Chapter 862 Obeying One's Heart (5200)

Even after becoming a Human Immortal, Lu Cangyuan still dreamed.

In his dreams, he strolled above the clouds, sunlight descending from beyond the sky, like golden gauze covering the world. Thunder rumbled beneath his feet, bursting forth with a roar, while the gale in the high sky surged, whipping his robes and long hair.

Above the clouds was the high sky, and above the sky were the endless stars and the void. Lu Cangyuan, no longer young, his robes already yellowed, still dreamed of wandering between heaven and earth.

He wanted to soar and reach the top of the firmament, but he could never take even a single step upwards, an invisible wall blocking his path.

A stroll among the clouds… though beautiful, this place was not his final destination.

Lu Cangyuan always had such dreams. He believed with all his heart that he was no ordinary being destined for mediocrity. His talent, his wisdom, and his tenacity all proved that his future could be much higher—he could have reached higher long ago.

If he hadn't been born in the Hongshi World, although he might have faced dangers and died before growing into a powerful figure, at least he would have had the possibility of climbing upwards.

At the very least, he wouldn't have to look up, but could rely on his own strength to reach the sky above.

Just like now.

Late at night, Lu Cangyuan strolled above the clouds, light cascading down from the sky, moonlight washing over the scene, illuminating the clouds, extending to the earth, the mountains, and the edge of the world.

At this moment, the trace of madness that the middle-aged man had been painstakingly suppressing in his eyes had completely disappeared. He opened his arms to the wind blowing towards him, breathing deeply.

Spiritual energy, surging spiritual energy, was sweeping in from all directions. Accompanied by the thunder that suddenly exploded from the clouds beneath his feet, a dazzling flash of light erupted around Lu Cangyuan.

Boom!

The white clouds in the high sky were stirred by the surging tide of spiritual energy, forming a vortex, and thunder and rain poured down in an instant. This was a pre-ordained rainfall that Lu Cangyuan had long known about. He used the momentum of the heavens to draw spiritual power for cultivation. As the man exhaled, a white shockwave rolled in all directions, stirring up a towering cloud mountain nearly a thousand meters high above the clouds. And when he inhaled, it was as if he was swallowing the heavens and devouring the earth. The spiritual energy that swept in from all directions disappeared as if swallowed by a black hole.

Lu Cangyuan breathed reverently, like a newborn infant, as if witnessing all the splendor of this world for the first time. And his strength climbed rapidly, as if in a hallucination.

But this was real.

Ever since he realized that he could bypass the Great Dao blockade of the Hongshi World and freely absorb a trace of heaven and earth spiritual energy, Lu Cangyuan had never stopped cultivating.

At first, after a brief moment of excitement, the man realized a fact—that the free spiritual energy he could access was only a tiny trickle. Although the accumulated amount was definitely not small, for a Human Immortal, absorbing such spiritual energy would probably take several years to catch up with those colleagues he should have left behind long ago.

As for breaking through to become an Earth Immortal with this? That was a bit too far-fetched.

But how clever was Lu Cangyuan? He had long been qualified for advancement, but he simply didn't have the spiritual energy to advance. And he realized that the reason he could only draw a wisp of spiritual energy was because his spiritual energy formed a whole.

He only needed to divide out a thousand strands of semi-autonomous spiritual energy structures, and then he could draw a thousand strands of spiritual energy at the same time.

So, the next day, Lu Cangyuan created 400,000 strands of semi-autonomous spiritual energy structures, absorbing the wandering spiritual energy between heaven and earth at a terrifying speed, making up for his power.

The man's attitude towards absorbing spiritual energy could be described as devout. In a situation where spiritual energy could only be obtained by being bestowed from above, absorbing free spiritual energy itself was akin to cheating. Furthermore, Lu Cangyuan's realm had long been sufficient, but he simply couldn't control his own extraordinary power, which was why he seemed mediocre.

But now, he had regained his power.

"This is… cultivation!"

Opening his eyes, at this moment, Lu Cangyuan's appearance returned to its youthful state. His eyes were bright, staring at his hands.

The power contained in these hands was vast and unstoppable. If it had been himself at this time yesterday, he could have easily suppressed, even annihilated, himself with just one hand.

This was the power that a transcendent being deserved.

The thunder in the sky was louder than expected. The Dragon King in charge of the midnight rain was terrified. If even one person reported that his thunder was too loud, his cultivation would be reduced. Moreover, the Dragon King originally didn't want to disturb others. After all, who wouldn't love and care for all living beings if they could become a Dragon King?

He even began to wonder if he and the others had mistaken the parameters for the size of the thunder, because the thunder was too vast and dignified, like a man's unrestrained laughter.

The next day.

Once it had appeared, it was difficult to remain silent.

In the Hongshi World, in the Dangerous Supernatural Items and Creatures Management Department, at the local Crisis Response Branch, Director Luo Jiu suddenly raised his head. The hundred-year-old elder, who had not yet retired, narrowed his eyes, looking out of the window of his office.

"Lu Cangyuan?"

He seemed a little incredulous: "Are you here to take revenge on me?"

"Yes."

And outside the window, a resounding thunderclap suddenly rang out: "I'm here for you."

"Don't hurt others." The old man stood up. He seemed to want to walk to the window, allowing himself to be incorporated into the gale that suddenly rose outside the bureau, and then turn into the color of flesh and blood—so that innocent people would not be affected.

"Of course not."

But in contrast, Lu Cangyuan reduced the size of the storm around Luo Jiu. In a hazy mist of spiritual energy, Lu Cangyuan, who had become a strongman, used his power to surround the entire response bureau, the place where he had worked for more than twenty years.

"I'm really not a bad person, not the kind of bad person you imagine."

He said calmly: "I just want to ask, in the past twenty-five years, have you deliberately made things difficult for me, causing me to not get an excellent evaluation?"

"Yes."

The old man answered without hesitation: "But it's not what you think. I didn't give you an excellent evaluation because you snatched my grandson's spot. Lu Cangyuan, I can tell at a glance that you will never love all living beings. For your own purposes and power, you can do anything unscrupulously… You are a pure villain and should not wield too much power."

He said: "Just like now. So I did target you, openly and honestly."

"You're right."

Lu Cangyuan's voice was calm and cold. Accompanied by a thunderclap, an invisible force was applied to the old man—he immediately twisted his limbs, his soul shattered, and he died on the spot.

"If you hadn't suppressed me."

Lu Cangyuan stared at the corpse of his old leader. He whispered: "You wouldn't have died, and I wouldn't have become like this—I'm not a bad person, but I really can't stand you."

"You're wrong… Little Lu." And Luo Jiu's soul fragments struggled, making a final sound: "It's precisely because… you have a great possibility of becoming like this."

"So… we won't be willing to give you power."

The fragments were torn apart by the increasingly rapid gale and thunder.

Luo Jiu, a Human Immortal at his peak, was pinched to death by Lu Cangyuan, just like pinching an ant.

Targeting himself for mistakes he hadn't made, just because of possibilities? What kind of nonsense was that!

But this was the Hongshi Upper Realm. Because there were Dao Harmonization experts who could clearly see the possibilities of the future, the Great Emperor could predict a person's future, and then, in order to protect the future of more people, nip that possibility in the bud.

What Hongshi sought was never 'strength' or 'better', but true 'salvation'—others would no longer have the possibility of being harmed, and those who harmed others would also be unable to harm others, being able to live a normal life and spend an ordinary lifetime.

Everyone survived, that was the ending Hongshi wanted.

Lu Cangyuan would rather die than accept such salvation, just as some people would rather die than accept their lives being unremarkable and blending into the masses.

Since Luo Jiu did deliberately target him, then what Lu Cangyuan had to do was very simple, and that was to obey all the fantasies of the past twenty-five years—kill him.

He was a pure villain? What a joke! They didn't even give him a chance to choose, so now that he had the power, he would naturally choose to be a villain!

"Anyway, haven't you already punished me for the possibility of me turning evil?"

"I've already been punished, wouldn't it be a loss if I didn't do evil?"

Thunder roared in the sky.

Hongshi Upper Realm, an ordinary school.

Lu Yiran had entered adolescence, like all ordinary Hongshi Realm teenagers, enthusiastic about some cool spells and battle scenes.

But he was annoyed. The teenager, who admired power and liked to make friends, could never successfully integrate into the surrounding circles.

In the Hongshi Upper Realm, bullying didn't exist. Anyone who dared to harm others, using words to make others feel uncomfortable, would be severely punished—precisely because it was only words, it was difficult to determine whether there was malice, so judgments in this regard had always been strict and quick, and no one wanted to experience the power of the dictatorship in this area. People's communication had always been simple and gentle.

However, no bullying didn't mean no isolation—not wanting to play with you was completely different from bullying you. After all, the Hongshi Great Emperor only rejected people harming each other. As for whether people loved each other or ignored each other, He didn't really care.

Lu Yiran was in such a situation now. He had no friends, nor any long-term playmates. He usually went to and from school alone, and his dislike for his father also started from this point.

All relationships had a cause. Everyone lived in this city, and the relationship between parents would naturally affect their children.

Lu Cangyuan himself was seen by outsiders as a gloomy and taciturn old response officer who didn't like to talk much and whose performance wasn't very good. Coupled with the misanthropic look that he couldn't hide on weekdays, the parents kept him at arm's length, so that their children also kept his children at arm's length.

Even the teachers therefore took special 'care' of him, often calling him to answer questions, and Lu Yiran could occasionally answer them, but most of the time he could only stammer, causing jokes in the class.

"Your father was the first in the school back then!"

Those teachers who were of the same generation as his father laughed: "Relax, it's okay, you'll know it next time."

There's a next time? He didn't want to continue answering even once!

What Lu Yiran was dissatisfied with was this—not only could his father not become the idol he admired, but he would also become an obstacle to his normal life!

Parents were unselectable. Precisely because Lu Yiran was relatively smart, he was only dissatisfied, and could only be dissatisfied.

Just like now, he had no choice either.

Boom! A thunderclap rang out.

Above the school, Lu Yiran's usually familiar voice suddenly rang out, but now it sounded extremely strange.

"You two guys."

That voice came from above the high sky, with a hint of anger: "You didn't beat me back then, and now you're using this method to deal with my child?!"

Without even giving the other party any chance to explain, accompanied by a sudden sound, like someone twisting a twist by hand, the corpses of the two teachers who had taken a little 'care' of Lu Yiran had already been torn apart and charred by the agitated gale and lightning, no longer existing.

"…Dad!?"

Raising his head, Lu Yiran stared in astonishment at the clouds that suddenly rolled up above the high sky. He looked in disbelief at the top of the school—there, there was a huge vortex of spiritual energy that was rapidly rotating. Around the vortex, lightning flashed and thunder rumbled, like the end of the world. And in the center of the vortex, a dark figure stood with his hands behind his back, looking down at the earth indifferently.

How could Lu Yiran not recognize that figure? That was the familiar, no doubt his own 'useless old man', an old man who had worked diligently for twenty-five years without being promoted, who was rejected and isolated by most people, and who was inexplicably arrogant, looking down on everyone but also being ignored by everyone!

Although he was unhappy, this was Lu Yiran's childhood, his past perception, and he felt that he might have to live in such a shadow in the future.

But now, Lu Cangyuan, who was looking down on the world, had made Lu Yiran feel strange—his father had suddenly become some kind of existence or thing that was too powerful, huge, and difficult to understand. Everything he was familiar with could not describe the him who had changed too much.

The chasm between the weak and the strong was like heaven and earth.

Especially if the strong wanted to bully the weak, wanted to kill the weak, the latter had no choice but to beg for the salvation of the 'stronger'.

The figure didn't respond to Lu Yiran's call. He just lowered his eyes and stared at his child for a while when the other party shouted, and then shook his head reluctantly, turning into lightning and fleeing, disappearing without a trace.

"…Lightning Escape Technique, Celestial Phenomenon Disaster, killed two senior teachers of the Human Immortal level in one strike…"

Clenching his fists, Lu Yiran murmured to himself: "This is the divine might of a Hegemon Earth Immortal!"

"But when, when did Dad break through to become a Hegemon Earth Immortal?! And why does he dare to kill people?!"

The answer was that Lu Cangyuan had been a Hegemon Earth Immortal from the beginning.

In the Hongshi Upper Realm, before being recognized by everyone, living beings only cultivated the Dao, not cultivation.

Those with extraordinary talents could learn superior supernatural powers in school. After years of painstaking effort, even if it was only theory, they could probably know how to operate and use it.

As long as they proved in the future that they would not endanger others and were willing to help others, then a continuous stream of pure energy would pour into their bodies, allowing them to ascend to the sky in one step and become strongmen.

Lu Cangyuan was such a genius, but he had never been recognized and could not become one of the new generation of strongmen.

Clearly, he had unparalleled talent, but he was suppressed in the small Crisis Response Bureau, enduring the suppression of people whose talent was not even one percent as good as his, and his child was also isolated because of this.

He found it difficult to understand why. Shouldn't he be a genius? Shouldn't he be understood by everyone? It wasn't like he was unwilling to do good deeds, so why wouldn't they give him even a little chance, and insist on pressing him in the corner, without giving him any chance to turn over?

Why did they default that he was a bad person? He could be a good person, as long as someone was willing to believe in him—he had silently been a good person for twenty-five years! Endured for twenty-five years!

But no one believed, and no one blessed him.

So Lu Cangyuan chose to kill in the end.

——They hurt me, making me and my family unhappy, and I have no way to fight back except for violence.

He thought so, and Lu Cangyuan, who had finally obtained the power he had dreamed of, was showing a happy smile in the sky: "Then I should go and kill."

Yes, that was it—those with power should use their power to transform the world, making this world more in line with their wishes!

What nonsense about loving all living beings, what bullshit about mutual respect—clearly, if you want people to really respect each other, you have to let those who like to look down on others casually, exclude others casually, and casually draw conclusions and make judgments, taste the taste of being beaten by an iron fist!

Lu Cangyuan hated this order extremely, even though he had once benefited from it.

Moreover, precisely because he knew that he would definitely die after the Hongshi Great Emperor returned in the future.

So, Lu Cangyuan now wanted to live according to his heart—whoever believed in him, he would help; whoever hated him, he would kill.

Not because of anything else.

Just because he could.

At this moment, the Hongshi Upper Realm World Group.

There were not many existences like Lu Cangyuan, but they were definitely not few.

Most of them were originally talented, but because of their personalities, they were frustrated strongmen seeds. After suddenly being able to absorb a trace of free spiritual energy, these guys, who were originally extremely talented but had 'bad temperament', all used various methods to obtain as much spiritual energy as possible, and then followed their own hearts, launching counterattacks and assassinations against those who had made them feel uncomfortable in the past.

Even, some extra powerful people seized the opportunity, echoed each other to raise an army, and gathered a batch of troops, on the grounds of pursuing those strongmen who had fled to the outside world, intending to break through the Hongshi Upper Realm's domain blockade and go to the void of the multiverse to find other worlds to settle in.

In this way, even Lu Cangyuan's initial chaos was no longer a big deal—even those originally extremely calm organizations and strongmen were extremely moved by the possibility of 'leaving the Hongshi Upper Realm'.

The stronger they were, the more they hated the order of Hongshi; the weaker they were, the more they relied on the order of Hongshi.

In fact, the fact that they could cultivate to the point of strongmen in this world was enough to show that these Hongshi Realm strongmen loved all living beings.

But, since all living beings were very safe in the Hongshi Upper Realm, then why did they have to stay in this world?

Anyway, they just wanted to go out and see the world, and live freely for a while… In the final analysis, they were all chasing down fugitives, and they were doing serious things!

Giving themselves an excuse, and then following their hearts.

All in all.

The entire Hongshi Upper Realm changed greatly in a very short period of time, so that those Hongshi Upper Realm strongmen, who had the power but couldn't 'attack their compatriots at will', were simply powerless to stop those who had no malice, but were only curious about the 'freedom' of the outside world, so they had no choice but to find a way to notify Hongshi, telling the other party the unspeakable appearance of the Immortal Dynasty.

And at this very moment.

Outside the void of the multiverse, two dazzling blazing suns, came, returned to the edge of the magnificent and vast Hongshi World Group.

It's so hard to write…