Chapter 912: The Luomiao and the Great Canal

Outside the Luomiao, the canal wound its way along, though both banks were nothing but fields.

Yet, according to the imperial court's laws, not a single drop of water from the canal could be used, so even though it was the season for the wheat to fill out, the ears were somewhat shriveled due to a lack of rain.

In a shed set up by farmers for night watchmen along the dirt road, several furtive figures met in the darkness!

An old man, his hands tucked into his sleeves like a veteran farmer, smacked his lips twice, puffed out a cloud of dry tobacco smoke, and said, "Have you scouted it out clearly? Did the eighteen martial arts schools of Dagukou really fall just like that? This place is a stronghold of the northern martial arts world, the very lifeblood where many fist styles are promoted. To be humiliated like this by the Profound Truth Sect Leader, are they just going to accept it?"

Beside him, a woman whose clothes did not reveal her figure but whose curves were still startling, and who had a weary, worldly look on her face, spoke calmly: "They have accepted it!"

"The Profound Truth Sect Leader is likely a figure of the Fourth Realm. That talisman hidden within the charm contains a spell to summon spirits and command names. Even a martial artist who has entered the inner sanctum would struggle to find the strength to strike back... Such a spell is too much of a counter to those martial artists of Dagukou who are all about etiquette and rules! Even if their fist techniques are refined, they are bound by the 'rules' in their hearts. With that 'god' present, they don't even have the courage to make a move!"

"A bunch of trash, that's all!"

A burly man nearby, dressed in short, arm-baring clothes, said coldly, "I don't understand, they're just a bunch of natives, what are you afraid of?"

"So what if they are Third Realm or Fourth Realm? They are nothing but mere Core Formation cultivators! In the Land of Samsara, since when have we had to be wary of people at the Core Formation level?" He said with dissatisfaction, "Ever since we entered this world, we've been cowering. A bunch of ant-like existences are jumping around on our heads. Since when have we, the Samsara travelers, been so frustrated?"

"Fourth Realm..."

The old man tapped his copper pipe and said indifferently, "This world is indeed quite unfamiliar, but a term circulating within it—'Dao Path'—is very interesting."

"The Alliance has provided some intelligence that can only be read after swearing a Dao Heart oath before the Lord of Samsara..."

"It mentions several worlds that possess immense opportunities and are extremely dangerous. Some can even trap Nascent Soul True Immortals. For example, a Supreme Supreme Tian Mo-level existence in the Alliance—the Junna Supreme Supreme Tian Mo—fell into a very inconspicuous Samsara world! As a result, the Alliance sent people to investigate, and that world was occupied by a group of Corpse-Dissolution Immortals, and there was even a world so terrifying that even Nascent Souls dared not peek into it, locked behind a bronze door."

"At least five Nascent Soul True Immortals went to that world known as the 'Trickster Realm,' and not one of them returned alive!"

"It's not just the so-called 'technological cultivation' of that world, the ancient technological immortal weapons, and the Corpse-Dissolution Immortals of the Vessel Dao whose combat power is almost perverted, but also because of what is called the Trickster Dao behind that bronze door!"

The old man sneered as he gave an example.

"And there is the Heavenly Realm, the Great Wall world cluster, those worlds eroded by the Nine Netherworlds—these are all recognized worlds with great opportunities, but how many who go there can return alive? Even our Black Tai Sui Alliance... not every world is like the Earth Immortal Realm, which has immense opportunities while being relatively safe. Even in the Earth Immortal Realm, that one Return to Ruins mission—even for a first-tier organization, fewer than one in ten Samsara travelers returned alive!"

The old man said solemnly, "This world is extremely like a special high-risk, high-reward Samsara world."

"What danger?" The worldly woman frowned and asked with a thousand charms.

"What reward?" The burly man's face showed greed, and a flash of light appeared in his eyes.

The old man said indifferently, "I will only say one thing—this world is one of the very few in the Land of Samsara that produces Dao Seeds!"

In that instant, the pupils of the several Samsara travelers shook violently, and for a time, they all lost their composure.

"Produces Dao Seeds?" The woman asked in disbelief.

"Yes, this is something the Alliance has emphasized! The so-called Dao Path is the trace of the Great Dao that has been planted. When the Dao Path reaches its end, it becomes a Dao Seed. This path is called the Path of Ascension... which is to say, succeeding in ascension in this world guarantees a Dao Seed. If one can take another step and ascend to godhood, legend has it that it is even possible to directly cultivate a Dao Fruit."

"Therefore, to achieve something in this world, the starting point is a Nascent Soul True Immortal!"

Listening to the old man's detailed explanation, the few people looked at each other, their eyes filled with a trace of deep doubt.

Existences at the Dao Seed level are rarely recorded even in the Dao scriptures of the great sects of the Earth Immortal Realm.

Only a place like the Land of Samsara, where information from the myriad worlds is extremely extensive, can truly spread this kind of information to the bottom layer.

Even so, everyone does not know much about Dao Seeds, only knowing that it is the key to advancing further beyond the Nascent Soul, and several True Immortals and Heavenly Demons in the Alliance have fought tooth and nail over it.

The Black Tai Sui Alliance's willingness to spread this news is in itself to allow subordinate Samsara travelers to have some layout when they accidentally encounter this world.

"The Alliance has long ago invested a seed and planted a Dao Path, so as long as we can make progress on this Dao Path, it will be a tremendous merit! When we return to the Land of Samsara in the future, I fear there will be a heavy reward!"

The old man said gloomily.

The burly man asked impatiently, "Then what kind of Dao Path is it exactly?"

"True Martial!" The old man smoked his dry tobacco calmly and said a name they had not expected.

But the woman with hidden charms noticed a flash of light in his eyes, and it seemed that several unusual thoughts were floating within.

"This old brat is afraid he isn't telling the whole truth... Fortunately, I have cultivated the Demon Heart Secret Method and extracted several clever Yin ghosts to hide in my thoughts, so I can detect such subtle changes in divine sense."

The woman was secretly vigilant: "True Martial Dao Path? When I was lurking in the flower-and-willow land of this place, I seduced several martial artists overnight and interrogated them about the cultivation methods here using charm techniques. Thanks to me hiding many key points, this old brat wouldn't think I've been so diligent, collecting intelligence day and night!"

"According to those martial artists, the True Martial Dao Path is the most complex Dao Path. This Dao Path originated from the polishing of several generations of experts over thousands of years. It began with the Witch Dao in the wilderness of the First Epoch, and in the Second Epoch, the Martial Ancestor preached the Dao, creating the Qi Refinement lineage, where Qi becomes the foundation of the Dao, accommodating great medicine, and refining the context of Martial Dao supernatural powers. Then came the Third Epoch, the Dao Sect that revered the Three Sovereigns of Creation, as well as the Buddhist Sect of the Two Sovereigns of the Lotus and Tree, and also demons, ghosts, and spirits, who all passed down other lineages of the Martial Dao. It wasn't until the end of the Third Epoch that a strange person integrated the hundred schools, only then merging the many small Dao Paths of Dao Martial, Buddhist Martial, and Witch Martial into the True Martial Dao Path!"

"It created—Stance Gong, Visualization, and Qi Entry, refining demons and evil spirits into medicine, alienating the body, and then using several strange phases and strange arts as a foundation to cultivate Martial Dao supernatural powers."

"Supernatural powers form a pill, nurturing the Martial Dao Divine Phase, and finally, the unity of god and martial, the divine phase merging with the physical body, a path of Martial Dao that is thoroughly alienated and non-human."

"Because this path imitates ancient gods and demons, it is also known as the God-Demon Martial Dao, the True Martial Great Dao... The stage of alienating and becoming non-human is the hardest to pass, I fear that is the Path of Ascension!"

"There are traces of too many people intervening on the path of the True Martial Dao Path. Our Black Tai Sui Alliance's Nascent Soul True Immortal may be one of them, but it is absolutely impossible to completely control this Dao Path, so the True Martial Dao Path should be a smokescreen? Then which Dao Path does our Alliance's True Immortal really want to harvest?"

The woman's thoughts turned a hundred times, and several demons specially refined to fathom the human heart circulated various vicious thoughts through her heart, adding a few more dark thoughts to her mind.

On the surface, she remained charming and lazy, leaning against the grass shed, looking as if she didn't care about anything.

This posture made a fire burn in the burly man's lower abdomen, and he cursed inwardly: "Slut!"

The old man puffed out smoke rings gloomily until the smoke swirled, shrouding the place as if it had caught fire.

Only then did he speak leisurely: "If this place is really that world, then based on the accumulation of the previous Samsara travelers who survived, the general trend of the plot is already within our grasp! By comparison, the so-called Profound Truth Sect Leader is just a minor branch of the plot, a character of no importance."

"According to the intelligence, our location should be the region known as the True Realm."

"This place is the wreckage of history sinking into destruction, a place known as the Secret History..."

A Samsara traveler, short as a child, stood up abruptly: "That is to say, the place where we are is a period of time in the past of this world?"

The old man nodded: "And it is a past covered up by all kinds of secrets!"

"But this period of history at the end of the Fourth Epoch can be considered to have been figured out by us Samsara travelers..."

"The main thread of this game is the Emperor refining the Yu Yu Changsheng Medicine in the capital..."

"This thing is the end of a Dao Path, an existence that makes people ascend upon taking it. In order to compete for the Immortality Medicine, the three religions, nine schools, eight sects, and twelve paths of the world, all righteous paths and side paths, entered the capital! As the gateway to the east of the capital, Dagukou is also a key node in the plot."

"The plot that happens here includes the five major sects of the north entering the capital, with the first battle at the port. It is the rise of the five major sects—White Lotus, Profound Truth, Great Luo, Red Sun, and Heavenly Principle—fighting a battle of magic at Dagukou."

"There is also the battle of the Three Gods against the Four Demons, which is the story of three experts of the side paths known as the Three Gods blocking the four great demons from entering the capital to harm the people."

"There is a great battle where the eighteen schools of Jinmen and the foreigners set up a ring!"

"There are also the Nine Great Strange Cases—these are nine cases that happened in Dagukou during this period, twists and turns, with unknown truths."

"Finally, it is the three religions and nine schools competing for the Immortal Medicine!"

"It is the Emperor bribing the foreigners with heavy money to invite three Immortal Medicines from overseas as the main ingredients for the Immortality Medicine! The Immortal Medicine lands at Dagukou and is sent to the capital, and because all parties and sects have exhausted the people's wealth for it, the Emperor, in order to persuade the foreigners to offer this Immortal Medicine, actually wants to lease the land of the Seven Realms to the foreign devils. Therefore, the heroes fiercely seize the medicine to stop the plot of ceding the land!"

"In the capital, the Gan Emperor exhausted the foundation of the Gan Dynasty, and finally the Yu Yu Changsheng Medicine was refined and came into the world, and as a result, all kinds of demons, ghosts, and monsters came out in the palace."

"He himself was blood-sacrificed by the Demon Empress Dowager, allowing that old demon empress to break through to the Yu Yu Changsheng Saint Realm. Finally, the seven great longevity beings gathered in the capital—Dao, Buddhist, Demon, Devil, Foreign, Ghost, Evil—the seven paths of longevity gathered in the capital, opened the Ascension Secret Ritual, the summoned Dao Path went out of control, gave birth to an evil god, and thus destroyed the entire world!"

Secret History is a branch of history sinking into destruction.

Therefore, its trajectory is relatively fixed. The Black Tai Sui Alliance does not know how many Samsara travelers have followed one after another, only then finally figuring out the Secret History at the end of the Fourth Epoch, but Secret History is the ultimate secret after all. To be able to destroy the world, at least several Star-Sovereigns must be involved.

The plot the old man said is generally correct, but the most critical small black hands of the many gods have not been figured out at all.

Which evil god is behind the Demon Empress Dowager of the West, and what are the three Immortal Medicines offered by the foreigners?

Exactly how many gods are involved in it...

Most importantly, what traces of Star-Sovereign intervention are there?

Don't look at the plot as quite complete, but these are all things that outsiders know. The real secrets, such as how the Demon Empress Dowager of the West blood-sacrificed the Gan Emperor, and how the Yu Yu Changsheng Pill was refined. Besides the Empress Dowager, who are the other six longevity beings?

These are actually things that Samsara travelers still know nothing about.

"If the Path of Ascension is the Dao Seed, then the longevity beings? They are Nascent Souls!"

The burly man said with cold sweat: "So, there are seven Nascent Souls in the main plot? Who can afford to provoke this? We'd better just mix in Dagukou! If the Profound Truth Sect Leader is only at the Pill Realm, then we can still intervene in the plot of the five northern sects entering the capital. The Nine Great Strange Cases can probably also follow two..."

The worldly woman smiled charmingly: "I think things are not that simple..."

"Not to mention anything else, just that the Profound Truth Sect Leader is a Pill Realm figure, we also heard it from the people in the martial arts school. These people can't even block one of his talismans, what qualifications do they have to judge the Profound Truth Sect Leader?"

"Since he is one of the five northern sects, he must have some face! What if he is a ruthless character in the Yang Spirit Realm..."

The old man's face changed, and he tapped his pipe: "Makes sense! Yang Qin, Fan Cun, the Profound Truth Sect is gathering people to go to the Luomiao. You can just borrow the identity of people in the martial arts world, mix into it, and join the Profound Truth Sect to test its depth!"

The burly man and the dwarf looked at each other and cupped their hands: "Understood!"

"Yu Meiren..."

The old man didn't look at the worldly woman, but just ordered: "You continue to mix in the kiln, sleep with a few more men. The news of this Dagukou belongs to you the most, and I heard that the kiln sister is also a kind of cultivation, and there is a very hidden Dao Path circulating within it..."

"Good!"

The worldly woman put her hands on her hips and smiled: "Anyway, this old lady was originally cultivating Joy, if I can touch the edge of that Dao Path, maybe it can make my cultivation advance greatly."

"The three religions and nine schools of Dagukou are mixed with fish and dragons, and have always been famous for having many people and many eyes, and complex Dao Paths."

The old man said indifferently: "The path of the Dao Path is very mysterious. Legend has it that those who walk on the Dao Path are cultivating truth! This world can produce Dao Seeds, I fear it has a great relationship with the Dao Path system. The mystery within, if one can get one or two of them, it is a supreme opportunity. Even if the Dao Seed is useless to us at this time, dropping a piece casually, maybe we can harvest a great surprise in the future!"

His eyes opened, and this statement did not deceive them.

Regarding the intelligence given by the Alliance, the only key points the old man really hid were two or three, including that sentence: "In that world, every Samsara traveler is a qualified Dao Path seed."

"We carry reality, and suspect it is the reason for the Samsara brand!"

"The status of this place may be deeply connected to the Land of Samsara, and the Lord of Samsara has a special reaction to this world."