Perfection: The Eastern Emperor Bell manifests, I am the Golden Crow Heavenly Emperor

Chapter 76 Transcending the Era of Imperial Decline
He is the source of the bronze fragment's aura!

"How can this be?!"

A storm raged in Lu Xuan's heart. He involuntarily took a few quick steps forward, almost pressing himself against the mural, wanting to see it more clearly and realistically!

He stared intently at the profile, his gaze seemingly trying to pierce through the mural to see the man's face clearly and the emotions contained in his eyes.

The man tilted his head slightly, gazing at the Quasi-Immortal Emperor on the altar. The mural captured the jawline of his profile and his tightly pursed lips, which conveyed endless complex emotions.

There was reverence, reluctance, worry, and sorrow in it, but more than anything, there was a kind of unwavering determination and resolve that seemed to be etched into the very marrow of the body, a determination that shared the same origin as that of the Quasi-Immortal Emperor.

He seemed to be saying something, or perhaps he was just saying goodbye in silence.

He seemed to be holding something tightly in his hand.

Because it's only a side view, it's not very clear, but it vaguely looks like a... fragment of bronze?

Lu Xuan subconsciously reached for the bronze shard in his arms, and it was burning hot to the touch.

The latter half of the mural becomes blurred and tragic.

The Quasi-Immortal Emperor resolutely stepped into the Boundary Sea, facing the boundless darkness.

The man who resembled Lu Xuan remained, and his figure appeared intermittently in subsequent murals, leading the surviving creatures in their continued struggle. However, the scene grew increasingly horrific, the world continued to collapse, and darkness continued to spread...

Finally, the scene abruptly ends, leaving large blank and mottled areas, as if foreshadowing the end of that war—the glorious era of imperial decline comes to a close.

Lu Xuan stood frozen in front of the mural, unable to recover for a long time.

Who is the man in the mural?

Why do they look so alike?

Why does he possess the same aura as him?
What is his relationship with this Quasi-Immortal Emperor who is on a voyage to the Boundary Sea and may eventually perish?
How could he have such a profound connection with the fallen era of the Emperor, which had long been buried in this perfect world?
The ancient mystery seems to have been torn open by this mural, revealing a more intricate and unbelievable truth.

Lu Xuan felt as if he had touched a vast web of cause and effect that spanned endless time and space, and he himself was a crucial node in this web.

He stood before the mural, gazing at the profile that resembled his own, as if he were looking at another "self" from eternity ago.

Lu Xuan stared at the profile in the mural that bore a striking resemblance to himself, his mind racing. Countless questions and speculations surged through his mind like a tidal wave.

He tried to decipher more information from the limited brushstrokes of the mural.

I wanted to see the man's face clearly and figure out what kind of connection existed between them.

Just as he was completely absorbed, his mind almost merging with the tragic and ancient meaning of the mural—

A sudden change occurred!

The mural, which had been silent for countless ages, seemed to be completely activated by his gaze and the shared aura, and suddenly came back to life!

“Buzz——!!!”

At this moment, all the patterns, colors, and runes on the mural burst forth with indescribable brilliance!
That light was not simply energy, but a supreme divine power containing the highest laws of time, space, cause and effect, and destiny!
The entire cave trembled violently, and the jade material on the cave walls groaned under the strain, as if it might collapse at any moment.

Lu Xuan's expression changed drastically. He immediately activated the illusory image of the Chaos Bell, his body surging with chaotic energy in an attempt to resist this sudden change. He felt as if he were a small boat in a raging storm, the divine power erupting from the mural vast and boundless, carrying a will that seemed to originate from the very source of an era!

The target of this force was none other than him!
On the mural, the profile of the man who bid farewell to the Quasi-Immortal Emperor, who resembled him, seemed to have two tangible gazes piercing through countless ages and across the barrier of the mural, fixed on Lu Xuan!
Immediately afterwards, the mural depicting the epic of the Imperial Era seemed to transform into a rotating vortex at its center!

Within the vortex lies a shattered temporal turbulence, fragments of annihilated laws, countless wailing and fallen heroic spirits, and the ultimate spectacle of the dark upheaval that swept across the heavens!

An overwhelming force of devouring energy, far exceeding the suction of the ancient cave, locked onto Lu Xuan!

"not good!"

A warning bell rang in Lu Xuan's mind. He pushed the Chaos Bell to its limit, and the bell's sound resounded, trying to stabilize himself and resist the suction force.

The three illusory figures of the corpses manifested simultaneously behind him, their paths of good and evil intertwining to form the strongest defense.

However, all of this seemed so pale and powerless in the face of the supreme divine power unleashed by the mural!
This level of power is too high!

It surpassed the Immortal King, touched the Quasi-Immortal Emperor, and might even be... related to that truly fallen "Emperor"!
It did not intend to destroy Lu Xuan, but rather to guide him and devour him into the ancient time and space that was buried as recorded in the mural!
"Crack!"

The protective light barrier of the Chaos Bell was the first to crack!

The three illusory figures swayed violently and became blurred!
Lu Xuan's body was uncontrollably pulled towards the terrifying vortex in the center of the mural!
In the instant before he was completely inhaled, his gaze was fixed on the profile of a man in the mural who resembled him.

In a daze, he seemed to see those tightly pursed lips, filled with complex emotions, move very slightly.

It evokes an indescribable sense of relief and anticipation, seemingly transcending eternity.

Is it an illusion?

No time to think it through—

"boom!!!"

The world spins and spacetime collapses!
Lu Xuan felt his consciousness, his physical body, his Dao fruit, and everything else.

They were all completely torn apart and stretched, thrown into a raging river composed of countless fragmented histories and tragic fates!

The light from the mural suddenly receded behind him, and the vortex instantly subsided.

The ancient cave returned to deathly silence, except for the mural that still stood, recording the epic of the fallen emperor, as if nothing had ever happened.

However, in the mural, next to the profile of the man bidding farewell to the Quasi-Immortal Emperor, in the originally blank space, there seems to be... an extremely faint, almost blending-into-the-background, blurry outline belonging to Lu Xuan.

Lu Xuan himself had already disappeared from this space-time, forcibly taken away from the position of "Observer" by that supreme divine power, and completely... thrown into that space-time fragment that buried countless ages ago!
His journey to the fall of the emperor changed from observing the murals to personally experiencing them!

The intense tearing sensation and the dizzying feeling of time and space disorientation receded like the tide, and Lu Xuan's consciousness struggled to break free from the chaos.

The first thing I felt was an intensely hot yet vibrant pure energy enveloping my entire body, as if I were soaking in a warm spring.

Immediately following was a feeling of weakness and constraint that I had never experienced before.

(End of this chapter)