Chapter 212

Zhu Shoujing woke up abruptly.

He first saw his own toes stepping into a patch of dry, blackened pine needles; the bottom had already rotted, and a soft, mushy sensation came from the soles of his feet.

He slowly raised his gaze.

Twisted tree roots bulged on the ground, winding their way into the trunks, leaving cracks in the bark, and then stretching out toward the sky.

Iron-blue moonlight hung down from the branches, illuminating a withered, thin figure not far away, who was quietly watching him.

This place was already outside the Imperial Mausoleum; looking at the surrounding vegetation, they were already on the other side of Tianshou Mountain.

Zhu Shoujing understood his situation.

From the very beginning, he had been pulled into an illusion by the Jianwen Emperor.

The shadow he saw in the room was fake, he had never let out that shout, and the subsequent experience of rushing into the courtyard to stand guard with his blade, and then discovering the other party's traces and chasing them all the way, were all fake.

In fact, he had known who the other party was all along.

No one could erase the Xiaolingwei Heaven-Man Realm experts silently; as long as Zhu Shoujing made a sound, they would definitely come to support him.

The only explanation was that his perception was fake.

He had been affected by the other party's illusion last night, injuring his subordinates and his meridians; how could he not guess the other party's identity now?

But Zhu Shoujing did not know that if he really couldn't guess, the Jianwen Emperor would conversely be unable to trap him in the illusion for so long.

Because the characteristic of Jizhao is that the stronger you think the other party is, the stronger they really become; the weaker you think you are, the weaker you will really become.

After being tricked by the Jianwen Emperor last night, the seed of fear had long been planted in his heart. After guessing who the other party was, his mind became increasingly difficult to calm and increasingly weak, and the illusion became increasingly real and lasting.

If it had been another Heaven-Man Realm expert, perhaps the Jianwen Emperor would not have been able to achieve this.

This was also the reason why the Jianwen Emperor's performance was vastly different when facing Yin Ruihua and the eight attendants.

The eight attendants knew very little about him, and he had to dodge the joint attacks of eight Heaven-Man Realm experts; the more he dodged, the weaker he appeared in the eyes of the eight attendants, and Jizhao became increasingly difficult to affect the other party.

Zhu Shoujing felt toward his waist but did not find his blade; it must have been lost somewhere while his mind was clouded. So he clenched his fists, set up a defensive stance, and focused his attention on the Jianwen Emperor.

Suddenly, the Jianwen Emperor's figure blurred, and then it changed its appearance, no longer that withered and thin look.

A square face with large ears, sword-like brows and bee-like eyes, wearing a dragon robe; he looked at him with a serious and cold expression.

"Another illusion!"

Zhu Shoujing gritted his teeth.

He really didn't know what the other party wanted to do. If he wanted to kill him, he could have just killed him with one strike while his mind was clouded. Why go to such great lengths to lead him here, and why change into this appearance?

"Who are you, why break into the Imperial Mausoleum, why lead me here!"

Zhu Shoujing asked in a deep voice.

The Jianwen Emperor did not speak.

In an instant, the scene before Zhu Shoujing changed again.

"Again!"

He cursed inwardly.

He had arrived in a great hall again.

Flesh and blood flying everywhere, severed limbs and broken arms.

It was exactly what Yin Ruihua had seen that day, the experience of him fighting into the Hall of Supreme Harmony with the Heaven-Man Realm experts under the Chengzu Emperor, and finally nailing the Jianwen Emperor to the dragon throne.

"Ha—ha—"

The illusion dissipated, and Zhu Shoujing suddenly supported his knees, gasping for breath.

"You, you are really... the Jianwen Emperor?"

He asked.

The Jianwen Emperor still did not speak, once again pulling Zhu Shoujing into an illusion.

This time, it was inside the tomb within the Xiaoling.

The tomb was extremely cold, and there were no lamps on the walls; only the firelight projected from the tomb passage swayed. Moisture crawled down the stone walls, forming ring-shaped water stains one foot from the ground.

In the center of the tomb, a coffin was placed, not yet sealed. Two people stood beside the coffin, looking inside.

One was Yin Ruihua.

And the other middle-aged man had a broad forehead and square face, beautiful long whiskers hanging down to his abdomen, double lines at the corners of his eyes reaching his temples, and three red spots the size of copper coins on his face.

"Chengzu Emperor!"

Zhu Shoujing exclaimed, but found that he couldn't make a sound at all; he raised his hand to touch the wall, but had no tactile sensation.

He understood instantly that here, he was just a spectator.

Zhu Shoujing stepped forward, walked to the side of the coffin, and by the firelight reflected from the tomb passage, carefully observed the middle-aged man's face, confirming that it was undoubtedly the Chengzu Emperor.

Then he looked inside the coffin and was shocked.

Lying inside the coffin was the Jianwen Emperor, who was currently looking coldly at Yin Ruihua and the Chengzu Emperor.

"You, have you repented?"

The Chengzu Emperor looked at the Jianwen Emperor and said, then immediately shook his head.

"I am truly asking a redundant question."

"Listen well."

The Chengzu Emperor said slowly.

"Since you wanted to step on the bones of the Zhu family to become an immortal and ancestor, to realize your great cause of a ten-thousand-generation lineage, I will insist that you lie in this tomb for generation after generation, watching my descendants pass down the Great Dashuo."

"Moreover, I want you to forever be the guard for the great cause of my descendants."

The Chengzu Emperor turned to Yin Ruihua and said.

"Brother Yin."

"Your Majesty."

"Before the uprising that year, I told you that if I could enter the Hall of Supreme Harmony, I would definitely not treat you unfairly."

"Now, I want to entrust you with a task that will last for ten thousand generations."

Yin Ruihua bowed and said: "Your Majesty, please speak."

"There are two ways my Zhu family supports Heaven-Man Realm attendants. One is taken from the Western Regions' method of tortoise-breathing, falling into a deep sleep and only being awakened when needed; the other is a cultivation method the Taizu Emperor took from the Ming Sect."

"The Wedding Dress Divine Art."

The Chengzu Emperor said slowly.

"This cultivation method was originally a technique for grafting power. After being modified by the heroes under the Taizu Emperor's decree, it was no longer limited to grafting power, but could graft—lifespan and mind."

"Power is life, mind is nature; life can be grafted, and nature naturally can too. This is probably the only nature-cultivation method existing in the world today."

"The Five Decays of Heaven and Man is the consequence of only cultivating life. With this method, one can graft the 'nature' of other Heaven-Man Realm experts onto oneself, thereby alleviating the defect of insufficient nature cultivation and delaying the progress of the Five Decays of Heaven and Man."

The Chengzu Emperor turned his head to look at the Jianwen Emperor in the coffin.

"Jianwen, on the other hand, went a step further on this basis."

"I don't know where he got the evil art, but not only can he graft Heaven-Man Realm experts, he can also use people of his own clan to practice this art, forcibly piling up a 'Jizhao'."

"That so-called cutting of the feudal lords he did so hastily was because of this method, which resulted in forcing his twelfth brother to burn himself to death, unwilling to become his food."

"Cultivating both nature and life, his lifespan is no longer the same as ours, mere mortals; as long as Heaven-Man Realm experts are supplied to him, he can probably live for a hundred or two hundred years."

The Chengzu Emperor looked at Yin Ruihua again.

"Brother Yin, the task I want to entrust to you is—"

"Guard here until Jianwen dies."

"The benefit I want to give you is that you can share with him the Heaven-Man Realm experts collected by our Great Dashuo and live for a long time."

(End of chapter)