Chapter 604: The Fire of Retribution

"Senior, rest assured." Jiang Lin raised his hand and lightly pressed his third eye.

As his fingertip brushed across, a deep red sword scar appeared, surrounded by flame-light resembling burning embers.

The Daoist of Xuan Ling's eyes reflected the ember-like flame-light, and he felt his spirit surging with sudden insights.

In a moment of daze, a single red streak seemed to cleave the azure heavens, as if about to split all heaven and earth in two.

The next instant, all those strange phenomena vanished from his perception.

"It is the sword scar bestowed by the Master Jianzu."

As he spoke, another ancient bronze mirror appeared in his palm.

"And the treasure mirror granted by the Hong Zun."

Jiang Lin looked at the Daoist of Xuan Ling.

"If those reclusive Xuan experts truly act recklessly and plunge the mortal world into chaos, then slay one to warn the rest."

As soon as he spoke, the entire hall grew noticeably colder.

During the earlier transition of immortals and gods, Jiang Lin had stolen the spotlight—none of the Heaven-appointed "Immortal Guides" could match even a fraction of his renown.

Later, before the eyes of all beings in the cosmos, he received the sword scar directly from the Master Jianzu.

Even now, with many reclusive sects emerging into the world, the Tai Ping Dao still stands supreme.

This transformation of the immortal and divine order is unlike any before!

As the very catalyst, recognized by all Xuan experts as the trigger of this upheaval,

Jiang Lin himself, and his origin—the Cheng Ming Mountain—naturally drew the attention of countless Xuan experts.

How could the events within the Yunhai Pavilion possibly escape the watchful eyes of those Xuan experts who constantly observed this place?

"..." The Daoist of Xuan Ling paused.

But seeing the plain, unremarkable ancient bronze mirror in his hand, he said nothing more.

When Jiang Lin first revealed the mirror's existence, he had already shown it to him.

Yet no matter how he examined it, it was merely an ordinary, even somewhat aged, bronze mirror.

Yet in Jiang Lin's hands, it could unleash power sufficient to erase a Tong Xuan Jin Xian from the root level.

Even if one seized the mirror, it would be useless.

No matter where the mirror was, Jiang Lin needed only a thought to activate it and erase his designated target, ignoring all defenses.

The ways of the world are unpredictable...

Before this, who could have imagined that a cultivator whose One's Own Realm was only Nascent Soul Mid-stage would possess the power to annihilate a Tong Xuan?

"As long as you have discretion, that's enough."

With a soft sigh, the Daoist of Xuan Ling rose to his feet.

He would not waste words urging Jiang Lin to focus on his own cultivation.

Though he had been managing countless affairs these past years, his cultivation had never slipped.

In fact, he trained far more diligently than most.

But cultivation has never been something achieved overnight—even with countless marvelous techniques, one must still take each step steadily.

"Then we shall meet again on the day of your ascension."

As his words faded, his entire body transformed into a streak of light that shot out of the hall, vanishing in an instant.

Inside the hall, only Jiang Lin remained seated where he was.

After a while, he clasped his hands and sealed away the ancient bronze mirror; the deep red sword scar on his third eye also vanished.

He gazed toward the heavens beyond the hall, watching the rolling black qi cut across the sky and surge toward him.

As it neared Cheng Ming Mountain, the vast waves of black qi that swept away demons and punished evil all condensed, forming a majestic figure wearing a crown of Nine Morning Jade and clad in a green feathered flying robe, descending into the hall.

A golden mark glowed on his third eye; in his hand, a strange scroll depicted stars arranged in precise order.

"I pay my respects, Dao Master."

Yang Ming Tan Lang Star Lord.

Once he relinquished his divine position and descended to the mortal realm, attempting to force Jiang Lin to make the Tai Ping Dao gather resources for him, he was instead subdued by the "Tai Ping Thirty-Three Heavenly Spirit Phantoms."

Then Jiang Lin refined him into a "Dan Zhong Shen" using the Tai Ping Dan refining method, aided by the "Divine Subjugation Scripture."

Now, as one of the Tai Ping Dao's protective deities, he is specifically tasked with purging demons and eliminating evil.

This journey was to eradicate a demon-ghost nest.

"Mm." Jiang Lin gave a slight nod.

As a "Dan Zhong Shen" created by Jiang Lin himself, Yang Ming Tan Lang Star Lord had no need to verbally report details.

The moment he returned to Yunhai Pavilion, Jiang Lin already knew everything of his experience.

He raised his hand.

Flames erupted around Yang Ming Tan Lang Star Lord; his body rapidly shrank into a pill interwoven with gold and white hues, landing in Jiang Lin's palm.

After securing the "Dan Zhong Shen," he rose and stepped outside the hall.

Gazing at the clouds above, his eyes held a hint of complexity.

Several days later.

The former capital of the Da Tong Dynasty.

Amidst the high clouds, a magnificent hall stood.

Its ceiling was the starry cosmos, guarded by auspicious clouds; its pillars stood in orderly rows.

Starlight flowed like streams, fine threads descending into the auspicious clouds, casting colorful rays of blessing; the pillars were entwined with golden-scaled True Dragons that glowed with sunlight, their crimson beards like fire, swallowing qi and exhaling auroras, illuminating the heavens.

And at the very head of the hall stood a dais woven from the principles of the Dao, built up from countless lesser realms.

The Sovereign Heaven Soaring Palace!

It was the hall where, in the great era of the Divine Dao, the ten thousand gods of the Divine Dao's Heavenly Court would hold audience.

Kindly sponsored by the Divine Dao's Heavenly Sovereign of the previous epoch, for the use of those ascending in this batch.

At this moment, inside a teahouse.

By the window.

A young man, his hair bound with a bamboo crown, dressed in a black-and-white Daoist robe, was gazing at the Sovereign Heaven Soaring Palace amid the clouds and mist of the high heavens, wisps of tea fragrance rising from the cup before him.

"Ascension…"

In his hand he toyed with a crystalline, translucent spirit-energy crystal, within which myriad radiant auspicious visions flowed and turned.

"Daoist Xuanling."

He withdrew his gaze, lifted the teacup before him, and took a sip.

He looked again at the translucent crystal in his hand; through it, his gaze seemed to make the entire world appear somewhat more 'clear.'

The Brightheart Stone — it allows one to observe a cultivator or deity's past, good and evil made plain of themselves.

He could not help but recall the day his elder had handed him this Brightheart Stone, and a touch of melancholy welled up unbidden.

This person was none other than He Yunqi, one of the 'Dao Seeds of the Immortal Dao' with the greatest potential during the transition between Immortals and Gods, bearer of the Great Peace Realm's wonder transformed from the Dao of 'Yan' — the Dao Yan Da Qian Record.

He had once traveled alongside the Venerable Hong.

He was also the 'Lord of the Thousand Yan Dao' within the memories of many 'reborn' Dao Seeds of the Immortal Dao.

Over the years, he had kept the Venerable Hong's instructions in mind, protecting virtuous gods who had fallen into misfortune while the many Dao Seeds of the Immortal Dao hunted down deities.

Though he had not joined the Great Peace Dao, among the Great Peace Dao's one hundred and eight thousand Protector Gods today, several thousand had crossed paths with him, and quite a few he had even rescued from the hands of the 'God Hunters.'

As he was reminiscing about all that had happened in the past, a voice suddenly rang out beside his ear.

"Young friend, what is your view on this ascension?"

The voice was warm and unhurried, giving one the feeling of a spring breeze.

He Yunqi's heart gave a start.

He looked up and discovered that a handsome, martial-looking man wearing a jade crown and a purple brocade robe, smiling yet with utterly indifferent eyes, had at some unknown moment actually seated himself across from him!

With but a single glance, He Yunqi sensed how extraordinary the man before him was.

It was as if the heavens and earth, the entire cosmos, were all measured and controlled by him, the fortune and calamity of every living thing resting in the palm of his hand.

Nobility beyond words, supreme above all!

He Yunqi's eye twitched, and he understood in his heart that he had just run into a big shot.

How does he always end up bumping into big shots so easily!

He wailed inwardly, not daring to act rashly in the slightest; after deliberating a while over his wording…

"This junior's realm is low and shallow, the matter of ascension…" He Yunqi shook his head, "I truly cannot make anything of it."

The man in the brocade robe looked out the window — more precisely, at that Sovereign Heaven Soaring Palace — his eyes still indifferent.

"Not even the Dao Yan Da Qian Record can see it?"

It seemed a casual question, yet it made He Yunqi's mind explode with a boom, his whole body turning ice-cold.

In his mind, a single sentence repeated itself over and over.