Old Master, Times Have Changed - Chapter 682 (Patreon)

Chapter 682: The “Dao Ancestor” Wounds the “Supreme”

That generation’s sect masters of the Immortal Sects could be said to be the most pressured generation since the very first.

“Right.”

As she spoke, Kongji Sacred Lord had already arrived at the two of them. She glanced at the half puppet and the notebook floating between them.

“The various treasures in the Dongming treasury have already been sorted by category. You can go take a look and see if there’s anything you need.”

After all, it was thanks to these two that they had been able to break through Dongming Sacred Domain. The biggest share of the treasury naturally ought to go to them. She had only helped organize it and hadn’t provided any real assistance.

“No need. We’ve already gotten what we need. The rest is for you to handle as you see fit, Daoist Kongji,” Mingyu said.

Hearing that, Kongji Sacred Lord frowned slightly, about to say something…

But then she heard Mingyu continue:

“Besides, if we take too much, that’s also a kind of harm to the world itself. That’s not a permitted behavior.”

Huh?

Because it would harm the world itself, it wasn’t permitted?

“I see…” A strange light rose in Kongji Sacred Lord’s eyes, and then she asked with curiosity, “Was that set down by the senior who sent you to this world?”

“No. It was decided jointly by several other seniors and my master,” Ning Wanzhu explained.

As far as she knew, both the Ascension Plan and the Ascension Web were constructed jointly by the Seven Immortal Sects, with Sword Ancestor and her own master as the core.

As for Senior Huo…

At the very least, she hadn’t heard that he’d taken part in that process.

Hearing this, Kongji Sacred Lord grew even more curious.

“May I ask—what attitude do those seniors have toward the world and all living beings?”

Their attitude toward “the world” and “all living beings”?

That was a huge question…

Ning Wanzhu thought for a moment, then said earnestly:

“That isn’t something I can explain clearly in a short time…”

“Those seniors and my master—each of them has their own ideas.”

“And when they face certain questions, their attitudes aren’t something disciples like us can presume to grasp.”

At this, Mingyu beside her suddenly spoke.

“If you truly want the answer to that question, you might as well come to our world and see for yourself someday.”

Kongji Sacred Lord froze.

“I can go to your world?”

“You can, but not at the current stage…” Ning Wanzhu explained.

According to the Ascension Plan’s past screening standards, someone like Kongji Sacred Lord—judging by everything she had done over the years—did indeed meet the Ascension Platform’s requirement of “perfected merit and conduct.”

But first, her cultivation was too high. The Immortal-Cleansing Pool her master had developed currently only worked below the Integration realm.

Though Ning Wanzhu didn’t know what the Immortal-Cleansing Pool was truly for, she did know that going through it was something every Ascendant had to experience.

Second, there was the issue of herself—or rather, the issue of Taiyi Realm.

Because of Taiyi Realm’s special cultivation system, every transcendent there had an extreme personality.

Kongji Sacred Lord was no exception.

A transcendent like her who worshiped “love” and “protection”—once she arrived in Tai Xuan Realm, no one could guarantee she wouldn’t also bring the Cang race into the scope of her “love.”

So, at the very least, they would have to wait until the final decisive battle ended, and the True Immortal founders modified the Ascension Platform’s rules. Only then might someone like Kongji Sacred Lord become an Ascendant and head to Tai Xuan Realm.

Thinking of that, Ning Wanzhu added:

“I can’t explain the specific reasons, and part of it I don’t understand myself. Sorry.”

Though she was Daoist Ling’s disciple, she belonged to the batch that entered relatively late.

Unlike Senior Sister Ning Wanyin, who had followed their master since ancient times, Ning Wanzhu had been born only after the first decisive war between the human clan and the Cang race.

By the time she entered her master’s sect, Lingyin Pavilion had already been founded for over four thousand years.

“Understood.” Kongji Sacred Lord chuckled lightly and didn’t press further.

She even took the initiative to change the topic.

“According to what this notebook says, Taiyi Realm once encountered an enemy it couldn’t resist. Because of that, it struck a deal with the person you’re searching for.”

After receiving the two of their permission, she had read what the notebook recorded.

There wasn’t much content, but within those few short lines she could see that person’s resolve and steadfastness.

That was also why she felt that person was remarkable.

On the other hand…

For Taiyi Realm to proactively seek cooperation with an outsider, the situation back then must have been so critical that there was no time to lose.

“Now Taiyi Realm is stable and peaceful. Clearly, he has already fulfilled the agreement with Taiyi Realm,” Kongji Sacred Lord continued.

“But he didn’t appear in the world as the deal required, to spread teachings and bring change to Taiyi Realm.”

“I suspect that in the course of resisting that great enemy of Taiyi Realm, he ended up on the losing side, or else…”

She looked at the two of them. Her tone had an unprecedented heaviness.

“He was betrayed by Taiyi Realm.”

The moment those words fell, the entire area seemed to freeze.

Ning Wanzhu and Mingyu both looked at Kongji Sacred Lord in astonishment.

But thinking about it carefully, it also felt natural.

If she chose to excuse Taiyi Realm, then she wouldn’t be Kongji Sacred Lord who upheld the beliefs of “love” and “protection.”

…

…

At an immeasurable height.

Huo still stood with hands behind his back, quietly observing everything that happened within Taiyi Realm.

On Tai Yi Continent, strife never ceased. In the One Hundred and Eight Heavens, chaos reigned without order.

Humans, demons, ghosts, spirits…

All living beings and myriad races waged war against one another without a moment’s pause.

“Chaos” and “disorder” were produced every second, and along the world’s light of Taiyi Realm—its radiance that overlaid immeasurable worlds—they traveled through one world node after another.

A colossal ritual centered on Taiyi Realm rotated slowly, unceasingly grinding away at a higher-level existence that had completely fallen into slumber.

Naturally, he could see through this, yet he didn’t make a move.

In Huo’s view, everyone had to pay the price for the choices they made.

And Huo also hoped that this lesson would make him understand that certain pointless kindness, at a critical moment, would harm him instead.

Whether it was lowly, vile beasts, or the utterly selfish yet utterly sacred Heaven’s Will—none of them could ever be trusted.

Of course, as his closest friend, Huo would not simply ignore it.

Daoist Ling’s disciple and that junior from the Alliance of Righteousness were the best candidates.

Step by step, he would guide them to go and save him, then set up some rather difficult checkpoints—so that as he watched all of it, he would understand exactly how much it cost, across how many generations, to make up for a single act of stupidity.

“And that artifact-born spirit… maybe I should bring her in too…” Huo considered.

He didn’t hold much prejudice against “spirits” as a type of existence, but in the end, they weren’t human.

If using her could make Yuan even more…

Forget it.

Yuan seemed to care a lot about that spirit. If something happened to her…

Hm?!

Right as he was constructing the “game arrangement,” Huo abruptly raised his head. His gaze pierced through Taiyi Realm’s world crystal wall system, crossed beyond the immeasurable worlds overlaid by the world’s light, and stretched into the distance.

After passing beyond Taiyi Realm-domain, it even crossed a distance about the size of a Realm of Earthly Immortals Realm-Domain!

Finally, beside a dim, lightless world that was about to return to ruins, he “saw” two extremely inconspicuous twisted shadows.

That was power that completely surpassed the Soul Transformation realm and reached another level entirely.

Dao-attaining ones!

Existences at the level of true “immortals” and “ancestors.”

But…

“A Dao injury?” Huo frowned.

Among Dao-attaining existences, if they hadn’t suffered a Dao injury, there was no way he could have sensed the radiating fluctuations from that power at such a distance.

Unknown Dao-attaining existences…

Not long ago, that Dao brother had mentioned it in the group chat, and so soon he was actually running into it!

…

…

In an unknown region of the Chaos Sea.

Beside a great world that was about to go extinct and return to ruin within chaos.

A woman stood quietly amid surging chaotic energy. She wore a gorgeous robe, her figure alluringly curvaceous, with golden hair and green eyes—an eerie beauty.

If one observed closely, they would find her hair, her gorgeous robe, and even her very self were all constructed from immeasurably countless tiny runes.

Dense runes flowed, and every single one seemed to record everything that happened as a world moved toward extinction and returned to ruin in chaos.

Any ordinary person—even a cultivator below the Integration realm—would be polluted by merely looking at her once, then twisted into some unspeakable existence.

Xu!

Every living being who saw her would have such a “name” emerge from the depths of their mind.

And the moment they realized that “Xu” was her “name,” it meant they had already been polluted.

At this moment, Xu was looking through the world crystal wall system, overlooking that great world about to go extinct.

It was a great world whose energy level had reached the Integration realm, and its world type was “starry universe.”

It had not developed “multiversal” attributes, instead focusing on a single great cosmos, with an absolute timeline running through the universe from beginning to end.

However, under the deliberate targeting of a higher-level existence, the entire universe began collapsing from the edges of the starry sky.

From then on, the stars returned to eternal darkness.

One after another, mighty Integration-realm beings, vast as star clusters, erupted with unprecedented brilliance. They roared in despair, yet in the end were drowned by one mutated monster after another.

Under the targeted radiation of higher-level power, they died and their Dao was extinguished.

And Xu herself seemed to gain something during the world’s extinction. A faintly intoxicating flush rose on her delicate face.

Beside her, a burly man in a tight dark-red outfit frowned as he looked at her. A white cape on his back snapped loudly in the surging chaotic energy.

It looked…

Pretty bizarre.

“If it weren’t for the Supreme oracle, I’d beat you to death.” The burly man spoke in a deep voice.

The language he used was different from the language used in Tai Xuan Realm and the worlds covered by the Ascension Web.

“Don’t be so hostile to me.” Xu licked her lips and withdrew her gaze from the dying great world.

She stepped forward slowly, her pale five fingers slender as scallion roots reaching toward the man’s sturdy chest.

“I really like you a lot, Chi~”

Chi frowned, avoided her touch, and stared at her coldly.

“Stay away from me!”

If the Supreme Existence hadn’t personally delivered an oracle, he would never have had any dealings with this true god rumored to have the worst temperament.

“Now! Immediately take me to find that true god you defeated!” Chi’s tone was extremely solemn.

“If I find out you lied, you should know the consequences!”

Xu pursed her lips, her expression turning noticeably more serious.

“This concerns the Supreme Existence. How could I possibly lie?” She looked at Chi. “What about you—did you bring the Supreme Existence’s boundless power?”

“Didn’t you say you handled that true god in two or three moves?” Chi said, confused. “Then if we join forces, we should be able to take him down directly.”

“I was bragging.” Xu smiled again.

But to Chi, that smile was utterly fake—and disgusting.

“The truth is, I can’t beat him at all. If that world hadn’t suddenly made a move, I might’ve ended up dead right there.”

Chi: “…”

You—

Didn’t you just say you couldn’t possibly lie?!

He had known before coming that this woman was unreliable and had an excessively vile temperament, but he never imagined it could be vile to this extent.

You’d lie even about something like this?!

“But the great Supreme Existence must have seen it coming long ago, right?” Xu said.

“….” Chi really didn’t want to respond, but thinking about how he still had to cooperate with her, he could only answer with a dark face, “Yes.”

After all, since they began exploring the Chaos Sea, this was their first discovery of an existence at the “true god” level.

And it was a true god existence within the same system as that “Dao Ancestor” from back then.

From it, perhaps they could find a way to restore the Supreme Existence.

“Then let’s go!” Xu laughed. “I’ll lead the way.”

Chi followed with a cold expression.

They hadn’t gone far when—

“Do you think their ‘Supreme Existence’ might also discover us?” Xu asked.

“I don’t know. The level of a Supreme Existence is not something we can imagine.”

This time, Chi had rushed to support Xu, and the Supreme Existence had specially bestowed upon him its boundless power.

But that didn’t mean everything was foolproof.

In the past, all of them had been trapped in a cage. It was the Supreme Existence that shook the transcendent order laid down by the “Dao Ancestor” and opened a new road for them.

Yet the Supreme Existence itself, because of the backlash of that transcendent order, suffered an extremely severe Dao injury and had no choice but to fall into silence…

Much as he didn’t want to admit it, the “Dao Ancestor” who had set that transcendent order was clearly stronger than the Supreme Existence.

In that situation, how could they guarantee they wouldn’t be noticed by that “Dao Ancestor”…

Even the Supreme Existence dared not guarantee it.

But!

Most of them had become “true gods” precisely because the Supreme Existence had shaken the transcendent order.

Now that the Supreme Existence’s recovery required them, how could they refuse to contribute what strength they could?

After a pause, Chi said in a deep voice:

“Tell me everything that happened after you encountered that true god. Don’t hide anything.”

Now it seemed that the information transmitted earlier likely contained many inaccuracies. He needed to confirm it all again.

“Emm…” Xu blinked. “Beg me!”

“I’m not joking with you—!”

He only got halfway through before Chi’s voice abruptly stopped. Even Xu beside him reined in her smile.

The two of them stared at the man who had appeared before them at some unknown moment—ordinary-looking, with a gentle temperament. Their expressions turned grave to the extreme.

This…

Who was this?

“Always finding me trouble…” A sigh sounded, carrying helplessness.

What happened here seemed pretty important.

But if he said it, wouldn’t that expose the fact that he’d been secretly following them?

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