Eternal Emperor's Path to Ascension

Demon Lord Nine Calamities’ words echoed amidst the endless rain.

Neither Tian Yongheng nor Zhu Dong spoke, both silently waiting for him to continue.

The Demon Lord slowly closed his eyes, taking a deep breath before exhaling. Only then did the turbulent emotions within his heart gradually settle.

When he opened his eyes once more, they had already regained their usual calmness.

"The truth is actually much simpler than you imagine."

He began, his voice extremely heavy.

He slowly turned to look towards Tian Yongheng.

"The Demon Saint was never truly important."

Tian Yongheng’s gaze immediately sharpened, feeling as if something massive was about to be revealed to him.

"The resurrection of the Archaic Forbidden Demon God was also not important."

The Demon Lord’s next sentence caused Zhu Dong’s brows to knit together.

"And even the Righteous-Demonic War itself wasn’t important."

Rain continued falling between the three as Demon Lord Nine Calamities slowly continued.

"Everything... was merely an excuse."

His eyes gradually became colder, as if an unpleasant memory had crossed his mind.

"A great Immortal from the Upper Realm personally used supreme means to transform the Demon Saint into an existence rejected by the Heavenly Dao itself, which had nothing to do with the Archaic Forbidden Demon God. He became something neither heaven nor earth could tolerate."

Tian Yongheng’s pupils contracted slightly.

An existence rejected by the Heavenly Dao?

Demon Lord Nine Calamities continued, "Only by doing so could they obtain a legitimate reason, a reason... to begin the Cleansing ahead of schedule without the intervention of forces such as Kunlun Divine Mountain."

*Rumble!*

A bolt of thunder suddenly exploded across the heavens, causing heaven and earth to be illuminated for a brief instance.

Zhu Dong’s eyes widened slightly.

"The Cleansing..."

He immediately understood, countless uncertain points suddenly making sense now.

The Demon Lord nodded, "Exactly, the resurrection of the Demon God, the war between righteousness and demons, the descent of those Half Immortals, they were all arranged to justify one thing; the massacre of the entire Lower Realm, beginning with the Second Great Mortal World."

An utter, suffocating silence descended upon heaven and earth.

Even the rain seemed to have stopped, becoming incredibly distant.

Tian Yongheng’s eyes remained calm as still water, but countless thoughts were already flashing through his mind.

So that’s it...

Everything finally connected together, from the abnormalities of the Lower Realm Spirit to the severed connection between realms and the strange haste shown by those Immortals and Gods.

Everything pointed towards a single conclusion.

The great upheaval... was indeed the Cleansing.

A faint chill seeped into Tian Yongheng’s spine.

At that moment, another thought suddenly surfaced in his mind.

The Righteous-Demonic War had erupted not long after he stepped onto the path of cultivation.

At first, he considered it purely a coincidence, but now, it no longer seemed coincidental. Instead, it appeared frighteningly deliberate.

His breathing slowed almost imperceptibly as a terrifying possibility emerged.

He felt as if countless invisible threads were converging upon himself.

Is it because of me? Am I the so-called variable in their plans?

His rise had simply been too fast, far beyond common sense.

Within less than a thousand years, he had become a Vagrant Immortal. Even the Divine Sovereign took a thousand years just to reach the Half Immortal Realm.

Compared to everyone else, his growth was far more abnormal, even Tian Yongheng himself had to admit that.

At the same time, he did not exist in the previous timeline either.

Since the Immortals and Gods truly possessed methods capable of observing fate, then wouldn’t someone like him immediately become the greatest anomaly?

The more he thought about it, the greater the chill within his heart became.

Beside him, Zhu Dong’s expression had also become incomparably solemn.

"So..."

He slowly spoke.

"Something unexpected forced those old fellows to advance the Cleansing?"

Demon Lord Nine Calamities nodded.

"I believe so. Throughout countless Heavenly Karmic Cycles, the Cleansing has always followed fixed laws, but this time, they personally broke those laws."

His voice became increasingly cold the more he spoke.

"They were willing to pay an enormous price merely to begin everything earlier, which means they encountered a variable that they could no longer ignore."

Rainwater slowly dripped from the edge of his black sleeves, yet he made no attempt to use his vast divine abilities to shield himself from the rain.

"For beings like them, only something beyond prediction could force such a decision."

Zhu Dong went silent at these words.

As someone who had once reached the Immortal Sovereign Realm, he understood those words better than anyone.

The stronger one became, the more they relied upon deduction, karma, and fate.

If even such terrifying existences suddenly abandoned patience, then whatever they sensed must have frightened even them.

At that moment, Tian Yongheng slowly raised his head.

"So... how did you discover all this?"

His question immediately caused Zhu Dong to look at Demon Lord Nine Calamities with interest.

Indeed, such a secret should never have reached someone in the Lower Realm.

Even an Immortal Sovereign probably wouldn’t know everything, how did this fellow learn it?

Demon Lord Nine Calamities smiled bitterly at the question.

"Because... someone told me."

Those simple words immediately surprised both Tian Yongheng and Zhu Dong.

"Told?"

The Demon Lord nodded.

"Hundreds of years ago, before the Righteous-Demonic War even erupted, I had a dream."

His gaze gradually became distant, his expression subconsciously becoming more respectful, full of reverence.

"In that dream, I met an existence."

His voice lowered slightly as he spoke.

"I don’t know who they were, and I couldn’t even see their appearance. I only remember a vast, ethereal river that seemed to contain boundless fates and destinies, accompanied by endless light. Then, I heard a voice, a voice that seemed older than heaven and earth."

The surrounding atmosphere became increasingly solemn.

"That senior told me that the Lower Realm was about to face an unprecedented catastrophe. He instructed me to quietly investigate the demonic path, and if possible, delay whatever plans they possessed. He only asked to delay, not stop, because he also knew it was impossible."

Demon Lord Nine Calamities slowly shook his head.

"I tried, I... truly tried."

His voice carried faint helplessness.

"But I failed; the schemes behind everything were simply too enormous, involving Immortal Gods from the Upper Realm. Even after discovering fragments of the truth, I still couldn’t stop them. Perhaps that senior had foreseen this from the very beginning."

A trace of unwillingness flashed through his eyes.

"Ultimately, a trace of that terrifying existence transformed by the Demon Saint was still successfully left behind in the Second Great Mortal World. The moment that happened, I knew... that everything had become irreversible."

Zhu Dong frowned slightly.

"A trace? What trace?"

Demon Lord Nine Calamities slowly shook his head.

"I don’t know, that senior never explained. I only know that after the trace was successfully established... the Immortals and Gods above obtained the qualifications to descend without any interference from other supreme powers of the 33 Heavens. They can begin the Cleansing... at any given moment."

Those final words caused even Zhu Dong to fall silent.

Any moment...

No one knew whether that meant tomorrow, ten years later or perhaps the very next instant.

Rain continuously poured between the three, like the mourning of heaven and earth.

After a long while, Demon Lord Nine Calamities suddenly looked directly at Tian Yongheng.

His gaze became unusually serious as he spoke.

"Eternal Lord, I’ve been observing you for a long time."

Tian Yongheng remained expressionless, allowing the Demon Lord to continue.

"You appeared too suddenly and rose too quickly. Within only a few centuries, you accomplished miracles impossible throughout history."

He slowly shook his head.

"I originally believed you were the reincarnation of some ancient powerhouse just like the rest of the world, but now, I have gradually come to a realization."

His eyes shone brightly as he said the next sentence.

"I think... you might be the greatest variable in this entire Era, perhaps the greatest in the history of the Mortal World."

Tian Yongheng appeared expressionless, but inwardly, he sighed quietly.

So it wasn’t just him who noticed.

On the other hand, Zhu Dong had a thoughtful expression.

The Demon Lord continued, "And perhaps the very reason those Immortals and Gods advanced the Cleansing."

Tian Yongheng’s heart sank slightly at these words.

"But at the same time..."

A faint smile appeared on Demon Lord Nine Calamities’ face.

"You are also the greatest hope."

He slowly raised his head towards the endless heavens above.

"Across every Heavenly Karmic Cycle, the Lower Realm has never surrendered. They have resisted, again and again."

His voice became louder with each word, reverberating across the skies.

"But every single time... they failed. Even in ages with peerless geniuses standing at the forefront, there were no exceptions."

Rain continuously washed across his face, but he made no attempt to wipe it away.

"But this era..."

His eyes slowly turned towards Tian Yongheng again.

"... feels different."

Tian Yongheng calmly looked back at him.

The Demon Lord slowly smiled.

"I don’t know why, but my intuition keeps telling me that this era possesses more monsters than any era before it. So many variables, so many impossible existences, gathered within one era."

He slowly clenched his fist.

"Perhaps... this will become the most glorious generation the Lower Realm has ever produced. The greatest in the history of the Mortal World."

His voice echoed across the cloudy heavens.

"The Upper Realm has treated the Lower Realm as sheep and cattle for countless Heavenly Karmic Cycles."

His eyes actually revealed astonishing fighting spirit.

"But even sheep, when driven to a dead end, can fight back with all its might."