"Because the Tian Du Continent itself is a prison, a prison that holds countless living beings captive!"
A single simple sentence from the Vast Heaven Great Sage exploded like the most terrifying thunderclap. Even Ye Chen, who could remain unperturbed even if Mount Tai collapsed before him, could no longer maintain his composure. His expression changed abruptly.
Old Yan was the same.
Whether it was Ye Chen or Old Yan, although they had both once been supremely powerful, capable of looking down upon this entire Tian Du Continent, they had now awakened within it and had not yet regained their former strength. Thus, they were still unfamiliar with this vast world.
Yet, the fact that this boundless Tian Du Continent was actually a prison land left both of them utterly shocked and somewhat unable to believe it.
Although Ye Chen was shrouded in a black robe, making his expression unclear, the Vast Heaven Great Sage seemed able to perceive the astonishment on his face. He chuckled softly, "I know you find it hard to believe, but the fact is exactly that. The Tian Du Continent is a prison, a prison that holds all the countless living beings of this entire continent captive."
The Vast Heaven Great Sage gave a self-mocking laugh. "In truth, none of us wish to believe this fact, but it is the reality—cruel, yet something we must accept."
"The Tian Du Continent where our ancestors have lived for generations, how prosperous it has been! It has endured for tens of thousands of years, flourishing without decline, even giving birth to one supremely powerful, peerless deity after another who could look down upon the entire continent. Yet, who could have imagined that the place we inhabit is actually a prison, a prison that holds countless generations of living beings captive. How tragic."
By the end, the Vast Heaven Great Sage's expression was filled with sorrow and self-mockery. Indeed, a world passed down from ancestors to oneself, enduring through countless generations, had long been filled with deep affection. Yet, who could have imagined that the place they had always lived in was merely a prison?
Even though this prison was astonishingly, extraordinarily vast, it was still a prison.
After all, Ye Chen was not a native of the Tian Du Continent and could not share the profound sorrow and desolation felt by the Vast Heaven Great Sage. He quickly regained his calm and said, "Why call it a prison? It might simply be a realm of its own. In the boundless universe, wonders abound. The world where the Tian Du Continent resides might just be one among many. Calling it a prison seems somewhat inappropriate."
The Vast Heaven Great Sage smiled bitterly. "Fellow Daoist, if it were merely a realm, that would be one thing. But it is called a prison for a reason."
Then, the Vast Heaven Great Sage slowly revealed the true cause and effect.
The Tian Du Continent, with its boundless land, vast and endless, its breadth unknown. An ordinary mortal might not even be able to traverse the continent in a single lifetime.
Here, living beings were endless, and miracles abounded. As far back as tens of thousands of years ago, a deity-level existence had been born here, known as the Heaven's Revelation Great Sage. His strength was sufficient to look down upon the Nine Heavens and Ten Earths, peerless throughout the world.
Back then, the Heaven's Revelation Great Sage was invincible in his generation. He had once unified the entire Tian Du Continent, establishing a glorious divine empire that ruled the continent for a thousand years, its splendor boundless.
After a thousand years of invincibility, the Heaven's Revelation Great Sage no longer clung to the mortal world. Feeling that the Tian Du Continent held no more attraction for him, he yearned for the world beyond the continent. Thus, he chose to venture alone into the vast unknown beyond.
However, from that point on, the Heaven's Revelation Great Sage vanished without a trace, disappearing completely. Only shortly after his departure, terrifying fluctuations had been sensed from an infinitely distant place beyond the continent. The world suspected it was the commotion left by the Heaven's Revelation Great Sage as he transcended and ascended.
The world beyond the Tian Du Continent was filled with infinite unknowns. Although the peerless Heaven's Revelation Great Sage of that generation had completely vanished, it could not stop people from seeking knowledge of the world beyond.
Throughout the ages, generation after generation of predecessors had wanted to leave the Tian Du Continent, to explore the infinite mysteries beyond and pursue a higher, supreme Great Dao.
Yet, generation after generation of predecessors had also fallen on that road, their bodies perishing and their Dao dissipating.
Because even a Heavenly God realm expert could hardly travel more than ten thousand miles beyond the Tian Du Continent. There lay a terrifying layer of spatial turbulence that only deity-level existences could cross.
Thus, a full ten thousand years passed. During this time, five more deities followed in the footsteps of the Heaven's Revelation Great Sage and left the Tian Du Continent one after another, heading for the outer realms in pursuit of the supreme Great Dao.
Their departures were also accompanied by boundless fluctuations and tremors that shook heaven and earth. Still, this did not raise the vigilance of the people.
But five hundred years after the fifth deity left, a corner of a blood-stained garment suddenly drifted out from the endless ocean. The moment it appeared, it was filled with oppressive might, startling the world. Even Martial Gods could not withstand it.
In the end, several extremely powerful Heavenly Gods were alerted and came, managing with great effort to retrieve this corner of the blood-stained garment.
On the blood-stained garment were several characters written in true deity's blood, possessing the oppressive might of a deity. Attached to it was also a fragmentary imprint.
Finally, through the imprint, the true truth was deciphered, revealing a terrifying reality: the boundless Tian Du Continent was a prison world, a world within a prison sealed off by beings from beyond the domain.
The living beings on the Tian Du Continent were merely kept here by these races, used to research some unknown secrets.
This information was undoubtedly extremely shocking. Once spread, it would inevitably cause panic across the entire continent. At that time, it could only be known by an extremely small number of people, at least those at the Heavenly God realm or above were qualified to learn of it.
The few deities who dominated the rise and fall of the continent at that time naturally also learned of this news, filled with horror.
The imprint clearly recorded part of the information. The deity-level powerhouses of past generations who left the Tian Du Continent did not transcend and ascend. Instead, they were attacked by super-powerful beings from the races monitoring the Tian Du Continent, which caused those terrifying fluctuations.
Although each deity was powerful to the extreme, peerless in their generation, capable of destroying heaven and earth with a mere gesture, it was clear that among these races monitoring the Tian Du Continent, there were also deity-realm existences—and not just one or two. They had slain the deities of the Tian Du Continent, their deity's blood staining the endless ocean red.
It was just a great pity that none of the deities of past generations could transmit this crucial information back. They simply had no time, no opportunity to do so, leading to later generations following in their footsteps, resulting in the fall of generation after generation of deities.
In the end, it was one deity who exhausted his life force, staking everything on a desperate attempt, who managed to send this corner of the blood-stained garment back, allowing later generations to finally learn this truth.
"How laughable. The land where we have lived for generations is merely a prison in the eyes of those beings. How tragic, how desolate."
The Vast Heaven Great Sage's words were filled with anger. No one could bear the thought that the ancestral land they lived in was merely a prison world. But even more, there was helplessness.
Even a lofty deity, revered and looked up to by the world, was the same, filled with powerlessness.
Because those races of beings were too powerful, with countless strong experts and deities among them. Otherwise, generation after generation of deities would not have ultimately perished, their bodies and Dao dissipating.
Ye Chen and Old Yan were shocked. They had not expected that beyond the Tian Du Continent, there existed super races monitoring the continent. Even deity-realm existences could not escape their slaughter, being executed in distant lands.
If not for one deity risking his life to send back the corner of the blood-stained garment, probably no one in the entire Tian Du Continent would have learned this secret. Other deity-level powerhouses might have continued to follow in their footsteps, only to be killed.
After a moment, Ye Chen and Old Yan finally calmed down. After all, both were extraordinary individuals. Old Yan's origins were extraordinary, and Ye Chen in his previous life had been the ruler of a supreme great world, having experienced many major events and possessing broad knowledge. In his heart, he now had a general understanding.
This so-called prison—the Tian Du Continent was likely either a vast world opened by a supreme great power, or a primordial world born from chaos that had been discovered and then controlled by others.
The countless living beings on the Tian Du Continent were probably the subjects of research by these races.
"None of us were willing to be imprisoned, unwilling to be studied. So, starting from that era, we began to secretly lay the groundwork for the 'Slaying the Heavens' plan!" The Vast Heaven Great Sage spoke each word deliberately, his eyes looking upward as if they could pierce through the ancient hall and see the boundless azure sky.
"'Heavens' refers to those monitoring races."
Ye Chen finally fully understood. But he frowned and said, "Can the deities of the Tian Du Continent actually fight against those races?"
The Vast Heaven Great Sage smiled slightly, but it was filled with bitterness. He shook his head and said, "I don't know. But a battle must be fought. It's just a pity that with this broken, failing body of mine, when the time comes, I might only have the strength for a barely adequate fight. I cannot raise my power much further."
How tragic it was. The battle to slay the heavens was approaching, yet he could not fight at his peak.
"What if I said I could restore you to your peak?"
Suddenly, Ye Chen gave a light laugh. Yet the words he spoke caused the fluctuations around the Vast Heaven Great Sage to intensify sharply.