Chapter 223: Heaven and Earth Mutation, the Xun Trigram!

The Immortal Gate, inside and outside the Eight Trigrams Furnace.

The bright lamplight and blazing lightning continued to clash, yet right in the center of that turbulent battlefield sat two figures facing each other.

"I must thank Fellow Daoist Shunhe."

A smiling voice drifted from the lamplight. Deep within the lightning, a slightly respectful response echoed in turn. "I do not deserve Great Cultivator Mingyou's praise."

Just as Kunyun had deduced, this was all premeditated. Although Mingyou had never actually communicated with Dashun Taizu, the two had reached an unspoken understanding. On one particular matter, their interests were perfectly aligned.

Extending their lifespans.

Like Mingyou, Dashun Taizu had grown old. His condition wasn't as severe, but as a Corpse Dissolution Immortal, his methods for prolonging his life fell far short of Mingyou's.

Furthermore, because his cultivation was simply too profound, he didn't dare emulate the Old Emperor by using the national destiny of Great Shun to refine a Longevity-Extending Pill. Doing so would only bleed Great Shun's national destiny dry.

If Great Shun fell, he would lose all value as a Corpse Dissolution Immortal. The empire's currently prosperous national destiny was the very foundation of his cultivation. Dashun Taizu understood this better than anyone. Thus, even after hiding within the Eight Trigrams Furnace for so many years, he had never entertained the thought of draining the empire.

Suddenly, the lamplight flickered.

Mingyou's voice rang out again, tinged with a hint of appreciation and amusement. "A renowned True Transmission indeed. To think he actually discovered it."

"Oh?"

Dashun Taizu sounded surprised, but quickly regained his calm. "It matters little if he discovered it. Things have already reached this point; they have no choice."

"Moreover... everyone tacitly approved of your actions, Fellow Daoist. Even Tianxing chose to acquiesce after learning of your plans. At most, he used that Meditation Mat as a veiled warning for his disciple. Since the boy failed to grasp the hint back then, the outcome was set."

Mingyou offered no comment.

If Kunyun could have heard this conversation, he would have instantly understood the entire sequence of events. He would have remembered the empty Meditation Mat he had seen beside his master, Tianxing.

There had indeed been a Qi Refining practitioner sitting on that Meditation Mat.

The reason it appeared empty was precisely because that Qi Refining practitioner had not wanted to meet him—for that person was none other than Mingyou, who had been meeting with Tianxing in private!

"Tianxing was also hesitating."

"He has no immediate worries regarding his lifespan, so he was somewhat biased toward his disciple..." Mingyou said softly. "He even allowed his disciple to ask a question back then."

"Unfortunately, the boy failed to ask the truly important question."

Back when Kunyun sought out Tianxing, he had asked a question—but he asked about the Ten Thousand Gods Terrestrial Chart. That had merely been a deliberate smokescreen left by Mingyou.

A scheme set by a True Person?

What a joke. Even if someone cultivating Gui Water magic managed to master the Ten Thousand Gods Terrestrial Chart, they could never possibly trigger that True Person's scheme.

"That day, what his disciple really should have asked was who was sitting on the Meditation Mat beside Tianxing!" Mingyou laughed. "If he had asked, Tianxing would have answered. My scheme would have been exposed, and I would have been forced to stop... That was his best chance to survive his life tribulation."

"Unfortunately, he missed it."

Destiny was simply that mysterious.

When transcending a life tribulation, the key often lay not in how much strength or cultivation one possessed, but in a minor detail—even a single question.

Luck even played a role.

Such was the case for some Qi Refining practitioners. Their personal strength might have been inferior to others at the Tribulation Transcending Third Layer, yet they possessed overwhelming luck, allowing them to breeze through their life tribulation with ease.

Naturally, such life tribulations were rarely difficult to begin with. Furthermore, passing the tribulation did not guarantee a successful breakthrough to Qi Refining; it merely provided a great deal of hope.

"Ultimately, destiny does not permit a situation of certain death. There will always be a thread of life left behind. For example, when Kunyun came to see me, a spark of spiritual wisdom suddenly struck him. Under the influence of my magic, he accidentally glimpsed those two trigrams—that was the opportunity destiny granted him."

"Had he understood those two trigrams, he might have seen through my scheme."

Dashun Taizu shook his head. "That is asking too much. Even Qi Refining practitioners must study innate trigrams extensively. What could a mere cultivator at the Tribulation Transcending Third Layer possibly understand?"

"It is not quite so absolute."

Mingyou chuckled softly. "For instance, Gan Wujiu once managed to decipher a trigram back in the day. If not for that, how could he have earned the title of Heaven-Stealing Thief?"

"He is an immortal descendant!"

Dashun Taizu sneered dismissively. "How can Kunyun compare to him? If I remember correctly, Kunyun is just some lucky soul from the mortal realm."

"What does that matter?"

Mingyou cast a sidelong glance. "I also hail from the mortal realm. Are you suggesting that I am equally inadequate, Fellow Daoist?"

"You are a Great Cultivator, of course it is different!"

Dashun Taizu changed his tune instantly, without a second thought. Lower-level cultivators might have believed that, relying on the home-field advantage of the Eight Trigrams Furnace, he could fight Mingyou to a standstill.

But how could he not know the reality?

They were throwing a fake match right now!

Had it been an ordinary Qi Refining practitioner within the Eight Trigrams Furnace, he genuinely would have been confident in his ability to hold his ground, perhaps even win!

However, Mingyou was far from ordinary.

If things got serious, he had zero doubt that Mingyou could suppress the Heaven's Will Profound Blade with one hand and beat him to death with the other, likely without even suffering a scratch!

Therefore, his attitude had remained incredibly respectful from start to finish, devoid of the slightest arrogance.

"Ultimately, Kunyun only made a single mistake from start to finish."

Dashun Taizu eagerly changed the subject. "He underestimated his life tribulation... His life tribulation is actually not much simpler than the Heaven-Stealing Thief's."

Immediately after, the two Qi Refining practitioners gazed down below.

..........

Inside the Eight Trigrams Furnace, as the battle between Wang Ping and Kunyun raged across the sky, the spiritual qi of heaven and earth was whipped into a frenzy by their divine powers and magic.

The ripples sparked by their countless prior collisions were still spreading. As they blended together, they formed a massive vortex that inhaled and exhaled the spiritual energy of heaven and earth. Beneath this violently surging spiritual qi, layers of profound visions were gradually projected.

At the very bottom was a dragon phantom.

It lurked beneath the earth like a subterranean spring current. This was the Earthly Yin Water, the Hidden Dragon Meridian-Circulating Nether-Penetrating Qi—the cosmic qi that fueled Wang Ping's magic.

In the middle hovered a majestic palatial court.

Filled with an array of ten thousand gods amidst jade pavilions, this was the human-side yang earth, the Origin-Governing Battle-Axe-Wielding Fate-Governing Qi—the cosmic qi that fueled Wang Ping's divine power.

At the very top lay a streak of lightning.

The lightning flashed across the sky to the universal echo of thunder, appearing like a rift carved directly into the firmament. It stretched across the expanse, its countless branches spiderwebbing into the surroundings.

Taking the form of thunder and dragons, acting as the Evil-Slaying pivot, this was the heavenly yang wood, the Thunder Sound Universal Transformation Azure Thunder Qi—the cosmic qi that fueled Kunyun's magic and divine power.

Layer upon layer of profound visions and varying cosmic qi used the entirety of the Eight Trigrams Furnace as a chessboard to paint a magnificent trigram. A cultivator ignorant of its mysteries would discern absolutely nothing, even if they stared right at it.

For instance, Wang Ping felt nothing at all.

However, Kunyun froze in shock—for he recognized this trigram. From top to bottom, it possessed two yang lines and one yin line. This was the Xun Trigram!

The Xun Trigram? The Xun Trigram!

In an instant, Kunyun recalled the records he had read in the Comprehensive Records of Arrayed Immortals. Right before "Wood and Fire Governance," four distinct words had been glaringly apparent.

Xun Aids the Fire.

This phrase had struck him with an inexplicable sense of familiarity. He scoured his divine sense, digging deep into his memories until he finally pulled the answer from the distant past.

It was a lesson his master, Tianxing, had taught back when he had first joined the Immortal Gate as a youth, freshly mastering his magic alongside Kunlun:

"Normally, the cycle of the Five Elements dictates that wood generates fire. Under specific circumstances, however, Fire Counter-Burning Wood can occur. The conditions for this are incredibly strict—the fire must blaze to its absolute extreme. Only then will the prosperous child devour the mother, bringing an end to the wood qi. Yet, driving a fire to such a blistering extreme is monumentally difficult."

"The key lies in the wind."

"Wind aids the fire, allowing the fire qi to be reborn and reach that absolute blazing extreme... However, in this day and age, this wind can no longer be found."

"Because the original wind is gone, achieving this requires a higher tier of wind... Something even your master cannot grasp."

The memories came flooding back.

These memories became the kindling that ignited his spiritual wisdom. Staring at the Xun Trigram before him, Kunyun was struck by a profound epiphany:

"This is the wind!"

"The wind can no longer be found within the Twenty-Four Qi, so one must look higher, to the innate Eight Trigrams! One of the very representations of the Xun Trigram is the wind!"

Uniting Earth to Behold Fire was merely a smokescreen; the true goal was to assemble this Xun Trigram!

"That's it! That's it!"

Kunyun's eyes went wide as he looked around in shock:

'That is why I could never defeat Dousheng! Our very battle is constructing the Xun Trigram, fanning the fire on his body!'

This was an inescapable trap!

"The longer I fight him, the stronger his fire burns, and the more it devours my wood qi. I will only grow weaker as the battle drags on! Until I am entirely powerless."

Even worse—

"Now that the Xun Trigram is complete, the cosmic qi has responded in turn."

Kunyun looked up at the sky. He could distinctly feel that beneath the layered visions, the three streams of cosmic qi composing the trigram were now watching them.

This was no longer an ordinary battle.

It was a winner-takes-all battle for qi destiny!

Kunyun lowered his gaze and looked at Wang Ping in the distance. 'If I win, I can strip him of his qi destiny and achieve a flawless breakthrough into Qi Refining.'

'By the same token... If he wins, all of my qi destiny will belong to him. He will instantly overcome the Heavenly Thunder tribulation and become a Major Divine Ability cultivator. It would even accelerate his condensation of a destiny form when he later attempts the Tribulation Transcending Third Layer. It would be a monumental leap for him.'

This was forcing them to fight to the death!

'My life tribulation has reached this point, and I have already missed the best opportunity to escape it. My one and only chance now is to slay this man head-on, using raw power to smash through the tribulation.'

Yet under the influence of the Xun Trigram, which used wind to fan the flames and induce Fire Counter-Burning Wood, victory was completely impossible.

Kunyun fell silent. In his daze, he seemed to feel an invisible yet suffocating gaze falling upon him from beyond the heavens.

"So that's how it is."

"You sealed all my avenues of retreat just to force me to muster every last ounce of my strength, cast everything aside, and smash myself to death against the wall you built for me?"