The moment before sinking was terrifying.
Because he was browsing the log of idle time within his own consciousness space at that moment.
For any martial artist, this is an absolute private space.
At that moment, Shen Qian heard another person's voice. It felt like someone was talking to you while you were taking a shower or taking a dump. No, it was even worse... The terror it contained was unimaginable.
As Shen Qian abruptly turned around, he saw that with the sigh, specks of light drifted out from the system, gradually outlining a semi-transparent, illusory figure in front of him.
The illusory figure vaguely resembled a young man in his thirties, with sharp features, a well-proportioned face, wearing a white mountain and river robe and a purple-gold sun and moon crown.
He had no cultivation and could not sense life force, but the aura he vaguely exuded was a kind of overwhelming grandeur.
"You are..." Shen Qian had a vague guess in his heart, but he was not sure.
“You may call me ‘Taiyi’, or my former name, ‘Rui’.”
The young man smiled slightly.
"Heavenly Emperor!"
Shen Qian's body trembled. Although he had expected it, he was still inevitably surprised.
This is, after all, the first figure in the Chinese mythological system. Some call him the Jade Emperor, while others refer to him as the Supreme God of Heaven. If his full name and titles were written out, they would probably not fit on a single A4 sheet of paper.
"The Supreme God who opened the heavens, held the talisman, governed the calendar, embodied the true Dao, resided in the golden palace and cloud palace, ruled the nine heavens and governed the myriad Daos... the High God."
...It was too long, and I didn't write down the middle part before it was buried.
In the eyes of many ordinary people, he is even a synonym for "heaven"—no, perhaps it should be referred to as the unique "He".
The sudden appearance of such a person in Shen Qian's consciousness space caused an unimaginable shock to Shen Qian.
"I was once revered as Emperor by the Three Realms." The young man nodded, acknowledging the honor.
Shen Qian recalled that the other person's figure was projected by the system, and connecting it with his previous guesses, he couldn't help but ask, "So... you are the system, and the system is you? All along, you've been in charge of my AFK mode?"
Upon hearing Shen Qian's question, the Heavenly Emperor was taken aback for a moment, then burst into laughter.
What are you laughing at?
"If I have not perished, why should I live as a dependent for others? How can a true man do such a despicable thing!"
The Heavenly Emperor shook his head, his smile fading slightly, and said, "Since ancient times, there has never been an immortal being. To be born is to be born, and to die is to die... As for me, I am already dead."
"What you see now is merely a shadow of the remnants of the will of this celestial realm. By condensing my immortal position, you have essentially awakened the remaining 'me'."
The Heavenly Emperor's few words contained a great deal of information.
However, Shen Qian clearly heard a sense of denial in his words.
The Heavenly Emperor was telling him that, given his status and pride, he was not allowed to do something like hiding in someone else's body to eke out a living.
In other words, the system has nothing to do with the Heavenly Emperor; the Heavenly Emperor's afterimage before us only appeared because we had condensed his immortal position before the sinking...
Shen Qian first felt inexplicably relieved.
After all, although the system has extremely strong intelligence and autonomy, Shen Qian still doesn't want it to be another living person.
It's roughly the difference between a complete puppet and a weakling assisted by artificial intelligence. Even a weakling has its own independent personality, which is better than a powerful puppet...
He thought to himself with a self-deprecating smile before sinking into the water.
But then he realized something was wrong.
Because the log clearly states that "a past memory has been awakened".
If I am not the Heavenly Emperor, or the system has no connection with the Heavenly Emperor, then why is this text popping up?
From a causal perspective, it is indeed because he first awakened this memory that he was able to successfully condense the broken immortal position of the Heavenly Emperor.
Could it be... that the Heavenly Emperor is deceiving him?
Shen Qian was startled at first, but then frowned.
If the other party is trying to deceive him to achieve some ulterior motive, then it seems unnecessary to step forward at this time; he can simply control everything from behind the scenes.
"I understand your doubts, and I also know the origin of the secret within you."
At this moment, the Heavenly Emperor seemed to see through what Shen Qian was thinking as his expression kept changing, and smiled meaningfully, "But some answers can only be explored by yourself."
"Why?"
This was the first time Shen Qian had encountered a top-tier expert who clearly knew of the existence of his system, even if he was dead... Shen Qian's eagerness to uncover the mystery made him somewhat irritable.
"It cannot be spoken of, even here..."
The Heavenly Emperor stopped speaking halfway through his sentence.
Even here...
He pondered these six words before sinking in.
Could it be that someone can eavesdrop on his inner thoughts?
Shen Qian found it somewhat absurd, but seeing the Heavenly Emperor's appearance, he knew he couldn't force him to do anything. After thinking for a moment, he decided to try to learn something useful from this top expert, so he took a deep breath and asked, "Is that pitch-black heart really yours, Heavenly Emperor?"
“It used to be.”
The Heavenly Emperor sighed, "Later it spoiled, so I removed it."
"You picked it?"
Shen Qian had intended to ask if swallowing a black heart truly made one a Martial King, but he was taken aback by the answer he received. "What does that mean?"
"Literal meaning."
The Heavenly Emperor smiled slightly.
"Did you commit suicide?"
He did not hide his shock before sinking.
"You must understand that at my level, it is very difficult to perceive death from the perspective of external forces alone... very, very difficult."
My dear reader, there's more to this chapter! Please click the next page to continue reading—even more exciting content awaits!
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
