The Human Emperor

Translated by: Hypersheep325

Edited by: Michyrr

Time slowed down to a crawl. The snowflakes drifting down seemed to become much lighter, drifting down at a much slower speed.

The scattered and miscellaneous knowledge and energy of the Grotto Heaven realm in Wang Chong’s mind were drawn by some invisible force, fusing with the chessboard-like projection of the capital in Wang Chong’s mind.

Wang Chong felt as if he had entered a mysterious world.

Boom!

After what seemed like an interminable second, the people of the capital heard a rumble of thunder. Now that he had broken through that barrier, Wang Chong had finally shattered his shackles and reached an even higher realm.

Even though he had broken through that barrier, Wang Chong’s growth was still too slow.

Still not enough! I have to go further!

As this thought passed through his mind, boom! Divine Embryos 1 and 2 jumped out and appeared at his side.

Thumpthump!

The two Divine Embryos placed their hands on Wang Chong’s shoulders, and the energy that had been seized from Firmament Supreme’s Grotto Heaven Core surged into his body.

With the aid from the two divine embryos, Wang Chong felt his strength rise, and his understanding of the Grotto Heaven realm instantly made a giant leap.

Boom!

But he wasn’t even done yet. With another rumble, the magnificent pavilion of the Trayastrimsa Heaven appeared behind him, all of its floors shining with an awesome light.

A moment later, the Trayastrimsa Heaven collapsed.

However, under the guidance of some invisible energy, the Trayastrimsa Heaven melded with the Grotto Heaven laws and worldly laws that Wang Chong had comprehended and began to reconstruct itself.

This was no longer the ordinary Trayastrimsa Heaven, nor was it the ordinary Origin Immortal Art. This was a new Trayastrimsa Heaven that had been rebuilt using the laws of the world, and its power was far greater than before.

Buzz!

With a moment’s thought, the dazzling pavilion began to rebuild itself, using these laws as its frame.

It started off with one floor, and with a great rumble, a second floor emerged, then a third, a fourth…

A seventh, eighth, ninth… eleventh, twelfth… The Trayastrimsa Heaven reconstructed itself far faster than it had first taken to build.

And at only the thirteenth floor, Wang Chong was already just as strong as he had been at level twenty-some of the previous Trayastrimsa Heaven, and he was still growing stronger.

Moreover, this new Trayastrimsa Heaven pulsed with ripples of spacetime power that had never been there before.

This was an ability that was entirely Wang Chong’s own.

Not even the creator of the Origin Immortal Art had imagined that the Trayastrimsa Heaven could be fused with the understanding of the Grotto Heaven Core.

Whoosh!

For ordinary people, the developments high in the sky were so far beyond their senses that they might as well have been taking place in another world. Yet this was not the case for several martial artists.

At the Su Residence, Su Zhengchen sat in a bamboo chair, his eyes closed. Suddenly, his eyes flew open in alarm as he sensed the shift in the skies.

“This is the Grotto Heaven… how?!”

Su Zhengchen had clashed with True Lord Yellow Dragon, and he had never expected to sense a similar energy now on Wang Chong.

One step to heaven!

Truly one step to heaven!

If one accounted for all the hidden experts in the world, there were actually quite a few experts who could reach the Subtle realm. But even amongst the men in black, those who could reach the Grotto Heaven realm were exceptionally rare.

And now, Wang Chong had managed to reach the Grotto Heaven realm, truly managing to reach heaven in a single step!

Starting from now, the number of people who could suppress Wang Chong could be counted with one’s fingers.

More importantly, Wang Chong was still growing stronger and stronger. It was impossible to say what level he would stop at.

Su Zhengchen was far from the only one who had sensed this development in the skies.

“Truly a heaven-blessed talent. Your Majesty, you chose correctly!”

In front of the imperial mausoleum, Eunuch Gao sat before his thatched hut, emotionally sighing as he sensed that change in the skies.

After ending his conversation with Wang Chong, he had merely concealed his energy, not left.

Not even Gao Lishi had imagined that simply relaying the Sage Emperor’s comment would allow Wang Chong to break through the threshold and reach the Grotto Heaven realm.

No one had ever used this method to break through before.

With this step in cultivation, no one in the Great Tang Empire besides the Sage Emperor and Li Xuantu could match Wang Chong.

At this moment, Wang Chong had squeezed his way into the top class of experts!

Gao Lishi had not expected this sort of progress, and he felt relieved.

As time slowly passed, Wang Chong’s aura grew stronger and stronger, and even the people in the capital began to feel a vague pressure. But a moment later, it vanished, as did Wang Chong in the sky.

……

The cold wave continued to advance, the weather growing colder and colder with each day. In the east, all the countries besides the Eastern Turkic Khaganate, which had just experienced a war, were peaceful on the surface, but the stench of war was growing thicker and thicker by the day.

In secret, the countries had already begun to muster their soldiers and gather supplies.

This was true from the lofty Ü-Tsang Empire to Goguryeo by the Eastern Sea. Even though the weather was getting colder and colder, thick plumes of smoke rose from the north. All the countries were forging weapons and expanding their armies.

This was an unprecedented sight. None of the countries made a noise, but all of them were silently expanding their armies.

And as preparations for war took place on the ground, the heavens also began to shift.

Amongst the constellations, the regions representing various countries all seethed with killing intent.

Ten-some days later, when that bleak and somber air had reached its maximum, an evolution finally took place.

Rumble!

At noon, without any warning, the capital began to shudder. Crack! A tall wall to the southwest suddenly collapsed, showering the ground with debris.

At the imperial observatory, the sundial-shaped observation platform fell into two pieces with a resounding crack.

The astrologers who had been studying the heavens cried out in alarm as they fell to the ground.

“What’s going on? The star observation platform is placed at the concentration of Dragon Qi and was built by Heavenly Master Yuan several hundred years ago. How could it suddenly fall apart?”

The astrologers cared little about the dust covering their bodies, staring in shock at the sundered observation platform.

Heavenly Master Yuan Tiangang from Taizong’s era was an existence idolized by all the official astrologers and sorcerers in the realm, with the stature of a mythical figure.

The observation platform erected by this man was exceptionally sturdy, and careful and exhaustive calculations had gone into its construction. Even when the rest of the world was crumbling, it had never shown any sign of damage. But now, the observation platform had fallen apart in a single day, leaving everyone reeling in disbelief.

“Several hundred years, Heavenly Master Yuan said, ‘So long as the sundial exists, the Great Tang will thrive. When the sundial collapses, disaster will come.’ This is an extremely ill omen!” an astrologer said, his face going pale.

As everyone else reeled in shock, an astrologer pointed at the sky and yelled, “Forget the observation platform! Look at the heavens!”

Everyone instantly turned their attention to the heavens.

Ordinary people could only see the stars, but astrologers saw something completely different.

All of the stars had dimmed, and in the southwest, northeast, and southeast, black energy seethed, obscuring the heavens. And if one looked around, it seemed as if countless stars were raining down.

“A shift in the stars, and the Central Plains is shifting! This is an ill omen that the fortune of the Central Plains is running dry!”

The leading imperial astrologer let out a grief-stricken cry.

Rumble!

As if in response to his words, in the great wilderness to the southwest, a majestic mountain range trembled. Countless stones spilled down from the slopes while mighty trees snapped at their trunks.

As if this massive mountain range had been struck by a massive impact, it suddenly broke into two halves.

Raaaah!

Deep within this mountain range, in a plane that normal eyes could not see, a massive dragon raised its body and painfully howled.

Deep in the mountains across the land, various astrologers turned ghastly pale.

In the southeast, northwest, and in Longxi, similar incidents took place. In some places, mountains broke apart, and in other places, rivers changed course, and still in other places, fissures opened up.

Countless buildings trembled and collapsed.

Within Taiji Palace, a door creaked open. Li Heng, still holding a memorial he had been reviewing, solemnly walked out.

Li Jingzhong quickly followed.

Shifts in the heavens affected all of the Central Plains, and the Imperial Palace, as the nexus of Dragon Qi, received far more of a shock than other places.