Chapter 604: Leaving The Forbidden Area, The Sovereigns Prepare to Appear, Another Closed-Door Meditation
"The Emperor incarnate sure flees very quickly."
Chu Kuangren chuckled.
He soon recollected his Daoist Rhymes and turned his attention to the rest of the sky-prides at the scene. Most of them were dead by now.
"If you wish to live, leave your Yin and Yang Rings behind."
"Or else... die!"
The threat of death blew over like a cold, chilling breeze.
The sky-prides could not help but shudder.
They knew that Chu Kuangren was not joking, that they would undoubtedly die if they failed to pay up their resources!
"Chu Kuangren, this Emperor Weapon is yours!"
Bai Hongyu reluctantly dumped her Emperor Weapon to Chu Kuangren.
The Fiery Dragon Phoenix Saber was her greatest finding in the Forbidden Barren Wasteland. Now, it was nothing but a currency in exchange for her life.
The Fiery Dragon Phoenix Saber stuck into the ground and shuddered lightly, as if it was protesting Bai Hongyu's decision.
'Did you not promise that we would take over the world together?'
'Why are you not keeping your promise?'
'B*tch!'
Bai Hongyu felt helpless too. After leaving her Emperor Weapon behind, she transformed into a ray of light and vanished into the distance.
The rest of the sky-prides surrendered their possessions begrudgingly as well.
Those who wished to deceive Chu Kuangren had long been slain.
Soon, the sky-prides had managed to buy their way out of certain death, and those who showed the slightest signs of resisting were murdered instantly.
What was left was a land filled with an abundance of resources.
Chu Kuangren invited Murong Xuan and the others over to comb through the battlefield. Needless to say, they happily obliged.
At this point in time, no one in the Forbidden Barren Wasteland was a match for Chu Kuangren. He had almost monopolized all of the resources that were scattered throughout the Forbidden Area.
The innermost core region of the Forbidden Barren Wasteland was still full of countless unbroken seals, so the sky-prides had no way of penetrating through the barrier.
Chu Kuangren did not intend to enter either.
His collection had expanded massively in this journey. The Ancient Lavish Cave, Eight Wind Dragon Mountain, and Ancient Daoist Lake had all granted him an abundance of resources that would dramatically enhance his abilities.
The most important part now was to find a location to process these resources.
Chu Kuangren soon led the group out of the Forbidden Barren Wasteland.
After his departure, the rest of the sky-prides continued searching the Forbidden Barren Wasteland. Some of them were even jumping in joy.
"Finally, the devil has left!"
"Haha, that's great! Now that there's no one to fight us for these resources, we must cherish this opportunity."
"Oh, the heavens have shown mercy. He has finally left."
The sky-prides were rejoicing like they were in a festival.
It was not long before disappointment struck.
Although Chu Kuangren had left, he did take more than half of the Forbidden Area's resources with him.
There was too little left for the rest of them.
They quarreled and fought over however little remained of the treasures only to get the crumbs out of the bread. The amounts of treasures they managed to obtain were negligible compared to Chu Kuangren's massive pile of resources.
They could not help but feel a fit of deep-seated anger for Chu Kuangren.
Apart from the sky-prides.
The orthodoxies behind these sky-prides also wanted to skin Chu Kuangren alive and twist him apart.
This was especially true for the Sword Tribe, demonic tribe, and the Dark Shadow Religion. Their outlawed sky-prides were dead!
The outlawed sky-prides were their most important strategy to get the Emperor's Thrones.
Now that their outlawed sky-prides were dead, they no longer had any means to reach these thrones now. Chu Kuangren had committed an unforgivable offense.
In the Sword Tribe.
The Sword Tribe Leader's face was grim.
He had learned of what happened in the Forbidden Barren Wasteland.
"Jian Changfeng and Swordsman Mei have betrayed the Sword Tribe!"
"The Daoist... is dead!"
Below him were several elders who did not dare to make a sound. They feared they would become the receiving end of the Sword Tribe Leader's furious wrath.
It was after a while before the Sword Tribe Leader managed to soothe his anger. "Did we manage to find the Divine Pardon Order on this trip to the Forbidden Barren Wasteland?"
"Yes, my leader."
A youngster stepped forward.
He revealed a colored plaque.
It was the Divine Pardon Order that was much sought after by the Sword Tribe Leader. With it, the Sword Tribe's Sovereigns could unshackle themselves from the restriction of Emperor's Road.
"Once the Sovereigns are out, Chu Kuangren must die!" The Sword Tribe Leader received the Divine Pardon Order and glared coldly into the distance.
He looked at the youngster before him and said, "Oh, Jian Yunyang, the Sword Tribe has suffered from terrible losses in talent. When it comes to abilities, you're next in line after the Sword Daoist and Swordsman Mei. Now that you've managed to secure the Divine Pardon Order, you'll be anointed as the newest Daoist of the Sword Tribe from today onwards. The Sword Tribe's resources will be available for your perusal."
The Sword Tribe had to nurture the next remarkable sky-pride.
They refused to give up on the Emperor's Throne.
Jian Yunyang immediately knelt and pleaded, "I swear to never abuse this honor!"
Jian Yunyang, or rather, Jian Changfeng, still found parts of this story confusing.
He did not secure the Divine Pardon Order. Instead, it was given to him by Chu Kuangren in order to cement his reputation within the Sword Tribe and gain the Sword Tribe Leader's trust.
Chu Kuangren did not even care which Sovereign the Sword Tribe would release to defeat him.
At this point, he was too powerful.
Chu Kuangren had asserted total dominance over all of Emperor Road and remained undefeated so far. As such, the presence of a Sovereign could pose no big threat.
Other than the Sword Tribe, the rest of the orthodoxies had more or less found their Divine Pardon Orders in the Forbidden Barren Wasteland as well.
For a moment, the orthodoxies went into total silence.
However, most people knew that the Sovereigns residing within the orthodoxies' ancestral lands could soon make an appearance.
Without the Emperor Road's restrictions, they would become the strongest force to reckon with.
...
At that point in time, Chu Kuangren was residing within an unnamed mountain range. He had set up layers of seals over the area and was prepared to meditate behind closed doors to process the abundance of resources he had managed to procure.
Nangong Huang and the rest of the group needed to go into closed-doors meditation as well.
Meanwhile, Leng Ningyu and Chi Yue had returned to the Seven Emotions Sect.
In a cave laden with countless seals.
Chu Kuangren sat with his knees crossed before a golden skeleton seething with the presence of an Emperor's Aura.
It was the corpse of an Emperor.
However, the corpse was incomplete as it now lacked five fingerbones.
This was the Sword Emperor Qingxuan's corpse. The missing finger bones were previously absorbed and refined by the Sword Daoist.
The fingerbones were the reasons why the Sword Daoist had managed to ascend to a peak Boundary Emperor's level.
"This Emperor's body does contain a copious amount of energy. However, it still pales in comparison to this head."
Chu Kuangren retrieved the head of a lady.
It was an Emperor's head that he had acquired a long time ago, and there was a Forbidden Sealing Talisman slapped onto her forehead.
Chu Kuangren noticed that the Empress's head alone contained far more power as compared to all of Sword Emperor Qingxuan's corpses.
"Looks like power gaps do exist between Emperors. The Empress must've been a far more powerful cultivator compared to Sword Emperor Qingxuan."
"Another possibility is that Sword Emperor Qingxuan has been dead for so long that most of his energy has been lost."
Chu Kuangren murmured.
Then, he quickly stored the Empress head back into his inventory. To date, he did not dare to lift the Forbidden Sealing Talisman on her forehead. The higher his cultivation level, the more he understood just how frightening the energy in her head was.
"Let's just refine Sword Emperor Qingxuan's corpse first."
Chu Kuangren muttered.
His abilities were far more impressive than that of the Sword Daoist. With the help of his Universal Cauldron Physique, Chu Kuangren managed to refine all of Sword Emperor Qingxuan's corpse within two days.
The spiritual power within his body broke through its previous limit as the Emperor qi within his spiritual mound increased from one strand to a total of three!
Only the size of an infant's thumb, the Emperor qi circled Chu Kuangren's body a few times and made it much stronger.
"Next is to refine the Primeval Daoist Gem."