Sovereign of the Three Realms

Jiang Chen waved to Palace Head Dan Chi and Huang’er, also sending a message at the same time, “Be careful Palace Head, I don’t think the Sacred Sword Palace will rest their case this easily. I even feel that something else will be happening during the Myriad Grand Ceremony.”

Dan Chi smiled faintly, having been prepared for something like this beforehand. “Remember what I reminded you about.” He was referring to keeping an eye on Jun Mobai. Jiang Chen nodded and looked at Huang’er. She had the sudden urge to enter along with Jiang Chen, despite her usually indifferent mindset. However, her cool logic quickly triumphed over this momentary impulse. She knew that if she wanted to go in as well, this would place Jiang Chen in an exceedingly difficult position. She thought for a moment and still decided to wait outside.

“Miss Huang’er, I hope you’ll take care of the Regal Pill Palace some if anything happens in the outside,” Jiang Chen didn’t put on airs either. He knew the person who’d chased off Cao Jin last time was Miss Huang’er. There were no other such experts around, and how would anyone else in the Myriad Domain chase off Cao Jin with such good intentions towards the Regal Pill Palace?

It was almost impossible for it to be anyone other than Miss Huang’er.

Huang’er smiled faintly and nodded slightly, but didn’t say anything.

The Paramount Realm was an area of rebirth, and no one could tell just how large this area was. It was an area that’d been created since the ancient times and held within it the profound mysteries of space. What looked like a boundless world would possibly not even exist in the blueprint of the Myriad Domain. Therefore, the hundred from the rankings of the Myriad Hidden Dragon Trials were as if flinging a hundred pebbles into the ocean. It was immensely difficult to give rise to any large ripples.

Ling Bi’er had planned on traveling with Jiang Chen, but discovered that they’d landed in completely different areas despite entering through the same door. There was no sign of Jiang Chen at all.

At the same moment, Jiang Chen himself had landed in the Paramount Realm and noticed that there wasn’t a sign of anyone in a span of a few miles around him. He’d seemed to enter a region that was desolate beyond belief, a place that’d seemed to be abandoned by the outside world. The sky was heavily overcast, and there seemed to be no life in this dreary world.

And yet, there was flora all over the ground, and growing quite lushly. There seemed to be no difference between the vegetation here and in the outside world. But for some reason, the plants here gave one an exceedingly sinister feeling. There wasn’t the slightest sign of life to them.

“My gosh, what kind of place is this? Is this a land of despair after armageddon?” Jiang Chen looked around and laughed wryly. A place of rebirth was a place where experts passed on, so it being full of the air of death was no surprise. But in this Paramount Realm, even plants that were alive looked to have the same characteristics. They seemed to be without life, without vigor, and deathly still. This place quite surprised Jiang Chen.

He travelled according to the instructions in the jade token, picking up the general direction and moving forward. The scenery in front of him didn’t change even after a dozen miles. There were mountains and rivers, grass and forest. It seemed to be a picture of a world. Stagnant and devoid of life.

“No wonder Family Head Xiang Wentian gave us such reminders. This Paramount Realm is indeed a place devoid of the energy of life. However, it’s a suitable place for rebirth.” Jiang Chen finally understood why Xiang Wentian had emphasized that everyone had to leave within nine days. Once the seal closed and they were unable to leave, they would never survive here for thirty years and await the arrival of the next ceremony. The energy in this life was enough for a few months at most, and this was the best case scenario. “I can’t be overconfident this time. I must leave within nine days. Otherwise, I wouldn’t last thirty months here, much less than thirty years.”

This place was different from Mt. Rippling Mirage. The mountain was another forbidden zone, but it was a place full of life no matter what. It was only sectioned off from the outside world through use of formation, a way of carving out its own territory. This place however, was obviously a patch of dead land. The vitality of the outside world wouldn’t be able to enter at all, and the life energy within this place was very weak. It wasn’t enough to sustain long-term life at all.

Jiang Chen saw no clues along the way, much less any fortune that would be his making. They all said that the Paramount Realm was the place of rebirth for all emperor realm cultivators, but this didn’t happen just anywhere in the region. Each spot was carefully selected, and it wouldn’t be noticeable in one easy glance. At the heart of it all, even if the experts had moved on, they still liked to play some smoke and mirrors. They wouldn’t throw their legacy in here for free for someone to just pick up. Therefore, Jiang Chen’s leisurely tour of the area didn’t immediately gain him any expert’s legacy.

There were many who came into the Paramount Realm, and not a small number of people who really did receive a legacy. Each time someone received one however, that meant there was one legacy less. The legacies weren’t endless and infinite. There had been no new emperor realm cultivators as time went on, so there wouldn’t be any new legacies appearing in the Paramount Realm. That meant each one taken was being drawn off of a dwindling supply. It was an extinct resource. That meant that all the legacies would be exhausted one day.

“Hmm, there’s something odd about this place.” Jiang Chen suddenly discovered a place that was a bit odd as he walked forward. He used his consciousness and detected that there was actually a small formation in this area. When he entered it skillfully, he discovered that it was a place of rebirth. There wasn’t anything special about this place, and it was a rather clever formation. However, he noticed that there wasn’t anything left in this place other than a stone inscribed with a message. There was a body, and all of the cultivator’s legacy and reflections were completely gone.

Jiang Chen smiled ruefully when he saw this and sighed, “Brother, I don’t know how strong you were when you were alive, but you were an emperor realm cultivator alright, just by the fact that your body hasn’t rotten after all these years. But you ended up just a bit too tragic. The reflections of your martial dao have all been taken from your stone tablet, and your legacy has been seized. However, they’ve left your body exposed out here. Just which black-hearted fellow stole your legacy?” He really couldn’t let it slide any longer. This was simply out of hand. Inheriting a legacy usually meant inheriting someone’s mantle. Even if the heir didn’t express anything, they should at least bury the body. It was simply too selfish.

Jiang Chen was resigned. This had nothing to do with him, but since he’d come here, he should at least do them the honor of burying them. After all, the dead commanded respect, and Jiang Chen wasn’t that shameless to do otherwise. He dug a pit and moved the corpse into it. He was about to shift the dirt to bury the deceased when something suddenly rolled out from it. It exceeded a faint, golden hue. It was a relic the size of a lotus seed. 1

“An emperor level relic?” Jiang Chen rubbed his eyes as he couldn’t believe what he was seeing. When he took a closer look, he discovered that it was indeed an emperor realm relic that contained strong life force.

An azure light suddenly flashed from it and a coalesced message glyph over it shattered, projecting a voice out. “Whoever buries me will receive the Ming Tuo relic.”

The Ming Tuo relic? As Jiang Chen hefted the azure relic in his hand and felt its strong energy ripples, he didn’t know whether to laugh or cry. He found it funny because he’d only happened to do a random act of kindness, and hadn’t thought that the benefits would be so great! He’d only wanted to keep the cultivator’s body from being exposed in the wilderness. This was a mentality that any normal person would have. At the same time, he couldn’t help but pity the fellow who’d received the martial dao inheritance. He was lucky in that he’d found a place of rebirth, but the fellow had only received the inheritance. The essence of the owner however, was in this relic.

This was a relic that held all of the life-force of the emperor realm cultivator. Most emperor realm cultivators wouldn’t be able to condense their life’s essence into one relic without the help of immense methods and strong pills. One would have to have a Embalmment Pill in order to condense one’s life-force into a relic. Only an Embalmment Pill can absorb a cultivator’s vitality and contain it. There were other methods and arts that were needed as well, and the cultivator needed to seal off all of their acupoints when they were about to lose all their cultivation to prevent the loss of life-force.

Each step of this process was exceedingly difficult, and one slight mistake would cause all previous efforts to be a waste. Jiang Chen could understand these experts’ good intentions. Most experts would be worried at the end of their lives that others would destroy their bodies in order to absorb the last bit of vitality. Therefore, they’d rather choose their own place of passing so they could go through the final steps alone. They wouldn’t want anyone to see their ugly struggles at the end of their lives.

This was how this tradition formed after a while. Many experts were willing to choose their final resting place when the end of their lives were coming. Not all of them were like this. Some of the great sects with legacies had experts who were willing to straightforwardly pass on their life essence to the next generation. Of course, there were also those who weren’t willing to accept the end of their lives. They would enter the Paramount Realm to hunt for opportunity to save their own lives. This was another reason why many entered the Paramount Realm.

1. This is actually a sharira, a Buddhist concept of a small relic from the body of a holy figure, usually a small, crystalized/solid form of part of the body or its ashes.