Chapter 952: The New 11th Immortal Emperor
When Zhang Yu announced to the outside world that he was going to freeze the Procreation Obligation Law Edict, it immediately caused another storm in the Spirit Realm and the Dharma Realm, triggering waves of supportive voices.
Just like the previous Four-Hour Workday and Paid Overtime Law Edicts, the so-called Procreation Obligation was similarly a Law Edict that was met with disgust by many cultivators.
Some bottom-tier cultivators excitedly said, “Dao Monarch Zhang is here, our days are going to be better!”
A lower-tier cultivator inquired, “Does that mean after Dao Monarch Zhang freezes the Procreation Obligation, wherever Dao Monarch Zhang goes, infertility follows? Truly a social master and a dual cultivation prodigy!”
There was also a small handful of extremists who agitatedly said, “Finally, we don’t have to watch those monsters in the sect giving birth all over the place!”
Although there were many cultivators who held disgust for the Procreation Obligation, a small number of people expressed concern, or even opposition, to its freezing.
“Don’t do it! If this happens… the procreation-related industries will collapse! I just got promoted!”
“Sigh, I will never again see that kind of vibrant vitality where a single drop of essence falls and all things are born. Voluntarily withdrawing from the procreation track like this, is it really good for our Myriad Laws Sect?”
“Does no one feel that freezing the Procreation Obligation is a bit discriminatory against the monsterfolk community, disrespecting the procreation habits of the monsterfolk?”
The topic of freezing the Procreation Obligation sparked massive arguments that surfaced across the Spirit Realm and the Dharma Realm.
However, based on Zhang Yu’s observations, overall… the support for the Procreation Obligation was not very high to begin with. After announcing the freeze, it actually caused his Thought Tide Amplification to rise again.
“After all, this Law Edict ranks somewhere in the 400s among the Void Refinement Law Edicts.”
“Most of the supporters are monsterfolk. Those guys have made quite a bit of money over the years relying on the surrogacy business.”
Before freezing the Procreation Obligation, Zhang Yu had naturally taken the time to carefully understand the content of the Law Edict, its technical principles, as well as the related industries and markets.
He knew that the Procreation Obligation only demanded a specific quantity of procreation; it never required the procreated living beings to be human, much less have any blood relationship.
Therefore, there had always been monsterfolk accepting money to procreate, fulfilling the Procreation Obligation on behalf of others.
Zhang Yu understood in his heart that this was essentially the cultivators within the sect constantly subsidizing the monsterfolk, allowing them to breed offspring in massive numbers.
He sighed emotionally in his heart, “If this Law Edict continued to operate, I’m afraid that in the future Myriad Laws Sect, monsterfolk would become the majority population.”
Fu Ji said, “Anyway, to the Immortals, whether they are humans or monsters, they are all just different resources. As long as they are useful… they probably won’t care which has more or less, or which acts as the majority.”
Zhang Yu nodded slightly and said in his heart, “Once the Procreation Obligation is gone, the surrogacy market will probably collapse immediately. The monsterfolk won’t be able to collect an extra surrogacy fee while reproducing anymore.”
“But by doing this, aren’t we halting the original Dao Lineage Struggle measures aimed at the Celestial Monster Sect?”
“Are we just going to let the Celestial Monster Sect achieve the Natural Creation Dao Lineage?”
The closed-door meeting between the Myriad Laws Immortal Emperor and the Celestial Monster Immortal Emperor surfaced in Zhang Yu’s mind: “Is this related to the contents of their meeting?”
And as Zhang Yu began freezing the Procreation Obligation, a massive amount of reproductive activities came to a halt within his Law Edict True Domain. Companies in related industries either shut down completely or relocated to minor realms that had not yet been occupied by Zhang Yu’s Law Edict True Domain in an attempt to continue operating.
However, just a few days into this situation, an anomaly occurred… causing a large number of minor realms to enter a sealed state.
Zhao Tianxing reported, “Minister, over a third of the minor realms have already entered a temporarily sealed state.”
“Especially many of the minor realms where we were originally expanding the Law Edict True Domain have all been completely sealed off. They say it’s to inspect and repair the spatial structure to prevent accidents…”
At this moment, Zhang Yu was also sensing the state of his Law Edict True Domain.
He could feel… within the massive coverage area of his originally spreading Law Edict True Domain, it was as if giant voids had appeared. He could no longer perceive the situations inside these minor realms.
“Have many of them entered a state of spatial isolation?”
“Especially those few minor realms dedicated to developing the procreation business; it’s like they’ve shut their doors tight, refusing to let my Law Edicts enter.”
Zhang Yu’s gaze flickered slightly as a news report appeared before his eyes. The content of the report detailed the very source of this sudden anomaly.
“Kuang Zhiqian’s Myriad Gold Mystic Realm suffered a large-scale spatial tear, and the entire minor realm is gradually collapsing?”
Zhang Yu knew… it was precisely because of the accident in the Myriad Gold Mystic Realm that a large number of minor realms had started inspections.
And several minor realms dedicated to developing the procreation business were using this exact excuse… to initiate self-lockdowns, attempting to delay his process of freezing the Procreation Obligation.
“Why would the Myriad Gold Mystic Realm collapse? Could it be…”
Information about the ancestor’s corpse surfaced in Zhang Yu’s mind.
Previously, through Ying Xintian’s Dao Seed [Immortal Descendant], Zhang Yu had sensed the presence of an ancestor’s corpse within the Myriad Gold Mystic Realm.
However, because this ancestor’s corpse was located in a crucial position within the Myriad Gold Mystic Realm, he had been unable to find an opportunity to liberate it.
Now, the collapse occurring within the Myriad Gold Mystic Realm made Zhang Yu sense a glimmer of an opportunity to free the ancestor’s corpse.
In particular, the sudden tearing of space within this minor realm made him suspect that it had a very deep connection to the ancestor’s corpse.
Zhang Yu thought to himself, “If the ancestor’s corpse is taken away, finding another opportunity to liberate it… will probably be difficult.”
“We will have to make a trip there after all,” Immortal Slayer said. “If we don’t resolve the Myriad Gold Mystic Realm’s problem as soon as possible, those minor realms dedicated to procreation will have plenty of excuses to maintain their lockdowns, which will greatly slow down our progress in freezing the Procreation Obligation.”
And so, a moment later, Zhang Yu descended upon the Myriad Gold Mystic Realm.
Kuang Zhiqian came forward to greet him, saying with a bitter expression, “Minister Zhang… why are you here?”
At this moment, he looked completely haggard, as if he had aged considerably overnight.
Zhang Yu looked at the internal condition of the Myriad Gold Mystic Realm, sensing that distorted and torn space was everywhere. The majority of the entire minor realm had already turned into an extremely dangerous spatial labyrinth.
Moreover, this spatial labyrinth was still continuing to spread, looking as if it would swallow up the entire minor realm.
A large number of the gambling platform’s business operations had also been suspended because of this. For Kuang Zhiqian… it could be said that he was losing a massive amount of Immortal Coins every single moment.
Zhang Yu said, “Brother Qian, you and I are close friends. At a time of crisis like this, how could I not lend you a helping hand? I’ll go in first and assess the situation.”
Kuang Zhiqian knew that Zhang Yu possessed powerful spatial technology and even had the experience of preventing a Heaven Collapse in the Former Days Graveyard.
Hearing Zhang Yu’s words at this moment, Kuang Zhiqian’s spirits were slightly roused. “Minister Zhang! If you can prevent the Myriad Gold Mystic Realm from collapsing, we will definitely reward you handsomely!”
Zhang Yu nodded. He was just about to enter when he heard Kuang Zhiqian add, “Minister Zhang, before you arrived, Profound Monarch Tai Yuebai also went in. He even asked me to guard the perimeter and not let anyone in casually. You might run into him inside.”
“Big Brother Tai?” Hearing this, Zhang Yu’s gaze focused. “Why would he come here?”
Thinking of the man’s relationship with Ying Xintian, Zhang Yu couldn’t help but think to himself, “Does he know about the existence of the ancestor’s corpse here?”
With no time to think further, Zhang Yu had already taken a step into the spatial labyrinth.
In an instant, waves of a dizzying, world-spinning sensation rushed over him. Amidst the countless shifts in light and shadow, Zhang Yu felt as if the entire world were tearing at his body, trying to drag him in different directions.
However, Zhang Yu felt a trace of familiarity within it.
“It was this exact same feeling in the other labyrinths left behind by Senior Ying Xintian.”
“As expected, is the mutation in the Myriad Gold Mystic Realm related to the ancestor’s corpse?”
As Zhang Yu pondered this, waves of Grotto-Heaven force surged from inside and outside his body, breaking him free from that dizzying state.
At this moment, Zhang Yu felt like a reef standing firmly by the coast. Even as the tearing space howled and crashed over him like ocean waves, it could hardly shake his figure.
At the same time, upon exerting the power of the [Immortal Descendant], he immediately sensed the call of the ancestor’s corpse.
He walked step by step toward the source of the call.
Along the way, Zhang Yu could still see numerous company employees trapped in the labyrinth.
“Everyone, do not leave your workstations! We haven’t received permission from our superiors yet. Even if a calamity has occurred, leaving your post without authorization is still considered skipping work!”
“What are the higher-ups doing? Why hasn’t it been fixed yet? We still can’t connect to the Spirit Realm or the Dharma Realm! The fat sheep I just hooked is going to get away!”
“Damn it… the company’s stock price is definitely tanking, and yet I can’t even sell my shares right now!”
Zhang Yu ignored the company employees along the way. To him, the most pressing matter was finding the ancestor’s corpse.
Tai Yuebai occasionally flashed through his mind, and a thought couldn’t help but surface in his heart: “Could Big Brother Tai… also be here searching for the ancestor’s corpse?”
Right then, Zhang Yu’s footsteps came to an abrupt halt. He could feel that the ancestor’s corpse calling out to him was right in front of him.
And indeed, an unfamiliar figure had appeared before him.
The moment he saw the person, Immortal Slayer in his mind exclaimed in shock, “Founding Ancestor?!”
Hearing this, Zhang Yu’s heart skipped a beat. “Hey, hey, hey, what are you yelling about?”
At the same time, the unfamiliar figure smiled slightly and said to Zhang Yu, “Zhang Yu, long time no see.”
Although his appearance was completely different, that familiar aura rushed forth, making Zhang Yu’s heart skip a beat. “Bro… Brother Dao?”
Immortal Slayer quickly said in Zhang Yu’s mind, “It’s the Founding Ancestor! The Founding Ancestor has descended here!”
Zhang Yu’s mind raced: “Didn’t Brother Dao… run away with the entire Sixth Layer? Why would he appear here?”
“Could it be that he used… the ancestor’s corpse he previously left behind here to return?”
“Or is the ancestor’s corpse left here actually one of his past incarnations?”
“But what is his purpose for coming back? If he is discovered, I’m afraid he will be suppressed by the Myriad Laws Sect on the spot!”
In an instant, countless thoughts flashed through Zhang Yu’s mind, his heart thoroughly shaken by the massive surprise right in front of him.
However, Ying Xintian simply smiled slightly and continued, “I have a rough understanding of what you’ve been up to since you entered the sect. You’ve done well.”
Immortal Slayer was slightly excited. “Does the Founding Ancestor… also think we did a good job?”
The Sect Examination Clone shouted, “What the hell are you getting excited for?! Hurry up and figure out a way to report this and have this rebel captured?!”
At the thought that the criminal who stole the entire sixth layer of Kunxu was right in front of him, the Sect Examination Clone wished he could suppress the other party immediately and hand him over to the Immortal Emperor to be dealt with.
Zhang Yu naturally didn’t make a move, but instead asked, “Brother Dao, why did you come over? What are you preparing to do by coming here?”
Ying Xintian sighed. “A massive change has suddenly occurred within the Myriad Laws Sect. Aside from the ten Immortal Emperors… the 11th Immortal Emperor is about to be born. I… had no choice but to come.”
Zhang Yu’s heart skipped another beat upon hearing this. “The 11th Immortal Emperor?”
At the same time, Ying Xintian touched his chest and said, “Zhang Yu, with your innate talent and keen senses, you should be able to sense it, right?”
Zhang Yu was slightly taken aback. He seemed to feel something, yet also seemed to feel nothing at all, except that faint sense of anxiety… seemed to have intensified a tiny bit.
“Is it… still too early?”
Looking at Zhang Yu’s slightly confused expression, Ying Xintian could only explain, “A new Supreme Dao Lineage is gestating, and is gradually elevating into a new important heavenly principle, embedding itself bit by bit into our world.”
“Once all this is complete, the foundation of Kunxu will undergo an earth-shattering change.”
“The ten Immortal Emperors will also strike together to swallow this 11th Immortal Emperor in one bite.”
“For any Immortal Emperor, this will be a gluttonous feast.”
“Naturally, the 11th Immortal Emperor will not just sit and wait for death, but will resist desperately. The fierce battle that unfolds between both sides will sweep through the entirety of Kunxu, initiating an unprecedented Great Tribulation.”
Hearing these words, Zhang Yu gasped inwardly, as if he could already see a doomsday catastrophe arriving.
“How could this be?”
At this moment, Zhang Yu, who was merely at the Void Refinement Realm, felt an intense sense of helplessness.
“Why did it come so fast?”
“And of all times, right now, I am… only at the Void Refinement Realm…”
It was as if an ordinary worker, who had been following a set routine and planning to earn money step by step to buy a house, woke up the next day to find that war had arrived, rendering everything in the past meaningless.
At this moment, Zhang Yu felt as if someone had given him a hard shove, awakening him from a pipe dream of ascending Kunxu and making him realize his own powerlessness and insignificance in the face of the overarching tide of events.
“I am not the protagonist of this world. Everything happening in Kunxu… the schemes of the Immortal Emperors… they will not wait for me to get ready or for me to possess enough strength before they happen.”
Seemingly sensing Zhang Yu’s thoughts, Ying Xintian continued, “Zhang Yu, we must stop all this. We cannot allow the 11th Immortal Emperor to be born.”
“The birth of the 11th Immortal Emperor will not only trigger an unprecedented Great Tribulation that will bring disaster to all living beings.”
“It will also allow the Ten Immortal Emperors to take another step forward, bringing the Ultimate Doomsday ever closer to us…”
At this point, Ying Xintian added, “You understand the concept of the Ultimate Doomsday, right?”
Zhang Yu nodded, and the two of them verified their respective understandings of the concept. Ying Xintian nodded and then said, “Based on my estimates, the current Kunxu is only about three Immortal Emperors away from the Ultimate Doomsday.”
“That is to say… at most, three more Immortal Emperors will be born. After they are divided and devoured by the 10 Immortal Emperors, an outstanding figure among the 10 will undergo a qualitative change driven by quantitative accumulation, stepping into a new cultivation realm capable of triggering the Ultimate Doomsday.”
“Therefore, the birth of this 11th Immortal Emperor must be stopped.”
Hearing these words, Zhang Yu couldn’t help but furrow his brows deeply.
He thought to himself, “To change Kunxu, to fight against the Immortal Emperors, one needs to become an Immortal Emperor.”
“However… once one becomes an Immortal Emperor, they will be divided and devoured by the Ten Immortal Emperors, becoming the nourishment for one of them to initiate the Ultimate Doomsday.”
“But if one does not become an Immortal Emperor, how can they fight against the Immortal Emperors? They can only be exploited by the Immortal Emperors for all eternity, watching them rely on their own accumulation and the enshrinement of the entire Kunxu to drag the whole world into the Ultimate Doomsday step by step.”
“Become an Immortal Emperor, and accelerate the doomsday. Don’t become an Immortal Emperor, and sit waiting for the doomsday.”
“Isn’t this a dead end?”
Looking at Zhang Yu’s rapidly changing expression, Ying Xintian before him seemed to sense what Zhang Yu was thinking and spoke again, “If you want to fight against the Immortal Emperors, you must break free from the Immortal Emperors’ plans and… become an Immortal Emperor outside of their control.”
“This is the so-called Rogue Immortal Emperor.”
Zhang Yu thought to himself, “A Rogue Immortal Emperor?”
He looked at Ying Xintian in front of him, recalling how the latter had fled with the entire Kunxu Sixth Layer, and thought to himself, “So, does Brother Dao want to break free from the control of the Ten Immortal Emperors and become a Rogue Immortal Emperor?”
Ying Xintian sighed, “This time, the 11th Immortal Emperor… thinks he is fully prepared and has already broken away from the control of the Ten Immortal Emperors. But little does he know that everything about him has been completely seen through, and he is undoubtedly bound to fail.”
“But to persuade such a person to give up the chance of becoming an Immortal Emperor is impossible.”
“Making the Ten Immortal Emperors give up devouring this Immortal Emperor is even more impossible.”
Hearing this, Zhang Yu nodded in agreement, a flash of helplessness appearing on his face.
Without the resolve to scale the Apex of the Immortal Dao, how could one possibly become an Immortal Emperor?
And how could those existences who had already become Immortal Emperors give up the chance to advance even further?
Zhang Yu muttered, “Absolutely neither side will stay their hands.”
Ying Xintian said, “So it is up to us to stop the birth of the 11th Immortal Emperor.”
Zhang Yu frowned and said, “But how can I stop it? I am only at Void Refinement, not even an Immortal. How can I interfere in the affairs of Immortal Emperors?”
Ying Xintian said, “Have you forgotten? You can freeze Law Edicts.”
Ying Xintian pointed to the sky, then pointed to the ground, and said, “The Immortal Emperors oppress all living beings, ruling those below from above, tightly binding themselves to the lower-tier cultivators.”
“But every sip and every bite in this world is preordained. Since they have chosen to oppress all living beings, they will naturally be influenced by them in return.”
“If you can freeze the relevant Law Edicts, you will be able to hinder the promotion of the Supreme Dao Lineage, which might just prevent the ascension of the 11th Immortal Emperor.”
Hearing this, Zhang Yu nodded slightly. He knew that before a Dao Lineage was completely finalized, it still required the uplifting of Law Edicts.
Only after the Dao Lineage was fully completed could it break away from the Law Edicts and continue to exist independently.
Zhang Yu asked, “During the process of this 11th Immortal Emperor’s Dao Lineage ascending to a Supreme Dao Lineage… does it also require the uplifting of Law Edicts?”
Ying Xintian replied, “The process of promotion is like stacking layers upon layers of building blocks. Only after the promotion is complete can it stand firmly upon the void, no longer needing the supporting foundation beneath its feet.”
“And what you need to do now is to pull out the blocks from the lower layers during this promotion process.”
Zhang Yu spoke up to ask again, “Who exactly is this 11th Immortal Emperor…”
Although Ying Xintian and Zhang Yu had exchanged a lot of information, they had done so at high speed, taking only a brief moment.
Right after Zhang Yu finished asking this last question, bursts of thunderous resonance pierced through heaven and earth, and a figure shot over like lightning.
“Zhang Yu!” the newcomer shouted. “This guy is a fake, don’t believe him!”
Zhang Yu was slightly startled, discovering that the newcomer was none other than Tai Yuebai.
At the same time, Tai Yuebai had already swept up an earth-shattering sword qi, slashing toward Ying Xintian.
But the next moment, accompanied by a surge of Grotto-Heaven force, this sword qi was spatially transferred to another location.
And with the application of this wave of Grotto-Heaven force, Zhang Yu suddenly sensed its source… it was directly beneath Ying Xintian.
A blurry figure sat within it, surrounded by layers upon layers of Grotto-Heaven force. If it hadn’t just blocked Tai Yuebai’s sword qi for Ying Xintian, it would have been impossible to detect its existence.
But Zhang Yu could feel that the calling of the ancestor’s corpse originated from this figure.
“Is that the real ancestor’s corpse?”
Zhang Yu abruptly looked at Ying Xintian, thinking to himself, “It can control the ancestor’s corpse?”
At the same time, Tai Yuebai continued to rapidly transmit a message to Zhang Yu: “This person is a counterfeit created by Supreme Truth! She stole Senior Ying’s bloodline information to trigger the power of the ancestor’s corpse!”
“This counterfeit doesn’t have much strength of his own. It relies entirely on driving the ancestor’s corpse to draw upon the Grotto-Heaven force left behind by Senior Ying. That is the only reason it could barely withstand my offensive and deflect me to another direction for a moment…”
Hearing these words, Zhang Yu revealed a hint of surprise and thought to himself, “Yun Taizhen’s creation? What is this? A clone?”
“Then were the words he just spoke actually relaying Supreme Truth’s words?”
Recalling the other party’s previous remarks about the 11th Immortal Emperor, the Rogue Immortal Emperor, and freezing Law Edicts, Zhang Yu pondered, “Is Yun Taizhen deceiving me? Out of all this intelligence, which parts are true and which are false?”
“The Immortal Emperor already wanted me to freezing Law Edicts, so what does it mean that Yun Taizhen is also telling me to freeze Law Edicts?”
Although his mind was constantly pondering, with various thoughts flashing by like electric currents, Zhang Yu’s hand movements did not stop. He remembered clearly that he was here to liberate the ancestor’s corpse.
Taking step after step forward, his Grotto-Heaven force surged wildly, continuously colliding with the Grotto-Heaven force erupting from within the ancestor’s corpse.
Seemingly sensing the Grotto-Heaven force within Zhang Yu’s body, the ancestor’s corpse stopped resisting, allowing Zhang Yu to walk right up to it step by step.
It was a male corpse that looked incredibly ancient, its entire body covered in various scars.
As Zhang Yu moved to store this ancestor’s corpse into the Immortal Grotto-Heaven, waves of will swept out from within the corpse.
The will of this ancestor’s corpse was more powerful and unyielding than any Zhang Yu had encountered before.
Almost in an instant, it pulled Zhang Yu into a dream formed of memories.
Zhang Yu only had enough time to retreat into the Immortal Grotto-Heaven before he felt a shift of light and darkness before his eyes, and the entire world changed into a completely different scene.