Chapter 1648: The Era of the Three Pure Ones Has Passed

The Daoist Son of the Immortal Artifact is dead.

Before these three imposing, shadowy humanoid statues that exude deep pressure, surrounded by solemnity and incense smoke, he died just like that, without a shred of resistance.

He had already burned through everything in the preceding battle, and now he faced his final fate.

As a peak Void Refining cultivator, the Daoist Son of the Immortal Artifact possessed no ability to avoid death against a peer.

Three objects fell to the spot.

One was a fist-sized, broken furnace, riddled with holes, some of which were large pits melted by intense heat.

This must be the Daoist Son of the Immortal Artifact's Ben Ming Fa, a treasure embryo forged from the highest-grade Ninth-Rank Divine Metal of the Upper Realm, the foundation upon which the Daoist Son would likely achieve Supreme status in the future.

Even though the Daoist Son of the Immortal Artifact burned everything, there were many things that could not be burned.

One was a cube-shaped object, dim and lifeless; it might be a storage treasure, though that was uncertain.

Finally, there was a chain of rune locks, hovering between the virtual and the real, shimmering with spiritual light; that light contained the mysteries of fate and the puppet computer, a beauty that made one gasp in awe.

This somewhat resembles the hardest part left behind after a demonic beast dies.

Jiang Ding thought silently, absorbed his spoils, and flew outward without looking back.

That pitch-black hole was shrinking rapidly, but it was no problem; the Materialist Sun Sword Soul could soar across the vast universe and starry sky in an instant, so a mere few steps would naturally not be obstructed.

The sword soul was about to fly out of the pitch-black hole.

At that moment, the pitch-black hole instantly closed.

Jiang Ding stopped silently, turned around, slowly looked back, gazed upward at the three towering shadowy statues, and bowed slightly in salute.

"Junior, Jiang Ding Zi."

"Pay respects to the Three Ancestors of the Lingbao Realm!"

Jiang Ding spoke in an extremely humble posture: "The Three Ancestors of the Lingbao Realm have protected our human race for tens of millions of years in the past, ensuring our glory never fell, and even pioneered and developed numerous Immortal Dao scientific technologies; in the history of the Immortal Dao of the Upper Realm, they are a monument that cannot be bypassed."

"It is precisely because of the existence of countless great figures like the Three Ancestors of the Lingbao Realm that our human race can stand tall amidst the endless starry sky."

He wore an expression of extreme admiration and worship.

"..."

Beneath the three towering shadowy statues, a hunched Daoist paused slightly in surprise.

Huh?

You are not like this, are you?

Fierce and mad, facing death without fear, cursing the Daoist Son of the Taiyi Qingmu Xianzong as trash with every word, wishing to dig out their ancestor immediately and beat him to death on the spot, that arrogant and domineering demeanor.

That is who you are, young friend.

"Senior,"

"If there is nothing else, I shall take my leave."

Jiang Ding said politely.

His divine sense

frantically scanned everything around, searching for a way to break through.

— Outside, there are still two Daoist Sons who have not been killed.

These two are superior to the trash known as the Daoist Son of the Immortal Artifact; if both could be killed simultaneously, it would surely shake the limits, or perhaps he himself would die, but that does not matter.

"Why does the young friend rush so?"

"Come and listen to the history of our Sect."

The hunched old man spoke slowly: "Forty-two million nine hundred and seventy thousand years ago, our Sect's First Ancestor, Dao Sheng Master Dinghai Zhenjun, founded the Lingbao Sect, a mere Nascent Soul Sect."

"The First Ancestor passed away three hundred years after founding the Sect, and the newborn Sect barely survived in a Minor Thousand Worlds within the Tiangong Star Chain World Cluster."

"That Minor Thousand Worlds was formerly named the Colorful Cloud Realm."

The old man pointed in a direction.

There lies the rising world cluster of the Lingbao Realm, the place where a magnificent Immortal Sect first began.

"The Sect experienced much afterward, nearly perishing many times yet surviving; it possessed fortune."

"Just like that, over ten million years passed, until our Sect's Revival Ancestor, Dao Cheng Supreme, finally appeared; he transformed the Sect into the Lingbao Realm, took residence in the Great Thousand World, and the Sect became an Immortal Sect."

The hunched old man pointed at the second shadowy statue, reminiscing.

"The Third Ancestor..."

"This Ancestor was active over ten million years ago and was unwilling to leave his name behind."

The hunched old man spoke with slight sorrow: "This Ancestor advanced the Lingbao Realm further; he pointed out the direction to become an Immortal, namely that the Lingbao Realm could forge Immortal Artifacts, thereby using Immortal Artifacts to lift the entire Sect and give birth to a True Immortal of the Sect!"

"When this Ancestor was alive, he said this had a very high probability of bringing a clan-destroying calamity to the Sect."

"He felt ashamed before the Ancestors and had no face to face them."

"Who would have thought that today, over ten million years later, this Ancestor's words would come true as a prophecy."

The hunched old man let out a long sigh, remaining silent for a long time.

That little brat nearby seemed to be listening intently.

In reality, the sword soul was spinning so fast it was nearly smoking; a complex Secret Realm model had already been constructed in his sea of consciousness, constantly being completed and constantly being cracked.

"These are our Sect's three Ancestors."

"One brought life, one brought prosperity, and one brought destruction."

The hunched old man sighed softly: "However, our Sect will not be completely destroyed; this is not the end. Young friend, do you know one thing? Do you know the source of our Sect's inheritance?"

"From a legal standpoint, the highest position in our Sect should not be enshrined with these three Ancestors."

"These three Ancestors are indeed great, yet they should occupy a lower position; even if the three Ancestors were resurrected, they would praise this."

The hunched old man muttered to himself, not caring whether others listened or

did not listen.

"Billions of years ago, in an age beyond counting,"

"For a lineage like our Sect, the ones we revere should be the Three Pure Ones of the Dao: Yuqing the Primordial Beginning, Shangqing the Numinous Treasure, and Taiqing the Moral Virtue. Have you heard these names?"

"This is the source of the Dao."

The hunched old man shifted much of his attention onto the youth in green robes, no longer ignoring him completely.

"I do not know."

Jiang Ding shook his head slightly.

In his lineage, in the history of the Immortal Gates, the names of the Three Pure Ones had never appeared.

"Not knowing is normal."

"Because the era of the Three Pure Ones has been destroyed. Heaven and Earth were remade. An existence that transcended time annihilated the Daoist traditions of the Three Pure Ones and thoroughly erased their names from the endless starry sky."

The hunched old man sighed, "Only remnants of the Three Pure Ones like us can occasionally recall our Ancestral Masters, yet we too will forget them soon, and no one else will ever know."

"That existence which destroyed the Three Pure Ones was merciful and did not specifically hunt us down."

"It is merely that the Dao of our Ancestral Masters, and their names, are no longer permitted to exist in the endless starry sky."

"Even after countless billions of years, it remains so."

"Therefore, our Sect will not be utterly extinguished."

The hunched old man said indifferently, "In some distant, unknown place, the seeds of our Sect will take root and sprout. The lineage will pass through many twists and turns, change the Sect's name, forget this history of the Upper Realm, and though all who remember this era will die, the lineage will still endure."

"That is how it is."

"This poor Daoist has not seen another person for many years. I have troubled you, young friend, for far too long, and truly feel uneasy in my heart."

The hunched Daoist waved his hand to open the black void in this realm of heaven and earth, then extended an object: "This is a trifle of little value, left behind by our Sect's Third Ancestral Master, who inherited the Daoist tradition of Shangqing the Numinous Treasure. Consider it a meeting gift for you, young friend."

"I hope young friend will look after the children of our Sect."