A Desolate Fate

The 50th floor was Xuqi Laila's limit.

In all honesty, reaching the 50th floor was an incomprehensible feat for an Early Origin Soul realm cultivator, especially one as young as her. Even so, Laila still looked back at the tower with reluctance after she was quickly treated by her teacher, having lost consciousness the moment she stepped onto the 50th floor.

In the end, she did not fall due to Yaan's pseudo-domain, she simply over exhausted herself to the point that she could no longer go on. Even her heart which relished the difficulty of cultivation could not endure the continuous pressure exerted by the tower.

Even a heart like hers would grow tired with time.

Xuqi Laila only made it half way up the tower, but this was already a shocking accomplishment. The Tower of Mortal Dao was designed such that it should be impossible for Foundation Step cultivators to reach the top; even though there were 99 floors, nobody was actually expected to reach this height.

After Laila somewhat recovered, but still needed to recuperate besides her teacher, she stared tiredly into the tower, not taking her eyes away from Yaan.

"So he is the source of that power…" She muttered to herself.

The Xuqi Sect Immortal Lord looked down at her disciple silently. The female immortal spoke when Laila's eyes widened slightly, this happened at the moment that Yaan reached the 50th floor, but continued drifting upwards.

"Someone younger than you surpassed you, Laila."

"Indeed…" Xuqi Laila muttered, continuing to watch Yaan closely.

However, she was not dispirited, she was not dejected in the least! A faint flame reignited in her eyes and a faint smile spread across her face.

"It seems that…I need to cultivate harder!"

The Xuqi Sect Immortal Lord felt speechless.

"Laila, you already cultivate all day everyday…"

Laila did not respond, but as she watched Yaan ascend, her smile grew wider.

'Finally, someone interesting!'

55th floor…

60th floor…

70th floor…

Yaan's pace remained unchanged, until he reached the 75th floor. At this point, the audience had fallen silent, everybody watched his ascent with rapt attention.

After reaching the 75th floor, Yaan final began to slow down. However, the white illusory ghosts all around him began to scream out with greater desperation, whilst the black cracks became more ferocious in their assault, destroying the illusory figures before they even had the chances to fully form.

Yaan continued to stare upwards, his black and white eyes focussed only on the furthest distance he could see.

He just needed to keep going…

How far did he need to go?

How far had he already travelled?

Yaan had no idea, he could only continue on.

He surpassed the 80th floor, then the 85th, the 90th…

By now, his climb had slowed to a crawl. The white figures within his pseudo-domain had been silenced, the black cracks encompassed all. Black streaks began to appear within Yaan's white eye, causing darkness to envelope his vision.

The road ahead of him was gloomy, shrouded in darkness and difficult. The road behind him was bleak, pervaded by a lonely desolation.

But even so, Yaan continued to fly up. Even though he was now flying so slowly that it looked like he was hardly moving, he still went on.

Many people began speculating in their hearts…would this person reach the peak of the tower? Would he surpass the limits of what should be possible, transcending all that had been accomplished by generations of past geniuses?

Well, Yaan had already surpassed all others who had ventured into this tower before him, so the crowd couldn't help but feel some degree of expectation!

When Yaan reached the 95th floor, that immortal in the sky above the tower, the Xuqi Dynasty Supreme Ancestor, sighed and shook his head.

"This is his limit. In the end, regardless of the strength in his heart and the talent of his dao comprehension, he is still just a mortal. The heart has a limit to what it can endure, this is true even for immortals, no matter mortals…"

After stepping foot on the 95th floor, Yaan's pseudo-domain suddenly vanished. The countless black cracks disappeared, as did the suppressed white ghosts.

The moment the pseudo-domain collapsed, Yaan began falling. However, just when everyone expected him to either plummet downwards or to be ejected from the tower, Yaan's black and white eyes became clear, now turning crimson…

Yaan reached out and grabbed onto the 95th floor with one hand. He was now dangling from the 95th floor, it was an immense drop from here down to the bottom.

Everyone stared with wide eyes. They were able to focus on Yaan himself now that his pseudo-domain was no longer distracting their hearts and obscuring their view.

Even the immortals looked at Yaan with extreme shock.

"How is he…" The Xuqi Dynasty Supreme Ancestor stared downwards in disbelief, unable to comprehend this situation.

His pseudo-domain had vanished, he had clearly exhausted himself to the point of near-death…so how was he still hanging on, on the 95th floor?!

The crowd's anticipation built up once again. Everyone even overlooked the matter of Yaan's red eyes, they were too excited, wanting to see what surprise this talent would give them next!

Yaan smiled bitterly.

He knew it the moment his pseudo-domain vanished and he regained his clarity of mind for a brief moment…

He had already pushed himself far beyond his limit.

Yaan stared at the floors above with a complex expression. He wanted nothing more than to continue on. Frankly speaking, going into this trial, he had high expectations for himself…

He understood that this was a trial for the dao heart, so subconsciously, Yaan believed that he could not fail here. If this was a trial that tested the endurance of the heart and will, then he truly believed that he would not be defeated, not by the other competitors, and not by the tower itself!

He believed that he did not possess a dao heart, and thus his will was inextinguishable!

But reality was cruel. This was truly a lesson for Yaan, one that he would never forget…

Everyone lost heart eventually, he was no exception to this. Even though he had surpassed the other geniuses, what did that truly count for, in the scheme of things? He was still defeated in the end, he merely managed to hold on for a while longer than the rest. He…was not special.

In the next instant, Yaan's eyes rolled back and he lost consciousness, falling down from the 95th floor. He was ejected from the tower a second later, before he had even fallen down to the 94th floor.

The moment Yaan appeared outside of the tower, the Immortal Ancestor moved to his side. As he hurried towards Yaan, the white haired man suddenly stopped, his entire body shivering in shock as he stared forwards with wide eyes.

At this moment, every single person aside from the Immortal Ancestor had strangely…stopped.

Not just their bodies, but all their thoughts had come to a complete stand still. The crowd, the immortals, even the Xuqi Dynasty Supreme Ancestor was no exception! They all stopped, and because of this, they did not see the appearance of the young girl, who stood in the air, holding her palm against Yaan's chest.

The girl's hair was wavy, extending down to her shoulders. Her eyes shone with green light like extraordinary emeralds. Imbedded in her forehead, a black crystal sat imposingly, emanating a power that left the Immortal Ancestor feeling a deep sense of dread.

As the girl looked up and turned to face him, still holding her palm against Yaan's chest, the Immortal Ancestor shivered once again.

That gaze…he would never forget that gaze!

A gaze that completely lacked any form of emotion, a gaze that was simply unlike any other gaze worn by a living being.

"You-"

"There is not much time, the Divine Court Lord is almost here." The girl spoke gently, cutting off the Immortal Ancestor as she informed him of something truly shocking.

For a moment, the Immortal Ancestor could only stare forwards blankly.

The Divine Court Lord was heading here…?

Why was she saying it so calmly, wasn't this a really big deal?

"Are you satisfied with the Fragment of Dao?" The girl suddenly asked.

The Immortal Ancestor snapped back to reality. He stared at this girl, the very same girl who appeared before him early on in his life, informing him about the shocking matters of the past, the matters regarding his identity…

"Is he really the Fragment of Dao?" The Immortal Ancestor knew that they did not have much time, but even so, he needed to ask this.

"He is." The girl gave a light nod, but did not say anything else.

The Immortal Ancestor continued to stare at the girl, but in the end, he laughed and shook his head bitterly.

"Primordial Sage, you are truly impossible to read. I do not know if this boy is truly the Fragment of Dao, or if we are truly who you say we are…but it seems that I have no other choice at this point."

The young girl, the Primordial Sage, remained silent.

Slowly, the Immortal Ancestor drifted forwards. The moment he reached Yaan's side, Yaan slowly opened his eyes. At the same time, the Primordial Sage vanished…the Immortal Ancestor stared at where she had been for a moment, before shaking his head and returning his attention to Yaan.

Originally, Yaan had injured and exhausted himself to such a terrifying extent that he should have needed months to recuperate, even with the Immortal Ancestor's assistance. However, the Primordial Sage's methods were beyond understanding, she was able to recover the exhaustion in his dao soul within seconds!

When Yaan woke up, he even felt refreshed, as if he had slept for a long time, enjoying a pleasant dream. Naturally, when he looked around and saw that he was still within the Xuqi Sect, just outside the Tower of Mortal Dao, he felt quite startled.

Seeing that every individual within this region was frozen caused his mind to shake. When Yaan saw that the immortals had also come to a complete halt, neither moving nor speaking, his mind trembled.

Yaan slowly looked up, casting his gaze above the Tower of Mortal Dao. He noticed the same thing that the Immortal Ancestor noticed earlier…above the tower, a large, imposing man stared down. However, like everyone else, this man remained motionless, as if his entire being had been frozen by some unknown force.

But none of this was as important to Yaan as the Immortal Ancestor himself. He did not know what was going on. He was sure that it was related to this immortal somehow, but that only made him feel even more wary.

The immortal's final test was over…he had achieved a shocking result, but was it enough…?

Yaan was clueless regarding the Immortal Ancestor's expectations.

"You failed to reach the peak of the tower…" The Immortal Ancestor began speaking slowly. Yaan's heart lurched and he stared at the white haired man warily, but even if he felt wary, what could he do?

Could he fight an immortal?

Suddenly, a shocking killing intent erupted from Yaan's body.

Could he fight an immortal?!

The Immortal Ancestor raised an eyebrow as he faced Yaan, but he next words completely doused Yaan's desire to fight.

"Regardless, your performance was acceptable, you pass my test."

In the end, Yaan didn't really want to risk battling against an immortal, he had absolutely no confidence in obtaining victory. He only felt his battle intent surge just now because he thought he was being forced to that end…if this could be resolved without bloodshed, that would be for the best.

But unfortunately, it seemed that blood was destined to be shed on this day.

"Devour me." The Immortal Ancestor spoke calmly, staring into Yaan's eyes deeply. That gaze made Yaan feel chills, whilst the immortal's words couldn't help but remind him of that time in the 4th trial realm…

At the end of the 4th trial realm's true-false illusion world, Yaan broke free by instructing the illusion of himself to devour him.

"You want me…to kill you?" Yaan asked slowly, hardly able to believe what he was hearing.

He had pondered over the Immortal Ancestor's potential motives many times in the last few years. What was it that he wanted? Why was this person forcing him to go through these trials and tribulations? Why did this white haired man seem uncertain about whether or not he wanted to kill him…?

"Yes. Kill me and devour me, take a step closer to becoming whole…I told you before, you are the Fragment of Dao, I am the Fragment of Qi…naturally, the Fragment of Dao must become the core…"

Yaan remained silent for a moment, before asking:

"There are three other fragments?"

"Indeed." The immortal nodded. "The Fragment of Soul, the Fragment of Mind and the Fragment of Blood. You must also devour these three fragments if we are to become whole."

Yaan furrowed his brows, now asking a question he had asked before, but was yet to receive a satisfactory answer.

"Say this is all true…who are we, exactly…?"

"We are the reincarnation of a being known as the Primordial Devil."

After finally getting a straight answer, Yaan felt quite surprised, but just a name didn't mean much to him.

"Who-"

Yaan suddenly froze. His thoughts came to a halt, just like the others in the Xuqi Sect who were suppressed by the Primordial Sage.

The young girl appeared before the Immortal Ancestor once again. She did not re-emerge from Yaan's body, suggesting that she had been standing there all along, watching them whilst simply hiding her presence.

"Finish this now, the Divine Court Lord will arrive at any moment."

After saying this, the grip over Yaan's thoughts was released. From start to finish, he did not notice a thing.

"Kill me now, I or will instead devour you." The Immoral Ancestor cut Yaan off before he could ask his question. After saying this, the immortal withdrew a certain sword from his spatial ring, throwing it towards Yaan roughly. He also threw Yaan the ring itself.

Whilst the immortal felt some suspicion towards the Primordial Sage for interfering at this moment, just as Yaan was inquiring more into their identity, there was nothing else he could do.

If the Divine Court Lord really was on his way, they would be completely helpless! He knew that if that person learned of their identity, both he and Yaan would become the Divine Court's primary target! He could only trust the Primordial Sage, relying on her method to fix this seemingly dire situation…

Of course, she could also be lying about the Divine Court Lord, but the Immortal Ancestor would not take the risk.

Yaan grimaced heavily, for a moment not moving. However, when the Immortal Ancestor suddenly released his full killing intent, he no longer hesitated.

His eyes shone with bloody red light as he stepped forwards, crossing the few feet between them in an instant as he stabbed forwards with the demonic blade. The white haired man closed his eyes, then spread his arms wide to either side, embracing the blade into his heart without the slightest hint of resistance.

After the blade pierced through the man's body, the Immortal Ancestor opened his eyes and looked at Yaan, for the first time smiling.

"My death signifies the next step in our cultivation… I hope that you can make us whole once again, Fragment of Dao…"

The immortal paused for a moment, then, using his last breath of life, he spoke one final line.

Unfortunately, the moment the man spoke, the Primordial Sage acted, obscuring the man's words from Yaan's ears and hiding his face from Yaan's view. By the time Yaan could even feel startled by this bizarre phenomena, the Immortal Ancestor was already dead.

Just like that, an immortal, an earth shaking character renowned across the Southern Continent, had died!

The moment the Immortal Ancestor died, Yaan expected that he would need to endure the assault of a massive amount of slaughter aura…but he did not.

The immortal's body did not shrivel up like the other corpses slain by this sword, but instead, it collapsed into countless specs of white light. A moment later, his Immortal Qi and soul also collapsed into this white light…

Yaan could not see it, but this white light encased the immortal's dao soul.

The white light flowed freely into his body, Yaan did not even attempt to avoid this because he knew that doing so would be futile.

He was not sure exactly what was going on, he still half expected to be assaulted by an immortal level slaughter aura, but such a thing did not happen.

Instead, images of countless memories flashed through his mind. The world around him vanished, as he was instantly thrust into an illusory daze…

A young man was born into a large clan called the Hukon Clan. From the moment of his birth, the young man was recognised as an exceptional person. His hair was pure white, even as a mortal child, whilst his eyes were a clear blue like reflections of the sky.

The boy's talent in cultivation was exemplary, whilst his diligence was to be commended.

The boy cultivated arduously, day and night, he only rested when his body required him to…

Qi Gathering, Foundation Sea, Qi Temple, Spirit Core, Origin Soul, Nirvana…Immortal.

Yaan felt the progression through the realms flash by in a blur. He, who was experiencing the Fragment of Qi's life in an extremely condensed and rushed form, could only stare at the blur of scenery in a daze. He was able to gather some details and make some connections, but the moment the Fragment of Qi ascended to immortality, becoming the Immortal Ancestor, everything vanished.

Yaan opened his eyes and blinked rapidly, looking around and seeing that he was back in the real world.

"What was that…what…did I just see…?"

Yaan furrowed his brows. He knew that he had seen something just now, but…he could not remember a single detail.

After he left the illusion, all details regarding the Immortal Ancestor's life seemed to be sealed away within Yaan's memories. He was vaguely aware of this fact, but he also had no way to confirm that this was actually the truth.

Unfortunately for Yaan, the day's events were far from over.

CRACK!

Yaan's head jolted back and he quickly looked up at the sky. His eyes widened in shock, and even though he knew that he was in danger, he was simply unable to react.

High above him, a giant black crack tore open the Xuqi Sect's peaceful skies. The seven colours in the sky above broke down, scattering in all directions as the crack grew larger and larger. When Yaan peered into the crack, he saw countless green chains, flowing within an endless river on the other side…

"What…is that?"

The black crack grew larger and larger, until it completely encompassed the entire sky above. No colour could be seen, whilst the Xuqi Sect's entire atmosphere seemed to break down. Countless waves erupted on the lake below, water was blown in all directions.

As for the individuals within the Xuqi Sect, all those people who had frozen and seemed incapable of defending themselves…

At this moment, those people all regained their senses. They were stunned by the phenomena above their heads, so stunned that they did not notice Yaan's small figure, standing directly below the eye of the storm.

Gradually, as they calmed themselves down, the immortals noticed that something was amiss with this situation, aside from the insane phenomena in the sky.

"Where is Pristine Qi?" The Hukon Clan Ancestor suddenly asked.

The Xuqi Sect Immortal Lord furrowed her brows. Her gaze naturally drifted towards Yaan, as did the Hukon Clan Ancestor's.

"That…" The Xuqi Sect Immortal Lord started to speak, but she immediately stopped after realising that a third member had joined their side.

"Ancestor!" The female immortal exclaimed in shock. She quickly clasped her hands and greeted him respectfully, as did the Hukon Clan ancestor. The Xuqi Dynasty Supreme Ancestor surpassed the both of them by a large margin in terms of strength and seniority. He rarely made appearances, it was only natural for them to act respectfully.

After lightly nodding to the pair, the Xuqi Dynasty Supreme Ancestor stared at Yaan with a deep gaze.

"It's extremely faint, but there are traces of Pristine Qi's aura on that child…he is in possession of Pristine Qi's spatial ring, he is also holding an extremely demonic sword."

The immortals became silent, looking towards Yaan as a strange thought emerged in their minds…they did not understand the situation, but regardless, Yaan was extremely suspicious!

Even so, they did not make a move towards him. The giant black crack in the sky, those strange green chains that could be seen beyond, it was too terrifying! Even though they held some suspicions towards Yaan, they did not make a move, not until they understood what was happening.

As time passed by, the other cultivators began to notice that this terrifying situation seemed to be centred around Yaan.

But before anyone could say anything else, suddenly, countless green chains shot down from the crack in the sky, all flying with such speed that they could barely be traced with the naked eye.

Every single one of these green chains was heading towards Yaan!

If you looked closely, you would see that these green chains were tainted by strange black markings. The aura contained within these markings was quite similar to the aura emitted by the black crystal in the Primordial Sage's forehead…

As Yaan stared in shock at the green chains, two beings stood in the air, high above the black crack in the sky. The two individuals faced one another silently.

The meeting between them was not intended by either party, but it had occurred nonetheless. If the divinities in the universe learned of this sudden meeting, they would definitely feel shocked…

Because these two were two of the most influential beings in the universe; The Primordial Sage and Law Empyrean!

The reason for the cultivators in the Xuqi Sect regaining control over their mental faculties, was because the Primordial Sage would not waste her attention on them when confronted by the Divine Court Lord!

The Primordial Sage emotionlessly looked into Law Empyreans eyes, whilst Law Empyrean calmed the shock in his heart, narrowing his gaze and immediately raising his guard. He did not act immediately, because he was feeling extremely wary.

He assumed this was the Primordial Sage's trap!

"Primordial Sage, just what is your plan here?"

After examining the situation down below, scanning his gaze across both Yaan and the giant spatial tear, Law Empyrean questioned the young girl immediately. However, she did not respond.

Law Empyrean frowned. Since she was not speaking, he decided to act.

He stretched out one palm, manifesting a ball of splendid golden light within his hand. The strength contained within the golden orb was enough to collapse this entire planet, yet it could not even be detected by the cultivators down below.

In fact, both of these divinities were hiding themselves from the other cultivators in the vicinity, this was a natural thing for them to do.

Just as the golden orb reached a critical level, the Primordial Sage spoke.

"It is too late, you cannot prevent him from leaving."

Law Empyrean paused. He saw the green chains shooting down below, and in a single instant, he knew that she was telling the truth.

Without any hesitation, he stopped. With the Primordial Sage standing here, he would indeed be unable to prevent Yaan from leaving through the spatial tear.

As for the Primordial Sage herself?

'Forget it, killing her today is completely impossible.'

Since he could no longer stop the Primordial Sage's plan, Law Empyrean immediately decided against using any forceful measures. He did not want to fight the sage if there was no benefit in doing so.

Law Empyrean took another glance at Yaan, before turning back towards the young girl with a deep gaze.

"That child…why would you nurture such an abomination?"

He did not receive a response.

"Primordial Sage, tell me, are you an outsider to this era?"

The young girl simply stared at him silently with those bright yet emotionless eyes.

Knowing that he would get nothing out of her, Law Empyrean decided to simply watch the events play out below.

Back within the Xuqi Sect, the green chains reached Yaan. Some chains seemed to penetrate into his body, whilst others coiled around him. Yaan instantly felt a terrifying suppressing force, preventing him from moving, or acting in any way.

"What is this?!" He exclaimed in shock. He tried to move, but the chains…the karmic chains…would not allow him to.

Indeed, these were karmic chains!

Yaan had seen karmic connections on multiple occasions, but this was the first time that he was able to touch them! Not only could he touch them, but they seemed to have a mind of their own, completely suppressing him!

The surrounding cultivators could only watch this dumbfoundedly.

The three immortals were stunned, but they did not dare to approach any closer.

Brase and Keasal were afraid for their junior brother, but they also didn't dare to step forwards. They knew that Yaan had somehow got himself involved in a horrendous predicament, but they could do nothing to help the prodigy of their sect.

When Xuqi Laila saw this chains wrapping around Yaan, she immediately realised that he was someone extraordinary. Between this sudden phenomena and his performance in the tower, it was clear that there was something special about him.

Zue Yin's heart trembled. She reached out with one hand, but as the chains began to retract, slowly dragging Yaan up and into the black crack, she let out a faint cry.

"Yaan!"

But Yaan did not hear her. Right now, he didn't care about anything other than struggling with all his might to resist these chains. An intense unwillingness was born within his heart. This was the unwillingness to be thrown around by fate!

Fate!

What was fate?

Why was this his fate?!

'Fragment of Qi, just what did you do?!' Yaan screamed out in his mind as he was dragged beyond the crack, into the river of green chains.

He assumed that this turn of events was caused by the Fragment of Qi, since it occurred immediately following his death. However, Yaan was oblivious to the fact that these spatial cracks had manifested around him multiple times through his life.

He did not know that the Primordial Sage had once acted to prevent the chains from dragging him into the crack, yet now, she allowed the chains to bind him.

He was oblivious to the fact that the Primordial Sage had always been manipulating his fate.

Only Law Empyrean knew that the Primordial Sage entered the black spatial crack immediately after him, stepping into the karmic river.

As the Southern Continent's lands grew further and further away from him, Yaan could only stare helplessly, unable to do anything to save himself.

Soon after Yaan disappeared into the karmic river, the spatial tear closed behind him.

Silence descended upon the Xuqi Sect's lands down below, the cultivators were all so shocked that nobody could utter a single word.