Chapter 198: Heaven and Earth Mutation

"This female lay practitioner, is what you have in your hand the Jinhua Bell?"

The old Daoist Qingxu asked in astonishment.

Kong Que glanced at Li Heng, and seeing that Li Heng had no particular reaction, she thought for a moment and nodded.

"This Jinhua Bell has recognized you as its master."

He hurriedly continued to ask.

Kong Que shook her head.

Upon seeing this, the old Daoist Qingxu was stunned, then immediately let out a sigh of relief; it was good that it hadn't recognized a master, it was good that it hadn't recognized a master, it had scared him to death.

"Then could you bear to part with it?"

"This Jinhua Bell is truly too necessary for my disciple, it is a matter of life and death. However, please rest assured, I, this old Daoist, will not try to get something for nothing; you may state your conditions."

He stroked his beard, his expression softening, and spoke with a smile.

"No, old Daoist, perhaps you have some misunderstanding."

Kong Que spoke softly.

"The Jinhua Bell did not recognize me as its master, but rather recognized my master as its master." She cast her gaze toward Li Heng, while simultaneously offering the Jinhua Bell with both hands, returning it to Li Heng.

"Since it did not recognize you as its master, then..."

The old Daoist had just heard Kong Que speak and thought she was unwilling, intending to continue by increasing his chips, but when he finished hearing this passage from Kong Que, he was instantly dumbfounded.

The Jinhua Bell did not recognize her as its master.

It recognized her master as its master?

He looked in astonishment at the calm and indifferent Li Heng; was the relationship between this young woman and this arrogant youngster that of master and servant? Did the Jinhua Bell recognize this arrogant youngster as its master? His body froze completely.

The whole person seemed to have been struck by a bolt from the blue.

He hurriedly regained his senses and looked at the various Second Heaven experts, only to find that the Second Heaven experts were also revealing expressions of pity, while simultaneously shaking their heads in silence, seemingly confirming the words just spoken.

The old Daoist Qingxu fell silent.

His eyes had been dull; this youngster truly had the qualifications to be arrogant.

After a long while, he shook his head and sighed with some melancholy.

"No wonder, no wonder; in the end, it was I, this old Daoist, who had some delusions. I should have thought of this point when the bell first rang; in the end, there is no fate, no fate."

He had originally thought this trip would be incomparably smooth.

After all, his disciple Qingfeng carried the Heaven and Earth Luck, and when doing things, it was as if the heavens and earth exerted their strength in unison; wanting to obtain an item would surely be easy and effortless, without encountering any obstacles.

Who would have thought that this time, it would actually fail.

The Jinhua Bell had already recognized a master before they arrived.

Could this be the result of the Chaos in Luck?

The old Daoist Qingxu thought in some confusion.

He did not think about attacking Li Heng to snatch back the Jinhua Bell.

The Dao Sect also emphasizes fate and acting according to nature. Now that his disciple had come bearing Heaven and Earth Luck but failed to obtain the Jinhua Bell, it must be Heaven-determined Causality, and entanglement would be useless.

Causality is already set, so why be persistent? Unless...

He gritted his teeth, still unwilling to give up, and spoke slowly.

"This lay practitioner, could you bear to part with the Jinhua Bell? We can conduct a transaction between us, and you will absolutely not suffer a loss."

Li Heng shook his head upon hearing this.

"It seems the Daoist is truly eager to obtain the Jinhua Bell, but unfortunately, this bell is also of great use to me, and I am just in need of a handy magic treasure; I hope the Daoist will forgive me for this."

He currently had a fairly good impression of this old Daoist.

Even though his cultivation was far superior to everyone present, his attitude was not arrogant, and even though he wanted to obtain the Jinhua Bell, he did not show a shred of hostility toward him or attempt to seize it, but instead softened his tone to negotiate properly.

This is truly rare and commendable in this World.

If one were to say this World is a competition of who is worse.

This Daoist could be considered in the category of not being bad.

"Sigh, a wasted trip. Qingfeng, let us go."

"Better to return, better to return..."

Seeing Li Heng's refusal, the old Daoist Qingxu sighed and shook his head, turning to leave. At worst, he would go back and look for other clues regarding Town Luck Artifacts; he only hoped he could truly find one in the future.

Seeing Qingxu leave, Li Heng pondered slightly and then spoke.

"Daoist Qingxu, wait a moment."

Qingxu was startled upon hearing this and instantly turned around to look at Li Heng.

"This lay practitioner, have you changed your mind?" He asked with joy.

"No." Li Heng shook his head.

"I just wanted to ask, what do you need the Jinhua Bell for?"

In fact, Li Heng could probably guess some of it, but in the end, the person involved still needed to confirm it for it to have True Reality.

"What do I need the Jinhua Bell for?"

The old Daoist Qingxu fell into deep thought, hesitating somewhat.

Such matters clearly counted as secret affairs, major events; such changes were things even his grandmaster, a Primordial Spirit True Person, avoided speaking of, so it was clearly not suitable to be spoken aloud, at least not to ordinary people.

But the arrogant youngster before him was clearly not an ordinary person.

Although there is a Heaven and Earth Mutation now, and the Luck is in Chaos.

But he would be a ghost to believe an ordinary person could snatch the opportunity of someone carrying the Heaven and Earth Luck without suffering any backlash. One must know that a lean camel is bigger than a horse, and a rotten ship still has three pounds of nails.

Since that is the case.

It would be no harm to speak of some things to befriend this person.

However... he looked at the many Second Heaven experts from the noble families nearby, only feeling they were a group of worthless rabble; they were not qualified to hear secrets of this level.

Immediately, he waved his large hand.

A flash of golden light swept past, forming a protective barrier that enveloped the two of them—master and disciple—as well as Li Heng and Kong Que, isolating them from outside interference and detection.

The Second Heaven experts from the noble families were startled at the sight, but they soon realized that what the two were discussing must be a confidential matter; their curiosity surged, and they all secretly employed methods to probe.

But all their methods returned without success.

Their hearts could not help but tighten; this old Daoist was truly not simple.

"This is a secret matter. If it is to be spoken of, I must employ methods to shield it from idle people. I ask for the Layman's understanding," Qingxu said slowly.

"No matter, this is also a necessary thing."

Li Heng nodded.

"It is good that the Layman understands. Then let us begin discussing the serious matter."

"The Layman should be aware of the Heaven and Earth Mutation, right?"

Although Qingxu did not intend to start from the beginning of the creation of Heaven and Earth, he still had to explain the cause and effect; perhaps he could obtain some new information from the other party's words, which could be considered an exchange of what each had.

However, the next moment, Li Heng's answer surprised him.

"Heaven and Earth Mutation, I am not clear on it." Li Heng shook his head.

Although he had previously tried asking Kong Que.

But she also knew nothing. She only knew that the Kong Que clan had fallen into such a state because of the Heaven and Earth Mutation, which caused the Spirit Realm to shatter.

Upon hearing this, Qingxu revealed a look of surprise.

"The Layman really does not know?"

He had thought Li Heng came from some great power.

"I really do not know. Daoist, please speak freely."

Qingxu pondered for a moment, ultimately giving up on thinking—forget it, it would do no harm to speak of it together—and immediately continued.

"The Heaven and Earth Mutation originated a hundred years ago, with a sudden appearance of a state of Heaven tilting; the Heaven tilted to the northwest, and the Earth sank to the southeast. But the next moment, everything recovered, calm as before, as if nothing had happened."

"But ever since that time, Heaven and Earth have become chaotic."

"For example, the Dongtian Fudi that spanned the Void of Heaven and Earth for some reason suddenly shattered, falling into the Present World or the Yin World. The number of Weird in the Present World also increased inexplicably, forming a Wave of Weird."

"Even, it once swallowed a dynasty."

"And even that Ghost Place appeared."

"Ghost Place?" Li Heng quickly captured the key point.

"The Layman does not even know this? Then this poor Daoist has no way to help. Because that term cannot be spoken; those who speak it will surely encounter Ominous. One can only wait for the day the Layman witnesses that thing personally."

Qingxu shook his head and said.

Upon hearing this, Li Heng nodded thoughtfully.

"Then, in the following hundred years of time, the situation tended toward calm, although the number of Weird and Evil Demon greatly increased, and traces of that Ghost Place appeared repeatedly, even with Nodes appearing in various places."

"However, it was finally still within the range of being handled."

"Plus, the Great Sun, which serves as the source of light in the sky, still had no problems, and the foundation of the existence of the Present World remained stable, so many people threw this matter to the back of their minds and ignored it."

"Until recently, the Chaos appeared once again."

Upon hearing this, Li Heng spoke, "It is regarding Luck, right?"

Qingxu was stunned upon hearing this, and with a look of astonishment, he nodded.

"That is correct. Has the Layman encountered it before?"

Li Heng did not make a sound, noncommittal, and Qingxu could only continue. "That is correct, problems appeared regarding Luck; it began to become chaotic, and Luck would repeatedly jump between good fortune and misfortune."

"Of course, this problem looks serious, but for ordinary people, it is of no great consequence. Because their good fortune and misfortune are balanced; even if they jump between each other, it is still the same value."

"But for those who possess Great Luck, it is different."

"Those with Great Luck are favored by Heaven and Earth; when the time comes, Heaven and Earth provide all their strength, and one can pick up heavenly treasures just by walking on the ground—this is the manifestation of extreme good fortune. But what if all this good fortune is transformed into misfortune?"

"That is to be abandoned by Heaven and Earth, meeting obstacles everywhere."

"To put it bluntly, one might even choke to death drinking a cup of cold water."

"This is precisely the situation of my unworthy disciple."

Qingxu said bitterly.

"There was one time before. A large portion of my unworthy disciple's Luck transformed into misfortune, and a Tribulation Thunder struck down from the sky, almost striking me to death. If it weren't for the fact that this conversion also happened quickly and transformed back into good fortune in time, otherwise, if another bolt of lightning had come, I would have truly died."

Upon hearing this, Li Heng's expression remained unchanged, thoughtful.

It was not much different from what he had expected.

However, he had not experienced this kind of misfortune. And ever since the last time his Luck changed drastically, it had not appeared a second time on his end.

"So what does this have to do with the Jinhua Bell, the so-called Town Luck Artifact?" Li Heng guessed part of it and asked a question he already knew the answer to.

"This brings us to the key point. A Town Luck Artifact, as the name implies, is an object or magic treasure used to suppress Luck. According to my grandmaster's words, this kind of magic treasure can help suppress Luck so it does not fluctuate."

"Originally, I had a Town Luck Artifact here, but at that time, I did not know this point; at that time, Luck was not fluctuating, and there was no need to suppress Luck, so in the end, I lost it in a bet to a strange monk."

"Now, even if I want it back, I cannot find the trace of that monk."

Qingxu shook his head.

"That monk is said to be someone from the Tianming Organization. If one could find that monk, perhaps one could take back the Town Luck Artifact and ask what exactly is going on with the recent drastic changes in Luck."

"After all, those fellows from Tianming are most skilled in this kind of thing."

"It is a pity that they disappeared without a trace at some point."

He sighed again with some regret.

Upon hearing this, Li Heng's heart stirred slightly; Tianming Organization, he had encountered this familiar term again. As for the monk? Could it be... the Monk-Daoist Guest was indeed more like a monk than a Daoist.

"Without the Town Luck Artifact, you set your sights on the Jinhua Bell?"

The old Daoist Qingxu felt somewhat awkward upon hearing this and gave a cough.

"I, this poor Daoist, truly had no other choice."

"Dharma treasures and divine objects involving Luck between Heaven and Earth are already rare, and things that can suppress Luck are even rarer still."

"If not for the clear path pointed out by my grandmaster, combined with my own meticulous calculations, I would never have been able to find this place. Because the two of us come from Nanjun in Great Li, which is to say, Longquan Commandery."

From south to north, traversing the entirety of Great Li? That is more than ten thousand li.

However, suppressing Luck...

Li Heng pondered slightly, then spoke in a slow voice.

"Regarding the matter of suppressing Luck, I might be able to give it a try."