94: Chapter 94 The Five Emperors Divide the Territory - Hidden Moves and Chess Game

Since the conclusion of the third sermon and Hongjun's departure to merge with the Dao, the three thousand Primordial experts have returned to their respective territories. Previously, Hongjun had stated clearly: anyone who spreads the Saintly Dao would be rewarded with Heavenly Dao Merit. Upon this decree, all the experts joyfully complied, throwing themselves into the work of preaching the Dao.

As expected, with the wide dissemination of the Saintly Dao, vast merits descended from the nine heavens like a torrential rain, blanketing the earth as if the world itself were blessing this great enlightenment.

However, not long after this 'Rain of Merit' ceased, the army of the Nine Nether Underworld Clan deep within the Nine Nether Continent quietly mobilized!

Above Fengdu City, the sky hung low.

Emperor Fengdu stood in the void, clad in a profound black imperial robe. His expression was solemn, and his long hair whipped in the fierce wind like a flag, while a suffocating pressure emanated from his entire being.

Outside the city, the Nine Nether army stretched endlessly, as vast as an ocean. This army was composed of the five great Nine Nether Imperial Clans: the Demonic Dragon Clan, the Nether Phoenix Clan, the Black Kirin Clan, the Demonic Elephant Clan, and the Ghost Tiger Clan.

At the head of these five clans were the Five Nether Emperors under Emperor Fengdu's command, titled: the Dragon Emperor, the Phoenix Emperor, the Black Emperor, the Demonic Emperor, and the Ghost Emperor.

The cultivation of the Five Emperors was uniform, all at the third heaven of the Hunyuan Golden Immortal realm. Furthermore, due to their pure and ancient lineages, their actual combat power approached the fifth heaven of the Hunyuan Golden Immortal! Within the same rank, a Hunyuan Golden Immortal far surpassed a Zenith Virtue Quasi-Saint; and the might of a Hunyuan Daluo Golden Immortal was enough to contend with Honghuang Saints, and even stand equal to Heavenly Dao Saints!

The overall strength of the five Imperial Clans was staggering: over ten thousand Daluo Golden Immortals, five million Taiyi Golden Immortals, and the rest were all at the Golden Immortal level. The army gathered outside Fengdu City totaled five hundred billion, with each clan contributing one hundred billion members, their momentum shaking the heavens.

Of course, this was still not the full extent of the Nine Nether, but it represented its true core combat force.

Within the order of the Nine Nether Continent, Samsara Emperor Venerable Jiang Chen was the supreme will, followed by Emperor Fengdu, then the Five Nether Emperors, and finally the five Imperial Clans.

At this moment, the wild wind howled, dark clouds churned, and streaks of cold lightning tore through the sky with constant roars, as if the end of the world was approaching.

Beneath the firmament, Emperor Fengdu's robes snapped in the wind, and his hair flew wildly.

He knelt on one knee in the void, his expression grave, his voice echoing through heaven and earth: "Your subordinate, Fengdu, respectfully requests the Emperor Venerable to open the Gate of Samsara!"

The Five Nether Emperors led the billions-strong army to kowtow in unison, their voices shaking the universe: "We respectfully request the Emperor Venerable to open the Gate of Samsara!"

Within the boundless River of Time and Space, Jiang Chen sat quietly in the center of the turbulent current, his body entwined with the majestic power of the Law of Space-Time.

His figure flickered between existence and void, difficult to discern, as if he had merged with time itself.

Suddenly, Jiang Chen, who had been meditating with closed eyes, slowly opened them. A pair of cold, deep eyes pierced through layers of time and space, reaching directly to the other shore.

BOOM—

The sky above Fengdu City suddenly shook as the world lost its color, as if an unspeakable existence was about to descend.

Then, the firmament split open, revealing a pair of unimaginably large eyes. Those eyes were as black as ink, with no pupils or whites, like two abysses that swallowed everything, spanning across the curtain of the sky.

As soon as these eyes appeared, the entire Nine Nether Continent trembled violently. All living beings instantly fell to the ground shaking, their souls fractured, fear piercing into their very marrow.

Even the always majestic Emperor Fengdu could not help but have a flash of solemnity and unease cross his face.

"Granted."

A voice as cold as ice rang out from the void.

In an instant, hundreds of Samsara passages appeared in front of the Nine Nether army, light flowing as the portals swung wide.

Then, those abyssal eyes quietly vanished, as if they had never appeared.

Emperor Fengdu slowly stood up, wiping the cold sweat from his brow, sighing inwardly: "The Emperor Venerable's might is becoming increasingly unfathomable!"

His gaze was like a blade as he scanned the Five Nether Emperors below, saying in a deep voice: "Remember, the purpose of this trip is not frontal combat, but to incite internal strife among the Primordial Myriad Clans and create chaos and turmoil. You must not clash head-on with the experts of the Primordial world!"

"We shall obey the imperial decree!" the Five Nether Emperors answered in unison, kowtowing on the ground.

"Go." Emperor Fengdu waved his sleeve. "When the time is ripe, I shall personally go to the Primordial world!"

"We will not fail the Emperor Venerable's trust; the mission shall be accomplished!"

As the words fell, the Five Nether Emperors led the five hundred billion Nine Nether troops, grandly stepping into the Samsara passages.

There were hundreds of passages leading to various parts of the Primordial world, meaning the army would disperse and infiltrate, quietly setting their plans in motion.

When the last army disappeared into the gates of light, all the Samsara passages vanished instantly, leaving no trace.

Emperor Fengdu stood alone beneath the firmament, a sharp light flashing in his eyes as he looked up at the void, murmuring softly: "Hongjun... the game between us has finally begun again. I lost to you in the past, but today—I shall win!"

At the same time, across all realms of the Primordial world—whether in the vast starry sky, the wide continents, or the boundless four seas—chilling and eerie Samsara passages quietly emerged. From within, groups of the Nine Nether Underworld Clan filed out, stepping onto this ancient land.

The Dragon Emperor appeared on the shores of the North Sea, the Phoenix Emperor descended upon the southern region of the Primordial world, the Black Emperor stood upon the eastern lands, the Demonic Emperor occupied the northern barrens, and the Ghost Emperor stepped into the endless river of stars. The Five Nether Emperors each led a contingent, commanding the Nine Nether army as they occupied the five poles.

This move was not for frontal warfare, but to secretly set a chessboard, intending to incite the Primordial Myriad Clans to kill each other. They had no intention of clashing with Primordial experts, seeking only to profit from the chaos and kill with a borrowed knife.

After all, although the Pangu Clan's strength was now unsurpassed in the world, they still appeared outnumbered compared to the entire Primordial race. The previous battle to attack the Endless Starry Sky proved this—just one star field caused them to lose troops and generals, eventually forcing them to stop the war and retreat.

"Act!" The Five Nether Emperors were separated by tens of thousands of miles, yet their minds were connected as they spoke in unison.

In an instant, the Nine Nether legions spread across the Primordial world began to move. Possessing archaic bloodlines, they only needed to hide the unique aura of the Underworld Clan within their bodies to perfectly disguise themselves as other races.

For example, the Demonic Dragon lineage could transform into the Dragon Clan, infiltrating the four seas to incite internal disputes within the Dragon Clan.

In the blink of an eye, a Great Kalpa had passed.

Back then, after the various experts returned from hearing the sermon at Zixiao Palace, they began to widely spread the Saintly Dao, which was the method of Three Corpses Enlightenment.

The emergence of this method was like a thunderclap breaking the ice, shattering the bottlenecks that had long constrained countless Daluo Golden Immortals.

Within just a hundred kalpa, dozens of Quasi-Saints emerged in the Primordial world; as the years stretched on, Quasi-Saints were born continuously.

One Great Kalpa counts as fifty thousand kalpa, and now the number of Quasi-Saints in the Primordial world had shockingly surpassed ten thousand!

Over ten thousand Quasi-Saints! How terrifying!

From this, one could see just how powerful this Saintly Dao—the Three Corpses Enlightenment method—truly was!

The current Primordial world had truly entered a legendary realm: Daluo Golden Immortals walked everywhere, and Quasi-Saints were as common as stray dogs.

It was no exaggeration to say that since the creation of heaven and earth, this was the most glorious era in the history of the Primordial world; even the Ancient and Archaic eras could not compare.

This was an unprecedented golden age!

However, strangely, while the golden age began, the flames of war also broke out among the major races.

For instance, the Dragon Clan of the four seas, who originally shared the same source and ancestor and all carried archaic dragon blood, actually came to blows to fight for the so-called 'Orthodoxy'. At first, it was just small-scale conflicts among the younger generation.