Chapter 178: Successor of the Ruthless Great Emperor

His body was trembling violently, cracks appearing one after another on his skin, and even his bones were rattling.

Amidst the grand Essence, more dazzling than the sun, Zhang Xuan's entire body seemed to be glowing, becoming transparent.

That powerful force swept through Zhang Xuan's entire body, giving him the feeling of falling into an Abyss of death.

At this moment, Zhang Xuan clearly felt that he was walking on the line of death.

The Origin of a Great Saint, even though it had been controlled extremely well and only an extremely minute wisp had been absorbed, was completely different from previous concepts and existences.

A Saint can be said to be extremely powerful in the current era, symbolizing the ancient and the terrifying.

But in more distant and glorious eras, even a Saint was only a mid-tier powerhouse and could not be considered a top-tier figure.

Yet a Great Saint, even in an era where cultivation was extremely glorious, could guard a star field; in any era, they could be called a powerhouse.

As one of the most top-tier existences between heaven and earth, a Great Saint is already vastly different from ordinary existences; a wisp of Origin flowing from them was something Zhang Xuan's current body could not withstand, giving him the feeling that it was about to be torn apart.

Even to prevent his body from collapsing, Zhang Xuan had to mobilize the powerful secret techniques recorded in the Swallowing Heaven Demonic Art and the Indestructible Heavenly Art, which were powerful recovery secret techniques specifically used to counter the Secret of 'Zhe'.

Even so, after trembling for half an hour, Zhang Xuan's body exploded with a boom.

Blood splattered high, and even his bones were among it, shattering, but fortunately, the entire body suddenly aggregated together again, restoring itself to its original state.

After a long while, Zhang Xuan stood once again under that sky, his body rumbling, rolling blood-Qi surging within him.

Then, in silence, he took a step and covered an extremely distant distance.

Not long after, boundless lightning poured down.

The vast and terrifying light covered every corner.

Yet even after being struck by that terrifying lightning, Zhang Xuan still felt a surging force within his body that was difficult to vent, constantly rushing upward as if it wanted to shatter his physical body once more.

After a long time, the lightning finally stopped falling, and Zhang Xuan's expression was even a little dazed.

In the previous Heavenly Tribulation, he had crossed two steps at once.

A wisp of a Great Saint's Origin not only completely repaired the portion of Origin he had previously cut from his body, but also made his spirit and physical state full and flawless, crossing two steps at once to reach the peak of the Immortal Second Level.

His blood-Qi was vigorous, his physical body was perfect and without leaks, and his Primordial Spirit was sacred and pure.

Gorgeous light even sprayed out from his body from time to time; that was because his physical body was too sacred, already having a sense of being close to a God or an Immortal.

Layers of divine rings naturally appeared on Zhang Xuan's skin.

That was the manifestation of part of his internal potential, displaying a sacred state.

"To have reached the peak of the Immortal Second Realm just like that, I feel like I'm dreaming."

Zhang Xuan stood under the starry sky, sighing slightly; the Essence of the universe crazily poured into his body, making him feel a different kind of emotion in his heart.

At the same time, he truly felt a thick barrier pressing above his head.

"Severing the Dao..."

"This threshold cannot be forcibly rushed through by relying on Origin; one must have enough comprehension and rely entirely on insight to pass this hurdle."

Under the moonlight, Zhang Xuan's black hair was like a waterfall as he paced in the wilderness; his eyes were black and white, and golden light spat out as they flickered.

He himself had already walked very far on this path, and now he had only reached the peak, but polishing and breaking through next would not be so fast.

Turning around, he returned to Shencheng very low-key.

Zhang Xuan felt slightly unsafe, so he laid down several array patterns in the room where he was staying; these were array patterns recorded in the Swallowing Heaven Demonic Art and the Indestructible Heavenly Art, carved by the Ruthless Great Emperor.

For a Great Emperor, this was basically the norm; a Great Emperor was not only peerless in terms of combat, but their other methods had also been raised to an extremely powerful level over the long years.

It was just a pity that Zhang Xuan had seen the complete Great Emperor array patterns recorded in the Swallowing Heaven Demonic Art and the Indestructible Heavenly Art, but there were no materials strong enough between this heaven and earth to carry such powerful arrays.

Therefore, he was unable to fully imprint them, lacking the most top-tier materials in the world.

"The next step is not to immediately start Severing the Dao, but to cultivate the methods in the Eight-Nine Mysterious Art to the peak level of the Outer Scene, and then pass through it together with the Heavenly Tribulation of Severing the Dao."

Zhang Xuan already had a draft in his heart, and having further deliberated recently, his grasp of this step was already very accurate.

The cultivation of the Outer Scene was very steady and fast, after all, he had the Nine-Orifice Stone Man.

It was just that what made Zhang Xuan feel slightly regretful was that there was still no movement from Gai Jiuyou's side.

There was still not much news about that Great Saint from the Central Plains who had lived for over eight thousand years.

The overall environment remained very calm, without too many ripples or changes.

Instead, it was Jiang Taixu, whom Zhang Xuan thought would take longer to wait for, who came first.

Zhang Xuan spent about seven days in seclusion for cultivation; in just seven days, Jiang Taixu arrived in front of Zhang Xuan with a pile of materials.

"The Strongest Bloodline Evolution Fluid is indeed very special and very effective..."

Jiang Taixu did not come alone; he also brought a burning furnace, similar to the legendary Hengyu Furnace of the Jiang Family.

However, it was not as powerful as an Extreme Dao Imperial Weapon; it was a Transmitted Saint Weapon, refined by a powerful figure of the Jiang Family in the early years by imitating the Hengyu Furnace.

Inside that furnace was a huge pool of water, and within the pool water was a peculiar golden liquid, with layer upon layer of Great Dao Fragments shining within it; at the same time, a stone the size of a millstone was rising with Immortal mist within it.

"You have already refined the Strongest Bloodline Evolution Fluid?"

Zhang Xuan was surprised, not expecting Jiang Taixu's actions to be so fast.

Jiang Taixu's face carried a bit of excitement: "It took a short time to collect materials in the family, but I didn't go to unite with the Ji Family immediately; instead, I refined it first to confirm the effect."

While speaking, Jiang Taixu took out another huge stone the size of a millstone from his side; this stone had clusters of patterns flickering on it, and when it stood there, it naturally attracted people's attention, as if it were the destination of the Heavenly Mandate.

The starry sky and the earth both echoed with this peculiar stone, seemingly in connection.

In a sense, it condensed the general trend of heaven and earth, becoming an existence like a Heavenly Mandate.

The Taichu Life Stone is the most top-tier for extending life, while the Heavenly Mandate Rock has a peculiar grasp of the general trend of heaven and earth and fate; it is likewise a supreme treasure.

Refining the Divine Substance within it into the bloodline evolution fluid can allow a person to align with the Heavenly Mandate at a certain moment; reaching this step can allow one's bloodline to evolve toward a Divine Body, King Body, and even stronger physiques.

However, at this very moment, this Heavenly Mandate Rock had not yet been integrated into this pool of Strongest Bloodline Evolution Fluid.

The God King's face was still slightly worried and thoughtful.

"The Strongest Bloodline Evolution Fluid indeed has unimaginable capabilities, but collecting materials from the Jiang Family and the Ji Family only yielded three types of Divine Substance..."

As the God King spoke, he took out from his bosom a peculiar substance that looked like a vine, but this vine was coiled and curved, forming an existence like a heart, and at this very moment, it was actually still beating.

The Meteor Withered Vine Heart is said to be constructed from a peculiar substance contained within stars from beyond the heavens; one might not even be able to find a single one among ten million stars.

"It was discovered by a Great Saint of my Jiang Family eight thousand years ago while traveling through the galaxy and brought back to the family. It's just that we didn't know this divine object had such peculiar effects before, so it was merely placed in the family treasury, used for people to contemplate the laws."

God King Jiang Taixu was very humble, whispering to Zhang Xuan about the origin of this material.

The corners of Zhang Xuan's mouth twitched as he listened; he could only say that a Desolate Ancient Family is indeed worthy of being a Desolate Ancient Family—extremely extravagant.

Speaking of these past events, the God King felt a slight sense of regret; in fact, the family treasury originally contained other divine substances with equally peculiar properties.

It was just that in the early years, no one knew such materials could be used to refine the Strongest Bloodline Evolution Fluid, so some of these treasures were used by people to refine artifacts, while others were used to set up arrays, and many disappeared in the long river of history.

As God King Jiang Taixu spoke, he was accompanied by a young man with an equally outstanding temperament, dressed in white; the youth had sword-like eyebrows and star-like eyes, his appearance was extremely excellent, and he possessed a transcendent aura.

Upon seeing this figure, Zhang Xuan's heart stirred.

Because he vaguely sensed the same temperament and aura from this person as his own.

He even felt a faint resonance with the cultivation technique he himself practiced.

"He must have practiced or obtained a portion of the Ruthless Inheritor's legacy."

At this instant, Zhang Xuan's heart stirred.

"He obtained the Ruthless Inheritor's legacy, but he is clearly not Yaoguang Shengzi, nor is he Hua Yunfei of the Taixuan Sect. Following beside Jiang Taixu, is he the Jiang Family's figure—Jiang Yifei?"

Zhang Xuan made a guess in an instant, because he could see some similarities between Jiang Yifei's brows and eyes and those of the God King.

As fellow Ruthless Inheritors, apart from Yaoguang Shengzi who became famous throughout the world in the end and nearly transformed into a Chaos Body, possessing a relatively complete ending, the fates of the other Ruthless Inheritors were all poor.

Li Xiaoman fell into the Desolate Ancient Forbidden Land and became a Desolate Slave, Hua Yunfei later died at the hands of Ye Fan, and the only one who escaped the control of the Ruthless Inheritor's legacy and was not restrained by others was Jiang Yifei. This was not because of anything else, but because Jiang Yifei was born into a Desolate Ancient Family; the Ruthless Great Emperor's inheritor was directly executed by figures of the Jiang Family, so there was no way to control Jiang Yifei.

If he were merely caught in the storm of the Ruthless Great Emperor's legacy, Jiang Yifei would not have been brought along by Jiang Taixu.

Seeing Zhang Xuan's gaze fall upon Jiang Yifei, Jiang Taixu took the initiative to introduce him: "He is a junior of my Jiang Family, Jiang Yifei. The ancestor's bloodline is reviving within his body, and he can even rival the Emperor Sons of the past. I want to see if the bloodline evolution fluid can further revive his bloodline and also allow his cultivation to advance a step faster."

Jiang Taixu's introduction was very brief, but Zhang Xuan had previously known those secrets, so he instantly understood the meaning that Jiang Taixu had not fully spoken in his words.

Every powerful Great Emperor and Ancient Emperor will have descendants; they can accurately calculate the time when the Immortal Path will open, but they themselves have no way to live until such a distant future, so they will seal their descendants in Divine Source, letting them remain to compete for the path to immortality for them later on.

After all, Divine Source is very difficult for other figures to obtain, but a Great Emperor can already condense it out of thin air from the void to seal their descendants.

As long as they do not break the seal and emerge, no matter how much time passes, they can survive; it is just that they have no way to cultivate, and even their thinking may be subject to certain limitations. They spend most of their time in deep sleep, waiting for the right opportunity to emerge.

It stands to reason that there should be sealed Emperor Sons within the Desolate Ancient Families, but the Great Emperors of the Human Race are a bit different.

After all, the philosophy of the Great Emperor is to protect the myriad races of the heavens and to protect the Human Race.

Their descendants have likewise continued this; throughout one era after another, figures in the Forbidden Zones sometimes reach their limit after self-sealing, and when they are about to transform, they will break the seal to slaughter and devour the essence and life force of others to extend their lifespans.

Such behavior and actions are called the Dark Turmoil, because they were once Ancient Emperors and Heavenly Venerables; once they take action, unless a Great Emperor or a Great Saint is alive at the time, no one in the world can stop them.

Therefore, the descendants who continued the Great Emperor's mission would break the seal in such years and times, cultivate all the way to the absolute peak, and then suppress that terrifying turmoil.

Zhang Xuan spoke of the most terrifying Dark Turmoil that might be faced in the next few hundred years; it stands to reason that during this period, the Desolate Ancient Families should bring out their Emperor Sons.

Let them break the seal and then grow to the absolute peak in the shortest and fastest time possible.

As a Saint at the peak state, the current Jiang Taixu can be considered a figure of the Jiang Family who does not need to be sealed and lives in a peak state; his influence is immense, yet even he has no way to bring an Emperor Son out of the Jiang Family.

It is not because the Jiang Family is unwilling, but because the Jiang Family no longer has the first-generation descendants of the Great Emperor.

They are all dead.

"Being in the Four Extremes Realm, at this current age and stage, he can be considered extremely outstanding."

Zhang Xuan glanced at him, nodded in agreement, and then said to Jiang Taixu: "The Ji Family should still have Emperor Sons alive; have they not broken the seal yet?"

Jiang Taixu's extended hand stiffened; even he had only recently learned of these deepest-level secrets, yet the Zhang Xuan before him had already understood them after his simple introduction, which shook his heart.

But at the same time, he also confirmed that Zhang Xuan is indeed connected to the Great Emperor and has an understanding of the deepest-level secrets between heaven and earth.

"The Ji Family is still considering it; I imagine someone will come over before long."

(End of chapter)