Archean Eon Art
chapter-499

Chapter 499 Choice

Where is this? On the other side of the towering mountain, Supremacy Qing Gu looked around the mountainside dazedly. Who am I? Why did I appear here? Supremacy Qing Gu forgot his cultivation and climbed the mountain dazedly.

Elsewhere.

Meng Chuan had a seventh-level Essence Soul after all. Furthermore, he cultivated the Essence Soul Star formulation; thus, he could maintain his lucidity.

This is an illusory world. Only an Essence Soul Tribulation Eminence can create an illusory world. Experts with eighth-level Essence Souls were known for creating ‘a world with a single thought.’ It was the most basic technique.

This bearded man should be the owner of the cave abode. However, the owner of the cave abode… is probably already dead. This is just an illusory world he left behind before he died.

For example, Archean Mountain’s Heart Sea Palace contained an illusory world. Furthermore, it can exist for a long period of time. If the owner of the cave abode was still alive, he could have done anything to him. Meng Chuan had no way of resisting. “You should be able to guess.” The bearded man sat cross-legged on the mountain peak. He looked at Meng Chuan from afar and smiled. “I’m already dead. Only a sliver of my will is left in this illusory world.”

Meng Chuan bowed respectfully. “Greetings Senior, I’m Eastcalm.” The accomplished came first in the path of cultivation.

An Essence Soul Tribulation Eminence was worthy of him bowing! Furthermore, it was the most basic thing one had to learn if they wanted to live a long life in the outer realm. They had to stay ‘respectful’ when facing experts in the outer realm.

“Eastcalm?” The bearded man smiled and nodded. “I’ve waited for over 30,000 years. My luck isn’t bad enough to have a human come.”

Meng Chuan listened obediently.

“My name is Pang Ming. My hometown is a low-level world, Pang Ming Realm,” said the bearded man.

Pang Ming Realm? His homeworld is named after him?

“You didn’t guess wrongly. I had the highest cultivation realm in the Pang Ming Realm’s history.” The bearded man nodded slightly. “It has been more than 600 million years since my homeworld was born. It’s considered a relatively young world that supports life… Eighty million years ago, my homeworld barely managed to create a path to the Imperial Lord realm. As for me, I’m the second Tribulation Eminence in my homeworld’s history. I cultivate both the Essence Soul and the physical body,” said the bearded man.

Meng Chuan was secretly astonished when he heard that.

Double cultivation?

“I ultimately stopped at the Fifth Tribulation realm. I failed to withstand the sixth Essence Soul Tribulation.” The bearded man shook his head gently. “I originally wanted to reach the Sixth Tribulation realm in this life. I wanted to spend more time upgrading my homeworld to a middle-level world. Unfortunately, I was just one step short. Of course, this step is as difficult as ascending to the heavens! Perhaps my years of cultivation had been wrong from the beginning. The Fifth Tribulation realm was my limit.”

Meng Chuan listened obediently. He understood what the other party meant. He had read Archean Mountain’s intelligence dossiers before. He knew that after reaching the Sixth Tribulation realm, one could raise a low-level world to a middle-level world if they paid a sufficient price.

Many low-level worlds had long histories—the younger worlds had over 100 million years of history. Some had billions of years of history. Although they had long histories, it was extremely difficult to upgrade a low-level world to a middle-level world.

In Heaven Peak River System, there were only over 600 middle-level worlds out of the 100,000 worlds that supported life.

“The Supremacy realm is the gradual perfection of the Grotto-Heaven realm,” said the bearded man softly. “The Imperial Lord realm is the gradual perfection of the worldly laws. One can raise their cultivation with the knowledge gleaned from clearly feeling the worldly laws… But at the Tribulation realm, it’s just groping about in the darkness. “What realm has one reached? Even the person in question isn’t sure. Has one cultivated rightly or wrongly? That’s unclear too.” The bearded man looked at Meng Chuan. “Perhaps, there’s no right or wrong for a Tribulation Eminence’s cultivation. Maybe there’s only the difference between the strong and the weak. The stronger ones can survive the Heavenly Tribulations, while the weaker ones will die if they fail to transcend them.”

Meng Chuan listened to the bearded man silently. Meng Chuan recalled that Eminence Fei Yu—the creator of the Essence Soul Star legacy that he discovered in his homeworld. Eminence Fei Yu had mentioned that he taught 12 disciples when he was alive. All of them learned the Essence Soul Star formulation, but all 12 went down different paths. Some had similar insights to Eminence Fei Yu, while others had completely different insights. The disciple with the highest accomplishments went down a completely opposite path to that of Eminence Fei Yu.

The bearded man said that Tribulation Eminences simply groped about in the darkness. There was no right or wrong during cultivation. There was only the difference in strength that separated them. It was indeed a reasonable statement. “The Sixth Essence Soul Tribulation arrived without any warning as usual,” said the bearded man. “I was still chatting with my good friend when this Heavenly Tribulation directly descended upon my body and struck my Essence Soul.

“After I failed my tribulation, I didn’t have time to escape back to my distant homeworld. All I could do was rush into the River of Spacetime and the nearest outer realm desert,” said the bearded man. “I only had time to make simple arrangements.”

The bearded man stood up.

Meng Chuan turned solemn.

Whoosh.

The bearded man instantly appeared in front of Meng Chuan. Meng Chuan continued standing there, listening humbly.

Gulp! Gulp! Gulp!

The bearded man grabbed the calabash hanging from his waist and drank a few mouthfuls of alcohol. He smiled and said, “The taste of alcohol is truly wonderful. Unfortunately, I won’t be able to maintain this illusory world after activating it once. I won’t be able to continue drinking either.”

Meng Chuan looked at him.

It was very difficult to maintain an illusory world for extended periods. For example, the Heart Sea Palace was a treasure that Ancestral Master Archean Eon had found.

“I have sent back many treasures I accumulated in my life to my homeworld.” The bearded man looked at Meng Chuan. “However, I kept quite a number of treasures with me when I was out adventuring. I possessed three treasures that were most suitable for me. One is a Seventh Tribulation treasure, while another is a Sixth Tribulation treasure. I have over 3,000 cubes of Outer Realm Essence Crystals, a fully-grown Eight-Headed Star Swallowing Snake’s corpse, as well as a piece of flesh from a Seventh Tribulation Dark Peacock. There are also many other items that are much less valuable.”

Meng Chuan was alarmed when he heard that. He knew that Ancestral Master Archean Eon had left behind many things for his descendants. However, considering how humanity continued developing in Archean Eon realm, there were very few treasures that could be taken out by Supremacies, Imperial Lords, and even Tribulation Eminences.

If Ancestral Master Archean Eon allowed any junior to take the treasures out as they pleased, his future descendants would have none remaining in no time.

Therefore, when Meng Chuan left the Archean Eon Realm, the most precious treasure he had on him was a Tribulation treasure-Bloodblade Disc. He was poorer than Fang Chang, who had been roaming the outer realm for many years. Of course, Meng Chuan had more life-preservation items than Fang Chang. The treasures carried by a Fifth Tribulation Eminence during his adventures in the outer realm. Meng Chuan was secretly excited. All of them are now in my hands?

“Since you breached my cave abode, I can’t give it to anyone else.” The bearded man smiled at Meng Chuan. “But we don’t know each other, so I can’t give it to you for free.”

“I understand. Senior, please state your conditions,” said Meng Chuan humbly.

The bearded man nodded slightly. “The conditions are very simple. Since you received my treasures, it means you owe me karma. This karma can only be resolved if you accept a Supremacy from my homeworld, Pang Ming Realm, as your disciple. Furthermore, you have to guide him until he becomes an Imperial Lord. You can’t have any intentions of harming him in this life. You have to treat him like how you treat a normal disciple.”

“I have to recruit a Supremacy from Pang Ming Realm as my disciple?” Meng Chuan frowned. “Pang Ming Realm is a low-level world. How long does it take for a Supremacy to be born in the world?”

“My homeworld has quite a rich heritage. I estimate that it will take 1,000 years for a Supremacy to appear,” said the bearded man with a smile. “Therefore, it’s not difficult for you to find a Supremacy from Pang Ming Realm after you reach the Tribulation realm.

“By the way, Pang Ming Realm is in Ancient Magus River Zone’s Myriad Horn River System,” continued the bearded man. “The karma you owe doesn’t have much of an effect on you in the early stages. After you reach the Tribulation Realm, the greater your realm, the greater the influence karma will have on you. Therefore, you can take in the disciple after you reach the Tribulation Realm.”

Meng Chuan listened carefully.

“If you don’t agree to my conditions, the treasures I hid in the space will instantly be obliterated. Some of the items inside will be shattered and destroyed. Some will be swept into chaotic spacetime turbulences and sent to various places in the River of Spacetime. You won’t be able to obtain anything,” said the bearded man.

“Furthermore, my illusory world will deliver its strongest attack before it’s destroyed. Your Essence Soul is at the seventh level. Furthermore, your Essence Soul seems to have cultivated a special formulation. Although I’ve been dead for 30,000, I have a 50% chance of destroying your Essence Soul by using a rare treasure.”

Destroying all the treasures? He would even attack his Essence Soul?

Meng Chuan didn’t find the bearded man’s words strange. After all, he had breached the cave abode forcefully! Apart from giving him the treasures, this Tribulation Eminence could only have the two go their separate ways.

“Don’t be in a hurry to agree.” The bearded man tipped his head and drank a few more mouthfuls of alcohol before leisurely saying, “Back then, I, Pang Ming, did some things to become stronger. I captured a Sixth Tribulation Eminence’s son and forced them to teach me powerful techniques. Two Sixth Tribulation Eminences are my mortal enemies. Therefore, even if you do obtain my treasures and weapons, you have to sell them secretly. Don’t get implicated because of me.”

“Besides, it’s only been over 30,000 years since I died. I’m guessing that the two of them are still alive. One of them is called Chang Jue. My other mortal enemy is called Immortal Lan Ming,” said the bearded man with a smile. “Alright, I’ve told you everything that needs to be said. It’s your turn to choose.

“Do you choose to accept my treasures or not?” The bearded man looked at Meng Chuan. “You have 30 seconds to consider. After 30 seconds, my strongest strike will descend before this illusory world collapses.”