217 – Acquiring Another Fragment! The Elixir of Spacetime!

【Listening to your description, Zhu Huowang’s face stiffened, showing an expression of disbelief. Are you kidding? In a place where even Supremes and quasi-emperors might fall, how could the two of them, mere shrimp, possibly survive and get out.】

【For a moment, Zhu Huowang felt very gloomy, thinking that your teleportation ability was ultimately too bothersome. It would be better if some great emperor just captured him back.】

【However, Zhu Huowang quickly calmed down, stating that they might not necessarily have been teleported to the place you mentioned and that it could just be a similar place. Moreover, although some rumors were frightening, they might not be true.】

【Seeing that Zhu Huowang still harbored a sliver of hope, you sighed without saying anything more, just pondering what to do next. Staying still, certainly, was not an option. If you could find a place similar to where you once picked the sacred elixirs, there might still be a glimmer of hope.】

【This place was not a land of certain death; there were still safe places. The problem was that you did not know where these safe places were, nor could you determine if these safe places were absolutely safe.】

【While you were thinking, Zhu Huowang once again looked at you with hopeful eyes, suggesting that you could continue using that teleportation ability to escape from here.】

【You cast a glance at Zhu Huowang, indicating that your Teleportation Divine Ability can only be used once a year and it cannot be used here. Upon hearing this, Zhu Huowang’s expression stiffened again, looking at you with some resentment.】

“To actually end up in this ghostly place again is really life-threatening… It seems like this Life Simulation will end here… I just don’t know if I can uncover the secrets of this place next.”

Wang Ping’s eyes flickered as he looked at the content simulated by the words, thinking to himself.

Although it was said that the simulation showed Wang Ping still carrying an incarnation of Emperor Tianyu, which would be activated in a life-or-death situation to save his life.

However, in a place as anomalous as this, it was really a question whether the Emperor’s incarnation could keep him safe.

Although the emperor was powerful, he was not invincible.

In the Ten Great Universes of this Upper Realm, there were still some anomalous forbidden lands where even emperors must halt.

These forbidden lands, as far as discovered, amounted to ten in total, known as the Ten Forbidden Lands, or Ten Deadly Grounds.

If one forcibly stepped into them, even an emperor would be at risk of falling.

This aspect, Wang Ping had seen clearly from the records in the Taiyi Emperor Palace.

These anomalous forbidden lands, their formation was unknown, and it was not known if they were related to the heavens, but they existed there. As long as you did not provoke them, they seemed not to harm the Upper Realm.

But if a cultivator stepped into them, these forbidden lands would reveal their fangs, letting the cultivator know what a deadly ground and what great terror was.

Of course, these forbidden lands were not just pure death zones; there were some examples to the contrary.

For instance, some cultivators, after stepping into a forbidden land, did not die but instead gained great benefits, soaring from an ordinary cultivator or average genius to a quasi-emperor, or even surpassing many geniuses of their era to prove the Way of the Emperor.

Therefore, in the Upper Realm, there existed some strange customs.

Namely, some elderly monsters on the brink of death would choose a forbidden land that even emperors feared to break into, hoping to gain fortunes from within, defying the heavens to extend their life, or even proving the Way of the Emperor.

Besides this, there were also some ambitious yet talentless individuals who knew they were doomed to stagnate in a certain realm on their own. Their whole life could only remain at the lower or middle level of the Upper Realm’s cultivation world, so they chose to risk it all.

Unfortunately, those who came out alive from the Ten Forbidden Lands with heaven-defying fortunes recorded in the Upper Realm were always just a handful of examples, recorded in the Taiyi Emperor Palace, fewer than a hundred.

In the Upper Realm, in this era spans tens of millions of years of history, at least trillions of cultivators have stepped into them, and only fewer than a hundred have survived. This ratio is enough to make one’s blood run cold.

“And this place in front of us, there are no records about it in the Taiyi Emperor Palace’s texts. Perhaps it is an undiscovered forbidden land, comparable in danger to the Ten Forbidden Lands… Or maybe the emperors know about this place but have not recorded it, thus it has remained unknown to the outside world.”

Wang Ping’s eyes flickered, thinking silently.

If it was the latter, it would be much more terrifying.

While Wang Ping was lost in thought, the text simulation continued.

【Regarding Zhu Huowang’s resentment, you coughed lightly, suggesting not to worry too much. You were just trying to scare him earlier. Although it’s very dangerous here, it isn’t a place of certain death.】

Hearing your words, Zhu Huowang sighed in relief and said with a bitter smile, “Brother Wang, don’t joke around at a time like this…”

You smiled and said that this wasn’t a place of certain death, but the probability of dying was ninety-nine percent and warned him not to be careless, to be prepared to use the Natural Emperor’s Weapon: Essence Devouring Pearl to fight against strong enemies…

Listening to you, Zhu Huowang felt even more resentful, thinking you were just too pitiful… Damn it, saying such things is almost worse than saying it’s a place of certain death… Ninety-nine percent? What’s the difference?

After that, you didn’t continue to kid around with Zhu Huowang and directly pulled out two dice, throwing them into the sky. Seeing this, Zhu Huowang was very confused, not knowing what you were doing.

Before the dice landed, you chuckled and said, “I’m deciding which way is safer…”

Upon hearing this, Zhu Huowang’s eyes lit up with joy, asking if you could calculate the Heavenly Will… If so, then their chances of survival would be much greater…

You smiled, and after the dice landed, said you couldn’t calculate the Heavenly Will, you were just purely testing your luck… One, two, three means east, four, five, six means west, seven, eight, nine means north, ten, eleven, twelve means south…

Upon hearing your explanation, Zhu Huowang’s face stiffened, his eyes darkened, and he almost choked…

Damn it, in such a dangerous place, you use this kind of method to determine the path… Could you be any more pitiful?… For a moment, all of Zhu Huowang’s admiration for you shattered completely…

Originally, after witnessing the previous battle, his impression of you was that of the number one prodigy of the younger generation in the Upper Realm, full of grandeur… Even the legendary first place in the Saint King List, Gu Xuan of the Eternal Life Gu family, couldn’t compare to you… Moreover, you were a righteous man whom he admired greatly…

But now, he only felt you were a reckless and sly maniac… Teaming up with you was potentially a death sentence, no amount of lives would be enough…

Wang Ping looked at the simulated text, feeling rather dissatisfied, muttering, “What does it mean to say I’m a reckless and sly maniac, and that following me into dungeons isn’t enough even with ten lives… Am I really that pitiful?”

“Everyone who follows me into dungeons ends up with great rewards, becoming winners in life. Great… next time I simulate taking Zhu Huowang as a disciple, I’ll have to train him hard, using the title of Master.”

Wang Ping snorted shamelessly, without any intention of self-reflection.

You had no idea that Zhu Huowang was secretly criticizing you… After the dice landed, you determined your direction and decided to head west…

Regarding the decision to go west, Zhu Huowang was very anxious, thinking you should change direction… After all, west literally means ‘going west’, which sounded too inauspicious…

In response, you patted Zhu Huowang’s shoulder, telling him not to be so superstitious and to trust your luck… This left Zhu Huowang speechless once again…

You smiled without saying much more… In reality, you had a suspicion in your heart that no matter which direction you went, you might inexplicably head towards the blood-yellow river…

If that was the case, this time would surely lead to death. However, gaining some intel would still be good. Last time, you were lured into the blood-yellow river. This time, you could attempt an experiment…

Next, you indicated that the monsters here were quite dangerous and told Zhu Huowang to block his perception and close his eyes, just following you… To this, Zhu Huowang was very hesitant but ultimately chose to trust you…

Of course, he didn’t fully trust you, still remaining cautious, ready to run and use the Natural Emperor’s Weapon: Essence Devouring Pearl at any time…

Next, you started moving, walking aimlessly while also making markings… According to your calculations, you would return to the original place…

However, what happened next made you sigh. You did not return to the original place but instead came to an unfamiliar area. This verified some of your suspicions—directions here were indeed chaotic, and no matter which way you went, it was the same. It was even more dangerous than the forbidden land of Great Origin…

But you had no other choice and continued moving forward… Half an hour later, you saw a blood-yellow river from afar, sending shivers through your body, quickly looking away…

For you, the worst situation emerged, all your predictions turned out true… In this anomalous place, no matter where you go, you end up at the blood-yellow river. Perhaps that’s why there were so many skeletons in the river, even Supreme and quasi-emperors had fallen in…

A chilling sensation spread through Zhu Huowang, making him open his eyes. Soon, he saw the blood-yellow river ahead, standing there in a daze, feeling increasingly cold… He tremulously asked if that was the anomalous river you mentioned where even quasi-emperors would fall…

You nodded… Then, remembering something, you hurriedly urged Zhu Huowang not to stare at the blood-yellow river for too long…

However, your warning came too late… Zhu Huowang, with his somewhat simple mind, had already been bewitched by the blood-yellow river, his eyes vacant, heading towards it…

Seeing this, your expression changed drastically, using the Spacetime Divine Ability to try to stop Zhu Huowang… However, your Spacetime Divine Ability was ineffective, unable to stop Zhu Huowang…

This situation made you even more fearful. You could only forcibly grab Zhu Huowang, hoping he wouldn’t step into the blood-yellow river… But all efforts were in vain—no matter what you tried, you couldn’t stop him, as if an invisible force was controlling everything…

Ultimately, Zhu Huowang still stepped into the blood-yellow river. The moment he stepped in, the flesh and bones of his lower body instantly disappeared. Even so, Zhu Huowang still felt nothing…

As for the Essence Devouring Pearl, the Natural Emperor’s Weapon within Zhu Huowang, it was clearly alarmed and burst out with terrifying power, attempting to protect Zhu Huowang and carry him back to the shore…

But all of this was in vain. Even with the power to devour everything and transform it into essence, the Essence Devouring Pearl couldn’t devour the waters of the blood-yellow river. Its burst of power was instead corroded…

Seeing this, the Essence Devouring Pearl could only abandon Zhu Huowang, its recognized host, escaping from his body and rushing towards the distance…

However, a horrifying scene occurred. Even an Emperor’s Weapon seemed to be within the hunting scope of this blood-yellow river. Countless black mists appeared, like a hundred ghosts moving at night, pouncing towards the fleeing Essence Devouring Pearl, forcibly grabbing it and dragging it back into the blood-yellow river…

As the Essence Devouring Pearl was grabbed and fell into the blood-yellow river, Zhu Huowang had already turned into one of the river’s dry bones. Although the Natural Emperor’s Weapon, the Essence Devouring Pearl, wasn’t completely corroded and was still struggling violently, it was clearly all in vain and would eventually fade into nothingness…

It seems that as long as it has gained intelligence and possesses life, everything in this blood-yellow river faces only one outcome: death…

Seeing this, you feel a chill throughout your body, instinctively wanting to stay away from here…

Wang Ping looked at the content simulated by the text, his expression constantly changing…

‘Absurd. This blood-yellow river is too absurd, even a Natural Emperor’s Weapon can’t escape and will be destroyed…’

‘I just wonder if Emperor Tianyu can escape with the simulated Wang Ping… the possibility is very small. However, with the incarnation of Emperor Tianyu here, he should be able to know some secrets of this blood-yellow river…’

This thought flashed through Wang Ping’s mind as he continued to stare at the screen…

Just then, you feel a summons and become dazed, starting to walk towards the blood-yellow river, stepping into it…

The instant you step in, the power of death assaults you, and the quasi-emperor weapon is activated, trying to protect you, but it quickly decays. Then, the incarnation of Emperor Tianyu is also activated…

Terrifying emperor might erupts, stirring monstrous waves in the blood-yellow river. The incarnation of Emperor Tianyu successfully keeps you alive…

However, the expression on the incarnation of Emperor Tianyu is extremely grave, not expecting that you would come to such a ghostly place…

Next, the incarnation of Emperor Tianyu injects a power into your body, bringing you out of that strange state…

After you wake up, your heart is filled with extreme fear. Although you had already thought that you couldn’t escape, being silently caught was still utterly indefensible…

You then look at the stern-faced incarnation of Emperor Tianyu and ask if he, as your master, can take you away from here…

Hearing this, the incarnation of Emperor Tianyu remains silent, shaking his head to indicate that even he can’t escape once he falls into this river… perhaps only his true self coming would give the slightest hope of finding a way out…

Listening to Emperor Tianyu’s incarnation, you can’t help but gasp. What kind of ghostly place is this, that even an emperor coming here would only have a slight hope of finding a way out. You have to remember, this is Emperor Tianyu, who is extremely powerful even among emperors…

Compared to this, if an ordinary emperor came, it’s likely they wouldn’t even have the slightest hope and would completely perish…

At this time, Emperor Tianyu’s incarnation taps your head, helplessly asking why you came to such a place, and whether your teleport Secret Technique can’t even control the destination…

Feeling very embarrassed, you don’t know how to answer. The golden talent: Teleportation is indeed very peculiar. It seems to be able to ignore everything when deciding where to teleport, and it can even enter places where spatial movement is impossible. However, once teleported here, it can’t teleport away…

With a sigh, Emperor Tianyu’s incarnation expresses that he can’t hold on for long and can only do his best to shield you from the power of this blood-yellow river. Whether you can find a way out depends entirely on yourself…

Smiling bitterly, you know that the chances of survival are slim, so you don’t hurry to escape. Instead, you take this opportunity to ask what exactly is this blood-yellow river and where this place is…

After a moment of silence, Emperor Tianyu utters a sentence that makes you shudder…

The sentence is: ‘Realm of Life and Death, River of Forgetfulness, Bridge of Helplessness, the end of all life, and the beginning of all life…’

Waves of shock surge in your heart. You didn’t expect that this world also has the concept of the River of Forgetfulness and the Bridge of Helplessness… does this mean that this world also has an underworld and heavenly court…

While you are in shock, Emperor Tianyu continues to explain… The Realm of Life and Death is the boundary between life and death, once you step into the land of death, you will be entangled by death and die soon after. However, powerful cultivators can rely on their strength to resist the power of death and preserve their lives…

But the land of death is just the beginning. No matter what level of cultivation, once you step into the land of death, leaving is extremely difficult, and you are very likely to end up at the River of Forgetfulness due to distorted space…

Once you arrive here, even Supremes and quasi-emperors will lose consciousness, step into the river, and turn into skeletal wraiths, drifting in the river. To find a way out of here, you can only find the Bridge of Despair.

Only by finding the legendary Bridge of Despair can one avoid falling into the River of Oblivion. However, once on the Bridge of Despair, you will gradually lose your memories and undergo reincarnation.

Listening to Emperor Tianyu’s explanation, you are secretly alarmed and ask whether this place is naturally formed or created by someone. The incarnation of Emperor Tianyu remains silent, stating that no one knows how this place came into being, but he does not believe that it was created by a practitioner from the Upper Realm.

Such an anomalous place, even an emperor or the legendary immortals, could not create it, right? Perhaps only those beings from the heavens who surpass immortals could possibly create such an anomalous place.

You frown, your mind filled with countless thoughts, unable to stay calm.

While you are thinking, the River of Oblivion becomes turbulent again, with terrifying waves of blood-yellow water crashing towards you. Countless evil spirits also rush towards you.

At this, Emperor Tianyu’s face changes, and he unleashes a terrifying power to block it, while attempting to use his power to send you away from here.

At this moment, you suddenly see something amidst the waves stirred up by the River of Oblivion. It is a fragment of a map. The fragment of the map swept up by the waves resonates with your fragment of the map.

This astonishes you greatly, and then you are exceedingly delighted. You never expected to see another fragment of the map here. This undoubtedly is the second fragment of the map marking the location of the Dark Time Emperor’s Scripture.

As long as you obtain this fragment and then find the third fragment, you can know the location of the Dark Time Emperor’s Scripture! By then, your combat power will surge significantly. Even if Gu Xuan from the Eternal Life Gu family has cultivated the Immortal Scripture as you suspect and possesses extraordinary combat power, you will not fear him.

Reading the simulation’s text, Wang Ping is also exceedingly delighted, but as an observer, he felt no sense of crisis, rather a sense of being manipulated.

“Damn! There’s a fragment of the map in the River of Oblivion. It is likely brought in by some unlucky practitioner who ventured into the dead zone. If not, how could this fragment be in such a place?

In other words, if I hadn’t come to this place again through the golden talent: Teleportation and luckily arrived at the River of Oblivion where the fragment is, I probably wouldn’t have found this second fragment in my entire life. Obtaining the Dark Time Emperor’s Scripture would be impossible as well.

No, in this situation, it should be said that without the Life Simulator, even if I knew where the second fragment was, I wouldn’t have been able to risk coming here. In essence, it would have been forever impossible to cultivate the Dark Time Emperor’s Scripture.

Wang Ping was frantically ranting inwardly, feeling a myriad of emotions.

However, he ultimately had the Life Simulator. As long as he had Emperor Tianyu’s incarnation retrieve the fragment of the map from the River of Oblivion, let him remember the content of the map, or get it through rewards, then he would be relieved.

Once he gets the second fragment of the map, he believes that he can soon obtain the third fragment as well.

With one fragment, perhaps a diviner couldn’t calculate the location, but with two fragments, even if the diviner isn’t skilled, he could figure it out.

And a diviner who could become an important figure in the Immortal Palace could not possibly be unskilled.

“Although I am surely dead this time, in the next simulation, the Dark Time Emperor’s Scripture will be mine.”

Wang Ping’s eyes glinted with expectation.

While he was thinking, the simulation continued without much suspense.

Next, you anxiously indicate that there is a fragment of the map marking the location of the Dark Time Emperor’s Scripture within the Bridge of Despair, hoping the incarnation of Emperor Tianyu can retrieve it.

Listening to your words, the incarnation of Emperor Tianyu also notices the fragment of the map marking the location of the Dark Time Emperor’s Scripture, quite surprised. At the same time, he feels somewhat helpless. At this moment, not only do you not grab the last chance to escape, but you are also still thinking about this fragment. Your courage is too great; you are practically seeking fortune at the expense of your life.

However, the incarnation of Emperor Tianyu does not say much, choosing to grab the fragment of the map marking the location of the Dark Time Emperor’s Scripture and toss it to you.

Then, the incarnation of Emperor Tianyu waves his hand again, directly throwing you out of the River of Oblivion, shooting you towards the distance.

You are enveloped in a light film; the speed is so terrifying that, even with your current dynamic eyesight, you cannot see the outside world clearly. However, you do not care. Instead, you take out the fragment of the map, frantically scanning its contents, trying to memorize it.

After all, you are not sure whether after this simulation ends, you can refresh and get this reward. If you cannot, then it is truly over; wanting to come here again and take the fragment is undoubtedly a very difficult task.

Soon, you remember all the contents on the fragment of the map and then put it away. At this moment, the light film disappears, and your figure appears in a graveyard.

This place is not much different from where you had come before, but it is indeed a different location. You do not know how long the incarnation of Emperor Tianyu can hold on, so you choose to escape into the distance, preventing the evil spirits from the River of Oblivion from catching you and dragging you back into the River of Oblivion.

However, before you could take a few steps, the tombstones collectively shattered, and numerous skeletons crawled out from the ground, their eye sockets flickering with ghostly flames, staring intently at you.

Then, they all launched an attack at you.

This made your expression extremely grave. Without intending to engage in direct combat with these skeletons, you used your spacetime divine abilities to dodge, quickly escaping from there.

Although these skeletal monsters were incredibly strong, powerful enough to even bring a Great Saint to their demise, you possessed the Spacetime Dao Body and had cultivated the Devour Space Emperor’s Scripture. In terms of escaping for your life, you dared to claim second place, with no one daring to claim first.

Hence, you successfully fled this area. Of course, this is also because the dangers in this dead zone are far less severe than those around the Forget River. If the skeletons and vengeful spirits from the Forget River were to emerge, even a quasi-emperor would perish. After all, the Essence-Devouring Pearl had previously been dragged back into the river.

You fled desperately, hoping to find the Realm of Life and a sliver of survival.

In the blink of an eye, a quarter of an hour had passed. You noticed the commotion near the Forget River was decreasing, and the scattered emperor’s aura was rapidly weakening. This made you realize that even the incarnation of Emperor Tianyu had probably failed to escape the Forget River and would completely disappear.

This made you even more terrified, prompting you to burn your source, increasing your fleeing speed. Although you didn’t know where you were headed or if you would end up back at the Forget River, this was the only choice you had.

At this moment, perhaps due to the rare activation of the Purple Talent: Fortune’s Bounty, you saw a light ahead, spotting a world full of vitality.

This delighted you because you were fortunate enough to see the Realm of Life, so you hastened your pace towards it.

Just as you rushed in, countless black mists surged towards you. This made your scalp tingle, and you continued to accelerate.

Finally, seizing the opportunity at the brink of life and death, you dashed into the vibrant world. As you entered, the black mist and river water paused before retreating.

Witnessing this scene, you finally breathed a sigh of relief, feeling extremely fortunate that your luck had been so good.

Then, you noticed another astonishing sight. You saw that your injuries and the burned source were automatically healing, with a terrifying life force pouring into your body.

The Realm of Life, a world teeming with vitality, made you somewhat understand its characteristics. This was a world opposite to the land of the dead, a world brimming with terrifying life force.

Here, the life force was far more abundant than in the places where you previously broke through during your simulations. Perhaps, like the dead zones, where the death aura’s intensity varies in different areas, the same could be true for the Realm of Life, with varying degrees of life aura intensity in different regions.

Various thoughts flashed through your mind as you looked around, witnessing a shocking scene—this area was filled with countless sacred elixirs.

You even saw beings surpassing the level of sacred elixirs—exceptionally rare and invaluable treasures beneficial even to Supreme beings.

This made you ecstatic. The Realm of Death was filled with death and despair. The Realm of Life brimming with vitality and hope. Perhaps this Realm of Life was an unparalleled treasure land, a place with countless extraordinary opportunities.

If you stayed here, you might be able to cultivate in seclusion directly to Supreme or even quasi-emperor status. At that time, you could venture out once more to see if you could escape this realm between life and death.

Wang Ping looked at the simulation content, overjoyed.

‘Whoa, is it really this awesome? There are even treasures useful to Supremes. In that case, there might be treasures here useful to quasi-emperors too.’

‘Wait, there’s something fishy about this. If the Realm of Life is so great, why wouldn’t the emperor come here?’

However, Wang Ping quickly calmed down, a sense of foreboding rising in his heart.

As it turned out, his premonition was correct.

While you were overjoyed, you didn’t notice vines wrapping around you, your feet sprouting roots that burrowed into the ground.

When you tried to take a step, you realized this, your expression changing drastically. You found yourself unable to move, your source merging with the land.

You quickly transformed into a treasure elixir, your face filled with shock and your scalp tingling. You seemed to understand why there were so many sacred elixirs in this place.

Every treasure elixir here seemed to be a transformed powerful being, assimilated into elixirs! And you had met the same fate.

In the end, you struggled frantically but found it useless, sighing as you gave up resistance, fully transforming into a swaying sacred elixir embodying the laws of spacetime.

Due to your strange state, this simulation ends here.