The Legend of the Great Desolation: I Am the Fortress

Chapter 228 Searching for the Nine Flames Elixir

"Wow~~~"

An invisible ripple spread.

"This is……"

When Rui Zhan opened his eyes again, the scenery around him had completely changed.

The illusory world before them was a magnificent palace, with massive pillars, each as thick as a person's embrace, entwined with golden dragons. Below, servants stood respectfully and tremblingly.

Lei Zhan suddenly realized that his current identity was that of the emperor of a country, and he had just ascended the throne.

“This illusion…” Lei Zhan, dressed in a bright yellow robe embroidered with golden dragons, sat high on the imperial throne, looking down below.

Below, a group of waiters with different expressions lined up on both sides, but all of them looked terrified.

Directly below, there was a white-bearded but obviously old-looking waiter kneeling down, seemingly saying something.

"Your Majesty! Your Majesty!"

The servant looked up, a hint of fear and unease in his eyes. "The selection of...selection of concubines for His Majesty is an order from the Empress Dowager. This old servant...this old servant has no choice!"

"The Empress Dowager? Selecting concubines?" A sense of disgust immediately arose in Lei Zhan's heart.

"Huh?" Lei Zhan was stunned.

"This, this illusion... this illusion is too terrifying. It's like a real reincarnation, it's really starting to affect me, and it can even influence my emotions." With a thought, Lei Zhan was extremely shocked.

"And all of this is so real. The majestic halls around us, the fear of the servants, even the golden dragons on the pillars are all so lifelike, everything seems incredibly real."

It was just like a real world, and Lei Zhan really seemed to have grown up in this world, a newly enthroned emperor.

Thoughts flashed through.

"Ah."

Lei Zhan glanced at the still kneeling servant below, his expression unreadable.

"Get up! You don't need to continue manipulating the selection process. As for the Empress Dowager..."

Lei Zhan seamlessly embodied the role of the new emperor. Every thought that surged within him felt ingrained in his very being, naturally making him the true emperor.

"I will take care of the Empress Dowager's affairs."

……

In a quiet room.

Time passed, and I don't know how much time has gone by.

"call."

"suck."

The sound of their even breathing was crystal clear in the empty, quiet room.

"Phew!" Lei Zhan opened his eyes and whispered, "It's so real! This one lifetime has given me the feeling of personally experiencing reincarnation."

"However, this Eternal Tribulation Heart Stone is indeed useful to me." Lei Zhan sensed it briefly and a faint smile appeared on his face.

"Each lifetime has taken about ten days. If I continue in this life, as my mental state improves, the time required for each lifetime of trials should become even shorter."

Lei Zhan naturally understood that although he had only experienced one lifetime so far, it wasn't very obvious yet. But if he went through many lifetimes of trials and tribulations, he could hone his Dao heart and improve his mental state.

Wow!
With a thought, divine power once again activated the core restriction within the Eternal Calamity Heart Stone.

Suddenly, the surroundings began to blur...

Within the Illusory Realm of the Heart Stone of Eternal Calamity, he was immersed in it, repeatedly swept into the illusory world, and struggling to break free time and time again.

Unbeknownst to him, Lei Zhan's Dao Heart had also grown stronger with each passing lifetime of trials and tribulations.

……

The Three Realms, the Great World of the Source River.

He sat cross-legged in front of the same thatched hut, his brow furrowed with gloom.

"The Three Realms seem to be becoming increasingly turbulent..." A voice rang out in front of the thatched hut, filled with resentment and doubt.

"Damn it, could it be that Nuwa has returned? Or have other cultivators stumbled upon this chaotic vortex and infiltrated the Three Realms by accident?"

Xin Shenjiang's heart began to race with panic. Especially when he thought that if a world-god level powerhouse like Nuwa were to truly return to the Three Realms, it would be something a peak-level ancestral god like himself couldn't withstand. Even if his true form were here, he had no confidence whatsoever.

It's important to understand that the difference between ancestral gods and world gods is vast, like heaven and earth. It's even greater than the difference between mortal beings and ancestral gods.

From the time of Fuxi, when Fuxi broke free from the soul enslavement he had painstakingly imposed, his mind began to sense an insidious danger. Although this feeling was extremely faint, it alerted him.

It's well known that cultivators' intuition is usually quite accurate. And the emergence of this intuition made him sense danger.

"And then there are the Three Realms..." Xin Shenjiang thought to himself, "Originally, there were natives like the Three Pure Ones, Tathagata, and Suirenshi in the Three Realms, and there were probably a few whose strength could reach the level of Ancestral Gods in secret. But that Lei Zhan..." Thinking of that person who suddenly rose to power, who could possess strength comparable to the level of Ancestral Gods in just ten thousand years, and who had also cultivated the method of creating clones, Xin Shenjiang was filled with apprehension.

"The clone technique—these natives of the Three Realms have also obtained two. The 'Thousand Bodies Holy Scripture' requires a World Heart to even begin, and it's impossible for Lei Zhan to obtain one out of thin air. On the contrary, there's another clone technique, the 'Twelve Heavenly Gods and Demons'..."

"The one who cultivates this is most likely one of the Twelve Heavenly Gods and Demons. Only with this clone technique can the Three Realms gather the treasures to cultivate. Since both the main body and the second primordial spirit cultivate this technique, the strength of these natives in the Three Realms has increased considerably."

His eyes were filled with endless killing intent.

Lei Zhan's appearance was undoubtedly a major variable in his plans. It should be noted that Lei Zhan's main body and second primordial spirit together comprised twenty-four avatars with strength comparable to ancestral gods, making it difficult for him not to connect them with the contingency plans that Nuwa might have left behind after breaking through to become a world god.

In fact, if his true form were in these Three Realms, no matter how many beings were comparable to the Ancestral Gods in strength, as long as they didn't have treasures like the Ancestral God Array or the Lesser Ancestral God Array, the Ancestral Gods and Ancestral Immortals could easily sweep through a large area.

Most importantly, what remained in these three realms was the second primordial spirit of the Mind God General. It was the second primordial spirit of the Chaos True God Source Elder, who had been severely injured half a Chaos Era before the possession of the body. Although he could barely exert the strength of a peak Ancestral God after the possession, this strength was not secure compared to the Chaos World, which had given birth to World Gods.

It should be noted that Rahu and the Lord of All Things, who appeared in the Three Realms in the ancient Pangu world, each possessed strength comparable to that of a peak ancestral god!
"Let's lie low and slowly build up our strength."

Xin Shen thought to himself, "If things don't go well, then I'll have no choice but to abandon all the hard work I've put into cultivating the Three Realms for most of the Chaos Era."

"After all, a World Heart is incredibly precious. But my second primordial spirit, which escaped death by sheer luck, is equally precious. As long as I'm alive, I still have a chance to obtain treasures, but if I lose my life, no matter how many treasures I obtain, they will be useless to me."

Having lived through many chaotic eras, although he was reluctant to part with his soul, if it truly came to a life-or-death situation and the time came to let go, he would not hold on to it indefinitely.

……

"Wow~~~"

In the endless chaos, a wooden boat tore through the void, crushing through a large amount of gray chaos, and flew directly into the depths of chaos.

This was a wooden boat only a few meters in size, and the entire boat was radiating a bluish-green electric light.

Upon closer inspection, one can faintly see the power of spacetime surrounding the wooden boat. With each flash of lightning, the boat's speed increases dramatically, allowing it to traverse a large section of chaos.

"This time, my journey through the chaos surrounding the Three Realms is not only to find some Nine Flames Elixir, but also to investigate the peculiar feeling that has been emanating from me. But where exactly does this feeling originate?"

Lei Zhan sat cross-legged, his gaze fixed on the chaos outside the wooden boat.

"Unfortunately, my understanding of the power of cause and effect is still only at the second level. Although I can vaguely feel it, it is like looking at flowers through the fog. I can never see what is behind the fog."

The second primordial spirit avatar remaining in the Earth's core world continues to undergo the trials of the illusory realm of countless reincarnations. Lei Zhan also plans to wait until the energy of the Myriad Tribulations Heart Stone is exhausted and his mental strength has fully reached the fifth level before setting off to search for the chaotic artifact, the Nine Flames Elixir, in the chaos surrounding the Three Realms.

But that mysterious feeling that had been with Lei Zhan for over a thousand years suddenly reappeared.

That unseen feeling stirred Lei Zhan's heart, even giving him a strong impulse. After much deliberation, Lei Zhan finally decided to send a second primordial spirit avatar away from the Three Realms to begin traveling in the endless chaos near the Three Realms.

"How curious! Logically speaking, this kind of premonition should never be this strong." Lei Zhan's gaze wandered, but he was thinking carefully in his heart.

"If it is a trap, the Lord of Inner Demons has awakened and is using the Heavenly Dao in the Three Realms to trigger my inner intuition. It should be limited to within the Three Realms."

"The Mind General... is being secretly watched by Suirenshi and the eldest brother who is skilled in mental power and stronger than before. This feeling is also very little related to the Mind General."

"What exactly... is the reason?"

It should be noted that with Lei Zhan's current strength, he is completely comparable to the level of the Ancestral God. In the entire Three Realms, there are very few people whose strength is greater than Lei Zhan's.

There is absolutely no possibility that the development of the team can be influenced by cause and effect or fate.

Furthermore, throughout the entire Three Realms, apart from Nuwa, who has long since left the Three Realms, there is not a single other powerful being who can manipulate cause and effect and destiny.

"Hmm? Could it be..." A thought flashed through Lei Zhan's mind.

If the Three Realms, this unclaimed chaotic world without world gods or chaotic immortals to govern, is a tempting cake for cultivators from endless chaos, then the chaotic alien races that have accidentally arrived in the Three Realms over countless ages have also coveted this delicious cake.

However, aside from beings like Rahu, the Lord of All Things, and the Mind General, who covet the world's heart within the Three Realms, there also exist chaotic alien races who harbor no intention of harming the Three Realms.

"Could it be...him?" Lei Zhan thought to himself, "But the World God of Beixiu is very low-key in the Three Realms. At least in the thousands of years since I rose to power, I haven't heard any news about him. And even now, the Sword Gate hasn't opened the Twenty-Seven Realms of Fufeng...and I haven't heard anything about Wu Baofeng either..."

Compared to the likes of the Mind General, the World God of Beixiu was also a cultivator who accidentally stumbled into the Three Realms.

Although his mind and spirit are severely injured and on the verge of death, at least his life is not in danger.

This one, however, was reduced to a mere wisp of a remnant soul. From the ancient Pangu world onward, the Northern Xiu World God had been doing his utmost to slow the dissipation of his true spirit, and had no interest in the rights and wrongs of the Three Realms.

"Sigh!" Lei Zhan sighed deeply.

"I can't figure it out, I can't figure it out!" Lei Zhan was somewhat uncertain.

"We can only take it one step at a time. Anyway, this is the only clone I left the Three Realms this time. If something goes wrong, even if it's lost, it can slowly recover."

"If all else fails, I can just self-destruct, and then use my two clones in the Earth's core to exchange for Chaos Elixir to recover..."

Lei Zhan shook his head and stopped thinking about it. With a thought, he began to silently comprehend the Ninefold Chaos Restriction, following the clone he had left in the prison of the Three Realms.

As for the area deep within the endless chaos, not to mention that there are maps of the surrounding area explored by many powerful beings, there is no need to worry about getting lost.

Lei Zhan also has his main body and fifteen avatars of his second primordial spirit as anchor points, so he has no worries about getting lost.

……

(End of this chapter)