The Ancient Saint Emperor of the Heaven-shading

Chapter 281 Suppressing Heretical Lords, Collecting Rent in the Dark
The boundary sea is boiling, the old and new ancestors of different lands are fighting, and the ancient capital of Yingu Temple is emerging in large numbers.

From that dark place where the primordial spirit was imprisoned, one fallen immortal king after another burst forth, and among them were even terrifying beings formed by the fusion of several immortal kings.

At the critical moment, the Butcher appeared and the Chicken Raiser arrived, and the two resolved the crisis. They had been attacking the Ancient Temple of Guidance in the Boundary Sea all along, suppressing those corrupt and depraved creatures that caused chaos.

"You ruined my grand plan. Otherwise, you wouldn't have survived today!" the alien ruler sighed. He believed that as long as his army arrived, they could surround and kill this person, and bring him into the dark prison to become the new gatekeeper.

However, Wang Hongwu didn't care at all and said indifferently, "Nonsense. What I fear least is group battles. As for you, if you were in your prime, you might be able to fight me. But now that you're half-dead, don't even think about it."

As soon as he finished speaking, the alien entity flew out with a bang, and he poured all his strength into it. The phantom of the human body and the various realms appeared, and the three layers of boundary walls were weakened. There were also two large mother metal patterns that were densely covered. It was like a supreme weapon that had been refined. It knocked the alien entity into a slump on the spot, and the attack was broken. The alien entity's expression became colder and colder.

This kind of pure attack is actually the most difficult to deal with, especially after the opponent absorbed the power of a sea area, making their physical strength even stronger, much stronger than him, an evolved being who had been illuminated by the ancient artifact of origin, which is simply unbelievable.

"I've used so much force, how are you still alive!" Wang Hongwu shouted, urging the alien realm to keep crashing. Kun Di, Wu Shang, Pu Mo Wang, Chi Wang and others in the realm had all turned their cultivation to the peak, and with the support of the great formation, they slammed into the alien master's body, sending him flying back and forth and smashing through the sea.

Before he could retaliate, Wang Hongwu made another move. The Peacock King, the Sea God King, the Heavenly Desolate King, the Gouchen King, and the Tianxuan King all appeared together, along with the Ten Fierce True Forms and the Six Other Self Kings, adding another twenty-one Kingly Battle Powers at once!
"Sixty-one kings couldn't kill you? If you have some tricks up your sleeve, then bring on more!" This new ancestor from another realm was also surprised. He didn't expect the old ancestor to be so resilient and able to hold on tenaciously under the siege. The protective imperial light had reduced the damage to him by a lot.

But at this moment, the Eighty-Two Kings reversed the heavens and crashed into the alien true lord, sending him flying backward in a sorry state. Wang Hongwu rushed forward, his left hand reflecting the Mother Gold of All Things, carrying the shadow of the Primordial Immortal Realm, while his right hand spread the Dark Mother Gold, reflecting the shape of the alien realm. As the two sides intersected, two World Trees also appeared, and the light of the boundary wall shone brightly, suddenly suppressing the alien lord, causing him to let out a miserable scream.

The alien's physical body was shattered by this heavy blow, directly pierced and torn apart by Wang Hongwu, and even its primordial spirit was shaken out. Even a being protected by imperial light would be beaten to death by the crowd.

"It seems you're forcing me to use the law!" The alien master said fiercely, slamming his hand on the chain that pierced him. His face contorted in pain. The law was actually clashing with the chain. Years ago, he had used this law to fight back, hoping to survive that attack, but he failed. As a result, he was unable to use his own law for many years.

Today, having arrived with a mission, the chains have loosened, giving him the opportunity to unleash his power.

The laws of the alien rulers originated from the mutation that occurred when they were illuminated by the ancient artifact of origin. They are the profound meaning of rebirth between normal beings and those who evolve from darkness.

The effect of this royal law is simple: when he is in a state of turmoil and on the verge of death, the royal law will reverse his state, recreating the appearance when the ancient artifact of origin shone upon him. He will undergo a divine evolution and a nirvana of his primordial spirit, transforming from a dark being into a normal being, and his strength will increase. When he is on the verge of death again, he will evolve again, becoming a dark being once more, and his strength will increase once more.

However, even the law has its limits. His limitation is that he cannot exceed the upper limit of his realm. In the end, all that is left is to heal injuries and increase his destructive power. It is absolutely impossible for him to get close to a Quasi-Immortal Emperor.

Otherwise, that would be imperial law.

In an instant, the weakened alien master recovered from its injuries, its decaying primordial spirit shattered, and a new dark primordial spirit was born from it. Its aura rose again, but it was different from its previous aura. It became more and more unfamiliar and less and less like itself.

Wang Hongwu saw the drawbacks of this law, that it would gradually cause him to lose himself, but the Dark Evolver didn't care about that and rushed over to fight him again. As a result, he was on the verge of death again, and then he used the same trick to recover to his peak once more. This time, his power increased by a little, and both his primordial spirit and physical body became stronger. As he continued to approach his limit, the effectiveness of this law would become less and less.

"Trying to outlast me? I'll play you to death!" Wang Hongwu devoured the Boundary Sea while battling him relentlessly, even targeting and killing the Fallen Immortal King who had descended from the Ancient Hall of Guidance, turning him into a new seed, and his followers grew in number.

The alien ruler's heart sank slightly. He had originally planned to rely on his own laws to wage a war of attrition, but he did not expect to misjudge the opponent's methods. In the blink of an eye, another hundred years had passed, and the number of beings surrounding and killing the alien ruler had reached ninety-eight!

Although he relied on the law, his strength was slowly increasing, but the rate of increase was rather subtle compared to that of his opponent.

In particular, the Blade King and Qu Zhong, who were previously killed, were enlightened and realized who they were, and descended from the sacrificial bowl.

“Father, I am here to help you!” “You audacious scoundrel, how dare you offend the Father!”

With the assistance of two supreme giants, the number of powerful figures surrounding and killing the alien lord suddenly surged to one hundred king-level experts!

This is a terrifying number, not to mention that they have formed a killing formation, using the Emperor's Light and relying on foreign lands to continuously bombard each other. Who can withstand that?
The alien master was struck again, his entire body felt like it was about to explode. Unable to withstand the blow, he felt a profound sense of powerlessness. How could this be? His own laws were powerful enough to make him stand out in the entire world, with no one able to defeat him. Yet, he had encountered such a rogue, whose numbers seemed to grow faster than his own as he fought.

"We can't delay any longer, we must finish this quickly!" With that thought, he unhesitatingly used his killing move, employing the supreme royal law he had comprehended from the chains. Instantly, the imperial light protecting him flew out, forming chains that pierced through Wang Hongwu and the alien realm, freezing everything in place.

This power is terrifying; it freezes time, as if imprisoning the river of time, and all things are frozen in place. Most importantly, it targets the primordial spirit!

At the same time, the alien master roared, and a huge black shadow appeared behind him, rushing over to devour Wang Hongwu. There, scenes from the past unfolded, accompanied by the opening of the ancient artifacts of origin, the birth of the alien realm, and the rise of the first dark evolver. The various scenes were truly terrifying.

With two deadly moves unleashed simultaneously—one to restrain and the other to kill—he had decided to use the advantage of his royal authority to kill the enemy by self-destructing at any cost.

Boom! Wang Hongwu also unleashed his ultimate move, activating the King's Law. Behind him, the images of a hundred kings were directly projected. The power of all of them erupted and merged into his killing move, reaching an astonishing level. This evolved into the phantom of the human body and the heavens. Each king was a realm, and they were densely packed together, evolving into the true cycle of life and death of the heavens.

Each rotation was driven by a king, and each rotation was a hundred times. The terrifying power crushed down, directly shattering the chains thrown by the alien master. The fist imprints mercilessly blasted towards him!

It should be understood that the nineteen kings combined can reach the pinnacle of the Immortal King realm. Among the hundred kings, excluding Wang Hongwu, there are many top-tier and giant figures, as well as three supreme individuals. How terrifying would their combined power be? Furthermore, when combined with his Emperor Light Strike, it would naturally far exceed the alien lord's imagination!
I am bound to the cycle of reincarnation, the cycle of birth and death among the heavens!
This terrifying blow shattered the black shadow, destroyed the scene of the otherworld's initial opening, and pierced through the Dharma image of the ancient artifact of origin, directly penetrating deep into the primordial spirit of the otherworldly master, suppressing him to death on the spot. His royal laws were rendered ineffective, not only due to the influence of the Wushang royal law, but also because the royal law of self-attachment and reincarnation was being distorted and blocked.

In his final moments, this ancient ancestor from another realm had a complex expression. His true self briefly returned, and he glanced at the other realm, which was far more prosperous than when he left. He sighed and said, "You are stronger than I was back then, but you really shouldn't cross the sea recklessly. There really is an emperor on the other side. Perhaps you can go to the ancient lands beyond the realms to see the secrets that are feared by the other side."

In the years of imperial decline, those who emerged may not have truly died. From the historical records I've compiled, two seemingly real yet illusory individuals, who appeared to belong to a different era, met him once. And you resemble one of them.

With a final sigh, the alien master exploded. He had died the day he landed, and was merely enslaved by those chains afterward.

However, his physical body fell into Wang Hongwu's hands, still surrounded by imperial light, becoming another important reliance for his rule.

"He killed all the old monsters from the Fallen Emperor's Age!"

"He is unparalleled. All beings who embarked on the path to becoming a king and emperor and possessed the protection of imperial light were slain by him. He truly roamed the world sea."

The kings watching this battle were all shocked; the strength displayed was truly overwhelming.

Moreover, he commands a hundred Celestial Kings!
How is this different from the alternative Jieyin Ancient Temple?
If he continues to expand like this in the Boundary Sea, who knows how far he will end up?
Right now, his strength alone far surpasses the resources of other great realms; it's simply astonishing.

Then, Wang Hongwu made another move, surrounding and killing the fallen immortal kings who had descended from the Ancient Hall of Reception, beating them so badly that they couldn't fight back. This left the fallen immortal kings speechless. Throughout history, they had always been the ones besieging others and acting recklessly. When did they ever fall to the point of being besieged and killed?
They don't even have as many as the other side!
It's really contrary to Tiangang.

In the end, apart from those who were directly killed by the butcher and the chicken farmer, the other twenty people were all pressed into the sacrificial bowl, destined to be enlightened and become a new batch of guardian immortal kings.

"Fellow Daoist, please allow us to have a chat." With this matter settled, the butcher and the chicken farmer invited Wang Hongwu to come into the ancient temple that had been shot down for a talk.

Wang Hongwu readily agreed, and the turmoil within the Boundary Sea subsided, but the news was quickly relayed back.

It takes a long time for messages to travel from the border sea to the outside world.

During the 20,000 years since Wang Hongwu left, the Immortal Realm remained peaceful, and nothing unusual happened.

Within each cosmic cluster, one can see temples standing tall, each more magnificent and sacred than the last, gradually radiating brilliance.

The deity enshrined there is the Heavenly King, who is also the new ruler of another realm and the shepherd of the boundary sea.

On ordinary days, many people from various ethnic groups come to worship, offer rare treasures, recite the name of the king, witness miracles, and help them fulfill their wishes.

Even within the Nine Heavens and Ten Earths, there are such temples for worship. The Heavenly Horned Ant obtained the complete inheritance of its lineage from it, as well as the legendary Immortal Scripture; the White Qilin also obtained the inheritance from it and comprehended the Great Universe Heavenly Map; the former Kunpengzi also completed his original source in the temple and regained the glory of the Ten Fiends; Qi Daolin, who once claimed to be the successor of the Supreme Hall, also obtained the true Six Paths Heavenly Skill from it and carried it forward.

All these factors, along with numerous opportunities, have allowed the name of the Heavenly King to endure in both realms.

In particular, during this period, the storms in the border sea gradually subsided, and a king returned, bringing astonishing news.

An old monster from the days of the fallen emperor, a powerful figure from the same era as the creator of the Immortal Realm and the ancestor of the Burial Realm. The old ancestor of the alien realm was killed by the Heavenly Father and became a defeated opponent of the Shepherd!
This news shocked both the Immortal Realm and the Burial Realm. Even Qi Yu and Burial King Huo Heng came forward to confirm it. When they learned that it was true, they felt as if they were in a dream.

They never expected that the shepherd would be so powerful now, even able to kill the old monster from the Fallen Emperor's Age. Is he really going to be invincible?

Within the Boundary Sea, is another person about to land and seek the secret of breaking through the King and becoming the Emperor?
No one knows that, in the blink of an eye, another thousand years have passed.

Deep within the Boundary Sea, in the dark cage where the alien lord descended, three figures sat cross-legged.

The butcher spoke up, “The secret to becoming an emperor does not lie on the other side of the Boundary Sea, which is the burial ground for those who seek emperors. We suspect that someone has restricted the path to emperorship, placing shackles on heaven and earth to prevent people from achieving it.”

"In the years of the Emperor's fall, the kings of the Immortal Realm died because of the Heavenly Court, the Lord of the Burial Realm went into hiding, and the Lord of the Other Realm came ashore and died. Now, fellow Daoist, be careful, the fallen beings on the other side have probably already set their sights on you." The chicken farmer warned. The Other Lord was indeed strong, but there were still many, many fallen powerhouses in the Ancient Hall of Guidance, and the number of kings even exceeded that of the Boundary Sea.

That was a terrifying number, endless, which had already been demonstrated during the Fall of the Emperors, when it was used to besiege and kill two influential figures.

Wang Hongwu fell silent for a moment. Although the Butcher's guess was vague, it was somewhat related. On the other side of the sea were four Dark Dao Ancestors. Their Dao had fallen, suppressing all the heavens, especially after the years of the Emperor's Fall. This was even more targeted. After the forging of the Origin Ancient Artifacts to stop them, even if they themselves disdained to take action, the influence was still there, only making the original breakthroughs more difficult. For example, the Burial Master created the Burial Domain system, and his entire body was enveloped in Emperor Light, which obviously met the standards for breakthrough. He and the Butcher later even attained the highest Dao in the heavens, ranking among the Immortal Emperors. Indeed, there were certain limitations of heaven and earth and the influence of their perspectives.

Of course, there is another reason: they are following the path of the Dao Ancestor, rather than breaking through to the Quasi-Immortal Emperor or Supreme through the system of their predecessors. This is a fundamental difference, and their combat power, breakthrough difficulty, and potential are all very different. Even the Four Dark Emperors on the other side are the same, as they are the four supreme Dao Ancestors!
"If you have any ideas, fellow Daoist, you might as well heed my advice: you can expand your power, seek more helpers, and the Ancient Hall of Guidance is connected to the Dark Cage, which imprisons many former masters. You can start from there." In the end, the Butcher made a suggestion: if you want to fight against the darkness, you must accumulate more support and then undermine the fallen beings.

"Fellow Daoist is truly talented." Wang Hongwu nodded, finding his words quite reasonable. He then prepared to begin putting them into practice, but naturally, his first step was to perfect his own path.

He asked the butcher and the chicken farmer for help to refine the Boundary Sea together!
The small-scale boundary sea in the human body's celestial plan must be perfected first.

And this training lasted for 100,000 years.

The most time-consuming part of traveling within the Boundary Sea is getting around; even with the help of teleportation arrays, it still takes a lot of time.

In particular, Wang Hongwu's actions over the past 100,000 years have made him even more infamous. Wherever he went, he drained the seas, a truly astonishing feat.

No king has ever dared to do this, to covet the Boundary Sea and turn it into his own. It's too arrogant!
Some even worried that he might drain the Boundary Sea dry.
Of course, many people think this is unrealistic because the Boundary Sea is too vast, accumulated over countless eons, and it is impossible for any legendary emperor to absorb it all.

On the other side, Wang Hongwu finally stopped. Over the past 100,000 years, he had devoured too many seas and finally fully evolved the small world sea within his body. According to the estimates of the chicken farmer and the butcher, he had probably already swallowed half of the world sea!
This distance would take even a Celestial King hundreds of thousands of years to travel; it's practically defying the heavens.

Even the imperial light on Wang Hongwu's body became more intense as a result. However, after absorbing so much, his physical body had temporarily reached its limit. If he wanted to absorb more, he needed to nurture more imperial light, combine the Mother Gold of All Things and the Mother Gold of Darkness into the true Mother Gold of Origin, break the limit of the Kingly Path, and improve his essence.

However, both of these require a great deal of time, often in the hundreds of thousands of years. During this process of swallowing the sea, he had already refined and sublimated his own Mother Gold of All Things and Mother Gold of Darkness with the sacrificial bowl, reaching the limit of the Kingly Path materials that could not be improved. Otherwise, he would not have stopped.

"Fellow Daoist, your techniques are as astonishing as ever," the butcher said quietly. Back then, he had suffered quite a loss because of this.

It can be said that every king who achieves the Emperor's Glory has his own invincible method and the path of strengthening the king. The Butcher himself also has one, and even another one left by his ancestors, which can be described as defying the heavens. However, he is helpless against someone as unreasonable as Wang Hongwu.

Logically speaking, if you open up the myriad heavens within your body, your physical strength must be able to keep up, otherwise you will only end up exploding and dying. However, this person's physical body was forged from the celestial gold of the myriad heavens, and also incorporated the dark celestial gold and the bloodline of the ten fierce beasts. On this basis, six celestial seeds evolved from within his body, including two world trees, which forcibly contained it. Of course, the world trees were also very important. Without their harmonization, it would be difficult to continue.

Most importantly, this person also has the blessing of 120 benevolent beings, and this protection is the key to supporting the human body's myriad heavens.

Therefore, the butcher also understood that this human body structure is interconnected, with each part indispensable, and is difficult to replicate.

"Still the same old weirdo." The chicken farmer nodded, giving his assessment.

The vast Boundary Sea was drained of half by him alone, which was truly astonishing.

But this is for the best. The remaining half can guard against the dark invasion from the depths of the Boundary Sea, from the dammed boundary. Otherwise, if the passage were unobstructed, the Immortal Realm and the Nine Heavens and Ten Earths would collapse in an instant.

Even the other kings who witnessed all of this were speechless. How could there be such a creature?

Although it is still within the realm of the King's Way, its size is unprecedented. Even if surrounded by kings, it is not afraid and can sweep through. It is probably the only being in the world that can deal with the siege of the Ancient Temple of Guidance.

However, Wang Hongwu was also pondering something: so many kings had been enlightened and become a part of him, and in general, they were all Wang Hongwu, and could even be merged into one. So, could they be taken into the sacrificial bowl and accompany him back to the ancient era from the land of heaven?
If possible, that would be the immense foundation for conquering all the heavens.

"It's time to enter the dark cage." Without further delay, Wang Hongwu immediately prepared to further expand his power.

He drew upon boundless dark power, which enveloped his body and merged into the dark mother metal, all in order to enter the other side of the dark cage.

Reaching the other side of the Boundary Sea and heading to the Ultimate Ancient Land may be the fastest route, but it is also the most dangerous.

Normally, one can only embark on the journey by abandoning the physical body and having only the primordial spirit. However, for Wang Hongwu, it was different. He did not choose to come himself, but instead captured a fallen immortal king, used its primordial spirit to open the dark cage, and parasitized on it, calmly entering.

During the journey, the Fallen Immortal King's primordial spirit gradually became muddled, while Wang Hongwu remained clear-headed, seeing the long river of time and the endless cages floating on that river, telling the story of reincarnation.

Then, a dark cage appeared, trapping the Fallen Immortal King. This cage was strange, changing according to the cultivation level of the imprisoned person.

However, it has its limits. Right now, Wang Hongwu manifested directly, bursting the dark cage, and casually grabbed the primordial spirit of the Fallen Immortal King, refining it in an instant and turning it into a part of me.

"These dark cages are quite interesting. Are they specifically designed to imprison the primordial spirit? Perhaps we can refine them to create a method that targets the primordial spirit of an Immortal King."

He scanned his surroundings, his interest piqued. He refined all the empty dark cages, turning them into his own methods and techniques. He didn't even spare the cages that imprisoned living beings, blasting them open and releasing the primordial spirits, who stared at him blankly.

Some creatures have been imprisoned for too long and have become numb. Deep within, there are many multi-headed creatures born from mutual devouring, with the weakest being two-headed, and even nine-headed and eleven-headed ones emerging.

The Dark Cage is not just this one area; it is actually very vast, divided into many smaller areas, with even more hidden deep within.

Roar! The next moment, Wang Hongwu arrived in front of the largest cage and heard a huge roar. It was a huge creature with nineteen heads, covered with blue scales, ferocious and terrifying.

Each of the nineteen heads is different, and the body is that of a dragon, coiling and dancing there. The size of the dragon is so large that it covers the universe, and its power is terrifying. In addition to the dragon head in the middle, there are also the heads of the white tiger, the pixiu, and the taotie, etc. It has already reached the pinnacle of the immortal kings. If it can break through the final shackles, it will be extraordinary.

Upon seeing someone break free of the cage, the monster roared and propelled the cage forward, unleashing an aura that was terrifying and unbearable even for the other Celestial Kings. It sought to devour the creature before it, to evolve once more, and to give birth to the radiance of an emperor.

However, Wang Hongwu laughed. "Trying to show off to me? Comparing the scale of the 'Kingly Way'?"

In an instant, his body burst forth with boundless light. First, a vast primordial immortal realm with the World Tree standing tall flew out, then a vast dark alien realm descended, followed by the endless sea of ​​realms!

The vast torrent of the world directly engulfed this place, crushing the nineteen roaring monsters instantly. They offered no resistance and were suppressed without even making a ripple.

Even the most powerful immortal kings could not withstand such suppression from all the heavens upon the human body.

Meanwhile, as the world was swept away by the torrent of change, one cage after another in this darkness was shattered, opening up a path, and he released many bewildered primordial spirits.

Of course, keeping a series of multi-headed monsters would be a disaster, so Wang Hongwu used the law to enlighten them and make them his own. He subdued ten of them, the weaker ones being three-headed monsters, and the strongest being nineteen-headed monsters. Most of them had six or nine heads, and only three had more than ten, which was quite rare.

With these ten beings expanding, the alien realm's resources became even more terrifying, boasting a total of one hundred and thirty kings, including many giants and multi-headed monsters, making it truly terrifying.

His reckless behavior naturally had a huge impact, triggering some mysterious law and blocking his path.

Moreover, with a deafening roar, the darkness burst open, sending them all back to the real world. The Land of Guidance refused them entry, forbidding them from entering again.

However, Wang Hongwu also brought back thousands of geniuses who were famous in ancient times.

Among this group, some were in the realm of humanity, some had ventured into the path of immortality, and there was even an Immortal King among them.
Some of them came from the Nine Heavens and Ten Earths, some originated from the Immortal Realm, and some were even beings from countless years ago, whose original worlds had long since been destroyed.

As eras cycle and worlds rise and fall, much has vanished.

"Peacock, I bestow upon you an opportunity, but whether you can overcome it depends on yourself. Success will lead to a leap forward, failure will result in death and annihilation." Then, Wang Hongwu looked at the Peacock King and raised his hand to release the nineteen monsters that had already been enlightened.

Now, it is very gentle and non-aggressive, just sitting there with its head bowed, and it would not resist in the slightest even if it were to die.

"Your Excellency, I am willing to give it a try!" The Peacock King has followed him for hundreds of thousands of years and has benefited greatly. His cultivation has naturally advanced to the top level, but it is not easy to become a giant. He still needs to mature.

However, Wang Hongwu has given him a shortcut. He can see that each king has different potential and there is no need to work hard to reach the top. Since it is his mount, he cannot lose face.

"Fellow Daoist, be careful!"

Just then, the butcher and the chicken farmer turned serious and stared at something flying out from the direction of the burial area.

They saw a box, the ancient artifact of origin!

At this moment, the ancient artifact seemed to be controlled by some unseen force, causing it to undergo a strange change and instead approach Wang Hongwu with murderous intent.

Then the box blossomed, revealing a bone crown, as white as jade, but swirling with a dense dark source. Under the radiant light, the place underwent a dramatic change. Two fallen immortal kings were even too close and fell with screams, their blood staining the ancient palace red.

The box is opened and the crown is revealed, the dark hand that buried the ancient history of the Immortal Realm has reappeared!

(End of this chapter)