Ming Dynasty: pacifying the rebellion and defending the border, dominating the world

Chapter 443 Initial Harvest: Ancient Artifacts, How Can I Allow Others to Snore Beside My Bed?
Meanwhile, in the capital of the Ming Dynasty.

When Zhu Jinzhen returned, he was travel-worn and looked menacing, which worried the generals of Tian Ce and Cang Yun.

But soon Zhu Jinzhen issued an imperial edict from the palace, ordering that no one be seen.

"What happened to His Majesty outside Penglai?"

Changsun Wangqing and Yan Yimei exchanged a glance; it was the first time they had ever seen such a heavy expression on Zhu Jinzhen's face.

Changsun Wangqing considerately walked behind Zhu Jinzhen, massaging his shoulders, and asked gently, "Your Majesty exudes a murderous aura; have you encountered some powerful enemy beyond the borders? May I hear about it?"

Zhu Jinzhen stiffened for a moment, then relaxed and slowly began to recount his experiences on the trip.

Beyond the realm, the abode of peerless immortals, the slumbering place of demon gods, endless hordes of corpses, immortal and indestructible creatures, and seemingly endless enemies that are difficult to eradicate.

Finally, there was even a terrifyingly powerful being whose eyes shone like the sun and moon, as if Pangu had been resurrected.

as well as……

Zhu Jinzhen's final guess.

When they heard that Zhu Jinzhen had seen a monkey in the outer world that was covered in golden light, held an iron rod, and could leap hundreds of thousands of miles in a single bound, even Changsun Wangqing and Yan Yimei couldn't help but show their shock.

"Has there been any result regarding the matter Your Majesty wished to verify?"

“Yes…” Zhu Jinzhen nodded, then slowly shook his head with a complicated expression: “The matter I wanted to verify has been resolved, but it has raised more questions.”

As he spoke, Zhu Jinzhen raised his hand, and a golden light appeared in his palm.

With a "bang," the golden light was crushed by Zhu Jinzhen, revealing a light blue jade-like seal inside, with images of the Five Heavenly Emperors and a golden dragon carved on its surface.

Yan Yimei's pupils contracted. "Your Majesty, what is this?"

"Kongtong Seal."

Zhu Jinzhen replied in a deep voice.

Changsun Wangqing frowned, a look of surprise on her pretty face: "An ancient artifact? The seal that the Heavenly Emperor bestowed upon the Yan Emperor, recognizing him as the emperor of the human race? The Kongtong Seal, which is said to be one of the supreme treasures of the Yanhuang people, along with the Xuanyuan Divine Sword?"

"Ok!"

Zhu Jinzhen nodded with a complicated expression.

He then made a move to escape the outer world, but just before he stepped out of that outer world, he encountered an old Taoist priest. After a true dragon from the Sky-Patrolling Dragon Chariot swallowed him, the entire process of how the peerless treasure symbolizing the Three Sovereigns and Five Emperors of mankind "exploded" was revealed.

Changsun Wangqing's beautiful eyes trembled, and she exclaimed in disbelief, "Your Majesty means..."

"Immortals, demons, and gods from beyond the realm—once killed, they explode like firecrackers, releasing all sorts of items? This Kongtong Seal is one of them too..."

You can obtain various items by defeating enemies.

Among them is even the Kongtong Seal, a peerless divine artifact that has been renowned throughout human mythology for millennia.

How can this be? !
Yan Yimei's beautiful eyes widened in shock.

“It’s unbelievable, but it’s true.” Zhu Jinzhen frowned, still immersed in thinking about the special rules of the extraterrestrial world: “I have fought in the extraterrestrial world, killed countless enemies, and acquired a lot of items.”

"Most of them are useless."

"But there are quite a few gains, just like the Kongtong Seal."

As soon as he finished speaking, Zhu Jinzhen waved his right hand, and the Qianqing Palace was suddenly filled with many items that shone with various golden, celestial, and otherworldly lights, piled up like a small mountain.

"This is what I gained from this trip."

Zhu Jinzhen's expression was incredibly complex.

He still hasn't fully figured out the peculiarity and strangeness of the extraterrestrial world.

This trip confirmed his suspicions. It was indeed not a game world.

His previous guesses were mostly wrong.

The reason it's the majority...

The reason is that the remaining part is the same conclusion that Zhu Jinzhen had reached after understanding and experiencing it firsthand.

That place truly is a gaming arena where you can fight monsters and level up.

Looking at the two women who were completely astonished, Zhu Jinzhen organized his thoughts and explained, "The creatures there are extremely strange, as if they are part of the world. No matter if they are peerless evil spirits, immortals, Buddhas, demons, or gods, they cannot be killed. Even if I pierce through the sky for ninety thousand miles with one sword, shattering mountains and rivers and crushing all living beings into blood mist and dust, there will still be a continuous stream of 'them' appearing."

"Afterwards, I asked the Heaven-Shaking Question with the Supreme Sword Dao, but the answer I received was blank."

"It was as if that world did not belong to the world outside the realm, but was forcibly attached to the world outside the realm by some great supernatural power or some powerful being."

This is what really made Zhu Jinzhen's scalp tingle.

Rewriting the rules of heaven and earth is an extremely difficult and terrifying thing.

Zhu Jinzhen has the ability to interfere with, and even influence, the rules of heaven and earth in the world of martial arts, but he cannot truly rewrite the rules governing the operation of heaven and earth.

For example, the five elements of heaven and earth can be reversed, allowing the flow of time and the reversal of the four poles.

After witnessing and experiencing the world beyond, Zhu Jinzhen was certain that the rules governing the world he had set foot in were distorted or rewritten by some unknown entity.

This leads to strange phenomena such as monsters dropping equipment and weak creatures being endlessly killed, seemingly immortal and indestructible.

As Zhu Jinzhen's bedmate, Changsun Wangqing naturally saw the deep apprehension in Zhu Jinzhen's eyes: "Is Your Majesty worried that such an unfathomable and terrifying powerhouse might threaten the Ming Dynasty? Threaten our world?"

"Ah."

Zhu Jinzhen nodded emphatically, making no attempt to hide his opinion: "How can I allow others to snore beside my bed?"

"That world is adjacent to the Ming Dynasty. Although it is unknown why it cannot cross the boundaries of the world and descend here on a large scale, it is still a huge hidden danger. It is hard to say when it will explode and shatter the entire world."

"He who does not plan for all things will not be able to plan for even one thing."

"Preventing problems before they arise is the way to long-term success."

"Besides the arm that might have come from some unimaginable great supernatural being, what I feared even more was the sight I saw when I swung my sword before leaving."

"I used to think that world was vast and boundless."

"Now that I think about it, I'm afraid that's not the case!"

In the end, a deep sense of apprehension flashed in Zhu Jinzhen's eyes.

This sight left Changsun Wangqing and Yan Yimei looking at each other in bewilderment. In their memory, Zhu Jinzhen was always unfazed even when Mount Tai collapsed before him.

That made him show such a wary expression several times.

Could that outer world be even more terrifying than they imagined?
"What did Your Majesty see?"

Changsun Wangqing and Yan Yimei exchanged a glance, their expressions filled with deep confusion.

Upon hearing this, Zhu Jinzhen gave an irrelevant reply: "How many stars do you see in the sky?"

"The number of grains of sand in the Ganges is immeasurable."

"Yes."

Zhu Jinzhen sighed and turned his gaze to the stars twinkling in the bright night sky outside the Qianqing Palace, saying softly, "I suspect that what I saw in my last glance was not a world, but a world as numerous as the stars in the sky."

(End of this chapter)