The palace maids and eunuchs within the Imperial Palace all had astonishing Qi-Blood, many had even ignited their Heart Lamp.

At the same time, there were numerous guards in the shadows, with very high cultivation.

The palace resembled a small city.

As the last fig leaf of imperial power, external forces did not openly extend their claws inward.

But who knows how many spies there were in the shadows.

However, the Great Lii Royal Family was not considered too important nowadays, so those few forces likely didn’t expend too much effort here.

............

Inside the Royal Scripture Pavilion.

An old man with white hair basked in the sun and slept soundly at the entrance, occasionally muttering in his dreams.

A young man in green sat cross-legged in the Scripture Pavilion.

A middle-aged man in black was moving a pile of books.

The books floated automatically, pages turning by themselves, while the Divine Sense continuously read the information on them.

Clearly, there were many superior and even top-level Cultivation Techniques on the shelves.

Yet, the two showed not the slightest interest in them.

""

""

""

""

"Three thousand years ago, the Martial Ancestor Zhaoo Feiyun emerged out of nowhere."

"The Martial Ancestor led three thousand Heaven-Stepping Riders and beheaded the Thousand-Handed Buddha, laying the foundation of Great Lii with the Buddha’s blood."

"The Martial Ancestor slayed over a thousand Snake Gods..."

"The Martial Ancestor slew the Luo River God..."

"As the Martial Ancestor’s wings grew and his cultivation reached its limit, he achieved the Celestial Human Realm."

"The Celestial Human Realm, a realm that exists only in theory, and only the Martial Ancestor has reached it. The Celestial Human Realm is as formidable as the mysterious Primordial Ancestor."

"The Martial Ancestor became a spear himself, leading thirty thousand Heaven-Stepping Riders and a hundred thousand Resounding Earth soldiers, and swept across the chaotic world..."

"The Martial Ancestor was assisted by Jia Li, Xu Yun, and Qian Yue, who were later known as the Three Sons of Great Lii after the founding of the state..."

"Two thousand nine hundred and eighty years ago, the Martial Ancestor received help from the Divine Phoenix at Ming Mountain, and the Divine Phoenix, existing till now, is revered as the Phoenix Ancestor."

"The Martial Ancestor and Phoenix Ancestor jointly slew the Ancestral Level Great Demon Celestial Dragon Flood Dragon, using its blood to establish the Dragon Vein of Great Lii and set up the Vermilion Bird Divine Capital, stabilizing the Qi Fortune of Great Lii..."

"Two thousand nine hundred and sixty-three years ago, the Martial Ancestor’s injuries relapsed, impossible for even gods to heal, and he passed away."

"All of Great Lii wore mourning clothes, and the following year, Wenzong ascended the throne and began governance by inaction..."

Jiang Ming flipped through the records one by one.

But all the stories pieced together from the books were about Martial Ancestor Zhaoo Feiyun’s journey of supreme triumph, essentially god-slaying any deity he encountered, Buddha-slaying any Buddha he met.

Unable to fight, he would fall off a cliff and encounter an opportunity.

Later, he even created a cultivation system for the Human Race, reaching a Celestial Human Realm that almost no one else could achieve.

He also subdued the Phoenix Ancestor as his partner.

He swept across the chaotic world.

The lines were filled with worship for the Martial Ancestor.

Jiang Ming’s mouth twitched.

The Martial Ancestor Emperor of Great Lii was indeed a hero, but Jiang Ming didn’t believe that was all there was.

But no matter what chronicles he read, descriptions of the Phoenix Ancestor were marginalized, while the Martial Ancestor’s prowess was greatly exaggerated.

However...

Given the Phoenix Ancestor’s attitude, Jiang Ming knew the Martial Ancestor could not simply be the stereotypical protagonist who defied destiny.

While researching, Jiang Ming checked out the Twelve True Gods as well.

Among the Twelve True Gods were the Eight True Monarchs and the Four Buddhas.

To be honest, Jiang Ming felt somewhat uncomfortable.

Because in the Cultivation Realm, those at the Golden Core stage can be called True Masters, and only those at the Nascent Soul stage have the qualifications to be called True Monarchs, Venerables.

And Buddhist disciples are typically only called Buddhas after achieving True Immortality.

The biographies of the Twelve True Gods were equally grandiose and upright.

Each one was an idealist igniting themselves to illuminate others, eventually worshipped by Great Lii Life and transformed into deities.

"Are these things here just to deceive people?"

With a wave of his hand, Jiang Ming sent the books flying back to the shelves automatically.

"Kid, if you really want to read those True God biographies, you shouldn’t be here."

"You should go to the Chaofeng Pavilion. Chaofeng Pavilion always confronts the True Gods, and they have the most detailed materials."

"As for here? It’s all fairy tales."

The sunbathing old man suddenly spoke, only facing the sun, not knowing who he was talking to.

Jiang Ming, however, stood up with a smile.

He looked at the old man.

"Then the senior should know why I am here."

Jiang Ming didn’t really expect the Scripture Pavilion, which was open to the royals, to hold the truth.

But this man, the strongest in the Royal Family, should be able to know some truths.

The old man struggled to sit up, turned, and looked at Jiang Ming with cloudy eyes.

"Being allowed into the palace by the Phoenix Ancestor, it seems that’s her intention."

Having said that, the old man drew a ribbon from his sleeve.

Strange lines ran along the ribbon.

Yet Jiang Ming could inexplicably read some information from the lines.

[I, Zhaoo Feiyun, at the age of three hundred and sixty-five, am about to ascend.]

[It’s been three hundred years since the mountain encounter back then... everything seems like it was yesterday.]

...

[Three hundred years ago, Immortal Blood fell from the sky, and I... favored by an Immortal, refined the Immortal Blood, thus transforming from an ordinary old man into an extraordinary being...]

[I traveled across the entire Great Yuan Dynasty, witnessing countless bizarre and harmful events.]

[At first, I felt nothing, even tried to cooperate with the strange ones, but as my power grew, I always felt... I should do something...]

[I used the Demon Blood of three thousand Disaster Level demons, slaughtered thirty cities, and finally forged three thousand Heaven-Stepping Riders...]

[The Thousand-Handed Buddha seemed to notice something amiss about me, but I was undead; he couldn’t kill me, so I killed him and inherited his Buddha Kingdom, I founded the state...]

[I seemed to feel... there was something after founding the state that could help me recover my emotions... I have felt no emotions since refining the Immortal Blood... I began to be curious about what human emotions feel like...]

............

[Over a thousand Snake Gods wanted to eat me, I dismantled them and, with their tens of thousands of portions of flesh and blood, forged a hundred thousand puppets...]

[By the Luo River, I met a woman, we fell in love, she told me she was the Luo River God, protecting the riverside village.]

[The Luo River God’s appearance and temperament were nice, and... quite gentle. But she wanted to eat my people, now my people can provide me with a special something, I call it national fortune, national fortune is crucial, I would not let her disrupt it...]

[However... after killing her, I regretted it; I should have kept her as cover.]

[In this world, the Human Race is always weak; I stood out too much...]

............

[I swept across the land of the Ten Domains, I could feel myself becoming more human! Great, great!]

............

[That old dragon that’s always been asleep seemed to notice me... I can’t let him see the human aura on me...]

............

[Later, I met a small bird, not knowing why my Immortal Blood sent a drop of blood to her, I could sense she had abnormalities too, but not quite like mine, yet she also seemed to need national fortune, we seemed to be able to share national fortune...]

............

[After devouring fifty thousand people and a million demons, she and I finally stepped into the Ancestral Realm! But she seemed a little unhappy]

[I could feel myself becoming more human!] 𝒇𝙧𝙚𝓮𝙬𝙚𝓫𝒏𝓸𝓿𝓮𝒍.𝓬𝙤𝓶

[I established the country name, Lii, the Great Lii Dynasty!]

[I began to dislike those demons, and to pity my people.]

[But Little Hong is the most special; she, like me, pities the people...]

[I extracted the Heart Lamp Cultivation Dao from my own Cultivation Dao, combining it with some Cultivation Techniques that the people were practicing, after a few modifications, they could cultivate too... but even the most gifted don’t seem to reach my realm...]

.........

[I killed the Celestial Dragon Flood Dragon, establishing the Dragon Vein!]

[National fortune feedback! I! I really became human, hahahahaha!!!!]

[I became human!]

[I want to protect the people of Great Lii! To illuminate this disgusting world with Great Lii’s glory!]

[With Little Hong covering for me, the other Ancestor Level demons haven’t noticed me, I must continue cultivating, to reach that realm within Immortal Blood...]

.........

[Little Hong became increasingly unlike human, before she always stopped me from sacrificing people for power... I suspect her process is opposite to mine...]

[For my people, I cannot let her continue!]

.........

[I ambushed Little Hong, Little Hong will harm my people no more...]

[But...]

[I seem to have lost my undying power, the power of Immortal Blood is slowly leaving me...]

[I am about to... about to develop what is called Primordial Spirit within Immortal Blood...]

[Indeed...]

[Humans, can die...]