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Chapter 669: Stepping Up

When Yao Qing’s voice echoed over the Crimson Realm, the world fell silent.

The azure divine star hung in the sky, and countless shadows of great figures watched the end of the divine path. There, Yao Qing stood majestically, and before him was a void. He was waiting for a response from the Ancient and Modern Worlds, waiting for the ninth step.

The next moment, the scene before Yao Qing changed. From the void, something seemed to be descending; it had no physical form, yet it was omnipresent. The moment it descended, a massive amount of information flooded into Yao Qing’s mind. His consciousness seemed to transcend time and space. He personally witnessed the first human being conceived in nature and a tribe struggling to survive the erosion of time. When they first sharpened a branch into a pointed weapon, when they first carved crude patterns on a rock, when they first lit a fire at the mouth of a cave, a deafening thunderclap exploded in Yao Qing’s ears!

From that moment on, the cornerstone of human civilization took deep root in the turbulent flow of time. The edges of the long river of time brushed against Yao Qing’s cheek. He saw days and nights flash madly, like light and shadow sweeping through the gaps of a luxuriant tree’s leaves, and human civilization accumulated rapidly, in millennia increments. More and more symbols were engraved on stones; scattered tribes coalesced into towns, rising from riverbanks; vibrant fabrics adorned bustling crowds; some danced joyfully around towering bonfires; some applied herbs to their bleeding wounds; some entertained themselves with stone dice carved with different numbers of circular holes.

Yao Qing’s pupils continuously contracted, and the light of civilization flickered wildly within them. He saw the pyramid of human civilization grow taller and taller in the long river of time, and instead of shaking even slightly under the erosion of time, it became even more magnificent and dazzling!

To others, Yao Qing still stood on the eighth step, facing an empty void. But in his own eyes, he was already standing before a vast and boundless tower of civilization. He was as small as an ant.

“Is this... the Ancient and Modern Worlds?” Yao Qing murmured to himself.

Eras changed, and civilization continued to accumulate. He saw neon lights flicker briefly in the darkness, then quickly extinguish into nothingness. After the great cataclysm came the birth of the Human Realm; he saw the Crimson Realm. Three hundred years, for humans, is an unreachable shore of time, but before human civilization, it was merely the snap of a finger. He saw the illusory Crimson Realm rise from nuclear ruins, with millions of people thriving within its painted landscape. The old order was gradually replaced, and a new order slowly formed. Millions of people, in the grand scheme of human destiny, were just an extremely tiny branch, yet the fate of this branch was indeed changed because of Yao Qing.

The existence of the Crimson Realm was not perfect; beneath its beautiful and prosperous exterior, sin and evil festered. But that was not the fault of Yao Qing or anyone else. Ultimately, this was human nature itself. Human nature emerged earlier than human civilization; it is an indelible mark imprinted in human genes. The splendor and magnificence of human civilization largely originated from human nature, but where there is light, there is inevitably darkness. The evil of human nature will always exist in any era and any civilization. It might be restrained by extremely strict laws, but it can never disappear. Without the “Floating Life Painting” founded by Yao Qing, the dark side of human nature, nourished by the despair of the nuclear ruins, would only have been more brutal and rampant. Art truly changed the era.

The aura of the Ancient and Modern Worlds slowly receded from around Yao Qing, and the towering civilization tower of humanity gradually faded from his vision. But at the same time, the ninth step slowly outlined itself in the void before Yao Qing. That was a sign of human civilization’s recognition of Yao Qing, the final step bestowed upon him by the Ancient and Modern Worlds. Heaven and Earth’s Bestowal!

“...He succeeded?!” Upon seeing this, Sovereign Wuji’s pupils suddenly contracted!

The moment this step appeared, a faint smile finally formed on Yao Qing’s aged face. This smile was simple and pure. The young man who was once ridiculed as effeminate and naive had finally weathered all storms, witnessing the clearing of the clouds. As he truly stood before the ninth step at this moment, he seemed to transform back into that youth.

“This life, then, has been without regret.”

Yao Qing closed his eyes, took a deep breath, lifted his foot, and gently placed it upon the ninth step. The next moment, the resounding boom of his ascent, like a mighty bell, echoed throughout the world!

***

The Ancient Treasury of Thievery.

Grey clouds drifted beneath the hollow sky. Upon the desolate and silent earth, a magnificent medieval European-style temple stood majestically. Countless treasures and glass fan windows reflected light, shining like the only brilliant pearl in the grey realm.

Through the colorful stained-glass windows, tens of millions of cultural treasures could be seen displayed within the temple: rust-covered bronze weapons, a jewel-encrusted Ming Dynasty three-legged golden cauldron, Louis XV’s Saint-Germain soup tureen, an Indian crown inlaid with eleven Colombian emeralds, yellowed pages of Leonardo da Vinci’s manuscripts, a perfectly preserved classic Ferrari 250 LM. These precious items from different eras and regions, gathered here across time and space, as if an invisible hand had stolen the most valuable possessions of every civilization throughout the ages and preserved them within this grand and magnificent temple.

And at this moment, in the deepest part of the temple, an imposing silver throne silently loomed above all the treasures.

“Oh...”

In the silent temple, a soft exclamation suddenly sounded. A figure on the silver throne slowly opened his eyes. It was a man dressed in a white British-style shirt and a grey gentleman’s waistcoat, with meticulously arranged gold-carved buttons down his front. His black, slightly curly long hair fell behind his ears, like an aristocrat from medieval Europe. His features were chiseled, and his eyes were light blue. Although he had Western facial contours, he also retained the softness of an Eastern face, resembling a person of mixed heritage.

“A Heaven and Earth’s Bestowal, then... I didn’t expect a demigod to emerge from the Azure Divine Path in this era.” He rested one hand on his head, watching a certain direction in the void with interest, while with the other hand, he conjured a Roman aureus from somewhere, playfully flipping and spinning it between his slender fingers. “The Azure Divine Path is quite interesting. It wouldn’t be bad to borrow it for a couple of days...”

His eyebrows slightly lifted, and with a flick of his finger, the gold coin tumbled into the air. At the same time, he raised his slender hand, as if to grasp something in the void. But the next moment, his fingertips stopped in mid-air. He seemed to have discovered something, and his brows furrowed slightly.

Clink—

The aureus fell to the ground with a crisp sound, flipped twice, and then lay still.

“Given how pathetic you are, I won’t steal this time...” He shook his head with some regret. “I thought there would be another interesting fellow in the world... What a pity.”

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