The Five Heavenly Emperors, a symbol of the new era in the Immortal Realm.
After the Immortal Monarch, the era of the Five Heavenly Emperors began.
"I don't know."
Xi Qiu's answer plunged Chen Fan into thought.
Don't know?
The Five Heavenly Emperors had been in power for tens of thousands of years. He asked again, "Then what about the Immortal Monarch?"
"Immortal Monarch?"
This time, Xi Qiu did not answer immediately.
After a long period of contemplation, he said, "This name… I think I've heard it somewhere before."
"Think."
Xi Qiu: "..."
Fine, the city lord wants him to think, so he'll have to think.
Xi Qiu's brows furrowed deeply.
Chen Fan did not disturb him; he needed to find the temporal nodes of the two worlds.
About five minutes passed...
"I remember now." A lightning bolt seemed to flash through Xi Qiu's mind.
"Tell me quickly."
It actually worked.
Chen Fan was also somewhat surprised.
Xi Qiu then said, "The collapse of the Mad Realm. That's right... ten thousand years ago, the Mad Realm, which was in its prime, suddenly shook and began to collapse. On that day, I seemed to hear the voice of the Mad Heavenly Emperor, filled with unwilling roars, shouting the words 'Immortal Monarch'!"
"You mean the Mad Heavenly Emperor was killed by the Immortal Monarch?"
"I'm not sure if that's exactly what happened."
Xi Qiu said solemnly, "But it must be related to the Immortal Monarch."
Yes.
Xi Qiu's memory seemed to flash back to ten thousand years ago.
At that time, the Mad Realm was still full of vitality.
The new humans in the inner world continuously cultivated, expanding the territory of the Mad Realm, truly evolving into a great world.
Who could have imagined that the collapse would happen in an instant?
That day, the sky and the earth truly collapsed.
That unwilling roar echoed throughout the entire Mad Realm.
"Immortal Monarch."
It was a roar filled with immense unwillingness.
From that day on, the Mad Realm began to collapse.
This collapse lasted for ten thousand years.
The Mad Realm went from its peak to its demise, a process that lasted a full ten thousand years.
Chen Fan was shocked, "An inner world takes ten thousand years to collapse?"
No.
Suddenly, Chen Fan seemed to have thought of something.
In the outside world, the Five Heavenly Emperors had only ruled the Immortal Realm for ten thousand years.
And the Immortal Monarch was also a figure from ten thousand years ago.
Does this mean the flow of time here is ten times that of the outside world?
Ten thousand years passed in the outside world, and it's already been one hundred thousand years here.
"Very likely."
Chen Fan did not voice this guess but kept it in his heart.
He looked at Xi Qiu again and asked, "Introduce me to the major powers in the Mad Realm. The collapse of the Mad Realm is unstoppable. All I can do is search for opportunities in the Mad Realm. If possible, I will take you all out."
He did not say it too definitively.
Such words could not be spoken lightly.
Xi Qiu quickly replied, "Tian Dang Mountain is located in the north of the Mad Realm. Originally, there was a large area to the north, but later, as the Mad Realm collapsed, it was all devoured by the World-Ending Locusts. They spread little by little until now, the territory of the Mad Realm has been compressed to its limit."
There was no one left in the north.
Xi Qiu continued, "And about a thousand miles south is a Burial Mountain, led by three Burial Kings, all of whom are at the Half-Emperor realm."
"Half-Emperor."
Chen Fan savored the term.
It seemed that Half-Emperor was the current limit in the Mad Realm.
"Are there no Heavenly Emperors?"
"No."
Xi Qiu was very certain about this. "The inner world belongs to the Mad Heavenly Emperor, and the end of cultivation is the end of the Mad Heavenly Emperor. The Mad Heavenly Emperor was a very powerful one among the Heavenly Emperors, so it is possible to become an Emperor in this Mad Realm."
It was like Chen Fan's River of Rules.
If Chen Fan became an Emperor, others would also have the opportunity.
The end of the Mad Realm was the Heavenly Emperor.
"But still, no one has managed to become an Emperor."
Xi Qiu shook his head, a little wistfully. "Not every Heavenly Emperor possesses the power of the convergence of ten thousand paths. Most of them will lean towards a certain fundamental law. Just like the Mad Heavenly Emperor, he walked the path of destruction. That's right... like the World-Ending Locusts, most of the strong cultivators in all the inner worlds also walk the path of destruction."
After speaking, he added, "I do too."
Destruction was a very powerful path.
Those who walked this path would be more compatible with the Mad Realm and would find it easier to advance to Heavenly Emperor here.
Xi Qiu continued, "Burial Mountain has three Half-Emperors, and it is very strong. Beyond Burial Mountain is the central region of the Mad Realm, which is currently the safest place. The World-Ending Locusts are devouring from the periphery of the Mad Realm and have not yet reached the central region."
"In the center of the Mad Realm, there are four major powers, each with a top-tier Half-Emperor guarding it."
Half-Emperors also had different levels.
"Top-tier Half-Emperors are different from ordinary Half-Emperors. They have reached the limit of the Mad Realm. If the Mad Heavenly Emperor had not perished and they could not have left, they would have become Emperors long ago. It is this world that restricts them."
Chen Fan was not surprised by this.
After a hundred thousand years, there were bound to be many prodigies.
Survival of the fittest was the law of the world, and ultimately, there would be exceptional beings who reached the Emperor realm.
"I understand."
Chen Fan nodded. "So, all opportunities are in the center of the Mad Realm."
"Yes."
Xi Qiu nodded. "As the Mad Realm is devoured by the World-Ending Locusts, the rules will converge towards the central area, making it even stronger."
"Moreover, the powers guarded by Half-Emperors are safer."
"Mm."
Xi Qiu's narration was very detailed.
It included the division of smaller powers around the center of the Mad Realm.
Tian Dang Mountain, for example, was just a small power.
The previous mountain lord who fled, Qi Mu, although he was called a Half-Emperor, in Xi Qiu's eyes, he was the weakest kind of Half-Emperor.
Xi Qiu sneered, "After the Mad Heavenly Emperor perished, he was fortunate enough to pick up a trace of the leaked primordial essence of the world and barely advanced to the Half-Emperor realm."
A lucky fellow.
"What about you?"
Chen Fan looked at Xi Qiu. "Ten thousand years, and you are still only at the Emperor Dao realm?"
One hundred thousand years.
Even a pig could have cultivated to the Emperor Dao realm by now.
And Xi Qiu, being one of the first batch of cultivators in the Mad Realm, was still at the Emperor Dao realm.
Those who entered at the same time as him had either died or become Half-Emperors.
From his words, it seemed he was the only one still at the Emperor Dao realm.
Upon hearing this, Xi Qiu immediately gave a bitter smile, "I didn't want to, but there was nothing I could do. I offended someone."
"Hmm?"
Xi Qiu did not hide anything about this.
It turned out he had offended a Half-Emperor from one of the four major powers and had to flee here.
If he dared to break through, he would inevitably attract the pursuit of that person.
No one dared to ignore the deterrence of a Half-Emperor.
"Heh heh."
Chen Fan chuckled, "So for all these years, you've been suppressing your cultivation?"
"Yes."
Xi Qiu admitted, "Sometimes when I couldn't suppress it anymore, I would send my strength to others."
"Puppet clones?"
"You could say that."
There was nothing to hide about this matter.
In the Mad Realm, the ability to possess strong power to resist omnipresent crises meant that no one would care about clones.
As long as there was strength, that was enough.