The First Immortal of Destiny

Green Cloud Cave, Vacuous Zone.

A streak of golden light descended from beyond the Ninth Heaven. As the light faded, it revealed seven figures, each visibly shaken and pale with lingering fear.

”Shen Mo?”

The white-bearded elder, clothed in the ceremonial robes of a Supreme Elder of the Riverside Sect, was the first to regain his senses. Seeing Shen Mo seated cross-legged on a jade platform, he couldn’t help but exclaim in shock.

Quickly, the astonishment on his face deepened, now mixed with pleasant surprise and utter disbelief. ”You’ve become a Heavenly Monarch?”

”Patriarch Gongsun, long time no see,” Shen Mo replied with a faint smile.

This white-bearded elder was Gongsun Jiuru, the Supreme Elder of the Riverside Sect. Along with him, Yang Xuan and several other cultivators from The Four Great Sects had also been brought back by Shen Mo to Green Cloud Cave.

...

The return of Gongsun Jiuru and the others instantly caused a sensation throughout the Red Flame Sect.

After all, they had become trapped in an Outer Zone while gathering intelligence on the Heavenly Demon Realm and were considered to have earned great merit for the Red Flame Zone.

Not long after the Heavenly Demons began their full-scale invasion of the Red Flame Zone, the Five Great Sects had each dispatched a Supreme Elder, along with powerful Spirit Sea Realm cultivators, to enter the Heavenly Demon Realm through a demonic passage.

Later, the universe underwent drastic changes. The Primordial Realm drifted away from the Universe Tree, completely severing its connection with the Heavenly Demon Realm...

Everyone had assumed Gongsun Jiuru and the others were trapped in the Heavenly Demon Realm. Little did they know, they had already returned to the Primordial Realm through the demonic passage before the cataclysm, entering other domains. However, because the distance was too great, even Sound Transmission Talismans couldn’t convey news of them.

While traversing the Heavenly Demon Realm, they were hunted by a large number of Heavenly Demons, and more than half of them perished.

The Golden Core Realm cultivators from the Heaven Sword Sect, Ghost Corpse School, and Seven Stars Altar had all died in the Heavenly Demon Realm. Only Gongsun Jiuru and Gu Xialan from the Profound Moon School survived, along with merely five Spirit Sea Realm cultivators, including Yang Xuan.

After immense difficulty, they found a new realm, only to discover it had already been conquered by Heavenly Demons, with only a few hundred thousand immortals and mortals left defending the last human city.

Gongsun Jiuru and the others then entered this isolated city.

However, most cultivation resources, such as spirit gold mines, medicinal plants, and extraordinary demonic beasts, were located outside the city, leading to an extreme scarcity of resources within. Coupled with the ceaseless attacks from the Heavenly Demons, the lives of mortals and cultivators in the city were exceptionally harsh; even the two Golden Core Realm powerhouses, Gongsun Jiuru and Gu Xialan, were no exception.

If not for the subsequent severing of the passage, they would likely have already become blood food for the Heavenly Demons or been Demon-corrupted and transformed into mutated Heavenly Demons.

They struggled bitterly for decades until today, when Shen Mo retrieved them to Green Cloud Cave.

Shortly thereafter, the Red Flame Sect held a banquet to welcome back the seven returning cultivators, including Gongsun Jiuru.

Meanwhile, Deputy Sect Master Yuan Heming, acting on behalf of Shen Mo, conferred upon Gongsun Jiuru and Gu Xialan the status of Purple Robed Elders, and upon Yang Xuan and the other five Spirit Sea Realm cultivators the status of Red Robed Elders.

To this day, Yang Xuan, who had once competed with Shen Mo for the position of Green Cloud Peak Master, still hadn’t formed his Golden Core.

This wasn’t solely due to being trapped in an isolated city with scarce resources. Even in the original Riverside Sect, many peak Spirit Sea Realm cultivators had been stuck at this stage for years. Examples included Yuan Qingshi, Tang Lv, Zhou Shili, and Yuan Jing from earlier times, as well as Jin Chinian, Jiang Lingfeng, Guo Xun, Lu Ming, and Cao Ren more recently.

Looking at the current Red Flame Sect, there were even more peak Spirit Sea Realm cultivators. Forming a Golden Core required more than ordinary resources.

However, thanks to Shen Mo attaining the rank of Divine Bridge Heavenly Monarch, opening a cave paradise, integrating the cultivation world of the Red Flame Zone, and a series of other major opportunities, many peak Spirit Sea Realm cultivators showed signs of forming their Golden Cores. It was estimated that in a few years, Golden Core Realm cultivators in the Red Flame Sect would spring up like mushrooms after rain.

As for Yang Xuan, his Essence and Qi had reached their peak after the trials of competing for Peak Master, entering the Heavenly Demon Realm to gather intelligence, and being trapped in the isolated city. Now that he had entered Green Cloud Cave, cultivation resources and Core-forming blessed lands were abundant. He had a great chance to fully metamorphose and form a Golden Core.

Even though Yang Xuan was Tang Lv’s junior martial brother, Shen Mo had no intention of deliberately suppressing him.

Firstly, Shen Mo’s Path Heart had grown increasingly lofty; he wouldn’t dwell on petty old grievances. In the current Red Flame Sect, there were countless cultivators with whom he had past entanglements of gratitude or enmity. If Shen Mo were to haggle over such matters, he would never have become a Divine Bridge Heavenly Monarch.

Secondly, Yang Xuan himself had never directly clashed with him.

Even the competition for the Peak Master position had been conducted according to the sect’s rules and procedures, and after his defeat, Yang Xuan had accepted the outcome. He even volunteered to go to the Heavenly Demon Realm with Gongsun Jiuru.

If Yang Xuan were ungrateful and instead harbored resentment for Tang Lv’s death, then even if he formed a Golden Core, Shen Mo could unleash a ”Heavenly Punishment” to obliterate his soul.

...

According to Big Moro Yao, the difficulty of a forbidden land descending to another Withering Realm was not great.

However, Shen Mo had already propelled Green Cloud Cave into the ”Outer Void,” journeying toward the ”Immortal Realm” for over half a month, yet he still couldn’t reach it.

Perhaps it was because the ”Immortal Realm” still hung from the branches of the Universe Tree. Compared to the jumbled and overlapping Withering Realms, it existed, in a sense, in a higher and more distant dimension. That was why descending into it was not as effortless as descending into other Withering Realms.

Reaching the latter was like walking on flat ground, while journeying to the ”Immortal Realm” was akin to scaling a mountain of immense height.

Time continued to pass; in the blink of an eye, another half a month went by.

Shen Mo’s Mana was depleted to a critical point. Even with the continuous supply of pure Spiritual Qi from the Fairyland, it couldn’t keep up with his expenditure.

In just over a month, the Spiritual Qi density within the entire Green Cloud Cave had decreased by a full ten percent.

A cave paradise is like a miniature world, constantly drawing ambient energy and Spiritual Qi from the void. Theoretically, as long as this miniature world remained intact, undecayed, and had not fallen into the mortal realm, its Spiritual Qi should be inexhaustible.

However, Shen Mo’s consumption was immense. The rate at which he drew Spiritual Qi from Green Cloud Cave and refined it into the power of chaotic Yuan was terrifyingly fast. The recovery rate of nature’s spiritual energy within the Fairyland simply couldn’t match his expenditure.

A slight thinning of the Spiritual Qi within the Fairyland wasn’t a major issue in itself.

But if this continued, the consequences were unforeseeable.

At this moment, Shen Mo felt as if he were pushing a colossal stone sphere, relentlessly striving to roll it to the summit of an immensely high mountain.

If his strength gave out, the stone sphere, as it rolled back down, would not only crash towards him with overwhelming force but also crush him beneath it...

If the power of chaotic Yuan in his body were completely depleted, Shen Mo would lose the ability to guide Green Cloud Cave’s descent into the ”Immortal Realm.” The Fairyland would instantly plummet into the deepest recesses of the ”Outer Void.” He, too, would be caught in the Fairyland’s fall. The lightest consequence would be injury and a regression in his cultivation level; the gravest, the loss of his life.

Furthermore, once the Fairyland began its fall, it would be far more terrifying than a stone sphere rolling down a mountain. Even if Shen Mo recovered to his peak state, he would be powerless to reverse the situation and could only descend into the endless abyss along with it.

I can’t hold on any longer! I must find a Withering Realm to descend to first and rest for a while!

「The next instant.」

Shen Mo focused his divine sense on the nearest dim star. Propelling Green Cloud Cave, he violently steered it to crash into this Withering Realm.