Chapter 399: Descent to the Eleventh Land

It was unlike any previous transmigration.

This time, Gu Yuan did not see the familiar portal made of multicolored light.

When he resolved to activate the communication system's transmission, he only felt his spirit gently peeled away from his flesh by an indescribable great force.

Immediately after, he saw a river.

A vast, long river woven from countless fine, faintly glittering threads of cause and effect.

His spirit turned into a flat boat, and under the shelter of the black‑sail vessel named 'Heaven‑Defying Cloak', it silently sailed into the river.

The river surged rapidly; each wave represented the birth and death of a world, and each bend could lead to a completely different spacetime.

Gu Yuan could even see, in some wide stretches, large ships exuding the aura of immortal kings, moving upstream or downstream. They were patrol envoys of the Immortal Realm or powerful masters of ancient Dao lineages, inspecting their own territories.

But they all ignored Gu Yuan's tiny black‑sail boat.

The power of the 'Heaven‑Defying Cloak' was far greater than he had imagined.

Thus, like a non‑existent phantom, he drifted in the river of cause and effect that spans all heavens and realms for an indeterminate time.

Finally, ahead in the channel, a massive black vortex exuding rot and deathly silence appeared.

At the vortex's center lay a shattered world that had severely diverged from mainstream spacetime.

Eleventh Land, Blood‑Moon Underworld.

The black‑sail boat hesitated not a moment and plunged straight into the vortex.

…

A wave of indescribable tearing and reassembly washed over him.

Gu Yuan felt his consciousness as if forced into a completely unfamiliar mold.

It was neither a spirit descent nor a split‑shadow projection, but a … a perfect one‑to‑one replica.

He could sense the warmth of flesh, the subtle energy flowing through the meridians, even the fingertip sensations, all indistinguishable from his original self.

The system and the power of the 'Heaven‑Defying Cloak', in a manner beyond his current comprehension, spontaneously 'created' a body for him in this world.

"Interesting."

Gu Yuan moved his limbs a bit and quickly adapted to the strange sensation.

He now stood upon a dark‑red wasteland.

The soil beneath his feet was as hard as iron, a dark brown hue dried after being repeatedly soaked in blood.

Above the Heavenly Dome, there were no sun, moon, or stars, only an enormous light curtain woven from countless golden runes that tightly imprisoned the entire world.

That was the Immortal Realm's "Nine Heavens Ten Earth Sealing Demon Great Array".

It was more a containment than a sealing.

Gu Yuan's divine thought stirred faintly, not expanding outward, but seeping silently into the ground beneath him like mercury flowing over earth.

In an instant, the current state of this world sketched a cruel tableau in his mind.

Deep within the earth, veins that should have brimmed with spiritual energy were now dried up, leaving only massive voids carved by violent extraction.

Countless emaciated figures toiled in these bottomless mines like ants, each bearing the seal of a different Immortal Realm Dao lineage, clearly mining slaves from various parts of the Immortal Realm.

This once‑premier great world had now become a gigantic mine of the Primordial Immortal Realm.

What concerned Gu Yuan even more were the remaining indigenous beings on this land.

They were not confined as slaves, yet lived more miserably than slaves.

From the notes of some cultivators who had achieved ascension, Gu Yuan saw they were treated like herbs cultivated in fields; periodically, upper‑realm immortals would descend, select the more cultivated and robust specimens, harvest them by secret methods, and forge them into great medicines.

At that moment, behind a low stone hill not far away, a rapid panting and the clashing of weapons rang out.

"Hand over the 'Blood‑Soul Herb'! We discovered it first!"

"Nonsense! This ownerless thing belongs to whoever grabs it!"

A few ragged youths, whose cultivation had not progressed beyond Qi‑refining foundation, fought desperately over a spirit herb growing in a rock crevice, emitting a faint blood‑red glow.

To Gu Yuan, the plant seemed no more than a weed, yet here it was their hope of surviving the next 'harvest'.

Gu Yuan's figure appeared behind them like a phantom.

The youths still locked in combat suddenly stiffened, as if bound by invisible shackles, unable to move.

In terror they turned their heads and saw the handsome young man in black who had appeared out of nowhere.

Gu Yuan ignored their fear, extended a finger, and lightly tapped the forehead of the leading youth.

Without the agony of soul‑searching, the youth's eyes instantly went hollow; his brief, tragic memories unfolded like a scroll, fully displayed in Gu Yuan's sea of awareness.

A moment later, Gu Yuan withdrew his finger.

The restraints on those youths vanished instantly; pardoned, they scrambled away, unable even to grab the Blood‑Soul Herb.

"Blood‑Moon Underworld… Eleventh Land…"

Gu Yuan stood with his hands behind his back, a flash of understanding crossing his eyes.

According to that youth's memory, since more than twenty years ago when five terrifying immortal kings descended, shattered this world's Heavenly Dao and slain its guardian deity, this place had become a colony of the Immortal Realm.

The Nine Heavens Ten Earth Sealing Demon Great Array not only locked the entire world, but also acted like a massive filter, converting the remaining spiritual energy of this realm into a form of 'immortal essence' more suitable for Immortal Realm cultivators, continuously channeling it back to the Primordial Immortal Realm.

What remained for the indigenous of this world was only the tangled, vile blood‑killing aura.

They struggled to survive on this barren land, their only way out was to train desperately, hoping someday an upper‑realm immortal would notice them and grant ascension.

Only then could their clan obtain a brief respite.

What a twisted despair that was.

Just as Gu Yuan was pondering, the massive golden light curtain of the Heavenly Dome rippled outward.

A streak of light shot out, descending over a mountain range a thousand li away.

It was a middle‑aged man clad in a crimson Dao robe, his visage haughty, radiating the powerful aura of a mid‑stage True Immortal.

The moment he appeared, he produced a purple‑gold gourd and muttered incantations.

Hundreds to thousands of figures burst out in an instant from that mountain range, all of them Blood Moon Netherworld natives whose cultivation had reached the Supreme Realm.

Under the suction of the purple‑gold gourd, they could not resist at all, their faces filled with endless despair and terror, and they were all drawn into the gourd.

"This year's harvest is fairly good."

The mid‑level True Immortal weighed the gourd, nodded with satisfaction, and turned to leave.

Gu Yuan concealed himself within a spatial wrinkle, and the Heaven‑Deceiving Cloak perfectly concealed all his aura.

Killing this True Immortal would be as easy as flipping a hand for him.

But he could not do so.

Once he acted, it would inevitably alarm the Immortal Realm, startling the hidden snakes.

Yet if he did nothing and let him leave, how could he find a foothold to carry out the so‑called Scheme to Steal the Heavens?

Just as Gu Yuan weighed his options, an anomaly suddenly arose.

The mid‑level True Immortal who was about to depart abruptly halted, his face showing extreme respect, and bowed toward the Heavenly Dome.

Above the Heavenly Dome's golden light veil, ripples spread again.

This time, what appeared was not a streak of light.

Instead, three immensely splendid, gigantic tower ships, their entire bodies forged from star‑divine gold, with carved beams and painted rafters, swirled with immortal aura, emerged.

On the tower ships, banners fluttered, each bearing an ancient simple character "Wu".

Another bore the character "Fa".

Gu Yuan's eyes narrowed slightly.

In the memory of the Nether Spring Immortal King, this name had once appeared.

Primordial Immortal Realm, the Unattainable Immortal King.

Like the Supreme Immortal King, both are titan‑level Immortal Kings!