Chapter 296 - 239: A Grandmaster’s 200-Year Lifespan and the Overseas Secret Realm

Chapter 296: Chapter 239: A Grandmaster’s 200-Year Lifespan and the Overseas Secret Realm

Martial God Temple.

When Wu Liangchen arrived, Yan Hao had just laid Dong Zhenlei’s body before the divine statue in the main hall.

Hearing the footsteps behind him, Yan Hao didn’t turn around. Instead, he looked up at the tall, majestic statue, his eyes shimmering as he was lost in thought.

Wu Liangchen stopped and also looked up at the statue.

It was a sculpture of a man in armor. The craftsmanship was exquisite, perfectly capturing the man’s imposing, domineering aura.

Just then, Yan Hao spoke, his voice light. "This is the founding emperor of Great Yan, Yan Shu. It’s been over three hundred years since his time."

After speaking, he turned to Wu Liangchen, a strange expression on his face.

"Are you a bit puzzled as to why I’m telling you all this?"

Wu Liangchen was silent for a moment, then nodded.

"It’s because the firearms that appeared today reminded me of a legend—a top-secret piece of information known only to the Guardian Grandmasters of the Martial God Temple and the successive emperors," Yan Hao said with a grave expression.

Wu Liangchen was slightly startled.

’What kind of secret would only the successive emperors of Great Yan be qualified to know?’

"According to the historical records, the founding emperor of Great Yan, Yan Shu, lived to be one hundred and forty and died of natural causes. But the truth is not like that at all."

"He... might even still be alive today!" As Yan Hao said this, his face was filled with awe.

Wu Liangchen, however, was shaken to his core, his face a mask of disbelief.

After one becomes a Grandmaster, their lifespan is greatly extended. If they maintain themselves properly, they can even live to be nearly two hundred years old.

But that is the limit.

No one had ever heard of anyone breaking this barrier. In fact, because the conditions were so demanding, most Grandmasters couldn’t even live to be two hundred. Their time usually came around one hundred and forty or fifty.

Of course, a Grandmaster was still a Grandmaster. Even if their lifespan didn’t exceed a normal person’s by too much, their vitality was exceptionally vigorous due to their Qi and Blood.

This meant that Grandmasters didn’t age gradually like ordinary people. Instead, they maintained a stable physical state, only aging rapidly just before they died, and then passing away.

But no matter what, the two-hundred-year lifespan of a Grandmaster was a truth verified by countless Martial Artists throughout history. No one had ever surpassed this limit.

So, one could only imagine Wu Liangchen’s shock upon hearing Yan Hao say that Yan Shu might still be alive.

"Back then, after founding the dynasty, Yan Shu gathered all the resources under heaven to try and find the path forward, but he failed."

"But he wasn’t discouraged. He continued to indomitably try various paths, and in the end, he actually found an unconventional solution."

"What was it?" Wu Liangchen asked immediately.

Any Grandmaster would likely find it hard to remain composed after hearing such a thing.

But Yan Hao suddenly changed the subject. "Do you know where those firearms outside came from?"

"They were probably sold to the people of the East Sea by Folangji merchants. As for where these Folangji merchants got them, I don’t know. I heard they were shipped from an extremely distant place overseas," Wu Liangchen said.

Yan Hao gave him a somewhat surprised look, then smiled. "You already know much more than the average person. That’s right, these firearms do indeed come from an extremely distant place overseas, a place called... the overseas secret realm!"

Hearing those three words, "overseas secret realm," Wu Liangchen’s eyes flashed. A thought seemed to strike him, and he said, "So Yan Shu went there?"

"You are indeed clever. No wonder you were able to become a Grandmaster at such a young age. Yes, the unconventional solution I mentioned earlier was exactly this."

"At that time, Yan Shu exhausted the realm’s resources, searching through ancient texts from both home and abroad, trying to find the next path. He didn’t find the path, but he did find a clue about the overseas secret realm."

"The overseas secret realm is an unfathomable distance away, not just from Great Yan, but even from Folangji at the easternmost edge of the ocean. However, the Folangji merchants seem to possess a secret method that allows them to trade with merchant ships from the overseas secret realm at specific times."

"Yan Shu was already over one hundred and ten years old when he found this clue. By then, he had already explored every possible path, and without exception, they all ended in failure. No matter how resolute his will, he couldn’t help but fall into despair."

"So when he obtained this clue, he treated it like a priceless treasure. He immediately began to frantically search for any information about the overseas secret realm, even going so far as to travel to Folangji himself."

"Finally, after returning from Folangji, he spent a full ten years preparing. Then, at the age of one hundred and twenty, he set sail to find the path to the overseas secret realm."

Hearing Yan Hao’s account, Wu Liangchen couldn’t help but feel a sense of admiration.

This Yan Shu was truly worthy of being the extraordinary man who founded the Great Yan dynasty. His unyielding conviction alone was something ordinary people could never hope to match.

’Didn’t Gu Yi give up on himself after discovering the path ahead was blocked, eventually becoming a slave to his desires?’

"But if you say the overseas secret realm is countless miles from Great Yan, how can you be sure he arrived safely?"

As the old saying goes, "Mountains may be tamed, but never the sea." The ocean doesn’t care if you’re a Grandmaster. Especially once you sail into the deep sea, any mishap means certain death.

Yan Hao smiled. "A good question. If there was no follow-up to this story, the historical records wouldn’t have been deliberately altered to say that Yan Shu died of natural causes at one hundred and forty."

"Oh? So there’s more to the story?"