Chapter 1483: Gray Era Grand Ceremony

The supreme being in the abyss sighed. He ultimately did not put down the conch, but instead blew it long and hard towards the sky. The sound that emanated was terrifying, as if it had purged ancient and modern times.

However, just before he started, he had also let out a sigh, full of desolation, helplessness, and a hint of chill. It contained an extremely complex mix of emotions.

Such a being, proclaimed as supreme, how many rivals could it possibly have across all heavens and myriad realms? That it would show such weariness was shocking!

"My destiny is determined by Heaven, not by me!"

Hidden within the words was chilling information, which first made Jiudaozi and the others stare blankly, and then feel their scalps tingle. It was truly unimaginable.

The cocoon remained silent, as if it agreed with a certain point of view.

“Woooo…”

The conch was blown continuously, emitting thirteen kinds of divine light. In an instant, its sound resonated through all heavens, disturbing the dead silence of the ancient netherworld, agitating the tranquility of the Heavenly Emperor's Burial Pit, and stirring up the dust among the Four Extremities Drifting Earth.

At this moment, the myriad realms were struck with terror.

The conch emitted a low, wailing sound, which was neither piercing nor dull, but rather very unique. It was like an ancestral immortal softly chanting, or an ancestral devil muttering under its breath. Upon first hearing it, one felt as though they could comprehend the supreme Great Dao!

Yet, in an instant, this sound made one feel as if they would explode. Even incredibly powerful beings suffered splitting headaches, and their bodies threatened to crack apart instantly. One could see chains of the Great Dao appearing one after another between heaven and earth, snapping and breaking with crackling sounds. The scene was incredibly terrifying. It was as if the world was being destroyed, all rules were about to be obliterated, and an era seemed to be ending!

Indeed, far away in other realms, many old monsters felt their hair stand on end, seized by terror. Their entire bodies broke out in goosebumps as they trembled, asking, "Is it starting? Will the great era be submerged?"

Not to mention at the source of the event, here at the end of the Soul River, the terror was boundless. Even powerful beings like Jiudaozi, the Dog Emperor, and the Corpse stumbled backward, nearly falling flat on their backs. Li and the bald man were no exception. The master of the Black Institute was bleeding from all seven orifices, his body glowing as if he were being sacrificed and on the verge of death.

This was the result of protection from the Emperor Bell and the battle spear, especially as the shattered Emperor Bell hummed, its runes filling the sky, forming a complete, crystalline "Dao Bell" which descended and enveloped everyone beneath it. This finally averted the tragic death of the Black Institute's master.

However, the conch's sound grew even grander, causing the Emperor Bell to hum continuously, and someone inside the brilliant bell shield coughed up blood again.

Chu Feng stepped forward without hesitation, blocking the front and separating the others from the abyss. The golden patterns beneath his feet blocked the special Great Dao ripples vibrating from the conch.

Downstream of the Soul River, the stone tablet grew even more brilliant. The inscriptions, left by an unknown era, here transformed into the most dazzling beams of light, interweaving into an increasingly clear and tangible platform.

Above it, a blurry figure seemed to appear in a trance. In reality, only a pair of feet was visible there. As for the body, it was invisible and intangible, yet it gave off a feeling as if a mighty expert stood across ancient and modern times, existing in all dimensions! He seemed to truly be coalescing into a form and manifesting here!

Beneath the abyss, the supreme being coughed up a mouthful of blood and suddenly looked up. His old wounds continuously tore open, blood overflowed from his mouth and nose, and even from his ears and eyes, black blood flowed out. His heart pounded violently as he gazed at the platform constructed from crystalline runes, staring intently at it. Although others could not see or touch it, he possessed supreme divine perception, allowing him to discern certain primal truths and ultimate realities.

“Is he truly returning?”

His mind and spirit trembled. As a supreme being, he should not possess such emotions; he ought to be dispassionate and indifferent, looking down upon eternal time and space, watching star seas turn to dust and universes wither. Yet now, he felt those primal emotions characteristic of the earliest flesh-and-blood beings, which he considered primitive. He was horrified. Was he, after all, merely one of the myriad living beings? Was he no different from billions of creatures?

But from ancient times to the present, beings from all realms had been like ants in his eyes. How could he be on par with them?

Standing in the abyss, he whispered, "Fake. It can't possibly be his true form. This is merely a method he left behind. Let's shatter the platform, destroy the coordinates, and prevent his departed true form from observing this world!"

“Do not act rashly anymore. Wait for him to become quiet on his own. Even if the stone tablet is a coordinate, we cannot destroy it.” A voice came from the cocoon, which emanated over a dozen divine halos. It was extremely cautious and solemn.

“But I feel that if we don't stop him now, he might truly return.” In the abyss, the supreme being revealed part of its true appearance: a humanoid torso with eight heads, flickering in and out of sight within the chaotic mist. One or two epochs ago, he was revered as the Eight-Headed Supreme. It was unknown what kind of creature he had evolved from. A six-headed beast in the Soul River was one of his descendants. The Eight-Headed Supreme gravely suspected that individual had been gone too long; if he could find his way back, he would certainly return at all costs!

The cocoon spoke in a deep voice, “Listen to me. Do not think or ponder; then all will be well. Otherwise, you are currently severely wounded, and my transformation is incomplete. If we instigate conflict, something will definitely go wrong!”

At this moment, on the platform, the visible pair of feet became even clearer, and even above the azure sky, a 'Great Dao Pool' seemed to vaguely appear, with chaotic lightning flashing across it, threatening to tear apart myriad universes. Something was about to descend.

Who was the most agitated at this moment? Jiudaozi! After his splitting headache subsided, he straightened his back, his lips trembling, and he murmured, calling out something in an ancient language incomprehensible to ordinary people. He seemed to be praying, or perhaps narrating, telling that individual what had transpired over the past several epochs.

At this point, the Eight-Headed Supreme once again grasped the conch. He stared at the crystalline rune platform, feeling a perpetual chill down his spine. After a brief silence, he spoke, “There's no choice. My destiny is Heaven's, not my own. Perhaps it's time to usher in a new epoch. I think… they should be arriving soon.”

As he spoke, something indeed appeared. A blurry ancient path, carrying an aura of ancient desolation, stretched from afar, piercing through the void to reach this place. This was a reincarnation path, connecting to—the ancient netherworld. It had appeared briefly not long ago, but had ultimately vanished. Moreover, now it was clearer than before.

On the ancient path, the boundless darkness and the dense ominous substance originated from the true—Netherworld!

Chu Feng's pupils contracted. What did he see? At the end of that ancient reincarnation path, there were colossal, inexplicable giants and countless gods and devils, their eyes hollow, like corpses, yet they were moving. They were excavating, expanding the road. Furthermore, he also saw a cold, desolate eye, like a massive planet, suspended in that void and dead silence. This sight was by no means unfamiliar to Chu Feng. He had seen it before!

In the past, he had seen it in a spatial rift in a foreign land. Were there such paths and such eyeballs everywhere? Back then, he and a group of geniuses from the Lesser Netherworld had entered that foreign land from the Great Dream Pure Land for experience, and had been corroded by grey substance and entangled by ominousness. When they finally left, everyone lost their memories. Only Chu Feng retained his memories thanks to the stone jar. On the way back, he had seen an eyeball and a special reincarnation path where countless towering gods and devils were excavating.

“Now, everything lines up.” His heart trembled. Back then, that path being excavated must have been related to the ancient netherworld. For endless ages, the ancient netherworld that Jiudaozi spoke of, from before the Era of Emperors' Fall, had actually been continuously expanding and had never truly gone silent!

However, that grey substance, that ominous aura, seemed not to belong to the ancient netherworld.

“Right, whether it's the Soul River, the Heavenly Emperor's Burial Pit, and so on, all are connected by ancient paths, transmitting information via the ancient netherworld's routes?” Chu Feng was greatly shaken internally.

On the ancient reincarnation path, emitting the aura of a supreme being, a creature approached from afar, moving with extreme speed. In a blink of an eye, it arrived from hundreds of millions of miles away, or even from countless great realms away! An ominous creature, shrouded entirely in darkness and bearing a sinister, baleful aura, appeared, stepping out from the ancient reincarnation path.

Almost simultaneously, another blurry path appeared, and a monster from the Heavenly Emperor's Burial Pit arrived, crawling out from that ancient burial pit. It was terrifying, its entire body enveloped in blood mist, a thousand times more hideous than a vengeful spirit, more chilling than a Great Universe-level unspeakable being, truly indescribable. Legend has it that the Heavenly Emperor's Burial Pit is exceedingly bizarre, and the monsters that crawl out from it have immeasurably profound origins. They are incredibly formidable.

At this point, the Martial Lunatic revealed a strange expression. According to legend, the progenitor of their lineage might have crawled out from that mysterious source! But why did he not sense a similar aura between them? Were the legends untrustworthy?!

“Whoosh!”

A strong wind suddenly appeared. This was strange; how could such a bizarre wind exist by the Soul River? Yet it was truly present. Finally, people saw a dim path connecting to an unknown place. The strong wind blew from there, kicking up vast amounts of ash and terrifying dust. It resembled bone ash, or the pulverized remains of unnameable beings!

At this moment, Li spoke, his voice cold, his gaze like lightning, saying, “It's connected to the Four Extremities Drifting Earth!” This made Chu Feng's heart tremble. That place had actually appeared too. Were creatures coming from there?

One should know that place was terrifyingly eerie. Back then, he had first learned of its existence through the Temporal Furnace and heard a segment of words: “Those whom Heaven finds hard to bury are interred among the Four Extremities Drifting Earth, using yin and yang as fuel, drawing upon the fires of the Great Void…”

At that time, Chu Feng felt something was very wrong. Because at that time, after the sound echoed, when he observed inside the stone jar, he actually saw black handprints appear on his body, which was truly chilling.

“Back then, they really thought highly of me. Undying monsters beneath the Four Extremities Drifting Earth cursed me, huh!” Li spoke. This was tantamount to revealing part of the truth about what had happened to him back then. In prehistoric times, he had also obtained the Temporal Furnace. It was said that item was ominous, and its owners never met a good end. Ultimately, Li, the Black Hand, indeed did not escape his unfortunate fate. However, he was ultimately extraordinary and reappeared in the world.

No creatures emerged from the Four Extremities Drifting Earth, only a strong wind blew along a blurry tunnel, carrying dust and ash, bone-chillingly eerie. Vaguely, people perceived that this Four Extremities Drifting Earth seemed even more terrifying and more mysterious than the other places.

“So it was that cremation furnace causing trouble,” Jiudaozi glanced at Li and spoke thus. Then, staring at the path manifested by the Four Extremities Drifting Earth, he added, “They should all be incinerated to ashes! If they're not thoroughly burned, they'll always try to stir up trouble!”

Such words filled people with both terror and speechlessness. What exactly were those things beneath the so-called Four Extremities Drifting Earth?! Those whom Heaven finds hard to bury, were they one or more corpses that should be cremated?! Did he or they belong to what era, come from where, and what were their origins?!

Today, Chu Feng's knowledge expanded. In a brief moment, he learned some secrets. Now, beings had arrived from the ancient netherworld, monsters had crawled out from the Heavenly Emperor's Burial Pit, and even the Four Extremities Drifting Earth was blowing out a sinister wind, truly shocking the world.

Chu Feng recalled some of the scenes he had seen on the stone jar when it glowed. In that incredibly ancient era, there were ultimate beings and emperors who were forcibly dragged away or pulled underground, leaving only pools of blood on the earth. Were these… all the work of the eerie sources and the supremely powerful ominous beings?!

Today, he wanted to see clearly. Were all these places about to converge?

However, the beings from the major eerie sources that were terrifying beyond measure in his eyes, and had awed the myriad realms for untold epochs, were now surprisingly silent. Upon seeing the stone tablet and the pair of feet, they were visibly moved, and even the paths beneath their feet rumbled, threatening to break.

“You should not have blown the conch to summon us.” The creature entirely shrouded in darkness from the ancient netherworld spoke.

“I had no choice but to summon you,” the Eight-Headed Supreme said in a deep voice. “I feel that this coordinate is sending out a message, and one day, that individual will return because of it.”

Boom!

At the stone tablet, runes filled the sky, converging. On the constructed platform, the pair of feet became even more tangible. It seemed one could sense a person coalescing there.

“Let him quiet down on his own. We must not act rashly anymore. Let's go!” The creature from the ancient netherworld spoke.

“Roar!” At the same time, the monster from the Heavenly Emperor's Burial Pit also roared and surprisingly, also intended to retreat.

“This is beyond our control,” the Eight-Headed Supreme lowed. “Sense it carefully yourselves. I believe my primal intuition is not wrong.”

At this moment, there seemed to be a response from the unseen depths: where there is thought, there must be a response! From somewhere in the endless outer domains, an unknown place, eyes like lightning appeared, and a Great Dao Pool spilled divine light, like the strongest heavenly tribulation since the dawn of creation, falling upon the Soul River. It actually covered several supreme beings!

“Go!”

In an instant, they all changed color. They did not resist, but instead retreated completely, moving in unison. They delved deep into the great abyss, then pierced through chaos, and appeared in an unfathomable realm.

Even so, the Eight-Headed Supreme was coughing up blood, his old wounds flaring up. His entire body was covered in blood. The creature from the ancient netherworld, its body covered in dissipating dark aura, continuously retreated, leaving trails of black blood on the ground.

“Is he really returning? I feel that he is indeed coalescing!” Even the monster from the Heavenly Emperor's Burial Pit spoke this way. They were all shaken.

“No,” a voice came from the cocoon. “If that individual's true form could return swiftly, it would never be like this.”

From the Four Extremities Drifting Earth, words drifted with the sinister wind, saying, “That individual once roamed through various times and spaces, manifesting in different eras. What we are experiencing now is merely the aura he left behind then, coalescing now, but ultimately, it is not him!”

However, there were still some among them who felt that one day, that individual would reappear and would eventually return!

“For now,” someone spoke, “don't overthink it. Let him subside on his own. Otherwise, we might be inadvertently guiding him back, helping him on his way home!”

“In that case,” the creature from the ancient netherworld was very assertive, “let's enter that place and offer sacrifices to Heaven, to see what the future holds and how we should proceed. I think, perhaps, it's time to usher in a new epoch!”

Ultimately, they vanished, aided by special artifacts, entering a blurry realm, and began a certain ritual, setting up an ancient altar.

Boom!

Heaven and earth shattered, and blood-red light engulfed everything. Fortunately, this place was truly isolated from the world, transcending all heavens and myriad realms. All sounds and sights were confined to this location.

A yellow paper was burning, drifting down from the sky. The Eight-Headed Supreme's gaze was profound. He quickly acted, catching the remnant paper that was about to turn to ash.

“A new epoch is about to begin. Everything should end now. This time, it's the Great Grey Sacrifice!” He looked down at the yellow paper, his voice flat, but tinged with a tremor.

“Indeed, the Grey Epoch has arrived!” The creature from the ancient netherworld spoke.

“Once the aura left by that individual outside recedes, naturally dissipates, and completely returns to silence, we will begin!” said the Eight-Headed Supreme.

“All will come to an end. The Great Grey Sacrifice has finally arrived!” Even from the relatively calm cocoon, such a voice emerged.