Chapter 874: Chapter 354: A Vast Canvas Across the Heavens, an Eternal Legend in History
The entire world was shrouded in a scene of Tribulation Qi like a natural disaster.
The trees had withered, schools of fish floated on the sea’s surface, countless commoners lay fallen upon the land; almost all living beings had already vanished.
There were no wounds upon their bodies, they had merely lost their Destiny.
Yet Destiny was one of the three great elements of life; to lose Destiny meant they had already stepped completely into death.
Crash!
Ning Zheng’s mind was muddled and dazed, his thoughts in chaos, his nerves churned by a terrifying impact; even Heaven and earth began to invert.
Two billion Daily Fortune Value was clearly still far from enough to suppress it; Ning Zheng’s consciousness continued to sink, constantly being eroded, turning him into yet another Emperor Changjin.
It was like standing in a mire, watching himself sink deeper and deeper, falling into an endless abyss of chaotic thoughts.
"This battle isn’t won; the furious clash is still ongoing."
"The essence of a Qi Fortune battle is a clash of Destiny, a contest of whose Destiny is stronger, who can suppress the other."
"It is not a bout of flesh and blood, fists and kicks, Martial Arts, or Divine Techniques..."
"If it’s about size, then I just need more Qi Fortune Value, a vast amount of Qi Fortune Value to suppress... my current stockpile is exhausted."
Ning Zheng’s gaze swept across the surrounding sky.
The heavy cloud layer was all turbid, filthy, laden with deathly air soaked in Cause and Effect.
Hoo!
He opened the Qi Fortune Gambling Table and began to absorb this misty body of a colossal Destiny-energy lifeform whose Destiny Core had been plucked out.
+10,000,000.
+10,000,000.
+10,000,000.
The terrifying numbers jumped rapidly, the Qi Fortune stock of the Qi Fortune Gambling Table surging madly.
+698,100,000,000.
In the end, a terrifying number suddenly leapt out.
This was the immense Tribulation Qi condensed from the endless masses of an entire world.
And this was only the part Ning Zheng could absorb; the rest was sludge that was extremely hard to take in, tainted with vast amounts of Cause and Effect, so that even the Qi Fortune Gambling Table struggled to draw it.
Otherwise, with all the beings of this world dead, drained dry into Qi Fortune Value, a harvest of all life in one realm, the combined Destiny could reach above one trillion.
He had probably taken less than fifty percent for himself, but it was already more than enough!
Swishhh.
"Add it to me!" Ning Zheng began to stack weights on his own side.
[Daily Fortune Value: 3,000,000,000]
[Daily Fortune Value: 7,000,000,000]
[Daily Fortune Value: 10,000,000,000]
Ning Zheng’s body seethed with wind and cloud, as if it contained boundless golden light.
The colossal Destiny caused a qualitative change in his body, forming a certain mysterious golden Destiny lifeform, as though the world itself was raising great ripples ring after ring.
And in this transformed state, he also suppressed that [Tribulation] heart like a Shadow Crocodile.
"It’s temporarily suppressed. Time to leave."
With a crashing sound.
The Ancient Bronze Emperor fell, reversed course, and returned to the depths of the Divine Capital; and that mysterious Manor Master, after putting down this Ancient Bronze Statue body used for his descent, had already departed from this world.
...
...
The Night Emperor stared wide-eyed at the vast, cloudless, clear sky, his emotions unable to calm for a long time.
Because before his dumbfounded gaze, from the external world’s viewpoint, that mysterious Manor Master was almost like an abyssal maw, devouring the enormous red-black Tribulation clouds between Heaven and earth, making the world become limpid, clean, and orderly.
With merely a few casual motions, He had truly rebooted this world.
Was it over, just like that?
Had it really ended?
Everyone’s hearts were filled with disbelief.
Because it was too fast, too simple.
That sort of Immortal who, with the lift of a hand, could draw an entire Tribulation into His body and suppress it had simply exceeded their scope of comprehension.
Could an Immortal truly be this strong?
An Immortal who primarily cultivated Destiny, able to easily take on and suppress the vast Karmic Force of Cause and Effect condensed from the masses of an entire world, without suffering backlash?
"One day, we too will reach such a level."
The Night Emperor and Jian Xin exchanged a glance, their hearts surging with emotion.
"Do we really have a chance to reach that standard?" Emperor Zangwu’s words echoed in everyone’s ears.
"Why wouldn’t we?"
The Night Emperor smiled, lofty ambition in his heart,
"Everyone! Do not be discouraged. The steps of pursuing truth should never halt. We have already passed the most difficult threshold—Karmic Force. In this battle, we have completely explored this system. We are already about to take shape."
"Our Trapped Dragon Ascending to Heaven, Tribulation, is no longer a thorn in our hearts. We have already seen through it, grasped it."
"The Life and Death Legacy, Xian’s research, the establishment of the Netherworld, the three great elements—the world’s system has been thoroughly perfected by us. Believe that we will even soon be able to step onto the Immortal Path and become another Immortal!"
"Yes, we of this Self-Transformation group will soon step into the Immortal Realm."
"By then, we will be able to stand on the same height as that One. Believe me! We will soon be able to catch up to Him!"
The Night Emperor’s eyes were bloodshot, clearly aware of where his future lay.
"Even if we become Immortals, will we really be that strong?"
At this moment, Prime Minister Masked Emperor slowly opened his mouth and said, "I feel that Immortals should be even more afraid of getting stained with Cause and Effect, more afraid of provoking Karmic Force... After we become Immortals, can we really reach such a height?"
Once these words fell, everyone fell silent.
All of them stared blankly at the clean and bright sky, then lowered their heads to look at the pure land below with not a single strand of Cause-and-Effect lines attached, speechless for a long, long time.
...
The earth was deathly still, devoid of all vitality.
All the continents, all the nations, even the major forces of cultivators in the Divine Capital only began to wake again after being unconscious for three or four days.
Mortals with low Destiny were sucked dry in an instant by the all‑encompassing Tribulation Qi; to have no Destiny meant you were already dead.
Everywhere lay living corpses, one after another, bearing no wounds.
Yet some Daoists who had been bitterly holding on were still struggling; the vastness of their Qi Fortune had allowed them to endure until Ning Zheng’s final victory, and now, after several days of coma, they slowly awakened again.
"We survived?"
"What happened?"
"How did we make it through?"
Countless people climbed to their feet, lost in confusion, staring at the clear sky as they pondered.
It all felt like a dream.
In the dream they had seen those red‑black Tribulation clouds, the end of the world, the ferocious roaring Demon God, the peerless Sword God of hundreds of thousands of True Martial Swords, and that final mysterious, majestic figure who appeared at the end and lightly closed a hand.
"So it was a dream after all."
"It must have been fake, right?"
"Yes, any Daoist who has cultivated the Dao of Destiny knows that with one’s own Destiny, to suppress that inconceivable thing is simply impossible!"
Many people began to doubt their own memories; some no longer believed in that super battle, that combat which had been so despairing and so shocking.
And for several days, everyone stared blankly upon the desolate earth, looking at the endless living corpses who had lost their Destiny—family, friends, loved ones...
They could not accept reality.
The lives that still remained numbered less than one percent; the world had fallen into a bizarre deathly silence.
Just then.
From the sky there suddenly plummeted a gigantic painting scroll, blazing with golden radiance—"Tribulation."
Rustle, rustle.
The scroll in the heavens blossomed with Seven‑Colored light, projecting that battle within the scroll once more into reality.
The painting was filled with red and black tones, carrying a suffocating sense of despair in a storm; there was the roaring Jian Xin, the sky‑covering Flying Swords, the terrifying Tribulation, and that mysterious divine‑demonic figure who grasped the Tribulation.
Within the endless red‑black Tribulation Qi, the man seized the Core; in that instant, a golden energy like sunlight erupted within the foul red‑blackness, as though it were dawn lighting up the night, radiating lustrous golden light.
That arrogant, unrestrained, domineering Ancient Bronze Emperor seemed like a true Golden Divine Being, bathed in Gold, appearing incomparably majestic and sacred.
Under that dazzling golden radiance, it was as if this Golden God was being cast into history for all eternity.
"That vast, boundless scroll that covers the heavens?"
It made all the surviving common folk lift their heads, their eyes filled with incomparable shock.
So what they had dreamed was no dream; it had been real?
This scroll had recorded the history from when they were unconscious; a single hand had truly wiped away Cause and Effect...
"Just which painter was this, which Historian, to be so powerful! In the midst of that battle he still had the ability to record history, to render history eternal at this moment, to inlay it upon the Painted Wall of history and make it an everlasting legend?"
"Could it be the Celestial Destiny Dynasty’s Royal chief painter hidden in the dark?"
"As expected of the Night Emperor, to even possess such a Historian."
"Vivid and lifelike."
...
Very soon, everyone quickly ran to the valley where the scroll had fallen. Someone crouched down, picked up that painting which recorded mythic legend, and carefully put it away. "Though I don’t know who you are, thank you!"
"It’s yours."
A gentle, faintly smiling voice sounded in people’s ears, as if present and absent at once:
"History ought not be forgotten; heroes ought to be remembered forever by those who come after. And He is a Golden God of a height you and I have never known."
...
...
Rustle, rustle!
In the Nine-State World, in a certain valley.
The painter murmured softly, his gaze deep, as though lost in thought.
"What a pity... I still could not capture the true essence. So it wasn’t the world’s problem; even with the scroll placed in this world, I still cannot infuse it with a soul."
This was his first time making contact with such a deep Destiny system; he had never expected that the final eruption of entangled Cause and Effect would be so terrifying—the Tribulation, the Tribulation Qi, sweeping across Heaven and earth, draining all things.
And he could not paint the two fearsome figures upon that battlefield.
He could not paint the Tribulation, nor could he paint that Ancient Bronze Emperor; the divine charm was always lacking.
This painting seemed vivid and lifelike, yet in truth it was a flawed work.
Since the other had already become aware of his existence, why should he hide?
What harm was there in giving them this painting?
Let it remain in their history as a memento!
His paintings only had meaning when they were collected and admired.
"Truly marvelous." The painter revealed a hint of intrigued amusement, a deeper meaning flickering in his eyes. "I keep feeling he’s hiding something, his hand moved so quickly."
"That generated mysterious Core contained a kind of power impossible to describe, impossible to explain, something I’ve never seen before."
"Even ten million years from now, in endless worlds there will always be Civilization systems I do not know, fascinating me, making me unable to resist painting them and adding them to my collection."
....
The survivors carefully put away the scroll, standing in twos and threes amidst the ruins, meeting each other’s eyes, their expressions full of hopeful longing.
Whatever the case, the historical scroll the painter had left in this world contained all kinds of Divine Being visages.
The Sword Immortal who, in fury, swung Ten Thousand Swords Return to the Root.
Emperor Zangwu, who tried to use the Holy Martial Robe to block the Tribulation clouds.
The vast red‑black Tribulation clouds...
And that mysterious figure who snuffed out the Great Tribulation—an image that, even countless years later, would still be passed on from mouth to mouth among the common folk, eternal and undying.
History has never buried everything; there have always been great, mysterious recorders of history, ceaselessly, secretly painting down eternal historical legends.
