Bewildered fruit grew on the bewildered tree; beneath the bewildered tree stood you and me.
The youth could never have imagined that his very first lesson upon venturing into the world would be getting scammed.
Someone had taken his money and agreed readily enough, only to turn around and outsource the job, pocketing the difference as a middleman!
If...
If he had not orchestrated all this himself-if he were not both the client and the target-he might really have been kept in the dark, racking his brains over whom he had offended badly enough for someone to hire an assassin from Hell to kill him.
"Perhaps this is a misunderstanding..."
The youth comforted himself. "Maybe Heavenly Court's assassin is still on the way, and someone else placed an order with the assassin organization Hell to target me, to assassinate me..."
"How could that be?"
This was his first time openly traveling outside the Jade Lake Holy Land!
He had not even had a chance to offend anyone and pile hatred onto himself!
The young Emperor's Son could not make sense of it, but Hell's assassin could wait no longer. Killing intent surged, drowning these mountains and rivers!
The Hell organization truly took this commission seriously.
Perhaps it was the Sacred Body's glaring heavenly destiny, which made everyone clamor for its destruction, compelling them to target this physique that practically taunted the world;
Or perhaps an assassin from the Heavenly Court Organization, who preferred to remain anonymous, had been far too silver-tongued, combining lethal flattery with enticing rewards and tying the whole affair to Hell's glory.
What more was there to say?
A Killer King had been dispatched!
How rare was an assassin who had severed the Dao and become a king?
Yet one had descended here, intent on killing with a single strike!
Although he had only recently broken through and stood on merely the first small step of this realm, an almost insurmountable barrier already existed. Unlike the realms below, this was not a level that could easily be challenged and overcome from beneath!
After all, the full attainment of many so-called King Bodies amounted to no more than this realm.
In later ages, when the Azure Emperor's Dao overshadowed the world, a fully realized Divine Body-regarded as extraordinary by the people of the Big Dipper-could become a Divine King and claim to have no equal throughout the Eastern Wasteland!
"Hum!"
A faint sound seemed to ring from the youth's brow. In that hazy instant, some artifact seemed to answer, as though an indistinct ancient pagoda hovered beyond the azure heavens, faintly enveloping this stretch of heaven and earth.
Among the mountains and rivers, wisps of light also flashed and vanished. Some arrangement seemed to be in place: someone had engraved extraordinary patterns bearing an aura like that of an Ancient Great Emperor, vaguely revealing a corner of a formation.
Perhaps an Emperor Weapon hung in the sky and an Emperor Formation lay upon the earth-or perhaps neither existed, and it was merely an illusion.
In the end, however, all of them faded from sight without erupting.
The youth held back his various trump cards, displaying the bearing of a certain Emperor's Son from later ages whose father piloted a mech.
That Emperor's Son, named Dao Yi, had dug a pit and trapped an entire ancient imperial clan in it. Their guardian Great Sage had died a gruesome death, and even their Ancient Emperor Weapon had been sealed.
Seen in this light, compared with the human Great Emperors and Emperor's Sons, each harboring eighty or a hundred schemes, the emperors and imperial clans of the Primordial Era seemed positively rustic and honest!
The Void Emperor could scam people even in death, faking his demise to trade one life for two.
Emperor Hengyu had gone fishing in the Primordial Ancient Mine, slain a supreme being single-handedly, then departed for the Central Continent.
The youth was no easy mark either.
In later ages, a dog would sing of his legend-but who had taught that dog to be so wicked?
What a difficult mystery!
Yet in this lifetime, even the strongest met someone stronger.
"Could it be that, among the three great assassin organizations, Heavenly Court reigns supreme and can command Hell and Human World?"
"So they sent a vanguard to test the waters?"
The youth took a deep breath.
"Surely no one could really be... that shameless? No matter how bad someone was... could they take the money and not do the job?"
"Perhaps they're already on their way?"
"They should be, right?"
"How proud and self-assured must a peerless prodigy who has entered Divine Prohibition multiple times be?"
"They ought to possess the bearing of a supreme being, the splendor of invincibility, and disregard every hardship and obstacle..."
The youth argued in defense of the situation before him, and in defense of himself.
How could a person live without any shame?
If they had no face left to show anyone, would they not have to turn their back on all living beings from then on?
"Ah!"
He let out a long sigh, then his gaze sharpened.
"If you think a half-blood Sacred Body like me isn't worthy of a core member of Heavenly Court taking action personally... then I'll slay a king!"
Killing light blazed. The Killer King merged his body into the Dao, as though drawing the Dao laws of heaven and all creation into himself, or branding his peerless killing intent onto every corner of the world's mountains and rivers.
At that moment, the mountains and rivers shook, and the Great Dao thundered. It was as though boundless killing tribulations had descended. Thousands upon thousands of divine chains of order intertwined, seeking to imprison the youth and refine him away!
The light of countless laws danced, engulfing the youth. This was absolutely lethal!
But in the next instant, heaven and earth seemed to fall silent. The youth's body shone, and peerless manifestations unfolded!
Immortal King Descending upon the Nine Heavens, golden bitter sea, splendid mountains and rivers diagram... there were far too many manifestations. They built upon one another, resonated, and linked together into a real world, resembling six paths of reincarnation, yet also seeming to recreate heaven and earth!
These were the standard manifestations of Sacred Bodies throughout history, but in this youth's hands, they seemed subtly different. That world appeared more genuinely real, no longer merely a manifestation. It connected with the greater world outside, making the laws of the cosmos roar and pour down towering torrents of Dao energy!
Boom!
A truly real miniature world surrounded the youth's body, rendering him impervious to all arts and blocking the boundless killing tribulations!
More terrifying still, when he stepped forward, the manifestation of Immortal King Descending upon the Nine Heavens suddenly moved, merging with his true body. It was as though an immortal king were attacking, striding out of immeasurably ancient ages to descend upon the Nine Heavens and sweep all opposition aside!
Rumble!
Heaven and earth exploded. A supreme expert at the pinnacle of his realm challenged a Dao-Slaying King from below, shaking the mountains and rivers!
As a battle capable of stunning the world erupted, the instigator of it all remained peaceful and untroubled, immersed in cultivation.
He accepted the gift from his homeland: a basic textbook compiled by the great divine practitioners of its myths and legends, which left an indelible imprint upon his heart.
Feng Jiu had heard the story of Nuwa creating humanity so often that his ears had practically grown calluses. Now, faced directly with her inheritance, he could scarcely describe the tumult of his emotions.
Yet as he leafed through the textbook, some doubts arose, and he questioned his system.
"Say, the great divine practitioners of our source world just write down and pass on the profound meanings of their scriptures and the foundations of their philosophies like this, and even let systems like you take them away... aren't they afraid great divine practitioners from other worlds might obtain them, study them for weaknesses, and create trouble down the line?"
"Uh... perhaps they aren't afraid?" System 999 said uncertainly. "Once they've reached that level, enemies are precious?"
"Having someone discover weaknesses might also help their cultivation, letting them find omissions and fill the gaps?"
"Besides, Lady Nuwa seems to be exceptionally powerful even among all the great divine practitioners. She fears no one in single combat..."
System 999 said.
"Is that so?" Feng Jiu was even more puzzled.
"Then how did a Demon Ancestor in our world storm the Heavenly Court and kill the Heavenly Emperor?"
With so many great divine practitioners around, how could the Heavenly Court have been destroyed?
"Perhaps, back then, all the great divine practitioners were still on their way?" the system suggested hesitantly.