The Qilin Emperor truly had grown old.
Yuangeng opened his Dharma eyes and could clearly see the weakening and depletion of his vital blood. The radiance of his five great secret realms had drawn inward, and his azure scales had grown ever darker, nowhere near as brilliant as they had been three thousand years ago. All were signs of his dwindling lifespan.
Meanwhile, the old Qilin's union with the Heavenly Heart Imprint also seemed to be wavering. Though it was still far from collapsing, it was clear that he had to expend more mental effort to maintain his union with the Heavenly Heart.
After all, he was the reigning emperor. The slightest lapse in concentration, whether it caused the Heavenly Heart to shake or his Imperial Dao aura to leak, would spell disaster for the universe.
"I probably have another two thousand years to live."
The old Qilin was also carefully assessing his own aura. After a moment, he reached that conclusion. He estimated that his second lifetime would span thirteen thousand years, which placed it only just above average among the many emperors throughout history.
He had never been an emperor particularly adept at longevity. His first lifetime had lasted only a little over ten thousand years, so thirteen thousand years for his second was already quite good.
"Are you confident about a third lifetime?"
Yuangeng once again posed the question he had asked three thousand years ago.
The old Qilin had not squandered the more than three thousand years since meeting Yuangeng. He had devoted most of his energy to methods of transformation, especially after Yuangeng passed on portions of the Undying Heavenly Emperor's scripture to him. Rather than extending his lifespan, he wanted to undergo nirvana in the hope of living a third lifetime.
"It should be possible. Your Immortal Dao Aspect and the Heavenly Phoenix Nirvana Art have given me tremendous inspiration. With another two thousand years of refinement, I should be able to live a third lifetime."
The Emperor's Blood stirred within the old Qilin. He had intended to turn his hair and beard azure again, but abandoned the idea. He had to admit his age; there was no need to waste vital blood on something so inconsequential.
"I'm more interested in your current condition. After three thousand years of cultivation, how far have you taken your human body secret realm method?"
Boom!
At those words, Yuangeng said nothing and merely stirred the vital blood within him a little. In an instant, pure divine radiance and dawnlight enveloped his flesh. Amid those manifestations, the five great secret realms resembled five ancient worlds, slowly rising and falling within his body.
The Sea of Bitterness, Dao Palace, Four Extremes, Dragon Transformation, and Immortal Platform.
The Dao Palace housed the five elements, its five-colored organs resembling five blazing celestial suns; the Four Extremes anchored the four directions, his four limbs like mighty pillars holding up the heavens; the divine radiance of the Dragon Transformation Secret Realm bathed his spine, which resembled a coiled True Dragon gathering boundless power; the Immortal Platform was much the same...
After three thousand years of cultivation, Yuangeng had long since developed his five great secret realms to an extreme. Surveying everything from a commanding height, he needed only a few days to complete their simple, preliminary cultivation. What truly demanded his mental effort was exploring the deeper reaches of the five great secret realms.
Now, his human body secret realms had been refined to an extreme. Each resembled a universe bearing a magnificent Great Dao. They seemed independent, yet were closely linked, together forming Yuangeng's flawless Dao body.
"Incredible!"
A brilliant blue light burst from the Qilin Emperor's eyes and swept over Yuangeng's human body secret realms. He could not help marveling. The depth of the other man's cultivation in the five great secret realms had already far surpassed his own. That vital blood, so blazing that it warped the myriad Daos, inspired no less a sense of danger than the Undying Heavenly Emperor had back then.
"Even without drawing upon your former Dao Fruit, you should now be strong enough to fight the Undying Heavenly Emperor."
He recalled the earth-shaking battle between Yuangeng and the Undying Heavenly Emperor three thousand years ago and weighed their strength in his mind. Yet he found that even with the Heavenly Heart, he could not simulate a battle between the present Yuangeng and the Heavenly Emperor in his thoughts.
Those two were simply too powerful.
"I could fight him, but that's all. The little Phoenix may fall somewhat short among Quasi-Immortals and quasi-True Immortals, but he is still a genuine Five-Colored Immortal Phoenix. His bloodline power has reached an unimaginable level. When it comes to bloodline and flesh, these three thousand years of effort aren't enough."
Yuangeng did not underestimate the Undying Heavenly Emperor. His research into the Five-Colored Phoenix Corpse left behind over these years had made him fully aware of the bloodline's might. The race's Immortal Spirit Blood itself flowed with the universe's most fundamental Dao. A True Phoenix's long cry was a heavenly scripture, and the gentle dance of its colorful feathers was a great art.
He had never seen the Chaos Body, the most renowned physique in this universe, but he reasonably surmised that even it might pale a little beside the Undying Heavenly Emperor's Immortal Phoenix Bloodline.
After all, it was no exaggeration to say that the Five-Colored Immortal Phoenix's bloodline led straight to the very summit of the True Immortal realm.
"In other words, you aren't far off." The Qilin Emperor nodded, gaining an understanding of his old friend's current fighting strength.
"After the ultimate leap, I'm confident I can undergo another transformation. Once my cultivation is complete, I'll have few rivals in this world."
Yuangeng added this with a clear understanding that his current inability to suppress the Undying Heavenly Emperor also stemmed from his human body secret realm method not yet having reached its ultimate limit.
At present, he had merely perfected each of the five great secret realms individually. The pinnacle of the human body secret realm cultivation method that the Desolate Heaven Emperor had left in this world was to unite the power of all five, break through the shackles, and leap into the limits of the Human Dao.
Yuangeng now stood right at that threshold.
In truth, if Yuangeng wished, he could immediately unite the power of his secret realms and, with the power of the Great Dragon, leap from the Immortal Platform into that supreme realm pursued by countless living beings.
But forcibly charging into the emperor realm would bring a tremendous heavenly tribulation and backlash. If things went wrong, all that backlash would come crashing down upon the reigning emperor.
At that thought, Yuangeng met the Qilin Emperor's gaze with a hint of regret. For some reason, this reminded the old Qilin of when they had first forged their alliance, and Yuangeng had nearly stripped the Heavenly Heart Imprint from his body.
"You'd better hold it in for another few thousand years. If you challenge the Heavenly Heart now, these old bones of mine might just die before your eyes."
He spoke hurriedly. This lifetime of his had already reached its twilight. If a ninth-heaven Quasi-Emperor suddenly tried to forcefully seize the Heavenly Heart Imprint, the Heavenly Heart's own backlash would crush that challenger to death. But if a monster like Yuangeng attempted it, the one most likely to die from the backlash would be the old Qilin, the reigning emperor.
"Oh? You're planning to sever the Heavenly Heart in your third lifetime?"
Yuangeng was pleasantly surprised. He truly did not want to keep suppressing his power. If the old Qilin still refused to shed the Heavenly Heart in his third lifetime, Yuangeng might have to follow Ye Fan's example in the original story and attempt to rise above the Heavenly Heart, or turn his own heart into the Heavenly Heart, reaching the pinnacle of the five great secret realms.
"I am. At my level, what use does this Heavenly Heart Imprint still have? I might as well sever it."
The old Qilin clenched his fist, and the surrounding spacetime immediately trembled violently. Imperial Dao laws shook the universe, then abruptly condensed into a formless, intangible Heavenly Heart that appeared at the Qilin Emperor's brow.
This was the Heavenly Heart Imprint, which united the universe's myriad Daos to become the one and only in this world. Only one person could wield it in any given era. It represented supremacy over all things, making its bearer the undisputed protagonist of the age.
"The Heavenly Heart!"
Yuangeng gazed at this
imprint. Though his fighting strength had long since far exceeded that of ordinary Extreme Dao beings, he still yearned for it. From the original story, he knew that the Heavenly Heart Imprint embodied this world's supreme source. To any being of the Human Dao, it was an exceedingly rare treasure.
He remembered that in the original Perfect World story, when the Nine Heavens and Ten Lands became one and the Heavenly Heart Imprint coalesced, it had shaken the Immortal Domain. Many Immortal Kings of that realm had turned their gazes toward it and sent their finest descendants down to compete for the chance to be the first to merge with the Heavenly Heart Imprint.
Immortal King Tai Shi had once said that it was an Immortal King Foundation.
Yuangeng could roughly understand why. The first person to unite with the Heavenly Heart Imprint could draw upon the Dao affinity of the Nine Heavens and Ten Lands to undergo a transformation beyond imagination, advancing another step beyond the pinnacle of the Human Dao and thereby forging the so-called Immortal King Foundation.
Now, after all the time that had passed since the end of the Chaotic Ancient Era, the Heavenly Heart Imprint was no longer that flawless blank sheet. As the world changed, countless people had left their marks upon it. Yet its unique nature remained unmistakable, and the world still coveted it.
Yuangeng coveted it too.
He was certain that even for someone at the Human Dao Pinnacle like himself, the Heavenly Heart Imprint would still have an effect. Though it might not be as great as he imagined, it would nevertheless offer a precious transformation.
"Cultivate well. Once you succeed in attaining your third lifetime, you'll discover how vast the immortal path truly is."
Yuangeng rose and took a palm-sized metal sheet from his robes, presenting it to the Qilin Emperor. Forged from pure dragon pattern black gold, it was engraved with densely packed patterns that expounded inscrutable immortal sounds.
This was not a scripture, but the Longevity Art Yuangeng had created over these three thousand years-he had originally disdained spending time researching such things, but living in this world, longevity arts were something he could not avoid.
"Thank you!"
The old Qilin accepted the dragon pattern black gold sheet Yuangeng offered. After studying it carefully for a moment, he placed it reverently beside him. A method from an ancient monster like this would be of great use to his cultivation.
But when he looked up, Yuangeng had already vanished. Only a faint radiance and lingering Dao resonance remained, swirling where he had stood.
Yuangeng did not wish to linger any longer on the Ancient Qilin Star, because he clearly remembered that the old Qilin had once fallen in love in his later years and fathered a son and a daughter.
He did not want to delay the old Qilin's search for love.
Before you continue