1703 Ending 1 - Lands of Hope

The Ancestor God's devouring of the Heavenly Dao had, in fact, siphoned off a universe's Origins energy and laws of Origins. After that loss, that universe would embark on a path of decline.

In that ancient battle hundreds of millions of years ago in the Sinkhole, the Sinkhole had begun waning. Even in the Sinkhole, there were already individual worlds that were dying. For instance, the Azure Wood Great World, where Yi Yun originally obtained the Azure Wood Divine Tree from, was a world on the brink of death. In just a few thousand years, it would face complete destruction.

It wasn't only the Azure Wood Great World. Even the entire Sinkhole could only last another two to three billion years. After that, the Sinkhole would slowly have its life snuff out.

It would gradually lose its Heaven Earth Yuan Qi as the lands turned barren and the seas turned dry while Apocalyptic Fumes permeated beneath the lands. When that happened, cultivation in the Sinkhole would be a pointless endeavor since just survival alone was difficult.

Two or three billion years would be considered rather long; at the very least, the warriors of the present Sinkhole generation would not live that long. With the loss of the Sinkhole's Heavenly Dao, it was simply a severance of their path to become a Godly Monarch. As for the future destruction of the Sinkhole, it had nothing to do with them.

Unfortunately, the Ancestor God had awoken a few centuries ago and began devouring the Sinkhole's Heavenly Dao once again. This time, he had devoured it even more completely!

99% of the Sinkhole's Origins energy and laws of Origins were siphoned away by the Ancestor God. It could no longer be described as a killing of the golden goose for it was like the having the Sinkhole's backbone pulled away from it. The basic foundation of this universe had been placed on the route to destruction!

Over the past century, the Sinkhole's decline happened at a discernible pace, with every year bringing forth a new sight.

It began with the Small Worlds; their destruction began decades ago. These countless Small Worlds were like the cells that formed the Sinkhole universe, and bit by bit, these cells died and the scourge slowly spread.

The Sinkhole warriors who lived in that era were no doubt in pain and despair!

Before they even had the chance to develop their strength to maturity or enjoy exciting lives, they had to face a waning world. The greatest sorrow for a warrior was not the inability to break through due to a bottleneck at a particular realm, but to have even their martial paths severed.

Even more sorrowful was the fact that the Sinkhole warriors were unable to leave the Sinkhole.

The Sinkhole was located in a rather remote place from the other universes. Even the Sinkhole's Godly Monarchs, other than Bai Yueyin, were not full-fledged Godly Monarchs. They were even weaker than Godly Monarch Divineheart.

Under such circumstances, trying to cross the Multiverse rift was just too difficult.

Back then, even when Yi Yun left the Sinkhole for the Chaos Heavens, he nearly perished midway. If he had not joined the Taixia Ancient Mining, he might have died.

Therefore, the entire Sinkhole, from Godly Monarch to mortals were like prisoners trapped in a prison of despair. They had nowhere to go, and what's more, this prison was sinking in a swamp.

However, even amid the despair, there were always people striving hard. But no matter how much effort they put in, it was them dragging out an abject existence.

The entire Sinkhole's Yuan Qi was depleting. In the beginning, the Sinkhole warriors set up massive arrays to protect these Small Worlds, sealing the Heaven Earth Yuan Qi in place, allowing these Small Worlds to possess a complete set of laws, allowing for the younger generation to cultivate.

As long as such Small Worlds were provided with a constant stream of Godly Monarch Immortal Annuli, their prosperity could be maintained for millions of years.

Such places were called Lands of Hope by people.

The entire Sinkhole, including the 12 Empyrean Heavens, established many Lands of Hope, and there were sixteen main ones.

These sixteen Lands of Hopes belonged to the various super factions such as major sects and divine nations. The Lands of Hope had in place all kinds of Martial Dao heritage, with mighty figures passing on their teachings. There were also lands of trials which honed young warriors, giving them indescribable benefits while cultivating there.

However, the more it was this way, the harder it was to enter these Lands of Hope for cultivation. There were limited spots which were taken up by the various major factions. For other warriors to find a way in was a nearly impossible task.

Without entering these Lands of Hope, a genius, no matter how talented, would be destined to a life of mediocrity.

However, when the powers that be seal off every path, they would leave behind a sliver of hope for mortal warriors.

One of the sixteen Lands of Hope was prepared for mortal warriors.

That was the Mirage Sea Realm.

This Land of Hope was established by Huan Chenxue. What left people in disbelief was that Huan Chenxue was apparently mortal who never cultivated in any martial arts her entire life.

Yet, it was such a mortal who had immense prestige in the martial world. Even the powerhouses of the various major factions treated her with respect.

The establishment of the Mirage Sea Realm had the help of reclusive Godly Monarchs. Apart from that, the White Lunar Divine Empire and a mysterious clan in the Sinkhole—the Nine Li Magus Clan—had participated in its establishment.

Although many factions and important figures paid a tremendous price in establishing the Mirage Sea Realm's Land of Hope, the owner at the end of the day was still Huan Chenxue.

Huan Chenxue had no scruples, showing no partiality when recruiting disciples. Every three years, the Mirage Sea Realm would organize a grand entrance examination.

The qualifications to entering the Mirage Sea Realm only depended on talent! If one's talent was insufficient, entry was forbidden—it did not matter if one was an elite of a major faction or a member of a nation's royalty.

Therefore, the entrance examinations that happened once every three years was a gathering of countless elites. The sheer numbers were impossible to describe.

At this moment, it was time for the entrance examinations to the Mirage Sea Realm.

The Mirage Sea Realm was located in the periphery of the Sinkhole and the examination wasn't located in the Mirage Sea Realm, but in an independent world that neighbored the Mirage Sea Realm.

This world was also developed by a reclusive Godly Monarch. In order to fairly assess so many elites, the independent world had a large number of array formations set up.

Nearing the exam, spirit vessels tore through the void and arrived in this independent world.

These spirit vessels also belonged to Huan Chenxue. They were sent out across the Sinkhole, even to the 12 Empyrean Heavens to recruit elites, giving every warrior a fair chance.

"The entrance examination is finally here. It wasn't easy obtaining this cruiser ticket…"

On a spirit vessel, there were three youngster—two men and one woman. Through the spirit vessel's window, they looked out into the cosmos and saw a piece of land that was immersed in fog. That was the place of their final examination.

These three youngsters came from a mid-grade world in the Sinkhole and they were the best geniuses of that world.

One of them was wearing azure-colored clothes and looked older. He was the senior brother of the trio.

The other man and woman were siblings. The younger brother was only sixteen years old by bone age. Even among the commoner warriors, the siblings wore rather plainly. They didn't carry any enchanted armaments and their clothes were the most ordinary linen clothes woven by mortals."

"Senior Brother… Senior Brother Qin, did we really get selected?"

Upon seeing the large number of spirit cruisers docked above the independent world, the youth in linen clothing asked weakly.

They had no idea how big the universe was before coming to the Mirage Sea Realm.

As far as the eyes could see, there were more than a thousand spirit cruisers!