Chapter 410: Recorders of Past and Present (Part 21)

Countless years passed.
A middle-aged man on the shore unexpectedly discovered a bronze mask.
He inadvertently embarked on the path of cultivation, but also attracted disaster.
He died, and even the mask was stolen, falling into the hands of a spoiled young master.
The young master was overjoyed; this was an immense opportunity.
In less than a century, the spoiled youth became a powerful figure.
However, his excessive pampering of his descendants angered an even more ruthless demon, who, without hesitation, annihilated the former young master's entire clan, seizing numerous treasures, including the mask.
The peerless demon was also killed, discovered the mask, founded a sect, and became an ancestor, passing it down through generations.
Until an unparalleled genius appeared, wearing the mask, stepping into the outer space, competing with countless heroes.
The starry sky was vast, and countless geniuses existed.
He killed others, and naturally, he was killed by even more powerful beings, and the mask changed hands once more.
Countless seasons passed.
The mask finally fell into the hands of a young man named Zhu Yuhua. Using the mask, he rose against all odds, becoming the undisputed Emperor of his time, invincible for all time.
Emperor Yuhua was often seen wearing the mask.
The bronze mask officially became known to the world.
It was revered as the Emperor's Mask.
After Emperor Yuhua's death, the Emperor's Mask became the object of contention among countless forces.
Some wanted to use the Emperor's Mask to defy fate and become like Emperor Yuhua.
Others wanted to use the Emperor's Mask to gain boundless power and seek revenge against their former enemies.
Countless more years passed.
Even the name of Emperor Yuhua was unknown to the world.
The bronze mask had changed hands countless times; no one could count them all.
Some were powerful figures reigning supreme, patriarchs of great clans, unparalleled geniuses dominating all others, while others were ordinary people, commoners and laborers...
Some achieved their ideals through the mask.
Others were consumed by greed, ultimately meeting an unexpected end.
The bronze mask fell into the hands of a supreme genius named Ran Tianxia.
Ran Tianxia was invincible from birth; none of the universe's geniuses could match him. He easily surpassed the emperors of all ages.
"Just a small mask,"
Ran Tianxia scoffed. The mask, said to change one's destiny, was useless to him. He was confident he could transcend this world without any power.
He tied the mask around his waist.
He wanted this bronze mask to record his glorious life.
Ran Tianxia successfully broke free of his cage and entered a vaster world.
That world was even more vast, and Ran Tianxia was not invincible there either.
He was imprisoned in a more terrifying furnace by an even more terrifying being, his body surrounded by raging flames.
In the end, he still couldn't escape this small furnace.
"I'm not reconciled... how utterly reconciled I am!"
Ran Tianxia died.
The bronze mask, however, wasn't completely burned away in the furnace, which surprised the being behind it.
"This mask... it actually exists in the void, who forged it?"
The one who refined Ran Tianxia was an unparalleled emperor who nurtured countless beings from countless realms into human talents.
He was astonished that this bronze mask remained intact despite being burned by his chaotic fire.
Fortunately, he possessed some knowledge.
This discovery both surprised and delighted him.
Although the bronze mask was bronze in appearance... it contained a purer energy, an energy he couldn't comprehend, but he knew it was definitely something valuable.
An era passed, and the supreme ruler still hadn't figured it out. He could only smile bitterly: "Perhaps this is the work of an immortal."
With the outbreak of the Great Calamity of the End Times and the turmoil of the era,
the supreme ruler died, and the mask he wore fell beyond the Three Thousand Realms.
The mask encountered a new wearer.
His existence seemed to witness the rise and fall of one era after another.
The world changed and transformed.
Only the bronze mask remained eternally.
......
A deep, dark place.
Countless years had passed since the last wearer of the mask entered the abyss and died.
In this world without light,
several strangers wandered in.
They were descendants of the Dark Night Emperor, who had ventured into the deepest abyss to find his remains.
They successfully located the Dark Night Emperor's burial site: a colossal giant, seemingly piercing the heavens, its body mostly reduced to bones, a spear still embedded in its flesh, and towering skeletons at its feet—the remains of the Dark Night Emperor's fallen enemies.
The Dark Night Emperor wore a bronze mask.
It was said that the Dark Night Emperor was originally just a minor genius from an Emperor-level power, who, after his clan's annihilation, unexpectedly obtained this bronze mask. He gradually destroyed his former enemies, established the Longevity Clan, and became the Eternal Emperor, ultimately perishing in the chaos of the Third Era.
His descendants had found the Dark Night Emperor's burial site.
Their gaze, however, fell upon the mask worn by the Dark Night Emperor.
As descendants of the Dark Night Emperor, they naturally knew just how extraordinary this mask was.
Just as they were about to touch the mask…
The bronze mask had detached from the remains of the Dark Night Emperor and floated in mid-air. This sudden turn of events left the Dark Night Emperor's descendants bewildered. Had their ancestor been resurrected, or had the mask come to life?
A faint light emanated from the bronze mask, though very weak. Then, a wisp of light, seemingly rooted in the void, extended from the mask. They saw an ordinary old mortal polishing the mask.
As another faint golden ray took root in the void, the scene on the mask rapidly changed.
Liu Hu... Dong Qiang... Zhu Hao... Li Zhiyuan... Liu Yizhi... Mu Ziqiang... Zhou Chong... Si Zhaonan...
One by one, the former wearers began to materialize, countless golden rays spreading through the void, a magnificent sight.
The light gradually grew from insignificant to illuminating this deep, dark place, and then, like a great sun, appeared above the deep, dark land.
"What on earth is going on? What happened?"
The descendants of the Dark Night Emperor were completely bewildered.
They only wanted to retrieve the mask's inheritance.
How could they have encountered such a bizarre event?
"This is bad! The commotion here has become too big; it will definitely attract the attention of the ruler of the Deep Netherworld!"
With this thought,
they sensed a suffocating aura.
It was... the ruler of the Deep Abyss!