Under Mount Kunlun.
The dark, cavernous crypt stretched endlessly in all directions, its only source of light coming from the vast crack above, through which countless stars leaked their ethereal glow.
Dozens of towering bronze pillars, each over a hundred feet high, stood like monumental gravestones of unrivaled power, reaching into the heavens.
"...Seventy-nine, eighty, eighty-one."
"As expected, the cosmic number is eighty-one. Starting from one, ending at ten, endlessly cycling, boundless and eternal, with its order unbroken."
On one of the bronze pillars stood a figure, back lit by the starlight, silently observing.
In the dimness, the figure's face remained obscured, but his eyes glowed with an intense radiance, sweeping across the ancient hall.
Beneath the cascading starlight, the layout of the crypt became faintly visible, resembling a sacrificial formation for the emperor from ancient times.
Around it, eighty-one bronze pillars stood in orderly fashion, crisscrossing with iron chains like massive serpents, all converging toward a distant, foggy void.
Inside, lines of cross-like threads extended outward, occasionally interrupted by four solar symbols representing the eight directions: Qian, Dui, Li, Zhen, Xun, Kan, Gen, and Kun.
The crypt was cold and lifeless, with the chill climbing up the bronze pillars.
The figure atop the pillar raised a hand, performing a gesture to dispel the cold, yet it could not shake the deep loneliness that lay within his eyes.
Suddenly, his face shifted slightly, a searing heat spreading from his left shoulder, as if hellfire was coursing through his veins.
A fiery cloud-like symbol burst from the back of his left shoulder, radiating a blood-red brilliance!
"Have you sensed it too?"
Yang Qingxuan smiled bitterly, a trace of desolation in his voice.
This mark had appeared on his body when he was six years old, accompanying him for twenty-four years.
From a nameless youth to a world-shaking martial grandmaster, from life-threatening battles to becoming the pinnacle of martial arts in China, this mark had granted him unparalleled glory and power—but it had also devoured his body like a demon.
"This crypt, hidden beneath Mount Kunlun... is it my destined place?"
Yang Qingxuan coughed with excitement, a sickly flush appearing on his face. "Thirty years as a grandmaster, and yet I've never known who I really am... How laughable! How utterly laughable!"
As his emotions surged, the power of the mark burned through his limbs, and Yang Qingxuan grimaced in pain.
"Fortune and misfortune are one and the same! This is my last chance. I must uncover the truth of my origins and discover the answer behind this mark!" He took a deep breath and charged forward, his body flitting along the iron chains, darting into the inner formation in just a few breaths.
Over the years, he had developed a strange premonition—that perhaps this body had never truly been his. With the appearance of the crypt in his dreams, that feeling had only grown stronger.
Suddenly, his steps faltered, the abrupt stop causing his true energy to surge into his feet, making the iron chains rattle with loud clanging noises.
Yang Qingxuan's eyes widened in disbelief as he witnessed an unforgettable sight!
The inner formation was vast beyond imagination, as if he had stepped into another realm. On what resembled a flat battlefield, millions of monstrous creatures were impaled by iron chains, their bodies pierced through in hundreds of places, and they lay prostrate in the center of the formation.
At the place where the beasts knelt, there stood an enormous creature, a hundred feet tall, its hands held out in front of it. Its weathered, lifeless eyes gazed at the rolling black clouds in the sky, empty and devoid of soul.
Yang Qingxuan's body stiffened, his mind slow to process the horrific scene before him.
The sight was too terrifying, the creatures all seemingly cursed by heavenly punishment, as if they were part of some sacrificial ritual!
He had fought across three thousand miles, once blocking a million soldiers with a single sword, and had broken through both mountains and rivers—but he had never witnessed such an eerie and terrifying scene!
Yang Qingxuan's gaze was drawn to the creature's hands, where something caught his eye.
There, in the palm of the creature, rested a silver compass, gleaming with silvery light, a thing of exquisite beauty.
Yang Qingxuan's heart stirred, and with a few steps, he stood atop the creature's hand, leaning in closer to examine the compass.
The compass was translucent and glowing, intricate formations engraved on its surface. Within it, tiny silver dots shimmered, ethereal and otherworldly. Against the backdrop of the dark tray beneath it, the fragments of silver inside the compass gleamed even brighter.
What stunned him even more was that the silver dots weren't merely painted on; they seemed to be projections of the stars themselves, influenced by the heavens.
Yang Qingxuan was momentarily lost in thought, his gaze locked on the vast expanse of stars within the compass. His mind stirred, and a name suddenly flashed in his mind, slipping from his lips: "Starry Cosmos Disk!"
Before seeing this object, he had never heard of the "Starry Cosmos Disk."
Shaken to the core, Yang Qingxuan raised his hand, lightly brushing the surface of the Starry Cosmos Disk. A cold sensation coursed through his fingertips.
Suddenly, a sharp pain surged through his left shoulder, as if his soul was being torn from his body.
Behind him, rays of rosy light erupted into the air, turning into violet beams that spread outward, with the sun itself blazing like a wheel, illuminating the heavens and earth.
The bodies of the millions of monstrous creatures shattered under the violet light, turning into dust and scattering away.
Yang Qingxuan's face turned deathly pale as the power of the mark spiraled out of control. The aurora drew upon the stars, bringing forth celestial thunder and fire that struck him directly.
In an instant, the Milky Way glittered as the starlight spread through the crypt.
Amid this world-shattering force, a towering phantom slowly materialized, its form unclear, yet standing alone in the vastness of the universe, gazing up at the stars.
On that day, the stones of Kunlun Xushan collapsed with a thunderous roar, shaking the heavens and earth.
Above the mountain's peak, a silver beam of light shot up into the sky, piercing through the primordial chaos of the universe!