Chapter 1291: A Lingering Will, a Hidden Soul
Chapter 1291: A Lingering Will, a Hidden Soul
The message from the Xuanhuang Heavenly Dao was hazy, a whisper of intent rather than a clear pronouncement, yet Saint Emperor Li Ping understood its core meaning.
"The position of Great Heavenly Venerate..."
"I might lose my connection to it?"
A frown creased Li Ping's brow as he sank into contemplation.
"For thousands of years, the seat of the Xuanhuang Great Heavenly Venerate has remained vacant. Why now, at this critical juncture? Who could it be?" The Saint Emperor detected the faint scent of conspiracy in the air. His surveillance of the Xuanhuang Realm was limited, a patchwork of vision with vast blind spots. Faces flickered through his mind's eye, a rapid succession of potential candidates, but none stood out as a clear suspect.
"Theoretically, anyone capable of passing the Great Heavenly Venerate's trials should be an ally, someone who would stand with me against the Dharma Spreader. But..." The unspoken uncertainty hung in the air.
While mentally soothing the anxious Xuanhuang Heavenly Dao, a decisive light hardened the Saint Emperor's gaze. "It seems the plan must be accelerated."
"We just need to force the Dharma Spreader's hand when the Star Sea anomaly begins."
The Great Qi Sage Dynasty, a war machine long in preparation, roared to life, its gears turning with swift precision.
Sun Erlang was in the middle of final tests on the defensive capabilities of the Sacred Army Puppets when the Saint Emperor's decree arrived, catching him by surprise. His gaze swept across the proving grounds, over the vast, star-like formations of puppets that stretched to the horizon, and his initial surprise quickly morphed into exhilaration and impatience.
"An army trained for a thousand days is used in a single morning. It's time for the decadent Ten Thousand Immortals Alliance to witness the true might of our glorious Sage Dynasty's elite forces!"
Just as he was about to depart and attend to the mobilization, Sun Erlang remembered something. He vanished in a flash, reappearing in the deepest subterranean level of the proving grounds.
Here, the surging power of the earth veins was so dense it felt solid, a viscous, tangible force. It seemed to be under constant compression, hammered by some unseen power that had transformed its natural earthen hue into the fiery red of magma. This torrent of energy roared and crashed against a single, unyielding black stone at its center.
No matter how violently the power raged, the stone remained utterly motionless, an island of stillness in a tempest. With each impact from the crimson torrent, its dark surface only seemed to grow brighter, its luster deepening.
High above the black stone, a vortex of stars spun ceaselessly, casting down a single, perfectly straight beam of starlight that bathed the rock in its glow.
Under the celestial light, the black stone seemed to breathe. With every slow, rhythmic pulse, it inhaled motes of starlight, drawing them deep within its core.
Not far away, Master Craftsman Qiaogong hovered in mid-air, his attention utterly fixed on the black stone at the heart of this phenomenal display. He appeared to be in a state of constant calculation, manipulating unseen controls to fine-tune the ratio of power between the earth veins below and the starlight from above.
"Master Qiaogong," Sun Erlang began, "the war may be starting sooner than expected. What of Senior Tianyang...?"
Qiaogong, who had apparently also received the decree, answered without tearing his gaze from Tianyang's form. "Rest assured," he said coolly. "When the time comes, I will give the Ten Thousand Immortals Alliance a very big surprise. Those bastards consumed no small amount of my Source Power over the years..."
"Right!" Qiaogong tapped his own head. "Since war is upon us, we can make use of that rabble from the Tianling Sect." He closed his eyes for a moment, reporting to the Saint Emperor, then dispatched a command that flew off toward the puppets stationed in Nine Mountains Prefecture.
A flicker of satisfaction crossed his face before his full attention returned to Tianyang, who continued to endure the dual tempering of the earthen torrent and the celestial power.
Qiaogong could clearly sense the colossal power gestating within the black stone.
His body trembled, and a flicker of madness lit his eyes. "This puppet... it is the apex of my craft. Even in the old Tianji Realm, no one could have surpassed this creation. Shangguan, you just watch. The disciple you so casually dismissed will utterly eclipse you..."
Lost in his own world, Qiaogong ignored Sun Erlang completely, muttering to himself. Every so often, his hands would weave intricate seals that drifted down to settle upon Tianyang's form.
Sun Erlang saw this, took the hint, and quietly withdrew.
While the Great Qi Sage Dynasty buzzed with intense war preparations, two figures, looking entirely at ease, left the small world and stepped back into the Xuanhuang Realm.
They were none other than Xu Ke and Yin Shangren.
Yin Shangren squinted up at the sky, the sunlight of the Xuanhuang Realm seeming almost foreign to his eyes.
Xu Ke, meanwhile, was getting his bearings.
Their mission was to infiltrate the Museum of Divine Treasures before the war erupted.
"This Emperor Sanmo is a curious one," Yin Shangren remarked with a sneer. "He's one of the three great emperors of the strange beasts, yet he joined a human sect. And when disaster loomed, he betrayed them without a second thought to join the Ten Thousand Immortals Alliance..."
Xu Ke shook his head. "Grandpa San is an enigma. No one ever knows what he's truly thinking. It was strange enough when he refused to leave the Xuanhuang Realm with Emperor Yi all those years ago. And really, you can't call it a betrayal of the Beast Control Sect. The entire sect prospered because of the methods he introduced. They owe him a debt, not the other way around."
"Siding with the Ten Thousand Immortals Alliance was likely a matter of survival, nothing more," Xu Ke concluded.
Yin Shangren sneered. "I care nothing for his reasons. If he dares interfere when I retrieve the White Gentleman's Skull, I won't be courteous. The real question is, will you turn on me then?"
Xu Ke's expression turned serious. "Rest assured, fellow Daoist. I've already made arrangements. I sent Qing and Hong to the Li Realm. With a replica of the Ten Thousand Reincarnation Beast Wheel and the cooperation of the Beast Control Sect, we should be able to lure Grandpa San away. But even if that plan fails..."
"...I will not hold back."
"Excellent." With Xu Ke's assurance, Yin Shangren's smile returned, and his expression relaxed.
Following their plan, the pair traveled stealthily until they reached the vicinity of the celestial city in the Ten Thousand Immortals Alliance's Tianyu Province.
"This must be the place. The Heng family of Tianyu Province," Xu Ke murmured, surveying their surroundings.
"I still say any family with access to the Museum of Divine Treasures would have sufficed. Why did we have to travel all this way?" Yin Shangren grumbled, scratching his scalp in annoyance.
"That was the original plan," Xu Ke explained. "But the Saint Emperor sent word of a sudden development within the Ten Thousand Immortals Alliance. Security at the headquarters has been tightened significantly. Consequently, very few cultivators still have unrestricted access to the museum. Of those few, the Heng family here in Tianyu Province is our most suitable target."
"Their prominence comes from their skill in pathweaving, not from raw power," Xu Ke transmitted. "They're not overwhelmingly strong, and they tend to keep a low profile, which means they don't attract much public attention..."
Yin Shangren's gaze penetrated the Heng estate's protective arrays, and a cold smile touched his lips. "The easiest targets would be those two women, I imagine. A mother and daughter..."
"Precisely. Heng Ruoshui and He Xinxin. We'll wait for them to leave the estate, capture them, and assume their identities."
"The Saint Emperor also instructed us not to harm them unless absolutely necessary," Xu Ke added.
Yin Shangren chuckled. "Don't worry, they're not exactly my type. But... we have to disguise ourselves as women? Can't we find different targets?"
Xu Ke gave a short, dismissive laugh. "Are you still attached to your physical form?"
Yin Shangren waved a hand. "A fair point. I'm tired of running. Let's get this over with. I am... rather eager to see the White Gentleman's Skull."
The Heng mother and daughter didn't keep them waiting long.
A day later, He Xinxin slipped out of the estate to amuse herself and was captured without a sound.
Two days after that, Heng Ruoshui left her residence, apparently to attend a banquet. She, too, was taken in the blink of an eye.
Gazing at the bound and unconscious mother and daughter, Yin Shangren stroked his chin. "This technique the Saint Emperor taught us is remarkably effective. This girl's Dao Text Compass is quite extraordinary. It can sense fortune and avert calamity, a powerful tool for divination. It's practically half a Heavenly Treasure, perhaps reborn from the remnants of a dissolved immortal artifact..."
"And yet, with the Saint Emperor's Sky Shrouding Hand technique concealing us, the girl didn't sense the approaching danger at all."
Xu Ke smiled. "Perhaps because we truly meant them no harm. Let's begin."
From the foreheads of the mother and daughter, each took a single drop of blood essence.
Xu Ke accepted his, pressing it into his glabella.
Yin Shangren's method was far cruder. A fissure opened on his scalp, and his very Dao foundation consumed the drop.
With a sickening squelch of shifting flesh, Xu Ke and Yin Shangren transformed, in the blink of an eye, into perfect likenesses of Heng Ruoshui and He Xinxin.
Their appearances, auras, even the fluctuations of their souls—all were perfect matches.
"The techniques of the Sage Dynasty are truly remarkable," Xu Ke remarked, his eyes wide with astonishment.
Yin Shangren closed his eyes, savoring the new state. "The self that follows the heart's desire is the true self. Infinitely mutable, beyond the ken of gods and ghosts..."
After securing the mother and daughter, the perfectly disguised Xu Ke and Yin Shangren flew toward the celestial city of Tianyu.
Requesting to visit the Museum of Divine Treasures required an application through the local Government Hall, which would then be forwarded to the Alliance headquarters.
Only after receiving approval from the headquarters would a designated guide be sent to escort them.
In Tianyu Province, a face like Heng Ruoshui's was the best kind of pass.
And it was perfectly normal for a senior family member to take a junior to visit the Museum of Divine Treasures.
The process went smoothly, and their application was swiftly sent to the Alliance headquarters.
The response from headquarters, however, was not nearly as prompt. A full seven days passed before the final reply came.
The dignity of a Tianyu Province noble seemed to count for little in the eyes of the Alliance guide.
The black-robed guide was grim-faced and perfunctory, rattling off a few rules for entering the Alliance headquarters.
He led them to the celestial city in Tianshu Province, one of the Alliance's Central Four Prefectures. Deep within the Government Hall, inside a small chamber, he opened a portal to the headquarters.
As they stepped through the ring of light, a torrent of illusions rushed over them.
Even with the current strength of Yin Shangren and Xu Ke, they were unable to resist it.
But Xu Ke recovered in an instant, for the woman he was impersonating, Heng Ruoshui, was no stranger to the Alliance headquarters.
Yin Shangren, disguised as He Xinxin, trembled for a moment before his eyes opened with clarity.
The guide, as was customary, began to explain the cause of the illusions, then asked casually, "What did you see?"
Following the Saint Emperor's instructions, Yin Shangren replied, "The visage of a Heavenly Venerate, standing tall between heaven and earth, teaching the Dao to all sentient beings."
The guide nodded, asking no more questions.
As they followed the path through the void towards the Museum of Divine Treasures, Yin Shangren and Xu Ke communicated silently.
"Interesting," Yin Shangren transmitted. "I saw the image of the Dharma Spreader, floating outside the Xuanhuang Realm. It was a bird's-eye view, looking down upon it. The Xuanhuang Realm was far smaller than it is now; it must have been a scene from shortly after he achieved Longevity."
"What about you?" Yin Shangren asked.
Xu Ke sent back an image in response.
It was a scene set in a chaotic void, the location impossible to discern.
Two figures stood opposite each other, their faces indistinct.
"Who are you?"
"I am you."
"You are me..." The voice was hesitant.
After a brief silence, a slow shake of the head. "No. You and I... are different."
The other voice laughed, tinged with mockery. "This is your destiny. You cannot refuse it. You might as well accept reality. Sooner or later, we will become one."
"I told you, my name is Xuanyuan Tuo. I am not..."
At the crucial moment, the vision shattered.
Yin Shangren paused, glancing at Xu Ke.
Xu Ke looked helpless. "That's all I saw. The most important part was missing."
Yin Shangren replayed the scene in his mind. "Fascinating. We must report this to the Saint Emperor when we return. He might know something."
While they conversed, they quickly arrived before the Museum of Divine Treasures.
It stood on a floating continent, a monolithic black structure, solemn and imposing.
Its towering, narrow doors inspired a sense of reverence in every cultivator who came to visit.
After another identity verification, the guide led them inside the museum.
The first mandatory exhibit was a massive orb of light named "The Beautiful Age."
Within the light, countless worlds seemed to rise and fall.
"This is the 'Era'," the guide explained, his voice practiced and smooth.
"At its core is a Transformation Dao Stone, which deduces and manifests scenes from various periods in the history of the Xuanhuang Realm."
"In all these simulated worlds, the survival rate for cultivators is far lower than it is today."
"So, although it is called 'Era,' its true purpose is to highlight the beauty of our current age."
...
Yin Shangren and Xu Ke were unimpressed but took care not to show it, merely nodding silently.
"As is tradition, you may both experience it for yourselves."
"Don't worry. A lifetime inside the 'Era' is but a moment in reality. And typically, you won't survive more than a few years in the illusion."
At the guide's direction, Yin Shangren and Xu Ke each sent a sliver of their consciousness into the luminous sphere.
A short while later, a strange expression appeared on the guide's face.
What he expected to happen did not.
One had entered a simulation of the ancient Immortal Dao era, the other an age of absolute chaotic slaughter.
But one of them had remarkable luck, not only starting on the path of cultivation from a young age but also encountering fortuitous opportunities one after another. He cultivated smoothly all the way to the Soul Transformation stage, becoming a core disciple of an immortal sect before finally dying of old age.
The other was even more outrageous. In a world of chaos, she carved a bloody path for herself, becoming a feared female devil who devoured the souls of cultivators... she wrought so much evil that the world's cultivators could no longer tolerate her, and she finally fell under their combined siege.
"The other eras were quite nice, too," they said, looking somewhat regretful as they emerged from the illusion.
The guide stared, then double-checked their information again.
Heng Ruoshui, He Xinxin.
"I didn't expect such a young girl to be so vicious."
He was about to persuade them to continue their journey through the simulations to prove the worth of "The Beautiful Age."
But the two had already moved on impatiently.
The guide opened his mouth, then closed it, ultimately saying nothing more.
Next, he led them through different sections: Heroes of an Age, The Turning of Tides, and The Contention of a Thousand Paths.
Suddenly, Yin Shangren spoke up. "We'd like to look around by ourselves now, if that's alright."
His tone was clearly impatient.
The guide nodded. His job was done, anyway. He handed them a jade tablet. "Contact me when you've finished your tour and wish to leave. Remember, you must remain quiet inside the museum..."
After reciting a few more rules, the guide vanished.
Xu Ke and Yin Shangren exchanged a look. With perfect unspoken agreement, they began to wander, slowly making their way toward the center of the museum.
After some time, they finally saw it from a distance—the skull, resting silently in its display.
Xu Ke's body trembled slightly. He took a deep breath to calm himself.
Yin Shangren, too, had to exert tremendous effort to keep his composure.
They walked up to the White Gentleman's Skull and stood gazing at it in silence.
"I can barely stop myself from taking it now."
"We should wait. The war between the Alliance and the Sage Dynasty hasn't started yet. More importantly, I can faintly sense that Grandpa San is still in the museum. Besides, with the access level of these two from the Heng family, there's no time limit on our visit..."
Yin Shangren didn't reply, already lost in his contemplation of the White Gentleman's Skull.
An unknown amount of time passed before another figure approached the skull.
He gazed at it for a long time before letting out a soft sigh.
This immediately drew the attention of Xu Ke and Yin Shangren.
The newcomer was a middle-aged cultivator with a long beard. Like them, he seemed to be struggling to contain a powerful emotional response as he looked at the skull.
"So it's this brat..." Yin Shangren snorted coldly.
"You know him?" Xu Ke asked.
"Hmph. His name is Shangguan Shiquan. He once competed with me for one of the White Gentleman's ribs. Speaking of which, he still has one of the leg bones..." Yin Shangren's tone was hostile.
"Hmph. Once we have the skull, which is the most important part, we must retrieve the rest, piece by piece," Xu Ke added, a dangerous glint in his eyes.
"Naturally," Yin Shangren agreed wholeheartedly.
"Grandpa, what's so interesting about this? I want to see the ancient artifacts we just saw..." a childish voice called from a short distance away.
A little girl of about three or four years old walked up to Shangguan Shiquan, tugging on his sleeve with a pout.
"This man," Shangguan Shiquan said, picking up the girl and comforting her, "was one of the greatest cultivators in the history of the Xuanhuang Realm."
Hearing this, the little girl's eyes widened with curiosity as she stared intently at the skull before them.
After hearing Shangguan Shiquan's words, the attitudes of Yin Shangren and Xu Ke softened somewhat.
After a moment of silence, the little girl suddenly pointed a finger at the skull in alarm and shouted, "Grandpa, look! There's someone in there!"
Her words struck the three adults like a bolt of lightning.
All three pairs of eyes instantly refocused on the skull.
But it remained perfectly still, with not the slightest sign of life.
Shangguan Shiquan patted the girl's head. "Nannan, don't talk nonsense. There's no one there!"
The little girl pouted, looking quite displeased. "Nannan isn't talking nonsense! There is too someone there! Right inside the skull! Can't you see him?"
The little girl was so earnest that Shangguan Shiquan hesitated.
He examined the skull carefully once more.
Still, he found nothing. He then laughed at himself inwardly. He had come to see this skull countless times; how could anyone possibly hide inside it?
Assuming it was just childish nonsense, Shangguan Shiquan told the little girl to stop fooling around.
But the girl was insistent and continued to cry out.
Helpless, Shangguan Shiquan had no choice but to carry the little girl away for the time being.
Once again, only Yin Shangren and Xu Ke remained near the skull.
"What do you make of that?" Xu Ke asked in a low voice.
He was obviously referring to the little girl's comments.
"Impossible. I am certain that the White Gentleman is truly and completely gone. There is absolutely no trace of his will left on this skull."
"Besides, Emperor Sanmo is no fool. He wouldn't fail to notice if a remnant will was present. If there was, why would he display it so openly for us to see? Hmph, we're talking about the lingering will of a Xuanhuang Great Heavenly Venerate..." After a long silence, Yin Shangren answered with conviction.
"But..." Xu Ke stared at the skull, a flicker of doubt in his eyes.
"I didn't notice anything before the girl said it. But now that she has, I really do feel like something is hidden inside that skull."
"Not the White Gentleman's lingering will, but something else..."
"When I was young, I used to play hide-and-seek with my friends. Whenever the White Gentleman was around, we all loved to hide near him. It was as if he could contain the entire world. Just by being close to him, it became very difficult for others to find you..." Xu Ke murmured to himself.
His words made Yin Shangren hesitate as well.
"Right, the guide mentioned earlier that a remnant soul once escaped from the 'Era' simulation. It disappeared without a trace..."
"Could it be," Xu Ke said suddenly.
"The 'Era' remnant soul?" Yin Shangren narrowed his eyes, staring at the skull.
"We've been here too long. Let's go somewhere else first," he said instead of answering.
They moved to an exhibition area called "The Visages of All Beings" before Yin Shangren spoke again. "The White Gentleman's bones may look like those of an ordinary mortal, but they belonged to a Great Heavenly Venerate. They must possess some special quality."
"It's just that this quality is difficult to discern. I once stitched together and raised a mutated man-hand dog. It was repulsed by all other bones, but it had a peculiar fondness for the white rib bone in my collection..."
"It was as if that bone was its salvation from fire and flood," Yin Shangren said thoughtfully, as if recalling something.
A thought struck Xu Ke. "In that case, perhaps the White Gentleman's Skull really does have a way of sheltering that remnant soul. We just don't understand the truth of it yet."
"Hmph. We're looking at it through several layers of the Ten Thousand Immortals Alliance's protections, so we can't see clearly. Once we get our hands on the skull, we'll naturally figure it out," Yin Shangren snorted.
Xu Ke nodded in agreement, then suddenly added, "Speaking of which, even we couldn't detect the remnant soul hidden in the skull. Yet that little girl did..."
"That child is no simple girl. What was her name again? Shangguan Nihong? When we return, we must report this to the Saint Emperor..."
If Li Fan had been there to hear their conversation, he would have guessed that the power protecting the remnant soul within the skull was the "Eternal Lingering Will" that held a fatal attraction for his [Truth].
This energy, currently unknown to the cultivators of the Xuanhuang Realm and only usable by his [Truth], was the fundamental reason he sought the White Gentleman's Skull so desperately.
However, because the Saint Emperor had severed his connection with his true self in the Star Sea this lifetime, even if Yin Shangren and Xu Ke conveyed their discovery, Li Fan was destined to remain ignorant.
...
While the two were visiting the Museum of Divine Treasures, an unusual atmosphere had begun to spread across the lands of the Ten Thousand Immortals Alliance.
Because Li Fan's divine consciousness and Sun Tianci had previously infiltrated the great subterranean grotto and stolen the Dao foundations from nearly a fifth of the slumbering cultivators, the upper echelons of the Alliance were utterly enraged.
A large-scale, clandestine investigation had begun.
Without giving a reason, they simply interrogated every cultivator who had been in Tongyan Province on that day.
The Eternal Immortal Wall could not be exposed to the light, so the investigation had to be conducted in secret.
But an investigation shrouded in secrecy was bound to cause unease among the people.
Rumors flew among the Alliance cultivators, and with the help of spies from the Sage Dynasty, the story that the Ten Thousand Immortals Alliance was about to go to war with the Five Elders Council grew more intense by the day.
Just as tensions were rising, more bad news came from Nine Mountains Prefecture.
The Tianling Sect within Nine Mountains Prefecture had suddenly rebelled.
Working from within and without, they colluded with the Five Elders Council and seized control of the entire prefecture in one fell swoop.
The fall of Nine Mountains Prefecture sent shockwaves throughout the Alliance.
The Alliance declared a state of emergency and, to prevent the Five Elders Council from expanding their gains, mobilized a large number of cultivators to the border to establish a defensive line.
Cultivators in all prefectures were forbidden from moving about freely, restricted to their respective celestial cities for most of the time.
The Alliance was now deliberating on how to retake Nine Mountains Prefecture.
But in a place they could not see, the armies of the Great Qi Sage Dynasty, aboard their Samantabhadra True Boats, had followed the White Mist Barrier and appeared within the various prefectures of the Alliance.
They were only waiting for the Saint Emperor's decree to descend like a swarm and launch their final assault on the Ten Thousand Immortals Alliance.
"Senior Brother, when do we make our move? I can't hold back much longer."
Within the white mist, Ou Shangtian rubbed his hands together, his gaze piercing the barrier, his excitement palpable.
"Wait a little longer. Wait until the array in the Central Four Prefectures is complete," Sun Erlang said with immense composure.
"Speaking of which, Master Craftsman Qiaogong's strategy to divert their attention and sow discord was a stroke of genius. The Alliance has moved a massive number of troops to the border, which is undoubtedly a great advantage for us," Wang Xuanba said slowly, a white snake-like beast coiled around his hand.
"Don't get careless. Master once said that the Ten Thousand Immortals Alliance is far from simple. Those cultivators... they're just a smokescreen to deceive us."
"Do you think the Alliance doesn't have its own versions of our Sage Dynasty's Sky Patrolling Arrows and Sacred Army Puppets? True victory must be bought with blood and lives," Sun Erlang reprimanded, demonstrating a clear understanding of the battlefield.
(End of Chapter)
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