Emperor of Nine Suns

The pitch-black sky covered the entire area. Within the darkness, a huge mountain was faintly visible, reaching high into the clouds.

From the window, it looked like an unknown ancient beast that stood between heaven and earth. When lit up by the occasional lightning, it gave off a foreboding feeling. 

At the foot of the mountain were several dozen houses made from tile and bricks. Flickering lights could be seen shining through these houses and was quickly swallowed up by the darkness.

Crack!

A flash of lightning accompanied by thunder branched outwards from the edge of the sky in an arc, bringing with it a dazzling bright light that disappeared in an instant.

The next moment, a loud thunderous boom exploded as though it was an ear numbing roar from the heavens. 

Boom!

In a small hut, a young girl slightly over ten years old was shocked by the thunder which caused her to loosen her grip, dropping the celadon teacup on the floor, smashing it to bits. The young girl shook in fear and nervously rushed to the bedside, her eyes filled with tears.

"Brother Chu Chen, when are you waking up..."

At that moment, a teenage boy around 14 or 15 years old was lying in the bed. He had handsome features. Although he was in a deep slumber, flashes of pained expression would occasionally appear on his tender face. There was an unusual red hue that appeared on his skin that would send shivers down the spine of those who witnessed it.

The teenage girl carefully touched the young man's cheeks and immediately retracted her hand. The young man's body temperature was surprisingly hot, but his sweat was bone-chilling. It was a very weird phenomenon.

"Brother Chu Chen, please be safe…"

Observing the pained expression on the young man, the teenage girl felt sad and hurt. She cried for a little while, then dried her tears. After that, she sat cross-legged beside the bed. Her hands stretched forward as she concentrated with her eyes closed. Her beautiful doll-like face had a hint of determination in it.

Immediately after, a hazy light appeared in the girl's palm and formed strands that moved towards the young man on the bed.

The hazy light seemed to have a life of its own. The strands were like agile little snakes that bore into the young man's body through his mouth and nostrils.

As that light entered his body, the pained expression on the young man's face eased slightly. The tight frown of his brows visibly relaxed. 

The hazy light slowly grew in intensity. A dense layer of sweat started forming on the girl's smooth forehead.

Her hands quickly formed a few seals, causing the light to grow brighter, almost solid. In the girl's palm, six bright and warm balls of light formed. They resembled water droplets, giving off a strong cooling sensation.

If someone saw that, it would definitely bring forth gasps of astonishment. The girl looked young, only slightly more than 10 years old, yet her spiritual cultivation had already reached the sixth level, Spiritual Droplets, of the second major cultivation stage of Spiritual Condensation!

It meant that this innocent girl was able to make use of the spiritual energy in the air on her own. Moreover, she was able to condense six of these Spiritual Droplets. In any other sects, she would be taken in as an internal disciple!

An internal disciple just over 10 years old would be proudly crowned a genius no matter where it was!

The teenage girl was ignorant about her terrifying cultivation. She exerted all her strength to move the Spiritual Droplets within her body. A torrent of white-colored spiritual energy rushed into the young man's body like a waterfall, greatly easing his pained expression. Spiritual energy was the basic essence of life. No matter how serious the injury, as long as one had a sufficient supply of spiritual energy, that would provide an endless life force.

However, the activation of her spiritual droplets at maximum output exhausted her spiritual energy. In just half an hour, the girl's body was drenched in sweat.

Spiritual energy was the very base of a cultivator. Every little bit of spiritual energy was priceless. If not for someone extremely close, some cultivators would consider treating another's injuries using a large amount of spiritual energy to be wasteful.

Half an hour later, the girl had finally reached her limits as well. The six clear spiritual droplets turned dull and returned to her body. The girl looked drained as she wiped her sweat.

'It's unfortunate. If Brother Chu Chen had condensed spiritual droplets, then my spiritual energy would not be dispersed just like that and it would help him recover faster.'

As she thought to herself, the girl's vision turned dark. She could no longer withstand her exhaustion and fell softly onto the young man's chest.

Boom!

Along with a thunderous crack, the thick layer of storm clouds covering the sky could no longer hold it back. With waves of thunderous roar, the rain poured down. The entire region was immediately shrouded by water.

…

Chu Chen felt like he had a dream. Within his dream, everything was covered in darkness without the slightest hint of light.

His last memory was falling down from the heights of Dragon's Tomb while he was harvesting herbs. If not for the damnable 'herb quota', he would not have suffered such a fate.

The sect that Chu Chen belonged to, Crystal Spring Sect, had a rule. All external disciples had to collect  of level-1 spiritual herbs as contribution to the sect in exchange for the sect to impart a portion of Spirit Drawing Mantra. These spiritual herbs were also known as their 'herb quota'.

Whoever fails to fulfill their herb quota for three consecutive months would be expelled from the sect!

The various sects were not charity organizations. Any sects would have stringent requirements for their disciples.

Disciples with excellent bone structure, aptitude, comprehension, and natural talent would be treasured and accepted as internal disciples. They would not only be provided with high-grade cultivation methods and medicinal pills, they would also receive careful nurturing in various aspects.

Meanwhile, most of the disciples with lower aptitude would only be taken in as external disciples. Although they were named as external disciples, they were essentially no different compared to servants and miscellaneous workers. In order to stay within the sect, they would have to contribute. The month herb quota was one of the ways they could contribute to the sect.

Unfortunately, Chu Chen had already lapsed his contribution for the past two months. If not for his junior sister sharing with him a portion of her spiritual medicine, he would have been long expelled by the merciless external elder.

Spiritual herbs referred to herbs that contained spiritual energy naturally.

Most of the spiritual herbs looked no different from weeds. However, they had a faint trace of spiritual energy pulsing within.

Any external disciple that successfully cultivated the Spirit Drawing Mantra at the initial stage would have their bodies washed over by spiritual energy. With careful sensing, it would not be difficult for them to detect the spiritual energy fluctuations within the spiritual herbs.

That was why the herb quota was a method for the sects to filter through the external disciples. The talented ones would effortlessly detect the spiritual energy fluctuations, and would therefore have better results during cultivation. Those without talent and bad aptitude would not be able to feel the spiritual energy fluctuations. Their growth would be limited regardless of the effort put in to nurture them.

Chu Chen was one of those without talent. Ever since he joined the Crystal Spring Sect three years ago, no matter how hard he tried to cultivate the Spirit Drawing Mantra, he could not feel the presence of any spiritual energy. That caused him to have almost no growth in terms of his cultivation in the past three years. 

Other disciples had mostly broken through the first stage of Spiritual Mist Stage. Most of the disciples with better talent had even entered the second stage of Spiritual Droplets Stage, while Chu Chen was still stuck at the second level of Spiritual Mist Stage.

No matter how hard he cultivated, the moment he meditated to activate the Spirit Drawing Mantra, he would feel as though the air around him turned into a tidal wave. Countless chaotic currents bashing into him. He was like a little boat in the middle of a storm, about to be capsized any moment. It was impossible for him to cultivate.

Although Chu Chen had doubted his affinity towards cultivation, he never gave up and continued his cultivation, putting in more effort than any other.

To others, he might be just an insignificant person at the second level of Spiritual Mist Stage, but the effort he invested was hundreds, or even thousands of times more than others.

Due to his inability to search for spiritual herbs with his spiritual energy, he had to spend large amounts of time searching for spiritual herbs. Camping out was something he did routinely.

If not for his extra effort to barely scrounge up three catties, three tael, and three candareen for his herb quota, he would have long lost the right to stay in the sect.

In the mountains around the sect, the spiritual herbs were slowly being picked clean. Elsewhere, the choice lands that produce large quantities of spiritual herbs were also claimed by other higher ranking disciples. With that, Chu Chen's days were increasingly difficult, having to go further out every time he collected herbs with a lower yield.

This time, because of the consecutive failure to meet his herb quota, Chu Chen had to resort to the risky move of entering the desolate Dragon's Tomb forbidden zone to collect herbs.

Dragon's Tomb was a huge mausoleum. Disciples from the Crystal Spring Sect were forbidden from entering it as the Dragon's Tomb was directly adjacent to the land of death, Black Fog Valley. 

As the name suggests, Black Fog Valley was a valley right beside Dragon's Tomb. Nobody knew how big the valley was.

It was because it frequently produces weird noises and the area was filled with jet black fog. No matter how strong, one would have their body immediately wilt away or explode into pieces.

According to the legends, the founder of Crystal Spring Sect had reached the highest possible stage and decided to explore Black Fog Valley. However, in less than a thousand feet, his body exploded. Since then, the entire sect had followed the ancestral warnings strictly and avoided the place.

Ordinary disciples that accidentally came into contact with the black fog that seeped out would die shortly.

After Chu Chen entered the Dragon's Tomb, he unexpectedly found a withered tree on the topmost part of the tomb at the edge of the valley. Next to the roots of the withered tree were a few stalks of lush spiritual herbs.

In his excitement, Chu Chen tried his best to scale the tall tomb. However, before he could reach the top, his stamina wore out and slipped, falling straight down.

To add on to his bad luck, he was grazed by some of the scarce black fog that drifted out from the valley, putting him into a dazed state.

If not for his junior sister insisting on searching for him and leading a rescue team into Dragon's Tomb, he might not even make it back to the sect in one piece.

He was still slightly conscious when he first returned to the sect but then descended into total darkness. It would seem that death was inevitable.

Chu Chen stayed in the darkness all the while until he suddenly saw a sliver of light and struggled to fly towards it.

'This…'

A strong, bright light caused Chu Chen to narrow his eyes. As things became clearer, his vision swept over a particular spot that caused his heart to skip a beat!

It was right outside Black Fog Valley!

He was extremely familiar with that region. That was where he slipped during his herb collection.

Chu Chen realized that his soul was somehow floating high above the Black Fog Valley!

'Did I die? To think that this would be the first place I see after death!'

Chu Chen was shocked. He made a sweeping glance below and found the empty tomb. On the top of the tomb was an old withered tree with an eagle's nest resting on top. Below the tree, near its roots, was a patch of green spiritual herbs dancing along with the breeze. Its spiritual energy was dense enough that it could be seen by the naked eye.

It was all because of this patch of spiritual herbs that led to him falling and dying!

This region that had black fog drifting all year long was devoid of living beings. Anything that touches it would die. Why would there be an eagle's nest?

Chu Chen shook his head, then subconsciously raised his head. His gaze pierced the great Dragon's Tomb, looking straight into the hazy black fog that seemed to be hiding countless secrets.

An uncontrollable curiosity and feeling of desire welled up within Chu Chen's heart.

'What's within this forbidden area? How did it cause the founding ancestor, who was all powerful back in the days, to lose his life? Since I'm already dead, might as well explore this place that was unapproachable when I was alive!'

As he was thinking that, he felt that his consciousness transformed into a big bird in the moments between his thoughts and flew towards that haze black fog. 

Just as he reached the air space above Black Fog Valley, he noticed that the ground was littered with white bony remains. Under the faint illumination from the sky's light, they gave off a ghastly white glow.

'These should be the remains of those that trespassed into Black Fog Valley. That ring that's giving off a green glow should be the storage ring of the founding ancestor, the Ring of Green Fortune Emperor. How did he die so far outside?'

Why did the founding ancestor and other people venture into this region despite its dangers?

'Eh? This Black Fog Valley has quite a lot of spiritual herbs growing in it. What a weird place!'

While Chu Chen was surprised, he continued his ascent. When he broke through the thick layers of black fog, he finally saw a huge mountain.

The mountain was black through and through, standing tall into the clouds. The great mountain stood tall in the middle of a vast expanse of black fog. To think that the Black Fog Valley was keeping such a grand ancient mountain out of sight!

The mountain was littered with dead bodies, stacking up in layers upon layers. Most of the bodies were already torn apart, probably died in a horrific manner. It appeared as though some ancient great war happened there.

'T-t-that's a qilin?' A huge qilin's head stood out among the pile of corpses. 'Ancient mythical beasts were killed on this battlefield?'

Chu Chen quickly realized that there were more surprises waiting for him. The higher he flew, the more corpses of ancient mythical beasts and great ancient demons.

Very soon, he was desensitized. However, when he was about halfway up, he saw a familiar face within the corpses. The remains of a huge Taiji diagram blended in as one with the ground, with the black and white sides in stark contrast to each other.

At the edge of the diagram's remains were corpses that tried to break in, yet none of them seemed to have succeeded. On the other hand, at the center of the Taiji diagram was a skinny sagelike elder. That...was the Daoist Ancestor that everyone prays to!

'How did he die here?'

Daoist Ancestor was nailed through his heart by a golden arrow on his own Supreme Taiji Diagram. His hand was still holding on to a broken with snowy white hair. 

Supreme Taiji Diagram and Heaven's Whisk. They were both extremely powerful treasures!

One after another, corpses of legendary celestial beings, their treasures, and items were scattered all over. Some were dull while some remained vibrant, giving off a strong spiritual glow. 

Chu Chen began to realize why so many experts tried to explore the Black Fog Valley. It was filled with treasures. Even if just a damaged treasure, it was sufficient for one to be a formidable ruler of a region.

For him, he would be satisfied with just the Ring of Green Fortune Emperor of the deceased founding ancestor at the valley's entrance.

When Chu Chen ascended to the peak of the mountain, he could vaguely make out a withered corpse sitting in the darkness. It was dead for who knows how many tens of thousands of years, yet the corpse was still giving off an oppressive aura that suppresses heaven and earth, affecting the air around the entire region.

A bolt of lightning suddenly lit up the entire world around him, letting him see clearly. That Daoist that was undergoing transcendence with only half a body remaining was the legendary Great Primal Daoist, the Great Primal Ancestor!

Countless bolts of lightning and thunder boom across the sky and Chu Chen's consciousness once again retreated into the darkness.

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