Chapter 593: Blue Diamond

“How is it?”

Wu Ming picked up a huge red sword, his wrist slightly sinking, instantly knowing that the greatsword must weigh at least a hundred pounds.

He casually swung it, and a gust of wind surged through the corridor.

“Master… each of these eight greatswords was forged using the blood steel infusion method, making them extremely heavy, yet indestructible…”

Witch Karitan caressed the blade’s edge, speaking in a dreamy voice, “If your knights earn merits, these would be the best rewards. A single sword could serve as a family heirloom, passed down for dozens of generations.”

“I don’t have that many knights under me right now…”

Wu Ming seemed to smile helplessly, “Even if it’s only a small amount of blood steel infused, considering the craftsmanship and sharpness, each weapon alone is worth thousands of golden coins… Jack! Avar!”

“Milord!”

The two stepped forward to salute, their expressions excited.

“Each of you take one as compensation for your hard work!”

“I shall forever remain loyal to you, milord!”

Both Avar and Jack knelt on one knee, placing their hands on their chests while bowing, Avar feeling a slight sense of guilt inside.

This lord treated him far too kindly; yet he had wavered due to the previous danger, which was truly unforgivable.

“And there’s also Malete and Beatrice… nothing here is suitable for you two. When we return to the territory, I will issue rewards accordingly!”

Wu Ming encouraged them with a smile.

As a ruler, it was natural for him to enjoy the best, but he also needed to know how to distribute benefits, giving some soup and bones to his subordinates.

Those who could do this were considered wise and virtuous monarchs. Those who refused to share any benefits and instead exploited their subjects mercilessly would never achieve great things.

Unfortunately, Wu Ming’s feudal lord, Lord Lanshan, belonged precisely to the latter category.

“The trial of the King’s Path has been passed, but where is the inheritance?”

Beatrice looked around, her beautiful eyes filled with confusion.

“Naturally, we still need to discover it ourselves!”

Wu Ming rummaged through a pile of broken stones, suddenly holding up a thick iron key.

“Karitan, stop playing with these stones. You can transport them all back to the territory. You can study them for as long as you like later!”

He called Karitan, who was reluctant to leave: “Look… is this key the key to the inheritance?”

“My lord, if your servant’s guess is correct, this key should have been hidden inside the body of one of the Virtuous Knights’ statues. Only after you made the correct choice would it be given to you…”

Karitan looked at the mess around regretfully: “Of course, now it already belongs to you. According to the principle of this ancient mechanism, there must be a clue associated with this key at the end of the path.”

Wu Ming walked to the end of the King’s Path and saw a black rock wall. After brushing aside the moss and vines, an ancient keyhole appeared right in the center.

“Beatrice!”

Wu Ming handed the black key to Beatrice: “You open the door!”

If the condition for opening the hidden chamber was being a descendant of blue blood, he certainly wouldn’t meet the requirement, but Beatrice had no problem at all.

“At once!”

Beatrice took a deep breath and inserted the iron key into the keyhole.

Clang!

The key fit the keyhole perfectly. The entire stone wall slightly trembled, shedding a layer of dust, but did not move further.

“Turn the stone!”

Wu Ming reminded.

Beatrice suddenly noticed that the stone where the keyhole was located was a protrusion, resembling a regular hexagon.

After a moment’s thought, she began turning the stone clockwise.

Click! Click!

After several attempts, the stone indeed started moving, slowly rotating like a gear.

Behind the entire rock wall, a loud noise echoed. Dust and vines fell off, and the entire wall moved backward, revealing a passage.

“My lord, what should we do next?”

Beatrice looked at Wu Ming.

“Next, you all wait outside. If I haven’t come out after a day, then you can enter!”

Wu Ming took a deep breath.

The final step of this inheritance still had to be completed by himself.

Although Beatrice had been of great help throughout the journey, he could not allow her to enter here, or else he would likely end up doing all the work for someone else.

Of course, a sealed stone chamber that had been untouched for who knows how long, Wu Ming dared not enter immediately. Instead, he first let it air out for a while, then threw in a burning rope. Only after seeing that the other end of the rope continued to burn brightly inside the chamber did he take a deep breath and walk into the hidden room with a torch.

The passage was short, only a few steps to the end.

At the end of the passage was a stone chamber. Wu Ming swept his torch around, and in the darkness, four or five distinctly different faces instantly appeared.

“Conqueror King Taler!”

The first figure was resolute and handsome, extremely similar to the portrait on the silver Taler coin.

With just one glance, Wu Ming recognized their identities: “Also the High Lionheart King, Storm King, Great Sage, and Emerald Queen… these were once kings who dominated the continent and established kingdoms. Of course, they have a unified title—the Five Ancient Kings!”

Lionheart King held a sword and shield, roaring toward the sky like a golden-haired war god.

Storm King was short but wielded a warhammer, exuding an unmatched aura of dominance.

Emerald Queen was a woman, quite enchanting and mysterious.

And the only uncrowned king, the Great Sage, radiated a scholarly aura, like a kind old man at home.

And Taler, his eyes filled with endless desire for conquest.

These five ancient kings each had their own unique temperament. Now they were positioned at five different points in the chamber, forming a five-pointed star pattern.

The moment Wu Ming saw these five statues, his pupils slightly contracted.

If Taler I had set up another trial here, awakening these statues of the Five Ancient Kings, he would likely face a fierce battle.

However, fortunately, this worst-case scenario did not happen.

Wu Ming scanned the room, finding that although the chamber was spacious, apart from the five statues, it was almost empty, except for a stone pedestal in the center.

On the pedestal lay an ancient-looking crown, with a large blue diamond in its center radiating dazzling light.

“This is… the Heart of Deep Blue!?”

Upon seeing the diamond, Wu Ming immediately exclaimed in shock, for this diamond was already a legendary object widely known and spoken of among the people of the Feng Ying Plains.

“The world’s largest blue diamond, the Heart of Deep Blue, it originated from Iron Mine City. To obtain it, Conqueror King Taler personally led an army of one hundred thousand soldiers, surrounding Iron Mine City for three years, before finally forcing the Konstantin family, who ruled the city, to submit and offer it as a token of surrender!”

“And after Taler obtained this unique diamond, he set it into his crown, symbolizing his rule over the entire Feng Ying Plains.”

“This is the origin of the Blue Diamond Crown, representing the legal right to rule the Feng Ying Plains, the proof of kingship!”

Wu Ming stepped forward, gazing at the crown.

Even after enduring the passage of time, it had not lost any of its charm—its lines were smooth, exuding nobility. The blue diamond at its center sparkled with brilliance.

“Is this what Taler wanted to leave for future generations? To confront the serpent with just a crown?”

Wu Ming touched his chin: “Even though it’s the proof of kingship, granting the right to claim kingship and conquer the entire Feng Ying Plains, it still feels somewhat lacking!”

He picked up the crown, staring at the Heart of Deep Blue, his eyes filled with unknown thoughts.

Then, Wu Ming’s expression turned serious, his face showing a determined and resolute look as he placed the crown on his head.

Boom!

In an instant, waves of intense passion, devotion, obsession, and a chilling sense of negativity surged into Wu Ming’s mind through the Blue Diamond Crown.

“My king, you are the master of the world! The ruler of the earth!”

“My king, we shall forever follow you, to the ends of the earth!”

“O King… why do you punish us, your subjects?”

…

Numerous fragmented faces, filled with worship, admiration, or resentment, flooded into Wu Ming’s mind, their overwhelming information nearly shattering his consciousness.

“This is… fanatical faith? And negative emotions? Concentrated within the crown…”

Wu Ming felt dizzy, but after all, he had once been the Great Emperor Dongyue, so he quickly regained his composure: “Faith power? The power of the people? I understand! The so-called inheritance is a method to collect faith power and forge divine abilities within the Seer world!”

“And the final trial of this inheritance is that the heir must withstand this surge of fanatical thoughts with their own will; otherwise, they will surely die from madness!”

In various worlds, there are beliefs and worship.

An individual’s faith naturally amounts to nothing, but when ten thousand, a hundred thousand, or even hundreds of millions of people speak in unison, even a lie can become truth.

In this universe, the cultivation of divinity through faith is also possible.

But the differences between worlds mean that simply erecting statues and attracting followers isn’t enough. The transformation rules are extremely complex, and a single mistake could lead to irreversible disaster.

Therefore, even Wu Ming dared not rashly experiment in other worlds.

However, now this inheritance of mass faith power seemed like a key, or even an encyclopedia, revealing the mysteries of faith and transformation in this universe to Wu Ming.

Of course, all of this depended on him surviving this storm of mental impact.

“Either conquer or die, huh? Conqueror King Taler… ruthless enough!”

A faint smile appeared on Wu Ming’s lips.

An ordinary person, even a knight or witch, would lose their sense of self under such an impact, at best ending up with a split personality.

But what was he? A celestial immortal’s essence was originally on par with the power of the world itself. To be affected by the thoughts and prayers of mortals would be nothing but a joke.

Boom!

In his consciousness, no matter how the praying or cursing faces pleaded or raged, his true nature remained unwavering, as solid as a rock in the sea, unshakable, enduring even the fiercest gales and towering waves.

Who knows how long passed, but eventually, those soulful impacts, like water with no source, gradually weakened and finally collapsed with a loud bang.