Chapter 247: Null Era (II)
"Of course the First Emperor secretly spread it to the human tribes in an attempt for the human race to rise against their oppressors," replied Wu Hong. "Unfortunately for him, the vast difference between the Human Race and Primordial Races was simply too great.
Wang Wei nodded before saying with a sneer: "I can guess what happened next; Heavenly Dao interfered again, didn’t?"
"That’s correct."
Wang Wei snorted, "This thing seemed to be everywhere."
Wu Hong just gave a side look before continuing: "Knowing that the future of the world lied with the human race, Heavenly Dao then created the First Heaven Will, and basically granted it to the First Emperor. That way, the Heaven Opening Emperor not only became the First Great Emperor of this world, but also the first Eternal Emperor."
Wang Wei was not surprised that the First Emperor was an Eternal Emperor, and this was not because he was the first person to become a Great Emperor. After hearing the term Eternal Emperor, he did some research on these individuals--especially the most recent of them: the Heaven Devour Emperor.
One thing that he noticed was that Eternal Emperors seemed to have some ability of being omnipresent. For example, although all the cultivators in the world tried to erase the Heaven Devour Emperor from the historical records, everyone still knows that he is a Great Emperor.
As long as a cultivator reached a certain level of cultivation, it seemed that they would instantly know that this Great Emperor existed; it was like he was unforgettable, or that his existence was forever ingrained in the annals of history, for eternity.
The same thing can be said about the Heaven Opening Emperor; every cultivator in the world knows that he was the First Great Emperor in the world and started the Era of Emperor in this world--without anyone even telling them.
Another example of this phenomena that Wang Wei noticed was regarding dragons and phoenixes. Every time he reads any records regarding these creatures, he will instinctively know that they were Innate Creatures that once lived in the Primordial Era.
After reigning in his thoughts, Wang Wei then asked: "What happened next? I’m guessing that being an Eternal Emperor, the Heaven Opening Emperor led the human race from the oppression of the other races?"
Wu Hong paused for a moment, then she said: "Unfortunately, you are wrong. Even being an Eternal Emperor could not save the human race, at least on its own. The leaders of the Primordial Races were not in any way inferior to an Eternal Emperor. Not to mention the Patriarch of the Dragon Race, Qilin Race, White Tiger Race and the Matriarch of the Phoenix--which were the leaders of the Innate Demon race--were also on part with an Eternal Race."
Wang Wei was a little surprised. ’It seems that my previous notion of Eternal Emperors being invincible among other Great Emperors and beings on that level might be wrong.’
"So, what happened next? Obviously the human race survived somehow, so how did it happen?"
"Well, after the First Emperor proved the Dao, Heavenly Dao kept lowering Heaven Will after a certain period of time, thus creating many Great Emperors for the human race."
"Wait, you mean..." asked Wang Wei with an incredible look on his face.
"That’s correct. The Beginning Emperor Era was an age where many Great Emperors walked the world at the same time," replied Wu Hong calmly.
After taking a few seconds to process this news, he asked: "None of them, you know," then he motioned his head upward.
"Back then, the concept of Ascension was not very prevailing due to the fact that the spiritual qi between Heaven and Earth was very abundant, thus allowing these Great Emperors to cultivate with a peace of mind. Additionally, the human race needed their support and help. So, only a few of them actually left."
Wang Wei sighed as he imagined what it would be like to live in a world where so many Great Emperors walked the world and competed with another; well, maybe in the future, he still has the chance.
Then, a question suddenly appeared in his mind: "What about Dao Ancestors and Immortal Venerables, did these existences exist back then?"
"Yes," replied. "The realm of Dao Ancestor was created based on the existence of Plane Lord, while Immortal Venerables are nothing but a sublimation of a cultivator’s internal qi or energy into a higher form."
’Plane Lord? If I remember correctly, these should be individuals born in Great Thousand Worlds who actually swallowed the Heavenly Dao of their worlds and became the sole controller. Are they related to Dao Ancestors? However, the information I read about them was very vague,’ thought Wang Wei to himself.
"Back then, the Great Emperors created these methods after traveling to other World Communities in order to create Emperor Level strength for the human race without the Heaven Will. To be exact, they just copied these systems from other worlds, modified it a little and gave it their own name," continued Wu Hong without stopping.
Wang Wei nodded, however, he knew that things were not that simple. According to historical records, his ancestor--Emperor Qiyuan--is credited with creating both the Path of Dao Ancestor and the Path of Immortality. However, according to Wu Hong, these paths seemed to have long existed before then. So, there must be either something shady about this, or some great secret.
Nevertheless, Wang Wei did not ask. He was already receiving too much information in just a few minutes, so there was no need to acquire more. Furthermore, he still would like to discover some of these secrets on his own.
For example, according to Wu Hong, there may have been World Communities born before this one--meaning that there were Heaven Will World born or created way before the Myriad Emperor World, and even developed civilization way before them.
Although Wang Wei did not know how ancient his own world or community was compared to the others, he still wanted to find out--especially given his future plans after becoming a Great Emperor. This kind of information might be useful.
All of these thoughts appeared less than a milliseconds from his mind, so he continued his conversation: "Why didn’t any of the Primordial Gods or Innate Demons also acquire a Heaven Will and become a Great Emperor?"
"That’s because Heavenly Dao played a little trick on the Heaven Will," replied Wu Hong.
"Of course it did!"
Ignoring his remark, Wu Hong continued: "It added a condition to the Heaven Will: only Acquired Lifeforms could use it, thus prevented both the Primordial Gods and Innate Demons--who where Innate Lifeforms--from being able to use it, even if they acquired one.
"However, none of these two races gave up--especially the Innate Demons Race. So, they came together to create an acquired race. By constantly degrading their own bloodlines, they were able to create what we now know as the Demon Race."
’This explains how the Demon Race’s cultivation system involves slowly purifying their own bloodline,’ thought Wang Wei.
"The Innate Demon Race’s plan was to use the Demon Race to compete for the Heaven Will, thus lowering the overall strength of their races. At first, their plan succeeded as many Demon Races actually became Great Emperors.
"However, under the machination of one the human race Great Emperors, the Demon Race eventually betrayed their own creators, then joined the human race side."
Wang Wei nodded, not surprised by that outcome. "Then?"
"Then, came the Null Era. After both the human race and the demon race concluded that they had enough strength to fight these Innate Races, they started an Earth shaking, Heaven Shattering War. As a matter of fact, neither of these two fighting factions knew beforehand how great that war would become, and the lasting impact that it would have."
"What do you mean?" asked Wang Wei with a concentrated look on his face.
"What I mean was that the scope of this war was beyond these factions’ wildest imagination. Although the war started from our world, it soon spread to countless World Communities until the entire Lower Dimension was engulfed in war. The war soon turned into Acquired Lifeforms against Innate Lifeforms."
’Lower Dimensions? Is that the name for the entire Endless Void? Does that mean that the world that all Great Emperors go to is considered a Higher Dimension?,’ secretly thought Wang Wei.
Then, he saw a fading smirk from Wu Hong’s mouth, and he realized that she was testing what kind of information she was allowed to secretly say to him without arousing the awareness of that powerful and noble Will.
"As a matter of fact," continued Wu Hong as if nothing happened. "This war was actually a major plot. Someone or something did not want these Innate Lifeforms to continue living in the Lower Dimension, so they used this war as a way to remove them.
"After these Innate Lifeforms lost the war, the remaining survivors left, the record of their existence was mostly purged, hence the reason that there was little to no history or records left from before the Null Era. As a matter of fact, one day when you travel across many World Communities, you will discover that many worlds have a similar blank period in their history. In most cases, it means that it pertains to the [Innate-Acquired War]."
Wang Wei did not ask who was the person plotting all of this as he could guess that this was probably information that she could not say in any way shape of form, so he asked something else:
"I have a question about something you mentioned regarding Eternal Emp..." His word stopped midway as he noticed something strange happening on the Heaven Chosen Selection Trial.