Shrouding the Heavens: The Ultimate Daoist Venerable

Chapter 320 The Third Generation of the Immortal Emperor

Time flies, and another ten thousand years have passed. The Immortal Emperor has been alive for fifty thousand years.

Fifty thousand years—this should have been an astonishing period of time. But the Primordial Celestial Venerable, who preceded the Immortal Emperor, lived for approximately eighty thousand years, while the Limitless Celestial Venerable, who lived before that, lived for one hundred thousand years. The combined lifespan of these three made the Immortal Emperor's lifespan less astonishing.

But after all, he is the living emperor, and he governs a vast divine empire, so his prestige is actually greater. He places great importance on the collection and research of the power of faith, therefore he needs more people to know him and to believe in him.

Of course, in the future after the fall of the Divine Dynasty, the Immortal Emperor's prestige will most likely be far less than that of Liang Yu and Yuanshi Tianzun.

The Great Dao of the universe trembled, and even the Heavenly Heart Mark began to shake as if it were about to collapse. A sense of oppressive doomsday permeated the hearts of every cultivator. They knew that the second incarnation of the Undying Emperor was finally coming to an end.

The second incarnation of the Immortal Emperor was also 25,000 years old, showing almost no improvement compared to the first incarnation.

Although the second incarnation of the Immortal Emperor was a slight upgrade to the Immortal Elixir, using special methods to enhance its effects and employing the Nirvana method to digest its medicinal power, it did not affect the essence of the elixir. Therefore, his lifespan in his second incarnation did not increase much.

Of course, if he continued to endure, he might have lasted several hundred years longer than in his first life, but there was really no need for that. After all, by then, it would be difficult to change the overall situation.

Within the Purple Mountain, the Undying Emperor opened his eyes. At this moment, he could no longer conceal the heavy aura of decline. His gray hair and withered body revealed the exhaustion of his life force.

However, a faint celestial light was brewing within his body, like a seed that, once it took root and sprouted, could sweep away the thick deathly aura and grant him new life.

Although he was interrupted several times by matters concerning his child, the Immortal Emperor successfully accumulated enough power in these two lifetimes to have the potential to begin the next one.

The method of Nirvana and transformation used by the Immortal Emperor this time is actually nothing special. It is the most orthodox and common method, but most Dao-proving people still cannot do it. On the contrary, some people who have not proven their Dao can achieve the transformation of immortal essence by chance.

In the original timeline, when Ye Fan was ambushed by the Undying Emperor in his later years in his second life, he realized that Ye Fan had also used this method to reverse his life.

This is why the Immortal Emperor is so familiar with this process of transformation and knows how to deal with those who use this method to reverse their life.

Those who reach this stage of enlightenment will not die even if their physical body is broken and their primordial spirit is shattered. As long as the immortal essence they have accumulated over the years remains, they can live out their next life.

Therefore, when the Immortal Emperor makes his move, he will deliberately attack and wear down the divine embryo nurtured by the immortal essence within the body of the Daoist, so that even if these Daoists do not die on the spot, they will die of old age because they cannot live to the next life.

At this time, the Immortal Emperor had accumulated enough immortal essence and was about to begin his transformation.

Of course, his transformation was different from others; he still relied on the immortal essence of longevity to achieve nirvana and thus gain new life.

This time, the Nirvana method was still not very effective; the Immortal Emperor could have completed his transformation regardless of whether he used it or not. The reason the Immortal Emperor still used the Nirvana method was to prepare for the future.

The method of Nirvana is fixed; it is the absolute essence, the fundamental principle that remains unchanged amidst countless variations. Each Nirvana of the Immortal Emperor is essentially a modification of this same method, allowing it to operate and produce effects in different ways. Therefore, by using easy methods like elixirs of immortality and immortal essences to achieve Nirvana, the Immortal Emperor can summarize the underlying principles, apply them to other situations, and thus grasp the principles of using various other methods to achieve Nirvana, greatly reducing the difficulty in the future.

The immortal essence within the Undying Emperor's body began to grow continuously, and a small phoenix formed from the convergence of five-colored divine light was faintly formed within his body.

During this process, the Immortal Emperor's physical body began to wither away, almost becoming a lifeless dried corpse. Then, divine runes of law began to appear on his withered body, extracting the last trace of essence from his body and injecting it into the divine embryo.

In the end, his body completely transformed into a hardened, dried-out human skin, while the divine embryo transformed from the form of a phoenix into a human form.

The Immortal Emperor's Nirvana has officially begun.

As the Undying Emperor entered a transitional state between life and death, the aura of the Great Dao that he shared with the Great Universe and the Heavenly Heart Mark began to weaken, becoming faint and indistinct, as if it were about to collapse.

This naturally stirred up a long-suppressed ambition in the hearts of some powerful individuals among many races. If the Undying Emperor were to die, they could expand their power and even plot to seize the Undying Divine Dynasty.

The core tribes of the Divine Dynasty were the biggest beneficiaries of this system, so naturally they did not want anything to happen to the Immortal Emperor. In order to help the Immortal Emperor, and also to test and suppress the unruly intentions of other forces, they launched a large-scale prayer and blessing ceremony, calling on all races to jointly assist the Supreme Emperor.

Those minor races who did not want to suffer the ravages of war naturally hoped that the Immortal Emperor could continue his legend. Therefore, they responded to the call of the Ten Tribes of the Divine Dynasty and began to pray for the Immortal Emperor.

Under these circumstances, most races in the universe, whether devout or not, began to earnestly pray for the Immortal Emperor.

Countless forces of faith converged, making the divine embryo within the Undying Heavenly Blade even more vibrant, as if it could immediately transform into another Undying Heavenly Emperor and emerge from it.

Time flies, and a thousand years have passed in the blink of an eye.

Throughout this thousand years, the Immortal Emperor remained in this state of neither life nor death, and the Immortal Emperor's Dao Imprint in the universe remained in a state of near dissipation.

This left the cultivators in the universe somewhat bewildered. How could you, half-dead, possibly sustain yourself for a thousand years? Of course, until the final result was revealed, they could only observe from the sidelines.

In truth, if the Undying Emperor had directly used the Immortal Essence of Immortality to reverse his aging process, he would have succeeded long ago. However, because he used the Nirvana Method, he experienced an additional period of weakness. But this was to pave the way for the future, so it was not a major issue.

Finally, the blood and energy within Purple Mountain surged to the heavens, piercing the sky and startling all living beings in the universe.

Amidst the overwhelming primordial energy powerful enough to engulf the sea of ​​stars, a sphere of light composed of five-colored divine light floated in the air, radiating boundless divine brilliance.

The sphere of light cracked open, and the immortal emperor, who had lived a third life, stepped out from within, once again reigning supreme over the mortal realm.

(End of this chapter)