Shen Xi stood amidst the vibrant greenery, her slender fingers moving gently through the soft, golden fur of Nibi, who rested comfortably in her arms. She looked around at the shimmering boundaries of the valley, her mysterious eyes reflecting the complex runes that seemed to hold this pocket of reality together.
"Is this the separate dimension where the other Heavenly Seal is hidden?" she asked, her voice melodic and filled with a quiet curiosity.
Mu Chen, standing nearby with his usual air of bored detachment, gave a slight nod.
"Yes," he replied simply. "And this cave was where the Dreamwake Fruit grew."
Shen Xi looked around the garden and saw an ancient tree nearby. She gave a small, understanding nod. However, as a mid-stage Nascent Soul expert, the legendary Dreamwake Fruit didn't hold much allure for her.
While a Golden Core cultivator would see it as a life-changing miracle to bridge the gap toward the Nascent Soul realm, to someone already standing at her level, it was merely a high-grade spiritual ingredient.
Xiao Diao, perched on Mu Chen's shoulder, twitched his whiskers and looked toward the exit of the garden. "Mu Chen, we've gotten what we came for. We should probably get moving from here now," the mink suggested, his golden eyes sharp with anticipation for whatever lay ahead.
Before Mu Chen could respond, the sound of hurried, heavy footsteps echoed from the corridor leading into the garden. Within moments, a man draped in resplendent golden robes burst into the clearing, followed closely by a retinue of eight to ten guards. His breathing was ragged, and his face was flushed with exertion.
Mu Chen recognized him immediately. It was Prince Lu Ming.
The prince's eyes widened as they landed on Mu Chen. He didn't hesitate; he quickly clasped his hands and bowed low, his voice filled with a mixture of relief and frantic urgency. "Brother Mu! I am glad I found you. I was worried you had already moved on."
Mu Chen offered a small, lazy nod in return, acknowledging the prince's presence without much energy.
Xiao Diao, however, didn't bother with such politeness. He looked at the panting prince and let out a dry chuckle. "What happened, kid? Why are you so short of breath? You look like you've been running from a disaster."
Lu Ming took a moment to steady his breathing before looking up at them. "I have received critical news regarding the final heavenly treasure of this realm. I realized that Brother Mu might not be aware of the current situation, so I rushed here as fast as I could."
He had been waiting outside the fiery cave for days, hoping to catch sight of Mu Chen. When the youth hadn't emerged, Lu Ming had grown anxious. It wasn't until he overheard some rogue cultivators whispering in a nearby corridor about a 'Devil' who was casually brewing wine using a Dreamwake Fruit that he realized Mu Chen had found a different path. He had practically sprinted through the labyrinth of corridors to reach this garden.
Mu Chen tilted his head slightly, his expression unchanging. "Oh? Say it then."
Lu Ming's expression grew grave. "In the last half-month, a brutal conflict has erupted across the entire dimension. It is no longer just a competition; it is a total war. The various sects, the imperial families, and the four major clans have all converged on a single objective. They are fighting for a 'Key.' Rumours say a bloodbath is occurring as we speak. Dead bodies are piled high in the streets of the destination city, all for that one key, which is said to be the only way to unlock the final treasure."
Mu Chen and Xiao Diao exchanged a quick, knowing glance. Mu Chen's eyes narrowed slightly as he processed the information. "Half a month?" he mused.
A realization struck both of them. It had only been two days since the opening of the realm from their perspective. It seemed that time flowed at a significantly different rate within this deep dimension compared to the outer world. When they had ventured into the Moon Continent for a single day, fifteen days had already passed here.
"And who do you think is currently in the lead to take the key?" Xiao Diao asked, his tail lashing behind him.
Lu Ming replied without a shadow of a doubt, "No doubt, it is going to be Sun Liang. He has been unstoppable."
Shen Xi, listening from the side, asked curiously, "So the others will just let him take it? Even if he is strong, he cannot possibly face all the other factions combined, can he?"
Lu Ming hadn't recognized the stunning woman standing with Mu Chen, but seeing her intimate proximity to him, he made sure to answer with absolute respect.
"Sister, though Sun Liang might appear to be acting alone, the Sun Clan is the strongest of the four major clans. More importantly, Sun Liang is widely recognized as the strongest cultivator of the younger generation. He has amassed a massive number of allies through both fear and bribery. He has promised them that if he secures the final treasure, he will provide them with a staggering amount of resources and pills to ensure their own breakthroughs."
Sun Liang was a man driven by a singular, ruthless ambition. He wanted the heavenly treasure at any cost, believing it would be the ultimate foundation to improve his cultivation and secure a coveted spot when the major super-sects arrived for their decennial recruitment.
Shen Xi nodded slowly.
"Kid, tell us the location," Xiao Diao commanded, his fur bristling with a sudden surge of excitement.
"Azure City," Lu Ming replied. "It is roughly three hundred miles to the north from this location."
Mu Chen nodded, his gaze falling on the massive pile of spiritual pills and the ancient bronze cauldron sitting in the center of the garden. He waved his hand toward the treasure.
"These pills and the cauldron are your reward for bringing me this information."
Lu Ming froze, his eyes bulging as he looked at the pills. They had been gathered into a literal mountain, glowing with a medicinal luster that made his head spin. Just from the sheer number and quality of the spiritual energy radiating from them, his breathing turned rapid.
He felt a surge of excitement so intense he could barely control his voice. With these pills, he could easily break through an entire major realm of cultivation. And the cauldron itself... even a fool could see it was a Heaven-grade treasure. How can anything be ordinary in this realm?
"Thank you! Thank you, Brother Mu!" the prince stammered, bowing repeatedly as his guards scrambled to secure the bounty.
Mu Chen didn't wait for further gratitude. "Let us go," he said.
With a simple thought, a vast, swirling cloud manifested at his feet. Seeing the cloud, Nibi let out a playful meow and hopped from Shen Xi's arms, landing on the soft, misty surface and starting to bat at the edges as if it were a new toy.
Mu Chen, Shen Xi, and Xiao Diao stepped onto the cloud, and within a heartbeat, the ride shot into the sky, flying directly toward the north where Azure City lay.
...
Azure City rose from the plains like a massive, jagged gravestone. Its once-white walls were now stained a dark, rust-red with layers of dried blood. As the cloud approached, the scent of iron and decay hung heavy in the stagnant air.
The central square of the city had been transformed into a literal abattoir. Rivers of thick, crimson blood flowed between the cracked cobblestones, pooling around mounds of mangled corpses that were still steaming in the cold morning air.
The remnants of the four major clans—Sun, Mu, Qin, and Meng—stood upon the few intact rooftops overlooking the square. Their banners were tattered and soaked in gore, and their remaining young elites were nursing horrific wounds.
Imperial princesclutched broken sacred treasures, their faces pale with despair. Sect disciples sat in the dirt, weeping openly for fallen brothers whose bodies were scattered across the square.
Only the Sun clan appeared untouched. They stood with a chilling discipline, their weapons clean and their auras steady.
At the very heart of the city, Sun Liang stood atop a raised jade platform that had been erected in the center of the slaughter. His golden robes were unblemished, not a single drop of blood marking his attire.
He stood with his hands clasped behind his back, surveying the carnage below with the cold, detached patience of a farmer watching his crops ripen under the sun.
His allies formed a living wall around the jade platform—forty powerful cultivators standing shoulder to shoulder, their blades drawn and their eyes daring anyone to make a move.
Before Sun Liang's feet sat a heavy stone pedestal carved with intricate, interlocking rings. At its center gaped a keyhole shaped like a teardrop, its edges glowing with a faint, pulsing light. It was waiting for the key to be inserted, the final act required to achieve the ultimate treasure of the realm.
"Now, NOTHING CAN STOP MY RISE!" Sun Liang's voice boomed across the silent, bloody square. He let out a laugh filled with a terrifying, absolute arrogance. "I, SUN LIANG, SHALL STAND INVINCIBLE BENEATH THE HEAVENS!"
His eyes burned with a mad light as he gripped hard shimmering key. He moved his hand toward the pedestal, intending to insert it and claim his destiny.
But at that precise moment, a sound erupted from the heavens and the earth, shattering the mourning silence like a thunderclap.
"Hahaha! It looks like we arrived at exactly the right time!"
Sun Liang, who was mere inches from the pedestal, suddenly felt a primal chill race down his spine. His instincts, honed by years of combat, screamed at him to move. He threw himself backward with a desperate surge of energy.
Just as he cleared the space, a brilliant streak of purple light struck the platform.
BOOM!
A devastating explosion tore through the center of the square. The jade platform didn't shatter—it collapsed into fine dust in an instant. The ground caved inward as everything nearby was erased without resistance. What little had survived the earlier slaughter vanished completely.
The force didn't stop there.
It surged outward in a violent wave, flinging cultivators through the air like broken leaves. Bodies slammed into the ruined city, choking on dust as the world spun out of control.
A thick, suffocating cloud of debris hung over the square for several long moments. Finally, the dust began to settle. Cultivators throughout the city coughed and struggled to their feet, their eyes wide with terror.
Sun Liang who was closest to the blast scrambled out from under the piles of rubble.
Sun Liang was a pathetic sight. His once-perfect golden robes were charred black and hung in tattered shreds. His hair was dishevelled, and his face was smeared with soot. Though he was not injured as he had luckily activated a top-tier defensive treasure at the very last microsecond.
But his thoughts had collapsed into chaos, a sharp, incessant buzzing that made it impossible to think.
He looked around, his heart sinking. More than half of his allies were gone—nothing more than unrecognizable corpses whose bodies hadn't even remained intact. The survivors were little better than broken porcelain dolls, some missing limbs, others coughing up mouthfuls of black blood as their bodies twitched in the dirt.
Every survivor looked up toward the sky. Floating there on a white cloud was a small, purplish creature looking down at the wreckage with a look of mild contemplation.
Xiao Diao rested his chin on his paw, his golden eyes scanning the devastation. "Oh," the mink said, his voice reaching everyone's ears like the whisper of a cruel predator. "Don't tell me you all are dead?"
A faint pause.
"That would be disappointing."