Chapter 288 – The Era Belonging to Me Has Ended, Now It’s Your Era

As the eternal night vanished,

Everyone’s distorted five senses and consciousness began to recover.

Only then did they realize that the world around them had already reverted to its original clarity.

On the high platform, the Hundred-eyed Nether Crow, which had seemed like a cataclysm of world-ending proportions, had long disappeared, and the phenomenon of the heavenly palace was also nowhere to be seen.

The clouds in the sky had all dissipated.

A boundless clear sky, blue as if washed clean, with not a speck of cloud in sight.

There was only a faint golden light falling from the firmament, landing on the figure emanating a soft white halo.

This added another layer of golden glow to his body, which was already fascinating beyond words, as if he had just stepped out of a mythical legend.

It was Lu Yuan.

The transformation within Lu Yuan’s body was still ongoing.

This transformation was thorough, from the inside out, affecting both his spirit and body.

It required a certain amount of time.

Lu Yuan was not impatient; he enjoyed this process while also looking at the figure in front of him.

Wu Chao.

Lord of Heaven, Wu Chao.

At this moment, Wu Chao was very calm.

Neither of them exuded any aura; the air on the high platform flowed normally, the Hutian hung high, and the radiant glow remained.

Everything was peaceful.

It was as if they were just two ordinary people standing and simply talking to each other.

“What level are you breaking through to?” Wu Chao asked, looking into Lu Yuan’s eyes.

“Grandmaster,” Lu Yuan replied.

Wu Chao frowned, shaking his head, “Impossible, are you joking with me?”

“I’m not joking,” Lu Yuan took a deep breath, and the white halo around him expanded and contracted rhythmically with his breathing.

He could clearly sense the rapid and intricate process of his muscles, bones, and blood vessels reshaping and growing within his body.

“I’m breaking through to a true Grandmaster. As for you guys… you’re all false.”

Lu Yuan extended a hand towards Wu Chao, palm up, slowly curling his fingers.

In his palm, tiny white sparks flickered and danced like lightning.

He was showing something to Wu Chao, who watched intently.

Gradually, Wu Chao became mesmerized, his gaze immersed in Lu Yuan’s palm as if he was sinking into a bizarre and colorful world.

Lu Yuan’s fingers fully closed, and the white light in his palm disappeared. Only then did Wu Chao reluctantly look away.

“I never expected that after living two hundred and thirty-two years, I would realize at the moment of death that the path I’ve taken was wrong, was false… I’m unwilling, so unwilling…”

Wu Chao’s face was full of regret as he repeatedly lamented.

Suddenly, his eyes burned as he stared at Lu Yuan and asked, “Have you memorized my heavenly palace style martial arts?”

Lu Yuan was slightly taken aback but nodded, “Yes, I have.”

“Is it useful to you?”

Wu Chao asked again, his gaze fixed on Lu Yuan’s eyes.

A strange expression crossed Lu Yuan’s face, but he still nodded, “Yes, it is.”

“That’s good.”

Wu Chao seemed relieved, then instructed Lu Yuan, “Even if you haven’t memorized everything, it doesn’t matter. I’ve written down the essentials of the heavenly palace style martial arts. It’s all in the Hutian secret realm…”

Wu Chao meticulously told Lu Yuan where he had placed various items, emphasizing that Lu Yuan must remember to retrieve them.

It seemed as if he were entrusting his affairs and handling his belongings as one might on their deathbed.

Yet, it was clear that not long ago, they had been mortal enemies, fighting to destroy each other.

Lu Yuan seemed to understand something, listening quietly and occasionally nodding.

Having finished all his instructions, Wu Chao looked at Lu Yuan one last time, a peaceful and serene expression appearing on his face.

The way he looked at Lu Yuan changed significantly.

It was like the gaze of a true elder looking at a younger generation, and also like looking at a hope that had been sought but never attained, an extension of a will.

“May this battle today benefit you in some way,”

Wu Chao said softly as he looked at Lu Yuan, “The era belonging to me has ended, now it’s your era… You can go further than anyone else. Unfortunately… I won’t be there to see it.”

After speaking, the light in Wu Chao’s eyes quickly dimmed.

His face and body rapidly aged.

In just a few seconds, he transformed from a middle-aged man with a graceful demeanor into the likeness of a centenarian on the brink of death.

Lu Yuan watched as Wu Chao’s hair turned gray and fell out, his skin wrinkled and large black spots appeared, his form hunched and shriveled…

In the end, he became like decayed wood, dispersed completely by the wind on the high platform.

Looking at the remnants of white ash on the ground that was once Wu Chao, Lu Yuan thought about this former Lord of Heaven from Penglai, this legendary figure of the martial arts world, and how he had reduced to a mere pile of ashes…

For a moment, an inexplicable sense of melancholy and contemplation arose within him.

“Will I end up like this in two hundred years?”

Before this, Lu Yuan had never considered the question of longevity.

Because he was only 17 years old.

Like he had said himself, he was like the sun just rising at seven or eight in the morning.

He was still young, with plenty of time to squander.

But…

No matter how young he was now, time would always pass, and someday he would grow old.

“Longevity is an eternal topic… Can the abilities I have now allow me to live longer than the average person?”

Lu Yuan asked himself, but he could not find an answer.

He quickly brushed these distractions aside, along with the melancholy and reflections brought by Wu Chao’s death.

This wasn’t something he needed to consider now; he would deal with it when the time came.

Calming his thoughts, Lu Yuan looked ahead.

The platform was in ruins due to his battle with Wu Chao.

Only a set of stone steps in front remained intact.

These steps led straight up, their top disappearing into a void-shaped like a vase in mid-air.

A large area of radiant glow poured through the opening, just as he had seen when he first ascended the high platform.

Wu Chao was dead.

But the radiant glow remained.

This vase-shaped opening was the true entrance to Penglai.

According to Wu Chao, the real name of Penglai was the Hutian Secret Realm.

As for the steps leading to this realm, they were known as the Ascend the Heavenly Ladder.

From a distance, Lu Yuan could sense the chaotic yet faint pulses of will emanating from the stone steps.

It is said that the Ascend the Heavenly Ladder in Penglai holds the martial arts imprints of all Grandmasters from the past hundred years, providing a strong incentive for breakthroughs to the Grandmaster Realm.

Part of Lu Yuan’s purpose in coming to this island was for this ladder.

However, he hadn’t anticipated that he would need to pass trials on the island before ascending the Heavenly Ladder.

Having already successfully broken through to the Grandmaster Realm, the ladder was now useless to him.

Lu Yuan walked leisurely toward the stone steps.

As he got closer, he squinted his eyes.

Then, on either side of the steps, he saw various visions.

Each vision represented a mastery-level martial arts style, a Grandmaster-level martial arts will.

These visions varied: some were powerful, some were weak, some clear, some vague…

The shifting images dazzled the eyes.

These martial arts visions and Grandmaster wills intertwined, creating an immense mental pressure on the stone steps, crashing down like waves.

Lu Yuan lightly set his foot on the first step of the Ascend the Heavenly Ladder.

In an instant…

All the pressure evaporated, and the visions on either side of the steps disappeared.

With a calm expression, Lu Yuan began to walk slowly up the steps.

He noticed handprints, fingerprints, and fist marks left on the walls on either side of the steps…

Touching them, he could clearly sense the Grandmaster martial arts imprints contained within the marks.

He wasn’t in a hurry, observing as he ascended.

It felt as if he was reading through a century of the martial arts history of the Xia State.

…

Watching Wu Chao turn to ash and scatter in the wind.

For the spectators on martial saint island…

It felt as though a century had passed.

They observed the heavenly palace stand towering, then collapse.

Many of them were visibly stunned.

For many of them, just as they had stepped onto the martial arts path, the name of Lord of Heaven, Wu Chao, had already shaken the world.

Step by step, they climbed upwards in the martial arts world.

Skin Training, Muscle Training, Bone Training, Organ Training, martial master, True Intent, and finally to Grandmaster.

The higher they climbed, the more they felt the brilliance and majesty of that name.

It was like the blazing sun, only to be gazed upon, never to be reached.

Now, the great sun that had hung over the entire Ancient Martial Arts world of Xia State for two hundred years had set and extinguished.

The end of one legend marked the rise of another.

From now on, a new name would replace the Lord of Heaven, becoming the new sun that countless people in the pure martial world would look up to and revere.

Immersed in the atmosphere of this historic transition between old and new myths, those witnessing this moment, significant enough to be recorded in martial history, felt complex emotions and turbulent thoughts.

No one knew how much time had passed when someone suddenly realized something, blurting out, “Wasn’t he supposed to be the Contemporary Evil Emperor of the evil martial alliance? How come, until now, he hasn’t displayed any evil power?”

“Huh??!!”

Many were abruptly enlightened.

Thinking carefully…

Indeed, Lu Yuan was notoriously called “the Contemporary Evil Emperor of the deity martial alliance,” making an overwhelming entrance to the martial saint island.

He had defeated dozens of Grandmasters along the way, including The Five Elders of Penglai, and now even the legendary martial arts figure, Lord of Heaven, Wu Chao.

But throughout, he had only used pure martial arts without displaying any of the evil power typical of an evil martial artist.

Damn…

Could it be that even after defeating the Lord of Heaven… he still had some power left in reserve?!

This conclusion left everyone astounded.

All their previous sentiments evaporated.

If this was indeed the case…

Then what they had witnessed today was not the emergence of a new sun replacing the old.

Instead…

The only sun of the Ancient Martial Arts world had been engulfed by a cataclysmic disaster, and henceforth, the Ancient Martial Arts world might be entering an unprecedentedly long dark age!

“Master, the Lord of Heaven is dead…”

On the side of the Rock-Smashing Style, a disciple muttered blankly.

Suddenly, with a “boom,” the ground beside them exploded, and a shadow seemed to dash past their eyes.

The group of Rock-Smashing Style disciples instinctively turned their heads-

Only to see their sect leader, a silver-haired old man, sprinting towards the edge of the island at an unbelievable speed.

That graceful and swift figure was identical to how he had eagerly rushed ahead to ascend the island earlier.

Leaving the group of Rock-Smashing Style disciples completely dumbfounded.

“God Emperor for a thousand years, unify Penglai! Deity martial is the true supreme path, haha!”

At this moment, several Protectors from the evil martial alliance were the most exhilarated.

Seeing the Lord of Heaven, Wu Chao, dead and Penglai’s martial saint island completely conquered by Lu Yuan, the years of accumulated frustration felt by the members of the evil martial alliance were released all at once.

Ever since its inception, the evil martial alliance has had an irreconcilable ideological conflict with the pure martial world.

The evil martial alliance, in its many years of existence and through dozens of Evil Emperors, had never done anything but be suppressed and captured by Penglai. Never before had there been such a monumental achievement-

The Contemporary Evil Emperor single-handedly smashing through all of Penglai!

Even the legendary figure of the pure martial world, the Lord of Heaven, had been slain, and Lu Yuan hadn’t even used his most formidable power of the evil deity.

The Protectors of the evil martial alliance were indescribably elated. Even those who previously harbored doubts now found themselves utterly devoted to Lu Yuan, who stood high on the platform, swearing to follow him to the death.

Each one unleashed their evil energy without restraint, as if cheering and amplifying the might of the strongest God Emperor in their hearts.

Just as various upheavals began to break out across Penglai’s martial saint island, due to the conclusion of the battle on the high platform, a sudden and immensely strong wave of evil energy rippled across the skies above the island.

This wave, rising abruptly like a tidal wave, surged in all directions, drawing everyone’s attention instantly.

Then, a cold and indifferent voice echoed through the heavens and the earth.

“That waste Wu Chao… is dead?”