Chapter 658: Soul Wandering the Mountain Universe, Meeting the Ancients Again

"Anything can be asked?"

"Anything at all."

With his divine power restored, his reason quickly returned. Zhao Xing sat calmly at the table and asked his first question.

"Where is this place?"

"Naturally, it is the Ten Directions Mountain."

"What time is it?"

"There is no time; it exists independent of time. Of course, you cannot stay here for long."

"Are you dead or alive?"

"That depends on how you define life and death," the Fourth Generation Master said leisurely. "I have no common physical body, and I do not occupy any weight in the world."

"I do not enter the River of Time, nor do I appear in the world outside this mountain."

"I am neither living nor dead, neither person nor object, without self and without form."

Zhao Xing was somewhat bewildered. "Then what kind of existence are you?"

The Fourth Generation Master said faintly, "I am a prisoner of the universe, and a slave to fate."

Mystical, far too mystical.

Zhao Xing disliked fortune tellers because the vast majority of them could not speak plainly, preferring to speak in riddles.

He stopped dwelling on it and immediately changed the question: "Then, am I still alive? I mean truly alive, with flesh and blood."

"Of course. Your soul is merely wandering the Mountain Universe; you will return to your original place afterward."

"Mountain Universe?" Zhao Xing was stunned again.

"How strange, you are the Mountain Head of the Ancient Hill of Tai Gu, yet you have never heard of the 'Extreme Land Universe Theory'?"

"I have heard of it," Zhao Xing nodded. "Did the era you lived in prevail with the Extreme Land Universe Theory?"

He felt that the Fourth Generation Master's previous words seemed to compare the Ten Directions Mountain to a universe.

"The universe is vast, boundless, and infinite. If you are in any one corner, you cannot glimpse the whole; how is it not a mountain?"

It made sense; Zhao Xing could not refute it.

The Extreme Land Universe Theory had a market in every era. The Ancient Hill of Tai Gu had banned it in the Desolate Domain Era, but countless Sinos still walked this path as they pursued the Dao of Earthly Advantage.

Zhao Xing roughly understood his situation: after the Four Seasons Bamboo Slips blocked the way, he seemed to have drawn a Winter Upper-Upper Divination and met the creator of the Four Seasons Bamboo Slips.

This creator should be in an independent space, a state similar to the Mirror Spirit of the Linen-Clad Divine Image.

It was just that the Divine Image stayed in a mirror, while this one was perhaps a Mountain Spirit?

Since that was the case, he would ask something practical.

"Senior, I wish to ask about the location of the Extreme Star, and how to find it."

The Extreme Star symbolized the Dao of Heavenly Timing. The Fourth Generation Master thought for a moment and lined up the four bamboo slip tubes—Spring, Summer, Autumn, and Winter—in a row.

"Which one do you want to ask about?"

Zhao Xing was stunned again. "Which one? Can there be many Extreme Stars?"

The Extreme Star, like the Ten Directions Mountain, possessed spatiotemporal uniqueness.

If it could be seen at the time, it was seen; afterward, it could only be a memory.

Just like the Ten Directions Dharma Assembly; the number of participants was already fixed, and it was impossible for anyone to travel to this moment to attend this assembly again.

So, was this Fourth Generation Master saying that there were multiple Extreme Stars?

The Fourth Generation Master nodded. "There are two Extreme Stars, one Yin and one Yang."

"However, except for the Void Ancestor who saw both the Yin and Yang Extreme Stars during his enthronement, the other four Emperors were incomplete."

This was the first time Zhao Xing had heard such a statement.

The Void Ancestor was indeed formidable, with a status above the other four Emperors.

"Please tell me specifically."

The Fourth Generation Master tapped his fingers to a rhythm, as if singing an opera. "The Ancestor Emperor enthroned, sun and moon shone together; soul and body, opened the Dao gate, ten thousand paths of cultivation."

"The Li Emperor sacrificed and saw the full moon, opened the Divine Dao, abolished living sacrifices; the Dao is another spring of reincarnation."

"When Yin and Yang crossed, the times were auspicious; the Rui Emperor opened the Dao of Fortune."

"The Yu Emperor's three years of light, all living things were of the same kind; when it fell, there were still stars filling the sky."

"The Luo Emperor's afterglow is hard to continue, because the year of the solitary sun is the shortest."

Zhao Xing pondered, roughly understanding what the Fourth Generation Master was describing.

The Ancestor Emperor was the Void Ancestor; the sun and moon shining together was the strongest power of the Extreme Star. Among the Five Emperors, the Void Ancestor should be the strongest.

The Li Emperor only saw the Extreme Yin, but it was a full moon.

The Rui Emperor saw the intersection of Yin and Yang, similar to the Void Ancestor, but weaker than him because he did not see the complete Extreme Yin and Extreme Yang.

The Yu Emperor's three years of light, stars filling the sky when it fell—this referred to the Yu Emperor's Dao blessing being widespread, so after his era ended, multiple overlords of the Dao Lord level were still born?

The Luo Emperor's last era was the Afterglow Era, and the Luo Emperor era lasted the shortest time; did that mean the Luo Emperor only saw the Extreme Yang Star?

Zhao Xing looked at the Fourth Generation Master, feeling a bit of a chill; this person had a feeling of having personally witnessed the enthronement of the Five Emperors.

How could this be possible? No one should be able to attend the enthronement ceremonies of all the Divine Emperors.

Divine Emperors also possessed spatiotemporal uniqueness; seeing the Dao at the time meant attaining the Dao, and afterward, it could only be a memory.

"So, there are two Extreme Stars—" Zhao Xing muttered to himself. "Senior, since you know my name is Zhao Xing, you must also know there is a fellow named Gu Xiao."

"Of course," the Fourth Generation Master smiled. "He just left, and you arrived."

Zhao Xing was suddenly shocked. Gu Xiao had also been here?

Considering there was no concept of time here, the "just left" mentioned by the Fourth Generation Master was relative to himself; how long had passed in reality?

"Do you know where he hid the Extreme Star, and how I can find it?"

"I cannot."

"I guessed as much." Zhao Xing was helpless.

Gu Xiao was truly a talent.

He had blocked every path.

"You drew an Upper-Upper Divination, and he drew one too. You asked me how to find the Extreme Star; he asked how to hide it."

"He was before, and you are after, so I cannot tell you the answer to your question."

The Fourth Generation Master shuffled the bamboo slip tubes again. "You can ask something else."

Zhao Xing suddenly remembered something and regained his spirits. "Good, I will ask something else."

"Please, Senior, calculate when I will see the Extreme Star."

The Fourth Generation Master shook his head. "You should ask when you will see it again, because you have already seen it."

"When have I seen it—" Zhao Xing said, then paused.

He thought of a possibility, and his mouth hung open, his pupils dilating.

"No way, this joke is too big—"

"Could it be that I was able to smoothly cultivate into a God of Heavenly Timing because—"

The Fourth Generation Master pushed the bamboo slip tubes toward Zhao Xing. "Your time is running out. Do you want to continue staring blankly, or do you want to proceed?"

Zhao Xing regained his composure and bowed. "Thank you, Senior, I—"

The Fourth Generation Master took back the Spring tube. "You have already asked about matters multiple times; you cannot ask again. Roc Roc Roc Roc Change to something else."

Spring asks about matters, Summer measures the Dao, Autumn governs life and death, Winter divines fortune.

Now that the Fourth Generation Master had taken away the Spring tube, Zhao Xing pointed to the Summer tube. "Let it be that one."

"Which kind of Dao operation do you want to observe?"

Zhao Xing pondered. "Senior, please demonstrate as you wish."

The Fourth Generation Master nodded. "You are approaching the God King level. In the future, what you comprehend will be nothing more than how to master a Dao."

"I will demonstrate a small experiment for you, using the Dao of Causality and Fate to demonstrate the Yin-Yang Dao."

The Fourth Generation Master suddenly stood up and tossed the Summer tube into the air.

Light emitted from the tube, like a sun hovering in the sky.

Then, the Fourth Generation Master waved his hand, and the bamboo slips inside flew out, lining up in one row and two columns.

It looked like two "3" shapes placed together.

"Hum~"

The Summer tube emitted a beam of light, projecting onto the two shapes formed by the bamboo slips, and lines of divine patterns began to flicker.

Zhao Xing's expression was strange; this looked exactly like a certain experiment.

He never expected the Fourth Generation Master to demonstrate this to him.

"Have you seen it before?"

Zhao Xing nodded, then shook his head.

The Fourth Generation Master said leisurely, "In the Dao of Causality below the God level, there is always the cause first, then the effect."

"The occurrence of one event inevitably leads to the occurrence of another."

"But in the causal logic of the God level, the act of observation after the fact can influence the state before the fact, as if history has been changed."

"Thus, when God-level powerhouses travel through time, four situations often arise:"

"One, the loop event of inverted causality."

"Two, the event of changing history and producing branches in the River of Time."

"Three, void history. Commonly known as the 'Reincarnation Era'."

"..."

"Four, nothing happened."

"Yin and Yang give birth to all things. Two great Extreme Stars shine upon the Ten Directions of the universe. The Great Daos influence each other. Between Dao Lord-level powerhouses, they can sense each other, and the sensing between the same kind of Dao is even more intense."

"You can observe this demonstration carefully and experience the derivation and changes of the various original Daos of the universe."

"Whether you gain anything depends on your own causal connection."

The Summer tube slowly descended, and Zhao Xing appeared behind the bamboo slip board of the two shapes.

Countless glowing particles surged like a tide, shining into the depths of Zhao Xing's soul.

"Hum~"

The various Daos of the universe unfolded before him in the form of the most primitive lines, weaving into unique three-dimensional paintings.

These images formed the Real Manifestation Realm. The past he had experienced in the Desolate Domain Era, the Spirit Domain Era, the Luo Emperor Era, and the Yu Emperor Era—the mountains, rivers, starry skies, people, and objects he had seen—were all presented in the form of original sources.

Zhao Xing's divine soul began to shine brightly.

This was a rare opportunity. His soul realm was immersed in comprehending the essence of the Dao, baptized by the Yin-Yang and Five Elements Dao, constantly becoming stronger.

His divine soul was originally at the early stage of the God King level, but it quickly broke through to the middle stage because of this.

By the time Zhao Xing woke up, he felt unprecedentedly clear-headed.

His divine soul had already reached the threshold of the high stage of the God King level.

"Senior, this—"

Zhao Xing was pleasantly surprised.

He was happy because this opportunity allowed his divine soul to break through further, and shocked because this Ten Directions Mountain Master was simply too heaven-defying.

Manifesting the Dao in the void and dissecting the mysteries of the universe could actually lead to such great progress.

"No need to thank me. Many people have seen me demonstrate the Dao, but very few have made as much progress as you."

"..."

The Fourth Generation Master waved his hand.

"However, your time is running out. For the next Autumn and Winter divinations, you can only use each once."

Zhao Xing bowed and sat down again.

Autumn governs life and death, Winter divines fortune.

The Autumn divination is also called the Fate Divination, which can Roc Roc Roc Roc Change a person's fate and eliminate calamities.

The process is also very simple: just write down the name.

"Senior, can I write someone else's name?"

"Who do you want to save?"

"Gu Luohe."

"No." The Fourth Generation Master shook his head. "There are some people's fates I cannot Roc Roc Roc Roc Change. Gu Luohe is one of them."

Zhao Xing was a bit regretful; he didn't even know what was wrong with Gu Luohe.

He couldn't ask about matters now, so after thinking about it, he wrote down the name of Lü Ming.

He didn't need to Roc Roc Roc Roc Change his own fate, but his brother Lü Ming did.

After the Battle of the Divine Machine City, Lü Ming had his life extended, but not for long.

The treasure bestowed by the Boundless God King was only a temporary measure, not a permanent cure.

Lü Ming's fate was tied to the Nine Nether Dao Court; his cultivation, spells, realm, and causality were all strongly linked to the Nine Nether Dao Court.

With the Dao Court no longer existing, after Lü Ming left the Dao Palace, he would soon die. Even with all the treasures, he could live at most ten eras at the absolute limit.

The fundamental reason was that his fate was determined along with the fall of the Nine Nether Dao Court.

"Lü Ming?" The Fourth Generation Master picked up the bamboo slip and looked at it. "Heh heh, someone who should have died long ago, yet you brought him to the Desolate Domain Era. Isn't this harming him?"

"Senior, he can still live for several eras, right? How is this harming him?"

"If you didn't write his name today, this person would definitely die an unnatural death. You cannot calculate the annual rings of a human body based on the Dao of Life."

"The Dao of Fate overrides the Dao of Life."

Zhao Xing shut his mouth; the Fourth Generation Master was clearly a Dao Lord of the Dao of Fate, and his words were more convincing.

The Fourth Generation Master put the bamboo slip representing Lü Ming into his mouth and swallowed it.

"Alright, his fate has been changed by me and has returned to normal. You have one last chance."

"Winter divination, divining fortune."

"The fortune of fate is also the fortune of luck."

"You can calculate your next calamity, or someone else's."

"If you calculate for others, you don't need to mention Dao Lords and certain people."

Zhao Xing immediately canceled the idea of exploiting a bug; it was clear that there were some things that even a Dao Lord who had mastered the Dao of Fate could not do.

"Senior, is it accurate?"

"Not necessarily."

The Fourth Generation Master shook his head. "A fortune teller's prediction of the future is never absolute."

Zhao Xing was puzzled. "But I heard that if you use the Divination Brush, the No-Cause Note, and the Four Seasons Bamboo Slips together, you can determine the future."

The Fourth Generation Master said faintly, "There is no such thing. At least my generation never researched such a method."

"Then please calculate for me, how long until my next calamity."

The Fourth Generation Master tapped the Winter tube lightly.

*Swish~*

Soon, a slip flew out and landed in his hand.

The Fourth Generation Master interpreted the divination, and after a long while, he frowned.

He looked at Zhao Xing with a strange expression.

Zhao Xing was unnerved. "Senior, is there a problem?"

The Fourth Generation Master said nothing, put the slip back into the tube, and turned to walk toward the thatched cottage, even putting away the table.

"Senior?"

Zhao Xing was a bit dumbfounded. What was going on? Why did he leave without saying a word?

"Senior, Senior~"

Zhao Xing stepped forward to chase him, but although the Fourth Generation Master's pace was not fast, his figure moved further and further away.

No matter how hard he tried, he couldn't catch up.

The scene around him gradually blurred. Originally, only the Fourth Generation Master and the thatched cottage were black and white, but soon everything turned black and white.

"Hum~"

This blurring also manifested in his divine soul. Zhao Xing found that he saw the Ten Directions Mountain in its icy state again.

Ice crystals and snowflakes filled the sky, and the fog gradually gathered from the top and bottom of the mountain.

"Why am I back in this place?"

Zhao Xing looked around and found Bo Wei on an ice peak not far away, as well as a faint roar.

Then he saw hundreds of divine shadows setting up a formation on the mountain, and the same conversation appeared again.

"Hey, wait for me!"

Zhao Xing chased toward the light on the mountaintop again.

But this time he didn't catch up; instead, he stepped into the air and fell into an ice ravine.

"Ah~"

Zhao Xing woke up abruptly, opening his eyes wide.

The familiar divination table appeared, and he was standing before the Tortoise-Pattern Ancient Path.

In his hand, he was holding a bamboo slip that emitted a chill.

【Winter, Upper-Upper Divination, Soul Wandering the Mountain Universe, Meeting the Ancients Again.】

*Drip drop~*

The ice slip melted from the heat of his palm, and the characters blurred.

Beside him, Ji Si also opened his eyes at this moment. In his hand, he held a bamboo slip that was green to the point of being black, which turned into a wisp of black smoke and slowly dissipated.