Chapter 185: The End of the Heavenly Court

Jin Bing? Xuan Du?

Upon seeing these two familiar names, the dazed Zhao Si realized his brain had stalled:

"This... isn't the original primordial plot?!"

He had thought the new chapter's background might be Investiture of the Gods, Journey to the West, or even guessed it could be Legend of the White Snake, Strange Stories from a Chinese Studio, Mount Shu...

In short, Zhao Si had guessed all the commonly used plot eras in normal primordial flow, and had thus made considerable mental preparations:

Because he wasn't afraid of these plots; knowing the basics was one thing, more importantly he had already swapped his bird gun for a cannon, equipped with top-tier gear and arts, casually stuffing a few aids for the protagonist—wherever he went, it was a slaughter.

At worst, just release the seven-colored little bird, unleash one burst of Saint's primordial power, guaranteed to blast all problems below Saint level to dust!

However, the key information revealed by this new protagonist in just two short sentences left the calm Zhao Si baffled:

"System, what's going on? How is this new chapter still linked to my previous chapter?"

【Player needs no doubt; every chapter is definitely useful, and moreover chapter three itself is the hidden chapter you drew, any unknown plot requires you to solve it yourself, this system is unable to help.】

After receiving the system's prompt, Zhao Si barely calmed his emotions; although still confused, since it said that, it was clear he was meant to slowly study the plot—asking more wouldn't help.

But...

"Having Jin Bing... is understandable, after all it's not strange for chapters to have inheritance relations, but... if Jin Bing is present, then the primordial realm falling into this state is even stranger..."

Who is Jin Bing?

That is the Six Saints' Divine Selection, backed by six saintly big shots; Di Jun looked grim, Di Jiang exclaimed he couldn't make heads or tails of it...

Jin Bing can almost be said to have, with one person's micro-operations, forcibly reversed fate, swept through the Wu Clan and the Heavenly Court, an unshakable authority, the unparalleled heavenly emperor!

With such strength and background... how exactly was he dismissed? And even brought down the Heavenly Court along with him?

Really just a mechanical god descending from the astral space crashing in, huh...

"No... I need to analyze this properly..."

Zhao Si fell into contemplation:

As Jin Bing was the actual heavenly emperor jointly supported by the Six Saints, if he were dismissed, it certainly couldn't have been by being beaten— the Six Saints aren't blind.

Therefore his only possible dismissal is abdication; thinking the next heavenly emperor is Xuan Du, the fact should be that Jin Bing felt bored of being emperor and voluntarily yielded the throne to Xuan Du.

Because Xuan Du was his chosen successor all along!

Thus, Zhao Si could roughly understand.

But the follow-up "the Heavenly Court had long been gone" truly made Zhao Si unable to accept it!

"Jin Bing could have abdicated, but how could the Heavenly Court possibly be gone?!"

The Heavenly Court, as the sole legitimate regime of Immortal Dao civilization, is mandated by the Dao Ancestor; in other words, it is a tool created to maintain primordial order, representing the orthodoxy of Immortal Dao.

It can change the heavenly emperor, shift policy direction, be for maintaining "equality of all races" or for maintaining "human supremacy"...

It can make many changes, but no matter what, the Heavenly Court will surely exist forever, determined by its legal source.

So, the Heavenly Court might degenerate, but it will never collapse!

"As it turns out, it really has collapsed now..."

Zhao Si grew more confused the more he thought:

"Could it really have been crushed by some Chaos Demon God?"

But first, this version of primordial has no such thing as a Chaos Demon God; even if it did, it couldn't possibly defeat the Six Saints!

Even retreating ten thousand steps, assuming there truly is some heaven-defying Chaos Demon God capable of taking the Six Saints and Hongjun's Heavenly Dao in one pot, could such a mighty Chaos Demon God still leave the primordial realm and its mortal ants alive?

Really too kind— the Six Saints would just cry themselves to death.

This aggregation of information from all sides not only failed to help Zhao Si solve the mystery, but instead made the whole affair ever more perplexing...

【Another Self's strategy leaves you quite puzzled, but your knowledge of these ancient myths is also limited, so after thinking you decide to ask someone.】

【You brought a bit of food left by an Immortal, searched long in an increasingly deserted village, and finally found a distant granduncle from the same village.】

【You obediently offered food to this impoverished old granduncle; the elder instantly beamed, praising you as a kind-hearted good child, then curiously asked why you didn't go with your parents; you gave a vague reply, after which he stopped questioning, only gazing at you with pity and sighing, thinking you had been abandoned...】

【Having no interest in these things, once the conversation opened, you eagerly followed Another Self's strategy and asked the old granduncle for information about the Heavenly Court.】

【Although the old granduncle didn't quite understand why a little kid like you would care about these things, after thinking he still tried his best to tell you what he knew...】

【"The Heavenly Court is an ancient myth… it is said the first heavenly emperor was Di Jun… later Di Jun was placed under house arrest by the treacherous minister Solar Star Lord; fortunately, the Eastern Sea Righteous Warrior Jin Bing rescued him, and in gratitude Di Jun abdicated to Jin Bing, who became the Golden Heavenly Emperor…"】

【These mythic tales, you've heard from your parents since childhood, so you're quite familiar; you know the righteous Golden Heavenly Emperor defeated the evil Solar Star Lord and the Ancestral Witch Di Jiang, finally becoming the new heavenly emperor.】

【You also know the Golden Heavenly Emperor treated all under heaven with great equality, punished many corrupt officials, promoted virtue and condemned vice, and was widely praised by the populace...】

【"After the Golden Heavenly Emperor ruled for many years and gradually felt his merit was complete, he abdicated to Xuan Du… thus the abdication of the three generations—Di Jun, Jin Bing, and Xuan Du—became a celebrated tale…"】

【You've also heard these; the old granduncle spoke with no novelty, you only cared about the strategy Another Self gave you, so you curiously asked: "And then what?"】

【"Afterward… the Heavenly Court just ceased to exist…"】

【The old granduncle also couldn't say exactly what happened, after all he's no important figure, and the Heavenly Court has long been a myth; people's knowledge of it is limited to some mythic stories.】

【Unable to clarify how it vanished, when it vanished, or even whether it ever existed at all...】

【Perhaps it perished tens of thousands of years ago, or perhaps hundreds of thousands of thousands of years ago… in any case, the myth has long faded; now everyone is merely mortal, a lifetime at most a hundred-odd years— who has the ability to verify those illusory tales?】

【Thus, disappointed, you left the old granduncle and could only return alone to your dilapidated home.】

【The leads are broken; you failed to uncover any key information...】

【You had no choice but to reject this useless strategy and seek other assistance.】

【Ding! Faced with the current predicament, you think material aid would be more practical; you choose: (?) 】

"Just asking directly also wouldn't yield valuable information..."

Although it's clear this round's protagonist is a somewhat precocious, high-quality main character, when facing difficulties he will also strive to micro-manage and implement the player's strategy as much as possible.

But ultimately material conditions limit his performance; in this utterly lacking reality, even if his intellect is extraordinary, he still can't accomplish anything.

This protagonist basically starts in hell, inferior to Jin Bing and Jiao Ming; even if Jin Bing scrapes by he's still a local tyrant's family background, and even if Jiao Ming is miserable he's still a primordial being, their material foundations aren't lacking, so the early pace flies fast.

But this mortal protagonist...

"Never mind, cultivate first!"

There's no need to hesitate; Zhao Si quickly decided on the opening plan:

Before deciding anything, cultivate first!

Since material conditions limit the protagonist's information gathering, we should strengthen material conditions.

And the best way to strengthen material conditions is to have him cultivate immortals, quickly come into contact with the circle of immortal cultivators; once inside the circle, it's equivalent to leaving the novice period of complete ignorance, after which we can gather more information……

Zhao Si directly took out the legitimate immortal method that Jin Bing had given him and placed it on the screen.

【Ding! Assistance successful!】

【A volume of profoundly mysterious immortal method mysteriously surged into your mind; although you don't recognize the characters, you miraculously grasped its meaning.】

【Realizing this is a legendary immortal fate, you immediately became overexcited, repeatedly thanking "another self" for granting this immortal fate, even promising: "A drop of kindness shall be repaid with a gushing spring!"】

【Afterward, you struggled to calm your mind and began cross-legged cultivation according to the immortal method……】

【On the first day, you gained nothing.】

【On the second day, you still gained nothing.】

【On the third day, you still gained nothing……】

【After three consecutive days without even growing a single hair, you fell into deep self-doubt……】

【Ding! You again applied for assistance from "another self"; please choose an item that can solve your current problem, you choose: (?) 】

Huh?

Zhao Si frowned slightly:

"Three full days, and you still can't produce even a bit of magical power?"

"Primordial Wilderness humanity, your aptitude can't be this poor, can it?"

Although Zhao Si doesn't expect this little brat to become an immortal as easily as early humans could, as a human—the destined protagonist—no matter how untalented, it's impossible to painstakingly train for three days and have nothing to show for it!

"The only explanation is…… the spiritual energy of heaven and earth?"

Thinking of how the Primordial Wilderness now completely resembles a Dharma-ending age, the reason the protagonist, despite possessing human aptitude, cannot succeed in cultivation can only be a problem with spiritual energy.

"The spiritual energy concentration in the Dharma-ending age is too low, so cultivation is impossible…… that must be the reason."

After thinking, Zhao Si's gaze locked onto a certain gift:

"Seven-Colored Bird, the Primordial Wilderness Power from a Sage!"

After the Sage's Dao Fruit fused with the Primordial Wilderness Power, the spirit-energy-producing function originally belonging to the Sage's Dao Fruit was retained, plus the tremendous attack power of the Primordial Wilderness Power.

One could say this is Zhao Si's strongest gift so far; combined with the needs of this plot, Zhao Si can basically conclude that this is the "exclusive magic treasure" prepared by the game system for this round's protagonist!

"Alright!"

Having figured it out, Zhao Si curled his lips:

"You keep telling me this game has freedom, but every time I get the feeling that everything is predetermined in advance……"

Saying this, Zhao Si placed the Seven-Colored Bird on the screen:

【Ding! You chose "Primordial Wilderness Power from a Sage"!】

【Ding! Assistance successful!】

【A beautiful seven-colored energy-bodied bird appeared out of thin air before your eyes, and at the same moment you instantly knew how to use it.】

【Overjoyed, you hurriedly began to absorb its innate spiritual energy and entered the cultivation state once again.】

【This time cultivation went much more smoothly; with ample spiritual energy supply, your magical power kept generating……】

【But the good times didn't last; just as you had practiced a little, a burst of furious knocking startled you awake!】

【You jumped in fright, thinking the visitor was some bad person, when the door was suddenly forced open and a group of familiar neighbors rushed in angrily, pinning your bewildered face to the ground!】

【You were at a loss, not understanding why everyone was treating you like this?】

【But you soon found out……】

【"Vicious Xue Xiaozi! Speak! Why did you poison the pastry, killing your granduncle?!"】

……

(End of chapter)