Stop it, Taoist, Your Fight almost Ruins the DAO!
Chapter 977 - 528: The true essence in the river of time, all are talents, pain, such pain!

"All things come with a price. Although His Majesty the Human Emperor sacrificed himself to bear the brunt of it, as time passes, the fearful loss of spiritual nature is still unbearable for the Lingxia Realm wherein we reside."

"Moreover, there is the Trio of Bastards—Taoist Ancestral, Heavenly Buddha, and Demon Lord—who took away the already scarce spiritual nature of Lingxia Realm. To this day, it has never returned."

"These three scum have utterly betrayed His Majesty the Human Emperor's trust!"

A voice filled with resentment immediately emerged from the person in the silver-white mask.

Yi Chen pricked up his ears upon hearing the names of the three bigwigs—Taoist Ancestral, Demon Lord, and Heavenly Buddha.

Holy shit, even bigger scoops? Did the Trio of Taoist Ancestral leaders run away?

"Master of Soldiers, give us the details!" Yi Chen courteously picked up the teapot and poured a second brew of tea into the Master of Soldiers' almost empty cup.

This gossip was something Yi Chengzi loved to hear.

"Hehe, Yi Chengzi, if you ever have the chance to meet these three traitors in the future and have the strength to do so, you can bring them to Yin Manor and question why they reneged on what they had promised to His Majesty the Human Emperor, why they vanished without a trace over these many years."

"No more tea, I'm so irritated, let's drink liquor!"

After gulping down the tea Yi Chen had filled, the Master of Soldiers flipped his hand and suddenly pulled out two jars of fine liquor, starting to drink heavily.

The crisp spilled liquor dotted the ground, and after a quick wipe with his sleeve, the Master of Soldiers then coldly explained.

"His Majesty the Human Emperor had a cultivation that reached heaven and pierced through the earth, with the spirit of an emperor, he naturally would not willingly confine himself to wait for death."

"After all, even if the loss of spiritual nature is sealed off, as time goes on, without rejuvenation, Lingxia Realm would sooner or later become a barren wasteland, and eventually, the lack of spiritual nature could no longer support the world, leading to its collapse!"

"Therefore, everything His Majesty the Human Emperor did was to use his own sacrifice to buy time, pinning all the hopes of saving Lingxia Realm on two aspects."

"The first was the Dao Fruit Cultivators in the Main World above, hoping that after ages, a Savior would emerge to solve the problem of the loss of spiritual nature from all the fruits of the World Tree."

"[I trust in the wisdom of the ancients, the current generation, and those to come, this poor Daoist is familiar with that!]"

Yi Chen couldn't help but nod slightly upon hearing this. It made sense.

"As for the second aspect, His Majesty the Human Emperor hoped to cultivate a Dao Fruit Cultivator from within the Lingxia Realm. First to help bear the burden, and second to guard against the covetousness of outsiders."

"Because His Majesty the Human Emperor had foreseen the loss of spiritual nature long ago, that in a panic, the entire World Tree would become a Dark Forest, and the powerful worlds that refused to fall would surely act to plunder the spiritual nature of the weaker worlds."

"At that time, Lingxia Realm would have to face not only the trend of falling, but also challenges from other worlds, so it was necessary to have a powerful cultivator to maintain it."

"As the saying goes, the Heavenly Soul and Earth Soul are often external, only the Life Soul remains within. At that time, His Majesty the Human Emperor's consciousness of Heavenly Soul and Earth Soul had not been fully assimilated by the heavenly mandate. His first choice for cultivation was a very extraordinary little child, who later became known as the Taoist Ancestral."

"His Majesty's Heavenly Soul greatly expended its prime energy by becoming a dream-invading god to enlighten him, guiding him gently and skillfully, hehe, without His Majesty the Human Emperor's guidance, the Taoist Ancestral in this life would most likely never have come into contact with cultivation, as he was nothing more than the son of a Tenant Farmer working for a landlord."

"Heh, tui!"

"This treacherous and shameless person absorbed the already scarce spiritual nature of the world. When he achieved the Immortal Platform and advanced his cultivation to the Seventh Layer of the Immortal Platform, he left under the pretext of traveling to seek opportunities and never returned from then on."

"Ah… what?"

Yi Chen's mouth hung open, as though he had guessed the subsequent story.

"Over time, His Majesty the Human Emperor still did not give up. He took a fancy to another young man, a Scholar who had failed the civil examinations."

"Of course, he also has another thunderous title, known as Heavenly Buddha!"

"Heh, tui!"

"This treacherous and shameless person absorbed the already scarce spiritual nature of the world. When he achieved the Immortal Platform and cultivated up to the Sixth Layer Realm of the Immortal Platform, he also left, under the pretext of visiting other greater worlds to check on the latest news on coping with the loss of spiritual nature."

Yi Chen: "....."

Truly talented!

Yi Chen was impressed by this bunch of old-timers, who took advantage of His Majesty the Human Emperor's generosity, but when the time came for them to exert themselves, they ran for their own futures.

After all, Lingxia Realm was originally secluded, it was just that an anomaly like the Human Emperor appeared, which was not the norm.

This was like a vocational school producing a student who got into Tsinghua or Peking University.

Then the sprouts carefully nurtured by His Majesty the Human Emperor felt that although staying in the vocational school was good, it was incomparable to the vast world outside, and so they left.

"Tui! This poor Daoist has no regard for such characters." Yi Chen immediately expressed solidarity with the Master of Soldiers in his indignation.

Damn it, you guys ate your fill of the benefits and ran away, leaving behind a mess, now making me hold the fort, is there no justice?

After receiving an encouraging look from the Master of Soldiers, he continued his lament:

"After a long time, His Majesty the Human Emperor reflected painfully, after not receiving any news for a long time, he found another young man with excellent talent...."

"Master of Soldiers, stop! Let this poor Daoist guess, skipping over the middle, so the Demon Lord also ran away?"

Unbeknownst to him, after hearing two stories, Yi Chen had already learned to preemptively answer.

Motherfucker, the Human Emperor really needs to download an anti-fraud app!

At this moment, Yi Chen didn't know whether to praise or criticize the Human Emperor's judgment.

Choosing three and ending up with three, all were choices of the moment, but all three were ungrateful, this...

"Tui!"

"Correct, the child of the Demon Lord was the most cunning, knowing the deeds of the Taoist Ancestral and Heavenly Buddha, he often scolded them for being heartless and unjust, which gained him a bit more of His Majesty's trust."

"Who would have thought that all this was just a scheme painstakingly created by this child? After the Demon Lord's cultivation was complete and he absorbed the scant spiritual nature of the world, he too ran off. Hehe, Yi Chengzi, why don't you guess what excuse the Demon Lord used this time?"

The Master of Soldiers poured another large swig of fine wine into his mouth with resentment and said,

"If it were me, I'd say I'm going to capture the Taoist Ancestral and the Demon Lord and question them face-to-face why they have done so, insisting on seeing them alive or their bodies if they are dead. Then I'd casually gather some news about the surrounding Star Road, assess the surrounding security situation, prepare for potential troubles, and look for some opportunities along the way, and also...."

Yi Chen blurted out without even thinking.

However, quickly, he realized that he might have said the wrong thing.

The air fell into an odd silence.

He immediately shut his mouth.

At this moment, the Master of Soldiers' eyes widened in shock, his drinking ceased, and he looked at Yi Chen in disbelief.

"Master of Soldiers, I was speaking nonsense," Yi Chen explained awkwardly.

"No, Yi Chengzi, you were absolutely right."

"No, you've come up with even more reasons than the Demon Lord, who indeed claimed to be looking for the Taoist Ancestral and Heavenly Buddha and ran off."

At this point, Yi Chen wished his Astonishing Wisdom wasn't so overwhelming, for it led to this embarrassing situation.

However, he quickly reacted and immediately changed the subject, saying,

"That's not right, Master of Soldiers."

"Why would the Human Emperor be well-versed in the essence of Taoist, Buddhist, and Demonic cultivation, capable of guiding such unparalleled individuals as the Taoist Ancestral, Heavenly Buddha, and Demon Lord? The Human Emperor must have deeply studied the scriptures of these three schools as well."

Hearing Yi Chen's question, the Master of Soldiers remained silent for a long while before ultimately sighing helplessly, "The Human Emperor has some memory of the remnant soul from his reincarnation."

"He seems to have spent a few years cultivating the Tao in the Qinglian Venerate Tao Realm."

"And then?"

"Then he practiced Zen in the Venerable Buddha Realm for a few years."

"In the end, it seems he had an affair with a distinguished Witch in the Venerate Demon World, which also counts as having glanced through some top Demon Scriptures of that world."

Great! Case closed!

Yi Chen now figured out that it wasn't just the three seniors, the Taoist Ancestral, Heavenly Buddha, and Demon Lord, each with extraordinary skills; the remnant soul of the Human Emperor before reincarnation also had an extraordinary identity, having secretly learned the classics of the three schools. No wonder he was chopped up like this, eventually leaving his Divine Soul severely wounded and merging with the indigenous people of the Lingxia Realm.

But is he still himself after this kind of reincarnation?

What's resurrected is merely the Human Emperor venerated by all spirits in the Lingxia Realm.

Given the circumstances, Yi Chen hesitantly threw a glance at the still furiously unappeased Master of Soldiers and finally couldn't restrain the soul questioning that long lurked in his heart.

After all, Yi Chengzi always presumed the worst in others.

"Master of Soldiers, why didn't you... run away?"

"Is it that you failed to escape?"

Yi Chen asked somberly.

"How could I have possibly...." The Master of Soldiers initially looked flustered, then suddenly stood up, his face turning to anger, and after two breaths, he sat down helplessly and said,

"Let it be. Now that I am in the same boat as you, there's nothing I need to hide from you."

"The Human Emperor's Heavenly Soul did instruct me for a while before it completely merged into the Heavenly Will."

Looking at the Master of Soldiers, remorseful like a defeated rooster, Yi Chen also picked up the wine jar and poured himself a hefty gulp.

Tsk!

It has to be said, the Lingxia Realm produces talents!

A table for oxen, a table for horses, a mixed table for oxen and horses.

Just look at the Master of Soldier's emotionally intelligent response, implying the Human Emperor's Heavenly Soul taught him for a while before it fully merged with the Heavenly Will, indeed a statement befitting an Immortal Platform big shot, so pleasing to hear.

Nevertheless, Yi Chen couldn't help but cast a sympathetic look toward the Master of Soldiers.

It's not that the Master of Soldiers lacks talent; rather, it's that his fortune has been down; it never rains but it pours.

The ones before have blazed all the trails, leaving those behind with no path to tread.

That's the rationale behind 'previous men chop the trees, later men suffer the scorching sun.'

The predecessors have written three essays already, and after the Human Emperor's three scams, it's much harder for the Master of Soldiers when it's his turn.

"Come, Master of Soldiers! Drink up! It's all in the wine!"

Great Qin State Master gallantly raised his cup, first toasting three rounds!

Gulp, gulp, gulp, gulp, gulp!

As people down on their luck, Yi Chengzi also feels sorrow in his heart.

The three scoundrels have run off, now Yi Chengzi is the tallest one in the Lingxia Realm, now everyone wants to believe in Yi Chengzi's wisdom... but whose wisdom can he believe in?

Moreover, he's also offended Asna, one of the mightiest figures in the game.

The pain, it's just too painful!

Exchanging a look with Yi Chen, the Master of Soldiers also started fiercely guzzling from the wine jar.

In his heart, he felt he was much more miserable than Yi Chen; trapped in this Yin Manor region, he has nowhere to flee.