Chapter 410: The Ancient and Modern Recorder (21)

An unknown number of years passed once more.

A middle-aged man on the shore accidentally discovered a bronze mask.

He unexpectedly stepped onto the path of cultivation, yet also invited disaster.

He died, and even the mask was taken from him, falling into the hands of a dissolute young master.

The young master was overjoyed. This was a tremendous opportunity.

In less than a hundred years, the once-dissolute youth became a powerful expert of his region.

Yet because he spoiled his descendants too greatly, he provoked an even more vicious demonic cultivator. Without a word, the man annihilated the entire clan of the former young master and seized many treasures, the mask among them.

That peerless demonic cultivator was later slain by others. The one who found the mask founded a sect and became its old ancestor, passing the artifact down through the generations.

Eventually, a supreme prodigy appeared. Wearing the mask, he stepped into the starry sky beyond the domain and contended with the heroes of the age.

The starry sky was vast, and geniuses beyond counting filled its reaches.

He killed others and was naturally killed in turn by even stronger beings. The mask changed owners once again.

Who could say how many cycles of spring and autumn had turned?

In the end, the mask fell into the hands of a youth named Zhu Yuhua. Relying on the mask, he rose against the current and, in a single leap, became the greatest Emperor of his era, unmatched in his lifetime.

The Jade Glory Great Emperor was often seen wearing the mask.

The bronze mask became formally known throughout the world.

It was revered as the Emperor's Mask.

After the death of the Jade Glory Great Emperor, countless forces fought over the Emperor's Mask.

Some hoped to rely on it to defy fate and rise as the Jade Glory Great Emperor once had.

Others sought to gain boundless power through it and avenge themselves upon old enemies.

Countless more years passed.

Even the name of the Jade Glory Great Emperor faded from the world's memory.

No one could count how many hosts the bronze mask had changed.

Among them were sovereigns who ruled the cosmos, patriarchs of great clans, unmatched demonic prodigies who suppressed all rivals, and also ordinary people of no distinction, peddlers and servants…

Some realized their ideals through the mask. Others were swallowed by greed and met accidental deaths.

The bronze mask eventually fell into the hands of a supreme genius named Ran Tianxia.

Ran Tianxia was invincible from the moment he appeared in the world. The prodigies of the entire universe were not even a match for him in a single exchange. He easily surpassed the Great Emperors of past and present.

"It is merely a small mask."

Ran Tianxia regarded it with disdain. The legendary mask that could change a person's fate was of no use to him. He was confident that without relying on any external power, he could still surpass this world.

He tied the mask at his waist.

He intended for the bronze mask to record his glorious life.

Ran Tianxia successfully broke free of the cage and entered an even vaster realm.

That world was far broader, and Ran Tianxia was no longer invincible.

He was imprisoned by an even more terrifying existence inside an alchemy furnace. Surging flames surrounded his body.

In the end, he still failed to escape that small furnace.

"I am not willing… How unwilling I am!"

Ran Tianxia died.

Yet the bronze mask within the furnace was not burned away. This surprised the existence behind the scenes.

"This mask… actually exists between void and reality. Who forged it?"

The one who had refined Ran Tianxia was a supreme Emperor Lord who raised the living beings of a hundred million realms as materials.

He was astonished that the bronze mask remained completely unharmed under the burning of his Chaos Fire.

Fortunately, he possessed sufficient knowledge.

The discovery filled him with both shock and delight.

Though the mask appeared to be bronze, it contained a far purer energy. He could not comprehend that energy, yet he knew it was an absolute treasure.

An entire era passed, and the supreme Emperor Lord still failed to unravel its secrets. He could only smile bitterly. "Perhaps this is the method of an Immortal."

With the outbreak of the great tribulation of the Dharma-Ending Age and the chaos of the era, that supreme Emperor Lord died. The mask he wore fell beyond the Three Thousand Realms.

The mask encountered new wearers once more.

Its existence seemed to have witnessed the rise and fall of one era after another.

The world underwent endless changes of ages. Only the bronze mask remained eternal.

In a deep and secluded place, countless years had already passed since the previous wearer of the mask had charged into the depths and perished.

In this world without light, several strangers suddenly appeared.

They were descendants of the Dark Night Emperor Lord, who had forced their way into the secluded depths in search of their ancestor's remains.

They successfully found the burial place of the Dark Night Emperor Lord. A colossal giant that seemed to pierce through the heavenly abyss lay there. Most of its body had already turned to white bone. A long spear still pierced its frame, and equally towering white bones lay at its feet—the remains of the great enemy who had died alongside the Dark Night Emperor Lord in ages past.

A bronze mask still covered the face of the Dark Night Emperor Lord.

It was said that the Dark Night Emperor Lord had originally been only a minor genius of an Emperor-rank power. After his clan's destruction, he had accidentally obtained this bronze mask, step by step annihilated his former enemies, founded the Longevity Clan, and became an Eternal Emperor Lord before finally falling during the Third Era Chaos.

His descendants had found his resting place.

Their gazes, however, fell upon the mask still worn on the Dark Night Emperor Lord's face.

As his descendants, they naturally knew how extraordinary that mask truly was.

Just as they were about to touch it, the bronze mask left the remains of the Dark Night Emperor Lord and floated into the air. The sudden scene left the descendants completely bewildered. Had their old ancestor been revived, or had the mask gained a spirit of its own?

Points of faint light bloomed across the surface of the bronze mask. Though extremely weak, strands of almost imperceptible rays seemed to take root in the void and extend outward from the mask. They saw an ordinary mortal elder carefully polishing the mask.

With another faint golden ray taking root in the void, the scenes upon the mask rapidly shifted.

Liu Hu… Dong Qiang… Zhu Hao… Li Zhiyuan… Liu Yizhi… Mu Ziqiang… Zhou Chong… Si Zhaonan…

One former wearer after another began to appear in succession. Countless golden rays spread through the void in a magnificent spectacle.

The light grew from the most insignificant glimmer until it illuminated the entire secluded depths, and then became as brilliant as a great sun floating high above the darkness.

"What is happening? What is going on?"

The descendants of the Dark Night Emperor Lord were completely stunned. They had only intended to retrieve the mask and its inheritance. How had they encountered such a bizarre event?

"This is bad. The disturbance here is too great. It will certainly attract the Lord of the Secluded Depths!"

The moment that thought arose, they felt a suffocating aura.

It was the Lord of the Secluded Depths!