Chapter 198: The United Heavenly Emperor

"What kind of disciple did we raise?" Zhanshentai whispered.

"Damn it, we were worried his Dao heart wasn't stable! We thought our efforts would be wasted!" the Thunder Hammer grumbled through gritted teeth.

"We were truly overthinking it," Dashenbian mumbled, still dazed and unable to react.

At this moment, Dimu Qingteng, a girl in green, had secretly ascended to the heavens at some point. Tiptoeing around, she covertly interviewed and took pictures from the shadows. "Shocking!! Not only did Dao Changsheng brutally beat Duan Tiandi, but he's also going to challenge eleven other Heavenly Emperors alone, turning them into great swords and wielding hammers and whips against them... Is this the decay of morality, or..."

Immediately, the other three glared at her in unison, their eyes filled with fury, as if they wanted to devour her whole.

"Cough, cough, cough."

"What are you doing? You 'red-named players' have such terrifying gazes," the cute girl chuckled sheepishly. "I really didn't teach him to be so arrogant. Even though I raised him, he definitely didn't learn bad habits from me; I'm a good person! This is just his natural inclination; he genuinely believes he's the strongest being under heaven!"

The others around her continued to stare.

This battle was extremely fierce; both sides even began to fight desperately. Although Dao Changsheng claimed he could defeat two opponents, his actual combat power was comparable. Relying on his tough physique and immortality, he could wear down his opponent to death. In less than half a day, Dao Changsheng remained formidable, while Duan Tiandi gradually weakened.

"You have lost."

Dao Changsheng advanced step by step.

Beside them, a God-Slaying Platform at the Cavernous Void stage, accompanied by the Thunder Hammer and God-Beating Whip, slowly approached, looking at Duan Tiandi.

"So that's it, it's you..."

Duan Tiandi looked at them, blood seeping from the corner of his mouth. In his eyes, this shocking plot, conceived an unknown time ago, had finally surfaced.

Zhanshentai calmly stated, "You cultivate the Nascent Soul and occupy a human body. Dao Changsheng cultivates the physique and does not cultivate the Nascent Soul... Do you know what we mean?"

"Simply put, you two will merge," the Thunder Hammer chuckled.

"His Dantian needs a solar furnace as its Nascent Soul..." Dashenbian sauntered out with a carefree stride, swaying her hips like a seductive snake demon, seemingly unconcerned with anything.

"We've thought it over; this Immortal Golden Body needs a power source," the cute girl also stepped out. "A solar power reactor, solar electricity, clean energy, environmentally friendly, pollution-free."

Himself as Dao Changsheng's Dantian Nascent Soul?

Duan Tiandi broke out in a cold sweat, a chill running down his spine instantly. How many things had they calculated, even including him in their plans?

Duan Tiandi couldn't help but say again, "The inner world of a living being cannot sustain a Cavernous Void Great Emperor living within it. Otherwise, the Eleven Ancestral Shamans wouldn't have killed one of their own to collectively enter his inner world as 'Great Luo Heaven'."

The Thunder Hammer shook his head. "Your bodies are fragile, so naturally, they cannot endure it. But what about a body cultivator, the strongest Immortal Golden Body in the world?"

Duan Tiandi was momentarily stunned.

"Furthermore, this consists of nine great spaces, encircling a large central space, with their spatial stability mutually reinforced by a specific pattern. This is sufficient for a Cavernous Void Great Emperor to reside within. For you, it would merely be changing bodies."

Zhanshentai calmly stated, "Dao Changsheng will be the body, and you will be the Nascent Soul. Your fusion will be far more than simply one plus one."

"Moreover, as you abandon your Great Emperor body, the inner world of this Cavernous Void Great Emperor can be absorbed into Dao Changsheng's inner world, expanding his internal space, his nine apertures, and Dantian."

Duan Tiandi then asked, "Can the Sea of Consciousness space merge?"

The inability for Sea of Consciousness spaces to merge was a fundamental truth and rule of this world. Otherwise, the inner worlds of countless cultivators at the Purple Mansion and Dao Palace stages wouldn't have scattered into small fragments. Over the years, how many powerful individuals had died? If their inner worlds could merge, it would have long since become a vast realm, even comparable to more than half of the Celestial Realm, countless times larger than a Cavernous Void Great Emperor's inner space.

Zhanshentai continued, "We also had a solution for that long ago: spatial resonance. Every Sea of Consciousness space has a different soul frequency. By finding frequency resonance, they can become compatible... This requires a specific calculation cultivation method."

"Calculation?" Duan Tiandi asked again. His questions were more numerous than ever before; what they were discussing was too bizarre. However, he also understood that this was not the place for more questions. If this was true, he had to die now! He was to be "killed" by Dao Changsheng, who would then claim the title of Emperor, concealing these ancient beings as the masterminds behind the scenes, while he himself would feign death.

"Do I have no other choice?"

Duan Tiandi gave a bitter laugh, looking around.

"Don't rush!" At this moment, the cute girl tiptoed over. "Duan Tiandi, sign an autograph for me before you die!"

Duan Tiandi: ???

What did she mean by autograph? He stared blankly at the beautiful girl in ancient green robes who had run over, vaguely sensing an ancient, familiar aura. He couldn't help but tremble as he asked, "Dimu Qingteng?"

Dimu Qingteng, the legendary most ancient innate being, who bore the heavens and earth and was as renowned as the nine suns, the "Heavenly Lords," had actually broken free and left her supreme true form to take human shape. Wasn't she afraid that malevolent beings would seize the opportunity to kill her?

"Just write your name," the cute girl handed over the paper and pen she had already prepared.

Duan Tiandi lowered his head and silently signed.

"Could you strike a pose for me?" the girl in green asked crisply. "Just lie on the ground, pretending you've been defeated, with my foot on you, and then let me make a V-for-victory sign?"

Duan Tiandi's face instantly darkened.

"Hahaha..." the girl in green chuckled a few times. "Never mind then, you can go die now."

Duan Tiandi took a deep breath: What kind of truth was hidden in this world? Dimu Qingteng, clearly the most ancient being, yet years seemed unable to mature her; her temperament was still like that of a child? People could feign things, but temperament was too difficult to fake. Dimu Qingteng didn't give him the feeling of someone seasoned by ages. And what exactly were these innate spiritual treasures plotting?

"Very well, then," Duan Tiandi looked towards the sky, hesitating slightly.

Moments later, from a hole in the sky, a shattered Emperor's body, showering blood, fell from the heavens.

"Is that... Duan Tiandi?"

The crowd fell silent, a deathly hush, all staring wide-eyed at the sky.

"Duan Tiandi is dead?"

The three Quasi-Emperors uttered these words tremblingly. They clearly felt that Duan Tiandi's Sea of Consciousness space had shattered, and his Nascent Soul had vanished without a trace.

"When two Emperors contend, I am the victor!"

A rumbling, majestic voice echoed from the Celestial Realm. All the gods of heaven and earth present looked with incredibly complex gazes at Dao Changsheng's towering divine figure, standing tall in the sky. They knew that from this day forward, an old myth had fallen, and a new era was dawning.

"Today, I am Dao Tiandi."

A figure slowly emerged, calmly looking down from the sky upon the entire mortal land. Ordinarily, Dao Changsheng should have taken the name Changsheng Tiandi (Longevity Heavenly Emperor). Taking the character "Dao" was too arrogant. Dao is the ultimate, Dao is one, and Dao is all things. Yet Dao Changsheng dared to name himself Dao Tiandi, signifying his belief that he was the most powerful Heavenly Emperor of all time.

"The new Heavenly Emperor..."

Some cheered, while others cried out in sorrow, sobbing. Duan Tiandi's grand vision and strategic brilliance were widely acknowledged in the Heavenly Court, and many were won over by his demeanor. The fall of this Heavenly Emperor brought sadness to many. However, no one dared to speak ill of Dao Tiandi. After all, in this world, the strong reigned supreme, and only by defeating the previous Heavenly Emperor could one ascend to rule heaven and earth. In terms of natural talent, Dao Changsheng's aptitude and brilliance were indeed more astonishing than Duan Tiandi's, otherwise, he would not have been able to defeat the previous Heavenly Emperor. Most incredibly, Dao Tiandi was less than fifty years old!

At this very moment, above the firmament, Dao Tiandi calmly declared: "From the creation of heaven and earth until today, I am the only one who, without proving the Dao heart or the heavens and earth, broke through the Dao with sheer power and entered the Cavernous Void realm."

"I, Dao Tiandi, shall spread the Dao to all under heaven."

At the summit of the Divine Tree of Jianmu, where the firmament was shattered, a Heavenly Emperor slowly sat cross-legged, his voice echoing through heaven and earth: "When I rule, the world shall only contend in the present, not for the future. There will be no need to wait for an era where an Emperor falls to contend for the Heavenly Emperor's position."

The earth held its breath. Countless people gasped, their breathing quickening. Everyone knew that Dao Changsheng had used a special method to bypass the Dao heart and become the second Heavenly Emperor in the world, defeating Duan Tiandi.

"My method cultivates only the physical body, not the Nascent Soul! I shall unveil the 'Great Divination Heavenly Scripture' for the world. The Great Divination has fifty principles, forty-nine of which are applicable. This Heavenly Scripture comprises forty-nine volumes, and both body cultivators and Dao cultivators can practice it... With profound cultivation, one can evolve the heavens and earth, solidify grotto-heavens, calculate the universe, deduce the past and future, and traverse ancient and modern times."

Dao Tiandi offered no further explanation. A terrifying aura emanated from behind him. He stretched out a hand, and in the sky, a vast, ancient scroll radiating immense power slowly unfurled. "I shall now transmit one of its forty-nine volumes, the 'Minor Divination Calculation Scripture'."

"This is..."

"The legendary Heavenly Scripture?"

The mighty experts from various realms trembled, their throats dry, unable to stop themselves from looking up. It was difficult to understand, obscure and complex, yet seemed to contain the profound truths of heaven and earth. They couldn't help but scrutinize it carefully. When they looked up again, they saw that the ancient scroll bore ancient Chinese characters they couldn't comprehend: "Elementary Mathematics, Decimal Numeral System."

Long ago, when the Alchemist Emperor descended, he had already popularized mathematics and units of measurement to the Wizard World. Without precision and various algorithms, the Age of Alchemy would not have been possible. For the current Ancient Wilderness World, this day had come a little later, but in calculating their own inner worlds, they naturally required more advanced knowledge and computation. This was what completed their crude foundations. This time, the spreading of the Dao reached up to junior high school mathematics in one go. After all, these powerful individuals were already extremely intelligent, having invented tools similar to ancient abacuses.

As for the cultivation method, it only transmitted the meridian pathways of the Dantian, without the training methods for the nine apertures or the formulas for positional calculations. The Nine Revolutions Profound Art was not transmitted, not only because it was extremely difficult and required exceptional talent, but also because it was meant to be a secret passed down through generations. After all, how could their personal efforts be casually revealed to the public?

Nevertheless, Dao Tiandi also opened a path for body cultivation for the world, allowing this realm to enter an era where multiple Emperors vied for supremacy, opening the door to emperorship for all powerful individuals in heaven and earth.

Records of the Western Epoch:

In the 311th year of the Kaiyuan Celestial Court, two Emperors contended for divinity. Dao Changsheng killed Duan Tiandi above the Jianmu Tree in the Celestial Realm. Dao Tiandi ascended to the throne.