The little pig wouldn't stop, continuing to nuzzle him. Seeing this, A Yao and the others immediately gathered around.
“Young man, are you alright?”
“You really have a knack for this. Every time you show up, you manage to make a scene and give us a fright.”
Jianmu leaped from A Yao's shoulder and landed on Chen Zhou's head. Its tiny branches tapped frantically against his forehead, letting out a series of rapid, rustling sounds.
Chen Zhou chuckled. He took Jianmu off his head and placed it on his shoulder. “Sorry for worrying you.”
Yuheng flicked his horsetail whisk and leaned in to inspect him from head to toe, his brow furrowing slightly.
“I see your aura hasn't been damaged; if anything, it's become even more solid.”
“What kind of good stuff did you fish up?”
Mo Cang followed up with a question of his own. “What kind of inheritance could cause such a massive stir?”
“We've been in this Immortal-Slaying Shrine for tens of thousands of years, and we've never seen the black sludge pond generate its own boundary before.”
“When you were dragged down just now, even we couldn't break through that boundary.”
A Yao nodded, her expression solemn. “From what I saw, the strength of that boundary was at least at the Void-Returning level, perhaps even Non-Existence. We couldn't have budged it even if we struck with everything we had.”
Chen Zhou replied, “It was the inheritance of the Northern Great Emperor.”
The three of them were stunned simultaneously.
Just as A Yao was about to speak, the black sludge pond beneath their feet began to vibrate violently.
A large bulge formed in the center of the pond, as if something was about to burst from the depths. The bulge grew higher and wider until it suddenly exploded, sending black water splashing in every direction.
A fist-sized black sphere of light rose from the pond, hovering in mid-air and rotating slowly.
Dark-gold patterns flowed across the surface of the sphere, shifting between the shapes of mountains and rivers, myriad ghosts worshiping, and scenes of reincarnation and rebirth.
They were identical to the patterns on the walls of the Great Emperor's Palace.
Then, the light sphere suddenly contracted and transformed into a streak of light, crashing into Chen Zhou's body.
Chen Zhou felt a slight chill in his chest. He looked down, but there was no wound.
However, a tiny black sludge pond had appeared within his sea of consciousness, hovering quietly in the depths of his divine soul and intertwining with his soul's aura.
The black sludge pond beneath his feet vanished at the same time.
The spot where the water once was now held only a dried-up crater. The sludge at the bottom and the countless eerie entities sealed within had vanished without a trace, leaving behind only the grayish-white ash of the bone earth.
A Yao, Yuheng, and Mo Cang looked at the crater, then at Chen Zhou, and then at each other. For a long moment, no one spoke.
Finally, Mo Cang was the one to break the silence.
“You—” His voice was a bit dry. “You took the entire black sludge pond?”
Chen Zhou nodded. “It came with the inheritance. A Wanchuan River fragment of the Northern Great Emperor has recognized me as its master.”
A Yao opened her mouth to speak, but only a few words came out. “Young man, do you realize what a Wanchuan River fragment signifies?”
Chen Zhou said, “I have a general idea.”
“The Great Emperor's Palace has chosen you.” A Yao took a deep breath. “Your divine path inheritance will likely follow the Path of the Underworld from now on.”
Chen Zhou smiled. “It was already headed that way.”
He paused, then gave a brief account of his experiences inside the Great Emperor's Palace.
He spoke of the Five Direction Ghost Emperor Mansions, the trials of Zhaoye and Xuandu, the two ghost decrees, and the three remaining mansions that he could only challenge after reaching the ninth stage.
“I've only completed less than half of it. I haven't even seen the other three Ghost Emperors yet,” Chen Zhou said.
A Yao's expression was complex. She remained silent for a long while before letting out a soft sigh. “I didn't expect it to be that Great Emperor's inheritance. No wonder it caused such a commotion.”
She raised her hand and brushed back a stray lock of hair from her temple, her tone carrying a hint of reminiscence.
“Beitai Dijun was once the Lord of the Underworld, ruler of the Wanchuan and governor of the Six Paths.”
“To receive his inheritance... even in the era when the divine path flourished, this would be a fortuitous encounter that countless people dreamed of.”
Yuheng recovered from his shock and sighed. “To tell you the truth, the various Wanchuan ponds in the Immortal-Slaying Shrine are actually what remained after the Wanchuan River, which the Northern Great Emperor once governed, dried up.”
“I only heard the Great Emperor mention those days a few times.”
“Back then, when the heavenly tribulation struck, the Heavenly Dao collapsed and the divine path was on the verge of extinction. The Northern Great Emperor did not want the divine path's inheritance to be lost, so he stripped the inheritances of countless fallen deities from the Six Paths of Reincarnation and buried them in the Wanchuan, letting them flow with the water and scatter into the various Wanchuan ponds.”
“That is the origin of fishing for inheritances in the Wanchuan ponds.”
“Later, when the Great Emperor knew his end was near, he entrusted all the Wanchuan River fragments along with the inheritances to the Heavenly Talisman Great Emperor.”
“He hoped these inheritances would be preserved until the heavenly tribulation passed, saved for future generations.”
“Afterward, the Heavenly Talisman Great Emperor also fell, transforming his body into a dream. The Immortal-Slaying Shrine is the place of his death and the final gift he left behind during his life.”
After listening, Chen Zhou understood the origin of the Immortal-Slaying Shrine.
He had also heard legends of the Heavenly Talisman Great Emperor.
According to records, the Heavenly Talisman Great Emperor attained godhood through dreams, holding the duties of conveying heavenly decrees and controlling plagues and toxins. While this world's mythological system was not entirely the same as his previous life's, many divine names and roles corresponded.
A Yao added, “Among all the inheritances in the Immortal-Slaying Shrine, the Northern Great Emperor's is at the very top. In fact, one could say it is the core inheritance of the shrine.”
“Logically, his inheritance should have been slumbering in the ninth-stage blood pond.”
“The eighth-stage black sludge pond shouldn't have been able to contain an inheritance of that level.”
Chen Zhou recalled the scene of his fishing and said, “That's true. The Great Emperor's Palace was a massive entity. As soon as it appeared, it devoured all the other eerie entities in the pond before heading straight for my bait.”
Mo Cang let out a sigh from the side, his tone heavy with a resentment so thick it was practically palpable.
“I've finally figured it out. Even though the Northern Great Emperor has fallen, his inheritance still carries his lingering will.”
“He governed the Wanchuan River himself, and he was the one who buried the inheritances within it.”
“His will can travel freely through the Wanchuan without being restricted by the grade of the pond. Naturally, it can go wherever it wants and find whichever successor it chooses.”
“Simply put, you didn't even need to fish for the Northern Great Emperor's inheritance; it chose you on its own.”
“Since it thought you were suitable, it didn't matter what bait you used; it would have jumped in front of you regardless.”
His voice grew more and more plaintive, as if he were dripping with bitterness.
“My corpse jar was in that black sludge pond too!”
“Since you didn't fish it out this time, now that the black sludge pond has vanished, my corpse jar has probably migrated to the ninth-stage blood pond.”
“The ninth-stage blood pond... it's full of old monsters with higher cultivation and stronger fortune than me.”
“When will you ever reach the ninth stage? And even after you do, you'll have to accurately fish my corpse jar out from among all those other inheritances in the blood pond...”
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