Chapter 439: Gan Wujiu

The [Heaven-Stealing Thief] recognized Wang Ping the instant he saw him. After all, in the whole wide world, there were very few people who would address him as "good master."

'The question is, how did you get in here?'

Although the [Incense-Draped Hall] had broken away a while back, that was only a side hall. Counting the days, the [Heaven Defiance Palace] itself hadn't even formally descended yet!

He had only roused himself from his long seclusion because he had sensed a disturbance over at the [Directorate of Waterways] and come to investigate. Never in his wildest dreams had he expected someone to suddenly pop up in the territory he had always treated as his own backyard—and judging by the look of things—

"You went inside?"

The [Heaven-Stealing Thief] stared straight at Wang Ping, his eyes suddenly lighting up. "You were actually able to enter the [Directorate of Waterways]... Right, you're the Dao Child of Water qi now."

"The [Directorate of Waterways] really is tied to Water qi!"

He then gave Wang Ping a thorough look up and down, growing even more astonished. "That isn't your true body—it's the Nature-Life Separation Art."

"A qi manifestation Divine Power?"

"Your previous Divine Power and its corresponding qi manifestation weren't along this path. How long has it even been? Even if you reached Qi Refining, you sensed a second qi manifestation in less than a year?"

What terrifying speed! All at once, the way the [Heaven-Stealing Thief] looked at Wang Ping changed. Sensing a second qi manifestation within a single year demanded not just talent, but profound fortune as well.

If the kid kept cultivating at this pace, he might even have a shot at charging toward the legendary nine qi manifestations. Even a slim hope was remarkable, considering how much harder each subsequent manifestation became—even when he himself broke through to Qi Refining in the future, he wouldn't dare claim he could pull it off for sure.

For a moment, the [Heaven-Stealing Thief]'s curiosity was thoroughly piqued.

'It hasn't even been that long since the [Eight Trigrams Furnace] buried all those Qi Refining practitioners alive, has it? Just what have you been through, kid, to advance by such leaps and bounds?'

The next second, Wang Ping went on, "Little Gan, is that any way to speak to a high cultivator?"

The [Heaven-Stealing Thief] froze.

Then he laughed out of sheer exasperation.

'True to form for a bitch-born bastard—he breaks through to Qi Refining and starts putting on airs with me? This is the [Heaven Defiance Palace], where no one can exceed Qi Refining anyway.'

'Do you think I'm afraid of you?'

"Good disciple, I haven't seen you in a few days, and you..."

"Boom!" Before the words had even left his mouth, Wang Ping threw a punch.

He had no intention of wasting breath on the [Heaven-Stealing Thief]. Since he was already here, he would test the mettle of his very first good master before deciding what attitude to take.

The [Heaven-Stealing Thief] naturally saw right through Wang Ping's intent, yet he didn't mind in the slightest. In fact, he was itching for a bout himself. He had been harboring much the same thought: whether they ended up enemies or partners next, the real gap in their strength was the bedrock that would set their attitudes toward each other.

Besides, he felt quite confident.

He could tell that Wang Ping didn't seem to have any cultivation on him, nor any Spiritual Treasures or similar artifacts protecting his body. He looked easy enough to handle.

Yet the very next second, his expression changed.

As Wang Ping took a single step forward and set his foot down—seemingly lightly—upon the ground, the entire expanse around them instantly shuddered as though the earth dragon were turning over!

Surging golden light coursed across his skin, carrying a suffocating pressure that wiped the relaxed look right off the [Heaven-Stealing Thief]'s face.

Something wasn't right!

'Retreat!'

In that split second, the [Heaven-Stealing Thief] didn't hesitate. Even as he pulled back, mana surged within him and he unleashed a wondrous art.

[Time-Stealing Thief]! This was idle, unused time he had stockpiled day to day. Released all at once, it immediately blurred the distance between him and Wang Ping.

It was a barrier of time. Under the effect of the [Time-Stealing Thief], the two of them had effectively stepped into two separate timelines. What was a single instant to Wang Ping stretched into several shichen for him, and so long as he didn't attack, that time differential could not be broken.

Right after that, the [Heaven-Stealing Thief] formed a hand seal and pressed it against his chest.

As his Divine Power circulated, his lips parted and a deep, resonant Daoist chant rang out: "I respectfully invite the Qian Trigram to take its seat! Great indeed is Primal Qian—rectifying nature and life, mounting the immortal to rule the heavens!"

[Usurper Immortal]!

The destiny form that had previously gone toe-to-toe with a True Person's illusory manifestation blazed bright once more. Within the radiant light of merit, three divine runes orbited around him.

"The merit of the Great Rebellion lies in usurping and transgressing!"

As the incantation ended, one of the divine runes floated forth—none other than the [Usurp] rune of the [Usurper Immortal], an art capable of replicating an opponent's profundities.

If it could replicate them, it could naturally analyze them too.

The [Heaven-Stealing Thief] had brought it out to replicate the profundities on Wang Ping first—not aiming for an immediate victory, only to sound out the depths of this good disciple of his.

With the [Time-Stealing Thief] sustaining him anyway, he had plenty of time. He could probe at his leisure until he found a way to break his foe, and then in a single strike—what the fuck?

"Boom!" The [Heaven-Stealing Thief]'s eyes flew wide, his entire field of vision already filled by a gleaming golden fist that should have been in a completely different timeline.

Thankfully, his reflexes were lightning-fast. He instantly unleashed the [God-Stealing Thief] to shake Wang Ping's thoughts while simultaneously driving the marvelous power of the [Usurp] rune—abandoning analysis altogether just to replicate whatever he could and tank the blow first. Layer after layer of brilliance erupted around him to block the fist inches from his face.

To his utter shock, none of it worked!

[God-Stealing Thief]?

[Usurper Immortal]?

Every last profundity that struck that gleaming golden fist was like an egg dashed against a rock, or a wave crashing into a wall of bronze and iron—completely useless.

All he could do was watch helplessly as the punch tore straight through the barrier of the timeline, shattered the layers of radiance around him, and planted itself squarely in his face.

Right after that, strength rose from the ground and force snapped from the bone—tremendous fist-force, delivered through the most ordinary mortal technique, exploded across the [Heaven-Stealing Thief]'s face!

"Crack!"

Amid the blinding golden light, the [Heaven-Stealing Thief] seemed to hear a cold shout alongside the crisp snap of his own nasal bone shattering, and circulating his mana did nothing to stop it.

"Bang!"

As the shout fell, the two severed timelines snapped back together and his profundities shattered. The [Heaven-Stealing Thief] hurtled backward like a kite with a snapped string, trailing a streak of crimson blood through the air before slamming hard into the ground. Amid flying sparks and crackling lightning, he gouged a long, deep trench across the earth, skidding nearly a hundred meters before barely coming to a halt. Only after a long moment, as blood-qi surged and his profundities reversed, did a figure finally push himself back up.

"Cough, cough...!"

The [Heaven-Stealing Thief] coughed as surging vitality coursed through him, and by the time he raised his head, the wounds on his face had already healed.

'What kind of profundity is this?'

Right now, nothing remained in the [Heaven-Stealing Thief]'s mind but pure bafflement—not only because of Wang Ping's strength, but even more so because of his method.

A Divine Power? Didn't look like it.

A Spiritual Treasure? Not that either.

It seemed to be nothing more than a simple left hook or right straight, unbacked by any profundity at all—yet the damage was absurdly high, and it ignored every form of control completely.

How was he doing that?

Countless guesses flashed through the [Heaven-Stealing Thief]'s mind before he finally murmured in disbelief, "Martial arts? Could this actually be martial arts?"

"Not quite."

Wang Ping rolled his wrist. The Martial Dao Pre-Heaven Stage was his own creation; although it could link seamlessly with the First Seat's Martial Dao, its foundation was already different.

"This is the [dharma body path]."

With that, Wang Ping grinned. Though this was his first real combat test of the [dharma body path], it felt great, and the results were even better than he had imagined.

Still, the raw force was a bit lacking.

In his Great Victory Golden Body state, although he possessed the marvelous quality of being nearly impervious to all arts, in actual combat he could still only rely on the innate strength of his physical body.

Even with his mastery of martial arts allowing him to land devastating blows through physical force generation and art-destroying power, the strength of flesh and blood still had its limits. Otherwise, that punch wouldn't have merely shattered the [Heaven-Stealing Thief]'s nose and disfigured his face—it would have blown his head clean off.

"Let's continue."

The moment the words left his mouth, Wang Ping strode forward again, lunging like a tiger uncaged to arrive right in front of the [Heaven-Stealing Thief] in the blink of an eye.

The dharma body path still had its weaknesses.

Although it allowed him to charge and kill without fearing the Immortal Dao, all of its capability rested inside this single physical body. What it feared most was an opponent who refused to clash head-on, pulling back to kite him from a distance.

For instance, flying high in the air and bombarding him with Divine Powers from above.

Against that, Wang Ping would have no answer.

So he had to close the distance at top speed. Only by sticking close and denying the [Heaven-Stealing Thief] any chance to pull away could he keep the upper hand. Yet on the other side, the [Heaven-Stealing Thief] had realized the exact same thing.

'It's only his physical body!'

At that thought, his figure dispersed like smoke as a towering mountain rose from the ground beneath his feet, carrying him swiftly upward until he appeared tiny and impossibly distant.

[Crown-Stroking Mountain]!

Upholding the [Qian Trigram], this Spiritual Treasure empowered the [Heaven-Stealing Thief] to the very peak, smoothly putting a safe distance between him and Wang Ping.

Standing atop the summit, the [Heaven-Stealing Thief] extended a finger and tapped lightly against the void as if tracing something, mana gathering at his fingertip.

Before long, a divine rune emerged.

[Immortal]!

In an instant, the surrounding spiritual energy of heaven and earth began to howl and boil, drawn by the mana inside the [Heaven-Stealing Thief] into a churning vortex.

Behind the [Heaven-Stealing Thief], as the [Immortal] rune took shape, a faint, ethereal figure like drifting clouds and mist materialized, riding the radiance to merge almost completely with his true body. Immediately after, the distant, tiny figure of the [Heaven-Stealing Thief] began plummeting rapidly downward.

"Boom!"

As the [Heaven-Stealing Thief] plunged, the ground centered around their battlefield caved in, fissures spiderwebbing outward as the earth sank abruptly. As for the crater left behind—

Viewed from above, it looked like a lifelike fingerprint, with Wang Ping standing at its very center, the golden light around him flickering like a candle in the wind.

Destiny form, merit, and Spiritual Treasure—once all three met the threshold, a cultivator at the Tribulation Transcending Third Layer could briefly command the combat strength of a Corpse Dissolution Immortal.

'He's getting serious now.'

Looking up at the sky, even with his golden light protecting him, Wang Ping felt a sharp prickle between his brows. This strike could very well shatter his golden body!

Yet he felt not the slightest fear. Instead, the corners of his mouth curled into a fierce grin. If the [Heaven-Stealing Thief] had kept his distance and kited him slowly, that really would have given him a headache. Winning or losing in a single head-on clash, though? A straight-up collision of force was the last thing he feared!

More importantly, the [Heaven-Stealing Thief]'s move made something else click for him.

'So combat strength on the level of a Corpse Dissolution Immortal is allowed here too?'

The next second, he raised his arm.

Like drawing a bow and nocking an arrow, he flung his arm sharply back above his head, clenching his five fingers as even more surging golden light erupted from within his body.

Like the rising morning sun!

"Boom!" Like a blazing sun rolling forth, it set the surrounding spiritual energy of heaven and earth boiling as well—yet unlike the [Heaven-Stealing Thief], who drew spiritual energy in, Wang Ping was repelling it.

As the blood-qi and Divine Intent of his body spread outward, the spiritual energy of heaven and earth immediately began to evaporate and scatter, forcibly driven back until the area around him became a spiritless void.

Immediately after, Wang Ping's indestructible vajra flesh began splitting open inch by inch. Thick blood-qi burst from his pores, tinting the golden light with crimson and infusing it with a distinct profundity before spreading rapidly in all directions across nearly a hundred zhang of space.

The Martial Dao Pre-Heaven Stage corresponded to the Immortal Dao's Tribulation Transcending Third Layer.

Shattering the Void corresponded to the Immortal Dao's Qi Refining Realm.

Then what about the Corpse Dissolution Immortal?

Wang Ping had already deduced the answer back when he was designing the [dharma body path] and the Pre-Heaven Realm, and now was the perfect chance to make it a reality.

'At its root, the Martial Dao Pre-Heaven Stage only requires the physical body as an anchor because one's Divine Intent isn't strong enough, and that's how it achieves the effect of being impervious to all arts.'

'And this so-called imperviousness to all arts is still far inferior to a Martial Saint's Shattering the Void, which needs no anchor at all—where Divine Intent expands through thin air to reduce all arts to nothingness... Yet if you look deeper into it, there's actually a clever shortcut. All I have to do is expand the physical body serving as the anchor.'

Divine Intent couldn't expand through thin air on its own?

No matter. If he deliberately shattered his flesh and let his blood-qi disperse outward, his Divine Intent could expand right alongside his shattered physical body.

Although the actual effect still couldn't match true Shattering the Void, the power it ultimately unleashed reached the exact same level of reducing all arts to nothingness! That was the Martial Dao's counterpart to the Corpse Dissolution Immortal tier.

Wang Ping called it—

'[Shattered Vajra]!'

Boom!

The fist cocked behind his head shot fiercely forward like an arrow loosed from a full-drawn bow, driving a vast surge of shattering golden light before it!

The punch collided squarely with the [Heaven-Stealing Thief]'s descending finger. Gold-and-crimson blood-qi carrying the might to annihilate all arts erased the profundities around the [Heaven-Stealing Thief] bit by bit until both sides detonated together, scattering across the ground in a sky-filling rain of blood and immortal light.

"Crash!"

From the center of the collision, the [Heaven-Stealing Thief] went flying backward as though struck by a sledgehammer, coughing up blood nonstop, his face frozen in utter astonishment.

The reason was simple:

'I even used a Spiritual Treasure!'

Empowerment from a Spiritual Treasure, destiny form, merit, trigram manifestation—every single piece of his kit was maxed out, yet not only had he failed to win, he had even come out on the losing end.

What kind of joke was this?! The [Heaven-Stealing Thief]'s chest heaved violently. In all his thousands of years of bitter cultivation, he had never experienced a shock to match today's.

A Mortal who had once been no more than an ant to him had, in less than ten years, risen to become a high cultivator whose mere avatar could fight him to a standstill—and not in a single sudden burst, either, but by surpassing him right under his nose at an unimaginable pace.

'At this rate, I really am going to become Little Gan!'

At that thought, the [Heaven-Stealing Thief] felt an almost overwhelming urge to break through to Qi Refining on the spot, taking several deep breaths before he barely forced the impulse down.

On the other side, meanwhile, Wang Ping was pondering a different question altogether.

'It's still not enough.'

'Shattered Vajra is still a shortcut in the end, trading self-harm for greater combat strength. With the recovery power of the Martial Dao, it isn't a huge problem.'

'Still, the root problem remains unsolved. Apart from this physical body, I really don't have many methods.'

Wang Ping frowned slightly.

'Still, maybe the shortcomings of the dharma body path can be supplemented with the Immortal Dao? I shouldn't box my thinking in too much—combining the Immortal and Martial paths definitely has potential.'

True, the dharma body path annihilated all arts and allowed no profundity to cling to it.

Yet that only applied to esoteric profundities. If he set aside all those flashy tricks and purely reinforced his mana, perhaps it could work in tandem with his dharma body? Before he knew it, Wang Ping's mind wandered off, subconsciously deducing how to coordinate his dharma body with mana until he slipped straight into an epiphany on the spot.

The [Heaven-Stealing Thief]: "???"

Broadly experienced as this first True Transmission was, his scalp still prickled right now. 'I'm standing here agonizing over winning and losing, and you just drop into an epiphany? What is that supposed to mean?'

'Are you even human anymore?!'

Even so, he didn't take advantage of the opening to strike. Instead, he simply drew back all the profundities around him and waited patiently for a moment until Wang Ping came back to his senses.

"Honestly, I suspect you're the reincarnation of a True Person," he said.

The [Heaven-Stealing Thief] went on in a low voice, "Otherwise, your progress shouldn't be nearly this fast. Odds are you left a trigram open before reincarnating and never closed it."

A reincarnated True Person might not show anything remarkable at first, but the higher their cultivation climbed, the more that spark of immortal truth belonging to a True Person would awaken, drawing the resonance of the Eight Trigrams' authority. Their cultivation would skyrocket fast enough to put every Qi Refining practitioner to shame—reaching Qi Refining perfection in three years and returning to the seat of a True Person in ten was a conservative estimate.

"Little Gan, now you're just talking nonsense."

Wang Ping shook his head. "How could you not know my background? I'm nothing more than an ordinary black-headed commoner from Front Village in Longxing County."

'Give me a break!'

The more the [Heaven-Stealing Thief] thought about it, the more suspicious he grew, until he blurted out, "You couldn't be the reincarnation of the Human Emperor, could you? Are those undying black-headed commoners the backup plan for your resurrection?"

"You're overthinking it!"

Wang Ping snorted in disdain. He was himself, never anyone's reincarnation—otherwise, what would be the point of cultivating [Self]? That was a bottom line he would never allow to be shaken.

Seeing that, the [Heaven-Stealing Thief] dropped the subject and shifted gears: "You opened the [Directorate of Waterways]?"

Wang Ping answered instinctively, "You know about it?"

—Silence.

Both the [Heaven-Stealing Thief] and Wang Ping fell dead silent the moment the words left their mouths, staring at each other in a standoff, neither willing to speak first.

'Do you know what I know?'

'Is what you know the same thing I know?'

After a long stretch like that, the [Heaven-Stealing Thief] was the first to lose his patience, saying in a low voice, "Let's work together. You and I shouldn't have any conflict of interest."

Wang Ping couldn't quite agree with that.

Still, for the sake of having fought side by side once inside the [Eight Trigrams Furnace], he nodded all the same. "How do you want to cooperate?"

"First, we exchange intelligence." The [Heaven-Stealing Thief] took a deep breath and looked at Wang Ping, already realizing just how much he had missed during his year in seclusion. "To start with, who sent you in here?"

The [Heaven Defiance Palace] hadn't formally opened yet; sending someone inside at a time like this was something only a supreme figure at the True Monarch level could pull off.

"It's nothing major, really."

Wang Ping said casually, "While I was crossing my life tribulation earlier, I killed a Bodhisattva in passing. Then the Wood Qi True Monarch sent me in here so I could lie low and avoid trouble."

The [Heaven-Stealing Thief]: "..."

After a moment of silence, the [Heaven-Stealing Thief] shook his head. "Good disciple, show a little sincerity."

'Listen to yourself—are those even human words? Killed a Bodhisattva in passing? Even a reincarnated immortal couldn't slay a Bodhisattva at Qi Refining. Who do you think you are?'

Wang Ping didn't bother answering; he simply revealed his merit.

[Mortal World].

"Boom!"

In an instant, the [Heaven-Stealing Thief] was nearly blinded as that glint of true gold reflected in his eyes and the deeds tied to this merit unfolded rapidly before him. Amid the shifting esoteric vision, he saw a young man drawing a bow and nocking an arrow, raising fire to burn the heavens and shoot down an azure dragon, followed by a Bodhisattva tumbling through the void before exploding into pieces. The sheer impact and shock left his mouth hanging slightly open, and even after Wang Ping put the merit away, he still couldn't snap out of his daze.

'Fuck me, it's actually true!'

'He wasn't lying?'

Right then, the way the [Heaven-Stealing Thief] looked at Wang Ping underwent a fundamental shift. After another stretch of silence, he finally spoke in a low voice: "No wonder—no wonder your strength has advanced by leaps and bounds. The True Monarch of Water qi borrowed your hand to slay a Bodhisattva? You actually became a True Monarch's pawn."

"You stole the Mandate of Heaven?"

At that point, the [Heaven-Stealing Thief] seemed to piece it together at last, his gaze growing more complicated still. "Your nerve really is something else."

'Stealing the Mandate of Heaven!'

'Even I wouldn't dare do that!'

Thinking of this, the [Heaven-Stealing Thief] shook his head. "Ignorance really is fearless. Even now, I don't dare take that step, yet you just went right ahead and took it."

In terms of accumulation at the Tribulation Transcending Stage, he had long since exceeded the threshold. Had he wanted to, he could easily have broken through to Qi Refining during his life tribulation just like Wang Ping. Yet he didn't dare—a True Monarch had laid a grand scheme across him, and taking that step meant almost certain death.

So all he could do was hide inside the [Heaven Defiance Palace], using only avatars whenever he went out, dragging out both his life tribulation and that True Monarch's arrangement almost indefinitely.

At the thought, a wave of melancholy washed over the [Heaven-Stealing Thief].

Then he looked up—only to find Wang Ping watching him through narrowed eyes with a crooked smirk, wearing the exact expression of a seasoned veteran mocking a gutless coward.

'You little brat, what's that look supposed to mean?'

Spotting the mockery in Wang Ping's eyes right away, the [Heaven-Stealing Thief] flared up in anger. "My life tribulation isn't like yours—my situation is very special!"

"Don't think your life tribulation is all that impressive just because a Bodhisattva fell in it! Mine is far bigger than yours. Even though only one True Monarch is involved, his interference runs deep enough to leave virtually no way out. Unlike someone like you who has backing, if I tried to force a breakthrough, it would be ten deaths and no life!"

"There are no inescapable life tribulations, only incompetent cultivators."

Wang Ping shook his head and said earnestly, "If you're bad, practice more. Don't blame the Immortal Gate's sky for being dark—ask yourself whether you've actually been working hard at your cultivation."

'Fuck!'

The [Heaven-Stealing Thief] felt like he was choking on bitter gall with no way to voice his grievance. It really wasn't because he lacked skill—just staying alive this long was already a peak performance.

"What do you know?"

To salvage his pride, the [Heaven-Stealing Thief] said at once, "The True Monarch using me as a piece is notorious for having no immortal virtue—every bit as infamous as yours!"

'Oh?' Wang Ping raised an eyebrow.

"...Which one?"

"The True Monarch of the Protector Courtyard," the [Heaven-Stealing Thief] said in a low voice. "He is called [True Monarch Chengxuan Pingshi], cultivating in [Earth-Mountain Qian], the Hidden Treasury of Earth qi!"

Afraid Wang Ping wouldn't grasp just how ruthless this figure was, the [Heaven-Stealing Thief] spoke with deliberate emphasis: "This path is known as 'reducing the excessive to supplement the deficient, reaching down to bring light,' taking 'diminishing the full and replenishing the humble' as its merit. Put simply, it alters what is full to enrich what is lowly—all about downward compatibility..."

Before the [Heaven-Stealing Thief] even finished, Wang Ping understood.

"Could it be that this great figure is very good at dealing with lower cultivators?"

The [Heaven-Stealing Thief] shook his head. "He only deals with lower cultivators."

"Hiss!"

At those words, Wang Ping sucked in a sharp breath, instantly grasping the horror behind that statement. What kind of bitch-born high cultivator had so little immortal virtue?

Seeing his reaction, the [Heaven-Stealing Thief] let out a cold laugh. "You might not know this great figure by title alone, but if I bring up something else, you've definitely heard of it... Back when a True Monarch stripped the lifespan of Qi Refining practitioners across the world, did you really think that heavily injured True Monarch from the Immortal Prescription Courtyard pulled it off all by himself?"

Wang Ping's gaze flickered at that. "You mean..."

"That incident didn't just strip the lifespan of unbacked Qi Refining practitioners on the outside—it took the lifespans of the Qi Refining practitioners across all the various Immortal Realms too."

The [Heaven-Stealing Thief] lowered his voice. "Could a mere heavily injured True Monarch pull off something like that? Leaving the great figures of every lineage unable to protect their own disciples, helplessly watching their lifespans get stripped away?"

"And even if he managed it, don't you think it would provoke universal outrage? After all, Qi Refining practitioners are still very useful—which of the great figures doesn't need them to cultivate the real through the false?"

"Yet overnight, handy pawns that originally had limitless lifespans—pawns you could keep using forever as long as you didn't work them to death—turned into consumables that expire after ten thousand years. Which great figure wouldn't be furious? In the state the Wood Qi True Monarch was in, heavily injured as he was, wouldn't he be afraid of getting ganged up on and killed by all the other great figures for pulling a stunt like that?"

The answer went without saying.

"It was Earth qi!"

The [Heaven-Stealing Thief] supplied the answer: "Back then, it was this very [True Monarch Chengxuan Pingshi] who joined hands with Wood qi to pull off such a massive feat."

Wang Ping needed no further explanation from the [Heaven-Stealing Thief] to grasp it: "[Earth-Mountain Qian]—reducing the excessive to supplement the deficient, reaching down to bring light... By cutting short the lifespan of Qi Refining to benefit cultivators throughout the world, that great figure was seizing the chance to fulfill a merit?"

Slashing the lifespan of Qi Refining down to ten thousand years was certainly a massive blow to Qi Refining practitioners, yet to cultivators below Qi Refining it was an immense boon. After all, lower cultivators only had room to rise if there was turnover among the higher cultivators; otherwise, everything would stagnate into a dead pool, and cultivation within the Immortal Gate would solidify completely.

The [Heaven-Stealing Thief]: "..." 'You already figured the whole thing out yourself—what's left for me to say?'

So all he could do was nod.

Before long, though, Wang Ping frowned again. "Even so, what does that True Monarch's arrangement have to do with you? What does he want to use you for?"

Only then did the [Heaven-Stealing Thief] smile and say, "When it comes to reducing the excessive and supplementing the deficient in matters of cultivation, the lifespan of Qi Refining is just child's play. When you really come down to it, who possesses more than an immortal?"

"And if one could diminish an immortal's merit to benefit True Persons and True Monarchs, just how immense would that merit be... That is what that great figure wants to do!"

Hearing this, Wang Ping lowered his gaze.

"An immortal... the one behind the Great Rebellion?"

"Hm?"

At those words, the [Heaven-Stealing Thief], who had been about to explain further, raised his brows in surprise before smiling. "That's right—the very one behind the Great Rebellion!"

There had been an immortal backing the Human Emperor from behind the scenes.

That much wasn't actually hard to guess. After all, without an immortal's attention, relics of the Great Rebellion like the [Eight Trigrams Furnace] wouldn't have been protected by Immortal Decrees.

"So you have to protect the merits of the Great Rebellion—because while most of them are tied to the Human Emperor, it's very likely that a portion of them were carried out by the Human Emperor at an immortal's behest. And that's the target of [True Monarch Chengxuan Pingshi], which is why the Immortal Gate has been targeting the Great Rebellion all these years!"

The [Heaven-Stealing Thief] opened his mouth.

All right, he was starting to understand how this kid had managed to carve a path of survival out of a True Monarch's game. If nothing else, his mind worked terrifyingly fast.

"That's exactly it."

He let out a sigh. "However, neither I nor that great figure knows which among the many merits of the Great Rebellion is the one actually tied to the immortal."

"So I have no choice but to protect all of them."

"Whereas that great figure tries to destroy all of them—otherwise, why did you think [True Person Hanguang Danyang], who hails from the Earth qi lineage, moved against the Great Rebellion?"

"Merit was only one side of it; the other was that they had the backing of Earth qi. Only under the dual pressure of Earth qi and Wood qi was the Metal qi lineage of the Divine Weapon Courtyard forced to temporarily give up the [Eight Trigrams Furnace] and hand it over for the Immortal Prescription Courtyard to mess around with... Behind all of those events, that great figure was meddling from the shadows!"

The implications truly ran deep.

'An immortal...'

Wang Ping narrowed his eyes and sized the [Heaven-Stealing Thief] up once more. He had nearly forgotten the biggest and most baffling part of Little Gan's background.

The descendant of an immortal.

Thinking of this, Wang Ping didn't waste words and asked outright, "Which immortal are you a descendant of?"

The [Heaven-Stealing Thief] had clearly expected the question and shook his head. "I don't know... Don't look at me like that, I really don't know. This identity is practically useless!"

At this point, the [Heaven-Stealing Thief]'s composure slipped a bit as he gritted his teeth and said, "The title of an immortal's descendant honestly isn't even as good as being a direct descendant of a True Person. Immortals have vanished without a trace—never mind any bloodline marvels, I didn't even inherit half a shred of merit. Even the [Usurper Immortal] was something I earned on my own."

Hearing this, Wang Ping was somewhat puzzled as well. "Then how do you even know you're the descendant of an immortal?"

"By the character."

The [Heaven-Stealing Thief] extended a finger, gathered his mana, and wrote the character [Immortal] squarely in front of Wang Ping, casting a magnificent glow.

"Crossing tribulations, refining qi, cultivating truth, and ascending to immortality."

"Being able to write this [Immortal] character proves you're the descendant of an immortal. Try it yourself if you don't believe me—even if you know the strokes, you won't be able to write it."

That piqued Wang Ping's curiosity.

Was that true? Acting on the thought at once, he reached out, condensed his mana, and traced the first stroke across the void. Instantly, the exact same magnificent radiance bloomed forth.

'What the fuck!?'

The [Heaven-Stealing Thief]'s pupils constricted sharply and he leaned forward without thinking, only to see Wang Ping freeze right after completing that first stroke.

Looking closely, he saw Wang Ping straining as if trying with all his might to write the ancient seal-script character for [Immortal], yet after several attempts, nothing else materialized beyond that first stroke. Only then did the [Heaven-Stealing Thief] quietly breathe a sigh of relief and chuckle. "I told you that you wouldn't be able to write it."

"...Indeed."

Drawing back his mana, Wang Ping sighed with a look of regret, though where the [Heaven-Stealing Thief] couldn't see, his fingers were trembling slightly.

'How is that possible?'

At that moment, though Wang Ping kept his face calm and composed, stormy waves were raging inside him, refusing to subside.

In truth, the instant he laid down that first stroke, Wang Ping had realized—if he wanted to, he could finish writing that [Immortal] character with ease!

'Could I also be the descendant of an immortal?'

'Impossible. I didn't inherit any merit or bloodline marvels... Wait, could it be the [Taiping Sutra]? Is this thing a cheat an immortal gave me?'

'That doesn't seem right,' Wang Ping thought doubtfully.

After all, for a dignified immortal to hand out a cheat like this—one that couldn't even reverse time and required him to work hard developing it himself just to keep upgrading it—

'Is that all an immortal amounts to?'

'Could it be a really weak immortal?'

Wang Ping didn't dwell on it, merely committing that [Immortal] character firmly to memory. As for the [Taiping Sutra], he had no intention of digging too deeply into it before reaching True Person.

Setting aside the stray thoughts, Wang Ping looked back at the [Heaven-Stealing Thief].

While he wanted to ask more about the True Monarch's scheme, it went without saying that on a matter of life and death, the [Heaven-Stealing Thief] would never lay all his cards on the table.

So he didn't press any further and changed the subject: "[Destiny] is fair. Even if there's a True Monarch plotting against you, you ought to have a True Monarch as a teammate too. Where did your teammate go?"

'Teammate, come save me here!'

Yet the very next second, Wang Ping heard an unbelievable answer.

"I don't have a teammate." The [Heaven-Stealing Thief]'s voice sank low, as if touching on a sore spot. "Or rather, my teammate refused to get involved and hid himself away."

"Huh?" Wang Ping blinked in stunned silence.

'You can hide from that?'

'Wait, could it be...'

"That's right—it's Water qi."

The [Heaven-Stealing Thief] gritted his teeth. "That great figure... cultivates in [Water-Heaven Xu]. That path is all about seeing danger ahead and remaining firm without falling into the pit—never setting foot on perilous ground."

"When it comes to the Hidden Treasury of Water qi, he's even more formidable than yours. In fact, that great figure played a huge part in the entire Water qi lineage going into hiding today. Because of that, once he hid himself away, not even [destiny] could affect him—and as a result, my teammate in this life tribulation vanished."

As he finished, the [Heaven-Stealing Thief] clenched his fist tightly.

"What's most infuriating is that even though he hid himself away, he didn't actually withdraw from my life tribulation, so [destiny] still counts him as my teammate."

"So it won't match me with a new one."

'Holy shit.'

Hearing this, Wang Ping looked at the [Heaven-Stealing Thief] in a completely new light. 'Good grief, you actually managed to survive until today under conditions like that? I underestimated you!'

'And that's just way too miserable—mired in a life tribulation at the Tribulation Transcending Third Layer, caught in a True Monarch's scheme with no teammate matched to help? How are you even supposed to play that? Why is Water qi so rotten?!'

'Wait what? I'm from Water qi myself?'

'Never mind then!'

At that thought, the corners of Wang Ping's mouth curved upward into a meaningful smile. "Since that's the case, Little Gan, how about I help you out?"

The [Heaven-Stealing Thief] went on guard instantly!

"What are you planning?"

Wang Ping spread his hands. "Stealing the Mandate of Heaven, you know how it goes. Long story short, I've landed in another True Monarch's game now, and this time the one laying the board is Wood qi."

"If you come work for me, won't that give you a True Monarch teammate?"

The [Heaven-Stealing Thief] cast him a sidelong glance. "Why don't you mention that I'd also be gaining an extra True Monarch as an enemy?"

"How is that the same thing?!" Wang Ping said with air-tight conviction. "Going from having no True Monarch teammate to having one is a breakthrough from zero to one—the difference between the two goes without saying."

"Or do you prefer being a zero over being a one?"

The [Heaven-Stealing Thief]: "..."

Although he didn't trust Wang Ping in the slightest, he had to admit that Wang Ping had a very fair point. Given the choice, he naturally wanted to be a one.

"Then... what's the price?"

"The Divine Firmament Five Thunders lineage!"

Wang Ping grinned. "You've been here so long, you must have collected some of it. I need those—preferably Divine Powers, and the more the better."

The [Heaven-Stealing Thief] fell silent for a moment before pulling two Daoist manuals from his sleeve—one gold, one black—and explaining, "There's only [Divine Thunder] and [Water Thunder], which I scavenged near the two corresponding Divine Firmament Thunder Bureaus. That's all of it. I can't get inside them."

"Don't think it's easy just because you could open the [Directorate of Waterways]."

"That's only because you hail from Water qi to begin with. The restrictions here are extremely strict—without the corresponding karma, it's impossible to find any top-grade opportunities."

Wang Ping didn't mind at all.

With two more thunder arts in hand, he could take them back, modify them a bit, and graft them onto the [Five Phases], making his future plan to remodel the ancient cultivation lineages even more complete. Everything was thriving!

Beyond that, one other detail caught his attention: [Water Thunder]. With a name like that sitting right in front of him, it was hard not to make the connection.

Could it also be related to Water qi?

He felt he could try his luck... Not right now, of course. He would wait until afterward, once the [Heaven-Stealing Thief] was gone, and then slip over quietly to make a fortune.

"Many thanks, Fellow Daoist!"

Once he had pocketed the goods, Wang Ping's smile naturally grew much more sincere. Reaching into his sleeve, he pulled out the [Shocking Scale Heavenly Thunder Scripture] as well.

"Consider this a thank-you gift."

"Why don't you try cultivating it too, Fellow Daoist? It feels great."

The [Heaven-Stealing Thief] took the manual, glanced over it, and let out a cold laugh. "Specious and altered—you changed the contents, didn't you? What this resonates with isn't Divine Firmament thunder arts anymore."

"What, treating me as human material?"

"Listen to you!"

Wang Ping clapped his hands together and tilted his head innocently. "Little Gan, you and I are brothers who would lay down our lives for each other—how could I ever harm you? What, don't you trust me? Because if you don't trust me, I'm going to lose my temper."

'This bitch-born bastard!'

After a moment of silence, the [Heaven-Stealing Thief] dutifully put away the [Shocking Scale Heavenly Thunder Scripture]. Both of them understood without saying it aloud that this, too, was part of the terms of their cooperation.

There was no helping it. To him, Wang Ping really was a high cultivator now; their positions had completely reversed. Add in the fact that Wang Ping could help him make that breakthrough from zero to one, and there was no way their partnership could be equal. He couldn't get away without swallowing a bit of a loss, so reluctant as he was, he could only accept it.

'Damn it, I really want to break through to Qi Refining now!'

Cursing inwardly, the [Heaven-Stealing Thief] forced a warm smile onto his face and said amiably, "Can you tell me about the situation inside the [Directorate of Waterways] now?"

"No problem at all."

Seeing the [Heaven-Stealing Thief] take the bait—not far now from getting roped into the [Star Grave Sand Sea] just like Kunyun—Wang Ping was naturally happy to be all smiles.

"It's like this, and like that..."

Since they were all brothers anyway, he held nothing back, laying out all the intelligence regarding the [Cavern Abyss Clear Profound Dragon-Thunder Directorate of Waterways Divine Throne] in detail.

When he finished, the [Heaven-Stealing Thief] stood rooted to the spot.

"To think there's something like that..."

All at once, a great many things seemed to click into place for him, his eyes flickering slightly.

Seeing this, Wang Ping said softly, "Do you know where this divine throne is? My mission this time is most likely to bring it out. If you can help, why wouldn't the True Monarch protect you?"

The [Heaven-Stealing Thief] came back to his senses, only to shake his head. "I don't know."

"However... if this divine throne really exists, nine times out of ten it's inside the [Jade Firmament Palace], which is the main hall of the [Five Thunders Divine Firmament Office]."

Having said that, the [Heaven-Stealing Thief] frowned again. "But the [Jade Firmament Palace] sits right beside the main hall of the [Heaven Defiance Palace]. The rules there are the heaviest of all—an outsider simply cannot get inside."

"Unless..."

As the word fell, the [Heaven-Stealing Thief]'s head snapped up, and Wang Ping caught his meaning at the exact same instant, his expression shifting: "Unless the [Heaven Defiance Palace] descends into the world completely this time!"

"If the [Heaven Defiance Palace] descends completely and all its rules dissipate, then nothing will be off-limits anymore, and any divine throne can be taken out with ease."

"That's what they're plotting!"

The divine throne was only one part of the arrangement. Their real goal was to bring the [Heaven Defiance Palace] down completely, so that everyone could take what they needed and feast upon the corpse of the Great Rebellion.

"Who else is there?"

The [Heaven-Stealing Thief] looked at Wang Ping. "In a grand game of this scale, the great figures up above would never fixate solely on the two of us. There have to be other pawns."

"There's also Xianfu."

Recalling the [Profound True Secret Essentials of the Flood Dragon Entering the Sea], Wang Ping answered in a low voice, though an even more important matter quickly crossed his mind, turning his expression graver still: "As well as Mingyou and Tianxing."

That was right—it all came back to him now.

Back in Dashun Taizu's Grotto-Heaven, Tianxing had hinted to him in passing that Mingyou's opportunity to reach True Person rested upon the [Heaven Defiance Palace]!

And since Tianxing followed Mingyou, the same naturally applied to him as well.

"So this grand game involves Earth qi, Wood qi, Water qi, and Metal qi... And since Mingyou is using the [Li Trigram] to cultivate toward True Person, Fire qi is bound to be involved too."

Wang Ping sucked in a cold breath.

All the Five Phases lineages—the entire Immortal Gate had been swept into this! ...

[Star Grave Sand Sea].

Deep within the Dao Tomb, Wang Ping concluded his conversation with the [Heaven-Stealing Thief]. His consciousness returned to his Clear Aspect body weighed down with worry, his scalp prickling.

'Each wave is bigger than the last.'

He turned the matter over in his mind.

'The crux of this matter probably isn't just me—it also involves Mingyou and Tianxing cultivating toward True Person, as well as the [Heaven Defiance Palace]. I'll probably need to find a chance to talk with my good master.'

Because Little Gan hadn't worked hard enough and had fallen behind in cultivation, Wang Ping had officially expelled him from the ranks of his "good masters" today—but Mingyou still carried real weight.

Beyond that, there was also the ancient cultivation side of things.

As Wang Ping saw it, the main reason the [Star Grave Sand Sea] had ended up in its current state was that it had closed itself off, severing all exchange with the outside world.

Although the eight seniors inside the Dao Tomb possessed formidable strength, they spent most of their time in slumber and rarely bothered with outside affairs. Chances were they had never been particularly skilled at management in the past either, essentially governing through non-action, which had left the ancient cultivation lineages stagnant and unchanged after all these years.

Of course, the Immortal Gate's disdain for outside paths was another factor.

Regardless, what the ancient cultivation lineages needed right now wasn't actually a supreme powerhouse, but a professional manager who knew how to run operations. 'Looks like I have to step out of seclusion myself!'

Wang Ping stood up, a train of thought quickly taking shape: 'This [Heaven Defiance Palace] is an opportunity for the ancient cultivation lineages. I must find a way to fight for a share of it.'

After that great battle earlier, the [Heaven Defiance Palace] was now sitting right next to the [Star Grave Sand Sea]—prime waterfront property, first in line for the prize.

With a location this good, how could he call himself a cultivator if he didn't milk it for all it was worth?

'Best of all would be to cordon off the entire [Heaven Defiance Palace] and collect hefty tolls, protection fees, and spiritual energy usage fees—not a single one can be left out...'

A plan quickly took shape in Wang Ping's mind.

Risky as it sounded, it wasn't actually impossible at all, because the ancient cultivation lineages held an extraordinarily powerful yet otherwise useless trump card.

The [Grave Star]!

'What's the point of keeping a hair-trigger super nuke tucked away all day? If we don't wheel it out for people to see, who's going to know we hold a trump card like this?'

If the ancient cultivation lineages could move the [Grave Star] right next to the [Heaven Defiance Palace] and use that super nuke to blockade every other route—leaving only a special passage opened by the ancient cultivation lineages as the sole way into the [Heaven Defiance Palace]—just how massive would the profit margins be?

Wang Ping's thoughts flowed faster and faster.

'When the time comes, anyone who wants to enter the [Heaven Defiance Palace] will first have to cultivate the Divine Power I created, link up with the [Five Phases], and convert the remnants of the qi of heaven and earth for me...' The conversion of the thirty qi, which might otherwise have taken thousands or tens of thousands of years to complete, might be brought straight to perfection off this single wave!

'That's the plan!'

Wang Ping quickly put together the proposal in his head and prepared to go meet [Yang], ready to paint a grand vision and win their support.

Right at that moment, however—

"...Hm?"

Wang Ping suddenly paused, his brows knitting slightly.

Immediately after, he formed a hand seal. Fine specks of light rose around his body before his figure turned illusory, and in the blink of an eye he slipped away into another realm of mountains and rivers.

His Grotto-Heaven!

It was the Grotto-Heaven he had specially opened using the [Profound Female Complete Heaven Wondrous Art] and the [Nourishing All Things] qi manifestation, filling the void left behind after the [Incense-Draped Hall] shattered.

Ever since completing this Grotto-Heaven, Wang Ping had moved all of his possessions—Spiritual Treasures included—into this space rather than keeping them in the [Natural Splendor Heavenly Treasure Armory]. After all, that Divine Power had been created by [True Monarch Shuofang Hanyou], and he strongly suspected that the True Monarch had left a backdoor inside it.

For all he knew, there was a spare key!

The last thing he wanted was to collect some priceless treasure one day, stash it inside the [Natural Splendor Heavenly Treasure Armory], and have that True Monarch quietly swipe it away... After all, that one had a prior record.

A repeat offender!

Alighting atop a mountain peak within the Grotto-Heaven, Wang Ping shifted his gaze and quickly locked onto the object that had stirred his senses and drawn him here in person.

The [Mystic Pheasant Egg].

Before his eyes, the pitch-black, head-sized eggshell was cracking inch by inch as terrifying vitality surged continuously from within.

"It's about to hatch?"

A thrill of excitement ran through Wang Ping.

After all, he hadn't forgotten the Mystic Pheasant's wondrous innate profundity—not only could it reverse time, it could even alter the known past without suffering any backlash.

If he could master that profundity and apply it to the [Taiping Sutra], what True Monarch's chessboard or inescapable life tribulation couldn't he clear with his eyes closed?