Chapter 387: The Otherworldly "Gods", the Truth of Ascension

The entire stone chamber was filled with the light of the Luminous Pearl, bright yet soft, as if submerged in gentle, rippling waves.

Fu Juemin descended the stone steps one by one to the bottom of the chamber. Starting with the first mural on his right, he slowly began to examine them.

The first mural depicted a scene at the Empress Dowager’s Palace: a divine conception.

In the painting, the Empress Dowager sat upright in the hall. Outside, a red sun descended from the sky, filling the room with crimson light.

The next scene showed auspicious clouds gathering from all directions, the Hundred Birds Paying Homage to the Phoenix, and a Spirit Deer carrying a sacred fungus—auspicious signs piled one on top of another, almost bursting from the frame.

In the one after that, the emperor descended from the heavens, the room filled with light, and a baby cried for the first time…

This must be describing the birth of Emperor Qianming.

As Fu Juemin looked at these murals, an indescribable sense of strangeness grew within him.

Since ancient times, the logic behind tombs has had but one core principle: “Serve the dead as you would the living.”

To allow the deceased to continue enjoying everything they possessed in life, but in the next world.

Grave goods, terracotta armies, and burial pits for chariots and horses all stemmed from this idea.

Very few people would have their entire life story carved in their tomb from beginning to end for posterity to admire.

It was both meaningless and unnecessary.

An emperor’s life would be recorded in the official histories and imperial annals, while commoners had family trees, clan genealogies, local chronicles, county gazettes, and so on.

What survived in most imperial tombs were merely slices of the deceased’s life at a particular moment—scenes of archery on horseback, of Cuju football, of music and dance, of banquets and feasts.

It was a replication of “living,” not a narration of a “life.”

A continuous stone narrative starting from birth would only appear for legendary figures—like the “Jataka tales” of the Buddha, or the “creation epic” of a progenitor of mankind.

Even the Mahakala Ancestor Master, who created the Celestial Blessing Four Great Iron Body Skills and was revered by the Martial Arts world as the Martial Ancestor, didn’t have any murals like a “Chronicle of Mahakala” left behind.

To create something like the “Qianming Martial Emperor’s Chronicles” was not only a break from custom but also a transgression of status.

‘No wonder this tenth chamber had to be sealed and hidden, accessible only with a special mechanism and key…’

Fu Juemin wasn’t sure if this was wishful thinking on the part of the Nine Banners’ descendants or Emperor Qianming’s own intention.

If it was the latter, then such a conceited, arrogant, and unconventional personality was quite in line with his stereotype of the Last Emperor of the former dynasty.

After all, what bizarre thing was an emperor who personally threw away a great empire in his pursuit of alchemy and immortality not capable of doing?

But if it was the former…

Then it meant that in the hearts of the Nine Banners, they truly regarded Emperor Qianming as being on the same level as the Buddha or the progenitors of mankind.

This monarch who lost his kingdom, seen by others as foolish and incompetent, was, in the eyes of the Nine Banners, an unprecedented and transcendent Immortal God?!

At this thought, a glint flashed in Fu Juemin’s eyes, and the image of Helu’s calm expression as he’d flatly stated “Emperor Qianming ascended by raising the clouds” reappeared in his mind.

He continued to look.

In the murals, Qianming, born with the Mandate of Heaven and amidst auspicious signs, quickly grew into a young man.

At six, he mastered archery and horsemanship. At eight, he was well-versed in the classics and histories. In both civil and military strategy, he was an expert in all.

He ascended the throne as a young man, the ceremony grand and majestic, with all nations coming to pay tribute.

And then, the Emperor led campaigns in person, his iron cavalry sweeping across the lands, and the four corners of the world submitted…

Mural after mural, the entire collection depicted how wise and martial Qianming was, how he was mandated by heaven.

Fu Juemin began to realize he was wasting his time.

Qianming’s foolishness was known to all. No matter how extravagantly the murals praised him, the fall of the former dynasty was an immutable fact.

Of course, if this was all just for their own private fantasies behind closed doors… then never mind.

Fu Juemin sped up his viewing.

The only motivation he had to keep looking now was curiosity—would these murals record the part where Emperor Qianming became obsessed with the Alchemy Dao, leading to the fall of his nation?

And how, in the end, would they depict Emperor Qianming’s “Ascension by Raising the Clouds”?

Just as Fu Juemin skipped past a long stretch of boring and vapid eulogies in picture form, the content of the murals suddenly shifted.

A Western missionary with deep-set eyes and a high-bridged nose appeared in the mural.

Fu Juemin’s gaze paused. He slowed down and began to examine the murals closely, starting from where the Westerner appeared.

In the mural, the missionary was brought before Qianming for an audience.

He presented many novel and interesting Western objects—a self-chiming clock, a telescope, glassware… greatly pleasing Qianming. Qianming even granted him a minor official post and kept him in the imperial court.

The following section depicted the daily interactions between the Western missionary and Qianming.

Until one day, the Westerner began to… “preach” to Qianming!

The mural depicted in detail the process of the Westerner describing their “gods.”

According to the Westerner, their “gods” had bestowed upon them wisdom, power, beauty, and long life.

In the mural, these things were represented one by one through various concrete objects.

At first, it was normal. The painting showed imported goods that Fu Juemin expected, like firearms, ironclad ships, automobiles, electric lights, and phonographs.

But gradually, the style of the paintings started to become bizarre.

The paintings began to show colossal one-eyed giants, winged bird-people, two-headed people, and people with fish tails… each more fantastical and more terrifying than the last!

Finally, the Westerner “depicted” the true form of their gods—

A monster existing at the center of the sun, composed of countless eyes, countless tentacles, and countless pairs of wings…!

Perhaps fearing Qianming’s disbelief, the Westerner even produced a part of the so-called “god” that he had prepared in advance—a living, grotesque tentacle covered in eyes!

The Westerner also stated that there was far more than one of these omniscient and omnipotent gods.

They had already sent down oracles in the Western World and would soon descend upon this world to transform the mortal realm into an infinitely beautiful divine garden.

In the image, the Westerner was depicted speaking with wild abandon, gesticulating emphatically.

Then…

He was suddenly decapitated by a single sword strike from Qianming!

In the next mural, Qianming ordered his men to pile the Westerner’s corpse and everything he had brought, including the eye-covered tentacle, in a public square and set it all on fire.

The great fire burned for seven whole days.

On the morning of the seventh day, the dead Westerner was resurrected from the flames!

By this point, the Western missionary had completely fused with the tentacle, becoming a monster covered in eyes, tentacles, hands, and feet.

It rose from the fire, its body blotting out the sky. Wherever its tentacles swept, palaces collapsed and rubble flew.

The monster rampaged through the Imperial Palace.

Qianming led the Forbidden Army to battle the monster. In this fight, countless palaces were destroyed, and innumerable soldiers were killed or wounded…

In the end, a pyrrhic victory was won.

“Uhh…”

Fu Juemin stood before the enormous mural, gazing at the image of Qianming standing on the monster’s corpse, longsword in hand and drenched in blood. He was in a slight daze.

The absurdity and outlandishness of this section were far beyond his comprehension and imagination.

‘The Westerners’ technology came from otherworldly “gods”?’

‘Was it these gods who bestowed the power that allowed them to leap from barbarism and backwardness to rapid civilized development?’

‘These gods actually exist, and they even… had a huge fight with Emperor Qianming in the Former Imperial Palace?!’

‘What in the world is all this???’

Fu Juemin’s brow furrowed. He was beginning to be unable to tell whether the contents of these murals were truth or fabrication.

He leaned toward the latter, as the murals had been utterly absurd from the very beginning.

However, the part about the Inner Court’s Forbidden Army battling the monster was described in such a convincing and detailed manner that it didn’t seem like a complete fabrication.

‘If it was a fabrication, shouldn’t there at least be a real-life prototype for it?’

‘And the “gods” described by the Western missionary didn’t seem like something one could just imagine out of thin air!’

After a moment of thought, Fu Juemin came up with a relatively plausible explanation:

‘Perhaps it was a Western Demon Fiend that possessed the missionary, thereby causing this disaster.’

In a world where Demon Fiends manifested, if they existed in the East, it wouldn’t be strange for them to exist in the West as well.

Fu Juemin continued to look.

The incident with the Western missionary left the wise and martial Emperor Qianming with a deep sense of crisis.

Convinced of the existence of an “adversary,” he turned to gathering all the Martial Arts under heaven and became engrossed in their study.

However, after stepping into the Heart Intent Realm, Qianming realized that even with the ultimate power of the Martial Dao, he would be completely unable to contend with the “gods” described by the Westerner.

Emperor Qianming fell into a state of immense unease and terror.

At this time, he suddenly had a dream, and in it, he inexplicably sensed the existence of the legendary “Immortal Realm”!

Meanwhile, the world was gradually falling into chaos, with Demon Fiends and evil spirits manifesting everywhere.

Thus, Qianming abandoned martial arts for alchemy, fantasizing about “switching classes” to Cultivation.

During this process, he hunted and killed a large number of Demon Fiends and developed the Fake Internal Energy Method, but he still felt it wasn’t enough.

Until he once again received “guidance from an Immortal God” in a dream and learned of the existence and purpose of the twelve Heirloom Magical Artifacts.

Finally, he gathered the twelve Heirloom Magical Artifacts and, at Jiwei Mountain… successfully opened the Immortal Realm Gate!

In the final mural—

A mountain appeared in the sky, emitting countless rays of rosy light.

Countless rare and exotic beasts, along with figures in tall hats and wide sashes, welcomed Qianming like stars surrounding the moon.

Emperor Qianming, his wide sleeves fluttering, led a group of attendant eunuchs and attendants as he stepped on clouds and slowly walked into that legendary realm of Immortal Gods…

And that was all.

Fu Juemin had finished viewing all the murals in the secret chamber.

Fu Juemin stood in the center of the chamber, silent for a long time.

The stone chamber, filled with the light of the Luminous Pearl, remained bright and tranquil, as if…

…nothing had happened at all.