A Black Altar, on the Verge of Falling?

With the ten-thousand-zhang peak wiped completely out of existence, the scene within was laid bare. Lu Yuan and Jiang Ningxian both wore solemn expressions as they looked ahead. Not far in front of them stood a black altar, the source of all the billowing mist. Its blackness was utterly unlike any ordinary shade, devouring every trace of illumination in an abyss so deep that staring too long made one feel as though their very soul would be drawn inside. More importantly, an extraordinary power radiated from its surface. It was intensely mysterious, and it was precisely its emergence that had reversed the laws of heaven and earth across the surrounding land. In short, there was no doubt that this altar had been left behind by the Extraterrestrial Demons. Capable of bending the rules of the world within a limited domain, it was formidable indeed. Even Lu Yuan discovered upon seeing it that the energy within his body was being suppressed. Frowning, he asked, "Was there an altar like this back on Celestial Star as well?" Lu Yuan was genuinely curious about this point, for if one had existed there, it meant there was a way to destroy it and sever the path for the Extraterrestrial Demons' descent. "No," Jiang Ningxian replied, shaking her head. "My father and I purged the power of the Extraterrestrial Demons on Celestial Star together, but from start to finish, we never saw anything resembling this. Presumably, this was prepared specifically for Earth and the Milky Way Star Sector." She stared at the black altar before them, light flickering in her eyes as she attempted to see through it while searching her memories for what it might be. Unfortunately, she drew a complete blank. "Let's test it first and see what happens." After a moment's thought, Lu Yuan stepped forward. Beside him, Jiang Ningxian instinctively moved to stop him, sensing potential danger. But considering his cultivation, she realized nothing too disastrous should befall him, so she checked herself and nodded. Lu Yuan paced slowly up to the black altar and extended his divine sense. Strands of brilliant radiance surged around his body, draping over him like a feathered cloak of gold. Before striking, he wanted to get a feel for its nature. Yet the moment his divine sense brushed against the black altar, it felt like an ox sinking into a swamp—he could perceive virtually nothing, as if his senses were swallowed whole. *Mysterious indeed. This might not even belong to this world,* Lu Yuan mused, halting his probe. Then the power of his blood vitality began to surge. Now that he had reached the Heavenly Position Immortal realm, his vitality was no longer purely golden; it shone in two tones of gold and red, exuding an even more magnificent and majestic air. The sheer might it generated was terrifying—as if it could crush mountains and rivers and shake heaven and earth. Such was his dreadful strength today, and that was without unleashing it in full; otherwise, it would be all the more overwhelming. Having gathered a measure of power, Lu Yuan thrust his palm forward. A formidable blast surged toward the black altar. Rumble! A thunderous roar erupted, shattering the surrounding peaks and valleys into dust. Yet the black altar remained entirely unchanged. The ultra-dense mist continued to drift outward just as before. "It's useless." Watching this, Jiang Ningxian knitted her brows tightly and could not resist asking, "Do you want to try again and see if a different approach does anything?" She was now entirely certain that the Extraterrestrial Demons' arrival depended on this black altar. If they could find a way to damage it, everything that followed would be far easier to manage. Lu Yuan, however, simply shook his head at her suggestion. "No need. This material does not belong to this world. Its origins are unknown, and I cannot destroy it." He paused, then added, "Besides, the Extraterrestrial Demons prepared for this for so long. How could they leave it so easily destroyed? Even if a Supreme Immortal arrived, they likely couldn't break it either." From the altar's reaction just now, Lu Yuan already knew the answer. Even invoking the Ancient Heavenly Emperor Token would be of no avail. Under such circumstances, there was no point in squandering his strength. He sighed and said, "Let's go check the other locations." At present, it was likely that no one in the universe could do anything about this altar. All they could do was continue gathering information; perhaps they might stumble upon another way. Jiang Ningxian understood his reasoning and nodded in agreement. Shortly thereafter, the two traversed void passages to visit several other sites tainted by the power of the Extraterrestrial Demons. The Hengduan Mountains, Shennongjia, and numerous other famous peaks and great rivers were all home to these altars. There were dozens of them, and none could be destroyed—proof that the Extraterrestrial Demons intended to use them as conduits to descend. "Occupying famous mountains and rivers to reverse the laws of the entire planet... this situation is basically identical to what happened on Celestial Star." As Jiang Ningxian observed more of them, her heart grew increasingly heavy. Crucially, they knew exactly where the problem lay, yet were powerless to resolve it. With dozens of famous mountains and rivers occupied, if the laws of all of them were inverted, wouldn't Earth fall before the war had even begun? "It's not that simple," Lu Yuan voiced a dissenting opinion. "Among all the famous mountains and great rivers today, Mount Tai and Kunlun are the most paramount, yet neither of those two places has shown the slightest sign of abnormality." Both before and after the upheaval, those two locations had been of supreme significance. They were bottlenecks that could not be bypassed. In Lu Yuan's view, if the Extraterrestrial Demons truly wished to completely invert Earth's worldly laws, leaving Mount Tai and Kunlun out of the fold would never suffice. At least as far as he could tell, that had to be the case, and yet these two vital locations were conspicuously absent. "Then what do you mean...?" Jiang Ningxian asked in confusion, uncertain where he was heading. Lu Yuan smiled faintly. "Think about how much effort the extraterrestrial beings had to exert back then just to descend upon Earth and reach the Milky Way Star Sector, and even in the end, they could only do so with their cultivation suppressed. Even you had to completely suppress your cultivation. Since the ancient sages knew of the Extraterrestrial Demons long ago, perhaps they took precautions against this as well. Some of our worries are redundant; we only need to wait for those entities to descend." This was Lu Yuan's conjecture, and something he had been turning over in his mind. Mount Tai and Kunlun were of such paramount importance, yet they were not included in the Extraterrestrial Demons' design. Even the Eternal Clan and the Ji clan had never made any moves toward them. There were only two explanations: either they deemed those places unimportant, or they possessed no means to touch them in the first place. The former was obviously impossible, which left only the second.