Chapter 1338: Zi Xuan Awakens

Chapter 1338: Zi Xuan Awakens

Time flowed onward, and twenty years passed.

In those two decades, the entire landscape of Wanggu Continent underwent a cataclysmic transformation!

Under Xu Qing’s towering reputation, the Empress expanded human territory with relentless momentum, restoring the domain of humankind to the extent it had reached during the era of Dongsheng Renhuang.

And that was only the land directly controlled. Indirectly, humankind had already risen, within these twenty years, to become the foremost race of Wanggu—claiming the greater half of the continent!

The remaining territories were centered around divine beings and the ancient myriad races. Though wary of humankind and unwilling to provoke conflict, these powers also refused to bow easily.

As the three factions settled into a tense stalemate, Ling’er emerged from the Ji Yue Great Domain, accompanied by the Crown Prince and others. Bearing the bloodline of the Ancient Spirits, she offered those ancient races a graceful path to submission.

For reasons of their own, they resisted yielding to humankind—but to one of Ancient Spirit lineage, their stance shifted.

In the eyes of these primordial clans, though Wanggu boasted “myriad races,” in truth, there were only two: humankind and the other races.

The Ancient Spirit Clan, which had ruled Wanggu before Xuan You Gu Huang unified it, belonged to the latter.

Thus, bowing to a scion of Ancient Spirit blood aligned perfectly with their sense of propriety.

With that obstacle removed, only the divine remained as the final barrier to unification.

And matters of divinity were best resolved by divinity itself. So the Empress journeyed to Nanhuang Continent, paying homage outside the Dharma Vessel where Xu Qing sat in seclusion, and conveyed her intent.

The sea shimmered beneath rippling light. Inside the gently swaying vessel, Xu Qing remained cross-legged, eyes closed, still deep in meditation.

He neither opened his eyes nor emerged from seclusion.

Yet he raised his hand—and with a single sweep outward, a streak of radiance shot forth from the vessel. It alighted upon the harbor before the Empress, coalescing into a clay effigy.

The effigy was that of a fox.

As the wind blew across it, the clay effigy began to glow brilliantly—its earthen form softening into flesh, its hues growing ever more vivid, until at last it became a living, breathing creature.

A coquettish giggle rang out, and the bewitching clay fox reappeared in the mortal world.

“Sister, it’s been ages! Thank you ever so much for coming—I’d have been forgotten entirely by that heartless one otherwise.”

Her eyes brimming with allure, the clay fox covered her mouth and laughed softly.

The Empress frowned slightly but said nothing. After bowing once toward Xu Qing’s Dharma Vessel, she turned and departed.

The clay fox’s laughter echoed far and wide as she turned her gaze toward the distant Yan Yue.

Her eyes sparkled with profound anticipation.

“The order of Sun, Moon, and Stars… shall soon be rearranged.”

With those words, she took a step forward—returning to Wanggu.

Her first destination, naturally, was the Yan Yue Xuantian Clan.

The moment she descended, the sacred mountain of the Yan Yue Xuantian Clan trembled violently, and the heavens poured down a rain of mud.

As the muddy droplets fell, every member of the clan felt an inexplicable dread well up within their hearts. Simultaneously, an overwhelming divine aura descended with the rain upon the sacred mountain, resonating as a thunderous voice:

“Yan Yue! Yan Ri! Come forth and see me!”

The mountain roared. Within its depths, the figures of the Sun God and Moon God appeared—both visibly shaken—as they surged upward toward the sky.

But neither could reach its zenith.

The Moon God managed seven steps before halting midair in silence… then bowed his head.

The Sun God blazed with brilliant radiance, transforming himself into a blazing sun in a desperate attempt to break through—but even he advanced only a few paces farther than the Moon God…

His solar form instantly turned to mud—a muddy sun hanging limply in the sky.

He too fell silent, casting a long, meaningful glance at the clay fox standing atop the firmament… before lowering his head.

The clay fox’s laughter spread in all directions.

Sun, Moon, and Stars had become Star, Moon, Sun.

Thereafter, her divine presence visited every sanctuary of the gods, laying before each two stark choices:

Submit as subordinate deities—or be annihilated and stripped of their essence.

Thus, she completed the unification of the divine realm.

Even those few immensely powerful gods who lay hidden in deep slumber—whose strength surpassed hers—posed no true threat, for Seventh Master had always been watching.

During Xu Qing’s forty-year seclusion, Seventh Master had taken residence in Huangtian and ventured out twice.

The first time, he eradicated an ancient elder of the myriad races who had clung to existence through esoteric means.

The second, he suppressed three Half-Step True Gods.

Through his interventions, any lethal enmity between the races—human, divine, and other—was eradicated, at least on the surface. Under the joint stewardship of Ling’er and the clay fox, the three factions forged an alliance with humankind, formally acknowledging its supremacy.

At last, humankind achieved full unification.

Then, the Empress represented humankind, Ling’er stood for the myriad races, and the clay fox spoke for the divine.

Together, the three parties established a pact known as the Jing Gu Accord.

United, they scoured every hidden corner of Wanggu Continent, tracing every thread and clandestine influence that had seeped in from beyond its borders.

Time flowed on once more.

Another twenty years passed.

Xu Qing had now been in seclusion for forty years.

In this latter two decades, humankind’s position had solidified completely. Li Xia Renhuang had ascended to become Li Xia Gu Huang.

Human civilization flourished accordingly.

Were it not for the ever-present Remnant Face in the heavens—an eternal source of unease for all beings of Wanggu—one might well have called this age a golden era.

Over these years, Ning Yan had grown remarkably. Under the Empress’s careful tutelage, he had truly matured into a worthy crown prince.

Beyond Ning Yan, several others had also carved out their own paths and shone brightly in their time.

Take Wu Jianwu, for instance—he had astonishingly founded his own Daoist lineage, centered on nurturing beasts. Though his personal cultivation remained modest, the creatures he had long accompanied had grown extraordinary indeed.

Then there was Kong Xianglong, descendant of the former Sword Palace master of Fenghai Commandery. He had fully inherited Kong Liangxiu’s will, taking up the sword for humankind and becoming acting master of the Human Sword Palace—awaiting only sufficient cultivation to assume the title officially.

Each walked their own road, setting sail upon their destined seas.

So too did the grand tide of Wanggu move forward. Under the shared guardianship of humans, gods, and other races, nearly every external thread hidden within Wanggu had been uncovered and meticulously recorded.

It seemed as if no secret place remained in all of Wanggu.

Except… one.

That place—neither the other races, nor the gods, nor even humankind—had dared set foot within.

Even Seventh Master had merely gazed upon it from afar… and ultimately chose to depart.

Thus, that place became the one and only anomaly upon the vast expanse of Wanggu Continent!

Its name: The Heaven-Devouring Domain!

The very land where the returned Zi-Qing Supreme Nation now resides!

No one enters, and none within have ever stepped beyond its borders.

It seems as though everyone is waiting—

until, two years later… at the port of Nanhuang Continent’s Seven Blood Pupils, the Dharma Vessel, anchored there for forty-two years, vanished without a trace.

Only ripples remained upon the sea.

At that precise moment within the Huangtian Realm, beside Er Niu’s slumbering form appeared a solitary figure.

Old Seven sat cross-legged before his master’s tomb, yet sensed nothing at all.

The figure made no move to disturb him—only gazed quietly at Er Niu,

then disappeared.

In the next instant, outside the Imperial Capital of humankind, before the statue of the Sword-Bearing Emperor, the same figure reappeared.

Unseen by any eyes, unfelt by any soul.

Xu Qing stood before the Sword-Bearing Emperor, lifting his gaze toward the towering statue.

Now clad in black robes, his hair a cascade of violet, he appeared unchanged from forty-two years prior—save for the deeper, richer light within his eyes.

He stared long and silently at the statue, then bowed deeply.

Turning, he looked toward Fenghai Prefecture.

“She is about to awaken…”

Xu Qing murmured softly, a tender smile gracing his lips as he took a single step toward Fenghai Prefecture.

At that very moment, deep beneath Fenghai Prefecture, within a grand phoenix-shaped hall inside the immense underground palace,

the flicker of an oil lamp slowly kindled to life.

It was the flame of the Zi-Xuan Upper Azure Lamp.

Bathed in its gentle glow, one could see a woman seated cross-legged in serene stillness.

She wore a gown of violet silk, its hem spreading like drifting clouds around her, swaying faintly with the whisper of unseen breezes, carrying with it a subtle, elusive fragrance.

Her features were refined, her skin whiter than snow.

Her slightly arched brows seemed to hold endless longing, yet also carried an air of ethereal detachment.

There she sat, perfectly poised upon a meditation cushion, hands resting naturally upon her knees—her fingers long, slender, pale as jade scallions.

From afar, she resembled a masterpiece painted by heaven itself.

As if time itself had paused just for her, determined to preserve this vision of sublime beauty forever—

until… the next heartbeat.

Her lashes trembled lightly.

Slowly, she opened her eyes and looked toward the chamber door.

Stars seemed to shimmer within her pupils—luminous, profound, illuminating the world itself.

And just then, from outside, the door was gently pushed open.