490: Chapter 490 The Heavenly Emperor (55)

The images continued.

The North Sea Heavenly Emperor walked out of the Land of Expedition alone.

Behind him lay the remains of the Hundred Emperors.

Before him were the vast lands of the Three Thousand Dao Provinces.

He was covered in blood, though most of it was not his own.

It was the blood of his comrades who had fought by his side, who had placed great hopes in him, and who had once called him "Brother Ji Fan."

He had returned.

The entire Three Thousand Dao Provinces were waiting for his return.

They were waiting for news of victory.

What they received was news of a nightmare.

The moment the news spread, the grand formations of countless orthodoxies across the Three Thousand Dao Provinces lit up with the light of mourning simultaneously.

Countless Imperial Clans and Holy Lands lost their strongest foundations on that same day.

Some Imperial Clans saw their Legacies severed entirely.

Some Holy Lands collapsed on the spot.

Countless people wailed in grief, and countless others cursed the heavens and earth.

And all that fury, all that grief, and all that hatred eventually converged upon a single person.

The North Sea Heavenly Emperor.

Ji Fan.

"He was the one who initiated the expedition!"

"He was the one who took away our fathers! Our Revered Masters! Our Ancient Ancestors!"

"He is a sinner of the ages!"

He stood in the main hall of the Central Heavenly Court, looking at the orphans and widows kneeling across the ground outside.

He wanted to explain.

He opened his mouth.

But what could he say?

That he had been manipulated?

That his sworn brother had been possessed by the Abyss Lord?

No one would believe him.

Because he had indeed killed the emperors with his own hands; the fall of the Hundred Emperors was an undeniable fact.

His hands were indeed stained with the blood of his comrades.

He closed his mouth.

From then on, he never uttered a single word in his own defense.

...

An even greater disaster followed closely behind.

With the fall of the Hundred Emperors, a massive breach appeared in the defensive lines of the Land of Expedition.

Fallen creatures contaminated by the great terror poured frantically into the Three Thousand Dao Provinces from the Land of Expedition like a bursting flood.

Three major provinces in the Southern Dao Provinces fell.

Hundreds of millions of living beings were turned into blood-food.

Even the Heavenly Emperor was powerless to turn the tide.

For he too was heavily injured, and the number of fallen creatures was simply too vast—too many for one person to withstand alone.

In the end, it was the Ancestral Court that took action.

The catastrophe was quelled.

But the hatred the Three Thousand Dao Provinces felt for the North Sea Heavenly Emperor reached its absolute Peak because of this catastrophe.

The death of the Hundred Emperors was his fault.

The invasion of the fallen creatures was also his fault.

The blood debt of billions of lives was all placed on his head.

He did not argue.

He did not explain.

He bore everything alone.

Until one day, he discovered something ten thousand times more terrifying than all the insults combined.

Something was wrong.

Something was wrong with his body.

An extremely well-hidden, eerie aura was entrenched in the deepest part of his Heavenly Emperor Dao Fruit.

The Abyss Lord.

He had thought that when he personally slew his sworn brother, the Abyss Lord possessing him had also dissipated.

He was wrong.

The Abyss Lord had not died at all.

At the final moment his brother was slain, it had transferred itself onto him.

From the moment he returned from the Land of Expedition, the Abyss Lord had already followed him back to the Three Thousand Dao Provinces.

He had been carrying it all along.

Without sensing a thing.

The North Sea Heavenly Emperor's face turned deathly pale.

Was he afraid?

No.

He had long since ceased to fear death.

What he feared was that if the Abyss Lord revived within him, the Three Thousand Dao Provinces would face another catastrophe.

And this time, the Ancestral Court might not step in again.

He made one final decision.

He left the Central Heavenly Court quietly.

Without saying goodbye.

He came to a desolate ancient battlefield and built a tomb with his own hands.

Then, he walked inside.

He sealed his life's Legacy within.

Using the last of his strength, he laid down a Heavenly Emperor-grade Restriction.

He intended to use a self-severing method to seal his Heavenly Emperor Dao Fruit, Physical Body, and Divine Soul—along with the sleeping Abyss Lord inside him—forever within this tomb.

Never to emerge for all eternity.

He succeeded.

The Abyss Lord was firmly suppressed by his Heavenly Emperor power, and as he passed away, it fell into eternal silence along with him.

Everything should have ended there.

...

The images began to blur and become intermittent.

The North Sea Heavenly Emperor's remnant Divine Thought was about to burn out.

But he desperately sent out one last piece of information.

"Two or three eras ago... someone came..."

"Came to my tomb..."

"He found my remains..."

"On him... there was an aura... very familiar..."

"I cannot distinguish it... I am already too fragmented..."

"But I am certain... on him... there seemed to remain a kind of... power that is indestructible..."

"He himself did not seem to know..."

Ye Yun's heart tightened.

Indestructible Power.

Wasn't that his own Indestructible Power... A figure instantly flashed through his mind.

The Son of the Heavenly Emperor.

The Great Ancient Ancestor had said that the Son of the Heavenly Emperor from the Central Heavenly Court had personally visited the remote Qing Province two eras ago and obtained a "key" from a Devil Emperor.

He had vanished without a trace since then.

And in Ye Yun's previous life, his final battle had been dying at the hands of the Son of the Heavenly Emperor.

Could there be something remaining on that Son of the Heavenly Emperor that even he himself didn't know about?

For example... a trace of Indestructible Power left on him after he killed Ye Yun in the previous life?

Ye Yun didn't have time to think deeply.

Because the information was still continuing.

"After that person arrived... an accident occurred..."

"The Abyss Lord... revived..."

"That Indestructible Power... became a catalyst..."

"I had already perished together with the Abyss Lord... but that power... brought it back to life..."

"The Abyss Lord... possessed that person..."

"It... followed that person... and left the tomb..."

"And my remains... were thus contaminated by the residual power of the Abyss Lord... becoming the way they are now..."

The images completely dissipated.

Ye Yun's mind went blank.

But immediately after, the remains made a move that caught everyone by surprise.

It spoke.

It was no longer transmitting information through Divine Thought.

Instead, that withered throat squeezed out an actual sound.

It was indistinct and intermittent; every word was filled with struggle.

As if fighting against that eerie power that was reclaiming control.

"Re... stric... tion..."

All the Prodigies were stunned as they looked at the terrifying remains in disbelief.

It was talking?

"This place... Restriction... has... flaw..."

The remains' voice grew weaker and weaker, and the eerie green flames in its eye sockets struggled constantly to swallow that trace of golden remnant thought again.

"Though it is... Heavenly Emperor-grade... there is one spot... with a problem..."

Golden liquid slid from the eye sockets once more; the remains seemed to be burning its last bit of consciousness.

"If there is... Great Emperor-grade power... perhaps... can break through..."

As the last word fell.

The body of the remains suddenly stiffened.

The faint golden light in its eye sockets was completely extinguished.

The eerie green flames lit up again, more intense and colder than before.

The remnant thought of the North Sea Heavenly Emperor, Ji Fan, had dissipated.

Completely dissipated.

The precious hall fell silent.

Ye Yun stood before the remains, blood dripping from his chin, but his gaze was very calm.

He remembered everything.

"Run! It's about to move!"

No one knew who reacted first, but a scream rang out.

All the surviving Prodigies snapped out of it and fled in all directions within the hall like madmen.

But no one rushed toward the hall doors.

Because the doors would not open.

The body of the remains began to move slowly.

A withered hand was raised.

This time, there were no more golden tears in the eye sockets.

Only pure, eerie green flames remained.

Cold.

Heartless.

"Great Emperor-grade power! He mentioned Great Emperor-grade power! Who has it?!"

Dong Huang's roar echoed through the hall.

His Heaven-Chasing Saint Eye operated frantically, scanning every survivor.

There was none.

Among everyone present, the highest cultivation was only at the Peak of the Heavenly Venerable realm.

True Great Emperor-grade power?

What a joke.

Despair spread rapidly.

"It's over... it's all over..."

Wuji Sword Son gripped his Imitation Imperial Weapon, his hands trembling.

Just then, a voice rang out.

It wasn't loud, but it was extremely clear.

"Major Achievement of the Saint Body."

Everyone looked toward the source of the voice.

The speaker was a blood-covered man standing directly beneath the remains, his face exceptionally pale.

Xiang Tian.

His gaze swept over the crowd, his voice calm.

"Once a Supreme Saint Body reaches Major Achievement, one can possess the combat power to challenge a Great Emperor."

"It is enough to break through the Restriction."