Chapter 744: Chapter 169 Emperor Blood Becomes a Dragon

Zhou Yan was stunned, remaining unable to respond for a long while.

The words of Xuanyuan Ancestor were actually what he had considered before.

The Holy Daughter’s Life Soul was a whole, just right for the true Great Perfection of the Twelve Sword Souls, letting him comprehend the Xingyi True Dao, and at the same time allowing his Soul to undergo a transformation of ‘Ascension,’ making it possible for the Immortal Evil Soul to have the chance of rebirth.

Once divided, the remaining Six Sword Souls would nearly have no possibility of merging again.

Zhou Yan had a feeling that after this Ancient Ice Glacier opened, it would permanently slumber, never to appear again.

The occurrence of the Ancient Ice Glacier, including the function of the Life Soul and the steps of evolution, seemed to have been designed by fate. Was the designer Lee Ran? Was it Lei Yan King? Or someone else?

Zhou Yan did not know any of this. But Zhou Yan knew that facing this choice was truly difficult.

On one hand, there was a fail-safe opportunity; on the other was the life and death of his most beloved woman. It was a tough decision.

For someone cold-hearted and ruthless, this choice was easy; for a hidden Cultivator lost in deep emotion and naturally indifferent, without any threats to cultivation or life, this choice was also easy.

But for Zhou Yan, it was an impossible dilemma. On one hand, there was only one Life Soul of the Holy Daughter, and he needed to save Gu Xi, the girl who had been his childhood sweetheart and given him so much; on the other hand, if he could not complete the metamorphosis of the Sword Soul this time, such an opportunity, such as the Holy Daughter’s Life Soul, would not come a second time. If he could not complete the transformation, the efforts of his brother Lee Ran and Lei Yan King could very well come to a halt, because if one cannot unify the inheritance and their various energies, being halfway through cultivation is far worse than not cultivating at all.

On the surface, the choice seemed thus, but because he was in a state reminiscent of being shielded from the heavenly decline, the manifestation of the Demon Heart became apparent—this choice, ascending to the level of a Heavenly Dao decision: was it to choose the Affectionate Sword Dao or the Lifeless Sword Dao?

A trivial matter, yet it triggered Zhou Yan’s decision.

His choice now was no longer a simple one, but represented two paths, and he had to choose one—it was like a hurdle in the spiritual battle.

He had always been inclusive of both the Affectionate Sword Dao and the Lifeless Sword Dao, but now, he ultimately faced this choice.

Affectionate? Keep the Life Soul, give up part of his own achievement, save Gu Xi.

Lifeless? Refine all of the Life Soul, accomplish his own goals, and then wait for Gu Xi to fade away.

“Xuanyuan Ancestor, this junior… Zhou Yan is confused. Please enlighten me. Regarding the matter of the Life Soul, it is exactly as follows…”

Zhou Yan’s heart was filled with doubts; he could no longer see the path ahead clearly. To others, the choice might seem simple, but for Zhou Yan, it was a contest between the Demon Heart and the Heavenly Heart, and a struggle between emotion and cultivation.

Success and failure both lay in the Xingyi Sword Soul—if he gave up the Xingyi Sword Soul, his path to rising in power would be extremely uncertain in the future.

If he did not give up, he would have to let go of the deepest love for his heart’s beloved, Gu Xi.

It was as if fate had set a trap, waiting for him to jump into it.

Zhou Yan reported Gu Xi’s situation to Xuanyuan Ancestor, waiting for his guidance.

“If you cannot make a choice, then choose the lesser of two evils. To gauge the importance of something, you can’t tell just from the surface—you have to look at how your heart behaves after you lose it, to see which loss causes you greater heartache. Suppose you lost the Sword Soul, or you lost that beloved woman, which loss could you not bear?”

Xuanyuan Ancestor said.

A weight sunk in Zhou Yan’s heart, and he immediately understood that none of the cultivation or the Life Soul mattered that much—wasn’t he making all these efforts so that Gu Xi could be revived? How could he now, because of the power of the Sword Soul and his pursuit of strength, even be doubtful?

It seemed like a great disservice to Gu Xi.

Zhou Yan’s heart suddenly became clear; he immediately wanted to make his choice.

But Xuanyuan Ancestor suddenly stopped him again: “Right now, I am communicating with you telepathically, and no one will know, not even the fact that I exist in your soul is something anyone, including the ‘Immortal,’ can know about. I’ve seen certain things, but I do not want certain events to transpire, and now, I am giving you another choice.”

Xuanyuan Ancestor once again communicated telepathically.

It seemed he had hesitated for a long time before making this decision.

Zhou Yan’s soul suddenly throbbed; he knew that when Xuanyuan Ancestor said this, there must be a significant event about to happen, and this choice would completely change his fate.

Zhou Yan knew that even in the most ideal state, his soul could only reach the Immortal level, but that was just in the most ideal state; in fact, reaching the Supreme Realm was already quite remarkable.

And if Xuanyuan Ancestor said that his presence in Zhou Yan’s soul was undetectable even to ‘Immortal’ beings, it implied that Xuanyuan Ancestor nearly possessed ‘Immortal’ strength.

With such strength, naturally, he need not concern himself over a weak Void Spirit with Immortal potential.

Zhou Yan immediately said without hesitation, “Please, Xuanyuan Ancestor, enlighten me.”

“Your willingness to ask without any hesitation shows that you have already made up your mind. The two choices I mentioned, first, is like now. Until you return to Earth, I leave your soul, then I will tell you how to proceed with Ancestor Worship. All opportunities depend on you. My help would be very limited, just casually assisting and solving some minor dilemmas, but not truly helping with major things.

The reason is that if you cannot overcome some of your current difficulties, the road ahead will be even more challenging, and the accomplishments may not be significant. Helping you too much now would only be harming you.

The other path, the second point, is if you agree to do one thing for me, then I will help you break one shackle, allowing you to truly ‘Transcend’ and truly possess the ‘Xuanyuan’ Emperor Blood, to change your destiny.”

“But at the same time, what you need to undertake is a very significant responsibility. Of course, with the path of Ancestor Worship, you’ll have even less to worry about.”

“Now, you can carefully consider your choices, every drink and peck is predestined by heaven, my interference in your destiny, if you pay the corresponding price, is still within the rules of fate, and thus doesn’t count as crossing ‘boundaries’.”

Xuanyuan Ancestor solemnly sent his voice.

Zhou Yan said without hesitation, “I choose the second option.”

“I knew you would choose that, just like with the first matter, where you chose to protect the woman and gave up half of your Life Soul, your enemies will certainly think the same.”

“Even, your enemies will think that you might anticipate this guesswork of theirs, yet you will still choose accordingly.”

“But I must tell you, if you choose my second path, the condition is — help me collect the scattered Xuanyuan Sword Fragments. There are a total of one hundred and eight fragments, I currently have nine within me, leaving ninety-nine remaining.

These ninety-nine, where they exist, you do not yet know, but later, when I refine all my Soul Power into a Pure Soul to provide you with energy, you’ll start sensing them. At the same time, I will give you a drop of Emperor Blood — Emperor Blood is the blood of a Great Emperor.

A Great Emperor is immortal, and only one who is immortal can be called the Emperor of Ten Thousand Realms.

As for the Emperor Blood, I have a drop which came from somewhere, belongs to someone; you don’t need to worry or be anxious that it will devour your Essence Blood and use your body to resurrect — the Great Emperor is undying and unkillable.

Once you acquire these, find all the Xuanyuan Sword Fragments and combine them into the ‘Burial Sword Weapon’ that is Xuanyuan Sword. After the sword revives, the undying spirit of a Great Emperor will descend, reenacting the Creation of Heaven and Earth within the Primordial Chaos.

At that time, you just need to witness this event with your own eyes, and your task will be complete.

And for you… I will leave behind three Immortal Talismans for your protection, which can only be placed at the back of the Six-Eared Macaque Beast Soul in your brain, transforming into three strands of monkey hair — that’s the natural place of Rebellious Bone, imperceptible and indeducible by the Ten Thousand Realms.”

“Have you noted down your responsibilities now?”

Xuanyuan Ancestor said.

Zhou Yan nodded his head.

“Good, now to speak of your benefits. In addition to the three talismans, you yourself still have too many interferences at play, entangled in numerous battles of wits — whoever it is that sends you back to Earth is merely helping you escape. You escape all troubles and schemes, and after undergoing the Heavenly Tribulation back on Earth, you return, which serves as a baptism — truly descending on this world as an alien soul.

It’s indeed thorough, as if severing all past ties completely and starting anew. But if you are discovered before your departure, and someone leaves a unique mark, you’ll still be at risk of being found upon your return.

So how do you avoid it?

I’ll tell you a very simple — ridiculously simple method, and that’s strength!

Break through with strength.

If you’re strong enough, any plot, even if it’s been devised for billions of years, is useless, directly crush all manipulation and circumstances with overwhelming power.

Since you have agreed to me, there’s naturally been an ‘Emperor Blood Oath’ in your heart. After the Emperor Blood comes to you, I will sleep forever, never to appear again, and the Xuanyuan Sword Fragments will become dead objects. But before I fall into deep sleep, I will crush and show you what ‘Immortal’ means, what it means to break the shackles of the path ahead with ‘Emperor’s Will’.”

“Emperor’s Will, Emperor Qi Dragon Transformation!”

Xuanyuan Ancestor said lightly.

Then, from within the Xuanyuan Sword, a drop of blood flowed out, blood Zhou Yan was exceptionally familiar with — so familiar that his soul trembled.

“Have you seen such blood before?”

Xuanyuan Ancestor suddenly asked, apparently catching a glimpse of something in Zhou Yan’s emotional change.

“No, I haven’t, it’s just that I was shocked by the terrifying aura of this bloodline.”

Zhou Yan’s heart chilled, and he subconsciously lied.

Even he didn’t understand why he lied.

“If you have seen it, that would mean, this blood, is naturally fated to be with you. In fact, only those with a true Emperor Fate Chart can possess Emperor Blood.”

“The path ahead is long, you will understand in time. As the Emperor Blood seeps into your soul, you must comprehend the Emperor Qi Dragon Transformation Technique to manifest the true Emperor Qi Sword Body.”

“Once you’ve accommodated the Emperor Blood, you’ll need to collect the Six Xingyi Sword Souls and recreate them, while also awakening another part of the Holy Daughter’s Life Soul, together condensing the Twelve True Dragon Xingyi War Beast Sword Souls. As for the lack of Holy Daughter’s Life Soul — don’t worry, once you have the Emperor Blood Refining Soul, by then you can cut your own soul to give to her, which would be even more effective. Or, keep some of my remaining Soul Power, which will be enough to heal any Soul Loss below immortality.

Thus, what truly confuses you is not the two choices, but that your enemies know you will certainly choose a certain way. Now, by changing your choice, you can break the game.”

“But as I said, crushing everything, will let you witness. Seeing your hardships in this small world, I too am itching to act. Just so happens, I have a chance to strike and can then rest in peace.”

“Now, you summon the Heavenly Tribulation, I will imprison all the tribulations as servants, for you to refine your body with Emperor Blood, achieving the imprint of an Immortal Evil Soul, truly refining the soul, stripping away the five decays of heaven and man!”

Xuanyuan Ancestor said with dominance.