Chapter 655: Climbing the Mountain to Ask the Dao

The clouds and mist of the Ten Directions Mountain split open, and nine suspended bronze altars appeared in the clouds.

"The nine stars of the Big Dipper, seven hidden and two manifested; is this the altar of the Ten Phases Gate, and it has actually appeared?"

Beside the Lord of Five Realms Island, the Fate Master Ling Ji trembled slightly with excitement.

"Sure enough, the power of the Ten Directions Mountain has increased; otherwise, it would be impossible for these nine altars to manifest."

"And that mountain road, it's the Ancient Turtle Pattern Path."

Ling Ji's gaze fell on a mountain path, where the stone slabs seemed to be paved with turtle shells.

"What is the saying?" The Lord of Five Realms Island inquired.

"The Ten Phases Gate has ten schools; among them is a Fate Master treasure called the Eight Treasures Armor. It was crafted from the turtle shell of a Dao Lord-level divine turtle born in the Chaos Epoch."

"This school is called the Turtle Treasure School, but the founder of this school also perished because he designed to kill this Dao turtle, and the disciples of the Turtle Treasure School would all suffer a curse, namely 【Death Upon Seeing a Turtle】."

"Death Upon Seeing a Turtle?" The Lord of Five Realms Island was puzzled: "You die if you see a turtle-type life?"

"Yes." Ling Ji nodded, "Except for Fate Masters wearing the Eight Treasures Armor, disciples of this school, as long as they see a living turtle-type life, even if the turtle is just a weak cub, the Fate Master who sees it will soon perish."

"Truly————" The Lord of Five Realms Island didn't know how to evaluate this. "A bizarre cycle of causality."

"The rumors may not be true, but there have indeed been quite a few Fate Masters killed by the turtle clan." Ling Ji sighed with emotion, "I don't know if it's true or false."

The Lord of Five Realms Island, however, didn't care about these ethereal rumors; he only cared about climbing the mountain.

Zhao Xing had now opened the mountain, but the order of climbing had not been set, and he didn't know how the other party would arrange it.

Everyone, upon seeing the Ten Directions Mountain, was incomparably eager, having the urge to rush up immediately.

But they all forcibly held back.

Since Zhao Xing could open the mountain, it meant that the mountain could be opened in every epoch from now on.

For the sake of the long term, it was better to follow Zhao Xing's rules; otherwise, there wouldn't be a next time.

"Great Emperor, Heaven Master, please climb the mountain."

After Zhao Xing opened the mountain, he was the first to invite the Red Star Great Emperor and the Heaven Master "Xi Zhong" to climb the mountain.

This was respect for the Great Emperor, and also the sentiment he had built up after living in the Red Star Empire for many years.

The Great Emperor had once bestowed upon him the Mixed Origin Dao Tower, a divine object that had helped him many times, in the White Bone God Domain, and in balancing the three origins.

"Zhao Xing, you have worked hard." The Red Star Great Emperor pointed a finger, and a stream of pure divine power poured into Zhao Xing's body.

He could see that Zhao Xing had expended a great deal of energy to open the mountain.

"Xi Zhong, let's go up the mountain."

The Empire Heaven Master looked at the Ten Directions Mountain and saw that there were nine paths to climb the mountain.

Among them, the 【Turtle Pattern Ancient Path】 was the most obvious, with seven paths paved with turtle patterns.

However, he did not choose this path, but walked straight to a cliff with the Great Emperor.

The smooth cliff suddenly split open a mountain gate under the casting of Xi Zhong.

After the Great Emperor and Xi Zhong walked in, it quickly closed again.

Zhao Xing was somewhat surprised, because although he had some sensing of the Ten Directions Mountain after opening it, he didn't know there was such a passage here.

Shrouded in mist, this mountain wall quickly moved, seemingly changing its shape.

"The combination of the Great Emperor and the Heaven Master is not to be underestimated." Zhao Xing thought to himself.

The Empire Heaven Master had once obtained the first divination, and he was far from as simple as his surface realm suggested.

Thinking about it, it made sense; when Ji Si was a demigod, she had toyed with the destiny of Divine Generals; for the profession of Fate Master, the realm did not represent everything.

"Divine Venerable, please climb the mountain." Zhao Xing invited the second god to climb the mountain.

This move of his triggered dissatisfaction from several unfamiliar faces in the Desolate Domain camp.

Because the second person Zhao Xing invited was the Boundless God King.

The Great Emperor and the Heaven Master were of course the first group to climb the mountain. The second group, logically, should have been the divine-level Fate Masters of the Samsara Divine Palace—Hall Master Yun Ning and Palace Master Xin Zhen of the Origin Divine Palace.

Within the Desolate Domain camp, there had been a preview for climbing the Ten Directions Mountain, and these two were the publicly recognized second-strongest combination, which could maximize the benefits for the Desolate Domain camp.

"Zhao Xing, I actually don't care whether I climb the mountain or not." The Boundless God King led the boat forward, "I just want to witness your style of opening the mountain."

The Kong Que brought by the Boundless God King was a puppet life, and Divine General Bai Fan was also not a Fate Master.

The Boundless God King truly didn't care whether he climbed the mountain or not; his main purpose was to watch Zhao Xing open the mountain and, by the way, build momentum for Zhao Xing.

Zhao Xing scanned the surroundings and then smiled: "Divine Venerable, rest assured, even if someone is dissatisfied, they have to hold it in their hearts and dare not show it to me."

As a divine-level array master, his Boundless Divine Machine possessed the Ninth Life Box, and there were also Destiny Puppets in his skill list.

How could he not know how to climb the mountain? It was nothing more than worrying about himself.

But Zhao Xing wanted to invite the Boundless God King to climb the mountain second.

Whoever was dissatisfied had to hold it in!

"My rules are the rules; Lv Ming can listen to heart voices, but whoever is dissatisfied will not have a share in the next mountain climb."

The Boundless God King smiled, did not decline, and took Bai Fan and Kong Que to choose the Turtle Pattern Ancient Path to climb the mountain.

"Divine General Lan Chuan, please climb the Ten Directions Mountain!"

Zhao Xing invited Divine General Lan Chuan of the Taigu Mound third.

This Divine General was the master of the Meishan Mountain Lord, had taught him the Earth Refining Method in the White Bone God Domain of the Chen Xuan Huang Realm, and had taught his clone in the Desolate Domain Era.

Feng Chen had also taught him, standing on the stage for the Annihilation Star Dharma Assembly.

His combination with Feng Chen was the representative of Taigu Mound + Academy; this arrangement was reasonable both publicly and privately.

Divine General Lan Chuan first bowed to the four directions and steered the boat to the foot of the mountain.

"I am ashamed, I only know one part of the Ten Directions Mountain Scripture and not the other."

Now that it was a private conversation, Zhao Xing used the respectful address of teacher: "Teacher, do not think so; the Ten Directions Mountain Scripture is not a pure Mountain Scripture, it also involves the Dao of Heaven's Time and True Self; this mountain itself is special, let alone you, even I cannot know its full picture."

Only after truly opening the mountain did he discover the mystery of the Ten Directions Mountain; the Mountain Scripture simply couldn't describe all its mysteries.

Otherwise, he wouldn't have been exhausted and needed the Great Emperor to transport divine power.

Zhao Xing also paid respects to Feng Chen: "Elder Feng, have you been well?"

"I am well." Feng Chen laughed heartily: "The world is truly wonderful; the last time we met, you escorted the Academy's Dao Tree and Nine Classics Pavilion, and you were only a demigod; in the blink of an eye, you have become a strong figure of the current era, achieving the feat of opening the Ten Directions Mountain."

"I think the Academy should open a Ten Directions Pavilion for you."

"Elder, you praise me too much." Zhao Xing was humble.

He respected Feng Chen very much, because Feng Chen climbing the mountain would definitely lift the shackles.

Except for Bo Wei, scholars lifting the shackles would surely die.

Feng Chen was doing this with his own life, asking for the Dao for the Desolate Domain camp.

"Hum~"

Feng Chen and Divine General Lan Chuan chose one of the Turtle Pattern Ancient Paths to climb the mountain.

Next, Zhao Xing invited Bo Wei to climb the mountain fourth.

Bo Wei didn't need to bring anyone to climb the mountain, because his Golden Cicada true form had been cultivated to the Ten Thousand Weight Body, splitting out the Fate Master Bo Wei.

Bo Wei split into two, one of which watched the Ten Directions Mountain, while the other looked at Zhao Xing: "The first agreement, you have already completed; there are two left."

"Elder, I remember." Zhao Xing nodded.

After Bo Wei climbed the mountain, the fifth group was Hall Master Yun Ning and Palace Master Xin Zhen of the Origin Divine Palace.

"Please."

These two were people he was seeing for the first time, so Zhao Xing just handled things officially, and any extra words would be too polite.

Hall Master Yun Ning and Palace Master Xin Zhen didn't say much either, bowed, and climbed the mountain, disappearing into the clouds and mist.

The sixth group was the divine-level Fate Master "Tan Ling" and the divine-level martial artist "Wei Ta" of the Samsara Divine Palace.

Also two unfamiliar faces.

The seventh group: the divine-level Fate Master "Xu Qiu" and the divine-level array master "Black and White Hall Master."

Upon meeting, the Black and White Hall Master's face was somewhat awkward, because his original duty was to blockade the Chen Xuan Huang Realm, but he was captured by Ji Si.

However, he came this time just to be a foil, and the main force climbing the mountain was the three divine-level Fate Masters of the Divine Palace.

"Please."

"Thank you."

The eighth group: Di Jun and Zi Chuan of the Demon race.

Di Jun had participated in rescuing Zhao Xing in the Qian Yu Great World, but due to a twist of fate, he had instead joined forces with Divine General Fang Jie Luo to beat the real Zhao Xing severely.

As for the Demon God "Zi Chuan," he was of the Heaven Snake clan, which had the nickname "Destiny Snake."

Zi Chuan was a natural demigod, with a high starting point, but also a low ceiling, cultivating to the peak of the Divine Soldier level and unable to advance further; however, his talent was related to prophecy, and he was the Fate Master representative of the Desolate Domain Demon race.

The ninth group: Divine General Yuan Rui and Sacrificial God Li Wu Yue of the Desolate Domain Ancient Nation Alliance.

The tenth group: Palace Master Yang Yu and Sacrificial God Cao Qian.

The ten groups were assigned, and there would be no more individual invitations afterward.

Because the first ten groups climbed the mountain slightly earlier, they had a greater chance of obtaining the first ten divinations.

There was no need to assign them one by one afterward; they could just climb the mountain together.

But the order of climbing did not represent the final result.

Because the Ten Directions Mountain had multiple peaks; the divination of the main peak could ask about all types. The divination of the secondary peaks was limited to types.

The Ten Directions Mountain had ten peaks, and each peak climb had a not-insignificant chance of success for the first ten divinations; theoretically, the number of people in this Dharma Assembly was small, and it could be done so that everyone had a share.

But one might not be able to enter all ten peaks, and the journey had tests, and some people would obtain more than one divination, so it was still possible to return empty-handed from the treasure mountain.

After waiting for seven days, Zhao Xing said: "Everyone may climb the mountain on their own."

Swish, swish, swish~

Having received permission, the rest couldn't hold back anymore; the Lord of Five Realms Island, Ling Ji, God King Ye Hai, God King Cang Xi,

Chi Ji, the Lord of the Nation————rushed forward, choosing paths to climb the Ten Directions Mountain.

"Swish~"

Qing Yu Zi and a white-haired old man carrying a gourd flew to the front of Zhao Xing's boat.

"Zhao Xing, I'm also ready to climb the mountain; do you have any parting words?"

Zhao Xing laughed; Old Qing was here to use the back door.

"The Samsara Divine Palace has had many experiences climbing the mountain, and I haven't climbed it myself yet; why do you need to ask me?"

"If you don't say a few words, I'm not leaving." Qing Yu Zi lay on the clouds, and this posture was clearly intending to be a rascal.

"Haha." Zhao Xing couldn't help but laugh out loud.

"I'm afraid of you."

"After you climb the mountain, if you run into an old man holding a pen, and an old man asking you to draw a lot, you'd better turn around and leave."

"There's one more point; no matter who makes a deal with you, as long as it involves your own things, don't agree."

"Speak less, look less, don't be greedy."

Qing Yu Zi nodded: "Understood."

After saying that, he and the Gourd Immortal climbed the mountain.

Watching Qing Yu Zi and his companion climb the mountain, Zhao Xing's gaze looked toward the higher and deeper mist.

There were only six surviving Ten Phases Gods.

Two and a half of them survived, namely Shu Ji, Wu Xin, and the Ma Yi God Phase in the state of an artifact spirit.

The other three lived on the Ten Directions Mountain.

There were four others, in the same state as the Ma Yi God Phase, fused with supreme treasures.

The slight difference was that they could only stay on the mountain, while the Ma Yi God Phase had escaped.

Among them, the 【Divination Pen】 and 【Four Seasons Lot】 were the two most dangerous Fate Master supreme treasures.

Running into these two supreme treasures easily led to the loss of some part of oneself.

It was just that the Divination Pen and Four Seasons Lot appeared very few times, making them hard to run into.

"I opened the Ten Directions Mountain, logically it should be a ground proof, and I should have received powerful feedback."

"But not only did I not receive much feedback, I instead became exhausted."

"The reason is that there are three living phase gods on the mountain, and four great Fate Master supreme treasures, resisting my control of the Ten Directions Mountain."

"..."

Zhao Xing recalled the scene of opening the mountain.

Originally, opening the mountain meant obtaining the proof, but he saw three old men and four great supreme treasures resisting from different directions.

"The Ten Directions Mountain was the mountain gate of the Ten Phases Gate, but later there was an accident, and it no longer belonged to the Ten Phases Gate. Wanting to use it to prove the Dao, one would inevitably encounter resistance."

"I don't know if this resistance is instinctive or controlled by someone."

Zhao Xing withdrew his gaze and looked toward the edge of the Dharma Assembly venue.

At this time, most people had already climbed the mountain, leaving only empty boats behind.

But in the southeast and northwest of the mountain, two spaces were moving silently.

"Ji Si."

"Great Si Nong."

Ji Si stood beside Zhao Xing and looked in the direction of his gaze.

"They have come."

It was empty there, but in the eyes of Zhao Xing and Ji Si, there were two people each in the southeast and northwest of the mountain.

Shu Ji and his disciple, Wu Xin and his disciple, had sensed the manifestation of the Ten Directions Mountain and were sneaking up the mountain!

They appeared after the Great Emperor and the Boundless God King climbed the mountain, using a very high-level divine concealment method.

Among those present, only Zhao Xing, who had received partial feedback from opening the mountain, and Ji Si, who was also a successor of the Ten Phases Gate, could sense them.

When Ji Si and Zhao Xing looked over, both groups stopped moving.

"Ji Si." Zhao Xing looked at Ji Si again, casting an inquiring look.

Should he let them climb the mountain?

"Great Si Nong." Ji Si nodded.

Meaning to let them climb the mountain.

Back then, the Ma Yi God Phase was ambushed by Shu Ji, who wanted to seize the supreme treasures and inheritance, but at the last moment, the Ma Yi God Phase abandoned his physical body and escaped this calamity by fusing his soul into the Eight-Faced Divine Mirror.

He and the other phase god successors were destined for a battle; only in this way could he seize their inheritance and supreme treasures.

"Hmm." Zhao Xing withdrew his gaze and let Shu Ji and Wu Xin bring their disciples to sneak in.

He didn't know what changes this would bring, but he trusted Ji Si.

After a long time, after everyone had climbed the mountain, Ji Si spoke: "Great Si Nong, I am ready."

It had been a month since the mountain was opened.

Ji Si had decided to climb the mountain only at this moment, and Zhao Xing had also waited for this moment for Ji Si.

Because Ji Si was of the Reincarnation School; in the Fate Master schools, this school was good at playing the rear hand, seeing clearly everyone who climbed the mountain, so as to follow the causality and determine the fruit.

Not only that, Zhao Xing split into nine Season Straw Man clones, and together with his true self, there were ten Zhao Xings.

Ji Si also used the Divine Mirror to reflect herself, and ten Ji Sis appeared at the same time.

Ten Zhao Xings, ten Ji Sis, two by two, walked different paths to climb the mountain.

"There are only nine paths to climb the mountain, seven manifested and two hidden; the Spiritual Mountain Fixing Image Method of the Great Si Nong can open ten paths."

"We are entering the ten paths of the Ten Directions at the same time; whoever climbed the mountain first, no matter who they are, is all in the mirror." Ji Si issued a prophecy.

He cast a spell, immediately attracting a backlash.

Each Ji Si suffered varying degrees of backlash, and every Zhao Xing beside them immediately placed their hands on Ji Si's shoulders.

The backlash was transmitted through Ji Si to Zhao Xing, and Zhao Xing then cast a spell, dispersing the backlash onto the Ten Directions Mountain itself.

The mountain body, Ji Si, and Zhao Xing all shook for a moment, but soon returned to calm.

"Sure enough, it works." Zhao Xing laughed.

As the mountain opener, he naturally had the advantage; even if everyone went up first, Zhao Xing was not afraid of falling behind.

The Ten Directions Mountain was not like the Ming Gu Mountain; it gave Zhao Xing extremely strong feedback, but there were still some.

Among them was that he could see some movements on the Ten Directions Mountain, and could pass the backlash of destiny-type spells to the Ten Directions Mountain itself to bear.

Cooperating with Ji Si's rear-hand reincarnation, climbing the mountain to ask the Dao, he could arrive late but first.

"Let's go, let's climb the mountain." ===== CHAPTER 656 =====