This was a world buried in wind and sand.
The sky was nothing but yellow dust, sweeping across heaven and earth.
Storms of sand rolled endlessly, like sandstorms raging across the land.
It was an age of gray desolation.
Suddenly, in this empty, lifeless world, footsteps echoed.
A man in a yellow dragon robe, holding the Son of Heaven Sword, strode forth from the distant horizon, each step shattering the firmament as he came.
“Bright Emperor,” Xu Zimo murmured.
“Just keep watching,” the lich beside him said with a smile.
The man arrived, gazing at the boundless storm of sand.
The ground trembled.
One by one, liches clawed out from beneath the earth and charged him.
The man’s eyes were calm. The Son of Heaven Sword in his hand shook the void with its intent, his black hair flowing like ink.
With a single swing, everything was annihilated.
His footsteps echoed again as he pressed forward.
At last, he stopped before a statue.
The statue cracked open, and from within crawled a massive monster.
It lifted its claws, sketching the figure of a woman in the air before smashing it apart with a single strike.
The man’s face darkened with anger.
Drawing the Emperor’s Sword, he leapt forward, his imperial might flooding heaven and earth like a world-destroying tide.
The monster fell before him.
But as its body disintegrated, it dissolved into black mist and merged into the man’s body.
The man groaned, but continued forward.
The further he went, the more monsters he encountered.
Yet imperial might surged, and the Son of Heaven Sword became the scythe of death in his hand.
One life after another was reaped.
But each slain monster turned into black qi, seeping into him.
At last, when the final monster fell, the man’s body was nearly destroyed.
“You make it sound as if liches are free from all bonds, transcendent,” Xu Zimo replied.
“I too have desires,” the lich laughed. “Only, I am not troubled by such lowly matters.”
With a wave of his hand, the void split open, revealing a path to the outside world.
“Step through, and you’ll reach the Azure Frontier. I wish you well,” the lich said.
Xu Zimo walked up to the passage, but instead of entering, he reached out, touching the void before him.
Then he suddenly turned back and asked:
“What is a lich?”
The lich froze for a moment, unable to answer.
“There are countless races in this world, humans, gods, immortals, demons… But are liches truly a race of their own?” Xu Zimo asked.
“You’d best not ask so much. It will do you no good,” the lich replied.
“I only need one answer,” Xu Zimo said firmly.
“What answer?” the lich asked.
“You should know,” Xu Zimo replied.
“I don’t. And even if I did, I would tell you nothing.”
“Then I’ll just have to use my fists to make you yield,” Xu Zimo said calmly.
“I won’t fight you,” the lich shook his head.
His form faded into the void, vanishing without a trace.
Only his voice lingered.
“If you come seeking, your fate will be the same as Bright Emperor’s. Even Grand Emperors are not undying.”
“Paimon, tell me, was my intuition right?” Xu Zimo chuckled.
“If my lord has an idea, going to see for yourself may reveal much,” Paimon replied.
“Lich... such a bitterly ironic word,” Xu Zimo muttered.
He stepped into the outside world.
The surging lich aura battered against him, but left him unharmed, as he walked through safely.
Outside, the winds rose, sweeping yellow sand across the world.
Before him stretched a road buried in sand.
On either side, white bones lay scattered.
Some sprawled across the road, others half-buried beneath the dunes.
It was clear that countless lives had perished here.
Xu Zimo paid it no heed. Slowly, he drew Shadow Tyrant from his back.
Step by step, he advanced.
With every step, a suppressive force fell from the void.
Tenfold… twentyfold… the weight grew.
He smashed upward with a punch, shattering the heavens above.
From the sky, over a dozen lich statues plummeted down.
“The Twelve Lich Kings guard this place. Turn back,” a mighty voice thundered.
“Retreat one hundred miles, and you may leave safely.”
“Enough talk. If it’s a fight you want, then come,” Xu Zimo said coolly.
Shadow Tyrant flared with blinding blade-light.
Imperial might swept across the land.
With a slash, heaven and earth trembled, and the Twelve Lich Kings were struck down.
Their eyes blazed as they raised their fingers, black nets of energy descending from the void.
The nets sealed the sky itself.
No matter how Xu Zimo moved, he could not escape their bounds.
It seemed the Twelve Lich Kings did not wish to harm him, only to confine him.
“The Aryan-Swastika God-Seal, one of the Ten Primordial God-Scriptures!” Xu Zimo invoked.
His right hand struck, and a swastika-shaped mark illuminated the heavens, ripping the black nets apart.
“Boom!”
The heavens shook with rage.
Shadow Tyrant cleaved downward, shattering the twelve statues into fragments.
They crumbled into dust.
Just as Xu Zimo prepared to move forward again, a colossal hand suddenly descended from the sky.
“Enough. You should be fulfilling your mission,” a commanding voice rang out as the hand pressed him down.