Chapter 721: Choosing the Right Path Matters

「……」

Shen Yi's heart stirred with a flicker of anticipation.

If he remembered correctly, unlike the Puti Sect, Shenxu Laozu was the first member of the Sanxian Sect he had encountered who was of yao ancestry.

The rest were either mounts or spirit beasts.

From this alone, it was clear that the Sanxian Sect perhaps valued lineage and origin even more than the Puti Sect.

This also indirectly explained why Shenxu Laozu remained perpetually secluded within the Tai Xu Realm and showed no interest in the great calamities that other immortal sects revered.

Even if his disciple truly ascended to the throne of the Immortal Court, as a yao master, his status within the Sanxian Sect would hardly improve—better to focus on strengthening his own power.

Of course, these matters had little to do with Shen Yi.

What he truly anticipated was whether this great yao ancestor could confirm his suspicions.

The third-rank realm differed entirely from previous realms.

It was a monumental step taken by mortals as they imitated the celestial deities.

After all, true deities were immortal and indestructible.

Thinking of this, Shen Yi lifted his gaze to the interface.

Yet that single glance made his eyelid twitch.

The interface showed no corresponding prompt.

In an instant, a fierce glint flashed in Shen Yi's eyes as he coldly regarded the pile of blood pulp beneath his feet.

Under this indifferent gaze,

the pile of "blood pulp" struggled to maintain composure—its current form, even if the sect's own Jin Xian came, would likely reveal no trace of its true nature.

This brat must be bluffing!

The next moment, thick Jin Guang surged again across heaven and earth, scattering the gray mist and unleashing a roar like the tolling of a great bell.

Boom!

The "flesh pulp" on the ground writhed rapidly; a disheveled, semi-transparent figure burst forth from it and fled desperately in one direction.

But the Jin Guang, like a dragon, pursued without pause.

Shenxu Laozu, with no escape, tore through the gray mist and deliberately exited the Tai Xu Realm!

……

Jianyang Prefecture, Shen Zhai.

Jin Lei Daoren remained pinned to the ground, his knees deeply sunk into the earth.

As a fourth-rank Taiyi Zhenxian, merely that man's gaze pressed upon him like countless mountains, leaving him unable to even rise again.

This display far surpassed even the rumors of his renown!

Yet the old man merely hung his head, staring fixedly at the array device in his palm.

More visibly at a loss than he were the other peak masters.

Aside from Qianfeng Daoren and Master Jinxue, the remaining peak masters had never entertained thoughts of rebelling against their sect.

They had merely removed the calamity's force, hoping only to hear an explanation from their senior brother.

After all, in their hearts, they were disciples, having served the sect for years—not death-servants—and surely they deserved this much.

They had never anticipated that their master would personally descend over a matter among juniors.

The moment they saw that gray mist, their senior brother had left them no choice whatsoever.

At this moment, their hearts were ice-cold.

Not even the thought of fleeing crossed their minds.

All of them had harvested the Tai Xu Dao Fruit—even if they willingly bowed to become rats in the gutter, how could they evade their master's mysterious arts?

"Senior brother…"

They glanced silently at Qianfeng Daoren, their expressions clearly fearful.

"Whether you choose to kneel and beg for mercy is your own business—don't ask me."

Clearly, Qianfeng Daoren had not anticipated his master's arrival, yet even under duress, he showed no sign of fear—only a dark, grim face as he stood with arms folded.

Having already thrown down his post, he had already lost his life; he would not lose the last shred of dignity.

Saying this, he turned to Ye Lan in the midst of the scene, remaining silent for a long while before his stern face flushed with shame: "Disciple Ye Lan, what happened back then—our actions were unjust toward you… Huh, this calamity was inevitable."

When the Dan Peak incident occurred, as fellow disciples, even if their power was weak and they could not seek justice from their master,

they should at least have cared for the last heir of the Dan Peak.

But they were all obsessed with empty reputation; every time they saw Ye Lan's hollow, lifeless expression, they felt uneasy—so they not only offered no comfort, but deliberately avoided him, allowing Mu Yang to easily seize the Dan Peak before all their eyes.

Now that he thought of it, it wasn't unease—it was guilt.

「……」

Ye Lan stared blankly at the spot where Shen Yi had vanished.

After a long while,

she slowly turned back and spoke, word by word: "Whose calamity remains to be seen."

Even facing Shenxu Laozu, she had never seen Shen Yi break his word.

This time, perhaps not either!

"Chit… chit… chit…"

At that moment, the old man kneeling on the ground suddenly emitted a strange laugh.

He finally raised his head, slowly scanning them all: "Having taken the wrong path, you wish to turn back? How easy do you think that is? But there's no need to grieve so deeply, nor to harbor such foolish hopes—it's not only laughable, but a loss of immortal dignity."

Jin Lei Daoren knelt, yet his single sentence silenced them all.

As the master of Shenxu Peak, they understood better than anyone the terrifying power of their own Laozu.

"Does the correct path require you to crawl forward on your knees like this?"

Daoist Qianfeng gave a mocking laugh, with a whiff of throwing caution to the wind: "Not at all necessary."

But even he could only gain a little advantage with his tongue.

Sure enough, Daoist Jin Lei was not the least bit angered; he merely wore that offensively ugly smile, staring fixedly at the sky-canopy.

The only thing he felt was a pity — that he could not personally witness how that boy was swallowed into his master's belly and slowly digested.

"……"

The rest of them glanced to the side helplessly.

Just as Jin Lei had said, not everything left room for regret.

Since they had already withdrawn the tribulation force, they had to be prepared for the Dao to vanish and their bodies to perish… As for begging for mercy, if it had truly been useful, the Pill Peak would not have nearly had its lineage severed back then.

Better to die with some dignity.

Having thought this through, they stood where they were with ashen faces, like bound prisoners, able only to wait quietly for the executioner's blade to fall.

Ssshk—

Right at this moment.

A rift suddenly split open in the sky-canopy, and wisps of grey mist, like the claws of evil ghosts, surged forth.

Were it not for the concealment of the Divine Void Immortal Array, the entire Jianyang Prefecture would likely have been swallowed in an instant.

Daoist Jin Lei froze for a moment, then a hint of savagery crept into his smile. He cupped the array instrument tightly, like the most devout of believers: "Your disciple welcomes Master's descent!"

The rest of them also glanced over instinctively.

In an instant, a somewhat ethereal shadow darted out from within.

Even Daoist Qianfeng, upon seeing that wraith-like figure, felt his heart tighten. No matter how stubborn his mouth, when the moment of true death arrived, who would not feel the pang of losing a lifetime of cultivation?

He gritted his teeth hard, struggling to maintain the last shred of dignity.

But immediately after, a flicker of confusion rose in everyone's eyes.

The one who came out of the Void Realm was indeed the master they remembered, but the man's appearance was truly rather wretched.

Not only was his soul-body so faint it seemed a gust of wind could scatter it, the silkworm-silk treasure robe on his body was also in tatters, and even the six long silken sashes behind him drooped limply.

His old face was even more battered and torn — clearly he had been gravely wounded.

They were all cultivators of the same lineage.

Putting themselves in his shoes, in such a situation they would surely have fled into the Void, using the grey mist for cover to heal.

Yet Shenxu Laozu had fled out in panicked disarray.

It could only mean that within that Void Realm, there was an even more terrifying existence!

"……"

Shenxu Laozu gasped for breath in great gulps, his pair of blood-red eyes sweeping coldly over the crowd — a gaze that did not look like it was regarding his own disciples at all.

It was like a fugitive, searching for a way out, sizing up everything before him, trying to discern which could be used as a tool to escape with his life.

Immediately after, Shenxu Laozu's pupils narrowed slightly, and without the slightest hesitation he opened his mouth.

The change came suddenly.

The first to suffer was Daoist Jin Lei, who a breath ago had still been welcoming his master.

The old man's face was full of reverence, but his facial skin twitched violently as if battered by a raging wind. His eyes went wide, and he stared at his master in the sky in disbelief: "Master… it's Jin Lei… it's your disciple…"

The other Peak Lords, Ye Lan included, also sensed the same feeling of being drained.

Only now did they experience firsthand what the people of Pill Peak had once suffered.

That despair of being utterly unable to resist instantly invaded their entire hearts.

But the next moment, surging Jin Guang burst forth from the rift, shattering the grey mist across the sky, rippling up like a long river, and enveloping them all within it.

Everyone — except Daoist Jin Lei.

The old man watched helplessly as his body was stripped away, revealing the resplendent Void Golden Thunder Dao Fruit within.

This supreme-grade Dao Fruit flew uncontrollably toward the sky.

He finally came to his senses, and in horror and bewilderment looked behind him — only to see that his fellow disciples, though shaken in expression, all stood where they were unharmed.

The reason was plainly there on the Jinhe.

"Junior Brother, save me!"

Driven by instinct, Daoist Jin Lei shouted at the top of his lungs, mobilizing all the tribulation force in his body, and leapt madly toward the Jinhe.

"……"

Everyone stared dumbly at the rift in the sky.

They saw a youth wreathed in golden light, bearing the phantom of six arms behind him, walk quietly out of the Void Realm.

The aura radiating from him was unmistakably that of a Bodhisattva!

"Bodhisattva have mercy!"

Daoist Jin Lei could not understand why his master had suddenly wanted to devour him.

But he knew who the only one who could save him now was.

Just as Daoist Jin Lei was about to plunge into the Jinhe—

Suddenly, Daoist Qianfeng flew up and kicked him squarely in the chest, coldly reminding him: "Zhu Shixiong, you said it yourself — if you chose the wrong path, how can you turn back!"

Daoist Jin Lei was sent flying backward, and the Dao Fruit suspended in the sky was finally swallowed whole by Shenxu Laozu in a single gulp.

At this moment, despair finally welled up in the old man's eyes.

He actually understood this principle — he just could not fathom how the path he had chosen… could possibly have been wrong!

Yet he failed to notice that, after devouring his Dao Fruit, Shenxu Laozu's form had grown slightly more solid, but his face was filled with the very same despair.

This immortal-sect ancestor suddenly turned his head, glaring ferociously at the youth who had followed close behind him.

Let alone having only eaten one Jin Lei Daoist, even if he had swallowed every disciple whole, the bit of state recovered would still be unable to turn the situation around.

Shenxu Laozu was merely a cornered beast biting back, unwilling to let go of any chance of survival.

"……"

The numerous peak lords hovered dumbfounded in the air, watching helplessly as Shen Yi calmly stepped before his Master.

The ferocious look on Shenxu Laozu's face, before the youth's utterly unruffled countenance, actually appeared somewhat comical.

The Jinhe surged high! Completely submerging this small estate within a sea of golden light.

Shen Yi formed a hand seal with one hand, and the next moment, the six arms behind him fell like a raging storm, every one of them slamming into Shenxu Laozu's body.

Every fist carried a different Buddhist seal.

Boom! Boom! Boom!

This time, to ensure the kill, Shen Yi simply ignored his Qi perception, relying only on his naked eyes. With all six arms swinging, before everyone's gaze, he pummeled Shenxu Laozu's soul-body into utter slag.

Until he was certain not a single remnant remained.

He still did not stop. The Buddhist seals previously stored on his fists gathered one after another, transforming into a golden alms-bowl, inverted upon the ground, refining within it over and over before he was willing to let go.

A patriarch whose name shook heaven and earth, from start to finish without even the slightest strength to resist, was beaten to death alive!

Such a brutal scene, falling in the eyes of the others, made them feel a chill.

Qianfeng Daoist opened his mouth: "……"

Compared to the others' stupefaction, he suddenly realized something.

If Taixu Danhuang is a Bodhisattva, then how would the Great Ming King who Subdues Dragon and Tiger dare to snatch scriptures from a Bodhisattva?

Looking again at the six arms behind Shen Yi, he felt them grow increasingly familiar……

So, the Great Ming King who Subdues Dragon and Tiger and Taixu Danhuang were actually the same person all along?!

There were no two prodigies slaying their peers; from beginning to end it was one person shining alone in the world, pressing down upon an entire era!

"Gulp."

The remaining peak lords came back to their senses, and silently looked at the formation tools in their hands.

They found it hard to imagine—if they had not withdrawn the tribulation force just now, whether the present them would still be standing here watching.

Jin Lei was right; choosing the right path… is truly serious.

"……"

In the courtyard.

Shen Yi quietly watched the golden alms-bowl disperse, then slightly raised his eyes.

【Killed third-rank Six-Winged Soul Worm, total lifespan ten thousand tribulations, remaining lifespan eight thousand seven hundred tribulations, absorption complete】

With the panel's notification, he was finally able to set his mind at ease.

The demon's lifespan was exactly ten thousand tribulations, not a sliver off, perfectly matching the ten strands of Heavenly Dao order origin when stepping into third-rank.

He had guessed right.

Although it had not yet reached the undying, imperishable state Shen Yi had imagined, compared to a fourth-rank great demon's mere two or three hundred tribulations of lifespan, this was already a terrifying leap.

He gently exhaled a breath, pondering within.

"So the order origin absorbed later all represents growth in realm, but the initial ten strands represent a change in the level of life itself?"

"Add three more transformations, and ultimately become an acquired orthodox god, leaping beyond the two realms, outside the five elements."

This path of cultivation, beginning from Qi Refinement and profound beyond words, finally grew gradually clear within Shen Yi's mind.

But correspondingly, an even greater doubt also welled up in his heart.

If second-rank meant completely becoming an acquired orthodox god, already attaining what the Puti Sect called Great Freedom, then what manner of existence would the first-rank above that be?

Moreover, third-rank was merely the process of metamorphosis.

Then after ascending to second-rank, when cultivators and demons both completed their metamorphosis and became acquired orthodox gods, would it mean that the lifespan his panel could absorb… was no longer limited to beings of demon-kind origin?

Or that they simply could no longer be killed at all.

"Enough, thinking too far ahead."

Shen Yi withdrew his gaze and looked once more at the people present.

His earlier deployment of the Jinhe to protect this group was not out of soft-heartedness, unable to bear watching that old demon recklessly commit slaughter.

To carry out his original plan of fishing in troubled waters, he needed to possess a sufficient identity.

Shenxu Laozu was a fine name to have.

(End of this chapter)