Chapter 1: Starting as an Emperor_1

"If you were given the opportunity to choose your starting point all over again, what choice would you make?"

[Option One: In the world at the end of the magical era, be a happy, fat otaku, enjoy every day, 2D characters are true love.]

[Option Two: In the Cultivation World, seek eternal life, become an unparalleled sword immortal.]

[Option Three: In the Dao Martial World, start a sect, be an invincible Sect Master.]

[Option Four: In a fantasy continent, rebirth as a strong being, a god-like existence respected by all, reach the pinnacle once more.]

[Option Five: In the demon continent, become a Headmaster of the demonic path.]

[Option Six: In a fantasy world, reign supreme, lead the Supreme Imperial Dynasty, I want to be an Emperor.]

Chu Yuan was stunned, his consciousness plunged into darkness, into a chaotic world where six choices suddenly appeared before him, manifesting as six rows of giant characters!

Six choices?

To let me choose?

Could this be a dream?

But this dream felt too real.

Chu Yuan eyed these six choices. Despite his confusion, he still seriously considered them with a skeptical yet hopeful attitude.

"In that case, I want to be an Emperor!"

Chu Yuan selected the sixth option.

After all, what's the harm in choosing? What if I really do become an Emperor? Wouldn't that be an incredible rise to power?

Only children are hesitant to make choices.

"Ding!"

"Host has selected Option Six, fantasy world, reign supreme, Supreme Imperial Dynasty, I want to be an Emperor."

"Host system initialization, the God-Level Destiny Choice System is starting up...."

"Binding host."

"Generating rewards, please wait patiently...."

.....

"Reward distribution successful, host granted new identity, Emperor Chu Yuan of Great Wu."

Ding! A system notification sounded.

A massive light screen panel appeared before Chu Yuan.

Name: Chu Yuan.

Identity: Emperor of Great Wu.

....

"Did I time travel to become an Emperor?"

Chu Yuan was excited. Having studied history for five thousand years, being an Emperor is every man's dream. Leading an unstoppable army, expanding territories, waging wars across all lands, becoming renowned far and wide!

At that moment, the engulfing darkness before his eyes vanished abruptly. He hardly had time to observe this world or understand which nation's Emperor he had become before he heard the sounds of battle cries and clashes.

"Kill, kill, kill! In this war of national destruction, wipe out Great Wu to establish a glorious legacy!"

"Break through Imperial City, capture the second Emperor of Great Wu alive!"

"Capture the second Emperor Chu of Great Wu alive and be rewarded with a marquisate, ten million taels of gold!"

...

"What's going on?"

Chu Yuan was utterly baffled. He had just become an Emperor, and someone was already out to destroy his country.

Then, amidst his confusion, he saw a crumbling Imperial City. He stood atop its ramparts, the four gates broken open, smoke signals rising, countless armies swarming in like locusts.

And at this moment, his consciousness began to fade.

"Damn!"

It turned out that at the position of his heart, a pitch-black longsword was plunged in, and the hand holding the blade was his own.

"What kind of choice is this, ending my reign not even a minute after becoming Emperor, without even getting to see this world?"

Chu Yuan's face was full of tragedy.

"God-Level Destiny Choice System activation in progress, time reversing to three years ago....."

"Time restart, please wait....."

Chu Yuan's consciousness sank into darkness once again.

At this time, a flood of memories rushed into his mind, as if his soul had transmigrated.

He was the Emperor of the Great Wu Dynasty, the second generation Emperor.

Three years ago, the previous Emperor suddenly perished under mysterious circumstances at Soul Mountain, together with the Empire's most elite 300,000 troops of the Divine Martial Army!

The sudden death of the previous Emperor and the loss of the most elite army.

The Chu Yuan of the past ascended to the throne during the Empire's most precarious times, with a grand general and the Prime Minister rebelling and plotting treason.

All the princes and kings who were conferred titles were rebelling too.

And beyond the borders, the four nations of Great Qian, Great Lu, Great Sheng, and Great Zhi were eyeing them like tigers.

All four countries jointly attacked Great Wu, while the grand general and Prime Minister betrayed their country.

Despite Chu Yuan's desperate efforts to uphold Great Wu's foundations, it was fruitless; the beginning of his reign was chaotic, and he faced nightmare-like trials, enduring for three years. Then, the combined forces of the four nations and the domestic rebels breached into the Imperial City of Great Wu.

Chu Yuan chose suicide over the dishonor of being captured, preserving the last dignity of his status as the Emperor!

"The Emperor stands guard over the nation's gates; a king dies for his realm. There could be no greater end than this. If this Chu Yuan of Great Wu didn't take his own life, I wouldn't have been able to travel to this world."

Chu Yuan sighed softly, "But now, I am the Emperor of Great Wu."

A tidal wave of memories came crashing in!

Starting from Chu Yuan's birth to his ascension to the throne, after three years as Emperor.

He had eighteen years' worth of memories!

He felt as if he had personally lived through it, the lengthy experience felt unbelievably real, as if he had truly lived those eighteen years.

Every single day's experiences were vividly in his mind.

A shiver rose, and his gaze gradually became enveloped in bloodlust and slaughter.

"System startup successful...,"

"Divine Destiny Choice System activated."

"Time reverted to three years ago..."

"Host origin confirmed as the second Emperor of Great Wu, Chu Yuan."

As a series of system notifications sounded, Chu Yuan found himself sitting inside an ancient and elegant palace.

He was in the Sun Yang Palace, with a round pearl as large as a basin overhead, shining like the sun itself.

[Choice One, ascend the throne and become the second Emperor of Great Wu, annihilate the Great Qian Dynasty, kill the General Shangguan Qingyun and the Prime Minister Li Yun, sweep through the domestic nobility, unify all the domestic forces, reward ???]

[Choice Two, refuse the throne, abandon everything, secretly leave the Royal Palace, and become a commoner, reward a long life of a hundred years, a lifetime of peace.]

[Choice Three, remain willful and make no choice, reward ???]

Three divine choices triggered.

Before Chu Yuan could make a choice, the system prompted again.

Attention!

If Choice One is selected, and you fail to annihilate the Great Qian within three years, kill General Shangguan Qingyun and Prime Minister Li Yun, sweep through the domestic nobility, and unify the domestic forces, once the time is up, you will immediately vanish into nothingness. If Choice Two is selected, a lifetime of peace, please choose carefully, Host.

[Note, the Divine Destiny Choice System, each choice will affect the host's future.]

"There's also the option to sneak out of the Imperial Palace."

Chu Yuan looked at the three choices.

"Yes, the system will protect the host with mysterious forces for a safe life, letting you marry, have children, and die naturally at the age of one hundred," the system said.

"Of course I must be the Emperor. What else did I come to this world for? To simply live out my days aimlessly? My world cannot be trampled on by others."

The master from his past life was not willing to accept the extinction of Great Wu under his reign.

After Chu Yuan received the memories of his current world's host, he fully immersed himself in this identity, feeling a strong sense of unwillingness inside. He had hardly become the Emperor, how could he be the ruler of a perished nation.

Since the system allowed him to travel to this world and become the new ruler of Great Wu, he naturally wouldn't let Great Wu follow the footsteps of its previous demise, he intended it to exist eternally!

He was now the Emperor of Great Wu, not of Earth!

"This empire is now mine!"

"I choose One!"

"Host has made a selection, reward the Human Emperor Sword, Great Thunder Technique, three thousand Destiny Points, one random draw opportunity."

Human Emperor Sword: Supreme quality weapon.

From ancient times, the Three Emperors taught the world, the Human Emperor Sword was the strongest divine weapon of the human path, created from the faith and power of countless worlds and myriad human races, containing the mightiest authority and power of the human path.

Great Thunder Technique: One of the Three Thousand Great Ways, with the power of myriad thunder and lightning, the majesty of the world-ending Thunder God.

"Great Thunder Technique!"

Crackle and pop! A warm current, along with a tingling sensation, flowed into Chu Yuan's body, and his fists clenched tightly, sending out web-like threads of lightning, as if he was wearing the gauntlets of the Thunder God.

"This is the Great Thunder Technique!"

Chu Yuan punched out powerfully!

The system was truly amazing; others spent a great deal of intelligence and time in cultivation to master one of the Three Thousand Great Ways, yet he had learned one instantly just by receiving a reward.

"Human Emperor Sword!"

Holding the Human Emperor Sword in his hand, Chu Yuan felt like an ancient supreme being of the human path, inheriting the will of billions of beings, as if he could command the whole world.

A divine object of supreme quality!

The universe is mysterious and vast; even the most powerful treasures of the Great Wu Dynasty were only of the heavenly rank, and they had never even heard of something of supreme rank.

But Chu Yuan, having received all the memories, knew that this world was not just ruled by dynasties, but also contained extremely powerful cultivators who could traverse the heavens and earth, achieving immortality and omnipotence.

Though unsure how terrifying the supreme rank was, he knew it was incredibly fearsome.

Human Emperor Sword: The human emperor's own sword, the supreme of the human path.

Automatically match with cultivation technique: Human Emperor Scripture.

Property One: Wearing the Human Emperor Sword, realm combat power plus one.

Property Two: ???

Property Three: ???

...

Property Nine: ???

"Realm combat power plus one? What abilities do properties two through nine have?"

Chu Yuan asked, puzzled.

"Realm combat power plus one means that the host's current realm combat power is increased by one. In other words, if the host is currently at the Pulse-Connecting Realm, but upon equipping the Human Emperor Sword, you will possess the strength of the Soul-Refining Realm. If you reach the Divine Realm, you will possess the combat power of the Divine Insight Realm, and so on, boosting to the highest level of all realms, but not surpassing the highest realm," the system intoned mechanically, its existence seemingly just to explain and administer choices.

Defying the heavens!

Absolutely heaven-defying!

Chu Yuan was excited!

Cultivating the body, connecting pulses, refining the soul, forming the spirit, divine abilities, divine insight — these are the six great realms of cultivation that Chu Yuan knew.

The strength of the first Emperor of Great Wu was at the extreme limit of the Divine Realm, at the very peak of the tenth layer, a half-step from the Divine Insight Realm; he was just a bit away from stepping into a stronger realm of Divine Insight.

This was a level of strength unmatched in the great imperial dynasties; otherwise, the various dynasties would have truly united.

With his current cultivation at the Pulse-Connecting Realm, with the Human Emperor Sword, he could slay beings at the Soul-Refining Realm.

If he cultivated to the Divine Realm and wielded the Human Emperor Sword, possessing the power of the Divine Insight Realm, none of the surrounding great imperial dynasties would be his match, and completing the system tasks would be within reach.

The Human Emperor Sword truly lived up to its name as the treasure of the Human Emperor, its power was heaven-defying.

"The Human Emperor Sword has eight seals, gradually unlocking them will reveal all its abilities," the system advised.

Seal on Property Two: Collect the willpower of ten billion beings to unlock the next ability.

Current progress: (Seven billion/Ten billion)

[Note: Ten billion beings must be of the human race, pigs, dogs, chickens, and sheep do not count towards willpower.]