"But what happened next was something we never expected..."
"First, a Half-Step Heavenly Lord suddenly appeared in the Earthly Branch Alliance, catching us completely off guard."
"Secondly, one of our five Half-Step Heavenly Lord voluntarily relinquished the 'blessing' and withdrew from the Endless Battlefield..."
"This single entry and exit caused an immediate and complete imbalance in the top-tier combat power!"
Great Emperor Wanxing sighed deeply at this point:
"Three hundred years ago, these three major events occurred almost simultaneously, leading to our near-total collapse in the ensuing wars!"
"This is the result of the Earthly Branch Alliance's meticulous planning over hundreds of years!"
Upon hearing this, Chen Qingyu was greatly surprised:
"How come there's suddenly an Half-Step Heavenly Lord?"
"Furthermore, someone actually gave up that 'gift'? That's an opportunity to become Heavenly Lord!"
Upon hearing this, the Great Emperor Wanxing' gaze deepened.
"Following our covert investigation, we finally reached a conclusion."
"That Half-Step Heavenly Lord is actually a personal disciple of a Heavenly Lord. However, after accepting her as a disciple, that Heavenly Lord did not announce it to the world, but kept it a secret and concealed her existence."
"This person entered and exited the Endless Battlefield three times in a row, and was finally assigned to the Earthly Branch Alliance, where he has been waiting for an opportunity to ascend to the position of Half-Step Heavenly Lord."
As he spoke, he turned to look at Chen Qingyu:
"You recognize that person too—it's Liang Jingtiao, the personal disciple of the Lord of Time and now the Emperor Huan."
Chen Qingyu frowned slightly:
"It was her..."
He hesitated for a moment before relaxing his brow and cautiously asking:
"Then why would someone on our side voluntarily give up the 'gift'?"
"This is truly unimaginable..."
Upon hearing Great Emperor Wanxing gave a wry smile:
"Not just you, to be honest, Non-Self hadn't seen it with my own eyes, I wouldn't have believed that such a person existed in the world."
"That Half-Step Heavenly Lord... how should I put it, his talent is dazzling and unparalleled throughout history, even I am ashamed of myself, yet he happens to be the most devoted lover in the world."
"It is said that he and his wife met when they were young and had a deep affection for each other. However, his wife not only had no talent for cultivation, but also possessed a rare constitution that prevented her from cultivating."
"For his wife, he toiled tirelessly his entire life, venturing into countless perilous places and fighting to the death countless times, to obtain countless divine medicines and elixirs to cleanse her marrow and meridians, transform her body, extend her Lifespan, and nourish her Primordial Yang... and so on."
Unfortunately, human strength is sometimes limited, and things in life rarely go as planned.
"When he was a thousand years old, he had already broken through the Third Divine Realm and ascended to the Emperor Venerable of Creation. His potential was limitless, and he was incredibly glorious. But his wife was still going to die of old age."
"So he paid a huge price to freeze his wife in ice, and alone stepped into the Endless Battlefield, fighting his way up to become Half-Step Heavenly Lord, all for the sake of exchanging for the Gift of Eternal Life..."
"Etc!"
Upon hearing this, Chen Qingyu interrupted him:
"Sixth Senior Brother, isn't the Gift of Eternal Life only available for oneself?"
The Gift of Eternal Life is essentially a power and glory bestowed by the Heavenly Lord, not a material possession, and therefore cannot be transferred.
Otherwise, the number of Immortal would probably be several times higher today.
"Logically speaking, that's indeed the case..."
Great Emperor Wanxing shrugged:
"But I don't know how he did it either."
"All I know is that, in the end, the Mystery Lord stepped forward and, unprecedentedly, spoke up for him, requesting another Heavenly Lord to bestow upon him the Gift of Eternal Life, which was then given to his wife."
"Of course, to avoid any appearance of impropriety and minimize the impact, we chose the lowest tier of the Gift of Eternal Life, the kind that costs one million merit points."
"At the time, this event caused a huge sensation and spread widely throughout the Three Thousand Dao Domains, becoming a celebrated story."
Upon hearing this, Chen Qingyu, filled with doubt, couldn't help but say:
"So, he suddenly abandoned the 'gift' and left the Endless Battlefield because of his wife?"
"Good."
Great Emperor Wanxing nodded and said:
"Among the twenty-four Heavenly Lord, only the ' Lord of Time ' and the ' Mystery Lord ' Gift of Eternal Life without any additional conditions."
"The other Gift of Eternal Life each have their own elaborate rituals and require constant maintenance."
"For example, Master's Gift of Eternal Life, ' Indestructible Heavenly Star,' ranks second on the Heavenly Stem Alliance's Merit Exchange List, which is already considered to be relatively low-cost."
"The kind of wife who is given as a reward is very troublesome and requires constant and careful supervision to prevent accidents and serious consequences."
"For this purpose, he even specially established a large force to rule his hometown's Dao domain, specifically to serve his wife and oversee rituals."
Upon hearing this, Chen Qingyu immediately understood:
"So, there was an accident during his wife's ritual for Gift of Eternal Life?"
"Snort."
Great Emperor Wanxing sneered:
"Those members of the Earthly Branch Alliance have been scheming for centuries; it would be strange if nothing unexpected happened!"
"Upon hearing the news, he was thrown into turmoil and completely lost. No matter how we tried to persuade him, he wouldn't listen and insisted on his own way. That very day, he voluntarily relinquished all his merits and left the Endless Battlefield."
Upon hearing this, Chen Qingyu shook his head and said:
"They're hitting him where it hurts most, forcing him to submit by exploiting his weakness."
"Those guys in the Earthly Branch Alliance are really vicious..."
Great Emperor Wanxing raised an eyebrow and said:
"They're willing to pay any price for the Heavenly Lord, let alone such a petty and wicked scheme."
"Anyway, back then, they used all three strategies and succeeded, cornering us in one fell swoop."
"Their goal, of course, was to reach the ' Limit-Breaking Point,' drive all of us out of the Endless Battlefield, and eliminate several competitors in an instant."
Chen Qingyu's eyes flickered, and he nodded, saying:
"So, this is the truth behind this war."
"If only seven of the twelve Heavenly Lord remain, their chances of successfully vying for the 'Blessing' will naturally increase significantly..."
Great Emperor Wanxing sighed:
"So, you understand now, right?"
"If they want to drive us out before the 'gift' appears, they must kill as many of our troops as possible and force us to our ' Limit-Breaking Point '."
"If we hide in the Heavenly Bohai Sea and remain dormant, their efforts to kill the newly added Emperor Venerable won't be very effective."
"That's why they had no choice but to fight us in the Heavenly Bohai Sea, which allowed us to rely on our geographical advantage and hold out until now."
Chen Qingyu nodded slowly and said:
"I see."
"Sixth Senior Brother, I have another question..."
As he spoke, he looked at Great Emperor Wanxing and solemnly asked:
How are calendars divided?
"And how much longer will this historical period last?"
Without a doubt, this is the most crucial issue!
The remainder of this era is the core of the power struggle between the Half-Step Heavenly Lord of the Heavenly Stem Alliance and the Earthly Branch Alliance!
You provided the starting sign-in rewards for the legendary Zhuang Shisan, featuring Chen Qingyu from the Thirty-Six Heavenly Gang Transformations Zhuang Shisan.