Chapter 325: The Great Jing Immortal Dynasty (Part 13)
A heaven-favored race would enjoy one million years of immortal dao fortune protection. Even Immortal Monarchs would not dare act against them lightly. Attacking such a race would be courting death.
Before the crowd could recover from their shock, an even more majestic disturbance erupted within the Great Jing Heavenly Dynasty. Auspicious sounds filled the heavens and earth, as if the world itself were singing in praise.
"The Lord of Supreme Wisdom of the human race has ranked first on the Ancient Monument of the Path to Heaven. The human race is granted one million years of immortal dao fortune protection."
The entire human race across the Heavenly Gang Immortal Domain, including those in the Great Jing Heavenly Dynasty, was enveloped by an unparalleled wave of fortune. Powerhouses emerged in great numbers, geniuses appeared endlessly, and every person rose like a dragon.
Scattered human experts throughout the Heavenly Gang Immortal Domain lifted their heads in disbelief. Their race actually had such a figure?
In a remote corner of human territory, an old man holding a banner staff and playing chess suddenly raised his head. He was the very same mysterious elder who had once given Su Chen the Human Emperor Art.
He burst into wild laughter, tears streaming down his face.
"Hahaha… This old man has finally waited long enough… This ray of hope has finally arrived!"
"Our human race will have an immortal! Our human race will definitely produce an immortal! Burial True Immortal Monarch, you cannot trap our human race, nor can you trap me, Strategic Chess!"
One million years of immortal dao protection for the human race meant that even True Immortals could not act against them during this period. He had waited for this day through countless reincarnations and epochs.
Seeing the old man laugh until he seemed to lose his mind, the middle-aged man opposite him asked in confusion, "Senior, are we not finishing this game?"
The old man slapped the chessboard. "Finish? Finish what? This old man is done with chess!"
"One million years! In these one million years, this old man is going to become an immortal—the first immortal of the human race!"
The chessboard vanished along with the old man, leaving the middle-aged man standing there in stunned silence.
Become an immortal? What immortal? Had the old man's mind finally broken? Hadn't the human race always been nothing more than food?
The middle-aged man sighed inwardly.
...
Inside the Great Jing Heavenly Dynasty, Heavenly Martial Emperor was stunned.
What was going on? First place on the Ancient Monument of the Path to Heaven? He knew exactly what that meant. When had such a figure appeared among the human race? He was certain that only Nan Hongsang from their race had made it onto the current Heavenly Gang Pride List. Who exactly was this Lord of Supreme Wisdom?
Heavenly Martial Emperor was deeply puzzled, yet filled with shock. Scenes from the Path to Heaven flashed through his mind. Even at his peak, having mastered countless arts and survived ten Emperor tribulations, he had still been insignificant before those races with immortal bloodlines. The gap in bloodline had once filled him with despair.
Now, it seemed he had won without lifting a finger.
"The Lord of Supreme Wisdom… perhaps our human race still has hope for the future."
A rare smile appeared on Heavenly Martial Emperor's face.
....
Inside the Great Wisdom Heaven, scenes flashed through Su Chen's mind. His clash with the Great Freedom Heavenly Demon Lord had brought him new insights.
He had won that final battle, but Su Chen knew their confrontation would not end there. They would meet again. This was a contest of the Dao. An epoch did not offer many chances at immortality.
With the closing of the Ancient Monument of the Path to Heaven, the human race receiving immortal dao fortune protection was a good thing for Su Chen.
Over the years, the Great Wisdom Divine Cult had begun to rise in prominence within the Great Jing Heavenly Dynasty. Yang Buwei had become its first Great Emperor-level powerhouse, and more and more people were joining.
The appearance of the Ancient Monument might expose Su Chen to the world earlier than planned, but he did not mind. He now had enough foundation within the Great Jing Heavenly Dynasty.
...
Nan Hongsang returned to the Great Jing Heavenly Dynasty.
The entire dynasty erupted in celebration, leaving her utterly confused.
"I… ranked 100th on the Ancient Monument of the Path to Heaven?" Nan Hongsang blinked.
She had no idea what was going on. All she remembered was being chased by a mechanical lifeform genius, suffering severe injuries, and falling unconscious. Everything after that was a blank. When she woke up, she had somehow become ranked 100th on the Ancient Monument.
A terrifying thought suddenly crossed her mind. "Could it be… something catastrophic happened on the Path to Heaven, and only a hundred prodigies survived in the end?"
She had no way of knowing that her guess was correct. The clash between Su Chen and the Great Freedom Heavenly Demon Lord had nearly destroyed the entire Path to Heaven. Including Nan Hongsang, exactly one hundred survivors remained.
"The Lord of Supreme Wisdom?"
Nan Hongsang had also heard the legends of this figure who had claimed first place on the Ancient Monument—the greatest genius of the human race. She herself had taken second.
Deep down, she instinctively felt that her survival on the Path to Heaven was connected to this Lord of Supreme Wisdom.
Back in the Great Jing Heavenly Dynasty, Su Chen welcomed her with a table full of Worry-Free Pastries. Nan Hongsang's eyes narrowed with delight.
That day, she told him many interesting stories from her journey. Su Chen listened quietly as she recounted her adventures. Even after thousands of years, the two of them still felt the same as they had at sixteen.
Leaning against the railing, they watched the great river flow eastward. Nan Hongsang felt at peace.
"Little Chenzi, shall I ask His Majesty to grant us marriage tomorrow?" she asked, her bright, heroic eyes fixed on him.
Su Chen smiled. "Alright."
After thousands of years of waiting, he finally had an answer.
Nan Hongsang was overjoyed.
...
The next day, a piece of news shook the capital.
The Great Jing Heavenly Dynasty's number one genius, Nan Hongsang, was to marry the Ninety-Ninth Prince.
Heavenly Martial Emperor made a promise, and Nan Hongsang used it without hesitation.
"Who is the Ninety-Ninth Prince?"
"I've never heard of him."
"Damn it… Why him? That useless Ninth-Ninth Brother doesn't deserve the attention of Goddess Nan!"
"No… we absolutely cannot let Ninth-Ninth Brother gain the support of the Nan Clan!"
"..."
The news of Nan Hongsang's upcoming marriage to Su Chen caused countless noble scions to wail in despair. Before they could make a move, the beauty already belonged to someone else.
In an instant, the ordinary name Chen Chen, the Ninety-Ninth Prince, was thrust into the sight of everyone in the Great Jing Heavenly Dynasty.
Chapter 326: The Great Jing Immortal Dynasty (Part 14)
The news that the number one genius had fallen for an obscure prince shook the entire Great Jing Heavenly Dynasty. Countless people felt intense envy and resentment toward Su Chen.
Yet this marriage had been personally approved by the Heavenly Martial Emperor. No one dared cause any trouble.
Nan Hongsang did not settle down to support her husband or raise children. She returned to the borderlands to continue tempering herself through battle. For her, only the life-and-death struggles on the battlefield could push her cultivation further.
Before she left, Su Chen placed another strand of divine sense in her mind to guard against any unexpected dangers.
The Wisdom Divine Cult began to rise within the Great Jing Heavenly Dynasty. Su Chen had originally expected to be treated as the leader of an evil cult. However, his achievement on the Path to Heaven had caused his name to resound throughout the human race. Humans from other regions even began to worship him of their own accord.
The power of faith gathered within the Great Wisdom Heaven. Through it, Su Chen could clearly see that the situation of the human race in the Heavenly Gang Immortal Domain was far from ideal.
There were three thousand immortal lands in the Heavenly Gang Immortal Domain, and none of them belonged to the human race. The entire human race did not possess even a single supreme power. The Great Jing Heavenly Dynasty might once have qualified, but its founding ancestor had failed to achieve immortality and perished during a Great Annihilation Tribulation. After that, the human race had declined.
Countless years had passed, and the human race had fallen to the bottom rung of the Heavenly Gang Immortal Domain. Only under Heavenly Martial Emperor's leadership had the Great Jing Heavenly Dynasty's situation begun to improve. With his strength alone, he had suppressed the surrounding forces so thoroughly that they could not raise their heads.
But the Heavenly Gang Immortal Domain was simply too vast. The Great Jing Heavenly Dynasty remained nothing more than a negligible corner of it.
Su Chen's expression remained calm. Whether the human race fared well or poorly had little to do with him. He had lived as a human, as a demon, and even as an innate being.
Suddenly, a palpitation stirred within him. It came from the depths of his soul. The boundless world built from accumulated knowledge began to crack inch by inch.
A terrifying scene emerged in Su Chen's mind.
...
Chaos churned as entire worlds shattered into fragments and turned into ruins.
A white-haired old man held a banner staff. The seemingly ordinary staff now radiated boundless divine brilliance. Yet in the eyes of other beings, that brilliance was no different from overwhelming demonic qi.
"Hahaha… This old man has finally waited until this day! Protected by fortune, blessed by the immortal dao! Wing God Clan, Artifact God Clan, Flame Dragon Demon God… When you destroyed my homeland and slaughtered my kin back then, did you ever imagine this day would come?"
If Su Chen had been present, he would have immediately recognized the old man holding the banner staff as the very same mysterious elder who had once bestowed the Human Emperor Art upon him.
Strategic Chess Emperor Lord.
A supreme existence who had once dominated the human race. His name had long been buried in ancient history, even his title erased.
He had been born in the darkest era of the human race, even earlier than the founding ancestor of the Great Jing Heavenly Dynasty. In that age, which was darker than the present, humans had been reduced to livestock. They were not even qualified to be food—they were used to raise food, treated as nothing more than consumables.
Strategic Chess Emperor Lord would never forget the day when his hometown and all his loved ones had died in a grand slaughter banquet. Some beasts had even turned the hunting of his clansmen into a competition for sport.
He had carried the hopes of his entire race, pressing forward solely for revenge. Yet revenge was easier said than done. Behind his enemies stood an Immortal Monarch.
What was an Immortal Monarch? A True Immortal who had transcended the restrictions of the heavens and earth, existing outside the five elements. Wherever their true name was spoken, their will would respond. As long as their immortal position and imprint remained, the True Immortal would never perish. They were the sovereigns of the myriad heavens—Immortal Monarchs.
He had tried countless methods to exact revenge, only to fail every time. He had sought to achieve immortality, yet he knew he could never succeed. That Immortal Monarch was simply waiting for him. The moment he became an immortal, he would become the finest sustenance.
His entire life had been a tragedy—a manipulated chess piece, food carefully cultivated by an Immortal Monarch. His path had been controlled like that of a puppet on strings.
Through endless years, he had gone mad. He tried every possible method but could never escape the calculations of a True Immortal. Even the supreme geniuses he had painstakingly nurtured had all become food for that Immortal Monarch.
He would never forget the mocking gaze of that Immortal Monarch as it swallowed his most outstanding disciple—the founding ancestor of the Great Jing Heavenly Dynasty. It was as if the being were laughing at his futile struggle against fate.
The Strategic Chess Emperor Lord had never given up. Since that Immortal Monarch had mocked him for defying fate, he was determined to fight against it to the very end.
Through endless years, he had waited for a single ray of hope. Now, that opportunity had finally arrived.
One million years of immortal dao protection might be nothing more than a tiny ripple in the long river of Heavenly Gang Immortal Domain history, but for Strategic Chess Emperor Lord, it was his final hope—the hope of elevating the human race to stand among the three thousand immortal clans, the hope of freeing his people from oppression, and the hope of avenging his slaughtered kin.
The rage he had suppressed for countless years finally erupted at this moment. He charged straight toward the races that had once oppressed the human race, slaughtering them until countless clans trembled in terror.
His white hair fluttered wildly as the divine banner in his hand radiated increasingly brilliant divine light.
An invincible existence roared in fury, "Strategic Chess Emperor Lord, you slaughter clans without restraint. Are you not afraid of provoking an Immortal Monarch who will execute you?"
Without hesitation, the Strategic Chess Emperor Lord swept his banner staff. Accompanied by a miserable scream, he effortlessly slew the founding ancestor of an ancient race and turned him into nourishment.
He laughed madly. "A True Immortal dares to kill me? A True Immortal dares to stop me? True Immortals do not dare! Those lofty Immortal Monarchs do not dare!"
With no Immortal Monarch willing to act, he was truly invincible!
"You've gone mad! Even if the immortal dao fortune protects you for a million years, what then? After a million years, without a True Immortal to guard it, the human race will surely face extermination!"
A heaven-shaking figure bellowed as scorching lava flooded the void and countless worlds were destroyed.
It was the Flame Dragon Demon God, a being who had survived multiple Great Annihilation Tribulations. Without question, he stood at the absolute peak beneath True Immortals. Yet now he was pinned in the boundless void like a dead dog by three terrifying auras from different times and spaces, completely at the mercy of his foe.
He had never imagined that such a powerhouse could exist among the human race.
Faced with the Flame Dragon Demon God's accusation, the Strategic Chess Emperor Lord laughed wildly. "Simple. I will simply become an immortal myself."
He seemed both god and demon as he stirred the long river of time. Two different figures slowly emerged. Under the Flame Dragon Demon God's horrified gaze, Strategic Chess Emperor Lord drew upon his terrifying accumulations to vie for the position of True Immortal.
He deliberately spared the Flame Dragon Demon God's life so that the creature could witness how he would break his fate and become the first True Immortal of the human race.
Strategic Chess Emperor Lord charged toward the legendary immortal realm.
An unparalleled aura began to rise across the entire Heavenly Gang Immortal Domain. It was unprecedentedly powerful.
"Could it be… someone is attempting to break through to True Immortal?"
The aura was so immense that many instinctively associated it with a True Immortal.
"Trying to become a True Immortal… how laughable…"
In certain unknowable lands, sleeping existences sneered. Achieving True Immortal was never so simple.
There was no denying that the Strategic Chess Emperor Lord was powerful—far beyond the concept of Emperor Lord. Yet in the Flame Dragon Demon God's eyes, there was only pity as he watched him.
At that moment, the entire world turned into a burial ground.
Immortal hymns rose from every corner of existence. Vaguely, a figure like a black sun appeared, shrouding the boundless space.
"Burial… Burial True Immortal Monarch…"
The Flame Dragon Demon God struggled desperately before prostrating himself on the ground. Even as three immortal artifacts tore apart his body and soul, he broke free without hesitation and kowtowed with utmost reverence.
An Immortal Monarch had descended!
No one could clearly see the Immortal Monarch's true appearance. It was as if they existed on a different dimension entirely. The Great Dao of the boundless space twisted and distorted in the presence of this being.
Strategic Chess Emperor Lord stared at the figure shrouded in endless darkness. Even though he could not see it clearly and it did not register in his mind, he knew exactly who it was.
Burial True Immortal Monarch.
The existence that had treated him as a mere chess piece, toying with his fate.
Now, he had finally seized a ray of hope. With the protection of immortal dao fortune, not even a True Immortal could touch him!
The fear in his heart began to fade.
Yet, the Strategic Chess Emperor Lord did not lower his guard. The moment Burial True Immortal Monarch appeared, fortune gathered from every corner of the human race and concentrated entirely upon him.
Layer after layer of protective light rings formed around Strategic Chess Emperor Lord—the immortal dao shelter. Anyone who attacked a being protected by it would suffer terrifying karmic consequences that even True Immortal-level beings dared not lightly provoke.
Humans across various lands sensed it clearly. The immortal dao fortune protection had vanished, gathering upon a single person.
Their race had actually been hiding such a powerful existence all along. If the human race could produce even one True Immortal, they would rise as a supreme immortal clan!The
Strategic Chess Emperor Lord had lived through countless ages. He had done countless things and laid down innumerable contingency plans, all for the sake of this one chance.
He had already grown powerful enough to surpass all Emperor Lord-level beings and possessed the qualifications to become an immortal. Now, he also carried the full immortal dao fortune protection of the entire human race.
Without hesitation, the Strategic Chess Emperor Lord charged toward the legendary immortal realm.