Chapter 217: The Second Heaven and Earth Phenomenon that Signals the Golden Age

The flying sword darted relentlessly through the pit, seeking the buried giant corpse and simultaneously carving an exceptionally smooth path.

The tunnels twisted and turned like a labyrinth beneath the earth. High above, Blindman Lu activated his Divine Eye to observe them. To him, the tunnels being carved looked like the intricate network of a cultivator's meridians or blood vessels, and the black mist following the flying sword resembled the circulating spirit qi and the blood circulating through them.

The sword surged forward, striking a stone with a thunderous crash. In response, the stone started to pulsate rapidly.

Blindman Lu's fingers twitched slightly. The sword withdrew, leaving a narrow, two-finger-wide hole. The black mist poured in, streaming into the rupture as if drawn to its source.

Once the mist and the cultivator's core blood essence entered, the stone started to pulsate even more violently. Cracks spiderwebbed across the walls, spreading rapidly as the stone continued to quake, fissures racing to cover its entire surface.

Blindman Lu focused his Divine Eye on the stone and said softly, "Do not awaken your power now. If you do, how could we possibly contain you?"

He roared, "Seal!"

In an instant, the flying sword beside the stone multiplied into thirty-six, forming a flawless ring. Spiraling waves of sealing energy radiated outward, binding the stone firmly in place.

The giant had only just awakened and could not resist Blindman Lu's suppression. With the black mist pouring in and the sword's overwhelming force, a low, rumbling roar slowly rose from the depths, vibrating through the entire Heavenly Mandate Hall.

The cultivators performing the ritual froze, staring at the cliff in stunned silence. That roar pierced their minds, leaving them acutely aware of their insignificance before a being of such immense scale.

The high-ranking forces from the Three Peaks and Six Academies, save for the Serene Void Academy and Heaven Ocean Peak, silently prepared. They entered their teleportation chambers and descended into the underground world beneath the Heavenly Mandate Hall.

Hearing the roar, Ancestor Suitian laughed through the eyes of his lightning giant. "

Hahaha...

it has fully awakened at last."

Gripping the Suitian Spear, he twirled it in a complex pattern before thrusting it into the pit with full force. This time, the barrier yielded easily, cracks spreading outward until the entire shield shimmered with fractures.

Just as Ancestor Suitian, satisfied, prepared to return to the cliff, a surge of violent, corrupt corpse qi erupted from the pit. He quickly dispersed the Suitian Spear and the lightning giant, tearing through space to temporarily escape into the void.

From the spot he had occupied, a ferocious energy shot upward, expanding and thickening with the raw power of violence, corruption, and death, streaking straight into the heavens.

Ancestor Suitian struggled through layers of void barriers before returning to Lu Chen's side. He quickly unleashed lightning to erect multiple protective shields along the cliff's edge.

The venerables stared grimly at the rising corpse qi, layering barrier upon barrier behind the ancestor's shield. The combined defenses approached the maximum strength the continent itself could withstand. It was thousands of times stronger than anything previously used to block the black mist.

As the shields solidified, a vile, pitch-black corpse qi erupted. It did not spread across the cliff or grow in size. It pierced through the layered barriers above the Heavenly Mandate Hall, surging toward the sky as though its sole purpose was to reach the clouds.

𝒻𝘳𝘦𝘦𝘸ℯ𝒷𝘯𝘰𝑣ℯ𝑙.𝘤𝑜𝘮

Once it vanished into the heavens, the deep, resounding roar from below subsided. The black mist merged entirely into the pit, revealing a pristine secret realm beneath the cliff. Yet all cultivators, regardless of rank, kept their gaze fixed upward. High-level cultivators looked grim, while the lower-ranked shivered. None dared to glance into the secret realm below.

Hua Xin stared at the corpse qi ascending to the sky, shocked. "What... what is that? The Heavenly Mandate Hall is only a sect in the Jianghai Region... how could such abundant corpse qi exist here?"

"High Sage Suitian, that corpse qi must be the condensed form of the giant's original body."

Even Daoist Du felt a twinge of fear as the black mist coalesced into a suffocating mass. "This... must have been nurtured over centuries, or even across multiple great eras... Otherwise, it could never have grown so powerful—"

Before he could finish, the black mist transformed into a cloud-like mass, spreading slowly while emitting mournful wails that echoed across the distance. With every inch it expanded, its power grew, devouring everything in the sky.

Witnessing its might, the cultivators within the Heavenly Mandate Hall no longer dared to linger in the sky. They descended en masse, grounding themselves.

For a time, the Scripture Hall was engulfed in silence, so still that even a pin drop could be heard.

But the black cloud did not stop. It engulfed the entire Heavenly Mandate Hall, then stretched outward, consuming more and more regions. Once it claimed the southeastern lands—home to the Heavenly Mandate Hall, the Violet Flame Fortress, and the Herb King Manor—it turned westward toward the Nantian Region, east toward the Infinite Sea Region, and, finally, south into the Infinite Demonic Beast Forest.

Strangely, the black clouds never expanded downward, nor did they harm any creatures on the ground. Yet, once they reached a certain height, the very essence of any living being in the sky would instantly vanish, their bodies reduced to ashes in an instant.

Ten minutes later, the clouds had spread across the east and south. But upon reaching a certain boundary, they halted. People could still perceive the space beyond with their eyes, yet the black mass seemed to have struck an invisible, curved barrier. Its edges formed a distinct arc, preventing the clouds from advancing even an inch further.

Meanwhile, in the west and north, the black clouds continued their relentless spread. By now, the fog had already covered nearly two-thirds of the Jianghai Region and was rapidly approaching the skies above the Nantian Region.

The dark, soaring clouds of deathly energy resembled the crimson light that had once erupted over the Nantian Region, now casting its shadow across every inch of the continent.

"What is this... that it is powerful enough to shroud the entire Jianghai Region?" Hua Xin stared at the black clouds overhead, feeling the negative emotions within him gradually swell. "Half a month ago, the Nantian Region was bathed in that red light. And now Jianghai is engulfed in this black one. The golden era must be near..."

Heaven Venerable Hua Sheng released a strand of spirit qi, pressing gently on Hua Xin's brow. "Little Xin, you've just entered the Human Core Realm. Your grasp of the laws isn't stable yet. It's natural for this black energy to disturb your mind. Keep your composure."

Nantian Yijian stood within the protective barrier Wind Dragon had set, eyes alight with excitement. "Boss, I know what's causing this."

The words drew the attention of the venerables and Men of Heaven. For something that had even troubled them, Nantian Yijian claimed he already knew the cause.

"Kid... explain why this happened," Heaven Venerable Ban Yao said with a sneer. "If even we venerables and Men of Heaven don't know, how could you, a mere newbie to the cultivation world, claim to understand it?"

"I do," Nantian Yijian said, turning his gaze back to the black clouds before looking at Lu Chen. "Boss, do you remember that novel we read together in the Demonic Beast Forest?"

Lu Chen watched the disciples beneath the Scripture Hall, each with blood-red eyes radiating murderous intent. He sighed heavily. "Yes. It depicted a world at the end of its cultivation era. The only way to restore spirit qi there was to awaken the secret realms at the four extreme points."

Nantian Yijian pressed on. "Do you also remember what Uncle Jun said? That a prosperous era would arise, and the spirit qi consumed by demonic spirits from the Outside tens of thousands of years ago would be fully restored?"

Jun Laoye looked at Nantian Yijian softly. "You mean this phenomenon is the key to unlocking the golden age?"

"It was the Nantian Region before, and now it's Jianghai's turn. Both are extreme points." Nantian Yijian explained.

Hua Xin listened, stunned. "Could it really be as they say? That to awaken the golden age, all the major regions must experience such anomalies? But that was just a story... can it really happen?"

"Cultivation itself defies heaven and earth. Abnormalities are everywhere. If beings from the Outside can return, what's wrong with several Heaven and Earth Phenomena marking the way for a prosperous era?" Venerable Yong Nian gazed at the ever-expanding black clouds. "Perhaps our world really is like that story. Full restoration of spirit qi may only occur once Heaven and Earth Phenomena appear in all five great regions."

"Maybe... it really is possible..." Daoist Tian Ji clutched the Heavenly Spirit-Gathering Disk tightly, deliberately concealing the images within it. "After all, in past eras, spirit qi was abundant only because these secret realms were constantly generating it. The secret realms buried deep underground are being opened one by one. The spirit qi accumulated over hundreds of thousands of years is being released. Perhaps it will reach, or even surpass, the richness of the Primordial Era."

Just as he finished, the black clouds finally ceased their advance.

The black mist covering the entire Jianghai Region exuded a suffocating aura of death, stirring the negative emotions of the lower-level disciples. They turned on one another, and chaos erupted across the region.

"Regardless of the effects these Heaven and Earth Phenomena might bring, we must deal with these black clouds immediately." Ancestor Suitian, silent until now, finally rose. "Fellow Daoists, it is up to us to regain control. We were responsible for this disaster. It falls to us to resolve it."