Chapter 170: The Value of Nanluo

Nan Luo stood upon the stone precipice, letting the chill of the mountain wind wash over him. His pair of violet pupils gazed into the distant expanse of the Western Wasteland as he quietly pondered the Lion Emperor's pledge of allegiance.

Yes, a pledge of allegiance from the Lion Emperor!

From Nan Luo's perspective, the agony, sorrow, and hatred the Lion Emperor had displayed moments before were undoubtedly genuine.

The tragedy of the Lion clan was something Nan Luo had also heard of.

However, Nan Luo certainly did not flatter himself that his divine charisma was so great that a half-sage supreme being would cast aside all dignity and face to weep bitterly before him and pour out his grievances.

Nan Luo had always made it a habit to attribute the most malicious intentions and insidious motives to all living beings of the Primordial World, especially those right before his eyes.

Without this cautious vigilance, Nan Luo might have been swallowed up by this dark and cruel Primordial World long ago.

After all, in a world where the strong ruled supreme, weakness was the greatest original sin.

To use an imperfect analogy, in his early days, when Nan Luo was the Lord of Destiny yet possessed negligible strength, he was much like a defenseless toddler carrying immense treasures—a target long since coveted by various gods, demons, immortals, and spirits throughout the Primordial World.

Had he not been cautious, had his power not grown at such a rapid pace, Nan Luo likely would have fallen victim to endless coercion, enticement, extortion, and robbery.

Whether deliberately drawing close to befriend him or attempting to seize the Mandate of Heaven he carried, the stratagems employed by those various gods, demons, immortals, and spirits were endlessly varied.

Even after Nan Luo ascended to the status of Divine Emperor, when facing the lofty and untouchable Sage Immortals, he still harbored a deep sense of powerlessness.

Nan Luo knew all too well that he was merely a chess piece—a pawn in the hands of a mysterious mastermind behind the scenes, manipulated at will.

The mastermind who had hurled Nan Luo from the Age of Dharma Ending into the dawn of creation at the birth of the Primordial World certainly hadn't done so simply to watch him practice hard cultivation.

That entity undoubtedly needed Nan Luo to accomplish things he could not achieve himself, things that would prove beneficial to the mastermind.

Yet, what manner of terrifying foe could possibly require the mastermind to continuously aid Nan Luo's cultivation and bestow upon him countless peerless treasures?

For instance, the moment Nan Luo descended into the Primordial World, he became the so-called Lord of Destiny. Furthermore, he was given supreme innate treasures like the Pantheon Temple, the Creation Jade Disk, the Heavenly Emperor's Karma, and more—the mastermind had essentially been pushing Nan Luo forward step by step.

When Nan Luo obtained the Creation Jade Disk at Mount Buzhou and subsequently used his Heavenly Emperor's Karma to force away Hongjun the Sage Immortal, who had come to seize it, Nan Luo finally realized who his ultimate enemy was.

Such a miraculous and contrived coincidence could only be the grand design of the mastermind behind the scenes, engineered specifically to forge an irreconcilable blood feud between Nan Luo and Sage Immortal Hongjun.

In other words, Nan Luo's formidable adversary was none other than Sage Immortal Hongjun.

According to the myths and legends of the Primordial World, Sage Immortal Hongjun was destined to merge with the Heavenly Dao and be revered as the supreme Dao Ancestor!

In his past life, Nan Luo had been nothing more than an insignificant Taoist priest incapable of cultivation; yet, after descending into this world through possession, he found himself locked in a mortal struggle with Dao Ancestor Hongjun.

Nan Luo truly believed he possessed nerves of steel. Instead of prostrating himself in worship and surrendering directly to the Dao Ancestor adored by all later generations, he chose to defy him stubbornly and without end.

There was only one reason for this: compared to his fear of Dao Ancestor Hongjun, Nan Luo feared the mastermind even more.

Had he surrendered directly to Dao Ancestor Hongjun and offered up the Creation Jade Disk, the Dao Ancestor might not have protected him anyway. But the mastermind would have crushed him without hesitation.

After weighing the pros and cons, Nan Luo had resolved to walk this dark path to the end, firmly opposing Dao Ancestor Hongjun with the backing of the mysterious mastermind.

Yet Nan Luo had assumed his only opponent was Dao Ancestor Hongjun. The mastermind, however, was never going to limit his challenges to just one Hongjun.

Matters were far from over; the mastermind's target was by no means restricted to a single Sage Immortal Hongjun.

When Nan Luo discovered that ascending to the Dao and becoming a sage required him to unify the entire Primordial World, he finally understood that his true enemies were all the Sage Immortals—every last sage standing in the way of his unification of the realm.

There was Sage Immortal Hongjun behind the Dragon and Fierce Beast clans, Sage Immortal Qiankun behind the Qilin clan, and Sage Immortal Yinyang behind the Phoenix clan.

In other words, Nan Luo had to defeat at least three Sage Immortals, and the Divine Clan had to triumph over the four great imperial clans—the Dragons, Phoenixes, Qilins, and Fierce Beasts—before he could successfully achieve the Dao and become a sage.

Confronted by the crushing pressure of three Sage Immortals, Nan Luo had decisively hidden his ambitions, biding his time and silently accumulating strength. He dared not integrate the full power of the Divine Clan, nor did he dare provoke an all-out war with the four great imperial clans.

He feared that the slightest bold move on his part would provoke the three Sage Immortals to strike prematurely.

Sure enough, after Nan Luo deliberately put on a display of folly and madness, the three Sage Immortals gradually relaxed their surveillance over him, shifting their focus instead to the mastermind lingering in the shadows behind him.

Fortunately, the Dragon Emperor, Phoenix Emperor, Qilin Emperor, and Fierce Emperor were none too willing to bow their heads in submission to the joint dominion of the three Sage Immortals.

The four great monarchs likewise harbored their own ideals and pursuits: to achieve the Dao, become saints, and complete the magnificent transformation from chess pieces to players.

Consequently, Nan Luo had secretly colluded with the four monarchs, plotting the grand enterprise of the Five Emperors rising against the sages, ultimately achieving his breakthrough to the half-realm through the covert assistance of the Fierce Emperor.

Becoming a half-sage emperor was a monumental leap in Nan Luo's strength, signifying that he finally possessed the qualifications to enter the great game and contend for the Dao of Sagehood.

Similarly, upon ascending to the rank of a half-sage emperor, Nan Luo's mindset gradually shifted. He would no longer blindly endure, lie low, or passively absorb blows; instead, he would bare his blade and take the initiative.

His second descent to Mount Buzhou was both the meeting place demanded by the Underworld Demonic Emperor and Nan Luo's second probe into the intentions of the mastermind—the most crucial probe of all.

After sending off the Underworld Demonic Emperor, Nan Luo had resolutely climbed to the very summit of Mount Buzhou, eager to see what grand maneuver the mastermind would pull next, and how else he might help enhance his strength.

Naturally, Nan Luo also wanted to take the opportunity to verify a hypothesis he held in his heart—a conjecture concerning the mastermind himself.

Sure enough, once Nan Luo reached the summit of Mount Buzhou, aided by an unknown force, he actually completed the sanctification of his physical body.

To put it without exaggeration, Nan Luo—who had only just attained the half-sage realm last March and had been the weakest of the Five Emperors—instantly became the strongest among them the moment his physical body underwent sage transformation.

One could glimpse the earth-shaking transformation in Nan Luo's power simply from how he had dispatched the Qilin Emperor with a single punch.

This lavish gift from the mastermind was simply too precious, too timely.

Had he not completed the sanctification of his physical body, Nan Luo doubted he could have defeated the other four emperors, let alone achieved sagehood or gone toe-to-toe with the various sages.

At the same time, Nan Luo had verified his inner suspicion: the mastermind behind the scenes was most likely none other than Pangu, the mighty being who should have exhausted his strength and perished at the creation of heaven and earth.

If the mastermind was indeed Pangu, then his objective was singular: to defeat the sages and successfully return.

For an immortal, indestructible entity of Pangu's caliber, resurrection was by no means an insurmountable task.

The truly difficult part was executing that resurrection smoothly.

After all, neither the secretive and detached Great Dao nor the surviving Chaos Demon Gods wished to see Pangu successfully return to life.

And Nan Luo was the single most crucial chess piece in Pangu's hands—the pawn meant to defeat the sages and secure Pangu's triumphant return.

This was precisely where Nan Luo's true value lay!