Transformation Diagram: Starting as a Skinny Dog

Chapter 778

Chen Ku's eyes focused on Yang Pan's movements, watching as Yang Pan extended a few fingers, making a few twists on the ancient mirror. Astonishingly, a light curtain and array patterns emerged from within the mirror. After manipulating it continuously, the mirror suddenly refracted a tiny beam of light that landed beneath the light curtain at the hall's entrance.

In the blink of an eye, it was as if a scroll had unfurled, rolling up a gap half the height of a person in the light curtain.

"Hurry, I'm still not skilled with the array patterns, I can only hold it open for three breaths at most."

With that said, Yang Pan was the first to move swiftly, slipping inside.

Chen Ku's gaze flickered slightly, pondering for half a breath, and then followed, transforming into a stream of blood Qi, entering the stone hall.

Whirring~~~

Upon entering the hall, Chen Ku was immediately blinded by a dazzling light, obscuring his vision. First, the sound of rushing water reached his ears, followed by Yang Pan's startled shout:

"General Chen, be careful not to touch this river water!"

With his double pupils activated, Chen Ku's vision quickly recovered, revealing everything inside the hall. It turned out the hall was filled with a river flowing in the void, the water seeming to circulate eternally within the hall.

The hall's space was vast enough, as if crafted by an ancient giant god, with each pillar immensely wide, making Chen Ku and Yang Pan appear like two ants straying into a giant's temple.

At this moment, Chen Ku looked over to see Yang Pan staring in shock at a section of his cloak, which, after contacting the void-flowing river water, began to quickly weather and disintegrate.

It's known that Yang Pan's cyan silk clothing, made from the finest celestial silk, is impervious to water and fire, yet it disintegrated instantly now.

"This river water?"

Chen Ku said solemnly, "Does it have corrosive properties?"

"It's not corrosive. General Chen, try throwing a weapon in there, and you'll know." Yang Pan looked seriously at the river before him.

Chen Ku pondered for a moment and took out a weapon from his sleeve. It was a standard treasure blade from the Hero King Realm, of famous weapon quality. All treasures and items from the Hero King Realm, after refining them, had already been stored within his body cave.

He tentatively dipped the blade into the river.

In an instant, the moment the blade tip touched the water, rust marks appeared, and the blade began to crystallize from the tip...

"This is..." Chen Ku's Breaking Army's Eye quickly operated, and in an instant, he observed everything that happened the moment the treasure blade entered the water.

It wasn't corrosion; it was as if it had experienced an extended passage of time in a single moment.

"It's the power of time..."

Just as Chen Ku's thoughts flashed in a moment, a massive forewarning surged from the treasure blade:

[A river of time intends to harm the master, suppress it with an object of the fifteenth realm.]

"A river of time?"

The moment Chen Ku saw this river information appear on the Transformation Diagram, he blurted it out, then without hesitation, threw the long blade into the river.

As the long blade entered the river, it instantly became a completely rust-covered old, broken blade.

"It really is the power of time! This actually is a river containing the laws of time, with a rate of time flow thousands of times faster than that of the entire Dragon Han Divine Mansion. If either of us were to touch this river water, our life spans would be exhausted in less than the time it takes for an incense stick to burn, even if we had tens of thousands of years to live," Yang Pan said, fearful after hearing Chen Ku mention the river of time.

Chen Ku was about to say something.

Suddenly, a mysterious voice echoed from within the river of time:

"You two youngsters are quite insightful, recognizing the true nature of the river of time at a glance."

The voice's tone was very calm.

It seemed accustomed to the vicissitudes of history.

"Who?!"

Chen Ku and Yang Pan's expressions changed instantly.

In this hall of the Dragon Han Divine Mansion, there was actually a third person present.

"My Taoist title is Yankang," said the mysterious voice calmly, "I've been trapped here in this river of time by the Dragon Han for a hundred thousand years."

"Yankang? Dragon Han?"

Yang Pan instantly grasped the key information within the mysterious person's words.

And Chen Ku quickly connected the dots.

Dragon Han should refer to the Dragon Han Emperor.

And Yankang...

"You're Emperor Yankang?!"

Chen Ku spoke, filled with suspicion.

He suddenly recalled the Yankang Dao Map he had obtained from the loose cultivator Wen Suzhen in the mountains six thousand miles outside Yan Capital, which belonged to an ancient fifteenth realm Great Emperor.

When he once practiced the Life Destruction Path from the Iron Tree of the Destruction Tower, he had even contemplated this Dao map.

Emperor Yankang was also the master of 'Yankang Immortal Mansion,' one of the Nine Mansions, Three Treasures, and Six Collections.

"Emperor Yankang?" Yang Pan, between Chen Ku's words, was also shocked to look towards the river of time: "An emperor from ancient times?"

"To think that after a hundred thousand years, someone still remembers this old man's imperial title."

The voice from within the river of time chuckled softly:

"Moving."

"You really are Emperor Yankang!"

Chen Ku solemnly stated:

"You said you were trapped here by Dragon Han, why?"

He didn't know much about these mythological ancient entities like Dragon Han Emperor and Emperor Yankang, just their imperial titles.

Yang Pan, being a person from the Capital of the Daji Dynasty and a descendant of the Champion Marquis, knew more than Chen Ku and muttered to himself:

"After the Ancient True Dragon Emperor's disappearance, it's said five Great Emperors temporarily took over the world: Dragon Han Emperor, Red Bright Emperor, Kaihuang Emperor, Emperor Shanghuang, and Emperor Yankang. Emperor Yankang was the last unified Great Emperor. After that, the world scattered into several major forces, eventually evolving into several large nations and countless small nations. The title of 'Great Emperor' could only be claimed by an emperor who achieved complete unification of the world."

Hearing Yang Pan's mutterings, Chen Ku was even more astonished.

To think Dragon Han Emperor and Emperor Yankang were ancient era unifiers, with a weight far surpassing that of Emperor Ji, Primordial Emperor, and Yun Emperor, the emperors of major nations.

Whirring~~

The river of time in the void stirred as the voice calling itself Yankang spoke coldly, "Dragon Han doesn't deserve the title of Great Emperor; he's a traitor to the human realm."

Chen Ku and Yang Pan exchanged glances, immediately detecting the significance in Yankang's words.

"What do you mean by that, Senior?" Chen Ku inquired.

Recalling the previous mention of being trapped here by Dragon Han Emperor, he considered.

Yankang's voice narrated calmly:

"Dragon Han was a direct disciple of the Immortal Ancestor, while this old man was a direct disciple of the Taoist Ancestor. Everything began after the fall of the True Dragon. When the world was leaderless, the five Creation Dao Ancestors collectively decided to elect a new ruler of the human realm, who would govern for a millennium, with succession rotating among disciples of the Dao, Divine, Immortal, Demon, and Martial Ancestors. Dragon Han was the first; I was the fifth. By the rules, after I governed the world for a millennium, it was to be passed to another disciple of the Immortal Ancestor, the Jade Emperor. However, at the time of this orderly succession, Dragon Han led the Heavenly Immortal Family to invade the human realm."

"What? A heavenly invasion?" Chen Ku was shocked.

This seemed to align with some ancient secrets mentioned by the Giant Turtle.

"During that war, three of the five Creation Dao Ancestors fell, and the human realm was nearly shattered. Although we managed to suppress and seal several Eternal Life Kings of the Heavenly Realm's royal families, I was ambushed by Dragon Han during the battle, my body was shattered, my primordial spirit extinguished, leaving only an indestructible will, which he imprisoned in this river of time." Emperor Yankang's voice was desolate, "He sought to use the power of time to obliterate my indestructibility."

The two listened, struck with disbelief.

Especially Yang Pan, who said, "I've heard of the heavenly beings; could they truly be so powerful to cause the fall of Creation Dao Ancestors?"

"If you knew during that war that there were billions of cultivators on the human side, while the Heavenly Immortal Family only sent fewer than a hundred to attack, you would understand more clearly the strength of the Heavenly Immortal Family," Yankang said calmly.