Chapter 1129

Great Qin Underworld, Liaodong Commandery!

In the battle of the rebellion of the Hall of Destiny ten thousand years ago, the Great Qin Underworld lost twelve commanderies.

These included the four commanderies of Nanyue, Minzhong Commandery, Nanhai Commandery, Guilin Commandery, Xiang Commandery; and the four former Yan commanderies: Youbeiping Commandery, Liaoxi Commandery, Liaodong Commandery, and Yuyang Commandery.

As well as the four Northern Territory commanderies: Jiuyuan Commandery, Yunzhong Commandery, Beidi Commandery, and Dai Commandery!

Among them, the four Northern Territory commanderies are where the Hall of Destiny is currently located, and they are also the heart-deep trouble of the Great Qin Underworld, dominated by the Great Destiny Master Shao Siming and the Wind Earl and Rain Master.

The four Yan lands provide support from the sidelines; apart from Master Dongguo of Yuyang Commandery who sometimes echoes the Hall of Destiny, the second-rank destiny master Ghost General of Youbeiping Commandery also harbors the heart to destroy Shanggu and march south to Julu.

Liaoxi Commandery and Liaodong Commandery are garrisoned by the Great Destiny Master Tianjizi, who leans toward Great Qin, secretly keeping Beiping and Yuyang commanderies in check.

As for the four southern commanderies, they are kept in check by the three great destiny masters Feng Xi, Hu Gu, and Ghost Lord.

The Heavenly Pool of Mount Buxian is like a mirror!

The sky overhead is pitch black, vast and boundless without stars or moon, but in the water mirror of the Heavenly Pool, countless stars are reflected.

Clearly, it is a place of the Zhu Jiuyin of the Underworld without sky, yet there is such a water mirror like the sky, reflecting everything!

And above the water mirror, one could see a middle-aged man with a refined appearance, like a scholar, stroking his long beard, floating in mid-air, his deep eyes reflecting the water mirror, with the changes of the stars all in his sight.

Not until he saw a small star, crimson red, flash and vanish between the seven mansions of the Southern Vermilion Bird,

did he frown slightly: "At such a critical juncture, the appearance of the Heavenly Joy Star is a misfortune, not a blessing!"

"That Emperor from the Heavenly Court broke into the Luo Tian Underworld and was killed by the First Emperor's contingency; it is hard to say whether he sought his own death, laid out a plan with his death, or..."

"But his star destiny falling here is a suppression, destroying the destiny-breaking and super-rank destiny-forging endeavor that the Immortal Qin has sought to refine for millions of years."

"Originally, the Immortal Qin led the Heavenly Stems into the Underworld, and the super-rank strange destiny of 'Boundless Longevity' was about to be refined! This destiny was calculated by the seven great fangshi of the Immortal Qin working together as the key to breaking the backlash of the Emperor's Dao Fruit. Once this destiny entered the palace, the First Emperor could be completely resurrected and extend his life for ten thousand times ten thousand years!"

"The Heavenly Court first used 'Fluctuating Heart' to break the First Emperor's star destiny blessing, then cast down a demon star, using hundreds of divine officials in the Hall of Destiny as sacrifices, carving the curse 'The First Emperor dies and the land is divided,' striking the territory of the Immortal Qin and severing the dragon veins and earth qi."

"With the two fortunes of heaven and earth severed, the First Emperor's remaining lifespan was shaved away, and he collapsed on the road of his eastern tour of the Western Kunlun Great World!"

"Afterward, the Immortal Qin used its remaining human fortune to seal the Luo Tian Underworld, build the First Emperor's Mausoleum, and arrange the Underworld, intending to use the lives of the billions of Great Qin people to refine the unprecedented destiny of 'Boundless Longevity'."

"But that Emperor personally entered the First Emperor's Mausoleum, not hesitating to die, just to use the Fluctuating Star destiny to break the 'Boundless Longevity' that was about to be refined, and furthermore, used the Purple Star Plate he was entangled with to disrupt the Stem-Branch Heaven-Earth Plate arranged by the Great Qin."

"The Heavenly Court Emperor used his own super-rank destiny to jam the birth of the 'Boundless Longevity' destiny; as long as the Fluctuating Star destiny cannot be plucked, 'Boundless Longevity' can never be born."

"That is why the Great Qin rearranged the Purple Star Plate, intending to seize the Fluctuating Star destiny!"

"This destiny plate and fortune game have been running for millions of years, accumulating countless destiny numbers; logically speaking, two or three super-rank destinies should have been refined. Alas, the Heavenly Court and the Immortal Qin are jamming each other—one will not let the First Emperor resurrect and break destiny, the other wants to pluck the Fluctuating Star destiny and completely suppress that Emperor."

"Resulting in the super-rank destiny being long delayed in its birth!"

"But once born, the two intertwined feng shui grand games of the Purple Star Plate and the Stem-Branch Earth Plate, and the fortune destiny game, will inevitably give birth to two super-rank destinies simultaneously. That is why we calculated the opportunity here tens of thousands of years ago, hid our names, and threw ourselves into it. Among those nine great destiny masters, I don't know how many are fellow Daoists familiar from the Earth Immortal Realm. I have faint suspicions about Master Dongguo, and the Ghost General must be a remnant of the Taiping Dao!"

"Shao Siming, the Wind Earl, and the Rain Master are all people from the Heavenly Court; Hu Gu should be of the Qingqiu Fox Clan; and the Ghost Lord?"

Tianjizi frowned slightly and shook his head: "It couldn't really be a native destiny cultivator, could it?"

"The Immortal Qin fears that destiny masters will refine the super-rank destiny of the Stem-Branch destiny plate ahead of time and destroy the birth of 'Boundless Longevity'; the Hall of Destiny fears that the Immortal Qin will seize the Fluctuating Star destiny and completely suppress that Emperor. Both sides deal lethal blows to destiny masters above the second rank. It's impossible that a native could truly prove the second rank and not die, right?"

A woman beside him shook her head: "With your ability in heavenly calculation and the use of the Water Mirror Strange Method, can you actually not calculate it?"

"The destiny of Baili the Butcher is too fierce; I really can't calculate it. But the Hall of Destiny can trust him; could it be that he is also from the Heavenly Court..."

Feng Xi was dressed in a magnificent phoenix robe, and even in the Zhu Jiuyin of the Underworld, she could not hide her noble aura.

She looked around with her eyes and smiled:

"When hundreds of Primordial Spirits from the Earth Immortal Realm broke in with shocking fortune the day before yesterday, I knew the time had come!"

"Sure enough, the Heavenly Joy Star has now entered the destiny of the south."

"If the Great Qin Underworld wants to break the game, it must gather the five auspicious stars of Fortune, Rank, Longevity, Joy, and Wealth. In the battle of the Hall of Destiny's rebellion years ago, the Wealth Star was broken, and the Heavenly Joy Star has not appeared for a long time because the Heavenly Court used the movement of the Red Luan Star to hide the Heavenly Joy Star destiny. And the Great Qin has an Emperor but no Empress, making it extremely difficult to draw out this star."

"The Heavenly Joy Star destiny is the natal star of the last Emperor of the Heavenly Shang, Emperor Xin!"

"Once the Heavenly Joy Star appears in the world, the Immortal Qin may push the Purple Star Plate one step earlier to seize the Fluctuating Star destiny. In front of the First Emperor and that Emperor, we are all like ants; once someone succeeds in resurrecting first, the overall situation will be settled."

Hearing her worries, Tianjizi smiled confidently: "But before they resurrect... this world is still our chessboard!"

Feng Xi asked: "How many destiny masters in the world do you think can calculate the birth of the Heavenly Joy Star?"

"Although the Underworld has no sky and the light of all suns, moons, and stars cannot shine in, causing star destinies to be hidden, none of those nine destiny masters in the world are easy to deal with, so... they can all calculate it!"

Tianjizi looked at the stars of the universe reflected in the water mirror and whispered: "Southern Commandery, Anlu County..."

"Southern Commandery, Anlu County!"

For a moment, countless gazes from across the world were cast toward this remote place.

…………

Compared to the two sides that had been placing pieces for millions of years.

Qian Chen was just a chess player who had just broken into the chessboard, ignorant and confused, with only a few scraps of resources in his hands, completely unable to shake the layout of the two sides that had lasted for millions of years.

But fortunately, the black and white situation was still in a stalemate, and Qian Chen had enough weight to break the stalemate.

But before that, Qian Chen had to figure out how many big fish were still underwater; apart from the two great nets of the Immortal Qin and the Heavenly Court covering this game, how many other hooks were there?

If he made a move to break the stalemate and attracted other chess players, losing the initiative,

even Qian Chen might not necessarily win to the end...

…………

Judge Xi of Anlu County re-drew the Heavenly Joy Star destiny back into the destiny palace. With a small test, he had figured out a few mysteries of the Heavenly Joy Star destiny. It was truly as Qian Chen said: the Great Qin's use of the three stars of Fortune, Rank, and Longevity to fix destiny had indeed left too many hidden dangers for the Great Qin.

Not to mention that many precious destinies above the sixth rank would almost never go to the Judge's Office to have their destinies assessed, even ghosts whose destinies had already been fixed would try every possible way to find a destiny master to change their destiny.

This provided countless manpower and resources for the rebellious Hall of Destiny.

But the Heavenly Joy Star assesses destiny based on habits, and what determines the destiny is the most difficult to change, and also the most closely linked to destiny—personality!

Since assessing destiny, Xi had seen too many ghosts dissatisfied with their own destinies.

Or rather, as long as it was not the two stars of Fortune and Rank, the many evil destinies of poverty, baseness, destruction, rot, bitterness, and ferocity assessed by the Longevity Star almost all wanted to break free from the shackles of destiny.

But today, for this eighth-rank base destiny, assessing the destructive destiny of a clever ghost, it only knew how to clown around and play petty tricks.

And the method to change destiny was to correct the clever ghost's rogue habits of greed for money, lust, and laziness...

Xi had also tested him; even though he was very dissatisfied with that destructive destiny, he only thought about earning wealth through gambling, cheating, and swindling, firmly shackled within the ghost destiny and false destiny.

"Those who indulge in the past and constantly repeat themselves are ghosts!"

"So that's it! The more human will one has, the more one can defy heaven and change destiny; the more ghost parts one has, the more one is shackled and silenced by destiny. The Heavenly Joy Star's destiny assessment is precisely to shackle the true destiny with the ghost destiny, and determine his destiny with personality; to change the name, one must first change the personality and habits. They couldn't change when they were human, let alone as ghosts?"

Judge Xi realized: "Lord Chang'an is truly terrifying; with just one glance, he saw the true hidden danger of the Great Qin Underworld."

"But the Qin Law and Underworld Statutes are fixed; for a judge to fix destiny, it must be done with the three stars of Fortune, Rank, and Longevity."

"As a judge, I cannot knowingly break the law, but I am also a Qin official; how can I see a policy beneficial to Great Qin and not act? In this case, I can only report it to the County Wei Chenghuang!"

Just as he was preparing to carve with his knife and brush, he saw Wei Chenghuang Song of Anlu County rush in, hurriedly saying: "Xi, have you ever seen someone cast a destiny treasure with a wave of their hand to defy heaven and change the destiny of someone in the world of the living?"

Xi frowned slightly: "What happened?"

Wei Chenghuang Song immediately recounted the whole story of how he invited the ancestors of various families to the Wei Chenghuang Temple to give a Yin residence to Qian Chen, and said with a trembling voice: "Even for a second-rank great destiny master, wanting to refine a destiny treasure requires using true destiny as material!"

"It is precisely because destiny masters refine treasures with people that the Great Qin's measure of fixing destiny with three stars, although many ghosts have opinions, has persisted. But that Lord Chang'an casually created three sixth-rank destiny treasures; I originally thought his words must have been exaggerated..."

"But not long ago, the Ye family was in a hurry to use up the Peach Blossom destiny treasure to increase the fortune for the Ye family's only seedling!"

"We watched with our own eyes as the Ye family ancestor planted that peach blossom on the descendant position of the Yin residence. In the blink of an eye, a peach tree with a canopy covering the entire courtyard grew, full of peach blossoms, and three large peach fruits."

"It truly can protect him in finding a good sixth-rank marriage!"

"Even those three peach fruits are fortune prepared for his three sons in his destiny."

Wei Chenghuang Song lowered his voice: "Most importantly, the Ye family's nine-generation single-line strange destiny was covered by the peach tree, and the Nine-Section Grass destiny treasure pressed inside the Ye family ancestor's sixth-rank Yin residence disappeared!"

Xi's expression changed slightly: "We have long suspected that the Ye family's nine-generation single-line was because a destiny master was deliberately nurturing his family's destiny."

"Nine-generation single-line is the foundation of a strange destiny. By the time it reached the tenth generation of the Ye family, whether it was ending the family line or refining a strange destiny based on the Ye family descendant's destiny, it was possible to refine one of those kinds of lonely destinies on the strange destiny list. This is called 'Lonely Pulse Severance'!"

"Whether it is gathering nine generations of fortune to let the Ye family descendant flourish for one generation, and finally the fortune turns fierce, dying in strange loneliness..."

"Or..."

Wei Chenghuang Song whispered: "Strange destiny—Nine Stars Connecting Loneliness?"

"Nine Stars Connecting Pearls, the lonely star drifting; most destiny masters in the Hall of Destiny cultivate the Jiazi destiny, the Dao of Stems and Branches. The Underworld has no starlight falling, so there are very few destiny masters who cultivate Heavenly Star Destiny Arts, and most of them are from our Great Qin..."

"Nine Stars Connecting Loneliness has the possibility of refining into a fierce star, the Broom Star destiny."

"The last one to cultivate the Broom Star destiny was the Hall of Destiny's Shao Siming. His destiny, the Nine-Day Comet, is a true lonely star outside, capable of directly breaking into the star palace, sweeping away star destinies, and breaking star destinies; it is a destiny specifically designed to deal with our Great Qin's destiny masters!"

"That is why the Wei Chenghuang Lord found the Nine-Section Grass, the destiny treasure hidden deepest in the Ye family's Yin residence, a thousand years ago; it seemed there were only six sections then!"

Wei Chenghuang Song nodded: "After confirming that the Ye family's nine-generation single-line was deliberately created by someone, I took the opportunity of reporting for duty to meet with the County Wei Chenghuang Lord and invited a Seven-Star Ladybug to hide in the Nine-Section Grass."

"You must know that for the human race that can fall into reincarnation, the destiny is so thin that very few are reborn as insects in the next life! The destiny is as light as an insect, yet it is stained with a wisp of the noble aura of the Big Dipper Seven Stars. Only this kind of insect destiny is both inconspicuous and can allow the County Wei Chenghuang Lord to remotely lock on and cast the destiny arts of the Big Dipper lineage!"

"Originally, it was prepared so that when the destiny master behind the scenes refined the Nine Stars Connecting Loneliness destiny, I would use the Big Dipper starlight to counter-shave his destiny, turn it into a Comet destiny, and prepare to impact the fortune of the Hall of Destiny's destiny masters and the Yin residence blessed land in the future."

"But today when I went to look again, the destiny treasure Nine-Section Grass and the Seven-Star Ladybug had both disappeared!"

Xi looked at Wei Chenghuang Song's expression and suddenly cast his eyes aside, asking: "When a destiny master makes a move, it is like a swan goose leaving traces on snow, leaving no trace. The destiny he set for the Ye family was broken; he would only be more cautious in probing the destiny master behind the Ye family and would never rashly take away the Nine-Section Grass."

Wei Chenghuang Song nodded: "In fact, the destinies of both the Nine-Section Grass and the Seven-Star Ladybug were taken away by those three peaches!"

"The next generation of the Ye family will have at least two people with extremely strange destinies: one stepping on seven stars, one with nine tribulations on the forehead."

"Stepping on seven stars is an Emperor destiny!" Xi said solemnly.

Wei Chenghuang Song shook his head: "A mere Emperor destiny is still difficult to shake the Saint Yong Dao Court; that is a Dao Court dynasty supported by the Heavenly Court, where every generation of True Monarch Emperors uses Heavenly Talismans and True Talismans to falsely hold the Emperor position, so as not to hinder ascension."

"Therefore, every generation of Dao Court Emperors wanting to ascend the throne must request Heavenly Court Talisman summons; otherwise, as a Primordial Spirit True Immortal, having one's lifespan cut by the Human Emperor position would be a huge loss!"

"This kind of fortune cannot be shaken by a fake dragon!"

Wei Chenghuang Song lowered his voice: "What can truly shake the Saint Yong Dao Court is that Nine-Section Grass! From the forehead to the mountain root, there are nine sections; nine sections mean nine tribulations. Every time one passes a tribulation, the destiny must greatly increase. This kind of talent for responding to tribulations, if stirred together with the Immortal Qin's fortune, not to mention overturning the Saint Yong Dao Court, heavily damaging this Great World controlled by the Heavenly Court is not a problem!"

"Do you think Lord Chang'an is laying out a plan casually, or is it a coincidence?"

Xi shook his head: "Lord Chang'an's thoughts are not something we can speculate! But creating destiny treasures from the void is a capability only Fangshi have."

Wei Chenghuang Song slowly exhaled a breath of turbid air and sighed up to the sky: "I'm afraid the great tribulation is coming!"

…………

Shao Yong returned to the old house and saw that this Yin residence was also centered on a sixth-rank Yin residence, with many seventh and eighth-rank Yin residences accompanying it, connecting into one piece.

The main residence was a magnificent dragon-tower treasure hall, while the Yin residence where Shao Yong stayed was a small courtyard, with a rank of only eighth, remote and quiet. Just as he pushed open the courtyard gate, he saw a figure standing in the courtyard.

Shao Yong hurriedly cupped his fists: "Zangshan Laozu!"

The Shao family ancestor looked at him meaningfully and suddenly whispered: "You went to see that Lord Chang'an?"

Shao Yong nodded slightly and bowed slightly toward the direction of the bamboo sea Yin residence: "I did indeed go to see Teacher once to ask about the method of cultivating destiny."

The Shao family ancestor whispered: "I did indeed have some contingencies against you, and it is not difficult to understand why you misunderstand me because of this. But why would you think a nineteenth-rank noble of the Immortal Qin would be a good person? To be able to become a Marquis within the Pass, he would only be more ruthless and decisive than me!"

Shao Yong shook his head: "Teacher did not conceal his domineering methods; with his methods, calling him ruthless and decisive is not an exaggeration."

"But even if he is ruthless, Teacher is ruthless in a very righteous way; even if he is domineering, it is a grand and upright domineering. He is ruthless enough, but not sinister. And from beginning to end, he gave me the opportunity to choose!"

The Shao family ancestor revealed a stiff smile: "Destiny masters are not good people, and the Immortal Qin is even less so. Years ago, like you, I had my ghost destiny stolen and my true destiny broken. In order to repair my destiny, there were many things I had to do. Now, my ghost destiny is borrowed from others, which has caused me to be slow in taking that step."

"Remember well what you owe me!"

"When you become a destiny master, you must find back my ghost destiny, or refine a new one. Giving me yours is also fine; I won't mind!"

The ancestor's smile was sinister, and a few laughs echoed in the empty courtyard, with lingering sounds: "Of course, if you are at a dead end, this Seven Killings Spirit-Turning Method of mine can also help you re-cultivate your true destiny!"

Shao Yong returned to the room, recalling the heavenly sounds of all things he heard in the bamboo sea, and suddenly opened his mouth, following the five tones, yin and yang, and the twelve pitch standards, and emitted a sound note that matched his own true destiny with the tooth sound of Tai Shang Huang Zhong.

Immediately, the broken true destiny seemed to be resonated by this sound, and there was actually a sign of recovery.

"According to the five tones and twelve pitch standards, grid the Stem-Branch destiny, and emit the sound of heavenly music!"

"Let's call this destiny art and divine ability 'True Destiny Heavenly Sound'!"

"Emitting True Destiny Heavenly Sound toward oneself can nourish the true destiny and catalyze the power of the true destiny; then what would happen if one emitted the corresponding True Destiny Heavenly Sound toward others? And the Jiazi true destiny can emit heavenly sounds; what if one emitted them with the Yuan Yi Zi ghost destiny?"

"It's a pity that my heavenly sound comes from the moral sounds in Teacher's bamboo forest, the heavenly sounds of all things."

"It was originally a tune set by the Huang Zhong pitch pipe."

"Years ago, Ling Lun made the pitch standards after hearing the phoenix cry on Mount Western Kunlun, the so-called Phoenix Cry Twelve Pitch Standards, to make the Huang Zhong. If I could hear the phoenix cry, the benefits to my mouth emitting heavenly sounds would inevitably be infinite... Teacher asked me to realize the Dao of the Xi Emperor, the laws of human Dao. It is said that the Dao Venerable Guangcheng passed the 'Imperial Ultimate' Dao to the Jade Emperor, which is the Great Dao of gods operating the laws of human Dao. And Teacher often talks about some shocking wisdom, but to me, shocking wisdom is a bit ambiguous in praise and blame."

"It should be called 'Jingshi' (governing the world)!"

"Is 'Imperial Ultimate Governing the World' the Great Dao I am looking for?"

(End of chapter)