"Please suit yourself."

"How can we stop the Celestial Emperor from talking to any Celestial Venerable today?"

"Indeed, even if we could stop it, you could still meet in secret."

One by one, the Celestial Venerables paused for a few seconds and then left again with smiles.

Fu Qingjun sat on the imperial throne of the palace, his expression inscrutable, as he watched the Celestial Venerables depart.

Soon, Emperor Xia was the only one left.

"Do you feel stifled and powerless? That's how they are... By the way, could I take you somewhere?" Emperor Xia suddenly said.

"Where to?"

Fu Qingjun smiled, thinking the other probably didn't know who he really was.

Behind Emperor Xia followed the Emperor Jing of those years,

Two hundred billion years had passed, and his appearance had aged significantly, but Fu Qingjun still recognized him.

"Has it been so long? To me, it was just a short while ago."

"This is the essence of time travel."

Fu Qingjun pondered over what the Great Xia Celestial Court had experienced in these two hundred billion years and how it was doing now, but seeing that it was still existing and had made him a Celestial Venerable, it didn't seem too bad.

Soon, Fu Qingjun's clone walked with him along the membrane of the Cosmic Land, away from the depths of the land, to a desolate ruin outside a Cosmic Continent.

Emperor Xia suddenly spoke, "Do you know of the Vortex Country? It was one of the ancient origin civilizations of the seven cosmic tiers, once ruling one of the three galactic river domains."

In his hand, Emperor Xia sparked a spatial disturbance, pulling out a thick scroll, "I obtained the rule of this civilization's inheritance back then, allowing me to become a new Celestial Venerable."

It seemed, even Jiaxia didn't know the origin of his own creation rules. On the ancient ship of that time, there was actually a third rule, which led him to believe he was the legitimate heir.

"Over these years, I've been searching for the remnants of the civilization of the Vortex Country, gaining some understanding."

Emperor Xia handed the scripture to the Emperor Jing beside him, who began to read, "The year of the universe 1,796,607, the Sovereign glimpsed the future using the power of time, realizing a great calamity was approaching. Thus, with the power of the entire nation, they constructed an ancient ship in an attempt to escape the void. After a thousand years, the heavens and earth ruptured, the pillars of heaven shattered, rivers ran wild, and the sun collapsed..."

Fu Qingjun was astonished, "So this ruin is?"

"It is the Vortex Country itself."

Emperor Xia turned around and looked at the vast and boundless riddled membrane land of the universe, "They were the initial resistors, yet every era has never lacked those who resist. The geniuses and heroes of each age, upon reaching that realm, can speculate on the kind of new cosmic world the Celestial Venerables aim to create."

"They eternally uphold the rules from on high, an unflippable world." Emperor Xia's tone was calm, "Thus, every era has its genius rebels, but they all failed, without exception."

Fu Qingjun listened silently.

Monopoly, continuously occupying the rules, trying to turn the entire universe into personal possessions, would indeed be dark and dismal.

Even if he had no intention to stop them, standing in this position would get him killed because inheriting the legacy of the Vortex Country would inevitably make him an enemy.

Emperor Xia's gaze was profound, and he again had the Emperor Jing take out another document, having him read it, "In the year of the universe 25,484,000, Emperor Xia reversed the divine realm with the Great Xia Celestial Court, using all beings for revolution. Many talents emerged, the Celestial Venerables descended secretly, lending their strength... Pushing for Emperor Xia to become the Celestial Emperor, attacking the Celestial Court together."

Fu Qingjun quietly listened to this piece of history.

Inwardly, he suddenly felt a slight tremor. At the time, Jiaxia faced a situation similar to his own.

Emperor Xia walked through this ruin, speaking, "They were leveraging the grand trend, eliminating dissent, eradicating other Celestial Venerables, using the Celestial Emperor of that time as mere puppets."

"You now, are similar to me back then."

Jiaxia turned, with deep eyes looking at Fu Qingjun, "However, back then, they eradicated the other Celestial Venerables. This time, they are truly driven down to the mortal realm; ten Celestial Venerables have descended here, as for the supposed thirty-three in the heavens? There's long been no such number."

"To them, this itself is a very reasonable and profitable action." Emperor Xia said, "To fight against you poses the risk of falling, resisting public opinion and the attacks of beings, being toppled even with a 1% risk isn't something they want to endure. Rather, joining you and becoming one of you makes the odds of winning 100%."

Fu Qingjun's heart was stirred,

As he expected, they were indeed condemning those Celestial Venerables who, over the long years, had already been gradually killed off.

The supposed thirty-three Celestial Venerables in the heavens were, in reality, only ten! In other words, what remains now are entirely monsters!

On average, each person has mastered three concept rules...

Fu Qingjun got goosebumps.

"You are another me, now you have been overshadowed..." Emperor Xia said, "Among these ten Celestial Venerables, only I am your true ally."

Fu Qingjun nodded and smiled, "I believe you."

Fu Qingjun looked at the land that was like a ruin, paused, and then said, "Then, the two Celestial Venerables from beyond the domain who have been resisting can also be trusted."

"No."

Jiaxia said, "You underestimate the layout of the Celestial Venerables. They have people from the Demon Venerables beyond the domain, and even among the resisting Celestial Venerables, they have their people."

Fu Qingjun opened his mouth, "These Celestial Venerables are truly terrifying. Did they know I would come in the distant past and set a trap here?"

"No, they did not know of your emergence, but they set this trap to eliminate the fleeing Celestial Venerables outside. Now there are two fleeing Celestial Venerables, the Void Celestial Venerable and the Nether Celestial Venerable. One of them is a traitor, an agent sent by the Celestial Venerables, trying to get close to the other true hero." Emperor Xia paused and said, "The Nether Celestial Venerable is the spy they sent. The only ones you can trust are me and the Void Celestial Venerable."

Fu Qingjun composed himself, cupped his hands, and said, "I see."

Emperor Xia spoke again, "You all let the common people of the world become your dependents, predicting that you could not cultivate so quickly, lacking enough time to continuously absorb territories and cut out demon thoughts...Yet, I have mastered the time rules that accelerate flow, which can assist you."

"I am really grateful for that." Fu Qingjun's heart stirred slightly.

Emperor Xia nodded, "The Celestial Venerables have noticed us. We will talk another day."

"Hmm."

Fu Qingjun's avatar disintegrated, disappearing in place.

In the dining hall, Fu Qingjun opened his eyes, his gaze becoming complex, "Almost got fooled by you, this current Summer Celestial Venerable, you are not the real Jiaxia..."

Another trap, perhaps.

Have these Celestial Venerables already guessed that I might seek the rules of Emperor Xia to raise my realm?

"Almost died again; schemes are everywhere."

Fu Qingjun's gaze was deep, as if he saw the ancient towering beings with indifferent gazes in that hall just now, "As long as I am not dead one day, and the rules have not returned to your hands, you sitting in high courts will never be at ease."

Ordinary people would have fallen into the pit by now.

Even the genuine Fu Qingjun might have been caught.

Emperor Xia is a truly righteous resistor. He brought me to the Vortex Country, showed various righteousness, and combined with his deeds and our shared experience, makes one inevitably believe him; we are all puppet Celestial Venerables, to unite.

"But they would not guess that the Summer Celestial Venerable is in fact my dependent...someone I left two hundred billion years ago. I can feel the imprint on him."

Fu Qingjun took a deep breath, smiling faintly, "But how would they think of that? Because I am the Venerable of Creation! I master the rules of life, without the ancient rules of time, how could I have the ability like the Vortex Country to traverse time?"

Fu Qingjun, by chance, shedding his shell, perhaps is the only variable, a variable those Celestial Venerables absolutely do not know.

The Summer Celestial Venerable in front of me does not have my life imprint; it is clearly a fake!

Originally, I wanted to get in touch with Jiaxia, to reclaim Jiaxia in an instant and gain a Celestial Venerable level of combat power, since Jiaxia's life was given by me, and the rules were also bestowed by me...

Who knew, things are worse than imagined, and Jiaxia is fake too.

"However, he can use Jiaxia's two rules, it's probably Jiaxia's demon thoughts...."

Fu Qingjun frowned, thinking silently: "Jiaxia is probably still fleeing. In the old space-time, they probably fought with Jiaxia, used some insidious means to obtain Jiaxia's demon thoughts, making him the counterfeit Summer Celestial Venerable."

But how did they obtain Jiaxia's demon thoughts?

Fu Qingjun recalled the first pit set for himself!

Constantly sending a large heap of land and cultivation resources to himself, making continuous cultivation and slicing out demon thoughts... Thus, Jiaxia's demon thoughts were found by them.

"Almost, my demon thoughts would have been obtained by them too, otherwise the consequences would be unimaginable, someone having the same rules as I do, just thinking about it is terrifying."

"Luckily, I have mastered the rules of life, just happened to be able to govern the demon thoughts of life's birth.... it is the enemy rule of demon thoughts."

Fu Qingjun's lips curled slightly, smiling faintly, "So, he said the only ones to trust are him and the Void Celestial Venerable. The one I can choose to truly trust is the other Nether Celestial Venerable."

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