Chapter 1540: Touching the Path, Seeing the Emperor

If anyone heard these words, they would surely dismiss them as the ravings of a madman, and powerful figures would undoubtedly want to silence him.

Since when did Martial Emperors become a unit of measurement? And since when did Martial Lunatics become a minor goal for others to aspire to and surpass?!

Chu Feng's spirit swiftly propelled forward, and he saw his physical body lying on the ground, not far from the large purple tree.

Unexpectedly, even after the seed had sprouted, grown, and the buds had bloomed for such a long time, the tree itself had not withered.

Though Chu Feng's form had not entirely dissipated, its condition was dire.

His body was riddled with holes, bones exposed, dull, porous, and utterly lacking luster.

As for his flesh, most parts had vanished, with only a layer of dry skin remaining in some areas, and even his hair had decayed.

Only a few bones still bore putrid blood, devoid of vitality.

By all appearances, the body had been lifeless for a considerable time. This caused Chu Feng's heart to sink, yet he felt neither dejected nor despairing.

The bones remained, still bearing blood. Though corrupted, he sensed a faint trace of spirituality clinging to them.

To him, this might simply be an inevitable death tribulation that he had to face with equanimity.

“Flesh is the root of the soul,” he mused. “I must sense it carefully. The root is not yet destroyed, and now that my spirit has returned, it can surely nourish it back to life!”

Countless spiritual particles, like glowing fine sand or shimmering ripples of time, descended upon the withered bones as his entire spirit returned.

As expected, upon his spirit's return, he was engulfed by an oppressive stillness of death, boundless death energy, and darkness.

Normally, this lifeless body would evoke no sensation, but now, he felt as if he had returned to his primordial universe, becoming a world unto himself.

This was his body, the very root of his soul. His spirit had returned, yet his primordial 'human universe' had seemingly perished.

“It's not completely dead,” he declared. “There's still an unextinguished spark, and the root of the spirit lies dormant, awaiting revival. I must find it!”

Instantly, Chu Feng's spirit blazed with light. He chanted scriptures and meditated, striving to awaken the root within his body and resurrect the deceased 'human world'.

“I see it, I've witnessed it,” he exclaimed. “Even though it's withered, almost entirely dead, this physical body still retains the dried root of the soul. It can awaken!”

Chu Feng was profoundly shaken.

In a trance, he beheld a desolate universe, with countless withered planets densely arrayed and falling. Amidst them, a ball of fire persisted, and a unique segment of root floated.

Of course, this was merely a self-manifestation from his spirit; in reality, the true sight was nothing more than a skeletal frame.

Chu Feng's spirit surged forward, endless light particles boiling as they merged into the fire and entered the withered root.

For a time, the chanting was incessant as he exerted all his might to revive his true form!

He became oblivious to time, shedding the influence of temporal flow. Only his spirit fluctuated and recovered. Finally, his human-shaped soul light blossomed, and his bones began to regain their luster.

After an unknown duration, Chu Feng sat up. He lowered his head, feeling utterly incredulous: his physical body had completely restored itself!

His fingers were as pure white as jade, imbued with immense power. With a mere touch, he pierced through the vast sky as if it were made of paper.

“So, I’m just back? My dead body has been resurrected?”

Even he found it somewhat unbelievable and exceedingly strange.

He had expected it to be an arduous and incredibly long process, possibly even ending in failure.

Yet, he had felt nothing. In a hazy, semi-conscious state, his body had simply recovered.

Moreover, he was now undoubtedly a Dual Eternal Venerable!

Chu Feng looked up and saw the large purple tree still standing nearby, not withered. This indicated that not much time had passed, and he had swiftly resurrected his body without conscious awareness.

“The spirit is born within the physical body; this is an inseparable bond,” he pondered. “The body is never merely a temporary stop, not to be discarded. Now it's been proven: something I don't fully comprehend occurred between my spirit and my flesh, allowing my body to revive in a remarkably short time!”

Chu Feng stood up and approached the tree, hoping to wait for it to wither so he could collect its seeds. However, it still clung to a faint vitality, refusing to perish.

As Chu Feng's body revived, on the Two-Worlds Battlefield, Yaoyao ceased her ritual dance. She knew Chu Feng had returned to the world, alive, having escaped his previous terrifying state.

At that moment, Zhou Xi's face streamed with tears of excitement, lingering fear, and finally, joy. “Chu Feng, you’re back?” she exclaimed. “I remember you!”

Her heart had been aching moments earlier, as if she had lost something, forgotten someone. Yet, no matter how hard she tried, she couldn't recall, feeling as though the memory had been completely erased from her mind.

Now, with Chu Feng’s return, that figure reappeared in her heart.

“Hiss!” Old Gu gasped, deeply affected. His scalp tingled as he secretly pondered what Chu Feng had truly experienced. To vanish and then reappear, even capable of fading from people's memories, was utterly unnerving.

Long Dayu's expression was complex. Finally, he sighed heavenward, saying, “The good die young, but scourges like me persist for centuries!”

The expressions of those present were complex. What they had just experienced was extraordinary. What had Chu Feng, that devil from the Lesser Netherworld, truly endured? To be able to appear and disappear from their very memories was baffling.

The Feathered Emperor, Martial Lunatic, and the Fallen True Immortal, among others, had the most peculiar expressions. The ability of a being to vanish from the collective memory was terrifying; they understood the immense horror involved.

The Martial Emperor was the first to regain his composure, once again fixing his gaze upon Yaoyao!

In the Yang Realm, on a renowned mountain, Qin Luoyin of yesteryear, now known as Qingyin, seemed slightly lost in thought, a complex expression gracing her fair and exquisite face.

What exactly had the Chu Feng in her memory come into contact with? Was it connected to the supreme domain?!

“I must touch the Dao with my physical body and behold the Emperor!”

Chu Feng whispered his resolve. Now, he had but one goal: to grow stronger as quickly as possible, then seek out Yaoyao on the Two-Worlds Battlefield, ensuring no further harm would befall her.

The pathfinders on the True Pollen Path, those elder figures, had long since hinted at this to him; he needed to be courageous enough to try!

To touch the Dao and behold the Emperor naturally meant sensing the originating being: the mysterious woman lying in a pool of blood at the very end of the True Path.

However, before taking action, he needed to adjust himself to his absolute peak, ensuring he was in his strongest possible state!

In Chu Feng's eyes, fervent runes rotated and burned, his Fiery Golden Eyes shedding extremely bright light-rain. He gazed through the firmament, directly into the outer realms.

Eventually, there would be a world-shattering collision, a decisive battle among beings transcending the mortal realm. He was far from strong enough now; he craved power immensely.

Chu Feng walked into the distance, leaving the still un-withered purple tree behind. He stood on a high mountain, black hair billowing, body tensed, like a dormant true dragon in human form, poised to ascend!

Then, he tossed the stone jar, which arced through the air and landed amidst a pile of scattered rocks.

Before embarking on the path to ‘touch the Dao’, he intended to first temper his physical body, solidify his Dao foundation, and approach the trial in his strongest possible state to behold the Emperor!

That Emperor, he surmised, was most likely an Immortal Emperor!

Crack!

A heaven-piercing beam of light appeared, as thick as a mountain, akin to a burning planet plummeting from the sky, threatening to annihilate the world!

Instantly, the mountain he stood upon disintegrated, exploding into fine dust!

As expected, the moment he cast aside the stone jar, the heavenly tribulation found him, striking with overwhelming force and ferocity.

The lightning bolts were as thick as mountains, as if the apocalypse had arrived.

Last time, when he had evolved into a Great Heavenly Venerable with a dual Dao fruit, the stone jar had been on him, preventing the lightning tribulation from finding him!

Now, having advanced further to possess a Dual Eternal Venerable Dao fruit, and having deliberately cast aside the stone jar, he naturally became the target of the heavenly tribulation.

He used his physical body to withstand the lightning, aiming to complete what could be called the strongest tribulation at this level.

To others, this was a great tribulation that would very likely lead to his demise, but Chu Feng saw it as an opportunity, a baptism.

In a sense, Chu Feng could now be considered a powerful being on the evolutionary path of the Yang Realm.

At the very least, he had pushed himself to the absolute limit within his cultivation level, thereby attracting the strongest possible tribulation!

The towering mountain was utterly annihilated, reduced to ashes amidst the lightning, sending vast clouds of dust into the air. All life perished, and the area became a desolate wasteland.

All life force was shattered by the heavenly tribulation. Not only plants and trees, but even the energy particles in the void and the fragments of Dao principles in heaven and earth were evaporated by this unique lightning!

This was a tribulation designed to kill!

More precisely, this was a heavenly punishment specifically tailored to obliterate the strongest beings in a particular domain throughout history, offering no escape, only complete annihilation.

In the eyes of the universal laws, such a being transcended the rules and should not exist; it ought to be erased!

To this day, Chu Feng had not encountered any other true Eternal Venerables, yet he himself had already achieved the Dual Eternal Venerable Dao fruit!

Therefore, how could this great tribulation not be terrifying? It was arguably the most powerful heavenly tribulation of this era for a being at his level.

Chu Feng endured. Even when he was reduced to a skeletal figure, his bones fracturing, he didn't utter a sound, gritting his teeth and persevering.

Finally, the sky-filling, thick lightning dissipated.

“What a great tonic! Come again if you dare; I haven’t had my fill yet!”

He shouted, his body mangled and barely recognizable, yet he stood there, gritting his teeth in defiance.

This was indeed beneficial to him. His physical body had been cleansed, and he felt that the factors of decay and ill omens, hidden in unknown parts of his body, had significantly diminished.

He even felt that if this continued, he might not decay even when traversing the Great Cosmos Path.

“No, this is my delusion,” he cautioned himself. “Is this meant to numb me? There's never been an uncorrupted Great Cosmos, and never a Great Cosmos being who reached its end alive!”

He became vigilant, his mind unclouded, piercing through to the truth.

Soon, Chu Feng recovered, visibly reshaping his true form. It glowed with crystalline brilliance, shimmering with Dao patterns and a unique halo, appearing even more resilient than before.

Furthermore, his soul light had also been baptized by the lightning, becoming increasingly powerful, solid, and radiating an aura of immortality.

Chu Feng vanished in a flash, reappearing in a different location beneath the purple tree. He intended to use his physical body to 'touch the Dao' and enter that bizarre world.

He ran his hand over the stone jar, murmuring, “What exactly is your origin? You once brought hope, light, and pollen to the True Pollen Path. In a sense, your background is even more profound!”

“I'll take you with me to that strange world, the very source of the Pollen Path. Are there traces of you left there?”

Vaguely, Chu Feng felt the stone jar seemed to tremble faintly!

He sat cross-legged beneath the purple tree, beginning his enlightenment. “Lend me your aid,” he whispered, “and let us return to the source!”

Chu Feng once again began to undergo a terrifying transformation. His physical body blurred, but this time it didn't dissipate. Countless light particles emerged, constructing the True Pollen Path, and he swiftly ascended it.

During this process, the stone jar hummed softly, allowing Chu Feng to glimpse several ephemeral, half-real, half-illusory images in a flash. Was the stone jar attempting to escape?

Or rather, was it simply witnessing, moving along a specific trajectory, traversing countless eons?

And were the elderly figures on the True Pollen Path merely fated powerful individuals it had encountered by chance along its journey?

It was too terrifying; its origins were unimaginably ancient, having once brought hope, light, and aspirations to the tribes of those elders.

Several blurry images flickered and vanished.

Chu Feng stood on a desolate, ruined battlefield. There were no corpses, no weapons; everything had decayed and vanished with the wind.

Occasionally, he spotted a fragment of a mother-gold sword, but a mere touch of his hand upon discovery instantly reduced it to dust.

“Did I succeed? Has my physical body actually arrived here?!” Chu Feng's voice trembled.

This time, he discovered even more!

A black chasm stretched before him, severing billions of miles of space and even cutting off the flow of time itself, breaking what was considered eternal…

It was hard to fathom that even time itself was being eroded!

Fragments of light and time were decaying, time was 'ulcerating,' slowly being ground away.

What in this world could possibly be eternal?!

Even the Great Dao of Time, and its most fundamental runes, were dissipating, returning to nothingness.

Everything would return to void, and all would vanish.

All that exists would perish; all eternity would be empty.

Chu Feng was profoundly shaken, speechless for a long time.

Only after a long while did he regain his senses.

“I succeeded! My true form has arrived here!” Chu Feng exclaimed, filled with excitement and joy. He felt himself growing stronger, as if undergoing an inexplicable baptism from the True Path.

Had his physical body crossed unimaginable barriers to reach this world beyond death?

Simultaneously, he was paying a price.

Blood dripped from Chu Feng's eyes; his newly transformed, even more potent Dual Eternal Venerable Fiery Golden Eyes were cracking, unable to withstand the manifested sights.

Crack after crack appeared on his golden pupils, as if the crystals were about to shatter. Blood flowed silently, staining his cheeks red.

There was no physical contact; merely glimpsing a partial truth from across the black chasm was enough to make him feel as if he would fall into an eternal abyss, sinking into the very essence of death.

Touching the Dao, beholding the Emperor!

He had done it. This time, he saw clearly: the woman’s form was beautiful, her long hair obscuring her ethereal face. She lay on the ground, surrounded by a vivid crimson, her blood seemingly still fresh.

Eerie, distinct patterns emanated from the woman’s body—lines of order, lines of the Great Dao—radiating outwards and spreading toward the True Pollen Path.

“Indeed, it’s her,” he murmured. “The powerful being at the source is afflicted, and the fragments of the Great Dao radiating onto the Pollen Path are indirectly transmitted to every follower. It means everyone who walks this path is sick!”

Chu Feng whispered. This time, remarkably, his physical body and spirit did not dissipate, as if he had gained some immunity after the previous ordeal.

Or perhaps, the hints from the elders had now come to pass, and his true form being here was somehow beneficial?

“Only by surpassing this woman can the fundamental problem of this path be resolved!” Chu Feng stated in a low, grim voice.

“Wait, there's something else behind her?!”

The next moment, Chu Feng’s eyes nearly shattered. What had he just seen?

Behind the woman, several coffins lay horizontally, utterly bizarre and inexplicable.

The instant he saw the coffins, Chu Feng felt as if he was mutating, undergoing an inexplicable transformation!

“What is happening?”

Was he about to undergo a metamorphosis because of this, or was something ominous about to occur?

The presence of several coffins behind the woman was truly anomalous. Were they the cause of everything, or were they merely victims themselves?

In that instant, the startling transformations continued unabated!

Behind the woman, and even beyond the coffins, there were flashes of blades and swords, and gushing blood!

Had the truth been revealed? What else lay beyond?