Chapter 641 — One Punch Smashes Through the Imperial Hall
The Herdsman of the Wasteland · Page 1 of 4
The Second Ancestor and the others watched Shen Mu depart; when they turned back, the First Ancestor Human Emperor had vanished as well.
The First Ancestor Human Emperor had never truly died. He had turned his own flesh to stone, freeing himself from the body, and gone into seclusion in Fengdu. Whether he wished to leave or to return was a matter of a single thought.
His primordial spirit commanded vast divine powers and could come and go with astonishing speed; by now, no doubt, it had already returned to his body.
"What do we do now?"
Many of the Human Emperors looked to the Second Ancestor. "Once those two go, they will surely fight again, and we will be the ones who suffer for it."
The Third Ancestor Human Emperor's face was pinched with worry. "If Emperor Shen loses this time, it will be my bones that get smashed."
The other Human Emperors were just as glum. To rise in less than a year to the point of defeating the First Ancestor Human Emperor at the same realm was simply too hard. Every one of them had been the finest figure of his own age; hemmed in by their times, they had been unable to cultivate to the absolute summit, yet each possessed god-level mastery in his own right.
The First Ancestor, by contrast, had reached the divine level in every aspect, and higher still.
Less than a year had passed since Shen Mu last lost to the First Ancestor Human Emperor. However meteoric his advance, at most he could have raised his cultivation realm.
And mere advancement of realm could not defeat the First Ancestor.
For a wielder of divine abilities, raising one's realm was no great difficulty; but raising one's foundation—that was difficult beyond all telling.
Advancing one's realm was building another storey atop a tower; advancing one's foundation meant reinforcing and expanding the foundation without damaging the high tower already standing, so that it might hold more and rise higher still. The difficulty of such a task could well be imagined.
And only by raising his foundation could he defeat the First Ancestor at the same realm—which demanded that his vision and his depths be lifted to the level of the First Ancestor Human Emperor himself.
"How old is Emperor Shen?" the Second Ancestor asked abruptly.
Emperor Qikang thought for a moment. "That Su kid mentioned his age. By mortal reckoning, he should be nineteen."
"Nineteen..." said the Second Ancestor. "A youth brimming with vitality—yet a man's lifelong achievements most often begin at just such an age. At what age did each of you first settle the rudiments of your arts and divine abilities?"
The Third Ancestor considered. "Old man, I was twelve when you took me as your disciple. In my twentieth year I created the prototype of the Yin-Yang Heaven-Overturning Hand, and it was then too that I first conceived of my art, the Great Nine Vehicles of Yin and Yang. Only after several hundred more years did I perfect both the Heaven-Overturning Hand and the Great Nine Vehicles."
The Fourth Ancestor said, "I never cultivated my master's arts or seal methods. He was a failure; learning from him would only have made me a greater failure. So I created my own arts and divine abilities. I surpassed the old man: in my seventeenth year I conceived of my Dharma Path of Ten Crossings, brought it to great completion in middle age, and gave the old man a thrashing."
The Third Ancestor blew out his beard and glared. "So you beat me—is that such a grand feat?"
The Fourth Ancestor beamed. "Yes. It was quite grand."
The other Human Emperors each named the age at which they had first established their own arts and divine abilities. Most fell between their teens and their thirties or fifties, by which time the course of their lives was already set. Only Emperor Tuoyu and the Sixth Ancestor had come into their own late.
"Emperor Shen is nineteen. That means he stands at the very peak of creation."