Yang Feng watched on with his spiritual sense from a hidden part of the sect in boredom. He had seen this scene countless times.

The sect's annual recruitment process.

The bustling noises reminded him of when he himself first stood at the bottom of the gigantic stone stairs, awaiting the beginning of the ceremony. The teenagers, none older than the age of sixteen, stood nervously around, chatting with each other to dispel their turbid emotions.

Some of them would be accepted into the sect as outer disciples. A lucky few could probably even catch the eye of an elder and enjoy an easier life within the sect.

But most would not pass the recruitment process.

Yang Feng turned his attention elsewhere. He scanned the entire sect and sighed in reminiscence.

Thousands of mountain peaks stood high, each with its own collection of buildings and activities.

Countless disciples were cultivating, sparring, refining pills, or doing other acts that would further them on the road of cultivation.

But Yang Feng himself had already reached the end.

Reaching the Immortal God Emperor realm and becoming the respected supreme ancestor of the Great Heavens Sect, he had nothing more to accomplish.

All his enemies were dead, he had personally scattered their ashes to the winds. All his friends and companions were too, he had outlived every single one.

Now he was all alone, sitting on the cold throne of the world.

"Ancestor," a voice called out suddenly, distracting Yang Feng from his thoughts.

It was the Sect Leader, a man looking to be in his mid-30s but was actually tens of thousands of years old.

His name was Jian Song.

Yang Feng had watched him grow from a young teenager to the powerhouse that he is today.

"What's the matter?" Yang Feng sent a voice transmission to Jian Song.

"Elder Fan returned from her exploration of the secret realm and discovered an ancient relic."

Yang Feng frowned.

"Just this? I thought I told you not to disturb me over trivial matters."

Jian Song awkwardly laughed.

"We have no idea what it is, ancestor. The carvings on it are nothing like we've ever seen before. We tried to feed our qi into it, but it's like a bottomless well."

Yang Feng raised an eyebrow, intrigued.

"Bring it in."

Jian Song walked into the room, holding the relic. It appeared to be a black cube, coupled with strange markings and lines, faintly glowing white.

The markings appeared to be in another language, one that Yang Feng did not recognize.

Yang Feng was surprised. He had learned every single language under the Heavens, yet he had never seen this one.

Jian Song, noticing Yang Feng's interest in the cube, saluted and walked out of the room, leaving Yang Feng alone.

Yang Feng tried to decipher the markings, to no avail. The markings seemed to twist and turn, revealing new combinations every time.

He fed a little of his qi into the cube, for it to be absorbed completely.

"Oh?"

Even a tiny amount of his qi would normally overwhelm God-Grade spiritual weapons, yet the cube showed no reaction at all.

"Let's see how much you can handle."

The pressure in the room drastically deepened and the objects on a nearby table started rattling. A whirlwind of spiritual energy began converging around Yang Feng.

Torrential amounts of qi began to pour into the relic from Yang Feng's open palm.

The black cube showed no reaction at first, but after Yang Feng increased the pressure even more, it finally reacted.

The white markings on the cube began to squirm and merge together, forming words on the top and bottom of the cube.

These characters were in Yang Feng's native language, allowing him to read them.

The top part read:

REINCARNATION

While the bottom said:

SAVE US

One of the faces of the relic suddenly opened up and a bright light began to emanate from the inside.

Yang Feng tried to harness his qi to protect himself from the sudden attack, but found that he could not sense his qi.

Outside of his residence, dark clouds were forming and thick bolts of purple lightning flashed through the clouds. The daylight disappeared and it became pitch black.

The disciples watched on in fear and awe while the elders quickly took precautions.

"The Heavenly Dao?" Jian Song said, in quiet shock.

Back in his residence, Yang Feng realized what was happening.

The Heavenly Dao itself was restricting the flow of his qi.

"Even you cannot violate the fundamental laws set." Yang Feng said to the Heavens. "Or did you forget?"

The Heavenly Dao was not allowed to interfere with the actions and fate of its creations, otherwise it would suffer a severe backlash.

The lightning outside became more violent the harder Yang Feng struggled to move his qi.

Soon, the white light completely covered Yang Feng. The black cube dropped to the ground and slowly dissipated into nothing.

After the light slowly faded, Yang Feng was nowhere to be seen.

The dark clouds overhead dispersed and the daylight returned.

Somewhere in the Heavens, a sigh resounded.