Chapter 229

At the foot of Mount Buzhou.

After his anger, Xue Xuan again sat in silent meditation on the ground, with Jin Bing beside him looking at him worriedly:

"Are you alright?"

Hearing this, Xue Xuan raised his head, gazing blankly at a face he had not seen for over a thousand years; the various holy‑being events he had encountered in the starry void on that side‑branch all seemed like a dream……

Yet he clearly knew that all of those were true:

The River of the Underworld was willing to release people, but could only release him alone.

And Zi Ying proactively stirred up the residual wave, striking him back to the node, clearly intending not to let him leave.

Even if he had never planned to leave alone……

"I'm fine……"

Xue Xuan sighed, and Jin Bing, seeing him like that, naturally understood he actually had a heavy burden on his mind, but since he was unwilling to speak, Jin Bing tactfully dropped the subject and only asked:

"You said earlier you wanted to go to the starry void—could there be something up there?"

"……No."

Xue Xuan hesitated for a moment, but ultimately chose to conceal:

Faced with a desperate future, being a blind man would actually be a blessing; moreover, what could knowing change, and could one expect ordinary people and cultivators to inflict effective harm on sages?

Knowing too much would only plunge everyone into panic.

Better to conceal it; then everyone would die more easily……

Just then, a plan from "another self" surfaced in his mind; after looking it over, Xue Xuan felt only bitterness:

In this desperate situation, even He, whose perspective transcended the primordial world, had no good ideas left.

"Live to see the future, witness the final outcome……"

This is the countermeasure offered by "another self"…… What kind of countermeasure is this?!

"It's nothing but waiting to die."

Xue Xuan lowered his head helplessly……

【You are powerless against fate; the only road before you is to wait for death.】

【It so happens you have never witnessed the world's end; before you had neither chance nor inclination, but now you finally have the opportunity, so you might as well take a look.】

【To live and witness the final outcome is also not a bad simple way to solve the riddle……】

【Thus, starting from this day, you began transferring the authority of the Heavenly Court to Jin Bing, because you had once promised him that after unifying the primordial world, you would make him the sole actual emperor of Heaven, his power reaching—and even surpassing—that of the original Gold Heaven Emperor!】

【Now the primordial world has already been unified, and heaven and earth will eventually perish; the timing for handing over power is ripe, indeed overripe…… If you delay further, your original oath may truly never be fulfilled.】

【Procedures commence!】

【In the 43rd yuan, 9th hui, 2nd yun of human history, the Xuan Tian Emperor who held actual authority over the Heavenly Court issued an edict: 'I rose from humble origins; in my youth I never dreamed of ascending the heavenly throne, but when fate intertwined and I broke the mystery of the womb, I finally understood I am the reincarnation of the ancient Emperor Xuandu.'】

【At that time the Heavenly Court collapsed, the immortals hid, heaven and earth fell into chaos, immortals devoured human souls, mortal governance lost order, and among the Five Domains it was like purgatory!】

【Thus, I vowed to restore the old enterprise, re‑establish the heavenly order, and re‑found the Heavenly Court; to date over forty yuan hui have passed, and thanks to the unity of the court above and below, we finally conquered the Five Domains, revived the heavenly undertaking, and returned to the ancient capital!】

【During this period I happened to meet the former emperor again, inevitably recalling his era of peaceful prosperity, and thus I often harbored the thought of restoring him to the throne……】

【Now the great undertaking is accomplished, merit is complete, and at last we have an excellent opportunity…… Therefore I correct the 'Two Emperors Co‑Honored' system, restore the 'Qian Gang Sole Authority' system, and return the reins of government to the former emperor!】

【When the edict was issued, court and populace were shocked; no one understood why you would relinquish power, but since you had already issued the abdication decree, they had no choice but to obey……】

【In this yun, the Xuan Tian Emperor who led the Heavenly Court to re‑order the primordial world formally abdicated; all authority above and below reverted to the Gold Heaven Emperor's making, as if recreating the mythic age of the Gold clan.】

【The Gold Heaven Emperor ascended the throne again, and in gratitude for your virtue he, following precedent, demoted you to the Tang Valley of the Eastern Sea, bestowing upon you the highest honor……】

【Di Jun: I have no objection.】

【Thereafter, heaven and earth flourished in prosperity.】

……

Eastern Sea, Tang Valley.

Living on this once‑private island of Di Jun, far from the world's clamor, Xue Xuan finally managed to settle into a tranquil seclusion.

Regarding state affairs and power, he had never been particularly interested; had it not been to halt the Immortal Path's practice of eating people, he would not have wanted to establish the Heavenly Court at all.

Having painstakingly herded the Five Domains into unity like driving ducks onto shelves, and having severed the man‑eating cultivators' path, he naturally had no attachment to power; to be able to spend his days peacefully in a quiet place was perfect.

But while he was at ease, his longtime followers who had accompanied him for most of his life were obviously not so comfortable……

"Damn it! Why relinquish power?!"

Jingxin Daoren squatted on the seaside cliff, watching the tide surge, his mood unsettled, and he launched straight into a tirade:

"What antiquated old relic is that Jin fellow? What does the present Heavenly Court have to do with him? Clearly this foundation was won single‑handedly by His Majesty, yet you just handed it over to him……"

The yellow‑robed old Daoist priest sitting beside him also sighed; he too was among the earliest followers who helped the Heavenly Emperor found his career, and when the Emperor abdicated he naturally had no reason not to retire, yet each time he thought of these matters he felt the Emperor had been treated unfairly:

"I, Zhang Bifa, have followed the Heavenly Emperor for dozens of yuan hui, aiding him in founding his career to this day, yet I never imagined such a day would come……"

"Unfair, unfair……"

A group of veteran heavenly officials who had abdicated together with the Xuan Tian Emperor sat around this seaside cliff; some lamented handing over their foundation, some felt lost about the future, and some simply raved madly, cursing the Jin Bing and Sea‑of‑Blood‑origin officials as 'traitors', swearing however they pleased……

Suddenly, a weak‑voiced messenger child ran over and stammered to the complaining crowd:

"Jing……Jingxin, Fengji, Zhang……Zhang Bifa……"

"Your……Majesty summons you for a visit!"

No sooner had the words fallen than the three named individuals sprang up and followed the messenger child to meet the Heavenly Emperor.

Meanwhile, the heavenly officials who had not been called began to discuss the matter with envy, jealousy, and hatred:

"Why wasn't I called? I too wish to continue serving the Heavenly Emperor……"

"Hah! Han Ziming is really lucky—when captured he had only just entered the Zhongzhou Cave Heaven to take a master, his hands unstained by crime…… Yet unexpectedly the Heavenly Emperor took a liking to him and made him a messenger!"

"Damn it! We can't catch a break……"

……

"Your Majesty! Please issue an order, as long as you say a word, we will immediately overthrow that Jin false emperor!"

"Upon meeting, the ever-forthright Jing Xin eagerly slapped his chest, expressing to the Heavenly Emperor his loyalty of utmost purity!"

"Seeing this flatterer take the lead, the Old Heavenly Master Zhang Bi'an and the newly joined Daoist Fengji likewise hurriedly followed suit, begging the Heavenly Emperor to restore the throne!"

"But the abdicated Profound Heaven Emperor's expression remained unchanged; he only calmly said:"

"Since I have already handed over governance, I will certainly not change my mind; you coming with me to Tang Valley already shows your loyalty, there's no need to speak of restoring me again."

"Your Majesty..."

"The three gritted their teeth unwillingly, but ultimately sighed helplessly; we were ready to fight to the death, Your Majesty, why did you first abdicate…?"

"Seeing them reluctantly calm down, Xue Xuan then spoke seriously:"

"I summoned you here so that you would constantly pay attention to any anomalies in the East Sea region..."

"What is an anomaly?"

"The three exchanged glances, but still obeyed orders, routinely reporting any unusual matters in the East Sea to the Heavenly Emperor."

"After the three withdrew, Xue Xuan then, full of worry, took out a letter from Jin Bing from his bosom."

"The letter's content is simple:"

"He intends to violate Xue Xuan's system and restart spirit stone mining!"

"Because:"

"The final moment is approaching..."

"【Faced with your subjects' discontent, you have no energy to attend to it, for in the matter of the Primordial Collapse, any mundane affairs are meaningless.】"

"【The moment of demise has already silently arrived……】"

"【This is not your baseless speculation, but the result you inferred from synthesizing what you saw and heard on your journey from the East Wasteland to the East Sea!】"

"【Wherever you have passed, heaven and earth are extremely weakened……In the past, the weakening of heaven and earth manifested only in the depletion of spiritual energy; at that time, although the Primordial had entered the degenerate age unsuitable for cultivators' survival, it at least had little impact on mortals, who lived as they always did.】"

"【But since the Heavenly Court unified the Five Regions, the environment of heaven and earth has become increasingly harsh!】"

"【Everywhere, not only are natural disasters frequent, but a prominent fragility appears……the strata break and collapse at the slightest disturbance, causing earthquakes, tsunamis, and ground subsidence, resulting in massive mortal casualties; under such overly frequent disasters, the heavenly officials everywhere are scrambling.】"

"【To quell the disasters, the heavenly officials had to heavily employ techniques, but this increased the consumption of spiritual energy, making the Heavenly Court's already strained reserves even tighter!】"

"【To protect the realm and pacify the people, officials of the Heavenly Court everywhere could only memorialize, requesting the restart of spirit stone mining to resolve the crisis.】"

"【Jin Bing had no way about this; having just grasped great power, he could not stand by while his people died in natural disasters, so he adopted the Heavenly Emperor's decisiveness: he must launch the spirit stone mining industry!】"

"【Without sufficient spiritual energy supply, governing and pacifying the people would be mere empty talk; thus Jin Bing wrote to you about this: he is not begging for your consent, but informing you that he is already doing it!】"

"【After dozens of cycles, he once again said to you those same words.】"

"【\"The dead should make way for the living! Even if they are not truly dead, they must still be made to yield and sacrifice!】"

"【Jin Bing's ironclad evidence lays the facts plainly before you: do you want the living, or souls like the dead!】"

"【By now, you can no longer uphold your ideals, for reality and ideals are in conflict……】"

"【You can certainly, for the sake of mortals, destroy the immortal path to prevent them from cultivating by eating people; Jin Bing does not object too much, for at that time the immortal path was purely a useless parasite, eradicating it would be fine, no need for further words!】"

"【But now, unlike before, the immortal path has shifted from being a parasite to a lifeline; without the immortal path coming to the rescue in disasters, mortal casualties would skyrocket!】"

"【And most importantly……】"

"【\"Heaven and earth, there is no future anymore.】"

"【You struggled greatly and closed your eyes……】"

The apocalyptic danger is already within arm's reach; the dead will have no chance to be revived again, and your perfect dream shatters as well.

Future? There is no future anymore; all that remains is the present!

After forty-three great cycles, nine medium cycles, two small cycles, the Profound Heaven Emperor issued an edict to abdicate, and the Golden Heaven Emperor took over state power; since the mythic ages, after an immeasurable great cycle, the Jin clan has restored its rule!

In this small cycle, to cope with the ever more severe and frequent natural disasters, the Golden Heaven Emperor issued an edict: Restart the Sea of Blood spirit stone industry!

Thus, large quantities of spirit stones were distributed as salaries, allowing the heavenly officials to let loose and safeguard the realm and pacify the people, and the disaster situation eased somewhat.

But the trend of heaven and earth's collapse has only intensified, and all measures are merely makeshift patches.

In this desperate heaven and earth, there is no future...

(End of chapter)