Chapter 324

In the 263rd year of the New Heavenly Court, after over a hundred years of prolonged war of attrition, you finally defeated all the true gods of the Heavenly Court, completely pulling out the biggest nail in this plan!

Immediately, you awakened the Heavenly Court's gods in the form of an alarm clock, and over a thousand true gods who had surrendered with longing were wiped out in an instant!

But beyond your expectations, not a single one of this group of powerhouses standing at the pinnacle of heaven and earth was the master of the dream……

In a state of anxiety and unease, you again placed your hope on your closest disciple, expecting this always miraculous monkey to bring you a surprise…… but the final outcome once again left you bewildered, unable to tell whether it was the master, even the alarm clock couldn't wake it, and you had no way to tell if it was indeed the master.

Thus, after much turmoil, you could only place your last hope on the masses under your command, whether commoners or cultivators, all fell within your scope of suspicion!

Thus, you were forced to make a decision contrary to your nature, using the Blood God Son to forcibly push forward this road of unknown future.

Having made up your mind, you then used the Blood God Son to control the gods under your command, and subsequently began your trial step by step……

Heavenly Emperor

That day, several million people in the city simultaneously received a notice: 'Tonight, the Holy Lord will bestow a dream upon the city's populace to impart the Dao!'

Upon hearing this news, people couldn't help but rejoice in surprise!

Great Shun royal family

'The last time the Holy Lord imparted the Dao was over a hundred years ago; even my grandfather never heard it!'

'Such an opportunity comes once in a hundred years! No matter what the Holy Lord speaks of, we must seize the chance to listen to more; otherwise, next time we might only hear it when our grandchildren's generation comes around!'

Hey! My father and grandfather, two generations, had no fate to hear the Dao, but I never expected to have this chance…… Tomorrow, I will definitely go burn a few sticks of incense for them, to show off this glorious ancestral honor……

"……"

Li Ziliang walked around the streets for a while, his ears filled with talk of the 'Holy Lord giving a lecture tonight.' Hearing this, a few traces of sadness appeared on his numb face: Lin Six had returned to the mortal realm to preach, which naturally meant that he had won the Heavenly Court war, and this ruthless lot, using the excuse of 'rebellion,' had slaughtered all the heavenly officials of the Heavenly Court! Apart from the Heavenly Emperor whose fate is unknown, the once flourishing Heavenly Court now has only him left……

Silently returning home, Li Ziliang at a glance saw his excited great-great-great-great… great-grandson.

Yo! Good! I won!

The young man also saw the great-great-great-great… great-grandfather return, and couldn't help but share his joy with him:

Old man! I passed the interview! They said I can report tomorrow, and from now on I'll have a job!

Li Ziliang numb-ly looked at this descendant of his bloodline; although he really didn't want to speak, he still forced a congratulatory remark: 'It's a good thing; from now on, work with peace of mind, and it won't be considered a disgrace to my Great Shun royal house……'

Praised by his ancestor, the young man's mouth twisted even more……

Hey, old man, the Holy Lord Majesty entrusted a dream tonight to lecture the Dao to the whole city—are you going?

The young man suddenly thought of something, so he curiously asked him.

Me?

Li Ziliang shook his head:

I am neither a commoner nor a follower of Lin Six, so I am not worthy to listen……

Of course, although he said that, in fact he looked down on this lecture!

Everyone is a true god; the only difference is whether they have followers, so what could Lin Six possibly lecture everyone about?

Talk about how he deceives commoners? Talk about his nonsensical doctrine?

Obviously, he cannot say anything of value; at most he just wants to seize the opportunity to utter victory remarks, enjoying the victory while accepting the people's praise—anyway he just likes everyone shouting 'loyalty' at him……

Such an internal followers' revelry—what's the point of joining the fun? Li Ziliang, both emotionally and rationally, would not go.

What a pity…… I originally wanted to bring you along to listen.

The young man sighed helplessly; although he kept calling 'old man,' after all this is his ancestor, and naturally he wanted to bring him along for any good thing……

After who-knows-how-many generations, the ancestor and descendant chatted like this; when night fell, the young man, excited, went to bed to sleep.

Old man! Wait till tomorrow I'll lecture you on the Holy Lord's Dao!

This brat! Constantly calling 'old man' makes Li Ziliang grit his teeth: unfilial! Truly unfilial! Doesn't Lin Six's doctrine include 'filial piety'? How then does it produce such unfilial descendants?

However, Li Ziliang ultimately said nothing; watching the descendant slowly fall asleep, he only let out a faint sigh, a trace of kindness appearing in his eyes, and reached out to pull the blanket over the descendant, lest he catch cold……

Only at this moment would the Tai Bai Star Lord, who views humanity as ants, reveal the emotions he once had as a mortal.

After all, it is my bloodline……

Li Ziliang sighed, sitting alone by the window, gazing at the two copper oil lamps on the table that had been passed down for five or six hundred years; he couldn't help but start recalling the past: that was an era when human life was cheaper than grass, the court exploited the people, heretical paths poisoned all beings, his family of over ten members, except for himself who was then running errands at the relay station, all starved to death in a famine.

Frankly speaking, that was his most desperate moment; he even cursed the heavens for not caring about mortal beings! Perhaps his cursing was too foul, provoking heavenly punishment, so the already desperate him suffered another blow: the relay station was laying off staff, and it just so happened to hit him……

Left with no choice, he had no option but to join a rebel army of a heretical organization, not for the sake of ennobling his wife and descendants, but merely to earn a meal. This very choice caused his fate to undergo an unimaginable change:

Because he fought bravely against the government troops, he quickly received successive promotions, rising from a mere soldier to a centurion!

But good times didn't last; the government troops suddenly launched a massive suppression, in one wave directly crushing the heretical rebel army he belonged to, even beheading the army leader who was also a 'divine being,' terrifying him so much that he could only tremble and hide among the corpses, scraping by.

However, he was also lucky; he not only survived but after the battle accidentally picked up the cultivation method discarded by the 'divine being,' and most importantly, he was actually able to cultivate it!

Thus, the era's heavenly mandate descended upon his head……

Afterward, he was just like a heaven-favored son blessed with fortune, not only relying on divine power to rally his troops again, but also, because he knew how to learn from lessons, the new troop's discipline was far better than before.

Leading this force that possessed both combat strength and discipline, he step by step crushed local militias and government troops, winning countless hearts; and those hearts brought incense, enabling his half‑monastic, wild path to grow rapidly in strength.

Finally, amid the expectations of all the people, he swept away all rival rebel armies and in one fell swoop captured the capital, winning the grand championship of the Chicken Eat competition! That year, amid the cheers of his subjects, he donned the yellow robe, ascended the throne, and founded the state of 'Great Shun'! This was also his most exalted year; having risen from humble origins to the throne, he brimmed with confidence, even declaring: 'I, a mere relay‑station commoner, what does the world have to add to me?'

After ascending the throne, to fulfill his wish for peace under heaven, he went against ancient imperial convention, resolved to benefit humanity with all his might, and thus governed the world with true‑god power for a full 120 years, creating the longest prosperous age unseen in antiquity!

But during those 120 years of toil, his grand ambitions were gradually worn down, from finding joy in it to becoming negligent in governance……

Until he could bear it no more, he only then accepted the Heavenly Emperor's edict amid the mocking smile of the former dynasty's Taizu.

As he was about to depart, gazing upon the peaceful prosperous age he had built with his own hands, he let out a sigh of satisfaction mixed with regret:

The prosperous age is naturally beautiful, but without him, the world will sooner or later tread the old path of the previous dynasty, ultimately to be overthrown by the next dynasty.

Thus, in order to do his utmost and heed fate, he left for his descendants the two copper oil lamps forged by true‑god means, hoping to prolong the nation's fortune as much as possible.

And now, these two copper lamps have returned before him, merely separated from their original time by five hundred years……

Sigh……

The old man sighed:

In the blink of an eye, five hundred years.

Great Shun fell, the later generations abdicated, and even the world completely changed its appearance.

Farming needs neither oxen nor people; sailing ships need no wind sails; what flies in the sky is no longer just birds, but could also be man‑carrying iron birds…

The changes in the human world made this five‑ or six‑hundred‑year‑old old zongzi feel utterly alien, even at a loss what to do:

Who in the new era lacks a sense of presence? Not only commoners born in the last years of the Shun dynasty and raised in the shogunate era, but even this old zongzi of his cannot find a sense of presence!

The world has changed, more violently than any previous dynasty; the tide of the era surges tumultuously, having ravaged the human world's Great Shun, it also ravaged the Four Great Continents, and even the Heavenly Court…

He cannot understand this new era; ancient people are ultimately ancient people.

But no matter how bewildered he is, one thing he can be certain of is: these changes are good so far!

Because people's lives are becoming ever more prosperous and secure, Lin Liu, this heaven‑defying monster, has completely ended the cycle of dynastic change; as long as he always rules the world with the reverence of a true god, the New Heavenly Court will not fall.

Therefore, there will no longer be anyone in the world as desperate as Li Ziliang, whose whole family starved to death!

Based on this alone, Li Ziliang has already approved of Lin Liu's various actions…

"The future will be better."

In the final sigh, the Great Shun Grand Ancestor Li Ziliang finished a whole night of recalling old events, and he once again buried the sorrow and memories of five hundred years ago deep in his heart, and carefully preserved them: the person has passed, the Heavenly Court is shattered, and apart from him, no one in heaven and earth remembers what once was.

He is the last grave keeper of the old era…

He lightly blew out the bronze lamp, Li Ziliang raised his head to gaze into the distance, and the sky was already bright.

"It's getting late; I should call that kid up, otherwise he'll be late on his first day of work—how would that do?"

Li Ziliang smiled faintly, turned his head toward the bed, and was about to call the impolite great‑great‑grandson to get up and wash, when suddenly his pupils contracted and his body stiffened, as if he had seen something unbelievable: the great‑great‑great‑grandson on the bed had somehow lost all signs of life!

No… it's not just him!

Li Ziliang's body shook violently; following his spiritual sense, he hurried out of the room and rose to the firmament.

He looked down in disbelief:

Devoid of all life.

This foremost city of the world, home to several million people, now remains only deathly silence…

…

(End of chapter)