Chapter 1537: Dead World

"He's gone, yet the myriad worlds seem connected to him?!" Chu Feng grew increasingly suspicious that his earlier conjecture might hold some truth.

But he didn't want to speculate further. Too much was involved, and this place was unsafe; he worried his thoughts might trigger something.

Unfortunately, he wasn't "that person" after all. Otherwise, he would push straight through now, reach the end of the Pollen Path, and see everything clearly.

All the blood traversing time and space glowed with immense brilliance, then evaporated, moved away, and vanished.

It wasn't without change; it brought a huge impact. The extensive destruction and destructive energies of the Pollen Path were worn away, and the myriad worlds stabilized once more.

Chu Feng found that he had returned from a drop of blood, transforming into a spirit, becoming a cluster of brilliant particles forming a human shape, enveloping the stone jar.

At the same time, he realized he was moving farther and farther from his physical body. His spirit was entering a strange space—was it the world after death?

Countless battle cries once again filled his ears, echoing throughout heaven and earth.

Boom!

With a final, violent tremor, Chu Feng completely lost all sensation of his blurred physical body. He entered a completely new world.

The journey was somewhat long. When he had fully entered, the fighting had surprisingly ceased, and all the deafening battle cries had faded away.

Silence. Eerie stillness. Not a sound. It was too abrupt!

This transition was so sudden, so quick, it left him disoriented. Moments ago, battle cries had soared to the heavens, but as Chu Feng truly entered this world, all sounds vanished.

He saw the scenery.

The myriad heavens and ten thousand realms were a desolate, vivid red, like boundless, fiery clouds, the lingering remnants of a sunset.

What he saw before him was like a frozen image, utterly silent, without even a whisper of sound.

On the ground, it was a post-apocalyptic landscape.

Was this a grand battlefield left behind by history?

The earlier sounds of battle, and the prayers of ancient peoples, had long been sealed away, concealed, and completely dissipated.

On the ground, rusted weapons and skeletal remains were everywhere.

Had he arrived too late? Was everything over!

To him, it felt like only moments had passed, yet this place had undergone immense changes, countless eras rising and falling.

Many war chariots were shattered, and eerie will-o'-the-wisps burned. Great banners lay fallen on the ground, stained with defiled blood; occasionally, a corner would stir, instantly filling the air with dust.

What level were these desiccated corpses? Were there Great Universe-level beings among them?

Bodies lay haphazardly. Were there True Immortals, Immortal Kings, or even Immortal Emperors?!

The myriad heavens were deathly still, as if they had completely withered.

Heaven and earth held no vitality; everything had been shattered. Nothing could remain indestructible. Even beings that once stood supreme had collapsed, fallen, grown dim, entering eternal stillness.

Chu Feng looked up, gazing into the depths of the battlefield. He once again saw the scene at the end of the Pollen Path. This time, his memory didn't shatter; he remembered an image!

There... was someone. That being was bleeding!

He strained to look. Even in his particle state, as a spirit, he was affected, continuously recoiling. Even the stone jar rumbled, resonating with it.

At the path's end, the truth was revealed.

The being there had long hair cascading over its shoulders, obscuring its face. Its neck was fair and delicate. It lay on the ground, but it was clear that it was a woman!

Moreover, the woman seemed incredibly beautiful and moving.

Chu Feng couldn't directly face it. He could only manage such a hurried glance before his own spirit threatened to collapse again.

All the light particles attached to the stone jar. He was no longer in human form, and then he fell to the ground.

Silence returned to the area.

As for the end of the Pollen Path, large quantities of particles also rose there, like fireflies dancing or glowing petals fluttering, crystalline and beautiful.

They obscured the woman's form.

As for the greater truth, it remained unseen from beginning to end.

Furthermore, around Chu Feng, within this desolate battlefield, there was now movement; it was no longer deathly still.

From the battlefield's soil, even from the dust, countless specks of light drifted up, very crystalline, like stars in the night sky, or glittering jewels on a black curtain.

Chu Feng's hair stood on end; he felt a sense of dread.

Because, in an instant, he saw too many people approaching from afar, all of them powerful beings!

It was not an illusion, not a misconception. They were right there in the distance, quickly drawing near, some even suddenly appearing before him.

He was shocked, and soon understood what they were.

Light particles drifted up, like divine flowers withering and falling, each emitting the light of dawn, incredibly brilliant. They floated down onto the dim battlefield, and then suddenly transformed into human forms.

Were they all "spirits"?

Chu Feng saw too many powerful beings, seemingly all "spirits"!

A group of people, dressed in ancient attire, making it difficult to guess their era—perhaps ancestors from millions of years ago, or ancient people from billions of years past.

Like lost souls or animated corpses, they walked past him, wandering towards the end of the Pollen Path, heading into the distance, to where the woman lay bleeding.

In front of the woman was a chasm. Large numbers of these ancient people silently dropped into it, disappearing without even a ripple.

"Were they formed from pollen particles? Are they the heroic spirits from back then?"

What were they doing? Rushing into the fire like moths? Knowing they would die, yet still going.

Vast numbers of light specks appeared, very brilliant and beautiful.

Chu Feng watched the sky full of light particles, drifting in the darkness, pressing forward, one after another, towards the chasm.

They transformed into ancient people, into ancestors.

The multitude walked onward, their clothes tattered, their faces expressionless, their forms gaunt. They did not stop. Were they trying to fill that black chasm?

Chu Feng's spirit trembled. In this state, although he had no eyes, he felt a burning sensation where his eyes would be, as if they were bleeding or weeping.

He couldn't resist; he wanted to follow them.

Suddenly, several unique old men paused, stopped, and turned to look at Chu Feng, as if they saw through time and space, discerning his true origin!

"You're not quite like us. You should go back."

An old man spoke, his clothes tattered and his condition very poor.

"You... you still have consciousness? You can see everything about me?!" Chu Feng was stunned.

"We are failures, but we don't want to give up our last bit of warmth. Our 'spirits' are still boiling, going to suppress the great calamity at the end of the path!" Another old man spoke, his sparse, straw-like hair devoid of any luster.

How could Chu Feng not be shaken?

They were spirits now, presumably muddled and confused, yet they could look back and see his true origins?

How incredibly powerful must these emaciated old men have been in their prime?!

"Don't stray from the path. The Pollen Path, the strongest path, is fundamentally reliant on oneself!" an old man warned, his eyes dim, white hair matted with blood on his aged face.

Chu Feng's mind trembled. While pitying them, he quickly asked for guidance: "Have I strayed from my path?"

"Our true path activates the 'hidden' within us and awakens the 'immortal' within our own bodies; it is us ourselves!" the old man with the dim eyes spoke again, adding, "It is only because the pollution in this world is too severe, and the enemy's invasion too pervasive, that we were forced to use catalysts, introducing pollen, to forge such a path. But by no means should you put the cart before the horse. Do not blindly believe in pollen or exotic fruits. These are merely processes, means, and transitional paths we laid out for reaching the supreme realm. If there were no pollution, we could activate our own immortals. We walk the strongest path!"

Chu Feng was profoundly shaken. This unexpected encounter had led him to such teachings, deeply unsettling his mind.

These were undoubtedly pioneers of the Pollen Path, venerable elders of their time, who had even participated in carving out the path!

They were gaunt, evoking pity and a sense of desolation, yet they had all once been unimaginably peerless powerhouses.

"Nor should you abandon pollen. After all, it brought hope when heaven and earth were defiled. We merely warn you not to rely on it excessively. As long as you don't stray from the path, you can use pollen!" another old man cautioned.

They paused briefly, then prepared to move forward again, towards the black chasm.

Chu Feng quickly followed, wanting to say and ask them so much.

"Go back!" an old man growled.

"Seniors, I still wish to ask for your guidance!" Chu Feng quickly said.

Another old man spoke with great desolation: "Do you think we don't wish to say more? How many eras separate you and me? For us to speak like this, we've already paid an immeasurable price. How many can converse and communicate across many epochs? No one can change the course of history; otherwise, the myriad worlds would collapse, and nothing would exist!"

Suddenly, one of the old men noticed his stone jar. This artifact possessed the ability of a divine object to conceal itself, having disappeared for a moment even under the gaze of these peerlessly powerful elders, only now being discovered.

"This sacrificial vessel... it's still here. It was lost for a long time even in our era. It once carried our light, our hope. Back then, it brought the seeds, brought the pollen. Is it still useful now? Billions of years have passed, countless epochs have flowed by. Perhaps it has developed sentience, or perhaps it always had an extraordinary origin and always possessed a spirit, but we lost it, missed it, and failed to decipher it back then."

An old man looked wistful, nostalgic, and pained, his expression incredibly complex.

"We are enough here. Don't throw yourself in. Go back! We few will combine our strength to send you away!" The unique old men prepared to act.

They were willing to bear immeasurable karma and interfere with past and present.

Clearly, they wanted to protect Chu Feng.

Suddenly, one of them realized and said, "You came here without losing your awareness; your consciousness is still intact. There must be a reason for that, so you don't need our help. Good, good, good. You are our descendant, proving that our path has not been completely broken, that our bloodline has not been utterly extinguished. There are still people! It wasn't easy for you to come here. We hope you can succeed and go even further after you return. Leave quickly!"