He created an ancient scripture that defied the heavens with his own Dao.
Even the Heavenly Dao was unwilling to let it descend.
To violently disrupt the laws of heaven and earth and forcibly intercept the foundation of creation from other things was horrifying just to think about.
This imperial dharma belonged to him alone to cultivate.
In fact, Zhang Huan was also unwilling for this imperial dharma to flow into the mortal world.
In this world, people without cultivation aptitude accounted for the vast majority.
If such an imperial scripture were placed before them, allowing them to seize immortal foundations out of thin air and step onto the path of cultivation, not many people would be able to resist such a temptation.
Because of it, the entire cultivation world would be stirred into a storm of blood and gore, and the hazards would be immeasurable!
Even if it were spread out and more and more people cultivated this technique to contend for that ten-part-dead-zero-part-alive heavenly opportunity, the entire world would turn into a mess.
It would become a hell that ate people, ate the heavens, and ate all things.
In order not to harm billions of living beings, Zhang Huan still intended not to pass it on to others.
If one day he had this thought, he would only pass down the incomplete parts, cutting away the most taboo aspects.
He once again perfected the imperial dharma he had initially drafted, gradually filling it in. Except for the final taboo chapters, the various secret realm chapters had all been created to perfection, fitting him the most.
The secret realms resonated with each other and intertwined with the imperial dharma. At this moment, Zhang Huan even felt that he had stepped into another realm, terrifyingly strong.
The effects brought by the imperial scripture were immediate.
Zhang Huan stroked the white jade steps with his hand, and wherever he touched instantly turned into fine powder.
A wisp of weak white radiance formed from transformation was held within his palm.
In his hand, matter was reduced to its most primitive form. With a single thought, he could intercept its connection with heaven and earth, turn it into a part of himself, and integrate it into his origin.
This was too terrifying. In Zhang Huan's hands, even the difference between species would cease to exist.
Spiritual bodies would be horrified upon seeing this.
If the same could be done to various physiques, turning them into his own origin, then what significance would those naturally born king physiques, saint bodies, and even the chaos body and spiritual bodies have in this world?
This was seizing a portion of the authority of heaven and earth with human effort. It would be difficult for cultivators who practiced this technique not to suffer heavenly condemnation.
Zhang Huan sorted through the scriptures, confirmed that there were nothing that needed modification, and then took out the various items he had obtained and deeply stored within the Heaven Swallowing Demonic Jar.
He was currently situated within the Bronze Immortal Palace, and the immortal sword fragments had been cast into the Azure Gold Cauldron.
The chaos soil he obtained the first time he went to the immortal palace was temporarily useless, so Zhang Huan stored it in his bitter sea.
In addition, he had obtained some treasures and inheritances, which were at most at the quasi-emperor realm and useless to him. However, they happened to be able to become the foundation of the Demonic Court when combined with what he had previously obtained from the underworld.
He had once obtained a stone wall in the underworld, engraved with a quasi-emperor's lifelong inheritance. After studying it, Zhang Huan discovered that his dharma touched upon time and that he had delved deeply into the Movement Secret, one of the nine secrets.
The Movement Secret also had a complete inheritance within the stone wall, and Zhang Huan kept the stone wall to comprehend this dharma.
Several years later, Zhang Huan's Movement Secret reached great completion, touching upon time and gaining a profound understanding of the time Dao.
Afterwards, he looked at the broken immortal sword fragments and harbored some thoughts. From ancient times to the present, the human world universally recognized that there were four immortal artifacts.
They were respectively the desolate tower, the immortal bell, the Immortal Ascension Cauldron, and the Heaven-Piercing Nether Treasure.
The origins of the first two had some legends surrounding them, but the latter two were not refined by true immortals; they were weapons forged by gathering the essence of the mortal world and refined by living beings in the human Dao domain.
During the Mythological Era, supreme beings of the Ancient Heavenly Court such as Imperial Venerable planned to pierce through the Immortal Domain, locking down the ninety-nine dragon veins of Kunlun and absorbing the essence of numerous life ancient stars, and forged an immortal artifact, the Immortal Ascension Cauldron, by consuming countless heavenly materials and earth treasures.
Resources in that era were far from being as scarce as they were now, and coupled with the efforts of several supreme beings of the Ancient Heavenly Court, it was made.
It was impossible for Zhang Huan to replicate their actions and cultivate an immortal artifact using the same method.
However, the Ninety-Nine Dragon Mountain and Kunlun Land of Creation left behind after the collapse of the Ancient Heavenly Court were readily available.
Zhang Huan was not cultivating one, but repairing it.
He just needed to recast the broken immortal sword. It inherently contained immortal Dao rules, and Zhang Huan would not consume as massively as the Ancient Heavenly Court did.
Without further ado, Zhang Huan set off immediately. Without drawing attention, he arrived alone in the Milky Way at the location of the ancient Kunlun that had once flourished to the extreme.
The core of Kunlun was the true Land of Immortal Ascension. There was a grand array laid down by the Ancient Heavenly Court that locked down the dragon veins, and the essence of all ten directions gathered toward this place.
It mattered not even if he lacked the Immortal Treasures Map; the array spirit dared not speak, and Zhang Huan calmly entered it.
Along the way, there were the roars of fierce beasts, ancient corpses of the Feathered Divine Dynasty, and the traces left behind by the Ruthless Emperor. Zhang Huan walked straight through.
Tens of thousands of dragon-head-like peaks spewed hazy chaos mist and showered down massive amounts of vital energy.
There were as many as tens of thousands of dragon bodies beneath the earth veins, with only their dragon heads held high, spitting out various heaven and earth essence to nourish the uniqueness of the Land of Immortal Ascension.
It was a boundless expanse, with colorful waterfalls churning, countless wisps of rosy glow, and strands of immortal light lingering, forming a magnificent and supreme scenery of the mortal world here.
Enough, you are forbidden to go any deeper into this place!
A sharp voice sounded, which was a warning from the spirit within the imperial array. It had endured to its limit.
The significance of the array spirit's existence was to guard this core land, and even a Great Emperor could not cross over.
Zhang Huan ignored it. With his fingers manipulating the momentum of heaven and earth, he severed the connection between the imperial array and this space, causing it to become a realm of its own and rendering it incapable of affecting this place by even a fraction.
Anyone else might still hold some dread toward this array spirit, but Zhang Huan happened to possess the dao dharma of severing external things, which restrained it to death.
If he wanted to, he could even sever the spirit within the imperial array.
Innumerable wisps of immortal light gestated the land of immortal treasures like a placenta, but unfortunately, it was shattered before it was even born.
The heaven and earth essence within the immortal pool had condensed into liquid, gathering in the pool. At the very bottom was an incomplete cauldron.
Fugitive souls were not his target today, so Zhang Huan set it aside.
Although it was likewise an immortal artifact, its karma was too heavy, and it was severely damaged, making it not worth Zhang Huan doing anything further for it.
Placing the immortal sword fragments into the immortal pool and supplementing them with massive heavenly materials and earth treasures, Zhang Huan's gaze was blazing. He wanted to forge a sword of immortality belonging to himself out of the creation here.
With grand dharma power, he rearranged the heaven and earth essence, repaired the placenta here, and fed back into the dragon treasures within the Ninety-Nine Dragon Mountain.
These dragon veins had been slashed by the Ruthless Emperor once, losing their true immortal essence, and their efficacy had plummeted.
Once they were replenished and the dragon mountains revived, they could once again spit out essence and continuously supply the immortal fetus, gestating immortal opportunity.
This process might need to be maintained for over a century. Even if a Great Emperor expended heart blood to fill it, it was not something that could recover in a short time.
However, Zhang Huan had a long life, and this lifetime was far from over. She could well compare lifespans and keep waiting.
From then on, she had to occasionally make a trip to Kunlun for replenishment, and she had to make the Demonic Court accelerate the progress of searching for resources.
Upon leaving, a Ginseng Fruit Tree actively offered itself to follow, with three or four plump fruits growing on its branches, shaped like real people. It was the true Ginseng Fruit.
Zhang Huan accepted it, and laid down another layer of imperial array in Kunlun to completely isolate the internal and external heavens and earth.
She walked into the restricted zone again to demand some divine materials in preparation for cultivating the immortal artifact.
At this time, she was not yet three thousand years old. Walking along the way to the battlefield of the Demon God Flower of back then, Zhang Huan shattered the seal with imperial power and rescued the trapped imperial weapon.
After expressing their gratitude, the various imperial weapons all turned into streams of light and returned to their respective clans.
Returning to the Demonic Court, Zhang Huan learned that during the years she was creating the ancient scripture, several old great sages had passed away.
Most of them were old folks who had joined the Demonic Court a thousand years ago. The years urge people to age, and this also included the great sage who had ties with the Jade Pond Saintess.
Upon seeing that the saintess's dao- fetus physique had regained its vitality, he departed in peace, without alarming anyone, and passed away in an unknown star field.
Throughout his life, he had no family, and only regarded the Jade Pond Saintess as half a descendant, leaving him with no attachments when he ascended to immortality.
Before leaving, he left his lifelong inheritance in the Demonic Court.
Sigh, he harbored guilt in his heart and left just like that without further investigating the details of the other imperial weapon.
An old great sage sighed, his words filled with regret toward him.
Perhaps unwilling to implicate the Demonic Court further, the old man did not probe deeper and was buried lonely in a foreign land.
For the first time, Zhang Huan felt the separation between immortals and mortals. Hundreds of years ago, she had also gifted the old man an Immortal Peach Medicine, never expecting that this would be their last meeting and they would never be able to meet again.
Mn.
Zhang Huan nodded, her gaze calm, showing no particular emotion.
She conjured a few handfuls of chaos soil, planted the Ginseng Fruit Tree upon it, allowing them all to spend their remaining years in peace, so that when their great limits approached, they could use the immortal medicine to regain vitality and live another life.
The Immortal Divine Medicine that only Ancient Great Emperors could find?!
The great sage could not help exclaiming, actually witnessing with his own eyes today the immortal medicine that could only be seen in legends.
The chaos soil nurtured boundless divine splendor, encompassing the essence of all directions and evaporating immortal radiance. The ginseng fruit flashed and flickered, crystal-clearly blooming with auspicious qi.
Planting it within the heavenly palace would bring great fortune to everyone in this place.
Over the next thousand years and more, the universe was peaceful, the actions of the Demonic Court proceeded smoothly, and the immortal materials collected were very numerous.
Zhang Huan went to Kunlun from time to time to drop off immortal materials.
The Ninety-Nine Dragon Mountain gradually revived, and the immortal sword showed traces of fusing together.
More people emerged on the starry sky ancient road. The younger generation grew up, and several more people broke through the quasi-emperor shackles to become quasi-emperors.
The dao-fetus experienced hardships and rose again, accumulating strength for a breakthrough. In a thousand years, she rushed up to the sixth heavenly layer in one breath, and for a time her realm was even higher than the Divine Race Divine Son and the Saint Body.
Someone petitioned Zhang Huan, hoping she would establish a title to refer to the years after becoming emperor.
In fact, ever since she became emperor, she should have taken one, but a Great Emperor's lifespan was long, so she simply did not care about the time of these few hundred years.
Zhang Huan simply took the character for Demon, and the master of the Demonic Court should be the Demonic Emperor.
At this moment, it was the three thousand nine hundredth year of the Emperor Calendar.
Zhang Huan determined time by the number of carvings on her own wheel of life.
There were not many old folks left in existence in the world who had joined since the inception of the Demonic Court.
Zhang Huan left behind the immortal medicine, but they did not harvest it.
Only when people reached the end of time did they know the preciousness of the years. Even ancient supreme beings could not withstand such temptation and used any means for longevity.
Yet they bid farewell with detachment, leaving one by one. Having lived for thousands of years, it was already enough; everything that ought to be experienced had been experienced, their lives were without regret, and they were unwilling to extend their lifespan by another lifetime.
To the supreme beings, longevity was the ultimate ideal they craved, but to them, it was regarded as a kind of torment.
Familiar faces became fewer and fewer.
The Demonic Court remained as before, but those people of back then were gone. The remaining ones were all strangers from a different era than her.
In the four thousandth year of the Emperor Calendar, the Jade Pond Saintess paid a visit. She accidentally learned from a cultivator of the Demonic Court the news that the old great sage from back then had already passed away.
So it was you!
The Jade Pond Saintess exclaimed the moment she saw Zhang Huan. Her watery eyes widened greatly, as if in disbelief, and she covered her lips.
That Great Emperor who was supreme above all Daos and suppressed the world turned out to be the hero who had saved her in her youth and whom she had yearned for day and night back then.
It is me. We have met once before, in the ancient pavilion beside Jade Pond.
Zhang Huan openly admitted it.
Among the few acquaintances she had, the Jade Pond Saintess left a deep impression.
The fate between the two had spanned a thousand years, right up to the present day.
Seeing Zhang Huan recount the past so calmly, her pretty face flushed slightly, overlapping the person before her with the one in her memory, and she suddenly became somewhat fidgety.
Even though she had become a peerless quasi-emperor, her reaction at this moment was just like an ordinary young girl, purely because that memory was too profound.
When mentioning the old great sage, her pupils dimmed slightly, and her peerless face showed a hint of sorrow.
The old great sage had passed away in a deserted star field, unwilling to be disturbed by others.
Do not hang your head. Being able to live well is the best repayment to him.
Zhang Huan comforted her.
She had already reached the eighth heavenly layer of the quasi-emperor realm and was still progressing, seeing no rivals of the same level, yet at this moment she could only recall memories and feel sorrow.
She left, departing the Demonic Court. She found the old great sage's clan members and bestowed numerous dharma artifacts and divine medicines, which could be considered a small compensation.
Across the boundless world, Zhang Huan felt as if she were completely alone, sitting in the center of the universe and overlooking eternity.
Taking advantage of the years when the immortal sword was being re-grestated, she intended to evolve divine abilities and secret techniques, creating a few taboo Dharmas.
Integrating her own Dao, she created a Dao-intercepting technique, spitting out true words from her mouth that could intercept all things in heaven and earth.
Borrowing the mandate of heaven, the karma borne drifted uncertainly between the real and the illusory. Compared to cultivation techniques, it was not so defyingly against the heavens, but its advantage lay in being free of scruples.
This was transforming a technique that seized external things against the natural order into a killing dharma.
The passing years were desolate, and Zhang Huan continuously created new secret techniques.
Extending from the Lesser Soldier Secret, Zhang Huan took a different path, not focusing primarily on controlling soldiers, but on contaminating magical treasures first. Once the divine ability was unleashed, divine weapons would soil themselves and could be reduced to mortal weapons.
The Soldier Secret focused primarily on controlling soldiers, counter-controlling other things as one's own. When cultivated to great completion, even other people could be regarded as weapons.
Zhang Huan inclined more toward the weapon itself, stripping away all other uses to specifically deal with the weapons in cultivators' hands.
The Movement Secret could make her stand in an undefeatable position. With the help of the inheritance on the stone wall, she had attained profound accomplishments in the Dao of time.
If the false immortal power were researched further, it would definitely yield great results.
Merely the ability to allow mortal cultivators to touch upon the level of the immortal Dao domain in advance was already heaven-defying, not to mention all kinds of even deeper and more profound wonders.
Zhang Huan intended to spend the rest of her life in this lifetime researching this path.
She wanted to prepare something for her true body of future generations. Cultivating the demonic art was impossible unless she felt she died too slowly.
And this path of immortal power was a heaven-reaching great avenue. Comprehending something from it, fusing it into an ancient scripture, and constantly exploring, its future would not be inferior to the dharma of the Immortal Emperors and the others.
Their dharmas all touched upon the secret of becoming immortal in the mortal world, and this path of pseudo immortal power could likewise be progressively advanced.
Zhang Huan deduced that when it finally transformed into true immortal essence, it would be the immortal ascension realm of great completion for the cultivation technique.
In the four thousand and odd years of the Emperor Calendar, a Great Emperor tribulation shocked the world, and the living beings in the universe looked in disbelief toward a border wasteland.
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