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Night.
In a small grove, a crisp evening breeze rustled the leaves, casting dappled, swaying shadows beneath the moonlight.
"How did I pass out like that?" Gu Tianchen groaned as he stirred awake. Instinctively clutching his head, he shot upright the moment awareness returned and scanned his surroundings.
What met his eyes was a crackling campfire—tiny embers bursting and popping in the flames, their sharp, rhythmic snaps cutting through the quiet night with unusual clarity.
Beside the fire sat only Chen Junting, idly poking at the burning logs. Gu Tianchen himself had been unconscious until just moments ago.
"Old Gu, you're awake."
Chen Junting showed no surprise—as if he'd expected Gu Tianchen to wake right about now.
"Where are we?"
After a quick, silent survey of their surroundings, Gu Tianchen already sensed they were no longer in the secret realm from before. They weren't even near the plains of Giant Sword Mountain anymore.
"Where? Maybe some forest on the border of an empire."
"Maybe?"
At Gu Tianchen's incredulous tone, Chen Junting waved a hand dismissively. "Truth is, I don't actually know where we are. You get it—I couldn't very well drag an unconscious guy through some godforsaken wasteland. Besides, you only fainted; you weren't injured. So I figured I'd just wait for you to wake up, then we'd ask around together."
Gu Tianchen didn't mind—but he was still puzzled. "Then… how did we get from the secret realm to here?"
"That's harder to explain."
Chen Junting didn't even blink as he answered. "Maybe the god who set up that secret realm saw us both passed out and just… kicked us out?"
"What a lousy excuse," Gu Tianchen muttered, rolling his eyes in exasperation.
Chen Junting merely shrugged—and pulled a roasted sweet potato from the fire.
Watching Gu Tianchen grab it and start munching with zero regard for decorum, Chen Junting silently shook his head.
In truth, he really didn't know where they were.
After the Undead Demiplane devoured the secret realm, their location had shifted away from Giant Sword Mountain entirely. So when they exited the demiplane, they simply emerged in this grove.
...
Beneath the pitch-black night sky, the ocean lay eerily still.
A soul-engineered vessel belonging to the Sun-Moon Empire cut through the rolling waves. Its bright lights shone like a beacon against the dark expanse—strikingly visible in the endless sea.
"Lin, lad! How's the sea condition!?"
"All calm, Captain!"
The lookout, gripping a soul-engineered telescope, scrutinized the ocean's surface. On the open sea, conditions could shift in an instant—a single misstep could capsize the ship and doom every sailor aboard.
But just then—a sharp alarm blared across the deck!
On the radar screen in the captain's cabin, a colossal Giant Wave Great Squid was surging upward from beneath the ship, preparing to strike. Even more alarming: the soul-engineered radar indicated it was a 100,000-year sea soul beast!
"Captain!"
The first mate turned pale with terror.
Their captain—the strongest person aboard—was only a Soul Saint! Against a 100,000-year sea soul beast, they stood no chance!
"Stay calm! Don't panic!"
Though visibly shaken, the captain remained steadier than the rest. With decades of seafaring experience, he knew natural disasters at sea were unavoidable—but human errors could be corrected. Survival on the open ocean demanded either overwhelming power or deterrent strength, and perhaps that could still save them.
Years ago, he'd spent most of his life savings to secure one last-ditch card for voyages like this.
"Quick! There's an eighth-rank fixed-charge soul-engineered artillery shell installed beneath the hull—fire it straight at that Giant Wave Great Squid!"
"Yes, sir!"
The order barely left his lips before the ship's underbelly opened.
Seawater rushed in as the unassuming—but lethally potent—shell locked onto the charging sea beast. Even a standard Title Douluo would be hard-pressed to survive its blast.
The next second—BOOM!
A colossal wave erupted, hurling the ship violently backward. The eighth-rank shell unleashed terrifying power, sending a clear death threat straight to the Giant Wave Great Squid.
BOOOOM!
A second, even more violent shockwave ripped through the hull. The deafening explosion launched the entire vessel—and everyone on it—high into the air.
As the ship crashed back into the water, the captain immediately barked orders for the crew to check the radar—what had become of the 100,000-year Giant Wave Great Squid?
But in the next instant—
Beep! Beep! Beep!—a far more urgent alarm shrieked.
On the radar screen, the Giant Wave Great Squid's energy signature had vanished—replaced by a much larger energy fluctuation.
Before anyone could react, a shockwave—far stronger than before—erupted from the ocean depths. The steel-reinforced ship was not only flung skyward again but shattered into fragments under the sheer force.
The sea churned violently. From the heart of the maelstrom, a water column fifteen meters wide shot skyward! The air twisted around it as every human aboard sank into the abyss. Then, slowly, an island-sized form rose from the depths.
The surrounding seawater shimmered with a thick, ominous violet glow—as if the ocean itself had become hell.
The previously tranquil night sky now roiled with dark clouds, thunder crashing relentlessly. The oppressive gloom gave the feeling that the heavens were about to collapse—that the end of days had come.
From the depths emerged a colossal being—its entire body dark violet, its eyes radiating chilling indifference to all life. With the slightest movement, its massive tail rose behind it, wreathed in distorted violet light, and slammed down onto the sea.
In that moment, the ocean roiled into a gargantuan whirlpool—a black hole devouring everything. Beneath it, the creature's maw gaped wide, swallowing every living thing in the region—be it thousand-year or ten-thousand-year soul beasts—leaving nothing behind.
"This pace is too slow," it spoke, its voice a venomous woman's tone echoing through the air. "I've devoured soul beasts from nearly a hundred sea regions, yet I still can't take that final step. When will I ever get my revenge on the Sea God!?"
Its identity was now unmistakable.
It was the Empress of the Deep Sea Devil Whale— the Demon Empress!
"I hope this alliance with those humans—and Them—will help me cross that threshold. But…" Her eyes flickered with deep-seated wariness. "I can't place all my hopes on Them. If I'm to ascend as a god… perhaps I should target other deities. For example…"
A thought suddenly struck her.
"Heh heh—heh! Of course! The Sea God wasn't the only one to ascend back then. If I recall correctly… two gods fell that day."
With that, her massive devil manta form shimmered—and transformed into a woman in a flowing dark-violet gown. She rose from the sea, treading empty air, her terrifying soul power rippling outward and shaking the already-dead ocean to its core.
"I'll go find those humans now—ask where those two fallen gods originated. Once I locate their corpses… I'll devour them completely! Even if it's just a sliver of hope—I'll take it!"
"HAHAHA—Tang San, Sea God!"
Suppressing a mad laugh, the Demon Empress vanished from the sea in a flash—racing toward the continent of Sun-Moon!
...
Three months later.
"Unbelievable… we've come this far."
Gazing at the distant silhouette of Giant Sword Mountain, Gu Tianchen sighed in awe. When they'd first left that grove and learned they were near the heart of Dou Ling Empire, he'd been utterly stunned. That journey had crossed nearly half of the original Douluo Continent!
But since they'd set out to travel anyway, it hadn't mattered much. However, Chen Junting's pre-planned itinerary included the ruins of the former Hall of Offerings—once part of the Spirit Hall—located right on the border between Tian Hun and Star Luo Empires. So they'd been forced to turn back toward that frontier.
As for why it took three months…
Of course, Chen Junting had kept stopping along the way—meditating on mountains and rivers, drawing inspiration from nature to refine his sword techniques.
And in those three months, he'd already made notable progress.
"Alright, let's go," Chen Junting said, scanning the terrain and locking onto their direction. "Nothing worth studying along the rest of the route—so I'll just use sword flight to get us there."
"Fine by me," Gu Tianchen agreed without hesitation.
In the next second, two flying swords shot into the sky!
Aiming toward Spirit City, they vanished into the horizon.
In less than the time it took to burn an incense stick, the city came into view.
Ten thousand years ago, when the gods fell, the Spirit Hall Empire collapsed—and Spirit City was overrun by the two great empires of the time.
Because Tang San hailed from the Tian Dou Empire and had once served as the Tian Dou Emperor's teacher, Star Luo Empire voluntarily relinquished its claim to the city. Later, when Tian Dou fractured, Spirit City fell under Tian Hun Empire's rule.
As for the Spirit Hall and Elder Hall within the city—both were utterly destroyed when the empire fell. Only the Hall of Offerings remained, for it housed the tombs of generations of Title Douluos who had been enshrined and buried there.
Yet even so…
"Is this… the Hall of Offerings from ten thousand years ago?"
Gu Tianchen surveyed the ruins before him, his expression complicated.
Out of some unspoken taboo, the hall had never been restored—and few ever came. After ten millennia of neglect, it now lay in ruins: crumbling walls, overgrown with weeds, a ghost of its former glory.
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