An enigmatic painting.

There is a boat in the painting, and is that the Giant Whale carrying the Northern Immortal Domain?

The words of Great Emperor Jiu Feng made Li Bahuang and Jin Shi simultaneously furrow their brows deeply, their gazes filled with intense curiosity.

Jiu Feng shook his head, regrettably saying, "This painting cannot be extracted, nor preserved. By the second glance, it turned to ashes."

"On the day the Northern Immortal Domain had anomalies, I just happened to have a wisp of a being nearby. The feeling the Giant Whale gave me was identical to what was in the painting, as if it had escaped from it."

"Any other details?" Li Bahuang pursued.

Jiu Feng pondered for a moment before speaking: "The boat and whale were in the sea, and there seemed to be a butterfly at the edge of the painting."

"Seemed?" Li Bahuang raised an eyebrow.

"Seemed."

Jiu Feng nodded solemnly, "Only half its body was visible, and it was very blurry."

Li Bahuang fell into deep thought.

What does this painting mean?

A boat and whale on the sea, and a butterfly whose existence is uncertain.

No matter how you look at it, these three things seem completely unrelated. 𝙧𝙚𝙚𝔀𝒆𝓫𝓷𝙤𝓿𝒆𝙡.𝒄𝙤𝓶

After hesitating for some time.

Jiu Feng added, "On the boat... perhaps there was someone."

"Are you sure?"

Li Bahuang asked sternly.

"Not sure. I didn't expect Cloud Water Rust to conceal a painting, and I only glanced at that painting."

Jiu Feng spoke calmly, "But I always felt that the seemingly empty boat had a living being, because at that time, I felt a gaze upon me, stretching back as if from an era long gone, and I felt insignificant as an ant."

Li Bahuang keenly noticed that Jiu Feng's hand had quietly clenched into a fist.

Moreover, Jiu Feng, who usually spoke little along the way, had surprisingly uttered so many words in one breath...

Thinking about it.

The painting must have left a profound impact on Jiu Feng.

Jin Shi shivered.

As someone in the Emperor Realm, it had been a long time since she felt fear, yet Jiu Feng's words seemed magical, transporting her to that scene of despair.

She bit her lip lightly, speculating, "Is it possible that the world in the painting... is not The Other Shore?"

Jiu Feng and Li Bahuang fell silent; the Immortal Domain knows little of The Other Shore, let alone the world beyond it.

What is certain is that the unidentified Giant Whale is not a native creature of the Immortal Domain.

"Unfortunately, I won't live much longer."

Li Bahuang patted the Eight Desolate Cauldron, from which emerged three cups brimming with wine. He drank one in a gulp, his voice betraying an uncontainable sense of loss.

He became an Emperor.

No grand achievements.

Unlike some in the Emperor Realm who overcame forbidden lands, slew demons and demons loathed by all, and protected a region of peace and safety.

His lifetime was nearly entirely spent at the North Sea Eye, not knowing even the origins of his longtime neighbor, the Giant Whale.

As for The Other Shore, which Tian Gui Yuan Yin dreamed of, he also knew very little.

"I'll often visit Li Daoist's tomb, bring flowers, and speak of the Immortal Domain and The Other Shore."

Jin Shi sensed Li Bahuang's regret and earnestly said, "If by then one understands The Other Shore."

"Then I'll thank you in advance, Daoist Jin Shi."

"Li Daoist is polite."

"..."

Jiu Feng had no interest in joining the conversation.

The Epoch of Emperor's Fall was imminent, and he wasn't sure if he'd survive, yet this Emperor of Incense dared to boast of visiting Li Bahuang's grave...

How does this woman, with such ordinary combat strength, manage to be so confident?

Perhaps when the Emperor Battle begins, the first Emperor to fall will be Jin Shi.

"It will take another day to reach the Nine Kings' Palace. I don't have much time left, so I wish both Daoist friends the best in finding immortal fate and attaining eternal life!"

Li Bahuang clasped his hands.

Jiu Feng and Jin Shi said nothing, silently returning the gesture.

After a day.

Li Bahuang's voice resounded in the Immortal Domain: "Return."

Beyond ten thousand miles lies Heaven Beyond Heaven.

Above the Immortal Domain, it has been forbidden since a reincarnation ago.

The laws of space and time are in disarray, and even a Quasi-Emperor would lose their sense of direction and time, ultimately sinking into it.

Thus, Heaven Beyond Heaven is also known as the Emperor Realm battlefield.

Yet the battlefield of Heaven Beyond Heaven was rarely used during the previous reincarnation.

Under the Emperor Realm, they are easily crushed, and cultivators of the same Emperor Realm rarely meet. If not for the Epoch of Emperor's Fall, Heaven Beyond Heaven would remain deserted.

As for the Nine Kings' Palace.

Built in the boundless Heaven Beyond Heaven, it has no specific coordinates or location and keeps moving continuously.

The forbidden area where even a Quasi-Emperor would get lost, the numerous Immortal Domain cultivators following the three Emperor Realm individuals naturally dared not follow further.

They stopped, simultaneously bowed, among them descendants of races once governed by the three Great Emperors.

Nine Kings' Palace is a forbidden area.

Several Emperor Realms entered it and vanished without a trace.

They didn't know how many of these three in the Emperor Realm would emerge.

When the cultivators looked up again, the three who once dominated an era were no longer in sight.

An old man sat on a small boat, gazing at Heaven Beyond Heaven for a long time, his eyes filled with a complex, indescribable emotion.

If Xu Lai were here.

He would certainly recognize the old man as Elder Huang Quan Huang Zhongtian from The Other Shore, who had tried multiple times to abduct his daughter Yiyi, and who stands at the Nine Heavens of the Quasi-Emperor.

"The Immortal Domain is about to be chaotic, many will die, and there will be blood-red rain..."

With a light tap of his toe on the bow, Elder Huang Quan set the small boat rocking and off it went.

From afar, came a whisper barely audible:

"The Era of Emperor's Fall, begins from Heaven Beyond Heaven."

From the moment the three Emperors entered Heaven Beyond Heaven.

Not only Li Bahuang, Jiu Feng, Jin Shi, and those within the Nine Kings' Palace, but numerous others in the Emperor Realm looked up at the sky.

They could clearly sense it.

The chaos within the Heavenly Dao suddenly became clear, as clean as well water reflecting a crescent moon.

No matter the nature of the Emperors, their hearts began to race simultaneously.

For the Heavenly Dao emitted a radiant, colorful light, a strand fell onto the Heavenly Court, another onto Earth, and another onto the Southern Immortal Domain.

"Rumble!"

The Heavenly Court's treasury trembled violently, and the Realm Gate that Xu Lai had carried back from the bottom of the Boundless Sea broke free, ascending into the sky.

On Earth, the Bronze Giant Gate shook the stars, transforming into a streak of light and disappearing.

The Southern Immortal Domain.

Within the yet-to-be-fully-devoured Samsara Sea inside that colossal water beast, a young man with a pallid complexion, having slept unknown thousands of years, opened his eyes.

Beneath him.

Lies the Realm Gate.

The Realm Gate violently shuddered, wanting to fly to some location, but was mysteriously suppressed, unable to leave the Samsara Sea.

"Are people going to start dying soon?"

The man's lips were dry and bloodless; he silently smiled, no longer suppressing the hundred-thousand-zhang Realm Gate.

The Realm Gate shattered countless tendrils above the Samsara Sea and quickly vanished.

"Hmm?"

The man noticed the tendrils, visibly stunned.

He remembered.

When he carried the Realm Gate to the Samsara Sea, he immediately fell into slumber.

But this sea.

How did it change its appearance?

"Woo!"

Due to the severing of numerous tendrils, a whimper mixed with intense pain rang out.

The young man squinted, muttering to himself:

"Some demonic beast has devoured the Samsara Sea... could it be that Blue Giant Jellyfish from the First Era? It seems the Tian Gui Tribe didn't manage to kill it."