The Eternal World

The sky spun and the earth spun. The luster in Zhang Chao's eyes completely disappeared in that instant, as if the spirit fire in his body had also extinguished at that very instant.

He had no strength to resist, and directly fell in front of the stone tablet.

… ….

The sun was high in the autumn, and the wheat fields were golden.

This was a remote farmland in a mountain village.

"Hey, Zhang Chao, wake up, you little brat. Are you here to work or to sleep?"

"Ugh …" Zhang Chao opened his eyes uncomfortably, rubbed his sleepy eyes, and yawned. He sat up, a little at a loss, and looked around.

He saw a middle-aged man holding a sickle, cutting wheat in the field.

"What are you daydreaming about?" The middle-aged man stopped what he was doing, used a coarse cloth to wipe the sweat off his forehead, and shouted at Zhang Chao.

"I just had a dream. I dreamt that I had become a cultivator. Furthermore, you can forge pills and forge equipment... " Zhang Chao scratched his head, looking a little disappointed.

"Kid, you only know how to daydream all day, and you're even a cultivator. Even if you fabricated all these, you would still believe it even if the rumors spread!" The middle-aged man snorted and impatiently said, "Hurry up and get this guy to work. What are you waiting for if you don't get the harvest in such a big field?"

"Oh... "Oh!" Zhang Chao crawled up unwillingly, picked up his sickle and entered the wheat field, then started to work with the middle-aged man.

Thirty-eight years. Autumn.

A great battle had begun.

On this Tian Yuan Continent, several dozen empires had started a chaotic battle with each other.

The fire of war was poisonous, and it instantly covered the entire world.

The people were attacked by the flames of war, and the people could not live.

As far as the eye could see, the earth was a thousand miles wide and there was not even a single white dot left.

The quiet little village that Zhang Chao lived in was also inevitably enveloped in flames of war.

In one night, tens of thousands of cavalry soldiers arrived and slaughtered all the villagers. They seized the food and livestock, and set the village on fire. This lasted for three days and three nights.

In order to protect him, Zhang Chao's parents had all died under the blade of a butcher.

But, Zhang Chao survived.

Following that, with the help of the rebel army who had come to their rescue, the heavily injured Zhang Chao recovered from his injuries and joined the rebel army.

The perennial battles had lasted for more than twenty years in the blink of an eye.

Zhang Chao had changed from a newbie to a scoundrel's hand that was drenched in blood.

The most sensational thing was that he had led 30,000 cavalrymen to besiege the enemy city, killing a million generals, making him famous and promoted to the rank of hussar general of the rebel army.

When Zhang Chao was forty-five years old, the leader of the rebel army officially became a king and established his own dynasty. He defeated all the empires in the area and unified the entire Tian Yuan Continent.

As for Zhang Chao, the founding elder of the Empire, he had even become the number one general.

Ten-odd years later, the leader of the rebel army died from his old injuries, and his throne was passed on to the young prince.

But the new King wanted to strengthen the centralization of power, so he wanted Zhang Chao to hand over the military power to him.

At the same time, other founding fathers, with all sorts of powers, were forced to hand over their power.

This kind of action undoubtedly made the Elders extremely unhappy.

They found Zhang Chao, made him speak up, overthrew the new king, and became the emperor himself.

This year, Zhang Chao was sixty-seven years old, exactly the age when he was old and strong.

He was at a loss.

"General, all the authority we have was exchanged in the war with the late king. This is what we deserve. Why is it that a brat like him can take over the throne and hand it over just because he wants us to?" Inside Zhang Chao's general's manor, there was a full table of guests.

"Yeah, after fighting for most of our lives, the mountains and rivers, no matter what, are still a part of us. We don't want the mountains or the rivers, we only want some power. Now we don't even have this sort of preferential treatment anymore, then what is the purpose of this half of our lives?" The Minister of Rites also looked furious.

"Hehe, calm down everyone!" Zhang Chao sat upright on the imperial chair in the middle. He stroked his beard and pressed it down, then stood up and paced around, "This old man knows that everyone is unhappy, but isn't this old man the same?"

"I just hope that everyone doesn't forget their original intention of joining the rebel army!"

"Original intent?" When everyone heard this, they could not help but look at each other.

At that time, this old man was just a peasant who lived with his parents in the fields. Although I was able to feed him, I was also very happy. However, the war destroyed my village and killed my parents. Zhang Chao sighed: "All these years of killing and battling, it seems to have numbed my heart."

"However, I haven't forgotten that the purpose of using swords and sabers was to stop the war, to calm the chaotic world at that time, to let the people live in an environment free from war and panic, to live and enjoy life!"

"After working hard for most of our lives, we managed to do it. Although the dynasty is young, it is still full of vigor. The citizens' lives are on the right track. Isn't that what we wanted to see back then?"

"This is the day when we threw our lives away and waited for the return!"

"So... Remember that this is enough for the original intent. One cannot lack desire, but cannot be overly greedy. The ambition that has expanded limitlessly will only bring one to the end of their road! "

"General, what do you mean? Could it be that you are willing to hand over the military power? " A minister asked in confusion.

"That's right, General Zhang. According to your qualifications and status, it could be said that you have a hundred calls at once. As long as you think of a soldier, you can say that no one can stop you!"

"Wouldn't it be better to be your own king than others?"

The ministers began to persuade him.

"To be king? Hehe, this old man does not have that kind of ability. Zhang Chao smiled as he waved his hand, "It looks like you guys still don't understand!"

"That's right, if I rebel and become king, then these old friends of yours will naturally protect their own lives, just like when the previous king was still alive. After all, we are all friends who risked our lives and risked our lives, so this is nothing!"

"But what if after this old man's Return to the Ruins?"

"For example, if the heirs of this old man also want to strengthen the centralization of authority and have everyone hand over their power, what will everyone do then?"

"Are you going to nurture a new king to drive my son off the throne?"

"Everyone, you've been tormenting yourselves for your entire life. Have you all truly forgotten your original intentions?"

"Could it be that we are fighting for the sake of wealth and power?"

Zhang Chao sighed, stood in front of the door, and raised his head to look at the sky: "If possible, what military power, what wealth, this old man would rather not have them, this old man still wants to go and be an ordinary farmer dozing off by the wheat fields."

Three days later, Zhang Chao surrendered the military power and returned to the fields.

He spent his life's savings to rebuild the village. Every day, he would leave the village, and every day, the sun would set. He would never ask about anything else again, only raising the village for a thousand years.

This year, Zhang Chao was eighty-four years old, his birthday was coming to an end, and he closed his eyes.

The king of this generation had specially bestowed upon him the title of father of the nation, causing the entire nation to mourn.

Only when one was willing to, one was willing to, would one be willing to.

Zhang Chao had given up his power, given up his glory, in exchange for the peace of his later years, and in exchange for his fame that would last for a thousand years.

… ….

Zhang Chao opened his eyes once again, only to find himself lying beside the stone tablet.

He was still on the island.

Could it be …

Everything just now, was all because of a dream?

However, that dream was incredibly real.

It was a complete life, decades of time.

Now that he thought about it, everything in the dream was clearly visible to him. He could still see it clearly in his mind's eye.

"Buzz!" Just then, a ray of light shone out from the stone tablet in front of him, followed by a row of small words: "Greedy men, like the tides of beasts, will eventually eat their own food; in this stage, you can be enticed, you can't be greedy, your heart is as calm as water, this is great!"

"Damn, so this is the so-called assessment!" Zhang Chao gasped.

The method of the examination... Isn't it too overbearing?

As the stone tablet in front of him shattered, the powder that followed it turned into a small path on the ground, extending into the depths of the forest.

"Seems like I've passed it!" Zhang Chao realised, but he was not afraid.

If in the dream, he had chosen to take up arms at the end and become the new king, then he would have failed this test.

After all, forget about cultivators, as someone from the Forge Master, if one was too greedy for other things, they would forget about their own heart like what Zhang Chao had said in his dreams. In the end, their greed would grow and destroy them.

This also tested human nature.

Zhang Chao could only secretly rejoice. Honestly speaking, he was not interested in being a king, so it was impossible for him to make such a decisive choice in his dreams.

There are still two trials left. Do you want to continue?

He wiped off his cold sweat and continued walking forward.

No matter what, he had to give it a try first!

To retreat before the battle was not Zhang Chao's style.

Following the guidance of the powder stone tablet, Zhang Chao arrived at the location of the second stone tablet.

This monolith was located at the foot of the mountain. Behind the monolith was the staircase to the mountain.

"Phew, could it be …" Is the second stage the same as the one just now? " Zhang Chao was troubled. After all, living in a dream for dozens of years, that kind of feeling was really weird.

However, at the same time, it had also given him a lot of life experiences. This kind of experience was something that under normal circumstances, Zhang Chao would not be able to obtain.

"Who cares, we'll do as we like!" Zhang Chao's heart sank, and once again touched the stone tablet.

"Shua!" Suddenly, that feeling came again!

"Holy sh * t, it really is the same thing!" Before he even finished shouting, Zhang Chao's vision went black and he once again fainted...

Outside the treasure deposit box, inside the pavilion, Luo Feng's expression changed. He raised his eyebrows, "Oh? How rare, that kid actually passed the first stage of the examination? Interesting... However, the second test … It's not just that simple anymore. Just with a heart that's not fooled by greed, it's impossible for one to become a master blacksmith! "