Chapter 411: Stealing Destiny, the Dao Lord's Decision

Wang Ping strode into the bright beam of light.

Though radiant, the light wasn't blinding, nor did it carry the slightest warmth. In fact, as the golden glow fell over him, it radiated a biting chill.

"This is..."

Wang Ping looked around, realizing he was likely in a corridor. The illuminated path was safe, but outside its glow, dangers lurked everywhere.

Ruined walls and collapsed structures stood silently in the darkness. The silence was absolute. The architectural style was clearly a product of the Great Rebellion era.

Having collaborated with the Heaven-Stealing Thief to forge a Great Rebellion secret realm, Wang Ping had developed a deep understanding of the era's architecture and fashion. He easily recognized the surrounding ruins; he just didn't know if they were real or illusions conjured by the Dao Lord for his benefit.

However, he soon arrived at a conclusion.

He had spotted a pile of white bones on the brightly lit path. Crystal clear like jade, they lay shattered and scattered across the middle and sides of the road.

'This would be hard to fake...'

When they built the Great Rebellion secret realm, even the Heaven-Stealing Thief hadn't dared to attempt such a thing. The presence of corpses meant their authenticity was extremely high.

Wang Ping focused his gaze, sweeping over the white bones one by one. Though scattered, they were still clad in various garments. The clothes were damaged, but their materials were obviously of the highest quality, allowing spiritual light to linger on them even now. Seeing this, Wang Ping stepped forward and offered a highly respectful bow.

The dead commanded the greatest respect.

Wang Ping already had a guess in mind. These white bones had likely belonged to qi-ingesting practitioners of the Great Rebellion who had died when the dynasty fell.

First, because of their clothing.

Second, because of their corpses. Only qi-ingesting practitioners, who used their fleshly bodies to consume the qi of heaven and earth to refine an Immortal Physique, could leave behind remains with such profound phenomena.

"Ancestors above, this lowly cultivator was born a survivor of the Great Rebellion."

"I trust that you ancestors gave your all for the Great Rebellion, fighting until your last breath. You surely wouldn't want your bones to remain buried in this wasteland."

"Rest assured, this lowly cultivator will collect your remains right now."

After finishing his bow, Wang Ping efficiently collected all the corpses along with their clothes, leaving behind only an empty patch of ground.

'These corpses have remained intact to this day. It's the perfect opportunity to see if I can refine another box of Profound Art Fallen Immortal Sand. The spiritual materials used for their clothes are truly excellent. Leaving them here is a waste anyway, so I'll see if I can refine them into the Heavenly Martial Campaign Profound Armor later to elevate the quality of this Spiritual Treasure...'

As Wang Ping pondered, he spun the Profound Unity Tribulation-Crossing Ring behind his head.

"Deep in the nine lands of the Yellow Springs, the netherworld opens the ghost gates!"

Murky light flowed beneath his feet, spreading toward the spot where the corpses had been.

There was no reaction at all.

'A pity. Too much time has passed. The trajectories of destiny have long since dispersed. Their true spirits are either shattered or reincarnated; there's no way to extract Yin Spirits from them anymore.'

Wang Ping sighed.

Disappointment aside, Wang Ping quickly adjusted his emotions. He continued through the passage, never leaving empty-handed. Wherever he passed, not a single bone was left behind.

"Thank you for the gifts, ancestors!"

He continued walking through the light just like that.

An unknown amount of time passed before he finally reached the end of the light. Before his eyes was a grand hall, similar to yet different from the one where Yi Xuangong resided.

No, rather than a hall, it was more like a mountain. It was built entirely from a vast array of five-element spiritual materials, engraved with unimaginably complex array patterns that reflected a boundless, majestic light. From a distance, it looked like an ignited torch, and he was standing at the foot of this torch mountain.

Looking up, the setting sun was like blood.

A golden sun sank into the shadows of the mountains and rivers, carrying the weakness and decay of a sunset's afterglow. Yet even so, it remained massive to the extreme.

Weakness and strength.

Two entirely different auras intertwined within that golden sun. Wang Ping made his way up the mountain unhindered, quickly arriving before the sun at the peak.

What entered his sight was a golden throne.

All the array patterns of the torch mountain, the boundless majestic light, and the endless profundities ultimately converged on the golden throne. And there, a person sat upright.

Or rather, a corpse.

"This..."

Wang Ping's eyes widened. He didn't see the numerous profound visions and mysteries that usually accompanied a meeting with a True Person; there was only a dried corpse dead upon the towering golden throne.

It wore a purple-and-cyan daoist robe that flowed with light, supremely noble and prestigious. Because its face had become a dried husk, its former handsome and ethereal appearance could only be discerned from its contours. Aside from that, there was nothing special about it. Despite being situated at the center of these myriad profundities, it didn't possess the slightest hint of divine wonder.

Wang Ping vaguely realized something.

'This dried corpse is supporting the current Wuwei Buyi Dao Field, and this golden sun is the Glimmering Bank Willow. No wonder they said this Dao Lord was in a poor state...'

His transcendent comprehension allowed Wang Ping to intuitively grasp a fact out of thin air:

'If this Dao Lord were to stand up from that golden throne, the profound wonder of the Glimmering Bank Willow would probably collapse instantly, taking the Dao Field down with it.'

Incredible.

From this perspective, what Yi Xuangong had said earlier about the Brahma Nation converting the four great Wisdom Kings and stealing the four profound wonders had indeed inflicted massive damage on this Dao Lord.

This was digging out the foundation of the Dao!

'Out of five profound wonders, only one remains. Its Dao foundation has been nearly hollowed out. No wonder it has to seek another path to cultivate truth; after all, there's simply no future here.'

Right at that moment.

A change suddenly occurred on the golden throne ahead. The dried corpse abruptly vanished, replaced by reviving divine wonders and layers of profound visions.

In a daze, Wang Ping seemingly saw metal, wood, water, fire, and earth. The five elements intertwined and complemented one another. They sought no yin and yang, nor did they establish the three talents; the Great Dao was to be found solely within the five elements. Ultimately, they sublimated into five heaven-reaching profound wonders that worked together seamlessly, comparable to the positions of the Eight Trigrams—yet in the end, four paths of the five elements had been snapped off.

Leaving behind only a single golden sun.

The profound visions overlapped. Like a breeze brushing against his face, a hoarse yet composed chuckle rang out. "Mingxing has extraordinary vision, as accurate as ever."

"Back then, he favored the Human Emperor, and now he favors you, little friend."

The Dao Lord was face-to-face with him!

Wang Ping hurriedly lowered his head. Clearly, the main body of this Supreme Dao Lord of Profound Art was using the vast majority of its profound wonders and might to maintain the operation of the Dao Field.

Thus, at first glance, it only appeared to be a dried corpse.

Yet now, it had separated a sliver of profundity to converse with Wang Ping, causing the dried corpse to vanish and leaving behind only magnificent, incomparably glorious imagery.

"The Dao Lord praises me too highly."

Wang Ping replied in a low voice.

"It hardly counts as praise."

The laughter continued. "Ever since destiny came into being, the life tribulation you've crossed can be considered the second strongest in history, inferior only to the Human Emperor's."

Huh? Mine is actually second to the Human Emperor?

Wang Ping was somewhat astonished.

As if guessing Wang Ping's thoughts, the amusement in the voice from the golden throne grew clearer. "The Human Emperor is different from you. The path he walked was far more unconventional."

At this point, a hint of nostalgia seemingly crept into its tone. It spoke unhurriedly, "Before you, the Human Emperor was the fastest cultivating qi-ingesting practitioner in history. In a mere thirty years, he successfully claimed the absolute apex of heaven and earth. At least seventy percent of the credit for that must be attributed to the mighty power of destiny."

"Because the Human Emperor was constantly undergoing life tribulations!"

"Generally speaking, after a life tribulation ends, a cultivator can begin Qi Refining."

"However, there are always some favored children of heaven whose accumulation is so deep, and their attainments in the Dao so high, that they are capable of forcefully breaking through to higher Realms before their life tribulation has even concluded."

The voice from the golden throne carried a tone of admiration:

"Under such circumstances, though, the life tribulation will not end just because you broke through to Qi Refining ahead of time. In fact, it is exactly the opposite; it will instead increase in difficulty."

"It will push the difficulty of the life tribulation all the way up to a point where, even if you become a Qi Refining practitioner, you still have an extremely high chance of dying. It will absolutely not rest until it reaches that level. This is the nature of a life tribulation... Yet on the other hand, destiny is fair. When it raises the difficulty, there must inevitably be a solution."

"But you are already in Qi Refining."

"To ensure fairness, while destiny creates crises for you, it must also give you the opportunity and the ability to deal with them."

"However, unlike when you were at the Tribulation Transcending Third Layer, your cultivation could advance no further then. Thus, the aid destiny provided was, in most cases, external power."

"After breaking through, however, you are merely at the Qi Refinement First Layer, leaving immense room for improvement. Therefore, compared to offering external power, destiny is more inclined to directly elevate your cultivation—as a result, propelled by destiny, your cultivation speed during the Qi Refining stage will far exceed that of other cultivators!"

"High risk, high reward."

"As long as you do not die within the life tribulation, you can advance by leaps and bounds. In a brief few decades, you can bypass a thousand, or even ten thousand years of bitter cultivation required by others."

"This is the Human Emperor's method of 'Stealing Destiny'."

Reaching the end, the voice on the golden throne chuckled softly:

"Otherwise, for a life tribulation that even a Supreme True Lord is involved in, such an exaggerated tribulation to only yield a Qi Refining cultivation base—wouldn't that be far too much of a loss?"

Hearing this, Wang Ping lowered his eyelids and said softly, "Where does Senior wish to make use of this lowly cultivator?"

Smart!

The profound visions on the golden throne changed in rapid succession, finally settling into an exclamation of praise. "Do as you wish. Whether the Dao Field falls or rises anew."

"If you win, I shall cultivate 'Water and Fire in Harmony'."

"If you lose, I shall cultivate 'Earth and Fire in Obscurity'."

"You decide."

As the voice faded, Wang Ping suddenly felt the world spin. Ethereal profound sounds still echoed in his mind, but he had already returned to the vast, empty grand hall.

At this moment, only one thought remained in his heart:

'Are you kidding me?!'

'Water and Fire in Harmony' and 'Earth and Fire in Obscurity'. That Dao Lord intended to hand the choice of its Dao path over to a lowly cultivator like him? Did it take him for a fool?

Wang Ping didn't believe it for a second!

As his thoughts raced, he quickly realized: 'This is a second probe! A probe to test the true attitude of the True Monarchs of Water and Fire qi regarding these two paths!'

He himself was a chess piece for the Water and Fire qi.

And now, the Wuwei Buyi Dao Field was being besieged by three great Dao Fields. It was on the verge of destruction—the critical moment for the Dao Lord to decide its Dao path.

'It's deliberately using this precise moment to probe.'

If the Water and Fire qi responded to this, it would reveal who valued which path more. By weighing their importance, it could use this to make a judgment.

So, would the Water and Fire qi respond?

Wang Ping looked up at the sky.