Translator: Henyee Translations Editor: Henyee Translations
“How powerful is the Dragon Blood Mountain Tortoise?”
Jiang Che asked lazily without opening his eyes.
Concubine Yu said, “They are a huge group. If we can send warriors from the seven grotto-heavens, there is hope of capturing one.”
Jiang Che opened his eyes and said with a faint expression, “My beloved concubine, where can I find a martial artist from the Seventh Cave? Guan
Sheng has gone out to pursue martial arts and has not returned for ten years.”
“Your Majesty, there’s still Longqi Mountain.”
Hearing this, Jiang Che immediately sat up.
Concubine Yu hastily knelt down and pressed her forehead against the edge of the pool.
Jiang Che snorted and said, “I’ve said it before. Don’t mention the Dragon Rises from the Mountain. I don’t want to be looked down upon by the Dao Ancestor. The Dao Ancestor can’t refine the Immortality Pill.”
“I deserve to die. I won’t mention it again.”
Concubine Yu said in fear and trepidation. Jiang Che turned to look at her and his heart softened. He sighed and helped her up.
Jiang Che said in a low voice, “My beloved concubine, your identity is special.
You can hide it from everyone in the palace, but you can’t hide it from the Dao Ancestor. If I listen to you and look for the Dao Ancestor, he will definitely be suspicious of you. Do you honestly think your transformation method can hide from the Dao Ancestor? He must have already known of your existence. The reason why he did not take action is because you are well-behaved. Don’t cross the line. Otherwise, I won’t be able to protect you.”
Concubine Yu looked up and said with grievance, “I understand. I was inconsiderate.”
Jiang Che walked out of the pool and said, “Take off my clothes. I want to see if those good-for-nothings are sincere in concocting pills for me. Use your abilities and we’ll go quietly.”
“I understand.”
Concubine Yu hastily stood up and went to get the dragon robe.
Several days later.
The public beheading of the twenty-three alchemy priests had caused a heated discussion among the people. The officials were delighted. In their opinion, the reason why His Majesty had become muddle-headed was because of these priests.
However, the next month, a large number of Daoist priests and monks entered the capital from all over the world, making the officials speechless.
There would always be someone who was not afraid of death.
In the boundless desert, yellow sand filled the sky. A huge black shadow could not be covered by the sandstorm. It was a long black worm as big as a mountain range. Its head was like a crocodile, hideous and terrifying. At that moment, the ferocious beast had fainted and Jiang Changsheng was absorbing its soul.
Jiang Changsheng would let go of those ferocious beasts that he had no grudges or grievances with after absorbing their souls. If he encountered them in the future, they might even become his fighting strength.
Anyone whose soul had been absorbed by the Classic of Mountains and Seas would also be controlled by him. Therefore, some of the ferocious beasts recorded in the Classic of Mountains and Seas were still alive and scattered throughout the Great Wilderness.
Jiang Changsheng slowly closed the Classic of Mountains and Seas and the remaining half of the ferocious beast’s soul entered its body.
He said, “Come out.”
There were not many living beings who dared to spy on him during his battles. Last time, it was Tong Tiandi who was worth 200 million incense points. However, this time, it was a group of weak creatures, with the strongest being only worth around 10 million incense points.
As soon as he finished speaking, the sand caved in and figures slowly emerged. It was a group of bugs with human heads. Their attic-sized bodies were similar to ladybugs.
The leader of the human-headed insects looked old. He said respectfully, “We have no ill intentions. My race just lives in this desert. Please don’t blame us.”
Jiang Changsheng noticed that they were very intelligent and were undoubtedly similar to humans. This was different from the other ferocious beasts in the Great Wilderness.
This area was already deep in the Great Wilderness, and the distance from here to Skyview Land was equivalent to the distance between the Dragon Vein Continent and the Ancient God Continent.
Jiang Changsheng asked, “What is your race, and how long have you been here?”
“We are from the sand race. We were born in the sand. It has been fifty thousand years since our race was created.”
Jiang Changsheng continued to ask a few more questions.
He discovered that the sand race had the same concept of time and language as humans.
It could not be such a coincidence.
He had a bold idea. Could it be that the Great Wilderness had once given birth to a unified race that spread their culture to all races, and humans were one of them? Even if humans left the Great Wilderness, they had inherited these cultures and common sense.
Jiang Changsheng asked, “Have you seen a living being like me?”
The old man shook his head and said, “I’ve never met a creature like you personally, but I’ve seen creatures similar to you in the imperial palace.”
Jiang Changsheng followed suit to inquire about the imperial family of the Great Wilderness, and the old man answered truthfully.
The sand race was very simple. At the very least, they were not as scheming as the human race. In the face of Jiang Changsheng’s question, his answer was very sincere. He would answer those he knew, and those he did not know he would say that he did not know. However, Jiang Changsheng did not completely believe him.
The imperial family of the Great Wilderness had indeed unified most of the mountains and rivers of the Great Wilderness. They were very ancient and had disappeared as early as 100,000 years ago. 100,000 years was still the sand race’s own estimate. As for how long they had disappeared, no one knew. In fact, everyone had forgotten the existence of them.
The Great Wilderness was vast. Since it could give birth to a race with wisdom like the human race, it would naturally give birth to other races with wisdom. The sand race was one of them. They were naturally smarter than ferocious beasts, but their physical aptitude was far inferior to those stupid ferocious beasts. Even so, they could rely on their wisdom to survive in the Great Wilderness.
After some communication, Jiang Changsheng had a good impression of the sand race.
Before he left, he cut a large piece of meat from the ferocious beast and gave it to the sand race. Then, he moved the ferocious beast away to ensure its survival and to repay the sand race for answering his questions.
The sand elder was very happy. He thanked Jiang Changsheng and promised, “If we encounter your compatriots in the future, we will welcome you warmly.”
Jiang Changsheng shook his head and smiled. “Remember, I am a human. If you encounter others like me, you have to be careful and try not to appear in front of them. Not everyone is like me. There are also people like ferocious beasts who believe in the survival of the fittest.’
With that said, Jiang Changsheng turned around and left.
The people of the sand race started to discuss the human race. This was the first time they had heard the word ‘human’.
In the next few years, Jiang Changsheng encountered other intelligent races one after another. The characteristic of these intelligent races was that they were good at hiding. Usually, it was hard to detect them. After all, their physical bodies were weaker than other races, so they could only hide.
Among them, there was a race that caught Jiang Changsheng’s attention. It was called the spirit race. The spirit race was small and their bodies were like water. They could transform into various forms. Those in the palace were from the spirit race. Their auras were similar, and their physical bodies were the same.
When the spirit race saw Jiang Changsheng, they hid, fearing that they would be targeted.
Jiang Changsheng only returned when his magic power was about to run out.
After all, he was just a clone.
Year 61 of the Taihe Era. Another five years passed.
13 years had passed since the fall of the Seven Great Demon Saints, but Great Jing was still in good condition with no external enemies.
Jiang Changsheng fused with his clone and obtained the memories of his clone during this period of time. He then separated another clone and continued to send it out.
After his clone left, Jiang Changsheng said, “Let him in.”
Hearing this, Bai Qi, who had been looking at Jiang Changsheng’s expression, quickly dashed out.
After a while, Bai Qi came with Jiang Qing.
Jiang Qing was the current crown prince, and he was over 90 years old. He had lost his youthful and carefree spirit.
He was also the oldest prince to date.
Looking at the rather obvious wrinkles, Jiang Changsheng inexplicably thought of Jiang Xiu and the current Emperor. Both of them were worried that they would be crown prince for the rest of their lives, but they never thought that their descendants would stay on the throne longer than them.
“Greetings, Dao Ancestor.”
Jiang Qing cupped his hands and looked at Jiang Changsheng with a complicated expression.
In order for him to deal with the state affairs in peace, Jiang Che had already told him about the blood relationship between Jiang Changsheng and the Jiang Family. Jiang Che’s original intention for telling him this was for him to act boldly and without worrying about the Dao Ancestor, but it gave him another thought.
He wanted to seek justice from his ancestor!
Jiang Qing knelt in front of Jiang Changsheng with a plop. Ji Wujun opened her eyes and looked at him. Huang Tian and Hei Tian also jumped up.
Under their surprised expressions, Jiang Qing began to kowtow crazily until his forehead bled.
Jiang Changsheng sighed and said, “Alright, tell me what you want.”
Jiang Qing looked up and gritted his teeth. “I want the throne! Father is now obsessed with longevity and concubine Yao. He has been ignoring the dynasty for more than ten years. He is no longer worthy of being the emperor of Great Jing. Please… uphold justice for me.”
His eyes reddened as he looked at Jiang Changsheng.
Usually, he was not someone who liked to cry. It was just that he had accumulated too much frustration and grievance in his heart during this time and had nowhere to vent it.
Jiang Changsheng said, “You want me to force the Emperor to give up his position?”
Jiang Qing nodded and said, “With a single word from you, you can let Great Jing have another emperor without using any force. Even though I deeply want to be the emperor, I don’t want father and son to kill each other. Jing Taizong once said that the descendants of the Jiang Family are not allowed to kill each other, and I have always remembered that.”
This kid…
Jiang Changsheng narrowed his eyes. He knew that Jiang Qing was deliberately using Jiang Ziyu to persuade him, but when he heard that phrase, his heart still fluctuated.
Bai Qi carefully said, “Master, that is indeed the case. After conceding the throne, Jiang Che can still pursue immortality. It is not like he will die immediately.”
She had a good impression of Jiang Qing because he would give gifts to the Longqi Temple every year and please them. Every time she brought Huang
Tian and Hei Tian to the capital, Jiang Qing would specially entertain them.
Jiang Qing completely won her favor with his words, “You are the Dao
Ancestor’s favorite mythical beast.”
Jiang Changsheng was in a trance. Back then, Jiang Che had also looked for him like this. Now that Jiang Che’s son was here again, it was really the cycle of the heavens.
However, when Jiang Qing mentioned Jiang Ziyu, Jiang Changsheng was moved.
“Forget it. You can go back first. In a few days, I will call for the Emperor, but I will only advise him, not force him.”
After Jiang Changsheng said that, he closed his eyes.
Jiang Qing was ecstatic and hastily thanked him. Before he left, he also bid farewell to Ji Wujun and the three demons in the courtyard.
Several days later.
Jiang Che came to pay a visit to Jiang Changsheng. He was all smiles and was in excellent condition. After he entered the courtyard, he even teased the three demons before walking to Jiang Changsheng and bowing.
Jiang Changsheng opened his eyes, stood up, and walked to the stone table.
“Come and sit down. Let’s have a good chat between ancestor and descendant.” Between ancestor and descendant!
Bai Qi and the two cat demons widened their eyes. ‘As expected,’ Ji Wujun thought to herself.
Bai Qi had also guessed it before, but he did not expect it to be true.
Jiang Che’s smile froze. Realizing that something was amiss, he hastily sat down with a respectful posture. He was no longer as relaxed as when he first entered the courtyard.
Jiang Changsheng personally poured two glasses of wine and said, “A few days ago, I was bored and had nothing better to do, so I concocted two glasses of wine. This wine is named Thousand Autumn. The taste is bitter, but the aftertaste is endless. The other is named Hegemony. The wine is strong and easy to intoxicate.. Which cup do you want to drink?”