"Kill him!! Kill him for this Emperor!"
A furious roar, like the wrath of a deity, shook the heavens and earth, causing the winds and clouds to shift and the mountains to tremble.
The very fabric of this realm quivered under the rage of the Thirteenth Ancestor.
Now, the Thirteenth Ancestor was beyond furious. An Emperor must never be disrespected lightly, for every Quasi-Emperor stood at the pinnacle of their era, towering above all others.
He no longer cared whether Gu Qingfeng’s death would affect the Great Struggle of the Epoch. After all, his earlier considerations had merely been speculation.
Gu Qingfeng’s death might make it harder for the Outer Demons to find their way, but it wasn’t certain. Once the Great Struggle of the Epoch had begun, it was unlikely to end prematurely.
Originally, saving Gu Qingfeng had been nothing more than a casual act, a precautionary measure.
But since the man had the audacity to defy him, if he didn’t act now, where would the dignity of a Quasi-Emperor stand?
The assembled Supreme Beings shuddered under the Thirteenth Ancestor’s fury, even though it wasn’t directed at them.
They looked at Gu Qingfeng with complex expressions. Not just anyone dared provoke a Quasi-Emperor.
Yet Gu Qingfeng remained utterly unbothered, his gaze disdainful, his tone dripping with arrogance as he sneered, "Truly worthy of a cowardly turtle, hiding in your shell even after being insulted to your face. With such a spineless mentality, what difference does it make if the Great Struggle of the Epoch arrives?
In the previous era, countless Quasi-Emperors fought to the death without regret. But you? You retreated, clinging to life, eagerly awaiting the next era, even secretly laughing at those Quasi-Emperors as fools—thinking they were idiots for throwing their lives away when the odds were impossible, instead of preserving themselves wisely.
But what you didn’t realize is that those Quasi-Emperors couldn’t even be bothered to spare you a glance. To them, death wasn’t terrifying. What was truly terrifying was losing their indomitable spirit. The Path of the Emperor is a road for the solitary and the brave. Only by casting aside fear, advancing without retreat, could they stand against the geniuses of all races.
Because they knew—to retreat was to die. To take even a single step back was to kill their own invincible will.
But you retreated. So you died. You died long ago on the Path of the Emperor in the last era. What remains now is nothing but a husk, barely clinging to existence.
You retreated in the last era, and now, even when someone curses you to your face, you retreat again.
A worthless coward like you, what does it matter if you possess the cultivation of a Quasi-Emperor?
Living another era just means repeating the same failure all over again."
The Supreme Beings stood petrified, staring dumbfounded at Gu Qingfeng as he hurled insults at a Quasi-Emperor. His words struck them like divine thunder, shaking their very souls.
Each syllable was like a needle, piercing deep into the Thirteenth Ancestor’s heart. Within the crystalline seal, the Ancestor’s eyes turned bloodshot, veins bulging like crimson webs.
"This Emperor did not retreat! This Emperor was merely unlucky!!!"
His furious roar shook the nine heavens and ten earths, as if refuting Gu Qingfeng’s words—or perhaps trying to convince himself.
"Keh keh keh..." Gu Qingfeng threw his head back in laughter, his eyes brimming with scorn. "What you call luck is nothing but the humble words of the strong and the excuse of the weak. A loser should know their place. Crawl back into your coffin and live like the maggot you are. Spare the world your disgrace."
His laughter grew even more derisive, his gaze sweeping across the heavens as if the entire world lay trampled beneath his feet.
The Supreme Beings watched his demonic silhouette, their hearts quaking. The image of that black-robed, black-haired, black-eyed figure burned itself into their minds forever.
BOOM!
A blinding divine light erupted from the depths of the Heavenly Court, piercing the sky as if tearing a hole through the firmament.
RUMBLE—
The earth quaked violently, as if struck by a cataclysmic tremor.
Countless cracks spiderwebbed through the void.
A terrifying Emperor’s might erupted like a volcanic explosion, sweeping across the nine heavens and ten earths.
The Thirteenth Ancestor had finally been forced out.
At this moment, not just the Supreme Beings, but the entire Cangming Realm—across its ten thousand domains—felt the overwhelming pressure of this Emperor’s aura. Countless beings, countless experts, were roused from their slumber, their gazes turning toward the Heavenly Court.
"Has the Path of the Emperor opened? Why has a Quasi-Emperor emerged so soon?"
"No, the Path remains closed. This Emperor’s aura is filled with boundless fury. It seems this Quasi-Emperor has awakened prematurely for some reason."
"Prematurely?! With the Path of the Emperor so close, awakening now means throwing away hundreds of thousands of years of waiting! How could someone with such weak resolve even reach Quasi-Emperor?"
"This Emperor is more curious—who could possibly provoke a Quasi-Emperor into awakening at such a cost?"
Whispers spread among the ancient beings hidden across the ten thousand domains, all turning their attention to the Heavenly Court in fascination.
......
A figure shrouded in boundless Emperor’s might stood towering in the void, his presence as vast as a mountain, his aura wild and domineering.
Like a god descending upon the mortal world, he inspired such terror that those who saw him nearly dropped to their knees in worship.
"Thirteenth Ancestor!" Fu Yangxi’s eyes widened in shock as he stared at the man. Never had he imagined the Thirteenth Ancestor would truly awaken prematurely.
Everyone knew what this meant—hundreds of thousands of years of patience, wasted. It meant his lifespan was now dwindling, that he had abandoned the Path of the Emperor.
Even so, he had emerged. Unless he could find the Elixir of Immortality, death was inevitable.
For the first time, Fu Yangxi realized there existed another weapon in this world, one no less powerful than brute strength—words.
When wielded skillfully, words could rival, even surpass, sheer force. After all, ordinary power couldn’t kill a Quasi-Emperor.
But Gu Qingfeng’s words had done just that.
"Oh? You actually dared to come out." Gu Qingfeng smirked, looking the Thirteenth Ancestor up and down without a trace of fear.
The Thirteenth Ancestor met his gaze, his eyes deep as an ocean of divine might. Strangely, there was no anger left in them. No one knew what internal struggle he had undergone in that brief moment.
It was as if, the instant he broke free of his seal and touched the world again, something within him had transformed.
"You spoke the truth."
The Thirteenth Ancestor’s calm voice resonated across the land.
"In the last era, I retreated. I survived, and I reveled in it—because even the Heavenly Emperor died, yet I still lived.
The Heavenly Emperor, who commanded the Mandate of Heaven, was too powerful to seal himself away like I did. In that, I surpassed him.
But the joke was on me. While I mocked others, those very people never even spared me a glance. It was nothing but the delusion of a loser.
Gu Qingfeng, I thank you. Your words woke me. You made me realize that without an indomitable will, even if the Path of the Emperor opens, I would only repeat my failure. So I emerged. Even if it costs me my life, I refuse to let my spirit die.
In the last era, I retreated. But in this era, I will not take a single step back.
To repay your reminder, I will send you on your way with my strongest technique."
s the Eldest Princess, renowned for her cold and aloof detachment, became the most docile of lambs, obeying his every command without question. But when the final move was played on the chessboard, as Gu Chenghan seized everything and ascended on the verge of apotheosis, that very Princess suddenly embraced him from behind, her tone carrying a dependence never heard before: "Wait... you haven't yet... commanded me to love you forever." Gu Chenghan froze abruptly. She... hadn't been hypnotized?! ... [The Eldest Princess's Diary] [When my soul was extracted, becoming the sole spectator outside my own shell] [At first, there was overwhelming fury, until I saw] [How he used my sword to effortlessly shatter my inescapable doom] [How he wielded my authority to eradicate fatal conspiracies I had never even detected] [Like a deity, he rescued me from the deep mire I was trapped in] [If not for those annoying vixens, he and I would be a match made in heaven] [I think I am ill, gravely ill] [My deity should belong to me alone] ... "Hypnosis? Oh, it succeeded, my dear Master." "Only this time, it's my turn to hypnotize you."
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.”
world slacker. But a genius female disciple just had to get clingy, insisting that he take her as a disciple. Not only that, she was always making advances on him, thoroughly disrupting his peaceful slacker life...
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.
