CHAPTER 75: CHAPTER 71: THE WHEEL OF DESTINY OF THE GODS

He said that after developing the Divine Blood, he acquired a sliver of divine authority over the world, and his innate Zhu You skill is a flower that portends death.

This flower, able to glimpse the Netherworld across the shore, will emerge spontaneously from his mind and appear only before those nearing death nearby.

In the heart of this flower, the method of the person’s death will appear.

Utterly ridiculous! It just appeared in front of my eyes, does that not mean I am about to die?

"Ridiculous, utterly ridiculous!"

Shiguang the Blood Concealment Emperor suddenly burst into wild laughter, "I never imagined that Shiguang from the great Saint would select such a cowardly, unresisting, destiny-believing pitiful fellow as his heir."

"No, the Late Emperor believed in destiny too."

This elderly man said, "When he saw the wild grass on the tea shed, he sensed in the depths of his being the lofty destiny above; when he was offered three hundred stalks of Immortal Herb by the Immortal, at the moment he chose to set sail, he saw his destiny for the second time."

"And he was fulfilling his own destiny."

"He often said, destiny is a sleeping slave, describing his predestined life this way."

"Yes, even if he failed, another slave would rise from slumber to become the next Ah Da, that is destiny...and that Saint, he merely spent his life fulfilling his own destiny."

"Nonsense that perplexes the public." Shiguang the Blood Concealment Emperor was full of disbelief, "Are you dreaming? How could such bizarre things exist in reality?"

Yet before him, this king who had just unified the land, harbored a bit of belief in his heart.

After all, he himself was a person who somewhat believed in fate, let alone the life experiences of Shiguang of the straight Emperor; every key moment of his life seemed favored by destiny, constantly creating miracles, pushing the development of the world, as if genuinely favored by fate—a child of destiny who ultimately completed his mission.

If it seemed he had unified the land, it was merely because the Elves could not be bothered with him.

They were preoccupied with their own internal strife and not adept at facing human wave tactics; their numbers so limited, they could simply carry the Immortal Herb elsewhere without concern, truly not resulting in his victory.

But would he really die soon?

Laughable.

But...

Destiny!

An awakening?

The path that must be walked?

He couldn’t help but clench his fists.

"You are starting to believe in the unseen destiny."

The old man, seeing his clenched fist, suddenly said, "I possessed Divine Blood and, through some authority leaked by the Divine, I saw the essence of this incredible world... it shows that the gods can see our destiny’s path...and the misty future of civilization’s trajectory..."

"No! I don’t believe it! Such an outrageous thing, you’re merely trying to shake my heart."

He sneered, still holding onto the atheistic views brought by that group of modern transversers, with the unique arrogance of the Elves, looking down upon the primitive feudal natives with pride:

"Gods, in our eyes, are merely mortals with certain powerful forces; as long as it’s a being, we can modify it, gods included."

"And your thoughts I can understand, even your Shiguang of the straight Emperor and similar figures, due to limitations of their times, held reverence and worshiped gods, but we are different, gods in our eyes are merely tools for ruling religion, a kind of advanced beings deserving reverence; our vision, our perspective, is beyond what you could imagine."

He shouted in a low voice, "We have mastered scientific power, developed hundreds of years of modern genetics, enough to create life, and our sealed modern mechanics, physics, chemistry, electrical science, molecular science... do you understand? You backward feudal natives of this new world simply don’t understand! Our modern scientific aspects far exceed yours!"

"Huh?"

The Fourth Human Emperor sighed softly, "You say I don’t understand anything you said, but your tone seems less resolute now; you can look down on our backward feudal dynasty, but don’t use your ridiculous wisdom and vision to measure the existence of ’Gods’."

"Do you know why I was ambushed by you and captured in the Fairy Forest?"

He paused, "Because I did not see that flower belonging to me that only dying people can see, I know I won’t die... so, I surrendered voluntarily."

"Are you a fool??" Shiguang the Blood Concealment Emperor raged, seeming finally aware of the dissonance of the past—why his ambush on him went so smoothly, why he seamlessly became the next Human King.

"The reason is simple."

The Fourth Human Emperor’s gaze passed through the corridor, as if seeing the chaotic war scenes outside, "Because I won’t die, so I came... and the only reason I won’t die is that I was captured and researched by you."

"And I have long since decided, while being studied by you, I would choose to reveal my Divine Blood ability, causing you to fear seeing your own imminent death scene and fear destiny, sparking internal chaos in you."

This clearly extremely weak, bound-hand-and-foot Human Emperor, spoke words that incited his fear:

"You ventured to the human kingdom to spread belief in atheism and blasphemy among humans. I went to the Elf Forest to convey the grandeur of gods, the mystery of the world, to you arrogant Elves."

"Yes, just like right in front of us!"

"And because they learned from me that their end was near, and learned their manner of death, they grew fearful, now starting to engage in mad internal strife."

Hearing this, Shiguang the Blood Concealment Emperor showed a look of horror.

He observed today’s disruption and infighting that became ashore.

Simpler than he ever imagined!

It turned out those elders already believed in the existence of gods, already gone mad, consumed by delusion, caught in ludicrous superstition...

"You already understand, that it is not you who overthrows the elves... It is I, the true Human Emperor... Perhaps, it is a collaboration between us both from inside and out."

"We who possess the Divine Blood are destined to fight for the glory of the gods."

The old man, nailed to a cross, with his hands and feet bound by chains, quietly gazes at the man before him, "You and I are both slaves of destiny."

Slaves of destiny.

This phrase exploded loudly within his heart.

"But I did not expect you to be dying, you saw that flower." The elderly Human Emperor said somewhat perplexed, "I couldn’t comprehend why you would die."

"Wait, you said only those about to die could see the flower, which would reflect the person’s cause of death!" Shiguang Blood Concealment Emperor seemed to have realized something, shouting out: "I did not see anything on the flower center, you’re deceiving me!"

"The flower will continuously appear, starting very vague, then the cause of death will be seen." He patiently explained.

Suddenly, Shiguang Blood Concealment Emperor roared, "While I was talking to you, no flower appeared, and this cell, without any soil, how could a flower possibly grow?"

"Really none?" The old man’s eyes revealed a hint of pity.

This look made the exceptionally proud emperor overwhelmingly nauseous and furious, he would not allow any creature to look at him with the eyes of pity.

But it was as if he suddenly noticed something, in the oil painting "Man with a Tear Mole" next to him, of the man standing at the harbor in the wind, there was unexpectedly a weed growing under his feet at some unknown time.

On the weed in the painting grew a flower, and the flower slowly rotated like a Russian roulette, finally freezing in place, with a hazy image of death appearing at the flower center.

It was a scene of nobles seated at a table, with utmost pity, dignified expressions of divinity, elegantly picking up knives and forks, dividing and consuming him.

"No!!"

With a blink, the flower on the painting disappeared, eerily so, what could be the principle behind this.

"This is impossible!"

"No matter how you think, it doesn’t fit logic!"

"How could I die like this? You’re deceiving me!"

Shiguang Blood Concealment Emperor seemed to go mad, suddenly wanting to tear apart the famous painting that had been passed down for hundreds of years.

Yet he was stopped by a disdainful laugh, "Hehe, and witnessing this mysterious rule’s might in front of you, still would you desecrate a painting of the gods? There is so much in this world you cannot comprehend."

Shiguang Blood Concealment Emperor paused his hand, trembling, cold.

A boundless shame surged in his heart, on what was supposed to be the historic day of ruling the world, conquering the Elf Island, the Mythical Emperor destined to rule the world, yet he bore unprecedented "shame."

"Did those Elf Elders also see the flower, see their own death, before they started fighting?" He couldn’t help but ask.

"Yes." The old man patiently explained, "Only when one has merely a tenth of life’s duration left can they see the flower. They too saw death scenarios like yours, such as seeing themselves torn apart in battle, or being assassinated by a companion nearby... They started fighting."

"And some interesting deaths among them are related to you."

"Do you still remember your mentor, the Alina teacher you have long admired and yearned for? This Elder, in her future death scene, could be seen being killed by you with an iron shield."

"Thus, in the last tenth of her life, thirty years ago, this Elder led the entire Elf Race to isolate you, resist you, take away your Immortal Herb, suppress your cultivation."

"She thought she had changed destiny, but in fact, as it appears before us, she did not change it, even precisely because of this, she embarked on her own fatal path, provoked the mad you, and brought you back here."

Shiguang Blood Concealment Emperor suddenly roared, "Don’t talk nonsense, you are simply talking gibberish!"

He had no idea all these events had been happening on the island over the years.

Even now upon returning to the island, upon reflection it seemed self-explanatory, many inexplicable events were thus easily resolved.

He could not imagine it was that most beloved Alina teacher who had taken action against him, he thought she would always help him from the shadows against other elders. He even wanted to share the world with her after conquering the island, to express his adoration since childhood, to marry the most beautiful queen.

To form an era where humans and elves jointly rule the world.

But now, upon landing on the island, all these truths felt suffocating.

"What you said about destiny, it... it’s too absurd..." Shiguang Blood Concealment Emperor’s voice began to tremble uncontrollably.

But the next moment, a voice suddenly came from outside, a powerful elf woman, drenched in blood, fought her way in, barely standing.

She saw Shiguang Blood Concealment Emperor.

Her pupils rapidly dilated, revealing terror, fear, dread, as if seeing the most terrifying thing in the world... as if seeing King Yama, witnessing her own death day.

"No!! It’s all your fault!! I used to love you immensely, but you wanted to kill me, so all these years... You really have come to kill for revenge." The next second her eyes turned red, as if going mad, her brain shooting out countless magic skills.

The best way to face fear, is to obliterate it.

"Teacher, you..."

"Calm down, I won’t harm you...." Shiguang Blood Concealment Emperor’s pupils dilated, instinctively beginning to counterattack, the attacks from both sides collided, a wind blade happened to slash at the door, causing the several-hundred-pound cell iron door to fall down, landing on her neck.

Blood gradually seeped out, the previously severely injured female elf during the elder battle lay on the ground, her expression gradually losing color, her eyes of despair seemingly saying something, reaching the end of life.

"This... merely a sliver of Divine Blood... gives us the vision of... the future?" Shiguang Blood Concealment Emperor silently turned his head, with eyes filled with suffocating hopelessness, looked towards the old man who was hung up.

And the former Human Emperor did not speak, merely gazed at the corpse by the door, calmly conveying this truth with his eyes: "This is destiny."