87: Chapter 87 Kunlun Ascension to Heaven! The Realm King's Reckoning is Approaching, Is the System Forcing Me to Mend the Heavens?
In the study, the fragrance of tea seemed to stagnate under the weight of the heavy words.
"I've been scraping by in the Upper Heavens for sixty years, crawling my way to the very edge of the bottom rung." Xiao Zhenjiang gave a bitter laugh, his face full of misery.
"It was only there that I truly understood what it meant to be a frog in a well. A level 1000 God of Laws like me didn't even count as an ant once I arrived."
Xiao Zhenjiang stared straight at his teacup, his voice laced with despair.
"The people up there are just too strong. Infants born into major factions are World Lord-level sovereigns the moment they land."
"As for the level 1000 gods and masters who wield the laws of stars and the universe—the kinds of powerhouses our Blue Star Awakeners look up to—in the Upper Heavens, they're nothing more than wretches with red-hot iron chains around their necks, not even comparable to the lowliest of slaves!"
Jiang Feng held the purple clay cup, his hand steady as a mountain as he poured the tea. The amber liquid formed a perfectly straight line, not a single drop spilling.
"So," Jiang Feng said without raising his head, "the Abyss Demon Emperor came all the way down to the lower realm just to snatch this primordial supreme treasure?"
"That's right." Xiao Zhenjiang nodded heavily.
"The Demon race is just a band of low-level outlaws up there. Demon Emperor Baal risked great danger to come down here just to get his hands on this 'Demon Domain'!"
"Once he refines it, his combat power will instantly multiply by a thousand or ten thousand times! Then, he could leap up to become a top-tier overlord."
After listening, Jiang Feng chuckled inwardly. A thousand or ten thousand times the combat power? It sounded intimidating. But in the face of his forty-trillion base combat power and permanent multiplier of over five thousand times, that boost wasn't even enough to get stuck between his teeth.
"However, Divine Venerable, rest assured." Xiao Zhenjiang wiped the cold sweat from his forehead. "Demon Emperor Baal has already been scared out of his wits by you. He didn't even want his century-old foundation and has already piloted his demon ship out of the star domain."
He leaned forward, his tone earnest: "Divine Venerable, your strength is earth-shattering and unprecedented. But until Blue Star is completely restored, I suggest you don't go head-to-head with the Upper Heavens just yet. After all, it is a vast realm…"
"Head-to-head?" Jiang Feng set down his teacup and scoffed.
He leaned back in his chair, his eyes cold. "I, Jiang Feng, never go looking for trouble. But if someone thinks I'm a pushover and tries to set foot across my threshold…"
He flexed his wrist, his knuckles cracking. "I'll twist off their legs along with their heads and kick them around like a ball."
Xiao Zhenjiang was startled by this pure killing intent and lowered his head, not daring to look directly at him. He took a deep breath and continued with the past.
"Actually, two thousand years ago, Blue Star had a chance to escape the fate of being shattered. That era was rich in spiritual energy, and great beings like Nüwa, Houyi, and Pangu emerged."
"They forcibly pushed Blue Star, this lower realm, to the brink of transforming into a vast realm."
"But this touched the core interests of the Upper Heavens and became a thorn in the side of the World King."
"The World King, high and mighty, sent people down to the lower realm to recruit us, wanting us to become a 'God-Slave Star Domain' under his command." Xiao Zhenjiang clenched his fists. "But Goddess Nüwa flatly refused."
"Better to be broken jade than a god-slave."
"The World King, enraged and embarrassed to see Blue Star was uncontrollable, threw out the primordial supreme treasure 'Demon Domain'."
"He forcibly shattered Blue Star's laws and struck us down from the altar!"
Jiang Feng snorted, giving the most straightforward assessment. "If you can't win, flip the table and throw bricks. This high and mighty World King has the stature of a street thug."
He tapped on the tabletop. "I don't care about gods fighting. But they shattered Blue Star, which is the equivalent of smashing my rice bowl and threatening the peaceful days of my parents."
"This grudge is now set in stone."
Xiao Zhenjiang looked at Jiang Feng's unperturbed face and felt a sense of relief. "Divine Venerable, please come with me to a place."
Jiang Feng didn't waste words; he moved his consciousness. [Great Thousand Shuttle] was slightly activated. Without even standing up, the space around them rippled like water.
The next second, the sweltering evening breeze of the capital vanished. In its place was bone-chilling cold and howling gales. Kunlun Mountain, the peak.
Snow that never melted danced in the wild wind, with temperatures as low as negative one hundred degrees. The two stood on hard ice rock. In front of them stood a huge bronze door. The crack in the door emitted deep, mysterious starlight, as if leading to the other end of the universe.
"This is the Road to Heaven." Xiao Zhenjiang pointed at the crack. "It is also the passage that once connected to the Upper Heavens. Seniors Ji Xuance and Jiang Kunlun left through here."
Jiang Feng kept his hands in his pockets, staring at the starlight in the crack, and said nothing. Xiao Zhenjiang continued: "Actually, for so many years, those who have walked this path basically never come back. It's not that they don't want to, but they don't have the strength to."
"Once you go there, you're not even as good as a commoner, just an ant to be trampled by others."
Jiang Feng turned his head and raised an eyebrow. "Then why are there so many people lining up to go die?"
"Because of Goddess Nüwa." Xiao Zhenjiang's voice was low. "The eternal emperors and exceptionally brilliant people who disappeared throughout history were basically all summoned by Goddess Nüwa."
"Goddess Nüwa did not yield up there; she secretly organized a Blue Star faction and needs to constantly absorb fresh blood from the lower realm to fight against the World King."
After listening, Jiang Feng only had two words in his mind. That's it?
Wanting to rely on empty promises to summon him to a high-dimensional world to be a high-level grunt on the front lines? Dream on.
He held the infinite-level [Pangu Plunder] in his hands; as long as there were monsters to kill, his attributes could snowball infinitely. Stay away from Blue Star, this top-tier monster-grinding field, just to go up there and start as a low-level lackey?
Never mind Nüwa; even if the ancient gods from the dawn of chaos arrived together, they wouldn't be able to boss him around or issue him orders.
The wild wind whipped up the snow on the ground. Xiao Zhenjiang looked at Jiang Feng's unmoved back and knew that this Divine Venerable had absolute autonomy. Having laid out the secret he had hidden for sixty years, he felt as if he had unloaded a thousand-pound burden, and his spine straightened a little.
Xiao Zhenjiang took half a step back, cupped his hands, and bowed deeply. "Divine Venerable, I have said all I can. This life of mine was stolen to begin with."
He raised his head, his face full of determination and relief. "If there is ever a place you need me in the future, even if it means being crushed to pieces, I, Xiao Zhenjiang, will charge into battle for you!"
"Just to redeem my cowardly heart from back then!"
Jiang Feng looked at the bronze door without turning back and waved his hand casually, signaling that he could leave. There was no comfort, and no attempt to make him stay.
Xiao Zhenjiang bowed again, turned into a streak of light, leaped off the Kunlun peak, and disappeared into the wind and snow.
Dealing with such people, Jiang Feng couldn't even be bothered to get angry; instead, he only felt pity for Xiao Zhenjiang. Some people walk along and, inadvertently, ascend to the position of a Divine Venerable. But some people walk along and, in a muddled state, become soulless walking corpses.
He didn't know what to do, how to comfort him, or whether to let him charge into battle for him—he didn't know any of it. Jiang Feng only understood one principle: to firmly control one's own destiny, one must personally fight against destiny.
… On the peak, only Jiang Feng remained. The cold wind scraped past his thin pajamas, not even lifting the hem by a fraction. His protective Dao-Source-level origin power kept all physical laws firmly at bay. Jiang Feng narrowed his eyes.
He never considered himself a savior. His greatest wish was merely to let his parents enjoy their old age in peace and to live his own life with dignity.
But he understood a very simple logic. He had shattered the Heavenly Dao and raised the world's integration level; the commotion was too great. The people in the Upper Heavens were not blind, and the World King was certainly not deaf.
Even if he wanted to quietly be a monster-grinding maniac, the reckoning from the higher dimensions would sooner or later crash down on his head. In fact, from the moment he dealt tens of trillions in damage, he had already been firmly targeted by those above.
"No wonder." Jiang Feng muttered to himself. No wonder old fogies like Jiang Kunlun and Ji Xuance had held the line for so many years. They were waiting for someone who could break the deadlock. They wanted to wait for a leader who could lead the human race to slaughter their way into the higher dimensions and fight a decisive battle against the final BOSS.
If they couldn't wait, it would just be one more person heading to the Upper Realm to fight for humanity. If they did wait, the fate of the entire human race would be completely rewritten. The plan was indeed ingenious. Unfortunately, Jiang Feng never followed anyone else's script.
Others fought against the vast realm by enduring, biding their time, and forming cliques. But he, Jiang Feng, only believed in limitless brute-force stats.
His train of thought was completely clear. No matter how strong the Upper Heavens were, considering that now was pure nonsense. The only proper thing to do right now was to continue grinding monsters like crazy! Changing classes, looting attribute points, getting stronger—the speed of getting stronger must absolutely not stop for half a second!
Jiang Feng was just about to turn around and tear open space to go back and eat pork ribs. Deep in his mind, the reconstructed system suddenly emitted a low hum. This sound was no longer a rigid mechanical voice, but carried a trace of the ancient, primitive tremor of the Great Dao.
[Ding!] [Player level has reached the level 260 cap.] [Condition check passed.] [Exclusive advancement route for the Dao-Source-class profession "Heaven Mender" has been activated!] [Sixth-turn ultimate quest initiated!] [Quest Name: Road to Heaven Mending (Phase 1)] [Quest Content: Step onto the Road to Heaven, cross the world barrier, and go to repair the deep space hole left behind when the primordial supreme treasure "Demon Domain" (Comet) crashed into and pierced through Blue Star.]
Looking at the golden text flickering in his vision, Jiang Feng let out a cold laugh. Repair the hole? He casually closed the panel, and his figure instantly merged into the void, disappearing into the blizzard on the peak of Kunlun.