Old Master, Times Have Changed - Chapter 687 (Patreon)

Chapter 687: A True Method That Fuses Two Systems

For a moment, the gloomy cell was quiet to an excessive degree.

The light of the formation kept circulating, illuminating the thick, hazy gloom around them.

Xu lowered her head, her heart filled with anxiety.

She knew perfectly well she had no right to bargain, but she still hoped to beg out a sliver of survival.

“We’ll talk about it later,” Xu Xing said calmly. “I said I’d think about it seriously, and I’ll consult more people before deciding your final outcome.”

“I shall follow your will, Great Sword Ancestor.”

Xu kept her brows lowered and her posture obedient, not daring to show the slightest dissatisfaction.

Any thoughts a prisoner had were meaningless, let alone in front of a great existence.

“Oh, right.”

As if he’d remembered something, Xu Xing flicked a speck of spiritual glow toward her.

The glow flashed and vanished. Before Xu could even react, it had already sunk into the center of her brow.

“During this time, study this.”

Perfect timing to test the ritual Hong Zun had derived on a Ritual-path transcendent.

Right after, Xu Xing turned and left, leaving Xu alone standing at the center of the formation, her eyes vacant.

A long while passed...

Only then did she come back from that dazed, drifting state.

Feeling the vast torrent of information flowing through her mind, a trace of surprise flickered in her eyes.

There was analysis of the path she walked, and...

“Ritual”!

A complete, self-contained ritual lineage, constructed with “Thunder Dharma” as its symbol. If its peak ritual succeeded, it could condense a “True Thunder-Seizing Sigil” and achieve a true god’s body, taking command of the authority of ten thousand thunders, with boundless might.

Though she hadn’t started trying it, with her eye for such things she could tell this Thunder-Seizing lineage was no weaker than her own Gui Xu lineage.

And this complete ritual system had an extremely strange name that made her feel uneasy.

“The Secret Ritual True Canon of the Nine Catastrophes Thunder-Seizing.”

It was completely unlike the naming style of rituals in her memories.

Even the ritual lineage itself was strange. She could see shadows of rituals from her original world within it, yet a close look revealed clear differences.

Compared to traditional rituals that used changes in the external world to influence the self, this “Secret Ritual True Canon of the Nine Catastrophes Thunder-Seizing” placed greater emphasis on strengthening the self and clarifying the mind, pushing the Ritual forward through cultivation of one’s own being.

A wholly different direction.

But there was no denying it: this kind of “Ritual” that fused two systems, or rather this “true method,” really was more “comprehensive” than traditional rituals.

Yes—comprehensive.

In traditional rituals, once a ritual recorded in a given lineage was completed, the executor would receive enhancements with different characteristics depending on what that ritual emphasized.

Take her Gui Xu lineage, for example.

Compared to other ritual lineages, Gui Xu stood out in “corrosion” traits and resistance to the “silent contamination” of supreme existences.

But the strengthening of bodily toughness—or, put another way, the “vitality” trait—was minimal. Some transcendent practitioners would even see those two traits weakened if their ritual execution was too perfect.

Simply put, Gui Xu transcendent practitioners gained special bonuses when using secret arts, and their mental resistance was higher.

But they themselves were glass cannons, and their lifespans were shorter.

This phenomenon would persist all the way until “igniting divine fire.”

“‘The Secret Ritual True Canon of the Nine Catastrophes Thunder-Seizing’...” Xu murmured those words.

If the enhancements brought by the first ritual of the Gui Xu lineage were:

Corrosion trait +2, mental resistance +2, strength +0.1/-1, constitution +0.1/-1,

then the enhancements brought by the first ritual of the Thunder-Seizing lineage were:

Paralysis trait +2, mental resistance +1, strength +1, constitution +1.

“The difficulty is higher, but compared to the effect, it’s absolutely worth it...”

A ritual with no negative effects...

That was what countless transcendent practitioners had pursued for ages, yet none had succeeded to this day.

And she had actually seen it in a situation like this.

“Fate toys with people,” Xu sighed softly.

It was a phrase she’d seen not long ago while fighting that true god, pulled from its mind’s information. There couldn’t be a more fitting use for it.

As she thought that, she shifted her focus to the information beyond the Secret Ritual True Canon of the Nine Catastrophes Thunder-Seizing.

According to the analysis of the great existences of this world:

Because the system she walked had been opened by a supreme existence, and that supreme existence had not completely separated itself from the system—

It still gripped the source of the Ritual transcendent system tightly.

Therefore, the supreme existence’s own condition would, to a certain extent, affect the “Rituals” and transcendent practitioners under that system.

In other words, as long as its Dao wounds remained unhealed, any “Ritual” created by transcendent practitioners under that system would always carry negative effects.

“...”

So the imperfection of “Rituals” was because of the supreme existence...

Years of experience made Xu instinctively want to deny it.

But deep down she also understood: the great existences of this world had no need to deceive her.

Besides...

Wasn’t a “perfect ritual” with no negative effects already sitting in her head?

“‘The Secret Ritual True Canon of the Nine Catastrophes Thunder-Seizing’...”

That extremely soft voice echoed again through the gloomy cell. Gray fog churned, the formation’s light shone across Xu’s face, and it lit the inexplicable gleam in her eyes.

Just as Xu’s mind was thrown into chaos by the Secret Ritual True Canon of the Nine Catastrophes Thunder-Seizing—

Thump, thump, thump...

Another wave of heavy, muffled-drum-like sounds came from deeper within, forcing her to suppress her tangled thoughts and look toward where the gray fog parted.

As before, a blurry silhouette surfaced within the fog.

But as it drew close, Xu realized the visitor was not the great existence from earlier, but an elderly man with an immortal bearing, wearing a purple-and-gold long robe.

Du Ruoheng, the Sword Sect’s sect master.

A being who had ignited divine fire—an ant... a weakling.

The gloomy cell suppressed her true god body and her transcendent traits, making her ability to see through reality dim and obscured.

But at this distance, she could still see what was real.

Almost instantly, the humility and respect on Xu’s face vanished without a trace. She directly ignored Du Ruoheng and sat cross-legged with eyes closed at the center of the formation.

“...”

Wait—seriously?

When the Patriarch spoke to you just now, you practically wanted to kneel on the ground!

But when you see me, you just ignore me outright?

After the corner of his eye twitched a few times, Du Ruoheng said in a deep voice, “I am the Sword Sect’s sect master.”

Yet Xu didn’t move at all. She didn’t even open her eyes to look at him.

In Xu’s cognition, even a true god like herself couldn’t shake the decision of a great existence—so what chance did a newly ignited-divine-fire weakling have?

Du Ruoheng: “...”

I damn well...!

“The one who met you just now was my grandmaster.”

Hearing that, Xu finally opened her eyes and looked at him calmly.

Du Ruoheng’s eye twitched again.

“The laws targeting someone like you—someone who is ‘not an Ascendant’—will be drafted after we discuss it. So before that, I want to understand some things from you.”

The grandmaster said he would send relevant materials over to him later.

But Du Ruoheng still wanted to ask himself.

“What do you want to ask?” Xu slowly stood up, her expression turning much more serious. “I will answer truthfully.”

(-_- )!!

This one really is that realistic.

...

...

On the other side, after leaving the gloomy cell, Xu Xing had already arrived outside the Disciplinary Hall.

Standing before the Disciplinary Hall, he gazed into the distance, his thoughts gradually drifting farther away.

That unknown Dao-attainer—what Xu recognized as the “supreme existence.”

After opening the Ritual transcendent system, it did not loosen the restrictions on the new system, but instead tightly controlled the source of the new system.

Yet by doing so, it conflicted to a certain extent with Xuan’s authority.

Across the myriad heavens and worlds, the source of transcendence was one and only one: Xuan.

So as long as that supreme existence refused to let go, it would continue to be crushed by Xuan’s authority, and its Dao wounds would remain impossible to heal.

Unless it could achieve “Dao source” before Xuan...

But that was impossible.

If it could truly do that, it wouldn’t have fallen into silence from the backlash of the transcendent order in the first place.

“‘The Secret Ritual True Canon of the Nine Catastrophes Thunder-Seizing’...”

It was a true method Hong Zun had derived by combining the modern cultivation system with “Ritual.”

Xu Xing had heard that after Huo sent Xu to the Sword Sect, he had asked Xu Xing to pass it along to her.

Mainly to observe what changes would occur after a Ritual-system transcendent practitioner cultivated this true method.

After that, Hong Zun would continue trying to fuse the strengths of both systems.

After all, once the negative impacts were avoided, the Ritual transcendent system still had quite a few merits worth taking.

Cultivation always had to keep up with the times.

And now was already a new era. They weren’t old fossils clinging to tradition.

Thinking of this, Xu Xing couldn’t help recalling everything that had happened in Taiyi Realm within Xu’s memories.

The leader of the era of great transformation in Tai Xuan Realm.

“What a mess you’re in, fellow countryman.”

With a soft sigh, Xu Xing withdrew his gaze, walked down the steps before the Disciplinary Hall, and not long after vanished around a bend at the end of the road.

...

...

Several days later.

The Chaos Sea, an unknown region located between the Second Xunyuan Realm-Domain and the Taiyi realm-domain.

Within the surging chaotic currents, countless worlds rose and sank.

Amid those many worlds, two figures moved through the raging chaotic flow, enduring “chaos” and “loneliness,” setting up one special node after another—bright as stars—faintly echoing something far away.

If one looked down from a higher level, they would see star-like points of light scattered across a corner of the unknown realm-domain. There was a wondrous connection between them, brightening and dimming as if “resonating.”

[Regional node stability test completed!]

[Primary and secondary node linkage stable. Beginning disorderly concept sorting. Estimated completion in three standard hours...]

[Reward: 10,000 Ascension Points (issued)]

“Hoo...”

Seeing the message pop up on her personal interface, Mingyu let out a long breath.

“This job is honestly exhausting.”

Enduring the boundless loneliness of the Chaos Sea wasn’t much, since they were Integration realm cultivators.

The most torturous part was the chaotic “concepts” within the unknown realm-domain. Each time, they had to “understand and adapt” before they could act.

Even with the boost from Perception Ascension, that process still consumed an extreme amount of mental energy.

“Take a break,” Ning Wanzhu said as she came over, smiling and handing her a cup of Xuan Candle Fruit juice.

“Tch. So extravagant.”

Mingyu clicked her tongue, but still took it from her.

Ning Wanzhu had brought some Xuan Candle Fruit, but this Xuan Candle Fruit juice was something she had redeemed through the Ascension Points Exchange Center.

One Ascension Point for such a small cup. The price could only be described as outrageous.

“We’ve worked hard for so long. We should enjoy a little,” Ning Wanzhu said with a soft laugh.

As Ascension Web deployment expansion envoys, their permissions were extremely high, but at first they had no Ascension Points rewards.

After all, at that time the Ascension Web was still in internal testing. Ascension Points and the Ascension Points Exchange Center were only an experiment and might not even be used.

It was only after the feedback from the ascension envoys turned out fairly good that it was decided to issue Ascension Points to them as well.

And they even retroactively issued the Ascension Points for that job in the Second Xunyuan Realm-Domain.

By the current exchange ratio between Ascension Points and spirit coins, the value of the Ascension Points the two of them held was almost enough to rival the market value of Qiu Zhen Transport.

As the two drank their Xuan Candle Fruit juice, their eyes remained fixed on the foggy chaos in the distance—where Taiyi Realm lay.

“I wonder how Yuan is doing now,” Ning Wanzhu said softly.

Even though they had gotten the notes, their Light of Doubt avatars had received no further news afterward.

During this time, all they could do was cooperate with Kongji Sacred Lord to explore Abyss Ruins Realm, hoping to find relevant information within.

Abyss Ruins Realm...

They clearly knew it was closely tied to Yuan’s experiences in Taiyi Realm, yet they couldn’t find the key.

It left them both helpless.

Mingyu shook her head slightly. “He’s Soul Transformation, after all. There’s no way he could—”

Before she could finish, a new message popped up on her personal interface, and the remaining half of her sentence stuck in her throat.

[You have an incoming call invitation from ‘Daoist Ling’...]

Master / Senior Daoist Ling?!

Both of them were startled.

They exchanged a look, then chose to accept.

Buzz.

A beam of light projected from each of their personal interfaces, forming a light screen in front of them.

They saw Ning Ruo still seated behind that silver-gray desk, wearing a white lab coat and leaning back in her chair, arms folded.

“Master.”

“Senior Daoist Ling.”

Even through the light screen, the two of them still performed a proper salute.

Ning Ruo had no extra expression. After a slight nod, she went straight to the point.

“There’s news about Yuan.”

Huh?!

The two of them froze, neither reacting for a moment.

Master / Senior Daoist Ling—weren’t they unable to leave Tai Xuan Realm? How did they know?

Just then, Ning Ruo on the screen glanced to the side, and the view shifted with her.

Xu Xing’s figure appeared on the light screen.

“Sword Ancestor Senior!” both of them said at once.

So Sword Ancestor Senior was also at Lingyin Pavilion. Then the news about Yuan should be connected to Sword Ancestor Senior.

“Not long ago, Fellow Daoist Huo, who went to Taiyi Realm with you, captured a Soul Transformation cultivator from another world,” Xu Xing explained.

A moment later, information arrived through the Ascension Web, and a flashing mail icon formed in the upper-right corner of their personal interfaces.

“The specific sequence of events is in there. Read it yourselves. And be careful as well.”

Be careful?

Isn’t Senior Huo there?

What are we supposed to be careful of?

“Be careful of Fellow Daoist Huo,” Xu Xing added.

Ning Wanzhu: “...”

Mingyu: “...”

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