Within the sect, acquiring enough karmic energy to ascend to Peak Emperor was a rather daunting task.
Lower down the mountain, there were dozens of merchant associations that were willing to pay premium prices for high-quality pills, formations, and weapons. Having existed for centuries, these associations had built up large reserves of contribution points for whenever ‘geniuses’ passed by, and they would use those reserves to purchase as many items crafted by these geniuses as possible.
In Heaven City, however, this wasn’t the case. While there were still a few small shops around the village, there were no large associations, and there was no one looking to buy any Rank 6 pills or formations in bulk.
So, to earn contribution points, I was forced to use the Fire Peak’s Mission Hall. The only problem with this was that the Mission Hall only offered a small number of Emperor-level missions each year. This might have simply been because few people on this continent were both in need of and able to pay for the help of a Rank 6 individual, but I felt that it was also, at least partially, a way of forcing people to ascend to the Summit. With Emperor-level karmic energy being so scarce, many people would likely choose to ascend the mountain instead of waiting around to accrue enough points to advance.
This is all to say that acquiring enough energy for my advancement to Peak Emperor took time—it took decades—but eventually, by completing every alchemy mission that I could get my hands on, I was finally about to make it there.
ShouLi looked at me with a concerned expression. “Ances— What’s wrong?”
I was shaking in fear. “Immediately! Send messages to everyone. Get them all here. Now!”
This finally got people moving, and the assembled Kings and Emperors rushed off to fulfill my orders.
I walked outside and stood in a large, empty courtyard.
My foot began tapping impatiently.
I needed to do something. Gathering everyone would take too long, but I couldn’t leave. If I left, people wouldn’t know where to find me.
At that moment, the young girl in my storage space found her mother and was shouting about being able to cultivate. Even though most people were skeptical, nearly everyone sat down and immediately tried to replicate her feat.
A few Masters were able to pull in thin threads of energy. A few Disciples took a small step toward their next advancement.
With each person that succeeded, a small ripple was released.
The panic in my soul increased.
I wanted to cry. There wasn’t enough time.
Whatever was going to happen was coming, and it wasn’t willing to wait.
“Everyone’s too spread out. They won’t make it in time. ShouLi, Liang, NiangBa, Mo, RuLan… They’ll all be lost…”
As soon as the words came out of my mouth, the courtyard around me rippled. Suddenly, it was filled with people. It was filled with the members of my clan.
This should have made me happy, but it only made my anxiety grow even further, and my state of mind wasn’t helped by the fact that thick black storm clouds had suddenly appeared high overhead.
ShouLi, who was among those who had appeared, ran over to ask what was happening, but before she could even open her mouth, a crash of thunder sent her stumbling to the ground.
ShouLi—a Martial Emperor and Rank 3 body cultivator—was sent to the ground by mere thunder.
No one else around me fared any better.
Not knowing what else to do, I quickly pulled everyone into my storage space.
The moment they were gone, another group appeared. I didn’t even look at who had arrived. I just pulled them into my storage space.
The third time this happened, the people who appeared included Yan, LuYao, and the rest of my Revered Elders. It also included Emperors Shen and Jin.
As soon as this group appeared, a thick bolt of black lightning struck the building behind me, reducing it to rubble.
I quickly tossed memory orbs to everyone, and seeing the situation, they hurriedly filled them.
Like me, almost everyone was in a state of panic. Almost everyone, but not Shen. He calmly surveyed the situation, walked up beside me, and handed me a storage bag.
“Fang, this contains that large formation stone that I’ve been working on. After a century of work, it’s complete. Take it. I’m sure you’ll get more use out of it than I will.”
I couldn’t think. I just pulled the stone from the bag and shoved it into my storage space. I could figure out what it did later.
After this third group, no one else appeared in the courtyard.
Was everyone accounted for? I didn’t know. I had just pulled in everyone that had appeared. I didn’t know who they were, where they had come from, or why they had suddenly shown up. All I could do was act.
At this point, the world around me was a wreck. Thunder and lightning had reduced everything in the vicinity to rubble.
The state of the world inside me wasn’t much better. People had been pulled from who knows where while doing who knows what, and they had no better understanding of what was happening than I did.
I wanted to help. I wanted to do something, but before I could act, the situation changed.
After being impacted by a series of ripples, the boundary of my storage space started glowing.
After one final, large ripple, this glow collapsed, and the boundary turned pitch black.
Then, it burst alight in a brilliant rainbow that not only washed over everyone in my storage space but also lit up the entirety of the inner garden of my soul.
The moment this happened, I couldn’t move. I was locked in place.
I was not locked in place by the will of a Ruler.
No.
Something turned its attention to me. Something impossibly powerful. Something… boundless.
A voice echoed through my very soul. “What are you?”
I couldn’t respond. I didn’t need to. After only a brief moment, the voice continued.
“I see. Interesting. No rules were broken.”
With that, the pressure holding me in place vanished. However, the storm clouds above only intensified, and a peel of thunder sent me to my knees.
Before I could even properly understand what was going on, a majestic figure appeared directly in front of me. It was wearing an ornate, red robe with golden embroidery that shone with its own internal light.
I had only seen this being once before. Even though that had been over a millennium ago, I had never forgotten its appearance.
This was the incarnation of the Earthly Dao.
The incarnation didn’t speak. It didn’t even look at me. It simply thrust out a hand and impaled me through the heart.
As I fell to the ground and gasped out my final breath, I saw several thick bolts of black lightning rain down and eradicate the incarnation from existence.
You have died. Calculating…
You died as a Martial Emperor Peak – 1 trillion credits awarded.
Total Credits: 1,010,084,271,555
Soul Techniques – 100 billion credits
Energy Control – 100 billion credits
Teaching – 100 million credits
Professions:
Alchemy – 100 billion credits
Formations – 100 billion credits
Herbalism – 10 billion credits
Refining – 100 billion credits
Martial – 1 billion credits
Social:
Reading Emotions (True) – 25,000,000 credits
Skills
Mastery of Cold Mountain Fire, Expanding Realms Fire
Memory Implantation — Rank 1
Talisman Artistry – Rank 4 (Continent-Wide Expert)
Soul Formation Concealment – Rank 6
Enhanced Soul Growth – 20,000 credits
Pill, Formation, Herb, Talisman, Demon Beast, Refined Item, Illusion, and Gu Appraisal – Rank 3 (Comprehensive, Detailed)
Technique Appraisal – Rank 3 (Earth)
Fire Seed Appraisal – Profound
Language (Western Han)