Chapter 235

At eighteen, you left the novice village, trying to rediscover a correct path to save humanity.

But the first problem placed before you makes you feel quite embarrassed: in this life, must you still slaughter the Immortal Dao?

Based on past life experience, your act of destroying the Immortal Dao not only failed to save humanity, but actually ruined the Heaven‑Mending mechanism painstakingly designed by the Nether River, ultimately causing the primordial wilderness to meet destruction ahead of schedule.

After the primordial wilderness was destroyed, nobody managed to escape; in the end, they inevitably ended up trapped together on this broken ship, sinking……

Therefore, from this perspective, if you still haven't found the optimal solution for getting everyone off the ship, it's best to maintain the status quo as much as possible—at least the primordial wilderness can still survive for another hundred or so aeons.

Even tolerating the primordial wilderness's cannibalistic chaos is not a bad way to eke out a lingering existence……

But this idea only swirled in your mind for a moment before you decisively tossed it aside!

As the saying goes, you would rather destroy the world and send everyone off happily than let people continue to struggle in an endless mire of death…… Looking at the current information, continuing to merely survive serves no practical purpose other than satisfying the Nether River's obsession.

So you quickly set the first step of your strategy for this life: 'Commence the slaughter!'

'Cultivators must kill, the Immortal Dao must be destroyed!'

To accomplish this step, relying solely on yourself won't suffice; therefore establishing a vast Heavenly Court is imperative.

Thus you immediately began a classic recreation……

You swiftly arrived at several blessed caverns of your country; with a display of celestial immortal cultivation, the masters of those caverns, who originally still had thoughts of resistance, promptly kneeled and surrendered!

You didn't waste words, marking each of them with the Blood God Son; thus they all turned loyal, fervently shouting 'Loyalty!', 'Grace!' and so on……

What followed was simple: leading those brainwashed subordinates, you marched straight into the capital of your country, then at lightning speed overthrew the dynasty and established the cultivators' 'Heavenly Court'!

Upon changing the era name with the new year, it was proclaimed the 'First Year of the Heavenly Emperor'!

In the First Year of the Heavenly Emperor, amid the enthusiastic cheers of officials, you ascended the throne, established the Heavenly Court, and were titled 'Xuantian Emperor'!

But this time you did not again falsely claim to be a reincarnation of Xuandu; instead, you openly declared to your subjects: 'I am but a humble country commoner—what claim do I have to the throne?'

You no longer need to feign being anyone else, for you are now fully confident: as the sole savior of the degenerate age, how could your stature be lower than that of an ancient heavenly emperor?

I am I! The Xuantian Emperor, the 'Xuan' of Xue Xuan, not the 'Xuan' of Xuandu!

……

With the Heavenly Court established, you immediately issued the first edict: the 'Book‑Binding Law'!

From today onward, whether in current or future territories, once they fall under the Heavenly Court's jurisdiction, private possession of cultivation techniques by civilians is wholly forbidden; violators shall be beheaded!

Under your authoritarian suppression, all opposing voices vanished, the whole nation fell silent……

You have always lived by that saying: 'Lazy to speak, worthy to listen!'

After all, NPCs only need to shout loyalty, whereas the protagonist has many more things to consider……

Next, you launched a great campaign, leading the heavenly troops in a relentless slaughter‑slaughter‑slaughter; wherever the spear pointed, those who did not surrender were slaughtered, and attacking the blessed caverns was as easy as eating and drinking!

The spiritual energy gained from the slaughter, after careful consideration, was not stored in the treasury this time but was directly distributed downward, causing the already fervent officials of the Heavenly Court to shout ever louder about your sagacity and to pursue territorial expansion and slaughter even more eagerly……

And you made this decision, which is utterly different from your past life, because you realized: 'The purpose of establishing the Heavenly Court is not long‑term peace and stability, but efficient slaughter!'

Past experience has already told you that the primordial wilderness is beyond salvation; this broken ship is unsuitable for the Heavenly Court to establish eternal rule here, so the Heavenly Court's sole purpose is to unify the five realms of the primordial wilderness as swiftly as possible and to grasp the mortals of each region, so that you can at any time lead people to 'moisten'.

Everything is solely preparation for moistening!

Given that, there's certainly no need to hoard treasury reserves; instead, one should wage war to sustain war, bestowing all the captured spiritual energy upon the troops to strengthen the cultivation of heavenly officials—that is the proper course.

The higher the cultivation of your lackeys and hounds, the greater the slaughter efficiency; if everyone could attain the rank of Profound Immortal, the time to unify the primordial wilderness could be far shorter than in your previous life.

With the strategy set, everything proceeded according to your envisioned direction……

In the eighth year of the Heavenly Emperor, with ample spiritual energy supply and the support of a slaughter‑boosting buff, your subordinates finally produced the first batch of True Immortals!

The first batch of True Immortals numbered only a dozen or so; most were the masters of various blessed caverns, with decent aptitude and cultivation; now, with resources and buffs maxed out, becoming immortal within a few years is quite normal.

At a glance you recognized among them the foremost loyal minister who had accompanied you to the very end in your previous life—the Yellow‑Robed Heavenly Master, Zhang Bidian!

Faced with that great loyal minister from your past life, you certainly did not stint on rewards; you directly gave him an extra allotment of spiritual energy, then appointed the bewildered him as 'Heavenly Master', placing him at the head of officials to share the emperor's burdens.

He muddled into becoming the chief of officials, feeling somewhat apprehensive at heart, but he quickly adapted to the role, began voluntarily taking charge of state affairs, his abilities gradually emerging; under his governance, the Heavenly Court's ragtag crew swiftly entered the proper track.

After you delegated the bothersome state affairs to a dedicated official, you continued leading the heavenly troops to expand territory and slaughter, seizing the spiritual energy of the 'wild monsters'……

In the thirty‑sixth year of the Heavenly Emperor, with all conditions fully met, the number of True Immortals under your command surged like a gushing well!

The second batch of True Immortals was several tiers larger than the first; by the fiftieth year of the Heavenly Emperor, True Immortals had broken through the ten‑thousand mark!

As True Immortals grew more numerous, your strategy proceeded ever more smoothly; over ten thousand True Immortals spread along the entire frontier, boosting expansion efficiency, the Heavenly Court's territory grew day by day, and the efficiency of harvesting spiritual energy also rose markedly.

Our Heavenly Court is thriving and flourishing!

Seeing everything finally on the right track, you finally retired satisfied to the imperial palace, delegating all governmental and military authority, while you devoted yourself wholeheartedly to cultivation……

In your previous life you had reached the pinnacle of Golden Immortal, just one step away from breaking into the Taiyi realm; with such experience, your cultivation speed can only be described as absurdly fast!

In the eighty‑first year of the Heavenly Emperor, you officially broke through to Profound Immortal, reaching the highest limit attainable by others in the degenerate age.

But upon entering the Profound Immortal realm, your cultivation progress plummeted—not because you lacked effort, but because spiritual energy was too scarce……

After all, the power of the primordial wilderness is not a fusion of complete sage‑fruit Dao, and its output of spiritual energy is truly low; it can adequately support cultivation below Profound Immortal, but once you reach Profound Immortal, spiritual energy becomes strained.

In your previous life, even with buffs maxed out, breaking from Profound Immortal to Golden Immortal still took several thousand years, and even after enduring over forty more aeons thereafter, you remained stuck in the Golden Immortal realm, never attaining Taiyi.

'If in this life you wish to break through Golden Immortal, you'll likely need to painstakingly cultivate for another thousand years just to have a chance, and the Taiyi realm is even more distant and hopeless……'

You pondered, and eventually a bold idea arose: 'What if… I also use that seized spiritual energy?'

Anyway, that spiritual energy is no longer souls; after siphoning it from the cannibalistic cultivators, theoretically it is clean, ordinary spiritual energy—using it incurs no guilt of cannibalism, at most a slight nausea.

Moreover, those who achieve great things do not fuss over trifles; to save everyone, low personal cultivation certainly won't do, so both publicly and privately you ought to seek vast amounts of spiritual energy……

Once this idea arose, it could not be shaken off!

But… the psychological cleanliness is not so easily dispelled; whenever you think that this spiritual energy is transformed from human souls, an inexplicable nausea fills your chest.

After a good bout of internal struggle, you eventually, using the excuse 'the time has not yet come,' reluctantly suppressed that tempting idea……

Heavenly Emperor's bedchamber.

Xue Xuan, who had ascended the throne a second time, once again suppressed his craving for spiritual energy with tremendous willpower.

Although he is loath to admit it, if he wishes to break through to a higher realm swiftly, then using external spiritual energy is inevitable!

Clutching tightly to a strand of Primordial Chaos Power, the final outcome would not be better than in his previous life; if others' upper limits are sealed by the strange 'Golden Immortal Heavenly Tribulation' at the Mysterious Immortal realm, then Xue Xuan has his limit sealed by the Primordial Chaos Power at the Golden Immortal.

The gap between Mysterious Immortal and Golden Immortal is certainly large, but before a Saint, both are mere ants, with no essential difference……

'A Quasi-Saint is unthinkable, but in this life I must not fall short of a Great Luo Golden Immortal!'

Xue Xuan secretly set himself a 'small goal'.

Next, he took out the Primordial Chaos Fragment again, silently pondering its specific use:

'Since the other me gave it to me as aid, it must be that He thinks this thing is useful for me……'

Could it be that this Primordial Chaos Fragment can help me bring people to escape?

Xue Xuan frowned anxiously, for he simply could not see any connection between the two:

'Could it be that I just need to show it to the Nether River to be allowed to leave?'

Hmm…… it doesn't seem very realistic.

'Or perhaps He means for me to take it and defeat the Nether River, then force my way out?'

Hmm…… even less realistic.

'Or perhaps……'

Xue Xuan's eyes suddenly lit up:

'Could it be that He wants me to put everyone inside this fragment, and then…… sneak out alone?'

That…… is very possible!

Because when he had just obtained the Primordial Chaos Fragment, he knew:

This fragment's world is isolated from the outside; in a sense it is actually an independent small world!

Although this small world is extremely deficient—lacking sun, moon, stars, rivers, lakes, seas, spirit veins, mineral deposits, earthly treasures, and even spiritual energy—

Yet it is indeed a 'heaven and earth', a heaven and earth independent of the broken Primordial Chaos outside!

If he puts it back inside his body and then cautiously goes to meet the Nether River, the Nether River surely could not pierce the barrier of heaven and earth at a glance to discover what lies within……

'Just do it like that!'

……

(End of Chapter)