The Human Emperor

Wang Chong was suspicious, but he didn’t slow down. As he advanced, his body remained tense, ready at any time to respond.

But after taking a few steps, Wang Chong grimaced.

In front of him stood a stone stele.

‘On the decree of Emperor Taizong, Yuan Tiangang has sealed this place!’

The words appeared to have been chiseled into the stone. Farther down, a golden-red compass had been embedded in the rock.

As Wang Chong stepped into the range of the stele, an enormous Taiji formation appeared beneath his feet, covering every inch of the cave.

Whoosh!

Space was instantly condensed, becoming as tough as steel, and the earth began to exert an enormous pull that pinned Wang Chong in place.

Even Wang Chong’s Stellar Energy began to flood out of his body, rapidly vanishing into the earth.

All of this had happened very abruptly, and Wang Chong felt his heart sink.

Yuan Tiangang!

This was the number one diviner from one hundred years ago.

In the several hundred years of the Tang Empire, he was the only person to ever truly obtain the status of state teacher, and he had been personally appointed by Emperor Taizong.

The Earth Trap Formation!

A thought flashed through Wang Chong’s mind.

Yuan Tiangang was known for his astrology, not his martial arts. Wang Chong was sure that Heavenly Master Yuan must have possessed a high cultivation level, for greater than what the common people imagined, but it could not be higher than his.

If Yuan Tiangang himself had appeared, he would have posed little threat to Wang Chong, but what he had used was a special land subsidence art, using the earth itself as a cage to imprison him.

The surrounding several hundred li had probably become like a vacuum, crazily draining away Wang Chong’s Stellar Energy. Until all of Wang Chong’s Stellar Energy had been emptied out of his body, the formation would not stop.

More importantly, this wasn’t a contest of martial arts. Wang Chong could not defeat the ‘earth’.

As these thoughts ran through his mind, Wang Chong had a flash of insight and quickly regained his composure.

This formation Yuan Tiangang had set down was truly formidable, but unfortunately, Wang Chong had also studied formations, and he had read the Formation Divine Treatise.

Bang!

A moment later, Wang Chong stomped his foot down. Rather than trying to stop the flow of Stellar Energy, he accelerated it.

This Grotto Heaven Stellar Energy did not flow into the ground to be absorbed by the formation, but was used by Wang Chong to create his own formation.

The Origin Immortal Formation!

Wang Chong used Stellar Energy to form a small Origin Immortal Formation around him.

On his journey to the northwest, Wang Chong had used this method against his enemies. Now that he was so much stronger, he was even more skilled at this method.

The moment this miniature Origin Immortal Formation appeared, the Earth Trap Formation draining away his energy was thrown into disarray. Like a small pebble being thrown onto a placid lake surface, a wave of disturbance appeared in the formation.

For Wang Chong, this small ripple of disturbance was enough for him to deal with this crisis.

Buzz!

Wang Chong appeared next to the stone stele and thrust out his finger. Spacetime sealing power entered the stele and immediately disintegrated the formation that Yuan Tiangang had left within.

Whoosh!

In a rush of air, the terrifying pull subsided, and everything in the cave fell still once more.

“Forgive me for my offense.”

Wang Chong bowed before stepping past the stele and continuing onward.

A few moments later, he felt another pressure coming from the front.

‘On the decree of Emperor Wen of Sui, Heaven-Reaching Great General Yu Juluo guards this place!’

The second stone stele soon appeared before him, and standing behind the stele was an armored figure, his hair white, a spear in hand, as motionless as a statue.

That person stood motionless, but even so, he still exuded an enormous pressure.

“How?!”

Wang Chong was stunned as he stared at this figure.

After all, he was a member of a great clan, and while growing up in the clan, he had heard all sorts of stories about heroes of past dynasties.

Wang Chong had recognized this man instantly. This was Heaven-Reaching General Yu Juluo, a renowned Sui general that his grandfather had told him stories about, though he was much older.

In the age of the Sui Dynasty, Heaven-Reaching Great General Yu Juluo had been on the same level as the Great Tang’s Su Zhengchen. He had been born with divine strength and had reached an extremely high level of martial arts, causing him to be granted the title of Heaven-Reaching Great General.

But it was said that Yu Juluo had died not long after Emperor Wen’s death, probably around the age of fifty or sixty. Yet this Yu Juluo was at least eighty, perhaps even ninety. More importantly, why had that legendary Yu Juluo appeared in this underground passage?

And the stele said he was here by decree of Emperor Wen? What did that mean?

Considering that the first stele had mentioned Emperor Taizong, it meant that two wise sovereigns had dispatched people to guard this place.

This meant that they had known about this passage. What did that mean?

What sort of secret could generations of sovereigns have known about and tacitly agreed to protect?

Most importantly, who was that man?

What was worth these legendary sovereigns sending their trusted Great Generals to guard this place, even having them keep out intruders after they were dead?

Wang Chong’s mind was whirring, but his steps did not slow.

Buzz!

A few moments later, he saw the third stele.

‘Prince Wu of Wei has decreed that this place be protected!’

(TN: The Wei here refers to the Northern Wei Dynasty. Its founder, Emperor Daowu, was initially known as Prince of Wei before becoming Emperor.)

Behind this stele was an enormous and ancient seal that radiated intense pulses of energy. At the most intense source of energy ripples was an ancient blade stained with blood that clearly did not belong to this era.

This was clearly the seal from another era. Compared to the seal from earlier, perhaps because it had been sent down longer ago and had accumulated more energy, it was even stronger.

“Leave this place!” An ancient voice boomed within the cave, hollow and cold. It was different from the mysterious figure’s voice and had clearly been left behind by the one who had placed the seal here long ago.

Bang!

After the voice in the seal spoke, the earth rumbled and split open, that rusted blade stained in blood rising from the ground.

A moment later, endless waves of saber energy filled the cavern, tearing through space as they hurtled at Wang Chong.

Moreover, as those waves of blade energy shot toward him, Wang Chong could clearly sense that the spacetime energy around him had frozen and been rendered incapable of use.

In this narrow passage, Wang Chong had been left with nowhere to run.

Wang Chong couldn’t help but raise his eyebrows in surprise.

The number of people that could reach the Subtle realm in each dynasty was very small, and even fewer could reach the Grotto Heaven realm. The fact that this seal contained spacetime energy meant that Wang Chong had to take it seriously.

“Hold on! Some of it is this seal’s power, but another part is from the area itself. These seals are using the spacetime energy of this place!”

Wang Chong’s heart thumped as he quickly realized what was going on.

This place was rather strange and was itself imbued with powerful spacetime energy. Wang Chong couldn’t even be certain if he was still beneath the Western Mausoleum. The spacetime seals and psychic seals around this place were even stronger than those that the Origin Immortal Lord had set down.

Buzz!

The saber energy infused with spacetime energy sliced at Wang Chong, and his eyes flashed. There was no other choice than to take the attacks head-on.

Boom!

These waves of saber energy could slice through mountains, but the halo divine tool stopped them all.

The halo divine tool had two forms. The first was the Sword of God, all energy being used for attacking. The other form was this divine wall before him, possessing unimaginable defensive power.

At Wang Chong’s current level of cultivation, only Heaven’s full strength could think about shaking the halo divine tool.

Whoosh!

Wang Chong had no intention of attacking. While using the halo divine tool to stop the attacks, he shot over to the stele and sealed the power within it.

The frightening offensive quickly dissipated, and with a clang, the blade dropped back to the ground and fell silent.

Passing the stele set down by the Great Wei, Wang Chong saw the seals left by the other dynasties. Each one was stronger and more dangerous than the last, but in front of the halo divine tool, these seals were incapable of expressing their full might.

Around an hour later, Wang Chong exhaled as he finally passed through the final seal.

His face was slightly pale, his Stellar Energy greatly expended. Though he had managed to pass through the seals left behind by these numerous dynasties, it had come at a great cost.

“Only the last one is left.”

Wang Chong raised his head, focused his mind, and walked forward.

He had just passed through the seals left by the Han Dynasty and the Qin Dynasty. Logically, there would not be many seals left.

Just as Wang Chong had predicted, after getting through all the steles and their seals, Wang Chong saw something different.

At the end of this underground passage was a statue of someone completely unexpected. This statue depicted someone wearing a long robe, carrying a long sword, and with a compassionate gaze.

The Supreme Sage, Confucius!