Living in the deep palace

As the Heavenly Dao fell, the news spread, causing an uproar and widespread turmoil in the Star Sea!
When the ten ancient deities walked out of the central divine court together and issued a joint decree to the fourteen star seas, declaring "the mythical heavenly way has fallen, and the old mythological era has ended."

The entire universe fell into a brief silence, followed by an unprecedented uproar and turmoil!

"The Way of Heaven is finally dead."

"Damn it!"

"This Divine Court, and the Heavenly Court, demand that we offer the best cultivation resources, the most beautiful women in our clan, and the most outstanding descendants as slaves every year. They deserve to die!"

"That damned Heavenly Dao is finally dead! Hahaha! From this day forward, we shall submit to the Ten Venerables and launch a counterattack against the entire Heavenly Court!"

Countless ancient star fields and powerful races, suppressed by the Heavenly Dao for billions of years, erupted in thunderous cheers!
Those forces that had once acted as henchmen of the Divine Court, wielding power and influence, were plunged into apocalyptic panic.

"The Immortal Ancestor is dead?"

"How can it be!"

"How could the Supreme Immortal Ancestor, who ruled over countless eras of mythology, possibly perish?"

"Damn it! It's fake, it must be fake! Without Lord Heavenly Dao, how can we suppress the Ten Venerables..."

The Divine Court and the Heavenly Court were in an uproar and filled with panic.

That was especially true of the group of pseudo-fourth realm supreme heavenly kings.

To know.

They had already broken through once, and even after the fall of the Heavenly Dao, they would never have any connection with the true Fourth Realm again.

Those who later reach the third realm have the potential to break through and become true fourth realm cultivators!
They have no future!
Without the protection of Heaven, these remnants of the old era will inevitably face reckoning.

Some cunning pseudo-fourth-realm supreme heavenly kings have already begun to contact the ten ancient deities and submit to them.

But many of the Supreme Heavenly Kings were pale-faced and swaying precariously.

Without exception, they all had grudges against the Ten Venerables, so it was impossible for them to submit!
……

……

"Now that the Heavenly Dao has fallen, and the new Heavenly Dao has disappeared without a trace, let the ten of us divide up the entire Star Sea."

The Dragon Emperor of the East Sea, his eyes flickered slightly, and slowly spoke.

"Great!"

"It is time for us to save all living beings as well."

"After all, without enough believers, without enough anchors, we cannot continue forward and advance towards the half-step fifth realm..."

The old Buddha clasped his hands together, his face kind and gentle.

The remaining fourth-realm beings, hidden in the darkness, also nodded.

that's it.

The Ten Ancient Venerables gave no one time to react.

With overwhelming force, they joined forces to launch a devastating purge against the remaining forces of the mythical Heavenly Dao—the "Divine Court" branches scattered throughout the universe and the peripheral "Heavenly Court" organizations!
The once lofty and unshakeable gods, star lords, and the so-called supreme heavenly Dao, the pseudo-fourth realm, are as fragile as ants in the face of the true fourth realm beings.

The war was less a war and more a one-sided reaping.

In less than ten years, the power of the old Divine Court was uprooted and completely erased from the annals of history.

A brand new era has officially begun on the ruins of the old one.

And with the arrival of the new era comes a kind of "unbinding" at the level of the laws of the entire universe!
Without the suppression of the supreme will of the mythical Heavenly Dao, the path to the fourth realm that had trapped countless third-realm giants suddenly became clear!
In the universe, those beings at the peak of the third realm who had accumulated incredibly profound knowledge over countless years but were unable to break through due to the limitations of the Heavenly Dao all felt that long-awaited... "opportunity"!
"Those who attain enlightenment first will inevitably block the path of those who follow!"

"but……"

"It's a pity that we've been waiting for this day for far too long, long enough that with our current strength, we could fight against a pseudo-fourth-realm cultivator while still at the peak of the third realm!"

"The Ten Ancient Venerables, you cannot stop us..."

"We newcomers are destined to surpass you old pioneers, just like that new Heavenly Dao from the future who slew the old genius formed from the remnant will of the Immortal Ancestor..."

"Talented people emerge in every generation, each leading the way for hundreds of years..."

In the darkness, figures murmured, bursting with unspeakable ambition.

Without exception, they were all at the third realm.

Their aura was even comparable to that of some fourth-realm cultivators.

that's it.

Time flies.

Thirty-seven years have passed, which is also the thirty-seventh year of the new era.

Buddhist kingdoms in the Western Regions.

An old Buddha who had cultivated diligently for nine lifetimes was preaching under the Bodhi tree when a bright light shone from the back of his head. The Buddha and the demon merged into one, and with one step, immeasurable light and immeasurable darkness intertwined, thus attaining the position of "the Venerable of Nirvana," becoming the first person in the fourth realm of the new era!

"Good, good, good!"

"After thirty-seven years of cultivation, I have finally achieved my wish and entered the fourth realm, the realm of Buddha!"

"My nearly one hundred epochs of waiting have not been in vain..."

"I have cultivated the body of the Buddha of the Three Realms through secret methods, life after life. Previously, there was a mythical Heavenly Dao, but I only dared to cultivate up to the ninety-ninth life. I never dared to set foot in the last life."

"And now, it is finally complete, well done, well done..."

The old Buddha murmured, his hands clasped together in prayer.

And at the same time.

The entire sky instantly darkened.

A pair of cold, icy eyes stared coldly at the appearance of this new fourth-realm Buddha, who was one of the ten ancient Buddhas.

"You have some nerve."

"If you become a Buddha, what am I, a Buddha in this Western Buddhist Realm? Let this old monk weigh your worth."

Rumble!
A giant Buddha hand descended from the sky and pressed heavily on the old Buddha.

On this day, the terrifying shockwaves of battle nearly wiped out everything in the area.

The outcome was uncertain, and life or death was unknown.

just.

The Western Buddhist realm fell silent for a long time.

……

……

The next days.

The Ten Ancient Venerables hunted down powerful peak experts of the Third Realm everywhere. Unfortunately, even as strong as they were, they could not kill all the proud talents in the world, and there were always those who escaped their net.

……

In the 52nd year of the new era, in the Northern Demon Ruins, an ancient Kunpeng, which had been suppressed under a glacier for countless years, broke free from all restraints, soared up to 90,000 miles, swallowed the sun, moon and stars, and transformed into the "Heavenly Venerable of Ten Thousand Demons," whose roar shook half the universe!

An ancient venerable of the fourth realm, who was also a giant demon, descended.

It was also a major war front!
Compared to the battles in the Western Buddhist realm, this battle ended quickly, surprisingly ending in a draw.

The newly crowned Heavenly Lord of Ten Thousand Demons left behind only one sentence.

"Hahaha!"

"So-called pioneers, so-called ancient sages, are nothing more than this..."

In the seventieth year of the new era, in the Myriad Laws Immortal Alliance, a master of array formations, hailed as "closest to the fourth realm," used fourteen star seas as the array base to set up the Zhou Tian Star Array, drawing in endless star power to infuse his body, merging his body with the Dao, and was called "Star River Celestial Venerable"!
Similarly, one of the ten ancient deities, the Great Immortal, descended.

The battle resumes.

……

In just a century, a storm has swept across the land, and dragons and snakes have risen from the ashes!

A full ten new fourth-realm powerhouses have emerged one after another! And they have made a name for themselves and stood firm.

of course.

Others were successfully sniped!

They were assassinated just as they were born into the fourth realm, or even before they were about to break through to the fourth realm!

Those who were able to succeed, these ten newly promoted beings, were all old monsters who had endured countless years in the old era. Their profound foundation and tenacious will were far beyond that of ordinary cultivators.

Now that he has attained enlightenment, his arrogance and ambition are even greater than those of the Ten Ancient Venerables!

Moreover, and most importantly, they broke through after the laws of the universe were "unbound".

Their path is complete; it is the fourth realm in the true sense!

Unlike those pseudo-fourth realms of the past, which more or less bear the mark of the suppression of the laws of the old era, their Great Dao is flawed.

Therefore, these ten newly formed fourth realm beings called themselves the "Ten Heavenly Venerables" and completely disregarded the ten ancient venerables.

They quickly formed an alliance and began to rival the Ten Ancient Ones, vying for control of the universe and its resources.

Ultimately, after a fierce struggle and standoff, the two sides reached a fragile balance.

Fourteen star seas were divided among twenty supreme beings. The ten ancient beings occupied eight of them, the ten celestial beings occupied five, and the last and most barren Guixu star field became a tacitly agreed buffer zone between the two sides.

A brand new cosmic order, with two superpowers in opposition, was thus formed.

From then on, there was no longer a supreme "Heavenly Way" in the universe, only the will of the "Ten Ancient Venerables" and the "Ten Great Heavenly Venerables".

However, behind this magnificent new era of rising heroes, a huge shadow has always loomed over the hearts of these twenty supreme rulers of the universe.

That is—Su Chen.

The man who single-handedly ended the era of old myths.

The one who personally created this entire new era... the "Creator".

Whether it was the proud Ten Ancient Venerables or the ambitious Ten Heavenly Venerables, they were all secretly using all the power at their disposal to frantically search for Su Chen's whereabouts.

They searched every corner of the fourteen star seas.

They traced back every ripple of the river of time over the past century.

They deduced endless causal and divine secrets.

However, the result was that nothing was gained.

Su Chen seemed to have vanished into thin air; since leaving the Central Divine Court that day, he has left no trace in this world.

He did not appear on the ancient star Jianmu. The place where he personally ignited the new Dao seed had long since transformed into an independent spacetime secret realm after his departure, isolating it from all external exploration.

He did not appear in any star system, establish a sect, or enjoy the fruits of victory.

He simply vanished, completely and without a trace.

It was precisely because of this "lack of gains" that the fear of Su Chen among these twenty new-era rulers did not diminish with the passage of time, but instead became even more...deeply ingrained!
No matter how powerful a visible enemy is, there is always a way to deal with it.

But an unseen enemy, whose depths and purposes are unknown, yet who possesses the power to easily "annihilate" the Heavenly Dao... that is the ultimate terror!
They didn't know where Su Chen had gone.

They didn't know what Su Chen wanted to do.

They had no idea that when Su Chen appeared again, he would treat them, these so-called "Heavenly Venerables" and "Ancient Venerables," as the next remnants of the old era to be "erased," just as he had treated the Mythical Heavenly Dao.

This fear, stemming from the unknown, hangs like the Sword of Damocles over the heads of every new god, preventing them from sleeping soundly every night while they enjoy supreme power.

Su Chen's existence has become the biggest... "taboo" of the new era.

and.

To prevent Su Chen from being detected by him through his Heavenly Dao methods when she was mentioned, the twenty Supreme Rulers gave her an honorific title.

Time God.

after all.

The previous Heavenly Dao called Su Chen the Thief of Time. Now that the Heavenly Dao has perished, the Heavenly Venerable of Time is just right.

The implication is that this is a terrifying supreme being of the Heavenly Dao who has transcended time!
"It would be best if this Celestial Venerable Shi never appeared again."

"The secret of heaven told me."

"If he reappears, it will likely be another catastrophe no less devastating than the calamity of Heaven itself..."

This is a thought shared by both the Ten Ancient Venerables and the Ten Heavenly Venerables.

They all hope so.

Shi Tianzun, Su Chen, do not appear again.

……

……

The new era begins 1,500 years ago.

Fifteen hundred years have passed since the fall of the mythical Heavenly Dao.

The details of that earth-shattering divine war have long been buried by time and submerged in the era-shaking waves stirred up by the rise of the Ten Ancient Venerables and the Ten Heavenly Venerables.

The current Star Sea cultivators only know that the tyrant of the old era has been overthrown, and the new era is jointly ruled by twenty supreme venerables.

The mysterious "Godslayer" who brought an end to the old era has become nothing more than a legend, a taboo.

People gave him countless honorific titles—"Lord of the Burial Heaven," "Lord of Time," and so on.

But he seemed to have never truly existed, merely a vague and ethereal legend that would never appear again!
……

Jianmu Ancient Star.

As the sacred site where the new path originated, this place is no longer what it used to be.

Under the protection of the spacetime barrier set up by Su Chen, it was not affected by the changes in the power structure of the old and new forces in the outside world, and developed into a paradise for cultivation on its own.

On the planet, the spiritual energy was so dense that it was almost tangible, and the Daoist principles of the "True Self" flowed through every inch of the mountains and rivers.

Countless cultivators from the new path came here, multiplying and thriving. They did not respect gods or heaven, but only believed in themselves and explored their true nature. The entire civilization exhibited a wild yet vigorous vitality.

During this period, countless powerful geniuses emerged, including the Ten Refinement True Immortals and the Three Talents Profound Jade Immortals. Nearly fourteen star seas had new Dao experts dominating the field.

In the easternmost part of this planet, amidst a continuous stretch of desolate green mountains, few and far between are human.

At the foot of one of the most ordinary and inconspicuous mountains, there sits a simple thatched hut.

Outside, the ground is covered with bluestone, the walls are made of fences, and a few green bamboos sway in the wind, creating a peaceful and idyllic scene.

A young man dressed in a simple blue shirt was lying quietly on a rocking chair in the courtyard, his eyes slightly closed and his breathing long and deep, as if he had become one with the natural world around him.

His aura was unremarkable, like that of an ordinary cultivator who had just embarked on the path of immortality and refined a few strands of spiritual energy. No one could associate him with the taboo legend that stirred up the entire era.

He was none other than Su Chen.

He bears the name of the Celestial Venerable of Time! (End of Chapter)