Chapter 3256: The World Demotes

Chapter 3256: The Return of the Great Emperor

"The snow has stopped, the snow has stopped."

Shouts echoed throughout the heavens, each one filled with excitement. No one knew which year the legend had spread from: when the snow stopped, the Tenth Emperor of Da Chu would return. For ten thousand years, snow had fallen relentlessly, but now it had finally ceased. That eternal god of war was surely about to come back.

"Ye Chen."

"Emperor."

"Sheng Ti."

Calls with various titles resounded in every corner of the world, just as in the past when people in peril cried out to their supreme commander. These were roars from the depths of their souls—from wives, old friends, mentors, and juniors. Everyone who had taken part in the universal sacrifice or witnessed the heavenly dao's cycle shouted in unison at that moment.

"Is this the story of our ancestors?"

Listening to the cries, many in later generations murmured to themselves, truly grasping the power of the people's will. What kind of legend had that commander, who bore their beliefs, created? What sort of person deserved such an eternal myth?

The miracle was about to be revealed.

The hearts of later generations surged with emotion; they could hardly wait to see the legendary Sheng Ti Ye Chen and discover if he was truly the immortal, eternal figure their ancestors had described.

Yu Nu Feng.

The wives of the Sheng Ti family all returned from their dreams, stepping into the vast starry sky. Each one looked tense, scanning around in search of their most precious one.

Ten thousand years had passed.

Never before had they felt as awake as in this moment. Even across immense chasms or endless changes of the seas and mulberry fields, if that person returned, they would recognize him at a glance. He was not only the commander of the myriad realms but also their husband.

"Where are you? Get out here, quick!"

Kui Niu and Xiao Yuan Huang both clutched their sore backs, hopping all over the starry sky.

"The snow has stopped; he should be back by now."

The emperors of Da Chu, the Yama of the Ming Fu, the divine generals of Di Zun, the emperors of the various heavens, and the supreme lords of the Heavenly Court all ascended to the vast expanse, reaching the highest peaks they could. They strained their eyes to survey the mountains and rivers, searching desperately for that person.

"Ye Chen."

After the universe-shaking call, everyone fell silent by mutual agreement, holding their breath for fear that the noise might drown out the Sheng Ti's response.

In that instant, the entire universe was eerily quiet.

In that instant, everyone perked up their ears.

Yet, after waiting a long time, there was no reply from him.

The people looked up at the hazy sky.

The Nu Di and Shen Zun were there too, standing at the pinnacle of the void. They exhausted their vision, scanning the universe inch by inch in search of him.

The world waited, expecting the two desolate emperors to speak.

Unfortunately, after an entire day, they still did not get the answer they wanted.

"He's not here."

Shen Zun murmured to himself.

In that day, they had searched the various heavens countless times but found no sign of Ye Chen.

"He's not here."

The Nu Di's eyes also dimmed considerably.

If Ye Chen had truly returned, they could not possibly have missed him.

"I don't believe it."

The wives of the Sheng Ti family had tears welling in their eyes, but the tears did not fall; they stayed pooled in their gazes. Without finding their husband, the tears would not spill from their eyes.

Qi Wan was not wrong.

The women who had come from Yu Nu Feng were gripped by deep obsession; they had all become like possessed.

"They said that when the snow stopped, Ye Chen would return."

Too many people stood in the starry sky, lingering for a long time, perhaps gradually accepting that the so-called snow stopping and his return was just a kind, eternal lie.

How pitiful for the people.

They had waited ten thousand years for this lie.

The snow had stopped.

Ye Chen had not returned.

But from that day onward, strange events frequently occurred in the various heavens.

In the dead of night, one could hear the eternal heavenly sounds, like ancient immortal melodies echoing in everyone's dreams. Whenever the moon was full, unusual phenomena would appear in the sky. Every time a child was born, immortal rain would pour down from the heavens.

"Is the universe shifting?"

Shen Zun stood at the peak of a mountain, performing calculations more than once.

The Nu Di was doing the same.

There were so many odd spectacles that even these two desolate emperors could not trace their origins.

On the third day, darkness enveloped everything.

Looking up, it was as if a black cloth had covered the entire universe; the sun, moon, and stars had lost their glow. No matter how brilliant the light, it could not pierce the darkness. It was as if the mortal world had fallen into Jiu You, never to see light again.

On the fifth day, the night faded.

However, the strangeness did not end. Where there had been darkness before, now daylight persisted endlessly, as if night had vanished. The radiant light once again bathed the world.

On the ninth day, thunder and lightning raged.

No one was undergoing a tribulation, yet this unexplained storm of thunder lasted a full month.

And it did not stop there.

The rules of the world became chaotic, as if the seasons no longer cycled.

In the first decade, it was like eternal spring.

In the second decade, it was constant scorching heat.

In the third decade, autumn winds blew coldly.

In the fourth decade, snow blanketed everything in white.

"Now that's interesting."

Ren Wang sat cross-legged on a mountaintop, clutching a tobacco pipe and puffing out smoke rings. Amid the swirling smoke, he seemed to be cultivating. The snow had stopped, but Ye Chen had not returned, and instead, the universe had started playing tricks.

That was why it was interesting.

The awkward part was that even the two desolate emperors could not figure it out.

"As the saying goes, anything unusual must have a cause."

Ming Di stroked his beard and finally emerged from the Ming Fu, only to get beaten up afterward.

But no one refuted his words.

All these strange phenomena in the various heavens could not have come from nowhere.

"Old Seven."

Kui Niu's shout was impressively domineering.

Boom! Bang! Boom!

His shout set off continuous rumbling across the four seas and eight wastelands.

It was Ye Chen's statues.

Worshipped for ten thousand years, his statues suddenly exploded one after another, reduced to dust and becoming part of history. The power of worship from the people also dissipated with the wind, meaning that ten thousand years of offerings had all turned to nothing.

"Are you an idiot? Why are you yelling?"

"Your granny's! It wasn't me who shook them; they exploded on their own."

"Well, ten thousand years of effort, all wasted."

Curses and sighs filled the starry sky. The emperors all knew that the statues exploding en masse had nothing to do with Kui Niu, but the destruction of Ye Chen's statues was no good omen. Even if they could not summon his spirit, why would the statues need to blow up one by one?

Now, it had dashed the hopes of so many.

If the statues exploding symbolized something inauspicious, then what followed was shocking enough to shake the world.

The day after the statues exploded, Shen Zun inexplicably fell in cultivation level. It happened without any warning—straight down, no hesitation.

Even now, Shen Zun was still brooding over it.

The Nu Di did not escape the calamity either. After Shen Zun, it was her turn. Her imperial body showed no injuries and suffered no backlash, but she directly dropped to the quasi-desolate perfection level.

And that was not all.

Throughout the various heavens, every cultivator experienced a drop in their level.

In the previous epoch, there had been the universal sacrifice.

In this epoch, there was the universal demotion.

One had to say, the scene was quite a sight.

"You son of a—"

Xiong Er cursed the loudest. Proving the dao was as hard as ascending to heaven, and he had finally became an emperor. He hadn't even warmed up to his emperor title, and now his level had dropped just like that.

"Try to look on the bright side; we're all in the same boat."

"If you put it that way, I feel a bit better."

"My emperor position!"

Coughs and sighs echoed everywhere.

After ten thousand years of snow, such a divine twist had come, catching everyone off guard. Looking back at the previous two epochs, nothing this bizarre had ever happened.

"I have a guess: he's about to return."

Long Ye stroked his beard, speaking with great weight.

"The strange spectacles."

"The chaotic rules."

"The universal demotion."

"Hmm, it's a big enough spectacle to match his status."

"If that guy comes back, should I curse him out first or hug him?"

"I think beating him up would be the most straightforward."

The unserious old folks gathered again to chat nonsense.

It's good to have hopes.

If the universal demotion could welcome back that god of war, it would be worth it.

The strange phenomena persisted for a full hundred years.

It was not until the one hundred and first year that everything returned to normal—day and night cycled again, and the seasons of spring, autumn, winter, and summer resumed. The vast mountains and rivers regained their vitality.

The awkward thing was, from the quasi-desolate perfection level down to the Qi Condensation juniors, not a single person had advanced during those hundred years. It was as if an invisible cage had locked their cultivation, no matter how they tried, they could not return to their peaks.

Zhu Xian Town, a secluded paradise.

Once, a martial arts legend had emerged from here, and he was quite skilled at fortune-telling, revered by the world as an old immortal. But in the cultivation world, he was more commonly called Ye Ban Xian Er.

Still at the entrance of that tavern.

Still that worn-out table, untouched for countless ages.

On this day, a certain charlatan arrived.

Yes, just a charlatan, dressed in daoist robes, wearing a tall hat, with a mustache stuck to his lips. He walked with a wobbly swagger and sat down quite naturally.

"I say, doesn't this guy look familiar?"

"More than familiar—seeing his face makes my hands itch for some reason."

"Where did he pop up from?"

Some people came for fortune-telling—oh, wait, no, they came to watch the show.

Just like these three, ever since he arrived, they had been standing there with their hands behind their backs, sizing up the charlatan. They weren't here for readings; they were here to gawk, chatting away merrily and making the charlatan feel utterly creeped out.

These three were all acquaintances.

Take a closer look: it was exactly Du Gu Jian Sheng, Luan Shi Dao Kuang, and Tian Gang Yang Xuan.

"This benefactor, your forehead is quite dark!"

The charlatan stroked his beard, speaking earnestly to Dao Kuang.

"I've got to punch him."

Before Dao Kuang could finish, someone pulled him away.

It was Yang Ge Lao and Xia Lan. Looking at the charlatan, their expressions were incredibly agitated.

Well then! The five of them neatly formed a half-circle around him.

The charlatan's eyes darted left and right; being stared at by them, he felt a chill run through his body.

"Relative by marriage?"

Xia Lan whispered tentatively.

"Relative by marriage?" The charlatan was stunned, completely baffled.

"Let me do it."

Yang Xuan shoved Xia Lan aside and slapped the charlatan across the face.

"This benefactor, if you have something to say..."

"Slap."

"The poor daoist's title is..."

"Slap."

"You bastard..."

"Slap."

After a few slaps, the whole world went quiet.

The charlatan quieted down too, his face bruised and swollen, blood streaming from one nostril.

Go on, hit me more.

Look at how messed up I am now; do you still have the heart to hit me?

"It's not him?"

"From the looks of it, it really isn't."

"Seeing him get beaten like that."

Yang Xuan coughed awkwardly, Shang Guan Jiu sighed, and Ling Feng and the others felt embarrassed.

Of course.

People were just minding their own business, and here they were, slapping away—where's the justice in that?

"I thought, uh..."

Yang Xuan opened his mouth, but before he could finish, he felt his feet leave the ground.

Shang Guan Jiu beside him was the same.

Under the watchful eyes of the world, the two of them were thrown into the air, one after the other.

It seemed they had been tossed out.

The one who threw them was a white-haired woman—or more precisely, a group of white-haired women. Each was ethereally graceful, with peerless beauty, as if they were dreams made flesh. Their eyes were misty, reflecting faint starlight that had frozen into frost.

The wives of the Sheng Ti family had all arrived.

Not just them—there were also the emperors of the various heavens, the emperors of Da Chu, the Yama of the Ming Fu, the divine generals of Di Zun... basically everyone had come, though none entered this ancient star. They stood one per step outside the star, filling the starry sky.

Today was a good day.

The little companions had the good sense not to interrupt.

Ling Feng said nothing, and Xia Lan with Yang Ge Lao said nothing either.

No need to ask; seeing the tears in the women's eyes, they already knew the answer.

"What are you doing? What are you all doing?"

The streets of Zhu Xian Town suddenly bustled.

That certain charlatan had ducked under the table.

Those beautiful ladies were grabbing his legs and dragging him out.

The scene was still quite heartwarming, all things considered.