As the words left his lips, the divine power long dormant within Wang Ping's body—the gentleman should hide his implements at the right time—erupted with a deafening roar. River waters cascaded from the heavens, surging straight into the starry expanse.
This was the perfect moment. Xianfu's Heavenly Flood Profound Dao Umbrella currently shrouded the Eight Trigrams Furnace, and torrential earth-yang water surged between heaven and earth, blending sea and sky into a single hue. Compounded by the lingering influence of the water qi's authority, every element present worked to amplify the water manifestation enveloping Wang Ping.
"I invite the water qi to take mastery! Absolute yin in nature, let the cosmic circulation flow, and let the dormant abyss separate the clear from the turbid!"
Dormant Dragon Kun!
Towering silhouettes churned within the torrent of destiny. A whale's cry echoed as the beast took flight, transforming into a Peng. Deep within those turbulent waters, a majestic expanse of mountains and rivers suddenly materialized.
As far as the eye could see, tens of thousands of gods stood thick as a forest.
Ten Thousand Gods Terrestrial Chart!
In an instant, countless towering mountains tore through the earth. They seemed intent on smothering the surging river and forcing Wang Ping's destiny form back down to the ground.
Yet it was all in vain.
He broke free!
At this exact moment, the formless cosmic deeds engraved deep within heaven and earth were finally stirred by Wang Ping's endlessly rising aura, manifesting an entirely different kind of profundity.
Long ago, when the Great Rebellion eradicated the old remnants of the Six Heavens, metal, wood, fire, and earth had all suffered the devastation. Only water managed to escape. Now, burdened with the identity of the Great Rebellion, Wang Ping spectacularly recreated that exact scene. Thanks to this, submerged beneath the surging waters, the identity of the Great Rebellion that had been firmly locked onto his being finally began to waver!
Along with it went the cosmic deeds of the Great Rebellion.
He cleanly severed every last trace of karma tied to the Great Rebellion. The sheer ecstasy of shedding layer upon layer of heavy shackles made Wang Ping throw his head back and roar.
"Crack!"
An instant later, without a shred of hesitation, Wang Ping crushed the Heavenly Yin Golden Jade Pendant in his hand. At the same time, all the magical power and divine power throughout his body began to coalesce.
Magical power: Latent Concealment. Earth-yin water.
Divine power: Ten Thousand Gods Terrestrial Chart. Human Yang Earth.
The heavenly stems of Gui and Wu merged and transformed. The moment the Ten Thousand Gods Terrestrial Chart shattered, a light of ultimate yang surfaced from within the divine power, though it carried an aura of hollow strength—formidable on the outside but brittle within.
Almost simultaneously, a pure white light emerged from the shattered Heavenly Yin Golden Jade Pendant—similarly formidable on the surface but hollow within. Metal and fire were fundamentally opposed in the five elements, yet because both were in a severely weakened state, their collision—coupled with the encompassing environment of the water qi's authority—birthed the surprising profundity of merging into water!
"Rumble!"
In a flash, the vault of heaven tore wide open.
It looked as if the celestial river had burst its banks. A massive rift had been torn through the canopy of the sky, and torrential river waters forged from boundless, blazing white brilliance came crashing down!
The heavenly stems of Bing and Xin merged and transformed into water!
The surging river was born from this convergence. Without wasting a single drop, all of its manifestations and all of the world's favor fell squarely onto the initiator—Wang Ping.
At this moment, Wang Ping's newly broken-through Tribulation Transcending Third Layer Cultivation Base surged as if receiving a divine empowerment, once again skyrocketing at an unimaginable pace!
Normally, such a profound phenomenon would be mostly spent on refining the purity of a cultivator's magical power. However, long before this, his magical power had already undergone three qualitative transformations.
Therefore, almost all the phenomena generated by Bing and Xin merging into water poured directly into Wang Ping's divine power—the gentleman should hide his implements at the right time—and his destiny form, the Dormant Dragon Kun. The influx propelled both to new heights. The Dao attainments related to water did not even require his active comprehension; instead, they chased after him, continuously flooding into his mind.
There truly was a massive benefit to this!
Wang Ping's eyes shone brightly. For a fleeting moment, he even sensed the gaze of destiny. This meant he might actually trigger the descent of his life tribulation!
Such an explosive ascension was a once-in-a-myriad-years encounter!
If not for falling into a True Person's grand scheme, an ordinary true transmission disciple would need at least a thousand years of cultivation to reach this state. Even the most astonishing genius would need several centuries.
And Wang Ping?
It hadn't even been three years since he first started cultivating!
This fact had only been overshadowed by his countless encounters of being plotted against by Refining Practitioners and used as a pawn by True Persons. Otherwise, his cultivation speed alone would have been enough to shake both the immortal sects and the Brahma Nation to their cores.
But regardless of all that—
"I deserve all of this! It's all thanks to my own hard work!"
Wang Ping closed his eyes, wholeheartedly relishing the surge in his cultivation. As for the shattered Ten Thousand Gods Terrestrial Chart, he tossed it aside like a worn-out shoe.
Originally, the shattering of this divine power should have dragged down the Great Rebellion's identity and cosmic deeds between heaven and earth. It should have severely damaged its affiliated Human Yang Earth—the Origin-Governing Battle-Axe-Wielding Fate-Governing. However, because Wang Ping had used the water qi to break free and cleanly sever all ties with the Great Rebellion, the collapse ultimately implicated nothing at all.
Both the Great Rebellion and the Human Yang Earth remained completely unscathed!
Instead, it was the Heavenly Yin Metal that suffered. As this final jade pendant perished alongside the Ten Thousand Gods Terrestrial Chart, the pure white light illuminating heaven and earth finally scattered completely.
"Boom!"
Having lost this vital thread of traction, the Heavenly Frost Cave Abode, which had already manifested in the mortal world, instantly began to recede. Its projection rapidly dimmed.
This was the result of the Earth Yang Fire being extinguished once more, allowing the restored law of eradicating the old remnants of the Six Heavens to take full effect. Even a True Person could not halt such a fundamental shift out of thin air!
In a split second, before Wang Ping could even make a move, Arhat Shengle acted first. It was exactly as Wang Ping had expected: with the Heavenly Frost Cave Abode retreating back into hiding, the Brahma Nation's absolute last shred of hope to recoup their monumental losses evaporated into thin air. Baohu was dead, and they had taken a catastrophic beating. How could the arhat possibly let this go?
"Amita-fucking-bha!"
On a higher dimension, Arhat Shengle manifested four towering Buddha visages, forging a massive golden body as he faced True Person Hanguang Danyang beside him.
He viciously thrust out a palm strike!
In an instant, a resonant Daoist chant echoed through that higher dimension. True Person Hanguang Danyang could only heave a heavy sigh before his figure once again split into two.
One of the figures continued to uphold the Gen Trigram, reflecting twenty-four colors of rosy light as it resided in the heavens and looked down upon the mortal dust. However, the other figure seized the Xun Trigram, transforming into the winds of the eight directions. Following the will of heaven and fate, he intercepted Arhat Shengle. Just like that, this single exchange tied down two terrifying forces at the level of a True Person.
On this side, the profound phenomena sharply diminished.
Over on the other side, the Heavenly Frost Cave Abode—which had already been slowly fading away—suddenly became like a kite with a snapped string. The speed of its concealment grew faster and faster.
Seeing this play out, Xianfu finally let out a long breath of relief.
But right at that moment, a muffled clap of thunder rang out beside his ears. It heralded the thirty-six thunder decrees, carrying a terrifying, heart-palpitating pressure.
"What do you plan to do?"
True Person Xuanxiao Yingyuan's voice drifted over faintly, echoing amidst the rumbling thunder. Surprisingly, it carried no anger—only a heavy, scrutinizing weight.
"You don't plan to ascend with your entire dynasty anymore?"
"The cosmic deed of returning the human-yang wood to the natural order of heaven and earth—a monumental achievement that would grant unimaginable benefits to your future cultivation... you're simply throwing it away? Where has your Dao heart gone?"
Hearing this, Xianfu raised his head. "True Person, it is precisely because my Dao heart is resolute and my ambition unwavering that I have made this decision... Therefore, it is actually I who must ask you a question."
"...Speak." The thunderous voice rumbled and echoed.
In the past, every single time such a terrifying phenomenon manifested, Xianfu would respectfully lower his head, either to admit his faults or to receive teachings. But this time was entirely different.
He held his head high and actually let out a cold sneer. "Where is my life tribulation?"
"The Immortal-Brahma Sword Battle was supposed to be my life tribulation. But I've already won! The Brahma Nation suffered a catastrophic defeat. Why haven't I passed my life tribulation yet?"
The roaring thunder abruptly ceased.
However, Xianfu kept right on talking, as if determined to pour out every drop of emotion suppressed in the depths of his heart. "I've thought it over and over, and I believe there's only one possibility. In this Immortal-Brahma Sword Battle, the Brahma Nation was never my fated enemy. Therefore, the outcome of the battle had absolutely nothing to do with my life tribulation!"
A brilliant light flashed in his eyes.
Wang Ping wasn't the only one who had once learned the truth, only to have the memories related to it forcefully submerged by the water. The exact same thing had happened to him—Xianfu!
Only at this very moment did those memories come flooding back like a tidal wave.
"It was you."
Xianfu stared up at the sky, gazing at the thirty-six thunder decrees that illuminated the world, symbolizing upheaval and rebirth. With a voice like weeping blood, he enunciated every single word: "True Person Xuanxiao Yingyuan, you are my fated enemy in this tribulation!"
Rumble!
In that split second, the scorching lightning entirely illuminated Xianfu's face. His expression seemed practically frozen within the glare, yet the blinding light failed to shake him in the slightest.
"From the very beginning, you never intended to let me successfully reach Qi Refining. The so-called ascension of the entire dynasty, the cosmic deed of letting the human-yang wood return to the natural order of heaven and earth—sure, those deeds could be achieved, but that was the extent of it. The cosmic deed would manifest, but the one who forged that deed—me—would face certain death."
"Because you've already run a rehearsal."
"And that rehearsal was Great Shun."
Xianfu said coldly, "Great Shun's cosmic deeds were incredibly prominent. Returning the human-yin earth to the natural order of heaven and earth—they did a fantastic job. It was an absolutely perfect rehearsal."
"There was only one problem."
"It was unstable," Xianfu spat out, his words flying fast. "Great Shun collapsing as a nation, the Grand Ancestor of Great Shun dying... either one of those would cause that cosmic deed to instantly crumble."
"That is something you cannot accept."
"Because the human-yang wood's return to the natural order concerns the continuation of the Wood Dao path. With something so utterly crucial on the line, how could you allow it to be bound to a mere low-level cultivator?"
"The weakness would simply be too massive."
"After all, if someone targeting it just slapped me to death, the human-yang wood that finally returned to the world would revert back to its broken state. What meaning would there be in that?"
"The Grand Ancestor of Great Shun was already troublesome enough. To protect the cosmic deed of the human-yin earth's return, you resorted to the True Monarch's Handwritten Manuscript and shielded the foundation of Great Shun. It was precisely this rehearsal that made you absolutely certain: you couldn't let the same situation repeat with the human-yang wood. You couldn't allow me to become another Grand Ancestor of Great Shun."
Xianfu stared at the sky, his tone freezing cold. "That is why you needed me to complete this cosmic deed during my life tribulation. You wanted me to ascend with my dynasty and immediately dash myself to death against the returning human-yang wood."
"That way, having forged the deed within my life tribulation, I would die within that same life tribulation, allowing you to use destiny to forcefully anchor the cosmic deed I created. That was exactly what the Great Rebellion did back then. If not for destiny, how could the numerous deeds of the Great Rebellion have survived to this day after the faction perished so long ago?"
"Conversely, if I successfully broke through..."
"My life tribulation would scatter, the mighty power of destiny would recede, and I would become just like the Grand Ancestor of Great Shun—a fatal weakness for the newly restored wood qi Dao path."
"So to you, I am absolutely doomed to die."
Having said all of this, Xianfu finally let out a long breath. It was obvious he had been suppressing this for far too long. Now that he had poured everything out, he actually looked somewhat relieved. "I dare ask the True Person: is this true or not?"
Visit and read more novel to help us update chapter quickly. Thank you so much!
Use arrow keys (or A / D) to PREV/NEXT chapter