Old Master, Times Have Changed - Chapter 711 (Patreon)

Chapter 711: The Failure of the Innate Ancestral God of Tribulation

In the blink of an eye, more than half a month passed again.

Morning.

Inside the Sword Sect Inner Continent.

On a winding bluestone-jade path, a young man in a black robe, with violet pupils, waited beneath a tree.

Staring at the spirit fruit hanging from the branches, he drifted into thought.

Weng—!

A streak of sword light came from afar. A chilling sword intent spread out, shaking off the morning dew clinging to the fruit’s surface.

As the sword light landed and dispersed, a figure in a purple-gold robe, with an immortal bearing and a transcendent aura, appeared.

“Sorry to keep you waiting, Senior.”

“I wanted to stroll around a bit, so I came out earlier than usual—that’s all.”

These two were none other than Yuan and Sword Sect’s sect master, Du Ruoheng.

After more than half a month of recuperation, Yuan had finally balanced his “body” and “spirit.” Even the essence worn down by the “Ritual of Taking Chaos, Refining the Origin, and Seeking Truth” had recovered quite a bit, and his Dao injury had eased.

During this time, he had asked Xu Xing many questions.

He had gained a preliminary understanding of how the Tai Xuan Realm had changed over the past fifty-plus years.

So he planned to meet Chen Shang, the previous speaker of the Alliance of Righteousness, and learn more details.

After all, what a True Immortal saw was too lofty and too distant—it might not suit him.

“Thank you for your trouble, Sect Master,” Yuan said with a smile.

“You’re too polite, Senior.” Du Ruoheng didn’t dare slacken. “Please, follow me.”

The two walked side by side along the road.

On the way, Du Ruoheng—just as before—asked Yuan for advice on some local governance matters within the Sword Sect.

Yuan still found it a little strange, but as last time, he offered his thoughts one by one.

Yes—only “thoughts.”

When it came to sensitive topics like Sword Sect local policy, it was best not to voice too much. Stopping at “thoughts” was most appropriate.

Soon, they arrived at the residence the Sword Sect had arranged for Chen Shang.

A small courtyard was built along the lakeside, antique and elegant.

At the water’s edge, spiritual trees drooped with branches. Spirit fruits hung like candles, their glow hazy and soft.

In the middle of the lake, a stone pavilion had been built специально, and morning mist curled over the surface, rich with atmosphere.

At that moment, Chen Shang was inside the pavilion, pacing without pause, occasionally gazing into the distance.

After bringing Yuan here, Du Ruoheng stopped:

“I’ll send Senior off here. This junior will take his leave.”

Yuan nodded slightly.

“Many thanks, Sect Master.”

Weng—!

Sword light flared, sword qi scattering, shredding a small patch of the morning mist above the lake.

In the span of a breath, the sword light vanished without a trace.

The disturbance wasn’t large, but it was enough for Chen Shang to notice.

The instant he turned around, Chen Shang had already crossed most of the lake and arrived before Yuan.

After confirming the visitor truly was Yuan, he drew a deep breath and bowed deeply:

“Chen Shang, sixth-generation speaker of the Alliance of Righteousness… pays respects to the first-generation speaker!”

“No need for that.”

Yuan lifted a hand and stopped the salute.

Feeling that irresistible force halting his movement, Chen Shang felt relief—along with a trace of disappointment.

Relief that the first-generation speaker was still at the Soul Transformation realm and had not suffered a drop in cultivation due to the “calamity” the Sword Ancestor had mentioned.

As for disappointment…

Though the first-generation speaker was still at the Soul Transformation realm, compared to that sliver of separated soul the Alliance of Righteousness once possessed—one that carried the Sword Ancestor’s immortal power—this was still far, far weaker.

More precisely, the two weren’t even on the same plane.

“You’ve all suffered these years,” Yuan said first, as an apology.

Back then, he had run off without a word. It really was irresponsible.

So when facing the Alliance of Righteousness, he felt deeply guilty.

“…” Chen Shang hesitated, then finally gave a bitter smile. “These years, we nearly caused a catastrophe. I’m sorry for failing your expectations.”

Among the speakers across generations, he was the only one to end his term early.

He was the least qualified to accept those words.

The calamity of “severed heart-breath” had nearly dragged the entire Alliance of Righteousness into an irrecoverable abyss.

“Let’s not talk about that.” Yuan shook his head slightly.

He already knew everything the Alliance of Righteousness had gone through, from the memories of that sliver of separated soul.

There was no point rehashing it now.

“Next, I have some questions. They may put you in a difficult position,” Yuan said evenly.

Last time, it had only been a sliver of separated soul—there hadn’t been time, so many matters hadn’t been examined closely.

But this time was different.

Whether it was pushing forward the Ascension Plan or linking up the Ascension Web, he needed a certain amount of say within the Alliance of Righteousness.

In that situation, the more clearly he understood the Alliance’s internal landscape, the better.

“But I still hope you’ll answer.”

“…”

Chen Shang fell silent.

Unlike last time, the first-generation speaker was truly back.

But the Alliance of Righteousness as it stood now…

“If we can transition smoothly and enter the next stage, that’s naturally the best outcome,” Yuan suddenly said, in a line whose meaning was not immediately clear.

Chen Shang didn’t understand.

“The times are moving forward. That is the shared will. No one can stop it.”

Yuan looked at him deeply, then glanced meaningfully toward the distance—toward two towering mountains, the highest of them all.

That vague line made Chen Shang’s heart tremble.

“You ask—I will answer truthfully!”

A shared will?

Then whose shared will was unstoppable?

A smooth transition would be best… but if it couldn’t be smooth, then what?

Chen Shang didn’t even dare think further.

The answer was already obvious.

…

…

Before the Sword Ancestor Hall.

Seeing this, Xu Xing raised an eyebrow.

To be fair, Yuan really was like they said—he was quite good at “borrowing momentum.”

And also…

“He’s really open-minded about it.”

In the current Tai Xuan Realm, the Alliance of Righteousness was no longer as hostile toward the immortal sects as it had been when first established.

But there was still a certain “gap” between the Alliance of Righteousness and the major immortal sects.

To them, relying on an immortal sect’s strength was essentially a roundabout way of softening toward the immortal sects. Some would even think that doing so would turn the Alliance of Righteousness into a subsidiary of the immortal sects.

Yet the Alliance of Righteousness still wanted to catch up to the immortal sects.

Perhaps this “gap” would persist until the Alliance of Righteousness produced a True Immortal—only then would it ease.

Before that condition was met, anything involving immortal sects would be seen by the vast majority of the Alliance as a sign of “weakness.”

And for Yuan—the one who, in the truest sense, founded the Alliance of Righteousness—this was even more so.

As the first-generation speaker, he was actually borrowing the “momentum” of an immortal sect’s founder ancestor…

If word of this got out, it was easy to imagine how many people would condemn him.

But Yuan wouldn’t care about such a trivial thing.

He did it back then, and he’d still do it now!

If you could reach your goal easily, who would want to struggle desperately?

Black cat, white cat—any cat that catches mice is a good cat.

As for “reputation”…

Honestly, he already had more than enough of it.

Watching Chen Shang pour everything he knew out to Yuan like beans spilling from a jar, Xu Xing withdrew his gaze.

“Looks like it’ll be fine.”

If Yuan didn’t care, he cared even less.

Once they cleared Chen Shang as a hurdle, Yuan should be able to seize some initiative.

With Yuan’s ability, it shouldn’t be long before he could…

Suddenly!

Xu Xing’s eyes sharpened. He jerked his head up, his gaze crossing the sea of stars in a fraction of a fraction of a moment—reaching the Far Side of the Stars!

At his side, a faint, cleanly elegant figure stepped out, just like him, staring hard at the Far Side of the Stars.

Red radiance burst forth.

A long sword, entirely crimson and flowing with divine light, appeared in Xu Xing’s hand.

…

…

Starfront Battlefield.

Vast purple mist surged like a tide, swallowing all things, covering all things.

It unraveled countless mysteries and spoke the ultimate principles of the world.

The sovereign of all Dao, the ancestor of transcendence!

Within the rolling tide of purple mist, a figure no taller than an ordinary person stood upon it, looking toward the Central Continent.

Xuan!

Even the “Dao Soldiers” hidden in the Starfront Battlefield, lying in a dormant state, were forced out—dim and lusterless under the pressure of that boundless purple mist.

“What is that old bastard doing?!”

A twisting shadow—almost indistinguishable from the pitch-black backdrop of the universe—fixed its gaze on the vast purple mist that had blanketed the entire Far Side of the Stars.

Beside it was a hunched figure with white hair and cloudy eyes.

You and Min.

Weng—!

Blazing red radiance crossed the star sea. A red moon, encompassing the sword Dao of all heavens, so vast it was beyond measure, slowly rose.

The moment it appeared, it revealed a terrifying might that did not lose to the boundless purple mist.

As the two forces contended, even concepts themselves were being reorganized, and everything became a bizarre, indescribable existence.

Then—

As if countless trillions of clear sword chimes rang at once, the red radiance swept across, carrying away every Star Territory Warden on the Starfront Battlefield.

Yet Xuan only watched calmly, with no intention of stopping it.

“Xu Xing, what do you think that old bastard wants?” You asked, looking at Xu Xing who had appeared on the Starfront Battlefield.

“No idea,” Xu Xing said, staring forward after sending everyone away.

“But if it’s making this much noise, it clearly isn’t simple.”

He paused.

“Whatever the reason, we’ll find out by testing it!”

As he spoke, Xu Xing appeared before the red moon.

“Sword Ancestor, if I were you, I wouldn’t be so impulsive.”

A streak of seven-colored light appeared beside Xuan—it was Gu.

But Xu Xing ignored it. The long sword in his hand was already raised.

Xuan also raised his right hand, fingers curling together.

Just as both sides were about to strike, Xuan seemed to sense something and actually withdrew the boundless purple mist that had shrouded the Far Side of the Stars.

And as the purple mist vanished, everything happening on the Far Side of the Stars was fully revealed.

Amid the many celestial bodies gathered like attendants—

A figure sat there, upright. Hair white as brocade, body tall.

On a perfect face, at the center of the brow, a fire-red prismatic crystal was set, within which crimson lightning leapt endlessly.

A strange fluctuation brewed within, as if it held the breadth of the Great Dao and the totality of the cosmos.

Myriad laws and myriad Dao were contained within—lofty beyond the world, transcending all convention, converging into a single point of primal unity.

Corresponding to all Dao, aligning with all laws!

All who cultivate violate the principles—one realm, one tribulation; none can escape.

A peak Soul Transformation Cang race had constructed a “Heavenly Threshold,” seeking to prove a Dao-attaining body and become an Innate Ancestral God of Tribulation—one that governed the corresponding myriad Dao and myriad laws!

Everything happened in an instant.

“Slash!”

The moment Xu Xing swung his sword, Xuan met it with a punch.

At the same time, Xuan released his suppression on transcendent order—

Allowing that Cang race to smoothly add the concept of “tribulation” into the cultivation of the countless worlds, without suffering backlash from the original transcendent order.

A mournful intent spread. A point of fire shot straight toward the far shore.

“Don’t even think about it!”

The divine ring of years turned. Endless phantoms of the past appeared, dragging that mournful intent into the “past.”

But the point of fire pierced the old phantoms directly, aiming straight at the Cang race undergoing transformation.

And an ultimate, violent slaughtering sword light flared with it…

Just as Xuan prepared to take the blow head-on—willing to die to block the human immortals—

That transforming Cang race opened its eyes. In its seven-colored pupils, tribulation lightning crackled and danced.

Boom!

Heaven and earth fell into eternal silence. Before them seemed to remain only a limitless emptiness—so extreme that even “emptiness” itself became a hollow, vague concept.

Matter, law, even Dao ceased to exist, as if returning to a primordial chaos before anything ever was—the beginning of all the myriad worlds.

Crack!

As streaks of crimson lightning swept through that void-like, overly abstract “primordial chaos”—

Everything began to regain meaning.

Clear, light qi rose to become heaven; turbid, heavy qi sank to become earth.

Yin and yang took order; the four symbols were born; the five elements turned; myriad Dao first opened.

All things condensed into a point so tiny it could contain the meaning of “infinite”—

The Heavenly Threshold holds the Vast Dao!

It succeeded?!

Gu’s heart leapt with joy, while the other Tai Xuan True Immortals were startled.

Among all beings present, only Xu Xing and Xuan sensed something was wrong.

Impossible!

Even if the Vast Dao / Heavenly Threshold-building method could truly let a Soul Transformation Cang race become a Dao-attaining one, it would never be this fast.

There were countless bottlenecks—each one a razor-thin line between life and death. How could it be crossed so easily?!

Yet looking at that state…

Chi!

Xuan’s chest was pierced through by the violent slaughtering sword light, and burn marks from that point of fire appeared on his shoulder.

As the radiant light of martial will flared, illuminating the four star territories—

The Cang race that had been transforming steadily—only one step away from the Dao-attaining level—suddenly mutated.

Its seven-colored pupils were rapidly replaced by a hollow, washed-out white.

Its tall body swelled without stop. From the fire-red prismatic crystal in its brow, ferocious cracks spread outward, crawling across the rest of its form.

Wrong!

Very wrong!

Even if the “Heavenly Threshold-building method” failed, it should have meant losing the “self” and becoming a Dao Slave.

But what was happening now looked like the Heavenly Threshold-building had been forcibly accelerated, until it couldn’t bear the strain.

But then—

Who could do that?!

Do it right under his eyes and the Sword Ancestor’s?

“It’s not outside interference. It looks more like something within it—or rather, an existence that can directly interfere with it—tampered with it.”

As he spoke, Xu Xing gave Gu a long, meaningful look.

Gu: “…”

Hey!

Why are you looking at me?

Seeing Xuan’s gaze also turn over—carrying suspicion—Gu felt stifled and wronged.

The Sword Ancestor says something offhand and you believe it? Who’s supposed to be on your side?!

“Looks like it won’t succeed.”

Xu Xing sheathed his sword and vanished. The red moon that encompassed the sword Dao of all heavens vanished with him.

“Ancestor Xuan… it’s…”

The Soul Transformation Cang race grimaced in pain, struggling to say something more.

But in the end it couldn’t get the words out. It exploded into countless frenzied annihilation disaster thunders that raged outward!

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