Martial World

Chapter 901 – Secret of the Road of Emperor

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The Demon Emperor was once the most famed character of the Sky Spill Continent and Holy Demon Continent 70,000-80,000 years ago. He had formed the sixth-grade sect, the Demon God Imperial Palace, and became the highest under the heavens. His strength far surpassed the current Old Man Good Fortune, Yang Laotian, and all the others. Just the legacies he casually left behind had been able to form the foundation for the Asura Divine Kingdom, and that was only a minor portion of his inheritances.

“It really is Master’s will light…” Demonshine quietly mumbled. He could feel the energy coming from the will light; this was undoubtedly the Demon Emperor.

After being sealed in the Magic Cube for such an unimaginably long time, now that Demonshine felt this all too familiar energy and aura, he was suddenly filled with a deep emotion.

“Let’s go take a look.” Once Lin Ming felt that he had almost recovered his energy, he steadfastly entered into the Demon Emperor’s world of will.

This was an endless plain. The land was dark black with bones buried all over.

“Kill!”

Lin Ming had just set foot on the ground when an incomparably horrifying energy field came crashing down from the sky, spreading throughout the world. The entire world of will seemed as if it couldn’t bear this brutal energy, trembling as if it neared collapse!

As Lin Ming was shrouded in this energy, he wasn’t even able to move. He was about to use his sword of will to break out of the shackles of energy, when at this moment, his pupils shrank. A golden red halberd light was thrusting straight towards his forehead!

Gold battle spirit!

Peng!

Lin Ming’s will form was easily shattered into a rain of blood, wildly falling down!

“What an amazingly tyrannical aura!” Although his body had shattered, Lin Ming’s will had become much tougher and wasn’t destroyed by just this. In fact, the first time he entered the Road of Emperor there were countless times his will form had been torn apart in the world of will. “My will is everlasting and forever. Even if you have a golden battle spirit it still is not your true self. There is no way you can kill me!”

If one’s will was completely and thoroughly annihilated in the will world, then they would also die in the real world. A sharp light flashed in Lin Ming’s eyes and in the next moment his body began to slowly reform itself.

“Mm? You have this king’s aura on your body. Just who are you?”

In front of Lin Ming stood a large phantom, its body over 50 feet tall. Its entire form was ethereal and phantasmal. It had a grim and fierce appearance. As it was enveloped in the haze of golden light, it looked just like a savage god.

As the Demon Emperor’s phantom floated in the air, his powerful pressure extended in all directions, suppressing all. The truth was that this pressure was also a type of force field. When a powerhouse reached a certain level in their cultivation, and their inner energy became formidable enough, this type of force field would naturally form. It would make those that were weaker simply unable to step near or even look straight at them.

Before the Demon Emperor had died, he had reached a boundary that was hard to estimate. If he had personally come here, then even if Lin Ming reached the Divine Sea realm, he would still find it hard to withstand.

But now, the Demon Emperor phantom floating in the air was only a faded will form. It was no problem for Lin Ming to withstand this will pressure with just his silver battle spirit.

“Third stage Life Destruction, silver battle spirit?” Two ghostly blue flames lit up in the Demon Emperor’s pupils. He obviously found this hard to believe, especially that an energy akin to his own emanated from Lin Ming’s body. “Just who are you?”

Before Lin Ming could open his mouth to speak, a faint red shadow emerged from his body, curling up in the air.

“Master, it is me… it’s me, Demonshine. Do you remember me?” Demonshine said with a subdued and meek tone. Facing the dual pressure of the Demon Emperor and the Prime Emperor Force Field, this mere wisp of Demonshine’s soul avatar found it difficult to withstand. His voice trembled. To see the Demon Emperor once more, Demonshine felt both excitement and fear.

“Demonshine…”

The Demon Emperor seemed as if he had fallen into a long recollection of his memories. This was not the main soul of the Demon Emperor, but rather only a tiny piece of spirit mark and incomplete remnant soul, so he didn’t immediately recognize Demonshine.

“I remember… the war of the Verdant Feather Holy Lands. I reached the end of my road and you and I both perished together. I never thought that someday… I would see this part of the world again…” The Demon Emperor looked up to the heavens, muttering. From the time he first appeared when he had only killing intent in his heart, he had now recovered some degree of sanity and intelligence.

After all, the Demon Emperor was the Demon Emperor. Even if he only had a tiny piece of his residual soul left over, he could still find himself.

“I… where am I?”

The Demon Emperor suddenly asked. Lin Ming was startled. Did the Demon Emperor not know where he was?

Lin Ming answered truthfully. “Senior is within the Road of Emperor. You have been sleeping within the will lights.”

“Will lights… Road of Emperor…” The Demon Emperor revealed a thoughtful expression. After a long period of time, he finally remembered. “The Road of Emperor. I remember, this is the Samsara Road!”

“Samsara Road?” Lin Ming was shocked. The word samsara left his heart cold. “What is the Samsara Road?”

“This is the Samsara Road created by Empyrean Primordius!” The Demon Emperor sighed as he said this. “Samsara, samsara, Empyrean Primordius, you were one of the strongest Kings of the Divine Realm, and your ambitions were greater than the skies, but unfortunately… you tried to go against the will of the heavens and finally all your efforts became for naught!”

The Demon Emperor expressing such a feeling caused Lin Ming’s heart to skip a beat.

Empyrean Primordius?

Could that be the master of the Great Emperor’s heart?

Was the Road of Emperor named the Samsara Road?

Lin Ming sucked in a deep breath. The Road of Emperor was an incomparably mysterious land. All peerless geniuses that entered here would leave behind will lights after they died. Under these lights, a carving of their image would be formed. Such enigmatic matters left Lin Ming beyond surprised.

Now that he heard the Demon Emperor call the Road of Emperor the Samsara Road, he could faintly feel that the Road of Emperor, Eternal Demon Abyss, and Sea of Miracles contained a heaven-shaking secret!

But just why would Empyrean Primordius arrive at this world where the Sky Spill Continent and Holy Demon Continent were located? Could there have been something special about this planet?

He hurriedly asked, “Senior, could you please explain in detail what the Samsara Road actually is?”

“Samsara… samsara!” As the Demon Emperor mentioned this word, he found it hard to maintain his calm. “The so-called samsara means that after the journey of life and death, one can reincarnate in the six paths of eternity, continuing the cycle of life and death! However, this is only a legend. Perhaps in ancient times this type of samsara actually existed, but currently it does not!”

“What!?!?” Lin Ming was floored. He had always doubted whether the path of samsara actually existed, but he had never dared to affirm or deny this. After a martial artist died, they would still care about their soul and wish they didn’t fade into nothing. They wished that they would be able to survive on in this universe, holding out on a faint hope that they would reincarnate somewhere.

Thus, the demonic path murder techniques that sucked out a person’s soul and refined it were extremely nasty and sinister killing techniques. Even the Demon Envoy of before had combusted his soul only as a last resort so that he could plant a Death Reaper Curse onto Lin Ming.

This was because after doing that, they were destined to never enter the cycle of samsara. But now Lin Ming learned from the Demon Emperor’s own mouth that after death, there was no samsara. How could he not be shocked?

“Humph, about just what samsara is like, there are very few who actually know anything at all. There is a theory. That is that after a mortal dies they may enter samsara, but a martial artist cannot. This is because a martial artist cultivating martial arts is a practice that defies the heavens’ wishes. Thus, after they die they will be cursed by the heavens, unable to enter the cycle of samsara. When their physical form dies, they will truly perish, turning into absolute nothingness!

Lin Ming hadn’t yet recovered from the initial shock when he was left speechless by the Demon Emperor’s next words.

A mortal could enter samsara, but because a martial artist’s very existence defied the will of the heavens, they would be cursed after death and unable to enter samsara?

Did that mean that all who practiced martial arts were destined to travel a path of no return? Struggling to cross the final stage, betting everything to reach the peak of all martial arts, with the only other choice being to become nothing more than ashes? But since ancient times, had there really been anyone that had ever managed to reach the true peak of martial arts? And even if there were, how many people could there have possibly been?

There was no martial artist that would not be shocked, or even feel an intense fear, after hearing the Demon Emperor’s theory. Even Lin Ming, who had a firm will and steady mind, was the same!

“Hehe, little devil, everything I said is merely a guess. No one can guess just what it is like. But, even my guess is one of the greatest secrets of the Divine Realm. The Road of Emperor you are walking on is exactly the Samsara Road that Empyrean Primordius created. The reason he created the Samsara Road and Yellow Springs River was all to establish a true path of reincarnation for the countless martial artists of the boundless universe! But what a pity, he actually failed at the end.”

“What?” Lin Ming was stunned. How many worlds did the boundless universe actually have; it was simply innumerable. Then, how many martial artists must there be in the boundless universe? Even ‘grains of sand in the desert’ or ‘drops of water in the ocean’ wouldn’t be enough to describe it.

And to establish a road of reincarnation for so many people? What sort of boldness and daring must that have been! Just what boundary had Empyrean Primordius reached?

“Senior mentioned the Yellow Springs River. Could that be the Yellow Springs River in the Eternal Demon Abyss?”

“Yes, that is the Yellow Springs River!” The Demon Emperor nodded. “A martial artist’s soul and body are one and the same. Once one’s life is over, their soul will disappear, vanishing forever. Thus, the soul cannot be used for samsara. But, to place the old soul into a newborn body is only seizing that body – it is not true samsara. After one’s soul perishes, they are doomed to die!”

“The only force that can approach immortality is the martial arts will! That is also called the battle spirit. A powerful battle spirit can last for several million years, or even tens of millions of years. Empyrean Primordius created the Samsara Road all in order to transfer the will of martial artists into it. This was so that a martial artist’s spirit mark would be contained in the martial arts will, forming will lights and being permanently sealed away! All to wait for the samsara in the future!

“This Samsara Road is in truth a divine relic! However, the refining of this divine relic is not complete. If it were to be completed, then there really might be a chance of establishing a true road to reincarnation, to have these spirit marks bearing battle spirits serve as the road to samsara! This was the goal of Samsara Road! However, Empyrean Primordius only managed to accomplish this for martial artists that had comprehended a battle spirit; there was still an immeasurably long road to go. However… in the end, he didn’t manage to defy the heavens!”

The Demon Emperor heaved a deep sigh as he spoke here, as if he felt sad for the defeat of such a divine emperor.

The Demon Emperor’s words today were like an explosion in Lin Ming’s mind, leaving him completely shocked. He never imagined that this was the reason that the Road of Emperor existed!

“Senior, this junior would like to know just how Empyrean Primordius was defeated.”

“I do not know.” The Demon Emperor shook his head.

“Then why would Empyrean Primordius form the Samsara Road on the Holy Demon Continent of one of the countless worlds of the lower realms, but not in the Divine Realm?”

“I do not know!” The Demon Emperor shook his head once more. “Junior, I have already told you what I know, and as for the rest, I do not know that either. Now tell me, just why do you have my aura coming from your body?”

As the Demon Emperor asked this, Lin Ming’s heart skipped a beat and he nearly jumped up. If he revealed that he had swallowed one of the Demon Emperor’s soul fragments, would he take revenge against him?