Chapter 1330: Huang Tian

Chapter 1330: Huangtian

A brown wind swept across the darkened firmament, wailing as it passed over the barren earth—

bearing death, bearing emptiness.

The dust it stirred shimmered faintly beneath the dim light of heaven, like fragments of time crushed into mottled, twisted shadows.

The whole world seemed cursed, exuding an aura of utter despair.

Above, the sky hung heavy in shades of ash and black—

a vast, oppressive curtain pressing down upon the land, as if ready at any moment to collapse and grind all beneath it into infinite darkness.

In the air between earth and sky drifted strange, alien substances—wisps and tendrils writhing with life, coiling and lashing through the wind. So dense were they that in many places they congealed into mist, spreading endlessly in every direction without beginning or end.

The earth itself had long lost its vitality, now rotting in decay.

Cracks crisscrossed its surface, deep and shallow, like monstrous mouths roaring against fate’s decree.

Yet life was not entirely absent.

From those fissures sprouted stubborn plants—but shaped by their poisoned surroundings, tainted by the alien essence, or perhaps born this way, each radiated a palpable evil.

Their branches twisted like tormented spirits, studded with sharp thorns, some of which glimmered faintly with eerie light—a warning to any who dared approach.

Their leaves were stranger still: some broad as palm fronds yet riddled with countless holes, as though gnawed by unseen forces; others slender as blades, edged with serrated teeth that trembled in the wind, poised to slash at a moment’s notice.

Beyond these grotesque flora, colossal divine beasts roamed the wasteland—

their forms even more unsettling.

Some bore countless eyes, each gleaming with cold, merciless intelligence, piercing through every veil of deception.

Others were armored in iron-hard scales that shimmered with a dread-inducing sheen under the gray-black sky; each step they took left deep imprints in the earth, accompanied by dull thuds that made the ground itself quake.

Still others possessed vast wings whose flapping summoned gales laced with decay and the chilling touch of the alien substance—enough to freeze the blood of any witness.

Yet none of these horrors drew the eye most powerfully in this desolate realm.

It was the towering temples—

Each built in a primal style, as if erected since time immemorial, scattered across the vast land with harmonious order and uniform design.

Their walls were hewn from massive stone blocks, etched with cryptic runes that pulsed faintly, as though breathing with the rhythm of the world itself.

Their gates stood tall and heavy, carved with varied motifs—yet atop every carving ran vertical lines, unmistakably depicting… light!

As if light itself were the object of worship shared by all these temples!

This place was called Huangtian.

It lay beneath Wanggu Continent, its expanse rivaling that of Wanggu—and if one traced history far enough back, Huangtian was the true origin of Wanggu.

It was the first world beheld by those cultivators who had ascended long ago from the Houtu Star Ring.

And in a cataclysmic war waged countless ages past between those cultivators and the Divine Race of Huangtian, though the cultivators paid a terrible price, they ultimately claimed victory.

That victory was sweet and profound: it granted them passage into the Upper Star Ring, gave them a home, and enabled them to build Wanggu Continent.

Wanggu thus became the sky above Huangtian.

As for the Divine Race of Huangtian—they fell into ruin. Most of their gods were sealed away; their royal bloodline imprisoned. Their crown prince alone remained, transformed into a golden crow, wandering beyond to atone for his people’s sins.

The entire continent of Huangtian was buried.

Above it rose the reforged Wanggu.

With the ascension of the Heavenly Dao, the path of cultivation bloomed brilliantly for the first time in the Ninth Galaxy—and the seals upon Huangtian grew ever more absolute.

Thus, as eons passed, Huangtian faded into legend.

Its divine race became memory.

Few cultivators ever set foot here—

Until today.

As if fate had decreed it, this seemingly ordinary day was destined to be extraordinary.

First came a mournful cry from the heavens—a figure plummeted downward.

Then, for the first time in eternity, the sound of Creation itself erupted across the gray-black sky!

BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!

The thunderous roar shook all of Huangtian instantly, echoing as though invisible hands reached through the firmament and tore the very sky apart—ripping it violently open from side to side!

A colossal fissure, stretching beyond measure, split the heavens wide.

And from within that rift stepped two figures.

The moment they appeared, the alien essence blanketing Huangtian rippled wildly. An aura foreign to this realm surged from them, sweeping outward in all directions—

and wherever it passed, the alien substance began to melt away.

For it was the aura of Immortals!

Come to seal Huangtian once more!

At the instant this aura manifested, the entire world of Huangtian plunged into a strange, restless agitation.

The sky warped.

The alien essence dissipated.

The vegetation trembled.

The beasts prostrated themselves.

But the greatest effect struck the silent temples scattered across the land!

They shuddered violently, as if suddenly infused with life—

accompanied by deep, rumbling booms, as though this ancient world were awakening…

and slowly unleashing a world-shattering roar.

Within those temples, statues of deities swayed unsteadily.

Each radiated formidable power, transcending mortal comprehension—yet now, many of these statues could not withstand the pressure descending from the heavens, and cracks began to spiderweb across their forms.

The source of all this upheaval was none other than the two figures who had emerged from the rift in the sky.

“This… is Huangtian,” Elder Qi said, his gaze sweeping over the temples below, sensing everything around him, his voice tinged with nostalgia.

“Long ago, I followed my elders right here… to wage war against the Divine Race of Huangtian!”

He turned to Xu Qing, his expression grave.

“Do not underestimate this race. Though weaker than some mightier divine beings…

the Divine Race of Huangtian possesses a rare gift—every single member of their kind is born with innate divine soul talent!

“I have seen no other divine race, in all the years since, where such a trait is universal.”

These words struck Xu Qing deeply—he looked up, eyes alight with wonder.

Among the gods, he had only ever encountered two who possessed the rare talent of divine soul essence.

One was Li Zhu, Sovereign of the Fourth Star Ring; the other was the Star-Eyed Goddess!

The former had been devoured by Er Niu; the latter now resided within Xu Qing’s storage pouch.

“Thus, in our war against that race long ago, we paid an excruciatingly heavy price—the entire Houtu Star Ring was drawn into the conflict… After our victory, our elders conducted dedicated research into this race.”

“Due to my unique status, I participated in that inquiry and therefore know the final conclusion they reached.”

“It was this: Huangtian Continent itself holds an extraordinarily special significance!”

“In fact, we even speculated at the time that Huangtian… very likely was the first star ever born within its own star ring!”

“And the Huangtian Divine Race were the original inhabitants of this place!”

“If not, then whence came the Scarred Faces?”

At these words, Xu Qing’s mind trembled abruptly.

“The Primordial Mother Star?”

He immediately thought of that star in the Fourth Star Ring—but upon closer reflection, it seemed somewhat inconsistent.

“The Primordial Mother Star is tied to the secret of the gods’ return, which is why divine abominations exist there… yet here, certain things do not quite align.”