Chapter 953: Have You Asked the Heavens?

When Zhong Zhengyuan glanced back and saw who stood in the doorway, shock jolted through him.

He scrambled up from his rocking chair, nearly tumbling to the floor in his haste.

Catching his balance just in time, he hurried over.

"Mister Chen! Mister Chen!"

The moment he saw Chen Changsheng, Zhong Zhengyuan looked ready to weep with sheer relief. "I've finally found you!"

"Why in such a rush, Mister Zhong?" Chen Changsheng asked.

"Let's talk inside, let's talk inside," Zhong Zhengyuan said.

He turned and shouted to the back, "Hey, bring tea! The good tea, hurry!"

Zhong Zhengyuan ushered Chen Changsheng into the back room.

Zhao Lin didn't say a word, quietly following behind them.

"And who might this be?" Zhong Zhengyuan asked.

"Zhao Lin," Chen Changsheng said. "The former King of Wei."

Zhao Lin cupped his hands in greeting. "A pleasure, Mister Zhong."

Zhong Zhengyuan nodded. "Unparalleled in benevolence and righteousness. You are a good man, King of Wei."

The praise left Zhao Lin looking slightly embarrassed. He gave a self-deprecating laugh. "You flatter me, sir. I was simply afraid to die."

Zhong Zhengyuan merely smiled, letting the matter rest.

A worker brought in the tea and quietly retreated.

Chen Changsheng took a sip from his cup. "How long have you been in the Mortal World? And what brings you back to Youling County?"

Zhong Zhengyuan let out a heavy sigh. "It is a long story."

He had a premonition that this sweeping turmoil would become a true Tribulation. Demonic cultivation methods were sprouting up endlessly—and worse, they could actually be copied. With everyone at a loss, he had come to the Mortal World simply to try his luck, hoping to cross paths with Mister Chen. Zhong Zhengyuan firmly believed that if anyone had a solution to this crisis, it would be him.

After searching for half a year without success, he had been ready to leave. But then a message arrived from his sect, warning that the demonic cultivators were only growing stronger and the situation remained dire. Feeling entirely helpless and knowing that returning wouldn't solve anything, he decided to just stay in the Mortal World.

He started by telling fortunes, wandering from place to place to build up a reputation.

"I figured that if my name spread far enough, you'd eventually hear of it and come looking for me. Who would have guessed I'd wait all this time for nothing? It only exhausted me. So, I came back here to Youling County, went back to my old trade, and opened this tea shop on the side."

Zhao Lin leaned in, curious. "If I may ask, what alias did you use to travel the world?"

He inexplicably felt that this Mister Zhong looked a bit familiar.

"Daoist Yuan."

Zhao Lin's eyes widened in shock. "You're the divine fortune-teller of heavenly secrets?!"

It was a massive reputation.

Even though Zhao Lin rarely paid attention to the affairs of the jianghu, he had still heard the great name of Daoist Yuan.

Rumor in the jianghu said the man's divinations were infallibly accurate. As he traveled the realm, he had accumulated boundless merit and saved countless lives.

Zhong Zhengyuan waved a hand, smiling. "You praise me too much."

"So that explains it," Chen Changsheng said.

Zhong Zhengyuan sighed. "Who knew you would be so hard to track down?"

Chen Changsheng smiled. "I haven't been in the Mortal World lately, nor the Cultivation World. I went somewhere else entirely."

Zhong Zhengyuan blanked for a moment. "Somewhere else?"

"Think of it as an independent minor world."

"I see..."

Zhong Zhengyuan didn't pry any further. It was true that a few minor worlds left over from ancient times still existed, dimensions originally carved out by almighty experts. Though most had long since shattered, one or two had survived through the ages.

Zhong Zhengyuan looked up, his tone turning serious. "Speaking of the demonic cultivators, the situation has only grown worse. Tianji Mountain is at a complete loss. For one thing, we can't contain the spread—the demonic cultivation methods are being disseminated everywhere. For another, these demonic cultivators are simply too good at hiding. No matter how many we kill, more take their place. Even now, we still have no clue who is pulling the strings from the shadows."

Chen Changsheng fell deep in thought. "The issue with the methods," he murmured, "is indeed rather strange."

"Exactly," Zhong Zhengyuan agreed. "It is a complete violation of the natural order. I have no idea why the Heavenly Dao would permit such a thing."

"Do you happen to have a copy of these methods on hand?" Chen Changsheng asked.

Zhong Zhengyuan reached into his robes and pulled out a single sheet of paper.

Curious, Zhao Lin leaned over to take a peek.

But Chen Changsheng immediately shifted it out of his view. "This isn't something you should be looking at."

Zhong Zhengyuan chuckled. "You are a mortal, my young friend. Reading such things can lure a person down the demonic path. It is best if you don't look."

Duly chastened, Zhao Lin backed off and averted his eyes.

Chen Changsheng scanned the contents. It was a fairly basic cultivation technique, one that relied on drawing in human essence blood and malicious aura to cultivate. It was an evil art—a method to forcibly increase one's Cultivation Base by draining the essence blood of others.

Usually, such techniques came paired with a specific mental mantra to stabilize the practitioner's mind. Once a practitioner killed too many people, their heart would grow entirely numb, and they would degenerate into a true demon.

There was nothing particularly unusual about the contents themselves.

Then Chen Changsheng examined the paper itself.

It wasn't written on anything sanctioned by the laws of heaven and earth. A gentle tug was all it took to tear a corner off.

It was merely an ordinary physical copy.

Yet, it was allowed to exist in this world.

By all logical rules of the world, cultivation methods were utterly impossible to copy on ordinary paper. Aside from oral transmission, a technique could only be passed down through an original, heaven-sanctioned manuscript.

Chen Changsheng pondered this. He studied the page for a long time, but couldn't deduce the exact mechanism behind it.

However, he did have a theory.

Because out of all the people capable of copying a cultivation method, he, Chen Changsheng, was one of them.

"Any insights, sir?" Zhong Zhengyuan asked.

Chen Changsheng thought for a moment before giving a slow shake of his head.

The way he saw it, there were only two possibilities. Either this had been authorized by heaven itself, or someone had found a loophole—a loophole in the Heavenly Dao.

Yet with the methods spreading on such a massive scale, the world should have detected it by now and intervened. But the heavens remained completely silent.

Which left only one plausible conclusion: heaven and earth had permitted it.

"I suspect," Chen Changsheng began, "that this entire matter might have actually gained the permission of the heavens—"

He cut himself off, freezing as a sudden thought struck him.

It was inexplicable, striking him completely out of nowhere.

The image of a figure surfaced in his mind.

The figure he had seen in the deepest reaches of the Yellow Springs.

A split second later, Chen Changsheng snapped back to reality.

A jolt ran through his mind, leaving him momentarily dazed.

He could distinctly feel that the sudden flashback hadn't occurred naturally. It felt as if someone had forcibly shoved that image into his head.

It was an incredibly eerie sensation.

"Mister Chen?"

Chen Changsheng shook himself. He stared blankly for a second before finally murmuring, "I'm fine..."

That sudden flash of imagery had simply been far too bizarre.

Zhong Zhengyuan and Zhao Lin exchanged a glance, both sensing that something was wrong.

"It will likely be very difficult to track these methods to their root," Chen Changsheng said, swiftly changing the subject. "Could you tell me how the Cultivation World is currently handling this threat?"

"First, by hunting down anyone caught practicing these evil arts," Zhong Zhengyuan replied. "Second, the various immortal mountains have dispatched their cultivators to garrison different regions and keep a constant eye out for any suspicious individuals. The results, however, have been lackluster..."

Chen Changsheng paused for a moment before asking, "Have you asked the heavens?"