"In this world, there are always a few leeks that are rebellious!"
Chen Xiao repeatedly chewed on this sentence.
He suddenly thought of the God Slaying Hall. He remembered Chu Qingluan saying that the gods they wanted to slay were the Heavenly Dao Gods.
At this moment, Tu Shan Che continued to speak: "We cultivators are merely the rations for the Heavenly Dao beings in the upper realm. They descend once every five hundred years, like farmers harvesting in autumn."
"Five hundred years ago, we finally united and rose up to resist, but we were ultimately no match for those celestial beings."
"However, our unity also aroused their fear, so they destroyed the spiritual source and divided the dragon脉 (dragon veins), turning the Nine Provinces into a place of depleted spiritual energy, and the entire planet entered an era of Dharma decline."
"The descendants of cultivators could only hide in the middle-thousand worlds and small-thousand worlds, barely surviving, waiting for the situation to change."
"And the biggest change among these is your appearance."
Tu Shan Che looked at Chen Xiao with burning eyes.
"My appearance?"
Chen Xiao was a little stunned. He felt a sudden, immense responsibility pressing down on his shoulders.
This responsibility actually coincided with his initial intention to protect his family, his loved ones, and his friends, but it felt completely different.
One was doing it voluntarily, the other was being forced to accept it... the feeling was naturally vastly different.
"In short, if we want to change the rules of this world, we have to take down the Heavenly Dao!"
Tu Shan Che seemed to see Chen Xiao's concerns and simplified it: "Because only by taking down the Heavenly Dao can we ensure that the worst possible outcome among the myriad possibilities does not occur."
Chen Xiao remained silent. Although there was heroism in his chest, at the same time, he felt like he was being toyed with like a monkey.
He asked, "Why me? Why you? Why us?"
Tu Shan Che replied, "Because we have both been to that dream, and we are direct disciples of Emperor Cang Lan. Therefore, only we are variables within the rules, and only we have the opportunity to break the rules... although the chance is slim, we are the only chance."
Chen Xiao gave a wry smile, "But even if we succeed, we will still be part of Emperor Cang Lan's puppet strings. He personally taught us, allowing us to become variables within the rules, so that ultimately breaking the rules... is only what he wants us to do."
"If the Heavenly Dao is the plunderer, then Emperor Cang Lan is the controller of everything. Our resistance, in his eyes, is nothing more than a monkey show. If we succeed, he will have merely watched a splendid monkey show..."
Tu Shan Che nodded, confirming Chen Xiao's statement, "I've thought about what you've said as well, because according to my guess, Emperor Cang Lan created us in the domain space simply out of boredom."
"However, we still must fight!"
"If the Heavenly Dao is unkind, then we will take down the Heavenly Dao!"
"If the Divine Emperor manipulates people, then we will take down the Divine Emperor!"
Tu Shan Che was no longer the calm and elegant demeanor he had before. At this moment, he was more agitated than anyone else.
The immense passion in his chest was the power accumulated over three thousand years.
"Well said!"
Chen Xiao was also ignited by Tu Shan Che's passion, and then he asked a more practical question, "Do you have a plan yet?"
"No."
Tu Shan Che shook his head naturally, incredibly smoothly.
"..."
Chen Xiao was speechless for a moment.
This was unbelievable. After all that talk, it was all emotion, no substance, right?
"Hahahaha, Brother Chen, this matter requires careful planning. We cannot be hasty!"
Tu Shan Che's address to Chen Xiao had changed from Mr. Chen to Brother Chen.
Although it sounded more intimate, being called "brother" by someone three thousand years old felt very incongruous.
"It's not that we have no clues. In fact, the first thing you need to do is gather the last Holy Relic."
Tu Shan Che said, "The God Slaying Sword is hidden in the Immortal Hidden Realm."
"God Slaying Sword?"
Chen Xiao was now somewhat sensitive to this name, "Won't it be Emperor Cang Lan that it slays?"
Tu Shan Che snapped his fingers and actually nodded, saying, "You guessed correctly. This God Slaying Sword was indeed forged to slay Emperor Cang Lan, but unfortunately, it has not yet fulfilled its mission."
Nonsense, if it had fulfilled its mission, it would mean Emperor Cang Lan was already dead! Then Chen Xiao would have nothing to do with it.
"As far as I know, the Five Great Holy Relics were left by the Eternal Immortal Emperor. Doesn't that mean... the Eternal Immortal Emperor once attempted to slay gods?"
Chen Xiao asked.
"I suspect it's roughly the same. The Eternal Immortal Emperor failed to slay gods and thus perished."
Tu Shan Che nodded, but he was not certain, it was just a guess.
"According to legend, gathering the Five Great Holy Relics can open the tomb of the Eternal Immortal Emperor. Perhaps only by opening his tomb will the answer to this question become clear."
Saying this, Tu Shan Che looked at Chen Xiao with an expression that said, "Young man, it's all up to you."
"Speaking of which, the Five Great Holy Relics have been scattered on Earth for many years. Has no one ever gathered them?"
Chen Xiao tentatively asked.
In fact, Chen Xiao already had the answer to this question.
The Five Great Holy Relics might have been gathered by someone, and that person was the Tin Man who had left traces throughout the millennia.
Chen Xiao asked this simply to see if Tu Shan Che knew about the Tin Man.
If he didn't, then all the words they had exchanged could be discarded.
Fortunately, Tu Shan Che's answer was affirmative.
"Of course, there have been. You should have heard of the Tin Man. He gathered all the Holy Relics, but he couldn't open the tomb of the Eternal Immortal Emperor."
Tu Shan Che said calmly.
When mentioning the Tin Man, there was no reverence in his words like there had been with others.
There was even a hint of disdain.
"Why couldn't he open the tomb of the Eternal Immortal Emperor?"
Chen Xiao posed a seemingly foolish question.
However, Tu Shan Che smiled appreciatively and replied, "That's a good question, and besides me, there's probably no one else who can answer it for you."
"Big brother, can we stop playing coy?"
Chen Xiao rolled his eyes and complained.
"Because the Eternal Immortal Emperor came from the Nine Provinces, his tomb, after his demise, was also left for the people of the Nine Provinces."
At this point, Tu Shan Che changed the subject, "And the Tin Man is not from the Nine Provinces, so naturally, he cannot open the tomb left by the Eternal Immortal Emperor."
"Oh? The Tin Man isn't from the Nine Provinces? Is he a foreigner?"
Chen Xiao asked in confusion.
"..."
This time, it was Tu Shan Che's turn to be speechless.
"The Nine Provinces I'm referring to is a general term for the entire Earth, as the Nine Provinces was once the sole center of the Earth."
"The Tin Man is not from Earth. He is from the Realm of Celestial Beings!"