Chapter 892: The Truth (II)
Translator: Transn Editor: Transn
Taoist Cundi was one of the most mysterious and ancient Celestial Immortals. His death was seriously against the natural order of things. It was futile to think he could be resurrected. For a living being at Cundi’s level, resurrection not only involved re-awakening of the spirit, but also required a recovery of the physical body. Only then could he achieve true immortality and restore himself to his peak form. If he could not, then he would not have the same level of strength when fighting with his enemies, even if he was fully resurrected. So he went into hiding.
While preparing for his resurrection, Cundi wanted to restore a part of the strength he had before. This decision that made him feel somewhat desperate, but he had never thought that he only needed to wait five eras for this opportunity to arrive.
Zhou Bao was originally an unremarkable Separated Po thought who grew into a Tribulation Taker. He had unintentionally learned two of the Seven Wonderful Techniques and had ambitions of becoming an Omnipotent Sage of the era. The Omnipotent Sage was the last Celestial Immortal of each era, collecting luck throughout the era. With an Omipotent Sage’s luck, he could restore part of his strength, at least more than enough to protect himself. Therefore, when he secretly led Zhou Bao, he used his luck and made him collect the Seven Wonderful Techniques and enter the Immortal Realm. Finally, when he went deeper into the Treasure-snatching Rock, he was swallowed up.
All of this had gone according to his plan. He did not care in the slightest about Jade Emperor Sage; he was just a minor Celestial Immortal. In Zhou Bao’s eyes, he was an undefeatable tyrant, but for Taoist Cundi he was no threat at all.
In this era, he became a Celestial Immortal and had taken shortcuts to get there., He was weak, and could be easily snuffed out between two fingers, so of course, what was needed now was for his body strength to meet the necessary requirements.
“This is really a useless object. It absorbed all of the spawn of the Primordial Demonic Ape Zhuyan and practiced the Seven Wonderful Techniques. Up to now, the body has not been strong enough to inherit one-thousandth of my spirit. If it can’t even do that, is it worth all the bother?”
The conflict with Jade Emperor Sage was turning red hot. He did not take Jade Emperor seriously, but because he was occupying Zhou Bao’s physical body, he had not reached the Celestial Immortal realm yet. Although he had an extremely strong spirit, he had no way of defeating the emperor. By now, Jade Emperor had really gone all out to fight for his last chance of victory. The Axe of Fate in his hands grew even more violent in its attacks.
“Axe of Fate, Thunder of Fate, do you think you are a venerable Dao Ancestor?” Cundi laughed coldly, raising his fist to intercept the Axe of Fate.
Bang!!!
His fist and the axe were both blasted to pieces.
“You b*stard. That’s my body!” In the Sea of Consciousness, Zhou Bao roared fiercely. Although he could not control his body, he could still see and feel it clearly. The fist and the Axe of Fate, or rather, Heavenly Jade Technique and the Snake-like Breath Holding Skill, united and produced an explosive attack that caused harm to both parties.
It ended in mutual destruction. The Real Zhuyan Body, Seven Wonderful Techniques and the Mysterious Divine Light could not recover their pure, destructive superiority. It was a complete annihilation. Everything disappeared and not a trace remained.
“That damn guy! I didn’t think I had given him a way out at all! He’s only using my physical body to sort out all the problems before his resurrection.” In a moment, Zhou Bao understood Taoist Cundi’s intentions.
He really did not need Zhou Bao’s body; he did not need it to come back to life. It was only an expendable tool to protect his real body. Zhou Bao’s spirit was his nourishment, although it was insufficient to fill him up. But Zhou Bao had to admit that his own existence was in its very nature, a tragedy.
A tragedy scripted by someone else.
It was as if Cundi wanted to make him understand this, in order to destroy his rebelliousness.
He laughed mischievously. “I really did not think that my history was this bizarre. These legendary masters really did blow hot and cold in their strategies!” At times like this when Zhou Bao was despondent, his Primordial Sword Spirit, which had almost been completely obliterated, would send him some weak messages.
“Go to the damned great master!” Zhou Bao cursed. He was selfish and extremely rebellious by nature. At the bottom of his heart, he was still Zhou Bao, no matter what his history was. Even if he was reincarnated from the lowliest bug in the world, so what?
In this world, who were the lowliest and who were the noblest?
If Cundi wanted to use this against Zhou Bao to destroy his willpower, he chose the wrong method. Perhaps this was the only miscalculation in the plans of the mighty, ancient Celestial Immortal? There was no way he would have thought that this would be the deadliest part.
“Up to now, you still have the energy to have regrets. I think this must be a way for you to think of getting away!” The communication between Zhou Bao and the Primordial Sword’s Spirit fluctuated and it was difficult to understand each other.
“This is not the right time!” the Primordial Sword Spirit said. “Even if you could escape right now, you will be at a dead end when Cundi reveals his real body!”
“Is Cundi’s corpse really here?”
“Of course. It was he that cultivated you and used you as a substitute to survive the final tribulation!” the Primordial Sword Spirit said. “You must understand clearly that you should not harbor any thoughts of getting away purely by a fluke. You should prepare to fight for your life!”
“Fight for my life? But how? Look at me!” Zhou Bao laughed bitterly. Now he was really feeling wretched, having lost control over his body. Most importantly, it was in a crisis. From that attack just a second ago, he knew that his body was far below the level that was needed to fight a Celestial Immortal. But Cundi wanted to use his body to withstand the coming tribulation. He knew that his body would not be able to hold out much longer before he collapsed completely. The best ending for Zhou Bao would be to reincarnate from the last remaining speck of light within. But the problem was that the Dharma Ending Tribulation was already underway, could his last remaining speck of light get out of this Treasure-snatching Rock? And if that worked, could it be successfully reincarnated? There were so many unknowns and assuming he succeeded, would this light have some use in the Dharma Ending World?
“Luck, you still have luck! Your great luck has not disappeared yet!” the Primordial Sword Spirit said. “And this is the moment when your luck is at its strongest! Cundi would not give up your body so easily now. He could even take advantage of your immense luck to push your body into the Celestial Immortal realm and make you take the next tribulation!”
“So what? My body has already been completely taken over by him. Achieving the Celestial Immortal’s Way would be letting him have it easy!”
“No, achieving the Celestial Immortal’s Way is different. The Celestial Immortal’s Way is not something you can just achieve with a Celestial Immortal’s body, you need to place your primordial spirit in a vacuum. Here, you have a great advantage!
“I have an advantage?”
“That’s right. Cundi is an ancient Celestial Immortal and he has already placed his primordial spirit in a vacuum and he has put it in the most essential part of the nine layers. Therefore, no matter how many times he dies, he has a chance of coming back to life. Normal Celestial Immortals don’t. Even if they place their primordial spirit in a vacuum, they can only place it in the first or second layer. They are at their weakest when an era is destroyed, so when the Dharma Ending Tribulation arrives, these Celestial Immortals can only go into hiding. Only those ancient Celestial Immortals can place their primordial spirits in the depths of the vacuum where they will be unaffected by the tribulation. They can survive a thousand tribulations, just like Cundi. With all the great luck you have collected through this era, when the tribulation starts you have a chance to be promoted to the Celestial Immortal realm. Once you achieve the Celestial Immortal’s Way, you will certainly be the last Celestial Immortals of this era, the legendary Omnipotent Sage, the treasure of this era. This is because your primordial spirit can be placed in the third layer of the vacuum, due to your luck of this era. There, it won’t be affected by the Tribulation of Heaven and Earth. And the deeper you place your primordial spirit, the deeper the understanding you will gain of the vacuum and the stronger you will be. This is the so-called Truth of the Omnipotent Sage. Every era has its lucky beings. Of the two people that enjoy good luck, one is the Primordial Sage and the other is the Omnipotent Sage. One represents the start and the other represents the end.”
“Interesting! How do you know all this?” Zhou Bao was truly astonished. He did not know any of these deep secrets of the Celestial Immortal’s Way. The Primordial Sword Spirit was just a part of the Primordial Spirits of Three Separations he practiced, how could he have known all this?
Ever since he entered the space inside the Treasure-snatching Rock, the Primordial Sword Spirit’s behavior had been very strange. Not only had it not been destroyed by Cundi’s primordial spirit, but it was still teaching itself, which was indeed very strange. Zhou Bao felt a clear sense of independence coming from within the Primordial Sword Spirit, which completely complemented the Primordial Spirits of Three Separations’ nature.
“I inherited the Four Immortal-killing Swords, of course I know about it!” the Primordial Sword Spirit explained. “The Four Immortal-killing Swords’s master was one of the driving forces behind Cundi’s demise in the old days, so of course I can’t just look on when Cundi is successfully resurrected. This inheritance is a contingency left over by the Four Immortal-killing Swords. The swords were used for countless eras to thwart Cundi’s attempts at resurrection. But this time, Cundi had really prepared well. It was not possible to use a remaining speck of Original Spirit inside the swords to wipe him out. We could only rouse him and use your luck to see if we could complete the final attack on him.”
“Really?” Zhou Bao had an impression about who the Four Immortal-killing Swords’s master could have been. But thinking about his own past, who knew whether the fairy tales from his own “previous life” were true or not. Even if they were, he would not have had much to do with the master. After all, his origin could only be traced back to a piece of Cundi’s soul. There was still a grudge between him and the Four Immortal-killing Swords, therefore, he could not place all his hopes on him. In the end, he had to rely on himself.
“Well then? What should I do?”
“Wait. Wait until Jade Emperor Sage is dead. Wait until your luck is burning at its most brilliant!”