"Aren't you surprised?" Jiu Liu San was surprised instead; Cao Ya's reaction was too calm.
“I expected this.” Cao Ya smiled. He had a deep impression of the Soul River battle in the original timeline, after all, many characters appeared, and it was the first time that the bizarre was shown in a relatively comprehensive way.
"Ah, that's right. You killed some strange spies outside the realm, including the current master of the Soul Light Cave. It's normal to have such speculations." Jiu Liu San suddenly realized.
Then, Jiu Liu San smiled and looked at Cao Ya, saying, "How about it, do you want to go together?"
Cao Ya nodded and said softly, "I have traveled all over the mortal realm, but I still haven't found the path to becoming an Immortal King. Relying solely on arduous cultivation, it's very likely that it will take more than a million years. By then, it will be too late! I hope that this journey to the River of Souls will inspire me and clarify the path to becoming an Immortal King!"
After speaking, Cao Ya sighed. Becoming a Celestial King was much more difficult than he had imagined!
Moreover, this is under the condition that he has different extraordinary magical power and different understanding of the Dao. If he had not been able to enter the system space... well, he would still be a fragmented Yu Jiu. Without hundreds of thousands of years of accumulation, he would not even be able to solve the defects, let alone break through Yu Jiu!
963 said speechlessly, "Don't be in such a hurry. You've only been at the Yuji Realm for a few days, and you're already thinking about breaking through to become a king."
Jiu Liu San thought to himself that he had only been a Celestial King since the chaotic ancient times. Even if he was at the level of Emperor Light Celestial King, it would take countless eras and hundreds of billions of years to surpass Cao Ya. In comparison, he was indeed far inferior.
"However, Cao Ya's cultivation progress is comparable to that of the ancient Heavenly Emperors. It's not surprising that his goal is different from mine. My dream is only to become a Quasi-Immortal Emperor. If I can achieve that, I will have no regrets and will be qualified to participate in the most brutal battlefields and fight alongside those heroes!"
"It's obvious that Cao Ya has set his sights on the level of the Celestial Emperor... It has to be said that he really has a chance, and in the future, he may become an important helper to several Celestial Emperors!"
Jiu Liusan secretly thought that he had a high opinion of Cao Ya, but he misunderstood Cao Ya.
In fact, what Cao Ya wanted was simply to break through to the next level and become a king, truly reaching the essence of a six-star level.
As for breaking through to become an emperor, that's something to be done step by step, let alone reaching the highest level of immortal emperor.
"Besides us, there are a few other people. Don't forget to notify them," Cao Ya reminded them.
"Don't worry, an ancient master wouldn't forget." Jiu Liu San laughed, then began meditating, repeatedly calling out the Black Emperor's name. Through the mysterious connection, he instantly alerted the Black Emperor!
In that vast, empty world, the black behemoth, who had been guarding the emperor's corpse and the broken bell, was half-asleep when suddenly he felt a strange sensation. His heart skipped a beat, and he immediately became suspicious and restless.
"Who's talking about me? They're making it impossible for me to sleep peacefully. Is it that brat Chu Feng?"
With a somber face, the Black Emperor followed the thread of cause and effect, unleashing his great supernatural power to look over. To his astonishment, he saw a disheveled man, Jiu Liu San, who looked like a withered corpse, grinning at him!
"Damn it, what the hell? This old bastard has finally had his moment of glory, he's actually calling out my name... Uh, no way, I'm a man!"
Black Emperor's hair stood on end. Although he was very old and had suffered various misfortunes and serious injuries, lacking energy and spirit, he still had a fierce appearance, baring his teeth and growling at 963.
"I'm warning you, don't you dare have any designs on me, or I'll kill you! I'll burn your skin and scatter your ashes!" The Black Emperor's expression was hostile; this old fellow had probably lived too long and his mind had become a bit twisted.
9631 was speechless. This damn dog, can't he think of something good?
Cao Ya laughed heartily beside him, "Black Emperor is as unreliable as ever."
"Get lost! I have serious business with you," 963 said irritably, explaining his plan.
Upon hearing this, the Black Emperor's large eyes lit up, and he became more and more excited as he thought about it. He bared his teeth and said, "Great! I've long wanted to venture into the River of Souls again. It just so happens that if I kill a bunch of scum and bring them to the mortal realm, I might be able to burn them as firewood and use the rules and symbols of their energy Dao to nourish my imperial body!"
"Sigh, times have changed. We'll just have to make do with what we have. The trash from the River of Souls still has some substance."
The Black Emperor muttered, showing no fear whatsoever. He had personally participated in that battle, and the blood of countless supreme beings from all heavens had stained his hands on more than one person!
Even though his strength has declined and his realm has decreased, dealing with a Celestial King is still not a big problem.
Recalling the past, and thinking of the Three Heavenly Emperors leading the ancient heroes to attack the Soul River, fighting strange battles, and the flames of war, the Black Emperor couldn't help but feel his blood boil. He looked up to the sky and roared, as if he had returned to the past.
"You filthy things! Even though I am old and frail, killing a whole group of you Immortal Kings is just a matter of minutes! Let's go, let's fight the River of Souls again!"
The Black Emperor roared, but it wasn't in a wildly arrogant manner. Having witnessed the power of the Soul River and its eerie, bloody cruelty, he became even more cautious and filled with even greater hatred!
"The aura of a peerless master!" Cao Ya, on the earth of the mortal realm, saw the Black Emperor in the empty interface through the connection of the causal threads. He stood upright, his copper bell-shaped eyes wide open, and his blood-red mouth agape, like a prehistoric beast with a grand spirit that could swallow the universe!
"I almost forgot, the Black Emperor was once a supreme being in the [Covering the Sky] timeline. After hundreds of millions of years, he even attained the Quasi-Immortal Emperor realm, which is extremely powerful—even if this is not his true form, it is definitely not inferior, comparable to the top existence among Immortal Kings!" Cao Ya thought to himself.
"You're going to take this Heavenly Emperor's corpse with you?" Jiu Liu San, standing nearby, was taken aback.
Cao Ya looked closely and saw that the Black Emperor was carrying the corpse of the Great Emperor Wushi on his back. His claws gripped the broken bell tightly. In the distance, there seemed to be boundless evil energy boiling and tearing the sky apart. Blood rain also fell down in torrents, which could shock the mortal world!
From the ancient times to the present day, the Black Emperor has experienced countless battles and survived the birth and death of many eras. Moreover, the display of power by a Divine Light Immortal King—whose essence is even that of a Quasi-Immortal Emperor!—would be strange if there were no extraordinary phenomena!
963 stared, his eyes filled with envy. He was a person from the Chaotic Ancient Era, and his lifespan was more than one era older than the Black Emperor, but his cultivation level was actually lower.
Even if the nine bodies were to merge into one, there is currently no hope of breaking through the King realm and becoming an Emperor!
"Clang!" The bell waves were vast and boundless, tearing through the void. The Black Emperor, carrying the corpse of the Emperor and holding the broken bell, descended with a thunderous roar!
He concealed his aura and did not release it. Otherwise, the entire mortal realm and billions of living beings would be terrified. Not to mention the silent Emperor's corpse, that great bell, even though it was damaged, was essentially an artifact of the Immortal Emperor. Even a wisp of its aura could be enough to destroy the Great World, end the universe, and create a new world!
"Won't the body of the Heavenly Emperor be left in that world?" Jiu Liu San asked, bowing respectfully to the corpse of the Great Emperor Wu Shi.
The Heavenly Emperor, who sacrificed himself for all realms, deserves the respect of all beings!
"If we find something of great value deep within the River of Souls, I will intercept it and refine it in order to awaken the Great Emperor Wushi," the Black Emperor said in a deep voice. "Furthermore, the Great Emperor is accompanied by the Emperor Bell. If we do encounter a very large old monster, we also have a trump card that allows us to retreat back to the mortal realm!"
"Well thought out." Jiu Liu San nodded. Even without consciousness, the body of the Heavenly Emperor, with the Black Emperor and the Remnant Bell, is enough to detonate part of the Emperor's corpse's power. Perhaps not at the full strength of an Immortal Emperor, it can contend with a Quasi-Immortal Emperor without any problem.
No matter how quiet the River of Souls may seem, it should not be underestimated. Deep within it, there must be the supreme beings of the heavens slumbering!
"It seems I also need to go back and retrieve some crucial items," Jiu Liu San pondered. Countless eras have passed, and calamities have come and gone. The legacy of the Desolate Emperor has indeed consumed too much, but there are still some things left behind that can unleash earth-shattering attacks.
"It's never wrong to be prepared!" the Black Emperor said seriously. "During the chaotic ancient times, the Desolate Heavenly Emperor ventured into the River of Souls alone, without anyone accompanying him. You may have also had dealings with the River of Souls later, but it certainly wasn't a full-scale war!"
"But we have engaged in the most brutal super war with the River of Souls, including the Ancient Underworld, the Heavenly Emperor's Burial Pit, and the Four Extremes Floating Soil. Even the Heavenly Emperor has been stained with blood! The supreme beings of the Heavens at the end of the road have also been blasted to death by the Heavenly Emperor!"
"The Soul River is special among the territories of the strange races, and should not be underestimated!"
With a serious expression, Jiu Liusan looked at the calm appearance of the Soul River and realized that he had indeed been somewhat negligent.
Anything involving the supernatural should not be taken lightly; the slightest carelessness could lead to a bloody lesson!
"Wait a minute, I'm going back!" Jiu Liu San said, and immediately flew back to the First Mountain of Xia Prefecture.
"Black Emperor, we meet again." Cao Ya smiled and cupped his hands in greeting.
Black Emperor flicked his paw, glanced at Cao Ya, and cautioned, "Breaking through to the King realm isn't easy. Even the ancient Heavenly Emperors spent a considerable amount of time on it. Being too hasty and having an unstable Dao heart will only bring great calamity!"
Cao Ya said he had learned a lot and had to admit that after entering the system space, his usually steady Dao heart became restless.
"Your cultivation progress is already very fast, no slower than that of the Heavenly Emperor. You have a promising future. To break through from King to Emperor, you need to lay a solid foundation. A tall building starts from the ground up. At the levels of Immortal King, Quasi-Immortal Emperor, and Immortal Emperor, any tiny flaw will lead to the most serious consequences, and you absolutely do not want such a situation to occur!" The Black Emperor warned earnestly.
Like 963, Black Emperor also favored Cao Ya, because his cultivation speed and combat performance were extremely formidable, comparable to the ancient Heavenly Emperor!
If such evolved beings can continue to grow, at the end of this era, when the world is mysteriously destroyed, a new Immortal Emperor may be born. At that time, the ancient powerful figures at the end of the road will have a powerful ally, and their chances of winning will definitely increase slightly!
"Hmm." Cao Ya took a deep breath, calmed his mind, and suddenly felt that the realm of the Immortal King was faintly emerging. His Dao heart was improving and becoming very clear. He also gained new insights into the "Great Sun Tathagata Fist". The black and gold sun became more and more profound.
Black Emperor's eye twitched violently. This guy's comprehension was simply too outrageous. He actually found the path to breaking through to become a king so easily? He was clearly very impatient before, without any enlightenment...
"However, this is for the best! Several Heavenly Emperors may now have allies of the same level!"
The Black Emperor thought to himself, "The battlefield of the Heavenly Emperors is against the Immortal Emperors of the strange races, and even the progenitors of the Sacrifice Dao Realm! In such a battle at the highest level, even a Quasi-Immortal Emperor wouldn't be cannon fodder. He would only distract the Heavenly Emperors, causing them to neglect one thing and suffer a great disaster!"
The problem is that the emergence of an Immortal Emperor is extremely difficult. Over the long years, there have been many powerful figures from the Chaotic Ancient Era, the Desolate Ancient Era, and the various eras of the myriad worlds. If you really count them, there are actually quite a few Quasi-Immortal Emperors, but those who have taken that final step are very few and far between!
"Clang!" At this moment, the broken bell rang softly, and the vast waves of bell sounded, sweeping over the dangerous place, and in an instant, a peaceful and serene scene appeared.
The Black Emperor was taken aback, then laughed heartily, "Haha, even the Beginningless Bell acknowledges you."
As he spoke, the Black Emperor said with great regret, "It's a pity that you are not a born holy body, otherwise, the Great Emperor Wushi would have had a new successor."
Under his matchmaking, Ye Fan married a mortal woman with a congenital Dao embryo and had a child, a congenital holy body Dao embryo. The child learned the "Beginningless Scripture," made great progress, and later became a quasi-Immortal Emperor, even surpassing him. Like Duan De and the Holy Prince, he was infinitely close to the Immortal Emperor realm!
However, the Holy Prince, Ye Yishui, Ji Zi, Yang Xi, Xiao Song, Dao Yi, Huo Lin'er, and countless other experts all perished in the battle against the strange entity. Only he and a few others, including Duan De, survived. Even the three Heavenly Emperors either died or disappeared...
Thinking of this, the Black Emperor felt a pang of sadness and let out a long, melancholy sigh.
At the same time, an endless killing intent, burning fiercely, emerged, seeking revenge on the River of Souls and demanding blood for blood!
Cao Ya scratched his head. He really hadn't expected that the Black Emperor's obsession with the Innate Sacred Body Dao Embryo was so strong.
Furthermore, in "Covering the Sky," he is one of the top masters. In terms of both cultivation and age, the Black Emperor is actually just a junior in front of him.
As a result, in the [Sacred Ruins] universe, he became the Black Emperor's junior, inferior in both cultivation and age, and their positions were reversed.
"Well, back in the Chaotic Ancient Era, 963 was one of the eight hundred disciples of Shi Hao's Heavenly Court, and also my junior in [Perfect World]. Here, isn't he still a senior figure..."
Cao Ya shook his head. Since it was a parallel universe, there was no need to dwell on these things.
"Even if the heroes of the mortal realm unite, it will still be extremely dangerous to go to the River of Souls," said the Black Emperor. The River of Souls now is definitely not as good as the River of Souls during the destruction of the world. Even if there are supreme beings in the heavens, they will not be in a conscious state, but will be in a slumber, let alone the supreme beings in the heavens.
Even so, the River of Souls remains powerful, and the alliance of Immortal Kings and True Immortals is far from secure!
Otherwise, why would the Black Emperor carry the corpse of the Great Emperor Wushi and the broken bell?
The special reminder to 963 was also to prevent any unforeseen events, to bury the entire River of Souls, to cause a break in the lineage of the mortal world, and to completely lose the ability to resist the strange forces at the end of this era!
"Clang." The broken bell shook, seemingly warning and reminding the Black Emperor.
“There’s no other way.” The Black Emperor smiled bitterly and said, “My injuries are too severe. Despite my efforts to recover, there has been no improvement. If this continues, it will only worsen, and I may not even be able to maintain my Immortal King level.”
"Moreover, I have searched for the Three Lives Emperor Medicine for countless eons, yet I have found nothing. Perhaps, it can only be found in some strange and mysterious place!"
"A civilization that has reaped countless eras of civilizations, its mysterious foundation surpasses anyone's imagination! Even if the River of Souls is just one part of its territory!"
"This time, I accepted the invitation to go to the River of Souls to fight again, both for my wish—that even if I die, I must die on the battlefield, taking the strange enemy with me, and never die of old age in bed—and to find the wonder that can revive the Great Emperor!"
The Black Emperor's claws caressed the broken bell, a departure from its usual unreliable behavior, becoming serious and composed.
Cao Ya sighed. The heroes of the chaotic and desolate ancient times, no matter what their temperaments were in the past, all had experienced vicissitudes and sorrowful emotions that lingered in their souls at the point of the [Sacred Ruins], which they could not shake off!
They endured countless vicissitudes, separations and deaths, the destruction of heaven and earth, and even died once or twice themselves, only to be resurrected by the Heavenly Emperor! (Scan the QR code to download Hongxiu and Xiaoxiang's joint promotion: new users can read for free for a limited time!)
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com