Creating Heavenly Laws

Chapter 738

Boom.

As expected, the head of the robed elder on the dragon throne exploded like a watermelon.

The highest realm of an Dao Master was mind-force solidification.

But even the strongest Dao Masters throughout history could only solidify their mental force within a few meters.

Mental force was, by nature, an intangible power. Only by borrowing the power of the world could it affect reality. The mental force itself could not directly interfere with the physical world.

Solidifying the mind was the process of making mental force tangible.

Only once it was solidified could mental force directly act upon material reality.

From several hundred meters away, Lin Yuan used his solidified mind-force to observe and destroy the head of the robed elder — a feat that surpassed all methods ever used by any Dao Master.

“Your Majesty…”

“His Majesty is dead?”

“His Majesty… is dead!”

The explosion of the Emperor’s head was, of course, seen first by the surrounding eunuchs and palace maids.

They screamed in horror.

Soon, imperial guards rushed in.

Then, the palace physicians arrived.

All of them were tense, preparing to do everything possible to save the Emperor.

But when they saw his headless corpse, they fell silent.

If he had merely fainted, even if his breath and pulse had stopped, the palace doctors might have been able to attempt a revival.

But without a head?

He was dead beyond dead. What could they possibly save?

The nine highest-ranking commanders of the palace guard stared silently at the corpse in his imperial robes, the air thick with dread.

Now that the rebel army was about to storm the city and the Great Feng Dynasty stood on the brink of collapse, the Emperor had died?

If this news got out, there would be no need to defend the city. They might as well open the gates and surrender.

If the soldiers knew, morale would collapse instantly. With the Emperor dead—who would they be fighting for?

Under normal circumstances, if the Emperor suddenly died, it would be possible to stabilize the situation by swiftly enthroning a crown prince.

But now?

Even assuming that could stabilize things, which prince would dare ascend?

Anyone who took the throne now would almost certainly be the last Emperor of a dying empire.

A fallen Emperor without ever having ruled.

And if the rebels breached the capital, maybe the rest of the royal family could survive.

But the Emperor? He’d be the first to die.

In other words, ascending the throne now meant certain death, along with eternal infamy as the last Emperor of a fallen dynasty.

Inside the main hall, the situation was tightly controlled by the palace guard.

But outside—

Chaos reigned.

Even the guards themselves were in disarray.

The Emperor’s sudden death was a massive blow.

And with the enemy’s army so vast, fear and uncertainty began to spread.

No one noticed—

A young man with a furrowed brow walked out of the hall.

“Why hasn’t the time loop ended?”

Lin Yuan looked at the growing chaos around him, thoughts churning.

In the imperial palace, only the Emperor would dare wear the dragon robe.

And based on everyone's reaction, that robed elder had to be the Emperor of Great Feng.

Who else’s death could shake the palace like that?

But the more this was true—

The more suspicious Lin Yuan felt.

If that robed elder was the Emperor and now he was unmistakably dead, then why hadn’t the time-looped world collapsed?

Why hadn’t he broken free of the cycle?

“Emperor of Great Feng…”

Lin Yuan recalled the Emperor’s intel.

Technically, the Emperor was two years younger than him.

He should be eighty-six years old.

He ascended the throne at sixteen, which meant he’d taken the crown two years before Lin Yuan arrived in this time-looped world.

And he had ruled ever since.

There had been no change of emperors in seventy years.

There was no way Lin Yuan had killed the wrong person.

Fifty years ago, he had acquired a portrait of the Emperor.

Since then, he updated it every six months to keep up with the Emperor’s appearance.

You could say Lin Yuan had watched the Emperor age day by day.

That robed elder he’d just seen looked exactly like the latest portrait from two months ago.

“As expected, this trial won’t be so simple.”

Lin Yuan collected his thoughts and calmed his mind.

From the moment he arrived in this time-looped world, he had felt the trial was suspiciously easy.

Kill a single Emperor?

Even with this world’s harsh restrictions, not just Lin Yuan, even an ordinary Chaos Realm cultivator at full completion could become an Dao Master within seventy or eighty years.

Given the realm ceiling, even the most average Chaos Realm cultivator could reach the highest Dao Master level within 134 years of effort.

And with such strength—

Infiltrating the palace to assassinate the Emperor?

Maybe not a guaranteed success, but at least a 30–40% chance over a hundred attempts.

Meaning an average full-completion Chaos Realm cultivator had a 30–40% chance of breaking the loop.

That didn’t align with the usual probability for Chaos Realm cultivators attempting to break into the 13th rank.

And that’s assuming they were ordinary cultivators.

The time-loop trial was crafted by the supreme laws of the universe, specifically tailored to each being.

Lin Yuan’s power far surpassed the average Chaos Realm full-completion cultivator, so his trial should’ve been even harder.

He had assumed perhaps the Emperor of Great Feng was unusually strong—making the seemingly simple trial actually very difficult.

But the process of killing the Emperor had been ridiculously easy.

The robed elder had only peak Dao Master strength and couldn’t even resist Lin Yuan’s killing blow.

Which meant—

His assumption was wrong.

“Could it be that the ‘Emperor of Great Feng’ mentioned in the trial… doesn’t actually refer to the Emperor? But a person named that?”

Lin Yuan briefly considered the idea—then dismissed it.

The time-loop trial was built upon the supreme rules of reality.

It was absolutely fair.

It wouldn’t play with semantics.

If it said “Emperor of Great Feng,” it meant the Emperor of Great Feng.

And specifically—the one Lin Yuan knew from the start.

“In other words, the real Emperor is not dead.”

“He’s still alive?”

“How interesting.”

Lin Yuan’s eyes gleamed thoughtfully.

Had it been any other 12th-rank cultivator, they might’ve panicked by now, maybe even doubted themselves, seeing the trial still continuing after what seemed to be success.

But Lin Yuan didn’t.

With Boundary-Breaking Source Energy as his fallback, he had complete control over the time-loop and could break it at any moment.

The only reason he hadn’t used it yet, was because he didn’t want to pay the price.

But just because he didn’t want to pay the price, didn’t mean he couldn’t.

—Fifty years ago—

Over the Endless Eastern Sea, a seemingly ordinary ship floated.

This place, known as the Endless Deep Sea, stretched infinitely and was home to colossal sea beasts that had existed since ancient times.

On the deck stood a noble-looking young man.

Had any of Great Feng’s high ministers been there, they would have recognized him instantly as the current Emperor of Great Feng.

“I spent twenty years creating a perfect double of myself. Now I can leave the palace without raising suspicion. That double will act in my place.”

The young man pondered silently.

His final trial was to survive 150 years.

Which meant—under normal circumstances, he would not survive that long in the palace.

So he didn’t hesitate to abandon it.

And came to the Endless Deep Sea.

This place was so remote that even during Great Feng’s peak, exploration of it had been limited.

Of course, coming here was only step one of his plan.

He turned and entered the ship’s cabin.

Inside was a massive coffin several meters long forged from a dark metal that gave off a deep glow.

“I used all the accumulated resources of the Great Feng Dynasty to forge this coffin from Primordial Divine Metal…”

The young man looked at it, eyes flickering.

Primordial Divine Metal was the hardest substance ever discovered in this world’s history.

Even the strongest Dao Master couldn’t damage a fist-sized piece of it.

When Great Feng was founded, the first Emperor had scoured the world for this metal, intending to forge nine divine cauldrons to suppress the ninety-nine provinces, ensuring the dynasty’s eternal reign.

But even by his death, not enough had been gathered.

Each of the next five emperors had continued the search, until this current generation had finally gathered a sufficient amount.

Originally, it was meant for forging the nine cauldrons—

But this young Emperor used it all to build an unprecedented coffin.

“I created a pseudo-death technique using countless secret arts of the royal family. Once activated, I enter deep slumber—my bodily functions nearly cease, allowing me to live right up to my natural limit… another 130 years.”

He leapt into the coffin.

The lid sealed shut.

In the next moment—

The ship holding the coffin collapsed.

And the black coffin plunged into the depths of the ocean.

The ocean floor was a death zone for land-dwellers—especially the area he had chosen.

Only the unparalleled hardness of the Primordial Divine Metal could withstand the crushing pressure.

Even a Dao Master would be pulverized at these depths.

That was the Emperor’s strategy for surviving his final trial.

He had come to this place with no trace left behind.

Not even his closest kin knew his whereabouts.

The only ones who had—were the sailors on the ship.

And they had perished with it.

In other words—

No one in the world now knew where he was.

Not that it would matter if they did.

He had sunk to the very bottom of the sea. Who could possibly reach him?

Even the ancient sea beasts that had existed since the beginning of time dared not approach that depth.

And even if, by some miracle, someone did find and retrieve the coffin, who could harm him through the world’s hardest material?

Primordial Divine Metal blocked everything—including mental force.

Even solidified mind-force couldn’t move it a hair.

The trial was to survive 150 years.

The Emperor had guessed there would be enemies sent to kill him.

But the trial only required survival, so he never planned to confront them.

He hid at the bottom of the sea, where no one could reach him.

Giving his enemies no chance at all.

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