The Sky Gate Appears

The saints were stunned, the tribulation transcendents were dazed, and the cultivators were left reeling in the wind. The entire world was dumbfounded, looking at him as if he were a god.

Even seeing it with their own eyes, they still found it unbelievable. They would rather believe their eyes were playing tricks on them than accept this as reality.

A single sword, transformed into a thunder dragon, had swallowed a thousand miles of the Immortal Tribulation.

Earlier, when Lu Yuan had taken his true form and eaten three strikes of thunder, they had already thought it was ridiculous. Now, Xu Xian had summoned his sword and swallowed the entire Immortal Tribulation. It was utterly preposterous. That nine-layered Immortal Tribulation had vanished before it even touched the ground?

What kind of person undergoes a tribulation like this?

Four hundred years ago, a single sword had swept away the tribulation for his transcendence. Four hundred years later, a single sword had swallowed the tribulation of an immortal.

From beginning to end, Xu Xian's lightning tribulation had never once fallen.

Lu Yuan cursed under his breath, "This freak..."

Qingshan murmured, "So strong."

Tu Sisi grumbled, "Is this even reasonable?"

No one answered.

The whole world was lost in a daze.

They simply stared upward foolishly, their eyes fixed on that patch of sky.

First, the lightning faded, then the black mist dispersed, and finally, the sky cleared as if it were the first light of spring.

The vast sky stretched for ten thousand miles, without a single stray cloud in sight.

The youth standing suspended in the air opened his palm and uttered a single word: "Return." The purple thunder dragon transformed back into a long sword and landed in Xu Xian's hand.

As his fingers gripped the hilt, faint traces of restless lightning flickered, and cracks still lingered in the surrounding space.

Then, from the depths of the heavens above, a beam of golden light descended. It fell squarely upon the youth, bathing him in a golden radiance that made him shine brilliantly, like a celestial deity descending to the mortal realm.

At the same time, an immortal aura gradually spread, filling the mountains and rivers.

Only then did the crowds snap back to their senses, shifting their gaze from the firmament back to the youth radiating golden light.

"He succeeded!"

"The tenth stage..."

"The Immortal Realm!"

At that moment, for the first time in tens of thousands of years, an immortal was born in Fanzhou. The whole world looked on in awe, their souls shaken.

A moment ago, they were worried Xu Xian would die under the lightning tribulation. The next moment, Xu Xian had already crossed the tribulation and become an immortal.

It happened so fast that it caught everyone off guard. To put it vulgarly, it took more effort for them to take a piss than it did for Xu Xian to become an immortal.

Yet he had succeeded. Right before their eyes, in this mortal realm, on this Ascension Platform, he had become an immortal.

Moments ago, they were terrified because the Immortal Tribulation had appeared. Now, they were terrified because this youth was a freak.

Before the crowds could cry out in surprise or begin to discuss it, a towering gate appeared out of thin air in the patch of sky where the golden light fell, manifesting like a mirage.

From blurred to clear, from void to solid, the Sky Gate suddenly appeared in the firmament, standing majestic and magnificent. It was surrounded by auspicious clouds and glowing with ten colors and ten lights, painting the entire mortal realm in vibrant, colorful hues.

When the Sky Gate appeared, every thought in the minds of the people—whether they were saints or ordinary low-level cultivators—was thrown to the back of their minds. Fear, shock, and panic vanished from their eyes.

All that remained was reverence for the Sky Gate, a craving for immortality, and a longing for the Heavens.

Deep within their hearts, dormant desires were activated.

They grew restless, they became excited, and they could find no peace.

"Look! It's the Sky Gate! That's the Sky Gate..."

"One thought leads to godhood, another to the mortal dust. Cross this gate, and one becomes an immortal..."

"This is the legendary immortal gate, with five colors and ten heavens, reflected in auspicious clouds..."

A sense of madness brewed in the depths of their eyes, and their feet moved uncontrollably. They couldn't help but want to draw closer—to approach that gate, to leap through that gate.

Yet a voice also warned them that the Sky Gate was not to be profaned or touched; it could only be looked upon from afar.

Xu Xian also slowly raised his head. At the moment their gazes met across the distance, he felt as if the Sky Gate was also looking at him.

From Xu Xian's perspective, after the Sky Gate manifested, a screen of light fell from within it.

However, for some reason, that screen of light was not like the golden Sky Gate or the ten-colored auspicious clouds. Instead, it was a gloomy grey, forming a stark contrast with the surrounding scenery.

At the same time, within that gloomy grey light screen, a long flight of stairs began to descend slowly from the front of the Sky Gate. One step, two steps, three steps...

It continued to extend until it stopped right at Xu Xian's feet.

The majestic Sky Gate and the Ascending Stairs formed a great path of immortality, connecting this mortal dust to the Heavens.

However, what the common people could not understand was that the Sky Gate's light screen and the Ascending Stairs were a dull, dark grey. As the stairs fell, a cold current also surged out from the Sky Gate, turning into a long wind that swept down into the mortal realm.

Wherever the mournful wind passed, space froze and the world lost its color. The area occupied by the stairs was shrouded in grey mist, making it impossible to tell if it was fog or snow...

The beings far away in the Wendao Sword Sect and on the tide of cloud boats could not sense it; they only saw what was visible. But the powerful experts standing on the Ascension Platform were different.

They felt the descending aura firsthand.

The cold was bone-chilling, and the silence was deathly and heavy. Even the saints couldn't help but shiver, their scalps tingling with numbness.

They looked at the sky again. At the end of the long stairs, behind the Sky Gate, what they saw was not a celestial palace of divine light, but a path leading to hell.

This feeling grew more intense as time passed.

Their previous passion and longing were instantly extinguished, as if a bucket of cold water had been poured over their heads.

Is this really the Sky Gate?

Is the immortal world really behind that gate?

God only knew. But for a moment, they couldn't convince themselves.

As for the ordinary cultivators in the distance, although they were puzzled and surprised, they didn't think much of it.

Since no one had ever seen the Sky Gate, perhaps this was simply how it was supposed to look.

There were even some old men who interpreted it with straight faces.

"One thought leads to the gods, another to hell. Entering the immortal gate through deathly silence is like being reborn from the ashes."

Reasonable. No problem.

Only Xu Xian knew why this was happening. It was because the Heavens were being eroded by darkness, and black breath was surging where the Sky Gate stood.

Thus, the Sky Gate had changed. But the gate was still the same gate, and its destination had never changed.

Of course, he wasn't the only one. The demon immortals of the North Sea told the others with great certainty.

"This is the Sky Gate, but the Sky Gate was not originally like this..."

They had lived for a very long time and had once seen the immortals of Fanzhou ascend.

It was the same Sky Gate, but the path had once been a brilliant gold.

One would tread upon a path of light that extended all the way to the Heavens.

What it shed was golden radiance, and what it blew was the spring wind. It was nothing like what they were seeing now.

They also understood in their hearts that this might be one of the reasons why Xu Xian wanted the whole world to ascend. They seemed to have guessed why the Wendao Sword Sect wanted to seal the Sky Gate.

Beyond the heavens, a massive change had occurred!

Just as the world was going mad for it, and just as the saints were worrying over it, an abnormal movement came from Fanzhou.

The glaciers in the far north cracked, and the hundred-thousand-mile ice field seemed to come alive, churning violently.

In the East Desolation, the water of the thousand-mile Divine Moon Pool flowed backward into the ground, forming a massive whirlpool.

In the bottomless sea trench of the North Sea, volcanoes erupted and waves reached the sky.

The same was happening in the Central Plains...

The tremors grew more intense, spreading from one location to entire regions. Eventually, the entire continent of Fanzhou seemed to tremble along with them.

Then, beneath the clear sky, four pillars of light erupted from the ground and shot toward the heavens. Like meteors passing through the world, they moved in unison, heading straight for the location of the Sky Gate...