Chapter 1646: Reforging the Grand Finale, Ancestors Emerge

I’ve sensed that some readers have truly invested their emotions in the book. Seeing characters from the trilogy conclude their journeys, they feel a deep reluctance to let go of some beloved figures, finding the ending too rushed and leaving them with regrets.

For this, I am deeply grateful to so many readers who genuinely love the trilogy.

I've carefully read all your messages and feedback and understand the feelings of many readers. There's a true connection and resonance between reading and writing, and so, I've decided to rewrite the ending of "Sacred Ruins."

The upcoming chapters will replace the original Chapter 1644, the grand finale. Regardless of how many chapters or how many words I write, they will all be provided to you for free.

Because of your love, your support, and your emotional resonance with the book, I will reshape the ending. I've been carefully reading everyone's comments and am truly grateful to all readers.

***

Mist swirled, and the world was dim. The desolate plateau was steeped in dead silence.

This land of misfortune had been like this since ancient times.

No one knew its origin, nor could anyone predict its end.

The sky was gloomy, permeated by an ominous aura. For endless ages, the cold, frozen earth had been perpetually shrouded in bizarre power, creating a heavy and oppressive atmosphere.

In the peripheral regions, decaying creatures occasionally moved about, and sometimes a few strange beings emerged from the plateau, but they were always silent, without a single sound.

The entire plateau was vast and boundless; even if a great myriad world were to fall, it could barely fill a corner. Not even Dao Ancestors could reach its end.

In the depths of this land of misfortune lay the shattered corpses of ultimate beings. Many epochs had passed, yet they remained bloody, never having dried.

Even beings as powerful as the supreme ones met such a tragic end.

The land of misfortune was a place of despair!

From ancient times to the present, it had never changed. Its extreme oppression and danger had extinguished countless civilization's flames, turning them into ruins. No one had ever been able to resist it.

Even the long river of time trembled and fractured when it flowed through here.

Today, in the deepest part of the land of misfortune, at the edge of the plateau, horrifying ancient syllables resonated, striking fear into all living beings. All things were born and perished because of them.

That was the ominous ancestral land!

The edge of the land of misfortune split open, and one figure after another appeared. Some were as withered as dry wood, others were covered in black blood. Rotting clothes clung to their terrifying bodies, like vengeful spirits awakening from millennia of slumber.

From the source of omen, several Ancestors emerged simultaneously!

Instantly, the heavens and earth trembled, and the plateau roared, threatening to collapse. Infinite grand daos transformed into divine chains, which then exploded into fragments, making the entire space-time unstable.

Their eyes were either hollow, deathly gray, or bleeding. When they gazed into the void, all things withered, and all dark worlds fell silent and desolate.

All dark creatures and all strange races were shocked, then trembled, involuntarily falling to their knees and repeatedly kowtowing at that moment.

Whether on the dim plateau or in other somber universes, they prostrated themselves with trembling bodies, as if on a pilgrimage, driven by instinct.

Even dark Dao Ancestor-level beings knelt on the ground in various realms, not daring to rise.

The deepest part of the land of misfortune seemed to be separated from the outer plateau by ancient history and endless starfields. For countless ages, few beings had been able to reach it.

Facing the end of the plateau, the supreme ancestral land, even the Immortal Emperors of the strange races found it difficult to set foot there. Even they bowed low towards the deepest part of the land of misfortune, remaining still for a long time, listening to the admonitions.

At the edge of the land of misfortune, horrifying ancient syllables echoed, like grinding stones or colliding universes, making all living beings tremble with pounding hearts.

"Ancestors... why are they all awakening at once?" a path-ending level being whispered.

In that ancestral land, five figures stood tall, as if they had stood at the plateau's edge before creation itself, looking down upon all living beings.

When such a situation occurred, requiring five Ancestors to emerge simultaneously, it signified an unpredictable shift was about to happen!

It could be seen that three of the Ancestors constantly faced one direction, confronting Desolate, whom they had been seeking and fiercely battling in the river of time for many years.

"Since the variable has emerged, it must be completely eradicated!" an Ancestor declared.

Their voice was resonant and powerful, tearing the edge of the great myriad universe beyond the plateau, causing all dark beings to tremble uncontrollably.

A major shift is coming?!

Even the path-ending level beings of the strange races, supreme as they were, felt their hairs stand on end, gripped by a sense of dread and profound unease.

Suddenly, a path-ending level expert sensed something. The moment he slightly raised his head, his pupils contracted sharply.

Because he saw an additional figure at the edge of the plateau, standing alongside the five Ancestors. There was... an extra Ancestor!

Other Immortal Emperors of the strange race also sensed it and looked up. Their bodies stiffened instantly, and their hearts pounded uncontrollably.

The legend was true—there were actually six Ancestors in the ancestral land?!

The edge of the plateau was very quiet; only when a crimson whirlwind swept through did some sounds emerge, carrying ominous dust and causing the few sparse plants to sway.

In the ancestral land, a mysterious Great Dao Tree was shrouded in dense bizarre matter, swaying in the wind. Its branches and leaves rubbed together, producing sounds like the collision of ten thousand grand daos, scattering rules everywhere.

Beneath the tree, a silent black shadow flashed, manifesting in the present world.

"That is..." a path-ending level expert's voice trembled.

In the deepest part of the land of misfortune, another blurry figure appeared. There was even... a seventh Ancestor?!

Long ages had passed, and even the path-ending level beings of the strange race had never seen him. They had only heard rumors that a sixth Ancestor might be lurking in the ultimate land of misfortune.

Instantly, all path-ending level beings felt their scalps tingle and their hearts shake violently, finding it somewhat unbelievable.

Even they themselves believed the ancestral land to be unfathomably deep. Over long stretches of time, they had never imagined that seven Ancestors would exist side-by-side.

Before they could recover, another astonishing event occurred!

In the cracked ancestral land, three more gaunt figures suddenly appeared.

How could this be believed?!

How dare one believe it?!

The path-ending level beings present stood motionless, like clay figures or wooden carvings, yet their hearts trembled with terror. It was hard to believe what they were seeing.

There were actually... ten Ancestors! They had never known, nor had they ever seen this before!

Currently, the strange race had ten path-ending level beings, who awed all the heavens and myriad worlds and had no match among all brilliant evolutionary civilizations.

But now, the Ancestors had also reached ten in number, matching the path-ending level beings!

This struck them as illogical.

The powerhouses of the strange race were now petrified, unable to believe what they were sensing.

Ten figures stood shoulder to shoulder, causing the river of time to flow backward and all grand daos to disintegrate, all subservient beneath their feet.

Their simultaneous emergence impacted the stability of the past, present, and future, shaking the very foundation of the current reality.

Even the path-ending level Immortal Emperors found it too bizarre, somewhat hard to accept that the Ancestors in their clan had surpassed the "extreme number" of nine?!

Ten terrifying and ancient sarcophagi lay horizontally on the plateau, manifesting behind the ten figures, providing them with an endless supply of mighty power.

At this moment, even the supreme beings, the path-ending level Immortal Emperors, felt their hair stand on end, their bodies turning cold, as if they were dreaming!

They were suppressed by unimaginably ominous power, their bodies trembling slightly, feeling the plateau grow suffocatingly oppressive.

What happened today was too astonishing, inconceivable, and beyond the imagination of the powerhouses present. What kind of place was this ancestral land, to actually have ten Ancestors lurking within it?!

The path-ending level beings stood tense and silent. Despite their endless doubts, they dared not ask any questions.

The cold, frozen earth, the desolate plateau, the Great Dao Tree thick with bizarre power, a few clusters of ominous flowers and plants, and ancient sarcophagi lying horizontally beneath the cracked ground—everything was so eerie, permeated with an aura of terror.

"Danger has roused us from our slumber; an ominous premonition disturbs our souls," an Ancestor said, as ancient sarcophagi trembled.

The ancient sarcophagi trembled as an Ancestor spoke, its blurry figure scanning the great myriad worlds, causing the ten path-ending level beings on the plateau to lower their heads and tremble slightly, not daring to meet its gaze.

He revealed the truth of their awakening: indeed, a variable had appeared.

The strange race had never had an enemy. Any who defied them would see their path of evolution collapse, their civilization's light extinguished forever, leaving only ruins.

Today, the simultaneous emergence of all Ancestors signaled an extremely grave problem, one that concerned the rise and fall of their race and the very lives of the Ancestors themselves!

How terrifying and powerful was the influence of this variable?!

"It's... Desolate!" one of the three Ancestors who consistently faced a certain direction spoke.

The three Ancestors deduced that the variable was related to him.

"The one who has confronted and battled us for countless epochs is merely his clone," another Ancestor added.

All path-ending level beings were alarmed. Powerful as they were, having entered the supreme realm, they had a profound understanding of the Ancestors' terror and might.

Desolate had been present for so many years, facing three Ancestors alone. They had sought each other out, engaged in bloody battles and chases for an unknown number of epochs.

And he was just a clone? How terrifying, how shocking!

"There's no need to worry. At his level, there's no distinction between a clone and the main body; it's hard to differentiate primary from secondary. Its power is equivalent to the true body. As we see now, this clone is already in its strongest form," an Ancestor calmly stated.

Beyond the path-ending level, undergoing ultimate sublimation, even a clone possesses invincible might and is no weaker than the true body.

"Since his clone has been deployed without reservation, unleashing its strongest combat power, his true body will be greatly affected and must withdraw from battle, making it unsuitable for participation."

After path-ending sublimation, strictly speaking, a clone is used for battle, while the true body meditates in an eternally unknown place, ensuring it can never perish!

"However, Desolate is not someone who cherishes his own body. His true body's non-appearance is certainly not for self-preservation," an Ancestor judged.

In the past, the three Ancestors battled Desolate, with various Immortal Emperors assisting in his hunt, encirclement, and destruction, annihilating all heavens and burying that era.

Yet, Desolate, with unparalleled might, when his adversaries retreated to the land of misfortune to recuperate, projected all heavens from ancient times into the present, reviving an entire era!

For this, he paid a heavy price. Through long ages, he could not be found anywhere in ancient history; the world was vast, unaware that Desolate had ever existed.

His cultivation was severely damaged, and he remained dormant for countless epochs, only recently beginning to recover.

However, he also waited for successors, as three Emperors rose together, offering some assistance.

"Given Desolate's nature, he wouldn't spare himself. His true body's dormancy must indicate a grand scheme. We must find him and eradicate all his traces!"

Otherwise, why would all ten Ancestors emerge simultaneously?!

Because, during their long slumber, they experienced an inexplicable premonition, suddenly sensing an unknown calamity related to life and death—a variable that would endanger their very lives!

This was an unprecedented experience!

Ten ancient beings, who had existed since eternity, sensed something in the ethereal realm and all awakened instantly. Even they felt a shiver down their spines, horrified by this premonition.

They gazed into the future, predicting various possibilities, and felt it seemed to be related to Desolate!

After the ten of them joined forces for further deduction, they were astonished to discover a terrifying fact: Desolate's true body had not emerged; it was his clone moving about.

This result greatly shocked them.

The three Ancestors confronting and battling Desolate was originally thought to be sufficient.

Because the three were hard to destroy; even if they died in battle, they could be revived and emerge from the ancestral land.

Whereas Desolate, even one mistake could lead to his complete annihilation, and he would never exist in the world again!

Only today did they grasp the truth: Desolate's true body was dormant, surely waiting for an opportunity. A sudden strike at a crucial moment could cause some of the ten Ancestors to suffer bitter defeat.

What's more, they didn't know what kind of opportunity Desolate was waiting for, or when he would choose to strike. This was like a sword hanging over their heads.

"Since we have sensed it, then we must eradicate all his traces, erasing him from all of ancient history!"

The ten Ancestors had battled from the most ancient times to the present in recent epochs, experiencing countless tragic and terrifying great eras. They were utterly ruthless and merciless.

When they sensed something in the ethereal realm, they swiftly awakened. The ten of them decisively joined forces, determined to destroy all obstacles and leave no chance for the variable.

The path-ending level powerhouses on the plateau felt settled in their hearts. With the Ancestors emerging, it was more than enough not just to target one individual, but to sweep across all the great worlds beyond the land of misfortune.

The awakening of the Ancestors could shatter all civilization's lights, turning everything in heaven and earth into ruins.

"Do you know why the number of Ancestors matches that of you path-ending level beings?" an Ancestor asked.

The strange Immortal Emperors in the land of misfortune fell silent, pondering. For endless ages, even if they died in battle, they could be revived through the ancestral land. Occasionally, there were exceptions where they were completely annihilated by extremely powerful enemies, but after long periods, there would always be successors to fill their ranks.

However, since ancient times, even in the most glorious eras, the land of misfortune had never exceeded ten path-ending level beings, consistently maintaining that number.

I will speed up writing starting tomorrow and expect to finish within a few days.