Shen Qian fell into a daze and was unable to recover for a long time.

He had searched and explored for so long, and finally got the "answer" he wanted.

But who could have imagined that the answer would be so despairing?

The Demon King gazed at Shen Qian's complex expression, and after a long silence, finally spoke, "Are you filled with despair?"

Shen Qian opened his mouth, but in the end he just nodded.

Who can help but despair!

This has absolutely nothing to do with the so-called state of mind. You should know that even the person with the strongest "Dao Heart" still has their faith rooted in "Martial Arts" itself.

When the very essence of "martial arts" is distorted, no matter how good your mindset is, it will collapse overnight.

"...Why?" Shen Qian's mind was in turmoil. He wanted to ask something several times, but in the end, he could only ask three words in a somber tone.

He couldn't understand it, nor could he comprehend it.

"I first realized it when I had just broken through to the Great Emperor level."

Perhaps because so much time had passed, the Demon King appeared calm and composed. With another flick of his sleeve, he led the two back to the tea table. However, looking at the tea, which was clearly the finest in the world, Chen Qian had no desire to eat it and simply waited for the Demon King to explain the whole story.

"At that time, I was full of vigor. I thought I was the first person to reach the Great Emperor realm since the chaos. I felt that the world was so vast, what could I not do, and where could I not go?"

The Demon King continued to recall, "But I still felt something was strange, because... after breaking through to the Great Emperor realm, I actually progressed even faster."

"You should know that the path of martial arts is like rowing against the current. Once you reach the Mountain and Sea realms, it's even more like going against a waterfall. The further you go, the harder it becomes to improve. How can you possibly go faster?"

Chen Qian had calmed down considerably by now and nodded upon hearing this.

Kings and nobles have long lifespans; for example, King Zhou Yi lived for at least several thousand years. However, Shen Qian was very certain that he was already a top-level king and noble several thousand years ago, which means that he has made no progress over the years.

But this is the norm.

Since the Great Emperor is above King Wu, it should be even more difficult for him to make any progress.

"But at that time I felt that I was still moving forward at a speed of thousands of miles a day. From the initial entry into the Great Emperor realm to the so-called peak of the Great Emperor realm, I only spent three to five years. And the strangest thing is that I didn't feel anything was wrong with myself."

The Demon King chuckled, "Until I began to travel the universe in search of a higher realm, and also wanted to see if there were any other Emperor-level beings still alive, I inadvertently discovered a hidden space within the 'Primordial Land'..."

"You know, before I went to the underworld, I didn't want to enter this hidden space. It was as if every part of my body was resisting it. It was as if this place was filled with some kind of danger that would completely destroy me!"

"My first instinct was to escape, but at the crucial moment, it was my will, which had bled for thousands of years, that played a key role. Or perhaps I've lived long enough that if I could find something that could threaten me, I would only feel excited. So I stepped into this place."

"Grandmaster, do you mean that these 'black blocks' are controlling your will?"

Shen Qian was horrified. The fact that a great emperor could almost make a choice against his conscience without knowing the truth was truly terrifying to contemplate.

"Yes, it wasn't until I entered this place that these dark spots in my body appeared without warning. It was like someone who had been sleepwalking for a long time suddenly waking up and discovering all sorts of abnormalities in themselves."

The Demon King sighed, "After thinking about it carefully, I realized that these dark spots that have eroded the depths of my soul are nothing more than the intense Daoist aura that I was so proud of."

"After reviewing everything, I initially refused to believe that there was something wrong with my understanding of the 'Heavenly Dao.' I even suspected that there was a more powerful being playing tricks on me. It wasn't until I fused this clone and searched the universe that I finally reached that so-called 'end'..."

"'The end'?"

Having heard this term before, Shen Qian's expression turned grave. "What exactly is that place?"

"That is where heaven and earth were first created, the beginning of the universe, the source of the 'Dao Sea,' the end of all dimensions, and also... the source of the river of time."

The Demon King explained, "Actually, Earth, also known as 'Primordial Earth,' was originally part of that place. It only separated after the chaos began, barely leaving behind a 'seed.'"

Shen Qian only vaguely understood the second half of the Demon King's sentence, but he finally understood what the so-called "end" that Jiangling King and the Heavenly Emperor were talking about was.

"So that's where she exists?" Shen Qian said softly. "She's essentially the embodiment of the 'Heavenly Dao'?"

"To clearly understand how she came to be, we need to start from the cause of it all."

The Demon King nodded and then shook his head, saying, "To be honest, I was reckless. If I hadn't happened to encounter the contingency plan left by Nuwa, I'm afraid I would have been devoured by her, and I would never have been able to reveal the truth and inform those who came after me."

"Nuwa?" Shen Qian asked in surprise.

"Nuwa was not only the 'mother' who created the human race, but she was also the ancestor of my demon race. So I guess that she may have initially placed her hopes for turning things around on the demon race, but later found that relying on the demon race was not enough, so she created the human race instead."

The Demon King said meaningfully, "There's a little-known fact you might not know."

"What?" Shen Qian asked in surprise.

"Among all the races in the universe, only the human race appeared after ancient times and has no connection with the original chaos."

"ah?"

"You'll understand what I mean in a moment," the Demon King said with a faint smile. "Let's start from the very beginning, from the very beginning of chaos. Countless primordial lives were born in that chaos, but only two were the first to develop self-awareness."

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