On the Avenue.

Chapter 461 The Last Shang King

Tianpu is a beautiful scenery among the Ten Thousand Mountains. The water is silvery white, falling from the sky with great force, forming a magnificent scene of thousands of lakes and ponds in Tianchi Kingdom.

Chen Shi summoned the Taiyi Demon-Defeating Shuttle and stood in it with Fairy Xiao Linden. The Demon-Defeating Shuttle turned into a ray of silver light in the air and flew up into the sky along the waterfall.

The crack in the sky is extremely high, more than eighty miles from the ground. No ordinary cultivator can possibly fly here. Even a cultivator in the Mahayana realm would find it very difficult to fly here.

However, it is easy for the Demon-Repelling Shuttle to fly here.

The Taiyi Pimo Shuttle rushed into the water and headed towards the crack. Although the water was turbulent and the impact was extremely strong, the surface of the Taiyi Pimo Shuttle was extremely smooth, and the water fell on it as if it did not encounter much impact.

The Demon-Slaying Shuttle was shuttling through the water when it suddenly jolted violently. It must have entered a huge whirlpool. They were traveling through the whirlpool, and even though the Demon-Slaying Shuttle was an immortal weapon, it was impacted by the whirlpool and began to slowly spin!
"We can't be carried away by the spinning, otherwise we will lose our way!"

Chen Shi hurriedly held the hand of Little Linden Fairy, and the two of them floated in the Demon-Repelling Shuttle, simply following the Shuttle and not being carried around by it.

Little Linden Fairy tried to break free from his hand, but failed, so she let him lead her. She thought to herself, "He makes it sound so serious, but it's actually not dangerous. With my magic power, I can just activate the Demon-Repelling Shuttle and pass through."

She didn't use any magic power.

"His hands are big, thick and warm," she thought to herself.

The vortex in the Sky Crack was extremely terrifying. It distorted the space and caused the Demon-Slaying Shuttle to distort along with it. All sorts of strange textures appeared on the surface of the immortal weapon, as if it was resisting external forces.

This immortal weapon was collected by the Thirteen Aristocratic Families. It was originally a magic-destroying treasure brought from the Chinese Divine Continent and played a great role in pacifying the Xiniu Continent. Later, the True King was conferred the title of Immortal, and after several changes of ownership, it fell into the hands of the Thirteen Aristocratic Families.

Chen Shi couldn't help but worry whether this treasure could withstand the impact of the whirlpool, but the next moment, the Taiyi Pi Mo Shuttle rushed out of the whirlpool and sailed into a calm water area.

What was approaching was darkness.

The two looked around, trying to adapt to the darkness. After a while, they could see the scene around them.

They should be at the bottom of a large river. There is a huge skull in the water, like a fortress, emitting a dim light. The magic shuttle is now passing through its left eye and staying in its eye socket.

Chen Shi activated the Demon-Repelling Shuttle, which flew out from its right eye socket. Looking back, he saw the true appearance of the skull.

I saw that the surface of the skull had strange patterns, which were the Taoist patterns of the Great Shang Dynasty. The complexity of these patterns surpassed the Taoist patterns of the Taoist patterns of the witches that Chen Shi had seen on other ghosts, and they were of a very high level.

"It looks like a strange witch ritual pattern."

Fairy Xiao Linden carefully identified it and said, "The owner of the skull should have been a water god in the Shang Dynasty. In the water department, the priest Qixiang manages the big rivers, Bingyi manages the big rivers, and Gonggong manages floods. There are many priests in charge of such positions in the Shang Dynasty, and there is a Qixiang for each big river."

Chen Shi didn't know much about the shamanic rituals of the Shang Dynasty, so he was very interested and asked, "How are the gods of the Shang people selected? Are they also deified after their death because of their contributions to the country?"

Fairy Xiao Linden shook her head and said, "No, we inherited it through blood. When the previous priest was old, the young man with the strongest blood in the same family could pass the test and inherit the priesthood."

Chen Shi was puzzled and asked, "Why not select people who have made contributions to the country and honor them as gods?"

Fairy Xiao Linden explained: "There are two kinds of gods in the Shang Dynasty. One is the Xuanniao Heavenly Court composed of ancestors, and the other is the imperial court. The Xuanniao Heavenly Court is composed of ancestral gods, with the most powerful divine power, and manages the afterlife. The imperial court is composed of living people who are deified and serve as gods in the mortal world to manage the world of the living. The officials in the imperial court are the priests, and the Taoist patterns of witch sacrifices will be passed down from father to son, and from son to grandson through blood, from generation to generation. The Taoist patterns are imprinted in the blood, and practicing will be twice as effective with half the effort."

Chen Shi said: "A dragon gives birth to a dragon, a phoenix gives birth to a phoenix, and a mouse's son will dig holes. This world is hopeless. In the long run, power will be trapped in the hands of the aristocratic families. The aristocratic families will not produce anything and will grab resources, leaving poor families with no place to live. This will inevitably lead to chaos. It is not unjust that the Great Shang was defeated by the Great Zhou."

The little lime fairy wanted to refute him, but after thinking about it carefully, she felt that what he said made sense.

"The Great Shang Dynasty has always used this method to rule the world. The witch ritual patterns have been passed down from generation to generation and have continued to develop. The bloodline power has also become stronger and stronger. The situation of resource concentration that you mentioned has indeed occurred."

She said softly, "Many geniuses were born among those mortals without bloodline inheritance. They attempted to master power and shake the rule of the gods of the Shang Dynasty. So they studied the witch ritual patterns on the priests and developed various techniques, called cultivation. They called themselves Qi Refiners, practiced the way of immortals, and tried to transcend the calamity and ascend to heaven."

Chen Shi controlled the Demon-Repelling Shuttle and flew slowly around the strange skull, intending to check the witch ritual pattern. Hearing this, he became interested and asked, "What happened next?"

Fairy Xiao Linden said, "Da Shang didn't take these people seriously, but later, three of them had the highest wisdom and called themselves the Three Pure Ones. They were very powerful and accepted many disciples. Some royal families of Da Shang also worshipped them as their teachers. They became stronger and stronger, stronger than the gods of Da Shang, and their influence became greater and greater. It is said that they ascended to heaven and established the Haotian Heavenly Palace. It was these people who joined forces with the rebellion of Xiqi to rebel and overthrow Da Shang."

Chen Shi turned to look at her and asked in confusion: "Then why do you practice Taoism?"

There was a sharp look in Fairy Xiao Linden's eyes: "We were defeated in the war, and the remnants were treated as criminals and sentenced to be expelled from Shenzhou. We drifted in the dark sea, and countless people died and injured before we ended up here. We thought that one day we could fight back and take back the ancestral land of Shenzhou. They practiced immortal arts to defeat us, and we can also practice immortal arts and fight back!"

Chen Shi smiled and said, "The Great Zhou has been gone for who knows how many tens of thousands of years. You won't be able to find your enemies even if you fight back."

Fairy Xiao Linden shook her head and said, "The Great Shang Dynasty has been dead for who knows how many tens of thousands of years."

She felt melancholy.

It was more than 10,000 years ago that the True King led the people of the Ming Dynasty to this place. By that time, the Shang Dynasty in Xinzhou had already become evil and fallen into depravity for hundreds of thousands of years.

For hundreds of thousands of years, she sealed herself in a small world, fell into a deep sleep, and woke up occasionally, as if she was in complete darkness.

This has been the case for hundreds of thousands of years.

Until one day hundreds of thousands of years later, someone climbed the white jade path and opened a seal. Finally, the sunlight from the outside world shone into the darkness, casting a ray of light in the darkness and awakening her. At that time, it was already the era of the True King.

She looked at the young man beside her. Chen Shi was concentrating on copying the Taoist patterns on the skull very seriously.

Fairy Little Linden thought to herself, "My extravagant hope of counterattacking Shenzhou has long been shattered. I just want to see my people again, that's all."

And all of this depends on the young man next to her.

The Taoist patterns of witch sacrifices contain the wonders of the great Dao governed by the priests, and are a highly condensed form of Taoism. If one is gifted, one can decipher the Taoist patterns of witch sacrifices, transform them into talismans, and comprehend extraordinary skills from them.

Chen Shi was now well-informed. He identified these Dao patterns and deciphered them into various forms of talismans. He found that some of them were similar to the talisman patterns in the Zhoutian Dajiao. Suddenly, he had an idea: "The form of gods depicted in the talisman may be the form of gods in the Shang Dynasty, but it gradually changed to the current form later."

Chen Shi finished copying, and during the time he was copying, he had already cracked two to three percent of the secrets.

However, it would take him some time to decipher these sacrificial patterns.

The Demon-Repelling Shuttle sailed forward. There were some sunken ships at the bottom of the river, which were in a dilapidated state. Most of the hulls were made of wood, with bronze coverings on them. Various patterns were also painted on the coverings, the most common ones being Chilong patterns, Kuilong patterns, cloud patterns, thunder patterns, wind patterns, and water patterns.

Chen Shi copied down these textures. As they went deeper, they found more corpses, which turned out to be the corpses of priests.

They found more shipwrecks, most of which were damaged, with broken masts and shattered hulls, as if they had experienced a fierce battle.

At this time, a huge shadow was cast from above. The two looked up and saw that the Demon-Repelling Shuttle had sailed under a ship. "That ship is floating on the river!"

Chen Shi activated the Demon-Repelling Shuttle, sailed past the boat and onto the water, only to see a complete wooden ship floating on the water.

The ship was more than ten feet long, with rows of oars extending from both sides, forming the shape of wings. There were also tail feathers at the stern for adjustment up and down and left and right, and at the bow was a bronze bird head.

The bronze texture of the bird's head is simple, and with just a few concave and convex modifications, the owl's head is painted to look lifelike.

"This kind of boat is called an owl boat, and it is used by the navy."

Fairy Xiao Linden flew to the bow and tried to activate the Dao pattern on the boat. Seeing the Dao pattern gradually light up, she said happily, "This boat can still be used!"

Chen Shi collected the magic shuttle and came to the bow with her. Although the magic shuttle was fast, it consumed a lot of energy and was not suitable for long-term use. However, this owl boat was an ordinary magic weapon and it was not difficult to activate it.

The owl boat shook slightly, started slowly, and moved forward along the river.

The sky and earth here were also dark, and it was difficult to see far. Moreover, there was a strong evil energy in the air, which was much higher than the normal concentration, giving Chen Shi a deep sense of oppression.

Chen Shi's mind moved slightly, and flames suddenly appeared. A big sun circled behind him and hung in the sky. Then a bright moon flew out from behind him. The sun and the moon surrounded him and illuminated the surroundings.

It was dark in the distance. The oppressive feeling prevented his dojo from extending further away. The distance that the sun and the moon could illuminate was only a few miles.

The light illuminated the river bank, and fairy mountains were seen floating on both sides of the river. The mountains were not big, and pavilions were built on them.

However, most of the buildings and pavilions have collapsed, leaving only ruins, and occasionally one or two relatively intact buildings can be seen.

It seemed to have experienced a severe battle, so that the originally magnificent building was reduced to ruins.

The little linden fairy's expression moved slightly and she looked into the distance.

This place doesn't seem like an ordinary place.

As the owl boat moved forward, more fairy mountains and fairy palaces came into view. These mountains were floating in the air, and most of them were in ruins. The buildings on the mountains had also been destroyed in the war.

There were dark red bloodstains on some of the mountains, and it seemed as if the blood was still flowing and had not dried up.

The owl boat sailed farther along the river, illuminating the scenery along the way. The fairy mountains here floated quietly in the air, as if frozen in time, without making any sound, as silent as death.

They saw huge fragments of magic weapons stuck in the mountain or sandwiched between two mountains.

When the sun and the moon flew past these magic weapon fragments, the light illuminated the mysterious avenue texture on the fragments.

Some of the magic weapons are made of bronze, and some are made of black iron. Due to the passage of time, they are stained with mottled rust.

The history here is speechless.

These fragments of magic weapons are called prehistoric remains by modern people. There are many similar magic weapons in both the underworld and the world of the living. But this is the first time Chen Shi has seen such a dense concentration of prehistoric remains.

The long river flows in the air. The owl boat heads forward and moves quietly along the river surface, passing by ancient ruins. The skeletons of giants lying in all directions come into view. Even if they fall down, they are still much taller than the owl boat.

These giant skeletons are in a fighting posture, as if they were fighting with the enemy and died of exhaustion.

The two stopped the boat and came to the skeletons of the giants. After careful inspection, they saw Taoist patterns emerging on the surface of the skeletons, indicating their identities as priests of the Shang Dynasty.

"They are the priests of the imperial court."

Fairy Little Linden looked gloomy and murmured, "Why didn't they seal their own small world when the disaster happened?"

Chen Shi copied down the shamanic and Taoist patterns on these bones. These shamanic and Taoist patterns contained the wisdom of the Shang Dynasty and were likely to have been lost. He took this opportunity to copy them down, and if the merchants could recover them, he would pass them on to them.

Moreover, Chen Shi also needs to transform these Taoist patterns into more talismans and seal characters to enrich his knowledge base.

As they searched along the way, more skeletons came into view.

At this time, the light of the sun and the moon shone, dispelling the darkness around them, and a bronze wall that stretched for an unknown distance came into their sight.

The city wall is engraved with dense Taoist patterns, which are complex and outline each other, forming a Great Wall to resist foreign enemies!

On this unimaginable barrier, there is a pattern of a black bird, which is thousands of feet long and wide, and it is spectacular and breathtaking!
A skeleton sat at the foot of the city wall, holding a broken sword in his hand.

The little lime fairy stared at the broken sword in a daze, then suddenly hugged the skeleton in her arms, tears streaming down her face.

"He is my brother, Ziyu. He should have sealed himself off, why did he die here?"

She was extremely sad and whispered, "When the disaster comes, my father will issue an order for all immortals to immediately break up their small worlds, break their state of unity, and seal themselves to avoid endangering the world..."

Chen Shi observed the skeleton and asked, "How old was your brother at that time? What was his cultivation level?"

Fairy Xiao Linden was stunned: "He is fifteen years old, and he is also on the path of immortality, and he has already cultivated into a primordial spirit."

Chen Shi said: "This is the skeleton of an elderly person."

He stood up, looked around, and expressed his guess: "After you proclaimed yourselves, all the masters disappeared overnight, leaving only your brother and his people. The Great Shang court was in danger, and it was probably your brother who led the remaining people to continue struggling to survive in that doomsday. He built a defense line here, fought until his old age, and died here of exhaustion."

He looked at the skeletons behind the bronze wall and said, "He was the last Shang king. He led the last batch of elite troops of the Shang Dynasty and died behind this wall."

The little linden fairy murmured, "Why here? What are they fighting against?"

Chen Shi shook his head and said, "I don't know. But I know why they chose this battlefield. Because below is the Tianchi Kingdom, the last people of the Shang Dynasty. They must protect the last hope."

He felt sad.

"Prince Shang thought he had protected the people of the Shang Dynasty, but he didn't expect them to become ghosts. But no matter what, they survived, leaving a glimmer of hope."

(End of this chapter)