Chapter 344

Chapter 344: The Fourth Lamp

Zhang Yang felt no resistance as he climbed. On the contrary, the call from his bloodline grew stronger with each step, filling him with a joyful warmth, as though something on the mountain had long awaited his arrival.

The sensation was intense, almost sacred.

Caught in that feeling, he couldn’t help but smile.

He looked at the flowers, the grass, the rocks, and the trees around him. They all seemed to be smiling back, as if welcoming him home.

It was a feeling beyond words.

After a while, he realized he was alone. He looked around, no one was by his side. When he turned back, he saw Lie Qingshan, Yaoruoxian, Demon Sword Yi, Tiger Howl Wind, and the others far behind him, reduced to distant figures waving at him once they noticed his glance.

Zhang Yang simply said two words:

“Wait for me.”

Then, he resumed his climb.

Before long, the people behind him became small black dots, eventually disappearing from sight.

Heavenly Reaching Mountain still towered before him, vast and unreachable.

He looked up. Beyond the drifting clouds and mist, he couldn’t see the peak—only shimmering stars, as if the mountain had transformed into a river of stars.

At some point, he noticed that his surroundings were filled with starlight.

It seemed as though the flowers, grass, rocks, and trees had all become stars in their own right.

These seemingly insignificant “stars” emitted a quiet radiance that merged into his bloodline, illuminating the fragmented world within it.

The starlight of the real Heavenly Reaching Mountain was lighting up the stars in the shattered world inside his bloodline.

Zhang Yang felt puzzled. Wasn’t this the fourth lamp?

What exactly was happening?

Filled with confusion, he continued to ascend.

Streams of starlight shot from the mountain into his bloodline, brightening the stars and causing the broken world within him to shine brilliantly.

He didn’t know how much time had passed.

Then, one stream of starlight paused in front of him, and in that shimmering light, the hazy figure of the Supreme Emperor slowly emerged.

The Supreme Emperor had a slightly elongated face, with cold eyes as deep as an unfathomable abyss.

Though he resembled the figure in the Supreme Emperor’s portrait, his aura was entirely different—more profound, more imposing.

He stood with his hands clasped behind his back, gazing down at Zhang Yang from above.

“After waiting for eons, you have finally arrived.”

“I’ve been waiting for you on this mountain. If I eliminate you, I can fulfill my mission in this lifetime and walk the immortal path, looking down upon all the heavens.”

As he finished speaking, his figure shattered into fragments.

Zhang Yang paused for a moment before resuming his climb.

From the Abyss of the Buried Immortals to Star Tiger Mountain, his encounters with the previous two lamps had already made it clear: the Supreme Emperor, a servant of Eternal Night, was determined to prevent him from obtaining each one.

As expected, the fourth lamp was no exception, it too was obstructed by the Supreme Emperor.

He kept climbing.

Once again, starlight poured into his bloodline, illuminating one star after another.

After ascending another hundred meters, a stream of starlight formed into the Supreme Emperor’s figure once more.

“This was before I became the emperor of the Taixu Dynasty. I have been the Supreme Emperor for two thousand years.”

“I waited for you for two millennia, intending to kill you. But you never showed. It was deeply disappointing. So I returned to this mountain and left behind another thought of killing you.”

As he finished, his figure shattered again.

Zhang Yang continued upward.

After two hundred more meters, another stream of starlight coalesced into the Supreme Emperor’s form.

This time, he looked vastly different. His aura had grown more imposing—what had once resembled a deep pond now felt like a boundless sea.

Yet despite the overwhelming presence, there was an ethereal quality to him, as if he were about to ascend into the sky.

Zhang Yang’s pupils contracted.

He realized that this version of the Supreme Emperor had already transcended the path of a saint.

“I have already broken through,” the Supreme Emperor said. “From now on, I will no longer be constrained by heaven and earth. I can roam the heavens freely. The vast world, to me, is like a dirty stain—it can no longer contain the dragon that is about to soar.”

“Still, my mission remains unfinished. I must stay here, waiting for you—the root of disaster.”

Zhang Yang felt only cold disdain.

This Supreme Emperor was utterly revolting.

Born in the vast world, nourished by its resources, and having taken countless lives to advance himself, yet after taking one step forward, he dared to look down on it all with contempt?

A muddy spot?

Zhang Yang muttered, “Then let me, from this so-called muddy spot, destroy you—and your master, Eternal Night.”

He pressed forward, undeterred. Even if this thought had come from someone who had transcended sainthood, it still dispersed just like the others—unable to withstand the might of Heavenly Reaching Mountain.

What followed was more of the same.

He encountered the Supreme Emperor’s figure five more times. Each time, the same disdain for the vast world, the same boredom, the same arrogant posturing. He never once acknowledged Zhang Yang as a true threat, just an insignificant ant.

Amidst the tiresome boasts and world-loathing declarations, Zhang Yang finally reached the summit.

He had assumed that the peak was where the Supreme Emperor’s final power resided, the key to completing his mission. But to his surprise, the Supreme Emperor appeared again, this time just ten meters below the summit.

This figure was different.

It was formed from over ten strands of starlight.

“At last, I have waited for you—the root of disaster, the demon who will bring chaos to the world!” the Supreme Emperor’s voice echoed like thunder, reverberating through the heavens and the earth. “To fulfill my mission by killing you, I have returned here again and again, leaving behind thought after thought of destruction. You are deserving of death. Were it not for you, I would have already achieved even greater feats beyond this vast world!”

Zhang Yang could sense that this incarnation possessed genuine strength. He was no longer a mere shadow of thought.

But Zhang Yang only sneered. “Lackey of Eternal Night. Traitor to the vast world. If you had the power to leave behind a thought that could endure ten thousand years, why come back and forth so many times? Isn’t that the clearest proof of your incompetence?”

“What’s even more pathetic is that you, despite all your failures, still insist on boasting about your power.”

“Look at yourself clearly, you’re just a biting dog that has forgotten gratitude.”

He met the Supreme Emperor’s icy stare with a cold smile. Even if the true form had surpassed sainthood, he felt no fear.

Especially since this version, despite feeling tangible and emanating overwhelming power, was being forcibly suppressed by an invisible force—reduced to the Eighth Level of the Ascending to Heaven realm.

And then Zhang Yang understood.

The reason the starlight had continued to illuminate the stars along his path…

The reason he had not yet seen the fourth lamp…

It was a form of protection.

Unlike the second and third lamps, which had been sealed or destroyed, the fourth lamp remained hidden and shielded.

The Supreme Emperor had returned to the mountain eight separate times, leaving behind these murderous thoughts because he could sense his power being slowly worn away by the mountain’s starlight.

Even more laughable was the fact that in the end, the Supreme Emperor’s killing intent remained—but it was bound to the Eighth Level of the Ascending to Heaven realm, clearly mirroring his level at the time he left it.

Zhang Yang had already stepped into the Ninth Level.

The Supreme Emperor’s final remnant had been suppressed below him.

There was no longer any reason to fear him.

The Supreme Emperor scoffed, “Foolish root of disaster, ignorant demon! Do you truly believe that just because this mountain suppresses me to a level below yours, you can behave arrogantly in front of me?”

“Before I attained my path, challenging cultivators several levels above me was as easy as drinking water. Crossing four or five minor realms and slaughtering so-called geniuses was no harder than reaching into my pocket.”

“Now that I have long since attained my path, my cultivation is unfathomable. Even if I appear at a lower level than you, you cannot begin to comprehend my power. You are in no position to provoke me.”

The Supreme Emperor’s killing intent surged boundlessly.

Bang!

Zhang Yang raised his hand and struck out. Slaughter Sacred Thunder boiled forth, shattering the void.

Crack!

The figure formed from the Supreme Emperor’s intent shattered instantly.

Zhang Yang muttered coldly, “Noisy.”

He stepped onto the summit of Heavenly Reaching Mountain.

There, suspended just above the ground, was a tiny flame, far smaller than the previous lights. It was no larger than a grain of millet, yet it resembled a miniature star, radiating silver starlight that blended seamlessly with the glow enveloping the entire Heavenly Reaching Mountain.