The bald elder surged forward in a powerful wave of sound, intercepting the attack and arriving before Liu Wuxie in a flash.
At that moment, the Ghost Emperor's deadly soundwave attack was about to reach Liu Wuxie, but the elder's wave intercepted it, neutralizing it in midair. The two sound waves collided, canceling each other out.
"Why did you intervene? He slaughtered thousands of my clan. I cannot allow him to leave alive," the Ghost Emperor growled, his gaze shifting toward the bald elder.
"You cannot kill him," the elder replied calmly, rising with effort. His frail figure was hunched from ages of stillness. After ages without sunlight, his skin had taken on an eerie, deathly pallor.
"You've been staying in this canyon all this time... just to wait for him?" the Ghost Emperor asked, frowning deeply. He had always trusted the bald elder's words, and he did not doubt him even now.
"Yes," the elder said, nodding with certainty.
"Who is he, truly? How does a human know so many powerful dao techniques?" the Ghost Emperor questioned. He had witnessed everything from afar; every battle Liu Wuxie fought in the canyon had unfolded clearly before his eyes.
"He is the chosen one. Now that he's here... my time has come," the bald elder said with a bitter smile.
"You're saying that... you'll die because of his arrival?" the Ghost Emperor asked, narrowing his eyes. As an intelligent being, he immediately understood the implication behind the elder's words.
The elder didn't respond, but his silence confirmed everything.
"In that case, I'll kill him myself," the Ghost Emperor declared coldly, standing up. Ghostly energy erupted from him, distorting space with the terrifying pressure of Heaven Profound Realm laws.
The Barefooted Elder had spent ten thousand years in this canyon, and the Ghost Emperor had remained his only companion. They weren't merely neighbors—they were friends.
The elder was going to die because Liu Wuxie had arrived. The Ghost Emperor couldn't accept that.
"This is fate. Only he can save the Eastern Domain. Only he can release your ghost clan from Ghosthead Mountain," the elder said, his eyes gazing far into the distance.
"What... did you just say?" The Ghost Emperor froze. "He can save the Eastern Domain?"
The ancient catastrophe had severed the Eastern Domain from the rest of the world. Humans, abyssal devils, ghosts—no race had been able to leave. The ghost clan, more than any other, had been imprisoned within Ghosthead Mountain for countless years.
"Let him in," said the bald elder, nodding.
Without the Ghost Emperor's command, the Yin-Faced Ghosts would keep blocking Liu Wuxie. However, allowing Liu Wuxie passage meant his friend's death. Even worse, it would spell further casualties for the ghost clan if they were to resist him.
From the elder's tone, it was clear that he would personally intervene if the Ghost Emperor attempted to attack Liu Wuxie.
"You know you'll die if he passes. Why not let me end him instead?" the Ghost Emperor asked. He simply couldn't understand why anyone would accept death so willingly.
After all, cultivators in the Heaven Profound Realm stood at the top of the pyramid, with a vast lifespan. They would live on as long as nothing destroyed the True Martial Continent.
"Death comes for us all, even you," the Barefooted Elder said, smiling. "If my death can bring peace to this land, so be it. I'll miss our talks, but that's a small price."
If anyone else had dared to speak to him like that, the Ghost Emperor would have erupted in fury. However, he could sense no defiance, only solemnity and truth in the elder's words. Each word was heavy with his fate.
"...Let him pass," the Ghost Emperor finally said after a long pause. His voice, carried by a rumbling shockwave, echoed throughout the canyon.
When the Ghost Emperor gave the order, the Yin-Faced Ghosts immediately retreated and opened a clear path.
Just as Liu Wuxie was about to unleash the Ghost Eye's slaughter, the Yin-Faced Ghosts suddenly scattered.
He and Tian Wucang exchanged confused glances.
"They retreated..." Tian Wucang whispered in disbelief. The drawn-out battle had thoroughly exhausted them both. Had they been any other Earth Profound cultivator, they would have perished long ago.
"Let's go," Liu Wuxie said, though his eyes remained vigilant. Moments ago, he heard the Ghost Emperor's voice. If the Ghost Emperor were to attack, they wouldn't stand a chance, especially when they had already used the grandmaster's projection clone.
However, Liu Wuxie had no intention of retreating. Even if a sea of fire or forest of blades lay ahead of him, he would press forward without hesitation.
As they advanced, the mist cleared up. In the distance, a stone house came into view. Two figures stood outside the stone house. One was cloaked in dense ghostly energy, unmistakably a Ghost Emperor; the other was barefoot, bald, and clad in ragged robes.
"The Barefooted Elder!" both Liu Wuxie and Tian Wucang exclaimed. After scaling mountain after mountain, braving peril and cursed terrain, they finally reached their goal.
"Brother Liu... they call him the Harbinger of Misfortune for a reason. All who meet him end up getting cursed. Are you certain about this?" Tian Wucang asked solemnly.
As for himself, he couldn't care less. His Cursed Physique doomed him the moment he was born. He had been barely living his life, scraping by on wild roots.
Liu Wuxie cast a grateful look at him. Without Tian Wucang, he never would have made it this far. Their shared hardship made them true brothers.
"You stay here. I'll go alone," Liu Wuxie said. He didn't want Tian Wucang to endure more misfortune. There were also things that he didn't want the latter to hear.
Tian Wucang nodded silently and sat on a nearby boulder. No further words were needed for him to understand Liu Wuxie's intentions.
When Liu Wuxie approached the stone house, the pressure emanating from the Ghost Emperor intensified like a mountain bearing down on the former. Each step felt heavier than the previous.
"Lord Ghost Emperor, you may go now," the Barefooted Elder said, requesting privacy.
As Liu Wuxie drew near, the oppressive, ghostly laws surged over him like a flood. Despite that, he kept his back straight, refusing to lower his head to anyone.
Fury burned in the Ghost Emperor's gaze. The man before him had killed countless ghosts. With a final cold snort, he vanished, leaving only Liu Wuxie and the elder.
"Junior Liu Wuxie greets the Barefooted Elder," he said, bowing deeply.
They needed no introductions. The elder's appearance alone had already confirmed his identity.
"Not too early, not too late. You arrived right on time," the Barefooted Elder said warmly, motioning for Liu Wuxie to come closer.
There was a stone table outside the house.
Liu Wuxie sat where the Ghost Emperor had been moments ago. The stone was icy cold—no surprise, given the Ghost Emperor's lack of warmth.
"Senior, you knew I would come?" Liu Wuxie asked after sitting down.
"I've waited ten thousand years for you," the Barefooted Elder replied. With a wave of his hand, a teapot and two teacups appeared.
He placed a cup before Liu Wuxie and gently poured tea into it.
Though cold in the pot, the tea inexplicably turned hot as he poured it.
"Senior... I don't understand. Could you please explain?" Liu Wuxie asked. Though he had reached his destination, he wasn't in a rush to ask about the Astral Domain. The elder's claim of waiting ten thousand years was hard to ignore.
Ten thousand years—long enough to turn oceans into deserts. It was an unimaginable length of time, even for most Heaven Profound cultivators.
"That's because... You are the chosen one," the elder said.
However, the answer only raised more questions.
Liu Wuxie had no idea what that meant—chosen by whom? Why? He was once an Immortal Emperor in a previous life, yet even he didn't understand what that title entailed. And still, many on the True Martial Continent called him that.
"Senior, what exactly is a chosen one?" Liu Wuxie pressed urgently.
He had asked his grandmaster, Elder Madman, and Han Shanzi before. Yet no one gave him an answer.
"It's not time yet," the Barefooted Elder replied. "You didn't come here for answers, you came to save your friend, didn't you?"
Once again, the true meaning behind the words "chosen one" remained elusive.
Liu Wuxie sighed inwardly. If the elder wasn't ready to speak, then there was nothing he could do. He could only wait until the day the truth revealed itself.
"Understood. Then, Senior... can you tell me how to enter the Astral Domain?" Liu Wuxie asked, rising and bowing. Time slipped away. Han Feizi's life essence was fading, and three days would vanish in a flash.
"Before I answer that, I have something I must ask of you," the Barefooted Elder said. "If you complete this task, I'll tell you everything, including what it means to be the chosen one."
"Senior, what is it? I'll do everything in my power," Liu Wuxie responded earnestly. If this task held the key to both saving Han Feizi and unlocking his destiny, he would go to any lengths to accomplish it.
"It's not an easy task," the elder warned. "If you fail, you may end up like me... trapped here forever."
He truly hoped Liu Wuxie would think twice. Had this task been easy, he would've completed it himself long ago, instead of waiting ten millennia.
"Senior, please speak. I will do whatever it takes," Liu Wuxie said resolutely. For Han Feizi and his path, he was ready.
"Move the Cursed Stone," the elder said, pointing toward a distant region shrouded in ominous cursed energy.
The Cursed Stone plunged the Eastern Domain into its sealed state and unleashed endless cursed energy that trapped all who lived within it.
"Move... the Cursed Stone?" Liu Wuxie was momentarily stunned. The legendary stone had a reputation for being the most cursed object in existence, dooming any who touched it for eternity.
"Yes. Move the Cursed Stone," the Barefooted Elder confirmed. "And if you can't, then leave now. I'll treat your arrival as if it never occurred."