Chapter 1576: The Heavens

The scale of this scene was immense. The stone zither chimed softly, shattering Samsara and transforming heaven and earth. Was this going to affect all heavens and myriad realms?

Chu Feng was truly astonished. He had merely unearthed an ancient qin, yet it caused such an earth-shattering commotion.

The entire world was split open, the path of reincarnation severed, and the ancient hall was pierced by colorful runic beams. Creatures within the beehive exploded one after another.

Even the most brilliant powerhouses of past eras were now as faint as fireflies, extinguished in an instant. Life, at this moment, seemed utterly insignificant compared to the world-transcending power.

"This was the result of the stone zither's faint chiming resonating with that root!"

Chu Feng's expression changed. He realized that the cause of this terrifying outcome was not just his accidental strumming of the stone strings, but also related to the trembling of that unknown plant's root.

Boom! Heaven and earth crumbled with ghostly wails and divine roars. The void here exploded, as if to cleave the Great Thousand World and rip apart the boundless Cosmic Sea. A beam of light pierced through the heavens.

Pitch-black nothingness, as if a boundless abyss was devouring everything. This area was split open, and darkness enveloped all, covering Samsara.

Was this what lay beyond the myriad worlds? It was eerily black, and nothing could be seen!

Suddenly, an enormous entity emerged, spanning the void, pushing away the darkness, and connecting to this dilapidated place.

What was that?

It was... a root!

It was too massive, as if it spanned all heavens, extending from beyond the myriad worlds to connect with this place.

No, it had always been here, but had lain dormant, unbeknownst to anyone.

"It's the root from that pond!"

Chu Feng was shocked. The root he had seen earlier from the unknown plant could only be considered a mere tip.

Only at this moment, with heaven collapsing and earth sinking, and Samsara severed, did its true form reveal itself. Its main body was boundless in size, connecting to beyond the myriad worlds.

"The tip I saw was connected to the bottom of the pond, absorbing the secret liquid. Moreover, a stone zither was entwined around it."

It was a scene of apocalypse. Even Samsara was torn apart, and a root extended from here, piercing through to beyond the heavens.

What people could truly see, however, was boundless darkness, like a vast, endless abyss, enveloping all directions. A single root, like the sole iron cable bridge, stretched towards the outside. Was that the only path to survival?

Chu Feng strongly suspected that the world being split open and Samsara being severed was only secondarily due to the stone zither; it was primarily caused by the mysterious root's movements!

Indeed, when the destruction reached its peak, the entire world quieted, as if it had stopped. The runic beams emanating from the zither's sound did not sweep away everything with destructive force, nor did they aim to annihilate all. Rather, it was the root's movements that were too immense.

Chu Feng stood in the ruined land, his stone jar glowing brightly. He seemed like an outsider, unaffected by anything. This further indicated the astonishing origin of the jar.

Even such scenes of heaven and earth collapsing and Samsara falling into ruin could not affect it!

"Eh!"

Chu Feng was surprised. After the dilapidated, incomplete hall in the ruined land was split open, it surprisingly remained, not entirely collapsing.

Moreover, the beehive in the distance was surprisingly not the target of the attack.

The true tragedy was that the "pupae" in that area suffered countless deaths and injuries!

Nine out of ten perished. Under this fluctuation, ninety-nine percent of those beings withered away, dying utterly completely. Not to mention their physical bodies, not even a trace of their true spirits remained; there was no talk of reincarnation.

This was both tragic and absurd: being within Samsara, once they died, they were completely cut off from rebirth.

It could be seen that when the stone zither's weakest tremor emanated, the colorful runic beams spread towards the beehive. They appeared gentle and soft, caressing all the "pupae" in the corpse-strewn area.

The scene was horrifying. Even though they were skin and bones, blood splattered into the void. The so-called heavenly talents of past eras, former kings gathered here, died in such a tragic manner.

Ultimately, some beings survived, including humans, demonic birds, and exotic beasts. Surprisingly, they showed no sorrow or anger.

Instead, the few surviving beings went mad, overjoyed to the point of seeming insane. With disheveled hair, barefoot, or with feathers bristling, they soared into the sky, continuously screeching.

The eyes of these few beings were bloodshot, showing signs of madness.

Only when the root trembled did they cease their frenzy.

The surviving beings collectively prostrated themselves before the root, and then all made the same choice: hunched over, they climbed onto the massive root that spanned the void and darkness, and swiftly departed.

From their appearance, they seemed to be struggling to cross over, to leave the bitter sea of the mortal world, as if this were a journey to immortality, embarking on a path of complete transcendence!

Chu Feng stared blankly, somewhat bewildered. What exactly was going on?

He had expected the surviving beings to rush at him and fight for their lives, but unexpectedly, the survivors departed without looking back, all in a state of frenzied excitement.

He seemed to have been ignored, or perhaps those beings hadn't noticed him?

"Selection complete!"

At that moment, a mechanical voice resounded, devoid of emotional fluctuation, containing no discernible emotion.

Chu Feng's scalp tingled. Had the tomb keeper discovered him?

Soon, he realized he had overthought it. It was truly just a programmed voice, like an ancient machine's utterance, making a routine announcement.

Of course, its sound was unique, produced by the vibration of rules, and understandable by all races.

The Great Dao was ruthless, without ego. Perhaps this was its true manifestation?

Or perhaps, the so-called Great Dao was merely a mechanism that had processed things, erasing individual true selves and turning them into cold and numb stone fetuses, clay figures, or wood carvings.

"I accidentally touched the stone zither, which seemed to have prematurely initiated some kind of selection. Did the zither's runic sound covering the beehive mean it was selecting beings with potential? Those who failed were erased, while the strong could cross over using it?"

Chu Feng felt that this might be the truth.

Every so often, this place might automatically enact this ritual.

Today, it was merely because he had unexpectedly intruded, interfering with the process prematurely.

He looked into the distance. The massive root lay horizontally in the darkness, like the sole iron cable, bridging the abyss, the only path to survival.

The few surviving beings truly resembled vengeful spirits, climbing away rapidly. They looked eerie and chilling.

"Is this your path to immortality, your road to transcendence?"

However, no matter how he looked at it, it looked like vengeful spirits struggling to cross Hell!

Chu Feng felt an impulse to follow them, to see for himself where those vengeful spirits were going.

Where exactly did this root lead? Even Samsara had been broken. What was the origin of this root? Could it possibly lead to the heavens?!

But in the end, he resisted the impulse. He truly couldn't just act on a whim. This place definitely held a massive pitfall. Looking at those ghost-like beings, could they really have a good outcome?

As the area gradually quieted, the void closed, and the massive root disappeared, leaving only its tip at the bottom of the pond!

Despite such a huge commotion, the pond remained utterly still, without a single crack. The secret liquid neither increased nor decreased.

What astonished Chu Feng even more was that the world that had been split open was slowly healing, the severed Samsara was reconnected, and even the collapsed and ruined halls began to reassemble.

He felt his scalp prickle as if it would explode, and his temples throbbed. This place was too strange. Were all these events pre-arranged?

Finally, gritting his teeth, he thought, "How can I enter a treasure mountain and leave empty-handed?" He walked towards the pond.

Of course, he wasn't there to collect the secret liquid. With immense willpower, he controlled his body's instincts, not drawing even a single drop.

In his view, this was the fluid of the dead. No matter what, it was hard for him to bring himself to take it. Furthermore, while it aroused a primal instinctual craving within him, it also made his soul tremble with intense unease, always feeling there was some hidden danger.

What he wanted was the stone zither at the bottom of the pond. That was definitely an extraordinary ancient artifact!

It could actually control the greatest powerhouses of all ages, selecting the most outstanding among them. And with a mere tremor of its strings, it could turn heaven and earth upside down.

As for whether this attempt would once again cause the root to split open the world and sever Samsara, Chu Feng didn't consider it. He simply wanted to take the stone zither.

Once he decided, he acted. He firmly believed that the stone jar could withstand the impact of the colorful runic beams.

However, everything utterly surprised him, leaving him extremely unwilling.

When he reached out again, the stone zither was like a fleeting illusion, instantly turning into nothingness, extinguishing in a flash, and completely vanishing.

"A projection?!"

Chu Feng wore a thoughtful expression, staring at the root. Had the stone zither been projected along the root? Did he need to travel to the ultimate destination connected by this root to see its true form?

This meant that if he truly followed it, he would likely transcend beyond the myriad worlds, with no guarantee of a return.

A long time later, Chu Feng left the grand ancient hall. He went to explore other areas.

After all, this special Samsara land still contained a group of dilapidated halls. If one was so strange, what about the others?

Between the various halls, dark abysses served as isolation, devouring all vitality. Without the stone jar in hand, any creature stepping into this place would pay the price with their life.

This was also why the place was quiet, apart from a few wandering corpse-slaves; there were no stronger guardians.

Not much time passed. Chu Feng walked through one ancient hall after another. His face showed astonishment and a strange expression, his emotions truly fluctuating, his heart restless.

There were a total of nine halls, mostly similar. All were stealing corpses and remains from various realms to extract secret liquid.

Each of the nine halls contained a pond and a beehive as massive as a mountain, within which slumbered the so-called powerhouses of past eras.

Furthermore, the bottom of the pond in each of the nine halls contained a similar root tip from a certain plant, as well as a stone zither projection.

On this day, Chu Feng took action repeatedly, prematurely initiating the programmed selection by strumming the stone zither projections.

Ultimately, the events that transpired were largely similar. In each hall, several survivors with boundless potential crossed over the root and transcended.

"I'll risk it! I'll go in and see. If for nothing else, that stone zither alone is worth the risk. It is definitely a great killer weapon!"

Chu Feng wanted to sneak through and follow them to see.

In the last hall, he put his plan into action.

"Jar, we'll sink or swim together. Let's go. We'll cross this boundless darkness, along the root bridge, and see if it leads to transcendence or hell!"

Once Chu Feng decided, he acted with remarkable decisiveness.

He was like a divine ape, climbing the massive root. In a trance, it felt as if he was truly crossing the boundless Great Thousand World, leaving all heavens, to go beyond the myriad worlds!

Around the root, endless darkness enveloped everything. Faint, ghostly wails and cries surprisingly came from extremely distant regions, quite chilling.

What exactly did the world beyond the myriad realms look like? Where were these sounds coming from?

Was this root bridge the only way to cross over?

He didn't know how long passed when Chu Feng's body trembled. He felt a peaceful aura, and gradually, faint light began to appear ahead.

"Anomaly outside the Dao's trajectory detected entering the Heavens. Initiating—annihilation!"

A cold, emotionless voice came, very mechanical, like the merciless Great Dao, or emanating from clay figures and wooden sculptures.

Chu Feng was stunned.

"Was I about to enter the Heavens? Wasn't that something only creatures who reached the end of the road could achieve? A place only supreme Immortal Emperors could reach, and I just sneaked my way up here?!"

He was a bit dazed, but had to quickly clear his head. Right now, a huge crisis was descending. Was he about to be annihilated?!