Chapter 243: Ruling the World (12) — Ten-Year Agreement

Hongce did not deliberately keep them in suspense. His gaze slowly swept across the Deity Transformation experts in the hall, his tone profound and enigmatic.

"Do you all remember the Blood Demon sealed at Tianyuan Mountain in the Heavenly Abyss Sea?" He paused, his gaze deliberately lingering on Jiuyou for a moment. "Fellow Daoist Jiuyou should feel the most deeply about this."

Withdrawing his gaze, Hongce continued in a solemn voice, "According to my years of deduction, alongside what is recorded in ancient records, this Blood Demon is not native to this world. It descended upon this realm abruptly, and its origins are incredibly bizarre. In all likelihood, it fell from the Upper Realm. If so, this demon is the only living creature that knows the secrets of the Upper Realm and the mysteries of the barrier between the two worlds. We have bitterly searched for the path of ascension for hundreds, even thousands of years to no avail. Rather than aimlessly continuing this futile search, we might as well seek a glimmer of hope from this otherworldly demon."

As his words fell, the atmosphere in the hall grew even heavier.

Bai Xuanyi gave a slight nod. His expression was serious as he slowly voiced his agreement. "Fellow Daoist Hong's words align perfectly with my own thoughts. I formed this speculation years ago, but the Blood Demon is overwhelmingly ferocious, cunning, and deeply suspicious, highly skilled at deceiving others with its demonic words. Previously, there were only five of us. Lacking sufficient confidence, we feared that a botched attempt would invite boundless disaster, so I never brought it up. Now that Fellow Daoist Jiuyou has joined our ranks, we have gathered six Deity Transformation combatants. We finally have the strength to give it a try."

"Haha! I've been thinking about this for a long time!"

Old Monster Myriad Manifestations clapped his hands and laughed. The most free-spirited and outspoken of the group, he spoke bluntly, "That Blood Demon has long been suppressed and shackled by the ancient sages, completely immobilized. Since the seniors of antiquity could join forces to seal it, the six of us Deity Transformation experts gathering today naturally have the means to keep it in check. We just might be able to pry the true method for breaking the shackles of this world and ascending to the Upper Realm right out of its mouth!"

As his voice settled, the main hall returned to silence.

Jiuyou sat upright in his seat, remaining silent. In the corner, Divine Lord Xichen, Zheng Buzheng, and the black-mist-shrouded Sacred Venerable Yuan Huang also maintained their silence. Not a single person voiced an objection. Their quiet served as tacit consent.

Hongce gazed at the group, a trace of weathered emotion flashing through his eyes.

Everyone present was a Deity Transformation titan who had lived for over a thousand years. They had long since seen through the vanity of the mortal world, and though their lifespans were incredibly long, they remained trapped by the shackles of this heaven and earth. The Peak Initial Deity Transformation Stage was the ultimate limit for cultivators of this realm. If they spent their entire lives unable to break through the barrier and ascend to the Upper Realm, they would eventually exhaust their vitality and pass away, repeating the tragic fate of the ancient sages who had returned to dust.

Those who could cultivate to the Deity Transformation Realm were, without exception, meticulously cautious figures who deeply valued their lives. In pursuit of transcending the Great Dao, they lay dormant for a millennium, deduced myriad methods, and exhausted every possible means to secure a sliver of hope. The mortals of the world claimed that these supreme experts were indifferent to fame and wealth, uncaring toward life and death. Yet, only upon truly reaching this realm would one realize that their obsession with the Great Dao was etched into their very bones.

All of their intricate plots and step-by-step schemes over the past thousand years were for the sake of true transcendence, yet they had all ended up trapped here. Risking themselves once more today was simply to gamble their fates on this slim chance of ascension.

Jiuyou coldly observed their expressions, his thoughts surging.

The Upper Realm was an ethereal, illusory concept. No one knew how vast its territories were, nor what rules governed it.

This group of Divine Lords and Dao Lords, standing at the absolute pinnacle of this world, had exhausted endless years in their bitter search, yet they had not even uncovered a trace of the passage between the two realms. Much less did they know what dangers lurked within or how to safely traverse it. Generation after generation of ancient sages had pursued it, only to fall in defeat and fade into the sands of time. The bleakness of the path ahead was plain to see.

After a long stretch of silence, the gathering at the Heavenly Palace came to a close.

Three avatar projections in the hall swayed slightly, gradually fading and dissipating into nothingness. Bai Xuanyi spoke up to explain that the true bodies of those three were not actually present; they were either in secluded cultivation polishing their Dao foundations, or roaming the world searching for clues regarding ascension. It would be difficult for them to return on short notice.

The group finally established their agreement: within ten years, they would gather at the entrance of the Mount Tianyuan Mystic Realm in the Heavenly Abyss Sea to join forces, break the seal, and interrogate the Blood Demon.

Once everyone had departed, only Jiuyou and Bai Xuanyi remained in the hall.

Bai Xuanyi patiently detailed the unwritten rules of the Deity Transformation tier for Jiuyou. To ensure the unbroken continuation of the cultivation heritage, this world maintained its own hidden laws of balance. The power of a Deity Transformation cultivator reached the heavens; with a mere wave of their hands, they could collapse mountains, overturn seas, and ruin entire territories. Therefore, they were forbidden from casually interfering with the affairs of the mortal cultivation world.

There was only one exception. If an apocalyptic catastrophe emerged that threatened the foundation of the entire cultivation world—such as the disaster hundreds of years ago when the Blood Demon's seal was on the verge of shattering and all living beings were at risk of annihilation—every Deity Transformation cultivator had an obligation to step forward and stabilize the realm.

This was not a shackling restraint, but rather the ultimate protection for this world. Without this rule, if successive generations of Deity Transformation experts acted recklessly and waged massive wars against each other, this realm would have long since been battered and broken. The orthodox lineages would have been severed, leaving no path forward for the junior cultivators of future generations.

Of course, everyone harbored their own selfish desires. If it was merely a personal grievance or past feud between cultivators, as long as it didn't impinge upon the interests of other Deity Transformation experts or shake the foundations of the world, most Divine Lords would share a tacit understanding. They would turn a blind eye, silently permitting the involved parties to settle their private disputes.

Having finished explaining the rules, Bai Xuanyi casually demonstrated the technique for controlling the starlight power within the Heavenly Palace. The underlying principle was largely the same as manipulating the spiritual energy of heaven and earth. However, this method was specifically designed to command the starlight spiritual aura of this otherworldly sanctuary, allowing one to shape it at will for offense and defense.

Jiuyou possessed extraordinary talent. Bolstered by his profound Dao foundation and the augmentation of a spirit treasure, he needed only a brief moment of comprehension to completely master it after observing it twice.

Before Jiuyou took his leave and departed the immortal hall, Bai Xuanyi specifically found an ownerless void mystic realm, carving out a section to gift to Jiuyou as a place for him to stay and cultivate.

Jiuyou did not decline, accepting it gracefully.

From that point on, he had truly integrated into the core circle of these Deity Transformation titans, and through them, he learned a great deal.

Afterward, Jiuyou did not immediately leave the mystic realm of the Heavenly Palace. Instead, he set off on his own, arriving before a towering starlight pavilion suspended in the air.

The pavilion was quaint and serene. Successive layers of doors slowly opened on their own as he approached. Countless spiritual chains forged from starlight floated and danced within the hall. The flowing lights churned and sparkled radiantly, creating an incredibly wondrous sight. An ordinary cultivator would have marveled at such a spectacle, but Jiuyou's gaze did not linger for a second. He stepped straight into the depths of the pavilion.

This place was the daily residence of Hongce, whose skills in divining heavenly secrets reigned supreme in this world.

Within the tranquil pavilion, Hongce's calm voice slowly drifted out, lacking even a hint of surprise. "For Fellow Daoist Jiuyou to seek me out specifically, I assume you still have some unfulfilled wish?"

Jiuyou stood in the center of the hall, his expression calm and unruffled as he spoke frankly, "Fellow Daoist Hong's ability to deduce heavenly secrets is truly formidable. Fellow Daoist Bai once mentioned that the coordinates of this minor otherworldly realm were entirely calculated by you over the course of a century. Seeing you today, you certainly live up to your reputation."

He paused slightly before getting straight to the point. "I have come today to trouble you to deduce a person's whereabouts."

The hall fell silent for a moment before Hongce's voice rang out again with a single word. "Who?"

"Shang Ming, the Grand Supreme... and Fang Buxin."