I Have Calculated

The Corpse Shadow had nearly dragged the coffin back to Jiuzhou.

The Dragon-Slayer extended his right hand.

The New Emperor Sword trembled violently.

It tore itself from the ruins of the stars,

transformed into a streak of silver light,

and landed in the Dragon-Slayer’s palm.

The silver-haired youth materialized on the blade.

“Old man.”

“Remember what you promised.”

“Don’t damage it.”

The Dragon-Slayer lowered his head and glanced at the cracks in the blade.

“It was already broken.”

The silver-haired youth snapped angrily:

“That doesn’t mean you can make it worse!”

“Master said—”

“Whatever condition it’s in when you borrow it,”

“that’s the condition it must be returned in!”

The Dragon-Slayer sneered.

“That sounds exactly like something a crooked scrap dealer would say.”

Wang Hao’s voice drifted over.

“Senior.”

“Insulting the Emperor means the sword rental fee doubles again.”

The Dragon-Slayer nearly threw the sword away.

In all his long years,

he had never encountered an Emperor so shameless.

But the moment he tightened his grip around the New Emperor Sword,

an immense, sinister power

surged through the hilt and into his body.

The Dragon-Slayer froze.

Greed.

Scheming.

A black heart.

Shamelessness.

A grudge-holding nature.

Miserliness.

All kinds of dark traits

crashed into his sea of consciousness

like a black ocean.

The corner of the Dragon-Slayer’s eye twitched.

At last, he understood

why the New Emperor Sword was so vicious.

Just what kind of sinister artifact was this?

How much of Wang Hao’s darkness

had it absorbed?

The silver-haired youth sensed his thoughts.

He answered seriously:

“A lot.”

The Dragon-Slayer asked:

“How much?”

The silver-haired youth thought for a moment.

“Wider than the Great River of the Imperial Dao.”

The Dragon-Slayer fell silent.

He looked toward Wang Hao in the distance.

For the first time,

a trace of genuine awe appeared in his eyes.

Not because of Wang Hao’s cultivation.

Nor because he was the Emperor.

But because someone could possess

such an immense darkness within him

and still not become an immortal specter.

That alone was worthy of awe.

“Enough nonsense,”

Wang Hao said.

“Strike the heart.”

The Corpse Shadow had no true roots.

The source of its power

was the last piece of Xuanming immortal bone inside the burial coffin.

That piece of immortal bone

was hidden within the Corpse Shadow’s chest.

The Dragon-Slayer gripped the New Emperor Sword.

He had no lifespan left to burn,

nor any blood and qi left to drive it.

But when the people of Jiuzhou pulled on the burial coffin,

strands of their willpower

traveled along the Great River of the Imperial Dao

and settled upon the sword’s edge.

The Dragon-Slayer saw countless people.

He saw Zhao Ergou, his face flushed red,

a chain braced against his shoulder,

refusing to take even one step back.

He saw an old official from the Ministry of Works,

the rope around his waist cutting deep into his flesh,

still urging the others to record the losses.

He saw fishermen from the Eastern Sea

tie their battered boats

behind the imperial fleet.

He saw a girl from the southern frontier

wave a bamboo pole,

cheering on an old elephant.

They knew neither blades nor swords.

Some of them did not even know who the Dragon-Slayer was.

But they were all lending their strength.

This strike

no longer needed the Dragon-Slayer’s lifespan to fuel it.

Because countless millions of people

were supporting his blade.

The Dragon-Slayer slowly raised the sword.

The silver blade

gave off a deep, blade-like hum

for the first time.

“A tree has branches.”

“It also has roots.”

“A corpse has no roots.”

“Then I’ll cut the bone.”

The Corpse Shadow, towering ten million zhang high, sensed the danger

and suddenly turned around.

A fist smashed toward the Dragon-Slayer.

Before the fist even arrived,

the shattered starry sky had already collapsed in vast stretches.

The Dragon-Slayer’s robes

instantly turned to ash.

His skin split apart,

revealing withered bones beneath.

Yet he did not retreat.

The silver light on the New Emperor Sword

grew brighter and brighter.

The silver-haired youth stood upon the sword’s edge,

pointing his one arm at the Corpse Shadow.

“Old man!”

“Cut it to pieces!”

“One piece of immortal bone!”

“You take seventy percent!”

“I’ll take thirty!”

The Dragon-Slayer asked:

“Will Wang Hao agree?”

The silver-haired youth did not hesitate.

“Chop first!”

“We’ll talk after!”

The Dragon-Slayer suddenly felt that—

this artifact spirit and Wang Hao

really were cut from the same cloth.

The fist descended.

The Dragon-Slayer brought his sword down.

“Woodcutter’s Blade.”

“Bonebreaker!”

There was no dazzling sword light.

No grand, earth-shaking phenomenon.

Only a single straight silver line.

It pierced through the Corpse Shadow’s fist.

Through its arm.

Through its shoulder.

And finally—

into its heart.

Crack!

A half-silver, half-black immortal bone

shot out from the Corpse Shadow’s back.

Across its surface,

twenty-four faces of Xuanming opened their eyes at once.

But before they could make a sound,

the silver-haired youth had already burst out from the sword itself.

He wrapped his arms around the immortal bone

and bit down hard.

“Mine!”

The Xuanming immortal bone unleashed a terrifying corpse aura,

trying to shatter the silver-haired youth.

The Dragon-Slayer twisted his wrist.

The New Emperor Sword descended once more.

The immortal bone split in two.

The ten-million-zhang Corpse Shadow

stiffened with a thunderous boom.

Then,

like a black mountain collapsing,

it turned into ashes that filled the sky.

All resistance from the Burial Coffin

vanished completely.

Wang Hao raised his shoulder.

His voice rang across the Nine Provinces.

“Lift!”

Nearly a billion living beings

heaved as one.

“Lift!”

Rumble!

The twenty-four chains

pulled taut.

The army formation of the Northern Border took one step forward.

The army formation of the Western Wastes took one step forward.

The ten thousand ships of the Eastern Sea advanced ten feet.

The colossal beasts of the Southern Border trampled mountains and rivers beneath their feet.

The officials of the Imperial City.

The common people.

The elderly.

The children.

Everyone

moved forward together.

The silver-black Burial Coffin moved slowly along the Imperial Dao River.

A hundred thousand li.

A million li.

Ten million li!

As the coffin passed shattered stars,

countless ashes of Xuanming’s corpses

were drawn into it.

As the coffin passed the ruins of twenty-four dead worlds,

the remaining silver-black fragments

were gathered up as well.

The ancient corpses that had once been devoured by Xuanming

and reduced to mind-slaves

stood on either side of the starry sky.

They had no souls left.

No complete consciousness.

Yet when the Burial Coffin passed before them,

a corpse with four wings growing from its back

slowly lowered its head.

That ten-thousand-zhang corpse of a Guardian of Heaven

raised its only remaining right hand

and struck its chest with all its strength.

Boom!

A muffled sound rang out,

as though it were seeing someone off.

Not Xuanming—

but the selves they had been imprisoned from being

for countless ages.

More and more corpses

tore free of the last silver-black blood vessels.

They stood on either side of the Imperial Dao River.

Some lowered their heads.

Some beat their chests.

Some knelt upon the ground.

Some raised their heads to the sky and roared in silence.

When the Burial Coffin had completely left the Burial Star Core Realm,

all the ancient corpses

turned to ashes at the same time.

They had not come back to life.

Nor could they ever be reincarnated.

But in their final moment,

they were no longer Xuanming’s mind-slaves.

They were simply themselves.

At the entrance to the Ruins of the Realm,

there was absolute darkness.

No stars.

No spiritual energy.

Not even complete space.

The silver-black Burial Coffin stopped before the entrance.

The twenty-four chains

had already been pulled to their limit.

If it moved any farther,

the strength of the people of the Nine Provinces

would no longer be able to reach it.

Yet half of the Burial Coffin

still remained outside the Ruins of the Realm.

Wang Hao stood behind the coffin.

The imperial bones in both his legs

had been completely shattered.

Golden light formed from the power of faith supported his body.

He looked toward the silver-haired youth.

“The sword.”

The silver-haired youth hugged half of the Xuanming immortal bone,

his face filled with wariness.

“Let’s get one thing straight first.”

“I was the one who seized this immortal bone.”

“You’re confiscating it?”

“Why?”

“You hid spoils of war during battle.”

The silver-haired youth froze.

“Master!”

“You promised to compensate me!”

Wang Hao said,

“Your compensation is a separate matter.”

“Hand the sword to me first.”

The silver-haired youth was reluctant.

Once again, he transformed into the New Emperor Sword.

It fell before Wang Hao.

Wang Hao had no hands.

The sword simply hovered beside his right shoulder.

The Emperor’s Soul emerged from his body.

With the only hand he had left,

it gripped the sword’s hilt.

The Dragon-Slayer plummeted from the distance.

He crashed beside the half of the Taiyi Bell that remained.

He had completely lost consciousness.

Wang Hao glanced at him.

After confirming that he still had a breath left,

he turned his gaze away.

Within the Imperial Dao River,

billions upon billions of living beings continued pulling on the chains.

Everyone had already reached their limits.

The hands of countless commoners were slick with blood.

The soldiers’ vital energy had been drained dry.

The demonic beasts’ limbs trembled.

Even the sails of the East Sea fleet

had been torn apart by the raging winds.

Only the final stretch remained.

Wang Hao pressed the New Emperor Sword

against the back of the burial coffin.

“Xuanming.”

“You said mortals will eventually die.”

“Dynasties will eventually fall.”

“So the only way to become eternal

is to become your heart.”

Wang Hao’s Emperor’s Soul stepped forward.

Between the blade and the coffin,

blinding sparks erupted.

“But I believe”

“that death is death.”

“And destruction is destruction.”

“To become someone else’s heart”

“just because you’re afraid of dying—”

“that’s utterly disgraceful.”

The Imperial Dao River

suddenly blazed beneath Wang Hao’s feet.

It was not destruction.

Rather, the billions upon billions of wishes

were all transformed into driving force at this moment.

Wang Hao’s Emperor’s Soul braced both hands against the sword.

His left hand was still nonexistent.

But throughout the Nine Provinces,

nearly a billion hands

pushed forward at the same time.

Zhao Ergou pressed his shoulder against the chain.

The earth beneath his feet cracked apart inch by inch.

Zhang Shan stood behind him,

both hands braced against Zhao Ergou’s back.

An old Ministry of Works official fell face-first to the ground,

but the rope around his waist did not loosen.

A military commander from the Ministry of War seized the rope

and dragged him onward.

The giant elephant of the Southern Frontier let out a thunderous trumpet.

Blood flowed from all four of its feet,

yet it still took one more step.

Countless ships in the East Sea

ignited their final formation spirit stones at the same moment.

Every sail

billowed outward with a thunderous snap.

“The entire nation lifts the coffin.”

Wang Hao spoke each word slowly.

“Send the Immortal Aberration”

“on its way!”

Boom!

The silver-and-black burial coffin

was propelled completely into the Realm Ruins.

The twenty-four chains

began breaking from the end attached to the coffin.

The first.

The second.

The tenth.

The twenty-fourth!

The mountains and rivers of the Nine Provinces suddenly felt lighter.

Everyone who had been pulling the chains

fell backward at the same time.

Zhao Ergou and Zhang Shan tumbled into a heap.

The old Ministry of Works official was flung through the air by the rope,

landing squarely on the military commander from the Ministry of War.

The giant elephant of the Southern Frontier

sat down heavily in a mountain valley.

The ships of the East Sea crashed into one another.

Countless fishermen began hurling furious curses.

Within the Realm Ruins,

the silver-and-black burial coffin drifted farther and farther away.

The twenty-four faces on its lid

opened their eyes in the darkness.

They looked toward the Nine Provinces.

Not a sound emerged.

Only venomous resentment.

Wang Hao’s Emperor’s Soul raised the sword

and brought it down toward the entrance to the Realm Ruins.

The sword light did not strike the burial coffin.

Instead, in the void,

it wrote two golden characters:

“Great Xia.”

The golden strokes transformed into a boundary stele

and crashed down at the entrance to the Realm Ruins.

The twenty-four faces of Xuanming

were illuminated by the golden light.

Then,

together with the silver-and-black burial coffin,

they sank completely into the darkness.

【The remains of Xuan Ming the Immortal Aberration have been sent into the Realm Ruins!】

【The Immortal Aberration’s contamination of the Nine Provinces is receding!】

【Special sign-in location: Xuan Ming the Immortal Aberration’s—Burial Star Heart Realm. Exploration complete!】

【Information update complete!】

【Xuanming confirmed eradicated!】

【The fifth entry on Great Xia’s Immortal Calamity Register may now be crossed off!】

Wang Hao looked at the final notification.

He fell silent for a moment.

Then, through the Imperial Dao River,

he transmitted his voice to the Ministry of Revenue.

“Don’t cross it off yet.”

The old official from the Ministry of Revenue had just raised the great seal.

Then his movement suddenly froze.

“Your Majesty.”

“Why?”

Wang Hao looked at the half of the immortal bone in the silver-haired youth’s arms.

Then he looked at the silent Thunder Abyss Demon-Suppressing Pagoda.

“Thirty-five percent of the Thunder Abyss Demon-Suppressing Pagoda.”

“Compensation for the New Emperor Sword.”

“The Dragon-Slayer’s medical expenses.”

“Losses to the formations in every province.”

“The spirit stones advanced by the Ministry of Works.”

“None of it has been properly calculated.”

The old official from the Ministry of Revenue immediately lowered the seal.

“I understand, Your Majesty.”

Wang Hao continued:

“Xuanming said he had three secret treasuries.”

The old official’s eyes lit up.

“I shall record them as assets awaiting recovery at once!”

The silver-haired youth hugged the immortal bone tighter.

Then he asked in a small voice:

“Master.”

“Xuanming is already dead.”

“How are we supposed to find the treasuries?”

Wang Hao looked at the immortal bone in his arms.

“There should be memories inside the bone.”

The silver-haired youth lowered his head and glanced at it.

Then he opened his mouth.

And bit off another small piece.

He closed his eyes.

At first, his face showed pure satisfaction.

But immediately afterward,

his brows slowly knitted together.

A vast number of fragmented images

surged into his sea of consciousness from Xuanming’s immortal bone.

A dark starry sky.

A shattered ancient realm.

A bronze door buried beneath countless corpses.

Carved upon the door

were the images of twenty-four hearts.

The silver-haired youth opened his eyes.

He raised a hand and pointed toward the northwest of the shattered immortal domain.

“There.”

“It’s very far away.”

“Farther than the distance from the Nine Provinces to the Star-Burial Core Realm.”

Wang Hao asked:

“How far?”

The silver-haired youth carefully sensed it.

“Thirty-seven million li.”

Wang Hao looked at his own shattered body.

Then he looked at the Dragon-Slayer, who had already fallen unconscious,

and at the completely silent Thunder Abyss Demon-Suppressing Pagoda.

“The Imperial Dao River can extend that far.”

The silver-haired youth reminded him:

“Master.”

“You’re dying.”

“You should heal first.”

Wang Hao replied calmly:

“The treasury will stay where it is.”

“It might grow legs otherwise.”

The silver-haired youth was puzzled.

“How could a treasury grow legs?”

Wang Hao looked toward the place where Xuanming’s corpse had vanished.

“Xuanming lived for so long.”

“He must have had more than one enemy.”

“We went to all this trouble to kill him.”

“If someone else picks up his treasury—”

“this emperor will die with his eyes open.”

The silver-haired youth found that very reasonable.

“Then shall we go now?”

“Now.”

Wang Hao’s imperial soul wrapped around his shattered body.

The Imperial Dao River changed direction

and extended toward the northwest of the shattered immortal domain.

The silver-haired youth hoisted the New Emperor Sword onto one shoulder.

With his other hand,

he dragged along the unconscious Dragon-Slayer.

After taking a few steps,

he suddenly lowered his head.

“Master.”

“Who’s paying this old man’s sword-rental fee?”

“Deduct it from his medical expenses.”

The unconscious Dragon-Slayer’s fingers

twitched faintly.

The silver-haired youth asked again:

“What about my eighth-realm material?”

“Deduct it from the fine for secretly hoarding immortal bones.”

The silver-haired youth stopped in his tracks.

“I cut a total of seventeen blood vessels just now.”

“And I cut down the Corpse Shadow too.”

“That makes eighteen seventh-realm materials.”

“And one eighth-realm material.”

Wang Hao replied:

“You questioned the emperor’s credibility.”

“You talked back to the emperor.”

“You concealed state property during wartime.”

“You distributed state assets with the Dragon-Slayer without authorization.”

“Add it all together.”

“It balances out perfectly.”

The silver-haired youth’s expression slowly stiffened.

“Perfectly?”

“I’ve done the calculations.”

“There can be no mistake.”

The silver-haired youth stood upon the Imperial Dao River,

hugging the half of Xuanming’s immortal bone that remained.

His chest heaved violently.

He really wanted to draw his sword.

But his master had no hands.

He had no idea where to strike.

In the end,

the silver-haired youth could only grit his teeth,

drag the Dragon-Slayer,

and follow behind Wang Hao,

step by step.

With every step,

he left a deep footprint

on the surface of the golden river.