Primordial Era: Becoming the Great Emperor of Humanity from the Start

Chapter 252 Taking the Sage's Place!

After Yang Jian revealed his true form as Pangu, Dao Ancestor Hongjun realized that Sage Zhunti no longer had any hope of defeating Yang Jian.

Saint Zhunti himself was well aware of this. That is why Saint Zhunti's expression at this moment was anything but pleasant.

The creatures of the primordial world had no idea that Yang Jian had so many trump cards up his sleeve, enabling him to raise his strength to such an extent.

All the creatures in the primordial world knew that although Yang Jian was hailed as the strongest person below the level of a saint, he was only a quasi-saint.

A mere Quasi-Saint was able to defeat a Saint. Is Yang Jian too powerful, or is Saint Zhunti too weak?

Regardless of the speculation, the fact that a sage was defeated by a quasi-sage is an indelible disgrace.

It is certain that after this battle, the title of "shame of saints" will definitely appear above the head of Saint Zhunti.

At this moment, the Sage Zhunti was filled with rage. If looks could kill, Yang Jian would probably have died countless times already.

"Hmph!" Saint Zhunti didn't utter a word, only let out a cold snort, withdrew his control over the constantly collapsing Buddhist kingdom, and turned to leave.

This battle was already humiliating enough, and the Sage Zhunti naturally didn't want to stay here, especially not to see Yang Jian's smug expression.

But if Sage Zhunti wanted to leave, he had to ask Yang Jian for permission first. Yang Jian took a step forward and was already in front of Sage Zhunti.

"Why must Saint Zhunti leave now? Our battle is not over yet!" Yang Jian said with a smile on his face.

As he spoke, a powerful force sealed off heaven and earth, imprisoning the surrounding space and time. Yang Jian was determined not to let the Sage Zhunti leave easily.

"Hmph! I admit that your strength has indeed exceeded my expectations, but so what?"

"You've only reached the Saint level in strength, do you really think you can defeat me? That's wishful thinking!" Saint Zhunti said in a deep voice.

Sage Zhunti acknowledged that Yang Jian was very strong, but at most he was only slightly stronger than him, and Yang Jian did not possess any supreme treasures.

It's not something Yang Jian can defeat in a short time. It's normal that they would fight for thousands of years without a clear winner.

As for Yang Jian's claim that he would annihilate him, that's utter nonsense. Does Yang Jian really think he's Jiang Heng?

Jiang Heng was able to cause the sage Zhunti to perish only because he had entered the Heavenly Dao Realm. As sages, who is truly much stronger than the other?

"I've said it before, this battle with you, Sage Zhunti, is meant to completely annihilate you. This is a mission given to me by the Human Emperor!"

"If I fail to complete this task, the consequences will be severe if the Emperor gets angry!" Yang Jian said helplessly.

Upon hearing Jiang Heng's name, Sage Zhunti was immediately startled, and his gaze toward Yang Jian became somewhat uncertain and suspicious.

After all, Sage Zhunti had suffered too many losses at Jiang Heng's hands, and had even been personally sent to annihilation by Jiang Heng once.

Now that Jiang Heng has asked Yang Jian to send him to Nirvana again, it means that there are some tricks waiting for him. How could the Sage Zhunti not be alarmed?

"Human Emperor, the outcome of this battle is already decided. Why continue to entangle us? Do you really think Yang Jian can kill Zhunti?" Dao Ancestor Hongjun said in a deep voice.

Dao Ancestor Hongjun was already in a bad mood. It was a fact that Zhunti was no match for Yang Jian, and the change of the Heavenly Court was likely to happen today.

Dao Ancestor Hongjun was already pondering how he should deal with the future situation after the Jade Emperor's position changed hands.

Who would have thought that Jiang Heng would be so aggressive, even threatening to have Yang Jian send Zhunti to Nirvana, which was going too far.

Although we don't know what kind of methods Jiang Heng has, if Sage Zhunti really dies, Dao Ancestor Hongjun will have suffered a heavy loss this time.

"Hahaha! It's rather laughable that the Dao Ancestor would say such a thing. Ever since the Investiture of the Gods, our fates have been sealed, and we are destined to fight to the death."

Seize the opportunity and strike when it's time; even a slight advantage can be turned into a decisive one. Surely the Dao Ancestor understands this principle!

As for whether Yang Jian has the ability, we'll have to wait and see. If I'm not mistaken, Saint Zhunti isn't in his perfect state right now! Jiang Heng said with a smile.

Dao Ancestor Hongjun's expression changed slightly as he looked at Jiang Heng in disbelief. He never expected that Jiang Heng could guess this.

Just as Jiang Heng said, the Sage Zhunti was not at his peak at this time, which is why he chose to retreat.

Not long ago, the Sage Zhunti had his physical body destroyed by Jiang Heng, and entered a state of nirvana.

Although Dao Ancestor Hongjun and the Heavenly Dao intervened to revive Sage Zhunti, it was no easy task.

Moreover, the time was far too short. Even if Sage Zhunti were to recover, it would be difficult for him to regain his former strength.

Putting aside everything else, just the fact that a saint's physical body is destroyed makes it extremely difficult to reconstruct a saint-level physical body.

Although Dao Ancestor Hongjun and the Heavenly Dao are powerful, they are not omnipotent. Moreover, they have already paid a huge price to revive the Sage Zhunti.

"So what? Even if he is not at his peak, Zhunti is still a saint, and saints are immortal!" said Dao Ancestor Hongjun.

That's quite true. In the primordial world, there are differences in strength among the saints, but they are all at the same level.

As fellow saints, one may defeat another saint, or even severely injure or suppress one saint, but one can never bring a saint to annihilation.

Only by entering the Heavenly Dao Realm, like Jiang Heng and Dao Ancestor Hongjun, and relying on a higher level of cultivation, can one send a saint to annihilation.

Yang Jian, after all, acquired the power of a sage through clever means. It was already unbelievable that he could surpass the sage Zhunti. So how could he send the sage Zhunti to Nirvana?

Jiang Heng smiled without saying a word. Dao Ancestor Hongjun thought that he wanted to make the Sage Zhunti disappear again, thereby delaying the speed of the Heavenly Dao's perfection.

Little did they know, Jiang Heng's purpose this time was far more outrageous than Dao Ancestor Hongjun had guessed; his appetite was enormous.

Meanwhile, in the Chaos Sea, an earth-shattering battle has broken out between Yang Jian and the Sage Zhunti.

Saint Zhunti had originally planned to temporarily avoid the limelight and was no longer prepared to fight Yang Jian, which meant that he had completely abandoned the Heavenly Court.

If Yang Jian were to return to Heaven at this moment, with his support, Heaven would be transformed, and Lu Ya would become the new Jade Emperor—there would be no doubt about it.

But Yang Jian was relentless. Relying on his powerful physical body, he relentlessly attacked Zhunti Saint, who had no choice but to retaliate.

The battle between the two Saint-level powerhouses caused continuous roars in the Chaos Sea, and the terrifying power even tore the Chaos Sea apart.

The more the Saint Zhunti fought, the more alarmed he became. Yang Jian's fighting strength was far greater than he had anticipated.

The powerful physical body at the level of Pangu's true form, combined with the power of humanity, unleashed a truly terrifying force, even the saint Zhunti was somewhat unable to withstand it.

Saint Zhunti knew that he was not at his peak condition, and if he continued to fight Yang Jian, he would definitely be severely injured.

After the Sage Zhunti had the intention to retreat, he began to fight and retreat at the same time. Judging from his intention, he was clearly heading towards the primordial world.

Yang Jian could naturally see through the purpose of the Sage Zhunti, and he also knew that the Sage Zhunti did not actually want to escape to the prehistoric world.

Sage Zhunti was actually heading towards the edge of the primordial world. If nothing unexpected happened, he should be going to find Sage Jieyin and Yuanshi Tianzun.

At this moment, the two saints, Jieyin and Yuanshi Tianzun, are confronting the two saints, Nuwa and Tongtian Jiaozhu, on the edge of the primordial world.

Once the Sage Zhunti joins forces with the Sage Jieyin and the Primordial Heavenly Venerable, the three sages will naturally no longer fear Yang Jian.

Although he saw through the Saint Zhunti's intentions, Yang Jian remained calm and unhurried, simply relentlessly attacking the Saint Zhunti.

With the primordial world already in sight, Sage Zhunti could even sense the auras of Sages Jieyin and Tongtian Jiaozhu.

A look of surprise appeared on the face of the Sage Zhunti. After this period of fighting, he had truly developed a great fear of Yang Jian.

This was the first time that Sage Zhunti had felt such a great threat from a Quasi-Sage, even more so than from Jiang Heng back then.

If he could, the Sage Zhunti would never want to fight Yang Jian again. Winning would be a matter of course, but losing would be a complete loss of face.

But the next moment, the Sage Zhunti stopped in his tracks, a look of fear unconsciously appearing on his face as he stared ahead in disbelief.

Right in front of the Sage Zhunti, Nezha stood amidst the vast chaos, with the Zhou Tian Star Array already set up behind him.

In another direction, Kong Xuan also stood amidst the vast chaos, with the Hunyuan Luohe Grand Array set up long ago behind him.

Two supreme formations descended simultaneously. Sage Zhunti tried to dodge, but Yang Jian had already arrived behind him.

With two supreme formations and Yang Jian, whose strength was even greater than his, Saint Zhunti had absolutely no ability to resist.

"Yang Jian, even with two more top-tier formations, you can only suppress me temporarily at most!" Saint Zhunti roared.

The Hunyuan Luohe Grand Formation and the Zhou Tian Xingdou Grand Formation are top-tier grand formations that Jiang Heng had set up during the Investiture of the Gods calamity.

After the Great Tribulation of the Investiture of the Gods, these two formations became the foundation of the human race and have remained within it ever since.

Now, in order to deal with the Sage Zhunti, Kong Xuan and Nezha each preside over a large formation to jointly suppress the Sage Zhunti.

The fact that Nezha and Kong Xuan were able to wait for Sage Zhunti here in advance means that Sage Zhunti had already fallen into their trap.

However, just as the Sage Zhunti said, the two top-tier formations were only comparable to a sage, and at most they could only temporarily suppress the Sage Zhunti.

Once the power of the two top-tier formations weakens, even if Saint Zhunti is severely injured by Yang Jian, he will still be able to break through the formations and escape.

"Saint Zhunti, you're mistaken. It's not two top-tier formations, but three!" Yang Jian said in a deep voice.

Saint Zhunti was instantly shocked, but before he could react, billions of stars twinkled in the human realm of the primordial world.

The Zhou Tian Star Array, which covered the entire human realm, suddenly erupted, its power converging and pressing down on the Sage Zhunti.

At that moment, fear finally showed on the face of the Sage Zhunti, as he sensed extreme danger.

Sage Zhunti's intuition was correct, because what was pressing down on him at this moment was not just the Zhou Tian Xing Dou Grand Array of the human realm.

At this moment, in the human realm, the one presiding over the Zhou Tian Xing Dou Grand Array is none other than Fuxi, the current ruler of the human race.

Most of the fortune and human will of the human realm were concentrated on Fuxi and added to the Zhou Tian Star Array.

This greatly increased the power of the Zhou Tian Xing Dou Grand Array, surpassing the other two top-tier grand arrays, making it several times more powerful.

Unfortunately, at this time, Fuxi had not yet unified the human realm and become the true ruler of the human realm, so he was naturally unable to unite the power of the human realm.

Otherwise, once the power of the human realm is added to the Zhou Tian Star Array, it will immediately unleash unparalleled power.

When that time comes, let alone suppressing Saint Zhunti, even injuring Saint Zhunti will be a piece of cake.

When these three top-tier formations from the primordial world pressed down together, even a saint felt immense pressure.

With Yang Jian added to the mix, Sage Zhunti was now completely powerless to resist and was firmly suppressed deep within the three top-tier formations.

"Yang Jian! What exactly do you want to do? Even if you can suppress me, or even severely injure me, that's all you can do."

"As time goes by, the power of the three great formations will weaken, and I will eventually be able to break free!" Saint Zhunti roared.

Whether it's the Zhou Tian Xing Dou Grand Array or the Hun Yuan Luo He Grand Array, their power has its limits and they cannot maintain their peak state indefinitely.

The same applies to the Zhou Tian Xing Dou Grand Array in the human realm. Fuxi himself had a powerful opponent in the human realm.

As time goes on, the power of the three top-tier formations will weaken, and that will be the time when Sage Zhunti will be able to break free.

"No! Saint Zhunti, don't you understand yet? From the moment you fought me, you had no chance at all."

"Everything is within the Emperor's calculations. You're already trapped. Do you still want to escape? That's impossible!" Yang Jian said in a deep voice.

Then, Yang Jian bowed towards the vast void and said, "Please, senior, grant my request and send the Sage Zhunti to utter annihilation!"

As soon as Yang Jian finished speaking, the bell rang out, and the Chaos Bell broke through the air, its terrifying power pressing down on the Sage Zhunti.

Suppressed by the power of the Chaos Bell, Sage Zhunti was instantly unable to move, and even struggled to utter a complete sentence.

At this moment, the face of the Sage Zhunti was filled with terror. The appearance of the Chaos Bell made him feel the breath of death for the first time.

Ever since he was severely injured by the Chaos Bell outside the human realm, Sage Zhunti has understood that the Chaos Bell is no longer just a primordial treasure.

With the Chaos Bell combined with three top-tier formations, plus Yang Jian, it's quite possible that the Sage Zhunti could be annihilated once again.

Having already been annihilated by Jiang Heng once, Sage Zhunti knew all too well how terrifying that state was, and naturally he did not want to experience it again.

Saint Zhunti tried to struggle, but he was already trapped and had no chance to struggle or even move.

"Human Emperor! Don't go too far in some things, or you won't be able to bear the consequences!" Dao Ancestor Hongjun looked at Jiang Heng and said in a deep voice.

Dao Ancestor Hongjun truly did not expect Jiang Heng's scheme to be so profound, actually forcing the Sage Zhunti into such a predicament.

If the Sage Zhunti were to truly perish once more, the speed at which the Heavenly Dao would reach its perfection would be delayed again, which is naturally not something he would want to see.

Moreover, the Dao Ancestor Hongjun and the Heavenly Dao had already paid a huge price in order to revive the Sage Zhunti last time.

If it happened again, even Dao Ancestor Hongjun and the Heavenly Dao would probably not be able to withstand it. Naturally, they would not want to see Sage Zhunti perish again.

"Nirvana? Perhaps the Dao Ancestor underestimates me. Why would I go to such great lengths to merely cause the Sage Zhunti to nirvana?" Jiang Heng said disdainfully.

If it were merely to deal with a mere Sage like Zhunti, why would Jiang Heng have gone to such lengths and devised so many schemes?

It helped Yang Jian gather the power of humanity, gave Yang Jian the true form of Pangu, and also helped him condense three top-level formations and a Chaos Bell.

All of this, just to bring about the annihilation of the Sage Zhunti? Dao Ancestor Hongjun is giving the Sage Zhunti far too much credit.

"What exactly do you want to do?" Dao Ancestor Hongjun asked angrily, his expression grim as he stared intently at Jiang Heng.

Dao Ancestor Hongjun suddenly realized that, even now, he still didn't know what Jiang Heng's true purpose was.

However, considering Jiang Heng's past actions, this human emperor never spoke without reason, and a bad feeling arose in Dao Ancestor Hongjun's mind.

"What are you doing? Dao Ancestor, why don't you take a look for yourself!" Jiang Heng said with a smile.

Dao Ancestor Hongjun turned his head and looked at a certain place in the Chaos Sea. In his eyes, he saw the current situation of the Sage Zhunti.

"Boy! You are indeed quite good. Apart from the Human Emperor, you are the most promising among the human race!" The voice of the Chaos Bell rang out.

"Thank you for the compliment, senior, but we must prioritize our business at this moment, or things may change!" Yang Jian said in a deep voice.

"It's nothing! He's just a mere Zhunti. It's only a matter of minutes for me to deal with him!" Chaos Bell said disdainfully.

That being said, Chaos Bell also knew what was important and what was crucial at this moment.

The Chaos Bell trembled slightly, and a series of mysterious symbols of the Great Dao appeared on its surface.

Yang Jian dared not be negligent in the slightest, and quickly gathered all his strength, pouring all his power into the Chaos Bell.

Suddenly, an incredible resonance occurred between Yang Jian and the Chaos Bell, and mysterious Dao runes began to flow between them.

In the next instant, these Dao runes enveloped Sage Zhunti, completely engulfing his body.

Under the suppression of the three top-tier formations, Sage Zhunti was already unable to move, and at this moment he could only watch helplessly as he was swallowed up by countless Dao runes.

These Dao runes seemed to possess a strange power, constantly penetrating the primordial spirit and physical body of Sage Zhunti, as if they wanted to merge with Sage Zhunti.

Saint Zhunti didn't know what this meant, but at this moment, an extreme fear surfaced in his mind.

Suddenly, the sage Zhunti's eyes widened in anger as he stared at Yang Jian in disbelief, as if he had witnessed something incredible.

It's no wonder that Sage Zhunti was so surprised; at this moment, Yang Jian's aura had undergone a tremendous change.

The aura of the Chaos Body completely disappeared, the power of Pangu's true form dissipated, and even the power of humanity vanished without a trace.

At this moment, Yang Jian's aura was quite similar to that of the Sage Zhunti, and it was becoming more and more similar.

After a period of time, Yang Jian's primordial spirit, physical body, and even the aura of his cultivation became exactly the same as that of the Sage Zhunti.

Yang Jian seemed to have transformed into another Sage Zhunti. With such an unbelievable event unfolding before his eyes, how could Sage Zhunti possibly remain calm?

But in the next moment, something even more terrifying happened to the Sage Zhunti: he felt his power disappearing.

No! It didn't disappear, but was swallowed up by some strange power. Sage Zhunti immediately looked at Yang Jian.

As expected! Just as the Sage Zhunti had predicted, Yang Jian's aura began to gradually strengthen, an aura that belonged to a sage.

Just now, by gathering the power of humanity, Yang Jian also possessed the power of a sage, but this was fundamentally different from what he has now.

No matter how powerful he was, Yang Jian always relied on external forces; it doesn't mean that his own strength had reached the level of a saint.

Now, Yang Jian seems to be undergoing an incredible transformation, constantly advancing from the Quasi-Saint level towards the Saint level.

Sage Zhunti has achieved sainthood before, but he wouldn't even dare to imagine such a bizarre way of becoming a saint as Yang Jian.

It's as if Yang Jian absorbed the power of the Sage Zhunti, transforming himself into the Sage Zhunti and thus entering the realm of sages.

"Impossible! This is absolutely impossible!" Dao Ancestor Hongjun looked at Jiang Heng in disbelief, his face turning ashen.

Today, Dao Ancestor Hongjun has been shocked countless times. He never expected that Jiang Heng's purpose was this.

How did they come up with such an incredible idea as to replace Sage Zhunti with Yang Jian and make him the new sage in the primordial world?

Jiang Heng not only considered this possibility, but also made this incredible thing a reality through various schemes.

At this moment, Dao Ancestor Hongjun could sense that the sage's original essence was constantly being lost and being absorbed by Yang Jian.

Even the mark left by the Sage Zhunti in the Heavenly Dao Rules is being replaced by Yang Jian's mark, something he cannot understand.

Jiang Heng smiled without saying a word. To achieve what he had achieved, Jiang Heng wasn't entirely confident, but now it seemed he had succeeded.

Scheming against the Sage Zhunti and trapping him in a jar is nothing special; Jiang Heng could do it with ease.

The key question was how to get Yang Jian to replace the Sage Zhunti. Jiang Heng thought of one possibility, so he engraved mysterious symbols of the Great Dao on the Chaos Bell.

The symbol of the Great Dao represents nothing other than the "Great Self-Transformation Dharma," which allows Yang Jian to transform into the Sage Zhunti.

It would have been difficult to use the Devouring Heaven Demon Art to absorb the power of the Sage Zhunti, but since Yang Jian transformed into the Sage Zhunti, it was not difficult for him to accomplish this.

The key is that the "Great Self-Transformation Technique" is a supreme technique that can deceive the Heavenly Dao and allow Yang Jian's mark to replace the mark of the Sage Zhunti.

The essence of a sage lies precisely in the imprint engraved in the rules of Heaven.

(End of this chapter)