The Ancient Saint Emperor of the Heaven-shading

Chapter 318 The Sea Sacrifice Incident, the Two High Priests

The position of the High Priest of Etu rose, and the highest white light shone upon the plateau, establishing a pure white sanctuary, the Kingdom of Etu.

The remaining substitute priests had no choice but to leave, their expressions revealing neither joy nor anger, but a common outline was visible in their eyes.

When they arrived, heroes vied for supremacy; when they left, all things returned to one, and in the end, there was only one person.

When Wang Hongwu was fighting for the position of chief priest, the methods he used overlapped with those used in the war against the heavens. However, at that time, firstly, the power of the sacrificial path within the pollen ancestral seed concealed the truth, and secondly, his own imperial law entered that domain. As a result, some discrepancies appeared in the eyes of the two chief priests watching the battle, and the truth was not exposed and was ignored and concealed.

"The four ancient landforms have been separated for a long time. Today, they are cleansed of dust and filth, and the land is restored. They are all brought under the command of the Bai people."

The Lord of the Floating Earth and the Lord of the Underworld remained calm. When they returned to the Four Extremes Floating Earth and the Ancient Underworld, they suddenly issued an order: the four ancient lands would be unified!
Then, following the will of the White Priest, the Azure Emperor was made the Lord of the River of Souls, the Hong Emperor the Lord of the Burial Pit, the Feather Emperor the Lord of the Floating Earth, and the Extinction Emperor the Lord of the Underworld.

The four ancient land masters took turns, while the substitute priests who participated in that battle all looked at their own evolution paths, each of which led to another source and radiated pure white holy light.

Since that war, they have all become the Lamb of the Lord, servants of God, and pioneers on the side paths of that evolutionary system.

"With the White Lord ascending the throne, will the grand sacrifice of this era change from gray to white?" In the Calamity Land, some people even began to speculate whether such a major event would occur. After all, when the Gray Lord and the Red Lord tested each other before, they were both suppressed by the White Lord with one hand, which showed the terrifying difference in strength.

"I don't know. With the three chief priests taking action this time, there shouldn't be any surprises. Even if that former supreme being of the heavens can cause trouble again, it should be calmed down by now." Another Dao Ancestor looked towards the sea of ​​sacrifice. The White Lord, Gray Lord, and Black Lord had already made their move, stepping into the sea of ​​sacrifice to search for traces of the Lord of the Reception Hall and to suppress him.

The high priests have always been very interested in the Lord of the Temple, not only because he was once corrupted, but more importantly, because his participation might break the curse that there are only ten supreme beings in the Evil Land. If successful, the Evil Land's attitude towards the birth of other supreme beings might be different in the future.

With a whoosh, crimson waves surged outside the Evil Land. The Black Lord gazed into the distance and said, “This operation is not only to corrupt a new Supreme Being, but also to influence the battlefield beyond the myriad worlds. The Ancestor is fighting with that person. Attacking the Lord of the Guiding Hall will also have an impact on him. Another reason is to guard against whether he has any backup plans left on the Guiding Hall.”

"To be honest, sending all three of them is a bit of an overreaction. White Lord alone is enough." Gray Lord, however, felt it was unnecessary for so many people to be mobilized just to capture a single Hall Master.

Wang Hongwu remained silent, only occasionally glancing at the two as he pondered. This time, he could seize the opportunity to subdue the two chief priests, Black and Gray, and turn them into his own, taking control of their origins. This would allow him to gradually erode the land, divide its territory, and eventually transform the entire ominous race into his own white heaven.

His advantage lies in knowing the path to advancement, understanding how to perform rituals, and being able to quickly achieve this by gathering the ten main sacrificial fruits into one. The rest is then quite simple.

The two masters of black and gray suddenly turned around, their gazes sweeping towards the depths of the sacrificial sea with a puzzled look. Just now, they had inexplicably sensed a sense of crisis, as if they were being watched by some kind of terrifying hunter, but they couldn't explain where it came from. All they could hear was the deep voice of the white master, "Let's go. That person is near the altar of the sacrificial sea."

The altar? Upon learning the location of the Hall Master, the two high priests couldn't help but look strange. That guy was really bold, daring to even trespass on the altar. Anyone who stepped on that place could become a sacrifice.

Whoosh! The wind was strong, tearing the sky apart. Blood-red waves splashed up, and the sacrificial sea was not peaceful. The place where the Immortal Emperor offered sacrifices was extremely gloomy. Even the heavens seemed like an isolated island before it. The waves crashed against the sky, and countless timelines and spaces throughout history were stirred and destroyed. This was the infinite myriad worlds that had been destroyed in the past. Every wave was once brilliant. It was a once vibrant world that had turned into the smoke of history. It was broken and fragmented, and all life was gone, forming the blood-red sacrificial sea.

Deep within the blood-red ocean lies an altar, magnificent and towering, utterly silent. Around it, the raging waves have all ceased, unable to touch it.

This is an important site for the Etu tribe to complete their grand sacrifice. The fallen enemies and the strongest opponents are all excellent offerings. Their remaining blood and their brilliance are sacrificed on this ancient altar.

Following this, Wang Hongwu and his two companions traversed the waves of the sacrificial sea and descended upon this place. Fragments of solidified time and space floated around them, and the sacrificed celestial beings were embedded in the red mist like amber. There were even the remains of supreme beings floating and sinking in the waves. Whenever the waves crashed, time spiraled out of control. One moment it was the primordial chaos of creation, and the next it was the desolate ruins at the end of an era. The eternal light and time clashed here. This place would even make a Celestial Emperor lose his way.

Upon seeing the altar, the Black Lord and the Gray Lord's expressions shifted slightly. The latter even gave Wang Hongwu a subtle look. He was originally supposed to preside over the grand ceremony of this era, but if the White Lord were to interfere, he would have a headache, since he couldn't defeat him.

The Great Sacrifice is the most sacred ritual for the strange race, and no mistakes are allowed; it not only serves to perfect the sacrifice, but also greatly benefits the supreme being who presides over it.

The strange thing was that nothing happened when the two masters stepped onto the altar. On the contrary, when Wang Hongwu stepped onto it, the altar immediately responded and began to glow slightly. Then they seemed to hear a faint, almost inaudible sigh, seemingly real yet illusory, echoing in the depths of the blood-red sacrificial sea.

"What's going on?!" The Black Lord and the Gray Lord's expressions changed drastically. They stared at the area around the altar and actually discovered a blurry figure looking back. It was unclear whether the figure was gazing at the past or reminiscing about something from a high vantage point.

However, the blurry figure disintegrated in an instant, all traces vanished, it disappeared from the world, could no longer exist, and everything returned to nothingness.

Wang Hongwu's expression shifted slightly upon seeing this. This change was related to him, but he didn't know whether it stemmed from the fire sacrifice, the ancestral pollen road, the sacrificial bowl, or... himself.
"It's best to report this to the Ancestor. I suspect that person arranged for the Hall Master of the Reception Hall to do something that caused the change at the altar! After all, he controls the Three Generations Bronze Coffin." The Gray Lord's expression was solemn as he directly informed the Ancestor of the changes that had occurred.

"I'm sorry to trouble you to take the blame for me again." Wang Hongwu looked beyond the world, and Shi Hao really did take on a lot of things for him; however, after he came here, he also thought of some problems. Since the altar of this grand ceremony can sacrifice the supreme and even the sacrificial path as offerings to make them go to eternal silence, what if it is used to sacrifice the chief priest or ancestor of the Evil Land?

If they can still return via the plateau, wouldn't they be able to be reused? A continuous stream of sacrifices could be made in exchange for benefits? Thinking of this, Wang Hongwu couldn't help but consider the feasibility; it was worth a try.

At this moment, the ancestor also responded, his calm words stirring with emotion, clearly shaken by the changes at the altar: "Our clan worships the years, the source of all things, the place where all things begin. But the great sacrifice is to worship a person, the source of all our clan's power. It knows no beginning, no end, and may be dead, but it still fills us with awe and reverence."

The source of their power seems to point directly to an existence that once left its mark on the world!
This horrified both the Black and Gray Lords; the Great Sacrifice actually had a corresponding being! However, that being seemed to no longer exist, having vanished into thin air in the long expanse of history.

The progenitor sought greater power, so he continuously offered sacrifices, hoping that traces of that person would be revealed, or even a wisp of thought would be revived, to inspire them and help them step into a higher realm.

Because they have lingered in the realm of ritual for too long, they are very concerned about anything that can be taken to a higher level.

"Be careful from now on. Since Huang sent that Immortal Emperor to set up this altar, causing an unexpected turn of events, this journey may encounter unexpected twists and turns." The Ancestor left behind a final message before disappearing. After all, he was still fighting and could not afford to be distracted.

They believed that the changes here were caused by the desolation, and perhaps that person's contingency plan triggered the accident at the altar.

"Then let's not delay any longer, let's make our move." Wang Hongwu stepped forward, his body radiating boundless holy light, pure white and sacred, sometimes transforming into milky white air currents that swept by, and sometimes into blazing white flames that roared and burned, instantly enveloping the entire space of the altar, while simultaneously affecting various time and space angles and dimensions of the past and future.

Because the supreme beings are eternal and reflect the heavens, even if they face each other, they may be standing in different 'time scales'. The Lord of the Reception Hall may have descended here in the past, and what they are capturing is the trace of that past. As long as they subdue it, then the present history will naturally be changed.

As soon as Wang Hongwu's holy light burst forth, at the end of time and space, on the ceiling of the evolutionary path, someone immediately sensed it, opened their eyes, and the supreme divine light emanating from their body spread out, composing a halo of history. Strands of Dao patterns bloomed, repairing the cracked time and space.

As the two forces collided, time scattered, and that transcendent realm seemed to have existed for billions of years. Time was not normal; it kept washing over them, giving people the feeling of a break in ancient history.

This level of existence renders all paths to nothingness, and only itself triumphs over the Dao. Order is nothing more than roadside flowers, blooming and withering, subject to the baptism of the long river of time. In the end, everything is vanity, only itself is eternal and uniquely real.

"White Lord, you hold the fort. We'll take action. He was contaminated by two substances earlier." Black Lord and Gray Lord also had old grudges against the Lord of the Reception Hall. At this moment, they stepped forward quickly and directly entered that space-time. Behind them, a magnificent and ancient sacrificial ground appeared.

That area, while empowering them, was also suppressing the evolutionary path of the Temple Master, attempting to hunt him down. "So you couldn't resist after all? Three high priests have come to hunt me down, they really think highly of me. A rat, a cat, and a ferocious tyrannosaurus."

As the Sea of ​​Time rippled, the figure of the Lord of the Reception Hall appeared at the end of the path of evolution, his feet resting on the broken bones of an emperor. These were the bamboo raft he had been searching for in the Sea of ​​Sacrifice, the remains of a supreme being who had died tragically at the hands of the chief priest of the Calamity Land.

Rats? The Black Master scoffed, "Nonsense! The supreme is the supreme. Only those who reach the pinnacle and await sublimation are considered special. There are no such things as these lowly and vulgar creatures you're talking about."

"You really think you survived because of your strength? At first, seeing you struggle and fight gave us a chance to rise up, just to hone our race and prevent complacency and slackness on the plateau. Now that you are no longer useful, we should eliminate you with all our might. It's time for everything to come to an end!" The Gray Lord was even more indifferent. The beings who survived the Great Sacrifice were not those with great strength or good luck.

It's just because we need to leave some seeds for future cultivation.

The next moment, the three supreme beings erupted and collided. One attacked from the upper reaches of the river of time, moving from the past to the future, while simultaneously attacking the two chief priests. The other attacked from the lower reaches of time, moving from the future to the past, in an attempt to suppress the Lord of the Guiding Hall.

Three different forces spread out, causing the river of time to flow endlessly, bursting forth with countless ripples, surging beyond eternity, making the vast world tremble, on the verge of collapse.

From Wang Hongwu's perspective, however, the scene was completely different. It wasn't that three people were fighting, but rather that the three evolutionary path spectra suspended high in spacetime were colliding. The three spiraling path spectra refracted all sorts of strange lights, and those lights converged into a surging collision of Dao waves.

The reflections of these collisions appear in the river of time and space below, forming the scene seen by all living beings. It is the easiest to understand that the three humanoid supreme beings are fighting, but in reality, they are just projections of the aftershocks. The beings of that level are beyond description.

Although the Lord of the Reception Hall was very strong and fearless in a one-on-one duel with either of the two chief priests, he was naturally not in a good position when surrounded and was finding it difficult to fight back. In the next moment, Wang Hongwu moved, pure white holy light shone through, and he threw a punch.

Boom! A terrifying shockwave echoed from the infinite heights, reaching the upper and lower reaches of the river of time. In those ancient times—the Dark Ages, the Celestial Ages, the Cold Ages—the ancient people were stunned, gazing up at the sky, utterly shocked. They saw a beam of light, a terrifying beam of light that blasted from the future into the past, tracing back to the origin.

Then came the cultivators from various historical periods who suddenly looked up and saw the unparalleled fist power that surged from the past, relentlessly pounding forward toward the distant future.

In the distant future, men standing on cauldrons and hanging bells, and women wearing bronze rings, turn their heads to look at the magnificent fist light of the past.

As for the present world, the river of time has broken, and an instant is eternity. Time has frozen at this moment, and all living beings outside the sea are frozen, stiff and motionless, with only their pupils wide open, completely unaware of what has happened, let alone understanding that they themselves have been affected.

Then, the dazzling holy fist erupted, directly shattering the battlefield where the three clashed, and blasting away the Gray Lord, the Black Lord, and even the Lord of the Guiding Hall!

With a single punch, he shattered the three Supreme Beings, a scene that shocked them all. Who could have imagined that the White Lord's attack would be so domineering, invincible, and unparalleled?

Then the exploded figure roared and was reshaped at the end of the heavens, reappearing in its true form, indestructible at the end of the road. The two chief priests also quickly reappeared, staring at Wang Hongwu with some confusion. What did it mean that he made a move and even framed them?
"White Lord, are you going to make a move? Then I'll leave it to you." The Black Lord and the Gray Lord exchanged a glance and retreated in tacit agreement, while the Lord of the Reception Hall's expression shifted slightly; he had already sensed something was amiss.

"Then I will take action and help you end all of this." Wang Hongwu spoke calmly, but he had already made his move as he spoke. His fist imprint was so huge that it shattered ancient history, and the entire world trembled and wailed.

Boom! This punch was immense and boundless, but it wasn't aimed at the Hall Master of Guidance; instead, it simultaneously enveloped both high priests!
"Master Bai, what are you doing!" At this level, there is no such thing as a sneak attack. The rise and fall of dynasties are all in one's heart in a single thought. Perception is everywhere. The two chief priests were shocked, and boundless waves splashed between the three of them. It was the river of time sweeping through, and countless sources of the Great Dao were torn apart.

In an instant, they were blown apart by a single punch, and ominous drops of blood fell down, causing the River of Time to splash up with towering waves, and fragments of time flew everywhere, creating an extremely terrifying scene!
This attack was extremely powerful. After the two regained their supreme abilities, they did not hesitate to self-destruct, hoping to be resurrected and return in their ancestral land.

The ancestral land at the end of the Evil Land is indescribable and mysterious, capable of reviving strange creatures, and they stand in an invincible position!

Unfortunately, since Wang Hongwu had already made his move, he naturally wouldn't give them a chance to struggle. He directly rewrote cause and effect with absolute power, reversed history, cut off the cause of their self-destruction, and thus lost the effect of the explosion. The two remained standing in the same spot, and the history of the self-destruction was thrown into the infinitely distant future, destined never to happen again.

Then the two chief priests' expressions changed drastically as they saw the white holy light, ever-flowing and overwhelming, surging towards them. The most brilliant sacred light of all time illuminated all directions of the world, piercing through the ominous clouds and radiating endless splendor, shining in the past, the present, and the future, omnipresent.

Without a doubt, they shattered again, unable to withstand the attack due to the fundamental difference in strength. They were no match for the White Lord's attack, and even the combined efforts of the two were futile.

Fortunately, this realm has extremely strong vitality and is incredibly resilient. Even if a being at the end of the road is truly killed, as long as someone in the world remembers him and touches something related to him, he can be revived and return to the present world. Only when everyone stops thinking about him, stops mentioning him, and all traces are eradicated can he be considered truly dead.

The two had no intention of fighting; they wanted to escape immediately. Black chose to merge into ancient history and spread into the past, believing that as long as they entered the plateau of the past, they could remain safe. Gray, on the other hand, rushed into the future, seeking a timeline in which they could leave unscathed.

Although they didn't know why White had gone mad and attacked them, running away was always the best option if they couldn't win.

As for confrontation, they have no intention of doing so; they would be crushed.

"No way forward, no way back, and two pawns trying to escape?" Wang Hongwu sneered. These were the two "selves" he was about to enlighten; how could they run away?
He immediately made his move. In the past, Wang Hongwu traversed time and space, condensing the Origin Mother Gold in his hand into a spear. He hurled it fiercely, piercing through eternity across several ancient historical fragments, and directly pinning the Black Lord to the spot.

In the future, Wang Hongwu will appear one after another, and cause and effect will weave a great net, transforming into tangible runes that cover countless possibilities. As the net falls, the ages will be stirred up, covering the Gray Lord who travels through countless futures.

The Gray Lord was helpless. As powerful as he was, invincible for countless eras, he was being repeatedly defeated today. It was truly indescribable. Even as a being at the end of the road, eternal and indestructible, he felt himself teetering on the brink of collapse.

In the blink of an eye, both of them were captured, one in each hand. Wang Hongwu grabbed them back and suppressed them in front of him. As they fell from the highest point, even time itself became unstable and discontinuous. The entire ancient history seemed to vanish into nothingness and return to emptiness.

"White Lord! Are you crazy? Why are you attacking us!" Black Lord couldn't understand and felt completely bewildered. "We're family!"
You are a true Ecuadorian, how can you fight amongst yourselves?
A family? Etu people? Upon hearing these words, Wang Hongwu remained silent, but the Lord of the Reception Hall had a strange expression. Wasn't he a genuine person from all the heavens?
The Gray Lord glanced at the altar, then seemed to realize something, and said in a trembling voice, "White Lord, you wouldn't actually want to verify the question from back then, and want to seize the Ten Great Sacrificial Fruits and merge them into one, so as to ascend to the realm of the Ancestor, would you?"

Upon hearing this, the Black Lord was stunned, because the White Lord had indeed asked a similar question and received their answer. However, the White Lord had reached the pinnacle of power as soon as he broke through, and there was no way to go any further!
The next step could only be the path to sublimation, but the ancestors were stuck there, preventing him from achieving that kind of material breakthrough. He had to find a way on his own, so he chose the previous route? It just so happened that he was at the Sea Sacrifice again, which provided cover, and the Hall Master of the Guiding Palace could take the blame, making it an excellent opportunity to make his move.

Besides this reason, they couldn't think of any other possibility for betrayal. The White Lord couldn't possibly betray them either; history is clear and there's no problem with it.

He was the lord of the burial pit, a native of the white race. He then ascended to the highest realm and underwent a transformation by that level of ominous substance. How could he possibly betray his race?
However, not betraying their tribe doesn't mean they won't betray them; they can still do whatever they want for their own benefit, so that's the only way they can think about it.

"No need for further words, you will all become me, the three masters as one, and in the future, the ten masters as one."

Wang Hongwu smiled and didn't say much. He did indeed want to achieve the concept of the ten chief priests as one, which wasn't exactly a lie.

As for black and gray, you can go without worry.

(End of this chapter)