Chapter 296: The Real Reason for Indulging A Qi

Black Market Street.

The acid rain had stopped, and the air was thick with rich spiritual aura.

Along the street, the gang enforcers who once loomed high and the arrogant black‑market merchants now sat cross‑legged in the mud like beggars, practicing breath control.

A Qi watched this scene, and his inner sense of imbalance grew stronger.

What right do these mud‑like lowly people have to share his fortune?

He headed straight for the air raid shelter.

The guards at the entrance saw him and were about to salute.

A Qi did not restrain his aura; the spiritual pressure of the Seventh Realm struck like an invisible mountain.

The two guards couldn't even groan before being forced to kneel, the crisp sound of their shattering knee bones echoing in the passage.

Deep in the passage, Iron Tu was walking out holding a stack of supply lists.

Feeling this violent spiritual pressure, Iron Tu's steps halted.

He lifted his head; his remaining flesh eye calmly watched A Qi stride over.

"Congratulations on your great progress, Sect Leader."

Iron Tu clasped his fists, yet his spine remained ramrod straight.

It was no surprise that he possessed strength not inferior to A Qi's.

An Immortal can leap to rival the Seventh Realm.

What's wrong with letting A Qi, the Immortal's spokesperson, also reach this realm?

A Qi stared at Iron Tu's half‑flesh, half‑machine face, killing intent churning in his chest.

"Iron Tu, the Ancient Immortal Sect was founded by me. You are merely a dog bestowed by the Immortal."

A Qi stepped closer, lowering his voice, his tone bare with threat,

"Don't think that with him backing you, you can ride over me. In this black market, you'd better figure out who really calls the shots."

Iron Tu's face was expressionless, not even blinking an eyelid more.

"I only obey the Immortal's orders. If you, Sect Leader, are dissatisfied, you can go to the secret chamber and discuss it face to face."

Iron Tu's answer was flawless, yet it felt like a soft nail driven into A Qi's sore spot.

A Qi snorted coldly and flicked his sleeve away.

He wasn't so foolish as to now turn against that white‑clad person.

He needed time to fully master the Old Ancestor's technique and completely solidify his realm.

When that day came, he would settle old and new scores together.

……

……

The secret chamber deep within the air raid shelter.

On the white jade chair, Gu Yuan sat upright like a pine.

He propped his chin on one hand, his gaze falling on the floating light curtain ahead.

That light curtain, woven from the principles of the Myriad Dao Time Light, projected all scenes with perfect clarity.

A Qi's smug expression, the schemes hidden in the Heavenly Source Old Ancestor's divine sense, his argument with Iron Tu, his whispered mutterings…

Everything, laid bare before the Great Dao that even an Immortal King must heed, was exposed without reserve under the light of day.

Beside the light curtain, Gu Xuan Ce crouched among a heap of discarded array disks, engraving knife in hand, without raising his head.

"Young Master, this old thing's methods are perhaps too crude."

Gu Xuan Ce casually tossed aside a metal plate and curled his lip.

As the Array Dao Grandmaster of the Primeval Immortal Realm, he naturally felt a physical aversion to such inferior techniques.

"Take a look at that Blood Burning Infant Transformation Technique—reversing meridians, draining the origin. This isn't cultivation; it's clearly killing the hen for the eggs. And this brat thinks he's scored a heavenly windfall, bubbling with delight."

Gu Yuan listened to Uncle Xuan Ce's sharp‑tongued critique without uttering a word.

He lifted the purple‑clay teacup beside him, flicked away the floating leaves on the surface, and took a light sip.

The fragrant tea hid the depth in his eyes.

Seeing that his young master had no intention of stopping him—and in fact was enjoying the show—Gu Xuan Ce couldn't help but lean in.

"Did the Young Master already calculate that this brat would betray us?"

Gu Xuan Ce asked.

Gu Yuan set down the teacup, his gaze falling on the withered phantom in the light curtain—a wisp of the Heavenly Source Old Ancestor's divine sense.

"I cannot calculate human hearts, but I can calculate greed."

Gu Yuan spoke, his voice calm.

From the day he descended upon the Heavenly Pivot Source Realm, he knew that slaughter alone could not cure this world's deep‑rooted malady.

Those four old turtles hidden in the Star River Great Array were bound too tightly to the planet's ley lines.

A brute force approach would only destroy both jade and stone.

It would be no different from directly summoning his grandfather to wipe out the world.

They needed to be lured out.

How to lure them?

They needed bait.

Gu Yuan recalled the system's initial hint.

【Target: A Qi】

【Its fate shares an extremely weak causal entanglement with this realm's twisted heavenly dao origin.】

This comment is the sole reason Gu Yuan tolerates A Qi staying alive to this day.

What does it mean to be karmically entangled with the origin of the Heavenly Dao?

What lofty status does the Heavenly Dao hold?

Why would there be any entanglement with a mere refugee?

Even Gu Yuan, strong as he is, still cannot see through some things.

Even using the Myriad Dao Time Lamp and the Karma Grand Dao, he can only see the very surface.

But he knows.

A Qi is useful.

And Gu Yuan also needs an anchor.

A living target capable of stirring the Heavenly Dao and attracting the attention of the Financial Tycoon Ancestor.

Indeed.

He could choose A Qi.

In the dark, A Qi was also chosen by the Financial Tycoon Ancestor.

Otherwise.

If the True Immortal Ancestor were to descend in secret.

Even someone as strong as Gu Yuan might not notice.

Look, he's taken the bait.

"Actually, I originally intended to give him a way out."

Gu Yuan's tone held no regret, only an indifferent statement of fact.

"I used immortal realm spiritual herbs to wash his marrow and purge his hair, forcibly widening his blocked meridians; as long as he can endure and solidify his foundation, entering the Holy Path in the future will not be difficult."

Holy Path.

In the Primeval Immortal Realm it might not count as much, but on this wasteland of the Heavenly Pivot Source Realm where the ceiling is sealed, the Holy Path is already the peak capable of sweeping everything aside.

It is an existence second only to the True Immortal.

What Gu Yuan gave is a Road to Heaven Grand Dao.

Unfortunately.

Gu Yuan looked at A Qi's face, twisted by power, on the light curtain.

In this world, the hardest disease to cure is stupidity.

The hardest thing to fill is the abyss of desire.

Leaving the broad smooth road untaken, he instead drills into the dead end that overdrafts his lifespan.

For this paltry Nascent Soul cultivation of the moment, he personally smashed the foundation leading to the Holy Path.

As soon as the Blood-Infant Technique is activated, A Qi's Dao foundation is completely destroyed.

Now, unless Gu Yuan intervenes, using the Myriad Dao Time Lamp to reverse the origin, or else using his own longevity immortal body's origin.

Or a True Immortal Ancestor could lay foundations with great magical power.

His physical body is also ruined; for life he will be stuck in the Divine Path realm.

That is… the realm of Iron Slaughter.

"Mud can't support a wall." Gu Xuan Ce snorted coldly at the side, "The Young Master gave him face, but he refuses it. This sort of trash, even dying in the wasteland would dirty the ground."

Gu Xuan Ce has always had a bad look for such ungrateful people.

The Young Master's grace is an opportunity that countless cultivators of the Primeval Immortal Realm beg for but cannot obtain.

This brat is fine—he picks up his bowl to eat, then puts it down to curse his mother.

Gu Yuan rose to his feet.

His white clothes outshine snow, unstained by a speck of dust.

He brushed off nonexistent dust from his cuffs, his gaze piercing the light curtain as if seeing through the layered underground structures, locking onto the Heavenly Source Ancestor's divine sense.

Since this thread of divine sense has come down, there's no thought of returning.

Following this thread of divine sense, Gu Yuan has confidence to directly reverse-engineer the core node of the Stellar River Grand Array and drag the Heavenly Source Ancestor's true form down from his throne.

……

……