Read Novel Full Chapter 841 - The toll of time
Chapter 841: 841 - The toll of time
"L-Lord Divine Blacksmith?" The golden guard’s voice trembled, his eyes widening as the heavy steel gate creaked open before him.
The sound of ancient metal echoed through the dungeon. On the other side of the opening stood the Divine Blacksmith himself, a faint smile resting on his weathered lips.
His hands, once covered in soot and sweat from the forge, were now clean.
The hammer that had always accompanied him had been left behind, and he stood beside Long Qingyi with a serene expression on his face.
"Y-you... are you leaving?" The golden guard stammered, barely managing to form the question.
"Yes. As far as I know, I’m not a prisoner." The Divine Blacksmith replied casually, striding past the guard with steady steps.
The old man didn’t bother to explain his reasons, simply continuing silently down the hallway.
"What would you like to drink, old man?" Qingyi asked, the casualness in his voice making the golden guard swallow hard.
The Divine Blacksmith was the oldest Celestial Emperor in the entire central region, a figure so respected that even Tianjin treated him with the deference due to an elder.
How dare Qingyi call him simply "old man"?
"Hmm... anything Tianjin has in his cellar," the Divine Blacksmith replied, lightly scratching his chin. "He brought me some good liquor a few days ago. I hope there’s still some left over."
Qingyi simply nodded, and together the two made their way down the black stone stairs.
As they walked through the first part of the corridor, the old man did not take his eyes off the drawings left by his daughter for even a moment.
Every stroke, every childish scribble etched into the stone.
His eyes bore a deep burden, and a bitter smile formed on his lips.
Turning his gaze forward, he sealed off the sound around himself and Qingyi, discreetly motioning for the guard to keep his distance.
"That cultivation technique you used..." the Divine Blacksmith began, his voice low. "It’s not something that should be mastered with ordinary Qi alone. You have control over mana, don’t you?"
Qingyi was not surprised by the Divine Blacksmith’s insight.
Tianjin’s current weapon—inherited from his great-grandfather and used to kill Auranys’s father—had been forged by that very same old man.
He possessed truly ancient power and age, likely second only to the Heavenly Demon, the Primordial Demon Empress herself, and some of her oldest servants.
"Yes." Qingyi confirmed with a brief nod.
"In the Immortal Heaven, I obtained a mana heart. The Heavenly Demon seemed quite interested in it, you know? He even sacrificed billions for it, creating an avatar in the Immortal Heaven."
"Tianjin has already told me about that." The Divine Blacksmith shook his head slowly, a somber gleam passing through his eyes.
"That pig has always had a greed that surpassed even his own power, blinded by it. It was that greed that reduced the demonic race to what it is today. It was that very greed that took my little one away from me."
"Ah..." The old man let out a weary sigh, the sound carrying centuries of pain. "Tianjin’s great-grandfather was just the same, but at least he wanted to build a better future."
Upon hearing those words, a question formed in Qingyi’s mind.
"How could someone as powerful as he was—ruling a universe like that—have died?" Qingyi asked, furrowing his brow.
In a universe where he reigned supreme, he should have lived long enough to witness the death of the stars themselves.
"He wanted to rule over everything and everyone. He had the power to rule over everything and everyone. But there was a single figure standing in his way: the Primordial Demon Empress.
She had no interest whatsoever in ruling the entire Celestial Heaven, desiring only to protect her own. But the Immortal Golden Dragon would not accept this. In his view, everyone should be under a single government. Only then would there be peace.
He fought her and lost in fewer than three exchanges of blows. Such was the difference between their powers.
Soon after, time took its toll.
We grow old. Old wounds in our minds begin to burn anew, and even the most powerful Celestial Emperor ends up consumed by regret and rage.
It was these wounds that took my wife."
The Divine Blacksmith paused for a moment, his gaze lost somewhere far down the staircase.
"In the end, when the Heavenly Demon opened a demonic portal that poured beasts directly into our territory, the Emperor—already broken and having lost his most beloved daughter—charged at it without any plan, driven only by rage and despair."
"He forcibly closed the portal and, there, vanished. His life crystal shattered, and all that remained of him in this world was erased. Only his spear survived."
Qingyi listened to it all in silence.
Time was cruel, even to Celestial Emperors.
They could, of course, live for an eternity, but what about their loved ones? Would their talent be enough to keep up with them?
Some cases were so hopeless that not even all the resources of a Celestial Emperor would be able to take them beyond the Realm of the Stellar Sovereign.
In the end, death was a commonplace occurrence.
Children, grandchildren, lovers.
Some possessed the talent needed to become immortal, but most would never reach that level.
And even those with sufficient talent eventually died, for the world of cultivation was a merciless place.
Struggles over resources, secret realms, feuds, endless wars.
In the countless years of a cultivator’s life, there was always a conflict that took its toll in blood. And even a Celestial Emperor could not protect his own forever.
The Celestial Heaven was considerably more civilized than the cultivation novels Qingyi used to read when he was still on Earth, but, at the end of the day, it was still a lawless land.
"Ah... let’s pick up the pace; I’m hungry. It’s been about three thousand years since I’ve eaten anything," the old Divine Blacksmith remarked, stretching his shoulders with a soft crack.
And with that, he finally left behind that dungeon that had, for so long, served as his self-imposed prison.