"Old Ghost, you're so weak that this Emperor can't even muster a bit of interest. Don’t you have any stronger attacks?" Gu Qingfeng mocked.
Old Ghost wasn’t angered and merely chuckled sheepishly. "Who doesn’t know that Emperor Gu is peerless across the realms? My meager skills are hardly worth showing off. Let’s just get back to discussing the important matter."
"Important matter? All this Emperor needs to do is cover for the other Emperors as they enter the Path of Emperors, right? What else is there?"
"Will you be going in as well?"
"Of course this Emperor is going in. Is there a problem?" Gu Qingfeng asked, puzzled.
"Well, Emperor Gu... I was wondering if, in this lifetime, you might consider... not becoming an Emperor?" Old Ghost chose his words carefully, speaking with caution.
He wasn’t afraid of Gu Qingfeng’s strength—what he feared was his unpredictability and his tendency to flip the table at the slightest provocation. Such a man could only be handled with flattery.
Sure enough, the moment Gu Qingfeng heard that he shouldn’t become an Emperor, he flew into a rage. "Nonsense! Since when is it up to a decrepit old fool like you to decide whether this Emperor ascends or not?"
Old Ghost hurriedly placated him. "Don’t be angry yet—hear me out first. The thing is, these Emperors are currently in a forbidden state between life and death, having escaped the Heavenly Dao by transcending the Three Realms and Five Elements.
For them to fully revive and return as living beings, they require the Profound Flame of Life and Death to alter their state of existence.
Only complete resurrection will restore them to their peak. Otherwise, relying solely on their immortal bodies and personal Dao, they’ll only regain their former cultivation realms—not their true physical strength.
After all, an Emperor’s corpse, no matter how powerful, can never compare to a living Emperor’s body.
The Profound Flame of Life and Death is a flame condensed from the Dao of Life and Death, incredibly profound. Right now, only one person in the world possesses it—Emperor Yan."
"Emperor Yan?" Gu Qingfeng frowned slightly. Naturally, he had heard of Emperor Yan’s name. In fact, most Emperors throughout history were widely known, as they were epoch-defining figures who reshaped the world.
He had some knowledge of Emperor Yan’s legends. It was said that he was born into a minor clan, one that had fallen into decline. Yet, he himself was a prodigy with unparalleled perseverance and fortune. Starting from the very bottom of the cultivation world, he fought his way up, overcoming countless trials before finally attaining the rank of Emperor.
His story was so inspiring that he had many admirers in the Cangming Realm—especially among the common folk, who dreamed of emulating his rise from obscurity to supremacy.
"Exactly—Emperor Yan. Strictly speaking, he’s my proudest disciple. I helped him achieve Emperorhood, informed him of the Heaven-Sundering Plan, and then, at the end of his natural lifespan, planted the seed of the Life-Death Dao deep within his soul.
I then guided him through a hundred reincarnations until the seed sprouted, giving birth to the Profound Flame of Life and Death.
The goal was for Emperor Yan to resurrect the Emperor corpses buried in the Burial Grounds."
"And what does that have to do with whether this Emperor ascends or not?"
"The Profound Flame of Life and Death exists, but Emperor Yan’s current strength isn’t enough to revive all the Emperor corpses.
He’s only just awakened his past-life memories. Though he left behind contingencies to restore his former cultivation, it’s still insufficient—there are simply too many Emperor corpses to resurrect.
So, for the sake of our plan, in this lifetime... only he can become Emperor."
"Wait!" Gu Qingfeng’s mind stirred. "He restored his former cultivation? How is that possible? Doesn’t the Heavenly Dao harvest an Emperor’s Dao? If his Dao was taken, how could he regain his strength even after returning from reincarnation?"
Old Ghost chuckled. "That’s precisely where my disciple’s brilliance shines. Other Emperors push a single Dao to its limit, but he mastered two!
One was the most ordinary Flame Dao, left exposed to be harvested. The other was the Life-Death Dao—without it, he could never have created the Profound Flame of Life and Death!"
This surprised Gu Qingfeng, sparking curiosity about Emperor Yan, whom he had never met. To cultivate two supreme Daos—even among Emperors, such a being must stand at the very pinnacle.
"But that still doesn’t make sense. You said Emperor Yan regained his former strength? Doesn’t that mean he’s already an Emperor? Why would he need to compete for the Mandate of Heaven?"
Old Ghost explained, "Correct—he is indeed at the Emperor realm now. But an Emperor who bears the Mandate of Heaven is fundamentally different from one who doesn’t.
A Mandate-bearing Emperor gains the Heavenly Dao’s blessing. The Mandate is akin to a fragment of the Dao’s authority, allowing them to wield the power of the world itself.
That’s why Emperors are the supreme power—in the Cangming Realm, opposing one is like opposing the entire world. Only the Heavenly Dao itself can rival them.
An Emperor without the Mandate is merely an extreme cultivator who has pushed their personal Dao to its limit.
Emperor Gu, after all I’ve said, you should understand now—this era’s Emperor must be Emperor Yan.
Please bear with it. After all, once you obtain all the Profound Sin Origin, your strength won’t be inferior to a Mandate-less Emperor."
Gu Qingfeng didn’t answer immediately. Instead, he asked an unrelated question: "Is Emperor Yan a forbidden existence like these Emperor corpses?"
He needed to confirm whether Emperor Yan was "family." If so, he wouldn’t mind yielding the throne.
Old Ghost shook his head. "Emperor Yan isn’t like the Emperor corpses. He didn’t linger between life and death—he underwent a hundred reincarnations and returned from the cycle of rebirth. He’s a living, breathing person."
Hearing this, Gu Qingfeng’s mood soured. If he wasn’t "family," why should he get to be Emperor?
"Oh, by the way, Emperor Yan actually has some history with you."
Gu Qingfeng was taken aback. "When? This Emperor has no memory of that."
"To be precise, it’s with one of your women. Back when you were collecting special physiques, you eventually targeted the Supreme Holy Body..."
"Damn it! Emperor Yan is Xiao Weier?!"
Gu Qingfeng was genuinely shocked. So, without realizing it, he had actually slept with an Emperor?
Wait, no—that wasn’t the point.
The historical Emperor Yan was a man. Did that mean he reincarnated as a woman this time, saw this Emperor’s dashing charm, and pretended to be innocent...? Ugh.
Old Ghost, seeing Gu Qingfeng’s rapidly shifting expression, immediately understood what he was thinking and broke into a cold sweat.
"Emperor Gu, you’re overthinking it. Emperor Yan isn’t Xiao Weier—he was the servant boy who was always with her, Xiao Fan."
Xiao Fan?!
Gu Qingfeng instantly recalled everything about Xiao Fan.
A mortal physique, a lowly servant, childhood sweetheart to a prodigy, surviving against a Quasi-Emperor against all odds—back then, he had instinctively sensed something off about Xiao Fan.
Turns out, the kid was actually a reincarnated Emperor!
Damn it!
Suddenly, Gu Qingfeng thought of something else and casually asked, "Old Ghost, you mentioned using the Profound Flame of Life and Death to revive the Emperor corpses—that once resurrected, they’d return as living beings just as they were in life."
"Does that mean once they're revived, they'll no longer be in a forbidden state but will become human again?"
"Of course. How could they remain forbidden after resurrection? The Life-Death Profound Flame I've schemed over for endless ages—if it couldn’t even achieve this much, then all my years would’ve been wasted."
Hearing Old Ghost’s confirmation, Gu Qingfeng’s heart settled on a decision.
Xiao Fan must die.
Not only was this brat not family—he was an outright enemy!
If he were to become the Heavenly Emperor and use the Life-Death Profound Flame to resurrect all those imperial corpses, lifting their forbidden state... wouldn’t that mean Gu Qingfeng would lose every last one of his kin?
Left utterly and completely alone in the world?
shall grant"] ["Inscribing the glory of our race upon tombstones"] ["All that is threatened, I shall protect"] How his younger sister sees her brother: A brother who only makes eye contact once a day, mostly fading into the background as he tinkers with who-knows-what in his room all day. Their life paths should have remained largely separate. Until one day. Su Qi created an equipment card for his never-met "online girlfriend." His sister fell into silent contemplation upon receiving the "white stockings." [Card can be upgraded] [Upgrade by fulfilling any of the following conditions] [Condition ①: Consume one hundred higher-tier cards] [Condition ②: Complete one 'Heart-Pounding Adventure'] What constitutes a Heart-Pounding Adventure? [Heart-Pounding Adventure (Beginner Level): Equip the card and invite 'Su Qi' to admire it.] [Heart-Pounding Adventure (Easy Level): Equip the card, invite 'Su Qi' to touch it, and analyze the equipment's texture.] [Heart-Pounding Adventure (Entry Level): Equip the card and invite 'Su Qi' to...] [Heart-Pounding Adventure (Challenge Level): Freely combine the words 'Brother' 'Out' 'Brother' 'Me' 'Please' into a complete sentence...] "Please help me analyze both teams' mistakes in this match, brother..." His sister exhaled in relief—surely... surely there couldn't be anything more difficult? [Heart-Pounding Adventure (Suicide Mission Level): Sneak a peek at the names of the galgames in 'Su Qi's' hidden E-drive folder]
. As long as he maintains the villain image and follows the plot to the grand finale, he can obtain generous rewards and return to the real world. So Gu Chen'an entered the role and began to act as a scumbag villain, but who would have expected that the female leads could hear his inner thoughts. Miss Su from the Su family was shocked: "I originally thought Gu Chen'an was a scumbag, but I didn't expect he turned out to be a gentleman! What? You said I have to call off the engagement? I definitely won't, I'll piss you off!" Bai Yuan Tian was dumbfounded: "Young Master Gu is usually unreasonable and a complete brat, but he actually calls me little sweetie in his heart? What, Young Master Gu even said he likes me?" As the female leads' images collapsed more and more, the plot also collapsed with it. Gu Chen'an looked at all this chaos. "Ladies, don't aggro me, if you keep this up the male lead really will stab me, I still need to survive to the grand finale!"
Heart] Chen Yi traversed the cultivation world for eight hundred years, charging his way to the Tribulation Transcendence stage. Just as he was outwitting his 81st Heavenly Tribulation to ascend to immortality, he was suddenly pulled into a chat group called the "Multiverse Transmigrators Support Group." To his surprise, the group was filled with nothing but fresh-faced newbies who had just transmigrated. [Help! I transmigrated into a disgraced concubine in the cold palace, and the tyrant emperor is about to execute me!] [I ended up as a cannon-fodder villain, and the protagonist is still chasing me—WTF!] [I woke up as the protagonist’s father, but I’m about to be sacrificed in a ritual! What do I do? Urgent!!!] Chen Yi stared at the chaotic flood of desperate pleas in the group and fell into deep thought. "Seriously? You drag me into a newbie transmigrator chat group… only after I’m one step away from becoming an immortal?"
reezy rom-com) Good news: Jiang Liu is quite the ladies' man. Bad news: He’s lost his memory. Lying in a hospital bed, Jiang Liu listens to a parade of goddesses spouting "absurd claims," feeling like the world is one giant game of Werewolf. "Jiang Liu, I’m your first love." "Jiang Liu, you’re my boyfriend—she’s your ex." "Jiang Liu, we’re close friends who’ve shared a bed, remember?" "Jiang Liu, I want to have your baby." The now-lucid Jiang Liu is convinced this must be some elaborate scam... until someone drops the bombshell: "The day before you lost your memory, you confessed your feelings—and got into a relationship." Jiang Liu is utterly baffled. So... who the hell is his actual girlfriend?! ... Before recovering his memories, Jiang Liu must navigate this minefield of lies and sincerity, fighting to protect himself from these women’s schemes. But things spiral even further out of control as more people show up at his doorstep—each with increasingly unhinged antics. On the bright side, the memories he lost due to overwhelming trauma seem to be resurfacing. Great news, right? So why are they all panicking now?
