Liu Wuxie didn’t dwell on Elder Madman’s warning for long. No matter how treacherous the road ahead was, it wouldn't change his decision. He had made up his mind to travel to the Eastern Domain.
That said, he had no intention of departing immediately. With Miao Hanxuan watching his every move, he needed to bide his time.
Each day, Miao Hanxuan ordered groups of disciples to linger at the base of Heavenly Gate Peak and covertly observe him. NovelHub
Inside his hut, Liu Wuxie quietly circulated the Ancient Breath-Concealing Art. A faint, nearly imperceptible aura cloaked him, merging his presence with the room. Anyone entering now wouldn't sense a single fluctuation; to them, he had already merged with the surroundings.
"I’ve improved in the Ancient Breath-Concealing Art," Liu Wuxie muttered. "Still not on Yang Ni’s level, but close. I can slip away under the cover of darkness tonight."
Time waited for no one. Every day he delayed, Han Feizi's peril deepened.
Liu Wuxie knew he had to reach the Eastern Domain as soon as possible.
As night descended, disciples still lingered at the foot of Heavenly Gate Peak, stationed under Miao Hanxuan’s orders.
Even after Elder Madman broke through to the Heaven Profound Realm, Miao Hanxuan showed no sign of retreating. Heaven Profound Realm cultivators had long since transcended worldly matters and refused to involve themselves in mortal grudges.
Miao Hanxuan's previous restraint had been due to Elder Madman's presence. However, now that the latter had ascended beyond worldly affairs, Miao Hanxuan could act freely, unafraid of retribution.
A shadow slipped silently from Heavenly Gate Peak under the veil of night.
At the mountain's base, several disciples stood to watch, killing time with idle conversation.
"What's Liu Wuxie doing? He's been up there for two days straight. Is he planning to die of old age?" one complained, visibly annoyed by the endless wait.
"He won't last much longer. Heavenly Gate Peak has limited resources, and he'll have to come down soon. Once he does, Elder Miao will take care of him," another muttered confidently.
None noticed the figure that crept within three meters of them.
Liu Wuxie had done it intentionally to test the effectiveness of the Ancient Breath-Concealing Art.
If he had wanted to, he could have turned them into corpses within seconds. However, he didn't alarm them and slipped silently into the mountain path, vanishing without a trace.
Days passed in silence.
Several days later, although Liu Wuxie had long left, the disciples Miao Hanxuan had assigned to watch him remained clueless. Restless and suspicious, they eventually climbed the mountain under the cover of the night, only to find Liu Wuxie's hut empty.
When word reached Miao Hanxuan that Liu Wuxie had escaped without a trace, he erupted in fury. After all, every time Liu Wuxie had left the academy, he had returned stronger.
At the sixth level of the Spirit Profound Realm, Liu Wuxie could already contend with someone at the pinnacle of the Earth Profound Realm. If he reached the peak of the Spirit Profound Realm, Miao Hanxuan would no longer be able to restrain him.
Liu Wuxie traveled for days via teleportation arrays, leaving the prosperous Central Plains behind.
Using the Ancient Breath-Concealing Art, he easily evaded multiple assassination attempts along the way. The Black Plume Pavilion had reactivated the Soaring Bloom Order, dispatching assassins after him.
Even though they had suppressed their auras, Liu Wuxie detected them, avoiding each ambush without difficulty.
Eventually, teleportation arrays could take him no farther. He continued the rest of the journey on foot.
The final stretch to the Eastern Domain spanned hundreds of thousands of miles through wild, uninhabited land.
This part of the journey took him through a sprawling primeval forest riddled with swamps and mists filled with poisonous toxins. Even powerful, profound beasts struggled to survive here, and the presence of humans was virtually nonexistent.
This was why the border between the Central Plains and the Eastern Domain remained unexplored, unlike the more accessible borders shared with the Southern Province.
“This is strange,” Liu Wuxie murmured, standing atop a high peak, gazing toward the vast, distant mountain range. "The vegetation near the Eastern Domain is covered in some kind of strange substance."
He observed the trees deep within the range, and each one appeared wrapped in an invisible, formless veil.
Leaping into the sky like a divine dragon, Liu Wuxie soared across the mountainous expanse.
Looking down, he saw trees firmly rooted in the ground, with shadows of profound beasts weaving through them.
With no roads or paths in sight, flight was his only option.
However, even after flying for an entire day and night, the range showed no signs of ending. He had only crossed a fraction of it.
With no other choice, Liu Wuxie finally descended on a massive tree and perched upon one of its thick branches to rest for the night.
"Strange. Traversable ranges link the Southern Province and Central Plains, and travelers can cross them with ease. Northern City lies just beyond a frozen plain, and even the Western Barren sits beyond a few ridges. But the Eastern Domain feels like a world sealed shut by some invisible force," Liu Wuxie muttered, his brow furrowed as he stood atop a thick branch.
Throughout the entire recorded history of the True Martial Continent, references to the Eastern Domain were shockingly scarce—and that, in itself, made no sense.
The closer he came, the deeper the unease grew in his heart. Liu Wuxie had traversed countless perilous terrains over the years, yet this sensation was entirely new. It wasn't just the looming danger. Something else stirred beneath it, way deeper.
The Heavenly Dao Book could analyze all things under heaven, yet it also failed to predict his fate.
As night deepened, Liu Wuxie sat in meditation atop the branch, his divine sense fully alert to the surrounding forest.
Suddenly, a faint mist crept silently up the trunk and coiled around his body.
His eyes snapped open.
"What is this energy? How did it enter my body so easily?" he gasped, scanning his surroundings. To his shock, he discovered the same pale fog had swallowed the entire mountain range.
Without hesitation, he directed his divine sense inward to trace the source of the strange energy.
The white mist didn’t just invade his body, but it now drifted in and out freely, unimpeded.
"There's demonic energy... and a curse," Liu Wuxie said, freezing in place. "Could the Eastern Domain be cursed?"
In this world, exiled lands existed—places the heavens had isolated to cast away those guilty of unforgivable crimes. There was another category of such places as well, the cursed lands.
"Could it be that the Eastern Domain is one of those cursed lands?" he muttered, stunned.
Even someone as resolute as Liu Wuxie couldn’t stop the dread creeping into his heart. During his former life as an Immortal Emperor, he had once encountered a cursed land, and even then, he had been unable to dispel its curse.
Steeling himself, he forced his thoughts into order.
Cursed lands were usually barren, devoid of life. Then, how could the Barefooted Elder possibly reside in such a place?
Even if he did, no one could leave. The curse bound its victims to the land. The moment they stepped beyond its boundary, the curse would claim their lives.
That might explain why no cultivators from the Eastern Domain ever entered the Central Plains and why no one dared to enter the Eastern Domain. Anyone who did would be eroded by the curse, bound to it, and doomed to remain there for the rest of their life.
A cold sweat ran down Liu Wuxie's back at the thought.
He couldn’t help but wonder: surely the grandmaster and Elder Madman knew the Eastern Domain carried a curse.
Yet, neither had warned him. Had they not realized he would never return once he crossed that threshold?
Liu Wuxie shook his head. There was no time to fret over it.
Cursed lands were scarce in the world. In his memory, he could recall only one, and he didn't believe the odds of encountering another were so coincidental.
Besides, his journey to the Eastern Domain was to find a way into the Astral Domain.
Even a cursed land couldn't stand in his way.
When dawn broke, the mist around him finally dispersed.
The cursed energy left no trace in his body. Only then did Liu Wuxie exhale softly, a long-held sigh of relief leaving his chest.
Activating the Divine Dragon Phantom, he soared through the sky and flew deeper into the Eastern Domain.
Eventually, he reached the core region. Just beyond the final stretch of mountain range lay the heart of the Eastern Domain, and along the way, he often spotted powerful aerial profound beasts sweeping across the crimson sky.
These beasts would attack humans on sight. To avoid needless battles, Liu Wuxie summoned Fiery and rode atop its back.
Five days later, they finally crossed the vast mountain range.
"This is interesting... there's life here. That means humans must live in the Eastern Domain," Liu Wuxie muttered, standing at the border.
He gazed ahead solemnly, the sky above a deep shade of crimson, the ground below stained brown with age. The curse was already thick and oppressive even on the outskirts. He could hardly imagine what it would be like at the core. NovelHub
Though, now was not the time for hesitation. He had already come this far; there was no turning back.
Sending Fiery back into the beast pouch, Liu Wuxie shot forward like a comet, aiming to locate a major city where he could gather information on the Barefooted Elder.
Once he found what he needed, he would leave immediately. Lingering in a cursed land was nothing short of courting death.
The reason why the cursed energy hadn't latched onto his body was likely thanks to the Heavenly Dao Book and the Sky Devouring Divine Cauldron. Had it been anyone else, the curse would have fused into their very bones, binding them to this land for eternity.
Above, the crimson sky radiated an eerie stillness. Though the sun hung high overhead, it cast no warmth. Instead, the air carried an unnatural chill.
Liu Wuxie passed through a barren region and spotted remnants of structures in the distance.
Upon closer inspection, he discovered people had abandoned the buildings long ago. Now they stood desolate, lifeless, and covered in dust.
Gazing farther ahead, he realized that the Eastern Domain's landscape was vastly different from those of the other domains. Mountain ranges dominated the Western Barren, Northern City was a frozen wasteland, and the Southern Province bore similarities to the Central Plains.
However, here, the terrain was filled with colossal peaks, divine pillars of stone jutting from the ground as though carved by the hands of ancient gods.
At a glance, Liu Wuxie could see thousands of such peaks stretching across the land, each differing in size and height.
The Heavenly Peak, long revered as the tallest mountain in the True Martial Continent, paled in comparison. In this land alone, there were more than ten mountains of equal or greater magnitude within his line of sight.
"So many mountains..." Liu Wuxie murmured.
There were no sprawling cities. Instead, humans and beasts alike seemed to inhabit the summits of these peaks.
He picked up his pace as the sky began to darken once again.
A pattern began to emerge: the cursed energy grew significantly more intense at night.
Around midnight, he stood at the base of one of the massive mountains. Raising his gaze, he saw giant trees stretching along the slopes. Dense, choking, cursed energy shrouded every trunk and leaf.
The cursed trees bore no sign of life. As he stood beneath one, waves of cursed energy surged toward him.
"What terrifying cursed energy... What could've happened to the Eastern Domain to cause this?" Liu Wuxie whispered, not daring to lay even a finger on the trees.
Instead, he continued his ascent cautiously after discovering subtle signs of human habitation.