The primordial era began with the Upper Cave Man.

Chapter 378 Celestial Venerable of the Immortal Realm, Great Sage of the Mortal World

"The blessed lands are seizing the spiritual energy of the human world. If this is not restricted, I fear that heaven and earth will be in turmoil and the human world will be impure, and that places like Xiniu Hezhou, which are devoid of spiritual energy and lawless, will be reborn. I urge the Heavenly Emperor to issue an edict as soon as possible to eliminate all the blessed lands in the human world."

An elderly celestial official with white hair bowed in the center of the hall, holding a jade tablet, and read the memorial aloud.

Many people stood in the hall, some with auras as powerful as rainbows, as if their sword energy could reach the clouds; others with fierce might, who had killed millions to become heroes; still others with ethereal aura, otherworldly and detached from the mortal world; and even celestial birds and divine beasts dressed in Taoist robes. But all these people, whom the common people called immortals, were guarding the Heavenly Emperor in the very center of the hall.

Emperor Yang, ninety thousand years ago, was ordered by the Immortal Elder to ascend from the Nine Netherworlds to the Immortal Realm. He was worshipped as the Heavenly Emperor by all the immortals. He then worked diligently to govern the country, established the Immortal Court, and defeated the Heavenly Demon Realm three hundred and sixty-eight times. He was a man of great military achievements and outstanding merits, and was loved and worshipped by all the immortals.

He then proclaimed himself the Central Heavenly Emperor and appointed four first-rank celestial officials as the Four Directional Celestial Emperors: the Eastern Wood God Celestial Emperor, the Southern Treasure Celestial Emperor, the Northern Demon-Slaying Celestial Emperor, and the Western Primordial Enlightenment Celestial Emperor.

In this way, the celestial realm entered an era in which the four celestial emperors protected and jointly ruled the Heavenly Emperor.

The celestial realm is even more orderly and lawful, and is more prosperous than when the celestial elders were alive.

However, time has passed and many things have changed in the long span of ninety thousand years.

The four Celestial Emperors harbored rebellious intentions, desiring to divide and rule with the Central Heavenly Emperor. Naturally, the Heavenly Emperor was displeased and led his troops to conquer them.

Although the Four Celestial Emperors were not bad in their cultivation and their Taoist skills were extremely high, they were no match for the Central Heavenly Emperor, who held the highest authority in the Celestial Realm. In the end, the Four Celestial Emperors were abolished by the Heavenly Emperor.

However, the four Immortal Emperors also exerted all their strength at the last moment, disrupting the heavenly secrets of the Immortal Realm, shaking the order of the Immortal Court, and causing inconvenience and blockage in various spaces throughout the Immortal Realm.

In this way, the Heavenly Emperor can only control the eighteen celestial realms in the center and east of the Immortal Realm, while the remaining eighteen celestial realms are separated by the great magical power of the four Immortal Emperors, and the Immortal Court cannot reach them.

However, the Celestial Court has launched numerous campaigns in recent years and has managed to reclaim the Six Heavenly Realms. But the Heavenly Realms have been in chaos for too long, and the ascension of cultivators from the lower realms has brought much turmoil. The Celestial Court will need to spend a lot of time and resources to govern them.

After that, there were even more troubles related to blessed lands and grotto-heavens. Now, the matter of blessed lands and grotto-heavens has become a chronic problem in all the heavens. This is true in the immortal realm, in the human realm, and in the Nine Netherworld. There are even rumors that many demon lords in the Heavenly Demon Realm are quietly opening up demonic domains in various realms, intending to slowly erode all the heavens.

Now, let's discuss the stubborn ailment of this blessed land—no, it's a serious and incurable disease that cannot be cured by medicine; we must take drastic measures.

However, when the old immortal official spoke from below, all the immortals present kept their eyes downcast and remained completely unmoved.

But what the central government wants is not their response, but the name, a name that gives them a legitimate reason to act.

Now that the crimes of the blessed land have been clearly stated, the rest will be easier to resolve.

"Since the official has offered this advice, everyone should investigate carefully whether these celestial paradises in the mortal realm are doing anything to harm humanity," Yang said slowly.

These words were also a way of telling the immortals present about his determination.

The immortals could only respond from the sidelines: "Yes."

Yang's gaze did not sweep over the immortals, but looked outside the Immortal Palace and into the distance. There were thirty-six grotto-heavens in the Immortal Realm, and there were thirty-six Heavenly Venerables. Each of them had profound cultivation and powerful magic. With their grotto-heavens, the Immortal Court found it difficult to attack them. This made the lords of these grotto-heavens arrogant and disregard the Immortal Court.

Although Yang is the Heavenly Emperor and holds the central authority, possessing supreme power in the celestial realm, his grotto-heaven is independent of the heaven and earth. Even though Yang governs the celestial realm's heavenly way, he cannot control the grotto-heaven.

The lords of the various grotto heavens naturally became even more arrogant and disregarded the Celestial Court.

This time, Yang will use matters of the mortal realm to discuss matters of the celestial realm, so that he can take action against these so-called celestial venerables.

"There is only one Celestial Venerable in the world," Yang sneered.

……

The celestial realm has raised its sword high. After observing the mortal world, many celestial officials discovered that there was indeed a decline in spiritual energy in various places. However, there was a small problem: not all areas where spiritual energy declined had opened up blessed lands. There were other reasons as well. But under the will of the Heavenly Emperor, the celestial officials ignored such situations and simply recorded them according to their duties. The focus was on marking the changes in spiritual energy in the places where those blessed lands were located.

However, many celestial officials who ascended from the mortal realm to the immortal realm would omit details about their own sects when recording their own records. Furthermore, celestial officials of different races would show leniency towards their own races while paying close attention to other races.

Naturally, the movements of the celestial realm also reached the mortal world, and all sorts of news flew around, with rumors even circulating that the celestial realm intended to exterminate all living beings on earth and then create new species and new life forms.

Amidst the rampant rumors, everyone felt insecure, and many celestial realms began to gather their species, intending to weather this crisis of divine punishment from the immortal realm.

The lords of various grotto-heavens also began to form alliances, setting aside past grudges and racial barriers to create a human alliance.

They even raised a banner, with the lord of the celestial realm calling himself the Heavenly Venerable, and they called themselves the Great Sage of the Mortal World.

There are thirty-six Heavenly Venerables, but seventy-two Great Sages.

However, the strength of the Great Sages in the mortal realm varies greatly, unlike the Immortal Realm, where all the Great Sages are Mystic Immortals. In the mortal realm, most of the Great Sages are Celestial Immortals, and there are only three Mystic Immortals.

Therefore, they risked their lives to confront the celestial realm head-on.

However, they can seek outside help from the Dragon Realm, the Artifact Realm, and even the Nine Netherworld, which seems to be on the same side as the Immortal Realm.

After such preparations, the celestial realm had also completed its assessment of the human world in the tenth year since the Heavenly Emperor's decree.

Of course, the "flow of time" in the celestial realm and the mortal realm differs by a hundredfold, and this ten-year period is calculated in mortal time, while only three months have passed in the celestial realm.

Once the celestial realm understood the situation in the mortal world, they no longer held back and launched a decisive attack.

On that day, the gate to the celestial realm stretched across the sky, and tens of thousands of immortals poured out from it, falling into the mortal world to search for the mortal paradise they had already located, intending to destroy it.

The immortals of the celestial realm raised a banner: "The Great Sage of the Mortal Realm disregards the lives of living beings and greedily extracts the spiritual energy of heaven and earth. He deserves to be exterminated."

The various forces in the mortal realm naturally could not give up and all accepted the challenge, wanting to compete with the immortals in their magical arts.

In an instant, the immortals fought each other, and the mortal world was once again reduced to scorched earth.

Luo Zu watched these events, big and small, without much emotion in his heart.

Nine thousand years of corruption of power have transformed Yang from a spirited young man into a despicable and scheming individual.

Luo Zu thought he could break free from the shackles of power and step out of that invisible barrier, but he never expected to sink deeper and deeper and become unable to extricate himself.

But Luo Zu will not interfere in the current situation; he will only be an observer. At present, the only things he is truly concerned about are the matters of reincarnation in the Nine Netherworlds and the other world in his heart—the world of the Eight Immortals.

(End of this chapter)