Chapter 451: The Lower Realm... Has Fallen?

Tian Yongheng’s heart clenched tightly.

Innumerable thoughts surged through his mind, but none of them could explain the desolate scene before him.

He had only been immersed in cultivation for a relatively short period during the most critical stage of his breakthrough.

How could the world have changed so drastically?

Even if the Upper Realm had dispatched an overwhelming army and Earth Immortals had descended personally, and even if the Lower Realm’s resistance had suffered unprecedented losses, the complete destruction of an entire continent should not have happened so quickly.

Tian Yongheng’s expression grew colder at the thought as he took a step forward.

*Buzz!*

Space collapsed beneath his feet.

In the next instant, his figure disappeared from the Eastern Continent.

When he reappeared, he was already standing above the Central Continent’s Heavenly Region.

However, the moment he surveyed his surroundings, his pupils contracted sharply.

The sight before him was even more horrifying than what he had witnessed in the Eastern Continent.

The once majestic Kunlun Divine Mountain had been razed to the ground, and countless corpses were scattered across the land.

Some lay among the ruins of ancient sects, while others floated silently within the void, their physical bodies having long since lost their vitality.

There were even enormous corpses stretching across thousands of miles, their remaining auras revealing that they had once been extraordinary beings.

Tian Yongheng’s Divine Sense swept across the battlefield, locking onto each corpse one by one.

These were not ordinary cultivators. Even after death, the remaining fluctuations of their auras were enough to reveal that many of them had once stood at the pinnacle of the Lower Realm.

Immortal Ascension cultivators, Half Immortals, and even Vagrant Immortals.

Now, they had all become corpses.

Their souls had been extinguished, their Dao foundations shattered, and their remaining vitality completely drained.

Some had died beneath overwhelming physical force, while some were annihilated by terrifying Divine Powers.

There were even corpses whose bodies were intact, but their souls had vanished so completely that not even the slightest trace of their existence could be sensed.

Tian Yongheng remained motionless, his Divine Sense continuing to spread, examining the remains of the battlefield.

Suddenly, he sensed several familiar auras, causing his heart to tremble for an instant.

“No…”

The word escaped his lips almost unconsciously.

Among the countless faint fluctuations lingering above the battlefield, he recognized traces of people he had once known, people who stood alongside him during the long years he had spent in the Lower Realm.

Some of those auras had become so faint that they were almost impossible to distinguish from the surrounding Death Qi.

Others had completely disappeared, leaving behind nothing more than the residual marks of their former existence.

But Tian Yongheng recognized them, all of them.

He remembered their faces, their voices, and even the lives they had once possessed.

For a moment, his mind went completely blank.

What happened?

Did his seclusion last far longer than he believed?

Had he somehow miscalculated the passage of time during his breakthrough?

No, that should be impossible.

With his current cultivation, he could accurately perceive the passage of time even while immersed in deep cultivation.

He had not spent even days in that deep seclusion where he couldn’t oversee his clone.

Yet, during this relatively short period of tome, the Lower Realm had been reduced to ruins.

Tian Yongheng slowly clenched his fists.

His gaze swept across the Central Continent, searching for any sign of survivors.

However, the results were almost identical to what he had discovered in the Eastern Continent.

The cities were destroyed, the cultivation factions were annihilated, and the ancient formations that once protected countless territories had been reduced to fragments.

Even the most remote regions had been affected.

There was no sign of the bustling cultivation world he remembered, leaving behind only death.

Tian Yongheng’s thoughts suddenly turned towards those few people.

Those Chosen Ones and Children of Destiny, those extraordinary geniuses who had emerged during this era, possessing astonishing Providence and foundations that could rival the prodigies of the Upper Realm and even surpass them.

They were the hope of the Lower Realm.

Even if the Upper Realm possessed superior resources, techniques, and cultivation environments, the Lower Realm was not entirely without opportunities.

There were Tian Yun, Zhu Dong, Su Yanlan, Lu Qingfeng, Yang Wei, Jian Qi, Wang Daoyun, Jiang Ruyin, Liu Ruoxue, Wei Qiushan, Blade Saint, Ao Longchen, Tian Yunchen, Sun Hao, Zhao Ye, and many, many more.

There were the supreme prodigies who had grown up within the Lower Realm and ancient powerhouses who had survived countless calamities, alongside countless other extraordinary beings who had prepared themselves for the Cleansing.

Had all of them failed?

Tian Yongheng’s breathing became faintly heavier.

He attempted to sense the auras of his disciples, his friends, his older brother, many others, but found nothing.

One after another, the names appeared within his consciousness, and one after another, they were met with silence.

Tian Yongheng’s expression became increasingly cold.

He refused to believe that all of them had perished.

There had to be survivors, there had to be someone who had escaped.

After all, even in the worst possible catastrophe, it was impossible for every single cultivator to die simultaneously, wasn’t it?

Tian Yongheng expanded his Divine Sense once more.

He searched through the Central Continent, extending his perception across the surrounding regions and examining every trace of residual aura, yet the more he searched, the heavier his heart became.

The remaining auras were too weak, the traces of battle were too numerous, and the number of living beings he could detect was far too small.

Finally, his attention shifted towards something else.

The Lower Realm Spirit.

Normally, the Lower Realm Spirit was not something that ordinary cultivators could perceive directly. One had to be at least a Vagrant Immortal to sense it.

But Tian Yongheng was not just a Vagrant Immortal.

Having reached the Earth Immortal Realm and possessing his extraordinary constitution, combined with him being a True Immortal, he could already perceive the underlying structure of the Lower Realm.

He could sense the existence of its Spirit Qi, the operation of its natural elements, and the subtle fluctuations of the worldly laws and heavenly rules.

He could also detect the existence of the Lower Realm Spirit and communicate with it directly.

Yet now, it was nowhere to be found.

Tian Yongheng’s carefully examined the surrounding world, searching for even the slightest trace of its presence, but the result refused to change.

The Lower Realm Spirit had vanished from his perception, as though it had completely disappeared.

Or perhaps, it had entered a deep slumber.

The thought made Tian Yongheng’s heart sink.

The Lower Realm Spirit was the foundation supporting the entire Lower Realm.

Although it was not omnipotent, its existence was deeply connected to the world’s vitality, the nurturing of Spirit Qi, and the stability of its fundamental principles.

If the Lower Realm Spirit had truly fallen into slumber, then the consequences would be unimaginable.

The world would gradually lose its vitality, its natural elements and worldly laws would cease working properly, and its heavenly rules would become increasingly unstable.

Eventually, the countless living beings depending upon those principles would perish.

It was far worse than even the end of the Mythical Era described in ancient legends.

Tian Yongheng looked towards the blood red heavens.

At that moment, he finally understood.

The Lower Realm… has truly fallen.

And he could not prevent it from happening.