I was the Heavenly Emperor in ancient times

Chapter 34 The Back View at the Gates of the Underworld
The Emperor beheaded the Candle Dragon at Zhangwei Mountain.

This event seems to mark a turning point in history. From that day on, the entire northwest began to undergo earth-shattering changes.

Even though the Emperor only appeared in the mortal realm for a moment, and the death of the Candle Dragon of Zhangwei Mountain was just a blink of an eye, this instant determined many things.

On the vast grasslands and wilderness.

A tribe, leading packhorses and herding sheep, headed towards the fertile plains. They were a skilled shepherd tribe from the east, and were vassals of the Ximu clan.

The child whipping the shepherd couldn't help but ask the man carrying a bow and arrows beside him a question.

"What are we doing here? Why are we driving so many sheep over there?"

Man: "Go and pay respects to Xi Mu Shao Li; it will be needed for the sacrificial rites in Xi Mu City."

The child was visiting the Western Mother City for the first time: "I've heard of the Western Mother City. It's said to have everything, but what is the Shao Li and who is it worshipped?"

The man said, "Xi Mu is Shao Li. She is the Emperor Shaman, and the one she worships is naturally the Emperor."

Child: "What is an emperor?"

The man looked up at the sun in the sky: "The Emperor is the great sun in the sky, the heavens."

The child stared wide-eyed at the sun and the vast blue sky filled with clouds.

Since the Emperor slew the Candle Dragon, Shao Li of the Western Mother Clan, as the Emperor Witch, has ruled over hundreds of clans and tribes of all sizes in the West, and a completely new and unprecedented power has appeared in the Northwest.

At the same time, Shao Li was also exploring how to govern this huge new force, even if it was only nominally governed. This was an unprecedented thing, so she built a city in the Wilderness of Wo.

The city was called the Western Mother City, but because it was built to worship the Emperor, it was also known as the Capital of the Emperor.

Large and small clans and tribes came to the capital of the emperor to pay tribute and perform sacrifices. The annual sacrifices also became an opportunity for trade between the various clans and tribes. As a result, the Western Mother City became more and more prosperous, the city walls became taller and taller, and the population grew larger and larger.

Silk from the southeast entered the capital in large quantities, gold from the west piled up like mountains, and all sorts of jade, pottery, and silver artifacts also appeared here.

Within the city, numerous clans possessing various skills emerged, living in different areas. Some were skilled in cart making, others in pottery making, and still others in bronze making. Among these, the most important skill was jade making.

Jade seems to have a very important significance for the Ximu clan. It was an important sacrificial object for worshipping the emperor, and the most important jade among them was naturally the Jade of Ascension, which was a sacrificial object made by Ximu Shaoli in accordance with the emperor's decree.

Only by using this sacrificial vessel, Shao Li, can one summon the Bluebird to possess one's body and become the Bluebird's corpse.

In legends, this jade artifact is surrounded by various tales.

It is said that whoever obtains this jade artifact will be able to ascend to heaven and fly to the celestial realm where the Emperor resides.

Until now.

The word "Di" was originally used by the Ximu clan to describe the sky and the sun. Later, it became exclusive to the Emperor, and now all clans, large and small, in the entire Western Regions worship and offer sacrifices to the Emperor.

As the group drove their flock of sheep and packhorses, something that was clearly not a natural creation appeared on the horizon. The group immediately stopped and called out to it.

"arrive!"

"That is the Western Mother City."

The child looked over and saw only an earthen city standing on the ground, with people from afar turning into lines and entering it.

The Wozhi Plain, where it is located, is one of the few rich and fertile places in the Northwest. In addition to the city itself, the mountains further behind it are also very attractive.

Kunlun Mountains.

Originally, it referred to the highest mountain peak, a mountain peak as smooth as jade.

Now, all the surrounding mountains, hills, and land are covered by the name Kunlun, losing all color and presence.

The name Kunlun has become more profound, but it has also made it more difficult to find its original origin and appearance.

The group entered the city, handed over the sacrificial sheep to the Ximu clan, and then waited for the sacrifice to begin.

This morning.

Everyone in the city walked along the street toward the central altar, which was built exceptionally tall, making the entire West Mother City look like a giant altar.

Tribes from all directions gathered below the high platform, worshipping this imperial altar, which at this moment seemed to have become the center of heaven and earth.

At this moment, Shao Li ascended the high platform from the west, facing the rising sun.

She wore a mask and a plain white robe, with jade pendants hanging from her ears, and danced gracefully on the high platform.

On the stage, dozens of boys and girls held offerings, while below, a dense crowd knelt facing the distance.

Among them, quite a few people were secretly watching the sacrificial ceremony up high.

As Shao Li sang her blessing, green feathers gradually covered her entire body, and then she slowly transformed into a divine bird, flying towards the sky.

"Chirp!"

The children who had just arrived in Ximu City with their tribe stared wide-eyed at the sight. The concepts of Emperor, Witch, Bluebird, and Ximu were unknowingly deeply planted in their hearts and gradually spread into mythology.

The great bird that Shao Li transformed into flew from the "Capital of the Emperor" all the way to the Kunlun Mountains of the past. The mountains rose and fell in layers, and finally she landed on a peculiar hill.

Without that most important half, this place is no longer called Kunlun Mountain, but has another name.

"Kunlun Hill!"

Even so, this place remains an important site for worshipping the emperor.

At the foot of the mountain, the Ximu clan set aside a branch specifically to guard the altar where the emperor was worshipped, and they remained there even in the coldest season.

At this moment, the members of this branch of the Ximu clan saw the little lily flying in from the sky, lit flames, knelt down, and raised their hands to welcome it.

Shao Li had come here many times and had offered sacrifices to the Emperor here many times, but he had never seen the Emperor again.

However, she gradually became afraid of seeing the Emperor.

Shao Li climbed the mountain from the altar at the foot of the mountain, gradually ascending to the top. She transformed into human form and stood on Kunlun Hill, continuing to look up as if trying to see the former summit of Kunlun.

She removed the mask from her face and saw that Shao Li had grown old.

She reminisced about the past.

It was as if I were standing before the Emperor once again, gazing at that perfect figure, as perfect as the sun and the moon.

At that moment, she suddenly felt a strong sense of shame and inferiority.

The wrinkles around her eyes, her aged appearance, and even the feeling that she exuded an unclean odor.

The difference between mortals and emperors is not just about power. Time will tell you the difference between humans and gods. You will grow old, but he will be as immortal as the sun and moon.

Thousands of years later.

Thousands of years later.

When you are completely reduced to dust, the other person will still rise slowly like the sun in the sky.

Year after year.

Shao Li is getting older and older. Even when she transforms into a Feathered Clan, she will still regain her youthful appearance and still possess great power. In fact, she becomes even more powerful as she ages.

However, when she transformed into a human, the weakness in her body was undeniable; she could feel the life within her body slowly slipping away.

As death drew nearer, the bluebird, which she had found incredibly beautiful in her childhood, began to terrify her more and more.

Dreaming back at midnight.

She always felt that the bluebird was flying towards her little by little, opening its mouth wide to swallow her whole.

It was as if to say that there is only one Azure Bird of the Emperor in this world, and she is just an accessory.

The other party will devour her past, eat away all the traces she left in the years, and swallow her whole.

Shao Li woke up with a start and finally made a decision.

This day.

Shao Li once again activated the altar that was actually used for sacrifices, and took out the Jade of Ascension. She had only used this sacrificial jade once before.

That was when the Emperor slew the Candle Dragon; she borrowed the power of the Azure Bird and became its corpse.

The Emperor had told her that this power could only be used once, and that if she used it a second time, she would be close to death.

But this time, she couldn't resist using it.

The sacrifice was held in great secrecy, unlike the grander events of previous sacrifices, but its importance far surpassed those that were more like ceremonies.

On the altar.

She hung the feather of transformation around her neck, summoning the shadow of the bluebird to land on her. The blue wings on her back spread out, the beautiful feathers unfolding layer upon layer like a cluster of flowers, and only her head remained attached to them.

The wrinkles and signs of aging on her face gradually faded, and she slowly regained her youthful and beautiful appearance.

At this moment, Shao Li used the Bluebird's supernatural powers to avoid misfortune and seek good fortune, and the misfortune she was trying to avoid this time was death.

She wanted the Bluebird to help her find a way to achieve immortality, and she already had a clue about the method: the power left behind by the Candle Dragon in Zhangwei Mountain.

However, she needs the Bluebird to help her find a way to truly use this power.

"Chirp!"

She heard the sharp cry of a bluebird, and then she saw a series of images.

Finally, she pronounced two syllables.

"Yellow Spring!"

Waking up from those vivid images, and looking at herself again, she saw that the alienation within her was still ongoing.

She could never transform back into human form, but that didn't matter anymore. She flew towards Zhangwei Mountain, like a fleeting glimpse of a beautiful bird across the sky.
-
At the foot of Zhangwei Mountain.

"Shao Li!"

"Greetings, Shao Li."

Several tribes stationed here came to pay their respects to her. Like the area below Kunlun Hill, there was also a branch of the Ximu clan here.

Over the years, these people have been guarding the Candle Soul at the foot of Zhangwei Mountain as she instructed, keeping an eye on everything that happens here.

Shao Li, now transformed into a bird with a human head, looked at the "Aurora Eye" in the sky. This place seemed to be the end of the world; even in broad daylight, it was still dark, as if something had swallowed up some of the light here.

The distant Zhangwei Mountain was dark and deep, but it no longer had the strong vitality that seemed to be alive in the past. However, it was still shrouded in a strange power, and Shao Li's sharp eyes could see layers of candle spirits wandering and roaming within it.

Shao Li's gaze then turned to the large cave high up on Zhangwei Mountain. Through the bluebird's supernatural powers, she learned more clearly the details of what happened when the Emperor slew the Candle Dragon. The Candle Dragon was divided into three parts by the Emperor.

The "eye" in the sky, a remnant in Zhangwei Mountain, and the Yellow Springs River at the deepest part of that big cave—these three parts have now become three separate demons.

She came here for Huang Quan, because Huang Quan inherited Zhu Long's part of the power about life and death and reincarnation.

Part of Zhangwei Mountain has become a dead zone.

After Zhulong died, some of his power dissipated and became uncontrollable. The trees here are like black charcoal with dragon scales on their bark, and black water flows everywhere.

The shadow of the person who enters will gradually disappear, and then they will suddenly collapse and not wake up, or they will simply disappear because they walked into some dark corner.

Meanwhile, Shao Li dug up a black bead somewhere on the mountain.

"found it."

Shao Li held the bead in his hand and glanced at the surrounding spirits. The spirits retreated one by one, not daring to approach.

This was the sacrificial vessel crafted by the shaman Guandi Xingliu Huoluo Renjian of the Yimu clan. It was imbued with the power of Zhulong through repeated sacrifices. However, the Yimu clan did not know how to use its power until the birth of Zhuyin.

Unfortunately, now that Zhulong is dead, it can no longer play its original role, but it can still communicate with the three demons after Zhulong's death.

Shao Li began by offering sacrifices to the demons of Zhangwei Mountain with black pearls, and selected men and women from the Ximu clan to create a new kind of witch.

Shao Li created several witches in succession, but these witches were completely incomparable to the former Zhu Yin, and only inherited a part of the power of a demon in Zhangwei Mountain.

Not only that, four of them failed on the spot and were directly transformed into four black dragons that could transform between shadow and physical form.

"Roar!"

"hiss……"

These black dragons kept howling, but when Shao Li stared at them, they trembled and lay prostrate on the ground.

A new shaman was born. They put ropes made of the bark of the dragon scale tree from Zhangwei Mountain on the four black dragons and led them to kneel before Shao Li.

Immediately afterwards, the spirit of the One-Eyed Clan on Zhangwei Mountain, along with other things trapped there for various reasons, emerged from the darkness and knelt before Shao Li.

On the dark, lofty Longshan Mountain.

A deity with a human head and a bird's body held a black jade bead, while shamans led a black dragon to bow to the ground, and countless souls prostrated themselves.

Shao Li looked at them coldly and gave orders.

"Go and build a door in front of the cave on the mountaintop."

The witch, the soul, and the dragon went to the mountain peak together, carved through the rocks, and used their supernatural powers to create a huge stone gate, sealing the large hole left by the emperor after he dug out the single eye of the candle dragon.

This enormous stone gate, in a sense, is a huge altar, connecting to the Yellow Springs, a place inaccessible to mortals deep within the earth.

After the shamans finished building the Gate to the Underworld, they hurriedly came to Shao Li and told her that everything was ready.

"Just right!"

"Perfect..."

At this point, the future that Shao Li saw from the Azure Bird Divine Power was nearing its end, and the mutation of her body had reached an uncontrollable point, with some parts beginning to collapse.

She took out that black jade bead again, and made a promise to the demon in the Yellow Springs, just like with Zhuyin before.

Then, Shao Li flew up into the sky.

She flew with all her might, as if trying to pass through one heaven after another, to reach the summit of Kunlun where the Emperor resided.

But human strength has its limits. The more she flew, the more exhausted she became, and her body gradually dissipated, her wings turning into layers of rosy light that vanished.

In the end, all that could be uttered was a weak, mournful cry.

"Chirp!"

The divine bird in the sky gradually disappeared, but the shadow on the ground did not disappear; instead, it continued to move forward.

The bluebird still took away the traces she left in the years, while the Yellow Springs took away another part of her, like a gluttonous feast that mercilessly devoured mortals.

Only a blank soul remained, walking step by step towards Zhangwei Mountain.

Outside the mountain, people from all the tribes had arrived, kneeling on the ground, holding up candles.

Inside the mountain, shamans and sorceresses knelt on the ground, while a dragon pulled a chariot and waited, with countless candle spirits standing guard.

She entered the shadows of Zhangwei Mountain, and the spirit gradually revealed its form, transforming into the appearance of Shao Li, who was still human.

She sat on the dragon carriage, as if she had transformed once again into the high and mighty Emperor Witch, Xi Mu Shao Li.

"Boom!"

The gate to the underworld opened high above, and the dragon led Shao Li step by step into the gate, followed closely by a dense swarm of candle spirits.
-
Another five years passed.

At the summit of Kunlun, the seal on the peach tree gradually loosened, and the thick, piled-up vines made way for a gap.

Looking out from inside, Li Jun saw the bluebird looking back at him.

Then, a flood of images rushed into Li Jun's mind.

Li Jun quietly watched those images, and many memories flooded his mind. It was the life of someone he knew, and the life he had witnessed firsthand.

He watched her grow up, and watched her grow old.

Finally, he looked at Zhangwei Mountain, and a part of the Gate of the Underworld appeared before his eyes.

He looked at the stone carving on the door, at the back of the figure sitting on the dragon carriage.

"So it was carved for her!"

No wonder he felt it was familiar.

Shao Li is dead.

No one remembers Shao Li's past, only the name Xi Mu Shao Li, and that such a person once existed.

The shaman at the foot of Zhangwei Mountain wanted to carve Xi Mu Shao Li's portrait on the door before he forgot it, but he found that no one could see it, and even if they did, they would gradually forget it.

In the end, only his back was left on the door.

Perhaps in a few years, even the name Shao Li will have a different meaning.

What is a shao li?
It could be a large bird, or even a deity.

Perhaps the only one who remembers her life and the past is the Emperor, whose memory is as eternal as the sun and moon.

(End of this chapter)