Chapter 449: To Slay a Qilin!

Before the words had even faded, Wang Ping saw the golden eye at the bottom of the abyss blink. Firelight flickered as the faint sound of a massive beast shifting rose from the depths.

The next instant, a figure appeared out of thin air right in front of him.

It was a white-haired old man. The heavy breath of twilight years billowed from his mouth and nose, and golden lines traced his deeply wrinkled face.

To cultivators—especially those who had reached the True Person level—physical appearance had long ceased to be a limitation. Nine times out of ten, anyone of real attainment looked like a handsome youth or a peerless beauty. Take Mingyou, for instance: though he stood at the very end of his life and was nearly dead of old age, he still kept the youthful look of a boy.

What determined a cultivator's appearance was never age, but the heart.

Only when the heart grew old did a cultivator truly show the signs of aging. Mingyou still looked young because he felt he was in his prime, with plenty of fight left in him.

The man standing before Wang Ping was another story entirely.

'Makes sense. Going by what Senior [Fu] said, this elder has lived all the way from the legendary age when the Celestial Venerable preached the Dao and immortals walked the world.'

A genuine living fossil.

For someone like him—the very first ancient cultivator trapped in the [Star Grave Sand Sea], bearing the true words of the Celestial Venerable—just surviving was a miracle in itself, let alone growing old.

The next second, Wang Ping held his breath.

He looked at the old man before him and said solemnly, "May I ask, Senior... what did you mean by 'Human Emperor'?"

"Hmm..."

The old man blinked, looking puzzled. "My eyes wouldn't deceive me. You really do carry the aura of the Human Emperor, though I can't make it out clearly. Do you have any clue yourself?"

Wang Ping frowned deeply. After thinking for a moment, he raised his hand, circulated his mana, and slowly traced an extraordinarily intricate talisman script in the air with his finger. "Is it this?"

"Yes, yes, yes!"

The old man's eyes flew wide open. "So that's what it is! I knew my eyes didn't fail me... The key to the [Heavenly Armory]? Wasn't this thing destroyed?"

The talisman script Wang Ping had traced was none other than the combined mark formed from the signatures of the ten great Heavenly Work Spiritual Treasures—the vital credential needed to open the [Heavenly Armory]. Yet [Li] had actually sensed the Human Emperor's aura from it. Did that mean this was a contingency left behind by the Human Emperor, placed specifically inside the [Eight Trigrams Furnace]?

"Shattered? When?" Wang Ping asked.

"During the war when the Immortal Gate wiped out the Great Rebellion."

"Immortal-Serving looted the [Heavenly Armory] clean with his own hands, and after emptying it out, he smashed the key to pieces. He originally wanted to tear down the [Heavenly Armory] itself, too."

[Fu] said in a low voice, "Before he could, however, the [Heavenly Armory] fell into the [Heaven Defiance Palace] and came under its protection. After trying to no avail, Immortal-Serving had no choice but to give up."

[Immortal-Serving Orthodoxy-Treading True Monarch]!

Wang Ping's expression tightened slightly at the name. Since a True Monarch had shattered the key personally, he would certainly have eradicated it root and stem, leaving no loose ends behind.

'If that's the case, is the one in my hand a second key? Not the public one, but one the Human Emperor forged in secret and hid within the ten great Heavenly Work treasures?'

"Interesting. Where did this key come from?"

Faced with [Li]'s question, Wang Ping hid nothing and recounted its origin from start to finish. By the time he finished listening, [Li]'s expression had shifted.

"Indeed, this is most likely a contingency left behind by the Human Emperor. Yet why leave such a measure behind specifically, and entrust it to a few Spiritual Treasures kept inside the [Eight Trigrams Furnace]? It's almost as if it were prepared specifically for someone inside the [Eight Trigrams Furnace]... Could it be a design for the Human Emperor's own resurrection and return?"

Hearing this, [Yang] immediately turned to look at Wang Ping.

Wang Ping, too, seemed to think of something. His expression turned rather grim, and he said in a quiet, measured voice, "To tell you the truth, this junior came from the [Eight Trigrams Furnace]."

He was one of the black-headed commoners!

Going by what [Li] said, had this been prepared for him?

In a flash, Wang Ping recalled his earlier conversation with Xuanzhi. Xuanzhi had once mentioned divining the future for the Human Emperor across a span of thirty thousand years! Counting the days, roughly that much time had passed since the fall of the Great Rebellion—so could the Human Emperor have divined his existence before vanishing?

'Impossible. Absolutely impossible!'

It wasn't that Wang Ping looked down on the Human Emperor and Xuanzhi, but the idea simply wasn't realistic. Too much time lay between them; across tens of thousands of years, as the blue sea turns into mulberry fields, there were infinite variables.

No matter how formidable the Human Emperor had been, he was still only a True Monarch. No matter how wondrous Xuanzhi's innate Divine Powers were, it was still only an auspicious beast, not an immortal beast. Across the whole of Cosmic Deep Space, aside from an immortal, who could calculate that far—surveying the grand trends of the world across tens of thousands of years while factoring every single True Monarch into the board? That was flatly impossible.

'Besides, I have the [Taiping Sutra]...'

In the future Xuanzhi had divined, the [Taiping Sutra] hadn't existed at all. Yet for him to reach where he stood today, the [Taiping Sutra] had played an indispensable role.

If they couldn't divine the [Taiping Sutra], how could they possibly have divined his rise?

At that thought, Wang Ping's expression flickered uncertainly. [Li], by contrast, remained completely calm, paying no mind whatsoever to the question of the Human Emperor's contingency.

Seeing that Wang Ping was somewhat tense, he even walked up warmly, patted him on the shoulder, and offered some comfort: "It's fine, don't let it weigh on you too much."

"For one thing, the Human Emperor was a decent sort. Even if he left a contingency behind, he most likely wouldn't use it to screw you over. For another, as the saying goes, once you're covered in lice, a few more won't itch. Look at the state you're already in, kid—you barely have a way out to begin with, so piling a few more troubles like this on top really makes no difference. Take it easy, and just live one day at a time."

Wang Ping: "..."

This senior sure knew how to talk!

Even so, Wang Ping quickly pulled himself together. True enough, a path would always appear once the cart reached the mountain; he couldn't very well stop cultivating just because he was wary of this, could he? Over on the side, meanwhile, [Yang] and [Fu] began conversing in private.

"Say, do you think there's any chance he's the reincarnation of the Human Emperor?"

"He probably suspects as much himself."

"Unlikely. [Earth-Heaven Peace] still has a master to this day. If the Human Emperor had reincarnated and left his Pinnacle Station vacant, how could the profundities of the [Heaven Defiance Palace] have been maintained until now?"

"True. Moreover, this boy hasn't opened the [single aperture of the mysterious pass], whereas the Human Emperor opened it long ago. That immortal aperture doesn't vanish upon reincarnation. If he really were the Human Emperor reincarnated, he ought to have opened the [single aperture of the mysterious pass] innately. Rather than him being the Human Emperor's reincarnation, I suspect..."

At those last words, [Yang] fell silent for a moment.

Yes—if one insisted that the Human Emperor had secretly severed all past ties and reincarnated as a mortal, there was another far more plausible candidate, one whose case made much more sense in principle.

The First Seat of the Martial Dao, Lian Ruzhao!

She had also come from the [Eight Trigrams Furnace], was just as breathtakingly brilliant, and was likewise a path-opener. That uncanny intuition of hers might well be the profundity of the [single aperture of the mysterious pass].

At the same time, Wang Ping arrived at the exact same conclusion.

'The First Seat...'

Looking down at the talisman seal in his hand formed from the Heavenly Work Spiritual Treasures, he hesitated for the first time. 'Don't tell me I intercepted the First Seat's fortuitous opportunity?'

It felt very possible!

Thinking of this, Wang Ping felt a twinge of guilt. He could never have grown to where he was today without the First Seat's help; he would just have to make it up to her properly in the future.

Besides, it was hard to say whether something like this was a blessing or a curse. The First Seat's [Martial Dao] was remarkably pure, and she didn't seem to need this sort of opportunity at all. Since it involved the schemes of high-level cultivators, it might even have been a burden. Looked at that way, he might actually be taking the fall on her behalf.

Right then, [Fu] suddenly spoke up. "In three days at the latest, the [Heaven Defiance Palace] will descend into the world. When that happens, plenty of people will surely try to probe your identity."

Wang Ping grinned at that.

Thanks to that broadcast across the Cosmos and the resonance of the human-yang fire, practically everyone now knew that a path-opener had emerged inside the [Heaven Defiance Palace].

"The vast majority of people right now don't know that you are that path-opener. Instead, they take that person to be a True Person or a Dao Monarch who severed all ties to their past life. You need to find a way to display strength to match—otherwise, even if you hide your identity, being too weak will still make people connect the dots back to you."

Wang Ping looked a little aggrieved at this.

"Senior, I really have been cultivating as hard as I can, but there's just been too little time. Besides, this is only my pure-aspect body, and it's barely been a few days since my last breakthrough..."

[Fu] shot him a sidelong glance.

"Be serious. We're talking business right now. Stop constantly harping on how good your talent is, how high your comprehension is, and how fast you cultivate. You need to know that beyond people there are people, beyond heavens there are heavens!"

Wang Ping's eyes widened in surprise. "There's someone even faster than me?"

[Fu]: "..."

After a brief silence, [Fu] decisively changed the subject. "In any case! You're still too weak right now. Your identity as the path-opener must never be exposed." Wang Ping nodded calmly.

He wasn't actually worried about that—because he still held a trump card up his sleeve: severing the dharma body path and the torrent of memories away from himself.

The ninth scripture scroll, [Forsaken by Man]!

If worst came to worst, he could transfer everything related to the path-opener onto his second avatar. His turbid body would naturally be left squeaky clean, and no one would ever suspect him.

Seeing how composed Wang Ping was, [Fu] got a read on the situation. 'This kid has always been sly as a rat, and he came from the Immortal Gate to boot. After having his life tribulations schemed against so many times by those bitch-born bastards, if he truly felt he was in danger, he'd definitely be more anxious than I am. Since he's sitting there calm as can be, he most likely has a way to handle it.'

Good!

Reassured by the thought, [Fu] didn't press the matter any further. Instead, he gave a slight nod and said, "So long as you know what you're doing."

Then he shifted topics.

"Next, let's talk about killing someone."

Those words instantly perked Wang Ping right up. His eyes gleaming, he looked over just as [Fu] spoke with absolute certainty and bluntness: "The first ones to lose patience will definitely be the fire-qi lineage!"

As their former adversary in the Dao, [Fu] knew the habits of those fire-qi heretics inside and out. He was one hundred percent confident in that judgment.

"However, because this involves the [Heaven Defiance Palace], multiple True Monarchs of the Immortal Gate are wrestling in secret and keeping one another in check. So the fire-qi True Monarch most likely won't step into the fray right away. Instead, he'll send a True Person under his command to make the move. That True Person is our target—we'll eliminate him and show them the resolve of the ancient cultivators."

Wang Ping immediately raised his hand.

Seeing this, [Fu] felt rather helpless, yet he couldn't just ignore Wang Ping. He could only glance sideways at him. "...Go ahead. What's your take?"

"Senior," Wang Ping said in a deep voice, "I know a fair bit about how the Immortal Gate operates. If a True Monarch is cautious, won't a True Person be cautious too? When the Immortal Gate handles things, they always believe in passing the buck down the line."

"Simply put, once the True Monarch hands this task to a True Person, that True Person will most likely pass it further down and send a Qi Refining cultivator ahead to test the waters first."

That made sense.

[Fu] gave a slight nod, and Wang Ping continued, "Besides, since they're already coming all this way, given how greedy the fire-qi lineage is, they're unlikely to just look for a path-opener."

"I reckon I'm a target too."

"After all, my turbid body is still inside the [Heaven Defiance Palace], and there's no saying the fire-qi faction isn't interested in it. And immortal gate cultivators have always liked to pinch the softest persimmon first."

"Compared to a path-opener suspected of being a True Person or Dao Monarch, a lowly Qi Refining cultivator like me is definitely a much softer persimmon to squeeze. They'll come after me first!"

Now that he had gotten started, the words came pouring out of Wang Ping, and he said with considerable excitement, "I think this is our chance! We can use my turbid body as bait to lure the Qi Refining cultivator into the [Heaven Defiance Palace], then find a way to make that fire-qi True Person chase after us, where you seniors can kill him inside the [Heaven Defiance Palace]!"

[Yang] shook his head at that. "That would be very hard to pull off."

"There are restrictions inside the [Heaven Defiance Palace]. Even if the True Monarchs of the Immortal Gate are determined to strike it down this time, that isn't the work of a single day—it will take a long time."

"Before that happens, the threshold will at most be widened to allow Qi Refining cultivators. It's nearly impossible for a True Person or Dao Monarch to enter, let alone a True Monarch or Dao Lord."

Wang Ping grinned. "No, there's still a chance."

Before the words had even finished leaving his mouth, [Li], standing not far away, suddenly spoke up: "The [Heavenly Armory]?"

"Spot on!" Wang Ping nodded. "The [Heavenly Armory] isn't bound by those restrictions—both True Persons and True Monarchs can enter. Once the doors close, it's the perfect place for an ambush!"

"If the fire-qi lineage really sends a Qi Refining cultivator to probe me, I'll deliberately leak a few secrets to him. Since the fire-qi True Person is sending someone in, he can't possibly do so without a backup measure—he'll definitely be able to observe the outside world through that Qi Refining cultivator's body. Once the [Heaven Defiance Palace] descends, I'll duck inside it," Wang Ping continued, "and lure that Qi Refining cultivator into chasing after me."

"Once he chases me into the [Heavenly Armory], I'll let slip an even bigger secret, cut him down, and then deliberately act as though I'm about to flee far away."

"That will force the fire-qi True Person to step into the fray himself!"

"When he does, you seniors lying in ambush inside the [Heavenly Armory] can swarm him and butcher him on the spot... There's no need to observe any immortal morality with those bitch-born bastards!"

[Yang] raised another objection. "Two problems."

"First, how do you plan to slip us into the [Heavenly Armory] without making a sound? Keep in mind that practically every True Monarch has their eyes glued to that place right now."

"Deceiving the heavens to cross the sea simply isn't realistic."

"Second, what sort of secret do you plan to use to make the fire-qi faction hound you relentlessly—to the point that a True Person would rashly charge inside just to keep you from escaping?"

Good questions!

The two points [Yang] raised cut straight to the heart of the matter. If they couldn't surpass the observation and predictions of True Monarchs on those fronts, the outcome would inevitably be riddled with variables.

"I've already thought through the first problem," Wang Ping said without hesitation. "Although the [Heavenly Armory] is sealed inside the [Heaven Defiance Palace] with all eyes upon it, at its core it is still part of the [Hundred Treasures Great Abundance Granary]. You seniors can use that connection to smuggle yourselves inside!"

"Smuggle ourselves in?" [Yang] frowned tightly. "The [Hundred Treasures Great Abundance Granary] is guarded like a fortress by those bandits of the metal-qi lineage. Are you confident you can persuade the metal-qi faction to open that path for us?"

"No persuasion needed!"

Wang Ping shook his head. Working with the metal-qi faction had never crossed his mind. There was no telling how something like that would go—what if the metal-qi faction turned right around and sold him out?

Besides... if he openly came clean about the secret of the [Heavenly Armory], wouldn't they immediately guess that he was the one who had swiped the Light of Myriad Treasures earlier?

Even though the secret would definitely get out in the end if they really used the [Heavenly Armory] to trap and kill an Immortal Gate True Person, Wang Ping still intended to keep a lid on it for as long as possible beforehand. Otherwise, drawing the metal-qi faction into the game would introduce unpredictable variables into the ambush plan.

That would be a real headache.

As for how to take the route through the [Hundred Treasures Great Abundance Granary] into the [Heavenly Armory] without the metal-qi faction's help, Wang Ping already had a target in mind.

"Tianhou!"

A glint crossed Wang Ping's eyes as he recalled what he had seen in the [Incense-Draped Hall], and he said with certainty, "Tianhou's doghouse is also connected to the [Hundred Treasures Great Abundance Granary]."

"As long as we find Tianhou, you seniors can borrow its doghouse to slip quietly into the [Hundred Treasures Great Abundance Granary] and sneak into the [Heavenly Armory]."

As his words fell, [Yang], [Fu], and [Li] almost simultaneously began pinching their fingers in divination, and before long they arrived at the same conclusion: this really was a workable plan. It made brilliant use of the blind spot right under the lamp, at least reducing the difficulty of deceiving the heavens from fooling every True Monarch of the Immortal Gate to fooling only the True Monarch of the metal-qi lineage.

"What about the second problem?" [Yang] didn't let up, pressing on.

"That one... is simple too!"

Wang Ping had always had a natural gift for this sort of thing. His eyes darted once, and he said in a low voice, "The secret used to bait the enemy can't be too big, and it can't be too small."

"Don't they view the path-opener as the reincarnation of a True Person or a Dao Monarch? Perfect—we'll give them what they want and fabricate a path-opener just like that. Then... we'll make it look as though I received his inheritance, and that they can track down that path-opener through me. There's no way they won't take the bait!"

"Won't they be suspicious?" [Yang] frowned. "That's a little too convenient."

"Being convenient is what makes it normal."

Wang Ping shook his head with a confident look. "After all, who wouldn't like a genius like me? Taking me as a disciple couldn't be more natural, especially when so many True Monarchs have already placed their pieces on me."

"Never mind a fake one—even if there really were such a path-opener inside the [Heaven Defiance Palace], he would definitely reach out to me to feel out the plans of the various True Monarchs."

"Hmm..."

Hearing this, [Yang] mulled it over, put himself in the enemy's shoes, and had to admit that Wang Ping made a lot of sense. A faint sigh rose inside him. Just like that, it was settled?

Killing a True Person right under the noses of all the True Monarchs of the Immortal Gate was like pulling teeth from a tiger's mouth, yet after Wang Ping laid out his schemes and arrangements—

"It actually sounds pretty simple?" Indeed, if things really played out according to Wang Ping's plan, it would amount to two Dao Lords ambushing a single True Person. Victory was practically guaranteed; there was no reason it could fail. At the same time, Wang Ping turned an expectant gaze toward [Fu].

"Senior, what do you think of this plan?"

[Fu]: "..."

'I hadn't even said anything yet! I barely opened my mouth to set the stage before you hijacked the conversation, rattled off a mile a minute, and laid out the entire plan from start to finish. And it's so thorough, too—every angle accounted for, playing to our strengths while avoiding our weaknesses to the utmost, with a high chance of success. It's way better than what I had planned.'

"...Passable. Still needs work."

After a moment of silence, [Fu] decided to salvage a bit of his dignity. "Not bad. It's pretty close to my own plan—I was thinking along the exact same lines."

"Great minds really do think alike!"

Wang Ping immediately voiced his admiration. "In that case, Senior must have already spotted the flaw in my plan and figured out how to patch it up."

'Huh? There's still a flaw?'

'Crap, if I can't name it, won't I lose every shred of this old face of mine?'

Seeing the expectant look on Wang Ping's face, [Fu]'s long-ossified thoughts finally began spinning at top speed, as though he had been thrown right back into the ancient era of Dao struggles.

'Think, fast!'

At last, as if a bolt of inspiration had cleaved through the darkness, Wang Ping's entire plan turned over in [Fu]'s mind, and he actually managed to pinpoint a flaw.

"...A minor issue." [Fu]'s tone was calm and unhurried as he clasped his hands behind his back, every inch the grandmaster. "Seeing is believing. If you want the target to believe there really is a senior path-opener standing behind you, the tricks of a lowly cultivator like you won't be enough to fake it."

"Brilliant, Senior!" Wang Ping gave him a thumbs-up.

"Do you have a way to deal with it?"

"Of course I do."

[Fu] gave a faint smile. "Since [Li] will need to act with his true body this time, his avatar won't be needed anymore. It can be handed over to you for the time being."

"With [Li]'s cooperation, an avatar at the Dao Monarch level is more than enough to pose as this so-called senior path-opener, and it'll be convincing enough to pass the fake off as real."

At this point, [Li] finally couldn't hold back anymore.

'Hold on, I thought you two came here just to chat with me! How did the conversation suddenly turn into me having to move against a True Person—and even donating my avatar on top of it?'

Before he could open his mouth, however, [Fu]'s quiet voice drifted over: "Senior, you've seen it for yourself—this boy is a path-opener, and I tested it earlier: he can bear your [Li] character for a short time. You've slumbered here for so long... don't tell me you wouldn't like to step outside and stretch your legs a bit?"

[Li]: "..."

His heart skipped a beat! Just as [Fu] said, he had stayed in the [Star Grave Sand Sea] for far too long—so long that he couldn't even remember how many years had passed, including the time spent bearing the true words of the Celestial Venerable.

To [Fu] and [Yang], the true words of the Celestial Venerable were shackles and dead weight, yet to him, they had long since become part of his Dao heritage.

He had grown used to carrying them.

Precisely because of that, when [Fu] mentioned that he could unburden himself and relax for a brief while, thoughts immediately began springing up like weeds in his mind.

Going out for a stroll actually sounded pretty nice. He would have to kill an Immortal Gate True Person, sure, but if it was a True Person of the fire-qi lineage... well, that wasn't out of the question!

His grudge against the fire-qi lineage was no smaller than [Fu]'s.

After a brief silence, [Li] gave a slight nod, agreeing to [Fu]'s arrangement. "You may borrow my avatar, and I will lend a hand in this matter as well."

So what if he had to make a move!

His avatar was at the Dao Monarch level anyway, and he was only lending it out temporarily to help a lower-realm cultivator put up a convincing front—it wasn't as if the boy could break it.

"Senior truly plans far ahead!"

Wang Ping praised him once again.

[Fu] smiled proudly, feeling that this attempt to salvage his dignity had gone off without a hitch, smoothly preserving his tall and mighty image as a former Dao Lord and senior. Right after that, he heard Wang Ping let out a long sigh: "It's just a pity that this junior's strength is so meager right now. The Qi Refining cultivator sent by the fire-qi faction will most likely be an old hand—someone who has broken through to the Seventh Heaven at the very least. I'm afraid this junior won't be his match... Though of course, Senior must have thought of this problem too, right?"

With that, he looked up.

The corner of [Fu]'s eye twitched at the sight. Wang Ping had opened his bright eyes wide and was staring straight at him with boundless expectation.

'What are you playing at?'

In that instant, a suspicion inevitably rose in [Fu]'s mind: 'Don't tell me this brat saw right through my attempt to save face from the start, and is deliberately buttering me up to shake me down?'

"Senior?" Wang Ping blinked innocently and tilted his head.

[Fu]: (vessel)=.

'He definitely is!'

Yet there was no denying that the problem Wang Ping had raised really did need to be addressed. So despite his annoyance, [Fu] gave it some serious thought for a moment.

"...Take out your formation disk."

Before [Fu]'s voice had even faded, Wang Ping caught on immediately. Reaching out with his sense to his Grotto-Heaven, he retrieved the formation disk that Hengxu, the Dao child of the [Observing Eternity Realm], had gifted him. Next, [Fu] reached out and pressed lightly on the disk, instantly wiping away the [Heaven-Sealing Earth-Locking Grand Formation] originally inscribed inside. He then put two fingers together and pointed; a vast surge of Divine Powers mana poured into it, tracing out new lines until an even more intricate formation diagram took shape.

"This is..."

Wang Ping focused his gaze on it and felt his eyes swim at the complexity, yet with his comprehension, he still keenly caught a wisp of an exceedingly familiar aura within the lines.

At the same time, [Fu] spoke in a deep voice: "This is the [Heavenly Glutton Longevity-Devouring Profound Formation]."

"Its foundation rests upon the [Northern Palace], and it can devour heaven-granted lifespan. Those ancient Qi Refining cultivators of the fire-qi heretics are mostly nearing the end of their lifespans anyway, so using this formation against them couldn't be more fitting."

Comprehension dawned on Wang Ping.

'That's right, no wonder it felt familiar... The profundity of this formation is similar to Chu Huaijing's lifespan-draining [High Supreme Nine Stars Profound Pivot Divine Light]!'

Thinking of this, Wang Ping couldn't help asking, "May I ask, Senior, what sort of place is the [Northern Palace]?"

He had heard that name several times by now. One was naturally the [Black-Rushing Coiled-Horn Demon-Severing Profound Sword] in his hand, also known as the [Northern Palace Divine Edge]; another was Chu Huaijing's [High Supreme Nine Stars Profound Pivot Divine Light]; and now there was this [Heavenly Glutton Longevity-Devouring Profound Formation] as well.

Hearing the question, [Fu] chuckled. "The so-called [Northern Palace] was a great Dao lineage that arose after the passing of the fire-qi immortal and the Living Buddha, before the Great Rebellion was established. It, too, enjoyed a period of unmatched flourishing."

At the time, it was proclaimed:

[Nine Stars of the Northern Palace, decreeing death and restoring life.]

[High Supreme Profound Pivot, governing fate and ruling the true.]

"Their way of doing things went even further than the Great Rebellion's—they sought to hold heaven-granted lifespan hostage to command all cultivators, and in the end they were jointly wiped out by the metal-qi, water-qi, and fire-qi lineages." The moment Wang Ping heard that, he noticed something off.

"Why did only metal, water, and fire make a move? What about the earth and wood lineages?"

"Haven't you already guessed it?"

[Fu] said unhurriedly, "Indeed. The [Northern Palace] was actually an attempt by the earth and wood lineages to emulate the Living Buddha's great feat of founding the Brahma Nation."

"A pity it fell short at the final step."

"After all, a single Brahma Nation was headache enough; no one could stomach a [Northern Palace] springing up on top of it, which is why the other Dao lineages banded together to wipe them out in the end."

"If you ask me, though, they most likely haven't given up. At the very least, there are definitely still True Monarchs within the earth and wood lineages who support the ideals of the [Northern Palace]. Just look—wasn't the lifespan of Qi Refining cultivators taken away? Taking advantage of the Great Rebellion's fall, all the True Monarchs tacitly went along with that change."

"So that's how it was..." Wang Ping frowned tightly, immediately recalling his earlier conversation with Little Gan. Stripping away the lifespan of Qi Refining cultivators had indeed been the joint handiwork of the wood-qi and earth-qi True Monarchs!

"Then what about the [Northern Palace Divine Edge]?"

Wang Ping was still somewhat puzzled. That was the dragon-slaying sword his own Primordial Sovereign had used; in theory, it shouldn't have had any connection to the earth and wood lineages.

"Oh, that..."

At the mention of it, [Fu] suddenly broke into an amused grin—and not just him; [Yang] and [Li] beside him both smiled as well.

"If she hadn't given it that name, how could the water-qi lineage have slipped so cleanly out of sight?"

"Precisely because she named it that, that demoness Mingxing worked her profundities and dumped all the karma squarely onto the [Northern Palace], walking away scot-free herself."

"Back then, that move nearly drove the [Northern Palace] mad with rage. Yet once Mingxing went into hiding, she left not a trace across the entire Cosmos. They couldn't even find her if they tried, so they had no choice but to hold their noses and shoulder that massive blame. Their Dao lineage's fortune suffered a heavy blow, and Mingxing even fleeced them hard on her way out."

"Otherwise, where did you think the limitless lifespan of yin spirits came from?" [Fu]'s voice held both a sigh and genuine admiration.

"All things have their allotted lifespan, yet water-qi yin spirits alone enjoy limitless longevity. That was all Mingxing's doing when she targeted the [Northern Palace] back then—pure, unadulterated malice."

"Hiss..."

Wang Ping sucked in a sharp breath.

Looked at that way, his Primordial Sovereign really was ruthless—brilliant in her methods, terrifying in combat strength, and from start to finish he had never once heard of her losing. It was just win after win. Someone that mighty... how had she not become an immortal?

"Clang!"

The moment that thought crossed his mind, a sudden stab of pain shot through the back of his head as the [Profound One Calamity-Crossing Ring] trembled, sending deep, dark light rippling outward like waves on water.

Wang Ping: "..."

'Don't tell me the Primordial Sovereign sensed me gossiping behind her back about how she still hasn't become an immortal after cultivating for so many years, and got angry... Forgive me, forgive me! Primordial Sovereign, I revere you!'

Wang Ping hurriedly reined in his thoughts.

The seventh scripture scroll, [Golden Sea Desiccation]!

Purging stray thoughts, Wang Ping quickly calmed his mind, and the trembling of the [Profound One Calamity-Crossing Ring] subsided along with it as the ring spun quietly behind his head.

Brimming with confidence, Wang Ping returned to the Dao and Virtue Grotto-Heaven. First things first, he took out the formation disk. Using the spot where the [Heaven Defiance Palace] would descend as the core, he put two fingers together and pointed, casting the disk into midair. A grand formation immediately roared forth like a celestial waterfall, settling into place inside the Grotto-Heaven.

"Rumble!"

The formation disk Hengxu had sent over really was handy. Though it wasn't a Spiritual Treasure, it was still a rare treasure in its own right; just its marvelous ability to erect a formation at a moment's notice was extraordinary.

'Done!'

Wang Ping grinned as he watched the formation lines interweave across the sky, resonating with the points of light on the disk to rapidly sketch out a form until a colossal shape manifested. Very quickly, however, the colossal figure faded, thinned out, and vanished into the void, as if everything that had just happened were nothing more than an illusion.

'What a great formation!'

Wang Ping couldn't help marveling at the sight. Ordinary formations, no matter how powerful, usually stirred up changes in heaven and earth that made them stand out like a beacon, allowing anyone who spotted them to simply go around.

This [Heavenly Glutton Longevity-Devouring Profound Formation], however, was insidious to the core. It actually had the ability to conceal itself, completely undetectable; by the time you realized anything was wrong, you had already stepped right into the trap. Coupled with its lifespan-shaving profundity, it was practically tailor-made for taking down old-timers—one catch, one kill.

"Maybe... I should invite Mingyou over for a cup of tea?"

Wang Ping's hands were itching a little. After all, he still didn't have a firm grasp on just how potent the [Heavenly Glutton Longevity-Devouring Profound Formation] really was, or how much lifespan it could shave off.

Know yourself and know your enemy, and you can fight a hundred battles without defeat.

'Good master of mine, I miss you!'

Right at that moment, a sudden stirring rose in Wang Ping's heart, and he looked up at the sky—not just him, either; most cultivators across the Cosmos felt the exact same stirring.

Before their eyes, a strand of heaven-and-earth qi that pierced the Cosmos and stretched across deep space manifested in vivid clarity, blooming with radiance and revealing countless profound visions—coronations and ascensions to the throne, the hundred officials bowing in court, ten thousand lands coming to pay tribute; a celestial dynasty, state fortune, and a True Dragon, all finally condensing into a single brilliant gold.

[Profound Firmament Governance-Bestowing Talisman-Wielding Qi].

Human-yang wood! Wang Ping's gaze sharpened as he instantly realized what had happened: 'Human-yang wood has shifted its position! It no longer belongs to the realm of man—it has filled the gap left by Earth Yang Wood!'

Xianfu had reached Qi Refining!

Driven by him, the human-yang wood once famed as "Imperial Qi" had abruptly taken on other imagery, and the profound visions within the qi transformed accordingly.

Nations fell and families were ruined; the hundred officials scattered; the whole world rose in rebellion. Pavilions and palaces turned to dust, and great deeds and achievements were reduced to lines in history books, their former glory gone forever.

Yet right atop those ruins, a brand-new profound vision slowly rose: an immortal court was established, the myriad gods found peace, the mortal world was cast aside forever, and one ascended to heaven in feathered transformation—leaving the red dust behind, illuminating the immortal way and comprehending the Dao, using the achievements of an entire dynasty to forge a single person's path. Only thus could such a qi manifestation be born.

[Majesty Wielded Across the Vast Expanse].

The entire process went smoothly beyond belief. The shifting of the human-yang wood met with virtually no resistance, even giving birth to a brand-new qi manifestation in the process.

At almost the exact same instant—

"My Dao is accomplished!" From the direction of the [Eight Trigrams Furnace] once again, at the very moment Xianfu reached Qi Refining and the human-yang wood shifted position, an icy voice of the Dao spread outward right on its heels.

[True Person Xuanxiao Yingyuan]!

The True Person stood with his hands clasped behind his back, while behind him, the aura of a Qi Refining avatar surged wildly, integrating the human-yang wood that had just returned to the sequence of heaven and earth, arranging yin and yang, combining the trigrams, and finally raising a resplendent heavenly gate before leaping upward and expanding with a thunderous boom.

Attaining the Dao and cultivating truth! [True Person Xuanxiao Yingyuan] had clearly been planning this step for a long time, so it happened at blinding speed. Within a few short breaths, the avatar already carried a trace of immortal truth.

Throughout the entire process, the heavens remained dead silent.

'Impeccable timing!'

Seeing this, Wang Ping couldn't help praising him inwardly. 'Every faction is scheming over the [Heaven Defiance Palace]. Whoever makes the first move and exposes themselves first loses the initiative.'

'That goes double for the wood-qi lineage. Neither [Thunder-Wind Duration] nor [Wind-Earth Contemplation] could possibly make a move and expose themselves right now. [True Person Xuanxiao Yingyuan] saw right through that—he knew that every True Monarch outside the wood-qi lineage would gladly use his hand to probe the wood-qi faction's true state.'

'So he chose [Thunder-Wind Duration].'

'And he chose this exact moment!'

Cultivating truth, as they say, was all about making as many friends as possible and as few enemies as possible, and on that score, [True Person Xuanxiao Yingyuan] had undoubtedly played his hand brilliantly.

At that thought, Wang Ping was a hundred percent certain that [True Person Xuanxiao Yingyuan]'s hopes of becoming a True Monarch most likely hinged on the [Heaven Defiance Palace] this time around.

As the saying goes, when timing aligns, heaven and earth share the same strength. Because the [Heaven Defiance Palace] weighed even heavier right now, the True Monarchs of the other factions were all backing him in hopes that he would tie up the wood-qi lineage's attention. Once this window passed and the factions reshuffled their interests, even a hero would be left helpless once fortune turned, and ascending to a Pinnacle Station would be next to hopeless.

"Rumble!"

All of a sudden, Wang Ping turned to look at the center of his Dao and Virtue Grotto-Heaven, where a beam of profound light fell from the sky, causing the previously illusory complex of palaces to rapidly solidify. At the same time, a powerful sensation of bearing a crushing weight rippled through the Dao and Virtue Grotto-Heaven.

'...It's here!'

Wang Ping understood at once. First the human-yang wood had shifted position, and then [True Person Xuanxiao Yingyuan] had broken through, tugging at the wider environment across all of Cosmic Deep Space.

As a result, the [Heaven Defiance Palace]—which had already been down to its last two or three days thanks to his dharma body path broadcast across the Cosmos—was shaken once more, descending into the world ahead of schedule!

Right then—

"Rumble!"

Wang Ping looked up at the sky and felt Cosmic Deep Space suddenly turn crystal clear. [In the World of Men] lit up of its own accord, shielding him from the backlash of gazing directly upon True Monarchs.

And then he saw them—out in that pellucid Cosmic Deep Space, one profound form after another materialized, so vast and immeasurable that the stars looked like dust beside them. Some held swords, some sat cross-legged, some pinched incantation seals, and some formed hand mudras, each carrying its own unfathomable profundity as they struck simultaneously toward the [Heaven Defiance Palace]!

Just how many True Monarchs had made a move?

Even with [In the World of Men] protecting him, Wang Ping still couldn't see clearly—because the profound forms of the True Monarchs were simply too vast for a mortal to take in.

Looking up at the True Monarchs was like an ant on the ground trying to make out the sun: seeing their true faces was out of the question, and even discerning their outlines was a luxury beyond reach.

All he could see was boundless, overwhelming radiance. Immediately afterward, he heard it.

"Crack!"

A crisp snapping sound rang out, seemingly from the [Heaven Defiance Palace] as it descended into the world, as though hairline fractures had finally appeared across something once indestructible.

The next second, every phenomenon vanished.

Or rather, in the eyes of the vast majority of lower-realm cultivators, that scene had never appeared at all; from beginning to end, there was only the descent of the [Heaven Defiance Palace].

"Bang!"

At almost the exact same moment, the figures of twenty-four ancient cultivator Daoists materialized around [Bright Light City], instantly cowing all the stirring cultivators below.

On the other side, out in the Cosmos beyond [Bright Light City], figure after figure also emerged—ethereal immortal True Persons unseen by mortal eyes. They locked gazes with the twenty-four ancient cultivator Daoists, neither side striking a blow nor exchanging a word, merely holding one another in check and pressing the momentum of the ancient cultivators back down.

Wang Ping raised an eyebrow slightly at the sight.

"The [Heaven Defiance Palace] can be entered now!"

"Not only that—the intelligence from the [Bureau of Profound Laws] was real! Even the restrictions seem to have loosened a bit; it's no longer limited strictly to Tribulation Transcending cultivators..." A clamor broke out once more as an indescribable fervor quickly swept through the crowd, and a trace of malice crept into the gazes directed at Wang Ping. Wang Ping, however, acted as if he hadn't noticed a thing:

"Everyone, we're still going by the same rules as before."

"Your tab is tallied by the time spent cultivating Divine Powers. Once you've put in a full twelve double-hours, you can purchase the right to explore the [Heaven Defiance Palace]. Line up nicely, everyone, no need to rush."

"..."

The malice instantly thickened.

Grandma's bear! Before, you had ancient cultivators backing you up, so we swallowed our pride when you blocked the road and charged a toll. Now that Immortal Gate True Persons have shown up in person, you still dare charge the lords of the Immortal Gate? This is outright rebellion!

Considering that the head of a Qi Refining Second Layer cultivator was still hanging from the main gate of [Bright Light City], however, despite all their inward cursing, nobody was willing to stick their neck out first.

For a moment, things came to a standstill.

Standing inside his Grotto-Heaven, Wang Ping looked calm and unbothered on the surface, while inwardly his nerves were taut as his gaze swept inside and outside [Bright Light City].

Would the fire-qi lineage actually send someone forward?

The entire ambush plan rested on the premise that the fire-qi faction would send a Qi Refining cultivator ahead to test the waters. If that condition didn't hold, the whole plan would have to be scrapped and rebuilt from scratch.

Much as he trusted his own judgment, nothing of this sort was ever a hundred percent certain, so he couldn't help feeling a touch of tension and unease.

Very soon, however, he let out a long breath of relief.

Out in the dark depths of the Cosmos beyond [Bright Light City], a figure as crimson as blood was striding unhurriedly toward him, wrapped in billowing waves of heat.

The man wore red robes with both hands tucked into his sleeves. His features were refined and gentle, without a shred of ferocity about him, save for a single scale set between his brows that looked half like jade and half like iron, lending his face a faint demonic air. Wherever he passed, the Cosmos lit up in turn, as if he were a blazing star. Just like Chu Huaijing before him, the newcomer cupped his hands in salute:

"Of the fire-qi Dao lineage, from the [Zhaoming Immortal Realm], ordained under the [Yanju Cave Hanyang Tradition]—disciple of the Gu generation, Gu Ye, greets the water-qi Dao child of the Deity Transformation Realm."

"Greetings, Senior."

Narrowing his eyes slightly, Wang Ping promptly returned the salute. "May I ask what brings Senior here?"

"Just asking for a small convenience." Gu Ying gave a faint smile. "The [Heaven Defiance Palace] has descended into the world, and I would like to borrow the road to go ahead first. I hope the Dao child will not stand in my way."

"Sure thing—pay up!"

Wang Ping nodded readily. "You can pick up a Divine Power at the city gate. Once you've cultivated it for a full twelve double-hours, Fellow Daoist, you may naturally enter the [Heaven Defiance Palace] to explore."

Gu Ying's expression didn't flicker. "Time is pressing. I cannot afford to linger here for twelve double-hours."

"No money?"

Wang Ping let out a cold laugh. "If you don't have any money, what business do you have exploring the [Heaven Defiance Palace]?"

Gu Ying sighed at that. "It seems the Dao child is unwilling to be flexible... Under a grand trend like this, do you really think the great figures of the water-qi lineage will still protect you?"

"If a True Person steps forward later on, don't tell me you intend to charge a True Person a toll as well?" Wang Ping narrowed his eyes slightly.

'From the look of it so far, his aura is roughly on par with Tianxing's—both at the Fifth Heaven. Even if his strength surges after manifesting his demon body, he'll reach the Seventh Heaven at most. Meanwhile, inside my Grotto-Heaven right now, my combat strength can reach up to the Fourth Heaven, and coupled with the demon-slaying attribute of the [Northern Palace Divine Edge], that's enough to offset a full heaven's worth of advantage.'

Rounding it off, the worst-case scenario was fighting a Sixth Heaven opponent at the Fourth Heaven.

A two-heaven gap... Even setting aside the [Heavenly Glutton Longevity-Devouring Profound Formation], it wasn't as if he didn't have a fighting chance—at the very least, he wouldn't get killed in a single blow.

Winnable!

With that thought settled, Wang Ping let out a light chuckle:

"You've misunderstood, Fellow Daoist. I'm not saying everyone has to pay—I'm saying that if this is all the strength you have to show, you'd be much better off spending some money to spare yourself a disaster."