Chapter 962: Heaven

Did you hear about what happened in the alley yesterday?

The gossips spoke with absolute certainty.

What happened?

The listener perked up her ears and stopped her needlework.

Such conversations often took place at the ends of alleys—commonly known as rumors.

“That woman with the long hair in Swallow Alley—last night someone went there, and not a single soul was left alive in the whole house! Corpses, dried up like shriveled husks, were dragged out. My niece’s husband is on the night patrol squad—he said the people there died in a sinister way, as if drained dry!”

“Really? That woman was always strange—sixty years old and still had jet-black hair…”

“She’s dead too! Yesterday, a Daoist on Garment Street said her hair had become a demon! He’d barely finished saying it when the hair-woman summoned him to exorcise it!”

“The moment they met, her hair came alive, trapping the Daoist alive—then strands burrowed into his pores. The hair-woman died too! Her corpse was as if sucked dry by her own hair, reduced to the size of a child, scalp peeled off! The Daoist’s body was even worse—oh! Just seeing it would give you nightmares…”

“At her age, still dressing up like a young woman, guarding that hair—no wonder it turned demonic!”

The gossipy aunts and old women argued fiercely, and rumors, a mix of truth and falsehood, stirred up the city of Zhigu.

Inside the house, a young woman sat before her dressing table, face ashen, anxious, staring at the bronze mirror.

One hand nervously twisted her handkerchief; the other kept tugging at her hair.

But no matter how hard she pulled, the hair remained rooted to her scalp—yet the more it held, the more unnerving it became—the thick, black hair was a wig.

Looking at her own wrinkled eyes in the mirror, crowned with lustrous hair, her expression grew more agitated.

She tugged at her braid, pulling at her scalp—soon one hand became two, dragging violently; her scalp burned upward, stretching every wrinkle on her face, her reflection twisting grotesquely, eyebrows and corners of her eyes pulled skyward.

Like an old woman whose face had lost its flesh, hung upside down, her entire visage sinking toward her skull.

The twisted face grew increasingly expressionless, the force of her hair-pulling growing stronger…

Her face grew uglier, her skin looser and sagging, until her entire skin became like a garment—a wrinkled, flaccid pouch draped over her bones, her scalp pulled taut high above, as if she were no longer a person, but a human skin being stretched!

At that moment, a man appeared in the mirror.

A pale, frail man, his skin like cold, translucent jade—he gazed at the woman through the mirror, stepped forward, and pressed his hands upon her shoulders like a lover, leaning close to her ear, staring at her reflection.

Outside the mirror, only the woman remained—but two handprints appeared on the loose skin of her shoulders, and a faint mark surfaced on the sagging skin of her right cheek.

As if someone truly leaned against her.

The man in the mirror extended his nails, slicing open her scalp—beneath it writhed a dense mass of hair, which in an instant surged forth like a waterfall, as if beneath the skin there were no bones or flesh, only hair…

From the hair emerged a withered old Daoist, his features delicate, almost demonic.

He gripped the old Daoist’s dry scalp, where a few strands were tied into a simple topknot, grinning to reveal sharp, pointed teeth.

He whispered softly into the old Daoist’s ear: “Got you.”

“Great Lord Chi Fenruo!” the Shen Shen Daoist murmured: “You personally intervened? This lowly life of mine—why go to such lengths?”

“You’re no lowly life. Once you were a pillar of my Tai Sui Alliance, your Yin Spirit cultivation was no small feat. But I never expected that after merely two reincarnations, you’d achieved Yang Spirit—and kept it secret, then suddenly stole the sect’s nascent Dao seed. Worse still, I never imagined you’d acquired a true reincarnation talisman from this world and fled here. Had I not come myself, you might have stolen the Dao seed our alliance nurtured here!”

“Shen Shen! To commit such a great deed, how can you call yourself lowly? Your life is worth a Dao seed! No one can call it insignificant…”

Chi Fenruo’s face remained pressed against Shen Shen’s, eyes locked on the mirror.

Outside the mirror, Shen Shen stood atop a floor covered in human skin and hair, alone—yet he felt Chi Fenruo gripping him.

Shen Shen took several breaths, finally steadying himself, half-closing his eyes to murmur: “I… I did it for my own life.”

“Miao Kong is dead. So I’m genuinely curious—what exactly did you do in the Earth Immortal Realm?” Chi Fenruo whispered. “Miao Kong was a promising rising star of our alliance; you, Shen Shen Daoist, were always known for your caution.”

“What happened that caused him to vanish on a simple reincarnation mission? Why did you live in constant dread ever since? And even cost our alliance one Yuan Shen True Immortal! Our Tai Sui Alliance is named after the Twelve Zodiac Signs, each corresponding to one of the Twelve Yuan Shen True Immortals who oversee past and future reincarnations. One vanished for no reason—because of you two, you caused such a disturbance!” Chi Fenruo smiled calmly.

Shen Shen Daoist gasped heavily: “We wiped out the Lou Guan Sect!”

Chi Fenruo’s eyes widened, filled with mirth: “This… is beyond my expectations…”

“You… wiped out the Lou Guan Sect? That Lou Guan Sect, directly taught by the Supreme One? That Lou Guan Sect, passed down by the Daoist Zhen of Wenshi? That Lou Guan Sect, where the Supreme Ancestor rode his ox westward, was stopped by Yi Xi, who built a pavilion to transmit the Five Thousand Words of the Dao?”

Shen Shen Daoist’s face turned ashen, and he nodded.

“Hahahaha!” Chi Fenruo threw back his head and roared with laughter, even releasing Shen Shen, dancing wildly with unrestrained glee: “It really was that Lou Guan Sect! And what else? Did you steal the Supreme One’s Dao Dust Pearl? Or kill the Lou Guan Sect’s revival patriarch?”

Shen Shen Daoist muttered: “I only learned later that Miao Kong intended to seize the Supreme One’s Dao Dust Pearl!”

“And never imagined the Reincarnation Master was manipulating us!”

Chi Fenruo stopped laughing. He stared at Shen Shen and snorted: “You actually dared to steal? Good vision—the Three Treasures of the Supreme One! Had you stolen any other two, you’d be dead already! Any Dao Fruit-cultivated spiritual treasure is a Great Completion Dao Lord!”

“Two Yin Spirits went to seize a Dao Lord!” Chi Fenruo lightly slapped Shen Shen’s face: “Do I call you bold and imaginative—or reckless and audacious?”

Shen Shen Daoist grew furious!

He struggled to lift his head: “Before we knew it was the Dao Dust Pearl, who could have imagined Miao Kong would do such a thing? He was so confident, and with the Reincarnation Master reversing time, manipulating the cosmos, severing cause and effect—who knew he’d target something so deadly?”

“And the Lou Guan Sect—the Supreme One’s direct lineage, wielding a spiritual treasure equal to a Great Completion Dao Lord—was wiped out by two mere Yin Spirits like ants! Even the Wenshi Daoist lost face!”

Chi Fenruo only smiled: “Go on, keep talking—the Wenshi Daoist is listening.”

Seeing Shen Shen’s face turn deathly pale, he whispered into his ear: “You don’t think the Reincarnation Master could truly block a Daoist Ancestor, do you?”

“Hah…”

Seeing Shen Shen’s ashen face, Chi Fenruo slapped his cheek: “Just kidding—the Reincarnation Master can indeed block him!”

“Manipulating time and space, creating all things, reversing cause and effect—the higher one’s cultivation, the more one feels the Reincarnation Master’s unfathomable depth. Even Dao Ancestors cannot lock onto the time-space through which we travel.”

“But beyond our Tai Sui Alliance, there are also the Tai Qing Sect, the Dark Demon Sect, the Boundless Demon Gate, the Lingxiao Palace, and others.”

“Above the reincarnators are those who hold authority over reincarnation—the Reincarnation Enforcers! Our boss, Kun Dun, is one such Reincarnation Enforcer!”

“And the Daoist factions’ power within the Reincarnation Realm is even stronger than ours.”

Shen Shen Daoist murmured softly: “Tai Qing Sect… Boundless Demon Gate… Lingxiao Palace…”

“The Earth Immortal Realm is a taboo,” Chi Fenruo said coolly. “Lingxiao Palace has long sought to suppress reincarnators in the Earth Immortal Realm; even Tai Qing Sect dares not lightly intervene—especially in the time-node you and Miao Kong entered, where the Lou Guan Sect’s revival patriarch was about to emerge, severing the Earth Immortal Realm’s timeline for ten thousand years. Tai Qing Sect’s people feared involvement, lest they provoke internal strife within the Supreme One’s lineage.”

“The Supreme One’s Dao Dust Pearl…”

He closed his eyes slightly and sighed: “No wonder Jun Nuo followed the trail—and vanished in the Lingguang Collapse of Kunlun Realm. Ahead of that world lies the White Eyebrow Ancestor, a child of destiny who kills every reincarnator who enters; behind lies a bronze door, which no one dares to shift time toward. Legend says that bronze door has stood firm until the end of time.”

“The Supreme One’s Dao Dust Pearl was the founding treasure of the Lou Guan Sect’s revival patriarch—capable of enfeoffing gods, and the very source of the Supreme One’s divine destiny.”

Chi Fenruo opened his eyes: “You dared to covet such a thing?”

Shen Shen Daoist stared wide-eyed, losing composure: “The Reincarnation Master manipulated us!”

“Miao Kong carried out this great deed with extreme caution—he poured all his accumulation toward Yang Spirit into this mission, exchanged a Reincarnation Token, and cast the Secret Demon’s Three-Life Soul Ban upon the boy sent into reincarnation!”

“But that reincarnation mission itself was suspicious…”

“Miao Kong paid me three hundred Dao Virtues and a true reincarnation talisman to the Earth Immortal Realm to assist him. The Reincarnation Master’s task was merely to seize an object from the Li family of that cultivation clan. We used countless methods to determine it was an artifact taken from the Queen Mother’s Kingdom by the former ruler of Xiliang. Hmph! The Reincarnation Master always issues such tasks—reincarnators think them trivial, yet they often have far-reaching consequences.”

“We assumed the Reincarnation Master was scheming to interfere between the Queen Mother’s Kingdom and the Earth Immortal Realm. So we devised a plan to abduct a special child from the Li family—Li Er was the legitimate heir of Xiliang Kingdom, posing as a junior Li clan member residing there. He carried the object we sought.”

“After elaborate planning, we lured him beneath Mount Zhongnan and abducted him.”

“Then you and Miao Kong moved in and wiped out the Lou Guan Sect…”

“After completing this great deed, the entire Supreme One’s lineage was stirred—but Miao Kong had already planned ahead: he sealed the Dao Dust Pearl within Li Er’s body, then used the Reincarnation Token to send him into the Reincarnation Realm, evading the Supreme One’s detection.”

“After returning, I could not interfere further with Miao Kong due to my Dao Heart Oath.”

“Yet I thought—with the Secret Demon’s Three-Life Soul Ban in place, nothing major could go wrong…”

Shen Shen Daoist spoke here, half-sad, half-laughing: “But man plans, heaven laughs. Do you know what name the child gave himself after we erased his memories? He called himself Qian Chen—the revival patriarch of the Lou Guan Sect, Qian Chen! Hahahaha… So this was the Reincarnation Master’s scheme.”

“He didn’t want the Queen Mother’s relic—he wanted Qian Chen. He wanted the Lou Guan Sect’s revival patriarch.”

“He wanted us, two manipulated ants, to personally send Li Er into the Reincarnation Realm.”

“He wanted us to fill in the entire destiny—why did Li Er become Qian Chen? Why did the Lou Guan Sect revive? This is Heaven’s Mandate… what we did was merely part of Heaven’s Mandate. The Reincarnation Master—this was his scheme.”

Shen Shen Daoist, half-mad: “At this point, what can we do? We are merely insignificant pawns in history, in fate. The Reincarnation Master lured Li Er into the Reincarnation Realm; the Supreme One watched passively as the Lou Guan Sect was wiped out. When we slaughtered the Lou Guan Sect, perhaps the Wenshi Daoist was watching from heaven!”

“These great ones flip the clouds and turn the rain—what can we little pawns do?”

“I fear not the Lou Guan Sect’s revival patriarch—where can he go? Even if he becomes a Dao Lord, what then? He severed the Earth Immortal Realm’s timeline for ten thousand years—but ten thousand years is but a blink in the Earth Immortal Realm’s billion-year history! He’s just a temporary protagonist—still a pawn of the great ones!”

“What’s the difference between him and us?”

“Before the Reincarnation Master, he’s just an ant too!”

“I fear Heaven’s Mandate—the ones who sit high above, governing Heaven’s Will…”

“Since ancient times, Heaven’s Will is hard to fathom! When Heaven’s Will strikes like a blade, we are all ants.” Shen Shen Daoist whispered: “Only the Yuan Shen path might offer a sliver of hope to break free. The Lou Guan Sect’s patriarch Qian Chen—if he reaches Dao Lord, perhaps he’ll understand Heaven’s Will, and maybe, just maybe, become a player himself.”

“I want to become a player too!”

Shen Shen Daoist collapsed to the ground, sweat soaking his robe: “Great Immortal Chi Fenruo—after Yuan Shen, is one truly free?”

Chi Fenruo shook his head: “Jun Nuo vanished without return—under Heaven’s Will, are you any different?”

“What about the Dao seed?” Shen Shen Daoist looked up hopefully.

Chi Fenruo still shook his head: “Even I, who have condensed a Dao seed—within the Reincarnation Realm, it is merely a gift bestowed by the Reincarnation Master.”

“What about Dao Lords?” Shen Shen Daoist’s eyes turned bloodshot, clutching his sleeve: “Surely Dao Lords have some freedom?”

Chi Fenruo stared at him slowly: “Before the Reincarnation Master, Dao Lords are merely granted a little more respect. No Dao Lord has ever walked out from here… on the Reincarnation Heaven List, even Dao Lords cannot be erased.”

Shen Shen Daoist sighed softly: “Knowing that even the Lou Guan patriarch Qian Chen cannot escape the Reincarnation Realm… I feel a little comforted.”

He gazed into the void, as if seeing the boundless, infinite, all-encompassing Reincarnation Realm, staring at the unfathomable Reincarnation Master.

“We are all the same!”

He murmured: “Under Heaven’s Will, before the Reincarnation Master—we are all the same! So why can’t I have a chance? I can be a Dao Lord too!”