The blood-colored battlefield fell silent for a long, long time.

  Then someone let out the first whoop of joy.

  Like a spark hitting dry grass, cheers exploded, rolling across the plain in waves until the entire battlefield shook with triumphant roars.

  Fame and titles mean nothing when one victory is built upon mountains of bones.

  This hadn’t been a war between nations, yet for the Five Phoenixes, it was bloodier, more desperate, more crucial than any war in history.

  They fought for no glory, no profit—only survival.

  Everyone knew the ancient tales: demonic invaders from beyond the heavens had once annihilated an entire era of the Five Phoenixes.

  Now the same catastrophe had returned… and they had lived through it.

  A new age, brimming with life and promise, was about to dawn.

  Every face on the battlefield glowed with pride. Every pair of eyes burned with hope.

  Figures streaked across the sky, converging on the youth seated calmly upon the Thousand Bladed Chair.

  “Young Master!”

  Ni Yu’s face was deathly pale, but her big eyes sparkled with exhilaration. Her golden body had shattered and reformed countless times—she looked miserable, but without the pills she had poured out like water, many here would have fallen long ago.

  Zhu Long and Lu Jiulian drifted over. Lu Ping’an glanced at them and gave a slight nod of acknowledgment.

  They had carried the heaviest burdens for the Five Phoenixes.

  Nie Changqing, Jing Yue, Bai Qingniao, Du Longyang, Ni Chunqiu, Sima Qingshan—everyone gathered.

  This war had forged them into one unbreakable family. Old grudges between the original Five Phoenixes cultivators and those from the Tian Yuan Domain had melted away completely.

  Li Sansui, robes soaked in blood, pushed through the crowd with red-rimmed eyes and threw herself to her knees before Lu Ping’an.

  “Young Master Lu…”

  She clenched her fists and kowtowed hard enough to crack the ground.

  “Please… save my Master!”

  Her broken voice tore across the battlefield.

  The jubilation died instantly.

  Smiles vanished.

  Watching the girl kneeling there, every heart grew heavy, throats tight with grief they couldn’t voice.

  Overlord let out a long sigh, grip tightening on his axe and shield as he remembered the kindly old man who had faced death with a smile.

  Jiang Li removed his military cap, hair whipping in the wind.

  All eyes turned to Lu Ping’an.

  If anyone in this world could bring back Qi Liujia from death, it was him—and only him.

  Lu Ping’an raised a hand.

  Invisible force gently lifted Li Sansui to her feet.

  “I’ll do everything I can,” he said quietly.

  The crowd held its breath.

  Boom!

  Overwhelming primordial spirit pressure surged from him. In that instant, the world seemed to shift.

  The youth sitting on his chair suddenly felt like an immovable sacred mountain towering ten thousand zhang high.

  His fingers formed seals. Above his head, the sundial appeared.

  The “Approach” character inscription on the sundial trembled violently.

  The next moment, the River of Time poured forth, coiling around his fingertips.

  Using the power of time, Lu Ping’an tried to pull Qi Liujia’s shattered existence back together.

  The scene flickered like a stuttering lantern.

  Under his terrifying primordial spirit, the entire battlefield fell deathly still.

  High above on the White Jade Capital’s towers, the blood-robed Gu Mangran watched, deep sorrow flickering in his hollow eyes.

  He turned toward the ancient tomb.

  Four skeletons still knelt there. For a moment, he could almost see smiles on their bony faces.

  “Walk well, old friends,” he murmured, blood robes fluttering lonely in the wind.

  Everyone he once knew was gone.

  Ancient Emperor “Hao” had vanished.

  The Four Kings had fallen.

  Now, in the boundless Void Heaven, he truly had no one left.

  Below, Lu Ping’an was still trying to drag Qi Liujia back from oblivion with the River of Time.

  Gu Mangran did not hold much hope.

  If death were so easily reversed, the world would not be filled with so many regrets.

  On the blood-colored battlefield, a cold wind suddenly rose.

  A dim lantern seemed to burn in the gloom.

  Soul fragments—tiny glittering shards—rose from the earth, drawn together by Lu Ping’an’s immense power until they formed a hazy silhouette.

  Qi Liujia’s lingering remnant soul.

  Lu Ping’an frowned.

  He traced backward through time, yet met an impenetrable wall.

  Somewhere in the darkness, unseen eyes watched him. Low, indistinct whispers brushed his ears.

  It was a bone-chilling sensation—like thick fog swallowing the path ahead, nearly dragging him into the River of Time forever.

  “This is the chaotic law of death after total collapse,” a warm, magnetic voice explained gently.

  “In the primordial era, Great Emperors could still command death. Back then, a soul might have been retrieved.

  But today, in the shattered Nine Heavens, the realm of death is broken. Once a being falls, their soul fragments scatter into the void—impossible to recover.”

  Lu Ping’an’s brows knitted tighter. “Chaotic death laws…”

  “Finish your affairs first,” Gu Mangran’s voice drifted down. “When you’re done, we’ll talk properly.”

  Lu Ping’an inclined his head slightly.

  With a flick of his finger, ripples spread like water.

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  On the battlefield, Qi Liujia’s remnant soul solidified.

  Every gaze locked onto the translucent elder. Many hearts clenched in solemn respect.

  “Old Qi’s Myriad Pattern Cauldron Array was a special manifestation of an ancient emperor’s weapon,” Lu Ping’an said. “Immensely powerful, but it burned his primordial spirit to nothing. This remnant soul is all that remains.”

  Hope dimmed in countless eyes.

  Far away, Kong Nanfei’s last flicker of wishful thinking died.

  If even Qi Liujia could not return whole… how could he ever dream of asking Young Master Lu to resurrect the Master?

  Then he laughed bitterly at himself.

  Why bring the Master back anyway?

  The old man would feel like a stranger in this new era.

  Qi Liujia’s soul gradually grew clearer. He looked at Lu Ping’an and smiled with relief.

  The Young Master lived. That meant the Five Phoenixes had won.

  He had once urged caution and compromise for the sake of steady growth.

  He had been wrong.

  Young Master Lu had chosen a far harder, bloodier path—standing against the entire heavens.

  Yet… maybe that was the only path worthy of the Five Phoenixes under his leadership.

  Everything had unfolded just as Qi Liujia had quietly hoped.

  The Five Phoenixes had survived the greatest crisis in their history.

  This victory would propel them into a new era—an era ready to soar.

  Relief and pride shone in the old man’s translucent eyes.

  Li Sansui’s own eyes turned crimson the instant she saw him.

  “Master!”

  To her, this gentle, sometimes stern, sometimes indulgent elder was family—just like her siblings Li Sansi and Xie Yunling.

  Lu Ping’an flicked his sleeve.

  An invisible barrier enveloped master and disciple, granting them a final moment alone.

  A heavy silence settled over the crowd.

  Of the original hundred thousand Great Xuan iron cavalry, barely thirty or forty thousand remained. Facing the upper realms’ invasion, even that many Body Storage and Golden Core riders surviving was a miracle.

  Lu Ping’an’s gaze flickered.

  “Honor the fallen.”

  His expression turned solemn.

  This war had transformed him too.

  Once he had watched the Five Phoenixes’ growth like a distant puppeteer—ready, if they ever shattered, to simply walk away and begin again elsewhere.

  But now he understood:

  There was only one Five Phoenixes.

  If it fell, it was gone forever.

  If it truly vanished, his own heart would tear apart.

  Unknowingly, he had already become part of this world.

  Boom!

  He raised a hand.

  The earth shuddered like a carpet being shaken. Mountains and rivers seemed to shift.

  One after another, heroic spirits soared from the blood-soaked ground.

  The surviving Great Xuan cavalry froze.

  These were their fallen brothers!

  Hardened warriors removed their helmets with trembling hands, tears streaming as they saluted in silence.

  Jiang Li’s whole body shook. He clenched his fists, breathing ragged, staring at the ascending souls.

  Boom!

  From the heart of the Five Phoenixes, a towering city of darkness rose into the sky.

  Ghostly yin qi roiled.

  Yin officials lined the gates.

  The gates swung open.

  A figure stood smiling within, welcoming the cavalry with open arms.

  The Nine Prisons Ghost City!

  The King of the Underworld himself received them!

  These men had lived as warriors; they would serve in death as honored spirit soldiers, continuing their glory in the realm of the dead!

  From the White Jade Capital towers, Gu Mangran’s sunken eyes narrowed.

  He stared at the ghost city, then shifted his gaze to Lu Ping’an.

  “Such audacity…”

  “To rebuild the laws and order of death itself?!”

  Then he laughed—excited, expectant.

  “Now that’s guts! No wonder the Five Phoenixes is the only world to reach High Martial through the Void Heaven…”

  …

  The ceremony ended quickly.

  The fallen cavalry were guided by Tantai Xuan into the Nine Prisons Secret Realm, becoming guardians of the ghost city and strengthening its power.

  Boom!

  On the blood-colored battlefield, Jiang Li leveled his silver spear, eyes blazing like lightning.

  “The dead are gone, but we who remain will not wallow in grief—we will not yield!”

  “Today’s blood debt will be paid in blood!”

  “One day we will storm the Nine Heavens, march into the upper realms, and fight until our hearts are content—kill until the heavens tremble!”

  His words rang like an oath carved into the sky.

  He looked toward Lu Ping’an.

  A ferocious wind suddenly whipped across the battlefield, kicking up blood-red sand.

  Lu Ping’an sat motionless on the Thousand Bladed Chair, Jiang Li’s vow echoing in his ears.

  After a long moment, he gave a single nod.

  “Very well.”

  BOOM!

  With his approval, every surviving Great Xuan rider and every cultivator of the Five Phoenixes threw back their heads and roared, eyes bloodshot with fury.

  Fire burned in their chests.

  The Five Phoenixes were still weak—their flames only sparks for now.

  But one day, those sparks would become a prairie blaze that set the entire Nine Heavens alight, making every world tremble at their name!

  Qi Liujia finished speaking with Li Sansui.

  The barrier dissolved.

  Tears streaked her face, but beneath the sorrow burned unbreakable resolve and raging fire.

  Qi Liujia’s remnant soul could hold together no longer. It scattered like a cloud of fireflies suddenly released.

  His coarse robes fluttered. Faint light shimmered around him as he swept his gaze across the Five Phoenixes—across the entire world.

  He smiled.

  In the distance, he seemed to see a fire phoenix rising from the land, wings spreading crimson across the heavens, soaring toward the Ninth Heaven.

  Stroking his beard with a soft laugh, he stepped forward.

  From his feet upward, he gently dispersed into motes of light…

  …

  The war was over.

  The iron cavalry withdrew from the blood-colored battlefield and returned to the Five Phoenixes continent.

  Within the Great Xuan Divine Dynasty, Human Emperor Tantai He personally led the common people to welcome them.

  Seeing only thirty to forty thousand riders return from a hundred thousand, even the emperor’s eyes reddened.

  Cultivators dispersed to their homes.

  People looked up and saw streaks of rainbow light shooting from the battlefield passage—some heading to Western Liang, some to the Eastern Ocean, some to Northern County…

  The scattered experts of the Five Phoenixes were going back to seclude themselves and train harder than ever.

  Victory today did not mean forgetting hatred.

  Today the Five Phoenixes were drenched in blood—tomorrow they would pile corpses across the Nine Heavens!

  To achieve that, every single cultivator had to grow stronger.

  Fortunately, during the Heavenly Grand Competition, the Five Phoenixes had seized massive amounts of Dao reserves, triggering a world evolution.

  Over the Eastern Ocean.

  Vast seas rose and fell. The giant whale reappeared.

  Origin qi floated like clouds.

  On the Thousand Bladed Chair, Lu Ping’an held the Dao Derivation Mirror. Countless strands of great dao swirled within.

  He glanced at it, expression unchanged.

  Jing Yue stood quietly nearby.

  Ni Yu hugged the little Yinglong, who didn’t dare squirm an inch—he was terrified of being thrown back to Big Sister for “training.”

  “You two, go cultivate,” Lu Ping’an said. “While the world is still evolving, break through as fast as you can.”

  “Yes, Young Master.”

  The two bowed and left. Little Yinglong burrowed deeper into Ni Yu’s arms.

  Once they vanished, Lu Ping’an’s figure flickered and reappeared atop the White Jade Capital pavilion.

  A blood-robed figure was already waiting, robes fluttering.

  Lu Ping’an sat opposite him, set down the spirit pressure chessboard, and floated the white pieces to his guest.

  Gu Mangran, skeletal as ever, chuckled softly, picked up a white stone, and placed it.

  Lu Ping’an glanced at him, rolled up his sleeves, and dropped a black stone.

  “Young Master Lu, allow this Gu to offer an apology,” Gu Mangran said after a long silence, voice gentle.

  Lu Ping’an said nothing.

  “If not for me, the Five Phoenixes would never have suffered such a calamity.”

  Gu Mangran sighed.

  He had wondered if it was worth it—waking from the ancient tomb, losing the Four Kings who had accompanied him through eternity, dragging the Five Phoenixes into war because of him.

  But thinking of what still had to be done, resolve hardened in his sunken eyes.

  “Ask whatever you wish. I will answer everything.”

  He placed another stone.

  Lu Ping’an wasted no time.

  “Of the upper realms’ total power, what fraction was the army that attacked us?”

  “If the upper realms’ strength is a thousand parts, that army wasn’t even one,” Gu Mangran replied.

  Lu Ping’an had suspected as much. With the upper realms’ true might, they could have sent an army of actual mighty experts, not just Distraction-realm cannon fodder.

  “They knew you were awakening. Why send only trash? What could a garbage Divine Son possibly do to kill you?”

  Gu Mangran’s lips twitched at “garbage Divine Son.”

  Thinking of how Lu Ping’an had pummeled the Yun Clan’s proud heir into paste, he had to laugh.

  Only you, Lu Ping’an, could say that out loud.

  “You saw that terrifying rift… Something unspeakable lurks beyond it. Upper realm beings dare not set foot here. And the stronger you are, the faster the Void Heaven’s rules kill you.”

  Lu Ping’an nodded slightly.

  “What is your current strength?”

  Gu Mangran smiled—he knew Lu Ping’an wanted the realms above Immortal Transformation.

  “Above Immortal Transformation lies Immortal Constellation. Immortal Constellation experts refine the Five Qis… When the Five Qis are perfected, one may step toward Origin.”

  Very broad terms, but clearly vast realms lay beyond.

  “With the divine medicines I’ve taken, their grade is too low. I’ve only recovered to Two Qis Immortal Constellation.”

  Lu Ping’an raised a brow.

  “And at your peak?”

  Gu Mangran paused, shook his head, and did not answer.

  “The ones who came this time were the Yun Clan—one of the upper realm’s ancient sacred clans. Any clan daring to call itself an ancient sacred clan has at least one Saint Ancestor. They are enormous. With the Five Phoenixes’ current power, they could erase us with a flick.”

  “But you needn’t worry yet. Until the ancient emperor’s weapon emerges, the Void Heaven is the safest place for the Five Phoenixes.”

  “What you must do is raise the Five Phoenixes’ strength—at least to a third-grade High Martial world. Only then will you have any hope of resisting the horrors to come.”

  Lu Ping’an frowned.

  “The horrors to come… you mean when the Void Heaven’s protection vanishes?”

  Gu Mangran nodded. “No power lasts forever. It will disappear eventually. Prepare.”

  They continued talking as more and more stones filled the board.

  Night fell.

  When everything was said, Gu Mangran rose and left the White Jade Capital.

  The blood color faded from his robes, turning pure white.

  He vanished into the world, lonely as ever.

  Only Lu Ping’an remained on the pavilion, thoughts swirling.

  Lines of data danced in his eyes as his mind entered the origin space.

  Gazing at the hundred-plus Dao reserve patterns etched into the origin, a complete plan for the Five Phoenixes’ rise gradually formed.

  He withdrew his consciousness.

  Leaning back in the Thousand Bladed Chair, he watched the giant whale rise and fall on the waves.

  The sea burned crimson beneath the setting sun. Clouds rolled like a fire phoenix spreading its wings.

  Cold determination settled in his eyes.

  The debt owed by the upper realms—he could not collect yet.

  But the lower three heavens?

  “Pingyang Heaven, Blood Fiend Heaven, Yuan Magnet Heaven…”

  “I, Lu Ping’an, always treat others with sincerity. Yet you gathered a million-strong army to trample the Five Phoenixes—you drove a blade straight into my heart. Even if I have the best temper in the world, for the sake of every drop of blood spilled by my people… I cannot let this go.”

  “It’s time…”

  “For a reckoning.”