Primordial Era: A brick knocks Hongyun unconscious, and he seizes the throne at the start.

When Lu Chen reached the outer edge of the sea of ​​blood, he slowed down.

He had been to the Blood Sea once before, a hundred years ago, where he stole the third fragment of the God-Slaying Spear and was chased for three million miles by the Styx River. This time, he had to be more cautious—that old demon Styx was petty and vengeful, and had surely laid a trap for him in the Blood Sea.

But Lu Chen is not the same as before.

With his peak mid-stage Hunyuan cultivation, three supreme treasures in hand, and the Great Dao of Power fused with eight laws... even if he were to directly confront the Styx River, he might not necessarily lose.

"But why be strong when you can steal?" He grinned, activated his brick-escape technique, and silently slipped into the sea of ​​blood.

Deep within the Sea of ​​Blood, the Styx Ancestor's Daoist temple, the "Blood God Palace," remains eerie and terrifying. Countless Blood God Children float and sink within the Sea of ​​Blood, each drop of blood containing a trace of Styx's divine will; any outsider who intrudes will be detected instantly.

However, Lu Chen was protected by the Chaos Brick. The "suppression" Daoist aura emanating from the surface of the brick completely isolated his aura, so much so that even the Blood God Child could not sense it.

Like a fish swimming through layers of blood, he arrived at the core area of ​​the Blood God Palace.

Here is a huge pool of blood, and floating in the pool is a palm-sized fragment of a red gourd—the largest fragment of the Nine-Nine Soul-Scattering Gourd!

The fragment's surface shimmered with a scarlet light, radiating a chilling aura. Beside the pool, the Styx Ancestor sat cross-legged, his hands forming a mudra, continuously pouring the essence of the Blood Sea into the fragment, attempting to refine it into a supreme treasure of the Blood Path.

"Almost there...almost done..." Styx's eyes gleamed with fanaticism. "Once the 'Blood Soul Gourd' is refined, I can use it to sever my third corpse and advance my cultivation another step! At that time, what Lu Chen, what Saint, will all have to kneel before me!"

Lu Chen, who was listening from the shadows, couldn't help but grimac.

This old devil has quite the ambition.

But he didn't act immediately, because he saw something else—

At the bottom of the blood pool, a broken spear lay submerged.

God-Slaying Spear!

The spear was jet black, its tip broken, but the murderous aura it exuded, capable of slaughtering saints and destroying Buddhas, still caused the entire blood pool to boil. The Styx River was clearly also eyeing it, using the blood sea's malevolent energy to nourish it, intending to deal with it after refining the gourd.

"Killing two birds with one stone." Lu Chen's eyes lit up.

He waited patiently.

Three days later, the Styx gourd refining process reached its most crucial moment, requiring complete concentration and no distraction whatsoever.

It's now!

Lu Chen moved.

He instantly appeared above the blood pool, smashing the Chaos Brick in his left hand toward Styx's head, while unfolding the Qiankun Diagram in his right hand, sweeping toward the gourd fragments and the God-Slaying Spear in the pool!

"Who?!" Styx was shocked and furious, but at this critical moment in the refining of the treasure, he could not move and could only endure it!

"puff!"

The Chaos Brick slammed solidly into the back of his head. Even though Styx was at the peak of Quasi-Saint level, he was still dizzy and blood spurted from his seven orifices!

Taking advantage of this opportunity, the Qiankun Diagram has already taken away the gourd fragments and the God-Slaying Spear!

"Lu Chen—!!!" Styx finally recognized the newcomer and roared hysterically, "It's you again! I will never let you get away with this!"

He forcibly interrupted the treasure refining process, and as a result of the backlash, he spat out another mouthful of blood. However, the fierce light in his eyes intensified, and billions of Blood God Children surged towards Lu Chen like a tidal wave!

"Bye-bye!" Lu Chen grinned, activated his brick-escape technique, and vanished instantly.

"Chase! Chase after him for me!" Styx roared madly, and the entire Blood Sea boiled.

But Lu Chen's brick escape was too fast, and with the acceleration of the morning bell, he had escaped the sea of ​​blood in just a few breaths and disappeared into the horizon.

The Blood God Palace was so enraged that Styx almost tore the palace down.

"Lu Chen... Lu Chen... I will kill you!"

At this moment, Lu Chen had already returned to the Heavenly Pillar Cave on Mount Buzhou.

He took out the gourd fragments and the God-Slaying Spear.

The gourd fragments were warm to the touch, and a trace of Hongyun's true spirit imprint remained inside—though faint, it was indeed Hongyun's.

"Senior Hongyun, I've retrieved your things for you." Lu Chen carefully put away the fragments, intending to give them to Hongyun when he reincarnates, hoping they might help him rebuild his foundation.

Next up is the God-Slaying Spear.

The gun exuded a murderous aura, but Lu Chen could sense a trace of "imperfection" deep within its spirit—it was just one last bit of murderous aura away from being completely repaired.

He inserted the gun into the blood pool (which contained some blood and seawater in the Qiankun Diagram) and began to temper it.

The malevolent energy surged into the gun like a tide, and the cracks on the gun began to slowly heal, while the broken tip of the gun also grew back.

Forty-nine days later.

"Buzz—!"

The God-Slaying Spear burst forth with a blinding dark light, and its malevolent aura condensed into solid black flames, turning the entire cave dwelling black!

The complete version of the God-Slaying Spear has reappeared in the world!

Lu Chen gripped the gun in his hand, feeling as if he could pierce through the primordial chaos with a single shot.

"Comfortable." He grinned and stored the gun in his dantian to nurture it.

After doing all this, he remembered the important matter—the reincarnations of Chenlong and the others should have been born by now, right?

He took out the Reincarnation Token and sensed the message from the underworld.

As expected, Chenlong, Chenhu, and Chenbao have all successfully reincarnated as humans.

Chenlong was reincarnated into the Huaxu tribe as a baby boy, named "Fuxi". (Lu Chen secretly manipulated things, taking the place of the originally intended Fuxi.)

Chenhu was reincarnated into the Jiangshui tribe as a boy, named "Shennong" (taking Shennong's place).

Chen Bao was reincarnated into the Youxiong tribe, also as a baby boy, and named "Xuanyuan". (He took Xuanyuan's place.)

All three successfully awakened their past life memories and some of their cultivation, and began to develop in secret.

"Not bad, a good start." Lu Chen nodded in satisfaction.

But soon, he frowned.

Because they sensed that another force was also making contact with these three human tribes.

They are Westerners.

Jieyin Zhunti sent his disciples down to the mortal realm, disguised as wandering monks, to preach in the three tribes of Huaxu, Jiangshui, and Youxiong, attempting to "convert" the future human emperor in advance and compete for the destiny of the human race.

"You've stretched your reach quite far," Lu Chen sneered.

He descended to the mortal realm using a brick-like magic and arrived at the Huaxu tribe.

Sure enough, on the outskirts of the tribe, a bald monk was preaching, surrounded by a large group of tribespeople who listened with rapt attention.

"All sentient beings suffer, only by taking refuge in the Buddha can one escape the sea of ​​suffering..." The monk spoke eloquently, spouting the same old rhetoric of "lay down the butcher's knife and become a Buddha on the spot."

Lu Chen squinted and saw that the monk's cultivation level was not high, only at the Heavenly Immortal realm, but he carried a Buddhist seal indicating that he was a disciple of a saint.

"Want to pick peaches?" he smiled.

He transformed into an old Taoist priest with a white beard, leaning on a cane, and walked shakily to the front of the crowd.

"Master, I have a question."

The monk was taken aback: "Please speak, benefactor."

"The master says that all beings suffer, then may I ask... where does this suffering come from?"

"Suffering arises from the mind and from desires," the monk replied fluently.

"Then where does the heart come from? Where does desire come from?" Lu Chen continued to ask.

"This..." The monk was speechless.

"Since the master cannot answer, then please hear what this old man has to say." Lu Chen cleared his throat, his voice suddenly becoming loud and clear, "Suffering is not something we are born with, it is given to us by this world! When the demon race slaughtered the human race, where was Buddha? When the war between the witches and demons caused widespread devastation, where was Buddha? Now that the human race has barely caught its breath, you come here to preach?"

He pointed at the monk and said sternly, "You Buddhist sects do not engage in production, do not resist foreign enemies, and only talk about compassion. In reality, you suck the incense offerings of humanity and exploit their faith! What do you call that? You call yourself parasites!"

These words were so harsh that the surrounding tribesmen were stunned.

The monk turned pale with anger: "You...you have slandered Buddha!"

"Whether it's slander or not, everyone knows the truth." Lu Chen turned and addressed his people loudly, "If humanity wants to avoid suffering, it must become strong! Make tools, develop agriculture, practice martial arts, and resist foreign enemies! Not kneel before Buddha statues chanting scriptures!"

"Well said!" a young but firm voice rang out.

As everyone looked, they saw a seven or eight-year-old boy walk out from the crowd; he was none other than the reincarnated Chenlong—Fuxi.

He walked up to Lu Chen, bowed deeply, and said, "The old man is right, humanity must strive for self-improvement! I, Fuxi, am willing to do my part for the rise of humanity!"

Lu Chen looked at him, a look of relief flashing in his eyes.

Very good, that shows great awareness.

"Child, with this heart, humanity has hope." He patted Fuxi on the shoulder and secretly slipped a jade slip into his pocket. "There are some 'little tricks' inside that might be useful to you."

The jade slip contained a simple "method of divination based on the Eight Trigrams" and "fishing and hunting techniques," which was enough for Fuxi to distinguish himself in the tribe.

Fuxi sensed the information in the jade slip, his eyes lit up, and he bowed again, saying, "Thank you, Elder!"

Lu Chen nodded, then glanced at the monk again: "Master, please go back. Humans must walk their own path."

The monk gritted his teeth, but seeing the changed looks in the eyes of the surrounding clansmen, he knew that things were hopeless and could only slink away.

Lu Chen staged the same scene again in Jiangshui and Youxiong tribe.

They drove away the missionaries from the West, left Shennong with the "method of identifying herbs," and left Xuanyuan with the "foundation of military strategy."

Only after doing all this did he return to the pillar supporting the sky, completely satisfied.

"The throne of the Three Sovereigns is secure."

Next, we just have to wait for them to grow up, and then... they'll drive the course of history.

As for himself, he should continue his seclusion to digest the gains from this Blood Sea and strive to break through to the late stage of Hunyuan.

In the grand scheme of things, the human race has already fallen into his hands.