Chapter 211: In the Immortal Gate, One's Fate Is Not One's Own

When Wang Ping quietly slipped back into the Tribute Hall, he found Chenlong lying spread-eagle on a stretcher, groaning but surprisingly full of vigor.

"You've recovered quite quickly, Sir."

Wang Ping was a little surprised. He had specially refined some spiritual pills to bring with him, never expecting the heavily injured Chenlong to wake up so soon.

"Hmph, what's so hard about that?"

Chenlong sneered. "I am truly invincible in the mortal realm. That extraordinary person might be formidable, but if he wants to kill me, he'll have to wait until his next life."

He was incredibly stubborn.

Wang Ping did not know whether to laugh or cry. But on second thought, Xuanyin was already reduced to a wisp of a ghost that had gone off to reincarnate—so didn't he actually have to wait until his next life?

Chenlong was exactly right!

Thinking of this, he looked over at Xuanhe beside Chenlong. "Daoist friend, with His Excellency's current injuries, how long will he need to rest in bed before he recovers?"

Xuanhe pinched his fingers to calculate, then shook his head. "To be honest, I thought Daoist Chenlong was already at death's door. But a Great Grandmaster Rank martial artist truly possesses miraculous traits. Even without healing arts, just circulating his vitality and blood is enough to mend his flesh... At a rough estimate, he'll be fine in about three months."

"Why would I need three months?"

Chenlong sneered. He sensed his own injuries and declared boldly, "With these wounds, I will make a full recovery within a month!"

"Sir, please don't push yourself."

Wang Ping hurriedly sat down beside Chenlong, pressed a hand against his arm, and circulated the Qi Restriction spell to try and help his physical injuries recover faster.

It would have been better if he hadn't checked. The moment he did, Wang Ping got a fright. Chenlong's internal organs had been reduced to meat paste, and half of his meridians and blood vessels were snapped. Only his heart was still beating. Everything else—pumping blood, the functions of his lungs and viscera—was being handled by temporary organs condensed from true astral qi.

These were absolutely fatal wounds!

To put it bluntly, if Chenlong were still only at the Martial Dao Grandmaster Rank, he would already be dead. He definitely wouldn't be chatting with such vigor.

With this in mind, Wang Ping hastily advised, "Sir, you really should get some rest."

"There's no need."

Chenlong patted his chest, completely unconcerned. "I told you, I am truly invincible in the mortal realm. Against a mere extraordinary person, if we fought again, the winner would still be me!"

He was far too stubborn.

Beside them, Xuanhe finally could not hold back anymore. He muttered, "Daoist Chenlong, you barely escaped that battle with your life. I don't think that counts as a win."

"How is it not a win?" Chenlong cast a sidelong glance at him. "Did I or did I not fight that extraordinary person?"

"You did."

"And I'm still alive, right?"

"Yes."

"Is that extraordinary person dead?"

"...He's dead."

"There you have it." Chenlong threw his hands up. "I fought him, I lived, and he died. Doesn't that prove I won by a landslide?"

Xuanhe was speechless.

Crap, that actually sounds perfectly reasonable... No, wait!

After a brief moment of being stunned, Xuanhe snapped back to his senses, his expression turning rather strange. For a split second there, he had actually agreed with the man.

Was that the influence of his Divine Intent?

On the other side, Wang Ping wore an equal look of amazement. The moment Chenlong concluded his argument, the recovery rate of his internal injuries actually sped up!

Good heavens, can he really warp reality with sheer willpower?

For a moment, Wang Ping was genuinely tempted to learn exactly how this was done. In a critical moment, it might just serve as his own trump card.

But when he asked, Chenlong shook his head with a look of disdain. "This is my invincible heart, my invincible intent. You still hold doubts about the outside world in your heart, and you don't believe in your own invincibility enough. Because of that, you can't learn it... But that's normal. After all, you aren't an invincible person like me."

"Invincible..."

Wang Ping thought for a moment before probing, "But Sir, right now, I could probably suppress you with one hand. Even like this, do you still feel invincible?"

"I'm not comparing myself to you."

Chenlong shot him a sideways glance. "As the saying goes, a great man is magnanimous and doesn't hold grudges against lesser men. You're still young. Wait until you're the same age as me, and then we'll compare."

"...The same age?"

Wang Ping's eye twitched. "Sir, it's impossible for me to ever be the same age as you."

Chenlong sneered. "Then you only have your own incompetence to blame for failing to accomplish such a minor thing. It seems the result is obvious: I've won this battle!"

Huh?

Wang Ping was a little unconvinced, and letting the absurdity get to his head, he asked, "By that logic, Sir, are you saying you could manage to be the same age as me?"

"Why couldn't I?"

Chenlong said easily, "There's only about an eighty-year gap between us. As long as I slit my own throat with a blade, in eighty years, you'll be the same age as me."

"But by then, you wouldn't have the ability to fight me either."

"Without a doubt, I still win!"

Wang Ping was speechless.

Genius!

He was completely won over. He felt that Chenlong's logic was entirely self-consistent and nearly flawless. More importantly, the man himself actually believed it.

However, there was still one thing he didn't quite understand.

"Hypothetically... I'm just saying hypothetically, Sir. What if you were defeated head-on, with absolutely no room for debate, and you couldn't even convince yourself otherwise?"

"What would you do then?"

After thinking it over, Wang Ping still felt Chenlong's mindset was unreliable. After all, raw power was raw power. No matter how stubborn he was, could he really ignore the facts?

Then he received Chenlong's utterly nonchalant answer. "Although I am truly invincible in the mortal realm, as the saying goes, even the best horses stumble. I don't deny that... So if I ever ran into the situation you're talking about, I'd go to sleep. When the sun came up, I'd just forget about yesterday."

Well then, there really are no flaws this time!

Wang Ping was absolutely floored and gave a thumbs-up in admiration. No wonder your cultivation advances by leaps and bounds, Sir. With this kind of Divine Intent, you're practically destined to be the number one Great Grandmaster.

Just then, a gentle breeze swept past:

"I plan to leave."

The ethereal voice echoed in the wind, but its words left Wang Ping instantly stunned. "Plan to leave... Master, what do you mean?"

"My intuition tells me that staying here any longer will bring grave danger."

The ethereal voice continued. "Furthermore, my intuition tells me you have something I need. It wasn't the right time to ask before, but now it is."

"The Taiyin Form-Refining Heaven-Ascending Talisman Scripture. Do you have it?"

Wang Ping blinked at the question, then hurriedly nodded. He used his spiritual sense to condense a jade slip for passing on techniques. "I have it, I have it. What do you need this for, Master?"

"Seclusion."

The sound of the wind gradually grew louder. "Aside from this, I will be taking the martial artists of the Tribute Hall with me... You should understand what this means."

Wang Ping certainly understood. Even against the Heaven-Stealing Thief, the First Seat had dared to clash head-on. The only ones who could make her flee—and take the entire Tribute Hall with her—were the Qi Refining practitioners of the Immortal Gate... And probably not just any ordinary Qi Refining practitioners, but ones who were highly likely to have discovered the truth.

...

At this thought, Wang Ping's heart grew heavier. He recalled the conversation between Kunyun and You Xuexin that he had just witnessed through her perspective.

Following that, he remembered his conversation with Jin Hai before they parted ways:

"Martial Uncle, tell me... after someone has been refined into a protector wisdom consort, is it possible for it to be discovered?"

"Of course it is!"

"There is no flawless technique in this world. Even with the talismanic decrees bestowed by the Wisdom King, if the Immortal Gate truly grew suspicious and launched a major investigation, it naturally wouldn't stay hidden."

"For example?"

"For example, among the Eight Immortal Peaks of the Immortal Gate, Mingzhen Immortal Peak has a Spiritual Treasure capable of recording qi signatures and analyzing the target's existence. That is one method."

"However, that Spiritual Treasure is tied up with other important matters and cannot be moved lightly. Unless a Qi Refining practitioner with immense prestige personally requested it, it wouldn't be used just to investigate someone."

"Aside from that, there are also..."

Before leaving, Jin Hai had listed many methods that could expose a protector wisdom consort. The Immortal Gate had plenty of tricks, but all of these methods shared one prerequisite.

Someone had to grow suspicious of the protector wisdom consort first.

Only if someone grew suspicious and then used targeted methods to investigate could the identity of the protector wisdom consort be exposed. Otherwise, the disguise was flawless.

These words had originally been meant by Jin Hai to comfort Wang Ping, but recalling them now only made Wang Ping more nervous—because Kunyun was suspicious of You Xuexin!

I can't leave anything to chance.

After pondering for a long time, Wang Ping let out a long breath.

Let's just assume You Xuexin's identity as a protector wisdom consort has already been exposed. In that situation, what would Kunyun do? What could he do to maximize his gains?

Wang Ping's mind raced, and gradually, an answer surfaced:

Among Kunyun's current enemies, there are two entities that exceed normal boundaries. One is the Grand Ancestor of Great Shun, a Corpse Dissolution Immortal. The other is the Ascetic Monk following Jin Hai.

Meanwhile, his only helper is his Qi Refining master.

He needs a second Qi Refining practitioner... I understand now. He's going to find Mingyou! He will use the fact that You Xuexin was refined into a protector wisdom consort to seek Mingyou's help!

With this thought, the clouds finally parted for Wang Ping.

This was destiny!

I was the one who triggered his life tribulation, but exactly because of me, he can now recruit a helper who otherwise never would have aided him. Every cause has its effect, and this is no exception...

No, it's more than that. If he really discovered that I refined You Xuexin into a protector wisdom consort, he will definitely deduce that I'm connected to the Brahma Cultivators. From there, he'll infer that Brahma Cultivators are out to kill him during this life tribulation. Because of that, he will certainly have other preparations... This guy is just too hard to kill!

Wang Ping took a deep breath.

Immediately after, his thoughts pivoted. If that's the case, the First Seat leaving to lay low is eighty percent likely to avoid that Great Cultivator Mingyou.

After all, the other party cultivates the Discerning Truth and Illusion Illuminating Qi. That qi is perfectly suited for a major investigation. If she doesn't avoid them, there's a high chance she'll be exposed.

That brought up the problem.

What about me? What do I do?

Wang Ping's brows locked together. Just the act of refining You Xuexin into a protector wisdom consort alone was enough for Mingyou to descend from the heavens and grind his bones to dust.

It seems I can't keep this identity anymore. Fortunately, the powers in my sea of consciousness have basically reached an equilibrium... Should I just trigger them to cancel each other out, shed all this karmic entanglement, and then use the Taiping Sutra to resurrect and run away? The thought naturally surfaced in Wang Ping's mind.

But soon, he shook his head again.

The karma issue can be solved, but what about my Divine Powers? I've already successfully cultivated the Ten Thousand Gods Terrestrial Chart. Am I supposed to cripple it and cultivate it all over again?

All his previous hardships would have been in vain.

Unlike other Divine Powers, the Ten Thousand Gods Terrestrial Chart required constantly appointing deities and enfeoffing territories. In other words, it was impossible to cultivate it while keeping a low profile.

Or rather, it was impossible to cultivate it in a low-profile manner within the Immortal Gate.

Because there was still the life tribulation. Once a life tribulation descended, no matter how deeply one had hidden before, they would be forced out to untangle their karma, lest they die without even knowing how.

I want to lay low too, but I just can't.

Within the Immortal Gate, one's fate was never one's own... Wang Ping sighed. His expression shifted a few times before settling into calmness as he finally made a decision.

I'll stay!

If Great Cultivator Mingyou descended from the sky and slapped him to death, he would accept it. But as long as no one killed him, he wouldn't actively kill himself.

Since he wasn't dead yet, he would fiercely cling to life!

I have to face a life tribulation in the future anyway. If I can observe Kunyun's life tribulation from start to finish, it will be helpful for my future cultivation.