Chapter 708: Chapter 82: I Was Once a Sinful Immortal, Celestial Emperor’s Path Formation Map
"The Three Realms were indeed true, and those epochs of Ancient and Upper Ancient times genuinely occurred."
"But after ten thousand years of Shenxiao’s history, the most magnificent era of the Celestial Emperor’s path attainment was imprinted by someone using supreme Great Divine Techniques, and this painting was named the Celestial Emperor’s Path Attainment Map."
As the words fell, the painting before Lu Chengfeng began to change; the Ninth Layer Heaven, Human Realm, and Eighteenth Layer Netherworld transformed into the Thirty-Three Heavens.
The Thirty-Three Layer Heavens overlapped one another, suppressing Chaos, like a throne uplifting a sacred, magnificent, noble existence, his entire being enveloped in golden light, holding a jade ruler in his left hand and a golden lamp in his right, emitting infinite light, wisdom, and Divine Techniques.
Lu Chengfeng had seen the image of this Celestial Emperor in future visions, but never had he felt the world to be so majestic and inviolable.
Just a single painting could inspire awe and dread, as if any slight thought of disrespect would lead to immense terror.
"Withdraw your thoughts, do not think, do not perceive, do not look..." Chang’e’s cool voice suddenly echoed by his ear, awakening Lu Chengfeng.
He shivered involuntarily, feeling a chill creeping up.
"The Celestial Emperor attained the path long ago, sweeping across eight hundred worlds in Chaos, becoming the lord of eight hundred worlds, his strength and Realm elevated to an unimaginable state." Chang’e slowly explained: "Although this place is Exile, isolated by the Chaos Celestial Abyss, where causality does not exist, and the Ten Thousand Laws are obliterated."
"But he is far too terrifying; if you gaze at this map for too long, it may trigger his sensing."
"This being should not be seen, spoken of, or thought of; otherwise, a single thought could prompt his Divine Thought to descend here."
Lu Chengfeng felt his scalp tingle, yet he couldn’t help asking, "If he is so terrifying, wouldn’t this painting be even more of a taboo?!"
Chang’e sighed wistfully, "This painting is the most mysterious legend within the original Three Realms. This item was created by the Shenxiao Empress after failing in her struggle for position against the Celestial Emperor, using her entire life and Tao Cultivation to capture and form from a segment of past time."
"It is rumored that due to the existence of this map, there is a flaw in the Path of the Celestial Emperor; otherwise, he would have already swept across three thousand worlds and climbed another Layer."
"There are also some rumors saying this map contains the secrets of the Celestial Emperor’s path attainment, and whoever can unravel the secrets of this map can retrace the path of the Celestial Emperor."
As she spoke, the bright light enveloping her transformed into laurel, with spring water flowing out from the moonlight, sprinkling abundantly and covering the ground with jade, lingering and unmoved.
But Lu Chengfeng could see that such a scene was a sign of Mana’s depletion, Spirituality’s absence, presaging complete demise and vanishing.
"Are you alright, senior? How can I help you?"
Chang’e smiled and shook her head, forming a spell, attracting surrounding Spiritual Mechanism, and lifting an extremely profound imprint from the Celestial Emperor’s Path Attainment Map, like thunder, like the bright moon, like Chaos, unable to be seen clearly.
"I am merely a Sinful Immortal banished to this Exile from the Three Realms. In this Chaos Celestial Abyss, the Ten Thousand Laws do not exist, and after endless ages, I have already perished."
"Only a strand of residual thought remains, barely preserved through the Celestial Emperor’s Path Attainment Map, and now it’s nearing the time of complete annihilation."
Lu Chengfeng’s heart tightened, quickly asking, "Senior, you mentioned this is Exile; what does that mean? Also, this place indeed resembles the Chaos Celestial Abyss in Chaos Heaven, so why do you also refer to it as the Chaos Celestial Abyss?"
A strand of Chang’e’s Divine Thought floated in the air like a bright moon, layers of Cloud Qi stirred and swirled, coalescing and unswayed.
She was forcibly concentrating her mind, which wouldn’t hold for long before dispersing and merging into the world.
"We must hurry."
Lu Chengfeng felt urgency, he needed to uncover all the secrets of this place quickly, otherwise once Chang’e’s residual thought completely dissipated, he would probably never be able to learn these long-buried secrets of ancient times.
The moonlight reflected in Chang’e’s brow, seemingly discerning his thoughts, she smiled, "There’s no need to rush. I was waiting for you here. We have sufficient time to resolve all your questions."
"Exile refers to the once-real Three Realms, that boundlessly vast Primordial Continent. After the Celestial Emperor attained the path, he extracted the Three Realms’ essence, established the Thirty-Three Heavens, and then the Three Realms gradually decayed, completely devoured by the Chaos Celestial Abyss three million seven hundred thousand years ago."
"The Celestial Emperor elevated the Thirty-Three Heavens, traveled to other worlds in Chaos, swept invincible, established the Celestial Court, and conquered eight hundred worlds."
"The region where the Three Realms once existed became known as Exile, now utterly consumed by the Chaos Celestial Abyss, becoming an exceedingly terrifying Chaos Forbidden Land."
"The Celestial Court later used this place to imprison Immortals, Buddhas, Demons, and Monsters. In this Chaos Celestial Abyss, the Ten Thousand Laws are obliterated, even Celestial Venerable-level beings are gradually worn down, their bodies perishing and paths destroyed."
Lu Chengfeng sat on the jade platform, caressing the delicate and peculiar engravings, a cold touch transmitted, saying, "So that’s why you referred to yourself as a Sinful Immortal banished to Exile?"
"Correct." Chang’e nodded, "I never expected that after being imprisoned in this Chaos Celestial Abyss, I would by chance stumble upon this Celestial Emperor’s Path Attainment Map."
"I was ecstatic upon obtaining this map, after all... sigh..." She paused briefly, sighed, "It is rumored that this item was left by the Shenxiao Empress, containing the secrets of the Celestial Emperor’s path attainment. If I could gain fortune from this map, I might just escape from the Chaos Celestial Abyss."
"Perhaps even become another Empress... or even a Celestial Emperor!"
"But the final result..."
Chang’e’s face showed bitterness, "I entered the map with Divine Thought, transformed into Cyan Nether Celestial Venerable, seeking the secrets of the Celestial Emperor."
"But no matter how hard I tried, the final outcome was always the Empress’s demise and the Celestial Emperor’s ascension, no matter how many reincarnations, the result seemed unchangeable."
"Upon obtaining this map, I felt an occult sensation; by breaking the cycle of time contained within the map, I might find the treasure left by the Empress, uncover the secrets of the Celestial Emperor’s path attainment."
"But ultimately, you saw the result!"
She pointed to the skull beneath the laurel tree, "I, in the Chaos Celestial Abyss, after merely a few thousand years, lost all Tao Cultivation, my physical body dispersed."
"If not for a strand of Divine Thought entering the Celestial Emperor’s Path Attainment Map, I would have already perished utterly, unable even to leave behind a single thought."
Lu Chengfeng realized, "So Cyan Nether Celestial Venerable was your Divine Thought Incarnation, and that’s why I could perceive the future ten thousand years, also because of your action?"
"But why did Cyan Nether Celestial Venerable not directly reveal the truth when she was about to attain Nirvana?"
Chang’e replied, "Once that strand of Divine Thought entered the map, it forgot all previous lives, and I could only influence her actions subconsciously until the cycle ended to retrieve the Divine Thought completely."
"Therefore, Cyan Nether was genuinely unaware of the secrets behind the Three Realms; she even thought she reversed time."
"In reality, everything was due to the heart imprint I left her, and leveraging the Celestial Emperor’s Path Attainment Map, creating causal ties between the Empress and this Divine Thought Incarnation, making them mother and daughter."
"Yet, in the true past, the Empress never had a mother named Cyan Nether Celestial Venerable."
Lu Chengfeng came to an epiphany, all past experiences and perplexities were answered.
A thought even flashed through his mind: Luo Suyi is the reincarnation of Cyan Nether Celestial Venerable, in other words, the embodiment of Chang’e’s residual thought within the Celestial Emperor’s Path Attainment Map.
"No matter what, at least among many women, one is real..."
He felt a wry smile inside, looking at Chang’e, his mindset underwent subtle changes.
"This person, from a certain perspective, could be considered his wife? Just whether she acknowledges it or not?"
