Chapter 656: Clearing the Pass and Searching the Mountain, the Divination Pen Blocks the Way

"Great Si Nong, we are climbing the mountain from ten directions, but nine of the paths will encounter bronze altars."

"It is a mandatory checkpoint for climbing the mountain; if one cannot pass this checkpoint, then the Fate Master can only seek divination at the foot of the mountain."

"The success rate is not much higher than on ordinary days."

On the Turtle Pattern Ancient Path, Ji Si and Zhao Xing were communicating spiritually.

"The bronze altars were originally used by the Ten Phases Gate to recruit disciples, and they were also the first layer of defense for the mountain gate, to prevent enemies from taking revenge."

"However, later, the nine bronze altars were influenced by the Ten Directions Mountain and underwent unknown changes, which also caused the Ten Phases Gate to lose absolute control over this checkpoint."

Zhao Xing nodded slightly; if one couldn't pass the first checkpoint, whether it was divination, fortune-telling, deduction, or prophecy, the success rate of all Fate Master spells and treasures would not be higher than usual, so climbing the mountain would be in vain.

In the process of the Ten Directions Mountain manifesting in the past, many people got stuck at this checkpoint. Some even thought this was the top of the mountain.

Of course, some were lucky; for example, in the Spirit Domain Era, a guy in the Samsara Realm named Han Chuchen once ran into the Ma Yi God Phase and sought a divination here to cross the tribulation.

Later, this person ran into a weak Zhao Xing, took money to settle things, but the matter wasn't settled, and he ended up being punished to reincarnate.

"There are multiple categories of altars; the nine bronze altars are 'Stop Fighting', 'Disaster Change', 'Demon God', 'King Dao', 'Qi Luck', 'Heart Intent', 'Five Sounds', 'Samsara', and 'False Destiny'."

"The way to pass the checkpoint is for the God Oracle to sit at the altar, and the Diviner to enter the altar."

"The Diviner acts as the hands, feet, and eyes of the God Oracle, feeding back what they see and hear to the God Oracle."

"The God Oracle guides the Diviner to pass the checkpoint."

"During this process, the God Oracle will not suffer direct damage; everything is borne by the Diviner."

The Fate Master themselves didn't have much combat capability; the Diviner was the God Oracle's puppet, and this checkpoint tested the Fate Master's control ability and state of mind.

The Diviners were people close to the Fate Master or like-minded individuals, and in this checkpoint, it was very easy for the Diviner to be seriously injured or die.

The Ten Phases Gate set up this checkpoint to let disciples know that life was not a paper data, but something vivid.

Manipulating the destiny of unrelated people should be as cautious as manipulating the destiny of close ones.

Zhao Xing's nine clones and Ji Si's nine clones had already approached the altars, but they didn't enter together.

Because the nine bronze altars were linked and could change at any time; to prevent the situation of fighting themselves, it was best for Zhao Xing and Ji Si to let their clones enter one by one.

Zhao Xing and Ji Si's true selves took a 【Shortcut】, formed by the Mountain Opening Method and the Spiritual Mountain Fixing Image Method, directly bypassing the first checkpoint and leaving the foot-of-the-mountain area.

Also taking the 【Shortcut】 were the two Bo Weis, and the combination of the Great Emperor and the Heaven Master.

According to Ji Si, holding a Fate Master supreme treasure, or being a distinguished guest of the Ten Phases Gate, allowed one to take the 【Shortcut】.

"The possibility of Bo Wei being a distinguished guest of the Ten Phases Gate is very low; the Ten Phases Gate had long ceased to exist when he was born, and traversing time is impossible. That is to say, he must possess a Fate Master supreme treasure."

"The Great Emperor might be a distinguished guest of the Ten Phases Gate, but I can't rule out that my Empire teacher possesses a Fate Master supreme treasure."

During his time in the Empire, Zhao Xing had accumulated quite a bit of military merit from pioneering the Desolate Domain, and later he spent a large sum of money to send Ji Si to study at the Heaven Master's Mansion, inviting the Heaven Master "Xi Zhong" to be her teacher.

However, this experience was mainly a transaction, with little personal sentiment. Ji Si didn't know the background of this teacher and could only guess what treasures he might have.

"The second checkpoint is the Misty Jianqiao." Zhao Xing and Ji Si's true selves soon arrived at the edge of a cliff, with an unfathomable darkness beneath and an impenetrable mist of Dao obstacles overhead, with only a floating bridge for passage.

"Flying is impossible, and spells and martial arts cannot be cast; the bridge surface is composed of 108,000 floating platforms, virtual and real mixed; stepping on the wrong one will cause one to fall outside the mountain, requiring one to climb the mountain again."

"And every time someone passes, it resets, and it cannot be imitated by the predecessor."

Ji Si and Zhao Xing stood at the edge of the cliff.

Because they climbed the mountain a month late, at this moment, three other combinations were waiting at the Misty Jianqiao, and one group was in the middle of crossing.

Crossing the bridge were the Lord of Five Realms Island and Ling Ji, while waiting at the edge of the cliff were Hall Master Yun Ning and Palace Master Xin Zhen.

Two other groups were in a state of divine concealment, and they were Elder Shu Ji and Wu Xin, each waiting with their disciples.

"Let's wait too."

Zhao Xing and Ji Si's true selves waited before the Misty Jianqiao.

They focused their energy on the first checkpoint.

The first team of clones began to cross the 【Qi Luck Altar】.

At this moment, beside the Qi Luck Altar, there was another God Oracle, who was the ninth group to climb the mountain: Divine General Yuan Rui and Sacrificial God Li Wu Yue.

Their crossing had lasted for a month, and there was no sign of passing the checkpoint yet.

Seeing Ji Si and Zhao Xing come over, Li Wu Yue couldn't help but take a look.

He saw that after Zhao Xing jumped in, the bronze altar was immediately shrouded in mist, while Ji Si, who was sitting outside, couldn't see the scene inside, but could still communicate with Zhao Xing.

Logically, at this time, Ji Si should be communicating with Zhao Xing, directing Zhao Xing in the altar world to cross out of the altar.

But Ji Si did nothing, didn't even take a second look, and just waited on the side.

"What is he doing?" Li Wu Yue was somewhat puzzled; he had only recently heard of Ji Si's reputation, and as for Zhao Xing, he had only heard of him but never seen him.

In less than a quarter of an hour, the mist of the Qi Luck Altar rolled, and a cloud-mist passage appeared, extending to Ji Si's feet.

At the other end stood Zhao Xing's Summer Straw Man clone.

Seeing this, Ji Si walked over through the cloud-mist passage very calmly.

Following that, the two disappeared at the end of the cloud path.

Li Wu Yue: "???"

Sacrificial God Li Wu Yue was full of confusion.

This checkpoint, just like that, was passed?

"The rumor is actually true, Zhao Xing possesses the luck of a Qi Luck God?"

Li Wu Yue felt incomparably absurd.

He also knew a little about the Qi Luck method; at this moment, in his perspective, his partner Divine General Yuan Rui was experiencing one disaster after another in the altar world.

For a month, under his guidance, Yuan Rui had turned danger into safety, and had only walked one-tenth of the path.

Zhao Xing spent a quarter of an hour, and didn't even need Ji Si to stand outside the altar to guide him, and just like that, he passed?

"Simply absurd————"

Li Wu Yue sighed with emotion.

The first team of clones passed the checkpoint, and the second team of clones immediately took action.

The second team chose to cross the 【Stop Fighting Altar】.

This time, it was slightly more difficult.

The altar world extracted a period of history after the end of the Void Ancestor Era.

Zhao Xing became a God King under Ming Li, ordered to go to the Pan Hu Domain of the Origin Continent to mediate the disputes between various god nations and ancient god clans.

The Pan Hu Domain had countless mountain heads, claiming to have one hundred thousand god nations and one hundred thousand god clans.

In short, as long as one was a god, one established one's own force, and if there was a god level in the clan, one would occupy the mountain as king, attacking other races.

They allied and were hostile to each other, and the relationship was extremely chaotic; today they might swear an oath of blood, but tomorrow they might be at the city gates.

The warrior had to integrate the Pan Hu Domain under the guidance of the God Oracle, establish order, and build a Dao Court to be considered passing the checkpoint.

This period of virtual history was not entirely fake.

The Ten Phases Gate once had someone come out of the mountain to assist a strong figure under Li Huang, from Divine General to God King, and then among many God Kings, defeat many competitors to become a Dao Lord level!

And the decisive battle was in the Pan Hu Domain (there was no concept of Nine Heavens and Ten Lands at this time).

The history of the altar world was half true and half false.

The requirement to pass the checkpoint was to successfully establish a Dao Court!

Ji Si had to help Zhao Xing clarify the causality of the characters in various places, the hostile relationships between various clans, and choose the best strategy to pass the checkpoint.

The second difficulty was that the time flow difference between the inside and outside was very large; in the time it took to blink outside, thousands or tens of thousands of years would pass inside, and the development of a region might be completely different if one wasn't careful.

The third difficulty: 【Stop Fighting Altar】 was not just being crossed by Zhao Xing and Ji Si's group, because its content was widely known, so a total of twenty-eight groups of members joined.

This also included God King Ye Hai and his Fate Master, God King Cang Xi and his Fate Master, Chi Ji, the Lord of the Nation, as well as Palace Master Yang Yu and Sacrificial God Cao Qian of the tenth group to climb the mountain.

If this was a game, then there were twenty-eight groups of players, and Zhao Xing and Ji Si had arrived a month late, already in a backward state.

"The situation is not right, why is there a powerful force in the altar world?"

"It doesn't look like a virtual historical figure; it should be a new group of members who joined."

"Is it Zhao Xing and Ji Si?"

"Forget it, give up this round."

Ji Si appeared outside the Stop Fighting Altar and was soon discovered by other God Oracles; this proved that Zhao Xing had entered the altar world.

Immediately, some people, out of a desire to show goodwill or avoid the sharp edge, took the initiative to withdraw from the competition.

Soon, the twenty-eight groups of forces were reduced to nineteen.

Because they couldn't see the hope of victory, after ten days, half of the people took the initiative to give up, leaving only nine groups.

On the twentieth day, the nine groups of forces began to suffer different casualties.

"Pfft~"

In the southeast corner of the altar, the figure of God King Ye Hai suddenly emerged, his mouth spitting blood, his face pale.

The Ye Hai Fate Master, who played the role of God Oracle, was very ashamed: "My King, I am useless, I caused you to be besieged."

In the altar world, God King Ye Hai had experienced a siege battle, mainly because the Fate Master's deduction had made a mistake, misjudging the situation, leading to God King Ye Hai's failure to suppress the god clans of the Pan Hu Domain, and instead being besieged by the Allied Forces of the Hundred Clans.

God King Ye Hai's strength was strong, but the virtual characters in the altar world also had strong figures; finally, God King Ye Hai could only give up the competition this time at the cost of losing part of his lifespan, and exited the Stop Fighting Altar.

"It's not your fault, I was the one who made the decision." God King Ye Hai waved his hand. This Fate Master was already his most outstanding subordinate, and it was normal to be unable to compare with the other climbing groups.

Nine nations contended for hegemony, and God King Ye Hai was the first to fail.

He began to reflect deeply; had he been comfortable for too long, and lost the ability of a monarch?

"If this were a real hegemony competition, I would never have escaped alive." God King Ye Hai naturally had the ambition to contend for the Nine Heavens and Ten Lands, but now he was somewhat hit.

The reality would only be more complex than the simulation; if one couldn't even pass the simulation hegemony of God King Dao-seeking, how could one talk about the God Emperor competition of the Dao Lords?

The flow rate of the altar world was extremely fast, and the remaining eight-nation hegemony began to become more and more intense; Ji Si's clones couldn't remain completely calm, and their spell-casting movements became larger and larger.

Starting from the twentieth day, one after another, Diviners were forced to leave the altar world.

"Hum~"

God King Cang Xi and Chi Ji, the Lord of the Nation, appeared at the same time.

After they came out, both were shocked.

"Chi Ji, the Lord of the Nation, were you the one attacking me?"

"God King Cang Xi, was the Battle of Thousand Lake Mountain organized by you?"

Both asked at the same time.

Afterward, both showed bitter smiles.

A moment later, Palace Master Yang Yu was injured and out.

"Boom."

Di Jun, the god of the demon race, dragged his broken limbs and fell heavily to the ground.

The God Oracles of the two, Zi Chuan and Cao Qian, gathered together, also shocked.

"Brother Zi Chuan, the Xiao Shan Wang Cheng of the Pan Hu Domain is of no use to you, why didn't you attack the Three King Immortal City, but came to attack it?"

"Brother Cao Qian." Zi Chuan smiled bitterly: "If I said we didn't want the Xiao Shan Wang Cheng at all, and were forced to take the Xiao Shan path, would you believe it?"

"What?" Cao Qian, holding a divine object in the shape of an abacus, was so shocked that the beads fell off. "So you and I were both calculated by someone?"

"I'm afraid so."

"Then who are the other two forces?"

"It should be us." The Fate Masters of Chi Ji, the Lord of the Nation, and God King Cang Xi flew over.

"Ou Zhengzi, Ming Huizi, is it you?"

"Hiss————the four of us were actually in the game without knowing it————"

Three more days passed in the altar world.

Golden light shone on the Pan Hu Earth, and auspicious clouds shrouded the Origin Heaven.

A magnificent palace descended from the clouds.

Zhao Xing stood on the steps of the palace, overlooking the battlefield below.

"Black and White Hall Master, Divine General Wei Ta."

The majestic voice entered the two Military God Great Halls below.

A young man in black and white Dao robes walked out of the Military God Great Hall, his expression complex as he looked at the figure in the sky.

"God King Zhao————I admit defeat."

On the other side, Divine General Wei Ta, wearing golden divine armor and leading the fight, suddenly stopped his movements and roared at the sky.

"Si Nong Zhao, I am not convinced!"

"What are you not convinced about?" Zhao Xing asked indifferently.

"The divine war has been fought for eighty-five thousand years, and you hid and developed for forty thousand years!" Divine General Wei Ta said excitedly: "Always using Ji Si's destiny spells to avoid fighting! You and I have never fought fair and square!"

"Come, let's have a fair fight!"

Divine General Wei Ta roared, waving his double hammers.

Zhao Xing did not answer, just silently waved his hand, letting the auspicious clouds disperse, revealing the divine soldiers and generals under his command.

"Boom~" Tens of thousands of soldiers, each with majestic origins and fine weapons, and giant military god machines made the world tremble.

Looking at the people under Wei Ta's command, most were exhausted soldiers, their armor already broken and tattered, and they didn't have much supplies left."

"..."

"..."

Upon seeing Zhao Xing's military might, Wei Ta's roar gradually became smaller.

The gap was too obvious, so obvious that some of his Divine Soldier-level soldiers had already begun to surrender.

Compared to Zhao Xing's soldiers, his soldiers were simply disaster victims!

"Damn it! Too absurd!"

Wei Ta finally sobered up; he was just hot-headed for a moment, and now seeing the gap, he naturally wouldn't be beaten for nothing.

So he cursed and withdrew from the altar world.

Thus, the Stop Fighting Altar decided the winner, and Zhao Xing and Ji Si passed the checkpoint.

The twenty-seven groups of members outside the altar were exchanging failure experiences.

"Brother Gu, how did you lose?"

"I don't even know how I lost; Ji Si's causality manipulation spell is too strong; the territory I had already conquered had a large number of alien races rebelling for no reason."

"Brother Han, how did you lose?"

"I didn't even fight Zhao Xing; he was too good at developing. Starting from the thirty-thousandth year, all the alien races around him surrendered to him."

"Why didn't you take those god clans?"

"I couldn't afford to raise them."

"In the thirty-thousandth year, the origin index of Zhao Xing's territory had reached over ten thousand across the board, while my capital only reached eight thousand."

"His wealth was more than a hundred times mine."

"I wanted to rob him, but at that time he could already distribute Benefit God Pills to the Divine Soldier level, and Divine General level figures were actually equipped with top-grade divine weapons!"

"How can this be fought?"

Ji Si is too insidious, Si Nong Zhao is too good at developing; this is the common experience of the vast majority of losers.

"Everyone, I concede."

After Zhao Xing passed the checkpoint, he continued to climb the mountain with Ji Si.

The rest could only restart a round.

Two teams of clones had passed the checkpoint, and the third team of clones immediately entered the 【Disaster Change Altar】.

This checkpoint was just as easy as the 【Qi Luck Altar】, and Ji Si didn't make a move at all, lying down and winning with Zhao Xing.

Because the Disaster Change Altar was a collective term for natural disasters and earth changes.

Inside, it extracted various types of natural disasters and earth changes in history, and gave the Fate Master a considerable amount of preparation time to predict the location, time, and type of the natural disaster.

This belonged to the "Season School" of the Ten Phases Gate, not measuring human affairs, but mainly measuring the changes of heaven and earth.

Zhao Xing had seen similar schools when he was pioneering the Desolate Domain; God King Baili Yang of the Moon-Gazing Valley had also joined the Great Zhou, and this school was a combination of Fate Master and Si Nong, with classic works "Moon Agriculture Prophecy" and "Shuo Wu Yue Scripture."

"The Fate Masters of the world come from the Phase Gate, it's really not a lie; the ten major schools of the Ten Directions Mountain cover all branches of the Fate Master profession."

Before the Misty Jianqiao, Zhao Xing's true self and Ji Si were chatting.

"Demon God Altar, Heart Intent Altar, King Dao Altar, Five Sounds, Samsara, False Destiny, mainly based on the Great Dao of Destiny, governing all professions."

Ji Si sighed: "The Ten Phases Gate had profound means and a wide coverage, but this was not necessarily a good thing; once one possessed invincible power, one would unconsciously use it, thinking of interfering with all things between heaven and earth, and even manipulating the past and future."

Zhao Xing nodded; he had seen the truth of the decline of the Ten Phases Gate in the two places where he had glimpsed the 【Demon God Altar】 and 【Heart Intent Altar】.

The Ten Phases Gate had intervened in the birth of the God Emperor twice at its peak! And it might have even led to the occurrence of the Five Emperors Divine War.

"Trying to exhaust the essence of the universe will inevitably encounter the backlash of the laws of the universe; the Ten Phases Gods took the Ten Directions Mountain as their mountain gate and bore the cost of the backlash."

"Abusing the power of destiny again and again, finally even the mountain gate couldn't be kept, and the Ten Directions Mountain also abandoned the sect." Ji Si sighed with emotion.

After climbing the mountain, he knew more; one was that he had originally obtained inheritance from both Elder Shu Ji and Ma Yi, and the other was that Zhao Xing opening the Ten Directions Mountain gave him many clues.

As long as a Fate Master had clues, they could trace the source; Ji Si also mastered the Dao of History, so every moment he was climbing the mountain, he was making progress.

"There are twenty-eight days left, and the nine teams of clones can all reach the front of the second checkpoint." Ji Si easily calculated the time to pass the checkpoint. "With the combination of me and the Great Si Nong, passing the Misty Jianqiao is also a piece of cake."

"After passing the Misty Jianqiao, it is considered the mid-mountain area, but the clones should not advance."

"Why?" Zhao Xing asked.

"Because I see two Fate Master supreme treasures blocking the way." Ji Si's true self looked into the mist of Dao obstacles on the Misty Jianqiao.

"If the clones also continue to advance, the supreme treasures will also split and attack at the same time."

"Assuming this is the case, we would have to bear ten times the attack of the supreme treasures."

Zhao Xing was thoughtful: "Can we avoid them?"

Ji Si shook his head: "We can't avoid them; after passing the mid-mountain, we will inevitably encounter the blocking of the supreme treasures, and I don't know which supreme treasure will appear."

"And I don't want to avoid them, because to take the supreme treasures, it can only be done in the mid-mountain; once we reach the top of the mountain, we cannot ask about the supreme treasures."

Zhao Xing rubbed the ground with his soles, trying to communicate with the Ten Directions Mountain; Ji Si couldn't calculate it, but he could perform information seeking through the feedback of the earth veins, which was what was often called the art of searching the mountains and inspecting the seas.

After successfully opening the mountain, the mountain opener should have this ability, but the Ten Directions Mountain was special, and Zhao Xing couldn't perform a full-mountain search, with a limited range.

At this time, the Lord of Five Realms Island and Ling Ji had almost crossed the Misty Jianqiao, and he might be able to "see" what supreme treasure was blocking the way in front.

"Hum~"

The Lord of Five Realms Island and Ling Ji successfully crossed the bridge a day later.

Their figures

At its peak, the Ten Phases Gate intervened twice in the birth of the God Emperors! It might have even led to the God War of the Five Emperors.

"Attempting to exhaust the essence of the universe inevitably leads to backlash from the laws of the universe; the Ten Phases Gods used the Ten Directions Mountain as their sect gate to bear the cost of that backlash."

"Repeatedly abusing the power of fate eventually meant they couldn't even keep their sect gate, and the Ten Directions Mountain abandoned the sect," Ji Si sighed.

After ascending the mountain, he learned much more; first, he had already received inheritance from both Elder Shu Ji and Ma Yi, and second, Zhao Xing opening the Ten Directions Mountain gave him many clues.

As long as a Fate Master has clues, they can trace the source; Ji Si also mastered the Dao of History, so every moment after ascending the mountain, he was making progress.

"In another twenty-eight days, the nine teams of clones can all reach the front of the second barrier," Ji Si easily calculated the time to clear the barrier. "With the combination of myself and the Great Si Nong, clearing the Lost Jianqiao will be effortless."

"After crossing the Lost Jianqiao, we will be at the mountainside, but the clones should not advance further."

"Why?" Zhao Xing asked.

"Because I see two great Fate Master treasures blocking the way," Ji Si's true self gazed into the distance at the mist barrier on the Lost Jianqiao.

"If the clones continue to advance, the treasures will also divide and attack simultaneously."

"Assuming that happens, we would essentially have to withstand ten times the attacks of the treasures."

Zhao Xing said thoughtfully: "Can we avoid them?"

Ji Si shook his head: "We cannot avoid them; after passing the mountainside, we will inevitably be blocked by treasures, and we don't know which treasures will appear."

"I don't want to avoid them either, because to obtain the treasures, one must do so at the mountainside; once at the summit, one cannot inquire about the treasures."

Zhao Xing rubbed the ground lightly with his sole, attempting to communicate with the Ten Directions Mountain; Ji Si could not calculate it, but he could seek information through the feedback of the earth veins—this is what is commonly called the art of searching mountains and inspecting seas.

After successfully opening the mountain, the opener should have this ability, but the Ten Directions Mountain is quite special; Zhao Xing could not perform a full mountain search, and the range was limited.

At this moment, the Five Realms Island Master and Ling Ji were almost across the Lost Jianqiao; he might be able to "see" what treasures were blocking the way ahead.

"Hum~"

The Five Realms Island Master and Ling Ji successfully crossed the bridge a day later.

Their figures had been covered by the mist; Elder Shu Ji, Wu Xin, the Hall Master of Yun Ning, and the Palace Master of Shen Zhen, including Ji Si, could no longer see the Five Realms Island Master and Ling Ji.

But Zhao Xing could still lock onto their figures; broken images appeared in his mind, and after piecing them together, the scene on the other side of the mountain ravine was formed.

"Big Brother, after crossing the Lost Jianqiao, we are in the mountainside area," Ling Ji smiled. "After this, we can choose to climb the main peak, or choose a side peak to continue climbing."

"If we cannot seek the first hexagram of the main peak, we can also go to a side peak."

"Hmm, thanks to you," the Five Realms Island Master also revealed a trace of a smile; the first ten hexagrams of the main peak could strengthen his brother's divination power. He wanted to ask how he could become a Dao Lord; usually, Ling Ji definitely couldn't answer, but on the Ten Directions Mountain, it was very likely to point him in the right direction!

"Big Brother, let's go to the main peak first! Ahead, there should only be the four groups of Bowei, Wuliang, the Great Emperor, and Xi Zhong, Lan Chuan, and Feng Chen."

"Good, which way should we go?" The Five Realms Island Master was full of ambition, but after waiting for a long time, he didn't see his brother speak.

"Ling Ji, Ling Ji?" The Five Realms Island Master turned his head, his face turning deathly pale.

Ling Ji was gone.

Zhao Xing's foot shook, and the image in his mind was instantly interrupted.

"Great Si Nong, what happened?" Ji Si sensed something unusual and immediately communicated through their minds.

"The Five Realms Island Master's sworn brother, Ling Ji, was just taken away by a brush." Zhao Xing's expression was very strange; he extended his right index finger and poked his left palm.

"It was just like this—it poked into Ling Ji's crown, and then Ling Ji's whole body softened, shrank, and was absorbed like ink."

"Hiss~" Ji Si gasped. "The Divination Brush is blocking the way; Ling Ji is definitely in grave danger."

"Could it be that he—is gone?" Zhao Xing also felt it was strange; Ling Ji's disappearance was too eerie. "What exactly is the function of the Divination Brush?"