Chapter 204

The primordial force comparable to a sage's full-powered strike suddenly erupted, the attack from the Number Three Bird fiercely struck the crimson giant shadow!

The crimson giant shadow couldn't help panicking, but dared not move recklessly to dodge, so it could only hard‑take this move……

The fireball exploded, a second sun appeared in the starry sky, visible to all corners of the primordial wilderness; many dynasties were unsettled by this strange celestial omen, the suffering populace regarded it as a heavenly portent, and the already struggling Four Wilds saw their hearts waver, leading to a large‑scale uprising!

With the celestial omen as a guide and suffering as the source, wave after wave of uprising blossomed everywhere, shattering countless dynasties—heavens overturned, earth turned, ancestral temples toppled……

Corresponding to the human uprising surge, the cultivation world was astonished to discover that, after that strange fireball exploded, the previously barren heavens and earth inexplicably gave rise to countless spiritual qi, and a revival of spiritual qi descended!

Although only a few years passed, the spiritual qi vanished again, yet this brief revival still sparked endless speculation among people.

Since the spiritual qi of heaven and earth can only be created from nothing by the Heavenly Dao and sages, this must be their doing—the ancient myths have descended once more!

But why did the spiritual qi revival end so quickly?

No one knows, and thus opinions diverge……

None of this concerns you, for your remaining primordial spirit's will is entirely attached to the primordial force; after the primordial force erupts, you don't know whether the crimson giant shadow across from you has died, but you yourself have indeed dropped dead on the spot!

You are dead; a wrong choice led to a wrong ending…… Your life was a simple one, from birth to becoming an immortal, then to vowing to destroy the immortal Dao, finally bearing the supreme command and heading to the Central Province to meet your death……

You uncovered many secrets, but alas your cultivation was too low; these secrets are not something a mere Mystic Immortal can fully explore, so you were constantly stalled by lack of information, leaving you frustrated to the point of near‑death……

However, with your brief life you roughly pieced together the picture of this degenerate age: sages vanished, the Heavenly Court receded, ghosts and demons disappeared, the primordial wilderness expanded…… The common folk of the Four Wilds were treated as fodder by both the righteous and demonic paths; amid natural and human calamities, they lived worse than death, in dire straits.

Only the Central Province established a relatively peaceful coexistence system between immortals and mortals; although it still devoured people, at least everyone could still accept it, for all things dread comparison, and compared to the hellish Four Wilds, the Central Province is undoubtedly a paradise on earth.

Then comes the 'Immortal Realm', which you discovered with your life to be nothing but a scam; under its lure, countless primordial true immortals, like self‑serving leeks, batch after batch sent themselves to the foot of Mount Buzhou, only to perish in the 'Immortal Realm', becoming mere nutrients conveyed by the hollow Mount Buzhou into the boundless starry sky.

As for what these nutrients are used for, you haven't figured it out yet, but there is no doubt they are intricately linked to that crimson giant shadow……

Finally, there is the most shocking star‑sea great battle!

A crimson giant shadow wielding twin swords fiercely pinned a purple giant shadow in the starry sky, neither able to move…… Although you cannot guess their identities, there is no doubt they are both sage‑level powerhouses.

Obviously, the reason the primordial wilderness has become today's degenerate age is inseparably tied to them; if we could decipher their identity information, it would surely help you advance the stage progress……

Ding! You have gathered enough information in this round of simulation; this round of simulation has ended, and you are returning to the initial node……

Ding, calculating this round's rewards……

Xue Xiaohei's round of simulation ended just like that, quite unexpectedly, the save point he had set beforehand naturally became meaningless.

Zhao Si was somewhat at a loss for words:

"This kid's plan is well thought out, and he even thought of dying to reload, bringing Jingxin Daoren back to the Western Wilds to replicate the Central Province model, etc……"

But plans never keep up with changes; Xue Xiaohei thought of returning to his save point, yet the system judged he had gathered enough information and kicked him straight back to the initial node in the womb……

"However, what he discovered this time is truly explosive!"

Zhao Si couldn't help but marvel:

First, the situation of the 'Immortal Realm': the so‑called Immortal Realm is actually a scam, its purpose being to trick all the true immortals of the primordial wilderness into becoming consumables, transporting them via Mount Buzhou—one end reaching the starry sky, the other descending to the earth beneath the mountain.

What exactly is this for? And who are those nutrients, transformed from the true immortals, meant to feed?

Second, the two sages in the starry sky—this is also the most explosive discovery of this event!

"Based on the primordial wilderness entering the degenerate age, I earlier judged that there were no sages left; the result…… not only are there sages, but there are two!"

Then why don't they replenish the primordial wilderness's spiritual qi?

Zhao Si thought for a moment, seemingly realizing something:

"It must be because they can't move…… Xue Xiaohei saw the two remain motionless, locked in a stalemate, so naturally he had no inclination to replenish the primordial wilderness's spiritual qi."

Next is their identity:

"The purple giant shadow…… among the primordial sages, only Hongjun and the Heavenly Dao are associated with purple, so if there are no surprises, this person is either Hongjun himself or an incarnation of the Heavenly Dao."

"And the crimson giant shadow…… wields twin swords, heavy with killing intent……"

Zhao Si felt somewhat strange:

"The last time Xue Xiaohei blasted the Western Wilds, the crimson qi that came to pacify the sage's power was probably his doing."

"Last time I guessed he was Red Yun, but this time he looks a bit like…… the River of the Underworld?"

"Wielding twin swords, heavy with killing intent, and crimson…… isn't that obviously the River of the Underworld?!"

Although the Old Ancestor of the River of the Underworld hasn't formally appeared in the previous two chapters, the traditional descriptions of his traits in primordial lore are basically just these.

The twin swords are the Primordial Slayer and Avīci, two top‑grade innate spiritual treasures; the killing intent is standard gear for these two murderous treasure swords, and the crimson hue is easily explained—since the River of the Underworld springs from the Sea of Blood, its power manifesting as crimson is perfectly normal!

"But how could the River of the Underworld possibly become a sage?"

The bewildered Zhao Si began to list the River of the Underworld's trump cards:

Descended from the Purple Cloud Palace, a typical peak quasi‑sage, it is said that he both learned Nüwa's creation of mankind and formed the "Asura Clan", and learned the Three Purities' establishment of teachings and founded the "Asura Sect"; he possesses two innate spiritual treasure divine swords, and also has the extremely strong life‑preserving ability of the "Blood God Son".

Four hundred eighty million Blood God Sons fill the Sea of Blood, hence the epithet "the Sea of Blood never dries up, the River of the Underworld never dies".

Besides that, there's nothing else……

"With such a foundation, how could one possibly become a sage?"

Zhao Si is not joking; he would rather believe that Jin Bing finally became a sage than believe the River of the Underworld could become a sage!

Moreover, the final strand of purple qi is with Red Yun; could it be that the River of the Underworld will one day slash Red Yun and seize that purple qi?

"Furthermore, the attitudes of the last two toward Xue Xiaohei: the suspected River of the Underworld figure doesn't know him, while the suspected Hongjun or Heavenly Dao person does recognize him, and even the latter asked him for help."

"After Xue Xiaohei helped him blast the suspected River of the Underworld figure, the primordial wilderness still showed a small wave of spiritual qi revival……"

Zhao Si frowned; although the primordial force is strong, it isn't enough to instantly overturn the situation of the sage war, so after the primordial force finishes exploding, the purple giant shadow won't be able to turn the tide at all—at best it will get a brief respite.

And during that respite, he actually managed to squeeze out a revival of spiritual qi…… What use is that? It disappears again after a while.

"That's not right—his move probably has no practical effect, or…… this is just meant specially for me to see!"

Zhao Si suddenly realized:

If the purple giant shadow is Hongjun or the Heavenly Dao, then it possesses a certain ability.

"Omniscience!"

The Heavenly Dao's true form is the myriad true spirits of all beings filling the primordial wilderness, therefore it can monitor everything—this has been shown in the previous two chapters.

And Xue Xiaohei had only recently told Jingxin Daoren in the Immortal Realm about his secret of being able to reopen it, so theoretically, the Heavenly Dao should know Xue Xiaohei's details!

It has been specially transmitting information to me…… What it wants to say is, as long as I can rescue it, it can save the Dharma-ending Era?

Having figured out the crucial point, Zhao Si widened his eyes:

Now it makes sense, why the purple giant shadow knows Xue Xiaohei? Because it is the Heavenly Dao!

And in order to transmit information to him through Xue Xiaohei, it even sent a wave of spiritual energy recovery in the midst of its busyness……

【Ding! Settlement completed, you changed nothing this round, thus rated as: Low!】

The system's notification woke Zhao Si up from his thoughts.

Seeing the two words 'Low', he couldn't help but curl his lip, but he didn't say anything, because it's true: in Xue Xiaohei's short life of a few thousand years, he hasn't changed anything, hasn't investigated the information thoroughly, at most just opened the worldview at the start.

To really achieve a valuable ending, at least another round is needed; Zhao Si already has experience with this……

Alright, what's the prize?

【Ding! This round's prize is: 'Blood God Son from the Nether River Saint'!】

【【Blood God Son from the Nether River Saint】: At some point, due to suffering an inexplicable saint's attack, the Nether River was forced to burst forth gold coins!】

The Sea of Blood won't yield, the Nether River won't die!

The Nether River has 480 million Blood God Sons; this is one of them. After binding, it can infinitely replicate descendant Blood God Sons, implant them into others, making them unknowingly obey and submit to the wielder, granting power over life and death! (Already bound!)

This prize isn't strong enough; at least for Zhao Si, it's not even a hair's worth of the Primordial Power!

But the information revealed therein is extremely crucial:

"Nether River Saint? That really is the Nether River?!"

Zhao Si was genuinely surprised; although he had previously guessed it might be the Nether River, he lacked concrete proof, but the explosion of the Blood God Son's gold coin directly provided both human and material evidence.

That crimson saint who wields twin swords is indeed the Nether River, who had not appeared in the previous two chapters!

Zhao Si never expected that this old homebody could also have a day of becoming a saint……

"So, could it really be that the Nether River endured endless ages, seized the purple aura of Hongyun in one fell swoop, and then defied heaven to become a saint…"

"Then, after bursting forth, he would slay the six saints, and finally nail the Heavenly Dao in the starry sky…"

Zhao Si was dumbfounded:

This is too absurd, what gives the Nether River the right to be so awesome?!

"There's definitely something wrong here!"

Zhao Si didn't even need to think; he knew there had to be something fishy here:

Firstly, the Nether River couldn't possibly be that awesome!

Secondly, why would the Nether River use itself to nail the Heavenly Dao in the starry sky? What's the meaning? What benefit does it have for him?

After all, the Nether River isn't brain-dead; even if it truly wanted to pin down the Heavenly Dao, there would definitely need to be a reason, otherwise what's the difference between them and being cellmates?

But the reality is, the Nether River really ended up imprisoned together with the Heavenly Dao, both floating in the starry sky, unable to move, the six saints vanished, the Heavenly Court and all mighty divine beings also gone.

Even the Wu Clan and the Demon Race, those two evergreen trees, are gone; the vast wilderness now has only the human race left.

With no one actually ruling the wilderness, and no one replenishing its spiritual energy, the two perpetual motion machines consume each other, and the wilderness gradually heads toward the Dharma-ending Age, even toward destruction……

"We must figure out the complete cause and effect of the internal consumption of these two perpetual motion machines, or we will never be able to obtain the crucial information to break the situation!"

……

(End of chapter)