Scheming for the Heavenly Throne, Returning to Jade Capital

A moment later, in the deep silence, two pairs of eyes slowly opened.

Zhang Bairen sat up from the dragon bed covered in brocade embroidered with golden dragon patterns, still dressed in the soft, loose sleeping robes of a mortal emperor.

That broad, gentle face, long accustomed to the imperial throne, had not changed in the slightest, yet the aura within had undergone a silent transformation.

The imperial bearing that had once treated his court with warmth and cared for the common people had not faded. Yet beneath that gentle foundation, a depth accumulated over eons, one that had witnessed countless calamities rise and fall, flowed from the depths of his soul and quietly enveloped his body.

He lowered his gaze to his outstretched palms.

A layer of calluses from years of reviewing memorials covered his palms. The veins beneath his skin were clearly visible, warm blood flowed steadily through them, and his fingertips pulsed faintly with incomparably vibrant life.

This body possessed flesh and blood, sinews and bones. It was wholly rooted in the vast current of the Human Clan's Human Dao destiny. It was a true Human Clan body.

His former body had been born from a Chaos Stone. Its foundation had been profound, and from the very beginning it had surpassed most living beings of the Primordial World. Yet that very alienation brought by its chaos origin had long ago locked the upper limit of his Dao path. It had also naturally placed an invisible barrier between him and the living beings of the world.

After eons of washing through reincarnation, after seventeen hundred and fifty great calamities had polished him layer by layer, after lifetime upon lifetime drifting through the Mortal World, the isolation innate to the Chaos Stone had gradually been worn away.

After falling