Chapter One: A Vow Across Time and Space

“Suppose one were to defy this path—what then?” The Underworld Deity Xuan earnestly asked the clock space before him.

The space ahead was deep, dark, and shadowed in azure. Invisible clocks extended infinitely, unfolding without end.

Upon the clocks twisted, diverse patterns glowed with streams of light. In response to their possessor’s doubt, they answered with a mournful, desolate tone:

“Forget all, seek the fruit of the unknown, and fall into the cycle of reincarnation!”

Xuan had never felt such heaviness. As the Underworld Deity, he was not meant to interfere with the mortal realm’s cycle of life and death. Yet, his heart had stirred. In a fractured moment of time, he encountered the love of his life.

He had never experienced such emotions before—like the blossoming dream cherry blossoms that tugged at his heartstrings.

Until that moment—the crossing to the other shore!

The Land of the Departed was always filled with wandering souls drifting toward the next crossing.

At this very place, a woman clad in garments of blue and orange stood at the ferry’s edge, gazing at the withering, illusory horizon.

Her name was Meng Yao, the foremost cultivator of the Origin Void World, the ethereal Sword God. When Xuan met her amid the chaotic time rifts, she lingered in his mind like an unshakable shadow.

Beside her stood a man named Xuan, draped in a ghostly black robe.

Xuan was the Underworld Deity, master of the myriad realms’ cycle of life and death.

“Is this the Land of the Departed? It’s amazing that such a place exists in the world,” Meng Yao said with surprise, her words tinged with reflective sorrow.

“If she were my wife, perhaps I would have to…” Xuan hesitated, uncharacteristically unsettled by the scene before him.

Before he could finish, Meng Yao seemed to sense his turmoil and smiled gently. “I think this place is quite wonderful!”

Seeing her acceptance of this realm for wayward souls, Xuan’s hesitation faded, and he expressed his love.

In that instant, the cold, wintry land grew warm and tender.

Everything had once proceeded according to fate, but all was scattered by a sweeping anomaly that engulfed the Origin Void World.

Meng Yao, as the ethereal Sword God of the Origin Void World, could not stand aloof. Yet, once she left here, she might never return.

Xuan, deeply aware of the peril Meng Yao faced, knew that even he could not guarantee a safe passage through this crisis, let alone her.

Though he longed to act, he was bound by his destiny. The cycle of life and death was his mission; to forsake it might bring greater catastrophe.

Yet, he could not let go.

This time, he came here, to this space, hoping to glimpse Meng Yao’s future through the gears of time, but there was nothing to see.

It seemed the entire future timeline connected to her had changed, prompting his question to this temporal space, seeking an answer—more precisely, the answer he wished for.

But there was nothing.

A dead end—how could there be a future?

He laughed foolishly twice, knowing the outcome was set from the beginning. No matter what, he would not let go. “Even if I return to the cycle, so be it! Even if I forget all, so be it! For this heartfelt desire, I will sever the celestial path!”

Resolutely, Xuan chose this road. No matter how difficult, he was willing to give everything to break through the barrier before him, regardless of cost or consequence.

***

The Quadrant Domain!

This was the end of the Origin Void World’s living space. Beyond lay the Underworld Abyss, said to be the threshold to another realm.

Yet, where there had been void, colossal beasts suddenly appeared, surging in hordes toward the Quadrant Domain. Some were hundreds of feet tall, others merely dozens—these monsters resembled immense whales of the boundless sea.

They radiated a black aura, maddened as if possessed, with blood-red faces and massive, sharp teeth, devouring the continent step by step.

If they were ordinary beasts, there would be no concern. But these were extraordinarily powerful; any one of them could obliterate the entire Origin Void World.

At least, without a Celestial God level warrior, no one could stand against them.

On the other side of the Underworld Abyss, the factions and legions of the Origin Void World fought desperately to halt these beasts, but they could not stop their advance.

They seemed endless, continuously pouring forth from afar.

As the strongest in the Origin Void World, the ethereal Sword God Meng Yao could not ignore this.

She alone possessed the strength to venture into the Underworld Abyss.

Finally, she chose to enter, seeking the source of these beasts. If she could seal the entrance, it would be her path, regardless of her feelings.

After Xuan’s fruitless inquiry into the time space, he resolutely embraced the desire in his heart. Even if it triggered a greater disaster, he was willing to bear it all.

At first, he sensed a presence here almost as strong as his own.

Upon arrival and seeing the endless beasts, his thoughts sharply reversed—his immediate reaction: “Aren’t these spatial beasts?”

This was suspicious.

Xuan recognized these creatures. More precisely, they were妖獣—monsters capable of traversing worlds. If it weren’t for someone’s manipulation, such benign妖獣 would never attack a world on their own.

Coming to this battlefield!

From afar, he sensed Meng Yao had already entered the Underworld Abyss. At that moment, a grave unease rose within him. “Not good!”

Anxiety burned like a fierce flame in his heart. He transformed swiftly into a streak of light and plunged in.

Deep within the Abyss, Meng Yao’s aura was fading. Kneeling on the ground, one hand gripped her sword planted in the earth, the other steadying it. Before her was a massive dark whirlpool spewing countless beasts.

Floating in the air before her was a figure shrouded in a dark golden aura, eyes filled with disdain and absurd amusement. Yet even he could not help but admire her resolve.

“Impressive, finding this place. But you’re too weak. For your bravery, I’ll give you a chance to live—stay by my side as my deputy. How about it?”

“Dream on!” Meng Yao’s eyes glowed crimson as she stared fiercely, ready to make a final desperate strike to buy time.

At least, she could close the entrance!

Yet he paid no heed to her defiance. Even knowing she was making a last stand, he disregarded her, mocking her.

Perhaps, in his eyes, it was all meaningless.

“Haha, utterly ridiculous and foolish!”

But he did not expect that when Meng Yao approached, she suddenly teleported before the black vortex, pouring all her power into her sword and slashing forward.

In an instant—

***

A thunderous shattering sound tore the entrance apart, and the massive black whirlpool vanished without trace.

“Damn you! You’re courting death!” He grew angry, grabbing Meng Yao by the neck.

At this moment, Meng Yao was utterly exhausted, unable to resist. Just as she thought death was imminent, Xuan arrived, striking the foe with a palm that sent him reeling, rescuing her.

Seeing Xuan, Meng Yao smiled gently, lightly raising a hand to wipe away tears from his face.

“Sorry I couldn’t keep my promise… Just seeing you one last time, I am satisfied.”

With these words, her body emitted faint glimmers and dissolved into nothingness.

“No!” Xuan’s heart shattered as if his soul was torn apart, his very core split asunder.

“I should have come sooner…”

“You did not finish your task; I will do so for you.” Amid sorrow, his spirit grew dark and cold. Slowly rising, he vowed his final promise.

“Why do you insist on this?” Xuan’s sharp gaze pierced the one before him.

“Only through destruction can there be rebirth. The new world requires endless life force; we are merely recreating. You, Underworld Deity, can’t even see through life and death? How laughable.”

“Life and death—I neither manage nor care to. I only know what I must do now!”

In Xuan’s heart, his concern was Meng Yao; Meng Yao cared for the world she lived in. So her wish became his. He would fulfill it, even at death’s cost.

The wrath of the Underworld Deity shook the myriad realms. A deathly aura drifted behind Xuan, resembling a colossal reaper harvesting souls, radiating a solemn, spectral presence.

“You are mad. I tire of playing with you!”

The opponent did not expect Xuan to truly fight to the death. Initially confident it would be easy, he now faced two mad gods.

“I will see you dead…”

Though the foe had left the Origin Void World, a massive scythe of death suddenly struck him with tremendous force. Unable to evade, he bore the blow.

After this attack, the adversary faltered but laughed, “Haha, well done. Even if you kill me, what then? You won’t fare much better!”

Xuan ignored the taunts. At this moment, a colossal temporal vortex surged violently, erasing time and space in its wake. The shattered dimensions trembled as two forces collided, ripping countless realms apart.

“Even if I die, you cannot claim lordship over the grand plan, haha…”

“What do you mean?” Xuan hesitated at these words and ultimately let his foe escape. Yet the enemy was doomed. Xuan, desperate to annihilate him, unleashed his divine soul’s power.

Exhausted of his Underworld Deity power, Xuan transformed into a sphere of light and fled.

***

Origin Void World!

Hongmeng Continent!

Luochuan City!

Perhaps driven by a lingering thought, Xuan descended upon this land and continent.

He reincarnated into a small family, the Mo Clan, considered a respectable household in Luochuan City.

In this life, he was still named Xuan—Mo Xuan, the young master of the Mo Clan and son of the former clan head, though now devoid of past memories.