Covering the Sky: A Guide to Proving the Dao Without Cheats

"For example, outside this world, there is another strange little world."

Although it is not a true immortal realm, it contains substances that promote longevity. If one can enter it, cultivate diligently, and remain in the world long enough, one may hope to gradually step into the realm of immortality.

"This method does not require high talent or comprehension. If you two seniors have disciples who aspire to the path of immortality, perhaps they can obtain an opportunity through this method."

Upon hearing this, Wei Yi's gaze shifted slightly, and he gave Luo Heng a deep look.

Gai Jiuyou first showed surprise, then his expression turned focused, and he glanced at Xia Jiuyou beside him without leaving a trace.

Xia Jiuyou noticed her master's gaze, first looking back in confusion, then suddenly realizing something, her face flushed red, and she turned her head to glare fiercely at Luo Heng.

Luo Heng felt helpless after being glared at for no reason, but he had no intention of arguing with this spoiled girl. He simply glanced at Wei Yi without showing any emotion and continued speaking.

He only realized this when he saw Wei Yi: the deal he made with Gai Jiuyou was a win-win situation, but for someone like Wei Yi who also aspired to walk the path of the gods and even challenge the immortal path, it was tantamount to announcing a kind of "exit" in advance.

That's why he specifically mentioned a second method to become an immortal, just to give Wei Yi a glimmer of hope.

"Speaking of the second method of becoming an immortal, we must mention a figure - the Desolate Emperor."

Since we've come to this topic, I might as well share some of the history I know with you two predecessors, so that you can have a general understanding of the enemies and potential allies we may encounter in the future.”

Seeing Gai Jiuyou and Wei Yi nod slightly, Luo Heng continued, "The earliest history I know of this world can be traced back to the Immortal Ancient Era. At that time, the Immortal Realm was connected to this world, and it was a glorious era when immortals truly descended."

In that era, as long as a cultivator reached the level of the second level of immortal power, they could ascend to the immortal realm.

Saints in the immortal realm can be called immortal and indestructible.

However, later on, all the rules underwent a complete transformation.

During the Immortal Ancient Era, a fierce war broke out, in which almost all the immortals of the Immortal Realm perished, and the Immortal Realm itself suffered severe damage and destruction.

After the Immortal Realm was damaged, no immortals descended again, and it was completely cut off from this world.

The laws of the Immortal Realm began to strongly repel outsiders. Anyone who attempted to forcibly enter the Immortal Realm would suffer indiscriminate backlash attacks from the laws of the Immortal Realm. Even a powerful emperor would be unable to successfully ascend.

However, there is always a way out. Occasionally, spatial rifts appear in the Immortal Realm, which become a glimmer of opportunity to enter the Immortal Realm—the so-called "fleeting moment" on the path to immortality.

However, the conditions for this opportunity are extremely demanding, and almost no one has been able to seize it and enter the Immortal Realm.

To embark on this path to immortality, one must meet three conditions: the right time, the right location, and the right person. Only when all three conditions are met can one seize this once-in-a-millennium opportunity and step into the immortal realm.

The Immortal Ancient Era was followed by the Chaotic Ancient Era. The destruction of the Immortal Ancient Era meant that no one could become an immortal during the Chaotic Ancient Era.

Until the end of the chaotic era, the Desolate Heavenly Emperor emerged. He established the Heavenly Court and also forged the Desolate Tower, a powerful celestial artifact.

Due to serious problems and damage to the Immortal Realm, the Desolate Emperor made several attempts to repair it, but all failed.

I suspect that the strange little world was created by the Desolate Heavenly Emperor when he tried to repair the Immortal Realm. Of course, this is just my speculation and is not yet certain.

After that, the Desolate Emperor repeatedly attempted to forcefully breach the spatial rifts in an effort to invade the Immortal Realm, but each attempt ended in failure. The locations where he attacked the spatial rifts are now the 'Paths to Immortality' scattered throughout the universe.

Although the Desolate Emperor initially failed in his attempt to ascend to immortality, he ultimately lived nine lifetimes in this world through his talent and ability, achieving immortality in the mortal realm, and can be called a Mortal Immortal.

Only after becoming the Empress of the Mortal Realm did the Desolate Heavenly Emperor finally succeed in entering the Immortal Realm.

However, the specific process by which the Desolate Heavenly Emperor forcibly entered the Immortal Realm and ultimately conquered it has gradually become incomplete in the transmission of the legend. Due to the incomplete information, only the legend that "as long as one enters the Immortal Realm, one can become an immortal" has been left behind, which has sown the seeds of great disaster for later generations.

Therefore, the material for immortality is scarce in this world, and even the Great Emperor, who is at the pinnacle of humanity, cannot achieve immortality.

Therefore, in mythology and ancient times, most celestial beings and ancient emperors chose to cut off their own lives and survive in the world in an extremely difficult way.

They would stop at nothing and pay any price to survive, all in order to wait for the moment when the path to immortality opens.

And the places where these supreme beings who severed their own lives lived in seclusion were those forbidden zones of life.

These are the enemies we will face in the future.

According to the information I have, there are currently seven forbidden zones for life on the Big Dipper: the Ancient Wilderness Forbidden Land, the Primordial Ancient Mine, the Celestial Realm, the Immortal Tomb, the Divine Ruins, the Undying Mountain, and the Sea of ​​Reincarnation.

Among these seven forbidden zones of life, apart from the Ruthless Great Emperor and the Great Accomplished Holy Body in the Desolate Ancient Forbidden Land who are allies, the more than twenty self-severed supreme beings sleeping in the other six forbidden zones will all be our enemies in the future.

At this point, while Luo Heng only looked somewhat solemn, Gai Jiuyou and Wei Yi both paused in their breathing.

In their view, each of those supreme beings in the forbidden zones was a celestial being from the mythical era or an ancient emperor, none of whom were weaker than the human emperors.

I have now heard that more than twenty such beings are sleeping in the forbidden zone of life.

Therefore, even with their current state of mind, they couldn't help but feel a heavy pressure coming their way.

Luo Heng, on the other hand, did not feel so heavy-hearted, after all, he knew that there was a huge gap between emperors.

Therefore, he did not notice the solemn expressions on Gai Jiuyou and Wei Yi's faces, and continued talking.

"After the chaotic ancient era ended, the mythological era began. In this era, nine celestial beings dominated the world and possessed extremely powerful strength."

Among them, Cao Yusheng, the Heavenly Venerable Who Transcended Tribulation, was a Heavenly Venerable who attained enlightenment in the early stages of the mythological era, and is very likely the first Heavenly Venerable. He is also a highly legendary figure.

Initially, he was a close friend of the Desolate Heavenly Emperor, but unfortunately died in battle, and the Desolate Heavenly Emperor buried his remains. But who could have predicted that in the age of mythology, his corpse would become sentient, develop consciousness, and successfully attain enlightenment, becoming the later Tribulation-Transcending Celestial Venerable?

Later, after the death of the Celestial Venerable of Tribulation, his corpse surprisingly regained its spiritual power. At the end of the mythological era, he attained enlightenment through both the path of corpses and the art of origin, becoming known as the Netherworld Venerable and also the Netherworld Emperor.

The Origin Technique lineage in the cultivation world today is the legacy he left behind.

Furthermore, I suspect that he is also on a special path to immortality, but you two need not worry.

Based on my understanding of the Desolate Emperor and Cao Yusheng, he shouldn't become our enemy. If we encounter him in a future great war, he might even be our ally.

Luo Heng felt that Duan Pangzi would not be of much use in the upcoming battle, so he didn't introduce him in detail and just mentioned him briefly.

"The last Celestial Venerable of the Mythological Era was the creator of the secret of the character '皆'."

In his later years, he abandoned all divine arts and laws, even his Taoist cultivation, and disappeared without a trace.

When he reappeared in the world, he was already an infant.

Born of nature, he devoured the essence of all things in the universe upon his birth, reaching the highest level of power. His strength was unparalleled and unprecedented throughout history.

After that, he roamed freely across the heavens and the earth, invincible in the world, forging an incomparably glorious path. On this path, no one could hinder him in the slightest, and the entire universe submitted to him.

Since then, he has been known as the "Emperor," ending the reign of the supreme Celestial Venerable in the mythological era and becoming the most revered person throughout the ages, with the saying "Heaven, Earth, and all spirits worship the Emperor."

He founded the ancient Heavenly Court, ruling over all the heavens and realms, revered by all the gods of the world, who flocked to pay homage. He established heavenly laws and regulations, which all gods were required to obey, daring not to disobey. It was an extremely glorious era.

Moreover, the Emperor and the Underworld Lord were both teacher and friend, and his Heavenly Court and the Underworld Lord's Netherworld echoed each other, jointly ruling the rise and fall of the era.

However, he was not satisfied with this; he wanted to become an immortal.

Therefore, he led the ancient Heavenly Court to conquer the dynasty established by the remnants of the Kunlun clan, attempting to seize their supreme ancestral artifact, the "Kunlun Immortal Bell." However, the Immortal Bell ultimately flew away, and he failed to obtain it.

Unwilling to accept defeat, the Emperor and the Underworld Lord joined forces and descended upon Kunlun with ninety-nine dragon mountains to nourish the Kunlun Immortal Pool. They then refined the Immortal Cauldron within the pool, which is now the incomplete Green Cauldron, a treasure of Central China.

At this moment, he seemed not to want to become an immortal alone, but to lead the Heavenly Court he founded to ascend together and enter the Immortal Realm.

To this end, he refined a batch of Nine-Turn Immortal Pills. This pill could extend the lifespan of several self-severing Supreme Beings by two thousand years.

With everything prepared, he successfully broke through the barrier of the Immortal Realm using the Immortal Ascension Cauldron.

But at that moment, it seemed that a force came from another realm and confronted the Emperor.

At that time, no one knew what happened, but the Eternal Heavenly Venerable and other supreme beings launched a merciless sneak attack.

The Undying Emperor, who had not yet attained enlightenment but was regarded by the Emperor as the successor of the Heavenly Court, also launched his most terrifying attack at the critical moment with the Immortal Bell given to him by the Kunlun clan.

Furthermore, the beings within the forbidden zones of life also reached their zenith, joining forces to block the Emperor, who was caught in a dilemma and trapped in the Immortal Realm passage.

After this battle, the Emperor vanished from the universe. The Undying Emperor also sealed himself away with his immortal essence.

At this point, Luo Heng paused, his mind flashing with many thoughts about the Emperor.

When Ye Fan talked about the Immortal Emperor, he once said, "Even a pig that has lived for millions of years would have become a spirit, or even an immortal, let alone an emperor who has never severed his own body. I am improving, and he is improving too!"

So here's the question: what was the final performance of the Emperor who was even more ancient than the Undying Emperor?

Luo Heng estimated that in the mythological era, the strength of an Emperor Venerable was roughly at the level of a Heavenly Emperor. It's important to understand that the Nine Secrets were created separately by nine Heavenly Venerables. For the secret techniques created by these nine Heavenly Venerables to perfectly combine would be nothing short of a fantasy.

Therefore, the only reasonable explanation is the secret of the Emperor's character "皆".

As the last Celestial Venerable of the mythological era and the creator of the "All" secret technique, only the "All" secret technique created by the Emperor Venerable could potentially unify the other eight secret techniques and thus unleash that astonishing strike.

In other words, the so-called "Nine Secrets Combined into One, Unrivaled Throughout History" is most importantly created by the Emperor alone.

This demonstrates the Emperor's talent and brilliance.

This also explains why, in the original work, after cultivating the "All" secret, the probability of triggering the "All" secret increases by 10% for each additional secret mastered.

The other eight secret techniques seem to be independent techniques, with no special connection to the other nine secret techniques.

Moreover, the Emperor described in the early part of the novel "Covering the Sky" is a typical righteous character who cares about the world and is determined to lead his sect to immortality.

Furthermore, the relationship between the Emperor and Ye Fan is quite delicate. The first great treasure Ye Fan obtained was a fragment of the Emperor's Immortal Ascension Cauldron.

The first of the nine secrets he obtained was the Emperor's "All" secret. Even the Primordial Qi of All Things that Ye Fan obtained was collected by the fragments of the Immortal Ascension Cauldron. Ye Fan's second life was also thanks to the humanoid elixir of immortality that the Emperor possessed back then.

Furthermore, the cultivation paths taken by the two were extremely similar, both pursuing invincibility in their time, and even their weapons were the same, both using cauldrons as imperial weapons.

Ye Fan was even once considered to be a flower similar to the Emperor.

In truth, the Emperor was more like Ye Fan's protector. After all, the Nine Mystic Elixir of Immortality was given to Ye Fan by the Great Perfection Sacred Body; and the acquisition of the Root of Mother Qi of All Things was aided by the fragments of the Immortal Ascension Cauldron.

Even during the dark turmoil, when Ye Fan was repeatedly on the verge of death, the Ruthless Great Emperor did not directly intervene until the Abandoned Heaven Supreme threatened Little Nannan, at which point she finally struck and killed him.

In truth, the Ruthless Great Emperor didn't offer Ye Fan much direct assistance. On the contrary, the Ruthless Yao Guang lineage constantly pressed forward, making them arguably Ye Fan's most troublesome enemy in the early stages.

Therefore, many readers speculate that in the initial plot conception of "Covering the Sky", the Emperor was likely set as the righteous side, while the Ruthless Great Emperor was more inclined to be the villain.

Furthermore, judging from the order in which the humanoid Heavenly Tribulations appeared, the Emperor who appeared last should also be the strongest.

However, this emperor, who initially possessed an extremely high level of prestige and was full of foreshadowing and hidden plot points, suddenly appeared at the end and was regarded as the biggest villain.

What's frustrating is that this so-called biggest villain met his end in just a few dozen words.

In this light, the Emperor is not even as good as a pig.

The biggest flaw in Emperor Zun lies in the ending. As the ultimate villain, he lay low for many years, meticulously planning to forge the World Cauldron, only to be easily blocked by the Investiture of the Gods, a contingency plan left by the Great Emperor Wushi.

It's important to know that Wushi, who left behind the Investiture of the Gods, was not yet a mortal immortal. Yet, this contingency plan he left behind turned the Emperor's years of scheming into a laughing stock.

Furthermore, when Duan De was the Underworld Lord, he was both a teacher and friend to the Emperor, yet the Emperor held no precautions against him. It's worth noting that Ye Fan was able to find Duan De's reincarnation even before he became a Mortal Immortal.

In the end, the Emperor seemed to be under a spell that made him lose his intelligence. Despite not having the strength to fight multiple opponents, he actually jumped out to his death.

Moreover, after so many years of lying low, his plan only involved the World Cauldron, with no other backup plans.

In reality, the Emperor could either join forces with the Undying Emperor, which would at least allow him to rival the main characters; or he could proactively join Ye Fan and his group, since Ye Fan and the others had no reason to kill the Emperor.

When Duan De was the Lord of the Underworld, he and the Emperor respectively controlled the Heavenly Court and the Underworld. The two lived in peace and had a relationship that was both teacher and friend.

Ye Fan received many favors from the Emperor. Wu Shi was basically playing around with the Undying Emperor, while Ruthless was single-handedly taking on the Feathered Divine Dynasty. None of them had any enmity with the Emperor.

The Emperor's greatest plan, the World Cauldron, has remained merely a verbal construct. So many years have passed, and no one has died because of the World Cauldron.

The early Emperor possessed both strength and wisdom; otherwise, he wouldn't have chosen to fake his death to escape after being betrayed, and instead patiently orchestrate his plans for the entire world.

But the emperor in the end had neither strength nor intelligence. It seemed that he had wasted millions of years and just jumped out to die for nothing.

What a divine start, what a clown-like ending.