Chapter 264: Transcendence (Part 20)
In another space.
Su Chen and Qin Wujie tore through the barrier.
"Is this the other world?" Qin Wujie asked as he looked around at the desolate wasteland.
"No, this is merely a ruin," Su Chen replied, shaking his head.
The land was bleak and lifeless, as if a cataclysmic war had wiped out all living beings, leaving only endless desolation behind. The two of them began searching for traces, trying to uncover what had happened here.
After several years of exploration, Su Chen and Qin Wujie confirmed one thing: there were no survivors. Everything had been completely eradicated.
Su Chen had a vague guess about the truth.
"During the battle for transcendence in the past, although true transcendence was not achieved, the barrier between worlds was shattered, causing this other world to gradually merge with ours. The Nether Mansion Immortal Spirit discovered it and sacrificed the entire world, devouring all its living beings to extend his own lifespan."
The reason the Nether Mansion Immortal Spirit had lived for millions of years was not only because he had consumed the beings of their original world. By chance, he had sensed the barrier pierced by the Undying Nether Emperor in the past. On the other side lay another world being slowly drawn toward theirs. The two worlds were on the verge of fusion.
Once the Nether Mansion Immortal Spirit found that world, he sacrificed every living being within it to prolong his life. All beings believed he had broken through the barrier and become the first transcendent of the new era. In reality, he had never truly transcended. He had simply stepped into another world. Any powerful Emperor who later emerged was secretly killed by him in advance. The other Emperors never had the qualifications to sense the existence of that other world, allowing him to weave a deception of transcendence that lasted millions of years.
However, neither Su Chen nor Qin Wujie could find any trace of the Nether Mansion Immortal Spirit.
Su Chen did not give up. Finally, in the first century of their search, they discovered clues.
"There's actually another space here," Su Chen said.
Sensing fluctuations from a battle between powerhouses, he and Qin Wujie joined forces and entered yet another world.
...
I am the Nether Mansion Immortal Spirit, but I have a name.
Tian Mingzi.
Compared to that name, I much prefer when all living beings call me Heavenly Nether Great Emperor.
I am the mandate of heaven itself.
I have existed since before the Mythical Era. The accumulated fortune and essence of the Nether Mansion over tens of millions of years converged upon me, destined to sweep away all enemies upon my birth and allow me to attain transcendence.
There was a small mishap when I gained sentience. A contemporary Great Emperor named Myraid Laws sought to uncover the secret of my birth, causing the Nether Mansion to be destroyed. Although I barely escaped, I suffered massive energy loss and was forced into hiding.
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I secretly swore that I would one day erase every trace connected to that Myriad Laws Great Emperor.
But I was too naive.
Before I could recover my strength and emerge, the world underwent massive upheaval. Self-severed supremes bathed in Emperor blood and triggered the Dark Turmoil. Faced with the terror of that chaos, I had no choice but to fall into a deep slumber and wait for it to end.
Yet I was wrong again.
After the Dark Turmoil ended, an even more terrifying era arrived. A single crow swept across the myriad realms, ending the Dark Era and feeding on supremes. Even Great Emperors were nothing more than playthings in his palm, devoured at will.
That crow seemed to be searching for something…
Since then, Tian Mingzi fell into a long slumber. Even after a thousand years, ten thousand years, or a million years had passed without the crow appearing, he still did not emerge. He knew the crow was still alive. If he appeared, he would only become food for that crow.
He kept waiting. He waited through one ten-thousand-year cycle after another, through one hundred-thousand-year cycle after another, through one million-year cycle after another.
Finally, a shockwave that shook the universe awakened him. He discovered… that the crow had failed at transcendence and was finally dead.
Tian Mingzi decisively chose to manifest as a living being and undergo his tribulation. Although that era had produced many monstrous geniuses, he swept through them all with ease. In a single lifetime, he became an Emperor and earned the reverence of myriad races.
After overcoming the Nine-Layered Heavenly Tribulation, Tian Mingzi devoured every remaining self-severed supreme, further advancing his cultivation.
He sensed the existence of another world beyond their own. Although the Undying Nether Emperor had failed to achieve transcendence, he had pierced the barrier, causing the two worlds to gradually merge. Heavenly Nether Great Emperor decisively chose to break into that world. He succeeded and became recorded in history as the first being to transcend. Yet he had also failed. The other side was not the legendary immortal realm, but merely another universe.
Tian Mingzi encountered powerful enemies and was besieged by experts from that universe. However, as a Great Emperor who had overcome the Nine-Layered Emperor Tribulation, he could easily slaughter even their so-called Great Emperors despite his relatively short time since achieving the Dao. He killed and refined every living being in that world, only to discover a heaven-shaking secret.
The Heart of the Universe.
This was the true secret of transcendence. Throughout history, those who failed to transcend were not lacking in power, but lacked the recognition of the Universe Heart. Without it, they had no right to survive in the void beyond universes and would be killed by its rules.
To obtain the recognition of the Universe Heart, one needed one of the Nine Innate Supreme Treasures.
Tian Mingzi happened to possess one. Yet just as he prepared to return to his original universe, an accident occurred. This world had its own transcendent who had refined the Universe Heart. Upon discovering that his world had been destroyed, that being immediately began hunting Tian Mingzi.
Tian Mingzi was forced to fight this terrifying powerhouse while simultaneously eliminating promising Emperors from his original universe who might discover this world. He needed their life essence to replenish himself and had to keep the terrifying existence from entering his home universe to slaughter its beings and seize the Universe Heart.
...
"It's you!?"
Space shattered.
In a void filled with endless layered dimensions where even the river of time had been severed and sunk, two incomparably terrifying existences had been battling for millions of years.
Now, that balance had been broken by two new figures who had barged into the battlefield.
The terrifying being shrouded in dark, indistinct aura seemed to recognize the newcomers.
"Myriad Laws… just who are you to him?" he demanded. "Why do you possess the Undying Nether Blade?"
The supreme expert wrapped in dark aura was none other than Tian Mingzi. His expression was extremely ugly.
Su Chen looked at him calmly and said, "Myriad Laws Great Emperor was the founding ancestor of my lineage. As for the Undying Nether Blade, it is the inheritance of the Undying Nether Emperor."
"You come from the Myriad Laws orthodoxy! Damn it… I should have completely erased every last trace left by Myriad Laws back then!" Tian Mingzi's voice carried deep regret.
For millions of years, he had nearly forgotten about the Myriad Laws Great Emperor. If not for the familiar aura emanating from Su Chen, he might never have recalled the matter.
The orthodoxy of Myriad Laws Great Emperor had actually survived the Emperor Dao Era and produced yet another supreme expert!