Gaze and you will become stronger: starting from Doupo

Jiang Han opened his eyes, his gaze sweeping over the five giants, and said calmly, "This place is no longer your concern. Leave." Before his words had even finished, the seven avatars vanished simultaneously, leaving only the Chaos Tower on their shoulders emitting a faint halo, as if recounting the glory of what had just transpired. The five giants exchanged a glance, seeing a sense of relief in each other's eyes. They dared not linger any longer, transforming into streaks of light and swiftly disappearing into the horizon.

The turmoil in the Medicine Capital has finally subsided. Jiang Han gazed into the depths of the desolate region, a smile playing on his lips. With his first spiritual root acquired, the day he returns to the Xuanhuang Continent is not far off. Meanwhile, the Chaos Tower on his shoulder trembled slightly, seemingly anticipating the next battle.

"Senior...he killed another bigwig!"

The communication jade slip outside the Medicine Capital emitted a piercing buzz, the messenger's voice distorted with extreme shock, the last syllable trembling like a withered leaf in the autumn wind. The jade slip hovered on the sandalwood table in the imperial palace hall, its dim light illuminating the faces of the twenty-three Venerables within—faces that were usually impassive, now shattered like ice cubes thrown into boiling oil.

In the bronze crane-shaped incense burner at the corner of the hall, the ambergris incense was slowly dissipating, creating a solemn and dignified atmosphere, but this news disrupted the flow of smoke. The white-haired Venerable One at the head of the hall suddenly clenched his jade ruyi and crushed it in his hand. Jade fragments embedded themselves in his palm, and blood dripped from between his fingers, but he seemed oblivious. His cloudy old eyes were fixed on the jade slip, and he made a hoarse sound in his throat: "Say it again? Who was killed?"

"It's...it's the Yin-Yang Daoist!" The cultivator on the other end of the jade slip almost shouted. "Just half an hour ago, he tried to seize the spiritual vein in the southwest of the Medicine Capital, but that senior cleaved him in mid-air with a single sword strike! His soul didn't even have time to escape!"

"The Yin-Yang Daoist?" A venerable figure in a black cloak on the left staggered back half a step, bumping into a dragon-carved pillar. "He was the Grand Elder of the Yin-Yang Sect in the Upper Realm, with a cultivation level of the mid-stage of the Escape Realm... how could he be so easily..."

Before the words were finished, a deafening roar suddenly erupted outside the hall. Everyone looked in the direction of the sound and saw the clouds above the Medicine Capital churning at a visible speed. A solid, blood-red pillar of light pierced through the clouds and soared into the heavens. The pillar of light was not a violent outburst of energy, but rather carried a chilling, bone-deep killing intent, like an ancient divine sword that had just completed a routine drawing and sheathing.

"That's... the blood-red light from the fall of a giant?" A young Venerable subconsciously gripped the magic sword at his waist, his knuckles turning white from the force. "But why is it so condensed? The fall of an ordinary giant would at least cause a hundred miles of spiritual energy to become disordered!"

No one could answer the question. A deathly silence fell over the hall, broken only by the dripping of water from the water clock in the corner, its sound particularly clear in the oppressive atmosphere. Suddenly, another communication jade slip shot in from outside, striking the gold-brick floor and emitting a blinding white light.

"Look!" a sharp-eyed venerable one exclaimed, "It's news about that dilapidated tower!"

The light and shadow projected from the jade slip spread throughout the hall, forming a blurry picture: in the center of the picture, a tower skeleton, completely black and covered with bone patterns, floated in the blood light. The runes on the tower were slowly lighting up as the essence blood of the Yin-Yang Taoist seeped in. Each line was like a living bone, twisting and growing in the void.

"The dilapidated tower that the slain giant possessed was actually part of the mysterious Bone Tower!" The voice in the message trembled like never before. "Someone saw that after the Bone Tower absorbed the Daoist essence of the Yin-Yang Daoist, its body actually closed up by three inches! That's the legendary mysterious Bone Tower, which even the ancient books of the Upper Realm only vaguely mention!"

"The Bone Tower..." the chief venerable one murmured to himself, his withered fingers unconsciously tapping the table. "Could it be the one left behind in the ancient battlefield of gods and demons? Legend has it that it recovers a portion of its power every time it absorbs the Dao essence of a giant... If that's the case, who exactly was that senior, that he could make the Bone Tower recognize him as its master?"

Before the discussions had subsided, even more shocking news swept in like a tsunami. Outside the Medicine Capital, communication jade slips across the desolate region lit up simultaneously, and countless panicked voices converged into a torrent, impacting every cultivator who knew the inside story.

"With his own strength, he intimidated all the giants of the upper realm. Senior, he is truly terrifying to this extent!"

"It's more than just a deterrent! I heard that the master of the 'Poison God Valley' in the east tried to launch a sneak attack while things were in chaos, but he was forced back by a sword intent as soon as he unleashed his poison banner, and half of his sleeve was reduced to ashes!"

"I received a message from my branch in the north that the Living Buddha of 'Leiyin Temple' wanted to argue with the senior, but before he could finish speaking, he was forced to his knees by an invisible aura, and his Dao heart shattered on the spot!"

Inside the imperial palace, the assembled Venerables exchanged bewildered glances, their eyes filled with a near-numbness of shock. They had once believed that the descent of a powerful figure from the upper realm to the lower realm was a harbinger of the world's collapse, but they never imagined that the lower realm would harbor an existence capable of unilaterally crushing such a figure. The figure standing above the Medicine Capital was no longer a mortal in their eyes, but a deity walking among humans.

Almost simultaneously, in other corners of the desolate region, the giants who had come down from the upper realm also stopped what they were doing.

Deep within the Arctic ice plains, an old man in a green robe, who was refining ten-thousand-year-old mystic ice, suddenly opened his eyes. The cinnabar mark between his brows throbbed violently, and the mystic ice in his hand cracked in two with a "crack": "The Yin-Yang Daoist... is dead?" He muttered to himself, his withered hand brushing across the water mirror in front of him. The mirror reflected the blurry figure above the Medicine Capital. "Who is it? When did such a figure appear in the lower realm?"

In the southern swamps, inside an ancient bronze palace suspended above a poisonous marshland, three burly men with demonic horns on their heads were sharing the inner core of an ancient ferocious beast. Upon hearing the message in the communication jade slip, one of the men suddenly crushed the beast core in his hand, splattering dark green liquid all over the bronze table: "What a joke! That old Yin Yang bastard may be annoying, but he's still a mid-stage Transcendent Realm cultivator. Who can kill him?"

“And that bone tower…” another burly man frowned and said, “I’ve seen records of it in ancient scrolls. It was the natal magic weapon of a bone emperor during the war between gods and demons, and its whereabouts are unknown afterward… Could it really have reappeared?”

The third burly man remained silent for a long time before suddenly rising and looking towards the direction of Medicine Capital. A hint of apprehension flashed in his eyes: "The waters of this lower realm are deeper than we imagined... Even we could perish." His voice was low and heavy with unprecedented solemnity. "Pass down the order: without my command, no one is to approach within a hundred miles of Medicine Capital!"

Meanwhile, in the sky above the pharmaceutical capital.

Jiang Han stood with his hands behind his back beneath the clouds, his blue robe billowing slightly in the invisible aura. In the void beneath his feet, fragments of the Yin-Yang Daoist's dying Daoist essence remained, slowly being decomposed and absorbed by an invisible force. Not far from him, the dilapidated bone tower that had just absorbed the giant's blood essence trembled gently, its bone patterns shimmering with a dark luster, as if emitting a satisfied groan. "That tree is…?"

Suddenly, the Bone Tower emitted a thought, its voice like the friction of countless bones, carrying the vicissitudes of time and curiosity. Its spire pointed behind Jiang Han—where, seemingly out of nowhere, stood an ancient tree, its entire body crystalline, with a faint green light flowing across its trunk, each leaf like the purest jade, radiating an aura that calmed the mind.

Jiang Han glanced at the Bone Tower, a subtle, enigmatic smile playing on his lips. He didn't answer directly, but instead looked at the ancient tree, a complex emotion flashing in his eyes: "As an existence from the same era as the First Spiritual Root, you naturally know how terrifying the latter is." He spoke slowly, his voice not loud, yet clearly penetrating the Bone Tower's consciousness, "In that era, the First Spiritual Root at its peak swept across countless domains across the Nine Heavens and Ten Earths; even ancient gods and demons had to be wary of it."

The bone tower trembled even more violently, and the runes on its surface shone brightly: "The First Spiritual Root?! You mean... the innate spiritual root born at the beginning of chaos? Didn't it perish in the 'Great Tribulation of Spiritual Roots' ten thousand years ago? How could it..."

"Fallen?" Jiang Han shook his head slightly, his gaze falling on the ancient tree. "For mortals, death is the fall. But for true innate spiritual beings, as long as their origin is not destroyed, there will be a day of revival. However..." He paused, his tone becoming somewhat regretful, "It is now severely injured, its origin is incomplete, otherwise... how could it have so easily submitted to me?"

The Bone Tower fell silent, its light flickering as if it were processing this astonishing news. As an existence contemporaneous with the First Spiritual Root, it naturally understood the terrifying power of that root. Even at its peak, it was merely a slightly stronger magical artifact compared to the First Spiritual Root. And now, such a terrifying being had submitted to this cultivator from the lower realm?
"What kind of terrifying existence must a tree be that even the first spiritual root has submitted to!" The Bone Tower's thoughts were filled with horror. It looked at Jiang Han again, trying to find a trace of earth-shattering aura from him, but only saw a calm, like an unfathomable ancient well.

"You'll find out later." Jiang Han withdrew his gaze, leaving a suspenseful question. He knew the origin of the Bone Tower and was aware of its value, but some things were better left unsaid too early.

After speaking, his gaze turned to the five figures that were faintly visible in the distant void. Those were the remaining five giants from the Upper Realm, who were currently hovering at the edge of the Medicine Capital, their expressions shifting uncertainly.

"How long do you intend to linger here?" Jiang Han's voice suddenly turned cold, and an incomparably powerful aura emanated from his body, as if a sleeping dragon was about to awaken. "Or... do you intend to stay here forever?"

As the last few words were spoken, the earth beneath the Medicine Capital suddenly trembled slightly, and the clouds in the sky formed a massive vortex centered on Jiang Han. The five giants felt an invisible pressure bearing down on them, as if the entire world was squeezing their souls, making it almost impossible for them to breathe.

"Insolence!" A giant wearing a jade crown roared, attempting to unleash his magical weapon, only to find that the flow of spiritual energy within his body instantly became sluggish. "You only managed to kill the Yin-Yang Daoist by chance. Do you really think you can threaten us?"

"Whether it's luck or not, you can try it yourself." Jiang Han's lips curled into a cold smile, his eyes showing no emotion, as if he were discussing a trivial matter.

Just as the atmosphere between the two sides was tense, an unexpected change occurred!
Buzz buzz—!
Within the eight regions, all the ancient altars hidden in ancient temples, ruins, and even royal palaces simultaneously trembled violently. These altars were made of various materials, some cast from black iron, some piled up from jade, and some were even just simple piles of stones, but at this moment they seemed to be given life, emitting a faint light.

Inside the Imperial Palace of Medicine Capital, the Venerables stared in horror at the bronze altar in the center of the hall, an altar that had never been used before. Suddenly, the myriad beasts carved on the altar's surface came to life, their ferocious heads opening their gaping maws and emitting silent roars. From the groove in the center of the altar, a stream of light, like a column of water, slowly rose.

"This is... the resonance of the ancient altars!" the chief venerable one exclaimed in shock, his face drained of all color. "Legend has it that these ancient altars only activate simultaneously when a major upheaval occurs in the Eight Domains! Could it be... could it be that the actions of that senior have disturbed some kind of taboo?"

Before the words were finished, a huge stream of light shot out from above all the ancient altars at the same time. These streams of light did not shoot into the sky, but intertwined and merged in the void, eventually forming a huge picture spanning tens of thousands of miles.

The image shows a continuous mountain range. The range is majestic, its ridgelines like a giant dragon lying across the landscape. What should be a place of natural beauty and abundance appears utterly desolate. Even more astonishing is that the central area of ​​the range is not a towering peak, but a massive depression—a five-finger imprint, thousands of feet deep, with smooth, mirror-like edges!
“That…that’s the Immortal Mountain of the Xuan Domain!” A Venerable who had traveled through the Xuan Domain pointed at the screen, his voice trembling with shock. “I went there ten years ago. Back then, the Immortal Mountain was the number one sacred mountain in the Xuan Domain, shrouded in spiritual mist and filled with spiritual herbs. How could it…how could it have become a ruin?”

The Immortal Mountain in the picture has long lost its former spiritual aura. The once main peak has been forcefully driven into the ground, forming a huge five-finger imprint. The surrounding peaks are fractured and collapsed, and the exposed rock layers are covered with shocking cracks, as if they had been crushed by the hand of a giant. The buildings at the foot of the mountain have been reduced to dust, leaving not a trace of remains. Only a few tenacious ancient trees grow crookedly on the edge of the ruins, appearing extremely desolate.

"My God, how did Mount Immortal become a ruin!"

"These five-finger marks... could they have been made by a single palm strike? What kind of power could cause such terrifying destruction?"

"Isn't Mount Immortal protected by an ancient formation? Who could have broken the formation and turned the entire mountain into this state?"

The Venerables discussed amongst themselves, their faces filled with disbelief. Mount Immortal had existed since ancient times, and was said to be related to a mysterious lineage. It had always been a sacred place in the Xuan Domain, and no one had ever dared to act recklessly there. Now, it had been reduced to ruins overnight. How could this not be shocking?

Rumble——!
The screen suddenly trembled violently, as if struck by some powerful force. Immediately afterwards, a deafening roar echoed across the screen—the sound of heaven and earth shattering, the mournful cry of the laws collapsing. (End of Chapter)