Chapter 422: The Tomb of the God-Slayer Bai Qi

Looking at the cracks in the wall, blood seeped out—ancient blood, far too much of it, no one knew how many towering beings had been buried here.

Blood flowed from the cracks in the wall.

With horror and reverence, the three of them—Jiuzhou Di Yi Xian, Wang Zun, and Xiang Hong—stepped inside Hangu Pass.

Once, when the world first saw Hangu Pass upon the River of Time, people had speculated that it might be more than just an Imperial Pass, that within it there must be another realm entirely.

The reason was none other than the sheer size of the Imperial Pass—built upon the world as its foundation—and they refused to believe it held nothing inside.

After all, Hangu Pass sat astride the River of Time, blocking the invasion of a future realm; the gods and demons stationed here couldn't possibly stand upon the walls of the Imperial Pass every single day.

They must have had some place to rest and recover.

And indeed, just as expected.

The moment the three of them—Jiuzhou Di Yi Xian, Wang Zun, and Xiang Hong—entered Hangu Pass, they discovered that within it truly lay another realm.

Only—

Tianxie Sword Immortal, Jiuzhou Di Yi Xian, and Xiang Hong all froze, their faces filled with an uncanny look, never having expected the scene inside the Imperial Pass to be like this.

Not only the world at large—even the three of them had imagined what lay within the Imperial Pass.

For instance, lavishly decorated palaces and towers, each one housing a powerful being.

For instance, a fairy realm within, with immortal islands suspended in the air, immortal qi drifting like clouds, each immortal island guarded by ancient powers.

For instance, a flawless starry sky hidden within the Imperial Pass, great stars rising and sinking, the Milky Way hanging high, dotted and lit, where one could see deities seated in the starry sky, meditating for a hundred thousand years, thick dust accumulated upon their bodies.

For instance…

They had imagined many, many things, but never once had they imagined the inside of the Imperial Pass would be a sprawling mass grave.

It made one's hair stand on end.

Countless remnants of treasured artifacts lay scattered across the ground.

Seeing the remnants that still radiated earth-shaking might, Jiuzhou Di Yi Xian's heart stirred, then ached.

"Any single remnant here would be a great opportunity, but they are also the weapons of the immortals and gods who died in battle."

The three of them quickly abandoned such thoughts, for they could see it was the blood of heroes who had fought on the battlefield—inconceivable valor and sacrifice, hearts full of passion for pacifying the battlefield—and in the end, all that returned were their bones and broken weapons.

Inside the Imperial Pass, there were far too many graves—looking out, they were everywhere, countless beyond counting.

A thousand? Two thousand? Ten thousand? Twenty thousand? Definitely more than that.

Jiuzhou Di Yi Xian, Wang Zun, and Xiang Hong fell silent, standing in this boundless graveyard, gazing at each tombstone ahead.

Every tombstone bore an inscription.

Tomb of the God-Slayer Bai Qi…

Tomb of the Martial Saint Guan Yu…

Tomb of the Immortal Ancient Cloud…

Tomb of the War God Xing Tian…

Each grave represented an immortal or god, and with graves stretching as far as the eye could see, how many immortal and heroic souls must have perished here.

The wind blew through, gusts of yin wind rising and falling, as if gods were weeping, demons were sobbing, and demons and buddhas were wailing in grief.

The heroes who first fought upon the battlefield waged war in obscurity; until death, the myriad beings of the world never knew that immortals and gods had died defending their realm and been buried here.

Buried within Hangu Pass—even in death, their will did not perish, still guarding on; the rising yin wind and surging yin power were the best proof of this.

Jiuzhou Di Yi Xian, Wang Zun, and Xiang Hong stood in silence, bowing toward this boundless graveyard.

They did not disturb anything in the graveyard, nor did they purify the vengeful power here, the yin and evil energy—because this was the resistance of heroes and outstanding figures, the roars and howls of the heroes who first fought upon the battlefield.

They walked step by step into the depths of the graveyard, then stopped, unable to go any further.

All along the way—

There were too many.

Truly too many.

Graveyard after graveyard, standing in lonely silence upon the River of Time, as if stretching to the very end of spacetime.

The peace of the past realm was bought by these martyrs buried here.

With their lives, they piled up peace itself.

Yet the myriad beings of the world never knew, could neither hear nor see, the valor here.

Xiang Hong was filled with solemn respect, his spine held ramrod straight, gazing deeply at graveyard after graveyard, committing everything here to memory—the name of every tombstone he saw.

At last he understood.

Why the Tsukuyomi deity and Luxi had said the Initial Realm was noble, was glorious, and that the people of the Initial Realm were the most exalted beings in the world.

It was not because the Initial Realm was the first world conceived by the world, the most ancient world—that was merely an ornament upon its nobility.

The glory of the Initial Realm was never granted by its antiquity; it was won by countless people bleeding themselves dry in battle.

Every tombstone here is a field of blood; they forged the nobility of the Initial Realm, cast its glory, and made the Initial Realm the supreme of all worlds, the mainstream of the River of Time.

"We cannot let them remain unknown."

Tianxie Sword Immortal spoke: the beings of the world should know of these; heroes should not remain nameless through the long ages.

Jiuzhou Di Yi Xian and Xiang Hong both nodded.

"That grave over there is a little different."

After walking another stretch, they saw a heavenly stele standing upright ahead, silent amid the waves of time, already broken and incomplete, yet stubbornly refusing to be destroyed—like a person, dead-set propping up the heavens, as if supporting eternity itself.

Its surface was densely covered with characters—ancient oracle-bone script—most of which were already damaged.

"This is the oracle-bone script of the Hua Kingdom."

Xiang Hong's eyes went wide; recognizing the script on the heavenly stele, he also realized this was not a grave, but simply a heavenly stele standing alone.

It seemed this stele recorded something.

The characters on the stele radiated supreme, tremendous power, beyond comparison with the script on the other graves.

These are characters carved by a Supreme Being personally!!

There can be no mistake — only a Supreme Being could carve such words, for they bear a power that seems to let one touch the flow of the ages at will.

A Supreme Being erected this stele and carved these characters here; it absolutely cannot be some idle poetry or literary game.

"Xiang Hong, boy, what is written on this stele?"

Jiuzhou Di Yi Xian was somewhat agitated, his voice rising a note higher.

A Supreme Being — an existence transcending the ages — one may not appear even in an entire world's epoch, and whatever such a being leaves behind is bound to be extraordinary.

Perhaps this stone stele holds the ultimate secret to attaining the Supreme Being realm — how could one not be stirred?

He was also judging which Supreme Being had carved this stele; the number of those who could become Supreme Beings is so small one can count them on one's fingers, and since the script is basically Hua Nation's oracle-bone writing, the range of candidates was narrowed down considerably further.

"Could it have been left by the Supreme Being Sui Ren Shi?"

Thinking of Hua Nation's mythological Supreme Beings, the three immediately thought of Sui Ren Shi.

He is the currently known Supreme Being of Hua Nation's mythology, though Hua Nation's mythology does not have only Sui Ren Shi as a Supreme Being — there is at least one other.

According to that day's conversation in the primeval era between Cangjie, Emperor Shitian, and other supreme figures, the Hua Nation mythological figure Nüwa is also a Supreme Being; it was the Shiqu Sect that taught Nüwa and enabled her to attain the Supreme Being realm.

If Nüwa is a Supreme Being, then the likelihood that her brother Fuxi is also one is very high.

After all, in terms of attainment Fuxi is no less than Nüwa — he is the forefather of Hua Nation's culture, one of the Three Sovereigns, the earliest recorded creator-god in Hua Nation's documented history, and the earliest king recorded in Hua Nation's ancient texts.

Based on these titles alone, no one would believe Fuxi was not a Supreme Being.

"This Supreme Being, who refused to become Heaven, is dead after all."

Gazing at the grave-mound, Jiuzhou Di Yi Xian became all the more certain of his conjecture: the Supreme Being, faced with some matter of choice, had to either die or become Heaven.

……