Immortality: Starting with a grave, I'm invincible when burying corpses.

July, 107th year of the Five Kingdoms Calendar.

The reclusive immortal Huayang, who lives in seclusion in the East Sea, declares that the Great Qi has lost its orthodoxy and no longer has the ability to govern the Tianqi Domain. All the promises made in the past have vanished into thin air.

Donghai Cave Heaven withdrew from its alliance with Dongqi and instead submitted a letter of surrender to the Great Ling Empire, expressing its willingness to become a vassal state of the Great Ling Empire.

Mu Yong accepted the offer with a smile, promising not to station a large number of troops in the East Sea Cave Heaven, but only to send a small number of people to maintain the system and collect taxes.

……

February, year 108 of the Five Kingdoms calendar.

All the central states of the Tianqi Domain fell into the hands of the Great Ling Empire and the Great Shi Empire, and half of the eastern states also fell. The puppet army of the Great Ling Empire was only three thousand miles away from Jiaozhou City.

The main force of the Great Empire also broke through the last formidable pass in western Jiaozhou, and millions of troops advanced into Jiaozhou.

……

Jiaozhou City, Tianxing Pagoda.

As the tallest building in Jiaozhou City, Tianxing Tower was built 38 years ago. The tower is 1,000 meters high and stands on the edge of the imperial palace in Jiaozhou City, to rival the Zhaixing Pavilion in Qi'an City.

The stars in the sky are like water, and the earth is filled with the warmth of human life.

On the tower shrouded in mist, two old men sat facing each other, one dressed in a bright yellow brocade robe and the other in a plain white robe.

Between the two was a jade chessboard, covered with chess pieces, as if the game had already ended.

The evening breeze, carrying the chill of winter, howled in, but was blocked by an invisible barrier. As it blew into the tower, it transformed into a gentle breeze that caressed the faces of the two elderly men.

The old man, dressed in bright yellow brocade, glanced at the chessboard in front of him and shook his head slightly, seemingly dissatisfied with the game.

After taking a sip of hot tea, the old man in brocade stood up, walked a few steps to the west side of the tower, and gazed into the northwest.

The old man in white robes also got up and walked to his side.

The night sky was cloudless, with only the countless stars shining brightly, illuminating the human world in the night.

Under the dazzling starlight, Jun Cheng'an, now appearing as an old man, raised his hand to touch the railing beneath him and sighed.

"This Heavenly Star Tower is ultimately just a replica. Even though it is the same height, it is far from being as ingenious as the Star-Picking Pavilion. It has lost some of its charm and restraint."

"Jiaozhou City is not Qi'an City. Even with its myriad lights, it has lost some of its grandeur."

"After hundreds of years of twists and turns, it has finally come to an end..."

Standing beside Jun Cheng'an, Meng Yan remained silent. This old man, known as the Sage of Literature, quietly watched the bustling world below, his aged face serene.

Jun Cheng'an, who was talking to himself, didn't care about Meng Yan's silence. He leaned against the edge of the tower and sighed with great emotion.

"The ups and downs of life are but a few hundred years."

"It's neither long nor short."

"I vaguely remember that more than three hundred years ago, that person was just a slightly more powerful mortal. Although he was exceptionally talented, he did not deserve the praise of being unparalleled in the world. It was only thanks to the appreciation of my good sister that he obtained half of the royal treasury's cultivation resources and ushered in a new era."

When talking about the past, Jun Cheng'an did not show any bitterness or regret. He looked at the world under the night sky, and all he felt was an indescribable emotion.

"Master Meng... Sometimes I wonder, if I had spared no effort to kill that one before he grew up, would the world be a different place today?"

Before Meng Yan could answer, Jun Cheng'an contradicted himself.

"I actually know, just like my dear sister. She was special from the very beginning, so special that no one could possibly stop her from growing up."

"Even without my dear sister, perhaps someone else would have appeared to pave the way for that person's cultivation. As for suppressing her, that's utter nonsense."

"From beginning to end, we never had any chance to resist, because everything was already predetermined."

As he spoke, Jun Cheng'an's gaze became somewhat unfocused. He looked up at the starry sky above, his voice ethereal.

"I have always known that they are different from us from the very beginning, and they do not belong to the world we live in."

"I am just feeling a bit sentimental, sentimental about what happened back then, and sentimental that everything has turned out the way it is now."

"Even now, beings like us, the terrestrial immortals who stand at the pinnacle of heaven and earth, dare not easily mention that one's name, for fear of attracting his attention. Even the world itself must yield before that one..."

Upon hearing this, Meng Yan, who had been silent all along, finally spoke his first words of the night.

"Life is unpredictable. We, who are on the road, can never foresee the future; we can only make the appropriate choices at the time..."

Halfway through his speech, Meng Yan suddenly turned his gaze to Jun Cheng'an, looking at his former student.

He pointed to the brightly lit city of Jiaozhou below, his voice filled with a sense of having seen through everything.

"In our eyes, all living beings are called mortals, but in their eyes, aren't we also mortals?"

"There are too many monsters in our world. They have brazenly barged into our world, built their own nests here, and are doing whatever they want."

"Some monsters eat people, some monsters disguise themselves as people, but no matter what, a monster is a monster, and it has never been the same kind of life as us. All we can do is hide ourselves better."

"After hundreds of years of fighting, I am tired... Tomorrow morning I will leave Daqi and return to Wenhua Palace to study, and will no longer participate in this worldly strife. Cheng'an, you should also make plans as soon as possible."

……

March of the 108th year of the Five Kingdoms calendar.

The sage of literature and Taoism, the master of Wenhua Palace, and the imperial tutor Meng Yan resigned from his official post and went into seclusion.

The core forces of the Wenchang Palace accompanied him, departing from the Tianqi Domain aboard a flying boat.

……

September, Year 108 of the Five Kingdoms Calendar.

Following the decree of the Pure Lotus Dharma King, the Great Snow Region sent envoys to the Great Spirit Empire to pledge allegiance to it.

……

March, year 109 of the Five Kingdoms calendar.

The former emperor of the Great Qi Dynasty, Jun Cheng'an, the ancestor of the Jun clan, left Great Qi and went to Tianming Domain alone to seek refuge with his teacher Meng Yan.

……

June, year 109 of the Five Kingdoms calendar.

Shen Yunwei of the Lingbei Empire met with Mu Yong, the emperor of the Great Ling Empire. The banquet lasted for seven days, and the two had a very pleasant discussion.

September.

The Lingbei Empire removed its imperial title and restored the old system of the northern border.

Shen Yunwei stated that the people of the Northern Territory regard the Five Elements True Lord as their supreme deity, and have worshipped him for generations, eternally upholding their faith in the True Lord.

The Great Spirit Empire dispatched the Five Spirit Legion from the East Sea northward to the Thirteen Eastern Provinces to join forces with the Northern Army in fighting against the Demon Race.

……

November, year 109 of the Five Kingdoms calendar.

All the eastern states of the Tianqi Domain fell into the hands of the Great Ling Empire, and a three million-strong army marched into Jiaozhou.

……

February, 110th year of the Five Kingdoms Calendar.

Zhuge Xiang, the Grand Preceptor of the Datong Empire, betrayed the empire and fled with the elites of the Datong Empire to join the Daling Empire.

The Datong sect split into two, with a large number of students following Zhuge Xiang in his defection, intending to retrace the path taken by its founder, Zhuangzi.