Chapter 1239: Congratulations From Everywhere
“Great elder Tian Jian has reached the Great Perfection of Saint King for many years now, but he has never been able to overcome the final barrier. He’s now approaching the end of his life with only a hundred years left. Just a while ago, great elder Tian Jian suddenly stepped down from his position and left Mercenary City in search of a breakthrough to Saint Emperor, yet the nine-colored rainbow clouds have descended now. This is the sign that someone has reached Saint Emperor. Is it really great elder Tian Jian?” The speaker was a ruddy old man. He used to be the second elder of Mercenary City, but after Tian Jian stepped down, he was elevated to grand elder. He was now the most authoritative person in the city, possessing strength at the Ninth Heavenly Layer and was not too far from reaching Great Perfection.
Meanwhile, Tian Jian became a great elder of Mercenary City after having resigned from his post.
“Great elder Tian Jian has only left the city recently. I don’t think he’s broken through to Saint Emperor is such a short amount of time,” said a red-robed, middle-aged man. He was a Saint King elder of the city.
“The number of Saint Kings currently at Great Perfection on the continent can be counted on fingers. Even if we include those independent cultivators who spend all their time hidden away in the mountains, there’s less than twenty. As for great elder Tian Jian, his talent is extremely great, and he’s read the cultivation experiences and knowledge of many Saint Emperor predecessors of Mercenary City. It’s extremely likely for him to reach Saint Emperor. He might have left the city in such a manner to find something to trigger his breakthrough,” said a skinny, extremely ordinary-looking Saint King elder. He felt unhideable admiration for Tian Jian.
At this moment, the new grand elder said, “Alright, let’s stop guessing here. In a while, once the person who’s breaking through completely consolidates his cultivation, it will lead to a pulsing of the mysteries of the world that will spread across the entire continent. All we need to do is find the epicenter of the pulsing and then we’ll know who’s broken through.”
The nine-colored clouds had enveloped the entire continent. Although the sight had caused a great commotion as well as some fear among the weaker people of the continent, the matter influenced all the knowledgeable Saint Rulers and Saint Kings the most. All the Saint Kings on the continent struggled to maintain their calm as they all stared at the colorful clouds in excitement. Extremely great envy and yearning poured from their gazes. They were all curious to know just who had advanced.
Ten thousand kilometers away from the City of God, a wooden hut stood alone on the highest peak of the mountain range. The wind whistled wildly there, producing sounds like sobs, but it could not sway the wooden hut at all.
At this moment, Hao Wu was standing with his arms crossed outside the hut. He stared at the clouds that had enveloped the entire world in interest as he mumbled, “Someone’s finally broken through to Saint Emperor on the continent again.” Hao Wu’s eyes twinkled, revealing a sliver of envy and yearning as well. The realm of Saint Emperors was an irresistible enticement to all Saint Kings.
However, he seemed to think of something soon afterward. The yearning in his eyes disappeared. It was replaced by a sliver of loneliness and deep sorrow. He turned around and entered the wooden hut, sitting next to the bed as he held Zaar Caiyun’s white hand. He emotionally said, “I don’t wish to reach Saint Emperor in this life. I only Caiyun can wake up sooner.”
Zaar Caiyun’s situation had been caused by her attempted suicide. She had harmed her soul and sealed herself off, which had not left an injury of the body. As a result, Hao Wu could do nothing since injuries of the soul were the most difficult to deal with.
The nine-colored clouds covered the sky for half a day before a powerful pulse of the mysteries of the world suddenly appeared, rapidly expanding into the distance.
The pulsing was at the level of a Saint Emperor and originated from where the person breaking through was. It also symbolized a successful break through to Saint Emperor.
“I know where it is now. Let’s go take a look.” The grand elder of Mercenary City called on a group of people and immediately ripped open a Space Gate before hurrying away with everyone.
“We finally know where that person is. Let’s go and see just who has broken through!” Other than the Changyang clan that had been sealed up, all the Saint Kings from the nine other clans moved out, heading in the direction of the pulsing together.
In this current era, breaking through to Saint Emperor on the Tian Yuan Continent was a huge matter. Thus, the identity of the person was extremely important to the continent. His affiliations could affect the future of the continent to a certain degree. If he was affiliated with the good, it would obviously be something worth celebrating over for the continent, but if he was bad, it could lead to a disaster on the Continent.
All the Saint Kings in the three great empires, in the ancient clans, and the ones scattered across the continent had ripped open a Space Gate and hurried over the moment the pulse reached them, including Changyang Zu Xiao at the Changyang clan and Changyang Zu Yunxiao, who was watching over the royal palace of the Gesun Kingdom.
Houston remained hovering in the air above the desolate mountain range. The blood-red mist around him had completely disappeared into his body while he radiated with a vast presence. Just the mere presence that he gave off from time to time was enough to make the surrounding space violently shake. It was extremely powerful.
When Houston sensed the great powers brought on from breaking through to Saint Emperor, he could not help but sigh emotionally inside. The power of a Saint Emperor was incomparable to Saint Kings at Great Perfection. Even though he had just broken through, he felt like the current powers he possessed were more than enough to squash a Saint King at Great Perfection to death with ease.
He had learned many shocking secrets from within the Empyrean Demon Orb after breaking through to Saint Emperor, because he could see an even larger world through the orb.
“Jian Chen has given me an overwhelming fortune. Saint Emperor is only the beginning of cultivation. The path in the future is still long,” Houston thought. Reaching Saint Emperor was something worth being happy over, but Houston remained very calm.
The surrounding space suddenly began to pulse as Space Gate after Space Gate appeared. Saint Kings emerged from all of them, and without any exception, all of the Saint Kings had erased their presences. They appeared like ordinary people, and even the Saint Kings from the protector clans and Mercenary City were like that.
In just a few short seconds, over two hundred Saint Kings had gathered in the space that had been empty before. All of them focused their gazes on Houston as soon as they emerged from their Space Gates, no longer able to shift their attention away. All of them understood extremely well that a true Saint Emperor sat before them from the terrifying presence Houston gave off from time to time.
“Houston, I never thought that you’d reach Saint Emperor,” the grand elder of Mercenary City sighed in surprise. He had thought about the people who could have become Saint Emperors earlier, but he definitely did not think that it would be an assassin. After all, the changes from a thousand years ago had greatly affected Houston.
However, the grand elder of Mercenary City also felt rather disappointed after confirming who it was. It was actually not great elder Tian Jian.
“Congratulations, sect master Houston, for reaching Saint Emperor and reaching the apex of the Tian Yuan Continent. A second Saint Emperor has finally appeared on our Tian Yuan Continent after the path lord of carnal desires.” The pavilion master of the Pure Heart Pavilion congratulated Houston first with a smile.
“Congratulations, sect master Houston…”
Afterward, all the Saint Kings arrived in front of him and congratulated him. Every single one of them bore smiles and spoke in a polite tone. In this era that lacked Saint Emperors, even the protector clans with deep heritages were unwilling to offend them so easily.
“Former sect master, y- you’ve really become a Saint Emperor?” An excited voice rang out from behind everyone. The vice sect master of the Bloodsword sect, Jiang Wang pushed his way to the front as he excitedly looked at Houston.
Jiang Wang’s excitement had peaked after learning that it was Houston who had become a Saint Emperor.
Houston finally opened his eyes at this moment. He first nodded at Jiang Wang before clasping his hands at the surroundings, “I thank you all for your congratulations.” Houston spoke with an extremely calm voice, without any joy or excitement that he should possessed after reaching Saint Emperor.
“Houston has already become a glorious Saint Emperor, having become one of the only two of our continent, yet he’s still able to remain so calm. Just this has already surpassed all of us present. No wonder it was Houston who reached Saint Emperor. So his mental state has already reached a level far beyond us,” praised a Saint King, which immediately lead to the agreement of many people.
Houston smiled nonchalantly with that and said, “There is never an end to cultivation. Saint Emperor is only just the beginning, so it’s nothing to be proud about. We must understand that there is always someone greater than us elsewhere. We have only been sheltered and ignorant in the past.”
All the people became stunned with what Houston had said. Saint Emperor was actually just the beginning? If it was someone else who had said that and not Houston, some of the people present would probably have begun cursing them.
“Everyone, I still have matters to attend to, so farewell.” Houston did not give a detailed explanation. He ripped open a Space Gate and left.
He had learned a lot of information from the Empyrean Demon Orb with his break through. Not only did he understand that Saint Emperor was just the beginning, he had learned some shockingly powerful secret techniques. Even as a Saint Emperor, he could only use these secret techniques with difficulty. Their levels had surpassed Saint Tier Battle Skills.
Three days later, Houston consolidated his cultivation as a Saint Emperor and also gained a basic grasp over some of the secret techniques. He then made his way to the Death Nest all by himself.
“It’s here. This is the Death Nest. Weird. Why is the Empyrean Demon Orb constantly telling me that the Death Nest is calling to me?” Houston stopped outside the Death Nest and became extremely curious.