Chapter 422: Yellow Earth, Lonely Grave (3/3)

Ascension Road?

The two of them looked at the little golden dragon in surprise upon hearing this.

Unable to withstand the gazes of these two big shots, the little golden dragon hurriedly spoke to explain, "This Tongtian Road is the path that used to connect various Heaven and Earth, leading directly to the Heavenly Court."

"After all, the True Realm is vast, one could call it infinite, or even truly infinite; there are many Heaven and Earth constantly being born and destroyed on the periphery of the True Realm."

"Therefore, it is very difficult for some worlds located on the edge of the True Realm to make contact with the Central Great World; they must pass through specialized roads."

"For example, at certain special points in time, when various Heaven and Earth need to pay tribute to the Central Great World, they must walk this road."

"Or, the prodigies of various worlds will also walk this road in order to head to the Central Great World to compete for resources; because of this, this Ascension Road is even called the Emperor Road by them."

The little golden dragon said proudly.

Saying these things was, in reality, also bragging about himself.

After all, he was a Heavenly Court Envoy, a person from the Heavenly Court, who stood at the finish line during the Immortal God Era, looking down upon the vast masses. It was just like certain regions on Earth in Li Heng's past life, where city people were superior to others.

Li Heng nodded, indicating he understood.

Judging from the various information, the True Realm truly deserves the word "Great." It is simply a container for a small-scale heavens, a Multiverse.

However, this is not strange either.

After all, if the True Realm did not have such special characteristics, it would have been unable to radiate its influence to the surrounding Great Void during the Immortal God Era.

One can see that the power of the Immortal God is evident.

However, what made Li Heng even more wary was that such powerful Immortal Gods were still crushed and defeated by the Calamity; so, just how powerful must the Calamity be? And what is the source of the Calamity?

But soon, he shook his head and stopped thinking. This kind of question is not something for his current realm to ponder; it is better to return to the matter at hand first.

"Since that is the case, can we pass through this Tongtian Road to head to the Central Great World, or even go straight to that Immortal God Heavenly Court?"

Li Heng asked.

The little golden dragon frowned and spoke with some distress.

"That is how it is said, and it can indeed be done that way. But I clearly remember that this Ascension Road has been abolished for a long time; furthermore, it is now damaged, and I don't know if it can still be used."

"Why was it abolished? Isn't this road quite good?"

Wu Wushuang, the Great Zhou Empress beside him, asked in confusion.

She already understood the importance of this Ascension Road; it was equivalent to the pipelines connecting all parts of the Great Zhou, with political decrees, transportation, and the economy all relying on these roads.

To get rich, one must first build roads, after all.

So why abolish such an important thing?

The little golden dragon answered frankly.

"History moves constantly forward, and Immortal Gods do not stand still. This Tongtian Road was designed by a certain Venerable One in the past, and it did indeed serve many uses, screening out many prodigies."

"Some even became Sacred existences above the Creation Realm."

"However, the times have changed."

"That Venerable One thought of a more interesting design, creating a great net covering the True Realm, where every Node in the great net was a Heaven and Earth connected to one another."

"Living beings then used this great net to communicate with each other; whether mentally or physically, they could communicate to a great extent."

"This is far more advanced than the Ascension Road."

"So, until later, the number of times the Ascension Road was used became fewer and fewer, and coupled with the fact that the cost of maintenance was somewhat expensive, that Venerable One no longer paid attention to it, and in the end, it fell into disrepair and was directly closed."

Li Heng sighed with emotion.

Indeed, the advanced replacing the backward is a common principle.

"So that's how it is." Wu Wushuang nodded thoughtfully.

Then she spoke with regret.

"What a pity. I always feel that abandoning and closing it directly is a bit of a waste. This Ascension Road only needed some modification and maintenance; it could clearly still do other things."

"Or is it not possible to just move it into that great net?"

The little golden dragon shook his head.

"Although you will definitely become the second Cangqing King in the future, your cultivation is still shallow now, and your vision is too narrow. For those Sacred existences above the Creation Realm among the high-level Immortal Gods, the so-called waste is just a cost as light as a feather, not worth mentioning."

"Moreover, it is said that the Ascension Road is not compatible with the underlying Rune architecture of that great net, so rather than painstakingly modifying and upgrading it, it was better to just abandon it."

Wu Wushuang's expression stiffened.

She is, at any rate, the Great Zhou Empress; can you not be so blunt? Forget it, forget it; for the sake of Fellow Daoist Li Heng, I, the Empress, am too lazy to entangle with you, this little snake!

Wu Wushuang tried hard to suppress the anger in her heart.

"Venerable One, I think we should look for another way."

"I just took a careful look; the Array on the stone tablet that activates the Tongtian Road is severely damaged, and some of the most fundamental parts are already beyond repair."

The little golden dragon flew around the stone tablet and shook his head.

Li Heng looked at Wu Wushuang.

Wu Wushuang spoke.

"Fellow Daoist Li, don't look at me; I have no way either. And even if I could obtain the memories of the Cangqing King, I estimate there would be no way. After all, how would an existence like the Cangqing King care about such things? Not to mention she was always fighting outside the True Realm."

The little golden dragon nodded in deep agreement.

This teleportation array is like a mirror; if the mirror is broken, even if it is barely patched, there will still be tiny cracks, and it will be unusable all the same.

"No, no, no, I am thinking that it can be repaired."

Li Heng smiled slightly.

The little golden dragon was stunned and looked at Li Heng in astonishment.

"Venerable One, could it be that you are also a Grandmaster of Arrays?"

He just sized Li Heng up, feeling somewhat puzzled in his heart. It is said that the True Realm is very large, and there was no lack of so-called Grandmasters of Arrays in the past, but those Grandmasters of Arrays were usually already very old.

Could it really be a Forbidden Existence from before the Immortal God Era?

He could not help but recall his previous guess.

"Things just need a few taps when they're broken."

Li Heng smiled lightly and walked in front of this Tongtian Stele; with one tap the stele trembled, with two taps the stele tilted, and with three taps the stele exploded, its fragments scattering like a rain of flying debris.

The man and the dragon were stunned.

He just directly tapped the stele until it exploded?

Are you sure you are fixing things?

Then, the next moment, the Great Dao Runes around the stele began to light up; the damaged ones began to repair themselves, the complete ones connected to each other, and finally, they linked together to form a large Array. The power of the Array erupted violently, opening a portal in the Void.

This portal was precisely the one leading to that Tongtian Road!

Then the man and the dragon were stunned again.

What is going on this time?

The main body of the stele's Array was tapped until it exploded.

Why did the Tongtian Road still open, and why does it look so stable? This makes no sense!

"I already said, fixing things just takes a few taps."

Li Heng looked at the dazed man and dragon and shook his head as he spoke.

Suddenly, Wu Wushuang spoke very seriously.

"Fellow Daoist Li, in the accidental memories of the Cangqing King's conquests, he once encountered such a race; this race was similar to humans, green all over, and they even had an extremely advanced Void Treasure Ship."

"But that treasure ship was actually hammered out by them using wooden hammers."

Li Heng's expression was subtle upon hearing this.

He suddenly thought of a certain race.

"It seems you are quite knowledgeable now, Fellow Daoist Wu. So, would you like me to hammer you to help you improve your cultivation? I reckon a few taps and you should be able to regain the power of the Cangqing King."

Li Heng teased.

"That won't be necessary, I fear death."

Wu Wushuang raised her hand very seriously to refuse.

However, the next moment she bowed to Li Heng.

"Wushuang, on behalf of Great Zhou, thanks you for your kindness, Fellow Daoist. You saved our Great Zhou from fire and water, and even opened this Tongtian Road. I wish you a safe journey, reaching the Central Great World directly, and may you return safely."

Li Heng nodded and reached out to bid farewell to Wu Wushuang.

Afterward, he turned and stepped into the portal, the little golden dragon following closely behind. Finally, the figures of the man and the dragon completely disappeared from Wu Wushuang's eyes.

Wu Wushuang stared at the still-open portal.

She raised her hand to manipulate the Great Zhou rules to seal this place.

Finally, she turned and left.

Cave Heaven Road, is it?

She, Wu Wushuang, might not lack the qualifications to step upon it!

She made such a resolution in her heart.

At this moment, Li Heng's sensation was somewhat strange; it seemed as if he had stepped into a hyperspace, and while his own altitude was constantly rising, he was also moving horizontally away from the Great Zhou where he had previously been.

With a feeling in his heart, he turned his head to look back.

He saw that Divine Bird, saw the Great Zhou shrouded in mist, and having left the mist region, he also saw the truth of Great Zhou: white bones and skeletons everywhere, ghosts all over the land.

There was only one and a half living people.

One was the Qi King, who, though a skeleton, already had flesh and blood growing; he was the one who thought he was alive but was not entirely alive, and at this moment he was still working hard, struggling and wavering between madness and reason.

And the other, with the Five Virtues Light shining upon Great Zhou, ruling the world with phoenix-like grace, was that Great Zhou Empress, Wu Wushuang; her aura was extremely Terror-inducing, and behind her, five lifetimes were faintly circulating.

The Empress even sensed Li Heng's gaze.

She turned her head to meet his eyes, nodded with a smile, and then turned back, staring at the entire Great Zhou, staring at the white bones, skeletons, and ethereal ghosts within Great Zhou, bearing it all.

Seeing such a scene, Li Heng still smiled slightly.

To him, this did not feel very heavy. Because he knew that the Great Zhou here was different from the previous Tianjian Sect, and different from the despair in the True Realm everywhere; there was still hope.

He could sense that incomparably faint, yet continuously growing, thread of vitality turning from death to life...

Finally, the location of Great Zhou completely disappeared from their sight.

With a jolt of space and time, Li Heng's state stabilized.

He looked around; the surroundings were the Void.

Beneath his feet was a small yellow dirt path.

The little golden dragon beside Li Heng came back to its senses.

It looked at the surroundings in astonishment and asked in confusion.

"What is going on? I can clearly sense that this is the area of the Tongtian Road, but why is this path so small? The Tongtian Road of the past was infinitely vast!"

Li Heng smiled slightly.

"This is not strange. The True Realm has mutated and fallen; who says this Tongtian Road cannot undergo other changes? Perhaps there were other hidden reasons for the sealing of the Tongtian Road back then."

"An interesting place, a yellow dirt path extending into the Unknown."

"And by the side of the road, those lonely graves arranged in good order."

He looked at both sides of the road; grave mounds stood on either side, and one or two yellowed paper coins were scattered beside the mounds, looking weathered for a long time, as if no one had come to pay respects for a long time.

The little golden dragon immediately shivered in fear.

But looking at Li Heng, it realized it had a powerful backer.

It immediately became angry and spoke.

"Who, who, who exactly did this!"

"Who turned that lord's path into this ghostly mess! My Lord, I seriously suspect there is something strange here!"

The little golden dragon reported to Li Heng with a serious expression.

Li Heng shook his head.

"You little fellow, shut your mouth, or else you'll be demoted from your position as a pet and become my emergency food; I'm quite curious about what dragon tastes like."

The little golden dragon froze immediately and remained silent for a long time.

But then it spoke sheepishly.

"My Lord, have you forgotten? I am only a True Spirit right now."

"There's no meat."

Li Heng heard this and looked on with disdain.

"Who told you that you can't eat something just because it has no meat? Is eating really such an inconvenient thing? When I get the chance to find a recipe, I will definitely learn how to cook this Dragon Clan True Spirit to make it even more delicious."

"Or perhaps I should sell you to the inn up ahead, how about that?"

Li Heng stretched out his finger and pointed ahead of himself.

In the Unknown distance where this small loess path extended, a solitary mountain suddenly appeared, an inn appeared on the solitary mountain, and cooking smoke rose from the inn, as if it were welcoming guests...