Shrouding the Heavens: The Ultimate Daoist Venerable

Chapter 177 The Life of the First Divine General

In the original timeline, the Heavenly Court was already at its zenith, its power dominating all realms. The Emperor, referencing the five-colored altars that had existed since an unknown era, had paved the ancient star road across most of the human universe, thus expanding the Heavenly Court's influence to the very edge of the cosmos.

It can be said that at this time, the Heavenly Court truly had a situation where all under heaven belonged to the king, and all within the realm were subjects of the king. The lords of all realms and ancient stars bowed down to the Heavenly Court and submitted to it. The situation where heaven, earth, ghosts, and gods worshipped the emperor had already taken shape.

Furthermore, at this time, the Emperor and the Underworld Lord had already used the Ninety-Nine Dragon Mountain, which was transformed from Kunlun Immortal Mountain, to drain countless ancient life-bearing stars and forge the Origin Cauldron of All Things. Of course, at this time, the Underworld Lord, relying on the results of forging immortal artifacts, once again entered a transformation and disappeared without a trace, leaving the Underworld leaderless.

It was at this time that the Emperor began to refine the Nine-Turn Immortal Pill, inviting outstanding self-severed supreme beings like the Longevity Heavenly Venerable to extend their peak lifespan and join the Heavenly Court together, thus forming a grand scene where various supreme beings coexisted and jointly protected the supreme Emperor.

Then, the Emperor went a step further, joining forces with the Supreme Beings he had summoned to direct the Heavenly Court's military might towards other forbidden zones of life, thus beginning the divine war.

Of course, at the same time, these supreme beings also began to study a plan to combine the power of everyone to attack the path to immortality with the Immortal Cauldron and ascend to immortality as a whole sect.

One day, the Emperor, in his capacity as the Supreme Heavenly Emperor and Lord of the Heavenly Court, toured the heavens and traveled throughout the universe. However, the Emperor's entourage in that timeline was far more grand than that of the current Primordial Heavenly Lord, with a nine-dragon incense carriage, gods leading the way, celestial flowers raining down, the four spirits surrounding him, a golden road, and so on.

At that time, the Emperor still passed by Chuanying's hometown, and recalled some past events. Then, he casually restored this ancient star that was about to decline.

The young Chuanying witnessed this scene firsthand. The figure, who seemed like an unparalleled celestial emperor, saved his homeland from destruction with supreme divine power.

If it were any other ambitious young genius, they would probably have exclaimed on the spot, "This is what a true man should be like!"

But for Chuan Ying, a man of magnanimity, freedom, and sincerity, he only thought of repaying the other party. The others naturally scoffed, for their benefactor was the Lord of Heaven, the supreme deity on earth; what could Chuan Ying possibly repay him for?
But Chuan Ying had no idea whether he could do it or not; he was only determined to do it.

After achieving mastery of his cultivation, Chuan Ying left this ancient star and joined the Heavenly Court. Over the next hundreds and thousands of years, he continued to strive for excellence and eventually caught the eye of the Emperor, becoming one of the Emperor's most valued protégés. He frequently received guidance from the Emperor and was entrusted with high hopes.

Of course, the Emperor in that timeline didn't know that the young man had only joined the Heavenly Court to repay a debt of gratitude. He valued the young man only because of his character and talent.

Afterwards, Chuanying attained enlightenment in an unconventional way and became the first divine general in the Heavenly Court, witnessing and participating in the construction of the Heavenly Court's golden age.

But then, the situation took a sharp turn for the worse. The Emperor found it increasingly difficult to control his dark side, and he finally decided to sacrifice all the supreme beings on his path to immortality.

Thus began the nightmare that would haunt Chuan Ying for the rest of his life. On that day, the Emperor personally sealed him away, telling him that if the plan succeeded, he would take them all to become immortals; if the plan failed, the future of the Heavenly Court would be entrusted to him to protect.

It can be said that sealing away Chuan Ying and some of the Heavenly Court's direct descendants was the last act of kindness from the Emperor who was struggling.

At that time, Chuan Ying naturally did not see the complex emotions in the Emperor's eyes. He simply fell into a deep sleep with faith in the Emperor, preparing to welcome a bright future.

When he woke up again later, everything had changed.

He was awakened by some remnants of the Heavenly Court. From them, Chuan Ying learned that the Emperor was dead, and even the Heavenly Court had fallen. "The Emperor is dead, the gods of all realms are in chaos, the Heavenly Court has collapsed, and everything has crumbled in an instant..."

Chuan Ying couldn't believe it. How could the invincible emperor, who was unparalleled in the past and present, possibly fail, or die, and even have the Heavenly Court he had personally built destroyed?
But after witnessing the horrific scene of chaos in the universe, with all realms engulfed in war and all the order established by the Heavenly Court crumbling, he finally had no choice but to accept this reality.

Moreover, due to the Emperor's deliberate protection, by the time others found Chuan Ying and awakened him, nearly ten thousand years had passed. Although he thus avoided the first wave of direct purges launched by the Supreme Beings of the Forbidden Zones after the Emperor's death, this also led to the more thorough destruction of the Heavenly Court.

The emergence of the First Divine General gave the remnants of the Heavenly Court ample confidence. Thus, led by Chuan Ying, these people regrouped and wanted to rebuild the Heavenly Court.

Because of the Emperor's struggles and benevolence, his direct descendants were unaware of his bloody plans. Therefore, in their hearts, the Emperor remained the benevolent, decisive, and ambitious Heavenly Emperor. Thus, his legacy could not be completely destroyed.

At the same time, they directed their hatred towards the Underworld, the Eternal Heavenly Venerable, and the Undying Emperor who had not yet attained enlightenment, who had turned against them, as well as the remnants of the Kunlun clan. After all, it was they who had turned the Undying Emperor against them and lent him the blood-stained Immortal Bell, delivering the crucial blow.

However, precisely because of this, Chuan Ying, who wanted to rebuild the Heavenly Court, faced a combined attack from the Supreme Being of the Forbidden Zone and other local forces that had long desired independence. In the end, he still failed to rebuild the Heavenly Court. Even though Chuan Ying had achieved enlightenment through an unorthodox method and possessed the Immortal Ascension Cauldron, he could not change the overall situation.

This means that the Emperor entrusted him with protecting the future of the Heavenly Court, but he failed to do so. Thus, the Emperor's entrustment became a persistent nightmare for him, making his path to enlightenment even more difficult.

Next, Chuanying's second nightmare began.

Having prepared in advance, the Undying Emperor sealed himself for ten thousand years before emerging after the Emperor's Great Dao dissipated. He attained enlightenment before Chuan Ying and truly became the Undying Emperor.

The Emperor did not underestimate the Undying Emperor back then. He ushered in a new era, established an immortal divine dynasty, and was revered by all races. At the same time, his attainment of enlightenment completely shattered the hopes of Chuanying and the remnants of the Heavenly Court.

In fact, in order to protect themselves, they had to isolate themselves from the world and watch as everything left behind by the Heavenly Court and the Emperor was replaced and erased by the new divine dynasty of the Immortal Emperor, and the Heavenly Court became history.

In the long years that followed, Chuanying gradually fell into despair and disappeared from the mortal world. It wasn't until the post-ancient era, when the remaining divine organizations of the Heavenly Court and the remnants of the Undying Emperor's forces launched a full-scale war, sounding the Heavenly Court's horn, that he reappeared and participated in this great battle. By then, he had already reached his twilight years.

Ultimately, fueled by his inner demons, he challenged the Prison Suppressor King, who was impersonating the Underworld Lord and attacking the Emperor, buying Ye Fan considerable time before dying. Although he was defeated, the Prison Suppressor King only lived a few months longer.

Ye Fan described him as a divine being who would surely achieve enlightenment in a different era, and he certainly deserved that assessment.

However, when the open-minded and carefree Chuanying was entangled by his inner demons and could not break free, he also lost his hope and ambition to attain enlightenment.

Of course, in the current timeline, Yuanshi Tianzun did not transform into an emperor or establish a heavenly court, so Chuan Ying would not have experienced this tragic life.

(End of this chapter)