Sovereign of the Three Realms

Jiang Chen wasn’t trying to show off. Truth was, with the heavenly knowledge of pill dao he possessed from his previous lifetime, he would be ashamed of himself if his lectures were too elementary. Moreover, it was quite obvious that many people in Veluriyam Capital were attaching great importance to his lectures. Emperor Peafowl in particular had high hopes for him. Jiang Chen was also deliberately using this chance to broaden the horizons of pill dao in Veluriyam Capital, bringing everyone up a level.

Even though Veluriyam Capital’s level pill dao wasn’t particularly weak, its scope of knowledge was simply too narrow. Without more knowledge, Veluriyam Capital’s plans of competing with Pillfire City would forever be a pipe dream. Thus, Jian Chen’s goal for this lecture was to broaden everyone’s horizons, elevating the stagnant status quo to the next level and injecting a renewed vigor.

It wasn’t difficult for him to achieve this because of all the knowledge he possessed. Just a tenth of his knowledge was enough to turn Veluriyam Capital into an eternal legend. Naturally, a simple lecture wouldn't impose much of a challenge for Jiang Chen. But for the pill dao experts in Veluriyam Capital, this was earth-shattering knowledge! Many of the peak pill dao experts here initially chose not to attend, as they just couldn’t put down their pride.

Pill King Zhen might be famous and he may have even defeated the overweening Pillfire City once, but at the end of the day, he was still representing Sacred Peafowl Mountain. Because of this, a few of the pill dao experts serving other emperors decided that showing their face would be too shameful, while others simply chose not to attend. But they’d begun to regret their decision now. They’d just received news from the pagoda that this lecture was one meant for the gods and celestials. Missing the lecture would cause lifelong regret. At the start, these people thought nothing of it. How beneficial could one lecture possibly be? Would listening to it grant them eternal life?

However, they soon received more and more information regarding the lecture, and rumors of the contents from the lecture gradually started piling up. Slowly, these pill dao experts realized that the information covered in the lecture was actually surprisingly profound. In fact, it was actually beyond anything found in Veluriyam Capital’s history. Many sharp-witted pill dao experts realized that this was definitely a lecture that broke through milestones. If one were to miss it, one would surely harbor regrets for a lifetime. 

None of them cared about their dignity anymore if this was truly the case. Even the pill dao experts who used to loathe Pill King Zhen had no choice but to put down their pride and scurry out from their nests. They secretly disguised themselves so that nobody could recognize them at the lecture. Some even shamelessly cut queues and squeezed through the crowds. It didn’t even matter if people were glaring at them or giving them an earful. Naturally, Emperor Peafowl and the four monarchs of Sacred Peafowl Mountain weren’t required to queue up. They had special private seats inside the Pill Pagoda and had the privilege of listening to Jiang Chen’s lecture while enjoying fine wine. Other emperors who had originally chosen not to attend were now rushing to their seats with their cohorts.  

In the end, every single emperor attended the lecture apart from Emperor Shura. News about the lecture quickly spread by word of mouth, causing many influential people to no longer hold themselves back. They wanted to listen to the lecture and see for themselves just how exaggerated the rumors of the lecture were.

Emperor Void had been present ever since the start of the lecture. He laughed when he saw his colleagues rush to their seats. “My fellow daoists. I must say that many of you are already late. You’ve missed quite a bit of earth-shattering information.”

“This emperor heard that the lecture is extremely profound, quite beyond anything Veluriyam Capital has ever seen. I immediately came here when I heard that. I wonder if the rumors are true?” The one who asked this question was the fourth-ranked emperor, Emperor Vastsea.

“Oh, you’ll see.” Emperor Void exclaimed with a face filled with amazement. “Daoist Peafowl, Pill King Zhen is truly a genius descended from the heavens! I must ask, who is his mentor? With his level of understanding in pill dao, even the strongest pill dao expert from Pillfire City is nothing in front of him!” 

Emperor Void had always been very curious about Pill King Zhen’s true identity and origins. This wasn’t the first time he’d asked such a question. However, Emperor Peafowl only smiled without answering the question. “Focus on the lecture. This emperor has a feeling that after this lecture, Veluriyam Capital’s pill dao will move forwards onto a new stage. This will break the boundaries of our previous knowledge and allow us all to reach a new level of understanding. Everyone will be free from the shackles of established thought. Those with a higher level of comprehension will gain a lot from this.”

Emperor Void agreed. “Mmm. This will indeed upgrade our previous knowledge of pill dao and form a new understanding. After this lecture, Pill King Zhen will surely go down in the history books as one of Veluriyam Capital’s milestones.”

Even the usually quiet Emperor Petalpluck was smiling as he looked at Emperor Peafowl. “Daoist Peafowl. Time and time again, you’ve managed to surprise all of Veluriyam Capital. This time, however, is truly your largest surprise yet! This junior has stayed in Veluriyam Capital for so many years, yet I’ve only ever looked up to you. But I’m afraid that there is now a new person competing for my admiration.” 

Emperor Petalpluck was ranked second amongst the seven emperors. However, he was always one who stood aloof from worldly affairs and took no particular interest in matters of power or status. Because of this, he was actually beneath the third-ranked Emperor Shura in regards to authority, despite his higher rank. But since he was almost the same age as Emperor Peafowl, he had no intention to compete or be jealous of Emperor Shura.

“Why do all of you exaggerate? If this is true then I’d better open up my ears and listen closely to see what’s so special about the lecture.” Emperor Vastsea had always been Emperor Shura’s staunchest follower. He was actually here as a representative for Emperor Shura, as the emperor would sooner die than come to the lecture. Pill King Zhen had snatched the wandering champion Lin Yanyu away from him, causing him to lose a lot of face. But as time went on, Emperor Vastsea’s expression slowly became increasingly solemn. When he finally came back to his senses, three days had already passed. The lecture had gone on for three days in a row. Every single person listening to the lecture seemed intoxicated, enlightened. Every single one of them had gained much from this, especially those with a high natural talent for pill dao.

On the fourth day, Jiang Chen began to move on to another topic in his lecture—the demon race. He had planned this right from the start. If he suddenly talked about the demon race for no apparent reason, everyone would surely take his words as that of an alarmist. But on the fourth day, he was able to smoothly divert the topic to the demon race and make it seem a lot less abrupt. He instructed Pill King Lu Feng to talk about what happened to He Hongshu, and how he’d drawn out the wood demon parasites.

The atmosphere immediately turned heavy once he brought up the demon race. It was evident that everyone present still feared and felt somewhat conflicted about the demon race. However, Emperor Peafowl nodded in secret, quite pleased.  Since he was the foremost pill dao expert, Jiang Chen would be extremely persuasive if he brought up the topic of the demon race. When Pill King Lu Feng discussed how he’d drawn out the wood demon parasites from He Hongshu, alarm bells began to ring in the hearts of everyone present.

“Everyone, wood demon parasites can enter through any orifice! Pill King Zhen chose not to abandon me and imparted me with a special method for dealing with them. It is also Pill King Zhen’s intention to share this method with everyone! Today, I will be responsible for imparting this method to you. This is important knowledge that could save your life. I hope that none of you will treat this as a laughing matter.” Even though Pill King Lu Feng usually didn’t take things very seriously, earning him a reputation as an old imp, it actually had a much greater effect when he decided to be serious every once in a while.

After Pill King Lu Feng finished lecturing about the Wood Demons’ poisonous parasites, Lin Yanyu followed up with a lecture about the desolate wildlands. Basing the lecture off of his personal experiences, he embellished the harm and destruction caused by the demon race. The demon race was a scourge to the Divine Abyss Continent since ancient times. This was a well-known fact.

Jiang Chen didn’t plan to overexaggerate the details regarding Wood Demons either. He felt slightly more at peace after imparting the method to defend against them. As long as the method was widely known, it didn’t matter if everyone believed him or not. By doing this, he could at least suppress the spread of wood demon parasites and greatly reduce the threat from the Wood Demons. As for the Shadow Demons, Jiang Chen decided not to elaborate. Even though Shadow Demons were dangerous too, they weren’t as threatening as Wood Demons.

Eight days of the ten-day lecture went by in the blink of an eye. For the final two days, Jiang Chen decided not to lecture. Instead, he’d be doing some questioning and answering so he could help solve some of the audience’s problems. This part of the lecture required even more knowledge and foundation.

One could prepare the contents of a lecture beforehand, but the same could not be said if one was answering questions on the spot! But this wasn’t an issue for Jiang Chen either. For two days, hundreds of people were given the opportunity to have their questions answered, and he was able to give a satisfactory answer no matter how tricky or uncommon the question was. With the ten-day lecture coming to a close, people could no longer dispute Pill King Zhen’s place as the foremost pill dao expert in all of Veluriyam Capital.

Setting the citizens of Veluriyam Capital aside, even Jiang Chen’s fellow disciples from Regal Pill Palace were caught by surprise. They could never have imagined that a fellow disciple from a small place like the sixteen kingdoms alliance would have such a profound understanding of pill dao. This had genuinely overturned their previous beliefs. Even though Regal Pill Palace had been built upon pill dao, they weren’t worth mentioning when compared to Veluriyam Capital. However, Jiang Chen had become the number one pill dao expert in all of Veluriyam Capital! With the backing of such a genius in pill dao, the resurgence of Regal Pill Palace was no longer just an empty dream!

With the conclusion of the ten-day lecture, Jiang Chen left the Pill Pagoda while being swarmed by a sea of voices asking him not to leave. At the end of the day, he was only providing them with supplementary guidance for pill dao. There was no way Jiang Chen would ever want to stand out so much in the pill dao world if he hadn’t made a promise to Emperor Peafowl.

Standing out in such a way was going to bring about some disadvantages along with some advantages. Moreover, his biggest goal for this lifetime wasn’t to become a heavenly pill dao master again. Instead, he was going to make up for the regret he felt for being unable to cultivate in his previous life! His eyes were set on martial dao! In the world of martial dao, only the sovereign would have the last say!

The very reason Veluriyam Capital could become one of the strongest powers in the Upper Eight Regions was due to their flourishment in martial dao. In the domain of martial dao, Jiang Chen remained an insignificant character. The upcoming Martial Pagoda battle would be the perfect stage for him to test his abilities. Countless geniuses from Veluriyam Capital would be up on stage for him to assess his martial dao. It was this particular stage which he loved the most!