Chapter 421: The Old Con Artist

This was a passage.

The passage was narrow, one zhang wide and one zhang high.

Around the passage, the walls shimmered like glass, countless talismanic patterns flowing across them.

Some were golden, some white, others various colors.

Everyone followed the Jin Dan female cultivator, walking along the passage until they reached an open space.

The space was circular.

About one hundred zhang in diameter.

At the front were two towering seats, now empty.

Below them were eighteen rows of meditation cushions, six per row.

Before each cushion lay a name.

Soon, He Pingsheng saw his own name.

At the far right of the first row.

Wang Dun's name was in the center of the first row.

Of course, both Wang Dun and the Chu Kingdom's prodigy sat in the center, directly facing the two towering thrones ahead—those seats were surely meant for the lecturers.

Though all first-row seats were said to be equal, they were not.

Clearly, the central seats were better; the edge ones were slightly inferior.

"Please find your name and take your seat!"

"Wait a moment—the two Holy Masters will arrive shortly to teach you personally!"

One by one, everyone found their seats and sat down.

He Pingsheng dared not speak much; his gaze continuously swept the space.

The walls, ceiling, and floor beneath him were all opaque, glass-like material.

He didn't know what it was!

It simply looked more like a new world.

Across the surface of this glass-like material flowed countless magical patterns—some golden, some red.

"Are we inside the Time Array now?"

A familiar voice suddenly came from behind He Pingsheng.

He turned his head: hey… Liang Huaqiu.

"Why are you sitting here?"

In He Pingsheng's memory, Liang Huaqiu's ranking had been far back.

"Hehehe…" Liang Huaqiu chuckled. "I swapped seats with the Ascetic Daoist!"

Uh…

"Is that allowed?" He Pingsheng asked. "Don't the Holy Masters care?"

"They don't!" Liang Huaqiu said. "I just asked. They said as long as both parties agree, you can swap seats freely—they don't care at all!"

"They only care about teaching!"

Alright.

He Pingsheng gestured around: "So this is the inside of the Time Array?"

"Hmm, probably…" Liang Huaqiu said. "Look… the golden ones must be the Time Dao principles!"

"The white ones are the Space Dao principles!"

He Pingsheng's brow twitched: Time Dao?

That means the old, damaged array disc I have… also bore traces of Time Dao.

So it's an array disc related to Time?

"He asked his Ancestor," Liang Huaqiu continued, "who mastered Space Dao. He Nian 's Ancestor mastered Time Dao… so when these two Ancestors teach, they'll focus on these two most mysterious Dao principles of heaven and earth!"

"But as cultivators, we can only comprehend one of them!"

"If you try to grasp both, it'll only backfire!"

"He Pingsheng, which will you learn—Time Dao or Space Dao?"

"This…?" He Pingsheng had indeed thought about it. "Space Dao… I prefer Space Dao."

Time and Space—you could only comprehend one.

No!

More precisely: you could only comprehend one at a time.

You couldn't master both; it would be counterproductive.

And for He Pingsheng, Space Dao was currently very useful—if he deepened his understanding of it, he could use space to suppress opponents in battle.

Even if advanced Space Dao couldn't fully lock down an enemy, it could still disrupt their movements.

Of course, combined with arrays, it could even form a 【Teleportation Array】.

The uses of a Teleportation Array were vast.

It depended on how you used it.

Used well, it could save your life.

As for Time Dao?

He Pingsheng felt it was currently too profound for him.

Better not to try to understand it—aiming too high was unwise.

"Good!" Liang Huaqiu beamed, her tone sweet. "I'll study Space Dao too… hehehe…"

"By the way… He… He… Senior Brother!" She took a deep breath, forcing herself to accept the title: "After this enlightenment ends, what are your plans?"

"Where will you go?"

"Or… are you going to find your wife?"

He Pingsheng stared at Liang Huaqiu for two breaths. "You're acting strange."

Liang Huaqiu asked: "What's strange about me?"

He Pingsheng said: "I've noticed you've become much gentler lately… where's your old arrogance?"

"You…" Liang Huaqiu sat up sharply on her cushion. "He Pingsheng, don't push your luck—I'm being gentle for your own good!"

"I'll ask you… if the Ancestor truly gives me to you as your principal concubine, will you take me?"

Her voice was low, barely audible to the two of them. She spoke decisively—but after saying it, her face flushed from head to toe.

He Pingsheng said calmly: "No."

Then he turned away.

Behind him, the Princess of Liang nearly exploded.

Damn it! I'm the Princess of Liang—why won't you take me as your principal concubine?

"Hmph… He Pingsheng, don't get cocky. I was just joking with you—testing whether you were a toad dreaming of swan meat. You think I, Liang Huaqiu, would ever become your concubine? Not in this lifetime. Impossible!"

He Pingsheng ignored her.

About half a stick of incense later, a faint hum vibrated ahead.

An old man with white hair and beard suddenly appeared in one of the seats.

Everyone looked up—it was one of the Holy Masters from the Grand Competition: He Wen Ancestor.

"Hail the Holy Master!"

"Hail Holy Master He Wen!"

All seated cultivators rose and bowed respectfully to He Wen.

"No need for formalities. Please be seated."

As He Wen finished speaking, golden light flickered beside him.

The light was faint—just tiny golden talismanic patterns merging.

Then another white-haired, white-bearded elder appeared in the seat.

No introduction was needed—everyone knew who it was.

One was He Wen; this one must be He Nian, the master of Time Dao.

"Greetings, Holy Master He Nian…" Everyone bowed again.

Only He Pingsheng stood frozen in place.

But he quickly realized his lapse and hurriedly bowed to He Nian.

His momentary lapse was because he had seen He Nian before.

The old con artist…

Years ago—many years ago—he had appeared at Mount Matou Market, setting up a stall selling strange and bizarre items before the Cultivation Alliance's secret realm opened.

He Pingsheng had almost been fooled.

But He Pingsheng didn't fall for it—yet Zhao Linger, Xu Changan, and Tian Xiaoqing, those three sweetlings, pooled a thousand spirit stones to buy a poisonous seed from the old con artist.

This…

So it was that old con artist!