Chapter 748: Ten Thousand Gods Cave

"That was close, too close..."

Qian Chen held the Zhurong Demon Blade he had snatched and secretly wiped away a bead of sweat. If he hadn't tricked Xu Fu into being the scapegoat, Er Lai's twin halberds would likely have hacked into him! Moreover, this fellow was the ancestor of the Immortal Qin; the totems formed by the national fortunes of the Immortal Qin and the Heavenly Shang were both the Profound Bird, so there was likely some inexplicable connection between them...

According to legend, the Shang ancestor Xie Bo and the Qin ancestor Da Ye were both born after their mothers swallowed the egg of a Profound Bird!

The Profound Bird of Heavenly Mandate not only descended to give birth to the Shang, but even descended again to give birth to the Qin; there must be a major issue behind this.

Qian Chen glanced backward and saw the shadowy ghosts and gods of the Heavenly Shang within the Yu Yu Jiuyou Yin River, as well as the national fortune that emerged from their bodies and connected into a single expanse.

In the Supreme Louguan Sect's art of Qi-gazing, the black wings of national fortune soaring into the sky blotted out the sun and moon, looking exactly like the shape of a Profound Bird. That aura made Qian Chen's body stiffen slightly, and his heart trembled...

"The same!"

"The Profound Bird national fortune of the Heavenly Shang Divine Dynasty and the Profound Bird national fortune of the Immortal Qin originate from the same source!"

"No, it's not just the Shang and the Qin; even the earliest divine dynasty—the Heavenly Xia—was related to the Profound Bird!"

Qian Chen felt a slight heaviness in his heart: "The Heavenly Xia originated from the last Divine King, Yu..."

"In the Dark Age, the Five-Colored Divine Court fell, and Emperor Ku led the masses to retreat back to the Earth Immortal Realm, protecting the human tribes of the Earth Immortal Realm. The Divine Court was downgraded to a Divine Dynasty, and thus Emperor Ku passed the throne to Yao, and Yao passed it to Shun; these were the Three Kings! Yet, the successor intended by the Divine King Yu was the ancestor of the Immortal Qin—another god-man born from swallowing a Profound Bird, Da Ye!"

"But Da Ye died before Yu, so Yu designated his son Bo Yi..."

"I don't know what happened during that period, but in the end, Bo Yi lost the throne, allowing Yu's son Qi to ascend. From then on, the father died and the son succeeded, creating the Heavenly Xia Divine Dynasty!"

"If we count the Tang-Yu Divine Dynasty of the successive Three Kings, the Profound Bird continued for three generations of divine dynasties. It's just that Bo Yi, who inherited the Heavenly Yu Divine Dynasty, was usurped by Qi, and only then did Shang Tang overthrow the Heavenly Xia to establish the Heavenly Shang! After the Heavenly Shang fell, descendants of Bo Yi rose again in the western frontier to create the Immortal Qin, which almost succeeded in rebelling against Heaven to become the Heavenly Qin Divine Dynasty..."

"In this way, the thread becomes very clear!"

"The Profound Bird lineage originates from Emperor Ku of the Five-Colored Divine Court. After the Five-Colored Divine Court fell, a portion of its forces, led by Emperor Ku, returned to the Primordial Earth Immortal Realm, downgrading from the Heavenly Divine Court to a mortal Divine Dynasty. Before Emperor Ku died in battle, he abdicated to his eldest son, Emperor Zhi. Emperor Zhi also died in battle, and he abdicated to his younger brother, Tang Yao..."

As Qian Chen calculated to this point, his expression couldn't help but become somewhat strange.

Because his own physical body was also inherited from Tang Yao, which is why later generations used 'Tang' as the dynastic title for the Li clan.

"I didn't expect that I would also be related to the Profound Bird lineage..."

"But by the time of Tang Yao, the Profound Bird lineage's succession went awry! During the wars against the myriad races, the Demon Court unleashed a great flood to annihilate the humans of the Earth Immortal Realm. Great Yu led the humans to fight the water demons and pacify the Dragon Race; his prestige grew, and he won the hearts of the people, so Tang Yao did not pass the throne to his son, but abdicated to Great Yu."

"Great Yu originally intended to pass the Divine King position back to Da Ye of the Profound Bird lineage, but Da Ye died in battle, so it could only be deferred to the Qin ancestor Bo Yi."

"And this is where the problem arose... During Yu's reign, Tai Shang, Yuan Shi, and Ling Bao counterattacked the Heavenly Realm, destroyed the Demon Court, and occupied the Heavenly Realm!"

"After Tai Shang cleared out the Demon Court, he also liquidated the remnants of the Five-Colored Divine Court in the Heavenly Realm. At that time, the Profound Bird lineage likely lost the support of the Heavenly Realm's forces. Therefore, when Yu abdicated the throne and ascended to the Heavenly Realm, receiving the mandate of Tai Shang to open the Heavenly Yu Divine Dynasty, Bo Yi, whom Great Yu had abdicated to in the Earth Immortal Realm, fought with Yu's son Xia Qi. In the end, Qi won, and the Heavenly Yu Divine Dynasty, which was originally supposed to return to the Profound Bird lineage, became the Heavenly Xia Divine Dynasty!"

"So when the Heavenly Xia declined, Cheng Tang received the mandate, overthrew the Heavenly Xia, and opened the Heavenly Shang. Then came the Heavenly Shang's war against Heaven, and the Heavenly Zhou Human Emperor proclaimed himself the Jade Emperor, establishing the Jade Emperor Heavenly Court until today!"

"During this period, there was also a history where the Heavenly Zhou Divine Dynasty was destroyed by the Immortal Qin, established by the descendants of Bo Yi of the Profound Bird lineage, the descendants of the Heavenly Shang's loyal minister Er Lai!"

"Heavenly Yu - Heavenly Xia - Heavenly Shang - Heavenly Zhou - Immortal Qin; looking at it this way, this period of history is simply a history of the divine dynasty repeatedly jumping back and forth in the hands of the Profound Bird lineage." Qian Chen's expression was somewhat moved; the influence of the Five-Colored Divine Dynasty was likely even more terrifying than imagined.

It was no surprise that the orthodox human inheritance of the Earth Immortal Realm repeatedly cycled within the Profound Bird lineage of the Five-Colored Divine Dynasty.

Because, in reality, over five-tenths of the aristocratic families in the Earth Immortal Realm possessed bloodlines inherited from the Five-Colored Divine Court...

"It seems the Profound Bird is the inheritance of the Bai Di and Emperor Ku's lineage!"

Qian Chen gripped the Zhurong Demon Blade, feeling a bit panicked, because the other Ancestral Witch he had selected, Ru Shou, was the demonic soul of the Bai Di's own son, Shao Hao.

"I can't just keep shearing this one sheep! For the Xuan Ming demonic soul, I should choose a more ancient Demon God! Preferably one who died in the Primordial Era; they have less karma and fewer ties to the present world!"

Qian Chen made up his mind; next time, for the Xuan Ming demonic soul, he must change to a Daoist Lord of a different origin; he could no longer choose from the Daoist Lords who died in the Five-Colored Divine Court!

Carrying the Zhurong Demon Blade, he caught up with the group. The various Nascent Soul True Immortals naturally noticed his act of snatching food from the tiger's mouth and couldn't help but secretly marvel at his boldness in daring to brazenly attack the bronze god entrusted by the Shang ancestor, and even snatching the secret treasure within.

That Nascent Soul wearing the golden mask was clearly no longer the previous Xin Hengping; everyone had their own guesses about his identity.

But what made everyone look sideways even more was the Zhurong Demon Blade in Qian Chen's hand.

This demon blade, shaped like a battle saber, was pitch black all over. In Qian Chen's hand, it emitted a trace of an ancient, fierce, and tyrannical aura, causing Zhu Tanmo to press his palms together and chant Buddhist names incessantly. Even that Heavenly Demon of the demonic path was secretly speculating on what mystery lay in Qian Chen going to such lengths to plot for this item.

Dan Chenzi, who was sitting on the furnace lid, leaned over to Qian Chen's side and whispered, "Daoist Qian, what exactly is the story with this thing that you would go to such lengths to plot for it?"

He had actually seen through the mystery of Qian Chen's three sticks of incense earlier.

Qian Chen pondered slightly and hinted to him, "This item relates to the layout of a big shot in the Nine Nethers (Zhu Jiuyin). That person laid out these twelve bronze gods and this bone bridge, summoning demonic souls to descend from the Nine Nethers, plotting something very big. This item is one link in that. If it is in the hands of our Dao Sect, it is a means of checks and balances!"

Hearing this, Dan Chenzi thought to himself, "As expected!"

"The key to the secret path to the Nine Nethers is not in the hands of the Yu Yu Jiuyou demonic path, but was instead obtained by the Supreme Louguan Sect; I fear it is for this very item! If it really is a layout by those two Demon Ancestors to resurrect the twelve Yu Yu Jiuyou Demon Gods... Hiss, hiss, hiss, this is to deal with the Heavenly Court!"

Dan Chenzi secretly gasped and didn't dare to ask any further.

"We are fellow Daoists of the Dao Sect, Daoist Qian. Are there any other terrifying existences like this bone bridge ahead? If there are, please give us a heads-up in advance!" Dan Chenzi pulled over the old Daoist from Shaoqing and quietly asked Qian Chen.

"Hmm..."

Qian Chen fell into deep thought.

This expression made Dan Chenzi's heart tighten; this attitude clearly meant there were places even more terrifying than this!

"I don't know much about this path either!" Qian Chen spoke solemnly to warn them: "Ahead lies a place called the Ten Thousand Gods Cave, which should be a remnant of the Wa Huang orthodoxy. Apart from that, there is nothing else! Wa Huang was compassionate, and her orthodoxy is highly respected; I think as long as we show respect and don't act rashly, there won't be much danger."

Qian Chen reached out and pointed forward. In the distance, a boundless stone wall suddenly rose up, cutting off the view before everyone like a screen.

On this stone wall, there were countless caves scattered about. Some caves emitted mysterious auras, shrouded in the black mist of Yu Yu Jiuyou Qi, shadowy and very mysterious.

The cave entrances, scattered like stars in the sky, were either like heaven and earth within the mountains, or only large enough for a person to crawl into.

There were even some extremely tiny ones, like marbles or eggs, honeycomb-like, as if they were the burrows of some strange insects. ===== CHAPTER 749 =====