Chapter 683: Where Does Hope Lie?

"What!!?"

The event happened too suddenly, leaving the Immortal Gods who had rushed over to assist in a state of panic.

A moment ago, the Heavenly Emperor was still locked in a fierce battle with the Fox Immortal, and they were preparing to step forward to assist and slay that Fox Immortal together.

The next moment, those voids transformed into a massive hollow, like a giant mouth, swallowing both combatants in one gulp!

!!!

The event happened too fast; the Immortal Gods had no time to react at all. The Heavenly Emperor, whom they regarded as their hope, had actually disappeared along with the Fox Immortal, and it was clearly a trap set by that Fox Immortal!

"The Alliance Leader has fallen for a trap!!!"

"Damn it!!!"

"No!!!"

After staring directly into the nightmare that was the Immeasurable Calamity, their confidence was shattered, and they could no longer muster the will to resist; most had already given up.

But they also understood the principle that when the nest is overturned, no egg remains intact; since they were incompetent, they chose to pin all their hopes on Di Zui.

They pinned their hopes on Di Zui being able to take that step no predecessor had reached and truly become a Supreme.

But now... the only hope had carelessly fallen for the enemy's treacherous plot and been taken away directly!!?

How could they not be disappointed!

How could they not be furious!

Was the hard-won hope just extinguished like this?

Just give up like this?

No!

It is not yet time to give up!

After a brief chaos, the gazes of the Immortals gathered on a Daoist with crane-white hair and a youthful face.

"Divine Calculator, quickly cast a hex; we must find the Alliance Leader immediately!"

"Very well!" The old Immortal known as Divine Calculator did not decline; he immediately sat cross-legged in the Void, squinting his eyes to calculate, wanting to find Di Zui's location to rescue him.

"..." But after calculating for a long time, sweat beaded on his forehead, yet he had calculated nothing.

The Heavenly Secrets were a chaotic mess; he could not calculate Di Zui's specific location at all, only vaguely sensing that he was still alive.

This!!?

Hesitating for a moment, Divine Calculator opened his eyes, his gaze full of refusal, and he actually raised his hand and dug out his left eye.

Crack—

"With my eye, I offer tribute to Heaven!"

He crushed his own eyeball, sacrificing it as the price to Heaven, just to catch a glimpse of the Heavenly Secrets.

As the words fell, a bolt of tribulation lightning fell from the clear sky, striking the top of Divine Calculator's head.

"Cough... it, it worked! I calculated it!"

Divine Calculator opened his eyes wide and shouted excitedly; with the help of this forbidden power, he had successfully deduced Di Zui's location!

Hearing this, everyone breathed a sigh of relief and hurriedly asked: "Good, good, good! Don't keep us in suspense, where exactly was the Alliance Leader taken?"

"The Alliance Leader is! He is at... hmm? He..."

Divine Calculator's expression froze; his excited look changed rapidly, from excitement to confusion, and finally only deep bewilderment remained, as he muttered in a low voice: "Not within this realm... ah? What do you mean not in this realm? This, what kind of hex is this!?"

Others who heard his muttering also had their expressions change drastically; they did not doubt Divine Calculator's skill, but they did not understand what this hex meant.

"No! You shouldn't have calculated the Alliance Leader's location; the Alliance Leader is already Half-step Supreme, it's normal that you couldn't calculate it. Go calculate that Fox Immortal! He admitted his own realm is insufficient, you should be able to calculate him!"

But, could it really be calculated?

And even if it could be calculated, how much of a price would that require?

Pitch-black blood flowed from Divine Calculator's empty eye sockets, dripping onto his immortal-looking dharma robes.

Divine Calculator understood the price he would have to pay better than anyone else, but he only hesitated for three breaths before nodding, saying with difficulty: "... Very well, I will try."

When the nest is overturned, does any egg remain intact?

If Di Zui cannot be guaranteed to be safe, then no one will have a way to survive.

Crack.

This time, from the start, Divine Calculator followed the same method, directly crushing his right eye, and ghastly blood and tears flowed from both empty eye sockets.

He was already prepared to pay the price.

But... this was not enough.

"Pfft! Cough, cough!"

But before he could calculate for a few breaths, Divine Calculator's whole body shook, and he painfully coughed up a large mouthful of blood.

The blood splattered, emitting a foul, fishy stench, and within it, one could see flesh that was rapidly shattering and decaying.

And Divine Calculator's own appearance underwent a huge change; his originally smooth skin rapidly became withered and aged, and time was once again carved into his face.

"Divine Calculator! You! Can you still continue?"

Divine Calculator did not answer, nor did he stop; instead, bracing his rapidly decaying body, he lifted his head, glared at Heaven with his empty eye sockets, and roared sternly:

"With my hands, I offer tribute to Heaven!"

As the words fell, his hands turned into withered bones, and finally turned into dust.

But, it was not enough; Divine Calculator still had not obtained the answer.

Thus, everything continued.

"With my feet, I offer tribute to Heaven!"

Not enough.

"With my ears, I offer tribute to Heaven!"

Not enough.

"With my skin, I offer it to the vast Heaven!"

Not enough.

"With my bones, I offer them to the vast Heaven!"

Still not enough!!!

"Hiss..."

In the eyes of others, the Divine Calculator seemed to have entered a state of madness, completely incomprehensible.

Now that the Alliance Leader had gone missing after being ambushed, and the only person with hope of finding him had also begun to go insane, the situation was truly dire.

However, things were actually somewhat different from what they assumed.

Even worse things were yet to come.

Hum—

A strange ripple suddenly emerged between Heaven and Earth; those present were no strangers to this, understanding that an Immortal God was declaring their existence to the world!

And this action made the already agitated Immortal Gods even more restless.

"Who is it?"

They wanted to find out who was being so high-profile, insisting on crossing them at a time like this!

With so many of them gathered together, they would certainly make that fellow understand what they were doing and make them pay a painful price.

"Who exactly is it!!? Daring to cross the Heavenly Court at a time like this! Is... what!?"

It was not just one or two death-defying fellows having a breakdown; the current situation was far more than that...

Because the ripples were coming from all directions!

Just as the Divine Calculator was continuously sacrificing their own body to exchange for deduction ability, countless auras of pressure erupted from the four corners of Shenzhou in perfect tacit understanding.

Those were the newly born Ascension Realm of the current age, including Immortals and Demon Gods.

Like brilliant signal fires, they burned across every part of Shenzhou!

"With my tongue, I offer it to the vast Heaven!"

At that very same moment, the Divine Calculator, who had sacrificed themselves until only a bloody stump of flesh remained, sacrificed their ability to speak.

Ears unable to hear, eyes unable to see, mouth unable to speak.

Even though the Divine Calculator possessed the strength of the late Ascension Realm, they had already become a cripple.

Furthermore, in the process of deduction, they had gradually forgotten their original purpose, leaving only one unfulfilled obsession.

Ren Yidao, where exactly did he go?

They wanted to know this answer.

And it was only when they could no longer reveal secrets that Heaven seemed to finally feel pity and bestowed mercy.

As if giving alms, it granted a sliver of opportunity, allowing the Divine Calculator to calculate the second hexagram and successfully deduce the location of Ren Yidao.

And upon obtaining the result, the nearly insane Divine Calculator froze.

"He is in the past, he is in the present, he is in the future... He is everywhere."

This was the final result the Divine Calculator had exchanged their life and cultivation for.

It was just as incomprehensible as the result obtained from deducing the Emperor Sin.

However, the Divine Calculator did not despair this time.

Instead, they laughed silently, their chest heaving, air surging in their throat but unable to produce a sound.

The Divine Calculator continued to laugh, laughing crazily and joyfully.

"Hahahaha!"

Because they finally understood.

They were wrong.

Everyone present was wrong.

When deducing the Emperor Sin, they had only wasted one eye to obtain the answer.

Yet when deducing Ren Yidao, they had offered everything they had, and it was still almost not enough.

Comparing the two, which was superior and which was inferior was self-evident.

The Emperor Sin was not the only hope.

That person was the hope.

"He is everywhere! Good, good, good! Hahaha!"

The Divine Calculator laughed silently, then suddenly let their head drop, ceased to have any signs of life, and soon turned into a pile of withered bones, eventually vanishing with a gust of wind.

They were dead.

An Immortal who had attained the Dao through the method of deduction had exhausted their heart and soul, meeting their end.

Their answer was known to no one; it was not passed on to anyone else.

But no one cared anymore.

The Immortal Gods of the Heavenly Court had their attention stolen by other matters at this moment.

Because they suddenly realized, with ugly expressions, a truly strange thing.

Those dangerous auras of Immortal Gods were all, at this moment, charging toward Zhongzhou!

And there was one more thing they could not understand...

It was that in every single aura, one could faintly sense a familiar yet terrifying aura—the aura of the Fox Immortal who should have vanished along with the Heavenly Emperor!

Fox Immortal!

Why is his aura everywhere!?

No...

Why is he everywhere!!!