History's Number 1 Founder

Zhu Hongwu’s body was inside a golden spiritual fountain inside the Imperial Palace. His entire body was submerged inside the fountain water and his eyes were closed as if he was in a deep slumber. When he heard Liang Pan’s heavy sigh, his eyes suddenly opened wide.

Zhu Hongwu’s expression was calm and composed compared to his indignance and frustration when he was defeated by Zhu Yi and strange colors sparkled in his eyes.

Red lights rippled up and down his body and his power and blood essence were as disorganized as ever. He couldn’t control them properly, but his mentality was a lot calmer than before.

He had experienced the greatest disaster of his life in these few days. Even though the pressure heaped on him increased as the Celestial Sect of Wonders became ever stronger, he never once thought that Zhu Yi could rely on his own powers to force him into a corner like he was now.

The Great Zhou Empire also crumbled into dust under the intense pressure from the armies of the Celestial Sect of Wonders.

Zhu Hongwu’s lifetime’s worth of dignity was ruined in a moment and Liang Pan’s throne was lost. The subjects and the others loyal to the throne could only run towards the end of the world and escape from the Ying Sea together.

All those years of travail and a lifetime of effort, all those things that they had done regardless of the price disappeared into nothingness in an instant like everything was merely a dream.

Zhu Hongwu was still submerged inside the golden spiritual fountain, and the thoughts that drifted into his spiritual altar spun around as if he was asking himself and interrogating his own soul. “Zhu Hongwu, Zhu Hongwu – you have dominated over all things your entire life, have you ever thought that you would be forced into a corner by a mere bastard that you brought into existence by accident, and brought disaster to the Emperor and to his empire.”

“If the bastard is wreaking havoc, then he should be eliminated. As the emperor’s subject, I should be alleviating his worries and I should be protecting his supreme reign over the world. The bastard is trying to usurp the throne, and I should be fighting to get the empire back for the emperor and create an empire that will last for eternity and for the ages to come!”

Zhu Hongwu seemed to enter a mystical state at this moment. He had just reached the third-level immortal soul stage not too long ago, and his current state of mind seemed to make another breakthrough.

The blood-red lights flickered incessantly across his body and appeared to increase in speed as green-black veins that resembled furious dragons popped out from all over his body one after another. There was a horrifying look about it all.

Liang Pan glanced at Zhu Hongwu and lowered his voice, “Hongwu – this is initially meant for you when you reach the peak of the third-level immortal soul stage for your preparations in going through the tribulations. However, we have been forced to use it prematurely.”

He waved his sleeve and a streak of golden light appeared. Ripples of wooden fragrance emanated from within and the air rang loud with the sounds of Buddhist chants and song. Buddhist light covered the great hall and there were concepts of absolute clarity and ultimate forgiveness contained inside.

There was a golden Buddhist statue inside the Buddhist light. It was the second Golden Form of the Budda’s Ten Great Disciples to be in the Great Zhou Empire’s possession. He was the one that upheld all the commandments and didn’t violate a single one. When the Buddha spread the gospel across the entire world, he was responsible for passing down the commandments and was known as the “One Who Upholds Discipline”, the Upali Golden Form.

This Golden Form descended into the fountain water and gradually merged with Zhu Hongwu’s body.

Liang Pan said, “It would have been better if you could assimilate this golden form by yourself. However, Shao Qingcheng and the others have failed, and we have failed to obtain the Celestial Sect of Wonders’ mantras and their secrets. Instead, we opened our doors for the robbers and brought about the dire situation that we are in now. Time is of the essence, and I can only help you with this little trick – once we get beyond today’s tragedy, I will find a way to save you.”

Zhu Hongwu laughed heartily and he no longer kept his formalities before his emperor. “Ha ha! Your majesty, we have been together for many years and today is likely to be the toughest battle we have ever faced in our lifetime. I don’t have full confidence in getting past today’s disaster, and I have already prepared myself mentally to die.”

“However, all that seek to disturb your majesty’s emperor shall die under my fists. That bastard is the devil – I will seek justice for you, my emperor, I assure you.”

Liang Pan lowered his voice again and said, “The eventual victor is yet to be decided!”

As he spoke, his eyes sparkled with divine light and burst forth with unprecedented radiance.

A sphere of light lit up in between Liang Pan’s eyebrows. The sphere of light formed a circle and rotated continuously.

The circle expanded outwards layer after layer and enveloped Liang Pan’s body within. It covered his entire body inside the radiance and he became obscure.

And in those layers of light circles, there appeared to be a supreme and divine existence that was awakening from a deep slumber with a force that shook the world.

“Eh?” Lin Feng and Shi Tianhao were the first to react outside the Imperial Palace. Their eyes lit up as they turned towards the Imperial Palace.

Light circles continued to appear on the outer regions of the Imperial Palace that shook the heavens. Voluminous amounts of ancient characters appeared in the sky and engraved themselves into the void as they formed beams of flowing light that pulsed and throbbed.

Shi Tianhao was slightly taken aback but he quickly recovered and placed his palms together and laughed. “Ha ha, this is truly a surprise and I’ve never even heard of this before.”

Two rays of divine light seemed to flicker on his eyebrows with a world-shaking force. One appeared like the origin of all things while the other embodied the end of the all beings.

Lin Feng watched the circles of light in the outer regions of the imperial Palace and a look of amusement came over his face. “Liang Pan, Liang Pan, this is a wondrous surprise.”

“Even though you have never really personally engaged in battle, and your aura has been masked by the Imperial Palace and by Zhu Hongwu, but I can tell from the way that you channel the Imperial Palace that your powers are extraordinary. Not only that – you possess a Holy Light of Creation as well, and this has truly exceeded my expectations. You are truly a hidden dragon.”

“What I don’t know is – what’s so special about this Holy Light of Creation of yours?”

Liang Pan’s body was completely covered by the blinding lights of his Supreme Reign Divine Light as ray after ray of light circles flew out and descended into the golden spiritual fountain and surrounded Zhu Hongwu’s body.

Zhu Hongwu’s martial ways had been laid to waste and he couldn’t even assimilate the flesh that Zhu Yi returned. Fusing with the Upali Golden Form was also filled with obstacles and difficulty and contained a kind of indescribable agony and pain. The pain from stripping flesh off one’s body couldn’t even compare to his suffering. Every single pore, every single piece of flesh and every single passageway was suffering from immense pain.

This kind of pain wasn’t something that people could get numb to and wasn’t something that made people dizzy – it retained its clarity and rose in intensity.

If withstanding this pain could bring about results, he could have persevered through it all. However, it was almost hopeless for Zhu Hongwu to merge with the Upali Golden Form by himself.

It was, till Liang Pan’s Supreme Reign Divine Light descended upon his body.

Zhu Hongwu’s entire body quivered as it was enveloped by this Holy Light of Creation. The color of his body instantly became golden in color, as if he was a statue made of gold.

His physical body swiftly merged with the Upali Golden Form!

The red lights surging through his body originally and the veins that were popping out all around suddenly receded into tranquility. His chaotic blood essence and his powers re-entered a state of stability and even appeared like they were sublimating.

Powerful concepts of the martial way exuded from Zhu Hongwu’s body once more. His blood boiled, and the vastness and the true meaning of martial way gradually appeared above the golden spiritual fountain and displayed various light images that almost appeared like they were solid.

Liang Pan was still hidden within the rays of light and other people couldn’t really see his expression. However, his aura of power rippled through the air and it was apparent that he was withstanding immense pressure.

However, Liang Pan didn’t stop there. While he channeled the Supreme Reign Divine Light to aid Zhu Hongwu, the divine light continued to expand and infused into the Imperial Palace.

At this moment, a light wheel rose up from the Imperial Palace and into the sky. The light wheel rotated in the air and seemed to concentrate all the different worlds in the universe into this one spot.

It was the destiny-level magic treasure, the Great Heavenly Wheels, which were originally under Zhu Hongwu’s control.

During his previous battle against Zhu Yi, he was injured by the latter and the Higan Golden Bridge. This caused the splendor and richness of the Great Heavenly Wheels to be weaker compared to its peak condition, but it was still terrifying and seemed to reign supreme over all earth.

Liang Pan’s Supreme Reign Divine Light blanketed over the Great Heavenly Wheels as well. The Great Heavenly Wheels’ aura of power seemed to seamlessly integrate with the aura of power from the Imperial Palace and they could no longer be told apart.

Innumerable chaos bolts suddenly appeared in the space above the Imperial Palace, and every single sphere seemed to represent an independent world.

These spheres orbited around the Imperial Palace and the Great Heavenly Wheels, and it felt as if the stars themselves were moving, and it also felt as if all the worlds in the universe were pulsating in rhythm as well.

Even though these spheres were not as powerful as a sphere individually created by the Imperial Palace, it was compensated in quantity and the sheer amount of chaos bolts amplified their overall strength.

The surface of every single chaos bolt suddenly cracked open and every single world seemed to break apart while a million heavens and earths opened up.

The space inside the Ying Sea seemed to be stirred up and trembled incessantly. Ray after ray of flowing light pierced through the edges of the world and even the Yingzhou Celestial Mountain and the Fangzhang Celestial Mountain began to quiver along.

The Imperial Palace’s strength and that of the Great Heavenly Wheels combined into one at this moment and produced an effect that amplified a simple addition of both forces, and exploded terrifying power.

Lin Feng watched on and he had a revelation. “This is also the Extreme Emperor Heaven-Splitting Mantra? So that’s what happened… His Holy Light of Creation can unify various powers, harmonize them and fuse them together to produce a congenial effect that is much stronger than a simple addition of the components.”

“The more powerful the components in harmony, then the stronger the overall power.”

“It’s a pity. If these two were both Mahayana-level magic treasures, he could channel them impeccably. However, these are both destiny-level magic treasures and there is too much pressure on him. He can’t use it too many times. If he’s in the Vipralopa Stage, or if he has at least experienced the Alpha Tribulations a few times, his situation would have been a lot better.”

Lin Feng glanced once more and chuckled as he shook his head. “These are good stuff and he has truly hidden many things from the world. However, we have already reached this stage and nothing can change your fate.”

On top of the Higan Golden Bridge, the glyphs of the Way of Changes continued to play out above Zhu Yi’s head and he also understood the transformations happening on Liang Pan’s side as he growled, “Little junior!”

Shi Tianhao smiled and placed his palms together. The spiritual existence of the Twelve Divine Generals appeared above his head before the twelve divine thrones that appeared like pillars that held up the heavens arrived under the Higan Golden Bridge. They shouted in unison and raised up the Higan Golden Bridge in the blink of an eye.

Rays of golden light came down from the Higan Golden Bridge and cloud energies surged around as the Twelve Divine Generals’ spiritual forms were all colored with a layer of golden light.

The Twelve Divine Generals’ bodies were originally covered with armor in the first place. It appeared as if the Higan Golden Bridge had given them another layer of thick and dense golden armor.

Under the added strength from the Twelve Divine Generals, the Higan Golden Bridge’s power was amplified as well.

Zhu Yi’s virtual entity eyed the Imperial Palace in silence before he sat down on the Higan Golden Bridge with his legs crossed and tapped on the surface of the golden bridge with his hands.

Out of the eight light circles that loomed over the golden bridge, a ninth one shimmered into vision!