The city walls were littered with the bodies of cultivators, making the area feel somewhat empty.
Blood was the most common color, and the scent of blood was the most familiar aroma.
The Saints sat in small groups, healing their wounds and chatting about their home regions across the stars.
Their conversations were mundane, mostly about household matters and trivial affairs.
Even the once-exalted Saints found these discussions quite natural.
The Great Emperors sat higher up on the city walls, constantly monitoring the encroaching darkness for any signs of movement. They also took turns venturing out to the front lines for battle.
"Has Chen Xia gone back to refining medicines again?" Flowing Water Temple Master asked. His left hand still bore fresh blood from his recent battle.
Emperor Tianhe nodded. "He's been refining medicines lately. It seems he's had some new insights. He hasn't been to the front lines for quite some time. If you miss him, you can go visit him."
"I don't miss him. It's just that without him drawing the attention of the Three-Path Great Emperor, things have gotten boring," Flowing Water Temple Master retorted.
"Then why are you asking so much?" Emperor Tianhe frowned, questioning back.
"Uh... never mind," Flowing Water Temple Master replied, shifting his gaze to the void above and changing the subject.
"There aren't many remnants of the darkness left now."
"All cultivators die eventually. There won't be many left. The biggest concern now is when the big guy hiding in there will make his move."
"You mean the Four-Dao Great Emperor?"
Yes, he's the greatest threat to the left battle line. The Executioner Emperor is busy resisting the Heavenly Way's reckoning, and if the Four-Dao Great Emperor strikes during a moment of weakness on the front lines, the line could collapse.
“Ah, forget it. I can't be bothered to think about all that. If I die, so be it,” Flowing Water Temple Master said dismissively, waving his hand before turning to head toward the logistics department, genuinely curious about what Chen Xia was up to.
What he saw truly startled him.
Chen Xia's hair was disheveled, his green robe blackened by smoke, and he was even crawling into the medicinal cauldron.
"What's going on here?" Flowing Water Temple Master asked a nearby alchemist.
"Chen Saint said he was about to succeed, and then he ended up like this, constantly crawling into the cauldron," the alchemist replied.
"Succeed in what?"
Flowing Water Temple Master was puzzled. He took a step forward, ready to ask again.
But Chen Xia had already crawled into the cauldron and even politely closed the lid.
"Uh, bro, what are you doing?" Flowing Water Temple Master was stunned, then turned to the surrounding alchemists.
"Aren't you going to stop him?"
"It's fine. Chen Saint has been doing this many times lately," the alchemists replied.
Before Flowing Water Temple Master could fully process what was happening, the entire medicinal cauldron suddenly erupted with intense lightning, covering the cauldron in a pale blue glow.
"What's going on?" Flowing Water Temple Master was once again taken aback. "Has he gone mad? Is he really trying to refine himself?!"
The alchemists, however, remained calm, quietly observing.
The lightning didn't last long. The cauldron lid was pushed open, and Chen Xia emerged, exhaling a stream of pure elixir energy. His eyes now sparkled with pale blue lightning.
As the saying goes, the eyes are the windows to the soul.
It seemed Chen Xia's soul was far from calm.
He flicked his sleeve, dispersing the remaining lightning, and then spoke in a deep voice to the alchemists.
"Prepare the cauldron. Bring out the finest ingredients."
The alchemists didn't hesitate, immediately fetching the ingredients.
Chen Xia then hurried to the city wall, where the heads of Great Emperors were displayed. He retrieved the heads of several Great Emperors he had slain, extracting the remnants of their Dao.
Flowing Water Temple Master followed closely behind Chen Xia, confused.
"What are you doing? You can't use these remnants of the Dao," he asked.
Chen Xia didn't answer. His eyes glowed more intensely with blue light, and his hands were wrapped in the remnants of several Great Emperors' Dao. He quickly returned to the logistics office.
By now, the medicinal cauldron was already heating up, and the finest ingredients had been thrown in. The flames roared.
Chen Xia opened the lid and prepared to climb in again.
"What the hell are you doing? Are you trying to boil yourself?" Flowing Water Temple Master couldn't hold back and shouted.
Chen Xia finally turned to look at him, the remnants of the Great Emperors' Dao swirling in his hands. He adjusted his sleeves and spoke in a deep voice.
"I'm refining the Imperial Elixir!"
This was the method Chen Xia had discovered to comprehend the Thunder Dao. By using the Thunder Dao to refine the Imperial Elixir, the Thunder Dao would naturally reach the level of a quasi-Great Emperor.
The Imperial Elixir itself was akin to a Great Emperor. An Imperial Elixir forged by heavenly lightning, why wouldn't it be a Thunder Great Emperor?
That was why Chen Xia had been repeatedly climbing into the cauldron in recent days, absorbing elixir energy and fusing it with the heavenly lightning within him to increase the success rate of refining the Imperial Elixir.
Now, as he entered the cauldron, he directly transformed into lightning, using his own Dao to form the Imperial Elixir.
BOOM!
The entire cauldron erupted with thunder, lightning rapidly spreading.
However, there were no clouds or lightning in the logistics office, which was unusual for the process of alchemy.
Flowing Water Temple Master frowned. Although he didn't know alchemy, he understood that it required heavenly lightning, and heavenly lightning needed clouds as a medium.
How could Chen Xia refine the elixir without any of that?
Was he just making it appear out of thin air?
As Flowing Water Temple Master pondered this, unbeknownst to him, in the Great Death Realm and the Boundary Domain, thick black clouds had enveloped both realms, with lightning constantly darting through them like countless roaring dragons.
Using the power of two realms to summon heavenly lightning and forge the Imperial Elixir!
e bizarre and supernatural had descended. The previous emperor was a thoroughgoing tyrant; no longer satisfied with human women, he had set his sights on a stunningly beautiful supernatural entity. He met his end in his bedchamber, drained of all his vital essence. As the legitimate eldest son and crown prince, Wang Hao was thus hastily enthroned, becoming the young emperor of the Great Zhou Dynasty. No sooner had he awakened the "Imperial Sign-In Intelligence System" than he was assassinated by a Son of Destiny—a classic villain's opening. The Great Zhou, ravaged by the former emperor's excesses, was in national decline. The great families within its borders harbored their own treacherous schemes, martial sects began to defy the imperial court's decrees, and border armies, their pay and provisions in arrears, grumbled incessantly against the central government. Fortunately, the central capital was still held secure by the half-million Imperial Guards and fifty thousand Imperial Forest Army who obeyed the court's orders, along with the royal family's hidden reserves of power, barely managing to suppress the realm. As the Great Zhou's finances worsened and supernatural activities grew ever more frequent, the court sat atop a volcano. Ambitious plotters everywhere dreamed of overthrowing the dynasty, and even some reclusive ancient powers emerged, attempting to sway the tides of the world. At the first grand court assembly, the civil and military officials nearly came to blows, fighting tooth and nail over the allocation of fifty million taels of silver from the summer tax revenues. The spectacle opened Wang Hao's eyes—the Great Zhou's bureaucracy was not only corrupt but also martially proficient, a cabinet of all-rounders. Some officials even had the audacity to suggest the emperor release funds from the imperial privy purse to address the emergency. Wang Hao suddenly felt weary. Let it all burn.
his freshman year, Su Bai accidentally bound the "Indulgence Tycoon System." 【Sleeping in? Reward: +$1,000】 【Spent $288 at a street barbecue stall? Cashback: +$2,880】 【Dropped $14,396 on in-game skins? Special reward unlocked: A brand-new Porsche Panamera!】 Luxury cars, penthouses, corporate shares, financial empires… College life was all about living freely and doing whatever he pleased! … When the adorably naive academic genius faced family medical bills and financial struggles, Su Bai waved his hand dismissively: "Your future is on me." "Wuwu~ Big Brother is so good to me! I’ll become a scientist to repay you!" When the genius girl got bullied by a shady professor? Su Bai casually dropped a billion-dollar investment, forcing the university to grovel and beg for her return. A company’s funding chain collapsing? Su Bai smirked—cash was the one thing he’d never run out of. Years later, when people traced the rise of the AI prodigy beauty, who was the man behind her success? Not just that—Su Bai also became the tsundere campus belle’s unattainable dream, the contrast senior’s daily necessity, and the beautiful counselor’s emotional anchor…
ts me of treason?" "Correct. The host must return to the capital and gradually build up influence." "Wait—I have half a million soldiers, and you want me to go back to the capital to 'build influence'?" "Host, you are currently the Northern Garrison General, loyal to the Great Xia Dynasty." "Of course I am loyal to Great Xia! Absolutely loyal!" "But you keep referring to yourself as 'We'..." "Never mind the details! Summon all the regional commanders and military officers! We suspect treacherous officials are manipulating the court! They shall march with Us to the capital and purge the corrupt!" "......"
to panic—he has a system. As long as an investment target dies, he can claim a reward. And since he is immortal, the one thing he has plenty of is time. ... Countless years later. “Immortal Emperor of Longevity? I invested in him.” “Supreme Celestial Venerable? I invested in him.” “Undying Empress? I invested in her.” “...” “Heh. Once they’ve all died, even the Heavenly Dao will have to kneel and call me Dad.”
