Chapter 1125: The Boundless Bamboo Sea Hides the Humility Hexagram; The Cruelest Thing Is Fate

The old man opened his mouth, looked at the peach blossom life treasure in his hand, and was speechless for a moment.

Qian Chen waved his hand and said, "The transaction is settled; you may go!"

Having said this, he went off to find that Seventh-Rank 'Green Bamboo Flourishing' land.

He had no interest in watching that entanglement, even if the Ye family elder was engaged in a battle between heaven and man, caught in a great dilemma.

The life treasures he refined were different from those of Life Masters.

Life Masters chose corresponding life-fates from the masses of living beings, and through life-reading and life-altering, usurped the destiny of that life-fate in the next incarnation and imposed it upon others.

Therefore, such life-fates were never perfect, nor were they ever smooth.

Life-fates that could be stolen, and the destiny that was usurped, invariably carried evil; it would be strange if there were no hidden dangers. But Life Masters only cared that the causal connection of that destiny was strong enough.

If they said it was Sixth-Rank, then it was destined to possess the power of Core Formation.

If they said it had wealth in its life-fate, then it would definitely obtain treasures corresponding to that fortune, and could even determine the attributes and functions of that treasure through life-altering.

As for hidden dangers, tribulations, and what had to be paid—they didn't care at all.

Perhaps Core Formation required sacrificing the whole family to heaven; perhaps the treasure of destiny required cutting off the remainder of one's lifespan.

In any case, Life Masters could offset all hidden dangers through fortune, and could alter all tribulations through life-arts. As for what the person using the life treasure for reincarnation would actually experience in their destiny, they wouldn't care!

The more twists and turns one experienced, the more 'strange' the life-fate!

The more miserable one's life-fate was, with all fortune gathered at a single point, the more 'unique' the life-fate!

Life treasures were the most strange and unique life-fates, and only in this way could they continuously produce pure, massive fortune.

And the life treasures Qian Chen refined with the True Illusion Dao Fruit were essentially about inverting truth and illusion, selecting a certain encounter and destiny in a person's future.

Therefore, the three life treasures were: one transformed from a destiny related to Immortal Qin; one transformed from a destiny related to the Ye clan; and the last one transformed from a destiny related to the Ye family's son.

Therefore, the Ye family elder taking the peach blossom life treasure for reincarnation would be useless; only the Ye family son himself could use this life treasure.

The transaction Qian Chen proposed was essentially a wish.

And the wish the Ye family elder made was to seek a chance at Core Formation for his Ye family's nine-generation single heir, not for himself.

It was only natural that others couldn't enjoy the destiny of reaching Core Formation by eating 'soft rice'.

This Seventh-Rank Yin mansion was a small cottage surrounded by three acres of bamboo grove, simple and elegant. If it weren't for this, Qian Chen wouldn't have chosen to set foot here.

The three acres of bamboo grove in front of the cottage were fields of fortune!

Every time the sun rose and the moon set, the earth-qi of the Feng Shui treasure land would condense bamboo dew on the green bamboo.

It was a type of sweet dew that could feast ghosts, though naturally, it was useless to Qian Chen.

And the bamboo shoots sprouting in the grove had seven segments and were also a type of fortune-treasure, known as the 'Calamity-Avoiding Humility Bamboo'.

With this fortune-treasure, one could hide burgeoning fortune, causing it to develop slowly or late, and could also hide a layer of fortune's burgeoning.

A hundred taels of gold in windfall fortune could allow a person to pick up a hundred taels of silver on the road.

A hundred taels of gold in proper fortune could allow a person to earn a hundred taels of silver in their life-fate.

If one used the Calamity-Avoiding Humility Bamboo, it could hide fortune, allowing the burgeoning of wealth to be hidden by a layer, letting a person pick up or earn a hundred taels of silver inconspicuously.

It wouldn't attract anyone's attention...

This kind of fortune-treasure could eliminate calamities and was a treasure of the highest order for those who sought to 'stay low'.

Of course, it was only a Seventh-Rank Yin mansion, and it could only grow one segment of Calamity-Avoiding Humility Bamboo every hundred years, allowing a person to avoid ten years of calamity-fortune.

It was by relying on this treasure that the Ye family had been passed down through a single heir for nine generations. This time, the Ye family son had provoked calamity and had his fortune broken, also because the bamboo shoot formed last time had been used on his father to avoid a great calamity. And the new shoot needed several decades to grow, which was why he had encountered a villain!

Qian Chen flicked his finger, dropping the Yin contract in his hand. As the ghost-god signature transferred, the Feng Shui of the entire Yin mansion gathered toward Qian Chen, and the status in the dark changed hands.

The moment he sat down, the three acres of bamboo grove suddenly transformed into a boundless bamboo sea.

The Seventh-Rank Yin mansion's fortune and Feng Shui suddenly skyrocketed—Sixth-Rank, Fifth-Rank, Fourth-Rank—and soon reached a realm that could not be fathomed.

The entire bamboo sea was secretly formed into the Humility Hexagram. Among the sixty-four hexagrams of the Book of Changes, only the Humility Hexagram had all six lines as auspicious.

Furthermore, the bamboo grove Humility Hexagram hid the void!

This caused the place to undergo a heaven-turning and earth-shaking transformation, making it difficult for outsiders to know.

Let alone Life Cultivators, even a righteous god like the Anlu County City God, who held authority over the Divine Domain, would find it difficult to detect such a heaven-turning and earth-shaking change in a Yin mansion under his jurisdiction.

Some people's life-fates relied on Feng Shui to support them, while for others, Feng Shui was formed because of their life-fate.

Wherever he was buried, even if it were a desperate and hopeless place, it could become a Feng Shui blessing!

The so-called "A mountain need not be high; if there is an immortal, it will be famous. Water need not be deep; if there is a dragon, it will be spiritual"—this was exactly the case.

The cottage was hidden in the bamboo sea and did not become more magnificent or miraculous.

One could only hear the rustling sound of bamboo leaves rubbing against each other as the wind blew through the boundless bamboo sea, like waves, and see countless green bamboos rising and falling, stirring up emerald waves...

It made one feel relaxed and happy, forgetting all worries.

Qian Chen casually flicked the Dao Dust Bead, sending the Ascension-Fall Dao Fruit sealed within back to the Land of Reincarnation, and released a group of black mosquitoes from within.

With a grab of his hand, strands of Moral True Words, like countless fishing lines, suddenly pulled out more than a dozen figures from the sky-filling black mosquitoes.

Led by Dao Wujin, a group of Demon Path Golden Cores knelt before Qian Chen just like that.

After they were refined into World-Destroying Black Mosquitoes by Lilith, they were also casually suppressed by Qian Chen during the battle where he suppressed Lilith.

They were only released until now.

Qian Chen even let them listen to the entire lecture he had given to Chen Jintian and Shao Yong in the Dao Dust Bead, letting them witness with their own eyes the strangeness of the Life Master path.

With this, he didn't need to waste any more breath explaining, and they understood their own situation.

The rustling sound of the wind blowing through the bamboo grove came, carrying a refreshing atmosphere. The group of demons kneeling below were all extremely sensible, each lowering their brows and drooping their eyes, looking kind and benevolent.

Qian Chen laughed: "You are quite sensible!"

Shi Wuliang said: "How would we dare to provoke you! We can be considered true transmissions of the Demon Path, but compared to you, we are just small demons and monsters, harmless pets."

The demons present had completely experienced it: escaping into the World-Destroying Black Lotus; being forced to be refined into the 'Om' sound demon-music by the Black Lotus's schemes; being refined into World-Destroying Demon Mosquitoes by the Fallen Demon Lord Lilith; fighting against countless Dao lineages and nearly a hundred Primordial Spirits of the Earth Immortal Realm, annihilating them all; and finally even nearly shattering the Earth Immortal Realm.

It wasn't until Qian Chen took action that he defeated Lilith and sealed her again!

But only they, these helpless demon mosquitoes, could vaguely see clearly.

There was definitely an unspeakable and unclear relationship between Lilith and this True Person Qian Chen.

From beginning to end, everything was under the control of this Louguan Dao Sect Master!

The Five Emperor Clans of the Earth Immortal Realm and many Dao lineages dared to attack the Louguan Dao blessed land and bully his disciples, so he dared to release the suppressed Fallen Demon Lord and turn the Earth Immortal Realm into a river of blood...

This Louguan Dao Sect Master's control over the World-Destroying Black Lotus and the Demon Mosquitoes was even smoother than their Demon Path's control over their own cultivation techniques' backdoors.

If there was nothing fishy about this, they wouldn't be worthy of being true transmissions of the Demon Path!

Facing this mastermind who had turned the Earth Immortal Realm upside down, single-handedly orchestrated a terrifying event nearly equivalent to an eternal demon calamity, and single-handedly plotted to annihilate nearly thirty percent of the Earth Immortal Realm's Primordial Spirit True Immortals and sixty percent of its Dao lineages and spirit treasures, yet still acted as the righteous and awe-inspiring Supreme Dao Louguan Sect Master—

These small demon heads were naturally extremely sensible!

"Just kidding, how could our Demon Path attainments compare to yours! You are the great demon, the Demon Lord, the Demon Ancestor grandfather..."

The Demon Path Golden Cores all muttered this in their hearts, kneeling honestly and respectfully on the ground.

They heard Qian Chen say: "The moral spiritual light of the Life Cultivation path I lectured on before has already infected you. You should know that this wisdom has already taken root in your consciousness like a parasite. Of course, if you have confidence in your own consciousness and wisdom path, you can also try to cut it out..."

As he spoke, he glanced at Shi Wuliang of the Demon Consciousness Sect, only to see him kneeling obediently, extremely docile, as if there wasn't a single bone in his body that was rebellious.

There wasn't even a hint of rebellion in his thoughts.

"I will give you two choices!"

Qian Chen flipped his finger, balancing the brocade-furred stealing mouse on his index finger, teasing it casually: "One is for me to shave off your wisdom, courage, benevolence, and integrity, cast you into the animal path, and refine you into a life-fate for me to drive..."

"Two! I choose two!"

The Jin Dan of the Corpse-Driving Sect shouted, looking flattering: "Demon Lord, how could our lowly lives be worthy of you refining them yourself!"

Shi Wuliang was slightly stunned and asked: "What about courage? It's fine if we don't have benevolence and integrity, but surely we have the courage of bones! Since we have courage, we cannot be shaved by the Supreme Dao and cast into the animal path—that's what you said yourself!"

Qian Chen was interrupted, but he wasn't angry. Instead, he smiled faintly: "You are indeed very courageous..."

Thump!

The Corpse-Driving Sect Jin Dan violently knelt back down, his forehead hitting the ground, his body as soft as noodles, flattering and laughing: "How could that be! Before you, my lord, where would we find any courage!"

He nudged Shi Wuliang with his shoulder and shouted: "Don't you agree?"

Shi Wuliang touched his Alaya Consciousness slightly and found that the Nine-You Demon Ancestor's thoughts didn't give him any courage, so he immediately softened and said: "True Person, you are right. Seeing you, our courage turned into a hot current flowing to our lower bodies, and then—poof—it was released!"

The deepest thought in his Mana Demon Consciousness was screaming frantically: "Something is wrong!"

"Something is very wrong!"

"This Louguan Dao Sect Master is ten parts out of twelve wrong!"

"The consciousness of my Demon Consciousness Sect disciples is connected to the Nine-You Demon Ancestor's Alaya Consciousness, and we have never been afraid of being controlled by others."

"The Demon Ancestor's courage is our courage, the Demon Ancestor's wisdom is our wisdom, the Demon Ancestor's benevolence is our benevolence, the Demon Ancestor's integrity is our integrity. No one can shave off our four virtues and cast us into the animal path!"

"But now, these courage and wisdom have all disappeared!"

"Either the Demon Ancestor allowed it, or..."

"Or this Louguan Dao Sect Master is a great demon who is more favored by the Demon Ancestor than we are, a peerless Demon Lord lurking in the Supreme Dao!"

Qian Chen coldly flipped through this thought of his and added: "There is another possibility, which is that the Demon Ancestor's control over you cannot compare to mine..."

Supreme Secret Demon Record, Great Heavenly Demon Venerable Status!

It was equivalent to the Primordial Dao Ancestor taking action personally to control a person.

It could be called the most vicious seal in the countless realms of the cosmos, which even the Nine-You Demon Ancestor could not reach.

Qian Chen grasped every thought of these people clearly, but said faintly: "I thought you wanted to experience 'despair'!"

"It really is 'despair'..."

The thoughts of the Demon Path true transmissions below surged: "Ignorance shaves off wisdom, despair shaves off courage."

"Saying that courage can resist the wisdom parasite—it really is fake! Then if our Demon Path has no benevolence or integrity, wouldn't we be perfectly countered by this divine ability?"

Everyone subconsciously operated their Demon Path wisdom, wanting to find a way to break this destiny divine ability.

But as their Demon Path wisdom comprehended that Life Cultivation method, more and more moral spiritual light and inspiration surged into their hearts.

In just an instant, everyone felt as if their wisdom had increased countless times.

Any problem was understood as soon as they thought about it, any obstacle was broken as soon as they touched it, and their attainments in the Life Cultivation path were like a flying waterfall, pouring down for a thousand miles!

At this moment, fear struck...

"This... the wisdom in my brain is definitely not ours! Every thought of ours, every idea of ours, isn't it... I can't tell anymore! I can't tell which of those thoughts and ideas are ours, and which are the wisdom parasite!"

Shi Wuliang's cold sweat soaked his back, and he was already stiff where he knelt.

"Get up! My Louguan Dao doesn't engage in the Demon Path's 'take what you want' or the 'superior and inferior' set!"

Qian Chen waved his sleeves, and dozens of green bamboos were suddenly pulled into bamboo strips, woven into cushions, and landed on an open space outside the cottage.

More than a dozen demon cultivators sat down obediently.

They heard Qian Chen say: "Life Cultivation takes 'reversing heaven and changing destiny' as its tenet, stealing fortune, usurping true life-fates, and refining life-fates."

"The Life Master here has already been able to refine a Second-Rank life-fate, equivalent to the destiny of a Primordial Spirit True Immortal..."

Before the words had even fallen, the demon cultivators below were restless: "Impossible!"

"Fortune is just a small path; no one can control the power of destiny!"

"The life-fate of a Primordial Spirit True Immortal can never be influenced by fortune. The reason a Primordial Spirit is called a True Immortal is that once one enters the Primordial Spirit realm, no one can interfere with them, and no one can calculate their destiny. This is a recognized supreme truth in the Heavenly Secret calculation path!"

"The Heavenly Court's Si Ming Hall is empty, and the Si Ming Heavenly Officials are all empty shells set up for show..."

"It is because no one can influence or interfere with the destiny of a Primordial Spirit, not even a Dao Lord, not even the Heavenly Emperor."

Qian Chen looked around, and only Dao Wujin remained silent.

He asked curiously: "Dao Wujin, why don't you speak?"

Dao Wujin only said: "The True History of the Primordial Era!"

Immediately, two of the demon cultivators changed color slightly.

Qian Chen sighed inwardly. The True History of the Primordial Era, which was considered an extreme secret even among Reincarnators—for mere Earth Immortal Realm Demon Path true transmissions to know a thing or two, the foundation of the Earth Immortal Realm was indeed extraordinary.

He glanced at Dao Wujin—True Transmission Dao, I acknowledge you as a true transmission of the Supreme Dao!

And Shi Wuliang—every person in the Demon Consciousness Sect was a clone of the Nine-You Demon Ancestor, so it wasn't strange for them to know anything from the Demon Ancestor's wisdom.

Finally... oh! It's from the Dark Demon Sect, no wonder!

Qian Chen continued: "Not just the True History of the Primordial Era, but the fact that a life-fate can determine destiny, bind karma, influence or even usurp the fortune of others, and even reverse the destiny of a group of people, or even a world. Isn't the existence of this characteristic very famous in the Earth Immortal Realm?"

Many demon cultivators frowned, pondering, when they heard Dao Wujin speak slowly: "The Eternal Love Tribulation!"

"The Eternal Love Tribulation is a type of life-fate?"

The demon cultivators exploded!

Shi Wuliang's expression changed several times, from shock to deep thought, from deep thought to horror, from horror to realization, and then continued to be shocked, finally slowly exhaling a breath of turbid air: "It's not that the Eternal Love Tribulation is a type of life-fate, but that the Guanghan Feng Xianzi is a type of life-fate!"

"No wonder!"

"No wonder the Guanghan Feng Xianzi's destiny is so strange, no wonder the Guanghan Feng Xianzi constantly appears in the Earth Immortal Realm and constantly stirs up the Guanghan Love Tribulation! No wonder every generation of Guanghan Feng Xianzi can almost prove the Primordial Spirit, no wonder the Eternal Love Tribulation is so terrifying, it is almost a type of—"

He said numbly: "Destiny!"

Shi Wuliang realized: "The signs of destiny are so obvious, yet none of us could detect them?"

The Jin Dan female cultivator of the Ten Thousand Spirits Five Poisons Sect sighed: "We all thought the Guanghan Palace's 'Supreme Yin Severing Love Blade Scripture' was too evil, but no matter how evil a cultivation technique is, it can at most influence oneself; it wouldn't be able to affect billions of cultivators every time, the entire overseas, and even overthrow the Heavenly Xia Divine Dynasty!"

"Behind this, there must be a powerful, matchless power of destiny..."

Dao Wujin said solemnly: "If the unshakeable destiny of a Primordial Spirit True Immortal is only Second-Rank, then what rank is the Guanghan Feng Xianzi's life-fate? First-Rank, or..."

He frowned: "Can the Life Masters of this realm really refine a life-fate like the Guanghan Feng Xianzi, and refine an existence like the Eternal Love Tribulation?"

Qian Chen shook his head slightly: "The life-fates refined by the Life Masters of this realm stop at the Second-Rank."

"Therefore, I want to refine a First-Rank, or even a Super-Rank life-fate... to verify some things!"

Qian Chen's eyes were deep, making the group of demons below shudder.

They all remembered the entanglement between this person before them and that Fallen Demon Lord Lilith.

If the Guanghan Feng Xianzi is really a type of life-fate.

If the Eternal Love Tribulation is really a trace of the Destiny Great Dao...

Then the first half of his life could be said to have been at the mercy of destiny. As demon cultivators, they could naturally understand that kind of unwillingness and humiliation.

Qian Chen looked at the green waves of the bamboo sea, listening to the sound of the waves, and murmured: "I thought I had long since transcended destiny, that I was outside of destiny!"

The trace of light revealed in his eyes made Dao Wujin shudder, as if the person standing before him was not a Dao Lord, a powerhouse, but a kind of deep, destructive, and demonic darkness that could only be seen by staring directly into the Nine-You, bottomless and deep.

"But perhaps I have never been able to break free from destiny, letting it manipulate me like a puppet."

If the Guanghan Feng Xianzi is really a type of life-fate, if his meeting with Brother Yan, Ning Ning Shimei Ning, and Ning Ning Shimei Si, and even all the encounters that shaped him, were not accidental.

If, after stripping away the True Illusion Dao Fruit and facing the true self of Tai Yi, he already had nothing left.

And the only thing possessed by the illusory existence named 'Qian Chen'—those memories and encounters he cherished—were also being manipulated by some kind of power.

Then what was left of him?

Nothingness?

If you peel off this skin of Qian Chen, what is the empty thing underneath?

Qian Chen laughed, and Dao Wujin seemed to see the Nine-You; the thing beneath that smile was even more terrifying than the deepest darkness of the Nine-You.

"Is it destiny that manipulates me?"

Qian Chen could feel that there seemed to be something that wanted to strip away and take away the only things he had left, and he had to ask: "Is it destiny?"

At this moment, the True Illusion Dao Fruit manifested all the living beings who had died at Qian Chen's hands. Following the trajectories of their destinies, Qian Chen stroked those countless life-fates with one hand.

The destinies of those he had experienced, met, and changed seemed to dance at his fingertips.

But he couldn't touch them.

The cruelest thing—that power named destiny...

Manipulating everything, arranging everything, choosing everything, deciding everything, like a web covering everything, yet even a Dao Lord could not see or touch it.

From the moment he came into contact with the True History of the Primordial Era, the speculation that had been lingering in Qian Chen's heart finally slowly settled.

Even the Kunlun Mirror and the Creation Cauldron were unwilling to mention it; he had probed several times, and both had changed the subject—the Destiny Dao Fruit!

Qian Chen asked and answered himself.

"If it is..."

"Then you are dead!"

Outside the Yin mansion bamboo grove, there was a knock on the door.

Qian Chen turned his head abruptly, waved his sleeves to stir up a green wave, and the layered bamboo sea lowered its head. The waves, accompanied by the sound of the wind, pushed open the bamboo door of the Yin mansion...

Shao Yong's hand paused in mid-air, looking at the door that had opened before him, looking at the boundless bamboo sea ocean inside.

He was dumbfounded.

Until he heard a voice: "Come in! What are you waiting for? Waiting to die?"

(End of chapter) ===== CHAPTER 1126 =====