Chapter 903: Why Go to Such Trouble

This day had reached sunset.

The Empress becoming a god was a world-shocking grand game with many parties participating.

It contained the Empress's own ceremony in the human race, Crown Prince Ziqing's arrangement in the Swallowing Heaven Great Domain, and the Sun, Moon, and Star Three Gods' plans for the future.

It also included the attitude of the Holy Land.

It even included those who, although they did not descend, had a deal with the Empress.

For example, the woman in the bridal dress inside the ghost cave.

As a result, the complexity of the process could be imagined.

Not to mention that in these numerous karmas, there was also the fate of the Great Emperor involved!

Throughout his life, the Sword-Holding Great Emperor had beheaded countless gods and severely injured even more, so after predicting that he would perish soon, there were naturally quite a few gods drawn by karma!

Thus, the situation, which was already multi-party, became even more complex!

The degree of its turmoil was rare in Wanggu!

It attracted the gaze of the entire Wanggu, but until this moment, that rumored final sword of the Sword-Holding Great Emperor had still not been unleashed.

This sword seemed to be hanging over the heads of all parties; multiple powerful clans and multiple gods were also wary because of this, and none were willing to be the unjust ghost to suffer this sword.

Therefore, the powerful Yu Liuchen ultimately chose to retreat!

He appeared to be blocked by the Immortal-Asking Bell, but in the final analysis, what He was most wary of was still the Sword-Holding Great Emperor!

He did not want to use His life to probe!

However, if no one continued to probe, then this ceremony had already reached its end, and it would not be long before the Empress succeeded!

By that time, the Empress, who had become a god at the peak of the Sovereign, combined with the divine bodies of the five Human Emperors, would clearly be impossible to probe for the Sword-Holding Great Emperor's reality.

Therefore, at this time, it depended on which party could least afford for the Empress to become a god!

Thus, within the Human Race Imperial Capital, while most of the common people were watching the Empress in the firmament nervously from the outside!

On the Jiuluo Main Street in the East District, a sigh came from a bookstore that had been operating for many generations!

In the shop, on this special day, no one came to buy books!

Only a few clerks sat on the threshold, looking out, watching the firmament and whispering to each other!

Behind them, at the shop counter, the shopkeeper Zhao Youde, wearing a yellow robe, closed the bamboo slip in front of him and raised his head.

A sigh came from his mouth.

Zhao Youde's appearance was unremarkable, his hair was already gray, and the wind blowing into the shop fell on him, making his hair sway like autumn reeds in the wind!

Perhaps it was because he was old; although time had left crisscrossing wrinkles on his face, it also brought a gentle kindness!

His eyes were not bright, but they were deep, only at this moment they had a bit more helplessness.

"Why go to such trouble!"

Zhao Youde was the seventeenth-generation shopkeeper of this bookstore and also the proprietor.

He lived here, residing in the backyard of this shop; except for his wife who died of illness early on, his life seemed to have no regrets—his parents were still alive, his children were very filial, and the shop business was also good.

As a mortal, such days were already enough!

And he liked reading books on weekdays, especially ancient classic works.

Through reading and thinking, he seemed to be able to comprehend many life philosophies, and he often used these philosophies to guide his own behavior, and he was more willing to share this wisdom with the people around him.

The neighbors mostly maintained a certain respect for him.

And he also liked this kind of life!

But today, he knew that everything was about to end.

So amidst this sigh, he put his hands behind his back, hunched his back, and walked out from behind the counter!

Taking a lingering look at this bookstore, he shook his head and walked toward the main entrance!

Passing the threshold, the few clerks sitting there looked at him in surprise.

"Shopkeeper, there are many people outside, and it's very chaotic. You are..."

Zhao Youde paused his footsteps, looked at these clerks, his expression somewhat reminiscent!

"Er Gouzi, you look more and more like your grandfather."

"And Little Mazha, you must read more books in the future, you know!"

"You all, generation after generation have followed this shop, so I will give these two to you!"

Such words made these two clerks stunned, and they hurriedly stood up, just about to say something more, but the next instant, their shopkeeper had already disappeared from the shop!

On Jiuluo Main Street, in the sunset, Zhao Youde's figure walked out from the void and headed toward the Imperial Capital!

While walking, he sighed!

Zhao Youde sighed again; he liked this human world, liked the human race of this world; in countless years, he had operated bookstores here in different identities, communicated with human race people who came to the bookstore to buy books, and also had many friends of different ages!

He thought life would continue like this!

"Even though the Holy Land has passed, there was no need to rebel!"

Amidst the sigh, in the backyard of his bookstore, his parents, his children, all his family members—these people who looked alive on weekdays—suddenly stiffened their bodies at this moment, and then each emitted a sigh like his.

Then they all blurred their bodies, dissipated, turned into points of silver light, and merged into the void!

Appearing on Jiuluo Main Street, they merged into Zhao Youde's body!

His hunched back slowly straightened!

His aged face gradually became young!

A terrifying cultivation power surged within his body: Qi Condensation, Nascent Soul, Return to Void, until Spirit Containment, then Sovereign, rising all the way, finally settling at the peak of Half-Step Sovereign, powerful and astonishing, yet not revealing the slightest bit in his body!

Only his back, in the sunset's afterglow, looked exceptionally lonely.

He walked forward silently, recalling his life!

He was born in the Holy Land and descended to Wanggu because of a mission!

This mission was to behead the Dao World Human Emperor.

After succeeding, he could not leave, so he lurked in the human race for a long, long time; during this period, he never made a move again.

Always hiding!

Because he was wary of the Sword-Holding Great Emperor, Zhao Youde sighed again, took a step forward, and this step directly crossed the Imperial Capital, crossed the Imperial Palace, and landed on the Ancient Emperor Star; his target was precisely the divine fire on the Ancient Emperor Star. He did not want to fight the Empress, and even less did he want to personally probe the Sword-Holding Great Emperor; he followed his own faith, only wanting to extinguish the divine fire!

The moment he appeared, it was silent!

No heavenly thunder roared, no waves surged, just like his hiding all along!

The moment he appeared, he raised his hand; the moment the Empress noticed, the moment all parties suddenly looked over, his hand fell toward the divine fire, about to pinch it out!

But just at this moment, a calm voice echoed around Zhao Youde!

"Shopkeeper Zhao, this fire cannot be extinguished!"

Accompanied by the voice was a slender figure.

A purple long robe, purple long hair, features like heaven's craftsmanship, incomparably exquisite, eyebrows long and powerful, like the outline of distant mountains, especially the eyes, deep and wise; it was precisely the National Teacher!

"Crown Prince Ziqing!"

He appeared in front of Zhao Youde, with his back to the divine fire, but even this fire could not cover his brilliance!

In that flame, he was like a brilliant star, shining in the sky of Wanggu!

The slightly raised corners of his mouth carried that faint smile that seemed to exist forever; at the same moment he spoke gently, his right hand raised and waved forward!

Zhao Youde's raised hand could not fall, and the appearance of the National Teacher made many human race cultivators in their hearts breathe a sigh of relief!

Although the National Teacher was mysterious, it was precisely because of his mystery that he seemed to contain infinite possibilities!

Xu Qing was silent!

He was not surprised by the other party's arrival.

So he watched calmly!

He wanted to see the true strength of Crown Prince Ziqing!

Noticing Xu Qing's gaze, Crown Prince Ziqing, facing Zhao Youde, also shifted his gaze and landed on Xu Qing, his smile even gentler!

"Little brother, did you receive the gift?"

Xu Qing was expressionless!

Crown Prince Ziqing smiled again, his gaze returned to Zhao Youde, and he spoke faintly!

"I have seen your time."

Once these words came out, Zhao Youde's expression sank!

As a peak Half-Step Sovereign, even in the Holy Land, he was a hegemon!

In this human race of the Wanggu Continent, now, besides the Empress and the Sword-Holding Great Emperor, he feared no one, until this moment facing this National Teacher, he suddenly discovered that in his cognition, he had always been vague about this person!

Yet he had never discovered it before!

"Since little brother wants to see, then I will be more detailed."

"Next, I will divide your time and make them independent of each other!"

Ziqing continued to speak; as his words echoed, the void around Zhao Youde suddenly twisted, and his life, his past, actually went out of his own control, spreading out with him as the center like a picture!

In the picture, one could see the scene of him beheading the Dao World, see everything of him hiding in the bookstore, see all the changes of him incarnating as family members, being both ancestor and son!

His life on the Wanggu Continent was thus revealed between heaven and earth!

Subsequently, as his expression sank, Crown Prince Ziqing flicked time with his right hand; in the blink of an eye, countless past Zhao Youdes in those pictures, no matter what they were doing, all suddenly raised their heads.

Looking from the past to the present, then they all raised their feet and took a step forward!

Heaven and earth roared, the firmament changed color, the aura of the Great Dao descended, and the long river of time rushed from the void, spreading into the world!

Xu Qing's eyes flashed; this was not the first time he had seen the long river of time; Third Grandmother, who was good at the laws of time in the Ziyue Great Domain back then, had also summoned the long river of time!

But compared to this scene of Crown Prince Ziqing, Third Grandmother's was like a small stream!

Appearing in the world today, it seemed like an eternal heavenly river!

Filling the Imperial Palace, covering the Imperial Capital, and affecting the Great Domain!

The entire world visible to the naked eye was covered by the long river of time!

And in this river, countless past Zhao Youdes were like fish in the river, leaping up!

Stepping from the past into the present, appearing in mid-air, the moment they appeared, they rushed toward Zhao Youde!

"Little brother, do you see clearly?"

"Each of these is Shopkeeper Zhao's past; if they kill Shopkeeper Zhao, Shopkeeper Zhao will not exist. If the present does not exist, the past is just a reflection in the mirror or a bubble in the water!"

"And if Shopkeeper Zhao kills them, it is equivalent to killing his own past; without the past, the present will not appear!"

"Little brother, if it were you, what would you do?"

Ziqing spoke gently. ===== CHAPTER 904 =====