A full hundred years had passed, and rumors spread throughout the world that the Overlord Heavenly Venerable was dead.
His incomparably glorious, legendary life had come to an end.
"What a pity. The Overlord Heavenly Venerable died just like that."
"What a shame. He would have been better off slashing himself back then and becoming a Dark Supreme."
"That True Immortal was truly powerful. What a pity for the Overlord Heavenly Venerable."
Another hundred years passed. Xiao Ping'an looked at the twin sisters with Great Accomplishment Sacred Bodies who were still guarding him. With all his strength, he said to them, "Hurry back into your weapons and preserve your origin essence blood. Don't waste it."
"Don't worry. I won't die."
"I'll survive."
"Ping'an, you have to live!" Yun'er said.
"Don't worry. I've nearly grasped the Phoenix Nirvana Method. With the origin essence blood of those dozen or so Dark Supremes and the origin essence blood of the Fallen Phoenix True Immortal, I believe it'll be enough for me to undergo nirvana and take that step," Xiao Ping'an said.
As he lingered between life and death, he had grasped the profound secrets of the Phoenix Nirvana Method.
Given enough time, he would surely undergo a nirvana transformation and live a new life, just like the Undying Heavenly Emperor.
New life would bloom upon the ruins of his dead body.
The twin sisters obediently returned to their weapons and became weapon deities once more. They remained there, keeping watch around Xiao Ping'an's body.
From that day on, Xiao Ping'an lingered between life and death.
As the days passed, Xiao Ping'an actually turned into a ball of flesh, maintaining a strange state in which he neither lived nor died.
He had become a great ball of bloody flesh, or perhaps a great blood-colored silkworm cocoon. This was a nirvana method unique to the Phoenix race.
The presence emanating from the ball of flesh grew more and more terrifying.
The weapon deity of the Overlord Heaven Bell awoke and slowly infused the Phoenix Blood Sea into the ball of flesh, letting it devour and refine the blood as it underwent an astonishing transformation.
The ball of flesh now radiated a demonic power that could influence people's thoughts, making them unable to resist sacrificing everything and offering up all their blood essence.
Fortunately, this was the Heavenly Pillar Mountain Ancient Cave. There were no living beings nearby, and the danger could not reach the outside world.
As the days passed, the immense Phoenix Blood Sea was devoured entirely by the ball of flesh Xiao Ping'an had become.
He lived on in this strange state of transformation.
No one knew how many years passed. The world saw countless upheavals, but the Overlord Heavenly Venerable never appeared again.
Time slipped away, and the Overlord Heavenly Venerable's era passed into history.
In the blink of an eye, more than a hundred thousand years went by.
People were astonished to discover that Emperor Venerable, who had once been rumored dead, had appeared.
It was said that Emperor Venerable had become an infant, cutting away all his cultivation and all the karma of his past.
He proved his Dao anew.
Having lived a new life, Emperor Venerable was overwhelmingly powerful. He gave himself the name Emperor Venerable.
It was an even more domineering name than Xiao Ping'an's Overlord Heavenly Venerable.
Emperor Venerable established the Heavenly Court and sent word that he intended to refine Nine-Turn Immortal Pills. He invited the Dark Supremes to join him in the great undertaking, open the Road to Immortality together, and become immortals together.
Before that, of course, he intended to join forces with a mysterious expert to refine the Ninety-Nine Dragon Mountains and nurture an immortal artifact, the Immortal Ascension Cauldron.
It was said that he had also secretly visited the Tyrant Body Ancestral Star before disappearing without a trace.
Emperor Venerable led the Heavenly Court in breaking into the Mount Kunlun secret realm. He killed Zhulong Supreme, while Huashe Supreme mysteriously disappeared.
He even sought to seize their immortal artifact, the Kunlun Immortal Bell.
At the critical moment, the Kunlun Immortal Bell fled with the Kunlun Immortal Clan.
Emperor Venerable pursued them, determined to obtain the Kunlun Immortal Bell.
One day, blood Qi suddenly surged into the sky from the Tyrant Body Ancestral Star, piercing the heavens and startling every living being in the Nine Heavens and Ten Lands.
The world said that the Overlord Heavenly Venerable had been dead for over a hundred thousand years, and that he was no more.
But today, everyone was stunned.
The myriad Daos of heaven and earth wailed, and the terrifying suppression of a bloodline accompanied them for at least a quarter of an hour. Experts throughout the universe felt their bodies tremble.
Everyone looked toward the Tyrant Body Ancestral Star. No matter how far away they were, they saw the astonishing sight of Xiao Ping'an reflected across the heavens.
Amid the boundless purple blood Qi, the Overlord Heavenly Venerable appeared.
He slowly rose to his feet, radiating incomparably vigorous Qi and blood and an immensely powerful vitality.
He had come back to life.
The incredibly youthful Overlord Heavenly Venerable looked only about twenty. Black hair fell over his shoulders, and his body was crystalline white and glimmering. He stood there in the starry sky, looking down upon all living beings.
Using the blood of seventeen Supremes as a catalyst, Xiao Ping'an had drawn upon the Fallen Phoenix True Immortal and the Phoenix Blood Sea to grasp a Phoenix Nirvana Method suited to the human race.
His transformation had succeeded. His nirvana had succeeded.
He had lived a third life, and his strength was great enough to make others tremble.
The Overlord Heavenly Venerable's Qi and blood were like a boundless ocean. He rose amid towering purple light, shaking the Nine Heavens and Ten Lands like thunder.
All cultivators were stunned. None had expected the dead Xiao Ping'an to come back to life.
Everyone had believed that he had fallen after killing that True Immortal.
Yet Xiao Ping'an had survived.
The young Xiao Ping'an's strength was unfathomable, and his whole body radiated vibrant vitality.
The great experts of the universe were stunned as well. This Heavenly Venerable had lived three lives, reaching his peak in each one without slashing himself back.
"Overlord Heavenly Venerable!"
At that moment, a storm swept across the universe as countless people cried out the Overlord Heavenly Venerable's name.
Even with Emperor Venerable in this era, nothing could eclipse the Overlord Heavenly Venerable's radiance.
Heaven and earth erupted as countless people cheered in excitement.
The people of the Tyrant Body Ancestral Star in particular went wild.
They roared again and again, shaking heaven and earth.
Xiao Ping'an had returned in defiance of heaven and lived a new life.
He was shockingly young, like an undying god, his entire body radiating an immortal purple light.
The twin sisters awoke as well. Looking at the incredibly youthful Xiao Ping'an, they wept with excitement.
Xiao Ping'an had finally come back to life.
Outside the Heavenly Pillar Mountain Ancient Cave, countless experts of the Tyrant Body Ancestral Star were overcome with excitement as they devoutly knelt before Xiao Ping'an's statue.
The assembled experts stretched beyond sight, all of them elites of the Tyrant Body Ancestral Star.
Many were Xiao Ping'an's clansmen.
Suddenly, Xiao Ping'an's statue radiated a gentle light. Divine radiance spread for hundreds of millions of li, sweeping toward the gathered experts.
To their astonishment, everyone discovered that their weapons, armor, and strength had all improved.
This forbidden secret art was a blessing, a kind of divine ability and secret art.
Xiao Ping'an bestowed his blessing upon these clansmen of the Tyrant Body Ancestral Star, and they all benefited.
"Overlord Heavenly Venerable!"
The crowd's cheers seemed ready to tear the starry sky apart.
At that moment, Xiao Ping'an sat cross-legged inside the Heavenly Pillar Mountain Ancient Cave, carefully taking stock of what he had gained and lost. Living a third life by his own strength was a crucial turning point, and the key to whether he could tread the Red Dust Immortal Path.
Xiao Ping'an's original idea of nurturing longevity essence, forming an Immortal Fetus within his body, and living a new life had been an excellent one, and highly feasible.
He had nearly succeeded, only to encounter an inexplicable calamity.
Now, he had truly succeeded in his transformation.
That meant Xiao Ping'an would have ample time to nurture longevity essence and an Immortal Fetus once more, and live a fourth life.
After all, although that method had failed during his transformation, it did not mean he could never use it again.
He could still continue to use it.
Ever since crossing over into this world, Xiao Ping'an's cultivation had gone a little too smoothly, leaving him with too little awe for this dark jungle of a world.
He had known that some Dark Supremes had very low moral standards, but he had not expected them to sink so low.
He had thought he had prepared for everything, only for so many unexpected things to happen.
No wonder the experts who had embarked on the path of a Red Dust Immortal kept such a low profile before becoming one.
Without enough contingency plans, or if one kept too high a profile, one could very well be targeted while undergoing a transformation.
It was a tremendous lesson.
Moreover, throughout Xiao Ping'an's rise to this point, he had swept aside every enemy he encountered. No one had ever gotten the better of him.
That had made Xiao Ping'an a little overconfident.
He had thought that even while he was transforming, no one would dare provoke him.
He had taken far too much for granted.
On this day, the great powerful clans from across the universe came to pay homage and seek an audience with the Overlord Heavenly Venerable. Their cheers rang through the starry sky.
Even with Emperor Venerable present in this age, the grand occasion continued for a long time before gradually settling down.
The Overlord Heavenly Venerable's prestige reached its greatest height in history, and the great powerful clans from across the universe all came to visit.
Although Emperor Venerable did not come in person, he sent a fellow named Chuan Ying to personally congratulate Xiao Ping'an.
At first, Xiao Ping'an thought nothing of it. Only after Chuan Ying left did he suddenly recall that this Quasi-Venerable Chuan Ying should be the Chuan Ying who later became the first divine general of Emperor Venerable's Heavenly Court.
Xiao Ping'an put the matter out of his mind.
He came to the place where his statue stood.
Immortal Qi rose in curling wisps here, and the statue had gained sentience.
Xiao Ping'an could now converse with the statue, for it had nurtured a new soul.
That soul naturally contained a wisp of Xiao Ping'an's soul imprint.
This was an incarnation Xiao Ping'an had refined using the Power of Faith.
Just like the Undying Heavenly Emperor and the Undying Daoist, he had used the Power of Faith to forge an invincible body, then severed the connection between the two of them and granted him an independent life.
With the Power of Faith gathered over so many years, this Body of Faith's strength had finally reached the level of an ordinary Supreme.
Indeed, because Xiao Ping'an did not rule over the entire Nine Heavens and Ten Lands, the Power of Faith he received was inferior to what the Undying Heavenly Emperor had possessed back then.
The Undying Daoist possessed the peak strength of the Undying Heavenly Emperor during his second life as a Great Emperor.
Xiao Ping'an's Body of Faith, however, could not even match Xiao Ping'an's peak strength in his first life. He possessed only the strength of an ordinary Supreme.
Although Xiao Ping'an felt somewhat disappointed when he saw his strength, having him was better than having nothing.
Xiao Ping'an severed the connection between them and granted him an independent life.
Xiao Ping'an bestowed upon him the name Yongsheng.
He hoped this Body of Faith could live on and protect the Tyrant Body Lineage.
Although Yongsheng possessed only the strength of an ordinary Supreme, Xiao Ping'an encouraged him to strive to live a new life and try to embark on the Red Dust Immortal Path by himself.
Indeed, Xiao Ping'an had already sensed that even after he had severed his connection to the Body of Faith and granted it an independent life, Yongsheng could no longer live a second life by consuming an Immortal Divine Medicine.
If he wanted to live on, he had to comprehend a way to live a new life before his first life span ended.
Otherwise, he could only slash himself back and become a Dark Supreme.
Since Xiao Ping'an was going to tread the nine-life Red Dust Immortal Path, Yongsheng most likely could not take that same path.
Xiao Ping'an thought he could have Yongsheng try the method of nine-lifetime reincarnation instead, imitating the Netherworld Venerable by having his corpse gain sentience life after life, then uniting the nine-lifetime reincarnation seals.
That method had its drawbacks, however. Anyone who took this path could become the Netherworld Venerable's puppet.
For example, the Corpse Emperor of the Underworld in the original story was especially afraid of the Netherworld Venerable, terrified that he would turn him into a puppet.
Since the Netherworld Venerable was already on this path, could Yongsheng still reach its end if he followed it?
Although Xiao Ping'an had discussed mysteries and debated the Dao with the Netherworld Venerable for many years, clearly there were things that even the Netherworld Venerable did not yet understand. He too was feeling for stones as he crossed the river, quietly exploring.
The trouble was that the nine-lifetime reincarnation seal method took far too much time.
In the original story, the Netherworld Venerable had started down this path in the Mythological Era. Only after Ye Fan entered the Immortal Domain did he complete his transformation and unite the nine-lifetime reincarnation seals.
Yongsheng possessed only the strength of an ordinary Supreme.
How difficult it would be for him to live a new life!
Moreover, it was hard to say exactly how many years his first life span would last.
After all, he could use the Power of Faith to live on in the hearts of living beings. As long as faith in him was not completely extinguished, he still had a chance of resurrection.
Xiao Ping'an could clearly feel that, after living a third life by himself, his life force was extraordinarily vigorous and his blood Qi was as abundant as the sea. He should be able to live for a very, very long time.
This third life, lived by his own efforts, truly made him feel different. Every movement he made carried astonishing might.
Even Xiao Ping'an had not expected this transformation to take over a hundred thousand years.
No wonder the Undying Heavenly Emperor had lived into Ye Fan's era without becoming a Red Dust Immortal.
This method was far too slow and took an astonishing amount of time. Moreover, it required seizing the blood of Heavenly Emperor-level experts for the transformation to have a chance of success.
With every transformation, one would become a bloody ball of flesh and require a vast amount of origin essence blood, while also entering a period of greatest weakness.
After reviving, Xiao Ping'an had also sensed Emperor Venerable's presence and learned that he had established the Heavenly Court and laid waste to the Kunlun Secret Realm.
Thinking back to the original story, Xiao Ping'an recalled that Emperor Venerable had been wise and valiant early on, but after establishing the Ancient Heavenly Court, he had grown increasingly abnormal.
By the later part of Shrouding the Heavens, Emperor Venerable, who had seemed so impressive, had actually become a major villain.
Xiao Ping'an always felt that perhaps something had happened in between.
Thus, he did not take the initiative to visit Emperor Venerable. After his successful transformation, he stayed obediently in the Heavenly Pillar Mountain Ancient Cave like a homebody, constantly comprehending the Dao, cultivating, and deducing other secret arts of longevity.
Xiao Ping'an had also carefully tried to divine Emperor Venerable's past, only to find his identity exceedingly mysterious. He could not calculate which of the nine great Heavenly Venerables Emperor Venerable had once been.
Legend had it that someone had tried to divine Emperor Venerable's past before he proved his Dao and became a Heavenly Venerable. Unfortunately, the secrets of heaven were obscured, and his origins could not be divined at all.
Emperor Venerable had imitated the legendary Desolate Heavenly Emperor, and after establishing the Heavenly Court, he truly displayed the might of a Heavenly Venerable.
It was said that Emperor Venerable's strength was inconceivable. He had already defeated the Netherworld Venerable, and had fought nearly every Dark Supreme in the Nine Heavens and Ten Lands, though of course under the pretext of exchanging pointers.
One day, as Xiao Ping'an was comprehending the Dao and cultivating, he suddenly opened his eyes.
His gaze seemed to pass through countless universes as he looked toward the heavenly palace in the deepest reaches of the cosmos.
Inside the magnificent heavenly palace, someone stood with his hands behind his back, receiving the prostrations of all the spirits of heaven and earth.
Suddenly, he turned and smiled faintly at Xiao Ping'an.
"Overlord Heavenly Venerable, I have long heard of your great name."
The moment Emperor Venerable finished speaking, he stirred the laws of the Great Dao, and heaven and earth shook violently.
(End of chapter)