All of his pressure and burdens were temporarily put down. Wang Chong felt his soul and body both relax, each cell seeming to stretch.
In these circumstances, Wang Chong’s Psychic Energy spread out boundlessly, his mental senses taking in everything and increasing his understanding of spacetime, the laws of the world, and the various energies around him.
But at this moment, Wang Chong did not care about such things.
His mind had always been constantly whirring, thinking about so many things—not just martial arts, but also memories from that brief life of his before his transmigration.
All of this had formed a befuddling fog before his eyes, and in truth, he had long ago lost a clear image of who he was.
‘Only with a clear heart can you see your nature, and only then can you see your true self!’
The words the Sage Emperor had left behind rumbled in his mind.
At this moment, as if a giant hammer had slammed down, the befuddling fog in his mind was blasted apart, and all those countless meandering thoughts were blown away.
Buzz!
Wang Chong opened his eyes in shock, and at this moment, he saw the capital once more.
The upright and square walls, the numerous buildings and pavilions, the pedestrians walking the streets… all of these images shrank down until they eventually became like images on a chessboard.
As he looked down on the buildings of the capital, a thought occurred to him.
Time, space—aren’t all these buildings individual spaces? Perhaps I was wrong from the beginning. Space doesn’t need to just be sought from within, but can also be found without.
The essence of the Grotto Heaven realm might not be found by observing the miniature, but by observing the grandiose, Wang Chong said to himself.
Boom!
As he was thinking this, a boom came from the southwest. Turning to look, he saw a simple thatched hut near the city walls collapsing under the weight of snow.
Isn’t this the destruction of space…
With this thought, Wang Chong suddenly froze.
Neigh!
Hearing another disturbance, Wang Chong turned to look. It seemed that several martial artists had begun to fight on the street. The City Guard had taken notice and had swiftly organized into several groups that had begun to close around the fighting martial artists.
From Wang Chong’s perspective, he could see that one group of City Guard had formed a circle, as had the City Guard on the other side.
This was a classical tactic with which one could defend against attacks from other angles while advancing.
The two groups of City Guard drew closer and closer until, ultimately, they combined.
From Wang Chong’s perspective, it was two circles getting closer and closer until they fused. Wasn’t this the fusion of different spaces?
Wang Chong pondered the matter even more deeply.
Clingclang! Clingclang! The hammering of metal rang out through the snowstorm.
Turning to the sound, he saw thick plumes of smoke rising from the Zhang Clan estate as its smiths hammered metal. In the center of their estate, a metal contraption that was as large as a house rapidly took shape through the effort of ten-some Zhang Clan members.
This was a war machine being created for the frontline base in the northeast.
Isn’t this just the construction of a space? Wang Chong inwardly muttered to himself.
His mind was moving rapidly now. At this time, his understanding of Grotto Heaven realm laws had completely shifted. He had always believed that only by immersing himself in the laws of the world could he understand their fundamentals, but as he looked around, he realized that all things in the world were infused with its principles.
Crack!
Something seemed to break. Deep in Wang Chong’s mind, that immense and sturdy barrier suddenly fractured, a massive fissure spreading through it.
Buzz!
And as Wang Chong came to comprehend these principles, the world before him changed.
Chapter 2148 - The Grotto Heaven Realm, One Step to Heaven!
Chapter 2148: The Grotto Heaven Realm, One Step to Heaven!
Translated by: Hypersheep325
Edited by: Michyrr
Time slowed down to a crawl. The snowflakes drifting down seemed to become much lighter, drifting down at a much slower speed.
The scattered and miscellaneous knowledge and energy of the Grotto Heaven realm in Wang Chong’s mind were drawn by some invisible force, fusing with the chessboard-like projection of the capital in Wang Chong’s mind.
Wang Chong felt as if he had entered a mysterious world.
Boom!
After what seemed like an interminable second, the people of the capital heard a rumble of thunder. Now that he had broken through that barrier, Wang Chong had finally shattered his shackles and reached an even higher realm.
Even though he had broken through that barrier, Wang Chong’s growth was still too slow.
Still not enough! I have to go further!
As this thought passed through his mind, boom! Divine Embryos 1 and 2 jumped out and appeared at his side.
Thumpthump!
The two Divine Embryos placed their hands on Wang Chong’s shoulders, and the energy that had been seized from Firmament Supreme’s Grotto Heaven Core surged into his body.
With the aid from the two divine embryos, Wang Chong felt his strength rise, and his understanding of the Grotto Heaven realm instantly made a giant leap.
Boom!
But he wasn’t even done yet. With another rumble, the magnificent pavilion of the Trayastrimsa Heaven appeared behind him, all of its floors shining with an awesome light.
A moment later, the Trayastrimsa Heaven collapsed.
However, under the guidance of some invisible energy, the Trayastrimsa Heaven melded with the Grotto Heaven laws and worldly laws that Wang Chong had comprehended and began to reconstruct itself.
This was no longer the ordinary Trayastrimsa Heaven, nor was it the ordinary Origin Immortal Art. This was a new Trayastrimsa Heaven that had been rebuilt using the laws of the world, and its power was far greater than before.
Buzz!
With a moment’s thought, the dazzling pavilion began to rebuild itself, using these laws as its frame.
It started off with one floor, and with a great rumble, a second floor emerged, then a third, a fourth…
A seventh, eighth, ninth… eleventh, twelfth… The Trayastrimsa Heaven reconstructed itself far faster than it had first taken to build.
And at only the thirteenth floor, Wang Chong was already just as strong as he had been at level twenty-some of the previous Trayastrimsa Heaven, and he was still growing stronger.
Moreover, this new Trayastrimsa Heaven pulsed with ripples of spacetime power that had never been there before.
This was an ability that was entirely Wang Chong’s own.
Not even the creator of the Origin Immortal Art had imagined that the Trayastrimsa Heaven could be fused with the understanding of the Grotto Heaven Core.
Whoosh!
For ordinary people, the developments high in the sky were so far beyond their senses that they might as well have been taking place in another world. Yet this was not the case for several martial artists.
At the Su Residence, Su Zhengchen sat in a bamboo chair, his eyes closed. Suddenly, his eyes flew open in alarm as he sensed the shift in the skies.
“This is the Grotto Heaven… how?!”
Su Zhengchen had clashed with True Lord Yellow Dragon, and he had never expected to sense a similar energy now on Wang Chong.
One step to heaven!
Truly one step to heaven!
If one accounted for all the hidden experts in the world, there were actually quite a few experts who could reach the Subtle realm. But even amongst the men in black, those who could reach the Grotto Heaven realm were exceptionally rare.
And now, Wang Chong had managed to reach the Grotto Hea
ven realm, truly managing to reach heaven in a single step!
Starting from now, the number of people who could suppress Wang Chong could be counted with one’s fingers.
More importantly, Wang Chong was still growing stronger and stronger. It was impossible to say what level he would stop at.
Su Zhengchen was far from the only one who had sensed this development in the skies.
“Truly a heaven-blessed talent. Your Majesty, you chose correctly!”
In front of the imperial mausoleum, Eunuch Gao sat before his thatched hut, emotionally sighing as he sensed that change in the skies.
After ending his conversation with Wang Chong, he had merely concealed his energy, not left.
Not even Gao Lishi had imagined that simply relaying the Sage Emperor’s comment would allow Wang Chong to break through the threshold and reach the Grotto Heaven realm.
No one had ever used this method to break through before.
With this step in cultivation, no one in the Great Tang Empire besides the Sage Emperor and Li Xuantu could match Wang Chong.
At this moment, Wang Chong had squeezed his way into the top class of experts!
Gao Lishi had not expected this sort of progress, and he felt relieved.
As time slowly passed, Wang Chong’s aura grew stronger and stronger, and even the people in the capital began to feel a vague pressure. But a moment later, it vanished, as did Wang Chong in the sky.
……
The cold wave continued to advance, the weather growing colder and colder with each day. In the east, all the countries besides the Eastern Turkic Khaganate, which had just experienced a war, were peaceful on the surface, but the stench of war was growing thicker and thicker by the day.
In secret, the countries had already begun to muster their soldiers and gather supplies.
This was true from the lofty Ü-Tsang Empire to Goguryeo by the Eastern Sea. Even though the weather was getting colder and colder, thick plumes of smoke rose from the north. All the countries were forging weapons and expanding their armies.
This was an unprecedented sight. None of the countries made a noise, but all of them were silently expanding their armies.
And as preparations for war took place on the ground, the heavens also began to shift.
Amongst the constellations, the regions representing various countries all seethed with killing intent.
Ten-some days later, when that bleak and somber air had reached its maximum, an evolution finally took place.
Rumble!
At noon, without any warning, the capital began to shudder. Crack! A tall wall to the southwest suddenly collapsed, showering the ground with debris.
At the imperial observatory, the sundial-shaped observation platform fell into two pieces with a resounding crack.
The astrologers who had been studying the heavens cried out in alarm as they fell to the ground.
“What’s going on? The star observation platform is placed at the concentration of Dragon Qi and was built by Heavenly Master Yuan several hundred years ago. How could it suddenly fall apart?”
The astrologers cared little about the dust covering their bodies, staring in shock at the sundered observation platform.
Heavenly Master Yuan Tiangang from Taizong’s era was an existence idolized by all the official astrologers and sorcerers in the realm, with the stature of a mythical figure.
The observation platform erected by this man was exceptionally sturdy, and careful and exhaustive calculations had gone into its construction. Even when the rest of the world was crumbling, it had never shown any sign of damage. But now, the observation platform had fallen apart in a single day, leaving everyone reeling in disbelief.
“Several hundred years, Heavenly Master Yuan said, ‘So long as the sundial exists, the Great Tang will thrive. When the sundial collapses, disaster will come.’ This is an extremely ill omen!” an astrologer said, his face going pale.
As everyone else reeled in shock, an astrologer pointed at the sky and yelled, “Forget the observation platform! Look at the heavens!”
Everyone instantly turned their attention to the heavens.
Ordinary people could only see the stars, but astrologers saw something completely different.
All of the stars had dimmed, and in the southwest, northeast, and southeast, black energy seethed, obscuring the heavens. And if one looked around, it seemed as if countless stars were raining down.
“A shift in the stars, and the Central Plains is shifting! This is an ill omen that the fortune of the Central Plains is running dry!”
The leading imperial astrologer let out a grief-stricken cry.
Rumble!
As if in response to his words, in the great wilderness to the southwest, a majestic mountain range trembled. Countless stones spilled down from the slopes while mighty trees snapped at their trunks.
As if this massive mountain range had been struck by a massive impact, it suddenly broke into two halves.
Raaaah!
Deep within this mountain range, in a plane that normal eyes could not see, a massive dragon raised its body and painfully howled.
Deep in the mountains across the land, various astrologers turned ghastly pale.
In the southeast, northwest, and in Longxi, similar incidents took place. In some places, mountains broke apart, and in other places, rivers changed course, and still in other places, fissures opened up.
Countless buildings trembled and collapsed.
Within Taiji Palace, a door creaked open. Li Heng, still holding a memorial he had been reviewing, solemnly walked out.
Li Jingzhong quickly followed.
Shifts in the heavens affected all of the Central Plains, and the Imperial Palace, as the nexus of Dragon Qi, received far more of a shock than other places.
Chapter 2149 - Shift in the World! The Black Dragon Manifests!
Chapter 2149: Shift in the World! The Black Dragon Manifests!
Translated by: Hypersheep325
Edited by: Michyrr
As Li Heng stepped out, the earth beneath him shuddered. Cries of alarm came from the depths of the palace, from many of the palace maids and consorts who were frightened by this disturbance. Li Heng could even hear the shattering of porcelain tiles.
The Imperial Palace had fallen into chaos.
“Your Majesty, the palace is in turmoil. Why don’t we…”
Li Jingzhong looked hesitantly at Li Heng.
“There’s no need!”
Li Heng confidently waved his hand in refusal.
“We are the sovereign of the country. We will never leave so easily!”
Li Heng slowly raised his eyes to the sky. As the Son of Heaven of the Great Tang and the master of its Dragon Qi, Li Heng was extremely sensitive to shifts in Dragon Qi. When the heavens had shifted, Li Heng had felt his Dragon Qi pulse.
“Imperial Father, is this the moment you spoke of?
“We are not the sovereign of a vanquished country, and the Great Tang is not showing signs of being conquered. No matter what danger is coming, We will stop it and protect the country for the sake of its people!”
Li Heng’s robes danced around him, his eyes exploding with dazzling light.
To the southwest of the Imperial Palace, in the King of Foreign Lands Residence, Wang Chong’s original body was also observing the shift in the heavens.
Has the foundation of the world been shaken? Wang Chong asked himself as he looked up at the dark skies.
For Wang Chong, this was not some heavenly phenomenon. To the astrologers, there were many potential reasons for this massive shift in the Central Plains, including the drying up of Dragon Qi, but Wang Chong knew that all this had a very simple explanation.
The incessant surging of the cold wave in the north was due to the constant accumulation of energy from another world in this one. Once this energy hit a certain threshold, it would experience a qualitative transformation and begin to shake and eat away at the foundation of this wo
rld, resulting in all these shifts.
And all this was closely connected to Heaven and the men in black.
You won’t have it easy for much longer. One day, I’ll expose your true face and utterly destroy you. But before that…
Wang Chong slowly looked toward Youzhou.
Let’s kill your so-called Child of the World and end this war. An Yaluoshan, are you ready?
Rumble!
A lightning bolt blazed down from the heavens, streaking from the capital toward the distant northeast.
At this time, an entirely different scene was playing out in Youzhou.
Dark clouds obscured the sky, stretching all the way from the border with the Eastern Turks to the very tip of Goguryeo, a roiling sea of darkness. These seething dark clouds gathered around Youzhou, bringing Dragon Qi with them.
And if one looked carefully, one could see that the dark clouds had vaguely taken the form of a massive black dragon, coiling in the air with its claws bared in the direction of the capital as if it was cheering on An Yaluoshan.
Kacrack!
Lighting crackled within the clouds, making the black dragon seem even more savage and terrifying.
All the soldiers of Youzhou looked up at the sky in shock and awe.
All of them could see that the black clouds were most concentrated, the lightning the most dazzling, right above the Andong Protectorate headquarters, and that was also where the dragon’s head was.
There were even slender tendrils of lightning coming down from the ‘black dragon’ and landing on the Andong Protectorate headquarters, as if the two shared some mysterious connection.
As more and more dark clouds gathered, the black dragon grew larger and larger, exerting more and more pressure on those below.
It’s about time…
In front of the Andong Protectorate headquarters, Gao Shang slowly raised his eyes to the sky, a bright glint within them.
The world had shifted, and the black dragon had manifested!
Although Gao Shang had seen those records in his ancient texts, this was his first time seeing it with his own eyes.
The Human Emperor c1-2382 Page 1296
