Zhatian: I, Haotian, am the first emperor of the human race!

Chapter 600 (Extra Chapter 4): The Origin of Everything!

The moment they saw the sick old man, Huang, Ye, Chu, Wushi, and the Empress, these five beings who stood at the pinnacle of all heavens, were simultaneously shaken.

Without words or deductions, the moment their gaze met that seemingly ordinary elderly sick man in the courtyard, a torrent of information transcending time, space, and causality surged into the depths of their souls.

In a single thought, everything becomes clear.

original……

The seemingly frail old man before them is the original source of all entanglements and light and shadow in this vast universe, endless time and space, and even in their own path.

The world was not born naturally, but rather originated from a grand and profound "dream" of His.

Because its realm has already transcended the boundary between reality and illusion, the dream becomes reality.

Thus, the long river of time came into being, all living beings came into being, there were joys and sorrows, and there was also darkness and misfortune that has lasted for eternity.

The eerie and ominous power that permeated all worlds, triggered countless grand sacrifices, and caused countless heroes to shed their blood, was originally, in essence, the "disease" and "ashes" left behind by Him in His pursuit of a higher realm of enlightenment and His constant sacrifice of everything.

The three Heavenly Emperors, namely Huangtian Emperor, Yetian Emperor, and Chutian Emperor, looked at each other and saw indescribable complex emotions in each other's eyes.

Shock, realization, a touch of absurdity, and profound感慨.

They fought countless battles throughout the ages, quelled the darkness and turmoil, and overthrew the eerie plateau. But what they ultimately faced was a "lesion" left behind by the "Creator".

Because the three of them had come into contact with the ancient bronze coffin from Him, their appearances and life marks were deeply imprinted with a connection to Him, thus enabling them to clearly perceive this call that transcends time and space.

The Empress's expression showed an unusual moment of bewilderment.

Her cool gaze fell on the sick old man, and from his peaceful yet endlessly weathered aura, she caught a familiar fluctuation that came from the depths of his soul.

That is……

The scent of my brother.

The three individuals, Huang Yechu, Huang Yechu, and Huang Yechu, are similar to the sick old man because of their karmic connection caused by their contact with the ancient coffin.

The source of her memory of her warm but short-lived brother was actually a wisp of thought that the "Creator" had infused into the grand dream, or rather, a role that He "played" in the dream.

It turns out that the starting point that haunted her dreams, led her to enlightenment, and ultimately brought her to the pinnacle was something quite unbelievable.

"So that's it..."

The Empress lowered her head silently, her long eyelashes trembling slightly.

Instead of the expected excitement, anger, or sadness, what surged in my heart was an indescribable sense of relief.

It was as if a knot in her heart that had bound her for countless ages had been silently smoothed out at this moment. She reached out her cold hand and tightly grasped Lin Hao's warm hand beside her.

The warmth of my palm came through, firm and powerful.

Yes, everything in the past, no matter how unbelievable the cause, is now in the past. Obsessions have been resolved, and regrets have been made up for.

Now, she has an even more important bond with someone by her side, someone she can walk alongside and spend eternity with.

Let bygones be bygones.

Huang, Ye, and Chu's faces turned somewhat dark.

Anyone who learns that their turbulent, blood-and-fire-filled life, and even the ultimate darkness they fought against, all stemmed from a "dream" and "illness" of this "patient" before them, would likely find it difficult to remain calm.

Looking at the elderly man with a peaceful smile, they finally loosened their clenched fists, letting out a soft sigh almost simultaneously.

At their level, they can see through eternity of time and space with a single glance and understand all the causes and consequences.

The river of time is like a book that they can freely turn the pages of.

They "saw":
In the beginning, which cannot be described as "ancient," the sick old man was the first and only one in the world to step onto the "path of sacrifice."

In order to explore a higher and farther path, He embarked on an extreme path—constantly "sacrificing" everything within Himself: His spiritual cultivation, physical body, soul, memories, emotions...everything.

Gradually, the excessive "sacrifice" brought about an irreversible "illness".

He grew weak, and his very existence began to crumble. In the end, He sacrificed his last physical form, his remains were cremated, and the ashes were placed in a stone jar and buried on a remote plateau, hoping that in eternal silence he might find transcendence.

Later, the plateau shook, the stone jar overturned, and the ashes scattered.

His ashes, containing his supreme origin and the concept of "illness," combined with the plateau, gave birth to a hazy will.

This will, imbued with the "illness" and "annihilation" characteristics of the ashes, transformed into the source of all the strangeness and misfortune in later generations—the Plateau Consciousness.

Darkness was born from this, and has lasted for eternity.

The sick old man raised a cup of tea that had been prepared on the stone table and offered it a toast to Lin Hao from afar.

The tea in the cup is clear, reflecting the eternal starry sky.

This respect is a gesture of reverence between those of equal standing, and an acknowledgment of Lin Hao, who later also reached the pinnacle and altered the trajectory of many "dreams."

Then, He looked at Huang, Ye, and Chu, whose expressions were complex, with a peaceful yet complicated smile on His face, His voice gentle yet clear:

"Come on, give me a break."

The Desolate Emperor's eyes twitched slightly, the Ye Emperor took a breath, and the Chu Emperor snorted. "You've brought us, and all the myriad realms, so much trouble," the Desolate Emperor said, his voice unreadable, "and now you want to just walk away?"

"This cause and effect cannot be resolved with just a cup of tea," Emperor Ye said calmly.

“That’s right.” Emperor Chu grinned, revealing a sharp smile. “We have to leave something behind.”

As soon as they finished speaking, the three of them did not use any earth-shattering supernatural powers. Instead, they casually threw a punch at the sick old man in the courtyard at the same time.

This punch, devoid of killing intent, contained the life's work of the three of them, their letting go of the "past," their severing of "cause and effect," and their final farewell to this "source."

The force of the punch passed without a sound.

The image of the sick old man was like a sand painting blown away by the wind, starting from the edge and turning into tiny, shimmering particles of light, slowly dissipating.

The smile on His face remained unchanged, and the joy and emotion in that smile eventually merged into the particles of light.

There was no earth-shattering explosion, no tragic and horrific scene, only an almost silent annihilation.

Huang, Ye, and Chu withdrew their fists and stood still. Their expressions showed no joy of victory, but rather a faint, indescribable melancholy.

It was as if we had said goodbye to a special, deeply entangled old friend.

They now held a cup of tea, identical to the one the sick old man had just held.

The three exchanged a glance and raised their glasses simultaneously.

"Respect the past," said the Desolate Emperor.

"Respect cause and effect," said Emperor Ye Tian.

"Respect... liberation," said Emperor Chu Tian.

Three teacups gently clinked together in mid-air.

"Ding~"

A clear, melodious sound rang out.

However, a strange echo of a fourth cup clinking resounded in the courtyard, long and clear, as if in an unseen dimension, another person was raising a cup with a smile, drinking with them.

In a daze, they seemed to see the old man's illusory figure reappear for a moment deep within the dissipated light particles, raising his cup to them in greeting, then tilting his head back and drinking the "tea" in the cup in one gulp.

The smile froze, and finally, with the lingering echo, it completely dissipated into the world, leaving no trace.

Lin Hao also picked up a cup of tea at some point. He raised the cup in the direction where the sick old man had disappeared, offered a gentle toast, and then drank it all.

Although the other party is the source of all the strange and ominous things in the world, and the indirect initiator of the eternal blood calamity.

However, his realm of understanding, his unwavering pursuit of the Tao, and his composure in the face of "end" are all worthy of this respect.

Wu Shi watched this scene quietly, his heart filled with countless emotions.

The truth of the world, the liberation from the source, the severing of cause and effect... all of this happened in peace, yet it shook the Dao heart more than any great war.

Just then, Lin Hao suddenly turned his head to look at his son, a man of quiet temperament who had spent most of his life alone, and his tone became somewhat casual:
"When are you going back? Your mother is urging you."

Wu Shi's eternally unchanging expression froze for an almost imperceptible moment.

“Father,” he said helplessly, “the path to enlightenment is boundless, and for now… I only wish to explore it alone.”

In his view, marriage and finding a partner ultimately depend on fate and cannot be forced. He felt that his destiny had not yet arrived, or rather, he did not take it to heart.

Lin Hao shrugged, with an "I knew it" look on his face: "Go tell that to your mother."

Thinking of the gentle yet firm gaze of the Western Emperor's mother, and the actions she might take, Wu Shi sighed softly, a faint, almost imperceptible hint of distress appearing on his usually stern face.

“My mother… will probably send me through reincarnation, and then ‘just so’ arrange some people for me.”

His tone was filled with understanding of his mother's methods and a hint of "awe".

Lin Hao patted him on the shoulder and smiled helplessly.

With this matter resolved, the greatest secret and the source of cause and effect in all the heavens has been eliminated.

The group glanced once more at this land of origin, now restored to eternal tranquility, then turned and began their journey home.

Behind me, the courtyard, the old tree, the stone bench... along with that frozen moment in time, gradually blurred and eventually disappeared into the endless mist of time, as if they had never existed.

Only the lingering sound of the teacups clinking seemed to still echo gently in some dimension of time and space.

"Ding!"

...

...

P.S.: Next, I will write side stories about Wu Shi and Huang Ye Chu, and then I will also write some daily stories about the main characters and Xi Huang. Finally, I will write some side stories about other emperors. If there is any character you would like to see, please leave a message and I will write about them.

　new book!
　　
　
(End of this chapter)