48: Chapter 47 On the Way

When Ye Xiu returned to Xingluo Mountain.

Seeing Xing Mu fishing leisurely, his face immediately darkened.

"Hey, you're back."

Xing Mu, however, acted as if nothing had happened and greeted Ye Xiu.

"You..."

The reprimand Ye Xiu was about to utter was forced back down. He calmed his annoyance and, after a few seconds of silence,

spoke: "How much do you know about the River of Time?"

"Why? Why must I tell you?"

Xing Mu looked impatient. Her hand gripping the fishing rod trembled slightly, as if a fish had taken the bait.

Ye Xiu's face darkened.

He had never fully trusted Xing Mu, this girl who had been revived from the ancient past.

After all, Xing Mu was powerful and possessed many secrets. If she were to instigate some kind of Imperial Court revival plan within the Great Xia,

it would be a loss that outweighed the gain.

After thinking for a moment,

he spoke again: "In eleven months, the military will hold the Yanjing Grand Competition. I will be heading to Yanjing then. If you are interested, I can take you with me."

Upon hearing this, Xing Mu immediately became interested.

"That's more like it. If you want a harvest, you must pay a price."

She giggled.

She put down the fishing rod.

She responded seriously to Ye Xiu's earlier question: "The River of Time involves too much Karma. Do you know who the person was that clashed with [Wu] in the river?"

"Who?"

Ye Xiu looked curious.

The existence capable of remaining in the River of Time must possess a combat Realm that is the absolute pinnacle a Cultivator could reach.

That powerhouse whom the Deity Obsession called [Wu].

He had his guesses.

It was highly likely to be the Taichu Martial Venerable.

After all, the mutation of the Deity Obsession was triggered by its own Bloodline rules.

The Taichu Martial Venerable also possessed the [Heaven-Breaking Martial Body].

Perhaps it was because it sensed a Bloodline of the same origin that it opened the River of Time and began a dialogue with the Deity Obsession.

Xing Mu did not know what Ye Xiu was thinking.

She organized the memories in her mind and began to speak with a tone of slight admiration.

"In the late Taichu era, three peerless Cultivators of the Human Race were born during the Dark Age. In that era, the myriad races were treated like livestock and kept in captivity across the heavens."

"Apart from some powerful clans, no living beings were spared from the catastrophe."

"In that era, there was no order."

"Certain decaying Taichu Taboos, in order to achieve immortality, divided the regions of the heavens to devour the essence and energy of living beings, maintaining their undying combat power."

"Under these circumstances, those three peerless Cultivators of the Human Race led the Human Race and launched a thousand-year Dark War."

"In the end, those decaying Taboos were suppressed."

"Later, the Human Race established the Imperial Court order, began to crusade against various powerful clans, and eventually suppressed the heavens, ushering in the Imperial Court era."

"Those three Cultivators were called the Human Emperor, the Blade Master, and the Great Heavenly Venerable by the various Heavenly Venerables."

Ye Xiu listened to Xing Mu's account and remained silent for a long time.

So that was how the Ancient Imperial Court was established. In that dark era, wanting to lead one's clansmen to overthrow the taboo powerhouses of the old era was truly terrifying.

The decaying taboo powerhouses Xing Mu spoke of.

Were they the Martial Venerables?

Ye Xiu was somewhat puzzled.

After all, the early Taichu era, the period when the Martial Venerable lived, was the early Taichu era. By the late Taichu era, would this powerful Martial Venerable have been corroded by the passage of endless time?

And turned into a decaying body?

Also.

The war that destroyed the ancient era should have been a war against the True Immortals.

Where did those True Immortals come from?

Could they be the same group of people as those decaying taboo powerhouses from the late Taichu era?

After thinking for a moment,

Ye Xiu asked: "Who was the war that destroyed the ancient era fought against?"

Xing Mu shook her head: "I don't know. My memories have not fully recovered yet. Perhaps I will remember in the future."

She looked up at the high blue sky.

A glimmer of something called longing flashed in her eyes.

Ye Xiu sighed slightly and steered the conversation back: "You talked for a long time, introducing the origins of the Ancient Imperial Court, but that's not what I want to know."

"Tch... well, let me tell you, the one who stopped [Wu] from coming down in the River of Time was the Human Emperor. I will never forget his voice in my entire life."

The Human Emperor!

Ye Xiu was stunned.

Then he looked at Xing Mu with a strange smile on his face: "You wouldn't happen to have a crush on the Human Emperor, would you?"

"Pah... get lost."

Xing Mu was furious and waved her hand, sending a golden light blasting towards Ye Xiu.

"Hehe... a mere trick."

Ye Xiu chuckled. In his pupils, a pair of cross patterns instantly took shape. In an instant, an invisible field immediately formed within three feet of his body.

The golden light was very fast.

But as soon as it touched the three-foot radius around Ye Xiu, it immediately vanished.

This scene.

Made Xing Mu let out a soft exclamation.

She looked at the silver-white cross in Ye Xiu's pupils, pouted, and gave a disdainful snort.

"You're just relying on the advantage of your Bloodline. When you want to open a Dao in the future, you will realize that the stronger the Bloodline, the more difficult it is. A mortal body is the Physique most suited to the Dao."

"Open a Dao?"

A trace of surprise flashed in Ye Xiu's eyes.

"A mortal body is too weak..."

He shook his head slightly, somewhat unconvinced.

Although a mortal body requires few resources to raise its Realm, the shackles within a Bloodline still exist. Breaking through Realms with a mortal body is also quite difficult.

And the combat power is low.

Cultivating to the point of opening a Dao is too difficult.

Xing Mu seemed to know exactly what Ye Xiu was thinking.

She spoke directly: "A mortal body is indeed very weak in the early stages, but do you know that the Human Emperor, the Blade Master, and the Great Heavenly Venerable were all mortal bodies?"

"How is that possible?"

Ye Xiu did not believe it. How could characters capable of battling in the River of Time be mortal bodies? How could they reach such heights?

"Tch... the mortal body is the root of everything. Many big shots, after cultivating to the level of opening a Dao, basically obliterate their own Bloodlines and transform back into mortal bodies."

"Obliterate the Bloodline, transform back into a mortal body..."

"Otherwise? In the Middle Stage of the Imperial Court, there was a female Heavenly Venerable who evolved a Chaos Physique from a mortal body, then obliterated the Chaos to rebuild her mortal body. Her final height was on par with the Human Emperor."

"On par with the Human Emperor?"

In Ye Xiu's eyes, there was disbelief.

A mortal body could actually reach such a height, while the Bloodline he had always taken pride in was a stumbling block preventing him from reaching the Peak.

"Hey, you don't have to be depressed. Some Divine Physiques form a Dao of their own. Martial Dao is an extremely powerful Dao, and your Heaven-Breaking Martial Body has an Innate advantage."

"How so?"

"In heaven and earth, there are thousands of Daos, but the number of Cultivators is endless. Guess, are there enough Daos to go around?"

"Cultivators of the same attribute are all fighting for one Dao?"

"Smart. True powerhouses only open up their own Daos. Mastering the Daos of heaven and earth has a limit. If a Dao Master appears for the Dao you are cultivating, then you are in trouble. Your life and death will be controlled by others."

"Damn..."

Ye Xiu was speechless for a long time.

Although what Xing Mu said was extremely far from him,

it still gave him an indescribable feeling in his heart.

Simply put, his heart felt heavy.