"Shennong," Fuxi said, his voice quiet yet carrying clearly throughout the entire Human Race, "you have done better than I."
Shennong stood atop the Altar, his eyes suddenly growing moist.
But he held back his tears. He gazed at Fuxi in the void, at the cold yet impartial will of the Heavenly Dao above the heavens, at the Sage's gaze cast from Mount Shouyang, at the enormous Totem dragon coiled among the clouds, and at the three trembling stone statues of the ancestors behind him...!
He lowered his head and looked at the clanspeople kneeling in the square.
Countless people lifted their heads to gaze at the figure atop the Altar.
Then they began to shout.
At first, there were only a few scattered voices. "Human Emperor Shennong..."
Those voices gathered into a tidal wave of cheers, surging from the square in the Ancestral Land and spreading in all directions through the manifestation of their collective destiny, reaching every human tribe across the land!
"Human Emperor!"
"Human Emperor!"
Those pure, heartfelt cries made heaven and earth change color and the Great Dao manifest!
Shennong could feel it. At that moment, within the territory of the Human Race, he alone reigned supreme!
The next instant, the aura surrounding him abruptly changed.
The change came without warning, yet felt perfectly natural.
Every gaze watching this place converged on him at once!
Yellow Dragon, Xuandu, Duobao, and the Jie Sect disciples in the void all smiled, their gazes fixed firmly on Shennong. "It's begun."
Three illusory flowers slowly emerged above Shennong's head.
The Three Flowers of essence, qi, and spirit. They were the hallmark of a Great Luo Golden Immortal!
Yet now, the radiance of those three flowers was rapidly dimming. Their petals withered one by one, dissolving into motes of light that