Origin beyond heaven

The Forgotten Cave

Boom! The stone gate rumbled shut behind Lin Yuan, sealing the entrance.

Lin Yuan instinctively turned around and placed a hand against the cold stone wall. It didn't budge. There wasn't even a crack to suggest that an entrance had ever existed.

"So, there's no turning back..."

Instead of panicking, he took a slow breath and looked ahead.

The cave stretched deep into the mountain, illuminated by faint crystals embedded on the walls, their dim light casting long shadows across the passage and giving the cavern an eerie but majestic atmosphere.

The air was unlike anything he had ever experienced. It wasn't filled with Heavenly Qi in fact, there was almost no Heavenly Qi at all. Yet every breath he took made the Origin Scripture within his dantian tremble with excitement.

Buzz. The ash-gray scripture emitted a soft glow, and the single strand of Origin Qi circulating through his meridians suddenly became more active.

Lin Yuan's eyes widened slightly. "This aura... it isn't Heavenly Qi."

He slowly raised his hand, allowing the invisible energy around him to gather on his fingertips. The energy was gentle and unbelievably pure. Unlike Heavenly Qi, it carried no trace of the Heavenly Dao's suppression.

A faint smile appeared on his face. "So this is... Origin Qi."

Although the amount was incredibly thin after countless ages, it was enough to confirm what he had long suspected that the Origin Civilization truly existed. Every record in the current cultivation world claimed that Heaven had created cultivation, but they were wrong. This cave alone was proof that another path had once existed.

Suppressing the excitement in his heart, Lin Yuan continued deeper into the passage. After several dozen steps, the narrow tunnel suddenly opened into a vast underground hall.

His footsteps came to an abrupt halt as he stood before an enormous stone mural stretching from one end of the cavern to the other. Even after millions of years, it radiated an indescribable aura. Lin Yuan slowly lifted his head to study the first mural, and the moment his eyes landed upon it, his breathing stopped.

The mural did not depict cultivators worshipping Heaven. It depicted countless powerful beings kneeling before a black tree whose roots stretched into the stars themselves.

Lin Yuan stood motionless before the mural, unable to tear his eyes away. The black tree towered above countless figures, its roots spreading across the heavens like rivers of darkness, its branches piercing an endless sea of stars. Every cultivator beneath it wore expressions of reverence, yet none bowed toward the sky every single one of them bowed to the tree.

"They weren't worshipping Heaven..." "They were worshipping the Origin."

Lin Yuan slowly walked along the mural, his fingertips brushing the carvings. Despite the countless years that had passed, every line remained vivid, as though the mural had been protected by an invisible force.

The second mural soon came into view. This one depicted countless cultivators sitting beneath the black tree, drawing streams of gray energy into their bodies, their cultivation methods unlike anything recorded in the present era. Gray qi flowed freely between heaven and earth. There was no Heavenly Dao, no heavenly tribulations, no oppressive aura watching over all living beings only the pure energy of the Origin.

"So... this is how the first cultivators cultivated." A deep sense of shock filled Lin Yuan's heart. For thousands of years, he had believed Heavenly Qi was the foundation of all cultivation. Now he realized it was only a later path.

As he continued forward, he noticed the third mural was badly damaged, cracks running across its surface, most of the figures deliberately erased. Only fragments remained: countless powerful cultivators fighting desperately against an unseen enemy descending from the heavens. The black tree burned. Mountains collapsed. Stars fell from the sky. The Origin Civilization was being destroyed.

Lin Yuan's pupils contracted. "Someone... erased this history."

The damage wasn't caused by time. The carvings had been intentionally destroyed, as though someone wanted no future generation to learn what had truly happened.

At the end of the underground hall stood a stone altar, carved from black crystal unlike any material Lin Yuan had ever seen. Suspended above the altar floated a gray scripture, quietly radiating a soft light.

The Origin Scripture within Lin Yuan's dantian suddenly reacted violently.

Buzz! Without waiting for his command, it flew out of his body and drifted toward the altar.

Lin Yuan instinctively reached out. "Wait!"

But it was already too late.

The ash-gray scripture floated silently toward the black altar. Lin Yuan's outstretched hand froze in midair.

Buzz! The moment the scripture descended onto the altar, the entire underground hall erupted with gray light. Ancient marks hidden within the walls awakened one after another, illuminating the cave.

Rumble! The ground shook violently. The murals that had remained silent for millions of years began to glow, the carved figures seeming to come alive, streams of gray energy flowing from every direction toward the altar.

Lin Yuan narrowed his eyes. "The inheritance... has awakened."

The Origin Scripture slowly merged with the altar as though they had always been one, waves of Origin Qi pouring into the underground hall. The single strand of Origin Qi within Lin Yuan's dantian stirred excitedly as it absorbed the energy around it.

Then everything went silent, and suddenly a deep voice echoed through the hall.

"After millions of years... someone has finally answered the call."

The space above the altar distorted. Countless gray lights gathered together, gradually forming the transparent figure of an elderly man dressed in robes woven from starlight. His long gray hair reached his waist, and his eyes seemed to contain the birth and destruction of countless worlds.

His gaze slowly fell upon Lin Yuan. For a long moment, neither of them spoke.

Then the old man's eyes widened slightly. "The Origin Scripture... it has chosen a successor."

Without the slightest hesitation, the spirit lowered one knee before Lin Yuan. "I, Guardian Mo Chen, greet the new Origin Successor."

Lin Yuan's heart skipped a beat. Even at the peak of his previous life, when he stood as the strongest Heavenly Emperor beneath the Nine Heavens, no one had ever addressed him in such a manner.

Before he could ask a single question

BOOM! A violent tremor shook the entire mountain, dust raining from the ceiling as the cave quaked. Far above, the awakening of the inheritance sent an aura surging into the heavens.

Guardian Mo Chen slowly lifted his head, his expression turning ugly. "They've sensed it..." "They are coming."

His words echoed through the hall, leaving Lin Yuan with a single chilling question. Who... were "they"?