The Immortal Is Heartless, I'll Nail It Down for You

Boom!

The first heartbeat rang out.

Around Wang Hao,

hundreds of thousands of extinguished stars lit up at once.

They were not stars.

They were eyes—

one pair after another.

Boom!

The second heartbeat rang out.

From the depths of the darkness,

countless corpses opened their eyes.

There were humans.

There were demons.

There were foreign races with wings growing from their backs.

There were even colossal star beasts whose bodies were like mountains.

They had no souls.

No life.

Yet silver-black blood vessels grew within their bodies,

each one connected to twenty-four dead stars.

Boom!

The third heartbeat rang out.

The shattered heart in Wang Hao’s chest

actually began to beat as well.

Silver-black blood that did not belong to him

grew out from the wound.

One blood vessel after another,

like living creatures,

burrowed into his body,

trying to seize control of him completely.

The Sealing Immortal Altar began to tremble on its own.

The Profound Nether Origin Blood resonated with the outside world.

The Myriad Contracts Same-Origin Seal flashed continuously.

Yet the contract sigils had only just taken shape

when they were torn apart by twenty-four different forces.

The system prompt continued to change.

[Current distance: one hundred and twenty li!]

[Current distance: one hundred and ninety thousand li!]

[Current distance: zero!]

[Unable to reach destination!]

Wang Hao raised his head.

He looked toward the silver heart at the very front.

It was close enough to touch.

He only needed to raise his hand.

But Wang Hao did not act.

Because there was no Xuanming inside that heart.

Or rather—

Xuanming was everywhere.

Huge faces surfaced across the dead stars.

Every one of them was Xuanming.

“Twenty-four worlds were buried here.”

“Even the weakest among them

once possessed three Ninth-Realm experts.”

“After they died,

I refined each world into a heart.”

“The two eyes you severed

were merely coordinates for migrating worlds.”

“They did not damage my foundation.”

Wang Hao lowered his head and glanced at the ledger.

“Twenty-four worlds?”

“What did you record them for?”

“To keep count of the spoils.”

Xuanming’s voice paused for a moment.

Wang Hao continued asking,

“Do you have the deeds?”

“What?”

“The twenty-four worlds.”

“Do you have the deeds?”

Xuanming did not answer.

Wang Hao sighed.

“No deeds.”

“That means illegal possession.”

“An additional crime.”

In the depths of the darkness,

the twenty-four dead stars trembled at the same time.

Xuanming had lived for far too long.

The number of living beings he had devoured

was impossible to calculate.

But someone like Wang Hao—

this was the first time Xuanming had ever encountered one.

His entire body was practically shattered,

yet he remained expressionless

as he continued keeping accounts for an immortal-level life-form.

Xuanming’s voice came from every direction.

“You truly believe

you can still leave this place alive?”

“Your heart is shattered.”

“You have only one arm left.”

“I do not even need to kill you.”

“All I have to do is imprison you here.”

“Once the power of corpse liberation corrodes your Imperial Soul,

you will naturally die.”

Wang Hao raised his right hand.

He seized the silver-black blood vessels

that had just grown from his chest

and yanked hard.

Rip!

A large chunk of flesh was torn away with them.

Blood spurted everywhere.

Wang Hao did not even furrow his brow.

“Wait for me to die?”

“You don’t dare act?”

The twenty-four faces fell silent at once.

Wang Hao had guessed correctly.

Xuanming truly did not dare to attack him directly.

More precisely—

he could not.

When Xuanming had devoured the sea of blood earlier,

he had swallowed the origins of Corpse Liberation, Taiyi, and Heaven-Deficient

into his heart-realm all at once.

After Blood Rakshasa fell,

the three immortal-level powers had all run wild.

Now,

corpse poison was corroding the twenty-four hearts.

The flames of the karmic tribulation

continued burning through the heart meridians.

The Heaven-Deficient sword intent

was concealed within every heartbeat.

At the slightest carelessness,

it could erupt from within the hearts.

Xuanming had swallowed Wang Hao into his heart-realm

not because he possessed absolute confidence,

but because he wanted to use the Imperial Blood within Wang Hao

to suppress the three immortal powers.

Wang Hao looked toward the depths of the darkness.

“You want to devour my Imperial Dao.”

Xuanming did not deny it.

“A complete Imperial Dao.”

“It should not exist within a mortal.”

“As long as I devour your Imperial Soul,

I can possess a twenty-fifth heart.”

“That heart

will take the Nine Provinces as its domain

and the people of Great Xia as its blood.”

“I will continue ruling them in your place.”

“There will be no aging.”

“No death.”

“No rebellion.”

“The Great Xia you desire

will exist forever.”

Wang Hao remained silent for a moment.

“That sounds pretty good.”

The twenty-four faces of Xuanming

smiled at the same time.

“You finally understand.”

“The greatest difference between immortals and mortals

is time.”

“You may prosper for a hundred years.”

“A thousand years.”

“But mortals will ultimately die.”

“And dynasties will ultimately fall.”

“Only by becoming one of my hearts

can you and Great Xia

truly become eternal.”

Wang Hao asked,

“You will rule Great Xia for me.”

“Who gets the taxes?”

The smile on Xuanming’s face froze.

“They will naturally belong to me.”

“Then stop talking nonsense.”

Wang Hao raised his right palm

and brought it crashing down

upon the nearest silver heart.

“Heaven-Prison Overturning Earth Palm!”

First strike!

Boom!

The silver star, a million li in diameter,

was knocked off its original course by a single palm.

Across the surface of the star,

countless corpses exploded at once.

Second strike!

A golden palm imprint of the Imperial Dao

pierced through the star’s outer shell.

Third strike!

The immortal and uncanny blood vessels

hidden within the star

were shattered layer by layer.

Fourth strike!

A massive crack split the entire dead star in two.

Xuanming’s voice came from another star.

“It is useless.”

“All twenty-four hearts are me.”

“You cannot destroy them all at once.”

Fifth strike!

The silver star exploded.

Billions upon billions of fragments

became a storm of rain

that swept backward across the starry sky.

And yet—

at the instant the star was destroyed,

Xuanming’s aura did not weaken in the slightest.

Instead,

the black heart farthest away

among the remaining twenty-three hearts

swelled by an entire circle.

The origin of the destroyed heart

had been transferred.

Wang Hao did not stop.

Sixth strike!

The palm imprint stretched across the starry sky

and slammed into a second dead star.

Seventh strike!

A great river of Imperial Dao

swept through the army of corpses.

Eighth strike!

Wang Hao’s right arm split apart once more.

Pale bones jutted through the flesh.

Ninth strike!

“Overturn the earth!”

Rumble!

The second black heart exploded on the spot.

But Xuanming still suffered no injury.

The origin transferred again.

The remaining twenty-two dead stars

all grew even more powerful.

A trace of mockery entered Xuanming’s voice.

“Every heart you destroy

allows the remaining hearts to devour its origin.”

“Until only the final heart remains.”

“It will become the true Uncanny Immortal Heart.”

“So—”

“The more you destroy,

the stronger I become.”

Wang Hao stood amid the fragments of the star.

His right arm hung limply at his side.

Those nine strikes

had pushed his already grievously wounded body

to the very brink of its limits.

The twenty-two faces of Xuanming

looked down at Wang Hao simultaneously.

“Continue.”

“Complete my unification for me.”

But Wang Hao did not move.

He was waiting.

He had not shattered two hearts in succession

to inflict damage upon Xuanming.

He had been observing.

Observing the method by which the origin was transferred.

The first transfer

had taken thirty-thousandths of a breath.

The second

had taken thirty-thousand-and-one.

It had slowed by only a fraction.

A mortal could not sense the difference.

But an Imperial Soul could.

Wang Hao closed his eyes.

Within his sea of consciousness,

the sounds of twenty-four heartbeats

were continuously broken down and analyzed.

The corpse poison of the Corpse Liberation Immortal

had caused the heart vessels to stiffen.

The karmic-tribulation flames of Taiyi

caused every transfer of origin

to become tainted by karma.

And the Heaven-Deficient sword intent

left tiny wounds along the transfer channels.

Three dead ancient immortals.

They were inside Xuanming.

Showing Wang Hao the way.

Outside.

Xuanming’s twelve pairs of wings

had already wrapped around the entire shattered immortal domain.

Twenty-two intact eyes

simultaneously projected images of the Nine Provinces.

The people of the Nine Provinces raised their heads.

They saw twenty-two dead stars appear in the heavens.

Within each star

were countless faces looking down upon the mortal world.

They wept.

They laughed.

They uttered meaningless mutterings.

Their voices passed through the formations protecting each province

and entered the minds of all living beings.

“Forget your name.”

“Forget where you came from.”

“Forget why you are standing here.”

“Become one of us.”

“Then you will no longer suffer.”

On the frontier of the Western Wastes,

a young soldier who had only just survived

gradually became dazed.

He lowered his head and looked at his hands.

Suddenly, he could no longer remember his name.

Nor could he remember who the veteran beside him was.

The old soldier raised his hand

and slapped the back of his head.

“Wake up!”

The young soldier covered his head.

“Who are you?”

The old soldier angrily slapped him again.

“I’m your father!”

The young soldier instinctively cursed.

“Bullshit!”

“My father died last year!”

After shouting that,

he froze.

He still could not remember his name.

But he remembered his father.

He remembered the frontier.

He remembered that he had originally planned to return home and get married.

He also remembered why he was standing here.

The young soldier raised his head

and roared at the enormous face in the sky.

“My name is Zhao Ergou!”

“New recruit of Bloodguard Pass in the Western Wastes!”

“Remember it!”

His voice was faint.

It could not even carry beyond the military formation.

But the old soldier beside him also began to speak.

“My name is Zhang Shan!”

“Veteran of Bloodguard Pass!”

More and more soldiers began announcing their names.

One military formation.

One city.

One province.

Finally,

all of Great Xia

resounded with the voices of mortals.

They spoke their names.

They said where they came from.

They said who was still waiting for them at home.

Within Xuanming’s dead world,

countless corpses began to tremble.

Those beings who had been devoured for countless ages

actually began to remember themselves

amid the voices of the people of Great Xia.

An ancient corpse with four wings on its back

halted as it charged toward Wang Hao.

Two streams of black blood

flowed from its empty eye sockets.

“I…”

“Who am I?”

Another corpse, a giant ten thousand zhang tall,

clutched its head in both hands

and let out a painful roar.

“I am not a Heart Slave!”

“I am a…”

“Guardian of the Starry Ancient Realm!”

Boom!

The giant swung its fist backward,

shattering the silver-black blood vessels connected to its body.

More and more corpses ceased their attacks.

They were already dead.

Their souls had long since dissipated.

Only a fragment of their instinct remained.

But once they remembered that they had existed,

they were no longer willing to remain a part of Xuanming.

Outside the Heart Realm,

the Dragon-Slayer sensed the change.

The eyes on Xuanming’s wings

were trembling uncontrollably.

One feather after another

began to fall away on its own.

The Dragon-Slayer tightened his grip on half a hilt.

He did not draw his blade.

He had only one chance left.

He had to wait until the true root appeared.

Within Xuanming’s Heart Realm,

the twenty-two dead stars erupted in fury.

“Shut up!”

Xuanming’s roar resounded throughout the Nine Provinces.

A terrifying pressure, steeped in immortal monstrosity,

crashed down upon the world.

Large numbers of low-level martial artists

began bleeding from their noses and mouths.

Ordinary civilians collapsed to the ground outright.

Yet they did not fall silent.

One person’s voice might be faint.

But ten million people,

a hundred million people,

were enough to shake the starry sky.

Wang Hao opened his eyes.

Within the Great River of the Imperial Dao,

the faces of the countless people of Great Xia were reflected.

He heard every single name.

He also saw the pattern of the twenty-two hearts’ beating.

Wang Hao took out

the remnant of the bell tongue of the Taiyi Immortal Bell.

The bell tongue was already covered in cracks.

The karmic tribulation fire was nearly extinguished as well.

Wang Hao smeared Xuanming’s source blood

across the surface of the bell tongue.

The Ten Thousand Contracts, One Origin Seal

covered it completely.

“You have twenty-four hearts.”

“All of them have devoured Taiyi’s karma.”

Xuanming immediately realized that something was wrong.

The twenty-two dead stars

simultaneously retreated into the distance.

Wang Hao gripped the bell tongue with his right hand

and suddenly struck it against the Great River of the Imperial Dao.

“Since we share the same cause…”

“Then we should share the same consequence!”

Clang!

A bell chime

traveled from the Heart Realm into reality.

Then, from reality,

it spread through all twenty-four dead worlds.

The remnants of the two hearts Wang Hao had shattered

simultaneously lit up with golden karmic threads.

The remaining twenty-two hearts

were also forcibly bound by those golden threads.

The first heart began to beat.

The other twenty-three

were dragged along by the power of karma

and beat at the same time.