Looking at the little boy in front of him, Su Changqing’s mind was suddenly shaken.
In just the blink of an eye, the person remained the same, but his aura seemed worlds apart.
Clearly, he was just a child of five or six, but to Su Changqing, he felt like facing a supreme emperor!
The faint aura emanating from him made Su Changqing’s spirit tremble, compelling him to kneel in reverence.
"Are you... the Sword Emperor?" Su Changqing asked in shock.
He had not expected that after endless years, the Sword Emperor would still exist.
"Just a remnant of my divine consciousness."
The Sword Emperor shook his head, looking towards Xianxian and Juexian outside the coffin, he sighed:
"Without the help of those two Sword Immortals, this wisp of divine consciousness couldn’t have lasted until now."
Su Changqing was left speechless, his estimation of Xianxian soared once more in his heart.
"The senior said you were waiting for me?"
After a momentary daze, Su Changqing asked curiously, "Is there something you wish to instruct me with?"
If it were merely for an inheritor, the Sword Emperor wouldn’t have gone to such great lengths.
Clearly, the Sword Emperor awaited him here for other reasons.
"Instruct is not quite the word."
The Sword Emperor chuckled, looking up and down at Su Changqing, and said:
"I just wanted to see what abilities the one entrusted with hopes by the Martial Ancestor would have."
Hearing this, Su Changqing’s pupils suddenly contracted, "Could it be that senior knew, many years ago, that your inheritor would also bear the Martial Ancestor’s legacy?"
The Sword Emperor was an Ancient Great Emperor, whereas the Martial Ancestor was a being from ancient times.
There should be no connection between the two.
Moreover, the Sword Emperor had been dead for many years, so how could he know that the person coming today would relate to the Martial Ancestor?
"Could it be... the person behind me is the Martial Ancestor?"
Su Changqing furrowed his brows, feeling something was off.
"Don’t be nervous, I’m aware of your presence, merely a matter of serendipity."
The Sword Emperor casually sat to the side and asked with a light laugh, "Do you know how the Emperor’s path is formed?"
While it seemed to be an off-topic question, Su Changqing did not rush but listened quietly instead.
"The Emperor’s path is the lock of the Heavenly Dao."
The Sword Emperor gazed towards the sky, speaking softly:
"The worlds outside many realms perished, eroded by darkness, only the Cangyan Continent remains."
"Back in the day, three thousand demon gods descended and besieged the Cangyan Continent."
"Only because a supreme being sacrificed his own life was the demonic invasion of Cangyan halted."
"And the Heavenly Dao..."
The Sword Emperor pointed to the sky and chuckled lightly, "didn’t let this good opportunity go to waste."
"It transformed three thousand laws into shackles, with the help of that supreme being, sealing the invading demon gods."
"And the core of the Heavenly Dao was consequently besieged by the sealed demon gods."
"The end of the Emperor’s path is where the core of the Heavenly Dao lies; only beings who reach the end can bear the fate and become Great Emperors."
Listening to these world secrets, Su Changqing felt as if he had returned to the ancient battlefield in an instant.
It turned out, in ancient times, there was no such thing as an Emperor’s path.
At that time, beings could break through to become Great Emperors as long as they reached a certain realm, with no need for contention.
But due to the emergence of demons, the world of the Ten Thousand Races was destroyed one by one, the world sank into darkness, and a great war began.
However, the terror of the demons was such that even the Heavenly Dao was no match.
As a last resort, with the aid of that supreme being, the Heavenly Dao used the laws as shackles to seal away the endless demon gods.
And thus, the formation of the Emperor’s path occurred.
In its prime, the Heavenly Dao could support the birth of multiple Great Emperors within an era.
But sealing the demon gods consumed much of the Heavenly Dao’s strength.
So much so that, later, it takes twenty thousand years for the Heavenly Dao to gather enough power to support the emergence of one Great Emperor.
"How does this relate to the Martial Ancestor?" Su Changqing asked in confusion.
"Do you know why, over the long years of the continent, no corpse of a Great Emperor has ever been seen?"
"And even remnants of divine consciousness like mine are exceedingly rare?"
The Sword Emperor didn’t answer directly but countered with another question.
Su Changqing shook his head, looking at the Sword Emperor with curiosity.
Indeed, this was an unexplained mystery on the continent, never mentioned in any heritage.
"That is because the Emperor’s path requires guardians."
The Sword Emperor sighed lightly and said, "Although the Heavenly Dao sealed those demon gods, the seal is not stable."
"Therefore, the Heavenly Dao had to resort to external aid."
"And this aid was the destiny-aligned individuals who successfully proved the Dao, the Great Emperors who crystallized their own laws!"
He looked towards the direction outside the domain, slowly stating,
"The Great Emperors who grasped the laws used their corpses, divine consciousness, and even imperial weapons to firmly seal those gaps."
"After so many years, the seals of the Heavenly Dao, the fallen Great Emperors, and the demons, along with the Ten Thousand Races..."
"The combination of numerous terrifying forces formed a direct path to the core of the Heavenly Dao, the Emperor’s path."
"And there’s only one way to reach the end of the Emperor’s path."
The Sword Emperor paused, looked at Su Changqing, and said word by word:
"That is to tear open those seals!"
Su Changqing’s eyes widened in shock, "Wouldn’t doing so release those sealed demon gods?"
"Of course."
The Sword Emperor smiled, "Why is it that whenever a Great Emperor achieves the Dao, the first thing they do is to suppress the Dark Forbidden Area?"
"Because breaking the seal allows the Heavenly Dao to reclaim power, but it also lets many demons escape."
"If not suppressed, the Forbidden Area now would not only have quasi-emperors but actual demon gods!"
Su Changqing remained silent for a long time, his thoughts turbulent.
It turns out, with the rebirth of a Great Emperor on the continent, it was also a day of demon revelry.
Or rather, the moment the Emperor’s path emerged, the demons’ revival began.
As the Emperor’s path goes deeper, the seals continuously break down, and more demons escape.
Seeing the silent Su Changqing, the Sword Emperor spoke again,