Chapter 436: Suddenly Seeing Past Appearances, Half a Life Sighed in Vain for Failing the Initial Aspiration

[Unchanging Non-Action Mystic Bow].

Even now, Yi Shentong could still recall the scene of the Human Emperor inscribing the [Five Phases] with an immortal decree, feeding it into [Lake-Fire Revolution], and forging it into a Spiritual Treasure.

The Human Emperor had even chosen its name himself.

In commemoration of that gift, Yi Shentong had borrowed the name when he later founded his own teaching ground, calling it the [Unchanging Non-Action Dao Field]—a name it had kept to this very day.

Yet at this moment, the mystic bow personally bestowed by the Human Emperor was aimed squarely at him from afar. Layers of radiance reflected in his eyes, illuminating the scenes of the past, the long years of his cultivation, and every turn of his heart along the way.

They were strands of karma, one after another.

The triumph of his boyhood, the confidence of his youth, the grand ambition of his middle years, the exhaustion of his old age, the bitter unwillingness on the verge of death, and the hateful blood of his long, withered vigil upon the golden throne.

That was [destiny].

The next second, those visions shattered in Yi Shentong's eyes, turning into bone-chilling cold and obsession.

"He wants to kill me. A mere Qi Refining cultivator wants to kill me."

'Mingxing, to think you hold me in such contempt...'

'[Paradox-Resolving Pacifying]?' He looked coldly at the arrow nocked on Wang Ping's bowstring. He recognized the artifact; he had even met its master, [True Monarch Heaven-Banner Pardon].

[Extremity of Resolution].

'It can resolve all paradoxical realms. Right—what I am now is what the [Master of Secret Traces] was before, and something bound tightly to my karma has fallen into this man's hands.'

Because of that, he had to kill Wang Ping.

That very necessity was a paradox and an inversion, placing him squarely within the authority of [Paradox-Resolving Pacifying]. Using this artifact to shoot him down aligned perfectly with the true meaning of resolving paradox.

Not to mention, the [Master of Secret Traces] had condensed all the imagery in his possession connected to the [Hundred Treasures Great Abundance Granary] into a single ray of myriad-treasure light, pouring it into [Paradox-Resolving Pacifying]. Such profound power was enough to restore this True Monarch's Dao-proving artifact to its peak might for a brief time.

'This was never thrown together on the spot. It was deliberate.'

Yi Shentong's heart grew heavier still.

'I guided the [Heaven Defiance Palace] down, yet before it fully descended into the mortal world, even I had no way of knowing which side hall would fall first.'

And yet the very hall that fell happened to be the [Incense-Draped Hall], and inside it happened to sit [Paradox-Resolving Pacifying]—a True Monarch's Dao-proving artifact suited for this exact moment.

What kind of joke was that?

'There is no way this is a coincidence. Some entity arranged it on purpose. Who? Who could guide the [Incense-Draped Hall]? Which True Monarch pulled the strings in secret?' Yi Shentong could not figure it out.

Nor did he have time to ponder it any further. Before his eyes, Wang Ping had drawn the bow to a full moon, and the hand gripping the string snapped open like a clap of thunder.

"Boom!"

In an instant, the world in Yi Shentong's eyes twisted, carrying him back to that grand banquet at the height of the Great Rebellion. Wine goblets clinked all around as immortals gathered to pay court, and high upon the imperial terrace, the Human Emperor placed the longbow smelted with the imagery of [Lake-Fire Revolution] into his hands.

"I hope, Fellow Daoist," the Human Emperor said earnestly, "that in the days to come, you will remain just like this bow."

[Unchanging Non-Action].

Every word of that name felt like the sharpest of barbed arrows, plunging into his flesh only to rip back out with bone-piercing agony.

In his youth, he had thought nothing of it.

Why would he have taken a light, passing remark to heart? Yet now, the Human Emperor's voice boomed like a great temple bell, each word exploding in his ears.

Yi Shentong raised his head.

High upon the imperial terrace, that figure stood with his hands clasped behind his back. The boundlessly bright halo shining behind his head cast his face into deep shadow, obscuring his features.

For the sake of cultivating truth, for [Lake-Fire Revolution], for the [Five Phases], he had paid a heavy price and cast aside even more. To deceive the fire qi, he had sacrificed the Dao Child he once treated as his own direct heir and abandoned the younger generation of his Dao field. He had colluded with the Immortal Gate and spoken freely of cooperation with the Brahma Nation.

"Human Emperor... Your Majesty... did you foresee this day all along?"

All at once, Yi Shentong found it laughable.

Non-action. Unchanging.

In the tens of thousands of years since the fall of the Great Rebellion, there was almost nothing he had not done and nothing he had not changed—only to end up like this.

How utterly absurd!

"You foresaw your own disappearance, the collapse of the Great Rebellion, and even the choices I would make—so you warned me? You were actually warning me back then?"

At this moment, beyond the shock of realization, unimaginable fury surged in Yi Shentong's heart. The reason was simple: why hadn't the Human Emperor said it outright? If the Human Emperor had left behind other contingencies, if Yi Shentong had known when he might return, how could he ever have acted this way or brought himself to where he stood today?

"Boom!"

A peal of thunder seemed to roll across the vault of heaven—the sound in his memory of the [Five Thunders Divine Firmament Office] arriving to offer their congratulations, a sight Yi Shentong had once admired.

Now, however, that thunderclap grated harshly in his ears. The Dao Lord snapped his head up, a ferocious snarl twisting his youthful face.

"Heaven-Banner, do you look down on me too?"

Indescribable humiliation and resentment churned inside Yi Shentong, though even he could not say where this sudden surge of emotion came from. The thunder gave no answer.

Only blazing white lightning lit up the scene of his memory, tearing it all apart until it reflected reality once more—leaving Yi Shentong frozen on the spot.

He lowered his head.

At some point, an arrow had buried itself in his chest, and endless divine thunder was surging out from it, rampaging through his limbs and bones.

The lightning was so clear and bright that it became almost a mirror, letting him plainly see his own face as it was now—not the handsome youth he had become after restoring the [Five Phases], but a stooped old man covered in wrinkles, his eyes milky and dim.

No—that was wrong. That wasn't him!

He had already reclaimed his youth and vitality! He had even cultivated truth and seized a supreme station of heaven and earth—how could he still look like a dying old man?

Yi Shentong staggered back three steps.

With each step back, a layer of profound power was ripped away from him—first the [Master of Secret Traces], then [Lake-Fire Revolution], and finally the Great Dao Tree of the [Five Phases].

A voice echoed in his ears once more: "Shentong, I left this idle piece on the board for you not so that you would prove [Lake-Fire Revolution] yourself. Even if you usurped a supreme station of heaven and earth, that wouldn't be a true transformation of your own Dao—only power bestowed by the station. What I hoped you would do was draw upon the imagery of change within [Lake-Fire Revolution]."

The familiar tone was gentle and calm: "Given enough time, once your Dao reaches great completion, use the secret method I passed down to you to sense [Lake-Fire Revolution]. Through it, you will be able to carve your orthodoxy into Cosmic Deep Space."

"That would be an achievement of immeasurable merit."

"So long as you accomplish it, you will surely surpass every True Monarch under heaven, and even ascending to immortality will not be beyond hope. I ask only that you keep this intention fast in your heart and forge ahead in the years to come."

He had failed to do it.

From the moment he first sensed [Lake-Fire Revolution], his mind had been consumed with usurping that supreme station of heaven and earth; even restoring the [Five Phases] had been nothing more than a means to that end.

'So that's how it was...'

The blazing white lightning reflected an aged face. Yi Shentong ran a hand over his cheeks—unlike the reflection in the lightning, his skin was still smooth and young.

Yet his heart had grown old.

The [Supreme Dao Lord Xuangong] of old had long since withered away across the ages, replaced by nothing more than a hollow facade clinging to that title—a youthful shell.

He had cultivated [Truth].

Yet he was no longer [Myself].

In a daze, the Dao Lord seemed to return to the moment he rose from his golden throne, looking down at the Mortals below.

They raised their heads and wept to him, "Dao Lord, why must it be this way?!"

"Boom!"

Clutching [Paradox-Resolving Pacifying], Yi Shentong staggered and fell.

In his youth, he had drawn his bow and nocked his arrow with boundless heroism, shooting down thirty qi of heaven and earth; now that arrow had returned across the bygone years, only to pierce him straight through the heart.

Without the slightest hesitation, [True Monarch Zhaoxuan Jinming] of fire qi, [Daoist Master Hanguang Danyang] of earth qi, and even [True Monarch Fengxian Daozheng] of metal qi—who had been locked in combat just moments before—along with the newly freed [True Person Shuofang Hanyou] and the eight Dao Lords of the [Dao Tomb], all struck in unison.

The outcome was a foregone conclusion.

Amid the blinding radiance, Yi Shentong clenched his jaw and watched helplessly as the Five-Skull Crown formed from the exalted seat of the [Master of Secret Traces] was ripped out of his body.

Next came [Lake-Fire Revolution].

Then came [Earth-Fire Darkening of the Light].

One after another, those supreme stations of heaven and earth abandoned him without a trace of lingering attachment. Their profound mysteries scattered, leaving only the [Five Phases] by his side.

It was his foundation, the seat of his life force, and the work of his entire life. At one point, he had treated it as nothing more than a tool for ascending to True Monarch—yet in the end, only the [Five Phases] stayed with him. No matter how fiercely the foreign powers blasted into his body, none of them could tear it away.

Gazing upon this Great Dao, he felt as if he were looking at his younger self—a boy staring back at him across tens of thousands of years, his face dark with anger.

The boy's lips moved, as though silently demanding an answer.

Yi Shentong lowered his gaze.

Unwilling to face the [Five Phases] any longer, he looked far into the depths of the [Star Grave Sand Sea], toward the spirited young man holding the bow.

Striding like a tiger, drawing the longbow taut, raising fire to burn the heavens and shoot down the azure dragon.

The resemblance was uncanny. That young man was almost identical to who he had been back then—the same soaring confidence, the same unyielding pride—overlapping almost completely with the youth in his memories.

At last, [Supreme Dao Lord Xuangong] closed his eyes.

Only now did his expression finally relax. He stopped trying to imitate the past, and the aged, twilight look of a dying old man surfaced beneath his youthful features.

"Suddenly seeing past appearances, half a life sighed in vain for failing the initial aspiration."

"Boom!"

This Dao Lord—who had stood at the summit during the Great Rebellion, declined from his peak, and sat withered in the [Star Grave Sand Sea] for tens of thousands of years, scheming and plotting only to end up with nothing—finally blurred within the radiance, dissolving completely from his Dharma body to his sea of consciousness, his soul, and his true spirit, scattering into a wisp of pale smoke. [Supreme Dao Lord Xuangong] had fallen!

In an instant, across Cosmic Deep Space, hundreds of millions of stars, countless living beings, cultivators, and every creature endowed with spirituality felt an inexplicable stirring in their hearts.

As if by shared instinct, they all looked up.

Above them, the vault of heaven looked as though it had been torn open, and scalding crimson poured from the gash, falling like rain upon the mortal world.

No matter where one stood—whether on the star closest to the rift or in some distant corner of Cosmic Deep Space—that wound was etched clearly across the firmament. The rain of blood made no distinction between friend or foe, nor between Grotto-Heavens or secret realms, falling equally across every corner of Cosmic Deep Space.

And so a single realization dawned in the hearts of all mortal beings:

A supreme entity had fallen.

The sensation was overwhelmingly real. Terror seized them; some dropped to their knees to beg for mercy, while others kowtowed toward the heavens, none of them knowing what had actually transpired.

Among the stars, every celestial light dimmed at once, plunging the once-dazzling, resplendent starry river into pitch darkness.

The phenomenon lasted a full hour and three quarters before finally fading. Where the rift had torn the sky, the crimson bled dry, leaving only the deepest dark light. Then it began to transform, twisting from a wound into a gaping maw that greedily devoured everything around it.

Such was the fall of a supreme being.

Even in death, he had still been the newly ascended [Master of Secret Traces], a genuine supreme entity. His demise blasted apart the surrounding Cosmos, and from it, a [Grave Star] was born.

Fortunately, other supreme entities were present.

The next second, the True Monarchs and True Persons of the various lineages acted in unison, calming the cosmic upheaval, mending the void, and shattering the newly born [Grave Star] back into nothingness.

With that, calm returned.

...

"It's not over yet!"

Before the [Dao Tomb], Wang Ping beckoned with his hand. The arrow surging with five-colored light appeared out of thin air, now countless times heavier than before.

[Paradox-Resolving Pacifying].

In its very first battle upon re-entering the world, this True Monarch's Dao-proving artifact had slain a Bodhisattva. The resulting surge of imagery and merit amplified it to an almost unimaginable degree.

Yet compared to the artifact's gains, the harvest Wang Ping reaped was truly terrifying. He was the one who had drawn the bow, nocked the arrow, and shot down the Dao Lord—and at the time, [Supreme Dao Lord Xuangong] had already ascended to become the [Master of Secret Traces], a genuine supreme entity standing two full major Realms above him!

Across such a gulf, he had delivered the decisive blow.

Even if it had taken the scheming of water qi, the cooperation of [True Person Shuofang Hanyou], and the tacit consent of the various True Monarchs, the deed was done. [Destiny] was never partial.

It looked only at the result!

In an instant, supreme radiance welled up from Wang Ping's body—the nine qi manifestations he had mastered, and the very Dao foundation and life force he had cultivated up to this day.

The death of a supreme entity now turned entirely into nourishment for his cultivation. Ring after ring of luminous halos flared behind him, manifesting every scene and moment he had lived through during this life tribulation, before finally condensing into a spirited young man drawing a bow and nocking an arrow.

The next moment, the young man's figure overlapped with Wang Ping's.

"Phew..."

Exhaling a long breath of turbid air, he watched the nine qi manifestations bow in unison before him and condense into a single pure hue, like a rein whose end rested firmly in his palm.

The other end plunged into the void, tugging at a colossal presence. It put up a brief struggle, only to yield and submit obediently in the end.

Wang Ping knew what it was.

It was the [Hidden Dragon Meridian-Circulating Nether-Penetrating Qi]—earth yin water, one of the Twenty-Four Qi of heaven and earth. From this day forth, it would be wholly at his command, lavishing its favor upon him alone.

After all, no one at his stage had ever accomplished a feat of such grand merit—not even the Human Emperor. Under the watchful eyes of the True Monarchs and True Persons of the Immortal Gate, this was a one-of-a-kind "manifest glory" for a Qi Refining practitioner. Throughout the entire history of the Immortal Dao, not a second Qi Refining Second Layer cultivator could be found with such an achievement!

Yes, the Qi Refining Second Layer. With the exclusive favor of earth yin water, Wang Ping's breakthrough this time went with effortless smoothness; not only was there no bottleneck at all, it even felt faintly absurd.

It felt as though he were not breaking through to the Realm.

Instead, the Realm was actively coming to him.

Wang Ping raised his hand. A hazy gray light rose slowly from his palm, seemingly dull on the surface, yet tempered at its very core with a speck of gold like the rising sun.

'Merit...'

Wang Ping closely examined the gray haze and golden light in his palm. Unassuming as it looked, it carried a weight that surpassed even [Carefree Wandering].

[In the World of Men].

How one conducts oneself within the mortal world.

That was the imagery of this merit. Surprisingly, it held no offensive power at all, possessing only a single profound mystery—and a very simple one at that.

'Keeping the mind clear...'

With this merit upon him, he would remain forever clear-headed. External things could not cloud him, profound mysteries could not bewitch him; he could walk the mortal world without inner turmoil and gaze upon the Heavenly Dao without wavering.

To put it in a single phrase: 'A Dao heart.'

Insight dawned on Wang Ping as that speck of gold reflected in his eyes—so pure that no matter how thick the surrounding gray haze grew, it could never smother its light.

'Not just the Immortal Dao—my Martial Dao can break through as well.'

It was an intuition born of nothing, yet Wang Ping did not doubt it for a second. Bolstered by this merit, his Divine Intent had already stepped across the threshold of a Martial Saint.

Even so, he forced the impulse down. Breaking through in the Martial Dao would inevitably implicate the turbid body he had hidden away deep within the earth yin water, and for now, it was best to keep that turbid body at the Martial Dao Pre-Heaven Stage—comparable to the Tribulation Transcending Third Layer—rather than advancing too early.

Wang Ping grinned.

The merit of [In the World of Men] swiftly receded, replaced by a completely different light—deep, dark, and gloomy, like the gates of the underworld swinging wide.

[Netherworld Communication Profound Arbiter]!

Layer upon layer of ghost domains sat within his Divine Powers. This life-slaying art felt as if it were on the verge of bursting as terrifying might continued to gather inside it.

Which was only natural.

After all, he had personally shot down a supreme entity just moments ago, and that feat had already been recorded by his Divine Powers, transforming into a profound vision of life-slaying imagery.

Just how strong was it? Wang Ping stirred his thoughts in a brief test, and around the ghost domains, the void shattered layer by layer—revealing deeper dark light behind the dark light, opening three layers in succession.

Shattering three layers of heaven!

Before his breakthrough, his baseline strength had been fixed at shattering one layer of heaven; now he had vaulted straight past the second layer, reaching the combat power to shatter three layers of heaven!

'Shattering three layers of heaven—the baseline standard of the Qi Refinement Third Layer.'

As a rule, any Qi Refining practitioner who broke through to the third layer—no matter how weak their Divine Powers, whether they owned a Spiritual Treasure, or how many qi manifestations they had mastered at the first layer—could reach the combat strength to shatter three layers of heaven.

Simply put, it was the floor of that stage. In other words, if he went all out right now, he could already go toe-to-toe with the weakest Qi Refinement Third Layer cultivators.

And he had only just broken through!

'Besides, my Martial Dao Realm hasn't broken through yet. Once I become a Martial Saint and shatter the void, could I reach the combat power to shatter four layers of heaven?'

There was a real chance!

Wang Ping let out a long breath. As torrential profound energy converged within his body, the explosive surge in his strength almost made him feel as if he could shatter the Cosmos with a single punch.

Soon enough, however, he sobered right up. The reason was simple: the True Monarchs had made their move.

The first to move were [Daoist Master Hanguang Danyang] and [True Person Shuofang Hanyou], the two undisputed greatest winners of this grand game.

The former had first helped destroy the contingency left behind in [Lake-Fire Revolution] by the Great Rebellion, then assisted in slaying a Bodhisattva of the Brahma Nation, while his every move had aligned with the most pivotal piece on the board. His already near-perfect merit and imagery were now without flaw, allowing him to formally step onto that supreme station.

[Mountain-Wind Decay]!

The already magnificent twenty-four-colored radiance flared violently as [Daoist Master Hanguang Danyang]'s true body merged with his avatar.

His aura soared into a new realm entirely.

And the Cosmos rang out.

[Mountain-Wind Decay] vanished from sight as the supreme station receded into the unseen, replaced by a colossal Dharma body that spanned heaven and earth and filled the Cosmos.

Seated cross-legged among the stars in the depths of space, he was wreathed in flowing, hazy radiance, with talisman and Dao patterns of every color coiling around him.

He looked like a mystic mountain.

Beneath that mystic mountain, however, blew a relentless gale suffused with cyan light, endlessly breeding venomous insects only for them to be purged and eradicated in an eternal cycle.

At the summit of that mountain-like form, which nearly propped open the Cosmos itself, shone two eyes as bright as stars. They gazed quietly downward, as though all of vast Cosmic Deep Space and the boundless mortal world had become nothing more than fine lines upon his palm, tiny and beneath notice. The next instant, he vanished from sight.

Wang Ping could not see him clearly—nor could he possibly have done so. Even the vision just now had only been visible in the fleeting instant when a True Person ascended to a supreme station of heaven and earth.

Immediately after, another corner of the heavens stirred.

[True Person Shuofang Hanyou].

Once the [Master of Secret Traces] and now the Water Qi True Person, he too had cast off all his old grievances and new feuds, completing the merit of ending disputes and laying conflict to rest.

Waters of great rivers poured down from the heavens. Heaven and water moved in opposite directions yet converged toward the same end, finally weaving into a feathered robe of misty immortal truth that draped over [True Person Shuofang Hanyou]'s shoulders. Across its surface flowed profound visions of brothers turning on one another, monarchs and ministers slaughtering each other, sworn friends severing their robes, and every debt of gratitude and vengeance being repaid.

[Heaven-Water Dispute]!

The next second, [True Person Shuofang Hanyou] vanished alongside the supreme station of heaven and earth, leaving behind only a vast river that linked heaven and earth and cut across the Cosmos.

Ever since the fall of the Great Rebellion, the Immortal Gate had rarely witnessed an event of such magnitude.

At this very moment, countless gazes were cast from both inside and outside the Immortal Gate—filled with envy, gravity, admiration, and calculating scrutiny.

Two True Monarchs ascending on the very same day!

The last time such a grand spectacle had occurred was at the founding of the Great Rebellion, when the Human Emperor and [True Monarch Heaven-Banner Pardon] ascended and restored greatness to the discarded Qi Consumption orthodoxy.

"Could this be another era of contention for the Dao?"

"Hard to say. Both of them are orthodox immortal cultivators."

"I used to think our rival was the Brahma Nation, yet ever since the Living Buddha vanished, the Brahma Nation has been nothing special. As things stand, who else is left to contend with us?"

Countless thoughts wove together across higher dimensions.

Around the newly ascended [True Monarch Hanguang Danyang] and [True Monarch Shuofang Hanyou], fire qi and metal qi howled as two voices rang out one after another.

One rang like clashing metal, resonant with righteous yang vigor, while the other was dark and eerie, laced with the low snarl of some vicious beast.

"Congratulations to both Fellow Daoists. Two more now sit upon the True Thrones."

"You are too polite, Fellow Daoists."

Only moments ago they had been trading fierce blows for their own interests, yet now their tone was completely natural, as though nothing had happened at all.

The four of them exchanged greetings with calm magnanimity.

Then one of the voices spoke again: "Shuofang, I wish to reclaim the imagery of the [Hundred Treasures Great Abundance Granary]. Where do you and Mingxing stand on this?"

"And that [Five Phases] as well," the voice laced with the beastly snarl added. "[Paradox-Resolving Pacifying] slew Yi Shentong, yet his Great Dao of the [Five Phases] remained behind, lodged within that divine arrow and carried back with it."

"You two Fellow Daoists may do as you please."

[True Monarch Shuofang Hanyou] smiled and said, "Now that I have attained my Dao, I will soon return to the [Deity Transformation Realm] to cultivate and attend upon my master. I have no desire to set foot in the mortal world again."

Beside him, [True Monarch Hanguang Danyang] nodded and said, "A supreme station of heaven and earth holds extraordinary mysteries. I too intend to enter seclusion, and I have no interest in the [Five Phases] or the [Hundred Treasures Great Abundance Granary]. Naturally, I will not interfere."

Hearing this, the two True Monarchs who had posed the question finally seemed satisfied.

"Very good."

...

At almost the exact same moment, Wang Ping raised his head and gazed into the torrent of [destiny], where the vortex surrounding the [Master of Secret Traces] was fading away bit by bit.

Having lost two masters within a single day and been infused with [Earth-Fire Darkening of the Light], that exalted Bodhisattva seat had now returned to the domain of the Brahma Nation. Through the eyes of a True Person, one could even faintly make out the ripples of the Brahma Nation's Bodhisattvas scrambling in succession to suppress and seal the seat.

Yet none of this was truly over. '[Human Emperor Stealing Heaven's Mandate] rapidly elevates one's cultivation, yet it also forces one to cross life tribulations no ordinary person could survive. Where does the true difficulty lie?'

Was it being drawn into a game of True Monarchs with mere Qi Refining cultivation?

Not really.

Outrageous as that already was, under the ironclad law of [destiny]'s absolute fairness, it still left room to maneuver.

The real difficulty was that once a cultivator stole Heaven's Mandate, the life tribulations never stopped. They would keep turning without pause until the one who had exploited the loophole was wiped out completely.

A life tribulation existed for Tribulation Transcending cultivators to break through to Qi Refining, meaning the only condition for it to end was a breakthrough across a major Realm. Yet if one was already a Qi Refining practitioner, breaking through from Tribulation Transcending to Qi Refining a second time was impossible—leaving the attainment of True Person as the only major Realm breakthrough left.

In other words:

'Until I cultivate truth and become a True Person, my life tribulations will come wave after wave without ever stopping. That's why the Human Emperor ascended to a supreme station in just thirty years.'

Crossing a single life tribulation had sent his cultivation soaring this far; how long had it even been since he reached Qi Refining, and he could already clash head-on with the weakest Qi Refinement Third Layer cultivators?

Cross seventeen or eighteen more of them, and even a pig could become a True Person!

Provided, of course, that he survived.

If he died, none of it meant a thing. At that thought, the elation Wang Ping felt from his breakthrough settled back into calm as he watched a new vortex rapidly take shape within the torrent of [destiny].

'Thankfully, the last life tribulation was so massive that not even [destiny] can force me into the next one right away. There will be a long breathing spell in between, since a life tribulation also needs time to accumulate karma. Even so, I still have to make my choice now and set the course of the next life tribulation.'

Wang Ping narrowed his eyes.

With [Paradox-Resolving Pacifying] in his grip, he could enter a vantage point beyond the reach of mortal beings—a perspective known as true reality.

And through it, he saw everything clearly.

A figure sat enthroned within the Cosmos, crowned by the heavens and treading the earth, one hand resting upon a longsword of gathered starlight across his knees—square, upright, and unbending.

[True Monarch Fengxian Daozheng].

The metal qi True Monarch seemed to have deliberately lowered his stature, allowing Wang Ping to make out the face of his Dharma body—chiseled as if by blade and axe, and vast as the starry sky.

Ordinarily, for a lowly mortal cultivator, looking directly upon such a majestic entity would have burst him apart on the spot, just as when he had glimpsed the Brahma form of the [Master of Secret Traces]. Now, however, as his merit stirred, a glint of true gold lit up in his eyes, keeping him clear-headed and composed.

[In the World of Men]!

Immediately after, he heard a profound voice ring out from the unseen void, clanging like crossing blades before resolving into words a mortal could hear.

"Hand over [Paradox-Resolving Pacifying]."

It was a simple, curt demand.

Wang Ping lowered his eyes without answering and glanced toward another corner of the heavens—only to see the radiance of water qi rapidly fading into nothingness.

[True Monarch Shuofang Hanyou] had slipped away.

And not just him—[True Monarch Hanguang Danyang] was gone as well. Both colossal Dharma bodies vanished one after another, leaving Wang Ping standing there all alone.

As for [Primordial Sovereign Mingxing Xuanyi]?

Nowhere to be seen either.

Every bit of water qi's manifest glory had fallen squarely on Wang Ping's shoulders, while the two high cultivators had happily vanished into thin air, leaving the junior to take the heat.

Since the manifest glory had fallen on Wang Ping, the karma naturally followed. Both the imagery of the [Hundred Treasures Great Abundance Granary] and [Supreme Dao Lord Xuangong]'s Great Dao of the [Five Phases] now rested in Wang Ping's hands—or more precisely, within the shaft of [Paradox-Resolving Pacifying].

'So that's why they're coming after me.'

Metal qi wanted to reclaim the imagery of the [Hundred Treasures Great Abundance Granary], while fire qi wanted to devour the Great Dao of the [Five Phases]—and both happened to be in Wang Ping's possession.

The only reason they hadn't snatched it outright was that Wang Ping currently stood with his back to the [Dao Tomb], where the eight ancient Dao Lords had already revealed themselves in a tense standoff.

Resolving the standoff would be simple enough: all he had to do was hand over [Paradox-Resolving Pacifying]. Once the karma was severed, he wouldn't have to worry about a thing. Yet therein lay the problem.

Wang Ping had no intention of handing it over.

After all, this wasn't just about giving up [Paradox-Resolving Pacifying].

It meant handing over a True Monarch's Dao-proving artifact, the imagery of the [Hundred Treasures Great Abundance Granary], and the Great Dao of the [Five Phases] all at once—three peerless treasures hard to find anywhere in the world!

'I won them by my own skill—why the hell should I hand them over?'

Unfortunately, circumstances were stronger than people. The eight ancient Dao Lords could hold off at most a single True Monarch, and Wang Ping wasn't even sure whether they would be willing to risk their lives for him.

Thankfully—

'I prepared for this long ago.'

Wang Ping let out a deep breath of turbid air. This was the very reason he had used the [Ascending Purity and Descending Turbidity Aspect] to split himself in two and send his turbid body into the earth yin water.

Compared to his current pure-aspect body, his turbid body was where his true life force rested—and the heart of the tacit deal between him and that great figure.

With that in mind, Wang Ping finally smiled and said, "I'm afraid I must decline."

Boom!

Before the words had even left his mouth, a bolt of gold-and-white light plummeted from the colossal Dharma body before him, moving to seize the arrow by force without wasting another word.

At almost the exact same instant—

"Fellow Daoist Fengxian, why bully a junior?"

As the voice rang out, the eight Dao Lords inside the [Dao Tomb] struck in unison—fists, palms, sabers, spears, swords, and halberds blasting forth from the depths of the void!

In an instant, the world before Wang Ping's eyes blurred. The figure of [True Monarch Fengxian Daozheng] and the eight Dao Lords vanished together into deep space, seemingly at the far ends of the heavens yet right before his face—until a blazing sun flared in the depths of space and reached out to seize him once more.

[True Monarch Zhaoxuan Jinming]!

Even fighting together, the eight Dao Lords could barely hold back a single True Monarch; they had no way of stopping a second. Wang Ping was immediately snatched up into the center of a giant palm.

"Jinming!"

"Foul Daoist... how dare you!"

Ignoring the furious roars of the ancient Dao Lords, a vast power descended straight from the heart of the blazing sun, thoroughly scouring Wang Ping's pure-aspect body.

Yet he came up completely empty.

"Where is [Paradox-Resolving Pacifying]?"

Lying across that colossal palm, which radiated boundless light and heat that nearly scorched his pure-aspect body to a crisp, Wang Ping simply sprawled out flat in the shape of the character for "wood."

"Don't have it."

For a split second, the fire qi True Monarch almost laughed out loud.

What nerve!

In all the world, the man before him was probably the only Qi Refining practitioner who would dare speak to a True Monarch in that tone. Did he truly think a True Monarch could do nothing to him?

At that thought, [True Monarch Zhaoxuan Jinming] wasted no more words and immediately traced through Wang Ping's pure-aspect body across the void to lock onto the true seat of his life force.

The location of his turbid body!

It was hiding in the earth yin water, nothing more. At the end of the day, that was still just one of the qi of heaven and earth—at worst, he could tear it open and fish the man straight out of it.

Before long, he found his answer.

"...Hm?"

Then he froze. When he traced the turbid body housing Wang Ping's life force, he discovered that it wasn't in the earth yin water at all—it had turned up in another realm entirely.

The [Heaven Defiance Palace].

This last remnant of the Great Rebellion had vanished from sight after [Supreme Dao Lord Xuangong]'s death, leading everyone to assume it had disappeared once more.

Yet at this moment, they saw the [Heaven Defiance Palace] descending anew. Though it had left the [Star Grave Sand Sea], it had not gone far, settling in the nearby Cosmos just a short distance away—and behind those mountain-sized palace gates, an ant-like figure was faintly visible.

It was none other than Wang Ping.

At some unknown point, his turbid body had slipped right past the gazes of all the True Monarchs and sneaked silently into the [Heaven Defiance Palace]!

"Mingxing?"

Without a moment's hesitation, [True Monarch Zhaoxuan Jinming] leaped to that instinctive conclusion—yet almost immediately, he ruled it out.

Earlier, when Wang Ping had brought his nine qi manifestations to completion and suffered the backlash of the earth yin water, they had worried that [Primordial Sovereign Mingxing Xuanyi] might seize the chance to interfere, and had kept a tight watch over everything. They were certain that unless that she-devil had become an immortal, there was no way she could have spirited Wang Ping's turbid body away.

Yet if not her, who else could it be?

"Shuofang... is even less likely. He only just proved [Heaven-Water Dispute]. Even if he was formerly a Bodhisattva, he still needs to enter seclusion to familiarize himself with his new supreme station of heaven and earth."

"In that case..."

In a flash, countless thoughts surged through [True Monarch Zhaoxuan Jinming]'s star-blazing eyes before finally settling upon a single title.

Water qi was certainly skilled in concealment, yet among the other orthodoxies there were also entities adept at hiding or possessing similar profound mysteries. Water qi was by no means the only one.

Earth qi had [Earth-Mountain Modesty], which likewise excelled at concealment.

Metal qi had [Heaven-Mountain Retreat], renowned as the foremost art of escape.

Fire qi was no exception either, as [Earth-Fire Darkening of the Light] possessed its own methods of concealment—though since no one currently held that station, it did not count.

As for metal qi, if they had been involved, [True Monarch Fengxian Daozheng] would not have been completely in the dark; the same held true for [True Monarch Hanguang Danyang] with earth qi.

Which meant, by process of elimination—

'Only wood qi is left.'

With that realization, [True Monarch Zhaoxuan Jinming] had his answer. He raised his head, opened his Dharma eye, and gazed far off toward the Immortal Gate.

"It is [Wind-Earth Contemplation]..."

Great contemplation above, yielding and penetrating as the wind.

Thus the wind swept over the earth, and all things looked up in reverence. Transcending the mortal world, this Dao could observe both the divine way of heaven and the moral transformation of the people. It was the hidden aspect of wood qi, and a True Monarch did indeed currently sit upon that station.

"Earth yin water gives birth to heaven yang wood. Borrowing that mystery of mutual generation, Fellow Daoist, you quietly ferried this man's life force from earth yin water into heaven yang wood, drew him out from the wood qi, and secretly sent him into the [Heaven Defiance Palace]. Truly a fine move—the hidden aspect of wood qi lives up to its name."

The next second, [True Monarch Zhaoxuan Jinming] said darkly, "Yet you have always watched the board in silence, Fellow Daoist. By reaching into the game now, have you decided to break that silence, take charge of wood qi, and revive the Immortal Prescription Courtyard?"

The Cosmos remained silent; no answer came.

Yet silence was sometimes an answer in itself, which only fanned [True Monarch Zhaoxuan Jinming]'s anger. After all, he had already set his sights on the [Five Phases].

Now, however, he had no way to sink his teeth into it.

He had thought that even though his scheme for [Lake-Fire Revolution] had failed, he would at least walk away with a consolation prize—only for the consolation prize to sprout wings and fly away too.

"Hmph!"

With a flick of his sleeve, he flung Wang Ping's pure-aspect body straight back toward the [Dao Tomb], while across the void, [True Monarch Fengxian Daozheng] drifted back into a distant corner of the heavens.

Wang Ping didn't mind in the slightest; he simply dusted himself off and got back to his feet.

'To think it was actually wood qi!' He had already guessed where his turbid body would end up, though he hadn't expected the one lending him a hand to be wood qi. Still, when he thought about it carefully...

It made perfect sense.

As for why it was the [Heaven Defiance Palace], Wang Ping wasn't surprised at all.

'After all, a junior cultivator as useful as me only comes along once in a millennium. Not putting me to work in a place like the [Heaven Defiance Palace] would be a shameless waste, wouldn't it?'

Good steel belonged on the cutting edge of the blade!

Meanwhile, the eight Dao Lords within the [Dao Tomb] were all wounded and seeping Dharma blood, yet every last one of them stood tall without the slightest hint of compromise.

"Enough."

The voice of [Dao] echoed darkly: "If we are to continue, then let us shatter the [Star Grave Sand Sea] and use that karma to drag both the metal and fire lineages into the grave with us."

"..."

All at once, heaven and earth cleared.

By tacit agreement, both [True Monarch Zhaoxuan Jinming] and [True Monarch Fengxian Daozheng] withdrew their profound power and merit, receding once more into the unseen Cosmos.

Now that Wang Ping's turbid body had entered the [Heaven Defiance Palace], not even a True Monarch could use his pure-aspect body as a medium to reach across the void and capture or kill it. Besides, even though water qi was acting as if it couldn't care less, heaven knew where it truly stood, making it unwise to actually kill him. Under the circumstances...

If they wanted to recover [Paradox-Resolving Pacifying], their only option was to send their disciples into the [Heaven Defiance Palace] to hunt him down—a matter beyond the direct reach of the True Monarchs themselves.

Fortunately, it was only his turbid body.

All it had was his life force, without a shred of cultivation. No matter how well he hid, there was no way they would fail to catch him. It would just take a little extra time. Surely nothing could go wrong...

...Right?