Chapter 182: The Lost Immortal Ancients, Shaohua's White Hair

Chapter 182: The Lost Immortal Ancients, Shaohua’s White Hair

The fog swirled, and Lifesoil stretched like an eternal night, with only Shaohua alone on her solitary journey.

Hundreds of thousands of years had passed, and her true self had never awakened. She had been exploring Lifesoil, expending boundless energy to carve through it, clarifying her mind and listening to the Dao within her heart.

Afterward, she retraced her steps, returning a bit faster than before, but still, it was a long journey.

This round trip was not a waste of time; it was like evolving the Dao within her inner world.

“I advanced too quickly in the Immortal King realm, leaping to the pinnacle in just a few tens of thousands of years, exhausting all my foundational strength,” Shaohua reflected.

Her achievements proved that her path was correct. She had reached the pinnacle in the human and mundane immortal realms, allowing her to soar to great heights.

But she had also exhausted her strength, reaching a dead end. To continue advancing, to break through from king to emperor, she needed to accumulate more.

After all, the human and mundane immortal realms had already laid the foundation for her immortal Dao. She couldn't expect them to provide much help in breaking through to the near-immortal emperor realm.

Shaohua knew that advancing to the emperor realm wasn't just a matter of time. Without accumulation, it was impossible to succeed.

She had advanced too quickly on the Immortal King path, rushing through without stopping to appreciate the scenery. It was a regret.

This journey through Lifesoil made up for that regret.

But when her soul essence was about to return to her body, she sensed an inexplicable danger.

“The dark origin within my body hasn't been completely eradicated; a trace remains, lingering and unextinguished. I regret leaving my soul essence too early, focusing on exploring Lifesoil and assuming my body was fine.”

Shaohua was somewhat remorseful, but this wasn't the only source of her unease.

Although her soul essence had left, her body continued to erode the dark matter instinctively.

Over the years, her body had been refined to its utmost limit.

Drifting in the River of Time, it had also been tempered by the boundless power of time and space.

A single wave from the River of Time carried the might of an entire era.

Thus, her body became incredibly powerful, with the blood marrow in her bones beginning to emit a fourteen-color radiance!

Her soul essence, after the journey through Lifesoil, had also been refined to its peak, her Dao heart as firm as ever, and she even had the urge to strike the original patient!

The long separation between her body and soul had made them somewhat estranged. Her body was resisting the return of her soul essence, making it difficult to truly merge.

If she forced her soul essence to break through and return, it might provoke a violent reaction from her body.

In the worst case, the dark origin within her body could generate a new soul essence, and the collision could result in her splitting into two, leading to the bizarre scenario of fighting herself.

Realizing this, Shaohua almost lost her composure.

It wasn't just that. She found that the River of Time had swept her to an unknown place, certainly not the present, with an inexplicable force suppressing her.

The combination of her internal issues and the suppression from the unknown time and space was the source of her danger. She realized that now was not the time to break through.

Shaohua buried her soul essence in the shallow layers of Lifesoil, projecting a thread of spiritual consciousness to guide her body's actions.

Her soul essence observed her body and analyzed the sealed dark origin, continuously extracting and refining special runes.

One day, thunder rumbled, and a tall, black figure emerged from the void.

"Hmm, familiar scenery. Which era's Boundary Sea is this?" Shaohua opened her eyes, slightly dim and lifeless, yet she saw through the great Dao of heaven and earth.

She stretched out her hand, and between her slender, white fingers, a black substance writhed like a venomous snake, unable to harm even a single hair on her body.

This was an astonishing achievement; even the dark origin of a near-immortal emperor could not effectively erode her.

"I know the path ahead", she murmured, her eyes growing deeper.

In fact, both her body and soul had reached the threshold of the near-immortal emperor realm. All that was needed was their unification to break through.

What was missing was the opportunity to advance from king to emperor!

The Boundary Sea, though resembling an ocean, was actually composed of countless shattered worlds.

Era after era, countless worlds had been destroyed, and their remnants formed the Boundary Sea.

The black waves in the Boundary Sea rose and fell, each wave representing a shattered world, carrying the essence of eons and brimming with danger.

Throughout history, many beings had ventured into the Boundary Sea. Some were great, crossing it to reach the dark land at its end, hoping to address the root cause of the calamity.

Others sought to find their destiny.

True Immortals aimed to become Immortal Kings, as the Boundary Sea held many scriptures, chapters, and remains left by deceased Immortal Kings, all invaluable treasures.

Immortal Kings sought to break through to the emperor realm, the vast Boundary Sea holding many secrets and opportunities for advancement.

Moreover, there were ancient legends that at the end of the Boundary Sea lay the ultimate secret, the key to becoming an emperor.

As for Supreme Sovereigns, those who ventured into the Boundary Sea never returned.

A terrifying black storm swept by, raising massive waves that surged toward the other side of the sea.

"Boom!"

A wave soared into the sky, and Shaohua saw a scene of red, marking the end of an era, with countless beings perishing.

Another wave rose, and she saw an ancient palace, grand and immense, flowing with Primordial Chaos Qi, not a mere shadow but a real entity.

Shaohua's heart raced. She pondered, had she been transported to an ancient era?

The ancient palace, sacred and radiant, led to darkness, as if sensing her presence and moving toward her.

Shaohua glanced at it, her face expressionless, and with a single palm, she pressed down, dimming the sky and sea, leaving her standing alone.

In the sky, the grand ancient palace plummeted, its supreme array powerless against her palm.

"Roar!"

From the ancient palace, a massive ancient beast emerged, larger than some stars, a powerful Fallen Immortal King, roaring and charging toward her slender figure.

Shaohua's originally green robe, stained with blood for too long, had turned a deep black, and her long hair, once black and lustrous, had turned white after years of trials.

Recalling her youthful days in the mortal world, when she sought to save her parents and defy fate, even if it meant living a second life, her black hair had turned white.

Black robe, white hair, breathtakingly beautiful!

At this moment, it was just like in those days.

With a flick of her sleeve, the Fallen Immortal King beast exploded, turning into a cloud of blood mist.

"Serve the darkness, worship eternally!"

"Attempting to move the ancient palace, you have sealed your own fate!"

Another monster with ten heads burst out of the ancient palace, its body like a dragon, each head different, radiating the aura of an Immortal King.

The aura of the ten-headed monster was daunting, even an Immortal King might struggle to withstand it.

But to her, it was still not enough.

She didn't even need to use any killing moves.

Shaohua remained silent, acting decisively.

She lifted her other slender hand, and it seemed like several universes crashed down, striking the ten-headed monster and reducing its heads to dust, annihilating both body and soul.

The power was terrifying, the brilliant imperial blood burning, making the heavens rumble.

"Hmm, a creature from the dark prison, ten Immortal King soul essences fused into one, almost reaching the pinnacle of the Immortal King realm", she murmured, then walked into the shattered ancient palace with her hands behind her back.

The ancient palace connected to the dark land, imprisoning the original soul essence and nurturing a dark soul essence within the body.

However, she had no soul essence, so the connection failed, and she couldn't be transported to the dark land.

As for being eroded by darkness, Shaohua shook her head. The dark power in the palace was immediately swallowed by her.

"Garbage, useless", she commented.

After all, her body had been eroded by the dark origin of a near-immortal emperor and had been tempered for years, almost becoming immune.

If not for her curiosity, she could have shattered the palace with a single strike.

Mist and energy dissipated, carrying the marks of Immortal Kings, and the scent of blood filled the air.

Not far away, another Immortal King fell.

The Boundary Sea rippled, and Dao symbols wrapped in black and blood-red light spread, a dark hurricane roaring with the power to slay Immortal Kings.

What seemed like a dark storm was, in fact, a rule, a great Dao order. Many Immortal Kings would fall if they couldn't avoid it.

The source of this storm was merely the breath of a deceased immortal emperor.

"Boom!"

When the hurricane arrived, countless Dao symbols appeared. Shaohua's body glowed, her indestructible form resilient, faintly radiating fourteen colors of immortal light.

The dark storm, which many Immortal Kings feared, could not harm her.

She extended her fingers like a sword, slicing through the storm and erasing the black symbols, then took the ancient palace and stepped out of the dark storm, standing on the sea with bare feet.

Immortal Kings wandering in the depths of the Boundary Sea were stunned. Who was that black-robed woman, so powerful and transcendent?

She had shattered the ancient palace with a single palm, casually destroyed a Fallen Immortal King, and single-handedly defeated a ten-headed monster, emerging from the dark storm, defying all expectations.

Of course, they were often separated by vast distances, astronomical numbers for ordinary cultivators, impossible to cross in a lifetime.

"Is she an emperor?" someone asked, a mixture of fear and hope in their voice.

If there were emperors in the world, did it mean others could glimpse that realm?

No matter what, a difficult path was better than no path at all.

"Though powerful, she hasn't transcended the Immortal King realm", an ancient Immortal King giant observed.

"I saw a terrifying immortal light surrounding her!"

Another giant opened their divine eyes, trying to see more, but blood flowed from their eyes, their vision shattered, only catching a glimpse of light that didn't resemble the Immortal King realm.

"Ha ha ha, that strong dark aura, she must be an ancient ancestor from our world!" an immortal king from another realm exclaimed excitedly.

"Hmph." Shaohua noticed the gazes and lightly hummed, startling most of them, who wisely retreated.

The Immortal Kings realized she was at least a peak Immortal King, a giant among giants, terrifying beyond measure. Provoking such a powerful being would have dire consequences.

If they dared to imagine further, that black-robed, white-haired woman had likely touched the level of breaking through to the emperor realm, capable of sweeping through the heavens alone!

However, there were always those daring enough to take risks.

A fully red ancient beast pursued her, with a dragon-like head, a lion-like body, and red bone spines instead of fur or scales, hard and gleaming.

This was a time beast, one of the most fearsome races in history.

Time beasts were said to control the power of time, nearly invincible.

Yet, even a peak Immortal King time beast, running at full speed in the Boundary Sea, could not catch up to the black-robed woman.

Finally, Shaohua stopped.

She turned and saw the time beast, surrounded by fragments of time, and a hint of surprise appeared on her otherwise expressionless face.

"Really familiar..."

How could it not be familiar? Apart from being slightly weaker, this was almost identical to the Red King she had encountered in the River of Time.

Even the aura was the same.

"So, this is that idiot, after all."

Shaohua rubbed her expressionless face, the sense of separation between her soul and body easing after some movement.

"Senior, please wait!" Red King, seeing the senior stop, was overjoyed and called out.

He had no idea that Shaohua had simply been taken aback by the familiar sight.

"Cough, little beast, why do you call me?"

Shaohua kept her left hand behind her back, casually raised her right hand, and pulled the distant time beast close, shrinking it to the size of a dog, then asked indifferently.

Red King was not angry. He had sensed the dark aura from this senior, identical to that of a Primordial Ancient Artifact.

There was no mistake; this was a formidable ancient ancestor from another realm!

If there were any issues, he would behead himself and offer it to this senior.

(End of Chapter)

Chapter end