431: The Secret Behind (Part 2)

Xiao Shi's pupils suddenly contracted.

While feeling shocked, he also felt a sense of sudden enlightenment.

He felt that this matter was both unexpected and yet within reason.

In that era, the only one with the ability and courage to kill this Crown Prince must have been the Martial Emperor!

Besides him, there was no second person who could have done it!

It was just that Xiao Shi couldn't understand why the Martial Emperor would do such a thing.

As the saying goes, even a tiger wouldn't eat its cubs. Even if this Crown Prince had done something outrageous, the Martial Emperor wouldn't need to kill him.

Moreover, even if this Crown Prince had committed an unforgivable great sin, the Martial Emperor could have chosen to execute him in front of the entire world, rather than secretly and obscurely killing him.

With the Martial Emperor's strength and status on the Tianwu Continent at that time, he could kill whomever he wanted, and no one would dare to say anything.

However, the Martial Emperor chose to kill him in a covert manner, while also feigning outrage.

This was very strange.

Xiao Shi thought about it carefully, and he felt there might be two reasons.

One was the consideration of the Great Wu Dynasty's destiny.

If the Martial Emperor openly committed patricide, it would inevitably impact his reputation, making people think he was a tyrant, and thus affect the Great Wu Dynasty's destiny.

Given the Martial Emperor's emphasis on the Great Wu Dynasty's destiny at that time, he would certainly avoid anything that would affect it.

Therefore, he could only kill him covertly.

The second reason was that this Crown Prince was involved in the Martial Emperor's subsequent plan to deal with the calamity.

So the Martial Emperor had to kill him!

There could be many possibilities here.

Yan Huagu continued, "When I learned that the person who killed my elder brother was actually the Martial Emperor, I found it utterly absurd and completely nonsensical!"

"This Tianji Hall was clearly using the guise of prying into heavenly secrets to swindle people."

"In a fit of rage, I originally wanted to destroy this Tianji Hall directly, but the Hall Master of Tianji Hall told me the reason why the Martial Emperor wanted to kill my elder brother."

Yan Huagu's voice suddenly became low and somber.

"In fact, ever since the Martial Emperor broke through to the Martial Dao Ninth Realm, he already understood that he could not possibly overcome the calamity."

"No matter what method he used, he was destined to perish under the calamity."

"In this certain-death situation, unless he sealed himself like other Martial Dao Ninth Realm experts from other eras, he would surely die."

"To this, the Martial Emperor thought of an unprecedented way to cope."

"Since he couldn't overcome the calamity in this life, he might as well let his next life complete it. He wanted to create a clone for himself in his next life!"

"And so, my elder brother became his first choice!"

Yan Huagu's words immediately stirred up a storm in Xiao Shi's mind.

"Does Senior mean... the Martial Emperor wanted to possess the Great Wu Crown Prince?"

Yan Huagu shook his head.

"To be precise, this is a more advanced ability than possession."

"If it were ordinary possession, then even if the possession was successfully completed, he would still face the calamity, because fundamentally, nothing would have changed."

"Rather than calling it possession, it's more appropriate to call it rebirth!"

"Although it still cannot avoid the calamity, at least the calamity will not appear until he reaches the Martial Dao Ninth Realm, giving the Martial Emperor more time to ponder ways to deal with the calamity."

Xiao Shi suddenly understood.

If it were ordinary possession, then even if the Martial Emperor possessed the Great Wu Crown Prince and his cultivation fell from the Martial Dao Ninth Realm to the Dao Lord Realm, he would still face the calamity at the same time, with no change whatsoever.

But rebirth was different.

After rebirth, he would be like a new being.

Unless the reborn body cultivated to the Martial Dao Ninth Realm again, the calamity would not arrive.

There was even an additional benefit.

That was, when the Martial Emperor's body in this life experienced the calamity, by the time he faced the calamity again in his next life, he would have experience in dealing with it!

Under normal circumstances, these supreme experts of the Martial Dao Ninth Realm would only have one chance to experience the calamity.

Either succeed or die.

But with this method of rebirth, the Martial Emperor could gain one more experience of the calamity than ordinary people!

This experience was extremely important!

As long as he knew the problems that led to his failure in the previous life, he could address those problems, thereby greatly increasing his chances of overcoming the calamity in his next life.

"If that's the case, then why didn't the Martial Emperor choose someone with a lower cultivation, but instead chose the Great Wu Crown Prince?"

Xiao Shi was puzzled by this.

Logically speaking, wouldn't choosing an Entering Martial Realm martial artist for rebirth give him even more ample time?

Yan Huagu shook his head.

"This kind of rebirth has great limitations; the Martial Emperor couldn't just choose anyone he wanted."

"Only those with the Martial Emperor Bloodline could become his rebirth target."

"Therefore... he first chose my elder brother!"

"However, due to the extreme complexity of this rebirth technique, the Martial Emperor had only just developed it, and thus he failed, which led to my elder brother's death."

"This is also an important reason why we were previously unable to ascertain the cause of my elder brother's death."

"After learning the truth, I also understood why my elder brother's death brought me such a strong sense of crisis."

"The Martial Emperor failed with my elder brother... then his next target would inevitably be me!"

"To the Martial Emperor, nothing was more important than him becoming a Martial God. Family affection, to him, was merely an expendable thing."

"If he could become a Martial God through us, his children, he wouldn't hesitate for a moment."

"So I'm certain that after the Martial Emperor failed with my elder brother, his next step would be to attempt rebirth on me!"

"Fortunately, through the Hall Master of Tianji Hall, I foresaw the Martial Emperor's intentions. And the Martial Emperor's failure this time clearly required a lot of time for him to refine his rebirth technique, which gave me some time to deal with this crisis!"

Upon hearing this, Xiao Shi felt a great deal of emotion.

The Martial Emperor was even more ruthless than he had imagined!

No wonder Yan Huagu had never referred to the other party as 'father' from the beginning, but rather as 'Martial Emperor'.

Presumably, from the moment Yan Huagu learned of the Martial Emperor's intentions, he had already disowned this father.

At the same time, Xiao Shi also understood why the Martial Emperor hated Tianji Hall so much... it must have been because the Hall Master of Tianji Hall had seen through the Martial Emperor's intentions this time, ruining his grand plan.

That's why the Martial Emperor later established the Fate Diviners, intending to eradicate Tianji Hall.

After all, from the outcome, the Martial Emperor clearly did not succeed in rebirthing into Yan Huagu.

"When I learned of the Martial Emperor's intentions, I began to ponder methods of self-preservation."

"I first secretly left the Great Wu Dynasty and went into hiding."

"With the Martial Emperor unable to find me, he could only choose my third brother as his target."

"However, the complexity and difficulty of this rebirth technique far exceeded the Martial Emperor's expectations."

"He failed again with my third brother!"

"Although it didn't lead to my third brother's death, it caused irreversible severe damage to his soul, which led to a drastic change in his personality, and he would never be able to cultivate again in his life."

Xiao Shi was startled by this.

Indeed, it was as he had guessed.

The Great Wu Crown Prince's mind was indeed problematic.

No wonder he had so many strange behaviors.

What he hadn't expected, though, was that the person who crippled the Great Wu Crown Prince would be the Martial Emperor!

It wasn't just the Great Wu Crown Prince.

These three Crown Princes—one dead, one crippled, one missing—could all be attributed to the Martial Emperor!

At the same time, this also made Xiao Shi understand why the Great Wu Crown Prince had always disliked the Four Symbols Divine Martial Sect.

Because the Four Symbols Divine Martial Sect was founded by Yan Huagu.

The Great Wu Crown Prince not only resented the Martial Emperor but also Yan Huagu.

He resented Yan Huagu's escape back then, which made him the Martial Emperor's target and led to him being crippled by the Martial Emperor.

He felt that the person who should have been crippled was Yan Huagu.

He blamed all of this on Yan Huagu.

Naturally, he greatly disliked the Four Symbols Divine Martial Sect founded by Yan Huagu.

However, after he inherited the Great Wu Dynasty, he had no choice but to rely on the Four Symbols Divine Martial Sect.

After all, at that time, only the Four Symbols Divine Martial Sect could allow the Great Wu Dynasty to continue to endure.

Therefore, he could only continuously suppress the Four Symbols Divine Martial Sect in internal power struggles.

The root cause was that his soul had been damaged by the Martial Emperor, leading to a severe distortion of his entire personality.

"I knew about my third brother's resentment towards me, but at that time, I had no other choice. In that situation, I could only protect myself, after all, I was facing the Martial Emperor of the Martial Dao Ninth Realm. Any slight action that aroused his suspicion would inevitably lead to my immediate imprisonment."

"Therefore, I dared not tell anyone what I knew, and continued to pretend to investigate my elder brother's cause of death, so as to find an opportunity to secretly escape."

"And after the Martial Emperor failed in rebirthing into my third brother, he also realized that even if he succeeded in rebirthing into my third brother next time, he wouldn't be able to cultivate at all. Therefore... I became the Martial Emperor's only candidate for rebirth!"

"Although I was already in hiding at this time, I knew that with the Martial Emperor's capabilities, it wouldn't be long before he would surely find me!"

"To escape the fate of being reborn by the Martial Emperor, there was only one path before me... to become a Divine Emissary!!"

Yan Huagu said in a deep voice.

"Divine Emissary?" Xiao Shi was startled. This was the first time he had heard this term.

Yan Huagu then explained earnestly, "A so-called Divine Emissary is one who becomes an envoy for those higher gods."

"Legend has it that beyond the Tianwu Continent, there exist other worlds, but unlike the Tianwu Continent, these worlds have already given birth to gods!"

"Only the Tianwu Continent has yet to give birth to a Martial God."

"And it is unknown from what era, the gods from beyond the Tianwu Continent cast a wisp of their divine consciousness onto the Tianwu Continent."

"They call themselves higher gods, specializing in recruiting martial artists with aptitude and talent from the Tianwu Continent. As long as one agrees to become their Divine Emissary, they will do their utmost to help their Divine Emissary become a Martial God!"

"A long time ago, a higher god found me and wanted me to become his Divine Emissary."

"The reason I was able to found the Four Symbols Divine Martial Sect was with the assistance of this higher god, which allowed me to suppress an era with the cultivation of a Demigod, and thus establish the Four Symbols Divine Martial Sect based on four different eras!"

Yan Huagu's words once again stirred up a tremendous shock in Xiao Shi's mind.

He had already sensed before that there was some mysterious power on the other party that he didn't know about.

After all, a normal Demigod could not suppress and seal an era!

This had far exceeded the limits of a Demigod's ability and was extremely unreasonable.

Now Xiao Shi finally understood.

All of this originated from the higher gods beyond the Tianwu Continent!

"When the higher god assisted me in founding the Four Symbols Divine Martial Sect, I did not agree to become his Divine Emissary. At that time, he was more focused on demonstrating his power to me, so that I would know that he had the ability to assist me in becoming a Martial God."

"But I knew... there's no such thing as a free lunch."

"Not just me, the Martial Emperor also had contact with a higher god. After all, with the Martial Emperor's aptitude and talent, he was the most promising candidate to become a Martial God."

"However, the higher god who wanted to assist the Martial Emperor and the higher god who wanted to assist me were not the same."

"And the Martial Emperor once told me... if a higher god came to find me, I must be wary of these higher gods. These higher gods specifically came to our Tianwu Continent wanting to assist us in giving birth to a Martial God, they must have ulterior motives."

"Therefore, neither I nor the Martial Emperor agreed to become their Divine Emissaries."

"But in that situation at the time, I had no other better choice."

"Even though I knew it was like playing with fire, I could only choose to become a Divine Emissary to have the capital to contend with the Martial Emperor."

"But I still underestimated the gap between a Demigod and the Martial Dao Ninth Realm..."

Yan Huagu sighed.

"Although my strength greatly increased after I became a Divine Emissary, when I faced the Martial Emperor again, I was still no match for him."

"In that battle, not only did he gouge out my heart, but my soul also suffered immense damage."

"Fortunately, with the help of the higher god's power, I successfully escaped from his hands and didn't fall into his grasp."

"However, because I lost my heart, my injuries could not heal and would only continuously worsen. At the same time, I knew that as long as I was alive, the Martial Emperor would surely be able to track me through our bloodline."

"Therefore, I specifically chose to seal my physical body in this coffin within the Altar, while my soul was sealed in another coffin, and I placed the coffin containing my soul into the Azure Calamity Ancient Tree."

"This way, even if the Martial Emperor tracked me through our bloodline, he would no longer be able to find me."

"If, in the future, a member of the Four Symbols Divine Martial Sect could access the coffin sealing my soul, perhaps I would have a day to see the light again."

As Yan Huagu explained, Xiao Shi finally understood everything.

He never thought that all of this originated from the Martial Emperor!

It stemmed from the Martial Emperor's pursuit and yearning to become a Martial God.

To achieve Martial Godhood, he was already willing to pay any price!

However, Xiao Shi still hadn't forgotten his initial question.

What he originally wanted to know was about the Demigod who had not yet appeared on the Tianwu Continent today.

Now, after understanding all of this, Xiao Shi's pupils suddenly contracted.

He instantly guessed who the unseen Demigod was.

"Could it be..."