This was the day that shook every immortal and mortal across the entire Southern Border with terror and panic.
The comprehensive trembling of the earth veins affected the entire Southern Border. In the key areas, the upheaval was catastrophic—mountains collapsed, waterways were blocked, sinkholes swallowed everything in their path. The magnificent power of heaven and earth displayed its incomparably terrifying might in this moment.
Countless unfortunate mortals perished in this massive and sudden earth tribulation. Every superpower was tallying its losses.
Many mortal factions were obliterated in an instant. Even the great families saw numerous resource points completely destroyed, suffering heavy losses.
The sudden earth vein trembling brought the already tense political situation of the Southern Border to a standstill.
All the major superpowers temporarily set aside their previous conflicts and unanimously began to actively investigate the cause of the earth vein disturbance.
Such trembling—if one were to trace back ten thousand years, a hundred thousand years, even hundreds of thousands of years, or even into the ancient era, the primordial era—nothing like this had ever occurred.
From ancient times to the present, this was the first time.
The Southern Border's Gu Immortal world, whether Righteous Path, Demonic Path, or independent immortals, was all tense with curiosity—what exactly had caused such a massive disturbance in the earth veins?
"The signs of the great era have appeared." Far away in the Western Desert, Fang Yuan collected intelligence about the Southern Border's earth vein disturbance through Treasure Yellow Heaven and let out a quiet sigh.
At this moment, he had relocated once again.
He had arrived at yet another location.
The night was gradually fading, and the edge of the distant horizon was beginning to show a pale, fish-belly glow.
Dawn had come.
Soon, the rising sun illuminated the sky, and its magnificent light scattered across the vast desert.
This was a new day.
Fang Yuan stood in his white robe, his face weathered by the elements, gazing at the rising sun with a heavy, contemplative stare. In his heart, he felt the weight of things to come.
The sun rose in the east, but his prospects were not nearly as bright as the sight before him.
Previously, he had been kept in the dark. Only after obtaining Purple Mountain True Monarch's inheritance had he finally understood the relationship between the great era, Spectral Soul, and the Shadow Sect across his past and present lives.
The great era was originally supposed to arrive at this time.
But during Fang Yuan's five hundred years in his previous life, Demon Venerable Spectral Soul had succeeded in defying heaven and changing fate—suppressing the Heavenly Court and Heavenly Will, and using supreme methods to forcefully delay the great era by a full five hundred years.
Heavenly Will, driven into a desperate corner by Spectral Soul, had been forced to risk everything. It chose Fang Yuan as its pawn, using the Spring Autumn Cicada to send him back to the past—a last-ditch, perilous gamble that narrowly ruined the Shadow Sect's grand plan.
Because of this, the operation of the entire world had returned to its proper course.
Without Spectral Soul and the Shadow Sect holding things back, the great era had slowly begun to raise its curtain.
The trembling of the earth veins was but one corner of this grand prelude.
"When the great era arrives, the barriers between the Five Regions will dissolve. But the prerequisite for the Five Regions' barriers dissolving is that the earth veins of all five regions—the Southern Border, Northern Wastes, Central Continent, Western Desert, and Eastern Sea—must all make contact and merge into a unified whole."
"In the period ahead, earth vein tremors will occur frequently. And it won't just be the Southern Border—the other four regions, the Central Continent, Eastern Sea, Western Desert, and Northern Wastes, will all experience them in succession."
"The reason the Southern Border experienced the earth vein trembling first is that among the entire Five Regions, the Southern Border has the densest concentration of Earth Path Dao marks. Therefore, its earth veins are the most profound and vast—number one among the Five Regions. Precisely because of this, when the great era arrives and heaven and earth undergo transformation, the Southern Border is the first to be affected."
A thoughtful look surfaced in Fang Yuan's eyes.
The great era arriving like this had undoubtedly thrown his carefully laid cultivation plans into complete disarray.
Originally, his timeline had afforded him ample room to work with.
Fang Yuan had planned to continuously cultivate in seclusion, using dreams to elevate his realm, accumulate wealth, and enhance his cultivation. By the time the great era of the Five Regions' chaotic war arrived, he would already be at the Eighth Transformation, with abundant resources. Even if he hadn't reached the level of grandmaster across all paths, he would have been close.
Only then could he have extracted the greatest possible benefit from the chaos engulfing the Five Regions.
But now, that was clearly no longer possible.
The great era had arrived far too quickly, and his plans had been completely shattered.
Not only that, but he was also currently being hunted by the Heavenly Court, besieged by Heavenly Will, trapped in a wretched existence where he had to flee at every moment and remain perpetually on guard—because at any instant, a powerful enemy could materialize and launch a killing strike against him.
"This is a momentous upheaval of the ages."
"As things stand, I'm afraid only I, the Heavenly Court, the Shadow Sect, and a handful of other forces truly understand the significance behind the earth vein trembling."
"But the other Gu Immortals aren't fools. After some investigation, they'll inevitably come to realize the truth to varying degrees."
"After a while, this awareness will crystallize into a consensus, and the entire Gu Immortal world will understand: an unprecedented transformation of heaven and earth is about to unfold."
"Sigh. Yet another advantage I held since my rebirth is about to be eroded."
"If not for the great dream battle, I still would have had the identity of Wu Yihai. The Southern Border's earth vein trembling will produce countless ravines and sinkholes, and innumerable ore veins, rare underground beasts, and bizarre plants will be unearthed."
"This will be a grand feast that will send every major power and every Gu Immortal scrambling for their share. All five regions will experience this, but the Southern Border will be hit the hardest, because its earth veins are the most profound and its underground treasures the most numerous and valuable. The Eastern Sea will see the least gain, because it is entirely ocean—the opportunities presented by this earth vein trembling will be the fewest there."
Fang Yuan recalled.
The Eastern Sea had always been the most resource-rich region among the Five Regions. This had drawn Gu Immortals from all four other regions to brave the journey, exploring and searching to aid their cultivation.
Yet in this earth vein trembling, the Eastern Sea stood to gain the least.
Throughout his previous life's five hundred years, a Gu Immortal had remarked that this opportunity seemed almost as if heaven and earth were bestowing a massive haul of rare treasures upon the Gu Immortals, deliberately balancing the strength of the Five Regions.
If Fang Yuan still possessed the identity of Wu Yihai, this moment would have represented a tremendous opportunity. Drawing on his memories, he knew of numerous locations where enormous quantities of heaven and earth treasures would emerge—and even wild Immortal Gu.
Unfortunately, this time his identity had been exposed, and this grand opportunity would likely slip through his fingers.
Fang Yuan felt a pang of regret, unaware that the earth vein trembling had actually done him an unexpected favor.
It was precisely because of the earth vein trembling that the Wu Family's Immortal formation had been damaged, causing Wu Yong's scheme to fail and allowing Fang Yuan to safely weather a crisis without falling victim to the Wu Family's machinations.
The earth vein trembling was bound to happen regardless, but the fact that it occurred at that exact moment—neither too early nor too late—was clearly the result of Fang Yuan burning his soul to ignite his fortune.
"Fortunately, this time I've mastered the Seventh Transformation Immortal Gu, Self-Love. Previously, I successfully activated the Immortal killer move Pure and Clean, smoothly clearing away a number of Dao marks on my body, including the Wu Family's alliance mark."
In this way, Fang Yuan had completely severed ties with the Wu Family, cutting all connection to them.
"By now, my Life Tablet Gu and Soul Lantern Gu must have already shattered. Wu Yong can no longer use these as leverage against me."
This concern had been resolved, but it also made Fang Yuan realize the shortcomings of the Pure and Clean killer move.
Though the Pure and Clean killer move was extraordinarily wondrous—capable of clearing any Dao mark that was detrimental to a Gu Immortal—it ultimately lacked sufficient sensitivity and precision.
For example, in Fang Yuan's current situation, while the alliance marks with the Wu Family had been completely cleared, the marks from his agreements with other forces—with Chu Du, the Langya Earth Spirit, the various other races, and the Madness Demon Cave, among others—remained entirely untouched.