Within the Myriad Saints Palace, inside a small courtyard.
The courtyard was laid out in the style of a classical Suzhou garden, with jagged ornamental rocks and clusters of bamboo swaying gently in the breeze.
In a vegetable patch enclosed by a bamboo fence, an elderly man in gray robes bent over with a weathered back, leisurely hoeing the soil.
A middle-aged man dressed in coarse linen entered, carrying a food box in his hand.
Setting the food box on the stone table, the middle-aged man called out respectfully, “Elder Shi, your meal is here. Today’s wine is a century-old spirit brew. I’m sure it’ll suit your taste.”
Hearing this, the gray-robed elder stopped what he was doing. Despite the laborious work, there wasn’t a single bead of sweat on his forehead, nor was his breathing even slightly labored.
Walking along the worn stone path, the old man sat down beside the table. His nose twitched as the rich aroma of wine drifted over, and he burst into hearty laughter.
“Excellent, excellent. You’ve put some thought into it this time.”
The middle-aged man respectfully filled the elder’s cup.
This old man hailed from the Hundred Races Academy. In his youth, he had been one of its most renowned prodigies. After graduating, he had immediately stirred up the cultivation world, his name shaking the heavens.
Had it been five hundred years ago, merely hearing his name would have been enough to make even the great superpowers treat him with the utmost caution, as though facing a formidable enemy.
However, he was ultimately unable to overcome his inner demons and remained forever unable to break through to the Ninth Rank. In his pursuit of greater power and a longer lifespan, he had willingly joined forces with the demonic path, slaughtering countless innocent lives.
Although the Hundred Races Academy maintained absolute neutrality in the relations between the human and demon races, it could not ignore the devastation the gray-robed elder had inflicted upon the cultivation world. The academy personally moved to purge him from its ranks. In the ensuing battle, his very foundation was shattered, forcing him into years of hiding and barely clinging to life…
…until the Myriad Saints Palace extended an olive branch to him.
“Heh. No one comes to the temple without a reason. You’ve been bringing this old man fine food and good wine one day after another, so out with it. What brings you here? Or rather… what does the Myriad Saints Palace want?” The gray-robed elder took a sip of wine before continuing, “If you’re asking me to help you deal with the Hundred Races Academy, forget it. I’m practically a cripple now. One foot’s already in the grave.”
The middle-aged man naturally knew of the battle that had broken the gray-robed elder’s spirit. Even to this day, he dared not show himself in the cultivation world, fearing that if the Hundred Races Academy caught wind of his whereabouts, they would hunt him down without mercy.
“Of course we wouldn’t ask Elder Shi to reveal himself,” the middle-aged man replied. “We merely wish to know… whether you have any way for our people to enter the Hundred Races Academy’s Enlightenment Cavern and retrieve the Heavenly Dao Stele.”
The Enlightenment Cavern was the very foundation upon which the Hundred Races Academy had been established.
Within it stood a stone stele said to have been obtained by the Human Emperor during his travels across the cultivation world, on the legendary Immortal Path itself. It contained traces of the Heavenly Dao’s profound intent.
Everyone in the cultivation world knew of its existence. More than a few ancient monsters coveted it. However, the Hundred Races Academy had layered it with countless formations. Even the slightest movement of the Heavenly Dao Stele would trigger an alarm, and within a single breath, powerful experts would arrive, leaving any thief with no time whatsoever to react.
“Heh. The ambitions of your Myriad Saints Palace are certainly not small.” Elder Shi explained, “Within a single chi of the Heavenly Dao Stele alone lie nine hundred and ninety-nine formations. The entire stele is protected by a total of nine thousand nine hundred and ninety-nine formations, collectively known as the Myriad Formation Array. Every single one was created by a grandmaster of formations, and some were the crowning achievements of their creators’ entire lives. Forget your Palace Master…even if a Great Emperor personally came, forcibly breaking through it would be next to impossible.”
“Furthermore, the Heavenly Dao Stele is tied to the world’s destiny itself. Anyone who isn’t blessed with overwhelming Fortune simply cannot bear the karmic burden. The backlash of that karma is terrifying. At best, one’s cultivation will be completely destroyed. At worst, body and soul will perish, with no chance of even entering reincarnation.”
The middle-aged man was well aware of just how terrifying the destiny surrounding the Heavenly Dao Stele was. It was the greatest obstacle even the ancient monsters found troublesome. If even Great Emperors dared not shoulder such fate, then those who had yet to reach that realm stood even less of a chance.
However, this time, it seemed that the Myriad Saints Palace had truly been favored by the Heavenly Dao. Those blessed with immense Fortune had actually appeared…
And there were two of them.
“Elder Shi, we’ve found them. The ones blessed with great Fortune.”
Clap! Clap!
The middle-aged man clapped his hands.
“You may come in.”
Two young men slowly walked into the courtyard.
The moment Elder Shi saw them, his breathing hitched. His eyes flew wide open, and he shot to his feet in excitement, pulling a compass from within his robes.
The compass needle spun wildly without stopping, completely erratic.
Yet at the sight of this, Elder Shi burst into laughter.
“Hahaha! I never imagined that the legendary Children of Great Fortune truly existed… and there are actually two of them!”
At that moment, the gray-robed elder no longer looked like the harmless old man from before. A vicious gleam flashed across his eyes as a sinister, deathly aura erupted from his body. Even the middle-aged man couldn’t help but shudder.
What a terrifying aura!
Lin Ruo found it difficult to breathe. He hadn’t expected this man’s presence to be even more terrifying than Elder Li’s.
Even Li Jiuye was drenched in cold sweat.
This old monster… had he really failed to break through to the Ninth Rank?
The baleful aura surrounding him was so pure that even a Ninth Rank demonic cultivator would not dare claim to possess such concentrated malevolence.
“Hundred Races Academy… since you tried to exterminate this old man back then, don’t blame me now for reducing your academy to dust and ashes!”
The gray-robed elder no longer bothered with the wine. Turning around, he said to the three of them,
“Follow this old man.”
Inside the dilapidated thatched cottage, several oil lamps hung from the walls. Anyone who didn’t know better would have thought it was the home of an ordinary mortal.
The room contained nothing more than a table, a bed, and a few hoes leaning against the wall.
The gray-robed elder pushed the table aside, revealing a hidden compartment in the wall. From it, he took out a vajra pestle covered in intricate engravings. A single glance at it was enough to make one’s head spin violently.
Even the middle-aged man was nearly caught off guard. He immediately averted his gaze, not daring to examine the vajra pestle any further.
Gently stroking it, the gray-robed elder said calmly, “This vajra pestle was forged from celestial meteoric iron that descends only once every ten thousand years. It is engraved with blood-essence formations accumulated over my entire lifetime. Back then, at the Hundred Races Academy’s invitation, I personally laid one of the formations within the core region of the Heavenly Dao Stele and embedded this vajra pestle exactly one step away from it. Once activated, it will suppress all the surrounding formations for three breaths.”
“You will have only those three breaths to remove the Heavenly Dao Stele.”
With that, the gray-robed elder wrapped the vajra pestle in sheepskin before handing it to the middle-aged man.
The middle-aged man respectfully accepted it with both hands.
“As expected of the greatest formation genius the cultivation world has seen in the last five thousand years. Elder Shi, if word of this vajra pestle were ever to get out, I’m afraid countless people would stop at nothing to obtain it.”
“Heh! A snake trying to swallow an elephant. That’s the greed of the human heart. So what if someone obtains this vajra pestle? Without immense providence, the instant they touch the Heavenly Dao Stele, they’ll suffer an overwhelming karmic backlash. If they can’t endure it, only death awaits them. Across the countless ages of the cultivation world, aside from the Human Emperor, not a single second person has dared lay a hand upon the Heavenly Dao Stele.”
The gray-robed elder moved the table back into place. The cloudiness in his aged eyes had vanished, replaced by startling clarity.
“You two boys, I’ve given you what you need. Whether you can obtain the Heavenly Dao Stele depends on your own fortune. I, for one, am looking forward to the day the Hundred Races Academy falls into decline. Hahaha!”
With leisurely steps, the gray-robed elder returned to the courtyard and resumed sipping his wine.
The middle-aged man handed the vajra pestle, still wrapped in sheepskin, to Li Jiuye and Lin Nuo before instructing them,
“Keep this safe. Before long, the Hundred Races Academy’s Civil and Martial Tournament will begin. Only the top ten competitors are allowed to approach the Heavenly Dao Stele and are granted a single opportunity to comprehend it. You must seize that chance and take the Heavenly Dao Stele. As for how you’ll escape afterward, don’t worry. The Myriad Saints Palace has spent many years planting people inside the academy.”
Both Lin Ruo and Li Jiuye felt their hearts surge with excitement.
According to the legends of the cultivation world, whoever could fully comprehend the Heavenly Dao Stele would be able to ascend the Immortal Path once more and achieve true immortality.
Compared to the Heaven-Mending Stone, it was somewhat inferior, but it was still far better than nothing. Even the faintest hope of becoming an immortal was enough to drive countless cultivators into a frenzy.
Leave a Reply