Chapter 1 Above the Vault of Heaven

Above the vault of heaven, dark mists swirled.

In the depths of the Netherworld, a horde of demons and ghosts, their souls still trembling, continued to flee in disarray.

Yan Xiake and the others stood amidst a ruined landscape, gazing in stunned silence at the distant, churning shadows.

Who won? Who lost?

"Hero Yan, what, what should we do?"

Wei Shaoyou's heart churned, lost and bewildered.

His conjecture was too terrifying, so terrifying that he felt suffocated, and dared not speak it aloud.

Yan Xiake didn't look at him, still gazing into the distance, toward the city of the Netherworld, his voice low:

"Wait!"

This Netherworld was like a cage. Without someone to guide them, even a nascent soul could not enter or leave. All they could do was wait.

Beyond that, there was nothing else they could possibly do.

Daoist Mingxin sat cross-legged amidst the ruins, pulling out a scripture from who knows where, flipping through it, muttering:

"Netherworld Monarch Sacrifice, Netherworld Monarch Sacrifice..."

*Whoosh!*

Deep within the Netherworld Sea, a massive dragon head rose and fell, its scarlet, savage eyes flashing with disappointment.

Why did it stop?

Keep fighting...

It roared in its heart, causing the entire Netherworld Sea to tremble slightly.

It didn't know who this suddenly appearing Daoist was, but after one clash, it could see that this Daoist was no ordinary person. That Xie Qi was burdened and might not be able to defeat him.

But things didn't change according to its will.

"Hmm?"

An Qisheng's heart stirred slightly.

He knew that this 'good' was not said to him, but to another 'person'.

Because, as Xie Qi's voice faded.

The Black Impermanence, who had been sitting back-to-back with him for thousands of years, slowly raised his head.

Clearly, they were sitting back-to-back, and according to their positions, he shouldn't have been able to see the Black Impermanence at all.

But An Qisheng saw him.

The Black Impermanence was not too black. His skin was bronze, and above his high, straight nose, a pair of black pupils without any whites, slowly regained clarity after a moment of confusion.

Then, An Qisheng heard the first sentence spoken by the Black Impermanence after his revival:

"Seventh Brother, let's stop for now."

His voice was hoarse and sharp, like two pieces of iron rubbing together, grating, yet exuding vitality, like the rising sun, like the earth after a rainstorm.

If the White Impermanence, Xie Qi, was completely condensed from death energy, then this Black Impermanence was the gathering of all vitality.

The two were known as the Soul-Reaping Envoys of Life and Death.

They were interdependent and mutually restrained. It was precisely because of this subtle connection that Xie Qi was able to bear the last wisp of the Black Impermanence's aura with his own origin.

Until now, there was a chance of resurrection.

"Black Impermanence..."

An Qisheng's eyes narrowed slightly. Xie Qi's stopping was naturally because of this Black Impermanence.

In the world today, perhaps only he could change Xie Qi's desire to attack.

However, this was not a good thing for Xie Qi, because bearing two people with one person's origin was too much of a burden for him.

In fact, if it hadn't been for this, the aftermath of that clash wouldn't have spread to the city of the Netherworld.

It was nothing more than not wanting to affect the revival of the Black Impermanence.

"Eighth..."

Xie Qi gently called his brother's name, and a gentle smile appeared on his cold face.

Like an elder brother of an ordinary family doting on his younger brother, he no longer had any coldness or killing intent.

If this scene were seen by the countless demons, ghosts, and cultivators who had died at his hands over the years, they would probably doubt their lives.

In fact, deep in the Netherworld Sea, that great demon ghost was now in shock, almost thinking he had seen the wrong person.

"Seventh Brother, you've suffered these years..."

A trace of warmth appeared in the Black Impermanence's voice, as if he had just emerged from thousands of years of silence, capturing every bit of the present moment.

"We're brothers, what are you talking about?"

Xie Qi gently shook his head, his voice becoming more and more gentle:

"I'm very happy that you can come back."

The two brothers, one black and one white, sat back-to-back, their voices filled with joy, but unfortunately, under the maintenance of some invisible force, the two could not separate, so they could not see each other at all.

And with the revival of the Black Impermanence, the revival of his aura, the aura on Xie Qi's body also began to slowly decline. Finally, the two maintained an extremely delicate balance.

Like the sealed space of 'Chu', life and death were independent, yet interdependent.

The two brothers talked about their feelings of separation and reunion, as if there was no one else around.

An Qisheng stood in the distance, watching quietly, not disturbing, nor leaving.

After a long time, Xie Qi looked at An Qisheng again, his eyes calm with a hint of regret:

"Now, I really can't kill you..."

For more than a thousand years, or even longer, apart from the Ten Vicious of the Imperial Heaven and the people of the Netherworld, there seemed to be no one else in the world worthy of his action.

Even this An Qisheng, before truly confronting him, he didn't care much about him.

Over the long years, he had seen too many geniuses, too many experts, but none of them were his match. Some even ran rampant in the world, but would go mad just by looking at him.

If possible, he really wanted to go all out and fight this person valued by the Netherworld Monarch to the death.

But unfortunately...

Feeling the pressure behind him as heavy as the moon, his heart gradually calmed down. Letting go, so be it.

"The return of Eighth Lord is also a great joy. Seventh Lord should think more carefully..."

An Qisheng walked up to the top of the city and sighed softly:

"It took thousands of years of persistence to bring back Eighth Lord. If you reunite today and separate tomorrow, it would be a pity..."

From Qin Wuyi's memory, he could see that Xie Qi was a rare and pure person.

There weren't many people like that in the world.

"Fellow Daoist is the one the Netherworld Monarch mentioned, right? You are indeed extraordinary. Even if Seventh Brother didn't have the burden of me, he might not be able to defeat you."

Xie Qi didn't speak, but the Black Impermanence spoke softly:

"However, you're advising the wrong person. The Netherworld Monarch Sacrifice, from beginning to end, was my idea..."

The Black Impermanence slowly raised his head. Although he was sitting back-to-back, it was as if he was looking directly at An Qisheng.

"You?"

An Qisheng frowned slightly.

Compared to Xie Qi's fame, this Black Impermanence seemed to have a very low presence. In various legends, he was silent and寡言, and had very little presence.

Looking at him now, he felt a sense of unfathomable depth.

Is it true that people with black faces also have black hearts?

You should know that even Qin Wuyi, who had been stationed in the human world for thousands of years, didn't know about this!

It could be seen how deeply the Black Impermanence had hidden himself.

"Among the seven of us, Third Brother has the strongest scholarly air, but his heart is upright and strict. Compared to many ghostly tricks, he's not as good as me..."

The Black Impermanence sighed softly, as if reminiscing about the past, or as if organizing his words.

An Qisheng stood on the city wall, looking at that expressionless black face, a deep ripple appearing in the depths of his eyes.

Between the ripples, a wisp of branding, pale in color, was slowly taking shape.

As his realm improved, his attainments in the Great Divine Ability of Entering Dreams of the Great Thousand also became more profound, but he still couldn't easily capture the traces of Xie Qi's destiny.

But once they fought, even destiny would eventually have loopholes and still leave traces in the world.

"You're spying on us with some means?"

The Black Impermanence's eyes narrowed, and he suddenly asked.

"Hmm?"

Xie Qi frowned slightly, and his eyes immediately turned cold.

Although he didn't sense anything, he wouldn't doubt the Black Impermanence's judgment. As his eyes fell, it seemed that a cold current descended in the world again.

"What makes you say that?"

An Qisheng's heart stirred. As Xie Qi concentrated, the collection of spiritual imprints in his vision suddenly slowed down to almost a complete stop.

But he didn't panic, still calmly looking at the Black and White Impermanence in front of him.

Entering Dreams of the Great Thousand might not be an invincible method, but the Black Impermanence could never discover it, because in essence, he was still peeping at the world.

Peeping at the traces they left in the world, not peeping at their secrets.

Therefore, no one would feel anything about it.

Unless, a person could gather all the traces of their existence in the world, past, present, future, already happened, and yet to happen, all into themselves.

If there really was such a person in this world.

"What a clever method, even when close at hand, there's no sense of it..."

The Black Impermanence looked An Qisheng up and down, quite amazed:

"If I had your divine power, it would be incredible..."

He seemed to be sure of this.

"What makes you say that?"

An Qisheng asked again patiently. He could feel that compared to Xie Qi's coldness, this Black Impermanence seemed more willing to confide.

This might be his habit, or perhaps, this was the reason for his thousands of years of silence.

"When you use some means that I can't detect to spy on us, you can probably guess that we pay even more attention to you."

The Black Impermanence smiled gently, his voice no longer hoarse, but becoming peaceful:

"Although I have fallen into silence, I am not really dead. What Seventh Brother sees, hears, thinks, will be perceived by me. And in the absence of perception of the outside world, in the lonely darkness, the only thing I can do is watch, think, and ponder again and again..."

He and Xie Qi were, to some extent, already two sides of the same coin. What Xie Qi saw was also what he saw.

An Qisheng could also vaguely feel this:

"So?"

"You came to this world about ninety-four years, nine months, and thirteen days ago. According to the records of the Book of Life and Death, this body of yours also died exactly ninety-four years ago. I can even calculate the first moment you came to this world..."

The Black Impermanence said calmly, slowly:

"Taiji Induction Chapter, Taiji Eight Trigrams Furnace, Taiji Divine Skill Loose Hands, Qi Seed, Conferred God Stage... one by one, one by one, are all your flaws. And it is from these one by one that I guess you have some means to spy on the secrets of others...

Otherwise, even if you are a heaven-defying genius, a peerless genius comparable to the Netherworld Monarch, you would not be able to reach this level in just ninety years..."

Speaking of this, the Black Impermanence raised his eyebrows, his pure black eyes like the best mirror in the world, reflecting An Qisheng's face, as if to see through his heart.

"Fellow Daoist An, your flaws,

are too many."