Old Master, Times Have Changed - Chapter 693 (Patreon)

Chapter 693: Deceiving Them with Kindness

Yes!

It shouldn’t be like this!

On the high platform, Dongming Sacred Lord frowned deeply and lifted his gaze into the distance.

The Dao injuries he had suffered from the power of Soul Transformation had rotted his body away. Even his once-bright eyes had turned murky and foul at this moment.

His entire being, from the inside out, gave off a sense of “dead silence” and “withered decay.”

Dao injuries were hard to erase…

Recalling what he had done before, Dongming Sacred Lord only felt absurdity.

He clearly had no countermeasures at all, so why had he targeted those two outside visitors with powerful trump cards in such a stupid way?

He hadn’t felt anything at the time, but now that he looked back, the more he thought, the more foolish his actions seemed.

At this moment, it was as if something extremely important had vanished from his memory. He could even clearly sense the distorted parts of his recollection…

Just as Dongming Sacred Lord’s eyes grew unfocused—

Taiyi Realm seemed to break free of some kind of restraint. A connection in the unseen re-formed, dropping from on high, crossing over the Tai Yi Continent and the many layered heavens!

In an instant!

Wind and clouds converged. The ten-thousand-li sky of Yinli Heaven was swallowed by storm clouds in the blink of an eye.

A supremely sacred, supremely lofty, boundlessly indifferent will swept outward, filling all of Yinli Heaven.

Boom!

Thunder exploded. Dazzling lightning seemed ready to tear open the dimmed Yinli Heaven.

Savage arcs of lightning slithered through the heavy cloudbanks. The oppressive atmosphere made every living creature in Yinli Heaven feel fear rise in their hearts.

In a barren gobi, atop a high platform built from rough stones, Dongming Sacred Lord stared into the distance.

Lightning that split heaven and earth lit up his face. Howling winds whipped his black hair into a wild dance.

Boom!

Thunder roared across the world.

Dongming Sacred Lord slowly rose from the platform and let out a long breath.

“Hah…”

Amid the crashing lightning and screaming wind, he steadily rose into the air.

“I am Dongming, bearer of the heaven-ordained fate to guide the world’s ascent and transformation. I draw chaos to refine the Abyss Ruins, and gather the myriad worlds into boundless vastness.”

As before, that indifferent voice echoed through Yinli Heaven, piercing one hundred and eight layers of heaven to reach the Tai Yi Continent.

“Now I have been wounded by outsiders. Taiyi, help me!”

Words carried the authority of the heavens!

In that instant, he reclaimed the identity of the “Child of Destiny,” along with everything tied to it.

Centered on Taiyi Realm, a vast ritual that overlaid immeasurable worlds began to turn once more.

Crack!

Boundless might descended into Yinli Heaven and poured into Dongming Sacred Lord.

The Dao injuries from Soul Transformation were rapidly soothed, erased…

The “dead silence” and “withered decay” around him were swept away under that infusion of power. His unstable aura steadied. His murky eyes cleared as the injuries vanished.

A massive, terrifying shadow—woven from “disorder” and “chaos”—slowly straightened. Behind the thick storm clouds, a pair of幽紫-colored eyes appeared, overlooking the entire world.

Dongming Sacred Lord stood upon the air.

Even though his Dao injuries had been repaired, there was no joy on his face—only grave heaviness.

The most critical core of Taiyi Realm’s ascension had escaped…

Even if it was only a negligible wisp of intent, that one was still a higher-order existence. Even Heaven’s Will could not guarantee that it would not use that wisp to seize everything back.

“I have to find a way.”

He had to destroy that fragment of intent that slipped past the blockade, ensuring it would not affect the key point of Taiyi Realm’s energy-level leap.

“A true god…”

With the world’s help, and with the “Ritual of Seizing Chaos to Refine the Abyss and Seek Truth” suppressing most of that true god’s traits, a direct confrontation gave him some confidence he could wipe out that wisp of intent.

But if it devoted itself to evasion, then with a true god’s capabilities—even as only a sliver of intent—there was no way he could catch it.

So he had to approach it from another angle…

Thinking this, Dongming Sacred Lord looked to the side. His gaze crossed countless Lower Heavens and Higher Heavens, reaching straight to the Tai Yi Continent.

A holy, pure power curled around the Tai Yi Continent.

Yet even as the Child of Destiny, he could not probe where that power came from.

“Kongji Sacred Lord is trouble…”

He had always felt Kongji Sacred Lord was hypocritical.

But he had to admit her existence was indeed a problem he could not ignore.

The world’s blessing upon the Child of Destiny, when facing outsiders, would be directly reflected in “battle power.”

It could even descend with assistance like it just had.

But against natives of the world—especially an existence like Kongji Sacred Lord, who had climbed to an extremely high position and already occupied a portion of the world’s “weight”—the effect was not nearly as strong…

Usually it only manifested as vague things like “opportunity” and “luck.”

For transcendents at their level, the impact was so small it could be ignored…

After all, no matter what, “Heaven’s Will” was only a part of the world.

So long as it did not leave the world, the world’s own rules—

That is, the objectively existing Heavenly Dao—

Would forever be a boundary it could not cross.

“Looks like I can only start with those two outsiders…”

He could try to move against the two outsiders while avoiding Kongji Sacred Lord, using them to lure out that wisp of intent.

Not only could he leverage the advantage of “Heaven’s Will’s favor,” he could also take the chance to siphon the higher-level power carried within them…

Unfortunately, the spirit-body that came with that true god had already burned itself out to help that wisp of intent escape.

Otherwise, using her as bait would have been the best choice.

With calculations churning, Dongming Sacred Lord became a streak of purple light that pierced the storm clouds and left Yinli Heaven directly.

He was not worried that the true god’s sliver of intent would refuse to bite.

From what he’d seen a few years ago, that true god was kind—and a little naive.

People like that were the easiest to target.

…

…

At the highest point of Taiyi Realm.

Within an isolated region cut away from everything else.

Huo watched Dongming Sacred Lord hurrying back to the Tai Yi Continent and nodded with satisfaction.

Dongming Sacred Lord regaining the “Child of Destiny” identity and the related “memories” was, naturally, Huo’s handiwork.

Otherwise, forget a mere Integration cultivator— even a Soul Transformation cultivator could not have broken free of the restraints he set.

It couldn’t be helped. After speeding up the pace, the righteous side had Kongji Sacred Lord, a sliver of Yuan’s intent, and his two confidantes.

The villain side, meanwhile, had only a Dongming Sacred Lord burdened with Dao injuries…

That situation could not possibly produce the effect Huo expected.

Originally, there was no need for this.

He had a more complete setup—one that would have left a deeper impression on Yuan.

But who could have expected that beyond the Chaos Sea there truly was a Dao-attaining one?

The Huo in Taiyi Realm was only an avatar. His true body remained on the Central Continent, guarding against Gu.

Even though that “supreme existence” had shown no hostility…

It was still a Dao-attaining one!

What if it changed its mind?

What if it had left some hidden arrangement behind?

So, resolving things here as early as possible and bringing them back to the Tai Xuan Realm was the best choice.

They couldn’t stay here too long, so he could only tweak the “script” a little.

It looked a bit rushed…

But the result should be about the same!

Just as Huo observed the progress inside Taiyi Realm—

Not far behind him, Yin Ling—unable to speak—stood in place with a blank, stunned expression. Beside her floated a pale silver sphere.

Huo had found her resentful glare a bit uncomfortable, so he awakened Taiyi Realm’s Heaven’s Will and had it go explain everything to Yin Ling.

Yin Ling was still inexperienced in the ways of the world, and now she had been talked into it by Taiyi Realm’s Heaven’s Will, which was desperate to survive…

At the very least, she no longer felt Huo was a bad person.

…

…

One of the thirty-six Higher Heavens, Chongxiao Heaven.

A young man with black hair and purple eyes walked silently through a lush mountain forest.

The path was rugged and uneven, but he moved as if on flat ground.

Where he passed, venomous insects and fierce beasts hidden among the trees all withdrew on their own.

Continuing forward, he soon reached the mountainside. There was a flatter stretch of land, and a winding stream ran down along the slope.

He sat on a smooth boulder by the stream.

The view here was wide.

Looking out, he could see the opposite hillside covered in vivid flowers the size of washbasins, petals layered upon petals like roses.

A gentle breeze came, and the sea of blossoms swayed like brocade.

A strange fragrance drifted over, luring one to approach.

But Yuan, seated on the boulder, paid it no mind. He looked up at the sky and murmured softly:

“Chongxiao Heaven…”

He understood clearly: next, the Child of Destiny favored by Heaven’s Will in this world would stop at nothing to find him and erase his existence.

Recalling everything that had happened back then, Yuan could not help but sigh.

“Only the supremely private can be supremely sacred—that is Heaven’s Will. I should’ve been more careful then…”

After this, he finally understood the nature of “Heaven’s Will.”

A being like that, for the sake of the world becoming better, would use any means necessary.

It didn’t even possess the “emotions” of ordinary living beings. Even “betrayal” was merely the best decision produced by its rational analysis.

“This time I really took a fall,” Yuan said with a bitter smile.

A dignified Soul Transformation cultivator who comprehended the Great Void and held the Dao of space—yet he had fallen in a world like this.

If Wanzhu and Mingyu found out, they would definitely laugh at him…

After a long time,

He rose from the boulder, pressed down the distracting thoughts, and forced himself to focus.

He had only barely escaped with a sliver of intent thanks to Yin Ling’s help. He couldn’t sink into despair now.

He needed to retrieve everything as soon as possible, and then use the spiritual imprint left behind when Yin Ling burned her own spirituality to resurrect her!

Before that, he had to avoid this world’s Child of Destiny as much as possible.

Once everything was reclaimed, there would be time for reckoning!

Hng—!

With a single inhalation and exhalation from Yuan, all of Chongxiao Heaven trembled. The drifting extraordinary power in the void surged and moved rapidly.

Before the shocked eyes of Chongxiao Heaven’s inhabitants, that extraordinary power formed a gigantic funnel-shaped vortex, pouring toward Yuan on the mountainside, to be swallowed into his belly like a whale.

In the process, Yuan’s entire body became hazy and unreal, like a phantom that could be blown away at any moment.

The concentration of extraordinary power across Chongxiao Heaven plunged rapidly.

Quite a few Sacred King-level existences in other Higher Heavens cast their attention over. The Chongxiao Sacred King, who had already fled to the Tai Yi Continent, saw this and was terrified.

This continued for quite a while, until Chongxiao Heaven’s extraordinary power concentration fell to a certain limit.

Yuan stopped drawing it in, and his hazy form solidified once more.

“That’s about enough.”

If he kept going, it would even damage Chongxiao Heaven’s ecology—something he did not want to see.

It was also fortunate that this world, through its ritual, had already refined a small part of him, so traces of the Dao he comprehended existed throughout the entire world.

Otherwise, in his current state…

It wouldn’t have been so easy to draw so recklessly.

He closed his eyes briefly to sense his condition, then opened them and looked around, meeting head-on the gazes cast from the other Higher Heavens.

Even as only a sliver of awakened intent, that higher essence surpassing a Sacred Lord still shook those Sacred King-level existences to their core.

An existence beyond a Sacred Lord?!

Soon, a gaze descended from above the one hundred and eight layered heavens—that is, from the Tai Yi Continent.

Mixed within it was a vast will that was supremely lofty and supremely sacred, like the stare of all Taiyi Realm itself, locking precisely onto Yuan in Chongxiao Heaven.

There were no extra words, but Yuan knew: that Child of Destiny had found him with the world’s assistance.

“Despicable traitor,” Yuan said calmly.

Anyone treated that way would feel hatred.

He believed he had ended up like this because he was too careless, but that didn’t mean there was no resentment in his heart.

…

The only response was silence.

Dongming Sacred Lord also knew that Yuan had once saved Taiyi Realm from the brink under Xu’s assault.

Taiyi Realm’s Heaven’s Will had acted despicably, and it truly was a traitor. There was no arguing that.

“Heh. You’re using me as the chance for the world’s ascent,” Yuan forced a smile. “But have you ever considered that I can turn around and replace this world instead?”

He was a Soul Transformation cultivator.

Now he had regained a sliver of clear intent.

He didn’t even need to reclaim everything—he only needed, during the world’s process of refining “him,” to keep invading the world itself.

In the end, who refined whom, who seized whose everything…

That was far from certain.

“You won’t do that.”

This time, his words finally received an answer.

Yuan also “saw” Dongming Sacred Lord, and noticed the man’s face resembled his by several degrees.

He had met Dongming Sacred Lord when he first arrived in Taiyi Realm. Back then, he didn’t look like this.

Clearly, this change had occurred over the past few years.

And it perfectly confirmed what Yuan had just said.

While Taiyi Realm refined him, it was also being influenced by him in return.

“You won’t do it,” Dongming Sacred Lord said with certainty.

“Oh? And your reason?” Yuan asked.

“If you replace Taiyi Realm, every living being within Taiyi Realm will die instantly.”

The forced smile on Yuan’s face vanished, but Dongming Sacred Lord kept going.

“You’re a good person. You won’t let your selfish thoughts bury a world’s worth of lives.”

You’re a good person—so I’m going to use your kindness to force you.

Dongming Sacred Lord didn’t hide it at all. He stated his intent plainly, clearly.

Yuan: “…”

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