This Human Immortal Is Too Serious

Chapter 541 539: The Eastern Emperor's Expedition, the Third Divine King's Corpse!

Wu Wang was utterly perplexed.He had toiled for so long, guided by the Eastern Emperor's Bell, rushing about, exhausting himself for this world. He had poured his youth and sweat into it. He dared not compare his dedication to the spirit of Dayu, who thrice passed his home without entering, but he was definitely clear in his conscience, having done everything he could.

He had tuned the state of the Three Realms to near perfection.

Then the great calamity began to brew in the void.

He understood the principle. Calamities were merely manifestations, and there had to be internal reasons for collapse. Otherwise, the Eastern Emperor's Bell could not have witnessed thousands of cosmic destructions and experienced thousands of varying great calamities.

But when it came down to it, this great calamity still exceeded his and the Eastern Emperor's Bell's preparations…

It was infuriating.

At the ends of the earth, Wu Wang gazed at the figure of the Goddess of Fortune. Behind him stood Yun Zhongjun, the Head Manager, the Young Master, and the Earth God. In front of him lay several pitch-black figures he had thrown there.

The Goddess of Fortune had seemingly returned from the dead, but not entirely.

Her skin was slowly turning black. Her body was devoid of any breath of life or surrounding Dao rhyme. Only a flicker of Spirit Light remained, and a mysterious, abstruse fluctuation had appeared within her.

That fluctuation seemed to be 'opposite and counteracting' to the existing Great Dao.

At that moment, the Goddess of Fortune was quickly recounting, "…I don't know why I came back to life. When I regained consciousness, I was already floating in the void, surrounded by hazy shadows.

I saw a familiar Innate God, Ming Qing, not far from me. Her Divine Power and divine body had been completely devoured by some force. However, a power we couldn't comprehend developed within both of us.

I tried to communicate with her, but her consciousness had shattered. I felt disorder and chaos in her mind.

Gradually, I sensed countless consciousnesses awakening in the void. What was once quiet and tranquil slowly became somewhat noisy.

Later, I heard heavy breathing and felt a strong oppressive force. Suddenly, several thoughts emerged from the depths of my heart:

Destroy the Great Wilderness;

Demolish all that is tangible;

Let Heaven and Earth welcome a rebirth.

I don't know how long this situation lasted until my consciousness 'matured.' Vaguely, I seemed to have taken form, and then this form began to drift slowly through the void.

Following the source of that oppressive sensation, I saw a set of white bones in the void. They were immense, maintaining the form of an Innate Dao body… The Third God King. I'm certain it was the Third God King.

His Great Dao was no longer that of years but an indescribable fluctuation.

Annihilation—contrary to the Great Dao, counteracting the tangible.

When I tried to figure out what was happening in the void, black phosphorescent flames lit up on the Third God King's skeletal forehead. Phosphorescence appeared all over the void, like a vast ocean.

By the blue-green light, I saw many familiar Divine Spirits, as well as a multitude of bizarre and fierce beasts."

The Goddess of Fortune's story paused suddenly because Wu Wang had raised his left hand and thrown out more than a dozen pitch-black figures from his sleeve.

A few of these figures were humanoid, but most were beast-like, lacking hair, whiskers, and scales, as if condensed from smoke.

When these figures slammed onto the ground, the earth and air immediately felt corrupted. A thin layer of void appeared around them, and this void spread rapidly.

Wu Wang said, "Let's call them Void Beasts for now."

"They came to kill me," the Goddess of Fortune sighed softly. Her body had already transformed into a state similar to those Void Beasts and was beginning to devour the Heaven and Earth around her.

Wu Wang pointed his finger, and a ball of golden light enveloped the Goddess of Fortune's figure.

Then, Wu Wang looked thoughtful and continuously drew several symbols in the air. The Goddess of Fortune's body gradually solidified, seemingly returning to a normal complexion. However, halfway through the restoration, her body shifted back toward the 'black annihilation' state.

As this transformation repeated, Wu Wang seemed to realize something. He gently touched the Goddess of Fortune's forehead. Strands of Dao rhyme began to emerge around her, and her body slowly solidified. Her skin regained its snow-white hue, but her neck was encircled with a ring of gray mist.

"The Power of Annihilation."

Wu Wang stated these words calmly and slapped his palm towards the dozen or so pitch-black corpses. They turned into plumes of ash and were quickly evaporated by the power of the Heavenly Dao.

The gods, uncertain of what it meant, focused on sensing that power.

The Water God asked, "Your Majesty, what is this Great Dao?"

"It doesn't belong to the Great Dao; it's opposite to it," Wu Wang said slowly. "The ultimate question of this world can be understood as: what grants the Great Dao its very existence?

Although we are still unable to find the answer to this question, the Power of Annihilation that has now emerged stems from the answer behind that ultimate question.

Simply put, the force that created this world is now seeking to destroy it.

This is the Calamity of the End."

A silence fell among the gods.

Wu Wang asked, "Auntie Xiao Nu, what did you experience next? How were you able to return to the Great Wilderness?"

"I tried to communicate with the Third God King…"

The Goddess of Fortune hummed softly, continuing the tale of her drifting existence in the void.

There were many questions she could not understand, many details she could not interpret.

She could not fathom why those who had passed would reappear, nor could she comprehend why the corpse of the Third God King would be found here.

The Goddess of Fortune had existed in the Great Wilderness World for an incredibly long time, but what she witnessed and heard completely surpassed her cognition.

Based on the information provided by the Goddess of Fortune, Wu Wang made a brief summary.

These beings who had eerily reappeared in the void would be called the Annihilators. They carried the Power of Annihilation, capable of destroying the Great Wilderness World, and were led by the Third God King, once the strongest in the Great Wilderness.

The Goddess of Fortune persistently attempted to communicate with the corpse of the Third God King, but the only response she received was an utterly pure intent to destroy.

Yun Zhongjun said in a deep voice, "That might just be the Third God King's form."

"Strange," the Water God murmured. "Everyone, look—why haven't these holes in Heaven and Earth left by those dozen monsters recovered yet?"

With the Water God's reminder, the gods quickly gathered around.

Wu Wang had turned the dozen monsters that came after the Goddess of Fortune into ashes, but the corrosion they had caused to Heaven and Earth when they were initially tossed out had not yet healed on its own.

A string of dark holes, connected one after another, had edges resembling paper not entirely consumed by fire and continued to eat away at the surrounding air.

The Earth God tried several times, only managing to clear the remaining Power of Annihilation by invoking the power of the Heavenly Dao.

As the holes in Heaven and Earth slowly healed, the expressions on the faces of the strong gods grew increasingly somber.

Yun Zhongjun said, "It seems that if we let this battle erupt within the Great Wilderness World, we would have already lost by a wide margin."

"We can't let these things get near the Great Wilderness."

"Has Your Majesty been strengthening the Heavenly Dao for this reason?"

"I'm not flattering you, but Your Majesty's foresight has indeed ensured that we're not completely on the defensive right now."

Wu Wang shook his head, speaking softly, "It's still not enough. They've appeared much earlier than I anticipated—by about six hundred years."

DING—

The projection of the Eastern Emperor's Bell appeared in Wu Wang's mind. The Bell Spirit did not manifest itself but instead directly transmitted a message to Wu Wang.

This method of transmitting messages was actually far more efficient than 'talk therapy'.

Soon, Wu Wang could not help but raise his hand to rub his brow, murmuring, "Commencing the great calamity from now and fighting up to that point in time would just be enough to deplete the power of the Heavenly Dao and drain the entire Spiritual Power reserves of the Great Wilderness."

The gods couldn't help but exchange looks.

Wu Wang continued, "It's as if, at a fixed point on the path ahead, a will is entrenched there, precisely calculating how to obliterate the Great Wilderness."

"Your Majesty means the real enemy has yet to reveal itself," the Earth God spoke slowly. "I do not mistrust the Goddess of Fortune, but given the current situation, we must send someone to probe deep into the void."

"I'll go!" the Martial God immediately stood up, speaking lowly, "My strength is decent; I can escape if things get tricky."

"Let Liu Guang go." Wu Wang spoke softly, "Liu Guang should be very familiar with the aura of the Third God King. He possesses extreme speed, and there is no Dao of Heaven and Earth to rely on in the void."

The Young Master immediately said, "I'll go call Liu Guang over."

"No need. I'll command it in the name of the Heavenly Dao."

Wu Wang's left hand opened, a Token spinning rapidly in his palm.

He looked around at everyone, his voice low yet filled with a firm power.

"Everyone, from this moment on, the Great Wilderness has entered the Era of the Great Calamity.

We don't know how many tricks our enemies have left, but the Great Wilderness World's own reserves are limited. This demands that, starting now, we must use every bit of Heavenly Dao power, Power of Merit, and Spiritual Power where it's most needed.

I can tell you all clearly that according to my calculations, the end of the Great Wilderness will be in seven hundred and twelve years.

This seems to be the fate of the Great Wilderness.

But I have never believed in so-called destiny.

Let's take action. Make whatever preparations you can think of."

As Wu Wang finished speaking, the Token in his hand turned into a burst of light that shot into the sky.

From this moment on, though all beings were unaware, the immortals uncertain, and the gods oblivious, the Great Wilderness World, under the orchestration of the Heavenly Dao, had already begun to operate at full strength.

Moments later, a beam of Divine Light shot out from the edge of the Great Wilderness, chasing into the depths of the void at high speed!

The God of Flowing Light had already set forth.

And from that day onwards, the Heavenly Dao was no longer as quiet as before; it had become noisy.

「Three years later.」

The God of Flowing Light returned, injured, bringing back segments of precious 'data'.

The corpse of the Third God King was still a vast distance from the Great Wilderness, but it was continuously drawing closer, its speed gradually increasing.

Liu Guang directly transformed his memories into images and laid them out before the strong gods of the Celestial Court.

The seemingly endless void;

The terrifyingly vast white bones exuding an aura of horror;

Figures formed of mist, strangely familiar to the gods.

Even more deadly was that the number of these entities was still increasing.

They were like waves stirred in the void, slowly gathering into a tsunami, threatening to extinguish the Great Wilderness World.

The Heavenly Dao operated at full strength, accumulating its power even more rapidly.

The scope of the Blood Sea began to slowly contract; the 'expansion space' of the Blood Sea was the Heavenly Dao's resource reserve.

The Eastern Emperor's Bell also became less frivolous and began to communicate with Wu Wang more earnestly.

Whenever Wu Wang made a decision, the Eastern Emperor's Bell would follow that timeline to see the decision's consequences and whether there would be a turning point in the approaching Great Calamity.

What put pressure on Wu Wang, however, was…

There was no turning point.

The Eastern Emperor's Bell would occasionally remind Wu Wang that the key to breaking the deadlock still depended on whether Wu Wang himself could transcend.

But Wu Wang was already trying his hardest to comprehend the Great Dao, to understand the starry sky, yet he could never take that final half step.

Just half a step away.

Gradually, the pressure on Wu Wang became heavier and heavier.

On the other hand, Yun Zhongjun's pressure had vanished. As he put it, since they knew where the enemy was, it was time to prepare for their destruction.

"Your Majesty, there are no perfect powerful beings; the Power of Annihilation must have flaws."

Wu Wang largely agreed and delegated the important task of finding the enemy's flaws to Yun Zhongjun.

Under such immense pressure, the personalities of several strong gods became even more distinct.

The Earth God advised building a defensive line outside Heaven and Earth capable of withstanding the Power of Annihilation, and he had already begun exploring how to resist it.

The Martial God felt they should take the initiative, striking the enemy's home base before they were fully developed.

Although the Third God King was formidable, he was nothing more than a skeleton now; who was afraid of whom?

They had even fought against the Candle Dragon's Dao of Chaos.

The views of the Water God and Elder Shen Nong, however, were quite similar: they believed that until the nature of the Power of Annihilation was understood, they should not act rashly.

At this moment, all the gods subconsciously believed in the principle of 'mutual generation and mutual overcoming.'

But Wu Wang could clearly feel… this Power of Annihilation was specifically targeting the currently prosperous Great Wilderness World.

The most frightening thing was not how mysterious the Power of Annihilation was.

The most frightening thing was Wu Wang's vague feeling that even if they destroyed the Third God King's corpse, an endless series of calamities would follow.

"We must take the initiative to strike; otherwise, we'll be too passive."

By the bedside in his chamber, Wu Wang donned his robe and murmured softly, his mind constantly pondering and deliberating, his brow furrowed deeply.

On the bed, a pair of jade arms propped up a graceful figure, a thin blanket silently slipping from her smooth skin.

Ling Xiaolan watched Wu Wang's back, her eyes filled with concern as she quietly called out, "Your Majesty, perhaps you should rest for a while. You have been tense for too long."

"I'm fine," Wu Wang turned his head and smiled. "At this level of cultivation, resting or not makes little difference. Xiaolan, how well have you mastered The Way of Fortune?"

"I have grasped about seventy to eighty percent of its power."

Ling Xiaolan replied softly, draping a sheer gown over herself as she gracefully descended from the bedside.

"Your Majesty said just now that we need to take the initiative to strike… There is no support from the Heavenly Dao in the void, which could likely cause more casualties."

Wu Wang sighed. "This is a world of form, and the Power of Annihilation can destroy worlds of form. If we allow those things to approach the Great Wilderness, we will be in even bigger trouble.

Moreover, I need to know if, after holding back this first wave, there will be a second or a third wave.

What is the hidden logic behind all this?"

"As for these matters, I dare not make wild guesses," Ling Xiaolan chuckled softly, her voice gentle. "But no matter what decision you make, the three of us will always support you."

Wu Wang smiled and pulled her into his embrace, a fighting spirit gradually igniting in his eyes.

He was determined to lead the expedition himself and confront the Third God King's corpse.

This plan, of course, met with opposition from most of the strong gods. They thought Wu Wang was being too risky. Furthermore, they believed that Wu Wang, as the linchpin of the Heavenly Dao, should remain within the Great Wilderness World.

Wu Wang had anticipated their reactions. He could only slowly persuade the gods and leave behind enough contingency plans.

Wu Wang had even considered what the Heavenly Dao should do if he were to fall in battle within the void.

Although it was uncertain whether the Eastern Emperor's Bell could accomplish a 'recurrence' after leaving the Great Wilderness, Wu Wang used 'recurrence' as an excuse to persuade the gods and thus embarked on the void expedition.

Accompanying him this time were only the Fire, Earth, and Wood Gods from the Five Elements Gods, as well as several hundred experts at or above the latter stages of the Heavenly Immortal Realm, forming the Zhou Tian Star Dou Great Array.

For Heavenly Soldiers and Heavenly Generals below the Heavenly Immortal Realm, even surviving in the void was a challenge, let alone facing the Power of Annihilation.

The Head Manager and the Young Master had to remain within Heaven and Earth.

Elder Shen Nong had also wanted to go, but Heaven and Earth needed a powerhouse capable of matching the strongest to stay and guard it.

However, before Wu Wang set out, Elder Shen Nong personally insisted that Wu Wang must bring Jingwei with him.

Wu Wang was puzzled by this, but Elder Shen Nong's attitude was very firm.

Jingwei was naturally delighted.

With the Great Calamity at hand, she didn't want to be separated from Wu Wang for a moment. Yet, the 'sensible' her had been waiting for Wu Wang to appear before her, reining in her usual impulsiveness.

Now, with her father's support, Jingwei was overjoyed.

Wu Wang made a three-point agreement with her and kept her protected near his Primordial Spirit. Then, with a flick of his sleeve, he gathered the three strong gods—Fire, Earth, and Wood—along with six hundred Heavenly Dao cultivators into his sleeve before stepping into the void.

After Wu Wang left, the gods looked at Elder Shen Nong with confusion.

Elder Shen Nong sighed deeply and said slowly, "Only in this way, if things become untenable, can we be sure that our Heavenly Emperor won't entertain any ideas of perishing together with the enemy."

The gods were momentarily stunned, then nodded in agreement. Following the Heavenly Dao's instructions, they resumed their busy tasks.

They now had three plans to execute simultaneously:

First, to build an outer defense circle for Heaven and Earth.

Second, to find a power that could counteract Annihilation.

Third, to seek a path of retreat beyond the Great Wilderness.

Each plan was of utmost importance.

「In the void.」

Wu Wang's form turned into a stream of flowing light, constantly darting forward.

His left hand opened. Beneath the Star God disc, dozens of light spots gathered on their own, faintly forming the outline of an ancient bronze bell.

But this ancient bell was not yet complete.

It still lacked the most important 'component'—the Great Dao of Taiyi.

"Zhong?"

"Master."

"Any hints?"

"Yes, but just a little," the Bell Spirit replied in its previously playful tone, but it quickly turned serious again. "The time is not yet right. I have to time that one hint just right for you. If we miss that moment, you might not achieve Enlightenment."

"Is it that serious?"

"Yeah, Enlightenment is a subtle thing."

"In that case, I'll go meet the corpse of the Third God King first!"

"You can do it, Master. You might actually win."

Wu Wang: …

I felt like hitting the Bell.