Even so, he still wanted to do something.
Upon learning of his decision, Fu Yangxu aged considerably in an instant. His face was streaked with tears, and his eyes held a painful mix of love and hate. "Go," he murmured. "If only... if only back then..."
What if...? What if he hadn't met Zhaoling... What if he hadn't come to the Witch Clan Ruins...?
In the end, even after countless hypotheses, he could not find a way to resolve the current predicament that would satisfy both sides.
He did not stop it, nor could he stop it.
As Fu Mingxu turned and disappeared, Fu Yangxu burst into tears.
In the dark days of the world, mortals lived in fear and trembling. After cultivators could no longer cultivate, they spent their days in joy in the early stages, but eventually they became numb and idle.
With the Six Paths of Reincarnation no longer existing, no new life has been born on the entire Cangling Continent.
During that year, Fu Mingxu made many friends and witnessed the loss of sparkle in their eyes. He even knew that You Shu was secretly cultivating with demonic energy behind Shen Ange's back, hoping to use demonic methods to help Shen Ange ascend to immortality.
With the Six Paths of Reincarnation no longer existing, no new life has been born on the entire Cangling Continent.
When Fu Mingxu saw Fu Baobao secretly hiding the fallen scales, just like his father, he knew that his plan could not wait any longer.
He didn't avoid anyone, nor did he show any unusual behavior. Even the night before, he was still joking and bickering with Han Tao as usual.
He simply chose a time when Hantao was reinforcing the restrictions, and returned to the high platform where he had traced back to his origin. Standing beside the withered pine tree, he stared intently at the dark sky.
He didn't know if he would die, but he knew that Han Tao would definitely not agree to what he was doing.
But there's no way to change it now.
If he could, he would be willing to embrace Han Tao until the end of time.
Fu Mingxu opened his arms, revealing a black crescent moon mark on his forehead.
"Let's begin," he said to himself, as if encouraging himself.
He parted his lips slightly and began to sing the oldest song recorded in his bloodline.
No one knows that this song exists only in his lineage, as if he knew everything that happened today thousands of years ago. In the ancient times, he placed this song, which contains the purest rules of heaven and earth, in the deepest part of his bloodline, silently waiting for it to be awakened one day in the future.
The wind began to stir in the quiet night.
The chaotic energy surged from his dantian along with the song, transforming into a gentle rain that nourished the earth.
This is a sacrificial song, in which the speaker offers themselves as a sacrifice to heaven and earth in exchange for the reopening of heaven and earth.
Power from millions of years ago was helping the Azure Spirit Heavenly Dao awaken. On the distant horizon, Han Tao paused in reinforcing the restrictions, then his expression changed drastically, and he flew towards the Heavenly Profound Sect at the fastest speed he had ever traveled in his life.
He heard singing, a voice he recognized.
He saw a golden sun leap up from the direction of the Tianxuan Sect, illuminating the earth with its own dragon aura.
The Candlelight can create all things, the Chaos Qi is the breath of the beginning of heaven and earth, and the Dragon Flame, being of the highest yang, can replace the Golden Crow under the permission of the laws of heaven and earth.
Light returned to the world, and with the perfection of the laws of heaven and earth, the Dao of Heaven was reawakened and gained power.
The primordial chaos transformed into spring rain, breaking down demonic and spiritual energies. Just as the world was first created, the purest spiritual and demonic energies were continuously generated.
The first new shoot finally sprouted from the barren land.
The rain has stopped and the wind has died down, and the sun shines brightly for miles.
When the nine chains pierced through his flesh again, the intense pain made Fu Mingxu suddenly look up.
All of this happened in the blink of an eye; all the people with blank stares didn't know what had happened and forgot to react.
"No!" A dragon's roar echoed through the sky, awakening everyone's senses.
The dragon's roar was so mournful, carrying an undeniable chill.
Han Tao only managed to grasp a wisp of dissipating breeze before his heart was filled with resentment and regret, and his demonic spirit began to stir restlessly.
Fu Mingxu's voice lingered in his ears on the wind.
"Hantao".
"You must not fall into demonic ways."
"Don't cry for too long."
"Take good care of Fu Baobao."
"Get stronger, ascend to the upper realm, and then crush them!"
The blue hair ribbon, held down by the Heaven and Earth Mirror, swayed gently in the warm spring breeze, as if offering comfort.
Han Tao never imagined that he would lose Fu Mingxu in this way. He couldn't even be sure whether his lover had gone to the upper realm or disappeared completely from the world.
He did not fall into demonic possession; he simply picked up the hairband and the Heaven and Earth Mirror in silence after a long time, his gaze falling on the horizon devoid of any emotion.
A note from the author:
Waaaaah... I'm crying now...
Chapter 108
Several major events have occurred on the Cangling Continent over the past thousand years, but only three are truly memorable. One is that the Heavenly Ladder was inexplicably severed a thousand years ago, preventing anyone from ascending. Another is that the laws of heaven and earth collapsed a thousand years later, and the Six Paths of Reincarnation disappeared amidst rampant demonic energy, plunging the world into complete darkness.
The last thing was that Fu Mingxu used his own bloodline as the foundation and his soul as a sacrifice to reopen the gates of heaven and earth.
The Heavenly Ladder reappeared, the laws of heaven and earth were perfected once again, the darkness between heaven and earth was swept away, and from then on, the three thousand Great Daos of the Azure Continent returned once more.
Many people, without even knowing what had happened, returned from a state of despair and helplessness to a world full of hope.
This cataclysmic upheaval completely altered the landscape of the Cangling Continent. The former Demon Realm vanished, replaced by the Demon Realm where orthodox demonic cultivation could lead to ascension. The new Demon Lord was a woman named You Shu. Legend has it that she had a close friend among humans, and the two often traveled the vast ocean together. As a result, the Demon Realm under her leadership lived in great harmony with the human race.
Many of the immortal sects of the human race disintegrated during the events that unfolded. Apart from a few small sects, the remaining ones were the three-way rivalry between the Tianyan Sect, the Sword Sect, and the Tianxuan Sect, with the Tianyan Sect at the forefront.
No more than ten years after the heavens and earth reopened, the first calamity of heaven, brought about by the restoration of the Heavenly Ladder, arrived with immense force.
The one undergoing the tribulation was none other than Han Tao, who became the Lord of the Cangling Continent. He did not belong to any sect, and even transcended the realm of the Dragon Clan, becoming the supreme ruler of both the human and demon realms with absolute strength and prestige.
However, he rarely got involved in affairs, spending his days in his former city lord's mansion, focusing on cultivation, with only Han Zhengzhi silently protecting him.
It was common knowledge that Fu Mingxu was his Daoist partner, and the major sects dared not bother him too much unless it was a very important matter that required his attention.
The expressions of ordinary people were more direct. It is unknown who spread the story that he had removed demonic energy from ordinary people and that he was once an ordinary person. Many ordinary people gradually changed from worshipping his memorial tablet to making golden statues of him, building temples and offering incense.
This trend even spread to the cultivation world. In Yunhan City, a thriving temple stands next to the former city lord's mansion.
At this moment, even with lightning flashing and thunder roaring in the sky, the temple remained unmoved, steadily falling within the range of the tribulation lightning.
Besides the dragon aura above the temple, even the tribulation lightning struck down by the Heavenly Dao seemed afraid to damage it. Therefore, Fu Yangxu, Si Yang, Qi Muyuan, Dao Heng, Zhang Anran, Li Chixue, and others unanimously chose this place as the best spot to witness the first tribulation in a thousand years.
Thick, heavy clouds rolled across the sky, interspersed with dozens of bolts of lightning, their purple and red flashes illuminating the entire heavens.
Amidst the rising winds and swirling sand and gravel, a golden dragon soared into the sky.
As the mighty dragon roar landed, nine bolts of tribulation lightning struck the dragon's body simultaneously, creating a terrifying spectacle.
"Aren't there too many tribulation lightning bolts?" Zhang Anran felt a chill run down his spine.
As he spoke, Han Tao, who had transformed into a dragon, disappeared into the clouds, and the thunder that had been so powerful just moments before suddenly weakened in sound.
But no one thought the tribulation lightning was over, after all, the ever-darkening dark clouds and the intermittent purple lightning never disappeared.
It seems like they're brewing something bigger.
“The greater the heavenly tribulation, the stronger his bloodline and talent.” Si Yang stood in the middle of the crowd, looking up without any worry on his face. “The stronger the tribulation lightning he overcomes, the more benefits he will gain when he ascends.”
Whether out of consideration for Fu Mingxu or due to Heaven's favoritism towards Han Tao, the tribulation lightning he received was naturally unique and the strongest.
As for whether he can successfully get through it, Si Yang is not worried.
The group seemed to be deep in thought after hearing his words. Li Chixue turned around and glanced at the statue behind her, as if the statue's open eyes were looking at them gently.
"He's out!" Dao Heng jumped up excitedly, completely lacking the composure expected of a sect leader. "Oh no, that tribulation lightning looks even more powerful than before!"
The world was plunged into complete darkness, with only a humanoid figure radiating golden light standing fearlessly in the sky.
He seemed to glance down, and as a thick bolt of black lightning struck, he charged straight up.
Boom!
The heavens and earth trembled. When the black tribulation lightning struck him, it produced a thunderous roar that resounded throughout the heavens and earth. The dazzling lightning was so bright that people dared not look at it.
Did he succeed?
As many cultivators watched the first tribulation in a thousand years unfold, the same question arose in their minds, and an atmosphere of tension and anticipation spread.
Suddenly, a clear bird song rang out, and a gentle, enchanting rain quietly nourished the earth.
He succeeded!
Joyful shouts rang out simultaneously, and everyone looked with delight at the clear blue sky after the rain and wind had stopped.
The Heavenly Ladder reappeared on the horizon, and they saw Han Tao stride away, leaving behind only a silhouette that seemed determined to move forward.
Inside the temple, Fu Yangxu's smile vanished. Just as Han Tao was about to disappear from the Cangling Continent, a golden light enveloped him, and then he vanished from the spot.
The extra figure on the Heavenly Ladder appeared in a flash, and many people didn't even see it clearly before they were overjoyed by the increasingly rich spiritual energy in the world.
In the distant void, the souls that had been trapped finally felt a connection to their homeland, and the "immortals" in their tombs opened their eyes.
Fu Yangxu ascended to heaven with Han Tao. Some people present realized this belatedly, and then tacitly shut their mouths and said no more.
Qi Muyuan glanced at Si Yang Xianjun silently, then went back to relearn the Dao of Sword.
The image of Han Tao overcoming the tribulation lightning with his own body left a deep impression, so much so that subsequent ascensionists silently followed suit, and over time, cultivators on the Cangling Continent developed the habit of overcoming tribulations without the aid of external objects.
Heaven and earth reopened, the golden dragon ascended, and the Cangling Continent once again entered a prosperous period of enlightenment.
...
Two major events have occurred in the Immortal Realm over the past century.
One incident occurred where the son of Prince Zhaoling of the Nine Heavens, who had been stranded in the mortal realm, ascended to heaven with a body full of merit. His ascension was so grand that it attracted the attention of the Buddhist sect, who came to snatch him away, wanting to make this young celestial prince a disciple of the Buddhist sect.
Unfortunately, it seems that this young celestial being encountered some mishap during his ascension. He fell into a coma when he appeared at the Ascension Pool and has been sleeping in the Ninth Heaven ever since.
Another thing is that the Cangling Continent, which should have been annihilated in the Three Realms long ago, has suddenly reopened its heavenly secrets. Within a hundred years after a golden dragon ascended, about a hundred people have ascended to the continent.
The Cangling Continent was just an ordinary little world among the three thousand worlds, and it was incomplete. The laws of the Heavenly Dao were gradually declining, and no one expected such a big change to occur.
Some immortals wanted to go down and find out what was going on, but they did not expect that the golden dragon that ascended was actually the dragon prince of the Eastern Void Sea Dragon Clan who had disappeared many years ago. Moreover, after ascending, he immediately defeated the other dragon lords in the clan and became the young dragon lord in a short period of time.