Cultivation: I Have Studied Abroad in the Modern World

This brought a new question to Zheng Fa’s mind.

"What exactly did the Emperor do?"

Until now, Zheng Fa did not know how the Emperor provoked the Six Saints. More importantly, he didn’t believe that the Six Saints would act without knowing the cost.

Yet even so, the Six Saints killed the Emperor, demonstrating the depth of their conflict.

"The Emperor... was truly singularly supreme."

"Singularly supreme? And what’s wrong with that?"

This made Zheng Fa even more puzzled. Many people have this notion. To mention one, didn’t Lu Yao think this way too?

"Because he truly had the ability to be so." Daoist Venerable shook his head, "Do you know why he was called the Emperor?"

"Why?"

"Because he was originally a Human Emperor, but through fortune, he cultivated to become the Heavenly Emperor. Most terrifyingly, he reincarnated into the Netherworld and achieved the position of Earth Emperor."

"Heavenly Emperor, Earth Emperor, Human Emperor, the union of the three talents allowed him to truly achieve the position of Primordial Great Luo Golden Immortal. Therefore, in ancient times, other Heavenly Emperors had titles, but this person had only one word: Emperor."

Listening to this, Zheng Fa found it somewhat incredible. So, this Emperor did unify the Three Realms?

"Did the Six Saints not stop him?"

"Why would they stop him?" Daoist Venerable retorted, "The Nuwa Saint created the Human Clan, and the Five Saints taught the Human Clan, all in order to produce a Human Saint. During the Emperor’s path to enlightenment, they even provided many opportunities. One might even say that the Emperor was chosen by the Saints themselves."

"The idea to cultivate a Three Realms Emperor to lead the Human Clan was originally proposed by the Yuanshi Saint."

"..."

That makes sense. Given the ancient situation, if the Emperor did not have the favor of the Saints, how could he have developed step by step? It would have been too terrifying.

The Yuanshi Saint’s philosophy of elite rule indeed could lead to the path of a Three Realms Emperor — to put it bluntly, if everyone has to listen to the most outstanding people, why not listen to the most outstanding one?

The problem is...

"How did they turn against each other?"

"Because the Emperor was singularly supreme."

Daoist Venerable’s words seemed pointless, but this time Zheng Fa understood: "He wanted to rule the Saints?"

Daoist Venerable nodded slowly.

You have to admit, Zheng Fa found it amusing — that’s what you get for valuing elites, now it backfired, didn’t it?

"Each Saint has their own path, while the Emperor practiced the highest, singularly supreme Emperor’s path. After achieving Primordial Great Luo Golden Immortal status, he naturally wanted to surpass others."

Upon hearing this, Zheng Fa didn’t see any issue with the Emperor — he didn’t believe the Six Saints themselves didn’t want to advance further or be above others.

Cultivators are inherently like this.

It seemed that Daoist Venerable saw his thoughts and shook his head, saying something Zheng Fa never expected: "The Emperor did something that no one could have predicted."

"What?"

"He began severing the traditions of the Six Saints, so the Human Clan would have no cultivation methods and only revere him."

"Divine Dao Skill?"

"Exactly."

So, it appears Lu Yao’s choice is somewhat similar to the Emperor’s.

"Wasn’t he afraid of the inherent dangers of the Divine Dao Skill?"

This was the Water Mother’s previous confusion. Why did she go mad practicing the Divine Dao Skill upon reaching Daluo, but the Emperor could practice to become a Primordial Great Luo Golden Immortal?

"Aren’t you unafraid?"

"Because I have the ’One Qi Transforms Three Pure Ones’ Divine Skill..." Zheng Fa replied offhandedly, then paused, suddenly realizing, "Corpse Cutting Skill?"

"Precisely, the Corpse Cutting Skill." Daoist Venerable nodded, "The Emperor severed the Three Emperors of Heaven, Earth, and Humanity, not only eliminating the danger of the Divine Dao Skill but also achieving Primordial Great Luo Golden Immortal."

Hearing this, Zheng Fa finally understood that part of history.

The Emperor, supposedly a Human Emperor by birth with strong qualifications or lineage, was cultivated by the Six Saints to achieve Earth Emperor and Heavenly Emperor, then unified the Three Corpses to become a Primordial Great Luo Golden Immortal.

Then, he relied on his position as a Human Saint to cause trouble, eventually provoking the Six Saints beyond endurance, leading to his extermination.

To be honest, he didn’t sympathize with either side, even though he too had benefited from the Six Saints, but in this matter, Zheng Fa still felt the Six Saints brought it on themselves to some extent.

In such a high-level battle, Zheng Fa didn’t want to get involved, and felt he couldn’t even if he wanted to, preferring to let the Six Saints and the Emperor play out their own game.

After thinking for a moment, Zheng Fa looked at Daoist Venerable and asked, "So, why is this place so special?"

"Because the Investiture of the Gods is the Magical Treasure where his Heavenly Emperor Corpse resides." Daoist Venerable pointed to the Investiture of the Gods, "This magical treasure is intrinsically linked to the All Heaven Stars Formation, being the supreme treasure of the Heavenly Emperor."

"Do you mean... if the All Heaven Stars Formation is completed and the Investiture of the Gods awakens, the Emperor’s Heavenly Emperor body will be resurrected?"

"It’s very possible."

This could be troublesome...

After a moment of silence, Zheng Fa suddenly thought of something else and asked, astonished, "Then in the Pure Land?"

"Most likely hides the Earth Emperor Corpse."

... Is this not too much?

Zheng Fa previously thought the relation between Leiyin Temple and reincarnation was too close.

For instance, the Reincarnation Method, and being able to use one’s dead body as a Dharma Body, even Lu Yao’s first thought upon proving the Dao was to seize the Book of Life and Death.

If the Pure Land contains the Emperor’s original Earth Emperor Corpse, it would be entirely understandable, as that’s far more legitimate than the current Nine Nether Emperor!

"What about the Human Emperor Corpse?"

Then Daoist Venerable seemed to suddenly want to sell the suspense, smiling lightly and stroking his beard, he asked Zheng Fa in return: "What do you think?"

What would I think?

I might not even have seen the Human Emperor Corpse!

Realizing this, Zheng Fa was suddenly jolted, knowing Daoist Venerable’s question must have a reason; Daoist Venerable was probably one hundred percent sure that he had seen the Human Emperor Corpse!

What thing had he certainly seen?

Could Daoist Venerable monitor his life?

Recalling how Daoist Venerable appeared earlier, it seemed he had to observe the surrounding situation first to determine his location.

This suggests that Daoist Venerable likely doesn’t watch him all the time.

In that case, what thing... could he be sure that he had seen?

A thought flashed through Zheng Fa’s mind, his eyes widened as he looked toward Daoist Venerable: "Xuanwei Realm?"

Daoist Venerable’s hand stopped stroking his beard, looking at Zheng Fa with a surprised expression.

Did he actually guess right!?

Previously, when exiting the Xuanwei, he had felt the Heaven and Earth Embryonic Membrane was somewhat peculiar, as its existence made the Xuanwei Realm seem too much like a living being.

On the other hand, as a resident of the Xuanwei Realm, if there was something he must have seen, it would certainly be the Xuanwei Realm itself.

But he hadn’t thought that the Xuanwei Realm would be the Emperor’s Human Emperor Corpse, how could this be?

"After the Six Saints killed the Emperor, they discovered a problem: as a Primordial Great Luo Golden Immortal, the Emperor couldn’t be completely killed."

"On the other hand, if the Emperor truly died, the Six Saints themselves would suffer a loss of Daoist Practice, even falling into extinction."

Daoist Venerable explained to Zheng Fa, "Therefore, they had no choice but to suppress his Three Corpses separately. The Evil Corpse Earth Emperor was suppressed in the Pure Land, the Good Corpse Heavenly Emperor was within the Investiture of the Gods, and the last Human Emperor Corpse transformed into the Xuanwei."

"Why so?"

"Because they needed a new Human Saint."

Now Zheng Fa completely understood. In simple terms, as a Human Saint, the Emperor’s Dao had already become one of the fundamental laws of heaven and earth.

This was like a system file; not only do you not have permission to delete it, but deleting it would cause a crash, so even the Six Saints didn’t dare to tamper with it.

However, if it can’t be deleted, it can be replaced!

System upgrades are always possible, right?

From the perspective of the Six Saints, if another Human Saint were to appear, humanity would be complete, and their Saint positions would be stable.

"So we are equivalent to being born within the Emperor’s Human Emperor Corpse, the new candidates for Human Saint." Daoist Venerable paused at this point, seemingly recalling something, and said, "I also don’t know what the Six Saints are planning, but how the Emperor will view us upon resurrection..."

How will he see us?

It would be best to kill them all!

Under Daoist Venerable’s gaze, Zheng Fa remained silent for a moment, slowly raised his chest, and declared: "I am deeply indebted to the Six Saints and naturally irrevocably opposed to the Emperor!"