Chapter 2711: All Mortal Kings Wither and Fall

"Time..."

"Cause and effect..."

"The universe and the Dao... how many unknowns lie within?"

Jiang Ding Zi muttered.

At this moment, as he neared the end of the Dao, he finally understood one thing: time had transcended reality and become a metaphysical concept, with no notion of length—past, present, and future.

When the masters of the golden ages of different timelines of the universe all reached the end of their own Dao, or the end of their lifespans, they would touch the Fallen Immortal Realm, this node in the time dimension; there is no sequence, no such concept—Tai Shang Da Ri Gu Huang, touching the Fallen Immortal Realm at any point in time, would find all masters of the golden ages present simultaneously, and all masters of the golden ages would meet.

This is something difficult to comprehend.

The masters of the golden ages must have penetrated the essence of time, possessing too many immortal traits, mastering too many means of sealing and leaping through the time dimension; thus, they must inevitably meet.

For the living beings of Shen Zhou, the irreversible river of time can now be crossed by them.

Different timelines were not spontaneously generated by the Daoist universe, but were forcibly severed from the eternal river of time by one master of the golden age after another.

Did the timelines come first?

Or did the fate and outcome of the birth of the masters of the golden ages come first? No one knows.

This is not something the living beings of Shen Zhou can comprehend.

"What form do these beings who severed the river of time take?"

"How curious."

Jiang Ding Zi muttered.

He raised his gaze toward the Fallen Immortal Realm; his eyes, governing cosmic extinction and spiritual revival, analyzed all things in heaven and earth, and vaguely he saw swarms of insects, countless incense deities, countless sages of the art of war... and many more hazy figures, each possessing different yet equally profound and inscrutable arts.

Swish!

Suddenly!

At this moment, within these hazy figures, suddenly a bloodthirsty and fearful presence slowly turned its gaze here; a pair of blood-red eyes, deep as the moon in eternal night, reflected around it the destruction of worldly heavens and Dao, the collapse of cosmic principles one by one, a horrifying scene of being chewed mouthful by mouthful.

This terrifying presence was not violent; on the contrary, it appeared refined and elegant, courteous, giving a slight nod in this direction.

Tai Shang Da Ri Gu Huang started.

Then, he gave a slight nod. Afterwards, all these visions shattered completely, everything vanished—no Dao, no figures, no living beings.

It seemed like an illusion, yet also like a fleeting coincidence of time and the universe, vanishing at a touch.

Tai Shang Da Ri Gu Huang sat upright on his throne, lost in thought.

This contemplation was exceptionally long, as if enduring the ages of heaven and earth.

This supercomputer of the Daoist universe, pushing the limits of Daoist computation, was simulating something of utmost importance, consuming much time and energy, and finally slowly determined it.

"Why is this Daoist friend so special?"

"Is it because he is too strong, or because his concept of time is too close, or perhaps both?"

Jiang Ding smiled faintly.

"It rather makes people eagerly anticipate."

The river of time surged forward, mighty and vast.

In the Wu Jin Kong Kong, all intelligent beings were mobilized, continuing to strive for the second five-hundred-million-year plan; the ceiling of Daoist technology has been locked, and to this day cannot be broken— the false immortal realm remains the false immortal realm, but laterally, the material wealth of Wu Jin Kong Kong continues to accumulate step by step. Even as the experiments of the second five-hundred-million-year plan consume resources like mountains and seas, Wu Jin Kong Kong creates wealth every moment.

This is a Daoist civilization with extremely developed productivity.

Tai Shang Da Ri Gu Huang is constantly immersed in Daoist research and experimentation, walking step by step through darkness and the unknown, exploring the future of Daoist civilization.

Time and again, mistakes, again and again mistakes, unable to find the correct direction.

Since he stepped onto the Dao, it seems he has never experienced so many failures—almost as if from one failure consuming countless manpower and material resources, he moves toward another even greater failure consuming even more, each time the same; if not for the terrifying productivity of Wu Jin Kong Kong, he would already have gone bankrupt.

Even if not bankrupt, he must still reduce the frequency of Daoist experiments and exploration, for material and manpower do not allow it.

But now, his Daoist experiments have never ceased; various heavenly treasures and talents have never been exhausted, and he continues to explore boldly and confidently.

This is precisely the Daoist civilization of Tai Shang Da Ri Gu Huang, which has always taken Daoist productivity as the supreme standard of measurement.

Failure.

Failure.

Failure failure failure...

One after another, the ancient heavenly prodigies and emperors of the universe, including Tai Shang Da Ri Gu Huang, experienced failure after failure; in the end, everyone became numb, completely forgetting the past ages when minor enlightenments came every three days and major ones every ten days, when breaking through in cultivation was as simple as eating and drinking—those carefree Daoist ages, when breaking bottlenecks was as easy as breathing, now seem to the ancient emperors of forbidden zones as if they had never happened, like a dream.

Driven mad by the bottlenecks of the two-character and three-character Daoist scriptures.

The raw experimental data of various failures piled up like mountains; amid this endless failure, the second five-hundred-million-year plan quietly passed, arriving at the final stage.

"The second attempt has failed."

"But the third will succeed."

Jiang Ding looked toward Tai Yang Gu Huang, Qingfeng Beidou, Huanggu Dadi, and the other nine forbidden-zone emperors, and smiled.

These nine last forbidden-zone emperors are now exceedingly aged; every one has skin full of wrinkles, white hair fluttering, eyes clouded, nearly at the end of their lifespan, unable to break through—including the most talented among them, the Undying Emperor.

The current Undying Emperor has already achieved the Three Emperors United as One, the three great forbidden-zone emperors united into one, yet still failed to break through this final bottleneck from the four-character to the three-character Daoist scripture.

They have been able to live until now because Tai Shang Da Ri Gu Huang, with his own will, has played a major role in extending their lifespans.

But now, likewise, they have reached their limit.

This time, with the failure of the second five-hundred-million-year plan, a faint despair rose in the hearts of the nine forbidden-zone emperors.

Think of them—over hundreds of billions of years, even trillions, the strongest heavenly prodigies in the eternal river of time of the Daoist universe, arrogant to the point of madness, believing they would surely become immortals, such proud beings, in over a billion years of failure, have had their sharp edges worn smooth. To become immortal—too hard, too hard!

Such outstanding beings have already begun to despair.

"Sword Master,"

"Will we... die?"

At this final moment, the Sun Emperor, his voice hoarse, asked what the nine last forbidden-zone emperors had in their hearts.

In the past, one ancient emperor after another, forbidden zone ancient emperors, all died, witnessed by them with their own eyes, and now it has come to them themselves — the vicissitudes of life have reached this point.

At this final moment of life, even the last nine forbidden zone ancient emperors felt a trace of fear arise in their hearts.

Since ancient times, hardship has uniquely led to death; it has always been so.