Chapter 515: The Central Emperor's Inheritance, A Thorny Path of Dao

"Too late."

The green light still lingered; facing the old mage's offering, Wurei was too consumed by pain to attend to anything else, while Du En simply spoke these words calmly.

The old mage's movements halted instantly, his eyes seemingly filled with a multitude of emotions, but looking at the young girl still purifying herself, he ultimately chose to restrain and suppress them; he could not add to her suffering, could not continue to be wrong, could not...

"He, truly, has already, been harmed?"

He spoke these words in ultimate despair, the support of his entire body simply pulled away, leaving only a sense of bewilderment and helplessness, like a child abandoned in the wild.

"More or less."

"Haha, ha..."

"But you need not worry."

"Wh, what?"

"I will resolve this corruption of the stars."

He stated it plainly and directly.

"You?"

"Yes."

"Why?"

"Because I have come."

He said it as a matter of course, as if it were only natural.

Alike! Truly alike! It was so very much like when his disciple said that there are no difficult things in the world, only those with the heart to pursue them; this, perhaps, was the composure and confidence of a heaven-gifted talent! The old mage thought in a daze, and thus spoke softly: "Then, I leave it, to you..."

His body petrified as he handed over the small sword.

His face held a touch of relief, but more so a sigh—a sigh for the impermanence of worldly affairs, a sigh that master and disciple would never meet again, a sigh for a whole series of other things.

Du En calmly accepted the small sword, the inheritance contained within reflecting into his mind.

"Outline of the Central Emperor's Ultimate Scripture"

"This is truly..."

His gaze could not help but flicker slightly.

An outline; if it was not some boastful exaggeration, then it was very obvious that this was an inheritance between a precious classic and a complete immortal scripture, of great value, especially suitable for a heaven-gifted talent to contemplate; with just a little more effort, one could carve out a Great Dao.

Judging by the name, it should be a method that extends from the Central Emperor's Ultimate, delving deep into the Great Dao named the Central Emperor, much like the cases of the Zhu Jun Che World or the Undying Demon Emperor.

However, its appearance seemed rather timely.

"Yet, one cannot draw conclusions directly..."

Du En did not make rash judgments, and now there was even less time to contemplate it, for the collapse of the Great Canyon had already spread to this side. He put away the inheritance sword, grabbed one person in each hand, and flew outside the collapsing molten surge to where Da Huang was wandering on the periphery.

"Retreat to the place we passed earlier, and wait at that mountain arch that can provide shelter from the rain."

He gave these instructions to Da Huang.

Because as the molten surge met the overcast rain, it was constantly evaporating; although it was itself cooling and solidifying, and the mountain collapse had ceased, the molten surge seemed inexhaustible.

It was as if the human body had lost its ability to stop bleeding, with fresh blood continuously flowing from the wound.

Following closely behind, the things contained within both sides began to be released, mixing together in the water vapor, with a tendency to form fog and haze.

Qi of the Resentful Demon!

Therefore, if Da Huang were allowed to remain in the vicinity, it might come into contact with it, causing its stable state to collapse and transform into a pure Resentful Demon.

That was why he had it stay far away.

It was very obedient, barking twice to express something like "you must come back to find me," and then obediently pulled the cart away from there.

Only then did Du En look down to the side, where Wurei had already begun to calm down.

She looked at the old mage's portrait placed on the other side, being rained upon; although she had anticipated this before the purification, she still could not help but sigh softly.

Regarding the various matters of the star corruption and the primordial Resentful Demons, she actually did not care too much.

It was not that she could not distinguish the importance of things, but rather that these were situations she would think of as soon as she saw them, as if she had known and witnessed them long ago, and had even thought about and weighed them.

Of course, if Du En truly asked about other related circumstances, then she would not know, unable to remember them herself.

It was not a lie; it was that her focus of thought was influenced, so she paid more attention to the various aspects of human hearts—aspects she had not known before, or rather, had not personally experienced.

Moreover, human hearts and human obsessions were actually a very critical link! And so, at this moment, she asked in a low voice: "That warrior, was his cognition truly obscured, blocking the clarity of his spirit, to the point of becoming ordinary and mediocre?"

After so much had happened, although she had her reflections, she could "understand" most things, but this one point made her feel particularly concerned and bothered.

"It was not."

Du En uttered this answer.

Although the old mage had only seen the heaven-gifted warrior for a fleeting moment before his death, it was noted that the heaven-gifted talent had actually noticed his teacher and wanted to come over to greet him, but was worried about something, and even more so, was struggling with something.

That gaze, surging with deep complexity, was proof that he had not been subjected to malicious means.

And what means could possibly obscure the clarity of a heaven-gifted talent?

Even if the True Monarchs came, they would not dare to claim they could do it.

But at the same time, that young heaven-gifted talent had indeed begun to be trapped in various doubts; he was not in the clear, firm, and normal state he had at the beginning.

"Not? But, his performance before and after, was it not a bit extreme?"

Wurei was quite persistent in getting to the bottom of it.

"A genius looking at a heaven-gifted talent is like peeking at a leopard through a tube; or rather, a genius is merely at the threshold of barely being able to see the back of a heaven-gifted talent."

"If it is really just like that, then, if that is the case, does it not mean that he is actually not a comprehensive heaven-gifted talent, and is relatively weak in worldly wisdom? Otherwise, he would not have made those choices, letting the situation become what it is now... Sure enough, there is still something strange somewhere. When I used my magic power to transform his strength, how should I put it? I had a feeling that he should not have been like that?"

Wurei really could not understand, feeling very lost and confused, as if she had been infected by it.

Du En looked toward the Great Canyon that had almost disappeared, watching the overcast rain and the volcanic lava constantly coming into contact, and while judging the situation, he slowly revealed the reason for all this. "His various doubts and lack of understanding were merely him exploring his own path, intending to step into and charge into a deeper realm."

"It is not to say that there is a flaw in his worldly wisdom; rather, it is that he is very sensitive to the human heart. It is just that the naturally high and distant perspective caused the proud talent to subconsciously perceive the crisis existing in the star realm, so he instinctively wanted to see deeper things and obtain a solution from them. And if he did not surge, did not bloom, and did not enter the game himself, he would be unable to see the human obsessions within the human heart, and so on; that is why he fell into that predicament."

"Therefore, what he could not understand was not people's actions, but the repetitive complexity of the human heart, as well as various other contradictory and awkward aspects, along with his own need to be both sensitive and to hide his edge—lowering his perspective while still needing to frequently raise it, verifying them against each other, leaving the whole in a very fragmented, entangled, and suspicious position."

"Actually, one should not be overly fixated on this; it is already a situation involving some mental barriers and inner demons. This may be due to the influence of the Star Realm's twilight, but one thing is certain."

"There is no time left."

When it comes down to it, it is still a tragic, heart-wrenching consequence caused by a poor macro-environment.

In similar environments, also facing stars that underwent Sinister Mutation, the Great Cultivator Mo Ju of the original Light Star Realm was much the same; both keenly noticed the entanglement existing between human obsession and Sinister Mutation.

There is also the Life Source Star Realm; under the experiments of True Monarch Buyi, it actually also had signs of being infected by Sinister Mutation, only the degree was lighter, and there was also the Holy Spirit of the Heaven's Pride to help pack it up and resolve it.

Regardless of whether it was subjective or incidental, it can actually be said that they were all cutting in along the same point.

The superficial Grudge Demon, the deep-seated Sinister Mutation.

The Heaven's Pride born in the Grudge Demon Realm could be said to have been entrusted with a mission at a critical moment, resolutely choosing to walk on a similar path. It is just a pity that this road is full of thorns and bumps; a moment of carelessness and one could be beyond redemption, even for Heaven's Prides! Moreover, he set out to seek the Dao too early; in a situation where his own foundational strength was insufficient, many things were difficult to exempt, and it was easier to suffer the backlash of the human heart.

But there is no help for this; the situation here is much, much worse compared to the other two star realms. Not only is there a lack of sufficient heritage from predecessors to support it, but there is also no time to wait for him to find a way to grow up and then explore a solution more calmly.

That is why it ended in that kind of encounter at the end.

"In fact, it is not that he could not have continued if he really wanted to. After all, he actually already had some basic results; just now, the way I was able to remove that interference was by imitating his methods."

"... You still think it's a pity he didn't stay to be a helper, right!"

Wu Rui listened to the explanation here, and a sense of relief arose in her heart, which is why she spoke like this at this moment, looking as if she were helpless toward him. However, the gloom that had not dissipated in the depths of her eyes did not escape Du En's sight.

This young girl seemed to realize the source of her inner conflict, but just did not want to say it out loud, engaging in a bit of avoidance.

Shaman Priest Qing Lan...

Du En knew her point of conflict at a glance.

Although everything regarding the Heaven's Pride warrior before was his own seeking of the Dao among thorns, the old warrior's blindness to glory and lack of reflection, and the old mage's misunderstanding and determination to struggle, in her thoughts, she finally grasped that one point.

What is Shaman Priest Qing Lan doing? She has close dealings with the Research Association, but in all these various matters, she is like she has gone missing. Clearly, she is the core of the Divine Tree Sect and the pillar of the Qing Kingdom, and her words carry great weight, yet in the end, she does nothing, to the point that such tragic misfortune was brewed.

"After finding her, I must ask her to make it clear!"

Wu Rui secretly made this decision in her heart.

If the other party truly has other reasons and is powerless, then so be it. If the other party is deliberately standing by, then do not blame her for manifesting the powers of those three people in turn and teaching her a good lesson! Even looking at the current situation, Shaman Priest Qing Lan perhaps has not been spared, and, in fact, she counts as her older sister.

Do these existences like gods all like to fight among their own kin?

Du En had this thought stir in his heart, while simultaneously having finished his observation.

"Let's leave the idle talk at that."

"Uh, okay."

Wu Rui was still brewing various plans to beat up her sister in her heart, and was slightly stunned upon hearing this.

Then her focus was placed on what was ahead.

Rain fell and evaporated, molten lava surged and churned with resentment, gradually deepening, with no cessation at all, and even more impossible to suppress.

She noticed that Du En had just shown signs of attempting to cast a spell to curb it, but unfortunately, it did not succeed; it was still because his recovery was too slow and too little, so he could not use brute force to overcome it.

"It's too much effort to go around; let's just go straight through."

Saying this, he raised a hand and pointed; the magic artifact left behind by the old mage, that shield, flew over.

The reason why the old mage treasured it even after becoming a Grudge Demon is simple: this magic artifact was issued when he joined the Research Association, and later, when he was reviving his spirits, his disciple helped him refine and strengthen it; it can be said to be a double repository of his emotions.

As such, after the fall, it was also severely infected.

Du En re-refined it with Divine Fire, refining it into a third-rank peak magic artifact.

This grade is actually not strange, because although the spiritual Qi is gone, that opposing flow of Sinister Grudge is like the myriad phenomena having both reality and emptiness, with the two sides reflecting each other; magic artifacts or weapons infected by the fall are also thereby changed in material, raising their rank.

"However, this magic artifact appears very pure and intuitive; I fear it is because when he was flying while controlling the artifact before his death, he encountered the capture of the Star Sinister..."

The chain blade of the guard warrior of the Teaching Hall before, and the long blade of the headless corpse of the Heaven's Pride, were actually not typical. The former's material itself was very good, recast from various artifact materials collected by the Divine Tree Sect, and the grade after re-refining was therefore difficult to determine.

And the latter, that headless corpse of the Heaven's Pride, had already refined it several times under instinct, mixing in its own extremely high-purity resentment, covering up the traces of normal falling.

Therefore, only until now did Du En, through the old mage's shield, completely and clearly determine this point.

It also caused a doubt to arise in him.

"Spiritual Qi, what exactly is it?"

At first glance, it is a question that does not need thinking.

Spiritual Qi is just Spiritual Qi, the spiritual essence of heaven and earth, the foundation and reliance of immortal cultivation, the contact channel of the Dao, connecting reality and emptiness, running through all kinds of myriad phenomena.

Descriptions like this are found in various cultivation techniques, various inheritances, and even in every common sense, and there is nothing wrong with them.

However, the creature falling brought about by the Star Sinister Mutation now can actually also replace Spiritual Qi to complete the change in the grade of things; it is clearly specific, pointing to the root hidden beneath Spiritual Qi, or perhaps, the side or back of Spiritual Qi?

Beneath the foundation, it seems there is still a foundation, or a shadow? Furthermore, can Spiritual Qi, like the human heart and human obsession, become the connection point between that grudge and demonic energy, itself actually implicitly carrying a kind of dark implication? Du En used the enlarged shield as a boat, carried the two of them, and steered it into the molten lava pool, moving forward in the gaps of evaporation and churning, while pondering these puzzles that were becoming obvious.

These questions are not unsolvable now; in order to avoid shooting at nothing, there is no need to shelve the thinking, because he has already reached a level where he can ponder and explore.

Heaven's Pride, seeking the Dao.

Regardless of whether it is talent present from birth or effort piled up later, the same height will bring a consistent perspective, thereby keenly noticing the various unusual things hidden beneath the various things that are superficially taken for granted.

Pondering, continuously exploring.

Obtaining the answer, one can be called strong.

Practicing it out, one reaches the peak! Of course, matters have their order of priority; when this brief leisure of crossing the molten lava ends, one needs to first place attention on the current action.

The Research Association has arrived.

(End of this chapter)