Chapter 263: Transcendence (Part 19)
Qin Wujie had no idea what Su Chen was thinking. He was still in the middle of overcoming the Nine-Layered Emperor Tribulation.
Sensing Su Chen's arrival, he tore apart the lingering imprint of a former Great Emperor and laughed loudly. "Di Chen, you've come at the perfect time! Once I finish this tribulation, I will fight you again!"
Qin Wujie was filled with confidence. He too was facing the Nine-Layered Emperor Tribulation. In a single era, two supreme experts had overcome it.
Yet as the tribulation progressed, Qin Wujie gradually realized just how difficult it truly was. Still, it was nothing he couldn't handle.
Su Chen watched Qin Wujie's somewhat bedraggled struggle and couldn't help but smile. The Chaos Body had triggered the tribulation too hastily. Even so, with the power of the Chaos Body, passing the Nine-Layered Emperor Tribulation was not particularly difficult.
Su Chen summoned the Undying Nether Blade. He ran his fingers along its edge, as if sharpening it in anticipation.
The Nine-Layered Emperor Tribulation left Qin Wujie battered and exhausted, but it failed to stop him. When he finally succeeded, a new aura rose between heaven and earth, blazing like the sun and hovering above all living beings.
At that moment, two existing Great Dao auras dimmed significantly.
Far away in the Myriad Laws Emperor Sect, the Formless Sword Great Emperor and, in the Eternal Dawn Emperor Court, the Eternal Dawn Great Emperor both fell silent.
They had suddenly lost their control over the power of heaven and earth. Only now did they truly understand what it meant to be a supreme being.
...
After successfully passing the tribulation, Qin Wujie—though somewhat disheveled—laughed heartily. "Di Chen, I am now no weaker than you! I too have overcome the Nine-Layered Emperor Tribulation!"
His laughter came to an abrupt halt.
The heavens fell silent. Above the Chaos Sea, an enormous palm appeared, covering the entire sea.
"That is…"
Qin Wujie felt a surge of overwhelming terror. The owner of that giant palm was incredibly powerful—at least an existence who had also passed the Nine-Layered Emperor Tribulation. It had clearly lurked for countless tens of thousands of years and had already reached the limit of this world.
Another terrifying aura swept past. The Chaos Sea fell into oblivion as ten thousand Daos melted away.
This time, Qin Wujie felt true dread. His soul nearly froze. He swallowed hard. From beyond the barrier of another realm, a furious voice rang out.
"It's you again! The Undying Nether Blade! Who exactly are you?"
As the enraged voice echoed from the other side, Su Chen slowly raised his head and looked toward that distant direction—the place that did not belong to this world.
"You may call me… Emperor Venerable."
Ten thousand Daos boiled like a blazing furnace, imprinting the name "Emperor Venerable" into the fabric of heaven and earth.
"Emperor Venerable, this Emperor will remember you!" the voice roared. "When the day comes that we meet, it will be the day of your death!"
With the Undying Nether Blade present, the Nether Mansion Immortal Spirit knew that even if he forced his way across realms, he could not kill this Nine-Tribulation Emperor. He still had a powerful enemy to deal with.
The aura that had crossed realms soon vanished.
Su Chen drove away the Nether Mansion Immortal Spirit and turned to Qin Wujie with an amused expression. "What were you saying earlier, Brother Qin?"
Qin Wujie looked at Su Chen, then at the Undying Nether Blade in his hand.
"You can't use that blade," he said. "I want to fight you fairly."
Su Chen smiled and nodded.
He put away the Undying Nether Blade and clenched his five fingers into a fist.
It had been a long time since he had properly stretched his muscles.
Two hundred and fifty years later.
The Myriad Laws Emperor Sect flourished. Su Chen had established the supreme Emperor Court, recruiting one supreme expert after another to join him on the path toward transcendence. He preached the Dao to all beings, bringing prosperity to the world as the power of ten thousand laws converged within him.
Su Chen opened his eyes.
A terrifying aura erupted from the Chaos Sea, shaking the heavens and earth as it surged straight toward the Emperor Court.
It was Qin Wujie. After being ruthlessly suppressed by Su Chen for two hundred and fifty years right after becoming an Emperor, he had finally emerged from the Chaos Sea.
"Is that the Chaos Great Emperor? Does he intend to seek revenge against Emperor Venerable?"
Countless experts sensed the fearsome aura and gathered at the Emperor Court. The Chaos Great Emperor sat cross-legged outside the gates but did not enter.
The crowd was puzzled.
One year passed… then two… and finally the third.
Qin Wujie finally moved. He said angrily, "Di Chen, does even a Chaos Great Emperor like me not deserve for you to come out and greet me personally?"
The crowd was stunned.
A chuckle came from within the Emperor Court. "If Brother Qin wishes to join my Emperor Court, I naturally welcome you. It's just that I've been comprehending some profound secrets recently and have been somewhat neglectful."
Qin Wujie snorted coldly.
A towering figure manifested above the Emperor Court, drawing worship from all living beings. Qin Wujie entered the Emperor Court and became the first Emperor under Emperor Venerable.
Thousands upon thousands of years passed.
The number of powerhouses in the world continued to grow, and the myriad races reached unprecedented prosperity. Su Chen fully comprehended the Death Book and elevated the Myriad Laws Emperor Scripture to the peak of the Emperor level.
"When do you plan to break into that other world?" Qin Wujie asked Su Chen.
Over the past ten thousand years, the two of them had uncovered a heaven-shocking secret: within this universe existed a strange region that seemed extremely close to another universe.
"If we do not break into that universe, the existence of beings like us will cause all living creatures in this world to remain forever stagnant, unable to advance further," Qin Wujie said. His words were harsh but true.
The Emperor Path for the myriad races had already been severed. With two Nine-Tribulation Great Emperors like Su Chen and Qin Wujie present, even supreme geniuses such as Di Chan and Chi Yao could not break through to the Emperor realm.
Having fully comprehended the Death Book, Su Chen knew that as long as he did not wish to die, he would remain the only Emperor in this universe until his soul eventually decayed.
He had not hidden the Death Book from Qin Wujie. Having studied it as well, Qin Wujie understood its terror—it was powerful enough to create an Emperor Court that could span the death of universes. Yet he still did not want the martial path of the beings in this world to be completely cut off.
Seeing Qin Wujie's impatient expression, Su Chen smiled softly. "In that case, Brother Qin, why don't we break through the barrier together today and meet the beings of that strange world?"
Qin Wujie's eyes flashed with sharp light. "I have waited for this day for a very long time. I want to see what the living beings of another world look like, and whether their talent can compare to ours."
Qin Wujie was visibly excited.
The Great Dao of the universe trembled, carrying his excitement. Countless experts appeared—even ancient powerhouses who had sealed themselves in divine sources—looking toward the Emperor Court with fervent anticipation.
"Could it be… that Emperor Venerable is about to embark on the path of transcendence?"
As Su Chen and Qin Wujie stepped out of the Emperor Court, war horns resounded throughout the universe. All the experts watched this historic moment.
With the eruption of two unparalleled auras, the barriers of the world shattered with a thunderous boom. The figures of Su Chen and Qin Wujie vanished.
"Have Emperor Venerable and the Chaos Great Emperor… already transcended?"
More and more powerhouses emerged from the Emperor Court. They gathered in that region alongside two other peerless figures, fully prepared and ready for war.
"Could it be that Emperor Venerable intends to lead the entire Emperor Court in transcendence?"
This time, the myriad experts were thrown into an uproar.
Only a handful of supreme powerhouses knew the truth.
An unprecedented great war was about to erupt.
Chapter 264: Transcendence (Part 20)
In another space.
Su Chen and Qin Wujie tore through the barrier.
"Is this the other world?" Qin Wujie asked as he looked around at the desolate wasteland.
"No, this is merely a ruin," Su Chen replied, shaking his head.
The land was bleak and lifeless, as if a cataclysmic war had wiped out all living beings, leaving only endless desolation behind. The two of them began searching for traces, trying to uncover what had happened here.
After several years of exploration, Su Chen and Qin Wujie confirmed one thing: there were no survivors. Everything had been completely eradicated.
Su Chen had a vague guess about the truth.
"During the battle for transcendence in the past, although true transcendence was not achieved, the barrier between worlds was shattered, causing this other world to gradually merge with ours. The Nether Mansion Immortal Spirit discovered it and sacrificed the entire world, devouring all its living beings to extend his own lifespan."
The reason the Nether Mansion Immortal Spirit had lived for millions of years was not only because he had consumed the beings of their original world. By chance, he had sensed the barrier pierced by the Undying Nether Emperor in the past. On the other side lay another world being slowly drawn toward theirs. The two worlds were on the verge of fusion.
Once the Nether Mansion Immortal Spirit found that world, he sacrificed every living being within it to prolong his life. All beings believed he had broken through the barrier and become the first transcendent of the new era. In reality, he had never truly transcended. He had simply stepped into another world. Any powerful Emperor who later emerged was secretly killed by him in advance. The other Emperors never had the qualifications to sense the existence of that other world, allowing him to weave a deception of transcendence that lasted millions of years.
However, neither Su Chen nor Qin Wujie could find any trace of the Nether Mansion Immortal Spirit.
Su Chen did not give up. Finally, in the first century of their search, they discovered clues.
"There's actually another space here," Su Chen said.
Sensing fluctuations from a battle between powerhouses, he and Qin Wujie joined forces and entered yet another world.
...
I am the Nether Mansion Immortal Spirit, but I have a name.
Tian Mingzi.
Compared to that name, I much prefer when all living beings call me Heavenly Nether Great Emperor.
I am the mandate of heaven itself.
I have existed since before the Mythical Era. The accumulated fortune and essence of the Nether Mansion over tens of millions of years converged upon me, destined to sweep away all enemies upon my birth and allow me to attain transcendence.
There was a small mishap when I gained sentience. A contemporary Great Emperor named Myraid Laws sought to uncover the secret of my birth, causing the Nether Mansion to be destroyed. Although I barely escaped, I suffered massive energy loss and was forced into hiding.
I secretly swore that I would one day erase every trace connected to that Myriad Laws Great Emperor.
But I was too naive.
Before I could recover my strength and emerge, the world underwent massive upheaval. Self-severed supremes bathed in Emperor blood and triggered the Dark Turmoil. Faced with the terror of that chaos, I had no choice but to fall into a deep slumber and wait for it to end.
Yet I was wrong again.
After the Dark Turmoil ended, an even more terrifying era arrived. A single crow swept across the myriad realms, ending the Dark Era and feeding on supremes. Even Great Emperors were nothing more than playthings in his palm, devoured at will.
That crow seemed to be searching for something…
Since then, Tian Mingzi fell into a long slumber. Even after a thousand years, ten thousand years, or a million years had passed without the crow appearing, he still did not emerge. He knew the crow was still alive. If he appeared, he would only become food for that crow.
He kept waiting. He waited through one ten-thousand-year cycle after another, through one hundred-thousand-year cycle after another, through one million-year cycle after another.
Finally, a shockwave that shook the universe awakened him. He discovered… that the crow had failed at transcendence and was finally dead.
Tian Mingzi decisively chose to manifest as a living being and undergo his tribulation. Although that era had produced many monstrous geniuses, he swept through them all with ease. In a single lifetime, he became an Emperor and earned the reverence of myriad races.
After overcoming the Nine-Layered Heavenly Tribulation, Tian Mingzi devoured every remaining self-severed supreme, further advancing his cultivation.
He sensed the existence of another world beyond their own. Although the Undying Nether Emperor had failed to achieve transcendence, he had pierced the barrier, causing the two worlds to gradually merge. Heavenly Nether Great Emperor decisively chose to break into that world. He succeeded and became recorded in history as the first being to transcend. Yet he had also failed. The other side was not the legendary immortal realm, but merely another universe.
Tian Mingzi encountered powerful enemies and was besieged by experts from that universe. However, as a Great Emperor who had overcome the Nine-Layered Emperor Tribulation, he could easily slaughter even their so-called Great Emperors despite his relatively short time since achieving the Dao. He killed and refined every living being in that world, only to discover a heaven-shaking secret.
The Heart of the Universe.
This was the true secret of transcendence. Throughout history, those who failed to transcend were not lacking in power, but lacked the recognition of the Universe Heart. Without it, they had no right to survive in the void beyond universes and would be killed by its rules.
To obtain the recognition of the Universe Heart, one needed one of the Nine Innate Supreme Treasures.
Tian Mingzi happened to possess one. Yet just as he prepared to return to his original universe, an accident occurred. This world had its own transcendent who had refined the Universe Heart. Upon discovering that his world had been destroyed, that being immediately began hunting Tian Mingzi.
Tian Mingzi was forced to fight this terrifying powerhouse while simultaneously eliminating promising Emperors from his original universe who might discover this world. He needed their life essence to replenish himself and had to keep the terrifying existence from entering his home universe to slaughter its beings and seize the Universe Heart.
...
"It's you!?"
Space shattered.
In a void filled with endless layered dimensions where even the river of time had been severed and sunk, two incomparably terrifying existences had been battling for millions of years.
Now, that balance had been broken by two new figures who had barged into the battlefield.
The terrifying being shrouded in dark, indistinct aura seemed to recognize the newcomers.
"Myriad Laws… just who are you to him?" he demanded. "Why do you possess the Undying Nether Blade?"
The supreme expert wrapped in dark aura was none other than Tian Mingzi. His expression was extremely ugly.
Su Chen looked at him calmly and said, "Myriad Laws Great Emperor was the founding ancestor of my lineage. As for the Undying Nether Blade, it is the inheritance of the Undying Nether Emperor."
"You come from the Myriad Laws orthodoxy! Damn it… I should have completely erased every last trace left by Myriad Laws back then!" Tian Mingzi's voice carried deep regret.
For millions of years, he had nearly forgotten about the Myriad Laws Great Emperor. If not for the familiar aura emanating from Su Chen, he might never have recalled the matter.
The orthodoxy of Myriad Laws Great Emperor had actually survived the Emperor Dao Era and produced yet another supreme expert!