NOVEL NEXT Chapter 1313 81 Tribulations
Chapter 1313 81 Tribulations
Despite Wang Wei's words, Emperor Kong remained quiet. The situation was more complex than it appeared. His academy was too entrenched in the lives of the parasites, so he had to make his following decisions carefully. Additionally, he was extremely wary of the person next to him. If he were not careful, Wang Wei would sell him and have him count the money.
"I have to think about this carefully," Emperor Kong replied, once again giving an ambiguous answer.
'What an annoyance,' Wang Wei thought. He realized another characteristic of Emperor Kong — extreme caution. He understood why. After all, the latter had to play a dangerous game of maintaining a balance with the parasites while secretly helping the rebellion. If one wrong move were made, everything Emperor Kong built would be instantly destroyed.
Wang Wei looked at the sky, and his eyes became extremely profound: "Have you heard of the Endless Tribulation Era?"
"Yes, it's the era before the Golden Era," Emperor Kong replied. Time Eater almost erased this world's history; he even used his Chrono Spirit to block the River of Time to prevent certain capable people from peeking at the past. Of course, such a method does not affect these top lineages, but it did disrupt everything and everyone else.
"I heard that era is our world's version of the Null Era, with civilization restarting," Emperor Kong added. He spent a lot of time and effort, and with Xun Junyao's help, he acquired much knowledge of the world's history. However, Emperor Kong's effort went as far back as the Golden Era, and he knew little about what came before.
"All sentient beings with intelligence have one thing in common: the desire for improvement or evolution," Wang Wei stated calmly. "No one can escape this fact — including Grand Dao." He sipped his wine and emptied the cup. Emperor Kong waved his hand to refill it, breaking etiquette since he should have used a teapot. However, he did not care about that since he had a feeling Wang Wei was about to reveal some outlandish information again.
"Heavenly Dao also wishes to improve, and it happened in that era," Wang Wei continued. "In the lower generation, during my generation, Heavenly Dao skipped your son's time to bring all the luck and destiny of that generation to mine — creating a prosperous era. Meanwhile, True Heavenly Dao did something even more extreme.
"81 tribulations," Wang Wei stated with shining eyes. "During each tribulation, the Eternal Ascension World was ravaged by war, famine, and countless catastrophes, but each time they survived, civilization rebuilt itself, and the world's luck reached a new peak."
Emperor Kong listened attentively while drinking. He compared what Wang Wei said with the information that he had, deducing what he said was the truth, what his motive was, and so on.
"Do you know what the final tribulation was?" Wang Wei asked.
Emperor Kong pondered briefly: "The Innate-Acquire War."
"You would think so, but no," Wang Wei shook his head. "That war was the 80th tribulation and ended that era. Afterward, the human race became the protagonist of Heaven and Earth, and the Eternal Ascension World became one of the many worlds where acquired life is in the dominant position. It can also be said the world determines its position in the eternal battle between Fiengods, Paragons, and Heavenly Primarchs."
Wang Wei moisturized his throat.
"After the war, the world's luck reached an unprecedented height and entered the Golden Era. In some previous eras, it was common for the total number of Paragon to be less than three digits. But at the peak of the Golden Era, all the Overlords had at least hundreds of Paragons, and some were in the thousands."
Wang Wei sighed. He had to give credit to Heavenly Dao. It took the risk of using this tribulation method to drastically improve the Eternal Ascension World's overall strength and power. However, how risky were those 81 tribulations? If any of them went wrong, the world's cultivation civilization would be destroyed and have to restart. The Eternal Ascension World might have spent countless eras trying to recuperate from the devastation.
"During the Golden Era, many extraordinary talents rose up," Wang Wei continued. "For example, my ancestor, Qiyuan. He started the First Origin War, turning the Myriad Emperor World into the destiny center of the lower dimension. However, was this the only effect of that war? Of course not.
"The world's destiny also shifted from the aboriginals born in the upper dimension to the people from the lower dimension." How could the people from the other world communities allow Qiyuan to bless his home world at the detriment of their own? The First Origin War should have ended with these people banding together to defeat the Dao Opening Sect and the others from the Myriad Emperor World. Yet, that's not what happened.
The explanation for this is Qiyuan convinced many people from other world communities to side with him, and the reward was what Wang Wei said: destiny shifting to them. After the war, more and more people from the lower dimension grew until they became the dominant force in the upper dimension.
"I suspect the first war was in preparation for the Second Origin War," Wang Wei analyzed. He had no definite proof of this matter, but he derived this conclusion after researching the historical text.
"Another extraordinary talent of that era is, of course, Empress Wu and her situation is related to you," Wang Wei said, looking at him.
"What do you mean, fellow Daoist?" Emperor Kong was genuinely confused.
"Many major events happened during the Golden Era, but the most significant is the Devil Catastrophe — the 81st and last tribulation."
Emperor Kong squinted.
"Heavenly Dao went all out for this catastrophe — it even acted a little bit reckless by pushing the limit of that tribulation beyond the level of Paragon."
Emperor Kong immediately remembered some of the rumors he had heard about the Devil Primogenitor, and his squinted eyes became even smaller.
"Heavenly Dao's risks paid off. The Golden Era survived the last tribulation, and the world's luck reached another unprecedented height. Qiyuan took this opportunity to launch the Second Origin War. He successfully opened the Transcendent Path to the Chaos Universe and made the Eternal Ascension World the semi-destiny center of the universe."
Emperor Kong frowned: "What does this have to do with Empress Wu and me?"
"Yes, I'm getting ahead of myself," Wang Wei said. "By the end of the Devil Catastrophe, the status of the [Thirteen Overlord] was already established: The Grand Sect Alliance, the Dao Opening Sect, The Myriad Clan Union, the Limitless Exchange Hall, the Tao Beginning Palace, the Ten Thousand Buddha Haven, the Great Qin Cout, the Primarch Origin Temple, the Tribal Sacred Mountain, the Sword Path League, the Skill Dao Association, and the Divine Faith Heaven. What am I missing?"
"The Origin Seal Continent," Emperor Kong replied calmly.
"As the saying goes: nine is the extreme, 12 is completion, and 13 is transcendent," Wang Wei continued. "Everyone knew there was one last spot for the top lineage, and as I'm sure you've already guessed, such destiny fell on Empress Wu. With unparalleled talent, she built the Origin Seal Continent and became the last Overlord."
Wang Wei sighed. "She's a wonderful woman, isn't she? She's probably the strongest of all the Primals in that era in terms of direct combat. However, her lineage is slightly better than that of Limitless Exchange Hall in terms of the number of [Primal Strength]. In terms of foundation, such as the number of paragons, empyreans, and middle-level cultivators, she's undoubtedly the weakest.
"You can guess the reason, right?"
"She's too young, and her foundation is the weakest," Emperor Kong replied with a sigh.
"That's right," Wang Wei nodded. "Her rise was only during the middle to late stage of the Golden Era. No matter how wonderful she is, it could not change this fact."
Wang Wei looked at the sky, especially the sun. There used to be seven moons and two suns in the sky, but they were now gone.
"Heavenly Dao has already planned everything," Wang Wei said with a deep voice. "It knew Qiyuan's methods could only summon these inferior, banned, and flawed methods of becoming Half-Step Transcendence."
'Ban? Who can ban these methods?' Emperor Kong thought, his heart shaking. 'Why am I so stupid? Of course, it's Grand Dao. So, that's why that event became the ultimate taboo.'
"Heavenly Dao knew how prideful these people from the Golden Generation were, so how could they accept such flawed methods?" Wang Wei continued. "So, it selected a few people."
Emperor Kong's expression became serious, and looked at the bright sun.
"These people were supposed to be guardians and pathfinders. They were supposed to protect the world while the others recuperated from the damage of the Ultimate Taboo. When the time was right, everybody would work together to perfect the method and open a new era."
Wang Wei was not spouting nonsense. Maitreya was one of the most brilliant talents of the Golden Era, ascending to the position of Prime Buddha and controlling the Ten Thousand Buddha Haven — which became the origin and head of all Buddhist factions in the world. How could such a person not be arrogant? How could such a person accept becoming the weakest type of Half-Step Transcendence?
Wang Wei doesn't know much about Supreme Unity, but his situation was probably similar.
"Can you guess where this story is going?" he asked.
"The guardians turned into usurpers," Emperor Kong sighed. "They changed the trajectory of their and the world's fate, destroying the advent of the new era."
"Destroy? More like delay," Wang Wei chuckled. "Heavenly Dao has great ambitions, and it's been planning for so long." Wang Wei had his suspicions about Heavenly Dao after hearing what happened with Wu Hong and the Curse Master.
"If my theory is correct, it's been planning for a few Transcendent Factions," he continued. "Maybe not 13, but definitely more than 3." He looked at Emperor Kong. "And I'm willing to bet the last spot went to you."
Although Emperor Kong had some guesses about where this conversation was going, his body still trembled after hearing these words. He tried his best to control his emotions, but it was not so easy this time, so he had to sip his drink and use the alcohol's effect to calm down.