System Granted Me Immortality; I Outlived Everyone

Chapter 42: Forcing Entry into the Desolate Ancient Forbidden Land, Merely Frost Upon the Blade

Hearing the Ascension True Person’s words, Emperor Zuo nodded.

“If Fellow Daoist could endure for another thousand years, perhaps you would be worthy to cross blades with me.”

“It is a pity you will not breathe that long.”

“By the way, what does the great hand in this carving signify? You have observed the ancient bronze hall for so long; you must have comprehended its mysteries.”

“Hehehe!”

“Naturally I know, but did you truly believe I would tell you?”

“Even if I spoke the truth, would you dare to believe it?”

“Fair enough. I truly would not place faith in the words of a dead man.”

Swish!

A streak of cold light erupted from Emperor Zuo’s fingers, piercing a pristine hole through the Ascension True Person’s forehead.

As the Ascension True Person perished, the colossal ancient bronze hall began to sink into the earth once more.

Seeing this, Emperor Zuo unleashed his supreme might, his bare hands seizing the void to forcefully arrest the hall’s descent.

Seizing the brief window, Chen Changsheng moved like a shadow, swiftly dragging the fallen cultivator’s mortal vessel from the crushing weight.

Boom!

The ancient bronze hall slammed down, absolutely sealing the pool of blood and its festering, ominous Qi beneath its immense mass.

“Hoo—”

Emperor Zuo exhaled a breath of turbid air, slowly stabilizing the tumultuous Heaven and Earth Aura within his meridians.

Halting the descent of the ancient bronze hall, even for a sovereign of his caliber, demanded a grueling toll on his marrow.

Laying the husk into the prepared coffin with practiced reverence, Chen Changsheng asked, “Your Majesty, did you glean any truths?”

“A fraction. Each ancient bronze hall houses a teleportation Formation, and these Formations resonate with one another through unseen laws.”

“As to the exact nature of this resonance, the truth escapes me, for the Formation here has long been reduced to dust.”

“Now, our only tether lies with the ancient bronze hall buried within the Boundless Secret Realm.”

“If the teleportation Formation within that hall remains unbroken, we might truly breach the Desolate Ancient Forbidden Land.”

As he spoke, a rare flicker of predatory hunger flared in Emperor Zuo’s eyes.

He had initially deemed the ancient bronze hall a mere stepping stone; he never anticipated it would hold the keys to the Heavens.

With this revelation, his certainty of returning alive from the Desolate Ancient Forbidden Land swelled significantly.

“Ah, this artifact belongs to your hands. Let it be returned.”

Thud!

A heavy stone coffin crashed onto the earth before Chen Changsheng.

This was the very artifact that had shielded him from annihilation half a century ago.

Reclaiming his lost tool of the trade naturally brought a quiet satisfaction to Chen Changsheng’s Dao heart.

“My thanks, Your Majesty.”

Stowing the heavy stone into his storage space, Chen Changsheng casually posed a question.

“The Hundred Defeats Immortal Venerable is a ghost from two thousand years past. Has Your Majesty ever encountered his legend?”

“I have. I heard whispers of his myth when I was merely ten winters old.”

“However, even then, he was already considered a remnant from two thousand years prior.”

“The characters carved upon these ruins belong to an empire that stood two millennia ago. By the time I formed memories, that empire was already ash.”

“The only reason I can decipher their script is that the embers of their civilization had not yet fully cooled during my youth.”

Chen Changsheng: ???

Hearing this timeline, Chen Changsheng’s stoic face fractured into profound bewilderment.

He had assumed the Hundred Defeats Immortal Venerable walked the earth two millennia ago. He never imagined Emperor Zuo had heard his legend as ancient history in his own youth.

To the young Emperor, the myth of the Hundred Defeats Immortal Venerable had already echoed across the world for two thousand years.

Measuring the turning of the suns, that meant the Hundred Defeats Immortal Venerable was an existence from four thousand years ago.

Consolidating this truth, Chen Changsheng spoke.

“Your Majesty, if the Hundred Defeats Immortal Venerable dominated the era four thousand years ago, what pinnacle of Cultivation did he truly reach?”

“It is unfathomable. To suppress the festering ominous Qi of this ruin and the Ascension True Person with a mere phantom… such a domain escapes my grasp.”

“Were it not anchored by the ancient bronze hall, I would have deeply desired to plunder the Heaven and Earth Aura contained here.”

Chen Changsheng: “…”

Seeing you ignore the ominous Qi, I presumed you disdained to dirty your hands. In truth, you simply lacked the strength to uproot it!

Mocking the Emperor silently in his heart, Chen Changsheng bowed his head.

“Your Majesty, this humble one must see to his grandmaster’s burial. I shall take my leave.”

“Go.”

“But be swift. Tearing the ancient bronze hall from the Boundless Secret Realm will take but a fraction of a sun’s turn.”

Granted the Emperor’s blessing, Chen Changsheng turned his back on the scarred forbidden land of the Night Moon Country.

……

Half a month dissolved like smoke in the wind.

Driven by the monolithic will of the Xuanwu Kingdom’s forces, the ancient bronze hall within the Boundless Secret Realm was violently exhumed from the bedrock.

Standing upon the warship’s vast deck, Chen Changsheng gazed down at the borders of the Daqian Dynasty, a faint ripple of melancholy brushing his Dao heart.

He had walked the dirt of this empire for nearly two hundred autumns.

Two centuries past, he never envisioned leaving the Daqian Dynasty, much less entangling his fate with the peerless monsters of the Cultivation world.

In those early days, his only desire was to weather the eons in silence, pursuing the quiet, methodical trade of a mortician.

Yet, the karmic threads of the world had acted as an invisible, crushing hand, violently shoving him toward this precipice.

Reflecting on his journey, Chen Changsheng lifted his calloused hands, murmuring into the cold wind.

“To force the man who most despised Cultivation to condense a Nascent Soul… the Heavens truly possess a twisted sense of humor.”

With that quiet realization, a peaceful smile settled on his features, and he turned to step back into the ship’s hold.

A chapter of his impossibly long life had closed. No matter how the heavens had shaken or how deeply the blood had flowed, the dust had settled.

Those who breathe must always face the horizon.

……

Roar—!

Nine demonic beasts, each boasting the mass of a towering mountain peak, unleashed a heaven-shaking bellow.

Faced with the oppressive might of entities rivaling the Soul Formation stage, every living soul within a hundred miles trembled in their marrow.

Yet, what shattered the mind was that beasts of such apocalyptic strength were shackled in iron, utilized merely to drag a carriage.

And seated upon the throne within that carriage was none other than the Imperial Venerable of the Xuanwu Kingdom.

Thud! Thud! Thud!

The heavy, rhythmic beating of war drums resonated. A million steel-clad soldiers of the Xuanwu Kingdom stood rooted to the earth.

Despite a million bodies breathing as one, not a single whisper of discord tainted the absolute silence.

Gulp.

Swallowing the dryness in his throat, Chen Changsheng wiped a bead of cold sweat from his brow.

“Your Majesty… violently storming the Desolate Ancient Forbidden Land is a business outside my humble expertise.”

“Perhaps we should wait for the tides of Qi to settle before stepping into the abyss?”

Noting Chen Changsheng’s instinctual retreat, the corners of Emperor Zuo’s lips lifted in a faint smirk.

“There rests another ancient bronze hall deep within the Desolate Ancient Forbidden Land. If you refuse to cross the threshold, how will you lay eyes upon it?”

“The logic is flawless, but my bones are not built for slaughter!”

“Clinging to Your Majesty’s shadow will only serve to hobble your unmatched stride.”

Emperor Zuo did not summon his wrath at Chen Changsheng’s cowardice; instead, he offered a cold, absolute truth.

“Piercing the veil of the Desolate Ancient Forbidden Land allows for only a single attempt. If you stray from my side, the Great Horror will ensure you never breach its borders.”

“Furthermore, your hands commanded the mending of the ancient bronze hall. If I leave the architect behind, how could my Dao heart rest easy?”

Hearing the Emperor’s ironclad reasoning, Chen Changsheng’s mouth twitched.

Niansheng vanished within the teleportation Formation of the bronze hall! I merely wished to decipher the Dao Patterns connecting them; I harbored no death wish to raid the forbidden lands!

Swallowing his silent grievances, Chen Changsheng cast a resigned gaze toward the oppressive shadows of the Desolate Ancient Forbidden Land.

In truth, even if Emperor Zuo abandoned his crusade to seize a second lifespan, Chen Changsheng would have eventually carved his own path into the forbidden earth.

Had his motives been anything less, the mortician would have vanished into the mist decades ago, rather than chaining himself to the chariot of the Xuanwu Kingdom.

……