"We Innate Beings were born from chaos, innate in existence, innate in attaining the Dao. With countless lifespans, even if chaos were to wither, we would remain immortal and undying. Concepts like time and epochs hold no meaning in our eyes. While heaven and earth have their limits, we are boundless. That… was our era…" the Eternal Primordial God murmured nostalgically.
For the beings of the Innate Era, it was indeed the greatest and most prosperous age.
Heaven and earth had yet to form; pure and turbid energies coexisted. The vast expanse remained undivided, free of rules or constraints.
To the Innate Beings, nothing held inherent meaning.
They were born with innate knowledge—aware of their purpose, their nature, their power—understanding themselves completely from the moment of birth.
Unlike later-born beings, the myriad creatures shaped by nature, who spent their lives striving to comprehend their existence, the Innate Clans knew their path from the start.
Weak clans became prey; powerful clans hunted.
Decline and prosperity, survival and death—it was all brutally simple.
If one was born strong, they remained strong. If born weak, they were destined to be hunted or devoured.
Such was the simplicity and cruelty of the Innate Era.
"Yet even such an era eventually met its end. For beings as mighty as us, even we were reduced to mere ants before that unimaginable, boundless force."
"What are the Tribulation Reckoning Cycles endured by later generations compared to that Primordial Tribulation? Countless Innate Clans vanished in an instant, erased without a trace, as though they had never existed. Even those Innate Beings far stronger than I could not escape their fate—all perished in that Primordial Tribulation."
The Eternal Primordial God paused here, his profound eyes actually flickering with a trace of trembling and fear.
Such an expression appearing on the Eternal Primordial God's face left even Luo Xiangjun deeply astonished.
Her origins were extraordinary, and she had studied countless ancient texts since childhood, yet this was the first time she had heard of the so-called "Primordial Tribulation."
So the Cataclysmic Tribulation had already existed in that era? Even the Innate Beings could not escape the Reckoning.
She had always believed that the Tribulation Reckoning Cycle emerged only after the vast expanse itself had taken form.
"What use is telling me this?" Luo Xiangjun said coldly. "The Innate Era is far too distant from me. Even the clans behind me likely never encountered that age. No matter how glorious the Innate Era was, it is now the past. This current era no longer belongs to the Innate Beings. Even the deities of that time have long since vanished without a trace."
The Eternal Primordial God's expression returned to its usual calm.
He shook his head, glancing at her. "I tell you this only so you may know that such a resplendent era once existed. The Innate Era should not be buried by time, nor forgotten by the myriad worlds."
Luo Xiangjun fell silent, unsure how to refute him.
Her true intention had been to pry information about the Transcendence Codex from the Eternal Primordial God. Yet he clearly avoided mentioning it, instead lingering nostalgically on the long-lost Innate Era.
Seeming in rare high spirits, the Eternal Primordial God continued,
"After the Primordial Tribulation, the pure and turbid energies separated. The pure qi ascended, becoming the heavens, while the turbid qi sank, forming the earth. Thus, the Later-born Era began. Over eons, the pure qi accumulated, the turbid qi solidified, and in their collision and interplay, the vast expanse emerged. At the same time... the Land of Truth appeared."
He paused, correcting himself. "No—we called it the Realm of Origin back then."
Luo Xiangjun stiffened, her brows furrowing.
The Land of Truth had always been a taboo subject within the vast expanse. All civilizations and True Worlds knew of its existence, yet none dared speak of it openly.
Yet none dared to speak of it openly.
Long before becoming an "Plunderer," Luo Xiangjun had already learned many secrets about the Land of Truth.
In ancient times, numerous clans and factions believed the Tribulation Reckoning Cycle was orchestrated by the Land of Truth—a means to prevent the vast expanse from birthing entities capable of threatening it.
Thus, the Tribulation Reckoning Cycle would descend at fixed intervals.
The Heaven's Will was ruthless, unleashing calamities to purge powerful beings and harvest the Great Thousand Worlds, Primordial Universes, and countless clans and lives.
This was why the later eras saw countless Great Wars Against Heaven, where ancient powerhouses led armies of leaders and legions in tragic, desperate assaults on the Land of Truth.
Yet over time, some True World civilizations discovered a pattern: surviving multiple Tribulation Reckoning Cycles could delay the next reckoning.
Initially, a cycle might strike every few epochs. But as civilizations endured more cycles, the intervals stretched—thousands, even tens of thousands of epochs between each Tribulation.
Thus, classifications like Newly Born True Worlds, Ancient True Worlds, and Supreme True Worlds emerged.
For beings of a Newly Born True World, surviving seven Tribulation Reckoning Cycles and ascending to a Supreme True World meant freedom from future reckonings.
But was this truly the case?
If Supreme True Worlds could escape the Tribulation, why did they still war and devour one another?
And where did the legends of the Sole True World originate?
The Eternal Primordial God watched Luo Xiangjun, a faint smile gracing his lips as if reading her thoughts. "I know what puzzles you."
"You wish to know why, after the vast expanse came into being, so many rumors and myths about the Cataclysmic Tribulation emerged?"
Luo Xiangjun frowned deeply, uncertain why the Eternal Primordial God was divulging this to her today.
What use was knowing these things? Could they change anything?
She couldn't even control her own freedom, let alone alter her fate.
"What if I told you that, from the very beginning, the Cataclysmic Tribulation and the Heavenly Decline Tribulation were nothing but a colossal lie?" The Eternal Primordial God laughed, his eyes suddenly radiating a chilling, soul-shaking aura.
A colossal lie?
Luo Xiangjun shuddered involuntarily.
"This cosmos holds no 'Sole True World.' The Land of Truth will always remain the Land of Truth. No True World, no matter how it ascends, can ever rival or transcend it. The path of ascension… has long been sealed."
"Cultivators are no different. No matter how many Heavenly Decline Tribulations they survive, none can achieve Transcendence. The End of the Path… has already shattered."
His voice turned icy and grave.
Luo Xiangjun stared at him, utterly shaken, unable to believe her ears.
After a long silence, she finally found her voice, still disbelieving. "How can you be so certain? Is this… recorded in the Transcendence Codex?"
The Eternal Primordial God did not answer. His gaze deepened as he clasped his hands behind his back, lost in thought.
Between the end of the Innate Era and the birth of the vast expanse, there lay another age—one the Eternal Primordial God and others called the Era of the Great Heaven and Earth Calamity.
The world had just been born, its order in utter chaos. With the death and extinction of clans embodying the Innate Dao and Innate Beings, disordered Dao principles flooded the heavens and earth. Terrifying natural calamities erupted.
Skyfire rained down; magma surged from the earth. Thunderstorms, hurricanes, quakes, and celestial upheavals—every corner of the world was plagued by disasters capable of annihilating the few surviving beings in an instant.
The Eternal Primordial God had personally witnessed Innate Beings who had narrowly survived the Primordial Tribulation struck by falling skyfire, reduced to ash in mere moments.
Even the mightiest Innate Beings were no different from feeble ants during the Great Heaven and Earth Calamity.
After treading on thin ice and surviving that era with utmost caution, beings like him still found no peace.
The emergence of the Land of Truth led to the complete extinction of all clans and beings from the Innate Era.
The birth of the vast expanse marked the final end of their age. They, the last remnants of the Innate Era, were destined to be buried alongside their time.
How could the entities within the Land of Truth allow variables beyond their control to exist? How could they tolerate defiance?
"I grow ever more certain that my old acquaintances still linger in this world, hiding in their own ways to evade the gaze of the Land of Truth."
"Even with the path ahead shattered… they refuse to surrender." The Eternal Primordial God sighed softly, his gaze deepening like an abyss.
Luo Xiangjun found this ancient fox increasingly inscrutable.
When he had been mere a wisp of true soul, he had acted arrogantly, disdainful of all. Even toward Gu Changge, leader of the Heaven-Slaying Alliance, he had privately expressed contempt, utterly unbefitting a figure of his stature as an Ancestral God.
But now—had that all been an act to lull her into lowering her guard, to serve him without suspicion?
"Such schemes and cunning… truly unfathomable."
"I kept you within the Eternal Divine Clan initially to test whether I could lure out your distant ancestor, to see if he would reveal himself. But it seems he has no intention of showing himself so easily," the Eternal Primordial God said suddenly, turning his gaze to Luo Xiangjun.
Luo Xiangjun froze, her eyes widening in shock.
Lure out her distant ancestor? But her ancestor had perished countless eras ago—a fact well-known within her clan.
How did the Eternal Primordial God even know of him?
"To speak truthfully, your clan's distant ancestor and I were… acquaintances. When you appeared in the tomb I left behind, I sensed the bloodline flowing through you…"
"To think 'Lord Luo' would have descendants—how intriguing." He chuckled softly.
A chill ran down Luo Xiangjun's spine. Cold sweat drenched her back as horror gripped her.
So he had been scheming against her from the very beginning?
Lord Luo… Could that have been her ancestor's ancient title?
"Do not fear. I bear you no malice. I confess this today not out of whim, but because I wish to visit your current clan—to meet that old 'friend.'"
The Eternal Primordial God smiled faintly as Luo Xiangjun fell silent.
Forcing herself to remain calm, she met his gaze. "My ancestor perished countless epochs ago. The Luo Clan resides in the Ethereal Land Beyond the Worlds. Even I do not know how to return. I cannot help you."
The Eternal Primordial God shook his head. "The Ethereal Land Beyond the Worlds is not so difficult to find. You do not 'not know' how to return—you simply refuse to. Lord Luo survived the Primordial Tribulation. Do you truly believe he would perish so mundanely in later eras? I do not trust your words."
"My ancestor was once besieged by great enemies, left with wounds that never healed. After the Black Calamity Era, he perished within our clan. This is no secret among the Luo Clan," Luo Xiangjun stated bluntly, withholding nothing.
Her words, however, only deepened the Eternal Primordial God's frown.
"Perhaps you merely believe he perished. The truth may be that he, like myself, deceived the heavens and hid away," he mused, speculation coloring his tone.
Luo Xiangjun stiffened again, her expression shifting between disbelief and turmoil.
If her ancestor had truly not died, what did that make the sacrifices her clan had upheld for generations?
What did her own desperate flight from the Luo Clan—becoming an Plunderer in the vast expanse to defy her fate—even mean?
"Impossible… If my ancestor still lived, how could he tolerate Heavenly Faction's purges against our clan all these years? How could he allow everything our people have done…?" Her jade-like hands clenched until her knuckles whitened, trembling with resentment.
The Luo Clan had once been part of the Eight Tribes under the Heaven-Warring Organization.
After the organization collapsed, the Luo Clan, like the other tribes, seized its resources and scattered across the worlds.
Their ancestor—the Lord Luo mentioned by the Eternal Primordial God—had been ambushed by powerful foes, sustaining irreversible injuries.
The clan suspected leaders of the other tribes had conspired to plunder their assets.
After Lord Luo's supposed death, the clan resorted to blood sacrifices across generations in hopes of resurrecting him.
Even Luo Xiangjun's parents, kin, and entire lineage were consumed as offerings.
If her ancestor still lived… how could he remain silent? How could he watch such horrors unfold without intervention?