Chapter 624: Sikong

The Qingzhuan Dojo was silent; the youth stood with his hands hanging down before the stone statue, unable to hear the sound of breathing.

The youth did not take the initiative to speak, and the stone statue was even more truly like an ordinary stone statue covered in dust, keeping its mouth shut.

Not until a faint bell toll came from a distant mountain peak was the eerie atmosphere within the dojo broken, and sound began to flow once more.

【"..."】

Seeing Sikong Yu remain silent, Ren Yidao shook his head, and in the end, still took the initiative to speak: "I once dreamed of returning to the ancient times, walking through the mortal world from the perspective of an onlooker, Seeing All Living Things, and also Seeing Immortal Gods, and finally ascending to the sky, fortunate enough to enter the Heavenly Palace for a look."

"Along this journey, no one ever discovered me; even the Immortal Gods regarded me as nothing, until the end... before a great lake, I was discovered by a Demon God, and I broke free from that special state."

"At the very end of the dream, He let me return there again; He wanted to repay my kindness for leaking the secret."

"Later, the dream ended. I spent a thousand years in that long, bizarre dream, but in reality, only an instant had passed."

"At first, I thought those were merely absurd dreams, but when I truly went to Zhongzhou to observe in person and really saw those scenes that matched the dream, I was able to confirm that I was not just daydreaming."

"If those remaining pavilions were real, then the Demon God I met should also be real."

"Therefore, the promise He made to me was also real."

Ren Yidao stopped here and waited for a while; seeing the stone statue had no reaction, he continued: "Thus, although a long time had passed, I still gladly kept the appointment and returned to that great lake... of course, I did not see that Demon God."

"Either I arrived too late, or He never expected me to return back then."

"However, the latter is unlikely to be the case; after all, He even deliberately left the thing to repay me at the bottom of the lake. I thought it was just an ordinary headless Buddha statue at the time, never expecting it to actually be the corpse of the previous Fozi."

"I originally thought that after I took the reward, the Causality between us was cleared, but I never expected there to be a follow-up to this."

He sat directly on the ground, crossed his legs, propped up his chin, and with a lazy look, watched the stone statue that seemed to be avoiding his gaze, smiling as he said:

"After we parted back then, I never thought there would be a day we would meet again."

"It's just that I never expected the Demon God I was searching for would actually be my own Sect Leader."

"I say, I've said so much already, does Sect Leader not intend to say a few words?"

【"..."】

The stone statue was silent.

"Hehe, don't worry, even if you stubbornly quibble for a few sentences, I won't believe it; I still firmly trust my own judgment."

【"..."】

Continued silence.

More silence... finally, unable to hold back any longer, it let out a helpless sigh: 【"... Sigh, you brat, can't you just let this old man speak for himself?"】

Sikong Yu did not deny Ren Yidao's guess; with no way to avoid it, he chose to admit it directly.

But the petrified old man was very dissatisfied with the way the truth was revealed, even complaining with some anger: 【"This old man prepared for so long, just waiting to enjoy your reaction. How can you be so ignorant of the rules! Do you understand anything about respecting the old!"】

"Then you have to cherish the young too!"

【"What young are you! You're over a hundred years old, what are you still pretending to be a little fox for!"】

Tsk!

You old man really did know the truth!

Ren Yidao did not show weakness and immediately countered: "Then although you are old enough, you do not act with the dignity of your age. Hiding such a major matter, you are not worthy of my respect!"

【"Bah! You're the one who doesn't act with dignity! Where has this old man ever harmed a disciple in all these years? Haven't they all grown up strong under my care? Although these fellows are a bit shy, their strength is not bad at all!"】

"Don't talk so much nonsense, you're putting on an act!"

【"Nonsense! What did this old man act as!? This old man has always been one to take responsibility for his actions!"】

"You were 'seriously injured and dying' after forcibly crossing the Ascension Tribulation back then! And you still say you weren't acting?" Ren Yidao squinted at the stone statue, his mouth curling in disdain.

Have you forgotten how you acted back then?

Outsiders didn't know you had such powerful strength, and they were all eyeing our family's assets covetously.

【"You! Cough!"】

Hearing Ren Yidao bring up the events of the past, Sikong Yu's aura dropped a notch on the spot, but he still stubbornly retorted: 【"Cough, cough, this old man was showing weakness to the enemy! It was strategy! Do you understand what strategy is!"】

"Strategy my foot! It's one thing to play the pig to eat the tiger, but don't deceive your own people too! What kind of state was my Senior Sister forced into back then? She even took the Divine Path Bell to blood-wash someone else's sect!"

【"I! I, cough, I was helping back then too! Otherwise, how could she have been able to use the Divine Path Bell!"】

"Fart! I've already asked; you just let the Divine Path Bell go, she was the one who actually made the move!"

Zhong Ling had a good relationship with Luoyue Shangren, and it was only for that reason that she took the initiative to help after paying a certain price; Sikong Yu simply didn't stop her.

【"You can't put it that way, I also said..."】

"What are you saying..."

The two bickered like primary schoolers for quite a while, and in the end, it concluded with neither side having bested the other.

The hundred-year-old youngster didn't out-scold the ten-thousand-year-old elder; it's hard to say which of these two was more gifted.

After such an intense and intimate friendly exchange, the two had completely broken the previous awkward situation in a bizarre way.

Superior and inferior? Respecting teachers and the Dao?

Don't bring up those things, they're useless.

Who cares?

In a word, that's about enough.

After the argument, both of them relaxed.

Taking a sip of water to moisten his throat, Ren Yidao let out a long breath and sighed: "I never expected that you, this Demon God, had already been by my side all along."

I searched for him a thousand times in the crowd, and suddenly, when I looked back, that person was in the dim light.

I wore out my iron shoes in the search, only to find it was effortless!

This is truly riding a donkey to look for a donkey!

"And I never expected that you had already discovered me... I say, keeping your mouth shut all this time, isn't that a bit excessive?"

This old thing, would you just make a sound, damn it!

Speaking of this, Sikong Yu smiled proudly and said leisurely: 【"Hehe, this old man has known the true form of you little fox for a long time, but knowing that you are that person from back then, actually hasn't been that long."】

Yes, in fact, from the moment Ren Yidao was brought back to the sect by Jing Yueqin, he had already been exposed.

Under the gaze of a Demon God, his disguise was simply unable to hide anywhere, it was just that the old fogey Sikong had never pointed it out.

He is a Demon God, so naturally he has no ill will toward the Demon Race, so he just let Ren Yidao play around in the sect.

Even Jing Yaoyue, who had lost all her cultivation back then, had long been seen through clearly by him, and he had tacitly allowed her to recultivate.

Bad news, there is a Demon Race mole inside the sect!

Good news, the mole is the sect leader, the one who can fight the best and has the oldest seniority!

When Ren Yidao was a demon fox, Sikong Yu couldn't tell either, and he didn't pay much attention to him at all, and even after Ren Yidao transformed into a human form, he didn't care.

It wasn't until Ren Yidao went on the Descending God Selection Path that he truly noticed this little fox being raised in the sect.

Wait, this little guy, how does he look so much like that kid from back then?

"The Descending God Selection Path was just a suspicion, the true confirmation was when you borrowed my body to suppress those of Disha Gate?"

【"That's right."】

When Sikong Yu controlled Ren Yidao's body, he basically touched upon all of his trump cards, and also felt the faint aura of the Eternal Walker hidden deep within his Consciousness Sea.

No running away now.

It is this kid!

【"Then what about you? When did you discover it?"】 Sikong Yu was quite curious about this point; he clearly felt his disguise was seamless and had deceived everyone for so long.

What exactly happened during Ren Yidao's trip out, and how could his own disguise be suddenly seen through?

"I only just discovered it too." Ren Yidao knew that if he didn't explain it clearly, he was afraid he would be kept here by this old fogey all day, so he could only confess truthfully.

"Before, when we were in the Western Desert, you arrived too quickly."

All the Immortal Gods were watching from the sidelines, yet only this old fogey arrived faster than anyone else, not worried at all that any problems would arise.

Was it confidence that the Heart Demon Buddha would not make a move against him? Or was it confidence in his own strength?

Or... both?

【"Ah... just based on this?"】

"Of course it's not just that simple, but this is the most crucial piece of evidence."

Sikong Yu was very dissatisfied with such speculation and complained: 【"You say it like that, can't I just be a teacher who cares about his juniors?"】

"You could be, but I don't believe it."

"Besides, you exposed one thing when you arrived: you clearly know the identity of the Heart Demon Buddha."

【"Ah, so it was this point that exposed it."】

Other Immortal Gods all regarded the Heart Demon Buddha as a great Demon, and no one knew his true identity, yet Sikong Yu had to remind the other party to figure out who he was.

"Regarding the grievances between the Fozi and Buddhism back then, I am not clear, but one thing I can be certain of—the ability to snatch the corpse of the Fozi from the hands of those people is likely something an ordinary person could not do, especially since he is highly likely to be in the Heavenly Court, so the identity of the person who made the move can be further narrowed down."

"The identity of the person who made the move... either they are so high-ranking that even Buddhism doesn't care, or they have a reason that they must make a move."

"That Demon God who saw some kind of future in me is likely to fit the latter condition, making such moves that others cannot predict in order to achieve specific conditions."

"Therefore, combining all the evidence, there is only one truth!"

"You are that Demon God from back then!"

After Ren Yidao finished speaking, Sikong Yu let out a long sigh and muttered as if resigning himself to fate: 【"... Tsk, just a little bit off, if I had known, I would have just said it back then."】

The old fogey was very regretful.

Why did he have to act mysterious back then? He should have just said it directly!

Now look at this, the act wasn't pulled off, and the great situation was snatched by someone else first.

How hateful—

However, feeling unhappy is one thing, but to say he was very dissatisfied, that wasn't really the case.

Sikong Yu had hidden for too long, so long that even he himself had almost treated the past as a dream.

And now that the past had been revealed by someone, his heart was actually filled with joy more than anything else.

"Alright, you know my story, so what about yours? You old man wouldn't avoid talking about it, would you?"

Ren Yidao's voice was calm and casual, just like chatting casually with a friend.

I've finished speaking on my side, it's your turn to narrate.

A story?

Oh right, a story, it's my turn to tell it.

Sikong Yu finally came back to his senses and chuckled: 【"Hehe, my story, my story ah... that is far too many."】

"Then you must keep it short, I don't have the time to listen to you talk about how round the moon was several thousand years ago."

【"Hehe, you kid who won't let a point go, fine, this old man will keep it short."】

Sikong Yu laughed and scolded, not minding his casualness, 【"Yidao, before I tell it, I must ask you a question... do you know the meaning of Sikong?"】

Sikong?

He is asking about the origin of this surname?

From the memories of Ren Yidao's past life, Sikong was an official title in ancient China.

The Shaohao tribe used the Mingjiu clan as Minister of Works; the "Shangshu · Shun Dian" records that Shun established nine officials in the tribal alliance council, one of which was Minister of Works, held by Yu, to "level the water and wood," which is to be in charge of water conservancy.

In the "Rites of Zhou," Sikong was one of the six officials, the "Winter Official," in charge of earth and wood construction and water conservancy construction.

During the Han Dynasty, it was also collectively called the Three Excellencies along with the Grand Marshal and Minister of the Masses.

Throughout the dynasties, this seems to have been a very important official position.

Also, it always feels like an official position related to earth and wood...

Could it be that back in the Heavenly Court, He was actually a civil engineer?

After some thought, Ren Yidao decided not to intentionally interrupt Sikong Yu while he was lost in nostalgia, and honestly followed up by asking: "May I ask Sect Leader, what does that mean?"

This was absolutely not because he was afraid the old man would actually get angry, but merely out of care for the elderly.

Sikong Yu did not expect Ren Yidao's train of thought to drift there, so he gathered his overflowing emotions and said slowly:

【"Si, its meaning is to govern."】

【"Kong, then represents the sky."】

At this moment, the stone statue of Sikong Yu slowly raised its head, and the dust accumulated on its body began to shake off.

At the same time, this world also seemed to be responding.

The Qingzhuan Dojo began to vibrate, and soon the tremors spread to the outside, shaking the mountains of the Divine Path Sect.

All nine main peaks felt this vibration, and who knows how many people were startled awake from their seclusion.

An earthquake?

Or an enemy attack!?

Boom—

Just as hearts were filled with panic, the Divine Path Bell let out a soft ring, instantly resounding throughout the entire sect.

"Everything is fine, there is no need to worry."

The sound of the bell smoothed out the unease in everyone's hearts, and only then did they set their minds at ease and return to their Cave Abodes one by one.

But even so, they still looked at the ground with awe, seeing the cracks that had been created by the vibration.

What on earth had happened?

Could it be the commotion caused by some Elder coming out of seclusion?

And in the Qingzhuan Dojo where it all originated, Ren Yidao narrowed his eyes, feeling the earth-shaking roar.

He heard a voice.

It was not the previous Divine Soul transmission, but a huge roaring sound coming from deep underground.

【"When this old man was in the Heavenly Court, I was the god who governed the sky."】

He said:

【"I am..."】

【"The Heavenly God!"】