Legends of the Twenty-Four Emperors

【“Pfft!!”】

【You spat out the ancestral soup you hadn’t swallowed yet.】

【The old woman hurriedly gathered it up with a rag.】

【“Oh dear, don’t waste it, don’t waste it…”】

【You were speechless.】

【“Granny, isn’t this just fermented swill? How can anyone eat this?”】

【Ji Wuqing burst out laughing.】

【“Why can’t we? Didn’t they say that drinking this cures illness? It’s medicinal!”】

【“Does that count as curing illness? It’s just fighting poison with poison! Your immune system goes berserk!”】

【Ji Baiming carefully examined the bowl of ancestral soup.】

【“Could the reason the people here aren’t affected by pollution have something to do with this soup?”】

【You replied firmly,】

【“Absolutely not! We’d be better off checking out the Imperial Tomb!”】

【Ji Wuqing was still brimming with enthusiasm.】

【“Come on, let’s go! The Imperial Tomb is a famous attraction on our Zizhu Star. I’m a local, yet I’ve never even been there!”】

【Ji Baiming smiled.】

【“I haven’t been there either. Let’s go take a look.”】

【The mountain where the Imperial Tomb was located stood right beside Longevity Wood Stockade.】

【The mountain wasn’t tall, but the road was rugged and difficult to traverse.】

【Of course, to cultivators, even an eighty-nine-degree incline counted as a slope.】

【“Where’s the tomb?”】

【The three of you had already reached the summit.】

【Quite a few people were there, all cultivators who had come to investigate the Imperial Tomb.】

【There was nothing resembling a grave here. There was only a statue and a stone stele covered in writing.】

【The statue stood ten meters tall and depicted an emperor dressed in a dragon robe and wearing a crown.】

【He gazed into the distance, radiating majesty without even showing anger. A long sword hung at his waist, displaying his supreme authority.】

【The statue had stood there for who knew how many years, and its surface was covered in cracks.】

【What interested you more was the stone stele.】

【Ji Baiming and Ji Wuqing came to the stele and examined it from top to bottom for a long while. Father and daughter exchanged a glance.】

【“I don’t recognize it.”】

【The stele was densely covered in writing. Some of the characters vaguely resembled those used today, but overall, the script differed far too much from modern writing.】

【Thus, even Ji Baiming, the Head of the Ji family, who had read countless ancient texts preserved by his clan, couldn’t make out a single word on the stele.】

【But you could.】

【Because of “Barrier-Free Communication.”】

【“The Twenty-Four Emperors.”】

【Hearing this, Ji Wuqing looked over in surprise.】

【“You can read it?”】

【“Yeah. This kind of script is still in circulation in the Human Realm.”】

【You casually made up an excuse.】

【You were also wearing the “Eavesdropper” trait, so you heard Ji Wuqing’s thoughts:】

【Seriously? Is this guy trying to fool me? These characters are twisted like a ball of yarn. Who still uses such complicated writing nowadays?】

【“Ahem…”】

【Ji Baiming’s thoughts:】

【The Void Realm truly is mysterious! Perhaps it really does conceal secrets about becoming an immortal!】

【You gave the stele a brief scan and said,】

【“It’s a record of the twenty-four Celestial Emperors, though it’s extremely concise. Each biography is only a short passage.”】

【Ji Wuqing looked at Ji Baiming curiously.】

【“Dad, during the age of the Celestial Emperors, did twenty-four Celestial Emperors appear one after another among humanity?”】

【“Your father doesn’t know either. The age of the Celestial Emperors was far too long ago. Besides, you know that the foreign races have sealed away and destroyed all information related to it. Even if I wanted to know, I have no way to find out.”】

【“Then that’s strange. With such a huge stele standing here, why haven’t they come to destroy it?”】

【“Probably because they can’t read the characters and don’t know what it says.”】

【Ji Wuqing looked at you again and asked,】

【“Chen Yi, see if there’s anything about pollution recorded on it.”】

【You continued reading.】

【“Emperor Wuming ruled over the myriad races of the universe, and all living beings worshiped him. Thus, he was the first supreme being since the birth of chaos, and was called the Ancestral Emperor. The Ancestral Emperor was born into nobility, yet his fate was full of hardships. In his youth, he was sent away as a hostage…”】

【The Twenty-Four Emperors recorded the titles and life stories of each Celestial Emperor.】

【This included the Heavenfire Mystic Maiden, a Female Heavenly Emperor.】

【The Female Heavenly Emperor’s imperial title during her lifetime was Flame Emperor. Because a later Celestial Emperor appeared with a similar style, the title “Flame Emperor” was appropriated. In various records, the Female Heavenly Emperor was therefore referred to simply as the Female Heavenly Emperor.】

【This record also mentioned the legend of how, when her lifespan was nearing its end, the Female Heavenly Emperor attempted to live another life through the “Three Souls Severance” technique.】

【“Is there anything about pollution?”】

【“There is.”】

【“What does it say?”】

【“It seems that during the age of the Celestial Emperors, pollution was extremely common. Fortunately, with the Celestial Emperors holding down the fort, the pollution throughout the universe was ultimately suppressed by them.”】

【“Then we’re screwed. There are no Celestial Emperors left now—how are we supposed to deal with the pollution?”】

【You shrugged, indicating that you had no idea either.】

【Several cultivators dressed in rather wild outfits approached you.】

【“Brother, you’re pretty impressive. You can read this prehistoric script?”】

【You turned to look at them.】

【“Just a coincidence. I know a little.”】

【“You may not know this, brother, but people in our line of work have far more opportunities to handle ancient artifacts than ordinary cultivators, so we’ve done quite a bit of research into archaic scripts. Still, we’ve never seen the prehistoric writing on this stele before. It must be far older than any ancient script known to us. Oh, let me introduce myself. My name is Fulai, and these are my brothers.”】

【The group cupped their fists toward you. They were surprisingly polite.】

【But after casually listening to their thoughts, you learned that they were tomb raiders.】

【And not ordinary tomb raiders, either. Their team’s weakest member was already at the Core Formation Realm.】

【Their leader, Fulai, had reached the Heaven-Connecting Realm.】

【With cultivation at the Heaven-Connecting Realm, he was still engaged in the filthy business of robbing tombs. You found it utterly contemptible.】

【Fulai asked,】

【“May I ask, brother, does this stele record what lies within the Imperial Tomb? And are there any dangers?”】

【You smiled.】

【“I think this is more of a memorial site than a genuine tomb.”】

【“Heh. Once I dig through this mountain, we’ll know whether it’s a tomb or not!”】

【This group certainly acted quickly. They got to work on the spot.】

【When cultivators robbed tombs, they didn’t need complicated tools or procedures. They simply blasted their way in with techniques and divine arts!】

【Unfortunately, this caused quite a bit of suffering for the cultivators investigating the Imperial Tomb on the mountain.】

【Suddenly, the earth shook and the mountains trembled. Everyone could only use the precious immortal power available in the present age to protect themselves.】

【After Fulai and the others unleashed a barrage of destruction, they had done nothing more than tear up some dirt. They hadn’t even managed to break a single proper stone.】

【Ji Baiming said, “This place doesn’t seem simple.”】

【Fulai looked at you and grinned. “Brother, do you still think this is just a memorial site?”】

【You said calmly, “Brother, you’d better pray that this really is only a memorial site.”】

【From the tomb raiders’ thoughts, you heard their disdain for the Celestial Emperors. They believed the emperors had merely been ancient figures whose stories were exaggerated into myths. For all they knew, their actual cultivation had only been at the Qi Condensation Realm.】