beings and cultivators of the Second Heaven could only join the fray, but it was still of little use.
On the Dark Clans' side, even existences at the Ancestral Dao Realm had yet to act. The upper echelons of the Dark Clans were still observing and had not entered the battle, because they had learned from Grand High Priest Wu Yue that the Land of the Nine Heavens was not limited to the surface strength and could not be underestimated.
Very soon, the Third Heaven and Fourth Heaven were also invaded. Spacetime passages pierced through every part of the Land of the Nine Heavens. The other Heavens began to have supreme existences alarmed, who then appeared to lead the native inhabitants in resistance.
The war shook the world, chaotic and turbulent.
During this period, the Land of the Dark Source finally bordered the lair of the Dark Beings. The Coffin of World Burial opened, and the coffin within was shrouded in boundless hazy blood light. A sound and momentum akin to a heartbeat resounded throughout all the worlds of the Vast Expanse, exploding by the ears of countless cultivators and beings.
A blood-colored sacrificial altar hung high, grand and vast, reflected across all the worlds of the Vast Expanse, upon the celestial vaults of countless True Worlds and civilizations.
During this time, the infinite energy brought by the Grand Sacrificial Ritual of the Dark Clans poured backward like blood-colored rivers of stars spanning across the universe, cascading endlessly into it.
Within, one could faintly see a blurred supreme being sitting cross-legged. The Coffin of World Burial hung high above their head, boundless blood light cascading down, completely shrouding them. None could approach. Even from an infinite distance, one could still feel that vast and majestic might, before which even a Dao Realms existence would be crushed.
One ancient world after another drifted around them, bringing auras of desolation, despair, deathly stillness, and profundity.
This scene, reflected across the Vast Expanse, caused countless beings and cultivators to feel a sincere terror and heart-quaking dread, involuntarily wanting to kowtow in that direction.
Everyone knew that the Dark Clans had successfully summoned back the will of the former Lord of Heaven's Proxy. The existence that once plunged the entire Vast Expanse into despair and darkness would once again descend upon the world.
"We welcome back our master."
Within the Nightmare Demon Domain, fanatical kowtowing voices rose like tidal waves, shaking one layer of spacetime and universe after another.
A multitude of Sacrificial Priests and Dharma Protectors also gathered before the Heaven's Proxy Hall, kneeling there.
Grand High Priest Wu Yue lifted her head, silently gazing up at the blurred figure shrouded in boundless blood light above. Her face beneath the robe was filled with persistence.
"When can I meet you again..."
She knew that was only an illusory image, not the true Lord of Heaven's Proxy, yet it still could not conceal the deep yearning in her eyes.
In a void turbulence, within a bronze palace that existed in no spacetime.
A pair of eyes opened, filled with murderous cruelty and indifference, but quickly returned to a dead stillness like an abyssal sea, as if countless eons could hardly stir a single ripple within.
This was a figure leaning back in the main seat of the palace, clad in a simple, faded grey robe, his hair also grey. Beside him, an aura of killing intent pervaded at every moment.
As his gaze swept past, the void before him fractured inch by inch, as if severed and annihilated by some supreme law.
If an Ancestral Dao Realm existence were here now, they would be shocked to discover that the spacetime and years around this figure were in a state of shattering and chaos, meaning he existed in no specific time or space.
He had killed the time and space around him; any aura that approached his side would be killed.
"What sort of trick are you planning to play?"
"Have you chosen a path different from all of us?"
This grey-robed figure, his gaze still and silent, watched the changes in the lair of the Dark Clans from afar, seemingly sinking into thought.
With a sweep of his robe, a grey baleful aura spread out, and suddenly several figures appeared within the bronze palace. Each was enshrouded in dense slaughter aura, incomparably violent and brutal, having slaughtered who knows how many beings across universes and spacetimes.
Strands of blood light, seemingly materialized, condensed upon them, forming some kind of Dao imprint.
"Number Three, make a trip to the Immortal-Forgetting Mountain," the grey-robed figure said calmly.
Within the Lifeless Hall, besides the Hall Master, everyone else was addressed by serial numbers, each number representing identity and strength.
As the grey-robed figure's words fell, an indistinct figure within the bronze hall silently dissipated.
As the Lifeless Hall Master, the grey-robed figure was one who wielded the Authority of Slaughter. Over countless ages, very few matters could truly rouse him to awaken.
At the same time, in the Ancient Treasure Civilization.
On a desolate, dead star, ripples of spacetime layer after layer stirred, and then boundless divine light radiated outwards, like an ancient bright moon rising, dispelling the shadow and darkness.
As the spacetime ripples calmed, a figure enshrouded in light, wearing a crown and holding a scepter, walked out step by step.
With each step, fine, light-grain-like substances could be seen diffusing and steaming around this figure.
The originally dead star suddenly became vibrant with life, various life auras being nurtured and gestated.
This figure seemed to notice the commotion in the Nightmare Demon Domain as well, but only glanced once before withdrawing their gaze.
Before them lay a deep and majestic expanse of vast stars, obscured by boundless spacetime turbulence. However, with their arrival, a great path extended from beneath their feet, stretching all the way into the depths of those stars.
Progenitor Xu, the Master of Fate, and a figure with an ordinary appearance but completely pale-grey eyes, shrouded in an aura of calamity, had long been waiting there.
At this moment, sensing a certain supreme, ineffable aura, the expressions of the three shifted slightly. That ordinary-looking figure even raised a hand, bringing out a treasure resembling a precious pearl, from which a hazy aura emanated. It was as if a supreme power had instantly stabilized the local spacetime and universe, preventing their imminent collapse.
"This treasure should be the Primordial Chaos Pearl..."
"I never expected it would fall into your hands, fellow Daoist."
The Master of Fate took note of that treasure, recognizing the faint haziness it contained. Although the Innate Era was now distant, many items from that era had been left behind. Every Innate Artifact possessed a pure aura that surpassed the present, closest to that simple and complete Dao.
Because the Vast Expanse was only gestated and born after the Innate Era, many believed that the Dao within the Vast Expanse was incomplete, and only objects formed during the Innate Period could imprint and leave behind the aura of that time.
"Heh, a chance obtainment," this ordinary-looking blurred figure replied with a casual smile.
Existences of their level more or less held a few Innate Artifacts in their possession.
A world that could simultaneously accommodate Progenitor Xu, the Master of Fate, and himself naturally required a vessel. An ordinary universe would have long been crushed by a single wisp of their aura; the simultaneous appearance of the three would instantly collapse it into dust.
"I hope you two are not trying to deceive me..."
At this moment, a vast, ethereal voice suddenly resounded within the local spacetime. The three saw their vision blur, and when they reappeared, they were already before a figure clad in a sacred robe, wearing a crown and holding a staff.
"World Lord..."
Whether it was Progenitor Xu, the Master of Fate, or the Calamity Master, all their expressions turned solemn. The three had long stepped into the End of the Path realm, yet to be silently brought into this spacetime domain—this was the power of Authority.
The so-called End of the Path realm held no power to resist before the True Path Realm.
Within the current Vast Expanse, those who wielded Authority were extremely few, virtually impossible to meet, unfindable even if sought.
And the World Lord before them was precisely one who controlled the Authority of Creation. If this being did not wish to see them, even if they searched the entire Vast Expanse, they would not be able to perceive the slightest aura.
"True or false, the World Lord will know at a glance," Progenitor Xu spoke.
The World Lord had once founded Creation Mountain and created a clan called the World Clan. That race was innately gifted with the talent to gestate worlds, but later, for some unknown reason, they disappeared completely. Yet the World Lord had always persisted in the world.
The Creation Dao he cultivated emphasized the creation of worlds, from Lesser Thousand Worlds, to Medium Thousand Worlds, then to Great Thousand Worlds, Multiverses, Super Multiverses, and True Worlds, each stage corresponding to a respective level.
The World Lord had now reached the stage of creating True Worlds. He always believed that if he could create a world comparable to the Vast Expanse, he could transcend beyond his current realm.
In the World Lord's concept, beyond the Mortal Realm, Immortal Realm, and Dao Realms, there was actually another realm called the Heavenly Realms.
Only, from beginning to end, no one had ever reached it.