Chapter 345

Chapter 345: Inside the ‘Xiao’ Hall

At the summit, Zhang Yang gazed at the millet-sized fourth lamp, momentarily dazed.

The previous three lamps had been the size of mung beans, yet this one was even smaller. Could the starlight filling Heavenly Reaching Mountain have originated from this tiny flame?

Or perhaps it existed to protect the mountain, shielding it from those who might seek to destroy it?

It was worth noting that, until now, no one, not even sages had successfully reached the summit.

He was the first.

As for the Supreme Emperor?

Zhang Yang had dismissed him entirely, striking down his repeatedly returning murderous thoughts without the slightest thrill or excitement, as effortlessly as crushing an ant.

To challenge him while being suppressed to a level below his own?

What a joke.

He was someone truly capable of challenging enemies of higher levels.

With only a brief pause, he focused his energy and urged his bloodline. His blood energy surged, boiling furiously, then poured directly into the fourth lamp.

As with the previous three, the lamp absorbed his blood energy and immediately erupted. The flame expanded rapidly into a roaring blaze nearly half a meter tall. Within it, stars whirled like a galaxy. It reminded him of the sacred flame once found in the stone furnaces of the Star Flame Saint. He began to wonder if the Star Flame Saint had gained his insights through Heavenly Reaching Mountain.

Zhang Yang continued to channel his blood energy.

The fourth lamp grew even more radiant. Eventually, just like the others before it, the flame suddenly burst apart, scattering countless sparks. However, unlike the earlier cases, these sparks resembled tiny stars. They collided with him, merging into his body and flowing into his bloodline.

Within the bloodline world—still fractured and marked by devastation, those remnants now witnessed a dazzling rain of fiery meteors falling from the sky.

But these meteors did not crash to the earth.

Instead, they landed among the stars above, deep in the bloodstained heavens, illuminating the stars that gleamed within the starlight. They transformed suddenly into a radiant Daybreak Sun, unleashing brilliant light across the celestial dome. The stars ignited with dazzling brilliance, turning the entire sky as bright as day.

This was light that illuminated the starry sky itself.

Zhang Yang once again saw the scenes he had previously witnessed in the Abyss of the Buried Immortals.

In the shattered sky, a celestial hand had descended, destroying the world of the immortal path.

Now, as the fourth lamp returned to its rightful place, he felt a powerful awakening within his bloodline.

He immediately sat down, clearing his thoughts. His heart became as calm as still water as he prepared to embrace the coming changes.

These changes were bound to the four lamps.

The first lamp had illuminated the broken heavenly realm, its light piercing the fractured sky where the celestial hand had struck.

The second lamp had lit the dark depths beneath the earth, revealing death. Its light passed through countless immortal corpses, borrowing their latent power to focus on the shattered heavens, with an aura of imminent retribution.

The third lamp had illuminated the broken mountaintop, shining over the land and mountains, refining their strength and sending a concentrated beam of light skyward.

The fourth lamp now illuminated the vast starry sky, radiating like the Daybreak Sun, gathering the brilliance of countless stars and projecting it outward.

As the light of the four lamps converged, they began to erase the broken fragments of the sky, slowly restoring it, pushing back the residual presence of the celestial hand that had once destroyed this world. Piece by piece, that divine hand faded away.

The process was excruciatingly slow. To Zhang Yang, it felt as though entire years passed in mere moments.

Time became meaningless, only the healing of the broken sky remained, and with it, the fading of the world-ending hand. The world began to mend, though remnants of death still lingered. Amidst it all, the starlit sky continued to shine, exuding a quiet sense of hope.

Hmm?

Zhang Yang suddenly felt a calling from within his bloodline world, a voice like a mother calling to her distant child. His spirit stirred. Carried by his blood energy, it spiraled inward, merging with the light of the four lamps and manifesting his figure within.

He felt dazed for a brief moment before regaining clarity.

His spirit had arrived within the bloodline world.

He watched as immortal corpses descended from the sky, still frozen in the posture of their fall. Each one seemed strangely familiar, as if bound to him by some deep, forgotten connection.

A wave of sorrow swept over him, yet at the same time, excitement surged in his chest.

It felt as though he had once been one of them.

It felt as though his return had brought them hope.

Various complicated thoughts surged through his heart, leaving him momentarily bewildered.

After a long while, he exhaled deeply and took a step toward the broken heavenly realm.

It felt as though something within was calling to him like the pull of home.

In any case, he simply wanted to take a look.

The heavenly realm lay in complete ruin.

Palaces stood in disrepair, not a single one intact.

Immortal blood and lifeless immortal corpses littered the ground.

Broken immortal swords and shattered blades still flickered with a cold, lingering light, as if silently recounting the tragic battle that had once unfolded here.

He passed through the Southern Heaven Gate, making his way from one palace to another, crossing shattered corridors and crumbling halls until he reached the center—at the highest point before the “Xiao” Hall.

The plaque on this hall had once borne three characters, but now only the character “Xiao” remained.

Zhang Yang felt a surge of emotion. Even in this form, a mere wisp of spirit, his heart swelled with excitement.

The first lamp had fallen here, and now only its light remained.

In both his past and present lives, the Celestial Emperor had led the immortals from this very place, fearlessly confronting the world-destroying celestial hand.

Though the heavenly realm had been all but annihilated, the “Xiao” Hall had somehow retained seventy to eighty percent of its original structure.

He stepped inside.

The interior was in similar disarray. It was impossible to tell how many treasures of the immortal path had been destroyed.

Only the central area within a five-meter radius remained clean and undisturbed. And there, a stone monkey sat in meditation.

The stone monkey looked remarkably lifelike so much so that, at first glance, it seemed to be a real, flesh-and-blood being. There were no visible signs of it having been carved from stone.

Its eyes were shut tightly, hands pressed together in a meditative posture. A staff lay across its knees, both ends adorned with golden hoops.

Above its head floated the first lamp.

A flame, the size of a mung bean, hovered three inches above, casting a radiant glow that illuminated the entire heavenly realm. That same light also shone into the stone monkey’s body, making it appear even more vivid and lifelike.

Zhang Yang frowned as he gazed at the monkey, murmuring, “Strange… Why does this feel so familiar? It’s as if this stone monkey is my past self, yet there’s a slight sense of separation.”

He moved closer, examining it more carefully. The feeling of familiarity deepened, drawing him in.

But he couldn’t fully comprehend what he was experiencing.

“Stone monkey… are you me?”

“If you are me, then why do I feel that you and I are different?”

“Though we differ, the essence… it still feels the same.”

Zhang Yang whispered to himself.

After a long period of contemplation, he stepped forward once more.

To his surprise, the moment he took that step, he found himself merging directly into the stone monkey—as if their forms had become one.

It was as though he had entered a state of dormant awareness. In the stillness, a voice echoed in his ears:

“Monkey, you are born of heaven and earth, practicing both the ways of Buddhism and Confucianism; only you can carry the fate of the divine land, attain the power of the immortals, transcend the flow of time, and condense an everlasting legacy…”

He could not catch the rest of the words clearly, but he felt the stone monkey’s body begin to warm, as if awakening.

A mysterious energy began to emanate from it, merging with the light of the four lamps. That energy passed through the realm and entered directly into his bloodline, causing his blood to boil and begin a powerful awakening.