Chapter 512: The Human Emperors
King Qinguang glanced at Jiang Li, then at the female ghost official smiling behind him, and silently rolled up the banner.
“When the female ghost official said you all remained in the Human Reincarnation Path, I thought it was a joke—I never imagined it was true.” Jiang Li grinned, his happiness genuine.
“The Underworld’s convention is to have immortals serve as ghost officials, but unfortunately, immortals who die in the Immortal Realm scatter their souls and cannot come to the Underworld. Meanwhile, the number of souls in the Underworld increases daily, becoming unmanageable. Considering that all past Human Sovereigns of the Nine Provinces fought Earthly Immortals with mortal bodies, barely touching the edge of ‘immortality,’ we made an exception to let them stay in the Underworld as ghost officials.”
The female ghost official continued, “However, not all Human Sovereigns can remain in the Underworld. Some who fought Earthly Immortals burned their souls completely, leaving no trace of them in the world. Those slightly better off arrived in the Underworld with fragmented souls. If they don’t reincarnate quickly to mend their souls, it becomes very dangerous. All things considered, only these dozen or so Human Sovereigns remain in the Underworld.”
Hearing this, Jiang Li felt sorrowful—only about a dozen out of seventy-one Human Sovereigns had intact souls.
The gathered Human Sovereigns swarmed around Jiang Li, chattering excitedly as they discussed this junior who could be called unprecedented in all of history.
Old Human Sovereign Lu couldn’t squeeze through the crowd of seniors and honestly stayed on the outermost edge.
Why didn’t you all welcome me like this when I first came to the Underworld?
“I’ve seen you before, back when the Celestial Ascension Ladder was still intact!” Yuan Shang pointed at Jiang Li, quite excited.
The Human Sovereigns were only interested in their junior’s deeds, not his appearance—the Immortal Realm doesn’t care whether you’re handsome or ugly, and Old Human Sovereign Lu never showed them what Jiang Li, Bai Hongtu, Yu Yin, and others looked like.
“First Human Sovereign, we meet again. I once traveled through the River of Time and met Emperor Shun. To help me see the truth, he brought me back nine thousand years. Originally, I shouldn’t have revealed myself, but when I saw you, I felt the opportunity was too rare and couldn’t resist greeting you. If I’d known we would meet again in the Underworld, I wouldn’t have shown myself then.”
The First Human Sovereign was one of the key figures in establishing the Human Sovereign system.
“Traveling through the River of Time? See, Little Lu, what did I tell you? All the souls from the Nine Provinces unanimously agree that Human Sovereign Jiang’s methods are peerless, that he masters the Dao of Time effortlessly. Yet you insisted it was absolutely impossible.”
The past Human Sovereigns would frequently question souls arriving from the Nine Provinces to gather news.
“Look! Little Li said it himself—he can move through the River of Time, even returning nine thousand years ago. If this doesn’t count as mastering the River of Time, then what does?”
“Little Lu, you’re just stubborn. I told you when I was alive that you needed to fix this flaw, but you wouldn’t change even in death.”
Old Human Sovereign Lu had the lowest seniority among all the Human Sovereigns—everyone could call him “Little Lu.”
Jiang Li gave an awkward laugh, unsure whether to claim he understood the Dao of Time or deny it.
“Human Sovereign Gong, I’ve long heard of your reputation. Commander Liu has spoken of you to me many times. He’s always been haunted by regret for not being able to save you back then.”
The twenty-seventh Human Sovereign surnamed Gong was the one who found Commander Liu and convinced him, then just a sapling, to become the commander of the Human Sovereign Hall.
History proved Human Sovereign Gong’s exceptional judgment—Commander Liu served the longest term and cared for all subsequent Human Sovereigns.
“That Little Liu, really… I told him on my deathbed that choosing him as commander wasn’t about raising him like some great medicine. I died on the battlefield, perishing together with the Outer Realm Demons—a worthy death. Why couldn’t he accept that?”
“Never mind. In a few thousand years, he should come to the Underworld too. I’ll tell him personally then.”
“Well, Human Sovereign Gong, you might not know this yet, but Commander Liu has already achieved immortality. You probably won’t see him for several thousand years.”
Human Sovereign Gong froze: “Achieved immortality? When?”
“This morning.”
“I killed a Celestial Immortal and gained some merit. After converting that merit into immortal power, I helped Commander Liu ascend to immortality.”
“Killed a Celestial Immortal?!” All the Human Sovereigns gasped in shock.
This junior was actually so ferocious? Wasn’t it said that those at the Mahayana Stage could only exchange blows with Celestial Immortals?
Since when could they kill them instead?
The female ghost official added from the side: “Not just that—he also knocked out King Chujiang with a single punch earlier.”
Hearing this, King Qinguang felt the urge to unfurl his banner again.
“Excellent, truly excellent!” Yuan Shang laughed heartily. This junior had really brought them an enormous surprise.
As long as Jiang Li was powerful, that was enough. The reasons didn’t matter.
“Counting it up, Commander Liu should be the first immortal from the Nine Provinces,” one Human Sovereign said while stroking his beard, laughter lines crinkling at his eyes.
“No, you’re forgetting to count Venerable Sumeru.”
At the mention of Venerable Sumeru Buddha, all the Human Sovereigns fell silent.
The female ghost official broke the silence first: “The Nine Provinces’ Sumeru was the only cultivator to achieve immortality after the Celestial Ascension Ladder broke, and also the only cultivator to come to the Underworld.”
“Venerable Sumeru… how could he… ah—”
Except for Yuan Shang who had higher seniority, all the other Human Sovereigns were juniors to Venerable Sumeru Buddha. From their position, it wasn’t appropriate to comment on him. Despite having countless thoughts, they could only sigh deeply.
Yuan Shang said: “Sumeru fought bloody battles for the Nine Provinces dozens of times. He even achieved his Tribulation Transcendence Stage breakthrough while fighting Outer Realm Demons. I originally thought he, like Senior Longbrow Buddha, could see through worldly attachments and comprehend the true meaning of the Mahayana Stage. I never imagined he would still be trapped by the Lifespan Tribulation and strike against mortals.”
Among the gathered past Human Sovereigns, some could defeat Outer Realm Demons, and Venerable Sumeru Buddha played a crucial role in this.
Venerable Sumeru Buddha survived three Ascension Tribulations and mastered the Dao of Space—his power was undeniable.
Conversely, without Jiang Li present, there truly would have been no one who could restrain and punish Venerable Sumeru Buddha after he achieved immortality.
The precedent of slaughtering common people for cultivation cannot be allowed—no exceptions for anyone.
Yuan Shang closed his eyes, recalling the scene: “I still remember when Sumeru died and wanted to visit Longbrow Buddha in the Human Reincarnation Path. He hesitated at the entrance, and I met him there.”
“At that time, I only thought his lifespan had ended and he came to the Human Reincarnation Path for reincarnation. With his hidden virtue, he could have stayed in the Underworld as a ghost official.”
“I warmly invited him into the Human Reincarnation Path and offered to guide him to Longbrow Buddha. But Sumeru suddenly broke down sobbing, too afraid to take even one step forward. He dropped to his knees, kowtowing repeatedly while crying that he had failed his master’s teachings, betrayed his master, and betrayed all living beings—that he didn’t dare face his master.”
“I never imagined a person could cry like that. Even I couldn’t bear to watch.”
“I went forward to comfort him, saying that Longbrow Buddha cared for all under heaven and would forgive any mistake. Unexpectedly, hearing this made him cry even harder. I couldn’t pull him up no matter how hard I tried.”
“Having no other choice, I went to fetch Longbrow Buddha so he could see what was wrong with his disciple.”
“When Longbrow Buddha and I returned to the entrance, Sumeru was already gone.”
“Later, we asked the ghost officials from King Yama’s side and learned that Sumeru had secretly set up arrays and killed nine million people to survive.”
“When Longbrow Buddha learned the news, he cried all night—crying for Sumeru’s unforgivable mistake, and crying for those nine million lives.”