Within Tian Xing's Cave Abode.
Year after year had passed. Those geniuses from Eternal Sun Prefecture who had originally entered Tian Xing's Cave Abode had long since endured countless life-or-death struggles, and their numbers had dwindled to fewer than a thousand.
After so many years of these brutal struggles, the resources within Tian Xing's Cave Abode had been all but completely carved up and exhausted.
The initial, frantic dog-eat-dog competition among them had ceased; now, they each simply guarded their own small, personal territory.
On this particular day, within Tian Xing's Cave Abode, all the powerful experts, apart from the members of the Li family, were gathered together inside a long-abandoned, dust-sealed mountain cave.
They all stood gazing in unison at the object before them... an extremely simple, stone-arched tomb. The gravestone at its front was already long since covered in a thick layer of dust.
Nangong Yazhi, who had once besieged Li Yunlin, stood amidst the crowd, her gaze fixed on Xu Dingsheng, who now stood at the front and had, by this point, become the de facto ruler of Tian Xing's Cave Abode.
Xu Dingsheng could be seen dropping to one knee before the tomb, slowly brushing the accumulated dust from the face of the gravestone.
"'The Tomb... of Wang Rusheng?'"
The inscription on the gravestone caused everyone to look at one another in utter consternation.
This mountain cave was located in the deepest recesses of Tian Xing's Cave Abode, and its entrance was guarded by a powerful array.
In order to breach this formation, they had expended several decades of effort.
They had originally assumed that some magnificent treasure lay hidden within, or perhaps a method that would allow them to finally escape.
But who could have ever imagined that it would turn out to be nothing more than a simple tomb?
"Wang Rusheng?"
Hidden away underground with the other members of the Li family, Li Changsheng frowned.
"This cave, located in the absolute deepest part of the Grotto, cannot possibly be so simple," he reasoned.
"This is the Cave Abode of Venerable Tian Xing, after all. Perhaps this 'Wang Rusheng'... is Tian Xing's real name."
And just as he (Li Changsheng) had suspected, through Nangong Yazhi's perspective, one could see the numerous cultivators within the mountain cave let out a collective cry of alarm.
For upon the tomb of this "Wang Rusheng," a phantom image had unexpectedly materialized, and within it, scenes began to flicker past like a slide show.
Li Yunlin said in a low voice, "These are the very scenes I witnessed from within 'Tian Xing's Tear'."
Everyone instantly focused their attention on the images.
The scenes were the same as what Li Yunlin had witnessed before, only this time they flashed by much more quickly, and just as before, there was a break in the sequence at a point over one thousand years in the past.
When the images finally reappeared, they showed a time when Venerable Tian Xing had already constructed this very Cave Abode.
Afterward, Venerable Tian Xing, taking the Cave Abode with him, traveled far and wide, revisiting all the places he had known from his time as a mortal to his life as a cultivator. By the time he returned to his Cave Abode, he had shed a single "Tian Xing's Tear."
"Evil karma... what a heavy burden of evil karma!" he lamented.
"In this lifetime, I have committed far too many wrongs. In the end, it seems I am simply not fated to transcend the great tribulation."
"Master..." his voice was filled with regret, "all those years ago, you told me I lacked the proper aptitude, that I should not commit such sins of slaughter. Even more so, I should never have harmed my own sect brothers, thus creating this terrible karma of killing... only to find that in the end, my only path is to sit and wither away... sigh."
And then...
He truly... died!
His physical body began to decompose, its essence merging with and becoming one with the whole of Tian Xing's Cave Abode!
"How is that possible?" Li Changsheng's expression changed drastically.
"How could he have just died, just like that? Then... then what in the world was it that annihilated our family clan?! Weren't those the avatars of Tian Xing?!!"
The other members of the Li family were all in a similar state of shock.
If Venerable Tian Xing was dead, then what of the countless avatars of his outside? Could they all be fakes?
At that very moment, Li Wei's expression turned grim, and so too did the expressions of all the other members of the Li family.
The scene shifted. After the original Venerable Tian Xing had perished and his Cave Abode had been established, a new figure intruded upon its grounds.
This figure lingered within the Cave Abode for many years until, one day, it seemed he had a great epiphany.
Subsequently, step by step, he began to gather the remnant souls of the original Venerable Tian Xing.
These remnant souls, all in the form of black Qi, then scattered outwards from the Cave Abode, dispersing in every direction!
A faint smile touched the corners of that man's mouth.
"With such a Technique," he whispered, "as long as I am given sufficient time, I shall reign supreme over all under heaven!"
...
Back in the present, on Azure Mist Mountain, Venerable Elder Baimei spoke to Bai Rourou, his voice grave.
"Tian Xing's Cave Abode," he said, "is located right here, within Eternal Sun Prefecture. It is also, in essence, Tian Xing's true body."
"I have found the method to kill him," the Elder stated. "We must simply kill all of his avatars. Once that is done, all of his power will coalesce, and he will be forced to face a heavenly tribulation. At that moment, the true Tian Xing's Cave Abode will also be forced open, and that is precisely when he will be at his most vulnerable."
As his voice faded, Venerable Elder Baimei's expression grew grave.
"When that time comes," he declared, "I will personally take action to 'clean house' for my Azure Mist Mountain!"
Upon hearing this, Bai Rourou's eyes glinted with a cold light.
"When?" she asked, her voice clipped and sharp.
"One hundred years!"
As the Venerable Elder Baimei's final word fell, at that very same instant, all across the Azure Dynasty, every single avatar of Venerable Tian Xing smiled a cold, knowing smile.
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