Chapter 96: Seeking Immortal Artifacts, Cursed Holy Body

Chapter 96: Seeking Immortal Artifacts, Cursed Holy Body

Time flows, indifferent to the passage of years.

In the ancient grounds of the Jade Pool, Shaohua walked alone, admiring the timeless scenery that had remained unchanged for millennia.

This was her solitary path, spanning eighty thousand years, a journey she could share with no one.

In this life, she was gradually approaching old age, living to over forty thousand years without any major calamities, surpassing the total lifespan of her previous three lives.

Of course, immortality was merely a byproduct of the path to transcendence; it could not be the ultimate goal.

Her transformations and reversals in each life were steps forward in the mortal world, with the ultimate aim of achieving immortality.

Each additional year of life was a reward for her progress, a natural consequence of her efforts.

Otherwise, how would she know that she was drawing closer to the divine?

Her white hair flowed naturally over her chest and back as she watched a few younger generations of the Jade Pool enter the ancient grounds, admiring the indelible Dao marks that could not be moved.

On a cliff face, the faint outlines of her and her mother’s figures remained, etched with an eternal aura of Dao.

The younger generations could do nothing about these marks, nor could they remove the Dao marks left by others nearby.

Shaohua had never completely sealed off the ancient grounds of the Jade Pool, but no one had ever noticed her presence.

Sometimes, when she awakened from her state of enlightenment, it was amusing to see the worried expressions of the younger generations.

When she was in a good mood, she would even bestow some minor opportunities upon them.

“The Hengyu Da Di has been gone for over ten thousand years. The elders say that it is once again a time for geniuses to emerge and vie for the imperial path.”

“It’s so difficult. That’s not something we can achieve, and they say the path is extremely cruel, with most who take it never returning.”

“It’s still safe for us to stay in the Jade Pool. The only problem is that some people always mix up the relationship between the Western Empress and the Eastern Emperor, which is really frustrating.”

Shaohua twirled a strand of white hair around her finger, momentarily speechless.

Oh no, her suspicions had come true.

Time could not affect her, but it seemed that some stories had become increasingly exaggerated over the years.

She casually enlightened a few of the young girls, using her Dao sword to cleanse the muddled thoughts in their immortal platforms, restoring peace to the ancient grounds of the Jade Pool.

“Fifth Life”

Shaohua did not return to Kunlun but remained in the ancient grounds of the Jade Pool, for she would find herself here.

Over the past ten thousand years, she had been in the deepest state of enlightenment, rarely waking.

She was only roused once, when someone was undergoing the great tribulation of the Ninth Ascension to Quasi-Emperor.

And it was another Holy Body.

Fortunately, it was a Holy Body.

It had to be said that the ancient era was very suitable for the cultivation of Holy Bodies. Even in the so-called Dao Struggle era after the fall of the emperors, they could still make rapid progress.

A Great Completion Holy Body possessed the might of a Supreme Sovereign and was considered an uncrowned emperor in the age without emperors.

However, the world was not very peaceful in the following millennia.

No matter how few victories the Hengyu Da Di had, he was still a true emperor of his time. Combined with the lingering influence of Shaohua, the entities in the Life Forbidden Zones were more cautious and obedient.

The world said that the Hengyu Da Di inherited the prosperity initiated by the Eastern Emperor, bringing tens of thousands of years of peace to the universe, which was his greatest achievement.

But after the Hengyu Da Di’s death, some entities in the Life Forbidden Zones began to grow restless.

“The Hengyu Da Di has been dead for thousands of years. The Eastern Emperor can’t possibly still be alive, right?”

“I said it before, that woman could never be a match for the Immortal Heaven Emperor. She’s long dead!”

“Ha, in a way, we should thank her for leading the Immortal Heaven Emperor out, or we wouldn’t have been able to confirm that the ancient black hand truly exists.”

Many of the Ancient Royals in the Life Forbidden Zones grew up hearing tales of the Immortal Heaven Emperor.

In a sense, they naturally felt a kinship with the supreme deity of the ancient races.

But the Immortal Heaven Emperor’s method of bathing in the blood essence of emperors to seek immortality and transcendence was too brutal and terrifying.

Respect was one thing, but if it threatened their lives, it was another matter entirely.

Just like the War Sage Emperor at the end of the ancient era, who, despite his admiration for the Immortal Heaven Emperor in his youth and even after achieving Dao, ultimately destroyed the Immortal Heaven Emperor’s stronghold in his later years.

Originally, this was a mystery of the ages. Now, the entities in the Life Forbidden Zones were almost certain that the Immortal Heaven Emperor had tampered with the monkey’s attempt to transcend through battle.

In any case, after a period following the Hengyu Da Di’s death, some entities in the Life Forbidden Zones began to emerge again, occasionally causing small-scale upheavals.

At that time, Shaohua had no time to spare. Her fourth life was approaching its end, and she needed to focus all her energy on living out her fifth life.

The various measures she and the Hengyu Da Di had put in place began to take effect.

The Jade Pool had a rich heritage, and the Jiang family still had an imperial heir who could resist the entities emerging from the Life Forbidden Zones.

It wasn’t just the emergence of a Supreme Sovereign that caused dark upheavals; the appearance of a Supreme Sovereign’s descendants could also lead to small-scale disturbances.

These people were often highly cultivated, mostly Quasi-Emperors, and it was not difficult for them to slaughter star systems.

A Quasi-Emperor was still an emperor. The mere presence of the word "emperor" placed them in a different league from mere sages.

Among the various cultivation levels, the boundary between a Great Sage and a Quasi-Emperor was the most difficult to cross.

Moreover, those who emerged from the Life Forbidden Zones had the blood of Supreme Sovereigns flowing through their veins, and some were even ancient imperial princes.

They collected life essences and fought in their fathers’ stead, testing the strength of the mortal world. The disturbances they caused were no less severe than if a Supreme Sovereign had acted personally.

Fortunately, a Holy Body had emerged, stepping on the blood and bones of the life-forbidden zone creatures to ascend to the Great Completion stage. In the era without an emperor, he took the place of the emperor to safeguard the human world, ensuring a peaceful era.

"Hmph, what a Great Completion Holy Body. How many of these have there been now?"

"He is ultimately not a true emperor. How long can he last, already riddled with injuries? If we were to emerge, we could kill him with a single gesture!"

"The world should not continue to harbor such a constitution. A mere Quasi-Ninth, not yet enlightened, already possessing the power of a Supreme Sovereign—it must be suppressed!"

A Supreme Sovereign might be able to suppress a Great Completion Holy Body in the short term, but it would be difficult to kill him outright. Over time, the effort could exhaust even the Supreme Sovereign.

Elevating to the ultimate state could solve the problem, but even if the Great Completion Holy Body is powerful, he has not yet achieved enlightenment. However, a Supreme Sovereign who elevates would also find it hard to survive. What would be the point of winning then?

Thus, within the life-forbidden zones, a Supreme Sovereign spoke with an incredibly cold tone, proposing to unite others against the lineage of Holy Bodies.

At the root of it, it all came down to the Eastern Emperor's initial brilliance.

Who would have thought that the offspring of a Holy Body and an emperor could break the two ancient constraints: the inability of imperial descendants to achieve enlightenment and the suppression of the Great Dao, thus transcending to become a Holy Body?

With his own strength, he transformed the Imperishable Golden Body into what is now known as the Human Race's Holy Body.

Even though Shaohua herself had said that she severed her Holy Body lineage before achieving enlightenment, who would believe her?

Seeing another Great Completion Holy Body emerge in the world, some of the Supreme Sovereigns in the life-forbidden zones could no longer sit still.

Especially the two Supreme Sovereigns who originally came from the Sea of Reincarnation and later hid in the Immortal Mountain, they went around rallying support, and they actually managed to gather a force.

"Although the Holy Body's ancestral planet was destroyed, that lineage can still randomly appear among humans, impossible to eradicate. I suggest we place a curse on them as a means of control", proposed the Changsheng Tianzun from the Immortal Mausoleum.

"The Underworld once created a curse to assassinate the Western Emperor's mate, although it failed. The problem wasn't with the curse itself; it can be refined and improved", said the Jail King, who also hid in the Immortal Mountain.

"Severing the Holy Body lineage is nearly impossible unless the world undergoes a great transformation, making it difficult for such a constitution to cultivate."

"However, we can plant the seeds of a curse when they are weak, which will grow into an incurable affliction by the time they reach Great Completion. Then they will be much easier to deal with."

"But what if we miss some? We can't monitor the universe at all times. We need to rely on an immortal artifact."

The Supreme Sovereigns frowned. The Immortality Ascension Cauldron was already broken, part of it in the hands of the Eastern Emperor, and the rest had disappeared.

A Bronze Immortal Hall once emerged, held by the Desolation Lord, but he was not on their side and had an unknown connection with the Eastern Emperor.

They believed the Immortal Bell was still in the hands of the Immortal Heaven Emperor, and the Immortal Pagoda had also vanished.

The Supreme Sovereigns of the Divine Ruins looked at the Immortal Pagoda silently, hesitant to reveal their trump cards.

"We don't have an immortal artifact, but we do have a near-immortal artifact. If we work together, we might achieve what the ancient emperors did and ascend to immortality", said the Changsheng Tianzun, producing a black treasure wheel.

It was the Heaven-Piercing Hellish Treasure, which had disappeared!

The damage it sustained in the battle with the Western Emperor and his mate had been repaired by the Changsheng Tianzun.

Moreover, this artifact left by the Hell King had a special growth potential. Under certain conditions, it could transform into a true immortal artifact.

"The Tianzun has a good plan!" Many Supreme Sovereigns realized.

It seemed that the entire scheme to target the Holy Body lineage was orchestrated by the Changsheng Tianzun from the beginning, aiming to have others help him transform the Heaven-Piercing Hellish Treasure into an immortal artifact.

The allure of an immortal artifact was irresistible!

In the end, the Changsheng Tianzun managed to persuade many. The word "immortal" held too much weight in their hearts.

The Supreme Sovereigns had waited for eons for the path to immortality to open. Now, with the chance to create an immortal artifact themselves, how could they not be moved?

The ancient emperors had done the same, refining the Immortality Ascension Cauldron. It was hard to say that their ultimate achievements were unrelated to the immortal artifact.

If they could glimpse the secrets of an immortal artifact, even if they couldn't achieve immortality directly, they might rival the ancient emperors!

At the very least, it would give them more confidence in suppressing themselves or in battles when they emerged.

At this point, the Holy Body was a minor issue. As long as the Heaven-Piercing Hellish Treasure became an immortal artifact, everything would be fine.

The major life-forbidden zones began to act, sending many to search for the remains of powerful beings, moving ancient battlefields, and even attacking the ancestral lands of many races, digging up their graves.

Moreover, some Supreme Sovereigns, long suppressed, had the desire to emerge.

The world fell into chaos, and the Great Completion Holy Body could do little to stop it.

He was only one person, stretched thin, and ultimately not an emperor. He could not intimidate all the life-forbidden zones.

If not for the profound strength of the Jade Pool and the numerous descendants of the Hengyu Da Di, the world would have descended into even greater turmoil.

For thousands of years, the Great Completion Holy Body grew increasingly exhausted.

In his youth, with his vigor, he could still hold his own against the Supreme Sovereigns of the life-forbidden zones.

Now, he could not. He was old, his prime days behind him.

"The Dao suppression of the Hengyu Da Di has dissipated. New emperor, please appear soon!"

The Great Completion Holy Body watched the young generation, his gaze finally settling on a seemingly ordinary man, with no remarkable features or appearance.

"Will it be you?"

(End of Chapter)

Chapter end