Chapter 2348 The Origin of all Heavenly Dao, Aeth Qi Awakening

Silently, shadowy figures emerged from the thick, oppressive mist over the sea.

Shrouded in black qi, clad in tattered armor and wielding rusty weapons, they looked like an army marching out of the netherworld!

Their forms were grotesque and incomplete—some missing limbs, others with gaping holes in their rotting chests, some reduced to skeletons, and even a few were headless!

Despite their varying appearances, they all exuded the same bone-chilling murderous aura.

Their numbers were staggering!

Densely packed, they covered the sky and sea, surging with terrifying killing intent. The waters ahead were entirely blocked off, as if an army of the dead had risen to turn this world into a battlefield.

Lin Xun remained unfazed. This was not his first encounter with the malevolent spirits of the Dao Burial Sea Mound. There were countless similar wraith armies here and he had faced them before long ago when he was still young.

Lin Xun did not make a move, but said with a smile, “Come on, let me see how much progress you all have made on the cultivation path over the years.”

“Haha, I’ll go first!”

Toady shot into the air, his golden robe billowing, his handsome face brimming with confidence.

As he activated his cultivation, cosmic torrents surged around him, swallowing stars and exhaling moons. His eyes burned like twin scorching suns.

He thrust his hand forward.

Boom!

A golden palm spanning a thousand feet crashed down. The sea trembled violently, towering waves surged and a thunderous roar echoed across the waters.

The wraith army charging forward was instantly obliterated, dissolving into waves of dark, fiendish qi.

“Watch me!”

A’lu bellowed like a thunderclap, his towering eight-foot figure soaring into the air. His muscles, which seemed to be built of divine gold, bulged with divine strength, radiating a terrifying and overwhelming brilliance.

He also launched a palm strike. The force of his attack rumbled forward like a sacred mountain in motion. The impact shattered the army of malevolent spirits, tearing a massive rift through their densely packed formation!

A’hu smiled, a radiant glow appearing on her pretty face. With a graceful wave of her slender hand, she summoned her power.

An array of magical weapons and treasures burst forth—azure flying swords, ancient scrolls, flame-wreathed gourds, and daoist bells crackling with thunder... Over a dozen artifacts swept across the battlefield.

As they streaked through the air, they erupted with boundless destructive force, exploding and disintegrating the wraiths everywhere.

Within a few breaths, the wraith army that had just emerged was completely wiped out!

Little Silver and Little Sky, who were about to take action, could only purse their lips helplessly.

Meanwhile, the big black bird rolled his eyes and sneered, “This is no different from playing with monkeys. I wouldn’t lower myself to such trivial matters.”

At that moment, a shadowy figure emerged over the distant sea, standing between heaven and earth. Though shrouded in mist, its presence was undeniably terrifying.

Faintly visible beneath the haze, the figure wore a robe that seemed woven from celestial gold, radiating brilliance, but too blurred to discern clearly.

In its grip was a broken purple halberd, exuding a mysterious aura of death, like a sovereign from the underworld descending upon the mortal realm.

As they conversed, everyone’s pupils suddenly constricted.

The aura of the Emperor Stage!

Even Lin Xun was taken aback. Since when had an Emperor-level wraith appeared in the Dao Burial Sea Mound?

Unbelievable!

“Could some sort of changes have happened here in the past few decades?” Lin Xun frowned.

𝒇𝒓𝙚𝒆𝔀𝓮𝓫𝒏𝓸𝙫𝓮𝓵.𝓬𝙤𝙢

He recalled the Emperor figures he had encountered in Return Dominion. In the past, such beings could never have appeared in the lower domain world.

A sharp realization struck Lin Xun. During the years he had been away, some unknown and earth-shaking changes must have occurred in the lower domain.

“How dare you slaughter my soldiers? You must be executed!”

From the distance, the Emperor wraith’s voice echoed coldly, hoarse and filled with malice. The words sent waves rolling and the void wailing.

Boom!

As soon as he finished speaking, he raised his hand and the purple halberd shot forward like a swift and ferocious thunderbolt, tearing through the sky with terrifying force.

The oppressive aura of the Emperor Stage bore down on A’hu and the others, making it difficult to breathe. Their faces turned pale.

“Wretched thing, how dare you clamor before me?!” Lin Xun snorted coldly and casually reached out.

With a simple grasp in midair, he caught the mighty purple halberd with ease. As his fingers clenched, the already damaged Emperor treasure shattered into fragments in an instant.

“Huh?”

In the distance, the Emperor wraith was visibly startled, but instead of panicking, it sneered, “No matter how powerful you are, those who enter the Dao Burial Sea Mound are doomed to die. I advise you to leave now, otherwise...”

Its voice dripped with contempt, the threat blatant and undisguised.

However, before it could finish speaking, Lin Xun suddenly stretched out his hand.

Boom!

A massive palm that was vast enough to shroud the heavens, descended with blinding radiance, aiming to envelop everything.

Just as the wraith tried to struggle, the power around it was forcibly crushed and its figure was imprisoned like a powerless ant.

“You...” he roared in fury.

With a loud bang, it was instantly dragged onto the Grand Universe Ark, crashing to the ground before Lin Xun.

This entire sequence of events unfolded in the blink of an eye, so fast that it was almost beyond belief. A’hu, Toady, and the others barely had time to react, and when they did, their expressions dramatically changed as they turned to look at Lin Xun.

Back in the Return Dominion, they had already known that Lin Xun had defeated his Fourth Senior Brother Ling Xuanzi and ascended to the fourth realm Emperor Stage. However, at that time, they had been trapped in the canyon and had never witnessed his power firsthand.

Now, watching Lin Xun capture an Emperor-level wraith as effortlessly as crushing an ant, the sheer visual impact was indescribable.

Lin Xun’s expression remained indifferent as he studied the captured wraith. A flicker of realization crossed his eyes. This Emperor wraith was once a member of the Giant Spirit Blood Clan.

The Giant Spirit Blood Clan was a powerful imperial lineage from the Blood Demon Ancient Domain!

Back when Lin Xun participated in the Nine Domains Battlefield, he had learned about the other eight domains: Blood Demon Ancient Domain, Great Luo Ancient Domain, Absolute Yin Ancient Domain, East Mulberry Ancient Domain, North Sea Ancient Domain, Nine Dark Ancient Domain, Star Fiend Ancient Domain and Heavenly Flame Ancient Domain. These eight domains stood alongside the Ancient Wasteland Domain. Together, they were collectively known as the Nine Domains.

Having personally met cultivators from these domains and witnessed their foundations, strength, and capabilities, how could he not recognize the origins of the Emperor wraith before him?

Clearly, as Toady had mentioned before, the Dao Burial Sea Mound was once the battlefield of the Dao War of Ten Directions, where Ancient Wasteland Domain experts fought fiercely against the invasion of the other eight domains!

The Emperor wraith of the Giant Spirit Blood Clan was likely one of the fallen Emperors who had perished here.

“Tell me, what has happened here over these years?” Lin Xun asked.

The others also turned their attention to the wraith.

“You...don’t know?”

The Emperor wraith was taken aback for a moment before its expression turned icy. “Many years ago, this place became a restricted zone, and all outsiders were forbidden to enter. You all...have broken the rules!”

Bang!

With a slap, the Emperor wraith shattered into a brilliant rain of light, the fragments cascading down into Lin Xun’s palm.

These were remnants of an Emperor’s will, fragments that had withstood countless years of erosion, refusing to dissipate. Instead, they had transformed into an intelligent Emperor-level wraith. This was very unusual.

Lin Xun instilled his spirit sense into the glowing fragments.

Boom!

Instantly, a flood of chaotic and vivid memories surged into his mind like an unstoppable tide.

Moments passed.

When Lin Xun finally withdrew his consciousness, his eyes gleamed with understanding. He had found the answers he was looking for.

Many years ago, the world underwent a huge transformation.

After countless years of changes, the dormant origin power in the lower realm suddenly awakened, triggering an upheaval of unprecedented scale.

It was as if a barren wasteland had suddenly erupted with boundless vitality.

Surging aeth qi, vast and turbulent like a tidal wave, swept across every territory and corner of the lower domain world, bringing forth an earthshaking transformation unseen in the world’s history.

No one felt the change more distinctly than the cultivators.

In just a few decades since then, the concentration of aeth qi in the world had increased more than a hundredfold!

Especially in certain special lands, where countless new blessed mountains and spirit grounds had emerged!

It was as if a decayed, withering world had suddenly witnessed the dawn of a radiant new age, igniting the lower domain in a blaze of excitement and anticipation.

Within the memories of the Emperor wraith, Lin Xun discovered that, following the revival of aeth qi concentrations, the Dao Burial Spirit Mound had also undergone a shocking transformation.

The will fragments of many Emperors who had fallen in the past had begun to evolve and transform as they greedily absorbed the surging aeth qi.

As they devoured this power, they began to awaken consciousness. They set out to hunt and devour their own kind to rapidly elevate their own strength.

At this point, at least a hundred Emperor wraiths had already awakened within the Dao Burial Sea Mound.

This was undoubtedly an astonishing number.

It was also undeniable proof that countless Emperors had perished here during the Dao War of Ten Directions.

After learning this, Lin Xun couldn’t help but feel a wave of shock wash over him.

Decades ago, aeth qi concentrations began to revitalize.

Emperor wraiths were born.

The ancient battlefield of the Dao Burial Sea Mound was no longer the same!

Unfortunately, what disturbed Lin Xun most was that almost ninety percent of the awakened Emperor wraiths belonged to the other eight domains.

Furthermore, during their transformation, they had gathered in hordes, relentlessly hunting and devouring the remnants of will left behind by cultivators from the Ancient Wasteland Domain.

As a result, the Dao Burial Sea Mound had now become the territory of the eight domains!

Lin Xun couldn’t help but recall his time in the Nine Domains Battlefield. Back then, the forces of the eight domains had been arrogant and tyrannical, treating cultivators from the Ancient Wasteland Domain as nothing more than two-legged sheep, ridiculing and slaughtering them without hesitation.

Now, if these Emperor wraiths of the eight domains were to break free, the consequences would be catastrophic to the countless beings in the lower realm!

At the same time, Lin Xun also noticed something crucial. According to the Emperor wraith’s memories, deep within the Dao Burial Sea Mound, a mysterious ancient altar stood like a powerful seal. As long as the altar’s binding force remained unbroken, no wraith could escape.

In other words, the Dao Burial Sea Mound was like a natural prison keeping the Emperor wraiths caged for decades.

However, if the prison-like altar was breached...

It would be no different from opening the gate to hell!