Shrouding the Heavens: The Ultimate Daoist Venerable

Chapter 475 Choice
With the Immortal Emperor's actions arguably intentional, his imperial mark and the Emperor's son were extremely closely intertwined, almost becoming one with his origin and bloodline, inseparable.

Normal imperial sons and princes are usually only given a brief instruction by their fathers before being sealed away to prevent them from being influenced by their own Dao imprints.

In this way, although they will also be restricted by their fathers' Dao imprint due to their bloodline and physique, the degree will not be too serious, at least much less severe than the situation of the Victorious Fighting Buddha.

As for the Heavenly Emperor's son, since the beginning of his first incarnation, he has been under the suppression of the Great Dao of the Undying Heavenly Emperor. Therefore, the intensity of the Heavenly Emperor's mark that he needs to overcome is extremely high.

Even though the Immortal Emperor intentionally limited the mark to his first incarnation, it was still an insurmountable barrier for the Emperor's son.

Compared to him, the Little Immortal Phoenix, with a stronger Dao heart and higher talent, did not have such a deep Emperor's mark. After all, he was practically a slightly different version of the Immortal Emperor, and could forge his own path without such trials.

The Emperor's son was different. Although the Immortal Emperor had lowered his expectations considerably, he still forced him to forge his own path and break free from the influence of the Supreme Emperor.

If this is achieved, then even if the Immortal Emperor stops caring about it, the Emperor's son can still soar into the sky and cry out like a phoenix in the heavens.

As Liang Yu's disciple, he vaguely knew that a terrible war might break out in the future, and that it might even involve the truth about the shattering of the Immortal Realm. This caused great panic in the heart of the Undying Emperor.

The Immortal Emperor lacked confidence that he could protect the Crown Prince under these circumstances. Therefore, he did not expect the prince to be as outstanding as himself and the Little Phoenix, but he also could not be too bad; at the very least, he needed to have the ability to forge his own path.

That's why the Immortal Emperor was training his son in this way; now is the time when his training will pay off.

After more than 20,000 years of arduous cultivation, the Emperor's son finally found a way to separate the Emperor's mark, and in two directions, in two different ways.

In other words, the Immortal Emperor is now faced with yet another choice.

The first direction is to use the Nine-Turn Immortal Pill to live out the next life, and then constantly try in the long process of cultivation, to gradually separate the Emperor's mark deeply imprinted in his body by constantly improving his own Dao and Dharma, and finally sever its influence and restriction on Zizhen.

Having experienced several failed attempts to attain enlightenment and subsequent cultivation, the Heavenly Emperor Prince was able to gradually pry open the Heavenly Emperor's Mark within his body and slowly separate it, so he had basically mastered this method.

Obviously, this is a method that requires slow and meticulous work, but its drawback is that it is extremely difficult and requires an unknown amount of time and effort to succeed.

Theoretically, even if the Heavenly Emperor's son survives his third incarnation using the Nine-Turn Immortal Elixir, his lifespan should still be around 12,000 years. If he wants to attain enlightenment, he must complete this before the end of his peak period, meaning he only has less than 8,000 years in total.

However, the prince was not really sure whether he could completely separate the Emperor's mark within this period of time.

He had already tried this method briefly over the previous few centuries, and it was indeed not very efficient; eight thousand years might not be enough.

If this period of time is exceeded, even if the Crown Prince separates from the Emperor's Mark, he will not have much of a chance to attain enlightenment.

After all, with both the elixir of immortality and the Nine-Turn Immortal Pill already used, he had no way to live a fourth life. After all, cases like Ying Shenxiao's were extremely rare.

Of course, while this method has many drawbacks, it also has its advantages. If he could separate the Emperor's Mark from himself, he would gain immense benefits, greatly advancing his cultivation and greatly benefiting his future growth.

He even had the hope of using this to condense a divine body of the emperor, just like the Victorious Fighting Buddha of later generations, which would be equivalent to mastering an unparalleled supernatural power.

Therefore, this method can be considered to have both high risk and high reward.

As for the second option, it is to abandon all cultivation when relying on the Nine-Turn Immortal Pill to live out the third life, and start over to cultivate a new life.

Although the Emperor's mark is as difficult to remove as a bone-deep infection, as long as the Emperor's son can use such extraordinary courage to directly abandon all his cultivation, then the Emperor's mark will also disappear along with his cultivation.

At that time, the Heavenly Prince will be able to embark on the path of cultivation again without any restrictions or burdens. This time, the only problem for him in achieving enlightenment is whether he can dominate the world and defeat all his competitors.

Giving up almost all the results of more than 20,000 years of cultivation is indeed a heavy price to pay, but its effect is immediate.

However, a Celestial Phoenix who has long since created its own Dao and Dharma and has lived for over 20,000 years can easily sweep through an entire era and re-establish its Dao, unless it encounters one of the most outstanding Dao-proving individuals in the human universe.

The Emperor's son wandered among the Purple Mountains, unable to make a decision. In his tossing and turning, he recalled the choice his father, the Immortal Emperor, had given him.

Between the loyalty of countless subordinates of the Undying Dynasty, the ten major tribes, and the vast amount of divine treasures collected by the Dynasty and even the Undying Emperor himself over the long years, and the choice to abandon everything, venture into the world on his own, and forge his own path, he chose the former.

Over the years of cultivation, the Heavenly Prince had come to understand that his father was actually dissatisfied with his choice back then, and that the Heavenly Emperor's mark within him was a test deliberately left by his father.

Perhaps his father, the supreme emperor, had long anticipated that he would face another choice sooner or later, which is why he controlled the imperial mark within him to this extent.

Now faced with another choice, what should he choose?
The choice is to continue the previous one, relying on the divine dynasty and its endless resources to support oneself, to study extensively, to constantly improve one's own path, and finally to separate the Emperor's mark, thereby breaking free from the influence of the Immortal Emperor.

Or should you choose the other path you didn't choose back then, abandoning everything to pursue the Tao, starting over from scratch with nothing, and reaching a completely new peak?
The Emperor had no answer, but the slight disappointment that his father, the Immortal Emperor, had shown back then began to flash through his mind, making him feel as if his heart was being torn apart.

Although her father did not give up on her, she still disappointed him in the end.

Thinking of this, the Heavenly Emperor let out a long sigh: "It seems that my Dao heart is not as perfect as I thought."

Over the years, the Crown Prince thought he had long since let go of this choice, but now it seems that it is still a thorn deeply embedded in his heart.

In the end, he made up his mind to give up everything and start over.

(End of this chapter)