Shrouding the Heavens: Those Years as the Empress's Strictest Master

The Soul-Sealing Patterns instantly merged with the drops of Divine Soul Pool Water that had fallen into every corner and now shot into the air.

They transformed into countless Soul-Locking Divine Chains, each as illusory as Tan Lin's figure.

Like swarms of golden, silver, and transparent serpents surging from their den, the chains formed a net that covered heaven and earth from every direction, coiling toward Tan Lin's remnant soul!

At the same time.

The massive amount of Divine Soul Pool Water in the ancient well beside Undying Daoist broke its stillness and began to boil violently. A terrifying suction force targeting the soul descended, seeking to drag Tan Lin's remnant soul into the pool and refine it!

Boom...

A killing trap suddenly unfolded.

Yet.

Faced with this abrupt turn of events, not a ripple crossed Tan Lin's remnant soul's face.

Under the dual states of [Inverted All-Causes Vision] and [All Causes Barrier], he had infiltrated his way forward after passing through the barrier of the Central Plains. Even the outer perimeter of Human Emperor Hall's territory had posed no obstacle to him.

However, the Soul-Sealing Patterns and Divine Soul Pool Water arranged within this massive hall were simply too dense, forcing him to reveal himself.

But so what?

Buzz...

With a thought from Tan Lin, a Deep Crimson Light Point flew from the dial of the All-Causes Soul Pearl into his palm.

At that moment, just as the countless Soul-Locking Divine Chains closed in, he drove the barrier state to its limit.

The barrier seemed to temporarily transform into a physical shell, containing his remnant soul and serving as a buffer between him and the Soul-Locking Divine Chains.

Hiss... Hiss...

The firefly-like light within the Deep Crimson Light Point burned fiercely, staining Tan Lin's remnant soul with a layer of deep crimson.

At that moment, he was crimson, and crimson was him.

At that moment, even though Undying Daoist could tell from the trajectories of those chains that Tan Lin had to still be there, he could no longer see anything.

Boom!!!

At that very moment.

The chains personally arranged by Undying Daoist, capable of instantly shredding the soul of any Quasi-Emperor, vanished like clay oxen entering the sea the instant they touched the invisible crimson mist.

They achieved nothing.

"Hm?!"

Undying Daoist's pupils narrowed. He swept his whisk, his body abruptly soaring up from beside the formation eye at the well's mouth as he entered the formation himself.

With the marvel of the Divine Soul Pool Water, even though he could not see his opponent, he still grasped Tan Lin's exact location.

"I have never heard of such power. The great secret upon you truly is not as simple as this poor Daoist sensed before the Primordial Era..."

Within the formation, Undying Daoist narrowed his eyes at Tan Lin's constantly shifting invisible outline.

The immense power of faith within his Faith Body surged, and in the next instant, he erupted with an aura no weaker than that of any Restricted-Area Supreme.

Nor was that all. He raised one hand toward the outer realm and beckoned.

In an instant, a trace of imperial might pierced the heavens. A terrifying supreme weapon crossed the boundless cosmic starry sky from beyond the domain, on the verge of falling into his hand.

The Undying Heavenly Blade!!!

He had never underestimated this former "Human Emperor." Though he could see that the other's current state was far from a match for him.

But he had not forgotten that during that hunt before the Primordial Era, he too had been certain of victory. Yet had the other not still escaped with a wisp of remnant soul in the end?

Moreover, what he wanted today was to capture the other party and excavate the great secret hidden within him, not erase him.

Thus, this time, he had even temporarily summoned the Undying Heavenly Blade, which had originally guarded the Five-Colored Immortal Egg beside his true body beyond the domain.

He had to seal him with a single strike!

Boom!!!

The Undying Heavenly Blade reappeared. Before it truly arrived and displayed its divine might, merely the trace of aura it leaked while crossing the starry sky caused the heavens above the entire Central Plains, even the Big Dipper Star Field, to tremble.

It was as though they might collapse at any moment, and countless people looked skyward in terror.

"A god? It is the aura of a god..."

"Has His Majesty the Heavenly Emperor returned?"

Some Primordial Era clans still slumbering were awakened by the disturbance, fervor flashing through their eyes within Divine Source.

During the Archaic Era, the Undying Heavenly Emperor had been an absolute legend with absolute authority, revered by all races beneath the heavens.

Even someone as powerful as the Fighting Saint Emperor had revered him to the utmost in his early years, had he not?

Within the great hall's formation.

Tan Lin's remnant soul employed Nine Secrets: Xing, constantly shifting his position to reduce contact between the [All Causes Barrier] and the Soul-Locking Divine Chains.

Forcibly solidifying the barrier into a "body" naturally consumed far more than before. The expenditure was terrifying. In just one or two breaths, the firefly-like light inside the third Deep Crimson Light Point was already nearly exhausted!

And at the exact moment Undying Daoist raised his hand and summoned the Undying Heavenly Blade.

Seeing that this time the other party intended to seal him far more than kill him, he endured a chain's sealing strike head-on, and his illusory figure entered the inner hall.

Then, his deep gaze finally settled behind a screen barrier.

There stood a battle flag that had once followed him through countless campaigns, gathering the heroic souls of innumerable soldiers and generals. Upon sensing his approach, it had already begun to hum and tremble, snapping in the wind.

The moment he saw the battle flag, Tan Lin understood.

He now knew why such a large Soul-Sealing Fragment had not crumbled into dust and had endured until today.

"The Human Emperor Banner? You did give it a fine name for me..."

Tan Lin's remnant soul chuckled softly.

The forty-second chapter: The Human Emperor Returns, the Heavens Tremble (4K, please follow!!!)

Bang...

At this moment, the firefly-like light within the third Deep Crimson Light Point burned out completely, leaving behind nothing but an empty shell.

The crimson mist dispersed, and Tan Lin's figure reappeared in Undying Daoist's sight.

Beyond the screen barrier, the largest fragment of his true soul within the banner trembled violently, resonating fiercely with him at that moment.

"After lying silent for eternity, I have come today to raise the battle flag of old once more."

Tan Lin's voice was calm, yet it carried a vast grandeur that seemed to pierce through the ages.

Before his words fell.

A wisp of his intent, wrapped in crimson-gray mist, passed through the formation's seal and fully connected with the Great Dao traces he had engraved into heaven and earth in his previous life!

Boom...

In an instant, an ancient power existing somewhere unseen was fully stirred, as though it had crossed the river of time and space before descending with a thunderous crash!

A million years had passed. Since his whereabouts had already been exposed for so long, there was no need to hide any longer!

Dong!!!

The aura of the Human Emperor Dao Mark and the Undying Heavenly Blade pierced the universe almost simultaneously.

Their auras overlapped, shaking the heavens as all Dao roared.

At that moment, it was not only the heavens that trembled. Even the entirety of the Central Plains seemed to shudder lightly!

Immediately afterward, an imperial aura that stood above all living beings and looked down upon the Nine Heavens and Ten Lands erupted from the massive hall, sweeping across the Five Regions of the Big Dipper!

Above the heavens, endless auspicious radiance and multicolored light cascaded down. Phantoms of the Lunar Holy Emperor and Solar Holy Emperor appeared at the same time, combining into a Yin-Yang Millstone that released an illusory aura of chaos!

At that moment, Tan Lin's remnant soul merged with his newly condensed Primordial Spirit, reconstructing his soul.

Connected to the Great Dao traces, the Human Emperor's battle prowess briefly returned!

Though he knew it was destined to be nothing more than a fleeting bloom, and that once the time limit passed, the traces from his previous life would be further worn away and perhaps even vanish, Tan Lin did not care.

All he wanted now was the fragment of true soul within that banner!

Dong...

"The Human Emperor?! It is His Majesty the Human Emperor!!!"

"His Majesty has returned! It truly is His Majesty!"

"That bastard Gong Xuan did not deceive us? He sealed His Majesty's place of attaining the Dao, set up altars every day, and burned incense. It has only been three or four months, yet His Majesty has truly reappeared..."

"..."

"I knew it! With the Human Emperor's brilliance in the past, he surely left behind a contingency. He would never truly perish so easily!"

"..."

"I truly never expected that I would come to the Big Dipper this time to pay respects to the Human Emperor's old grounds and legacy, only to witness His Majesty the Human Emperor return from nothingness?!"

The powers of lunar and solar were ingeniously blended. This iconic aura reappeared, its disturbance spreading through the Five Regions of the Big Dipper and even into the starry sky beyond.

At that moment, no one needed to say anything. The cultivators of Human Emperor Hall nearby, who bore the brunt of it, all suffered violent tremors in their hearts.

Those cultivators who had long suffered oppression at the hands of Gong Xuan and his confidants, daring to be angry but never daring to speak.

Though they had all been born in this latter age of the Ancient Era, and could only gaze upon portraits of the Human Emperor or read of his deeds in ancient records, learning of him through account after account without ever having met him.

Yet when they saw that vast figure overlooking heaven and earth, every one of them felt their hearts surge, their blood inevitably boiling.

Thud!

Thud... Thud...

The imperial aura filled the air. Within Human Emperor Hall's territory, cultivators and mortals alike were so stirred that tears filled their eyes. One after another, they fell to their knees in the direction of the figure spanning heaven and earth.

Every face was filled with fervor.

"So this is... His Majesty the Human Emperor? As expected, he is majestic and heroic... truly bearing the ancestral bearing of the Primordial Era..."

The current Human King Body, who had come to the Big Dipper with her elders to honor the Human Emperor, raised her head toward the phantom and murmured to herself, her red lips slightly parted.

Her sword-like brows rose and her starry eyes widened. At that moment, it seemed as though nothing remained in her sight but the Human Emperor's peerless figure.

Seeing him with her own eyes, she lightly clenched her hands, feeling that the hot blood in her body could not be cooled.

With the great era rising once more today, she too possessed the Human King Body. Could she one day reach the same height as His Majesty the Human Emperor?

Around them, there were also some whose faces had turned deathly pale, whose bodies trembled, and whose eyes brimmed with confusion, terror, and disbelief.

"The... the Human Emperor has truly appeared? How is that possible!! According to the records, he was ambushed and slain in turn by several Supreme Beings of the restricted areas. His imperial blood, origin, and Dao Fruit were all divided among them, and even his Primordial Spirit was shattered. How could he possibly reappear?"

"Do not be afraid. The Human Emperor perished long ago. Even if he has returned now, it is merely a fleeting bloom. Sooner or later, he will truly fade away. Behind Hall Master Gong Xuan stands a genuine Restricted-Area Supreme!"

"Y-yes, that is right... Even when the Human Emperor was at his peak before the Primordial Era, he still perished. If he has only returned briefly today, how could he be a match for a Restricted-Area Supreme?"

"..."

"Where is Hall Master Gong Xuan?"

"H-he did not personally go deal with that group of cultivators from the Ziwei Star Domain?"

"..."

As the heaven-shaking disturbance swept outward, cultivators gradually noticed that Gong Xuan, the Hall Master of Human Emperor Hall, seemed to have vanished.

"That man... has truly returned?"

At that moment, countless ancient beings throughout the Big Dipper were awakened. Terrifying divine senses crossed mountains and rivers, focusing upon Human Emperor Hall in the Central Plains.

"Is it that Dao Attainer who cultivated both lunar and solar? Though he is far inferior to the Lunar Ancient Emperor, he is somewhat interesting..."

"The one who entered Undying Mountain before and caused such a tremendous disturbance should have been him, correct?"

"..."

"Heh, so Undying Daoist laid out his scheme in the Central Plains. Now that the Undying Heavenly Blade has appeared as well, that Human Emperor is most likely doomed this time..."