Eternal Heavenly Emperor

The entire arena was in an uproar.

That was the War God, a War God actually specifically asking to meet a junior, what kind of honor was that?

However, Chu Hao merely curled his lip in his mind. He had been about to press Fat Cat for answers, so why interrupt him now? Still, although the War God had summoned him, he hadn't said it needed to be immediate, so there was no need for Chu Hao to rush.

He would just walk there slowly.

Watching Chu Hao walk leisurely toward the back mountain, everyone was dumbfounded, even figures like the War Emperor twitched their faces.

A summons from the War God and he wasn't hurrying over immediately; this youngster really had nerves of steel.

Chu Hao's focus, however, remained on Fat Cat. He said, "Fat Cat, spill it."

After thinking a bit and organizing his thoughts, Fat Cat said, "What Little Loach said was basically correct, only he made it sound too small-scale. Do you remember I once mentioned that there are several ranks above the War God?"

"Star Master, King of Stars, Domain Lord, Realm Master, Immortal Emperor, Eternal Heavenly Emperor," Chu Hao said.

Fat Cat chuckled and said, "Previously, I only mentioned these martial arts ranks, but did I not explain how powerful and rare a Domain Lord or Realm Master is? A Star Master is the ruler of a planet. Generally speaking, a planet can bear only a handful of Star Masters, for the Field Domain of a Star Master is too formidable; a planet can only accommodate so few, and any more would lead to conflict—the so-called, 'no mountain can house two tigers' fits this situation."

"And the King of Stars, as the name suggests, is the ruler of a cluster of planets, usually emerging once among a few hundred planets."

By this point, Chu Hao was already feeling dizzy. He had initially thought that a Star Master was just a step above the War God, and since in Ancient Times War Gods were as common as stray dogs, then shouldn't Star Masters be as common, if not crawling everywhere, as War Emperors are now, with each major power hosting one?

But actually, on a single planet, only a handful of such figures could emerge, which was indeed powerful and rare enough.

If the Star Masters were like this, it went without saying for the King of Stars, being the ruler of hundreds of planets.

"A Domain Lord is the ruler of a Star Domain. How big is a Star Domain? It comprises at least tens of thousands, if not hundreds of thousands of planets. With such a vast number, only then can one Domain Lord emerge. How strong do you think that is?"

"Above the Domain Lord is the Realm Master, which can govern tens of thousands of Star Domains combined to form a realm; just imagine the powers of a Realm Master."

"Followed by the Immortal Emperor, such powerhouses in the entire universe are as rare as phoenix feathers and unicorn horns, almost countable on two hands—the entire universe!"

"As for the final Eternal Heavenly Emperor… to my knowledge, such an existence has never emerged. Otherwise, a Heavenly Emperor would live as long as the heavens and the cosmos, never perishing, eternally evergreen, always enduring; how could no one know of it?"

Fat Cat spoke at length, then stopped to let Chu Hao digest.

Chu Hao indeed paused for a while before speaking, "What does all this you've described have to do with the downfall during Ancient Times?"

"It does!" Fat Cat nodded, "Sky Martial Star is a Super-Star — oh, planets have classifications, usually divided into ten grades, but some planets are larger than a First-Class Star and more replete with Spiritual Energy, known as Superior Stars."

"Sky Martial Star is a Superior Super-Star, hence from ancient times until now, it has birthed countless powerful beings!"

"In my era, not only were there Star Masters, Kings of Stars, Domain Lords, and Realm Masters on Sky Martial Star, but even an Immortal Emperor was birthed!"

Chu Hao's body trembled involuntarily. After listening to Fat Cat's detailed explanation of the ranks of Star Master and Realm Master, he naturally knew how difficult it was to become an Immortal Emperor, yet during Ancient Times, Sky Martial Star had birthed such a supreme powerhouse!

A powerhouse among the universe's few strongest.

But since a powerhouse like that had emerged from Sky Martial Star, how could it suddenly decline? With such a powerful figure stationed, Sky Martial Star should have prospered and flourished eternally.

—The Immortal Emperor could live for a billion years.

"The Emperor's ambitions were greater than the heavens; after reaching the pinnacle of the Immortal Realm, he desired to take another step forward and become an Eternal Heavenly Emperor," Fat Cat sighed and his face showed a hint of melancholy.

Chu Hao's mind suddenly flashed with enlightenment. He recalled the message from the Ancient Ground Medicine Gate in Xiaocao's Medicine Valley, something about a failed attempt to ascend to Heavenly Emperor, which brought disaster upon Sky Martial Star. He blurted out, "This Great Emperor failed in his attempt to become a Heavenly Emperor, which led to the decline of Sky Martial Star?"

"You are quite astute," Fat Cat nodded, "In the past, the Emperor tried to ascend to the Heavenly Emperor Position, drawing the Spiritual Energy from Sky Martial Star and the surrounding hundreds of Star Domains. Yet, he ultimately fell short, and his internal power went out of control and overflowed. Even controlled by the Emperor, it still caused irreversible destruction."

"Numerous nearby Star Domains were destroyed, and although Sky Martial Star managed to survive, its warriors were severely injured, plunging Sky Martial Star's martial arts to rock bottom overnight."

"The Great Emperor, in order to minimize destruction, forcibly controlled his power and inflicted upon himself an incurable Dao injury, leaving his life hanging by a thread. He knew that after his death, countless powerful beings would rush to Sky Martial Star to seek his legacy, attempting to become the next Immortal."

"Sky Martial Star no longer had any powerful beings to preside over it; the strongest among them were only the Star Masters who had suffered severe injuries and were completely incapable of resisting the likes of the King of Stars and the Domain Lords. You must know that at the time, the Great Emperor was almost an invincible existence, and naturally, the martial artists on Sky Martial Star were quite arrogant, having made quite a few enemies. But with the Great Emperor around, no one dared to offend them."

"However, if the Great Emperor were to pass away, Sky Martial Star could suffer the vengeance of warriors from other stars and might see all life perish overnight."

"Thus, before his death, the Great Emperor set up a Formation that sealed heaven and earth, giving Sky Martial Star a million years of respite to slowly recover from its wounds. And the foundation of this Formation was none other than the Great Emperor's own bones!"

Chu Hao was so shocked he could not speak a word.

"The Human Race resides in the Nine States, and the descendants of the Divine Beasts live overseas; that too was the handiwork of the Great Emperor, to prevent a massive war from breaking out once there was no powerful being presiding over them. He even set up bans over the seas to prevent the two sides from communicating. And the Nine States… are actually transformed from the nine ribs of the Great Emperor," Fat Cat revealed yet another great secret.

Pfft!

Chu Hao finally spat out, understanding just how vast the Nine States were, but to think they were merely the nine ribs of the Immortal Emperor, was that not too astonishing? A lightbulb went off in his head as he said, "What about the Heavenly Spring at the convergence of the Nine States?"

"Precisely, that is the transformation of the Great Emperor's Heaven's Life Spring," Fat Cat nodded.

No wonder it felt so much like the Life Spring, and no wonder martial artists could form their first Life Spring by studying the Heavenly Spring, for it was truly the Great Emperor's Life Spring, equivalent to real-life spell casting.

"This is a grace bestowed upon later generations by the Great Emperor!" Fat Cat said with emotion, tears brimming in his eyes.

It was also a form of atonement, for had that Great Emperor not failed in his ascent to the Heavenly Emperor Position, he would not have brought such a catastrophe upon Sky Martial Star.

"Hao, do you know what the Great Emperor's surname was?" Fat Cat suddenly asked.

Chu Hao was taken aback and suddenly exclaimed, "Hey, hey, hey, don't tell me that the Great Emperor was an ancestor of the He Family?"

"If not for that, how do you think the He Family could have produced dozens of War Gods after the Great Emperor's transcendence? That was the power of bloodline!" Fat Cat sighed. "If not for that, with the environmental level of Sky Martial Star at the time, how could a family have supported the emergence of so many War Gods? They would have long exhausted their Qi Luck."

"Qi Luck?" Chu Hao asked.

"Yes, the failed assault of the Great Emperor on the Heavenly Emperor Position also affected the Qi Luck of Sky Martial Star. Previously nourished by the Immortal Emperor's Qi Luck, breakthroughs for martial artists were much easier, but after the severe damage suffered by Sky Martial Star, the situation turned entirely opposite, and the Qi Luck plummeted, making the difficulty of reaching War God increase a hundredfold or even a thousandfold," Fat Cat explained. "That is the real reason why War Gods are now so rare."

"Because the Great Emperor was of the Human Race, so the Human Race suffered the most suppression of Qi Luck, now having only seven War Gods, while the Alien Race has born over three hundred."

Again, Qi Luck.

In the mastery of Laws, Qi Luck could more easily exert influence, seemingly an unseen force that prevents martial artists from even touching that layer, much less penetrating it.

"The He Family's ancestor was the Immortal Emperor!" Chu Hao was truly shocked now. Immortal, a supremely powerful being in the entire universe. He looked at Fat Cat and asked, "Then what relationship do you have with the He Family's Great Emperor?"

"This lord and the Great Emperor were close friends!" Fat Cat said boldly.

Chu Hao rolled his eyes; that claim was too unreliable.

That dead cat must have followed the He Family's Great Emperor in ancient times, which was why it paid such close attention to recognizing his bloodline.

But to think, although Sky Martial Star now scarcely had any War Gods, in ancient times, it was home to an Immortal Great Emperor, a mighty figure capable of suppressing heaven and earth, independently ruling the cosmos.

His eyes gleamed; he too must become an Immortal Emperor in the future and then step further to become an Eternal Heavenly Emperor, indestructible, everlasting through the ages.

"So, boy, can you guess now how many powerful beings are coveting the legacy left by the Great Emperor?" Fat Cat said solemnly.

Chu Hao nodded; the legacy of the Immortal Emperor was tempting even for Realm Masters and Domain Lords, let alone when the heavens open, the influx of powerful beings would surely be overwhelming, with War Gods merely being pawns.

"Big shots like Star Masters naturally cannot always guard the outskirts of Sky Martial Star, but undoubtedly numerous War Gods serve various powers, monitoring the outer Formation. Once it dissolves, they will inform those behind them," Fat Cat said earnestly. "Therefore, you must reach War God by the time the sky opens, break out of Sky Martial Star, or if people discover you are a descendant of the Great Emperor, you will definitely be refined into an Outer Dharma Body."

Chu Hao sighed; he was merely a War Venerate now, already facing the pressure of Star Masters, Domain Lords, and even Realm Masters—considerable pressure indeed.

In the course of the conversation, they finally reached the back mountain. (To be continued. If you like this work, you are welcome to come to Qidian (qidian.com) to vote for recommendation tickets, monthly passes, and read on m.qidian.com.)