Chapter 569: How Ever You Look, It

With a thought, Xiao Fan sent a wisp of magic power into the bracelet on his wrist.

Without sound or sign, several devices with shielding and blocking functions activated instantly.

His already faint presence vanished completely.

The flagship series of the Taishang Dao Sect: "Stealth Device Set."

Designed for portability.

Although his master opposed him learning the entire "Guide to Cautious Survival," the sect's devices were still permitted—after all, Taishang Dao Sect truly ranked first in this field.

Then, Xiao Fan checked again, confirming all his concealment techniques were fully active and the devices had no malfunctions.

Only then did he lower his form and land within the Qianyang Sect.

As the largest sect in the entire Fucheng and the top vassal of the world's supreme power, the Yongyao Sect, the Qianyang Sect occupied an immense expanse.

Even Fucheng paled in comparison.

At a glance, majestic and sacred golden-red buildings lined up orderly along the mountain ridges, with faint streams of crimson-gold energy slowly drifting through the air…

At the mountain peak, surrounded by countless halls and pavilions, the final destination of those faint crimson-gold streams was a colossal sundial as if cast from gold.

Within each marking on the sundial's face, it seemed as if solidified solar true flame flowed, radiating boundless heat.

Ordinary people, or even cultivators of lower realms, if they gazed without protection, would have their souls burned.

Qianyang Sundial.

Or it could also be called the "Yongyao Disc," established personally by the Yongyao Sect's patriarch—the Yongyao Celestial Sovereign.

Each year, seventy percent of the incense and devotional power produced in Fucheng was absorbed by the Yongyao Disc.

A flicker of spiritual light passed silently through Xiao Fan's eyes; following the invisible connection along the sundial, he successfully saw a figure seated within a secret chamber.

The man wore a golden imperial robe, with a vertical golden mark on his brow, radiating divine might, and behind his head floated a brilliant golden circular halo.

Thick, unyielding incense and devotional power swirled around him, rising and falling with his breath.

"Yongyao Celestial Sovereign…"

After a brief pause, Xiao Fan made his decision; a shadowy gleam flashed in his eyes.

It was the supreme technique: "Mijin!"

Following the connection along the sundial, it struck with pinpoint accuracy upon the Yongyao Celestial Sovereign within the secret chamber.

Instantly, the Yongyao Celestial Sovereign's aura became chaotic; his tightly shut eyes snapped open.

"Who?!"

Soon, his golden pupils filled with confusion and bewilderment; his expression gradually turned vacant, and even a trickle of drool escaped uncontrollably from his lips…

Seeing this, Xiao Fan withdrew his gaze from the Yongyao Disc; the spiritual light in his eyes faded.

"A manifestation?"

After murmuring softly, Xiao Fan grew even more cautious.

His mission was destined to bring him into conflict with these deities, so he had wanted to test the waters first…

Yet even this mere probing technique, "Mijin," proved far more effective than he had expected.

This was clearly abnormal!

Correct!

It was abnormal!

According to the soul of that Foundation Establishment demon, the Celestial Sovereign was the most powerful deity in this world, with boundless divine might.

Although the "Mijin" technique passed down by his master was indeed powerful, Xiao Fan himself had only just ascended to Nascent Soul—he still had a vast gap between himself and Nascent Soul Fulfillment.

Even if the Nascent Soul level in this world was low, there was still a realm gap; his technique should have caused only minor disturbances—so…

It could only be a manifestation!

Xiao Fan became even more certain of his guess.

The deities of this world were no ordinary beings—they had no physical vessel to trace back to their true bodies.

He must be even more careful from now on!

…

…

Qianyang Main Hall.

A gilded plaque reading "Imperially Enfeoffed Qianyang" hung above the vermilion gates; a thousand Qianyang umbrellas wound around the bracket sets, draping hundred-foot-long golden silk ribbons.

Inside the hall, the bronze incense burner was thick with incense so dense it could not be dissolved; three sacrificial offerings stacked into a nine-tiered pagoda, their greasy fumes and sandalwood incense blending into a amber-colored cloud canopy.

Within the hall stood a ten-zhang Golden Body, cradling in its palm a golden disc engraved with nine sun motifs.

If one looked closely, one would realize this ten-zhang Golden Body was neither clay nor a lifeless statue.

It was a living person!

All the incense in the hall converged upon him, drawn into his nostrils, making the Golden Body shine ever brighter, radiating solemn majesty.

This man was none other than the Qianyang Sect's patriarch—Qianyang Zi.

His cultivation had reached Jin Dan Fulfillment, just one step away from ascending to Nascent Soul!

But…

Qianyang Zi slowly opened his eyes; a flash of malice passed through them.

Boom!

An invisible wave of pressure radiated from him, churning the incense throughout the hall and sweeping it out of the hall in an instant.

Sixty years!

He had sensed that one glimmer of ascension opportunity for sixty years!

Internally observing the fiery wheel-like Yongyao Jin Dan illuminating his spiritual sea, Qianyang Zi felt a deep, suffocating frustration.

If he hadn't already ascended to a divine seat, all those wasted years would have killed him from old age long ago!

With even a trace of divinity weighing on him, unless the Heavenly Sovereign permitted it, he could only remain trapped at this realm forever, becoming a hound to harvest incense and willing faith!

If the world were a pasture, then the Heavenly Sovereigns would be the ranchers.

And cultivators like them, who entered the Dao through a trace of divinity, were nothing more than sheepdogs helping guard the pasture!

Malice gradually welling up in his heart, Qianyangzi's compassionate visage slowly twisted into something savage.

The next instant, he suddenly came to his senses; the surging malice instantly dissipated, replaced by boundless dread.

Even his savage expression turned deathly pale.

The Heavenly Sovereign's divine might was boundless, wielding the authority of 'Eternal Radiance,' and since Qianyangzi had entered the Dao through the Heavenly Sovereign's divinity, the moment a thought arose, the Sovereign would sense it.

Blaspheme the god.

No matter which Heavenly Sovereign, this was the most intolerable act of all.

When a hound is disloyal, what use is keeping it?

But he had clearly diligently cultivated the 'Eternal Radiance Jade Calendar Sacred Merit Chapter,' wholeheartedly serving the Heavenly Sovereign — why would such wild thoughts suddenly arise?

Just as Qianyangzi sat in uneasy dread—

A figure evaded every detection method and slipped soundlessly into the main hall of Qianyang.

It was Xiao Fan.

He looked down from above at Qianyangzi seated upon the divine seat, and with a single glance saw straight through his cultivation.

Perfect Jin Dan.

He's the one!

At once, a ghostly light flickered in his eyes once more.

Chaos Soul!

Qianyangzi, who was in the grip of dread, only felt his vision blur; the entire scene of the Qianyang Grand Hall warped in eerie fashion, and from within layer upon layer of folds, threads of ghostly light seeped out.

At last, a pair of eyes suffused with ghostly light emerged, filling everything within his perception.

Boom!

His divine soul shuddered, and his consciousness instantly plunged into chaos.

And Xiao Fan, watching Qianyangzi completely bewitched by 'Chaos Soul,' slowly descended.

After reaching the level of his brow, he raised one hand and gently pressed a fingertip to it.

This man was also a god, so naturally there was no need for so many reservations.

Just directly search the soul and read the memories.

……

……

Half an hour later.

A small hill about twenty li outside the Qianyang Sect.

Xiao Fan, who had already returned from gathering information at the Qianyang Sect, was walking along the mountain path back to camp; every step he took snapped quite a few dry twigs and fallen leaves, producing crisp crackling sounds.

"No wonder they were given three years."

Xiao Fan thought to himself.

Through the soul-search of Qianyangzi, the Sect Master of the Qianyang Sect, he finally had a rough understanding of this world.

The most important concept of the Divine Dao, he had never understood before.

But now he had a certain grasp of it.

The so-called Divine Dao, in essence, was the manifestation of the world's order.

And the Heavenly Sovereigns were the highest beings of the Divine Dao who wielded the authority of the world's origin, typically the strongest individuals the world could contain. In this world, for instance, the Divine Dao Heavenly Sovereigns were at Perfect Nascent Soul.

The next rank, the 'Emperor Lords,' could be Nascent Soul or Jin Dan, depending on the incense their divine seat received.

"Not easy at all…"

According to the deepest memories of Qianyangzi, the gods of the Divine Dao were originally meant to be bound by the world's own rules — the so-called 'Heavenly Statutes.'

But for some unknown reason, the 'Heavenly Statutes' suddenly vanished.

This also stripped the Divine Dao gods of their restraints, and the authority of the Divine Dao became completely fixed.

They, who were already as long-lived as heaven and earth, after outliving the last Nascent Soul cultivator in the world, began slaughtering the remaining cultivators on a massive scale.

Until the very last cultivator was 'cleansed' by the Heavenly Sovereigns.

The Divine Dao Heavenly Sovereigns had thought they could rest easy at last, freely enjoying the incense of the world's mortals.

But as it turned out, with the extinction of the Immortal Dao, the world's rules actually began to show flaws, and the authority started to degrade.

Many Heavenly Sovereigns degraded into Emperor Lords, Emperor Lords degraded into lower-ranked gods, and some gods even lost all their authority, becoming wandering ghosts…

The source of all the supernatural in the world—

Spiritual Qi!

—was slowly dissipating.

In this situation, the Divine Dao Heavenly Sovereigns made many attempts, but none of them worked.

In the end, they, who had personally annihilated Immortal Dao cultivation, could only revive the Immortal Dao once more.

Sure enough, the incense and willing faith gathered by Immortal Dao cultivators could sustain authority, and could even supplement the divine seat.

Thus, a special cultivation method full of restrictions—

'Immortal Selection'!

—was born from this!

But after all this upheaval, many divine pantheons became incomplete in the process; only three divine pantheons in the world remained relatively intact.

The "Yang" of the Yongyao Sect.

The "Yin" of the Underworld Dao.

And the "Tribulation" of the Void Spirit Palace.

From then on, any cultivator in this world who does not ascend to a divine seat or enter one of the Three Daos cannot achieve Nascent Soul!

However, given enough time, changes are bound to happen.

A hundred years ago, among the Evil Gods, one suddenly achieved Perfect Nascent Soul and styled himself "Immortal-Restoring Heavenly Sovereign."

Although this title was highly taboo, since he too had reached Perfect Nascent Soul, the Heavenly Sovereigns of the three factions still acknowledged his status as a True God.

After all, once you've become a Heavenly Sovereign, all things under heaven are yours to enjoy.

Surely you wouldn't truly be thinking of reviving the Immortal Dao and giving those Immortal Dao country bumpkins a chance to become Heavenly Sovereigns too, right?

"The Immortal-Restoring Assembly, huh…"

It seems that if this mission is to be completed, he'll have to meet that "Immortal-Restoring Heavenly Sovereign" no matter what.

At a thought, his personal interface instantly appeared before his eyes.

He skimmed past the personal stats at the very front and looked at the "Ascension Mission" column at the very bottom.

【Divine spirits dwell in the world, herding all living beings; ghost realms spread everywhere, the Immortal Dao is hard to walk.】

【Mission One: Exorcise Ghosts. Reward: 1~30 Ascension Points.】

【Mission Two: Expel Gods. Reward: 1~70 Ascension Points.】

【Mission Three: Follow your heart, redefine order. Reward: 1~100 Ascension Points.】

Compared to the first batch of Ascension Envoys, the missions for the second batch were not only much easier, but also came with brief hints.

This was also why Xiao Fan's impression of this world's divine spirits was very poor.

After all, that "herding all living beings" — no matter how you looked at it, it was an eyesore!

……

……

One day later.

Inside a city under the Underworld Dao's jurisdiction.

Lanterns blazed brightly; from the city gate to every corner within, large lanterns hung one after another, their crimson glow cast upon the earth, adding an extra touch of eeriness.

Inside the City Lord's manor, on an open space resembling a plaza, rows of guest banquet tables had been set up.

Beside the tables were mostly bizarre figures — some heavy with ghostly Qi and missing limbs, some with beast heads on human bodies and full of wildness, others solemn in bearing and awe-inspiringly divine.

Ghosts, yao-beasts, and divine spirits — three utterly unrelated kinds of beings — were actually seated together at this moment; the whole scene looked utterly absurd.

And at the seat of honor sat a middle-aged man in a purple-black ritual robe, his bearing dignified and imposing.

Dense Yin Qi swirled around him, proclaiming his cultivation at late-stage Jin Dan.

However, just near the seat of honor.

Two figures stood out from the rest.

One carried a crimson longsword on his back, his posture upright and tall.

The other was of ordinary appearance, with a gentle temperament.

"Ghosts, yao-beasts — all seated together in one hall." Huo clapped his hands and sighed, "It's really been many years since I've seen this."

Many years ago, the Grand Mystic Realm had had a similar scene.

But now it was gone — after all, any yao with even a little bit of momentum had long since been slaughtered by him.

"But… does this count as opening the dungeon ahead of time for my disciple?"

"Fellow Daoist, rest assured, I'll deduct the Ascension Points according to the ratio." Xu Xing nodded slightly and said.

"……"

Could you please not bring that up.

The Underworld Dao, as the territory under the divine spirits of the "Supreme Yin Netherworld" lineage within the Divine Dao, had an environment far harsher than that under the Yongyao Sect's jurisdiction.

Coupled with the fact that many divine spirits had lost their divine authority back then and become wandering ghosts, saying ghost realms spread everywhere was no exaggeration.

And where the two of them were now was a "Ghost City."

Today's grand banquet in the city was held because the City Lord had re-ascended to a divine seat and was specially hosting a feast for friends from all directions.

"Honored guests."

The City Lord at the seat of honor raised a cup of wine.

His voice was not loud, but it instantly silenced the entire plaza.

All the yao, ghosts, and divine spirits turned their gaze toward that City Lord in unison.

"I, Shu, once suffered a great calamity and lost my divine authority. Fortunately, the Underworld Heavenly Sovereign took pity on me, and only then was I able to re-ascend to a divine seat…"

The City Lord surnamed Shu seemed to be a chatterbox, rambling on and on like that for a great long while.

When he reached the hardships of the past, he would even be overcome with sorrow and weep openly.

At first, those yao, ghosts, and divine spirits could still put on a show and listen attentively.

But gradually, they grew somewhat impatient.

Some rustling sounds also began to appear below.

Seeing this, although the City Lord of this Ghost City was still reluctant to stop, he could only cease.

"May honored guests enjoy flourishing incense offerings and ascend to a divine seat soon!"

After that one line, he directly drained the wine in his cup in one gulp.

"May the City Lord enjoy eternal holy life and never-ending incense offerings!" all the yao, ghosts, and divine spirits congratulated in unison.

"Many thanks to all of you."

The City Lord cupped his hands in a salute, then signaled with a glance to the ghost general beside him.

"I'm Shu, hardly talented. The city is in ruins, but I've prepared some food and drink — please, everyone, don't stand on ceremony."

Whoosh!

A burst of raucous laughter rose from below. The demons and ghosts were the most reckless and unruly lot, and they immediately began to egg each other on, some even leaping up onto the tables.

Amid the shrill laughter, one demon-ghost stretched its mouth corners all the way back to its ears, revealing rows upon rows of densely packed fangs.

"City Lord, you're too polite."

"Who in this whole city doesn't know that the living folk of Canlin City are the most delicious?"

"The flesh and blood of Canlin City is the tenderest and smoothest — I once had the good fortune to taste it."

"Tsk tsk! That little doll looked as if carved from ice and snow — the moment it touched the tongue it melted without needing to be chewed. No matter how many times you eat it, you never get tired of it, hahaha…" (End of chapter)