Walking through the dim corridor, seasonal flowers stretched along both walls.
The morning sun was blocked by thick clouds, and snow drifted across the land, blanketing the world in white.
Some disciples, bare-chested, practiced sword techniques in the snow. Others ran around the clan estate with huge boulders strapped to their backs.
Xu Zimo followed behind Baili Chengfeng, turning through multiple corridors.
They passed through several formations in silence, eventually arriving at a particularly ancient and majestic gate.
This gate soared into the clouds, its top nowhere in sight. Mist floated around it, making it seem like an independent world.
Xu Zimo lowered his gaze. At some point, a dense white fog had gathered beneath his feet, it was as if he were walking on air.
“Ancestor, I bring someone to enter the Heaven Genesis Microcosm,” Baili Chengfeng said respectfully, taking out a token and bowing slightly.
At that moment, the space ahead distorted, and an old man stepped out.
Though his body didn’t emanate any overwhelming pressure, the spiritforce in the surroundings was drawn toward him as if compelled.
“An outsider?” the old man glanced at Xu Zimo and asked flatly.
“Yes,” Baili Chengfeng hesitated briefly, then nodded.
“You should know how important the Heaven Genesis Microcosm is to the clan,” the old man said calmly.
“I understand,” Baili Chengfeng replied.
The old man didn’t stop them. He gave Xu Zimo a long, penetrating stare.
In that moment, Xu Zimo felt immense pressure descending from the old man’s presence.
But he kept his composure, standing tall and meeting the gaze without flinching.
Golden spiritforce gathered in the air as the old man waved his hands several times.
With a deep rumble, the massive gate slowly opened, exuding an ancient and heavy aura.
“Three days,” the old man said. “You must leave the hidden realm in three days.”
Hearing this, Baili Chengfeng looked at Xu Zimo.
He had originally promised seven days, but now that the old ancestor had spoken, he didn’t dare object.
“Fine,” Xu Zimo nodded.
Baili Chengfeng let out a breath of relief. After all, this situation put him in the awkward position of breaking his word.
As Xu Zimo walked through the gate, the white mist swallowed him whole.
Only then did the old man turn back and ask, “Who is he?”
“The Holy Son of the True Martial Sacred Ground,” Baili Chengfeng quickly answered. “This was a trade.”
“Go, then,” the old man nodded. “In the future, avoid bringing outsiders into the Heaven Genesis Microcosm. After all, this is one of the few treasures left to the clan by Ancestor Chang Kong. Tens of thousands of years have eroded too much. If no new Grand Emperor arises within the clan, our decline is inevitable.”
Baili Chengfeng nodded repeatedly. This old man was the strongest ancestor of the Baili Imperial Clan, a cultivator of the Path of Immortality at the Arcane Immortal Realm, and once a war general under Grand Emperor Chang Kong. His seniority was unmatched.
“If there’s a chance, bring the current Saintess for me to see,” the old man said after a pause. “The Path of Immortality has five stages, and each is a towering obstacle. I’ve barely stepped into immortality, that’s already my limit. My life ends here. If the clan cannot birth a new emperor, then when I eventually pass on, what will be left of this so-called Imperial Clan? You see so many 'imperial lineages' across the Primordial Heartlands, but how many still possess real power? There is no such thing as eternal invincibility. Even emperors must walk their own paths. What they gave their clans was already more than enough.”
Perhaps it was because few ever visited, or because countless years of cultivation had left him lonely, the old man spoke at length.
Baili Chengfeng remembered that the snow was heavy that day. When he left, his heart was uneasy.
Even he had long been intoxicated by the glory of being an imperial lineage.
They had never feared anything, believing that even if the sky collapsed, the ancestor would hold it up.
But he had forgotten one truth: the ancestor too would one day reach the end of his life.
When all the glory was buried in the sands of time, what would be left of an “imperial clan” beyond its name?
For the first time in centuries of leadership, Baili Chengfeng felt a sense of crisis.
Xu Zimo stepped into the fog, which blanketed everything in sight.
He felt weightless. Then came a dizzying spin, as if falling into an endless vortex.
This lasted for some time until his body stabilized.
Xu Zimo found himself standing in the middle of a vast plain.
It stretched endlessly. Apart from the distant mountains, there was little else in sight.
The world here felt especially dull and lifeless.
The only notable thing was the astonishing density of spiritforce, so thick it was almost absurd.
With Xu Zimo’s arrival, the once-peaceful world suddenly stirred.
The natural spiritforce began to surge.
Though spiritforce is typically invisible and formless, this time it carried traces of greenish-yellow mist.
Centered around this colored mist and aided by the surrounding spiritforce, the world quickly began to manifest countless creatures.
There were ancient towering trees, ferocious wild lions, galloping deer, and even legendary beasts from primordial times roaring skyward.
The earth bore their weight as they came to life and ran freely through the world.
These beings paid no attention to Xu Zimo.
It is said that within the Baili Imperial Clan’s Heaven Genesis Microcosm exists a power known as the Heaven Genesis Force.
This energy provides immense benefits for foundational cultivation, breaking through bottlenecks, and refining the body.
It’s said that once one’s body is tempered by this Heaven Genesis Force, it becomes much easier to open the Meridian Gates.
And this Heaven Genesis Force exists only here in the Eastern Continent, extremely rare and precious.
Though the Heaven Genesis Microcosm can produce it on its own, the process is very slow.
Demand has always outpaced supply, so the Baili Imperial Clan opens it only once per year, allowing only the most talented disciples to train within.
Once the Heaven Genesis Force is depleted, the world is sealed again to regenerate.
As Xu Zimo’s spiritforce surged, his True Fate World opened within.
A devouring force began pulling in all the surrounding manifested creatures.
These beings had a faint awareness and instinctively scattered to flee in all directions.
“Not bad,” Xu Zimo remarked, sensing the energy. “But it’s not what I’m looking for.”
Shaking his head, he walked deeper into the microcosm.
Though the space here wasn’t infinite, it wasn’t small either.
While there had been little danger at the edge, as Xu Zimo pressed onward, the manifested creatures began to turn hostile, and launched attacks toward him.