Chapter One: One Hundred Thousand Years Guarding the Abyss – A Plea from the Family?

Heaven’s Abyss, Sea of Buried Demons.

This place marked the boundary between the human race and the otherworldly tribes; it was also the front line where humanity resisted their incursions. Countless cultivators had shed their blood here in defense of their homeland—every inch of Heaven’s Abyss was soaked in the life force of humankind.

Beyond the boundless domain of the human world, a solitary ancient tower stood tall, weathered by the ages, as if it had been there since primordial times.

This was the Tower of Chaos—majestic and imposing, its form dark and unfathomable, like a mountain reaching into the heavens, exuding an ancient and desolate aura.

Within it, a lone figure in white robes sat silently, his back to the vast lands of humanity, his gaze fixed on the hundred-thousand-strong army of the alien races before him.

He wore black garments beneath his white outer robe; his jet-black hair cascaded loosely over his shoulders.

Before him lay a long sword, its blade gleaming with cold light, emanating a murderous intent so keen it seemed to pierce the clouds.

His name was Xiao Xuan. With strength at the late Emperor stage, he had guarded this place for a hundred thousand years.

Yet for nearly a hundred millennia, the lands of humanity had been uncharacteristically peaceful—thanks to Emperor Xiao Xuan alone.

Single-handedly, he held Heaven’s Abyss, blocking the only passage the otherworldly tribes could use to penetrate the human realm; none dared take a single step beyond.

For a hundred thousand years, Emperor Xiao Xuan stood sentinel here in solitude. Aside from the powerful among the alien races, few within humanity even remembered he existed.

At this moment, all eyes among the alien conquerors in the abyssal passage were fixed on the Tower of Chaos, none daring to make the slightest sound.

Were it not for the presence within that tower, these otherworldly powers would have long since swept forth, invading and slaughtering humanity without mercy.

“It has already been a hundred thousand years,” Xiao Xuan murmured softly. His gaze pierced the endless void, settling on the alien warriors, his eyes reflecting the sediment of ages.

A hundred millennia ago, the invasion of the otherworldly tribes plunged the human realm into chaos and suffering. In order to protect all living beings, Xiao Xuan, upon achieving the Emperor’s realm, chose to guard the passage of Heaven’s Abyss alone, waging countless battles against alien forces and holding them firmly at bay.

Over these long years, the enemy launched innumerable assaults, even sending their supreme beings against him. Yet Xiao Xuan repelled them all. The bloodstains upon Heaven’s Abyss bore witness to his glorious feats.

Yet, though his figure remained upright and his blade keen, Xiao Xuan knew his days were numbered.

An Emperor’s lifespan seldom exceeded tens of thousands of years. Even with the aid of immortal elixirs, one could hardly live beyond fifty thousand.

If not for Xiao Xuan’s extraordinary talent, surpassing all others, and the assistance of immortal medicine and the Tower of Chaos, he would have perished long ago.

“A hundred thousand years have passed... I wish I could return and see it once more...”

A longing surged in Xiao Xuan’s heart.

Guarding Heaven’s Abyss for so long, his final yearning was to return to the human domain, to see his kin again, to meet those from days long past. But he knew well this was a distant, unattainable dream.

A hundred thousand years was time enough for the world to change beyond recognition. Those he once knew and cherished were likely gone from this world.

Even if he wished to leave, he could not. The moment he did, the fiends of the alien tribes would flood in, once more invading the human domains and rendering his millennia of vigilance meaningless.

“I have waited a hundred thousand years. Has no new Emperor arisen in the human world? If none comes to succeed me, I will not be able to hold on much longer…”

His gaze cut through the chaos, searching for the direction of the human domain. When he left a hundred thousand years ago, he had urged the imperial clans not to hoard their resources but to spare no effort in cultivating a new Emperor.

When a new Emperor emerged, they were to leave the human domain and join him at Heaven’s Abyss at the Sea of Buried Demons, to stand guard together.

Yet a hundred thousand years had passed, and no Emperor from the human realm had come to his aid.

Had some calamity befallen the human world? In such a span, surely several new Emperors should have arisen.

Unless, in his absence, the very laws of heaven and earth had changed, making it exceedingly difficult to ascend to the Emperor’s realm, leaving future generations unable to follow in his footsteps…

Xiao Xuan drew back his thoughts, his gaze once again resolute as he looked toward the distant army of the alien races.

With no new Emperor to take his place, he could not leave Heaven’s Abyss, nor the Sea of Buried Demons.

For the moment he departed, the alien powers lurking in the depths would surge forth, harvesting the lives of human cultivators, plundering their vital essence.

“I have lived a hundred thousand years; my life is at its end…” Xiao Xuan sighed in resignation.

Yet even if he stayed, he could not hold out much longer.

The flame of the guardian’s life was about to be extinguished.

Ordinary Emperors, lacking immortal medicine, would not live beyond ten thousand years. Xiao Xuan had lasted a hundred thousand—this was the utmost limit for an Emperor’s existence.

Once Xiao Xuan fell, the passage of Heaven’s Abyss would collapse.

There were methods to prolong life—one could establish a forbidden zone of life, sever one's own path, become the lord of such a zone, and when lifespan waned, emerge to reap the essence of myriad races, awaiting the opening of the path to immortality…

Throughout history, only those dark Emperors who harvested human life essence survived for hundreds of thousands of years, even longer.

Xiao Xuan’s gaze dropped, as though it reached across billions of miles, seeing several forbidden zones of life beyond the Abyss, where ancient sovereigns slumbered—some for tens of thousands, even hundreds of thousands of years.

These ancient sovereigns were cold and indifferent; even if all life in the Heaven Source Realm perished, they would remain unmoved. In their eyes, the lords of the forbidden zones were no different from the invading fiends of the alien realms.

Xiao Xuan was the guardian of Heaven Source’s beings—how could he become such a monstrous existence?

It was this conviction that led Xiao Xuan down the path of resistance against the otherworldly fiends.

Yet now, if he chose to become a lord of a forbidden zone, he might prolong his existence, escaping the fate of ultimate demise.

However… Xiao Xuan was, after all, a champion of humanity. He could never create such a forbidden domain, harvesting the essence of myriad races merely to cling to life.

Just then, a strange ripple of talisman energy drifted in from the outside world—a faint, subtle vibration.

“Hm? The Heaven-Penetrating Talisman I left behind a hundred thousand years ago has been ignited?”

“Could it be that my descendants are in danger?”

A brilliant light flashed in Xiao Xuan’s eyes, tinged with doubt.

When he left the Xiao clan, he left behind a Heaven-Penetrating Talisman; if the clan ever faced extinction, igniting this talisman would summon him.

Unexpectedly, this was the first time in a hundred thousand years he had received a call for help from his clan.

Could something have befallen the Xiao clan?