Chapter 640: Another Possibility

"..."

Seeing Ren Yidao's relaxed demeanor, Daoist Yun Yuan, who had originally intended to seize the opportunity to strike, hesitated instead; he was unable to make up his mind.

Is he feigning it?

Or does he truly have the confidence to take us both down without relying on the Thunder Tribulation?

Is this possible?

He has clearly only just entered the Ascension Realm; no, he hasn't even fully stepped into the Ascension Realm yet!

Where on earth does his confidence come from?

Daoist Yun Yuan hesitated and delayed his strike, which infuriated the Purple Lightning Thunder Venerable who was communicating with him in secret.

"Yun Yuan! What do you have to hesitate about!!?"

The Purple Lightning Thunder Venerable was burning with rage and roared through telepathic transmission at Daoist Yun Yuan: "What are you waiting for!?"

He did not understand; this Yun Yuan was not a person who feared death—such a person could basically never reach the Ascension Realm—so why did he suddenly turn cowardly at a time like this?

If the Thunder Tribulation were still present, his hesitation might be understandable, but now that the Thunder Tribulation has completely vanished, what does he have to fear?

"Yun Yuan, could it be that you have truly been scared out of your wits by this brat before you!?"

If that were true, it would be truly laughable!

"... Thunder Venerable, do not be impatient. This matter is strange; this brat is very wrong. Beware of a trap; let me probe him first."

"Hmph! I think you've just been scared out of your wits! You coward!"

"... Hmph!"

Stop your damn talking!

You are the one who has been scared out of your wits!!!

You idiot with nothing but Thunder Pulp Liquid inside your head!

Daoist Yun Yuan also cared about his reputation, so naturally, he could not admit the cowardice in his heart, and he was also somewhat annoyed by the Thunder Venerable's bossing him around, so he turned and retorted gloomily:

"It is you, Thunder Venerable, who is so anxious; why not strike first? Could it be that you want me to go up and fight to the death, so that you can then wipe us both out?"

The Purple Lightning Thunder Venerable did not understand Daoist Yun Yuan's sarcasm at first; he was stunned for a full three breaths before he realized the meaning behind the words. He was enraged, his purple eyebrows bristling, and he stopped using telepathic transmission, instead raising his weapon and cursing at Daoist Yun Yuan:

"Good for you, Yun Yuan! You heartless and ungrateful villain! We have known each other for thousands of years; has this Venerable ever wronged you even once? What is there to hesitate about!? What is there for you not to trust this Venerable about? And now you actually suspect me!?"

Then, to Daoist Yun Yuan's shock, this reckless man actually abandoned Ren Yidao, who was to the side, and charged straight at him while brandishing his spear.

Ah!!?

"I will kill you, this unbenevolent, unrighteous, disloyal, and unfilial degenerate first!"

"Die!!!"

The Purple Lightning Thunder Venerable roared, his body transforming into a massive bolt of purple lightning. In an instant, he rushed to Daoist Yun Yuan's side, then transformed back into human form and thrust his spear out.

Boom!

The place where Daoist Yun Yuan stood was blasted through; the purple Thunder Spear pierced directly through the void, annihilating the space in that spot.

But Daoist Yun Yuan was not killed by the spear; at the critical moment, he escaped that space, his form turning into clouds and mist as he instantly fled to a distance. He looked at the Purple Lightning Thunder Venerable with an ugly expression and gritted his teeth: "You idiot! What on earth are you thinking!?"

He was not unscathed; the sleeve of one arm had been shattered by the lightning, revealing a thin arm, and the hair on the left side of his face had turned to ash and drifted away, leaving his originally well-groomed, exquisite hair hanging in disarray, making him look extremely disheveled.

"Even if you have a grudge against me, you shouldn't strike at me at a time like this! What on earth are you thinking!?"

How does this animal not play by the rules? He actually tore off his mask and is willing to ignore the enemy just to kill me first?

Just how much hatred do I have with him!

"Hmph! Enough talk! I don't trust you anymore!"

The Purple Lightning Thunder Venerable let out a cold snort, twirled the spear in his hand, and after an angry huff, spoke grimly: "I have nothing to say to a two-faced guy like you either!"

"Today, either you die or I die! Only one of us can survive!"

The Purple Lightning Thunder Venerable seemed to have forgotten where they were; completely disregarding the scene before him, he had only Daoist Yun Yuan in his eyes, intent only on annihilating him!

Boom!

Purple lightning surged and charged, pressing toward Yun Yuan once more. This time, he had learned from his previous lesson and did not return to human form, choosing instead to turn this entire area into a pool of thunder, attempting to leave Daoist Yun Yuan with nowhere to hide!

Daoist Yun Yuan was prepared this time and did not let the opponent's scheme succeed. He did not turn into clouds and mist, but instead directly waved a plate-shaped Supreme Treasure, on which a bottomless rift was depicted, sucking all the lightning in the sky into it.

His body is like clouds, his method is like an abyss; he is Daoist Yun Yuan!

Sss—

The moment the purple lightning was completely absorbed, it split into two sections. One section fled to the side and transformed into a human form, while the other section, failing to escape in time, was absorbed into Daoist Yun Yuan's Supreme Treasure and transformed into a drop of purple liquid.

"Yun Yuan! You really want to kill me!? You actually even used the Heavenly Abyss Plate!?"

Daoist Yun Yuan snorted coldly at this, flicked his horsetail whisk, and said indifferently: "Hmph! Why say anything at this point? Didn't you intend to use your life-bound Supreme Treasure, the Thunder Spear, to kill me from the very beginning?"

Judging from the exchange just now, Daoist Yun Yuan appeared to have the upper hand; not only did he neutralize the Purple Lightning Thunder Venerable's moves, but he also successfully refined a drop of Thunder Pulp Liquid, seemingly not taking the opponent seriously.

But only Daoist Yun Yuan knew in his heart that he only looked relaxed; the interior of the Heavenly Abyss Plate had already been blasted into a mess by the opponent's violent lightning. It was nearly destroyed, and one more hit would cause it to shatter completely, beyond any hope of repair!

Damn it, this idiot is serious; he really wants to kill me!

And what made Daoist Yun Yuan's heart sink was not just the Purple Lightning Thunder Venerable's killing intent, but also the youth standing to the side, who had been smiling with narrowed eyes while enjoying the two of them slaughtering each other.

Just now, Ren Yidao had stood to the side with his hands behind his back, watching happily as the crazed Purple Lightning Thunder Venerable chased Daoist Yun Yuan all over the place, even actively moving out of the way so as not to interfere with their chase.

He looked just like a referee in an octagonal cage watching two slaves fight to the death.

Ren Yidao seemed to notice the gaze Daoist Yun Yuan swept over, chuckled twice, and said airily: "Hehe, please proceed, you two lords. Settle your grudges and grievances; please do not mind me. I will not intervene in the slightest, nor will I take sides."

After speaking, he even winked at Daoist Yun Yuan and said with a meaningful smile: "Daoist, the Thunder Venerable has already made the decision for you; you must not let down his good intentions!"

"The current situation is also his fault first; even if you kill him, no one can blame you. Such an opportunity is truly rare; you must not miss it!"

"There is no need to hesitate anymore."

"He says you can go ahead."

The whisper of the future self echoed gloomily in the depths of Daoist Yun Yuan's heart, eroding his already wavering psychological defenses time and time again.

Damn it!

He is bewitching me, wanting to watch the two of us kill each other!

Cannot fall for his trap, cannot...

Whoosh!

Yun Yuan, lost in thought, was slightly distracted, and was seized upon by Purple Lightning Thunder Venerable; reacting at the very last moment, he narrowly dodged the attack aimed at his brow, the fury in his heart rising another level.

But even so, he still restrained his killing intent, attempting to make Purple Lightning Thunder Venerable turn back from the wrong path, and kept persuading him: "Thunder Venerable! Calm down! You and I joining forces is the most correct choice! Do not fall for the other's tra... you idiot!!!"

"Stop and listen to me!"

While trying hard to appease Purple Lightning Thunder Venerable and slowly approaching, Yun Yuan was secretly accumulating power, making full preparations for another possibility.

He was by no means a good person.

Although he styled himself a Dao Lord, in the mouths of others, he had always been a Demon Lord, one who would slaughter sects and destroy the Dao at the slightest provocation.

Having been repeatedly ambushed by the other party without regard for sentiment, his patience had been completely exhausted.

"Since you force me so... then don't blame me!"

A blood-red glint flashed in Yun Yuan's eyes, and after dodging the Thunder Spear's ambush, he slammed a palm onto the side of Purple Lightning Thunder Venerable's waist.

Boom!!!

Yun Yuan dealt a lethal blow to Purple Lightning Thunder Venerable because this guy had no brain and actually attacked him at this time, disregarding the big picture.

It was that brainless idiot Purple Lightning Thunder Venerable who deserved to die!

Although he had heard rumors about it for years, actually encountering it still made one's vision go black.

In Yun Yuan's view, this was a helpless move made under duress, a compromise that had to be made.

However, this was only Yun Yuan's side of the story...

In the eyes of Purple Lightning Thunder Venerable, this situation was completely different.

It was Yun Yuan, this guy, who had been treacherous first, actually feigning cooperation on the surface while secretly launching a sneak attack, intending to kill him to trade for his own sliver of survival.

A coward scared out of his wits by a younger generation!

A beast who sold out his friend for glory!

It was Yun Yuan who deserved to die!!!

After the other party had already committed such an act of treachery, he no longer needed to worry about the friendship of the past and could kill the other party with a clear conscience.

Having heard the testimony of both sides, does a careful outsider feel that something is wrong?

Both believe the other is at fault first, and both believe they were forced to counterattack.

If this were a murder case with only two people, one of these two accounts would definitely be false and one true.

But unfortunately, there were not only two people present.

At this moment, there was still a third party with a very low presence among them.

Therefore, there were still other possibilities.

Everything they said was true.

Or perhaps... everything they said was false.

Truth is false, false is true.

What Yun Yuan and Purple Lightning Thunder Venerable saw was not what they truly saw, but what Ren Yidao wanted them to see.

Yun Yuan's Heavenly Abyss Plate was real, Purple Lightning Thunder Venerable's life-bound Thunder Spear was real, the slaughter was real, and their mutual cursing was also real.

Everything was real.

But everything was also false.

Yun Yuan acting first was false, Purple Lightning Thunder Venerable being blinded by killing intent was also false.

In the eyes of others, the battle between these two, Yun Yuan and Purple Lightning Thunder Venerable, was entirely a third situation.

At first, the two stood stunned for a while, then began to glare at each other without warning, and then started infighting without a word, leaving Ren Yidao, the main culprit, aside to watch the show.

And Ren Yidao... it cannot be said he did nothing at all, but he was merely dragging the eight pure white Fox Tails behind him, leisurely following the two.

Yes, this was everything Ren Yidao did.

This was like a grand magic show; when the audience's attention was guided by the magician, they had already fallen into the trap, ignoring the tricks in the dark, and were completely led by the nose by the magician.

What Ren Yidao achieved was actually similar.

When he abnormally dispersed the Thunder Tribulation entwining his body, that was the trick to lure the two Immortal Gods.

This confusing behavior successfully made them suspicious.

Why?

When they focused all their attention on this, struggling to think about where Ren Yidao's confidence lay, they had already fallen into the abyss.

There was no turning back.

For two powerful Immortal Gods, especially when one of them had strong resistance to the Thunder Tribulation, Ren Yidao's strategy would naturally change.

Burying one's head and fighting hard was not advisable; it was better to detour and use wisdom.

With Ren Yidao's clever flexibility, the Immortal Gods in the other three directions basically no longer posed a threat; those who died were dead, those who were injured were injured, and they could no longer amount to anything.

Of the eleven Immortal God assassins, only five remained at this moment; apart from Yun Yuan and the other, the remaining three were deliberately spared by Ren Yidao, who was in no rush to clean them up.

Ren Yidao still had use for these guys.

On one hand, these lingering Immortal Gods could temporarily help him share the pressure of the Heavenly Tribulation, dragging it out as long as possible.

After all, once the Heavenly Tribulation had nothing left to strike, it would definitely come looking for him again.

On the other hand, Ren Yidao needed to use these poor wretches to convey a thought to the world.

One tail fell from the Fox Tails behind Ren Yidao's main body, transforming into a clone that walked out of the battlefield, attracting the gaze of everyone watching this place.

From the very beginning, this place had already attracted countless gazes from the Beiming Divine Continent, and as events unfolded later, it left who knows how many people shocked, and even filled with a new sense of fear.

Before this, who could have imagined that this world would produce an existence capable of defying the natural order to strike down an Immortal?

Before this, not even the slightest whisper of news had ever been heard.

To the people of the world, this period of time could be called a time of turbulent change, different with each passing day.

Zhongzhou appeared, the Butian Alliance revealed itself, then Immortal Gods reappeared in the Earthly Realm, there were Demons in the Western Desert destroying Buddhism, and after that, someone braved the Ascension Tribulation and was even blocked by Immortal Gods... yet the Immortal Gods were killed, while the one undergoing the tribulation remained completely unharmed.

This world has become somewhat insane.

Some Heaven Realms of the Beiming Divine Continent do not even know whether this existence is a friend or a foe...

There were also some Heaven Realms who recognized Ren Yidao's face, but even so, they dared not equate this existence with the youth in their previous impressions, unable to believe that this could be the same person.

They would rather accept that this was a revived Immortal God who had occupied that youth's body, seizing it for rebirth.

Ren Yidao felt the various gazes upon him, offered no explanation, but instead smiled slightly and said with ease: "Fellow Daoists, you have all seen it now, haven't you?"

"Immortal Gods are not invincible."

Immortals, too, can die.

What would he say next?

Mock the Immortal Gods? Continue to display his strength? Announce his arrival to the world?

No.

What he intended to do was another possibility.

Amidst the shocked and bewildered gazes of the people of the world, Ren Yidao chuckled:

"For me alone to achieve Ascension, how boring that would be."

"Why not join in this grand event, and let us all achieve Ascension together!"

He said:

"I am willing to protect the Dao for you all, so that we may enter the Immortal Realm together."