Chapter 340: The Legacy of the Spirit Venerable

As a practitioner of the Spirit Venerable path, he had ascended all the way to Sequence Four without the support of the Spirit Venerable sect, nor had he ever worshipped his own patron deity.

In this regard, he was quite the stranger to it.

Yet on the other hand, Li Yu was exceptionally clear about the reputation the Spirit Venerable held among the pantheon of gods.

"Stirrer of shit, shameless thief, pilferer of laws, dead-beat liar..."

The above were all nicknames for the Spirit Venerable.

To call the reputation notorious would not be an exaggeration.

Previously, Li Yu had only a superficial understanding of this, even though after he himself stepped into the True Monarch of Feeding, he understood that the Spirit Venerable's authority and traits were just like that.

If he were to ascend to godhood and become the 【Spirit Venerable】 in the future, he would likely earn these titles himself.

But now, after he had braced himself against the pollution and pain, and across the long passage of time, observed the Spirit Venerable's actions on the battlefield of the gods, he had a very intuitive understanding of these titles.

They were too fitting!

Within that infinitely chaotic battlefield, one figure was exceptionally active, yet also incredibly sleazy.

He seemed to possess the power to contend with any god, yet rarely fought head-on; most of the time he launched sneak attacks, and often diverted trouble to others, inciting other entities.

As for picking up scraps or stealing kills, such things were commonplace.

Even though Li Yu was merely a bystander!

And he himself was a successor of the Spirit Venerable.

He had to admit that the behavioral style of his own "patron deity" was indeed very unique.

However, come to think of it, for Li Yu to consume the brain matter of an ancient, powerful True God and directly see the Spirit Venerable's figure rampaging across the battlefield of the gods was truly too much of a coincidence.

In all likelihood, it was the convergence rules of the extraordinary trait and the Toad God's luck aura working simultaneously.

This could potentially be a stroke of fortune.

In Li Yu's mind, an epiphany occurred immediately.

At the same time, he sensed that this avatar of his was about to completely collapse, or rather, die suddenly.

The appearance of his entire body was already a ghastly sight, ready to burst into a puddle of minced meat at any moment.

"A lump of the Barbarian Ancestor's brain matter... if eaten raw without processing, it could poison or drive any demigod to madness."

"I won't go mad, but sudden death is inevitable."

"But before that, perhaps I can gain some benefit?"

When this thought arose.

Li Yu disregarded all pain, his soul—on the verge of collapse—concentrated as never before, forcibly staring at that blurry figure of the Spirit Venerable.

The price arrived; his shell began to collapse.

It was like a scene of molecular annihilation, being erased bit by bit.

But he also gradually saw the Spirit Venerable's appearance clearly.

It was a humanoid figure shrouded in mist or some kind of bizarre fabric, only he was countless times larger than an ordinary human, and his translucent shell was filled with a vast amount of divine radiance, colorful and eye-catching, as if every god in this world had been robbed of their laws by him.

As he walked, the entire world would undergo changes.

With him as the core, it was as if an endless, viscous, and magnificent Qi permeated out, turning that region into something like a swamp of rainbow light; other than himself, any other god who fell into it would be affected.

Either losing balance, or losing sight, or being imprisoned.

In short, all kinds of negative status effects would stack upon them.

This rogue combat style allowed him to not fall behind even when facing some True Gods with obviously overwhelming combat power, and he could even take advantage of them.

For instance, the owner of the brain matter, the 【Barbarian Ancestor】, was one of the victims.

He had faced the Spirit Venerable head-on, and despite possessing the divine power to shatter a material universe with a single punch, he hadn't managed to touch a corner of the Spirit Venerable's clothing before being dragged into the endless iridescence in the blink of an eye.

When he used brute force to break free, he discovered that a portion of his divinity had been stolen.

And on his face and body, there were clear signs of having been trampled by the opponent.

"Hahahaha..."

Extremely arrogant laughter echoed within his memory fragments.

"So arrogant, so shameless, I like it."

Li Yu evaluated while desperately holding on to look at the Spirit Venerable's face.

At the same time, he attempted to peek or steal some benefits from it.

He was his own patron deity, after all; there should be some gains.

But with this look, trouble arose.

He saw the Spirit Venerable's face, yet could not see any details, only a mouth that seemed to be smiling yet not, and a pair of void eyes that seemed to have already perceived the truth of the world.

And when Li Yu looked over!

That face, that smile, those eyes, actually forcibly broke free from the original memory fragments.

Across space and dimensions, they slowly turned, and locked eyes with Li Yu's soul.

The next moment!

A voice rang out out of thin air within Li Yu's rumbling, trembling soul.

"Hmm?"

"A latecomer, and the most qualified latecomer thus far."

When this voice of unknown gender, unknown age, and unknown information rang out.

It was not just this avatar shell that suddenly felt a chill down its spine.

Li Yu, who was fishing in the Mist Sea of the World Tree, also fell into terror.

Did the opportunity turn into a great disaster?

What the hell?

Could he be discovered even across space and time?

Hadn't the Spirit Venerable fallen?

Was it the real Spirit Venerable or the pollution within the brain matter?

Regardless of what it was, Li Yu subconsciously wanted to commit suicide directly.

To sever the connection between the two shells.

There was no need to mention how bizarre and terrifying this world was; the first iron law of survival summarized by many practitioners was: when encountering an incomprehensible phenomenon, running away was always the best choice.

What Li Yu was encountering now, anyone would find terrifying.

He was clearly just peeking into the memories of an evil god he had consumed to see what his own True God looked like in the Primordial Era.

With layer upon layer of barriers, especially since the Spirit Venerable had been certified by the Buddha Mother as completely dead, he could still appear in his soul.

This shocking turn of events forced Li Yu into conspiracy theories.

A fallen True God possessing a believer to be reborn!

A god who died in the past, through arrangements, resurrecting in the shell of a future believer.

Such a story was very believable.

As for the medium?

It was too simple: the path to godhood and those extraordinary secret medicines.

This couldn't be blamed on Li Yu having a persecution complex, because after that suspected Spirit Venerable voice came through, both of his shells simultaneously experienced abnormalities, and all kinds of abilities showed signs of "losing control."

If this wasn't a precursor to possession, what was?

His actions were fast, especially since this shell was already about to collapse completely.

Therefore, he succeeded.

Accompanied by a "bang" sound, Li Yu's remaining body twisted and exploded on the spot, dying completely.

But he soon knew that, in reality, he had failed.

The turn of events that Li Yu had not anticipated happened immediately after.

The avatar died suddenly, and Li Yu, who was already in a state of severe injury, suffered another heavy blow.

Li Yu, who was fishing in the Mist Sea, could not help but let out a muffled groan, and an unprecedented sense of weakness surged within his body.

Although he was now a near-immortal long-lived species, and the strength of his body was even more terrifying than some legendary existences.

Being tossed around like this, he still couldn't quite handle it, and his lifespan would definitely face another major reduction.

But before he could review and summarize the lessons learned.

Suddenly, a voice full of mockery and malice rang out in his mind:

"Little thing, can you run?"

"You practiced my secret arts, yet you don't pay respects when you see me, and you run so fast."

"I suppose you guessed my intention to possess you..."

"Eh?"

"Why are you not afraid?"

The voice stopped halfway, suddenly sensing something was wrong.

For him to pop out so abruptly and even chase him to his main body's soul.

A normal person should be terrified.

If one could respond simultaneously, they would be considered a top-tier prodigy.

Yet Li Yu had no response, nor any fear.

Instead, he presented a state of absolute calm, silently listening to his voice.

He did not know that at the beginning, Li Yu really was in a state of terror and great absurdity.

He calmed down in just a second, naturally because he had activated it.

Truth Bubble!

Even though Li Yu still had other resources he could utilize.

Such as calling upon the Mother of Buddhas, the Buddha Ancestor, calling upon Yi Ge, calling upon the Toad God, or even shouting out to the Master of the Furnace.

But Li Yu still chose to use his strongest trump card without hesitation.

No other reason!

The deterrent power of the Spirit Venerable was too terrifying.

After observing the Spirit Venerable's incredibly sleazy performance on the battlefield of the Primordial Gods, he reached a conclusion: although these True Gods were all powerful, if they were to clash with the Spirit Venerable in a rush, they would suffer a great loss.

Originally, Li Yu had prepared to continue calling upon the gods he was familiar with for help if this bubble could not pry anything out.

But very quickly, he canceled this thought.

Moreover, if he were not currently in a state of absolute rationality, he would have already been unable to help but curse his own main god.

The reason lay in his first question: "Does the Spirit Venerable have any hostile intent to perform possession?"

The answer came almost in a second:

"This is a certain secret technique released by the divine entity 【Spirit Venerable】 in the past spacetime, within which is deposited a strand of His divine intent, as well as corresponding arrangements."

"The trigger condition is: a disciple located in the future spacetime, who is at least at the Sequence Four Food-Offering True Monarch realm, catches a glimpse of the Spirit Venerable's figure in the past spacetime... at the same time, said disciple must carry a sealed legacy of the Spirit Venerable."

"This is a fortuitous encounter bestowed by the Spirit Venerable upon all successors before His demise, to make up for the defect that the Spirit Venerable Sect lacks the protection of a True God. The quantity of this encounter is unknown, distributed across different spacetimes and different worlds; currently, more than one practitioner of the Spirit Venerable path has already triggered it."

"Once triggered, one can inherit that portion of the legacy."

"The Spirit Venerable's divine intent itself has no hostile intent, nor can it perform possession; it is merely an outbreak of His own bad taste, habitually teasing His own successors."

"Within the Spirit Venerable Sect, He also holds titles such as Shameless Ancestor and Unscrupulous Main God."

When this information surfaced.

Even Li Yu, in his rational state, had the urge to roll his eyes and curse.

What kind of True God is this?

A perfectly good fortuitous encounter turned into a scare.

It was fortunate that he, Li Yu, could create clones and possessed a Truth Soul Body.

If he were an ordinary Food-Offering True Monarch without these special means, wouldn't he have really been scared into committing suicide?

So you, this shameless troublemaker, not only torment other divine entities like this, but you don't even spare your own successors.

Of course, this was also enough to prove the power of the Spirit Venerable from the side.

To think He could actually do this?

Leaving behind a large amount of legacy and encounters, but the method of opening them must be done by His past self.

It completely guaranteed that all the benefits would fall into the hands of His own people.

Li Yu ignored the Spirit Venerable's follow-up questions and couldn't be bothered to respond, so as to let Him finish bestowing the encounter.

He understood now.

This True God with an overly malicious temperament would never follow normal procedures; if he were to respond honestly, it would surely be another round of teasing.

Anyway, the Truth Bubble had already been used, so he simply pried into it himself.

What legacy?

What encounter?

Had the Spirit Venerable truly fallen?

What state is He in now?

If He had fallen, who killed Him?

A large number of questions were issued within Li Yu's Truth Heart-Soul.

Billions of rainbows burst and flickered, beginning to brew the answers.

Perhaps because of prying into the Spirit Venerable's remaining divine intent at such close range, and because this divine intent had come carrying secrets, or perhaps the power of this twenty-fourth Truth Bubble had surged again.

Before waiting too long, and before the Spirit Venerable's divine intent could continue speaking, he first learned some secrets.

Such as that first question.

The so-called legacy.

It was actually something Li Yu had obtained a long time ago.

It was that eerie female corpse he encountered when he first entered the Weird Domain for conquest, due to the law of aggregation of extraordinary characteristics.

From within that female corpse, he had obtained a secret that could not be unsealed.

Li Yu had been puzzled before!

Why, even though the Truth Bubble had expanded to its current number and its power had long since skyrocketed, it still couldn't be decrypted.

Now, he knew.

That was clearly a "Spirit Venerable Legacy" inside.

Unless his power crushed the Spirit Venerable by a great deal, it would be impossible to force it open.

Even now, although Li Yu knew he had long possessed a Spirit Venerable legacy.

But what exactly was inside?

He still hadn't been able to pry it out.

At the same time, he hadn't obtained complete answers to the other questions either, only catching glimpses of a few words and phrases.

But even these were enough to make the progress on Li Yu's eye membrane continue to jump forward.

"What the legacy specifically is requires the Spirit Venerable's divine intent to personally initiate."

"But since it is to make up for the defect that Spirit Venerable successors lack 'True God protection,' it should be a life-saving means that allows me to face a True God's descent without dying."

"The Spirit Venerable has indeed completely fallen... but at some spacetime nodes, He is alive, such as in the past."

"His fall was partly due to self-termination."

Just as Li Yu was frantically prying while the Spirit Venerable's divine intent was inside his body.

The Spirit Venerable Himself was also finding Li Yu a bit unbearable.

In a sense, this divine intent was the Spirit Venerable Himself.

The state was very special, but it could be said to be alive.

Teasing successors in future spacetimes had always been His pleasure.

But now, He found He had encountered a tough nut to crack.

He wouldn't take the bait at all!

A normal person, even if they had guessed His intentions.

Should have respectfully paid their respects and listened well to their ancestor god's oracle.

Yet this fellow Li Yu ignored everything, completely disregarded Him, and left Him hanging on the side.

Powerful and shameless as the Spirit Venerable!

He had never thought that one day, He would be subjected to the silent treatment by His own believer and successor.

What made Him most helpless was that He actually had no way to deal with this.

If He were the main body, rather than a strand of bad-taste divine intent.

He could have directly taken action to punish this unfilial descendant, Li Yu.

Unfortunately, He was only a strand of divine intent.

Even if He was dissatisfied that He couldn't finish teasing Li Yu, in the end, He still had to honestly follow the procedure, open the legacy encounter, and hand it to Li Yu.

(End of chapter)