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Even though the light projections became blurry and obscure, Lin Feng and the rest of them could tell that the pictures presented by the light projection were depicting the war between the worlds that let to the death of Emperor Xia.

The surroundings suggested that it was the Barren Expanses. From a chronological perspective, the battle between the Emperor of Extremity and Wen Chiyang was already over, and Wen Chiyang had since vanished from the world. Shenyuan brought his injuries back to the Barren Expanses, while Emperor Xia united the powerful human cultivators of the Divine Lands to take back what had been lost and even stretched their offense into the Barren Expanses.

This war between the two worlds was reaching its final stages.

Even though the humans launched their own offensive against the demon world, this was merely a battle of pursuit as the Divine Lands suffered considerable losses of their own and had no more power to launch a real invasion of the Barren Expanses.

According to historical records, it was during these final stages of this war between the worlds when Emperor Xia mysteriously met his demise.

The dusts of war were about to settle, and Emperor Xia, who was one of the most powerful cultivators of the human race during that time, abruptly met this hand. This was inexplicable, and became a popular conundrum of the Middle Age that baffled people in the time to come.

The reason was because his body was never found. This gave people hope, that he was still alive, but in the long passage of time afterwards led to disappointments time and time again.

Lin Feng studiously observed the light projections before him. The light projections displayed by the Crucible of the Divine Lands was hinting at the solution of this perennial puzzle.

For example, Lin Feng never knew that Emperor Xia was already heavily injured during the ending stages of the war.

At this point, Emperor Xia was getting ready to eliminate the Extreme Spiritual Divine Monkey that was imprisoned by the Crucible of the Divine Lands, when he was suddenly swept up by a streak of black light!

In the deepest recesses of that black light, layers of white mist glimmered and seemed to be full of life. On the other hand, the streaks of black light were dreadful and deathly, and embodied the grimmest and gloomiest notions of death.

Lin Feng’s eyes sparkled with revelation once he saw this black light.

The Zheng Yi Holy Man and the Xuan Lin Holy Man, who had no reaction previously when they witnessed the injuries on Emperor Xia’s body, also reacted to this new scene as their expressions changed a little as well. This scene seemed to confirm a theory that they had since a long time ago, and they heaved a heavy sigh at the same time. "This was the case, indeed. It’s a pity for Emperor Xia."

A human figure shimmered within that black light that possessed both concepts of life and death.

It was the face of a handsome middle-aged man, and his sideburns were a little aged. Amicableness and warmth was juxtaposed against a chilly and murderous aura, as this person exhibited these two qualities with seamless harmony. It gave others an incredible and unbelievable feeling, yet was also charged with a unique charisma and charm.

What was more glaring were his eyes. His eyes were pitch black, and when his eyes were open, there was pure darkness inside his sockets and nothing else.

Even though they had never seen this man before, Lin Feng and the others immediately recognized this person.

He was the successor to the throne after Emperor Xia – also known as Emperor Dou.

However, people were more used to calling him the Emperor of the Dead.

He was above the rest, controlled the samsara cycle and practically determined life and death – that Emperor of the Dead.

Lin Feng shook his head at this scene. "The Emperor of Violence was typically recognized as the first mutinous and treacherous human emperor. Nobody knew that the Emperor of the Dead actually came before him."

During the time of the Human Emperors, the reason why thrones frequently changed hands was due to the fact that most human emperors perished in great battles against the demons. Human emperors typically met unfortunate fates, and situations where the throne was ceremonially passed down to successors were considered special and rare.

Till the third generation of Human Emperors, which was also something regrettable for everyone, was when the Emperor of the Dead was overthrown by the collective forces of the Great Void Sect, the Emperor of the Ancients and the other powers of the Divine Lands. When the Emperor of the Ancients suffered heavy injuries from in the subsequent war of the worlds, he was betrayed and murdered by the Emperor of Violence. In the end, the Emperor of Violence was also thrown out by a united Divine Lands and so ended the era of Human Emperors.

The only thing was, before this, nobody knew that Emperor Xia was not injured by the hands of demons but was crossed and ultimately murdered by the Emperor of the Dead.

In that light projection, the Emperor of the Dead had Emperor Xia arrested and the Extreme Spiritual Divine Monkey took this opportunity to resist and held up the Crucible of the Divine Lands.

Lin Feng could instantly tell that the Emperor of the Dead had been plotting for a very long time, kept his plans under wraps and fooled everyone else.

Even when Emperor Xia was uninjured, he was still no match for the Emperor of the Dead. Now that he sustained heavy injuries, he was unable to channel the Crucible of the Divine Lands and was a lot weaker than the Emperor of the Dead.

The final outcome was that Emperor Xia was murdered by the Emperor of the Dead, and the Crucible of the Divine Lands ventured far and wide and disappeared from the world. The Extreme Spiritual Divine Monkey that also suffered heavy injuries while battling against the Crucible was killed by the Emperor of the Dead as well.

Between the flashes of light projections, the Crucible of the Divine Lands returned to the Starry Sea. Eventually, when the Emperor of the Dead assumed dominance over the Starry Sea, he focused on searching for the Crucible but was his attempts were fruitless.

The Starry Sea had a unique characteristic – it was dissimilar to the Spirit Sea or the Ying Sea, both of which can be completely controlled by a single person. This person was able to channel the entire power of the seas against a certain target.

This characteristic helped the Crucible of the Divine Lands to avoid the clutches of the Emperor of the Dead while it hid itself away inside the depths of the Starry Sea to recuperate, up till today.

The light projections ended here, but the whatever happened after the death of Emperor Xia was clear.

During that particular war between the worlds, the Emperor of the Dead had yet to reveal his thoughts and ambitions but appeared in the world and rose to power. He ascended to the highest position of the Divine Lands and reigned supreme over the entire world and became the next Human Emperor.

In reality, due to the fact that Emperor Xia’s death was full of unsolved riddles and doubts, the Emperor of the Dead’s reputation after his ascension to the throne gradually decayed. People that came after had always suspected that the Emperor of the Dead had something to do with the death of Emperor Xia, and this theory was never disproven. The only problem was that nobody knew the truth except the Emperor of the Dead himself, and this theory could never be verified.

Today, one of the longest puzzles of history was resolved.

"However…" Lin Feng squinted his eyes again as mysterious sparkles lit up once again. "It’s a fact that Emperor Xia died at the hands of the Emperor of the Dead. However, the injuries that he sustained before was not caused by the Emperor of the Dead. In the end, Emperor Xia was usurped and was taken advantage of by the Emperor of the Dead, who had been lying in wait for a long time, when he was already heavily injured."

"So, who hurt him?"

As thoughts continued to spin in his head, Lin Feng’s gaze turned towards the Zheng Yi Holy Man and the Xuan Lin Holy Man and noticed that their expressions had returned to normal.

The two of them had similar speculations about the death of Emperor Xia, and they were able to verify their suspicions today. However, they seemed to be unsurprised by the fact that Emperor Xia was injured before this, and it was apparent that they knew what happened.

They were clearly hostile towards the Emperor of the Dead, but they also took pity on Emperor Xia.

This complemented the information Lin Feng obtained from the Cang Heaven Spell Blade. Amongst the various human emperors of the Antiquity Age, Emperor Xia shared the friendliest relationship with the Great Void Sect. Emperor Xia’s daughter’s partner was a disciple from the Great Void Sect.

However, what happened afterwards was especially spectacular for Lin Feng.

The Thunder Dragon Avatar was not as suited to communicate with magic items as the Avatar of Ares, even though the former was higher in mastery and power.

Once the light projections dissipated, Lin Feng’s Avatar of Ares and the Zheng Yi Holy Man extended their mana deep within the Crucible of the Divine Lands.

Objectively, the power of the Avatar of Ares was inferior to that of the Zheng Yi Holy Man. However, the Crucible of the Divine Lands seemed to have a neutral attitude towards his mana while it appeared to subtly reject that of the Zheng Yi Holy Man.

The Zheng Yi Holy Man was still calm, and he seemed unsurprised as well but heaved a sigh inside.

If he channeled the power of the Great Void Pavilion and combined it with his own, he would probably still be able to get the Crucible to submit over a long period of grinding. In the end, even though the Crucible of the Divine Lands rejected him, it wasn’t a complete and violent rejection and there was still room for maneuvering.

Lin Feng’s Thunder Dragon Avatar was standing right beside the Avatar of Ares, and the Two Elements of Creation Formation was also orbiting the skies above its head. It was clear that Lin Feng wasn’t about to watch him beat the Crucible into submission.

The Zheng Yi Holy Man and the others were able to be here from the effects a single-instance magic item, so the number of people and their levels of mastery were limited. The Tai Yi Holy Man and the others could come to their aid.

The Supreme Heavenly Mirror could shine into the Starry Sea, but it was separated by the strength of an entire world on one hand – on the other hand, if they entered a violent contest with Lin Feng in the Starry Sea, the situation would not be under the control of the Great Void Sect.

This was especially so as Lin Feng’s gate to the Starry Sea was just there in the distance. If the situation called for it, his original body could descend into the Starry Sea at whim.

Even though the Zheng Yi Holy Man was hardheaded and had a strong personality, he had no choice but to give up thoughts of using brute force.

While his power was far greater than that of Lin Feng’s Avatar of Ares, he was unable to gain the upper hand – the Zheng Yi Holy Man was afraid of giving his all as Lin Feng’s Thunder Dragon Avatar was glaring at him from the side.

The Small Divine Lands World formed by the Crucible of the Divine Lands was motionless under the contest between Lin Feng and the Zheng Yi Holy Man. It was extremely dense, much like the vast and sprawling lands of the entire Divine Lands.

However, streaks of light flickered incessantly on the surface of the Small Divine Lands World, and the stars in the night sky radiated with blinding brilliance.

During their small contest, both Lin Feng and the Zheng Yi Holy Man were not entirely focused on one another. While they vied for the upper hand, they were watching the surrounding lands of the Starry Sea and the vast night sky, to ward against the possibility of a giant group of demons ambushing and besieging them.

Wang Lin’s Great Satanic Avatar and the Xuan Lin Holy Man stood at the side and quietly observed the situation while they kept watch for their respective seniors and paid attention to the surroundings.

The retreat of the Heavenly Grandmaster Grand Sage and the other great demons previously did not mean that they wouldn’t return in force after reorganizing themselves.

"Eh?" Lin Feng felt his heart skip a beat as his consciousness linked up with the gate to the Starry Sea.

He could feel that his gate to the Starry Sea was trembling with an unusual rhythm, and it was clear that something was off.

Very swiftly, the entire Starry Sea started to shake and specks of stars over the horizon gradually connected to each other to form a single patch. The originally tranquil and dark void space instantly lit up with bedazzling light.

The Zheng Yi Holy Man and the others detected the changes in the Ancient Desolate Galaxy as well.

"Someone is trying to open the Star Tomb!" The Zheng Yi Holy Man exchanged a look with the Xuan Lin Holy Man. Even though the two of them had never witnessed previous powerful cultivators who tried to open the Star Tomb and assume dominance over the Starry Sea, they were able to recognize the situation before them by referencing to their own encyclopedias and knowledge.

Lin Feng’s eyes squinted a little. "One, two, three… four! There’s one more gate than when I locked my own before this. This is the combination of four different gates to the Starry Sea."

He stared ahead at the brilliance of the stars in the distance and thought to himself, "Four gates to the Starry Sea… Does this represent a sign that the Star Tomb is about to be opened?"

Frankly, these series of changes came as a surprise to Lin Feng. According to his estimations, the great demons would attempt to claim his gate to finish the numbers to collect four gates.

Besides his own, the other known gates respectively belonged to the Heavenly Charms Grand Sage, the Golden Roc Grand Sage, the Heavenly Grandmaster Grand Sage and the dragons.

Today, after the completion of the Second Tribulation of Destiny by the Original Celestial Dragon, the possibility that the three great demons would cooperate with the dragons to open the Star Tomb was far too unlikely.

"Does that mean that this is the sixth gate to the Starry Sea?" Lin Feng’s brows furrowed into a frown. "Or does this mean that the Heavenly Charms Grand Sage and the others have another plan?"