The Dao of Reincarnation (234-235) (Patreon)

Chapter 234: The Undying Nether Emperor (Part 15)

Three hundred years had passed since Su Chen left the Flying Cloud Realm. He had finally gathered enough resources for his fourth Nirvana. Each Nirvana enhanced both his talent and cultivation, but the time and resources required grew dramatically with every attempt. This one took a full thousand years.

For over a thousand years, the Flying Cloud Realm had heard no news of the peerless black crow. Many factions began to celebrate. Yet before they could even catch their breath, the Abyssal Sea Sacred Land's Saint Ancestor returned with the Sacred Lord and a large force of experts from beyond the realm.

Back then, the Saint Ancestor had known he was no match for Su Chen. Fearing revenge that would destroy thousands of years of cultivation, he had fled the realm with his bloodline descendants, abandoning the sacred land to wander the starry skies.

By chance, he had rescued a persecuted heir from a powerful sect. That heir turned out to be the direct descendant of a Great Saint Ancestor from that major orthodox lineage. As a result, both the Abyssal Sea Saint Ancestor and the Sacred Lord had joined this formidable sect. The Sacred Lord had even received a great opportunity and broken through to the Saint Realm.

Now, upon learning that his benefactor was searching for rare and exotic beasts to offer to a certain important figure, the Saint Ancestor immediately thought of the peerless black crow. He still wondered what kind of crow could be so terrifying that it had forced him to abandon his home and drift through the stars. This was his chance for revenge.

The sect heir showed great interest in the black crow. Because of the matter's importance, they had even convinced a Saint King from the sect to take action.

Inside the Flying Cloud Realm, the various orthodoxies felt bitter. They had only just sent off one demon god and enjoyed a thousand years of peaceful development. Now the Abyssal Sea Sacred Land's ancestors had returned, plundering their resources once more. With a Saint King present, none of them dared to resist.

Worse still, the Abyssal Sea Saint Ancestor was now leading this fearsome army straight into the forbidden zone.

...

Over the past millennium, with Yuan Yuan and Jin Da standing guard, Su Chen's small demon territory had grown into a full-fledged demon nation, rivaling the sacred lands in power.

Yet today, the Black Crow Demon Nation faced utter catastrophe. The Abyssal Sea Sacred Lord and Saint Ancestor had returned with overwhelming force.

"A Saint King artifact," a handsome young man standing before the Abyssal Sea Saint Ancestor remarked with mild surprise as he gazed at the golden light enveloping the entire demon nation. Even in his Heavenly Yang Divine Sect, Saint King artifacts were extremely rare.

Beside the young man stood an elder whose aura was as deep and unfathomable as an abyss.

"This Saint King artifact carries vast righteous energy, yet it has been subdued by a demon. It seems that the demon is no ordinary being," the elder said. He was a Saint King of the Heavenly Yang Divine Sect, and his insight was profound.

Saint Kings were considered true powerhouses even in this great era.

"I didn't expect this demon to earn such praise from Thirteenth Grandfather," the young man said with a smile. "This trip was worth it. This demon will surely please Princess Huangyue."

A smile spread across the young man's face.

A demon capable of subduing a human race's righteous Qi was extraordinarily valuable.

Jin Da stood as if facing a mortal enemy.

"A Saint King… that's a Saint King realm powerhouse!"

Though he was a Saint King artifact, he was no more than an ant before a true Saint King. With a single finger, the Saint King shattered countless killing characters. Jin Da suffered severe damage and had no power to resist. In the end, a Saint King artifact was still just an object.

Just as the starry sky, Saint King prepared to interrogate him about Su Chen's whereabouts, a black flame blazed across the sky of the Flying Cloud Realm, scorching heaven and earth.

The shocking phenomenon drew the gaze of every living being in the realm.

"Someone is undergoing a Saint tribulation!"

The terrifying aura provoked the wrath of the heavens, summoning calamitous punishment to correct the natural order and extinguish the black flames. Yet the horrifying black fire devoured the nine heavens and instead swallowed the descending lightning.

A figure emerged from within. Black flames swirled around him as feathers drifted down, condensing into a peerless demonic blade. One slash left an indelible black scar across the sky of the Flying Cloud Realm.

An unparalleled genius!

Su Chen's breakthrough to the Saint realm did not stop there. Saint Realm First Layer… Second Layer… all the way to the Fifth Layer before it finally ceased. He had plundered far too many treasures over the years. His bloodline had broken through its limits, and the remaining energy had transformed directly into cultivation.

The living beings of the Flying Cloud Realm would never forget this day. A heaven-shaking battle nearly shattered the entire realm.

...

The heir of the Heavenly Yang Divine Sect had died—along with one of their Saint Kings! Both had been slain by a demon beast known as the Nether Crow. The news enraged the Heavenly Yang Divine Sect. They paid a heavy price and vowed to kill the Nether Crow at all costs.

"This script feels somewhat familiar," Su Chen thought.

He was hunted by the Heavenly Yang Divine Sect for a full century. Not only did they fail to eliminate him, but they even lost several Supreme Elders in the process.

During those hundred years, Su Chen learned more and more secrets. He finally understood the source of the Emperor's fall and rise he had sensed during his previous Nirvana. After his death in his previous life, a new Emperor had been born in the universe: the Divine Might Great Emperor.

The new Emperor had reigned supreme for over twenty thousand years. Perhaps out of boredom, he chose to wage war against the forbidden zones. This was not unusual. However, unlike others who guarded the perimeter, Divine Might charged straight into the zones. Although he gained little, he managed to return alive. He repeated this feat several times until one day… the Great Emperor fell.

Su Chen found it absurd. In his last life, he had been known as the Myriad Laws Great Emperor. He had attained the Dao with the Flying Immortal Dao Body, which allowed him to retreat safely from the forbidden zones multiple times. Even so, he had nearly met disaster and eventually stopped entering recklessly.

Yet Divine Might had been even bolder.

After Divine Might's death, Yao Tianxin—a powerhouse of the same era—attained the Dao. Su Chen remembered him as a rare prodigy of the demon race who had risen during his own ten-thousand-year reign. Yao Tianxin had been one of the most promising candidates to become Emperor.

After Yao Tianxin attained the Dao, the dark turmoil subsided. His personality was steady and cautious. Unlike Divine Might, he did not charge recklessly into the forbidden zones. Instead, he chose to guard them, protecting the myriad races from the harm of other Supremes.

However, Heavenly Heart Great Emperor had one weakness: he loved beautiful women and maintained a vast harem, resulting in countless descendants. While he guarded the forbidden zones, his concubines and offspring exploited his name to enjoy endless privileges.

The Heavenly Yang Divine Sect's heir had wanted to capture Su Chen merely to please one of the Heavenly Heart Great Emperor's many children.

Chapter 235: The Undying Nether Emperor (Part 16)

Five hundred years had passed in the blink of an eye since Su Chen had been hunted. His exceptional nature eventually drew the attention of Feng Jiu, an unparalleled genius of the Phoenix Clan who sought to curry favor with Princess Huangyue. As the ninth son of the Phoenix Clan, he was named Feng Jiu.

The two agreed to battle outside the realm. The Nether Crow slew Feng Jiu in a single decisive fight, then devoured even his corpse, turning it into nourishment.

"That Nether Crow is simply too powerful… even Feng Jiu was no match for him."

"This time, the Phoenix Clan is truly enraged. Not only was their clansman killed, but his body was eaten. Even a Great Saint Ancestor has been roused from seclusion."

"..."

Su Chen felt rather speechless. Still, he had to admit that phoenix heart tasted excellent.

"Yao Tianxin… Heavenly Heart Great Emperor. Sooner or later, he will become a disaster," Su Chen sighed inwardly.

Heavenly Heart's own achievements were not bad, but he had far too many wives and concubines, and far too many descendants.

None of that concerned Su Chen for now. He began searching for the traces he had left behind in his previous life. He had built an Emperor Tomb in his last life. Although he had not placed his Emperor weapon inside it, the tomb still contained his own Emperor corpse and the body of the Supreme who controlled the laws of time, along with countless supreme treasures.

"Could the great battle have knocked the Emperor Tomb off its intended spatial trajectory?" Su Chen wondered.

He followed the remnants of his past traces but failed to locate the tomb. Even so, he remained calm.

"Even if it deviated, it couldn't have drifted too far or too deep."

Su Chen continued searching for another five hundred years. Then one day, his figure suddenly vanished.

...

Inside the Emperor Tomb, terrifying auras still lingered, undiminished even after tens of thousands of years. The residual pressure inspired awe in all beings, like mayflies gazing at the vast blue sky. Yet this power that could destroy everything posed no threat to Su Chen.

Upon the supreme Emperor throne sat a withered, ancient corpse bearing a name that could shake all races:

'Myriad Laws Great Emperor.'

Su Chen looked at his own corpse from his previous life. With his current strength, he still could not touch an Emperor corpse—even if it was his own.

Within the starry sky created by the Emperor Tomb, the corpse of Eternal Light Supreme was nailed to the void by a sword. It was the Emperor Dao sword Su Chen had forged in his past life. Though inferior to the Flying Immortal Sword, it was still a half-step Extreme Dao Emperor weapon.

He could not touch either corpse yet.

Su Chen had long anticipated this. Within the Emperor Tomb lay countless secret realms filled with the heavenly treasures he had stored away—enough to allow a sufficiently talented prodigy to cultivate all the way from mortal to Quasi-Emperor.

He simulated his old aura and casually opened one of the secret realms.

Only tens of thousands of years had passed since his death in the previous life. The heavenly treasures remained perfectly preserved, completely unchanged. Spiritual liquid formed vast seas, and rare medicinal herbs were arranged like stars, including many saint medicines.

And this was merely one of his many treasure vaults.

In just two thousand short years, Su Chen's cultivation reached the peak of the Saint King realm. He had even accumulated enough energy for his fifth Nirvana.

He began his fifth Nirvana.

No one knew how much time passed—perhaps a thousand years, three thousand, or even ten thousand…

Su Chen successfully completed his fifth Nirvana. His bloodline underwent a profound transformation, as if he had become a supreme deity. Black flames fell like sparks from the heavens. A single spark could burn the skies and boil the seas, its power in no way inferior to heavenly fire.

Most importantly, Su Chen discovered he had grown a third leg. Though still small, it contained terrifying power and nurtured an extremely fearsome divine ability.

"What is this? Am I a Golden Crow now?"

Su Chen felt rather strange. He was clearly not a Golden Crow—those creatures were covered in brilliant gold. He, on the other hand, was entirely black. He had called himself the Nether Crow, and now he had truly become one.

After breaking through to the Great Saint realm, Su Chen did not leave the Emperor Tomb immediately. He continued cultivating, preparing for his sixth Nirvana. Fortunately, he had the vast resources left behind from his previous life. Otherwise, no matter how high his comprehension was, he could not have reached the peak of the Great Saint realm so quickly and begun his sixth Nirvana.

What Su Chen did not know was that four thousand years had passed in the outside world while he remained inside the Emperor Tomb undergoing seclusion and Nirvana.

Holy dynasties rose and fell, sacred lands shifted and changed. The deeds of the peerless black crow gradually faded into legend.

However, a major event had recently shaken the world. The Heavenly Secret Pavilion had observed signs that an Emperor Tomb was about to appear. An Emperor Tomb was the burial ground of a Great Emperor. It might contain an Emperor's inheritance, divine medicines, or even traces of an Emperor weapon. Every major power was stirred into action. Even many ancient forces that had sealed themselves away sent their strongest experts, all hoping to claim a share of the spoils.

Powerhouses gathered and prodigies flocked together. The light covering the star domain began to reveal its traces.

"This is truly the tomb left behind by a Great Emperor! And it remains perfectly intact!"

"Who exactly was he? He swept across the world unhindered, invincible in his era, and attained the Dao to become Emperor. Even the sublimation of the Supremes could not stop him. He stood against the entire world as its enemy… an enemy to all!"

"All races submitted to him, and even the forbidden zones were like unguarded lands to him… I know who he is. He is the Myriad Laws Great Emperor. This is the Emperor Tomb of the Myriad Laws Great Emperor…"

"It is said that the Myriad Laws Great Emperor cared deeply for the common people. When his lifespan was nearing its end, he built this tomb to lure out a powerful Supreme. In the end, he used his final breath to perish together with that Supreme. Unfortunately, the terrifying battle also caused the Emperor Tomb to vanish without a trace."

"Heavens… a peerless Quasi-Emperor from the Myriad Laws Palace has emerged from a divine source despite exhausting his lifespan. He must be here for the Emperor Tomb of the Myriad Laws Great Emperor."

"..."

Countless powerhouses waited in eager anticipation.

When the Emperor Tomb finally opened, and all the experts surged inside, they discovered something shocking.

The Emperor Tomb was completely empty. Every secret realm had been stripped clean—not a single item remained. The indelible traces of battle proved that two supreme existences had once fought a heaven-shaking battle within the tomb. Yet the corpse of the Myriad Laws Great Emperor had vanished, along with the body of his great enemy.

All the gathered forces left empty-handed.

The mastermind behind everything, Su Chen, had already left the Emperor Tomb long ago. He had completed his seventh Nirvana and consumed every last resource inside the tomb.

As for the Supreme's corpse and the corpse of the Myriad Laws Great Emperor, he had refined them both into his own weapons.

The Myriad Laws Nether Blade. The Eternal Light Pagoda. And the Emperor Dao Sword.

Four thousand years had passed.

Su Chen returned to the demon nation.

"Master… is that… you?"

Jin Da stared at the figure that had been gone for forty thousand years. He knew he could not be mistaken. Yet for a moment, he wondered if he truly was. He had imagined many possibilities, but he never expected the man to nod with a faint smile.

"It's me. I'm back."