Chapter 313: A World That Truly Exists

The Tribulation Transcendence Stage was said to be the pinnacle of combat power in the Nine Provinces, but compared to the First Emperor Jiang Li, it still fell far short.

They couldn’t withstand Jiang Li’s onslaught and were utterly defeated.

“If only the Wishful Gourd were still here…” Yu Yin struggled to her feet, blood trickling from the corner of her mouth, a stark contrast to her pale and delicate face.

“Even if it were, it wouldn’t help.” Bai Hongtu, also beaten to a pulp in the dream, tried to get up, but didn’t even have the strength to lift himself.

After a few tries, Bai Hongtu gave up and lay flat on the ground, smiling bitterly. “Would a Celestial Artifact even pose a threat to him? Back when the ancestor of the Yin-Yang Heaven Seal tried to found the Spiritual Treasures Dynasty and enlighten all Spiritual Treasures, the First Emperor flew into a rage and smashed a whole batch of Celestial Artifacts. Only the Ancient and Modern Sword went missing.”

“Those were Celestial Artifacts rivaling immortals, and they couldn’t last more than a few moves in his hands. The First Emperor… he’s just too powerful.”

“How did someone like that even become the Human Sovereign?” Li Er couldn’t even condense a basic Dharma Body, and now he leaned against a protruding boulder, panting heavily.

He had heard the First Emperor Jiang Li say he wanted to take his beloved daughter Li Nian’er into the imperial harem. Enraged, he had wanted to challenge Jiang Li to a death match.

But the gap between them was too great. He wasn’t even qualified to fight Jiang Li. His proud Dharma Body was shattered with a single punch.

“The Nine Provinces’ Earth Veins choose candidates for Human Sovereign based on two criteria: first, exceptional cultivation talent; and second, the willingness to give one’s life for the people of the Nine Provinces… The First Emperor met both.” Commander Liu explained. His powerful vitality allowed him to move.

But that was all. He no longer had the strength to fight.

“I can understand exceptional talent—but he was actually willing to sacrifice his life for the people?” No one else spoke, only the Sword Sovereign looked confused. Since emerging from the Sword Tomb, he hadn’t yet fully learned about the First Emperor Jiang Li.

“You haven’t seen it. When he was still at the Tribulation Transcendence Stage, the First Emperor fought desperately against an Outer-Heaven Fiend. If the fiend had managed one more move, Jiang Li would have perished, body and soul.” Commander Liu continued explaining.

“In the First Emperor’s own words, ‘The Nine Provinces are my territory. Outer-Heaven Fiends have no right to interfere.’”

“Only after the First Emperor reached the Ascension Stage did he easily defeat the Outer-Heaven Fiends. Over time, people forgot that he, too, had once been weak and had fought with his life on the line.”

“Looking at the outcomes, the First Emperor’s reign saw the fewest deaths in the Nine Provinces in the past nine thousand years.”

“He seemed to kill many people, but in fact, far fewer than the number slain by the Outer-Heaven Fiends.” Commander Liu had secretly tallied the death tolls himself.

Everyone fell silent. They had no choice but to admit—it was better to have the First Emperor than not.

“Actually, there have been other Human Sovereigns with personalities similar to the First Emperor. But they were affected by the power of faith, which gradually changed their minds. And they were only at the Tribulation Transcendence Stage, not truly invincible. After all, the Nine Provinces still had immortals, like Immortal Elder Changcun.”

“But the First Emperor didn’t need the power of faith. Once he reached the Ascension Stage, no one could restrain him.” Commander Liu had interacted with dozens of Human Sovereigns, witnessing many different personalities.

“Dongxu, ready to die?” The First Emperor Jiang Li hadn’t harbored killing intent toward the Tribulation Stage cultivators. Their carefully prepared efforts were, to him, nothing more than entertainment.

But for Daoist Dongxu, he truly intended to kill.

“First Emperor, are you really going to kill me just because you didn’t draw a good card?” Daoist Dongxu felt the reason was absurd.

“Heavenly Immortal–level fiends flee in panic at the sight of my majesty. If not for me, those fiends would’ve gone on a killing spree using their despicable tricks.”

“In other words, I’ve saved the Nine Provinces—including you. You all owe me your lives. If I want to kill someone, then I will kill them!”

Daoist Dongxu wasn’t ready to give up, trying to prove his worth: “R-right, didn’t you want the final reward from me? I can tell you, just let me live…”

“Not necessary. My mission can fail, but you must die.” Jiang Li coldly cut him off, crushing his spiritual platform and tossing his body aside like trash.

“You b*stard!” The real Jiang Li was enraged. Ascension-stage energy surged through the dream world, vast and overwhelming.

“Some vermin dares spy on me!” Even though it was a memory, the First Emperor Jiang Li seemed to sense the two observers. He abruptly looked up.

“Who’s there!” The First Emperor hated the feeling. But despite exhausting all his methods, he found nothing.

With Daoist Dongxu’s death, the dream ended. Jiang Li and Bai Hongtu returned from the dream.

The dream shattered their understanding—they had seen alternate versions of themselves in another world.

Bai Hongtu was still at the Tribulation Stage. Jiang Li was still at the Ascension Stage. Their realms hadn’t changed, but their relationship was nothing like in reality.

The Nine Provinces of the dream felt utterly foreign to them.

“That was really you?” Bai Hongtu looked at Jiang Li, unable to associate the First Emperor with the man beside him.

“Probably.” Jiang Li had to admit, that so-called First Emperor was indeed himself from a parallel world.

“Why are your personalities so different?” Bai Hongtu was stunned. In the dream, he had the same personality as his real self.

“A person’s personality is shaped by many factors—being scolded or beaten as a child, bullied when weak, hearing certain words in moments of weakness… all of that can change someone. Who knows what kind of psychological trauma that ‘First Emperor’ guy went through.”

Jiang Li shot Bai Hongtu a glance. “Besides, it’s just a parallel world. Can you guarantee you’d be the same in every one of them?”

Bai Hongtu really couldn’t guarantee that.

“Whew—” Daoist Dongxu suddenly sat up like a zombie rising from a coffin.

He felt that none of his previous dreams had ever been this terrifying.

In the dream, he had no control over his actions—like a puppet on strings. He watched as the Tribulation Stage cultivators fought Jiang Li, only to be killed by him in the end.

“Thank goodness Jiang Li doesn’t exist in the real world…”

“Too bad. I exist here, too.” Jiang Li whispered right in Daoist Dongxu’s ear.

“Holy sh*t.” Daoist Dongxu jumped in fright. He thought he was about to be killed by Jiang Li in the real world, too.

“So you’re the Human Sovereign.” Seeing Jiang Li’s kind face, Daoist Dongxu suddenly felt lucky to be living in this Nine Provinces.

“I meant the First Emperor Jiang Li doesn’t exist in reality.” Daoist Dongxu tried to patch things up, cherishing the kind version of Jiang Li all the more.

Jiang Li shook his head. “Unfortunately, your dream was the memory formed just before your death in a parallel world. Which means, in that world, the First Emperor Jiang Li really existed.”

“The dream was a parallel world—not just my imagination?”

“Can you imagine how Tribulation Stage cultivators fight?”

Many of the techniques Yu Yin and the others used in the dream were consistent with the power level of the Tribulation Stage—but they had never used them before. Daoist Dongxu could never have imagined those things himself.

Instead, the First Emperor Jiang Li’s techniques didn’t require imagination—just fists and kicks. Simple and unadorned. A return to basics. Exactly like the real Jiang Li.

Daoist Dongxu lowered his head and quickly accepted the fact that Jiang Li’s personality could differ across worlds.

In fact, in many dreams he’d had, his other selves all had different personalities from his real self. It was precisely those personality differences that had led to his deaths in those parallel worlds.