Jiangdong Dao Court, Tianwu Hall.
Emperor Jiayou, who had been in the imperial court circulating his divine sense alongside the Three Excellencies to search the entire Immortal Nexus for traces of the Primordial Heavenly Demon, suddenly froze.
A second later, he felt his soul sink. From its original ethereal and immortal lightness, it suddenly became sluggish and heavy. His thoughts and ideas plunged into a muddle, countless streams of consciousness were buried, and scenes of past memories flashed by. Before long, the scene before his eyes underwent an earth-shattering transformation.
The location was still Tianwu Hall.
He was wearing a dragon robe and a crown with dangling tassels, sitting upright on the dragon throne. Everything seemed unchanged, except for an inexplicable weakening of the spiritual power within his body.
'My cultivation realm... what's going on?'
Emperor Jiayou shook his head, feeling his memories descending into an inexplicable chaos. I should be at the Middle Stage of the Golden Core realm. I'm not even far from the Great Perfected Lord realm.
But now, his realm had plummeted.
Not only had he fallen back to the Early Stage of the Golden Core realm, but his mighty power had also significantly declined, and his control over [Wayside Earth] had worsened. It was exactly like he had just broken through.
Hm? Wait.
Thinking of this, Emperor Jiayou became even more confused.
'No, I really did just break through. After all, I just ascended the throne. My imperial brother died suddenly without leaving an heir, so I, a vassal king, entered the capital to inherit the lineage...'
But something still felt wrong.
'That's not right. I should be a Middle Stage Golden Core... am I forgeting something?'
Emperor Jiayou tried his hardest to think. However, the harder he thought, the clearer his memories became, and ironically, the more "awake" he felt.
Wrong? There's nothing wrong!
However, in a place he couldn't see, above Tianwu Hall, a dark shadow was entrenched. In the shadow's hand was an orb of light radiating boundless, illusory colors. Each ray of colored light reflected a karmic scene, layered upon each other, weaving into a mesmerizing net.
It was precisely [City Rampart Earth].
Then, the dark shadow receded, and the long-haired Primordial Heavenly Demon stepped out from within, holding [City Rampart Earth] in his hand with a contemplative expression on his face.
Lu Yang's guess was incredibly accurate.
His primary target was indeed Emperor Jiayou. He had already secretly investigated overseas, only to find not even a shadow of the old Dragon Lord.
'So this is [City Rampart Earth].'
The Primordial Heavenly Demon pondered inwardly. He was very clear about his own origins and knew that his mission in descending to the mortal world was to seize as much of the [Tribulation] as possible.
To this end, he had at least three things to do.
First, he had to stir up a massive tribulation under the identity of the Primordial Heavenly Demon. The more cultivators who died because of him, the better. Only then could he gain the acknowledgment of the [Tribulation].
Second was Lu Yang.
'That Immortal Lord Master of Tribulations and Ferryman of Karma... I must definitely kill him. But his methods are unfathomable, and he surely has ways to deal with inner demons. He won't be easy to handle.'
'First, I'll kill Emperor Jiayou and devour the Dao Court's Three Excellencies to help me take another step forward... Since this concerns the [Tribulation], that exalted figure in the Dao Court won't interfere much. Once I've devoured the Dao Court, I will undoubtedly be invincible among Middle Stage Golden Cores. Then, I will seek out that Immortal Lord Master of Tribulations and Ferryman of Karma and find a way to slay him in one fell swoop.'
The Primordial Heavenly Demon was brimming with confidence.
The source of this confidence wasn't just his own Heavenly Demon methods, but more importantly, [City Rampart Earth]. He had already commandeered this Supreme Dao Fruit.
Although he actually had no Dao comprehension related to [City Rampart Earth], the World Honored One had anticipated this long ago and refined this Dao Fruit into an artifact.
[Time-Reversing World Divine Instrument]!
This was a method only the World Honored One—only the former first-generation Master of Myriad Treasures Peak—could achieve: refining a Supreme Dao Fruit into an artifact that anyone could use!
However, this wasn't something that could be done casually.
The very existence of such a supreme treasure relied entirely on the mighty power of the World Honored One. It was equivalent to the World Honored One constantly keeping an eye on this artifact.
This item could only exist in the heavens.
The moment the World Honored One withdrew the mighty power placed upon it, all the profound wonders of the artifact would instantly disintegrate, and [City Rampart Earth] would fall back into dormancy.
'This is both his support for me and his surveillance over me.'
'Because I am different. I am not a part of [One Mind], because the [Tribulation] would never allow the incarnation of another Dao Lord to interfere.'
Thinking of this, the Primordial Heavenly Demon's heart surged with intense excitement.
Because this was both an opportunity and a daunting trial.
The opportunity lay in the fact that he didn't have to worry about the World Honored One replacing him at any time. He might even have a genuine chance to attain the Dao. The trial lay in the fact that the World Honored One controlled his life and death.
'Therefore, I must prove myself.'
'Only by making the World Honored One see my capabilities and methods, and making him believe I have a certain chance of seizing the [Tribulation], will I have the value to continue existing.'
Reining in his thoughts, the Primordial Heavenly Demon stopped pondering further.
He formed hand seals, continuously injecting his spiritual power into the [Time-Reversing World Divine Instrument]. Then, with a gentle twist, he turned the front of the artifact outwards.
The [Time-Reversing World Divine Instrument] possessed two major profound wonders.
With the front facing outwards, the artifact was read forward, called the [Time-Reversing World Divine Instrument]. It could alter the present "effect" by shifting the past "cause."
With the back facing outwards, the artifact was read backward, called the [World-Reversing Time Divine Instrument]. It altered the present "effect" to influence the past "cause."
And right now, the Primordial Heavenly Demon was utilizing the profound wonder of the artifact's front side. The situation Emperor Jiayou had fallen into was not reality, but a karmic scene. This wasn't a true reversal of time, but simply a karmic connection extracted from the great web of karma. Yet, it could genuinely change the outcome.
'He has now returned to the day he first ascended the throne.'
'At this point in time, the Dao Court Grand Preceptor had just been defeated by Perfected Lord Feixue, and his realm was unstable. To stabilize the political situation, he chose to let this vassal king enter the capital.'
'In real history, Emperor Jiayou relied on his own intelligence and his status as the Son of Heaven, using the method of the [Great Dao Assembly] to forcefully hound the Dao Court Grand Preceptor—whose prestige had plummeted after being defeated by Perfected Lord Feixue, who was at a lower realm—to death, forcing him to reincarnate. At the same time, Jiayou himself leapt to power and completely took control of the imperial court.'
This was merely a brief description within the great karmic net.
However, for Emperor Jiayou, those years were absolutely not as easy as the words suggested. There were even several times when he almost chose to give up the struggle for power.
But in the end, he persevered.
And what the Primordial Heavenly Demon wanted to do was make him give up.
'If he had given up fighting for power with the Dao Court Grand Preceptor back then, imperial power would have fallen into the hands of others, and the Emperor Jiayou of today would no longer possess the cultivation of a Middle Stage Golden Core.'
Thinking of this, the Primordial Heavenly Demon grinned broadly.
'It's a pity I can't just kill him directly here.'
'Because all of this is merely a karmic scene. I can't even strike at him openly. Doing so would only cause the karmic scene to shatter directly.'
'When that happens, I would even suffer the backlash of karma.'
A second later, he transformed into a gust of gloomy wind, silently dropping into Tianwu Hall below and blowing into Emperor Jiayou's already muddled sea of consciousness.
Instantly, countless thoughts of lying flat and letting things rot sprouted in Emperor Jiayou's mind.
The karma of a Golden Core Perfected Lord was incredibly heavy.
Therefore, even with [City Rampart Earth], it wasn't something that could be changed just because one wanted to. It couldn't even allow the target trapped in the karmic scene to discover its existence.
Otherwise, if the target's true consciousness awakened, they could instantly see through the karma.
Thus, generally speaking, even for a Perfected Lord wielding [City Rampart Earth], altering causes and effects was extremely difficult and required massive amounts of preparation beforehand.
However, the Primordial Heavenly Demon was different.
As an inner demon, he inherently possessed the ability to change formlessly. He could stir up thoughts and desires without being detected by anyone, thereby influencing a Perfected Lord's actions.
It was simply a perfect match with [City Rampart Earth].
What? This shameless combination was too overpowered against a Middle Stage Golden Core? That was the beauty of the method. If you had complaints, go take them up with the World Honored One!
This was the true Tribulation of the Heavenly Demon!
There was no way to deal with it in the present world. Even if you possessed monstrous spiritual power, it would be useless, because it was tampering directly with your past and your karma!
(End of Chapter)