When Sima Lingxuan heard Xiao Chen’s exploits, he was thunderstruck. “Adoptive Father, you never told me this before.”
“I also did not tell you that if Xiao Chen does not become a Martial Emperor in four years, he will only be able to live for another nineteen years. He will be like a meteor, disappearing in a flash!” Zong Boxiong said.
When Sima Lingxuan heard that, he was flabbergasted. This news was too shocking, catching him completely off guard.
“You feel that he is so strong that he makes you despair, putting pressure like a mountain pressing on you. However, do you think your pressure is more than his?” Zong Boxiong continued, “Look at him. Has he fallen apart because of it? There are many people in the Heavenly Starry Ocean waiting to see him make a joke of himself. Because he is the Azure Emperor’s descendant, many people in the Kunlun Realm cannot wait for him to be like a meteor.
“In regard to pressure, of all the outstanding talents of this age, none surpasses his.” Zong Boxiong’s words flowed without pause. “I can accept that your talent is not as good as his. Your Luck is not as strong as his. However, do not lose out to him in courage.
“Men occasionally need to cry without holding back. Tears are the most precious thing in this world. You should celebrate the fact that you can still cry. Some people can’t cry even when they want to.”
Zong Boxiong’s words were like a bolt from the blue, striking Sima Lingxuan hard and startling him to his senses. They allowed him to put down the heart demon that obstructed him for ten years.
This news was unexpected. Sima Lingxuan truly did not expect all this. The person that he saw as his final opponent, his life’s target, actually experienced so much in the past ten years in the Kunlun Realm.
“Adoptive Father, thank you.” Sima Lingxuan had much to say, but he did not know how to express them; all he could come out with was thank you.
Zong Boxiong laughed happily, knowing that Sima Lingxuan had struggled free of his heart demon. In this age of geniuses, Sima Lingxuan would definitely surpass him in the future.
Zong Boxiong did not have any children. Back then, after saving this child from the hands of pirates in the Black Sea, he knew that Sima Lingxuan was a gift from the heavens to him.
“Hahaha! Come! Adoptive Father will take you drinking. Wipe off your tears and let’s go celebrate!”
—
Naturally, Xiao Chen did not know about Sima Lingxuan’s metamorphosis. At this moment, the Flame Rock Sovereign was grilling him seriously in the Flame Rock castle.
“Are you sure you are going to collect the Thunder Emperor’s inheritance?”
Of course, Xiao Chen had to. Otherwise, how could he obtain the extinct Death Fruit?
If Xiao Chen did not cultivate the Life and Death Art to condense a Heart of an Emperor in advance, he would not be able to break through the bottleneck of Great Perfection quasi-Emperor to Consummation quasi-Emperor in one year.
Hence, when Xiao Chen found out from Ao Jiao that the Death Fruit was among the Thunder Emperor’s inheritance, he agreed without having to think much.
Actually, he already guessed some of what she was keeping from him. Given the large amount of resources in the Thunder Emperor’s inheritance and her concern for him, she should have already told him about the Thunder Emperor’s inheritance.
In the end, Ao Jiao kept dragging it out until now when Xiao Chen really needed those treasures. Only then did she agree to bring Xiao Chen to where the Thunder Emperor’s inheritance was.
Seeing Xiao Chen nod, the Flame Rock Sovereign looked at Ao Jiao and asked, “Big Sister, you did not tell him how to succeed the Thunder Emperor’s inheritance, right?”
A complicated expression appeared on Ao Jiao’s face as she shook her head, not saying anything.
Indeed. The Flame Rock Sovereign revealed an understanding expression and looked at the puzzled Xiao Chen. “Since Big Sister did not tell you, let me do it. The person who succeeds the Thunder Emperor’s inheritance will need to take revenge for him, to find out who murdered him.”
This puzzled Xiao Chen. There did not seem to be anything wrong with this. Since he wanted to succeed the Thunder Emperor’s inheritance, taking revenge for the Thunder Emperor was a given.
“It looks like you still do not truly understand the consequences of succeeding the Thunder Emperor’s inheritance,” the Flame Rock Sovereign said with a grave expression. “If it were that simple, I would have already succeeded the Thunder Emperor’s inheritance myself many years ago.”
Some helplessness seeped into the Flame Rock Sovereign’s expression. Sorrow clearly darkened his eyes.
This mien was utterly different from the Flame Rock Sovereign’s usual joking manner.
Given the Flame Rock Sovereign’s current cultivation, he actually would no longer receive any benefit from succeeding the Thunder Emperor’s inheritance. What he wanted to do was take revenge for the Thunder Emperor. However, it seemed like this matter was not that simple.
Hence, the Flame Rock Sovereign did not dare to take action casually. Or perhaps he felt a deep fear for that unknown enemy.
The Flame Rock Sovereign said pensively, “You don’t understand. You simply don’t understand exactly how strong the Thunder Emperor was back then. As a newly advanced Sovereign Martial Emperor, he could challenge the Prime Thunder Sovereign and lost by only one move.”
Previously, Xiao Chen had not appreciated how strong the Thunder Sovereign was. All he knew was what Ao Jiao mentioned, that the Thunder Emperor Sang Mu lost to the Thunder Sovereign by one move.
Back then, Xiao Chen did not have a clear understanding of what that meant. However, at his King conferral ceremony, he saw the Thunder Sovereign face the Heaven Abandoning Deity Sovereign and the Heaven Punishing Corpse God alone. This confrontation showed how strong the Thunder Sovereign was exactly.
Two Primes working together could not suppress the Thunder Sovereign.
In other words, if the person Sang Mu challenged back then had not been the Thunder Sovereign but the Heaven Punishing Corpse God or the Heaven Abandoning Deity Sovereign, he definitely would have won.
“The faction behind the person who dared to kill the Thunder Emperor might have a Prime in it.”
A Prime!
This revelation immediately shocked Xiao Chen awake. The number of Primes in this world could be counted on one’s fingers. Even including the Primes of the oceanic world, it would not exceed two hands.
Primes represented the strongest of this world. They were people who already touched the supreme bottleneck at the peak of the Martial Dao.
No wonder Ao Jiao was reluctant to tell Xiao Chen about the Thunder Emperor’s inheritance, not wanting him to succeed it. If the one who killed the Thunder Emperor was a Prime, getting revenge would be impossible for Xiao Chen.
The Primes of the Kunlun Realm were mostly gathered in the Kunlun Continent. Back then, the attack on the Thunder Emperor had taken place in the Kunlun Continent as well. In that case, was the Prime who killed him the Deity Race’s Heaven Abandoning Deity Sovereign, the Ghost Race’s East Mountain Ghost Monarch, or the Corpse Race’s Heaven Punishing Corpse God?
When Xiao Chen mentioned his suspicions, the Flame Rock Sovereign dismissed them. He shook his head and said, “That’s not possible. With the Thunder Sovereign alive, these people would not have dared to take action against Big Brother Sang Mu. If they had killed the human race’s bearer of Luck, the Thunder Sovereign would have been relentless in his revenge.”
The people who feared the revenge of the Thunder Sovereign would definitely not have attacked. Which was to say, the known Primes of the Kunlun Realm were not the ones who killed the Thunder Emperor.
This was because these Primes had factions and clansmen that they could not bear to part with. They would absolutely not get on the bad side of the Thunder Sovereign.
If these people were not the ones, who would be able to do it in secret?
One of the eighteen Demon Monarchs of the Deep Abyss Demonic World?
Every one of the eighteen Demon Monarchs was as strong as a Sovereign Martial Emperor. The higher-ranked ones were even as strong as Primes. There were detailed records of them from the past Demonic Calamities.
However, the Demon Monarchs would cause a massive commotion if they tried to cross the barrier of the sky and enter the Kunlun Realm.
If the Demon Monarchs were indeed responsible, the death of the Thunder Emperor would not have remained an unsolved mystery until now.
All Xiao Chen knew at this point was that the Eternal Heavenly Sword School’s ancestor leaked Sang Mu’s location after the fight with the Thunder Sovereign.
After that, the Thunder Emperor fought a huge battle with a mysterious cultivator while heavily injured, resulting in fatal, irreversible injuries. By then, there was also no hope of saving him. The news of the Thunder Emperor dying spread quickly throughout the entire Kunlun Realm.
The Thunder Emperor then made a trip of one of the Holy Lands, Phoenix’s Passion Palace, wanting to obtain a piece of the Divine Grade Moonstone to protect Ao Jiao. When negotiations failed, he killed the Holy Son of that time and forcibly took away the entire Divine Grade Moonstone in its complete form.
After making arrangements for his inheritance, the Thunder Emperor returned to the Sky Dome Realm, the place where his legend began.
Although he broke the rule forbidding Martial Emperors from going to the Sky Dome Realm, he did not suffer any repercussions from either side, as he would die soon.
Since the Thunder Emperor was already going to die, who would care so much?
It was unknown whether the mysterious cultivator who left the fatal wound on the Thunder Emperor was still alive or not; the truth was unascertainable. The only key to unraveling this mystery was the Eternal Heavenly Sword School’s ancestor.
Previously, others did not know that the Eternal Heavenly Sword School’s ancestor was still alive, believing that he was already dead.
However, Xiao Chen knew that this person was not only still alive, but he was also deeply connected to the Thunder Emperor’s death. There was still a chance to get this person to speak, to reveal the truth of how the Thunder Emperor died.
“I will succeed the Thunder Emperor’s inheritance. Even if killing that person will draw out a Prime, I will not show any fear.”
Xiao Chen never hesitated. Even if it was a Prime, he was not afraid. He only hesitated so he could figure out the crucial point, to see if he could unravel this mystery.
Since it was possible to unravel this mystery, there was no need to feel any fear.
The Flame Rock Sovereign was not surprised at Xiao Chen’s choice. He sighed and said, “I knew that you would not hesitate because of this. However, do not push yourself too hard. There are still many people who care for you. Cherish your life and do not hurt those people.”
As the Flame Rock Sovereign said this, his gaze drifted to Ao Jiao. Whom he meant was clear without any need for words.
Feeling the atmosphere become somewhat heavy, Ao Jiao smiled and said, “You old fool, don’t say it in such a way that might weaken the resolve of others. My Xiao Chen might even climb to Prime in the future, rampaging everywhere, unparalleled in this age!”
The Flame Rock Sovereign smiled back and retorted, “Rampaging everywhere, unparalleled in this age—that is a very huge target. Even the current Thunder Sovereign has spread only his prestige everywhere.”
Whether was it a joke or some bold, visionary words, the final target of rampaging everywhere, unparalleled in this age, got deeply imprinted in Xiao Chen’s heart.
——
Three days later, Xiao Chen made a trip to the Dark Blood Pond to receive the final prize of the Outstanding Talent Summit Meeting.
Perhaps it was because Xiao Chen’s physical body already reached a certain level and needed the Azure Dragon Body Nourishing Art in order to improve further, but the Dark Blood Pond did not have a clear effect on him.
After coming out, Xiao Chen quietly said his goodbyes to Ba Tu and Ba Yan before leaving Dark City, heading for the distant Human-Demon Sea.
When he thought about Yue Bingyun, who had agreed to travel with him but left in advance, he felt somewhat disappointed.
However, he still needed to make the journey. In order to rampage everywhere, becoming unparalleled in this age, he needed to clear the obstacle of becoming a Martial Emperor in four years first.
Thus, the White Robed Bladesman left Dark City discreetly. However, the cultivators of this place would never forget his deeds.
After hundreds and thousands of years, due to this short visit to the Black Sea, the name Xiao Chen would become a legend among cultivators.
Whether Xiao Chen was willing or not, he still had to continue his journey to become a legend.
“Whoosh!”
The pretty sunlight poured down. The sun that Xiao Chen had not seen for a long time appeared before his eyes. After flying the flood dragon war chariot at full speed for ten days, he finally left the Black Sea, bidding farewell to its unique dark clouds, the dark clouds that never went away.
Xiao Chen had reaped great profits from his short trip to the Black Sea. He found the Life and Death Art that the Blood Sword Sovereign left behind on Black Water Island as well as his means to break through the bottleneck of Great Perfection quasi-Emperor.
He had gotten to see the outstanding talents from the various sea regions. They might not have been a match for him, but they had given him a different combat experience.
Xiao Chen knew that there are no limits to talent. On the path of the Martial Dao, there would always be geniuses who could think of wondrous things that he had not thought of himself.
