The Unknown Lands.
It was one of the most mysterious places besides the Secluded Paradise in the Dark Reverie.
There were a myriad of cultivators in the world, but only a small group of people were able to know of the existence of the Unknown Lands, and it was those figures with extraordinary cultivation.
It was precisely because of this that this mysterious place was called the "Unknown,' it was filled with a mysterious color.
Stomp! Stomp! Stomp!
Within a beautiful mountain range that was coiled by clouds and mist, a giant that was over 30km tall walked over step by step. Every step that descended caused the heavens and the earth to tremble like a thunderclap, and it resounded in the surroundings.
He was truly too tall, the highest mountain in the surroundings was only up to his knee, whereas the layer of clouds in the sky was only able to cover his waist. The entirety of his upper body tore through the layer of clouds and was hidden within the sea of clouds, and it was practically as if he was carrying the sky on his head as he walked.
After a short moment, the giant stopped before a short forest. There was a thatched cottage there, and an emaciated old man was squatting outside it. The old man held a iron blade in his hand and was chopping a piece of solid wood over and over again, causing it to emanate heavy chopping sounds.
A pile of bits of wood were already piled up by the side of the old man.
Amidst the bits of wood were chairs, tables, beds, bowls, ladles, and so on and so forth that had been made a long time ago, and all of them were incomplete as if they were a pile of waste products.
But the emaciated old man still worked diligently without feeling tired, and he seemed to be very interested. At this moment, he was making a wooden blade. The blade was four fingers wide and one meter long. The cracked skin of the tree it came from still remained on the surface of the wood, and it was crude to the point it simply seemed like a wooden board.
The giant sat on a mountain while his eyes that were enormous like lakes stared at the emaciated old man, and his gaze actually surfed with a wisp of worship.
"Is it done?" The emaciated old man asked without raising his head, and he was still chopping the wood over and over again, causing bits of wood to fly into the surroundings.
"Yes. Junior Sister Zhen scolded me. Master, is what we did appropriate?" The giant spoke in a booming voice. Even though his tone was flat, yet when it came from his mouth, it was like a storm that rumbled and shook the world.
The airflow from his voice blew the bits of wood on the ground all over the emaciated old man, causing him to be in an extraordinarily sorry state. He suddenly raised his head and roared loudly. "Heaven Trampler! How many times has master told you, what should you do when you speak?"
"Oh." The giant scratched his head and chucked before his figure flashed, and he swiftly transformed into a rugged and fierce 5m tall man with a robust figure, and his eyes flickered with bolts of lighting, causing him to seem extremely ferocious.
If Chen Xi was here, he would surely be able to recognize the man as the Great Sage Heaven Trampler, an extraordinary existence that was renowned throughout the three dimensions since countless years ago!
But now, he was like a obediently like a young disciple as he stood before the old man.
The emaciated old man grunted coldly when he saw this, and he said, "She'll naturally understand if it's appropriate or not after the matter passes."
Heaven Trampler sighed and squatted on the ground before he said, "Master, Little Junior Sister has already returned for so many years, yet she's always cultivating in this deserted Unknown Lands, it's truly an injustice to her."
"An injustice? Others can't even get this injustice even if they accumulate fortune for eight generations." The emaciated old man grunted coldly. As he spoke, he was still carving the solid piece of wood with the iron blade, and the shape of a wooden blade was already visible.
"Then… Why was she locked up? Isn't it just an invitation? If Bing Shitian dares to bully her, then I'll slap that bastard to death." Heaven Trampler questioned.
"You idiot, don't act stupid in front of master." The old man raised his head and glanced at Heaven Trampler. The old man's muddy eyes caused Heaven Trampler's entire body to feel uncomfortable, and he could only chuckle without end.
"Do you remember those little fellows you told me about all those years?" The old man thought for a moment and stopped what he was doing before he spoke.
"Yes, two of them were taken as disciples by the First Heaven Devil Sect's Fang Zhanmei, another was taken by the Dhyana Forest Temple's Monk of Six Senses, and two more were taken by the Saintly Land of Ascension's Huang Meiweng." Heaven Trampler spoke without thinking.
How could he be unable to remember all that? It was even to the extent that he clearly remembered the disciples Fang Zhanmei had taken were called Fan Yunlan and Zhao Qinghe.
The little fellow taken by the Monk of Six Senses was called Ling Yu instead, whereas those two little fellows taken by Huang Meiweng were called Huangfu Qingying and Fourth Young Master Zhou.
The reason he remembered it so clearly was that all these little fellows came from the same small world and even the same dynasty, so he couldn't help but be shocked.
After all, no matter if it was Fang Zhanmei, the Monk of Six Senses, or Huang Meiweng, all of them were existences at his level, yet they actually selected disciples of the Darchu Dynasty as their inheritors. This was truly too shocking.
"Exactly. Go ask those bastards what they did, and you'll understand why I locked your Little Junior Sister up." The emaciated old man spoke calmly.
"Could it be that these fellows locked up their inheritors as well and stopped them from going to see Chen Xi?" Heaven Trampler spoke with surprise. This time, he was really surprised and wasn't acting.
"Oh, you're not acting stupid in front of master any longer?" The old man rolled his eyes.
"Hehe. Master, you're merciful and benevolent, quickly clear up disciple's confusion, otherwise, I'll die of anxiousness." Heaven Trampler grinned and pleaded.
"I'm not a baldy of the Buddhist Sect, why would I be merciful and benevolent?" The old man said angrily, "You'll naturally understand all of this when I allow your Little Junior Sister to leave her place of closed door cultivation. As for now, stay here obediently. At the very least, you won't die."
Die?
Heaven Trampler was stunned and started deducing in his heart. Once one had attained his level of cultivation, even though they were unable to predict the future, they could at least predict some omens and danger.
However, the outcome of the deduction this time caused him to be shocked in his heart. He was actually unable to deduce anything because the path ahead was covered by dense mist that couldn't be seen nor grasped!
"This is…" Heaven Trampler was surprised and bewildered.
"Don't let your thoughts run wild if you don't understand anything, just stay here peacefully." The old man spoke casually.
"Then when can Junior Sister Zhen come out from closed door cultivation?" Heaven Trampler still didn't give up.
"When the Grand Dao is incomplete." The emaciated old man said something that was rather baffling before he concentrated on carving the wooden blade once more, and he didn't say another word.
Heaven Trampler gazes at the incomplete wooden chair, table, bowl, and so on and so forth that covered the ground, and he seemed to be lost in thought and faintly guessed something.
The truth will only be revealed when the Grand Dao is incomplete, this is the Heaven Dao in the eyes of Master, whereas if Junior Sister Zhen wants to leave her closed door cultivation, would she have to wait until a violent change occurs in the Heaven Dao? Wouldn't…that be the time of the upheaval of the three dimensions?
Heaven Trampler was stunned, and he fell into deep contemplation.
Such an incident similarly occurred in a few more mysterious places like the First Heaven Devil Sect, the Dhyana Forest Temple, the Saintly Land of Ascension…
The cause of all this was merely an invitation sent out by Bing Shitian.
The invitation only carried the names of Qing Xiuyi and Bing Shitian.
But to people that knew of the relationship between these two people, they knew that all of this also involved another person.
So Zhen Liuqing was forced to enter into closed door cultivation, whereas Fan Yunlan, Zhao Qinghe, Ling Yu, Huangfu Qingying, and Young Master Zhou suffered the same fate.
…
The world of stars.
Chen Xi figure moved swiftly as he executed various Dao Arts and Divine Abilities beneath the starry sky.
His face was calm and expressionless while his mind was empty, and he'd forgotten everything in his surroundings a long time ago. He'd become completely oblivious of himself and was dashing through the surroundings.
Chen Xi's clone sat cross-legged on the ground while deducing the form of various Divine Talismans.
Even though they were divided into main body and clone, the comprehensions they received were the same, but they were just separated into two minds that were doing two different things at the same time.
Flowers bloomed and wilted; spring left and autumn arrived.
50 years swiftly passed in the world of stars, whereas merely five years had passed in the outside world.
In these five years of time, too many things had occurred in the Dark Reverie, and most of it was related to the war with the Xeno-race.
Just as Chen Xi had expected, the footsteps of the Xeno-race invasion was quickening while the war was like sparks of fire that started to light up the entire Dark Reverie.
Amidst this nervous situation, the entire cultivation world of the Dark Reverie had reacted. They deployed their central forces and started to pursue and wipe out the Xeno-race troops.
As the saying goes, heroes emerge in troubled times. During these numerous battles, even though the cultivation world suffered countless casualties, yet many extremely brilliant young experts surged out into appearance, led great development, and were renowned in the world.
On the other hand, even though everyone still remembered Chen Xi, Qiu Xuanshu, Baili Yan, and the other old peerless geniuses, they'd faded from the fields of vision of everyone in these five years.
This was an era of upheaval, and there were extraordinary and shocking geniuses that were like a comet that swept through the sky every single day and became known to all.
This was also a brutal era. Perhaps those geniuses were like scorching suns in the midday sky today, yet they might perish tomorrow and not another trace of information about them could be found.
Everything changed too quickly.
Even though merely five years had passed.
…
This day was the 50th year Chen Xi entered into closed door cultivation in the world of stars, and merely five years had passed in the outside world.
Under the starry sky, Chen Xi's main body had already been deducing Dao Arts and Divine Abilities without eating or drinking for 50 years.
His movements had started to gradually become slowed. Every slap and punch he executed seemed to be dragging along a myriad of mountains as they moved, and it was filled with an obscure and condensed feeling.
It was even to the extent that Chen Xi would be silent for a long time before slowly executing a move.
But the might he exerted couldn't be compared to before. Every single move he made carried a condensed energy that struck straight towards the heart.
If Bai Jingchen was here, he was surely notice to his shock that every single attack of Chen Xi's already carried a trace of the aura of the third punch he executed that day.
Even though it was still very lacking in smoothness, but so long as Chen Xi continued practicing, it would surely undergo a qualitative transformation.
But Chen Xi didn't continue practicing today, and he instead seemed to have sensed something, causing him to suddenly withdraw his aura before his gaze flashed with an energy that was heavy like a mountain.
At the same time, his clone that wore an apricot yellow Daoist robe awoke.
Both of them glanced at each other, and they smiled silently.
In the next moment, Chen Xi's main body vanished from the world of stars.
In the sky above West Radiance Peak, a lightning cloud rumbled while a black cloud that was pitch black like ink and a white cloud that was bright and clean like snow converged together. They formed an extremely strange black and white clump of clouds, and they collided and roiled with each other.
When looked at from afar, it was like an enormous funnel hung from the sky, and it emanated an extremely terrifying energy of tribulation.
It was the Yin Yang Lightning Tribulation!