Perfect World

- Fifth Dao

The thumb-sized ant crawled along, running into the snow-white skull, releasing a dong sound.

Gululu...

That skull tumbled along, the noise disturbing the peace of this place.

In the end, with a peng sound, it fell to the foot of the mountain, stopping after rocking about a few times, recounting the sorrow and cruelty of the past.

Wind swept through the great earth, releasing wuwu sounds. The battlefield of the past was now extremely cold, lacking life force, no plant life visible, this place like a deathly still tomb.

The bones of countless experts were buried here, endless heroes’ souls ended here.

Only, the corpses were all gone, sunk beneath the earth, or truly decayed.

Time could erase everything. Even the powerful heaven’s pride in the past, the most powerful overlords were powerless before the power of time.

Too much time had passed. There were true immortals who died here, long life beings whose blood scattered over mountains and rivers, causing many mountains and valleys to become dark red in color, the color forever unfading.

The tone was extremely stifling, standing here made it difficult for one to even breathe. One could vaguely feel the sorrow of history, the great changes enough to make one suffocate!

A great era passed, everything changed.

At the foot of the mountain, there was a person standing there, not moving for a long time, as if he was a statue. He was ravaged by endless wind and rain, body covered under dust.

The wind was cold and dismal, blowing the corners of his clothes about, making his black hair flutter about. A delicate and pretty face was revealed, calm and absent-minded, his thoughts wandering about between the great river of time.

“Am I experiencing a reincarnation? The same place, but different realms.” He said to himself, hard to say whether his face was full of joy, anger, grief, or happiness. Within his calm expression, there was disappointment and frustration, regret, perplexity, and reminiscence.

On his shoulder was a little golden ant.

The young man lowered his head, looking at the snow-white skeleton on the ground, and then he looked towards the thumb-sized ant. It was the one that pushed down the skull.

“Looks a lot like you.” The young man turned around, looking at the golden ant on his shoulder.

“If that ant looks like me, then the skull on the ground looks like you.” That golden creature on his shoulder replied.

“Is that so? Millions and millions of years ago, where was I? Who knows, maybe it really has something to do with me.” The young man squatted down, picking up that snow-white skull on the ground.

It was full of markings of wind and frost, the corrosion of time, its surface already uneven. There were many honeycomb-like holes, long about to completely rot away.

“You really know how to boast shamelessly. Do you really think you can reincarnate? It’s difficult to say whether reincarnation even exists or not in this world.” That little golden ant on his shoulder said.

Only, it also became a bit lost. Was what they experienced just now real? A dream back thousand generations, as if they had reincarnated, seeing themselves in the last great era.

The two of them didn’t say anything for a long time, only calmly standing here, thinking and reminiscing. That type of experience was too strange, and also extremely terrifying.

These two were precisely Shi Hao and the little Heavenly Horned Ant.

They were both extremely perplexed and at a loss. Not long ago, what they perceived was too strange, as if they had just experienced the most terrifying battle!

“He Wushuang, was there really this kind of person?” Shi Hao said to himself.

After following that path into the so-called ultimate land of self-refinement, what they encountered was too strange.

“We clearly saw the corpses of endless experts, blood dyeing the great earth. The Immortal Smelting Pot moved through the sky, sucking away the essence blood of all experts. There was also that ridiculously powerful He Wushuang…” The little ant muttered.

In that ‘experience’, Shi Hao was killed in battle. In the end, while carrying anger and resentment, his fist smashed through that male’s forehead, passing through, killing him.

Meanwhile, his own body also had the space between his brows pierced by the other party’s finger sword, having his primordial spirit extinguished, also falling here.

However, when everything became indistinct, heaven and earth dying out, a long time after all perception was lost, he slowly recovered again, freeing himself from that type of state.

He stood there, what he saw a desolate battlefield. There were no corpses of past natives, nor were there any powerful enemies, as if they had never even appeared here before.

Only, why did he feel a vague sense of exhaustion, his entire body in pain?

However, he couldn’t find any injuries. When he rubbed his forehead, that area was still in great pain, as if it had fractured before, still not recovering after all this time.

“Was it a dream, or was it a reincarnation? This is just too realistic…” Shi Hao said while rubbing his frontal bone.

“I don’t understand either. This place is too miraculous, just how great of methods would it take to create those scenes? It really is too hard to distinguish if was real or fake.” The little ant also sighed with sorrow.

If they didn’t stand here, if Shi Hao wasn’t still alive, with He Wushuang and the Blood Phoenix Lion nowhere to be seen, it really would have believed that what they experienced was bitter and real.

“Immortal Execution Technique, All Methods to Nothing, do these divine abilities truly exist?” Shi Hao asked.

“They do. The former is an unmatched offensive technique not many people grasped even on the other side, an unmatched secret method used to kill true immortals. The latter’s defense is unmatched under the sky, able to neutralize all attacks of the enemy, erase natural laws and order.” The little golden ant said, his expression gradually becoming serious.

“I’ve seen them before.” Shi Hao’s eyes narrowed. If it was a dream, then why was it like this? If it was an illusion, then why did it seem so real?

Shi Hao examined himself, including his various artifacts and other things.

“En?!” Suddenly, his body trembled, appearing a bit stupefied.

Where did the long life elixir go? The drop of elixir the White Tortoise Carrying Immortal gave him disappeared!

Did he really ingest it in that dream? This was just too strange!

Then, he raised his palm, seeing an indistinct imprint. It arranged itself with the other four imprints, the patterns mysterious, as if they were gates to reincarnation!

“Five dao reincarnation imprints!”

Shi Hao’s body went cold, his pupils contracting, radiance shooting out like electrical radiance.

Last time, when he ate the Yellow Springs Fruit, all types of inconceivable scenes appeared, as if he had experienced several worlds of reincarnation, leaving behind four dao imprints on his palm.

This time, a fifth one appeared!

“This isn’t what’s important. What about the Imperishable Scripture? If what we experienced was true, or if it seemed both real and illusory, what about those golden beast skin sheets? Where are they?” The Heavenly Horned Ant was starting to worry.

They came for the Imperishable Scripture, the most crucial thing, so it couldn’t be lost. Once the scripture disappeared, wouldn’t they have come for nothing?

“If the one named He Wushuang truly exists, then he also came here before. We didn’t die, so he similarly wouldn’t die. Does this mean that he already obtained it, bringing away the scripture?” The little ant was now extremely anxious.

If their suspicions weren’t wrong, then He Wushuang was someone from Immortal Ancient’s last phase, a great era before them. If that really was the case, would anything have been left behind?

Chi!

They rushed into the mountain range, and then quickly ascended the grand divine mountain.

In that dream, this was precisely where Shi Hao fought a decisive battle against He Wushuang, and then the two took each other’s lives, both of them falling.

Back then, sacred radiance shone all over this place, several beast skin sheets continuously flipped over, releasing hua hua sounds. All types of scripture symbols jumped about, extremely intimidating.

However, there was nothing here at all, the mountains dim, a dull gray in color. There were terrifying blood traces as well, not fading even after endless years passed.

“It’s gone! Where is it?!” The little ant screamed out. Could it be that they were going to have to return empty-handed?

Shi Hao squatted down. He picked up that thumb-sized ant from the ground. It wasn’t the Heavenly Horned Ant, but rather the ant that previously pushed the skull down the mountain.

He searched its divine consciousness, wishing to find some clues.

It was because this place was too desolate, not a blade of grass in sight, life force almost completely wiped out. It was difficult to find even a single creature.

Unfortunately, he was disappointed. This ant still didn’t develop intelligence, spiritual senses not sharp. It was merely a stronger ordinary ant.

He wasn’t able to sense the so-called strange and miraculous events from its body.

“Where is the Imperishable Scripture?” Shi Hao also found it a bit hard to remain calm. They came precisely for this scripture. If they ended up returning with nothing, then that really would be frustrating and disappointing.

This was especially the case if He Wushuang really did survive. If that was the case, then it would be even more alarming.

That person arrived before them, coming here during Immortal Ancient’s last phase. Now that the Imperishable Scripture was nowhere to be seen, one could very well imagine its whereabouts!

Shi Hao and the little ant released their powerful spiritual awareness, searching through this place, to the extent where they even wanted to break down the mountain, completely overturn this place.

Hong!

The majestic divine mountain moved back and forth, rumbling with noise, even shining, just that it was no longer resplendent, instead releasing a dark light. It had previously been corroded by some type of terrifying power.

After this type of light erupted, Shi Hao and the little ant were immediately blasted aside.

They weren’t able to damage the mountain!

Gu!

A crow spread its wings, struggling free from the dark light. This frigid and dismal land, this ancient burial ground full of bones, was indescribably ominous.

“A crow!” The little golden ant brandished his fist, about to smash it down.

“Gu, gu, gu…” The crow spread its wings, crying loudly here, moving out of the way. Then, it descended in the distance, standing on top of a skull.

“What kind of thing did you transform from?” Shi Hao shouted.

He didn’t believe that it was a real crow, or else why did it rush out from the dark light?

“There is no need to take action against me. Let me help you two clear some of your doubts.” The crow sighed, in its eyes endless great changes and sorrow.

This was a type of inauspicious bird, but right now, it didn’t give others a sinister feeling, instead looking more like someone who was disappointed and frustrated, someone who had taken a wrong step in life and wasted away too much time.

“What are you exactly?” The Heavenly Horned Ant interrogated, not really believing it.

The crow stood on the skull, black mists surging from it. Then, world-shaking shouts of killing sounded, endless human figures emerging, looking like war spirits!

Black flames surged, rushing into the sky.

The crow bathed in the black mist and fiery light, appearing more and more mysterious.

Giant faces appeared one after another, looking at them from the black mist.

“Heroic spirits!” Shi Hao said quietly. He knew that these things were produced by the inextinguishable wills of fallen supreme figures, heroic spirits of the past that appeared.

Normally, heroic spirits wouldn’t have too much self-awareness, they were damaged soul consciousness. However, this heroic spirit that turned into a crow was extremely unordinary, could not be evaluated through normal means.

“Let me help you two dispel some of your doubts.” The crow said.

SHi Hao and the little ant no longer said anything else, quietly listening to this crow.

“What you two see before you right now is the true ultimate land of refinement, as well as the past ancient battlefield.”

“What you saw previously, the scene of endless corpses and blood, all of that did exist. That was what this place was like after the ultimate battle, after it fell under the other side’s hands. You two saw the corpses of the ancestors, the remains of countless supreme individuals.”

“He Wushuang, this person did exist, indeed having the title ‘Unmatched Under the Sky’, one of the leading figures of the other side’s younger generation during Immortal Ancient’s last phase. He came precisely to kill my world’s young supreme beings!”

“The battle in that dream was extremely real, it was a test for you two, a true battle. If you weren’t He Wushuang’s opponent, then you have no fate with the Imperishable Scripture!”

Just from this bit of information, Shi Hao completely understood what was happening. Rumbling sounds rang out by his ears, his mind shaking and trembling!