Silver Overlord

In the midst of a whirlwind, Yan Liqiang felt as though he had fallen out of a seat belt’s protection while riding on a roller coaster and got thrown out into the air. Countless broken lights flashed past his eyes. Before he could even react, he fell heavily on the ground.

His head spun as everything before him turned black. It was only after a while that he felt everything in his brain had settled down again. Then, his senses returned to him. He felt himself lying on the ground with his face down. He heard a long a sigh.

Yan Liqiang immediately leaped to his feet and looked around.

He was no longer in the crystal pagoda at the Divine Sword Sect’s Sword Cavern. The terrifying expert in black had disappeared. He found himself back at the magnificent Heavenly Shrine once again, surrounded by giant black pillars standing several hundred meters tall. On those black giant pillars were the specks of spinning galaxies. The floor beneath his feet glowed with silvery-white luster. Countless runes were flowing underneath the floor like streams of water. Not too far from him, the Heavenly Stone floated in the middle of the grand hall, glowing mysteriously.

Now, only one of the two rhombus-shaped entrances that were connected to the Heavenly Shrine remained. The entrance from the Heavenly Shrine to the Heavenly Realm had vanished.

The half-human half-snake creature, Fu Guang, whom he had not seen for a long time, was looking at him with pity.

“What’s going on? Why am I here?” Yan Liqiang stood in the Heavenly Shrine with great astonishment. “Where did the entrance to the Heavenly Realm go? Why did it disappear?”

“Do you not remember what I told you? You only have one chance in the Heavenly Realm of Silver Continent which you have created. If you die in there, then that Heavenly Realm will collapse.” Fu Guang looked at Yan Liqiang with great composure.

Yan Liqiang remained silent for a moment before he spoke bitterly. “Y-You’re telling… me… that I got killed by that person in the Sword Cavern’s crystal pagoda?!”

“Indeed. You got killed in the Heavenly Realm…”

“B-But… But…!” Yan Liqiang wanted to retort that he didn’t do anything in the Sword Cavern, and he didn’t provoke anyone either. How did he get killed without rhyme or reason? That was totally unfair. Yan Liqiang felt as though he was playing a video game where he was recovering his HP and learning skill books in a safe place. He was not ready to fight the big boss, yet the big boss suddenly appeared and instantly killed him. This frustration was simply too difficult to be put into words.

“Everything in the Heavenly Realm is not a game. It may happen in reality. No one can control the Heavenly Realm, not even me…” Fu Guang looked at Yan Liqiang calmly as though he could read his mind.

“Even in the real world, countless accidents may happen. Natural disasters, man-made disasters, train derailments, volcanic eruptions, earthquakes, tsunamis, wars, or even psychopaths on the streets can get you killed. Everything that happened in the Divine Sword Sect was affected by your choices. Even if you didn’t expect some of them to happen, you can only accept the consequences of your decisions!”

Listening to Fu Guang’s words, Yan Liqiang stood in a daze for a moment before he let out a long sigh. “Does that mean… I will never be able to return to that Heavenly Realm again…?” he asked with disappointment and frustration.

“Yes. That Heavenly Realm existed because of you. It shattered with your death and it no longer exists anymore, just like a bubble or a mirage!” Fu Guang looked at Yan Liqiang. His gaze was profound and as deep as a spinning galaxy. “I told you before that you are the weakest among the 3,936,884,329 entrants who were lucky enough to enter the Heavenly Shrine in the past. Compared to other beings who could enter the Heavenly Realm, the time you survived in there was also the shortest. This is perhaps a kind of balance in the mysterious Heavenly Law. No one has ever possessed the Heavenly Stone before you, yet you possess it despite being the weakest of them all. Therefore, it was also destined that you wouldn’t be able to last for long in the Heavenly Realm that the Heavenly Stone had created and you cannot fully utilize the Heavenly Stone’s every function. This is the law of heaven and the universe…”

“Are you comforting me? It almost sounds like you are saying most of the emperors are short-lived…” Yan Liqiang shook his head and smiled wryly. After thinking carefully about Fu Guang’s words, he cheered up a little and was no longer as dejected. His rationality told him that perhaps Fu Guang was right. The Heavenly Law reduced a surplus to make up for the scarcity. For his measly strength, everything brought from the Heavenly Stone was too much. He simply couldn’t dominate the Heavenly Realm. To put it bluntly, he was only drifting in it and therefore it was only natural that he lost it.

Thinking carefully about it, although the time he spent in the Heavenly Realm wasn’t long, he had gained huge rewards. He managed to foresee the calamity four years in advance, and the aftermath in the Great Han Empire. Not only that, he obtained many supreme secret techniques in the Divine Sword Sect. To an ordinary person, any single one of those was beyond imagination, and yet he obtained them. What else was he not satisfied with? Besides, the Heavenly Stone also left him a ‘toy capsule machine’. Up until this point in time, he had only seen the tip of the iceberg in its potential and yet to fully utilize it to the maximum.

Thinking about that in his heart, Yan Liqiang gradually felt better even though he still had some regrets. At this very moment, his mind wasn’t mostly filled with the Heavenly Realm. It was instead filled by the familiar faces of Gu Zexuan, Zhao Huipeng, Hall Master Su on Tianqiao Peak, his masters in the Divine Sword Sect, Liu Guiyuan, and Luqiu Mingyue. Although the Heavenly Realm had shattered and the time he spent in the Divine Sword Sect was fleeting, his experiences and bonds with them were real. They had been deeply ingrained in his life, becoming a part of him.

As for the man in black who had his eyes on the two secret manuals from the crystal pagoda’s ninth floor in the Sword Cavern… If Yan Liqiang wasn’t mistaken, he was probably one of the Divine Sword Sect’s elders. That person’s heart swelled with ambition, but he was unscrupulous in his methods. He was truly a scourge in the Divine Sword Sect and no one knew if he was colluding with external forces…

After standing in a daze with his thoughts running through his head in the Heavenly Shrine, Yan Liqiang cheered up and asked Fu Guang a question. “Now that my Heavenly Realm no longer exists, can I still use the Heavenly Stone to create lives?”

“Of course!” Fu Guang nodded and a smile appeared on his face. “You can enter this shrine at any time using the same method as before. You can still create life and command reincarnation through the Heavenly Stone. After all, the Heavenly Stone still has a lot of potential for you to uncover. With the opening of your spiritual eye, you will also find that you can work better with the Heavenly Stone’s ability to create lives. It may even bring you a bigger surprise!”

“Ah, I guess that’s not too bad…” A smile appeared on Yan Liqiang’s face.

“Live well, you only live once. There is no second chance in the real world. The Heavenly Stone can definitely offer you things that are way beyond your imagination…” After saying that, Fu Guang’s figure dissipated into light particles in front of Yan Liqiang, leaving behind only the echoes of his voice in the magnificent Heavenly Shrine.

Yan Liqiang glanced at the floating Heavenly Stone again before he left the Heavenly Shrine…

……

Yan Liqiang opened his eyes to find that he was still lying on the bed in the Imperial Academy of Medicine. The lamp on the headboard had just extinguished; the wick was still slightly glowing hot. He could hear the rain pattering the eaves of the roof. Although he had stayed in the Heavenly Realm for a few days, in reality, he was lying on the bed like he did before he entered the Heavenly Realm. Everything felt like a dream.

Goldie, who just laid down on the sheepskin rug in front of Yan Liqiang’s bed, sensed that he was awake. It opened its eyes, got up, and looked at Yan Liqiang while wagging its tail.

Yan Liqiang jogged his memory to find that the contents of the ‘Fusion Sword Technique’ and ‘Taiyi Talisman Manual’ still appeared before his eyes. He opened his blanket, put on a long robe, got off the bed, pushed open the door, and went out.

“Ah, Deputy Manager Yan, why are you up again?” Little Li had just reached the corridor outside the door, carrying a copper incense burner with him. He looked surprised when he saw Yan Liqiang come out of the room, despite telling him he was sleepy earlier.

“I suddenly don’t feel like sleeping. I came out to get some fresh air…” Yan Liqiang smiled at Little Li.

“It’s raining outside and it’s a little chilly. Let me get someone to prepare two charcoal braziers for you…:”

“No need, I’m not that weak. I just want to stand here alone for a while and think about something…”

Little Li understood that Yan Liqiang wanted some peace and quiet, so he stopped bothering him. Only Goldie came to Yan Liqiang and silently laid down by his feet.

Yan Liqiang stood at the corridor outside the room. He raised his head, watching the raindrops falling from the eaves and the gloomy sky above the courtyard through his squinted eyes. He stood there a few hours motionlessly as though he was meditating…

Could he still be considered the Divine Sword Sect’s disciple and the Sect Guardian’s successor right now?

Without the Heavenly Realm’s aid and foresight, the future was once again unknown to him. He could no longer find out about the future of the Great Han Empire.

From now on, the only one he could rely on to shape this future was himself. Before the catastrophe struck, he still had four years to prepare for it…