Chapter 48: Really? I don't believe it

Sure enough, it's over.

As for this result, Zhao Si curled his lip, not surprised at all. After all, he'd tried this method of exposing his identity before, and it hadn't worked—he'd even been killed outright by the Heavenly Dao.

At least unleash a Purple Sky Divine Thunder for show!

Just letting a True Immortal suffocate and die on the spot—is that okay?

"He didn't even bother acting..."

"However, this also completely proves one thing: the Primordial Heavenly Dao can fully monitor everything within the realm. Even if a Saint intervenes to temporarily disrupt the heavenly secrets and interfere with the Heavenly Dao's operation, it only needs the time of a single incense stick to reorganize its database and immediately carry out the extermination task."

Zhao Si frowned:

"Moreover, both times I was erased were because I leaked information about my rebirth and the future, showing the Heavenly Dao has zero tolerance for this kind of information."

"Let me see what this is…… Binding!"

【Taiqing Dao Ren suddenly realized……】

"Yes……"

Zhao Si: ……

Seeing this Taiqing old bastard play with a 'spacetime capsule' on me, Zhao Si was speechless:

You should've said you had paranoia earlier!

Frankly speaking, Zhao Si really wanted to punch that old bastard in the face!

【A: Kneel on the spot, if the Daoist Sir asks, I, your humble servant, will speak without holding back; B: scoffs, you want me to speak? I won't—just being rebellious!】

【Taiqing, after hearing that, exchanged a glance with the astonished Nüwa, then pondered a moment and said: "Help me bring one more message…… The Dao that can be spoken."】

"Finally succeeded!"

Finally, Jin Bing, who had restarted over and over a dozen times, burst forth!

【..."Really? I don't believe it……" Taiqing had just said this when you immediately kowtowed three times, then turned and left without a word……】

【Taiqing Dao Ren suddenly realized……】

"B…… wrong……"

……

Zhao Si, his curiosity renewed, clicked to bind:

【Just as the words fell, you couldn't catch a breath of spiritual energy and died on the spot!】

【Taiqing Dao Ren frowned, realizing things weren't that simple……】

【"I, your humble Daoist, was merely testing the limits of your innate divine ability……"】

Zhao Si involuntarily muttered the two lines Taiqing had Jin Bing transmit across time and space:

【You choose Option A, kneel on the spot, if the Daoist Sir asks, I, your humble servant, will speak without holding back!】

【Whether to reverse time and return to the previous option?】

【"Alright, I believe you."】

【... Faced with Taiqing Dao Ren's inquiry, not wanting to waste words, you directly bowed as a disciple and uttered the three words "The Dao that can be spoken."】

【Taiqing Dao Ren laughed and said: "I don't believe it unless you bring me another message!"】

Avoid risk?

It's obvious this is a coded phrase; as long as the earlier Taiqing heard it, he could learn much of the information Jin Bing couldn't speak of!

【Taiqing:?】

【Time has already reversed……】

【..."Tell me everything you know." Faced with Taiqing Dao Ren's inquiry, you choose (?)】

"Code?"

Zhao Si: ……

"Not over yet, huh!"

To be frank, this Heavenly Dao is totally a deus ex machina, its nature quickly becoming a rule-based horror tale—speak and you die!

Under its strict surveillance, I can't turn all the information I know into plot advantages; once I say something I shouldn't, it's an immediate restart, and even a Saint can't save me.

Taiqing's gotten addicted, making me bring him line after line, to the point that not only Zhao Si is numb, but even Jin Bing in the game is numb:

Previously, restarts were spaced years apart, but today I've managed to complete dozens of epoch KPIs in a single day……

【Taiqing Dao Ren looked utterly bewildered……】

"Relying solely on myself, even with maxed-out operation, I actually can't complete the task of breaking the situation—let alone the fact that Jin Bing's past-life Great Luo cultivation and Heavenly Emperor position can't change the Heavenly Dao, and even if he'd severed his corpse to become a Quasi-Sage, he still wouldn't be worthy to sit down and play chess."

"One Golden Core swallowed, my fate is mine, not heaven's……"

【"Really? I don't believe it." Taiqing Dao Ren laughed like that: tell me everything you know again!】

【Taiqing Dao Ren laughed as he explained: one sentence about the Golden Core, eighteen sentences about the Daoist Classic, you've restarted nineteen times total—it seems this divine ability's limit is high, and it won't disappear after just a few uses.】

【You recalled what Taiqing Dao Ren had told you last time, your knees went weak, and you bowed, shouting "Master!"】

【Ding! Detected a gift from an important Primordial figure—bind it?】

【Taiqing Dao Ren is pondering……】

"Option B means not speaking, Option A means speaking…… so keep choosing A!"

【After those words, Taiqing finally formally accepted you as a disciple, making you the chief disciple of the Grand Purity Sect, in order to dispel the resentment from your nineteen restarts, Taiqing thought it over and decided to give you a gift.】

【Helpless, you could only repeat once more your ability to rebirth and the message Taiqing had you bring…… Looks like you're about to be erased again, you let out a sigh.】

What can I do? Of course I'll follow him—who called this old bastard the only key figure who can break the situation?

Last time I chose Option A, this time I naturally wanted to choose Option B, but Zhao Si hesitated:

【Whoever wants to be this disciple can have it—the Heavenly Emperor refuses to do it!!!】

【You looked back in surprise, as if meeting Taiqing Dao Ren for the first time, and the strange gaze made even Taiqing Dao Ren a bit embarrassed……】

But after all, he still succeeded in becoming a disciple; despite having a thousand grievances, Zhao Si could only swallow them back into his stomach—who let Taiqing be a sage about to prove the Dao?

Besides, there's also a gift!

"I can't take it anymore!"

【But just as you turned away with a sorrowful and angry expression, Taiqing suddenly called out to you.】

After repeatedly restarting more than ten times in this way, Taiqing also continuously made him utter more than ten phrases: 'One golden core swallowed into the belly,' 'The Dao that can be spoken,' 'Not the eternal Dao,' 'The name that can be named,' 'Not the eternal name'… Apart from the first 'golden core,' all are preceding and following lines from the Dao De Jing.

"Yes!"

【You: ……】

【Bound gift from an important figure of the Primordial Chaos: 'Taiqing's Avatar Technique'!】

【Just as you relaxed, thinking you were about to be accepted as a disciple by Taiqing, he suddenly reached out and interrupted your becoming a disciple.】

【You: ……】

【Whether to reverse time and return to the previous life choice?】

【……】

【Time has already reversed……】

"Alright then!"

"But if we could find a way to avoid the Heavenly Dao's surveillance and transmit future information to the sage, with the sage's methods, perhaps we could again thoroughly shake up the plot development…"

【Taiqing:?】

【In his bewildered gaze, you restrained the impulse to tell him all the news, only uttering these two phrases: 'One golden core swallowed into the belly.'】

Zhao Si, in a fit of anger!

Just got angry for a moment……

Zhao Si, without hesitation, directly clicked to continue the game:

Seeing Jin Bing successfully restart nineteen times before finally becoming Taiqing's disciple, Zhao Si couldn't help but let out a sigh of relief.

【'Taiqing's Avatar Technique': an advanced avatar technique derived from Taiqing Daoist's method of 'Severing the Three Corpses', which can refine three avatars by combining one's own primordial essence with heavenly materials and earthly treasures; the avatars can cultivate independently, and their cultivation is not limited by the main body's cultivation. (Already bound!)】

……

(End of chapter)