Chapter 438: Kunyun: The Sky Is Falling!

In an instant, the true golden light originating from [In the World of Men] in Wang Ping's eyes trembled slightly, flickering several times before barely holding steady.

Even so, a vast torrent of Dao attainment and knowledge tied to the [Cavern Abyss Clear Profound Dragon Thunder Directorate of Waterways Divine Seat] before him kept hounding his divine sense. His head throbbed as if it might split open, his mind spinning dizzily. Pressing a hand to his forehead, he stumbled backward, taking a long while to recover.

"Hiss... That's the Human Emperor's own handwriting!"

At that moment, Wang Ping was a hundred percent certain that the one who had penned this line was none other than the Human Emperor of the Great Rebellion. There was no other possibility.

'More than that—this was a joint attempt by the Human Emperor and the [Heavenly Banner Pardoning True Monarch]. Through the [Five Thunders Divine Firmament Office], they wanted to forge a Supreme Position for each of the five thunders of the Divine Firmament lineage and canonize five Divine Monarchs, using the merit of those seats to elevate the [Heavenly Banner Pardoning True Monarch] to immortality!'

Wang Ping pressed hard between his brows.

His Martial Dao Pre-Heaven Stage flesh operated on its own, coating his skin in a flawless golden sheen, yet the subtle ache in his head did not subside in the slightest.

'Divine Monarchs... Divine Monarchs.'

'What tremendous audacity!'

Fierce waves of Dao attainment roared up against Wang Ping's will. Without the protection of [In the World of Men], his murky body would have dropped dead on the spot.

'The [Heavenly Banner Pardoning True Monarch] wanted to borrow the Great Rebellion's art of deification to forge divine seats and canonize five Divine Monarchs, leveraging the majesty of the Great Rebellion to reach the supreme mystery of a True Monarch and carve his Divine Firmament Five Thunders lineage into Cosmic Deep Space. Both his ambition and his daring were second to none.' Still, the attempt had likely ended in failure.

The reason was simple. In theory, there should have been five divine seats for the Divine Firmament Five Thunders, yet earlier inside the [Incense-Draped Hall], he had seen no sign of an Altar Thunder divine seat.

'They only succeeded once.'

And that sole success was this [Cavern Abyss Clear Profound Dragon Thunder Directorate of Waterways Divine Seat]. Aside from this, their attempts with the other thunders of the Divine Firmament had almost certainly failed.

As for why only the Directorate of Waterways had succeeded?

'Because of the Primordial Monarch...'

Wang Ping raised his head. The inscription on the Xuanhuang jade wall was already fading fast. The actual divine seat could not possibly be kept here; this place held only a single recorded line.

Clearly, this Xuanhuang jade wall served as something akin to an ancestral shrine. The Directorate of Waterways had placed it here to enshrine the founder of the Thunder Office, the ancestral master of Water Qi, and the Human Emperor. As for the [Cavern Abyss Clear Profound Dragon Thunder Directorate of Waterways Divine Seat], it was the fruit of all three parties working together.

The Human Emperor had clearly poured immense care into it.

'This divine seat carries the aura of a Supreme Position of Heaven and Earth,' Wang Ping thought, his eyes widening as he recalled that fleeting glimpse and reached his conclusion.

'It's a method similar to [Lake-Fire Revolution].'

He turned it over in his mind: 'The Human Emperor personally plucked the imagery of a Supreme Position of Heaven and Earth and fused it into this divine seat, granting it the profound power to elevate a practitioner into a Divine Monarch.'

'Compared to [Lake-Fire Revolution], which merely forged a Spiritual Treasure, the Human Emperor undoubtedly invested far more care and effort into this divine seat—and there was almost certainly secret coordination and help from the Primordial Monarch. Could that Supreme Position of Heaven and Earth be tied to Water Qi, a Supreme Position formed from combinations of the [Kan Trigram]?'

'...Not necessarily.'

Wang Ping remembered why he had come here in the first place: the active guidance of the Wood Qi True Monarch. In other words, the Wood Qi True Monarch might well have had a hand in this too.

The combined strength of four great powers!

'Come to think of it, the [Thunder-Water Deliverance] cultivated by the [Heavenly Banner Pardoning True Monarch] corresponds to the [Zhen Trigram] and the [Kan Trigram]—which are Wood Qi and Water Qi to begin with.'

At that thought, Wang Ping's mind raced. He immediately recalled the old bond of shared incense between the two lineages that Hengxu had kept mentioning earlier. Could this be where it came from?

'So the [Cavern Abyss Clear Profound Dragon Thunder Directorate of Waterways Divine Seat] might also draw upon Wood Qi, encompassing the Heaven and Earth Supreme Position imagery of both [Zhen] and [Xun]. Miraculous craftsmanship—truly beyond human artistry! True Monarchs of both Qi Consumption and Qi Refining actually carried out such an earth-shattering experiment in secret!'

A wave of regret rose within Wang Ping.

Who knew how much painstaking effort and how many rare treasures had been spent to finally forge a divine seat that met their requirements—only for it never to be passed down to the world.

Because the Great Rebellion had fallen.

A grand immortal dynasty, the symbol of the Qi Ingestion Method's return to greatness, a superpower presided over by the Human Emperor himself, had collapsed abruptly without the slightest warning. After a moment of quiet sighing, Wang Ping looked back at the Xuanhuang jade wall before him, everything clicking into place: 'So the Wood Qi True Monarch wants me to bring this divine seat—the fruit of their painstaking labor back then—out of the [Heaven Defiance Palace], and the Primordial Monarch tacitly agreed. That's why the two of them chose to cooperate.'

Which brought up the real question.

Where was the divine seat? A single line of text wasn't enough to track it down, and even if he found it, could someone at his level of cultivation even get close to such a peerless treasure?

Wang Ping felt that might pose a slight challenge.

The next second, while he was still mulling it over, the surrounding darkness suddenly melted away, as if black ink smeared across a scroll had been wiped clean out of thin air.

The glow of the Xuanhuang jade wall illuminated the pitch-black pavilion of the [Directorate of Waterways].

Clear light shimmered softly through the hall.

Wang Ping focused his gaze, then blinked in surprise—for what met his eyes was not the grand pavilion he had pictured, but a stretch of indescribable ruin.

The sprawling interior of the [Directorate of Waterways] pavilion was an utter mess. Whoever had been inside before evacuating had apparently pried loose and hauled off everything they could carry—the floor tiles, the ceiling murals, the carved dragons and painted phoenixes on the pillars. Not a single piece had been left behind, save for this Xuanhuang jade wall standing alone in the center.

And even that had only been spared because it was load-bearing.

If they had dismantled the Xuanhuang jade wall too, the entire [Directorate of Waterways] would probably have caved in and shattered on the spot, which was the only reason those people had shown it any mercy before leaving.

"It's completely different from the [Incense-Draped Hall]."

The various secret realms inside the [Incense-Draped Hall], such as [Shiyang Temple] and [Chengtian Palace], had remained almost exactly as they were before the fall of the Great Rebellion.

Yet the [Directorate of Waterways] before him looked as if a swarm of locusts had stripped it bare while fleeing a disaster—almost as though its occupants had foreseen the Great Rebellion's demise ahead of time.

'Leaving not a single brick or tile behind, scraping three chi off the earth on their way out, plus the Primordial Monarch enshrined inside this Xuanhuang jade wall...' Wang Ping bared his teeth and rubbed his chin. 'Damn it, don't tell me this [Directorate of Waterways] was founded by the Water Qi lineage?'

That felt very likely!

Wang Ping strode forward through the ruined pavilion, circling the jade wall and climbing floor by floor until he reached the very top.

'Fuck me, they really scraped this place down to the bone!'

He couldn't stop himself from cursing.

Back in the [Incense-Draped Hall], he had bagged plenty of good loot, and that was while scrambling for it against a whole crowd of Qi Refining practitioners.

Yet here in the [Directorate of Waterways]?

Even spirit materials at the Tribulation Transcending tier had been plucked clean, leaving not a scrap for anyone who came after. There was no need to guess anymore—these were definitely cultivators under the banner of Water Qi!

On the top floor of the pavilion, Wang Ping soon arrived before a quiet chamber in the deepest recess. His eyes flickered slightly; for once, he wasn't looking at a pile of rubble. Scattered classics lay across the floor, left behind by the evacuees, while a radiant dark pedestal stood in the center of the room.

Wang Ping swept his divine sense over them at once. There was a good reason the scattered texts had been left behind: they were all miscellaneous jottings and idle notes, devoid of any Daoist treatise and recording only trivial daily affairs.

He quickly fixed his gaze on the dark pedestal instead.

Resting prominently upon it was a treasured scripture.

At the four corners of the volume sat four kinds of dragon-kin—the hornless chi, the flood dragon, the horned qiu, and the serpent-like hui—some hornless, some scaleless, each distinct in form. Attending upon the book, they breathed forth a line of golden characters:

[Profound True Secret Essentials of the Flood Dragon Entering the Sea].

"Did I hit the jackpot?"

Wang Ping rubbed his hands together and looked closer.

"Causing a creature of the wilds to course down the river and enter the sea to become a dragon... This is actually a fate-cultivating art?"

Wang Ping was somewhat surprised. Even within the vast ocean of Daoist scriptures collected by the Immortal Gate, so-called [Fate-Cultivating Arts] were an exceedingly rare category of techniques.

True to their name, such methods cultivated one's [Destiny Pattern]—teaching a practitioner how to attune their life to the myriad mysteries of heaven and earth, increase their weight within [destiny], and make their fate noble. In doing so, they lowered the difficulty of crossing a life tribulation, sensing a qi manifestation, establishing merit, and even pursuing True Cultivation.

Naturally, these arts were divided into grades as well.

The lowest grade of fate-cultivating arts merely aided a cultivator in breaking through to the Tribulation Transcending Third Layer and sketching out their destiny form, while superior ones could assist in crossing a life tribulation. Yet the [Profound True Secret Essentials of the Flood Dragon Entering the Sea] before him was unmistakably the cream of the crop—for its very title bore the word "True"!

'Turning a creature of the wilds into a True Dragon... If cultivated to perfection, such an alteration of one's Destiny Pattern would make one's fate nearly as noble as a reincarnated True Person's. Pursuing True Cultivation with a Destiny Pattern like that would boost one's odds of success by at least thirty percent. This really is a peerless secret manual—I just don't know if I can practice it...'

Wang Ping's brows slowly knitted together.

He discovered that he couldn't cultivate this wondrous method at all. Its core requirement was to establish an immortal dynasty and use the fortune of an entire nation to reshape one's Destiny Pattern.

None but the ruler of an immortal dynasty could use it.

'This wasn't prepared for me.'

Understanding struck Wang Ping in a flash. The Wood Qi True Monarch had made a move, providing a manual that lowered the difficulty of cultivation and could only be used by the ruler of an immortal dynasty. The answer could not have been clearer.

'Xianfu?'

Ranked third among the True Transmission disciples, the reigning Emperor of Great Gan inside the [Eight Trigrams Furnace], and his own good brother—whose Tribulation Transcending Third Layer cultivation had admittedly fallen behind the times.

'Am I supposed to bring this secret manual to Xianfu?'

'For this method to be enshrined like this inside the [Directorate of Waterways], what resonates with it might even be that [Cavern Abyss Clear Profound Dragon Thunder Directorate of Waterways Divine Seat].'

Wang Ping sucked in a sharp breath. Could the divine seat have been prepared for Xianfu too?

The thought immediately drove home just how special Xianfu was. Even the Wood Qi True Monarch seemed to be placing a piece on him; the waters behind this ran deep indeed.

Besides, this place was the [Heaven Defiance Palace], where only those at the Tribulation Transcending Third Layer could enter. From that angle, Xianfu was practically guaranteed to come in. Had the True Monarch personally ordained that Xianfu would claim the greatest opportunity in the [Heaven Defiance Palace], soar straight to the heavens, and stun everyone in a single stroke?

Could there be a trap in this?

Wang Ping stroked his chin. In no hurry, he silently recorded the entire manual in his memory, planning to find a chance to talk things over with Xianfu once he got out.

After committing the full text to memory, however, Wang Ping stumbled upon a pleasant surprise: tucked inside the manual was a combat art as well.

[Zhen-Scale Heavenly Thunder Scripture]!

"This is... an art for birthing [Dragon Thunder] and commanding it at will!"

Zhen represented thunder, and the dragon was the chief of all scaled creatures.

Thus, "Zhen-Scale" was actually a metaphor for [Dragon Thunder]. Upon studying it closely, Wang Ping realized it was even a Major Divine Ability.

"Just like the [Profound True Secret Essentials of the Flood Dragon Entering the Sea], although this divine ability was born from Water and Wood Qi, what it resonates with isn't the Twenty-Four Qi, but the [Cavern Abyss Clear Profound Dragon Thunder Directorate of Waterways Divine Seat]—along with a matching qi manifestation called the [Thunderstorm Flood Dragon], which wields the power to drive thunder and summon lightning."

Incredible—truly incredible! Wang Ping clicked his tongue in wonder. They had even created a matching qi manifestation, proving that the Great Rebellion had refined the entire cultivation system of Dragon Thunder to near perfection.

Of course, cultivators outside the Dragon Thunder lineage weren't barred from practicing it either.

'Since it draws from both Water and Wood Qi and is named [Dragon Thunder], practitioners of Heavenly Yang Wood's [Thunder Sound Universal Transformation Azure Thunder Qi], which takes the image of thunder, can practice it as well.'

"As for Water Qi, practitioners of Heavenly Yin Water's [Cloud Dragon Knocking on Heaven Rain-Spreading Qi] and Earthly Yin Water's [Hidden Dragon Meridian-Circulating Nether-Penetrating Qi], both of which take the image of the dragon, can also cultivate it."

Compared to resonating directly with the [Cavern Abyss Clear Profound Dragon Thunder Directorate of Waterways Divine Seat], however, the [Zhen-Scale Heavenly Thunder Scripture] cultivated by ordinary Water or Wood Qi practitioners would be far weaker. Without the special [Thunderstorm Flood Dragon] qi manifestation to support it, this Major Divine Ability was practically useless to a Qi Refining practitioner.

"Hmm... Maybe not."

Wang Ping's eyes narrowed slightly as a bold idea struck him. If the [Thunderstorm Flood Dragon] wouldn't work, he could just find a way to swap in a new qi manifestation.

...

[Heavenly Craft Cave Abode].

In a dim quiet chamber, a man devoid of any cultivation sat cross-legged. His breathing was faint, and though he was alive, an inexplicable corpse-like stillness clung to him.

Then, in a sudden instant, his eyelids twitched. Vitality surged through him at once, filling him with spiritual awareness, and when he opened his eyes, he looked no different from an ordinary living man.

It was Wang Ping's clone. Ever since severing this clone from himself through the ninth scripture scroll, [Forsaken by Man], Wang Ping had kept it in seclusion on standby without rushing to put it to use.

Now the timing was just right.

'If I want to get in touch with Xianfu as quickly as possible, using this clone is much more convenient. After all, my murky body can't easily leave the [Heaven Defiance Palace], and my clear form is all the way out in the [Star Grave Sand Sea]. This clone is the closest,' Wang Ping calculated, though he didn't set out right away.

He wanted to test the idea he'd just had first.

The next second, Wang Ping held out his palm and stirred his thoughts—and before long, a five-colored arrowhead as heavy as a mountain materialized out of thin air.

[Forsaken by Man]!

This scripture scroll allowed him to sever any object from his main body and transfer it to his clone. Just now, he had severed the karma of the [Paradox-Resolving Pacifying Arrowhead] and shifted it over here.

The best part was that the [Paradox-Resolving Pacifying Arrowhead], a True Monarch's Dao-proving artifact, recognized its master through karma to begin with. Once that karma landed on the clone, the artifact followed the resonance straight over. Sitting inside the [Heavenly Craft Cave Abode], it was now in practically the safest place in the world.

"Hum!"

In Wang Ping's palm, the [Paradox-Resolving Pacifying Arrowhead] quivered faintly, as if sensing something amiss, and sniffed at its master's body like a kitten.

Yep, no problem.

Still the same master. The trembling quickly subsided, and the [Paradox-Resolving Pacifying Arrowhead] settled calmly back into Wang Ping's palm, gorgeous five-colored light flowing across its surface.

[Five Phases]!

This was the Dao lineage that [Supreme Dao Lord Xuangong] had revised countless times during his life before finally forging it into shape and completing its metamorphosis through the profound mystery of [Lake-Fire Revolution].

Wang Ping actually thought very highly of it. Holding it in his hand now, he activated [Golden Sea Desiccation] and immersed himself in comprehending the Great Dao. Yet the deeper he delved into the [Five Phases], the stronger his sense grew that the cultivation philosophy behind this lineage was downright heretical.

'It doesn't enter Yin and Yang, nor does it use the Three Powers.'

Pure Five Phases.

That sounded simple enough in theory, yet putting it into practice was unfathomably difficult, because the qi of heaven and earth was inherently an intertwined whole of the Three Powers, Yin-Yang, and the Five Phases.

The three were nearly inseparable.

Yet the [Five Phases] had pulled it off anyway, stripping away the imagery of Yin-Yang and the Three Powers to leave only the permutations of the Five Phases—a feat of sheer brilliance.

'How should I put it...'

Wang Ping rubbed his chin.

It didn't quite feel like something [Supreme Dao Lord Xuangong] could have pulled off on his own. If he'd possessed Dao attainment that lofty, he shouldn't have been stuck in a bottleneck for tens of thousands of years. At least from Wang Ping's perspective, this looked much more like a cultivation philosophy and method proposed from a bird's-eye view by a cultivator of an even higher Realm.

'Maybe... I can ask around.'

With that in mind, Wang Ping split off a thread of consciousness once more, crossing layers of void to return to his clear form, which had been sent into seclusion in the [Star Grave Sand Sea].

"Senior [Yang]!"

There was no response.

Wang Ping thought for a moment, then called out respectfully, "There is a matter regarding cultivation that I cannot fathom no matter how I try. I humbly ask Senior for guidance."

A figure in white appeared abruptly.

[Yang], who had been secretly watching Wang Ping for quite some time, put on a composed, transcendent air of immortal grace and spoke in an indifferent tone, "Though your comprehension is high, your Realm is still too low. It's only natural to run into things you don't understand in cultivation. Speak—what is it you can't figure out? I shall clear your doubts."

Even so, right after saying that, [Yang] seemed to remember something and hurriedly added, "However, if your question is about the [Mysterious Pass Single Aperture], there's no need to ask. Not because I don't know the answer, mind you, but because that barrier can only be crossed on your own. Giving you pointers would only backfire."

"This junior understands."

Wang Ping nodded obligingly, considerately sparing [Yang]'s pride. Without pressing the matter, he shifted the subject. "This junior wishes to ask about the Five Phases."

"...Yi Shentong?"

At the mention of that name, [Yang]'s tone shifted noticeably, though he quickly realized why the boy was asking and looked at Wang Ping in slight surprise.

The next second, Wang Ping spoke up, "This junior was just contemplating the [Five Phases] and found the lineage unfathomably profound. Its Daoist theory stands at such a lofty height that it doesn't quite seem like the work of an ordinary person..."

Hearing this, [Yang] let out a sigh.

'Remarkable.'

He didn't say the word aloud, yet he couldn't help marveling to himself. Someone blessed with top-tier comprehension really was built differently—the boy had actually seen right through it.

Knowing full well what Wang Ping was getting at, he chuckled and said, "You want to ask whether the Great Dao of the [Five Phases] was truly pioneered by Yi Shentong himself?"

Wang Ping nodded.

Rather than answering right away, [Yang] spoke softly, "When it comes to Yi Shentong, if you look across his whole life, you'll see just how unusual he was."

"He was actually quite young, having achieved the Dao during the very peak of the Great Rebellion. By that era, however, True Cultivation was already in full swing. Nearly every cultivator was pursuing True Cultivation, and cultivating the Dao had long since been phased out. Yet he was one of the exceedingly rare practitioners of that age who still cultivated the Dao. Don't you find that strange?"

Of course it was strange. Anyone who looked closely into the matter would realize that, though since Yi Shentong was already dead, Wang Ping hadn't given it much thought until now.

"The reason is actually quite simple."

A trace of reminiscence crept into [Yang]'s voice. "According to Yi Shentong himself, it was because he obtained the inheritance of an immortal!"

"It was precisely because of that immortal's inheritance that he cultivated the Dao. And since he caught the tide of a golden age when the Great Rebellion stood at its zenith, he became a Dao Lord at a remarkably young age."

Wang Ping stared blankly, then shook his head by reflex.

'An immortal's inheritance? What a joke! If he really had an immortal's inheritance, how would those bitch-born True Monarchs and True Persons ever let him cling to life for tens of thousands of years?'

Seeing his reaction, [Yang] burst out laughing. "Exactly. Back then, everyone thought the same as you—that Yi Shentong was just gilding his own reputation. After all, despite claiming to have received an immortal's inheritance, he couldn't utter a single word about which immortal it was, what cultivation method he practiced, or any of the particulars."

"So at first, most people treated it as a joke."

"It wasn't until he proved the [Five Phases] and ascended to become a Dao Lord that those who recognized its true worth and saw how lofty the Daoist theory of the [Five Phases] was began to harbor a few doubts."

"At the same time, an immortal's inheritance would explain why he swam against the tide of the era to cultivate the Dao and pioneer the [Five Phases] instead of choosing True Cultivation."

After all, if it truly was an immortal's inheritance, even going against the current of the times would still promise a boundless future.

An immortal couldn't possibly be wrong.

"Of course, most still believed it wasn't an immortal's inheritance," [Yang] said, curling his lip. "Including us. We believe he was schemed against."

"This so-called Daoist theory of the [Five Phases] is utterly unorthodox. Lofty as its vision is, rather than calling it an immortal's inheritance, it looks far more like a method from beyond the realm."

"Beyond the realm?" Wang Ping raised an eyebrow.

"Territories outside Cosmic Deep Space and the Land of the Three Enclosures," [Yang] said casually. "Some of them are lost Immortal Realms left behind after True Monarchs passed into nirvana."

"Others formed naturally."

"Compared to Cosmic Deep Space, however, those lands beyond the realm are like fleeting illusions, rising and perishing by chance. The vast majority aren't worth mentioning."

"Only a tiny fraction possess a relatively stable order, much like minor worlds, and every now and then one crashes into Cosmic Deep Space. Once, a land from beyond the realm fell into the Brahma Nation and was smashed to pieces by the Great Black Heaven Bodhisattva—the [Lord of Salvation], who was still an arhat at the time—becoming the foundation of His merit."

[Yang] explained the matter in detail before offering his final verdict, "All in all, while most lands beyond the realm hold no value, a few of them are quite striking and well suited for living in seclusion away from the world."

"For instance, during the Dao struggles of old."

[Yang] let out a quiet sigh. "With every upheaval of the Immortal Dao, there were always those who grew disheartened, unwilling to turn against their former fellow practitioners as mortal enemies."

"So they chose to journey far beyond the realm and forsake the Cosmos forever."

"I have to admit, that choice had plenty of followers. After struggling so hard to attain longevity, what was so bad about amusing oneself and whiling away eternity in a carefree stupor?"

"Especially those Daoists—and even Dao Lords—whose lineages were ultimately phased out. Rather than huddling here in the [Star Grave Sand Sea], they preferred to leave for the lands beyond the realm."

As those words fell, [Yang]'s voice turned icy. "Do you know that in the beginning, the [Star Grave Sand Sea] had far more than a mere twenty-four sanctuaries? Accumulated over countless ages, there should have been well over a hundred—yet far too many chose in the end to abandon Cosmic Deep Space."

A pang of frustration tightened in Wang Ping's chest at that.

"And you Seniors just let them walk away like that?"

'Fuck that. Living on my turf, sheltered under my wing, and then they just dust off their asses and walk away? If it were me, I'd at least flay a layer of skin off them first.'

'Or better yet, send them on their way myself!'

"..."

[Yang] could read Wang Ping's thoughts at a glance. No wonder that she-devil thought so highly of him—this mindset was textbook Water Qi through and through.

"They were our former fellow practitioners, after all. None of us had the heart to strike them down, so we let them go," [Yang] said, reining in his thoughts to offer an explanation.

Wang Ping, however, wasn't having it and shook his head flatly. "Forgive this junior for speaking bluntly, but the moment those people decided to abandon the [Star Grave Sand Sea], they ceased to be fellow practitioners to you Seniors. All of you made such tremendous sacrifices to preserve our Dao lineages—how dare cowardly deserters who fled before the battle claim to be fellow practitioners?"

"If you ask me, every last one of them deserved to die! Without killing them, there's no way to steady everyone's hearts."

Wang Ping drew a hand sharply across his throat.

"Heading beyond the realm means forsaking the Cosmos anyway. If you Seniors had ambushed and slaughtered them in secret, then announced to the outside world that they'd left for the lands beyond the realm, not a soul would have found out..."

[Yang]'s scalp prickled as he listened.

This kid was ruthless to the bone.

And yet—he had to admit, claiming that such thoughts had never once crossed his own mind back then would have been a lie.

'Perhaps we really should have been more ruthless.'

Something seemed to click inside [Yang].

Ten thousand years after ten thousand years had passed, and by now the ancient cultivation lineages were weighed down by habits too entrenched to break. They had truly reached a point where they had to seek change or perish.

Otherwise, they wouldn't have joined forces to rescue Wang Ping earlier. Hadn't they done so precisely because they saw potential in him approaching that of the Human Emperor, hoping to find a variable to break the deadlock?

'Compared to those bitch-born immortal cultivators, we aren't ruthless enough, and we fall short in scheming and calculation too. Worse still, because we carry too many burdens on our shoulders, we've grown indecisive when it comes to taking action. It was the same with the Great Rebellion back then—we debated for ages, and by the time we finally decided to come out of seclusion, the Great Rebellion had already fallen.'

They needed a decision-maker. That person didn't need sky-high cultivation, but he did need extraordinary grit and methods—someone capable of leading them to make ancient cultivation great again.

"..."

Looking back at Wang Ping, who was rattling on without pause as one devious scheme after another popped out of his mouth, [Yang] fell into a brief daze.

In truth, what pleased him most was that even though Wang Ping had an unforgiving tongue and spoke only of sinister, cutthroat decisions devoid of morality, the more ruthless the boy sounded, the clearer one thing became: Wang Ping genuinely regarded himself and the ancient cultivation lineages as standing on the same side. Sometimes, that sense of belonging mattered more than anything else.

The next second, Wang Ping's voice rang out, "By the way, Senior, can I go beyond the realm?"

"You?" Snapping out of his thoughts, [Yang] shook his head at once. "At your current cultivation, going beyond the realm is far too premature. Though if you really want to go, it isn't particularly hard."

The corners of [Yang]'s mouth curved upward slightly. "Because a [Star Grave] itself is a gateway to the lands beyond the realm. If you want to explore out there, all you have to do is find a [Star Grave]—or simply create one yourself—and charge right in... It's just that a [Star Grave] is a one-way door. Once you go in, getting back out is extremely difficult."

"Besides, merely Entering the Dao is still far too weak."

[Yang] shook his head. "Unless you reach the True Person stage of True Cultivation or have a special exotic treasure to protect you, it's best not to venture beyond the realm, or you'll easily get lost out there forever."

So that was how it worked.

Wang Ping gave a slight nod, feeling that this trip had been well worth it. Clearly, as his cultivation climbed higher and higher, the secrets of Cosmic Deep Space were coming into ever sharper focus before his eyes.

...

[Heavenly Craft Cave Abode].

Wang Ping's consciousness returned to his clone. Having cleared up the doubts in his heart, it was as though he had pierced through another barrier of knowledge and perception, and inspiration welled up in his mind like a spring.

"Now is the perfect time to contemplate the [Five Phases]!"

Sitting cross-legged, Wang Ping took out the [Paradox-Resolving Pacifying Arrowhead] at once and immersed himself again in its five-colored radiance, marveling silently to himself:

'This barrier of knowledge and perception really is a wonderful thing.'

According to [Yang], the so-called barrier of knowledge and perception was actually a protective mechanism built into Cosmic Deep Space to shield lower-realm cultivators from glimpsing the true nature of reality.

Ignorance was eternal bliss.

Knowing nothing meant being spared from trouble, whereas once a cultivator shattered a barrier of knowledge and perception and learned the truth, they had to bear the price alongside the benefits.

'For instance, I've broken through two barriers of knowledge and perception one after another—first the [Mysterious Pass Single Aperture], and now the origin of the [Five Phases]. Both gave me deeper insight and made it easier to master them, yet by the same token, the resulting karmic entanglement means I'll likely run into the troubles tied to both of them.' Still, that was a matter for later.

What intrigued Wang Ping most was this mechanism known as the [Barrier of Knowledge and Perception] itself. He wondered if it could be refined into a profound technique; he had a nagging feeling it could prove tremendously useful.

Sparks of inspiration kept flashing through his mind.

Before long, he integrated the [Five Phases] and carried out an experiment upon it using the inspiration he had first drawn from the [Zhen-Scale Heavenly Thunder Scripture].

'It works!'

'If I link a divine ability to resonate with the [Five Phases], then have Qi Refining practitioners cultivate that divine ability while the [Five Phases] devours the remnants of the Thirty Qi...'

In that way, the [Five Phases] would serve as a bridge.

Once the remnants of Heaven and Earth Qi within the [Star Grave Sand Sea] were absorbed by the [Five Phases], they could be channeled through the corresponding divine ability and transformed into the foundation of Qi Refining practitioners.

Stealing the beams and swapping the pillars!

The more Qi Refining practitioners cultivated divine abilities tied to the [Five Phases], the more remnants of Heaven and Earth Qi could be reborn piece by piece!

That was the experiment Wang Ping had just completed. He had pared down and revised the [Zhen-Scale Heavenly Thunder Scripture], stripping out the parts that resonated with the [Cavern Abyss Clear Profound Dragon Thunder Directorate of Waterways Divine Seat] and linking it directly to the [Five Phases] instead, before drawing in remnants of Heavenly Yang Wood, Heavenly Yin Water, and Earthly Yin Water from the [Star Grave Sand Sea].

And he had succeeded. The remnants of those three strands of Heaven and Earth Qi—Heavenly Yang Wood, Heavenly Yin Water, and Earthly Yin Water—had resonated with the [Zhen-Scale Heavenly Thunder Scripture] and completed their conversion through the [Five Phases]!

'There was a stroke of luck involved, though.'

'For one thing, the [Dragon Thunder] lineage was born from Water and Wood Qi in the first place. For another, [Dragon Thunder] itself has fallen into decline, giving the two plenty in common.'

Most importantly of all, [Dragon Thunder] made no distinction between the Three Powers or Yin and Yang either; it was pure thunder, making its core Daoist theory remarkably similar to that of the [Five Phases].

Then again, that made sense. [Supreme Dao Lord Xuangong] had once been a high minister of the Great Rebellion himself, so theories of the Dao like this had surely been shared in private among them.

Wang Ping tried a few more times after that.

Unfortunately, aside from the [Zhen-Scale Heavenly Thunder Scripture], none of the other divine abilities he knew could be linked to the profound mystery of the [Five Phases] no matter how he modified them.

'Looks like I'll need to find a way to collect more of the Great Rebellion's Divine Firmament Five Thunders lineage. It'll be immensely useful for reviving the Great Dao of the [Five Phases] in the future.'

Beyond that, he would also need to recruit some Qi Refining practitioners to lend a hand. He couldn't possibly cultivate that many divine abilities all by himself—and even if he could, converting the remnants of all Thirty Qi single-handedly would take over a million years, during which he could forget about doing any cultivation of his own.

"I need a batch of laborers!"

Wang Ping immediately thought of his big family of Yin Spirits, but the problem was that a Yin Spirit's foundation was still Earthly Yin Water; having them cultivate the [Five Phases] would take twice the effort for half the result.

Yet with a wide, sunlit highway right in front of them, what orthodox Qi Refining practitioner would abandon it to cultivate the [Five Phases]?

'Wait—could there really be no orthodox Qi Refining practitioners in this world who, for some special reason, can no longer survive in the Immortal Gate and have to look for another way out?'

'I'm in dire need of talent like that right now.'

"Boom!"

Suddenly, a deafening crash echoed from outside the quiet chamber like a clap of thunder, jolting Wang Ping back to his senses. He stared blankly toward the chamber door.

"What's going on? Why is there someone else inside the Cave Abode... Oh."

Wang Ping remembered.

...

Kunyun was on the verge of losing his mind.

Heaven bear witness, he had been trapped in this wretched place for nearly a year, enough to make him wonder if that bitch-born bastard had flat-out forgotten about him.

Just as he failed once again to keep a lid on his fury, snapped out of his meditation, and lashed out with a vicious strike against the quiet chamber where that bitch-born bastard had left his clone in seclusion before leaving, the sound of the door sliding open rang out like music from the heavens, freezing him in his tracks.

Then he saw a young man step out of the quiet chamber.

Wearing a familiar smile—acting as if the brute who had locked him up in here for a whole year were someone else entirely—Wang Ping walked warmly toward him.

"Senior Brother Kunyun!"

Boom!

Without a split second of hesitation, Kunyun acted on pure instinct, conjuring a blazing sphere of thunderlight to slam straight down onto the crown of Wang Ping's head.

"Die, you brute!"

In that flash of lightning, Wang Ping didn't dare slack off for an instant and hurriedly thrust a jade slip high above his head. "I prepared compensation to apologize to you, Senior Brother!"

Before the words had even faded, the thunderlight vanished on the spot. The large hand Kunyun had been bringing down to smash Wang Ping's skull smoothly continued its descent to clasp both of Wang Ping's hands instead, a warm smile blooming across his face. "What's this talk of apologies? You're far too polite, Junior Brother. Am I the sort of Senior Brother who holds a grudge?"

Even so, Kunyun's tone came out a little stiff.

There was no helping it. In the past, this really hadn't been his style, yet ever since joining the Water Qi lineage, the two-faced posturing he used to despise was becoming second nature to him.

And the shameless double-talk he once couldn't bring himself to utter now rolled off his tongue smoother than ever.

Water Qi really drove a man to devilry.

Internal lamentations aside, Kunyun's voice remained rock-steady and his stance didn't waver an inch as he cut straight to the point: "What compensation, specifically?"

"Plenty!" Wang Ping handed over the jade slip first with an ingratiating smile. "This method is called the [Zhen-Scale Heavenly Thunder Scripture]. It's a thunder art—you're sure to love it, Senior Brother."

While the might of the [Zhen-Scale Heavenly Thunder Scripture] was a bit lacking for Wang Ping himself, for Kunyun it was a top-notch combat technique. After all, now that Wang Ping had modified the divine ability and linked it to the [Five Phases], its ceiling might be lower, but its floor was rock-solid.

"On top of that, there's also a Spiritual Treasure!"

Wang Ping gave a detailed account of his experiences inside the [Incense-Draped Hall]—tactfully leaving out a few minor details that involved Kunyun, of course.

"The [Thirty-Six Thunder Tokens], the [Altar Thunder Pool], and the [Dao-Spreading Brush]—do you recognize those, Senior Brother? Every one of them is a treasure of the Great Rebellion's [Five Thunders Divine Firmament Office]."

"They're all yours, Senior Brother!"

Since they had all belonged to Hengxu anyway, it didn't pinch Wang Ping's wallet in the slightest. He gave a grand wave of his hand. "How about it? With all these as my apology, has your anger subsided, Senior Brother?"

"What anger?"

Kunyun blinked in feigned puzzlement. "Junior Brother provided me with a place for seclusion where I could cultivate in peace for a full year. How could I possibly be angry with you?"

"Especially when you've brought me such a generous gift."

With that, Kunyun held out his hand.

"You misunderstand, Senior Brother." Wang Ping quickly shook his head. "The divine ability is one thing, since I could write it down from memory, but the Spiritual Treasure and the rest are with my main body. You'll need to go pick them up in person, Senior Brother."

"...What?"

Kunyun's face fell at once.

'Talking it up to the heavens without a single real item in sight—could he be playing me for a fool?'

Seeing his expression, Wang Ping hurriedly thumped his chest. "Rest assured, Senior Brother, I'm not feeding you empty words. Just take one trip to the [Star Grave Sand Sea] and you'll see for yourself."

"The [Star Grave Sand Sea]?"

Kunyun raised an eyebrow in surprise. "You're still out there? You haven't come back?"

"Of course not."

Wang Ping waved a hand with a grin. "I've built up a bit of standing over in the [Star Grave Sand Sea] and I'm looking to do some business. I'm a merchant now!"

"So you can head over with complete peace of mind, Senior Brother. I've already smoothed things over with the ancient cultivators there. With me around, do you really think I'd sell you out?"

Right after that, Wang Ping put on a wistful look. "At the end of the day, it's just too hard to get by in the Immortal Gate anymore. In this bitch-born place, the Immortal Dao is already an overexploited red ocean with no room for upward mobility—and whatever scraps remain have been carved up clean by the major Immortal Realms."

Wang Ping shook his head. "The whole industry is in a downturn."

Hearing this, Kunyun couldn't help showing a look of agreement. Indeed, ever since breaking through to Qi Refining, he had felt that truth acutely himself.

Before Qi Refining, as the fifth True Transmission disciple, he had stood like a crane among chickens within the Tribulation Transcending realm, a hero of his generation. Yet once he became a Qi Refining practitioner, his cultivation progress had ground to a crawl. With opportunities nowhere to be found, all he could do was grind away in bitter seclusion day after day along a boundless Dao path with no end in sight.

The sky of the Immortal Gate was pitch-black!

Catching the implication behind Wang Ping's words, Kunyun asked quietly, "Going by what you're saying, you have another path lined up for me?"

"You bet I do!"

"What path?"

The moment Kunyun asked, Wang Ping clapped his hands together and said excitedly, "Come to the Sand Sea! The [Star Grave Sand Sea] and the ancient cultivation lineages—it's a wide-open blue ocean!"

"It's just waiting for outstanding talent from a Qi Refining background like you to come over and provide technical relief, Senior Brother! Given enough time, I guarantee your path in the Dao there will be boundless!"

Wang Ping thumped his chest. "You know me, Senior Brother. We're both part of the Water Qi lineage—once you're there, I'll treat you with my whole heart and soul."

Kunyun: "..."

Looking at Wang Ping's earnest face, Kunyun said nothing, simply staring at him in silence.

'Do you think I look like a complete idiot? Trying to sweet-talk me like some gullible independent cultivator?'

'Fine, I admit you've surpassed me in cultivation, but we're both bitch-born Immortal Gate cultivators here—trying to dupe me with a pitch this lazy is an insult to my intelligence!'

'At least put some effort into it!'

Kunyun shook his head. "There's really no need. I'll trouble you to make the trip and bring the items over yourself, Junior Brother. As for the [Star Grave Sand Sea], I'll pass."

Wang Ping wasn't annoyed in the slightest and kept smiling. "That works too. Though if you ever find you can't survive in the Immortal Gate anymore, Senior Brother, remember to come find me in the Sand Sea."

Kunyun let out a snort of laughter.

'Not survive in the Immortal Gate? What a joke!'

'The demonic path of Water Qi may be notorious throughout the Immortal Gate, sure, but I cultivate Heavenly Yang Wood! So long as I keep my mouth shut and lay low, who would ever treat me as a demonic fiend?'

'Besides, just look at this face of mine—manly, upright, the spitting image of a righteous hero.'

'Rock solid!'

...

Outside the [Eight Trigrams Furnace]. Having finally waited out his chance, Kunyun naturally didn't want to spend another second locked in seclusion inside the [Heavenly Craft Cave Abode] and immediately had Wang Ping let him out.

"Phew... Hah!"

Standing out in the Cosmos, Kunyun drew in a deep breath of spiritual energy. The long-missed spiritual qi of the Immortal Gate tasted sweet on his tongue; the sky was high enough for birds to soar, the sea wide enough for fish to leap.

Even so, once he calmed down, Kunyun couldn't shake the feeling that something was off. The reason was simple: from what he knew of Wang Ping, the guy had always been petty and vindictive. Since Wang Ping had brought up the Sand Sea just now, he wouldn't rest until he got what he wanted—so why would he let Kunyun walk away so easily?

"...There couldn't really be a problem, could there?"

'What did that brute do that could make it impossible for me to survive in the Immortal Gate?'

A sudden unease crept over Kunyun. Gritting his teeth, he pinched his fingers to spark a thread of spiritual light, preparing to run a divination and check the karma flowing through the torrent of [destiny].

Then he froze solid.

Within the surging torrent of [destiny], he beheld a massive mountain of karma—visions of "heavily injuring Hengxu, Dao Child of the Observing Eternity Realm," "slaying the Qi Refining practitioners Chang Jing and Jing Hua, and heavily injuring the Qi Refining Second Layer practitioner Rui Yi," and "entrapping and slaughtering a host of Qi Refining practitioners inside the [Incense-Draped Hall]" came swarming toward him all at once!

'What the hell is this?'

Before Kunyun could even process what he was seeing, to make matters worse, he sensed a whole crowd of Qi Refining practitioners actively divining the karma attached to him at this very moment.

And every last one of their divinations landed squarely on those exact scenes.

'Wait, no—I didn't do any of this!'

In a daze, tracing the threads of karmic connection, Kunyun seemed to hear one Qi Refining practitioner after another gasping in amazement as they divined those scenes and chatted among themselves:

"Have you heard about the huge stunt that Water Qi Dao Child pulled off?"

"How could I not? He went on a rampage inside the [Incense-Draped Hall], offended a whole slew of people, and left a huge batch of unlucky bastards dead inside."

"With scheming that deep and methods that ruthless—and word is he even cultivated nine qi manifestations—if we ever run into him in the future, we'll probably have to address him as a Great Cultivator."

"Speaking of which, do any of you know what that Water Qi Dao Child's name is?"

"Isn't it Huashen?"

"I heard his name is Kunyun."

"Drop it, Kunyun is the name of the former fifth True Transmission disciple who defected to the demonic path. Huashen is that True Transmission disciple Victorious who was inside the [Eight Trigrams Furnace] earlier."

"How do you know Dao Child Huashen isn't Kunyun?"

"Maybe he stole the guy's identity—that's standard operating procedure for demonic cultivators anyway. The main thing is, no matter how I divine the karma, every single thread points straight to this Kunyun!"

"That actually makes sense!"

Kunyun's mind spun. He swayed on the spot, nearly toppling over, the fingers he had raised in divination trembling uncontrollably.

And that was still the mild part. Far more terrifying was that intelligence about him was spreading across the entire Immortal Gate at an unimaginable speed—one telling ten, ten telling a hundred, growing more outrageous with every retelling. After all, every shred of karma had been dumped squarely onto his head; no matter how anyone divined it, all roads led to him.

"Did you hear? The Water Qi Dao Child Huashen went by the alias Kunyun and entrapped and slaughtered a whole crowd of Qi Refining practitioners!"

"What? The Water Qi Dao Child Kunyun entrapped and slaughtered a whole crowd of Qi Refining practitioners!"

"Shocking news! Kunyun entrapped and slaughtered a whole crowd of Qi Refining practitioners!"

"Every righteous cultivator has a duty to slay that demonic fiend on sight!"

Boom!

Wrenching his gaze free from the torrent of [destiny], Kunyun threw his head back, finally snapping out of the overwhelming barrage of karmic visions crashing down on him.

Then he ground his teeth until they ached.

'I just came out of seclusion, and I'm public enemy number one of the Immortal Gate?'

'The sky is falling!'

'That bitch-born bastard... No wonder he let me out without a fuss!' Even if discerning figures could tell he had been framed by that bitch-born bastard, the world was never short of people bad at divination who simply followed the herd.

After all this, how was he supposed to survive in the Immortal Gate?

In that instant, only one thought remained in Kunyun's mind:

'Damn it, I asked for way too little just now!'

With so much massive karmic blame dumped squarely onto his head, he had actually let himself be bought off with a single divine ability, one Spiritual Treasure, and a few secret implements.

Outrageous!

Hot on the heels of his rage came bitter regret.

He never should have let Senior Brother Yunlong talk him into slacking off on purpose and letting Wang Ping get hunted down by the Brahma Cultivators back then. This guy was way too petty and had been nursing that grudge the entire time!

He had simply been too young and naive back then, failing to see that Wang Ping was born with the temperament of a Water Qi Dao Child. One moment of carelessness, and he had been set up and left in this miserable state.

Kunyun beat his chest and stamped his feet in anguish.

Once he cooled down, however, he had no choice but to confront a far more pressing question:

'Actually, thinking about it carefully, maybe the [Star Grave Sand Sea] isn't so bad after all? Ancient cultivation has a low starting point, sure, but there's plenty of room for future growth...'

Meanwhile, back on Wang Ping's side, he was in a splendid mood.

"Successfully recruited a new talent."

The next step was to use Kunyun as a fulcrum to drive a large-scale talent import program from the Immortal Gate into the Sand Sea, rebuilding the competitiveness of the ancient cultivators in the [Star Grave Sand Sea].

The future looked bright indeed.

Just then, however—

A sudden premonition stirred in Wang Ping's heart. His main consciousness snapped instantly back to his murky body inside the [Heaven Defiance Palace], turning around in front of the Xuanhuang jade wall of the [Directorate of Waterways].

"Who's there?"

Standing frozen in shock in the doorway of the pavilion was a half-blurred figure—one that Wang Ping knew all too well from his days as a lower-realm cultivator.

The [Heaven-Stealing Thief].

The next second, the Great Ying golden light of the Martial Dao Pre-Heaven Stage rose across Wang Ping's body, while his stern expression slowly curved into a deeply meaningful smile.

"My good master, I didn't expect it to be you. I've missed you to death."

At those words, the [Heaven-Stealing Thief]'s expression twisted violently. "Oh... fuck!"