Eternal Heavenly Emperor

Chu Hao had been at the peak of the First Tier War Venerate, merely lacking the final comprehension to break through. Now, with the aid of the Spirit Core, the most original and purest forms of the elemental powers manifested within his Sea of Consciousness, greatly aiding in enhancing his enlightenment.

His body quivered slightly, and his Soul Seed instantly broke through its original one-meter limitation and began to grow once more.

The Spirit Core contained not only elemental perceptions but was also a condensation of energy, dense enough to reverse normal sensory perception. Upon its release, it was like floodgates opening, causing a torrential surge within his body.

Fortunately, he was refining it by holding it in his hands, allowing control over its output. Otherwise, the energy burst from a Spirit Core in an instant would far exceed the full-force strike of a War Emperor and would instantly kill him.

He guided this energy, expanding his Unique Life Spring while the endless elemental perceptions flowed within his Sea of Consciousness, strengthening the Soul Seed continuously.

After a day and a night, the miniature person formed by the Soul Seed reached a height of two meters.

This was the limit for the Second Tier War Venerate.

Could he take another step further?

Chu Hao thought, squeezing out the last bit of essence from the Spirit Core, trying to make the leap to the Third Tier War Venerate.

Break!

An invisible shackle within his body broke, his Sea of Consciousness trembled, and the miniature person formed by the Soul Seed grew once again, surpassing the two-meter limit, but the power of the Spirit Core had been fully utilized.

Early stage of the Third Tier War Venerate.

Chu Hao, with his eyes closed, felt the overwhelming Soul Power in his Sea of Consciousness, filled with the urge to allow his soul to travel freely throughout the world.

The miniature person raised a hand lightly, and the elemental powers immediately responded, intertwining ice and flame into a ring around him, with blue lightning entwined within, crackling and buzzing.

He could now harness the powers of three elements, but this was far from the path he sought to travel.

Only the Five Elements were the Great Chaos.

But reaching that wasn't something that could be done in one leap. The Five Elements were not so easily comprehended. He had reached the peak of the First Tier War Venerate so quickly because of his Solar Constitution, which manifested as the Flame Attribute, and Su Wanyue had the Frost Attribute. Their Dual Cultivation allowed for his rapid progress.

In the perception of the Wood, Earth, and Metal elements, he had no advantage whatsoever.

Take it slowly.

Chu Hao stood up, but Su Wanyue and Yun Cai were still in the midst of refining.

"You rascal, come here, help mistress massage her legs." Gu Qingcheng, seeing him stand up, beckoned with curling fingers.

Chu Hao chuckled and said, "You're already calling me a scoundrel, aren't you afraid that I'll take the opportunity to molest you?"

"Would you dare?" Gu Qingcheng sent a flirtatious glance.

Chu Hao bared his teeth, feeling even more challenged by the demoness's increasing charm as her realm grew higher. Thankfully, he had made progress through the three small realms of the Upper Three Realms, his Divine Sense strengthening all the while; otherwise, he might actually end up capitulating to the demoness.

"Behave yourself!" he warned.

"Oh, are you afraid someone will get jealous?" Gu Qingcheng glanced at Su Wanyue before whispering, "That cold one won't wake up any time soon, what do you think?"

"What about it?" Chu Hao shrugged.

"There's an old saying, 'The wife is not as good as the concubine, and the concubine is not as good as a stolen lover.' Isn't mistress offering you a chance to engage in a little romance?" Gu Qingcheng tempted.

"You thick-skinned demoness!" Chu Hao sighed.

Gu Qingcheng laughed coquettishly, continually flirting with Chu Hao. But with Su Wanyue meditating right beside them, how could Chu Hao dare cross the line? He resolved to maintain his integrity and resist the demoness's allure.

Two days later, Su Wanyue and Yun Cai each refined their own Spirit Core, their cultivation making substantial progress.

"Let's check that place out!" Chu Hao pointed towards the distance, having seen the existence of buildings there when the Bronze Bone Dragon was lighting up the sky.

Aside from Gu Qingcheng, all three of them were immensely curious and moved forward without hesitation.

Gu Qingcheng sighed and said, "Why are these guys so curious?"

"Curiosity killed the cat!" Fat Cat shook its head too, "I have a strong feeling of foreboding."

With the disappearance of the Bone Dragon, the environment here had almost returned to normal. Although there were still some suppressive effects, they were no longer very prominent; at least they had regained the ability to fly, and Chu Hao could employ the Western Wind, giving him enough confidence.

Even if the War Emperor himself were to appear now, Chu Hao felt capable of giving him a fight or, at the very least, making his escape.

They soon reached the place.

"This is... a mausoleum!" Gu Qingcheng trembled upon realization.

Chu Hao was intrigued too. He descended to the ground outside the mausoleum, which was large, containing about a hundred opulent graves.

"Let's go, what's there to see in a tomb?" Gu Qingcheng said with a shiver, her fear of such places apparent.

But Chu Hao replied, "At the very least, we should see who is buried here. If it's the resting place of an eminent predecessor, we should pay our respects to express our admiration."

"If it's really the tomb of some important figure, it might be worth excavation." Fat Cat muttered.

"Gross cat, you're actually talking about grave robbing?" Gu Qingcheng felt disgusted.

"Hey, aren't you all always exploring ancient ruins, which is basically the same as grave robbing?" Fat Cat retorted disdainfully.

"But that's different, at least we don't open coffins and rummage through the dead!" Gu Qingcheng argued.

"Fine, I won't open the coffin either," Fat Cat agreed, amenable to reason.

"You know, we can't even read the inscriptions on these tombstones here," Chu Hao suddenly pointed out.

"Eh, that's true!" Yun Cai clapped her hands in agreement.

"It's like there's a fog over the tombstones, making them impossible to read clearly," Su Wanyue confirmed as she nodded.

"Interesting." Chu Hao stepped forward, entering the mausoleum.

Seeing him go in, Su Wanyue and the other two women quickly followed.

Chu Hao walked up to the first tombstone, looking at the inscription, but it was still a fog. He couldn't help but move closer, and the writing gradually became visible, yet he still couldn't see it clearly, so he leaned in a little more.

When his eyes were almost pressing against the tombstone, he could finally see the words clearly—"Grave of Gu Qingcheng".

What!

Chu Hao immediately took three steps back, his eyes wide and round with shock.

How could this be?

Could it really be such a coincidence that buried here, many years ago, was someone with the same name as Gu Qingcheng?

He turned around and said, "Demoness Gu, there is—" He stopped abruptly because there was no one around him, he was all alone.

How could this be?

Chu Hao's heart began to race, his brow furrowed in intense confusion. He walked up to the tombstone again and took a closer look—the five characters "Grave of Gu Qingcheng" were clearly written.

Where is everyone, where did all the people go?

"Wanyue! Yun Cai! Fat Cat!" he shouted loudly, but there was no response at all.

Suppressing the perplexity and unease in his heart, he moved to the second tombstone. Looking at it, there were only four characters: "Grave of Yun Cai". His heart hammered like thunder. Then he approached the third tombstone: "Grave of Su Wanyue", it stated clearly on the surface.

This must be fake, it must be fake!

He came to the fourth tombstone and leaned over to look: "Grave of Chu Hao".

My grave?

Am I dead?

A wave of confusion washed over Chu Hao, what then was he now? A restless ghost?

He lifted his arm and was shocked to see a bone arm, the bones glistening white.

"Am I really dead?"

If dead, he should lie down in his grave and sleep forever.

Suddenly, a voice arose in his heart, as if it held some kind of magic.

Chu Hao dug open his own grave, inside was a vermillion coffin. Opening it to look, he found it completely empty, so he lay down inside, closed the lid, and shut his eyes, immediately everything around him turned pitch black.

After sleeping for an indeterminate amount of time, a question arose in his heart, how did I die?

No, I haven't died!

Wrong, I am dead, no one can defeat time, and now I am but bones.

If I'm dead, how could I still have thoughts?

That is merely a lingering obsession. Dust to dust, earth to earth, rest in peace quietly.

Two voices emerged in his heart, one was his own doubts, and the other seemed like a distant echo of himself, sounding so unreal.

No!

Chu Hao opened his eyes fiercely, none of this was real, he hadn't died! Neither had Su Wanyue, Gu Qingcheng, nor Yun Cai!

He tried to push the coffin lid open but found it incredibly heavy, impossible to move.

So heavy, why is it so heavy?

Chu Hao calmed down, and he suddenly realized that his Divine Sense had become incredibly sluggish. After discovering the graves of Su Wanyue and the others, he had only felt confusion and surprise, but not excessive sadness. This was completely wrong.

If this scene actually took place in front of him, he would be driven mad with anger, insane with grief.

This was not him!

All of this is fake!

Wait, how did all this happen?

Chu Hao strained to mobilize his sluggish Divine Sense, and memories began to emerge bit by bit—he discovered a mausoleum, where the inscriptions on each tombstone were unclear.

Illusion, all of this was an illusion, he had entered an Illusion Array!

He suddenly came to the realization, his Divine Sense solidifying as he bellowed, "My heart is as firm as iron, my Intent is as sharp as a sword, no illusion can deceive me, be gone!"

In the Sea of Consciousness, the Soul Seed glowed, the Fire Element and Water Element each transformed into a Divine Sword, held in its hands, it continuously slashed through.

Eradicate, eradicate, break, break!

Boom boom boom, the surrounding space shattered continuously, as if it were glass.

When everything had shattered, Chu Hao suddenly opened his eyes.

The environment around him had returned to that mausoleum, but Su Wanyue and the two women appeared beside him, though their life forces were extremely weak, as if they were about to extinguish.

Chu Hao was instantly bathed in cold sweat—the three women must have been deceived by the Illusion Array just like he had been, believing themselves dead.

This was extremely dangerous, when the Divine Sense believed one was dead, it made one a living corpse, and after the body's life force vanished, the person would truly be dead.

"Snap out of it!" he shouted loudly.

Clang, the shout struck like the tolling of a bell at dawn or dusk, piercing deep into the soul, because it carried with it his Chaos Intent Realm. (To be continued. If you like this work, you are welcome to vote for it on Qidian. Your support is my greatest motivation. Mobile users please visit m.qidian.com to read.)