Chapter 223: and ===GLOSSARY===

Legitimate Jin Bing, the Nether River that brings sage salvation to him, the Age of Dharma Decline, the ancient and modern human race, and the genuine versus pirated ancient immortals.

This series of seemingly isolated information is actually full of countless connections, which together form a mist of mystery that is chaotic yet ordered.

Mount Buzhou.

This is the only clue; only this clue can possibly pierce the mist, so you must go to Mount Buzhou and, with a perspective utterly different from your past life, re‑explore it……

The Golden Profound Heavenly Court Army of Central Province seeks to unify the Five Domains.

Central Province faces shock and fear as all the Cave Heavens, the Eastern Wasteland border, and the Cave Heaven Lords come into play.

Across the Five Domains, the Six Harmonies share the same wind as the Golden Profound Heavenly Court restores the orthodox legacy of the Ancient Heavenly Court.

After conquering Zhongzhou, the Golden Heavenly Emperor and the Mysterious Heavenly Emperor jointly issued an edict: because Zhongzhou's symbiotic model is essentially cannibalistic violence, from now on it will be completely banned!

The Heavenly Officials and the ordinary people of Central Province.

The kneeling people of Central Province.

Central Province cultivators.

The Heavenly Emperor's Blood God Son and the Heavenly Emperor.

Loyalty! Sincerity!

Heavenly Emperor's grace.

Heaven has no three suns; in my heart there are only two suns of the Heavenly Emperor.

empty.

You smiled with relief.

The Blood God Son's physical loyalty and all the officials of the Heavenly Court.

Cultivators can be treated this way, but mortals cannot.

It's not that you're kind-hearted; it's that there are too many mortals, and they reproduce quickly—just you and Jin Bing's two Blood God Sons, if you planted them one by one, you couldn't finish in a lifetime!

So, the mortals of Zhongzhou are greatly dissatisfied with the Heavenly Court's policy: "Why should I fend for myself? Here we stretch out our hands for clothes and open our mouths for food, living more carefree than immortals—now you want me to go back to farming and foraging?"

There isn't even a door!

The Zhongzhou mortals, long since rendered helpless, aside from a small minority willing to fend for themselves, mostly chose "non‑violence, non‑cooperation": rebellion is out of the question, farming is exhausting, who would have the energy for a deadly trade that offers ten deaths for no life?

The folk of Central Province, a utopia.

Everyone must die once, and souls can be sold to cultivators as resources.

Heavenly Officials transferred from the Outer Wasteland.

The Central Province cultivators and the pig-raising policy.

The massive starvation incident was swiftly reported to the Heavenly Court; seeing this heaven‑defying news, your eyes twitched, you passed it to Jin Bing, and even Jin Bing found it hard to believe!

Jin Bing.

You let out a sigh, not knowing what to say: anger at their lack of struggle? sorrow for their misfortune?

They would rather starve than work; besides being saddening, it is shocking how the Zhongzhou cultivators treat mortals so well: it's as if they are raising pigs using the method of nurturing a father……

"The symbiotic method, if good then good, if bad then bad…… The good is that mortals enjoy utmost bliss from birth to death, even more blissful than the Western Paradise! The bad is that this way of raising them turns people entirely into livestock, draining their essence, energy, and spirit—neither human nor ghost……"

Jin Bing also let out a sigh, then looked at you with a complex gaze: "But, so many people have died now……"

Death is death.

In the future, they found the root of the Age of Dharma Decline, rebuilt reincarnation, and facilitated rebirth.

Rebuild reincarnation.

Easier said than done.

Jin Bing: the reason reincarnation is completely abolished is essentially due to the Age of Dharma Decline.

Hold a pessimistic attitude.

The cause of the Age of Dharma Decline is related to the sages, mainly centered on the sage war in the starry sky.

A Golden Immortal attacks the Sage.

Will we win? The answer is obvious.

The Age of Dharma Decline basically cannot end, reincarnation basically cannot be rebuilt, and the souls of sentient beings are almost impossible to revive.

Souls can be preserved; in the future there will certainly be an opportunity to be reborn; the soul itself represents opportunity.

The Immortal Dao has become an evil way that cuts off the fundamental root of all beings.

When the Immortal Dao becomes an evil way that cuts off the fundamental root of all beings, there is naturally no need for it to exist.

You will bear all the hope of rebirth for all beings, walking step by step toward that almost impossible‑to‑exist sole exit……

Can it succeed?

It's hard, but…… you are the protagonist, you have infinite trial‑and‑error opportunities; even if the probability is minuscule to the point of being untraceable, you can gradually increase it until…… success.

Supporting characters.

Supporting characters only need to wait to be rescued, while the protagonist has many more things to consider.

empty.

The people of Central Province, dissatisfied with the Heavenly Court's self-reliance strategy, rose up in a hunger strike to oppose the Heavenly Court.

First Yang Mountain and the Heavenly Officials.

Heavenly Officials stare at each other.

In the Five Domains, the prosperous Central Province has become a Ghost Domain, with countless dead cleared by the Heavenly Officials.

Countless souls drift throughout Zhongzhou, so many that they even manifest in broad daylight, frightening the mortals who hurriedly beg the heavenly officials to drive them away; in the end they muddledly flow into the Sea of Blood……

Tragic as it is, after their deaths the living people of Zhongzhou returned to normal; farmers diligently worked the fields, and under the Heavenly Court's protection the weather was harmonious and the harvests abundant year after year. However, within a century or so, Zhongzhou no longer bore the utopian air of former times, leaving only a few legends for later generations to talk about.

The Five Domains achieve Great Unity.

【...】

Human history has passed forty-three yuan, eight hui, and twelve yun; the reconstruction of Shouyang Mountain's Tiandu is complete, everything remains as it once was, and a host of pirated ancients watch from afar, unable to help feeling a myriad of emotions.

Just at this moment, you finally stop researching the differences between ancient and modern humanity: back then you planned to go to Mount Buzhou to explore ancient secrets; now the opportunity has arisen, so of course there's no need to delay any further!

Thus you lead Jin Bing and others, journeying far to the foot of Mount Buzhou in Central Province...

After dozens of yuan have passed, you once again arrive at the foot of Mount Buzhou, but this time the situation is utterly different from your previous life; looking up at Mount Buzhou, you inexplicably feel: I, Xue Xiaohei, have returned!

"Your Majesty's arrival in Central Province brings auspicious signs everywhere; this is truly our blessing!"

The Heavenly Official in charge here bows and scrapes before you; upon close inspection you realize he is an old acquaintance: he is the very last Lord of the Cave Heaven you saw in your past life, who back then likewise bowed and scraped to answer your questions about the Central Heaven Gate.

It seems the Heavenly Court has changed little in Central Province; most Heavenly Officials are former local Lords of the Cave Heaven who merely switched posts, changing nothing but their titles.

You have no desire to linger in conversation, since any information you could get from him you already knew from your past life; so you casually send him away, standing only with Jin Bing, Di Jun, and the others at the mountain's base.

"How is it? Did anything come to mind?"

You ask them curiously.

"Very familiar…"

Everyone's answer is much the same, after all, bearing the identity and partial memories of an ancient mighty adept, you are still quite familiar with this primordial divine mountain, Mount Buzhou.

Especially Di Jun, Jin Bing, and Xuan Du, the three former Heavenly Emperors, are naturally intimately familiar with their own capital.

You recount to them what you saw and heard in your past life at the Central Heaven Gate; of course you conceal the matter of reopening reincarnation, only mentioning what you once witnessed—for example, the mighty residual might of Pangu, the eerie red light, the mad cultivators, the Immortal Realm's conspiracy, and the nutritive substances transported via Mount Buzhou...

With each thing you say, everyone is stunned for a moment; after you finish, they all stand frozen like wooden chickens.

"This Pangu residual might…"

Jin Bing frowns, steps forward, and draws slightly closer to Mount Buzhou; soon the residual might envelops him, his magical power vanishing instantly—but he shows no panic, merely testing briefly before withdrawing.

After sensing it carefully for a moment, he shakes his head: "This residual might is far too strong; back then we were nowhere near this powerful!"

Di Jun also gives it a try, instantly recalling some unpleasant past events, his mouth twitching: "This thing is almost on par with the Pangu divine power of the Shangdi River…"

As for why the residual might has strengthened, they can't offer any useful explanation, which leaves you somewhat disappointed.

But Jin Bing gazes at the mountain's base for a moment, as if touching some hidden memory, then frowns and says: "Underground… the place that once imprisoned me is right down there!"

"Show the way."

Your eyes light up; you first instruct Di Jun and the others to continue researching below the mountain, then you sweep up Jin Bing with your magical power and drill down into the earth.

Not long after, guided by Jin Bing's fuzzy memory, a narrow underground space gradually reveals itself…

……

(End of chapter)