I was the Heavenly Emperor in ancient times

Chapter 51 Tu Bo
The light overhead was intense and dazzling.

Tu Bo lay dazedly on the tree as darkness enveloped him from behind, and the sound of footsteps approached.

that moment.

What it saw was a giant hand falling from above and grabbing it by its fingertips.

It struggled violently, but only emitted strange howls that sounded rather harsh.

The hand held him and said something to it, and then the other party gave him a name.

"From today onwards, you will be called Tu Bo."

At this moment, it is unaware.

This one sentence and that name determined everything that followed.

The hand gripped it tightly, its strength making it feel like it couldn't break free no matter what it did. It instinctively felt fear, struggling incessantly and emitting strange insect-like chirps.

Yes, it is an insect that lives on trees by sucking sap.

It looks unremarkable from the outside; only the person in front of it can see its interior.

The man held it in his hand, and no matter how much it cried out, it didn't respond. The man drew a strange pattern on the ground and then placed it in the center of the pattern.

The other party dripped a drop of something that looked like either water or mud onto its body. A power surged out from it and entered Tu Bo's body, after which it began to mutate.

Its body began to grow enormous, expanding rapidly.

This insect has a head as fierce as a tiger, a body as robust as an ox, and is small but quite pretty.

But once magnified, it becomes incredibly terrifying.

Moreover, because of that mutated power, after it grew larger, its head really did resemble a tiger, and its body, especially its limbs, became thicker, making it really resemble a cow.

Tu Bo felt powerful.

The hand that had grabbed it earlier no longer seemed so large, and the opponent's strength no longer seemed so irresistible.

It suddenly felt a desire to devour its opponent.

Tu Bo turned around, his ferocious head lunging to bite at the other.

However, a force pressed down.

"Boom!"

The man raised his hand and pressed it to the ground, as if a mountain was pressing down on him. Not only was his body immobilized, but the ferocious intent that had surged from nowhere was also suppressed.

Even as it grew larger, the power of that hand remained unstoppable.

It struggled on the ground and began to shriek again, this time more piercing and terrifying.

The cry made all the birds and beasts within dozens of miles tremble.

However, the person in front of him remained calm, as if the shrill scream had not reached his ears.

At this time, it had no intelligence and was no different from the monsters created by those demon gods, possessing only the instinctive animalistic desires of the body.

The other party pressed down on Tu Bo, scrutinizing him closely.

"After reincarnation, everything is completely different from before; nothing from the previous life remains?"

"What exactly is the reincarnation, and what does it bring to the next life?"

After that, the person seemed to stop worrying about the issue.

"That's true, even the species are different now."

"Past lives and present lives, if you care about them, then they have meaning; if you don't care about them, then they are just two unrelated individuals."

The man grabbed Tu Bo and flew into the sky.

Tu Bo screamed in fright, but once they reached the heavens, he could barely make a sound. They flew across the land and over the high mountains, finally arriving at the Northern Sea.

This Northern Darkness Land is so terrifying, and it is also the coldest place in the world, but Tu Bo actually felt a sense of warmth when he arrived here.

In the deepest part of the Northern Sea, Tu Bo saw one ghost after another. He let out a sharp cry, and the ghosts seemed to have seen their master, obeying his commands.

As it flew through the sky, the vengeful spirits below gathered around it in a grand procession, which made it somewhat smug.

But as soon as that hand loosened its grip, it could no longer utter a sound.

Finally, it was thrown down from the demonic winds of the heavens.

It fell into the depths of the Northern Darkness, carried by layers of evil spirits, and rushed into a large gate.

It felt itself falling continuously, and when it came to its senses, it was lying on a large yellow river in the center of a ghost town.

The man suddenly appeared behind it and pointed to a high place.

"From now on, without my permission, your clan and the people of the mountains and seas are not allowed to leave that door in the form of the people of the mountains and seas."

It couldn't understand it at all.

However, this does not prevent the other party from telling him.

The other party was very confident, as if once he said this and established this rule, Tu Bo and the mountain and sea immigrants he mentioned would have no choice but to abide by it.

In fact, at least at this moment and for a long time to come, the beings beneath the Yellow Springs have no way or ability to leave this place.

It's not easy to get into the Yellow Springs, and it's even more difficult to leave by the way you came.

The other party took it towards the ghost city above the Yellow Springs.

Candles were burning here, just like torches planted on both sides of the road.

But upon closer inspection, one discovers that the figures are individual candle spirits standing on both sides of the road.

A large number of wandering ghosts lingered there. When Tu Bo saw them, he felt a sense of familiarity with the place, as if he had once belonged there and was one of them.

The man led it forward and then told Tu Bo about its origin.

“In your previous life, you were a member of the One-Eyed Clan, and after death, you transformed into a wisp of candle spirit.”

“I asked you to reincarnate, but I didn’t expect you to be reincarnated in this insect’s body. But that doesn’t matter.”

"There is no rule in this world that only humans can become witches. Other living beings can also become witches, it's just that it's more difficult for them to develop intelligence."

"However, you are a witch from the underworld. In the end, your form is not important to you. All you need to do is accumulate enough information."

As it walked, the other party fed it all sorts of information, regardless of whether it could understand it at the moment.

Next.

For a long time, Tu Bo obeyed that person's orders in this ghost kingdom above the Yellow Springs.

Its task is to bring all the souls that fall from above, and those that accidentally fall to other places, to that stone, and then push them into the underworld.

At first, it did it by itself, but later it commanded other One-Eyed Candle Spirits to do it.

They wander and linger on both sides of the Yellow Springs day after day. This job is tedious and tasteless, but for them, they don't even feel bored.

Day after day, they did it with great enjoyment.

but.

The person who brought Tu Bo here and allowed him to reincarnate wanted him to do more than just that.
-
this day.

The man came to Tu Bo and took it away again.

This time, the other party took it to the tall stone standing on the bank of the Yellow Springs River and then placed it on it. The stone emitted layers of light, and the process of worship and communication with the Yellow Springs began.

It seemed that the other party had summoned something from the underworld and attached it to Tu Bo's body.

Subsequently, Tu Bo's mutation worsened.

It became much larger.

Its body, about the size of a calf, gradually elongated, and even more strangely, it began to deviate from its original shape.

It actually stood upright, its head shaking constantly, and eventually it really did look more like a ferocious tiger.

Its body became thick and strong, and its two legs transformed into two limbs resembling cow hooves, allowing it to stand upright on the ground.

At this moment, how could it possibly recognize its original form in this reincarnation?

Perhaps because the person talked about it so much, it actually believed that it had a tiger's head and an ox's body.

The other party said, "Lich, the second stage of power that Huang Quan gave you is actually transformation."

The other party seemed somewhat surprised, not expecting that Huang Quan's power was related to change.

But upon closer reflection, this seems to be normal.

The Yellow Springs steal and record information about all living beings, and if someone can take this information completely, they also have the ability to transform into a Yin state.

It can also transform into the other party to some extent; the more complete the information you have, the harder it is to distinguish the difference.

And it was from this time that things began.

After transforming into this form, Tu Bo developed an intense desire.

It wants to devour the souls of the living, unaware that what it wants to devour is not the soul itself, but the memories hidden within it.

But this feeling and desire grew stronger day by day, and one day it became unbearable.

On the desolate banks of the Yellow Springs River.

It devoured a fragmented soul that had been accidentally drawn into this place, and obtained a piece of incomplete memory from him. This memory was chaotic and incomplete, but it gave it something it had always wanted.

This further fueled its desire.

At this moment, it spoke, and the first word it uttered was...

"people!"

Although the memory was chaotic, the various feelings it brought were exceptionally strong. It seemed that few things in the world could have such complex and intense desires as humans.

Joy, anger, sorrow, and happiness, even greed and malice, all filled Tu Bo with an immense longing.

Having witnessed death and the underworld for so long, it seemed to experience the yang side for the first time, witnessing the true human world that belongs to the living.

It came up to that person and looked at them like this.

Tu Bo told the other that it was also able to speak.

The other party: "Then tell me!"

Tu Bo told the other person, "I don't want to become a ghost or god. Why can't I become a human? If I become a human, I want to go to the human world...!"

The other party asked, "Becoming human isn't that simple; it comes at a price." Tu Bo seemed to have become smarter: "Are you lying to me? You want me to become a ghost or god. I know your purpose. If I can't become a ghost or god, everything you've done now will be in vain."

The man said, “I have no need to lie to you. The moment I named you Tu Bo, it was a name associated with ghosts and gods. I have already told you that.”

"I have told you about your past and present lives, and I have also told you what I am going to do."

Tu Bo said, "I would rather die than be bound by you any longer. I want to be reborn as a human and go to the human world."

The other person said, "Who in this world is not bound by rules? You have no control over your life and death, you have no control over whether you can be reincarnated, and you have no control over whether you can be reincarnated as a human."

But in the end, the other party still said, "However, if you are unwilling, I will not force you."

Tu Bo asked in disbelief, "Really?"

The other party calmly said, "You are not irreplaceable. You are just an insect I picked from a tree. I can easily replace you with another one."

“I can name him Tu Bo, but if you don’t want it, I can take the name back.”

These words immediately reminded Tu Bo of scenes from the past.

Scorching sun.

A hand fell from above and snatched it away from the tree, which was dazed and calling out.

Perhaps it was because everything came too easily, and the other party spoke of it so casually.

Instead, it left Tu Bo feeling lost and disappointed.

The terrifying, monstrous form stood before that person, yet at this moment it appeared somewhat weak and bewildered.

Whether it's physical or psychological.

Tu Bo couldn't help but say, "You said that I am the soul of the One-Eyed Candle, and that my previous incarnation was a member of the One-Eyed Clan. You are the one who allowed me to reincarnate."

“I was originally a human being. You turned me into an insect. I, Tu Bo, was not born like this.”

"I am a human being, and you owe me."

The other party looked at Tu Bo and said, "Since that's the case, then let you, as a human being, have your say!"

Tu Bo asked the other person, "What do you mean by that? Do you mean I should become a human?"

The other person turned around: "We'll do it your way, but we'll have to wait a bit."
-
On the banks of the Yellow Springs River.

Li Jun stood in front of the stone. No one outside knew its name, but Li Jun had already given it a name.

"The Stone of Three Lives".

Having gone through the first two steps, he had gained a deeper understanding of how the Yellow Springs operated and the covenant of life and death.

Li Jun already had a detailed plan in mind on how to create a mountain and sea kingdom that could control the Yellow Springs.

He had already planned it out.

He combined the Pact of Life and Death Reincarnation, the sacrificial jade, and this ghost city into the Three Lives Stone, creating a special sacrificial vessel.

Next, as long as a great shaman perfects the sacrificial jade and the contract of life and death reincarnation, transforming the ghost city into a kingdom of mountains and seas, this Three Lives Stone will become an unprecedented sacrificial artifact.

It is more perfect and more powerful than the bottle that the clown gave to her.

Li Jun even had the idea of ​​further improving it.

Sacrificial vessels are a medium through which spirits and deities are invoked, and this is the kind of object that Li Jun ultimately wanted to create.

It does not borrow the power of ghosts and gods.

Instead, it's about controlling ghosts and spirits.

At this point, it has transcended the concept of a ritual object.

Time passes unnoticed in the Yellow Springs.

Tu Bo didn't know how much time had passed, but it felt its body growing larger and its strength increasing day by day, and it was gaining more and more memories about humans.

However, it only contains human memories, not human feelings.

As it looked into the water, the more memories Tu Bo obtained from people, the more it loathed its own form.

"It's fun when there are lots of people."

"The human world is a thousand times better than this netherworld."

It suddenly transformed into the shape of a human.

Tu Bo looked at his reflection in the water with great satisfaction, but then his expression turned strange.

No matter how much it becomes similar, it is still not human, it has no human feelings, and this place is not the human world.

Thinking this way, its desire to be reborn as a human grew stronger.

at last.

On this day, the man initiated the third sacrifice.

Beneath the Three Lives Stone by the Yellow Springs, it asked that person.

"If I can become a great shaman and perfect these sacrificial artifacts and the Mountain and Sea Kingdom, can I be reincarnated as a human?"

The other person said, "You can be reincarnated, but whether you can be reborn as a human is not up to you or me. At least at this stage, I have no control over it."

Tu Bo hurriedly asked, "What about the future? How long will it take?"

The other person said, "It could be decades, or it could be centuries."

Tu Bo shook his ferocious tiger head: "I can't wait any longer."

Decades is an incredibly long time for it.

The sacrificial ceremony began.

All I could see was Tu Bo slowly making his way from the ghost city above the Yellow Springs across the long wooden bridge to the other side.

The Yellow Springs stirred up huge waves, and a shadow, whether it was a dragon or something else, emerged from it. In the end, the shadow kept changing, and part of it surged towards Tu Bo.

Finally, it squeezed into Tu Bo's body.

Tu Bo's body began to change constantly, sometimes turning into an insect, sometimes into a monster with a tiger's head and an ox's body, and sometimes into people of various appearances.

Not only that, the ghosts in that ghost city also began to change.

The Three Lives Stone split into smaller stones, which turned into stone tablets that were hung on their bodies, each engraved with a mark representing their existence.

The power of the Yellow Springs is unique, and so are the strange beings in its mountain and sea kingdoms. They are not living beings, but spirits in a yin state.

As long as they remain in this land of mountains and seas, they can live without birth or death and escape the cycle of reincarnation, because they are part of the Yellow Springs.

Their demise meant that the brand was handed over to someone else, and everything about them was inherited by that entity.

At last.

The Three Lives Stone absorbed the Earth God, the Yin Soul, and the Ghost City, and then spat them out.

At this moment, they have become one.

It is a gigantic "monster" formed from the bones of countless ghosts in the ghost city, the flesh and blood of the Mountain and Sea Kingdom, and the heart of the Earth God and the Jade Offering.

This is the land of mountains and seas.

Beneath the Three Lives Stone, the figure before Li Jun gradually returned to its original form of a tiger's head and an ox's body. If the power it emitted were to appear in the human world, it would be enough to terrify anyone.

Not long ago, it was just an insect; it was Li Jun who brought it to this state.

Tu Bo became the Great Shaman, but this position came too easily to him; the power seemed to fall from the sky and was readily available to him.

Perhaps that's why it had no intention of cherishing it at all.

The first question Tu Bo asked after becoming the Great Shaman was...

"Did you keep your promises?"

Li Jun did not deceive it; it had already completed the sacrificial artifacts and the Mountain and Sea Kingdom, which was enough for him.

Of course, by doing all this, Tu Bo was also helping to achieve his own purpose.

Li Jun pointed into the distance and told Tu Bo.

"Look over there."

Tu Bo looked in the direction Li Jun was pointing and saw that a huge change had silently taken place above the Yellow Springs.

The ghost city and bridge spanned the river, and the once mighty Yellow Springs, after passing through the ghost city and bridge, were divided into three tributaries.

With the establishment of this mountain and sea kingdom belonging to the underworld, the cycle of reincarnation officially began.

Everything has changed.

Li Jun: "That is the path of reincarnation."

Tu Bo looked at the changes in the Yellow Springs and seemed somewhat impatient.

Li Jun told him, "After the cycle of reincarnation begins, when you cross that bridge again, you will fall into the Yellow Springs in this life. Then you will see your past life, and finally enter the cycle of reincarnation in the Yellow Springs to be reborn in the next life."

"Once you step onto that bridge, you can't turn back, because your life in this world has already ended and no longer belongs to you."

Li Jun asked him, "Don't you regret it? After all, once you cross this bridge, you will disappear."

Tu Bo: "No."

Li Jun: "Will you come back?"

Tu Bo turned around and walked towards the bridge without looking back.

It seemed to say fiercely, "I want to be a human being for all eternity."

As it crossed the bridge, a shadow peeled off its body, and the life of the Yellow Spring Earth Lord fell into the rolling Yellow Springs, swept away by the river to the distance.

That is its present life.

At this moment, it was Li Jun, standing in front of the Three Lives Stone on the shore, who felt somewhat emotional.

He stood at one end, watching the reflection being swept away in the water in the distance.

No matter what happened in the past, how many grudges and entanglements there were, whether it was joyful or strange, it's worth remembering and makes people laugh.

Once you cross this bridge, everything will disappear.

Everything became irrelevant.

(End of this chapter)