Martial Lord Heilu stood to the side, his expression somewhat complicated.
"What a pity. Human hearts are simply too complicated. If that mysterious faction could unite with us in purpose, how could the task Dongjun entrusted to us be so difficult to accomplish?
"Unfortunately, they are too mysterious and impossible to communicate with. Otherwise... if they could just meet Dongjun and hear his words, Dongjun would surely win them over, and they would strive together for the sake of this world."
Qi Yuan cast an extra glance at Heilu. "Dongjun is that persuasive? I'm looking forward to meeting him even more."
These people's conviction in Dongjun had reached a terrifying degree.
Qi Yuan found it rather odd.
Could it be that Dongjun possessed the same charismatic appeal as him?
Still, Qi Yuan considered himself somewhat inferior to Dongjun in that regard.
After all, his subjects were all his Divine Infants—all himself.
It was only natural to believe in oneself.
Suddenly, Qi Yuan remembered the corpse inside the coffin back in the ruins. "Have you ever seen Dongjun's Dao companion, the Lord of Ancestral Demons?"
Martial Lord Heilu shook his head. "Never. We haven't even seen Dongjun's true body. All we've ever beheld were avatars."
"Oh." Qi Yuan gave it no further thought.
Martial Lord Heilu looked down toward the foot of the tall tower, a smile touching his eyes. "Mr. Qi truly has extraordinary discernment and a keen eye for character.
"That kid named Mu Yan has already reached the fifteenth floor, placing him in the first echelon.
"As for that black-robed kid, heh heh, he really does have a fear of heights. On the sixth floor, he's so terrified he doesn't dare move a muscle.
"The sixth floor is under Martial Lord Ji Qi's charge. She merely made a tiny tweak to the trial's contents, and that black-robed man found every step grueling."
Martial Lord Heilu was skilled in worldly ways, smoothly mentioning Martial Lord Ji Qi's gesture of goodwill toward Qi Yuan without making a fuss.
This also did Martial Lord Ji Qi a favor.
Although, as a Titled Martial Lord, he had little need for a common Martial Lord's favor, what harm was there in lending a helping hand in passing?
"Not bad, not bad," Qi Yuan casually remarked.
He cast a fleeting glance at the struggles inside the tower.
To the current him, the all-out battles between those Martial Kings were like paramecia warring against yeast—dull and uninteresting to watch.
These people were far less entertaining than the keyboard warriors back on Arch Star.
After all, those keyboard warriors knew how to stir up drama and get beet-red furious during arguments, which was exceptionally amusing.
His consciousness reached into the forum post he had made earlier.
When he saw his post, he was somewhat baffled.
"So many days have passed, so why are there no new replies?
"Could my reach have been throttled?"
Qi Yuan speculated maliciously.
According to the principle of inequalities, if he had no traffic, it meant someone was maliciously targeting him.
"Despicable."
Muttering under his breath, Qi Yuan tagged the genius who had previously advised him to buy a plot of land and inquired:
"Genius, any other insights? What should I do after buying the land?"
Before long, that genius's reply arrived.
"Sigh, bro, Can Star is about to invade. I don't have time to shoot the breeze with you anymore."
"Oh, Can Star is invading. So that's how it is.
"We're not shooting the breeze either. We're discussing a matter that could alter the overall situation of the cultivation world," Qi Yuan replied earnestly.
How could a monumental endeavor like creating the Netherworld be called shooting the breeze?
If the world had a Netherworld, wouldn't it mean achieving a perfect egalitarian society and realizing true socialism?
The elderly would be cared for, the able-bodied employed, the young educated, and the dead provided a final resting place.
Mm, perfection.
If anyone felt bored after dying, they could also work for free in Qi Yuan's Netherworld. How wonderful—getting a job without having to spend a penny.
"Forget the big picture. We'd better look out for ourselves first," the genius said.
"I'm fine. Everything's good," Qi Yuan replied.
"This affects every single one of us—how could everything be good?
"Once war breaks out, who knows how many will die? Prices will skyrocket, and public order will collapse.
"If Arch Star loses, we might end up as slaves.
"Our parents, wives, and children will be humiliated at will, and our own fates will be completely in the enemy's hands." The genius's tone was rife with bitterness and helplessness.
Clearly, he did not favor Qinyuan's chances against Can Star.
After all, Qinyuan's strongest defenses, the Eyes of the Sky, had all fallen.
Qinyuan was practically like a handsome man stripped of almost all his clothes, left in only his underwear to be toyed with at will.
"You make some sense." Qi Yuan fell silent, and then something occurred to him. He couldn't help asking, "If Can Star succeeds in its invasion, will the Martial Arts Tournament still be held?"
"Martial Arts Tournament? What's that?"
"I'm Qi Yuan, champion of the Martial Arts Tournament. I've retained the title for dozens of consecutive iterations. If the tournament gets canceled, doesn't that mean I won't be able to win anymore?"
"I just searched it up. An antique event like the Martial Arts Tournament actually still exists?
"Forget the Martial Arts Tournament—even the Cultivation Conference will probably shut down."
"Outrageous!" Qi Yuan in the Origin Land was furious. "By what right? On what grounds? I just want to quietly play a game and watch a competition here. Why are these NPCs so tactless that they want to cancel the Martial Arts Tournament?
"Uncle can endure it, aunt cannot, and neither can I!"
Qi Yuan sprang to his feet and sent the man a message:
"Just you wait. I'm coming home right now, and I'll show those Can Star dogs what the Martial Arts Tournament champion is made of!"
Beside him, Martial Lord Heilu watched Qi Yuan stand up with a bewildered look. "Mr. Qi, what is the matter?"
"Hmph!" Qi Yuan snorted coldly. "There are bad apples among the NPCs. Someone actually dared to sneak attack my home base while I'm away.
"I have to go back and teach those people a proper lesson!"
"Ah?" Martial Lord Heilu grew somewhat alarmed and concerned. "Is the enemy strong? Does the Eastern Alliance need to step in and act alongside you?"
"No need. Mere buffoons. I can snuff them out with a breath!" Qi Yuan waved his hand. "I'll be stepping away from the chief examiner post for a bit.
"I'll be right back. Oh, right, remember to delay the opening time of the Wall of Dongjun for me. I need to be present."
"No problem." Martial Lord Heilu nodded repeatedly.
These were minor matters, not worth mentioning.
"However, Mr. Qi, according to the rules, when leaving this place, you must carry a shadow-recording stone on your person.
"What you do must be made public and displayed here.
"Still, if it involves secrets, you don't actually have to—"
"It's fine. What secrets? I do everything fair and square. Give me the shadow-recording stone; I'll record it myself," Qi Yuan said magnanimously.
"Very well." Martial Lord Heilu handed the shadow-recording stone to Qi Yuan.
The shadow-recording stones in this world were quite similar to those in the Canglan Realm, only they were activated using blood-martial qi.
"I've activated it." Qi Yuan powered on the shadow-recording stone.
Immediately, in front of the tall tower, Qi Yuan's figure manifested.
At that moment, Qi Yuan did not leave directly. Instead, he roared toward the sky:
"Emperors Shu and Hu, present yourselves at once!"
His voice rang clear and loud, seeming to reverberate across the entire Origin Land in an instant.
Martial Lord Heilu froze slightly, while the other Martial Lords looked contemplative.
Less than three breaths after his voice echoed,
atop the tall tower, two men abruptly appeared.
They had arrived too swiftly, without a single sound.
None of the Martial Lords present had sensed their arrival.
Only when the pair opened their mouths to speak did the Martial Lords present finally notice them.
"The Emperor of the South Sea pays respects to Lord God!"
"The Emperor of the North Sea pays respects to Lord God!"
The two stood before Qi Yuan with lowered heads, their aura simultaneously mysterious and plain, looking just like ordinary men.
The gazes of Martial Lord Heilu and the other Martial Lords involuntarily fell upon Emperors Shu and Hu. Their pupils contracted violently, filled with boundless vigilance.
How had these two appeared?
One had to know that he was a Titled Martial Lord.
For someone to evade his detection and abruptly appear less than a hundred meters away from him...
Did this mean that if an enemy thrust a blade into his chest, he wouldn't even be able to react?
Could it be...
A terrifying deduction formed in Martial Lord Heilu's mind.
'The mysterious faction!'
Indeed, only that mysterious faction that had risen in the Origin Land over the past millennium could be like this.
Qi Yuan was actually affiliated with that mysterious faction!
"I want to return to Arch Star. The two of you, build me a bridge to cross the Black Sea.
"Make it quick. I'm in a hurry," Qi Yuan urged.
Beside him, Martial Lord Heilu and the other Martial Lords heard this with puzzled faces, unable to comprehend what Qi Yuan meant.
The Black Sea was mysterious. Those peak Martial Kings had actually long since died, their souls merging into the Mountains and Seas Picture Scroll, which was why they could travel upstream along the Black Sea.
As for traveling downstream, perhaps no one in this world had ever managed to do so.
"We respectfully obey our Lord's decree."
Emperors Shu and Hu bowed, then raised their heads.
And as they gazed toward the direction of the Black Sea, their figures seemed to stretch in an instant.
Uncanny chanting resonated at this moment:
"Chaos, Hundun, heaven and earth yet undivided!"
"No bridge spans the Black Sea; the other shore cannot be crossed!"
"I, Emperor Shu of the South Sea, shall turn into a bridge, crossing the past and reaching the future!"
"I, Emperor Hu of the North Sea, shall serve as a beam, treading the Black Sea and propping the empyrean!"
This voice truly reverberated throughout the Origin Land.
Every Martial Lord in the Eastern Alliance involuntarily looked up toward the vault of heaven.
Inside the tower, the Martial Kings also showed horrified expressions in their eyes.
As for Martial Lord Heilu, his eyes went wide, and his body trembled uncontrollably.
"Chaos... the source of all mother qi, the beginning of the world!"
At this moment, he seemed to sense an endless aura of origin.
This was something Martial Lords could not comprehend at all, something known only by legend.
Following the voices of Emperors Shu and Hu, the entire Origin Land abruptly plunged into darkness.
All the Martial Lords were stricken with terror at that instant.
"What's happening?"
"Has Dawn's Toll come early?"
"Who on earth are Emperors Shu and Hu?!"
"Martial Gods?"
Everyone looked up at the firmament.
They saw that, at some unknown point, the firmament had long been blocked out. The world was pitch-black and devoid of light.
"The empyrean... has been blocked!"
"Is this... a hand?"
All the Martial Lords shuddered and shook, their souls clenching in extreme terror.
They looked up at the sky and saw only pitch darkness, yet they knew it was merely the tip of the iceberg of a colossal entity.
They were bewildered, uncomprehending, terrified, having no clue what had occurred.
Only Martial Lord Heilu and the other Martial Lords atop the tower gritted their teeth, their faces painted with dread.
"Is this... a Martial God?"
Just a wisp of leaked aura left him trembling from head to toe, utterly powerless to resist.
"I become the bridge, linking the past and the future!"
"I become the beam, joining heaven and earth!"
"Vast is the cosmos, endless the river of time; hew a bridge to cross it!"
Then, across the entire Origin Land, a bridge manifested.
No one knew how wide or how high this bridge was; merely the exposed tip of the iceberg was larger than the entire Origin Land itself.
Inscrutable and mysterious, it spanned the long river of time.
Chaos flowed across it, and the temporal aura from the Black Sea swirled above it.
A physical bridge had actually been erected at this moment, spanning the long river of history.
"Emperors Shu and Hu respectfully welcome our Lord!"
The vast voices echoed across the Origin Land.
Qi Yuan looked calm. With a wave of his sleeve, he stepped onto the bridge.
Across the Origin Land, every Martial Lord saw a blood-red figure appear upon that terrifying bridge grander than the Origin Land itself.
Unrelated to the speed of light or the mechanics of vision, the instant he appeared, everyone saw that figure.
"Who is that?" Inside the tower, Mu Yan seemed to spot that back silhouette as well. For some reason, it felt oddly familiar.
The other Martial Lords, and even Titled Martial Lords, stared fixatedly at that red-robed man.
At the peak of the tower, the projection left by the shadow-recording stone fully displayed Qi Yuan's figure.
He took a single stride across the bridge.
In an instant, boundless years passed.
With each step, he traversed a single stair, yet in reality, it was thousands, tens of thousands of years.
"This is..." Martial Lord Heilu's expression shifted, filled with unspeakable shock. "This is definitely beyond a Titled Martial Lord!"
He thought of something, his expression growing agitated.
Could it be... Qi Yuan was a higher-up of that mysterious faction?
His strength was visibly formidable, surpassing a Titled Martial Lord.
If he worked for Dongjun, wouldn't that mean their chances of surviving Dawn's Toll would increase by a fraction?
On the other side, Martial Lord Pangdan also looked up at the sky, rubbing his eyes furiously. "Why... why does that look a bit like my ancestor?"
...
At this time, on Arch Star, in the Qinyuan Kingdom.
On the second floor of a Western-style house, a man stared at the comment sent by the other party, speechlessly shaking his head. "Bro, never mind the champion of the Martial Arts Tournament—even the champion of the Immortal Arts Conference wouldn't cut it!
"Don't be so hilarious."
"Hey, looking down on the Martial Arts Tournament champion, are we? I'm on the bridge right now and rushing back. In a bit you'll find out just how legitimate the Martial Arts Tournament champion's title is!" Even while crossing the bridge, Qi Yuan didn't forget to reply.
"Heh heh, I just looked it up. The runner-up for these dozens of tournaments has always been the same old man.
"Are you really proud of a championship won by beating up an old man?" the young man said.
That old man clearly looked like an ordinary elder.
Beating up an old man continuously for decades—this Qi Yuan actually had the nerve to brag about it.
He couldn't even give an old man a break.
"Whatever, no more shooting the breeze with you. Remember to help me think about how to build the Netherworld. I'll be back shortly."
"Fine, I won't argue with you. Even though you love boasting and aren't reliable, you're still way better than those beauty bloggers.
"Yesterday, our Qinyuan Kingdom caught a Can Star spy. It got injured during the arrest, and some beauty blogger actually sympathized with the spy! Absolutely ridiculous!"
As the young man spoke, he looked up at the sky, a trace of worry in his eyes.
"Looks like I'll have to stockpile some goods and hole up in the basement. Hopefully, we can survive this calamity,"
the young man muttered to himself.
With that, he prepared to head out and check the supermarkets and malls again to see if he could buy any grain and groceries.
He was the epitome of most people in the Qinyuan Kingdom today.
Amid the tides of the era, beneath the dark clouds of war, every individual was so insignificant, struggling even to protect themselves.
Chapter 369