Chapter 497 – Creator of History; The Immortals Dare Not Cross West – Part 1

With Mister Mountain dead, Li Yuan withdrew his golden Immortal Form.

The terrifying, withered flame giant collapsed in an instant, disappearing behind him.

Like a fierce eagle in a dive, he swooped down and scooped up the yellow-scaled legacy armor of the Mountain Hall, along with three fluttering yellow banners.

But the banners were in tatters, no sooner did they touch his palm than they disintegrated into dust. The armor, too, had lost its luster, its brilliance faded to a dull shadow of what it once was.

Li Yuan's pupils contracted slightly. Still, he didn't hesitate. He dropped to the ground, one pale ghostly hand pressing against the earth, the other reaching into thin air.

Beneath the bed in the Clear Mind Hall, a ghostly hand silently emerged from the darkness. It tucked both the inner armor and the Red Sleeve Blade into a hidden compartment below.

Only then did Li Yuan pause. He didn’t leave. Instead, he cast an illusion and melted into the shadows, concealing himself nearby.

He waited. Quietly. Patiently. But no disciples from the Eastern Sea’s Immortal Domain came to investigate.

Perhaps that wasn’t surprising; those capable of reaching this level of cultivation weren’t likely to be rash or reckless. They thought before they acted.

That was fine. Li Yuan had all the time in the world.

An ordinary man might wait half an hour and grow restless.

Li Yuan remained still. Seated cross-legged behind a gnarled old tree, his hands twisted into a fearsome ghost-claw stance, one palm pressed to the ground, eyes calm but alert, watching every possible

door

in the area.

In the meantime, waves of officials from the Jade Capital arrived at the perimeter to try and reestablish order.

Dressed in their black uniforms, the bailiffs were little more than cannon fodder. They stepped into the ruins with grim expressions, only to flee in terror moments later.

This wasn’t the aftermath of a battle between men.

It was as if a natural disaster had swept through, indifferent, unstoppable, and absolute.

The soil had turned into black sand, trees into brittle charcoal. The once lively summer forest was now dead silent. Not even the faintest chirp of an insect remained.

In the distance, a few bailiffs gathered around their captain, whispering urgently.

“Boss...we’ve got to report this. Whatever happened here is way beyond us.”

“No one can handle this,” another added. “I asked around, people saw a giant wreathed in flames. A golden giant.”

“And this isn’t the first time. Remember the incident at Fishermans Bay? Hundreds died there.”

“Boss, I...I poked around a bit. From what I hear, even the higher-ups have no clue what’s going on...”

The captain grimaced. He too came from a minor noble clan. After the Demon Empress seized power, his family thought a new power structure might be forming and used their connections to get him this captaincy, figuring starting from the bottom was smart.

But this, this was suicide. If the low-level bailiffs could see the danger, how could he not? This kind of power...even the strongest cultivator in his clan would be wiped out without a chance to fight back.

No. Not wiped out, obliterated by sheer proximity.

It was like a traveler, hurrying along their journey, unknowingly stepping on an anthill.

Since the investigation was complete, the captain barked out his orders.

“File the report and lock down the area. No one gets in or out!” He hurried off. He was just the scout, after all. The higher-ups wouldn’t set foot here until his report gave them the all-clear.

Li Yuan continued to wait. It wasn’t until the break of dawn the next day that a flicker appeared in his eyes. A figure had finally arrived, shrouded in a faint ripple of Yin and Yang energy.

The figure moved with such eerie silence, it was as if they weren’t even real. If not for Li Yuan’s sharp sensitivity to the flow of Yin and Yang, he wouldn’t have noticed the intruder at all.

That alone said a lot.

Whoever this was, their skill in concealment surpassed even his own.

And Li Yuan’s Phantom Body was already at full mastery.

This could only mean one thing. The other side’s skills were superior, stronger, deeper, and more refined.

He sighed quietly to himself. But he had no intention of exposing himself or trying to capture the man. Whatever scraps of intel he might get weren’t worth the risk. His identity had to remain hidden. That was the priority.

From the scattered traces left in the battle, Li Yuan had already guessed that the Eastern Sea’s Immortal Domain possessed some method of observing him. But it had to be a method that relied on their disciples as conduits. If he, a supposed god of the Western Extremes, started openly asking subordinates for rudimentary skills and techniques, wouldn't that immediately give the game away?

So, he simply stayed hidden. He transformed into a tiny insect and nestled himself into a charred branch beside the scorched earth.

From his hiding place, he watched as the figure drifted over to the site of the previous battle and began searching the area, clearly looking for something.

But after several moments, they found nothing.

Without hesitation, the figure turned and bolted.

It was too late. The dark night sky burst into golden light once again. The blaze lit up the predawn darkness like midday sun, and a massive, burning golden hand came crashing down from above.

The intruder twisted away with practiced ease. But the next moment, a compressed firebomb rained down from above, faster than thought.

The withered battlefield flared to life. The figure summoned a yellow shield of energy, struggling to hold back the blaze. But the defensive spell slowed their movement considerably.

Li Yuan didn’t let up. While one golden hand clawed through the flames, he opened his mouth and breathed fire, saturating the area in scorched death.

In the disciple’s eyes, wide with panic, the golden hand finally seized his glowing shield.

Finger by finger, the giant hand clenched tighter.

The outline of its palm, engraved with divine sigils, pressed into the barrier with irresistible force.

BOOM!

The energy shield shattered.

The golden hand gripped the figure’s body and crushed it like paper.

A moment later, the flames devoured the corpse, leaving behind nothing but ashes.

Li Yuan never once drew the Red Sleeve Blade.

He had his reasons. That weapon, mysterious and powerful, had to remain an enigma. If the Eastern Sea’s Immortal Domain

were

watching him through some divine means, then the more he used the blade, the easier it would be for them to uncover its secrets.

And Li Yuan wasn’t about to let that happen.

Once the disciple was dead, the golden giant vanished instantly.

Li Yuan scanned what was left. Just some melted weaponry, completely worthless to him. Materials that couldn’t even survive the withered flame were useless in his hands, and passing them on to others might only invite disaster.

He left them behind without a second glance, because he wasn’t finished, at least not yet. If he started something, he made sure to see it through.

At this moment, Li Yuan sat motionless in the shadows, his expression unreadable. A strange, oppressive aura radiated from his body, dangerous and unfathomable like a storm held barely in check.

˙·٠✧🐗➶➴🏹✧٠·˙

Far off, on a white sandbank in the middle of a river, a man cloaked in black stood frozen, staring in the direction of the sudden explosion of golden light. His throat bobbed as he swallowed hard.

Nearby, the docks were busy, ships loading and unloading cargo.

Elder Liu of the Mountain Hall was in charge of river transport in this region. Earlier that day, he had received word of the incident. Around the same time, he’d also lost contact with Shi Shanbai. A bad sign. Deep down, he already had a feeling, his hall master had been caught up in it.

Something was very wrong.

Feeling increasingly uneasy, Elder Liu had walked to the sandbank to meet with the envoy’s subordinate stationed there.

He approached cautiously and spoke in a low voice, “Envoy...”

But the man cut him off sharply.

“Elder Liu, don’t call me

Envoy

.’”

Elder Liu paused, momentarily taken aback, then nodded in quiet understanding.

The envoy’s subordinate stared into the churning river and said, “Get me a boat. I’m leaving the Jade Capital. Now.”

Elder Liu didn’t respond right away.

But before he could say anything, a scream pierced the air behind them.

Elder Liu spun around just in time to see a disciple posted at the gate vanish in an instant—his final act, a bloodcurdling scream that echoed into silence.

Then came more screams. One after another. A chorus of terror.

The envoy’s subordinate began gasping for breath, eyes darting in all directions, then suddenly turned and hurled himself into the raging waters of the Heavenly Dragon River. The muddy current swallowed him whole.

He didn’t dare fly. He didn’t dare run on foot. He dove into the river, hoping to escape by swimming downstream, anything to get out of Jade Capital.

Because he already knew what had happened. His senior brother, the one sent to investigate the envoy’s death, was dead.

And now...that monster had arrived. It was the god of the Western Extremes, an ancient terror.

All sorts of thoughts crashed around in his mind, a chaotic storm of dread. Cultivation was hard enough. He wasn’t about to die here.

Elder Liu, for all his years and experience, was shaken to the core. The screams behind him, the sight of the disciple throwing himself into the river...it all felt like something out of a nightmare.

Like a monster creeping closer through the dark.

Then, just ahead, he saw it.

A pale ghostly hand reached from the shadows and yanked another disciple, one who’d stood too close to a window, into the darkness. In an instant, the man was gone.

Elder Liu nearly lost his soul from fright.

Without a second thought, he followed the lead of the envoy’s subordinate and jumped into the river. He didn’t know why. He didn’t care. All he knew was that following this person might be his only chance to survive.

The two of them drifted with the current, finally making it out of the Jade Capital. But they hadn't gotten far when they saw it.

Downriver, near the edge of a forest, a faint golden light shimmered on the surface of the water.

Cargo ships passed through the light, dull and subdued, like insects flying past a fire they dared not touch.

The two fugitives froze.

Terrified, they halted their escape and cautiously doubled back, paddling upstream in silence.

This envoy’s subordinate wasn’t just some ordinary flunky. The moment they returned to the Jade Capital, he got to work. He ripped off his yellow-scaled armor, stored away various items in a hidden stash, cut his hair, and altered his appearance, even compressing his bones to alter his frame.

Anything that could hint at his identity as the envoy’s subordinate, he got rid of it all.

As usual, he kept a low profile, quietly slipping aboard a grain transport ship headed downriver. His plan was simple, and that was to drift out of the Jade Capital and disappear.

But the moment he stepped through the cabin door, the world shifted. He found himself standing alone in a desolate wilderness. He looked up and gave a bitter smile tinged with fear. There was no mistaking it. What greeted him...was the blinding flame of annihilation, the withered flame.

Terror gripped his heart, tangled with a burning question. How?

He had done

everything

. Changed his face, his frame, even his presence, so thoroughly that even he barely recognized himself.

So how. How did it still end like this?

Li Yuan dispatched him with a flick of the hand, finally exhaling a quiet breath.

Appearances could change, but stats stayed the same. No matter how the envoy’s subordinate disguised himself, the combat power reading beside him, the invisible flow of energy, the essence signature...would remain unchanging.

With the subordinate’s death, the last foothold of the Eastern Sea’s Immortal Domain in the Jade Capital was wiped out completely.