Chapter 470: Chapter 92: Taiyi, Consumed by Rage, and Seeing the Master Again
"I am deeply grateful for the help of all three of you. I will not forget this."
He performed a deep bow, spoke with the three Daluo at length, and after settling on a few future strategies, they bid each other farewell and departed.
Before leaving, Lu Xuan gave a casual glance at Shen Gonghu huddled in the corner, shook his head slightly, and sped off in the direction of Taishan.
「A certain Sea of Void」
’How could this be?’
The blurry figure asked himself in a low voice, a look of fury appearing on his face. The Sea of Void beneath his feet began to RUMBLE!!
Standing respectfully to the side, Chu Tai said nothing, merely watching Taiyi’s fury in silence.
The blurry figure went on a rampage, smashing and stirring the Sea of Void into chaos before finally taking a deep breath and sitting down cross-legged.
"It makes no sense."
The blurry figure’s brow furrowed deeply.
"Last time, I cooperated with the Demon Ancestor, having him issue an edict for all demons to attack and kill Yan Jiangxue. We even unleashed the Ox Demon King and threw down the Flame Mountain, but it ended in failure!"
His expression was exceptionally grim.
"Last time, it was Haotian’s inexplicable arrival. He’s suppressed under a Stone Stele, so logically, he should have had no way of knowing about it... And now this time!"
"The Celestial Blade severing the Dao Fruit should have been a guaranteed success. The Three Pristine Ones would never enter a realm with their true bodies for a mere Dao Fruit, but..."
The blurry figure gnashed his teeth.
"Why was there an Immortal in one of Lu Xuan’s Acupoints? And why was it a being who had coincidentally just achieved the Immortal Realm?!"
Two carefully laid plans had both failed. He truly couldn’t wrap his head around it.
Chu Tai shrugged and said faintly,
"Perhaps it is fate."
"Fate?" The blurry figure sneered. "I *am* fate!"
"Whatever you say," Chu Tai said, his head lowered. "Besides, Xiaoxuan only became an Upper Grade Immortal. It’s not that big of a deal."
"What do you know?"
The blurry figure scolded with a cold expression.
"With this, a crucial step in refining the false into the real can no longer be achieved!"
He had lost his initial air of a calm grand strategist and now paced back and forth irritably.
"According to the original plan, I would completely annihilate Lu Xuan at a specific point in time, inciting the fury of The Three Pristine Ones!
"At that time, The Three Pristine Ones would personally intervene, the Goddess would be consumed by grief, and they would strike me down. Then, they would pull Lu Xuan back from the brink of annihilation, but the one they would pull back... would be me! Through this, I would gain the aid of The Three Pristine Ones, obtain everything the Goddess has, and be destined to be the next to achieve Transcendence!"
As he spoke, the blurry figure stopped pacing. He seemed to be calming his anger and said no more.
After a long moment, he muttered to himself,
’It seems some key points in the plan will need to be adjusted. An Upper Grade Immortal, is it? That might not be so bad...’ "Chu Tai, don’t go see the Goddess again. It will be troublesome if she learns what I’ve just said."
"Understood." Chu Tai nodded respectfully.
「Taishan」
The thatched hut remained as it always was.
Lu Xuan finished diligently tilling all the fields. Wiping the sweat from his brow, he looked at the visitors on Taishan and remarked,
"This mountain has become quite famous... Master, you must have had plenty of visitors over the years, haven’t you?"
"Indeed."
Old Nong, his skin dark and coarse, leaned back in a lounge chair and said with a smile,
"Many tourists who come to admire Taishan stop by to ask for a bowl of water. A few of the youngsters were quite decent, so I gifted them a few opportunities."
"Is that so?"
Lu Xuan smiled, set down his hoe, and sat beside Old Nong.
"Master, you must know everything that happened, right?"
"I do. You’re quite the bold one, daring to scheme to pull down a Dao Fruit." Old Nong took a leisurely sip of his cool tea.
"The one who struck you down with the blade was Lu Ya, but that’s not quite right. It was Lu Ya, and yet it wasn’t. I can’t quite see who it was."
As he spoke, he grew a little troubled.
"I don’t know what’s been going on recently, but it’s as if my vision is veiled by a mist. It was never like this before. Now, there are many things I can’t see clearly... I suppose I’m just getting old."
"You, getting old?" Lu Xuan laughed in spite of himself, then asked curiously, "A mist? What kind of mist?"
"It’s hard to explain." Old Nong shook his head. "It started around the time I took you in as my disciple."
Lu Xuan’s heart skipped a beat. He had a suspicion. ’Second Master and Third Master...’
He gave an awkward laugh and changed the subject.
"Master, I’ve become an Immortal. About the Cultivation Skill for the Immortal Realm..."
"There isn’t one," Old Nong said, spreading his hands.
"There isn’t one??"
"Mm. Once you become an Immortal, your path is set. The rest is up to you to explore and forge your own way forward."
Old Nong said with a smile,
"In the Immortal Realm, you must refine your Acupoints into Grotto Heaven Blessed Lands. After all the Acupoints in your body have been transformed, you then project the story of your life across all the realms. This gives birth to your ’other-selves.’ Only then will you have reached Perfection at the Immortal level."
"After that, you must gather all your other-selves and merge them back into your true self. When ’the other-selves are me, and I am the other-selves,’ you can enter the [Celestial Realms] and become a titan of All Realms."
"Next, after you evolve all the Acupoint Grotto Heavens in your body into Little Worlds, you should attempt to revert to the Innate state and attain an Innate Physique. This marks the Perfection of the Celestial Realms. However, if you wish to enter the Daluo realm, it’s a bit more troublesome. Your footprints must span the entirety of Ancient History."
Lu Xuan looked thoughtful and said with a smile,
"From the sound of it, that doesn’t seem too difficult for me. The barrier between the Immortal and Celestial Realms doesn’t exist for me. All that’s left is to refine all my Acupoints and then merge my other-selves into one."
After a pause, he continued,
"I already have an Innate Physique as well, so the only thing left is to leave my footprints across all of Ancient History..."
Old Nong chuckled.
"That may be so, but it’s not quite that simple. You somehow muddled your way into becoming an Innate Divine Demon. Once your [Dao] is born... tsk tsk."
Lu Xuan asked with some curiosity,
"Master, I’m already an Upper Grade Immortal. If I nurture my [Dao] and then achieve the Innate Immortal realm, will there be a difference?"
"There certainly will be, but no one knows the specifics."
Old Nong shook his head.
"You are the first [Innate Divine Demon] to be born as a Postnatal being. Normally, Innate Divine Demons are born of the Innate. They are born already nurturing a Dao; they are Innate Immortals from birth. Who else would achieve immortality on their own first, like you?"
Saying this, he sat up straight.
"But it’s a good thing... As for Houtu, what do you plan to do?"
"Fleece her for some benefits, then try to lure her true body into this realm and knock her down to the [Ancient One] level. I might need your help then, Master."
"Of course," Old Nong said with a smile.
The master and disciple, one old and one young, conversed peacefully, their rapport perfectly harmonious.
Just then, a dragon’s cry echoed from the sky.
"Oh, that girl is here again? She’s probably looking for her sweetheart," Old Nong said with a small smile.
Lu Xuan looked up and saw a familiar True Dragon flying through the sky. It appeared to be the Dragon Maiden from the North Sea Dragon Palace, Ao Xianzhi.
"You know her?"
"More or less. The girl transformed into a human once and came to sightsee on Taishan with that sweetheart of hers. They stopped by for a bowl of cool tea, and we got along well enough."
Old Nong smiled.
"She seems like a good kid... Why don’t you take her in as your disciple?"
"This..." Lu Xuan chuckled. "Let’s wait and see."
He watched as the True Dragon transformed into a human among the clouds, taking on the guise of a village woman and descending into the small town at the foot of the mountain. He asked curiously,
"What is she doing?"
"Her sweetheart doesn’t know her true form, and she doesn’t know his true form either. They’re keeping secrets from each other. In fact, you know both of them."
As he spoke, Old Nong yawned.
"The two of them will probably be coming up the mountain again in a little while. You should change your face."
"Alright."
After a moment’s thought, Lu Xuan altered his features, transforming into a middle-aged farmer. He now looked enough like Old Nong to be his son.
"Speaking of which, Master, who’s the other person?"
"Won’t you find out in a little while?"
(Something came up suddenly. I’ll post an extra Chapter tomorrow to make up for it!)
