Chapter 375: The True Monarch's Purpose

Even as his enemy kicked him while he was down, Wang Ping remained calm.

After all, exploiting misfortune meant nothing to an immortal gate cultivator. Had their places been swapped, he would have gladly joined in beating a dog that had fallen into water.

Of course, it was an entirely different matter when he was that drowning dog.

‘He is a Qi Refining practitioner of the [Adapting to Changes and Yielding for Wholeness Qi]. The [Yielding for Wholeness Life-Preserving Pill] falls under his domain, so he can influence this divine pill to a certain extent...’

This was the mighty power of a Qi Refining practitioner.

Neither a qi-ingesting practitioner nor a qi-nurturing practitioner could influence the shifts and circulation of heaven and earth's qi with the absolute superiority of a Qi Refining practitioner.

Even so, Wang Ping wasn't disappointed by the drop in the divine pill's effectiveness—quite the opposite. He smiled, looking as though everything remained perfectly under control.

‘I knew it.’

‘I've always believed in you guys... I believed that you Biyang's people, upon seeing me in dire straits and being hunted, would definitely come to kick me while I'm down!’

With that thought, he immediately entered the space of the Taiping Sutra.

The eighth scripture scroll, [Fate Makes Fools of People]!

Driven into a desperate corner, the profound effectiveness of the divine pill he had placed such high hopes on was curtailed by another, making escape seem like an extravagant hope. But once things went contrary to his wishes, his desires would be fulfilled!

‘Bless me with [Free and Unfettered Wandering]!’

The next second, guided by Wang Ping's will, the mighty power of the [Fate Makes Fools of People] scripture scroll roared into motion, descending from the void to elevate his great karmic merit once more!

If the previous [Yielding for Wholeness Life-Preserving Pill] had merely boosted his magical power and divine abilities to pry open a sliver of breathing room under Shasheng's suppression, then the scripture scroll's mighty power now blessing his [Free and Unfettered Wandering] cast a brilliant light before his eyes, truly carving out a path to survival!

This was even better than the effects of the divine pill.

No matter how potent a pill was, it only enhanced magical power and divine abilities. In the face of Shasheng, an Ascetic Monk serving under a Bodhisattva, those things were utterly meaningless.

No matter how much they were boosted, the disparity between them remained as vast as heaven and earth.

But [Free and Unfettered Wandering] was different. It was the great karmic merit that had allowed him to escape alive from the True Person's trap. Even Shasheng possessed no profound mystery that could rival it!

‘The divine pill was just bait to trigger the state of things going contrary to my wishes. Then, I could use the fulfillment of desires to amplify the might of [Free and Unfettered Wandering]!’

In that instant, Wang Ping's figure suddenly blurred. He forcibly broke through Shasheng's [Heavenly Eye] and calmly walked out from beneath the suppression of the Secret Traces Vajra Pestle. The profound ring behind his head spun, showering down a rain of pure nobility that carried him away as if he were soaring on a dragon. Reaching the limits of the azure heaven, he vanished into the depths of the blue void.

“Amitabha!”

Seeing this, Shasheng finally furrowed his brows. He immediately brought his palms together, and the grand formation of Buddhist prayer beads previously laid out around Wang Ping roared back to life.

Yet it was of no use.

Wang Ping's figure flickered. Using [Azure Heaven] to escape danger and [Free and Unfettered Wandering] to flee, he passed through the treacherous hurdle as easily as walking on flat ground. No matter how many formation patterns there were, they couldn't obstruct his footsteps.

Seeing this, Shasheng could no longer hold back. He raised his foot, and Buddhist light surged from his sole, spinning like a wheel. Boundless divine power roared and surged within the light. As he took a step forward, a corresponding footprint manifested within the Cosmos. Without the slightest deviation, it stamped down toward Wang Ping.

[Thousand-Spoked Wheel on the Sole]!

This was the second sign he had cultivated, known to “pity all living beings and illuminate the ignorance of the dark.” It was a true killing move, no longer held back like before.

Clearly, in Shasheng's eyes, it was better to kill Wang Ping than to let him escape.

Therefore, with this strike, he had truly moved with murderous intent. At the same time, Wang Ping felt the output of [Free and Unfettered Wandering] reach a new high under the intense, perilous pressure.

‘This strike can kill me!’

Wang Ping's heart ran ice-cold. He sensed it clearly: before he could flee out of range, Shasheng's foot would graze him, and he would die a sudden, violent death!

A graze meant death; a touch meant oblivion.

This was the gap between him and Shasheng. He had managed to flee until now not because he actually had the skill to tangle with an Ascetic Monk like Shasheng.

Rather, it was because Shasheng had intended to capture him alive. Combined with the heaven-defying nature of [Free and Unfettered Wandering], Wang Ping had been running from start to finish without ever exchanging blows. That was the only reason he had survived this long.

But now, the moment Shasheng unleashed his murderous intent, the fundamental difference between them was laid bare. The chasm between Tribulation Transcending and Qi Refining seemed to become the boundary between life and death. It lay squarely in front of Wang Ping. If he wanted to carve out a path to survival, he had to cross this chasm—an almost impossible task!

In a flash of lightning, Wang Ping made his decision.

“Far and near merge in the midday sun, existence and void balance beneath heaven.”

At the third incantation, the [Profound One Tribulation-Crossing Ring] behind his head spun once more. Under the gloomy radiance of the profound ring, a bolt of lightning gradually surfaced.

Dashun Taizu's Yin Spirit.

Without a hint of hesitation, before the newly emerged Yin Spirit of Dashun Taizu could even find its footing, Wang Ping flung it out. At the same time, a profound mystery blessed its form.

[Profound Four]!

Offering a Corpse Dissolution Immortal as collateral to buy his own life!

In an instant, drawn by the invisible, profound mystery, the footprint that had been stamping straight toward Wang Ping was forcibly deflected, stomping down toward Dashun Taizu's Yin Spirit instead.

Wang Ping managed to break free!

Not only that, seeing that Dashun Taizu's Yin Spirit had already been covered by the footprint, Wang Ping immediately transmitted a final command to buy more time:

“Detonate yourself.”

Rumble!

It was, after all, the self-detonation of a Corpse Dissolution Immortal. A heaven-spanning light of thunder illuminated the Cosmos. Even the footprint Shasheng had brought down was forced to pause.

Even though it paused for less than three seconds before continuing its descent—crushing all the phenomena triggered by Dashun Taizu's self-detonation like trampling an ant—that brief window was enough. Wang Ping used [Free and Unfettered Wandering] to escape, leaving behind only the empty expanse of Cosmic Deep Space.

“...”

The next second, the footprint dissipated, and the golden light scattered. Shasheng stepped out, hot tears streaming from his eyes. This was the backlash of Wang Ping breaking through his [Heavenly Eye].

Fortunately, Wang Ping's cultivation base was insufficient, and the method he used was merely to flee.

If he had been a Qi Refining practitioner and used brute force to barge through, Shasheng wouldn't be weeping tears right now, but blood. The damage taken would have been several times greater.

Immediately after, Shasheng closed his eyes.

By the time he opened them again, all the tears had evaporated, and the luster in his eyes had returned. The [Heavenly Eye] operated once more, gazing across the three realms and the ten directions.

“...Found him.”

Before his words even faded, Shasheng activated the [Divine Foot] again, and his figure vanished from where he stood.

...

Meanwhile, in another corner of Cosmic Deep Space, Wang Ping's figure emerged from the void. He found a desolate star at random to land on, but he didn't dare relax.

‘Is there no end to this...’

Circulating his divine sense, Wang Ping was alarmed to feel that his life tribulation had not yet dissipated. His Divine Intent warned him that the crisis from Shasheng was far from over!

‘This can't go on.’

The Supreme Palace Enclosure was the territory of the Brahma Nation. Neither the Immortal Gate's Three Great Academies nor the Eight Immortal Peaks were here. There was only a Fire qi tradition that was similarly exiled from the mainstream.

As the blessing of [Fate Makes Fools of People] receded and the fulfillment of desires effect vanished, Wang Ping felt the heavy pressure falling upon him once more. His magical power was vastly depleted. He feared that for the time being, he wouldn't have the strength to activate [Free and Unfettered Wandering] again to return to Gongshun Grotto-Heaven at the speed of thought.

Unless he stopped to restore his magical power.

However, if he wasted the precious time he had just fought so hard to buy on restoring his magical power, Shasheng would probably catch up by the time he recovered.

‘It's a dead end...’

Wang Ping had a bit of a headache. He had only managed to escape with his life just now through extreme, hairline maneuvering. He had no confidence he could pull it off a second time.

‘Isn't this a complete dead end? True Monarch... what in the world was my mother thinking? Since it's a test, there should be a proper way to pass it.’

As he thought this, Wang Ping's heart suddenly stirred.

True, he had almost burned himself out just now. Even after exhausting all his methods, he had merely managed to buy a brief moment of respite from Shasheng's hands.

But that only applied to him at the peak of Tribulation Transcending.

What if he were a Corpse Dissolution Immortal?

Although inferior to a Qi Refining practitioner, a Corpse Dissolution Immortal had still completed a fundamental leap. Their cultivation and combat strength undoubtedly far exceeded any cultivator at the Tribulation Transcending Stage.

Even peak Tribulation Transcending cultivators like him or the Heaven-Stealing Thief could only face a Corpse Dissolution Immortal head-on because they could cross boundaries to unleash the full might of a Spiritual Treasure. Without the blessing of a Spiritual Treasure, even at peak Tribulation Transcending, they would be nothing more than trash that a Corpse Dissolution Immortal could slap to death with a single palm.

‘If I become a Corpse Dissolution Immortal, perhaps I'll have the power to deal with him.’

In the past, Wang Ping would have rather committed suicide and started over.

After all, becoming a Corpse Dissolution Immortal was equivalent to severing one's Dao path. Even during his hardest times, when he was trapped in the True Person's scheme with no hope in sight, he had never considered it.

But now, things were different.

‘The [Nurturing Qi, Forgetting Words, and Guarding the One Sutra].’

Wang Ping pondered inwardly.

This ancient qi-nurturing sutra recorded a Heaven-Mending Method that allowed a cultivator to revert back to a Tribulation Transcending cultivation base after becoming a Corpse Dissolution Immortal.

The only problem was the physical body.

The physical body required for the Heaven-Mending Method wasn't the kind of external avatar cultivators usually forged, but a true shell that perfectly synchronized with one's soul and true spirit.

This was a problem that Dashun Taizu had failed to solve even after several millennia.

Yet for Wang Ping—who possessed the Taiping Sutra and returned with a perfectly adapted physical body every time he resurrected—this was not a problem at all.

‘Could it be... that this is the True Monarch's purpose?’

‘To let me obtain this Heaven-Mending Method so I can ascend to a Corpse Dissolution Immortal without any distractions? But... what if this method is flawed? What do I do then?’

There were no regrets on the path of the Dao!

The Taiping Sutra could not reverse time. If he ended up getting played and severed his own Dao path, resurrecting wouldn't reset his status!

For a time, Wang Ping sank into an unprecedented conflict.