Chapter 635: Wishing to Achieve the Dao

Above the ruins that Ren Yidao had leveled with his own hands, a wisp of dim, cyan smoke drifted upward.

That wisp was very, very small at first, much like the curling smoke rising from a village stove.

"In the beginning, I was merely a wild beast in the mountains; having lived a bit longer, I was fortunate enough to learn some arts."

"When the villagers saw me, they first feared me, then respected me, regarding me as a Spirit Fox, and no longer pointed their blades at me."

Ren Yidao sat cross-legged within the shrine, his eyes half-closed, recalling the events of the past as if he had returned to that time a hundred years ago.

"At that time, I was in a peculiar state, constantly confused about whether I was truly a beast? A demon? Or a human?"

"The reverence and faith of the villagers were of no use to me, and I never craved that Incense, but their prayers, by some stroke of luck, allowed me to successfully regain my consciousness and finally recognize myself."

"To repay this kindness, I became the Spirit Fox they spoke of, guiding their way and bringing them some game."

"This was the beginning of the story."

Soon, that wisp of cyan smoke gradually thickened, becoming as wide as a person, then three, five, and even ten people wide, then dozens of people wide.

"As time passed, that first generation of villagers gradually aged; they had children, grandchildren, and some passed away in their homes."

"I had thought this Causality would sever as they aged, and that I would no longer have any ties to them, but I never expected that these fellows would actually pass their inexplicable faith down to the next generation, and then the next generation to the one after that."

"Honestly, this group of ungrateful fellows—one generation would have been enough, so why did they keep increasing? Did they want me to work for them for free for a lifetime?"

The corners of Ren Yidao's mouth curled up slightly as he thought of the lively scenes from back then and recalled his own thoughts at the time.

"……I once thought this way; looking back now, I was somewhat naive at the time."

Little fox, your thoughts were truly naive.

Wanting to get away?

How could it be that easy.

"These fellows were very greedy! They didn't just want one or two generations; they clearly wanted me to be their guardian deity for generations to come."

"Just as I was preparing to pack up and run, ready to unilaterally cut off this connection, they gave me an unexpected surprise."

"They hid it from me and secretly built a Daoist Temple for me."

"A Broken Daoist Temple, with every brick and tile laid by their own hands, simple, and even somewhat crude."

"Even though they themselves didn't have enough to eat and would tighten their belts at the end of the year, they spent labor, effort, time, and money to build such a useless thing."

"I admit, I was moved at the time, somewhat touched... well, who wouldn't like a property deed gifted to them by others?"

"Furthermore, this was my first home in this world."

Home.

No one knows how great an attraction this word holds for a lonely soul drifting in a strange world, with no kin to turn to.

Falling leaves returning to their roots is a tradition of the Huaxia people.

The past life is hard to find, bygone days have turned to void, and the homeland can never be returned to.

And in this strange, foreign world, Ren Yidao had no place to belong; he was a rootless duckweed drifting with the water.

But when the villagers finished building that Daoist Temple, he had roots, deeply embedded in this land.

"In the end, I accepted their kindness, moved into that Daoist Temple, and became the Fox Immortal within it."

"And this is the origin of the Fox Immortal."

Ren Yidao turned his head to look at Yaoyue, who had just arrived at the ruins of the Xianhu Temple.

Yaoyue had now returned to her usual appearance in white robes, her eyes beneath her veil gentle as she nodded slightly at Ren Yidao.

With me here, you can rest easy.

This place was not far from the inn they were previously at, and with Ren Yidao cultivating right next door, it was impossible for them not to notice the commotion here.

Yaoyue had rushed over to protect Ren Yidao, while Cang Lan remained at the inn, guarding Ren Yidao's physical body.

The words Ren Yidao had just spoken to himself were both a review of everything he had experienced in this life and a narration for Yaoyue to hear.

Yaoyue did not fully understand Ren Yidao's current state, but she could see that Ren Yidao intended to break through to the Heaven Realm.

But unlike what Yaoyue understood, Ren Yidao's breakthrough at this moment did not seem to intend to stop at the Wuxiang Realm.

Because Ren Yidao was thoroughly clarifying his own Dao; this alone was already beyond the scope of what the Wuxiang Realm required, as this was something that only needed to be figured out when breaking through to Asking Dao.

Clearly, he intended to leap to a higher level in one go.

If the Wuxiang Realm could not satisfy his ambition, then could it be Asking Dao?

Or perhaps... achieving the Dao and ascending to immortality?

Yaoyue hesitated for a moment, worrying whether Ren Yidao's foundation was sufficient, but she quickly set her mind at ease.

How deep was Ren Yidao's foundation?

As his master, Yaoyue, who had experienced it firsthand, knew far better than anyone else.

Yaoyue nodded at Ren Yidao and said softly, "Go ahead and do it; I am here for everything."

To others, the Ren Yidao at this moment was only as large as the small clay statue in the shrine.

But in Yaoyue's eyes, Ren Yidao's figure now filled the entire ruins, a colossal silhouette sitting cross-legged in mid-air.

And this was not his limit; that figure was still gradually expanding, and before long, it would exceed the size of a city!

Seeing such a scene, was there any need to worry for him?

Not at all.

What Yaoyue needed to guard against was not the harm Ren Yidao might suffer from failure, but certain uninvited "guests."

And with Yaoyue there to protect him, Ren Yidao did not need to divide his attention, allowing him to put all his energy into the breakthrough.

Thus, he continued to tell his story.

To himself, to others, to the Heaven and Earth and all living things.

"Later on, I was taken to the sect by Senior Sister, and for decades, I thought this unannounced departure would make them forget me, but I never expected that even though I made no response, they never stopped their offerings to me."

"Although there was a small interlude in the middle where an Evil beast from who knows where stole my home and snatched the Incense, their faith remained as it was, slowly accumulating over these nearly hundred years."

"I was worried that the Incense would backfire on me, so I chose to transfer this Faith to the Dao God, cutting the connection between myself and the believers."

"But I didn't expect that in the end, I would appear again in the Western Desert, letting the Fox Immortal become the object of faith for a region of Shenzhou."

"Looking back after all this circling around, if the Fox Immortal of the Western Desert can be served, why couldn't the Incense Divine Dao of a small city be served?"

"Heh, naturally, it can be served."

Ren Yidao recalled his actions when he first swallowed the God Heart within the Divine Statue, and shook his head helplessly.

"What I did back then was nothing more than burying my head in the sand, just deceiving myself."

It is not to say that the choice made back then was wrong.

It was just that with Ren Yidao's strength at the time, he could only see so much, and he chose what he considered the optimal method then.

Ren Yidao was wrong.

The cutting off he thought he had achieved had never truly been realized; no matter how the gods abandoned mortals, mortals never gave up their reverence for him.

The act of cutting off was perhaps wrong from the very beginning.

But it was not entirely wrong either; it is just that now there is a better choice.

For him at that time, being unaffected by mortals was the most important thing, as that could allow him to break free from constraints and no longer be troubled by the shackles of Faith.

Being able to temporarily discard the identity of an Incense deity and put all his energy into cultivation was what led to his rapid breakthroughs in cultivation base.

The Incense Divine Dao had always been like a heavy shackle binding him, and it was precisely because of the accumulation over the previous hundred years that there was such a massive explosion after the shackles were removed.

And now his breakthrough has reached a bottleneck, and his strength can also bear this Faith Power.

It is time to return to the source.

"Knowing one has strayed and returning to the path, it is... not yet too late."

"Dao God, emerge."

Following Ren Yidao's soft utterance, the Baihu Daoshen appeared beside him; it buried its head deeply, not daring to look directly into the eyes of the deity in the shrine.

Only until this moment, when it was nonchalantly called out, did the Baihu Daoshen realize that its existence had actually been exposed long ago.

Yaoyue:???

Yaoyue frowned deeply as she watched this scene; she had not expected that there would be such a hidden danger on her disciple's Dao body.

She had intended to take action to eliminate it, but seeing that Ren Yidao had no reaction, she remained silent.

"... Heh." Ren Yidao swept his gaze slightly, his lips curling up.

He had long noticed the abnormality of the Dao God, but he could not be certain.

At the beginning, he did not have the confidence to contend with the other party, nor did he even have the qualifications for a proper exchange, so he could only pretend not to know.

Moreover, since the other party was willing to pretend, he would play along with this act.

He truly confirmed there was a problem when he reconciled with Ren Huan, who had once hinted at it obscurely.

Even so, he did not turn hostile at that time, but waited until this moment when the timing was ripe to show his hand.

However, Ren Yidao did not pursue what exactly its identity was right now.

Whether it was a self-slaughtered Demon God or some other thing, it did not matter.

At least for such a long time, it had not harmed him and had always been diligently and conscientiously disguising itself.

Perhaps at the beginning, it had some crooked thoughts, planning to occupy this body and waiting for the day to reap the fruits of success.

But as Ren Yidao gradually became stronger and the people he came into contact with became more powerful, it had long since dared not show its head.

A lord of a region addressed him as a brother, the contemporary Demon Emperor was willing to be his sister, an alternative path-attainer was his master, the Demon Buddha was willing to entrust the Western Desert's faith to him, and in the end, even the Heaven gods appeared, constantly watching over and nurturing him.

With these people around, it had absolutely no chance.

Show your head and you're killed instantly.

It had long since completely given up on this idea, and trapped in a dilemma, it only wanted to find a suitable opportunity to confess voluntarily.

But now, Ren Yidao wanted to tell it a cruel fact.

It's not just "show your head and you're killed."

Even if you don't show it, you're still killed.

Ren Yidao lowered his eyes to look at it for a moment, shook his head, and said indifferently: "Return the God Heart to me."

The Baihu Daoshen did not hesitate at all, directly opening its mouth and spitting out a fresh, still-beating heart.

It hadn't dared to absorb it at all!

It hadn't touched it even a little.

Ren Yidao took the God Heart and directly fused it into his Divine Soul; the Divine Soul surged for a moment, then quickly returned to calm.

He was complete once again.

"Huu..."

Feeling the sense of completeness in his Divine Soul, Daoist Ren let out a long breath and sighed with emotion:

"Fate is truly the most wondrous thing in the world."

"Ren has a fate with them, becoming the spirit beast in their words, enjoying their offerings, and protecting them for a lifetime."

"Ren has a fate with the Divine Path Sect, being caught by Senior Sister and brought to the mountain, becoming a disciple, and taking on the title of the contemporary walker of the world."

"And now, I want to say..."

"Ren has a fate with this world."

Tonight was originally cloudy and foggy, with no stars or moon to be seen, and the night was lonely.

But at this moment, as Ren Yidao spoke, the clouds dispersed and the fog vanished, and a giant full moon, several times larger than usual, appeared in the sky.

The night sky was pitch black, with no stars to be seen, only a giant full moon hanging high within it, like the eyes of a god looking down upon the Earthly Realm.

And under the illumination of the moonlight, the deity in the shrine spoke softly:

"Heaven and Earth, all living beings."

"Ren Yidao wishes to attain the Dao here, to ascend to immortality and become a god."

The voice was very soft, yet in that instant, it stirred the heavens and earth; countless cultivators heard this declaration.

"What!?"

"Who!"

"Who is going to attain the Dao!?"

"Isn't it impossible to attain the Dao in the world today?"

An uproar erupted between heaven and earth; countless Heaven Realm cultivators in the Beiming Divine Continent heard that soft whisper.

They were first bewildered, then greatly shocked.

Who!?

Who exactly is that person about to attain the Dao!?

【"Attaining the Dao in a single step?"】

In the Qingzhuan Dojo, Sikong Yu sighed softly and remarked with emotion: 【"In the end, he still chose to walk this path."】

Beside him, the Yaochi Heavenly Maiden raised an eyebrow and asked curiously, "You don't want him to walk the Incense Divine Dao?"

【"It is not that I am unwilling."】 Sikong Yu shook his head. 【"It is just that, for someone like him, the Incense Divine Dao is too small."】

【"The Divine Path—this is the only complete Great Dao."】

【"However, now is not the time to ponder this; it is time to move a little."】

Yaochi understood the implication in Sikong Yu's words and said in surprise, "Are you planning to expose yourself? Di Fan hasn't truly fallen, has he?"

The first Alliance Leader of the Butian Alliance had fallen, and a new Alliance Leader had taken over, but after learning this, Yaochi expressed doubt regarding the news.

As a second-generation member of the Heavenly Court, she knew Di Fan very well.

Could someone capable of plotting against the Heavenly Emperor and the Immortal Gods and nearly succeeding fall so easily?

In everyone's eyes, Di Fan was an exceptionally outstanding prodigy; not only was his aptitude superior and his intelligence near-demonic, but his conduct in dealing with others was also seasoned and skillful.

Before that incident occurred, no one could see his true face; everyone pinned high hopes on him, believing he would become the next Heavenly Emperor.

The Immortal Gods had no heirs, and this Heavenly Emperor, Di Fan, was very likely to become the sole master of the Heavenly Court.

But... the world is unpredictable; no one expected what happened later.

Sikong Yu chuckled and said leisurely: 【"As his elder, I must eventually step forward to help."】

Just as Sikong Yu feared, it attracted the attention of the Immortal Gods.

In this world, there is actually someone about to attain the Dao who is forcibly breaking through at this time?

Naturally, they had to pay attention to such a future competitor.

And then...

They were dumbfounded.

How is it you again!!?