Chapter 114: Reunited with the Woodcarving, A Palm Print Three Feet Overhead
Chapter 114 – Reunited with the Woodcarving, A Palm Print Three Feet Overhead
Seeing the unwavering support from the three before him, Chen Changsheng felt no surprise.
Had he doubted their loyalty, he would never have revealed his greatest secret.
“Enough of that. We can discuss these matters later.”
“You three need to focus on your own foundations. Seize this time to consolidate your cultivation bases and restore your peak conditions.”
“I shall go instruct those youngsters outside. Though their actions remain somewhat clownish and immature, they show a passable aptitude.”
“I have a premonition. A storm of unprecedented magnitude is brewing.”
Hearing Chen Changsheng’s solemn tone, Song Yuanshan frowned in confusion. “What kind of storm?”
“I cannot say for certain, but a persistent shadow of unease lingers in my Dao Heart.”
“The Eastern Wasteland, Southern Plains, Northern Desert, Middle Heavens, and Western Continent—these five great regions encompass the entirety of our vast realm.”
“Yet, at this Heavenly Talent Assembly, the geniuses of the Western Continent have utterly failed to show themselves. It is deeply unnatural.”
Zuo Xinghe pondered this before speaking up. “The Western Continent is the ancestral gathering ground of the demon race. It stands to reason they would shun a Heavenly Talent Assembly hosted by humans.”
“That is the surface logic, but the reality of the Dao is rarely so simple.”
“It is true the demon race dominates the Western Continent, yet that does not mean the land is utterly devoid of humanity.”
“Just as the Eastern Wasteland harbors the Night Moon Country, human enclaves exist there—it is merely a difference in scale.”
“The Middle Heavens sits at the nexus of the other four great domains, tightly bound by the karmic threads of countless sovereign factions.”
“Demons and humans are indeed of different bloodlines, but we are not locked in an endless blood-feud.”
“Even as a mere formality, the Western Continent ought to have dispatched at least a token delegation.”
“Yet, forget seeing a single silhouette—I have not even caught whispers on the wind regarding their talents. Do you not see the profound anomaly in this?”
Digesting Chen Changsheng’s words, the trio finally sensed the chilling undercurrent of his logic.
A grim light flashed in Song Yuanshan’s eyes. “Big Brother Changsheng, what is your deduction?”
“I have no firm deduction. My current grasp of the heavenly truths remains far too shallow.”
“The very concept of the ‘Heaven’s Mandate’ is entirely new to my ears. The shifting of the Heaven and Earth’s laws has triggered a resonance far more cataclysmic than I anticipated.”
“I now harbor grave suspicions that the descent of this Heaven’s Mandate will act as bait, dragging primordial horrors from their slumber.”
The blood instantly drained from the faces of his three companions.
The colossal palm depicted within the Bronze Ancient Hall, the sovereign dread lurking deep within the Desolate Ancient Forbidden Land—any one of these entities carried enough ruinous weight to shatter a cultivator’s soul.
Should such ancient taboos break free, the entire cultivation world would be drowned in an apocalyptic sea of blood!
Narrowing his ageless eyes, Chen Changsheng turned toward a deeply grim Zuo Xinghe. “The Desolate Ancient Forbidden Land falls squarely within the borders of the Xuanwu Kingdom.”
“Has its aura grown restless as of late?”
Confronted by the old monster’s piercing gaze, Zuo Xinghe drew a long, ragged breath before exhaling heavily.
“A mortal woodcutter claimed to have witnessed a burial coffin tear through the heavens above the mountain ranges.”
“Its exact origin point was obscured by the mists, but its trajectory hurled straight toward the Desolate Ancient Forbidden Land.”
“Since that lowly mortal stood thousands of miles away from the forbidden zone, I dismissed any connection between a mere flying coffin and such a ruinous domain.”
“If you sweep through the ancient annals of the Xuanwu Kingdom, not a single living soul has ever walked out of the Desolate Ancient Forbidden Land.”
“But hearing your words now… that coffin very well might have birthed itself from within the forbidden depths.”
The corner of Chen Changsheng’s mouth gave a cynical, imperceptible twitch.
“There is no shortage of nightmarish realms mirroring the Desolate Ancient Forbidden Land across this world. The Sacred Ruins of the Middle Heavens is another such burial ground.”
“If the Desolate Ancient Forbidden Land is stirring from its long slumber, it stands to reason the other forbidden zones are beginning to awaken.”
“The karmic threads of this era are tying themselves into a deeply irritating knot.”
Shifting his focus, Chen Changsheng cast a sweeping glance over Wan Yan Yue and Song Yuanshan.
“What of your domain?”
“Do not tell me the foundation of your territory has also started to rot.”
Wan Yan Yue’s breath caught in her throat. She hesitated, a fleeting shadow crossing her elegant features before she spoke.
“The Inauspicious Energy sealed beneath the Bronze Ancient Hall has remained unnervingly dormant for nearly a century.”
“Yet, three years ago, a palm print was violently branded into the walls of the Bronze Ancient Hall.”
Chen Changsheng: !!!
The ancient indifference vanished from Chen Changsheng’s eyes, and he shot to his feet, his aura inadvertently rippling through the room.
“Whose hand forged that mark?”
“We do not know.”
“How could you possibly not know?”
“Ever since Yi Xiu fell, the Night Moon Country has layered countless protective formations over the Bronze Ancient Hall.”
“You and Yuanshan yourselves stood as sentinels over that unholy ground.”
“With your combined cultivation bases, I will not claim you are unmatched under the heavens, but you undoubtedly stand at the very pinnacle of the current era.”
Catching the rare flash of agitation in his eyes, Wan Yan Yue replied with icy calm, “We did not take turns. The two of us maintained an eternal vigil, physically anchoring the Bronze Ancient Hall.”
“During that period, your Senior Brother and I were deeply immersed in deducing the future paths of our Dao.”
“Yet, upon severing my connection to the Heavens one afternoon, a fresh palm print had materialized upon the ancient bronze wall.”
“My seclusion had been terrifyingly brief—a mere span of two hours.”
“And the desecrated wall stood a scant twenty paces from where I sat.”
“Your Senior Brother was in even greater peril. He had been resting his back against that very surface; the palm strike was branded a mere three feet above his crown.”
A primordial coldness swept down the length of Chen Changsheng’s spine.
“Yuanshan, were your senses also submerged in the Dao?”
“No. I was poring over ruined scrolls, attempting to pry open the secrets of a new cultivation paradigm.”
“Had the Wolf Emperor not released a warning howl, I would have remained entirely oblivious to the lethal brand appearing inches from my skull.”
“Furthermore, a physical artifact was embedded beside the imprint.”
With a flip of his wrist, Song Yuanshan produced an ink rubbing of the palm strike alongside a weathered wooden carving.
The instant his gaze locked onto the woodcarving, Chen Changsheng froze as if struck by heavenly lightning.
It was the very same woodcarving—the first sacred token he had ever whittled for Niansheng upon her seventh mortal winter.
Tracking the seismic shift in his composure, Wan Yan Yue narrowed her eyes. “Do you recognize this relic?”
“I do. Of course I do. I severed the wood and shaped its soul with my own two hands.”
“Beneath the vast expanse of the Heavens, I alone possess the Dao-charm to craft such an artifact.”
With heavy silence, Chen Changsheng extended his hand, absorbing both the carving and the parchment rubbing from Song Yuanshan’s grasp.
He reverently secured the woodcarving within his robes before summoning forth a parchment of his own—bearing an identical, soul-crushing palm print.
Watching Chen Changsheng unveil the exact same terrifying brand, Zuo Xinghe felt his primordial spirit nearly fracture in shock.
“Sir, how could you possibly possess the same demonic mark?”
“Could the sovereign who unleashed this palm strike also be a peer of yours?”
Chen Changsheng read the trembling fear in Zuo Xinghe’s eyes effortlessly, but he lacked the patience to weave comforting lies.
“The owner of the woodcarving is an old friend from a bygone era. As for the architect of this palm strike, their identity remains a void.”
“The martial will behind the palm and the spiritual resonance of the carving do not belong to the same sovereign.”
“I peeled this particular rubbing from the walls of an entirely different Bronze Ancient Hall.”
“When I discovered it, the Inauspicious Energy sealed beneath the foundations had long been eradicated. Beside the cratered palm mark, a single sentence was etched into the metal.”
“The decree read: ‘A supreme calamity has been severed. Let the myriad realms rejoice.’”
Watching Chen Changsheng hyper-focus on the contrasting Dao-rhythms of the two rubbings, Song Yuanshan finally voiced his burning curiosity. “Big Brother Changsheng, where exactly did you unearth that secondary Bronze Ancient Hall?”
“Within the ancestral lands of Wu Li.”
“Based on the fragments of destiny I’ve pierced together, Wu Li’s bloodline was forged for the sole purpose of standing eternal guard over that hall.”
“Yet, beneath the crushing weight of the passing epochs, his clan’s spiritual inheritance withered to ash.”
“In that era, I was forced to invoke an archaic Dao-array to tear Wu Li away from his dying homeland.”
“But even with centuries of reflection, I have never been able to divine which of our five great continents actually houses his birthplace.”
“The primordial boundaries of this world stretch infinitely further than our mortal minds dare to comprehend.”