Chapter 185: The Heavenly Kings’ Next Move

Inside the mystic realm, spiritual energy was dense. All over the mountains and fields grew spirit herbs and plants that prolonged life. Graceful young women walked along the paths between the fields, wearing light clothing that caught the eye.
These women weren’t just beautiful—they were also skilled in cooking, weaving, poetry, and other arts. They were all talented and deft, ensuring the Heavenly Kings lived a thoroughly satisfying life here.
Of course, physical service was also essential.
A lavish palace of gold and jade stood among the mountains—majestic and mysterious.
“It’s already been three hundred and fifteen years. By now, everyone in the world should fully believe we are their saviors.”
The Twelve Heavenly Kings sat within the palace, discussing matters concerning themselves and the future of the Huan Yu World.
“That should be the case. Two months ago, I went to survey our world. The people’s faith in us is at its peak—every household has statues of all twelve of us. When we arrive there, we’ll surely be able to reach the pinnacle of this realm by relying on the power of faith.”
“Night King, you still haven’t shaken your old habits. What do you mean by ‘our world’? We are in the Upper Realm now. That place, the land of Qi, should be called the Lower Realm.”
“Indeed, indeed. That is the Lower Realm, the mortal world. This place is the Upper Realm.”
“Time has flown—it’s been so long already. This truly is an immortal paradise, a land of wondrous blessings,” another Heavenly King nodded gently, savoring over three centuries of leisurely life. “The Lower Realm is filthy and barren in spiritual energy. Back then, we harvested all the Lower Realm’s spiritual energy and gathered it here—that was absolutely the right decision.”
“Which is why the Lower Realm now has even less spiritual energy—practically barren,” the Heavenly King sighed, then changed expression and smiled, “But that ignorant rabble has no understanding of spiritual energy. Leaving it to them would be a waste—better we take it.”
“Every twenty years, we select a batch of beautiful women from the Lower Realm to come serve us. Truly carefree and at ease—the life of immortals. I’m just as vigorous as I was three hundred years ago, doting on them day and night.”
“King Chaos’s rule that mortals should only live to forty really was brilliant. Not only does it speed up generational turnover and rewrite history quickly, but the women who serve us from the Lower Realm stay beautiful their whole lives and won’t age or fade, keeping me from growing disgusted.”
The women brought here age from their teens to their thirties. Each age had its own charm, and this Heavenly King greatly enjoyed the variety.
“Oh, it was just a passing idea,” King Chaos said humbly, though his expression was smug.
Publishing the lifespan-burning martial arts manuals and spreading propaganda that old martial artists were evil had all been King Chaos’s doing. Those two feats made him the center of attention, and the other eleven Heavenly Kings all followed his lead.
“Luckily, mortals and immortals are different—these women can’t get pregnant. Otherwise, this vast Upper Realm would be crawling with our offspring, and that would be a real buzzkill.”
“What good are offspring anyway? Just a bunch of burdens. We live long and watch eternally—do we really want to keep watching our descendants be born and die?”
“That may be, but we still need a few descendants to manage the Lower Realm and maintain the people’s faith. Isn’t the royal family of the Qi Kingdom descended from Night King?”
King Chaos stood and smiled, “Since everyone agrees the time is right, we can proceed to the next step.”
“Good.” The other eleven Heavenly Kings nodded.
“We twelve were lucky to be favored by the Envoy, who gave us pills and guided us to reach the Soul Formation Stage. But even so, Soul Formation cultivators only live a thousand years. Tell me, are we really content with just a thousand years of life and pleasure?”
At this, the Twelve Heavenly Kings all shared a knowing smile. They were just martial artists—who knew what trait had drawn the Envoy’s attention? Perhaps it was their diligence in martial cultivation that led to them being granted pills and becoming Heavenly Kings.
“Of course not. A thousand years isn’t enough. According to the Envoy, beyond the Soul Formation Stage is the Fusion Stage—we must break through Soul Formation and become Fusion Stage cultivators!”
But the Huan Yu World had far fewer people than the Nine Provinces and thus offered less faith power. It wasn’t enough to help the Twelve Heavenly Kings reach Fusion Stage.
Even if they did reach Fusion Stage through faith, such power was empty—it wouldn’t extend their lives.
Just like Luo Ying in the zombie world—he was Shadow King Buddha but only had Soul Formation power, not the lifespan.
The Twelve Heavenly Kings needed a way to truly reach Fusion Stage.
But the Envoy hadn’t taught them the standard method.
“The method to reach Fusion Stage has already been given to us by the Envoy. In the face of life and death, the collective will to survive becomes immensely powerful—so powerful it defies the heavens!”
“Now that all sentient beings worship us Twelve, that survival instinct already has direction—and that direction is us!”
“So I propose we manufacture a catastrophe. We’ll tell the Lower Realm it’s an unprecedented disaster, and that our current cultivation is not enough to resist it. If they want to survive, the only way is to pray—to pray that we become stronger!”
“In that case, faced with life-and-death calamity, the ignorant masses of the Lower Realm will all pray together—helping us step into the Fusion Stage!”
“The Envoy emphasized that only between life and death can sentient will reach its peak and become unified. To ensure success, once we begin this apocalyptic disaster, we must not stop. We must make sure all beings pray to us before they die.”
“Good.” The eleven other Heavenly Kings nodded—King Chaos had voiced exactly what was on their minds.
Of course, they didn’t need to kill everyone. If all the people died, who would serve them? Keeping about one-tenth alive would be enough.
After the disaster, they could say, We did our best. We gave everything to save you.
And the commoners would believe it.
“There’s no rush. We can take our time with this—we’ve got six hundred years to prepare.”
A Soul Formation cultivator’s life was long. Right now, mortals were having children in their teens. Over three hundred years, twenty generations had passed, while the Heavenly Kings had only lived through a third of their lifespan.
“Hmm?” Night King let out a quiet sound.
“What is it?” asked the Heavenly King beside him.
“My descendant contacted me through a dream.”
“The current emperor?”
“Yes.”
Night King was a master of the Dao of Dreams. He allowed the most outstanding of his descendants to contact him through dreams.
And the most outstanding descendant, of course, was the emperor.
Normally, it was he who contacted his descendants, inquiring about the Lower Realm. Rarely did they initiate contact.
Something must have happened in the Lower Realm.
But what could it be?
Two months ago, he had just returned from the Lower Realm. Everything was peaceful. The people were still as ignorant as ever, cultivating the lifespan-burning martial arts and worshipping the Twelve Heavenly Kings. The Qi royal court was obedient—whatever they were told to do, they did. Those three Human Sovereign Peak experts from the court were also obedient. Everything was normal.
“I’d like to see just what could’ve happened in the Lower Realm.”
Night King muttered as he entered the dream, and saw the plump King of Qi rushing toward him.
“Forefather! Bad news! The people down below have rebelled!”