Chapter 227: Great Loss of Wood Qi, Lifespans Returned!

Wang Ping descended from the vault of heaven.

Ignoring the awe-filled gazes gathering on him and the utterly devastated Old Emperor, he instantly returned to the side of the Ever-Suppressing Six Harmonies Cauldron.

Then, he remembered.

'So that's it!'

'Back during the Great Rebellion's Purging the Stale Qi of the Six Heavens, a Supreme True Lord of wood qi was heavily injured. To heal his wounds and stabilize his wood qi, he stripped away the lifespans of all Qi Refining practitioners.'

'This was Mingyou's goal!'

Of course, relying merely on a single Eight Trigrams Furnace and the symbolic damage inflicted by two cultivators who hadn't even reached the Qi Refining realm was just a drop in the bucket against the world's wood qi.

But that drop in the bucket was enough. Even if it only added a single scratch to the already unstable wood qi, it was enough to let a sliver of the Qi Refining lifespan taken by the Supreme True Lord leak from the wound. And once that sliver fell into reality, it could amount to hundreds or thousands of years of life!

Wang Ping reached a moment of absolute clarity.

'Kunyun's opponents weren't just Dashun Taizu and Mingyou... he was up against practically every Qi Refining practitioner in the entire Immortal Gate!'

With their lifespans stripped away, Qi Refining practitioners had at most ten thousand years to live. Who could resign themselves to that? Who would be willing? Had it not been a True Monarch's doing, they would have turned hostile and rebelled long ago.

But now, Mingyou had forcibly snatched back a fraction of that lifespan for all Qi Refining practitioners right from the hands of that Wood Qi True Lord. Who would actually oppose him?

The fact that they hadn't openly supported him was already restraint enough!

'Including Kunyun's master, Tianxing. It's highly likely he discovered Mingyou's layout too, but ultimately chose to tacitly approve. He didn't actually step in to stop it.'

Therefore, Kunyun failed.

'The Heaven-Stealing Thief and Kunlun merely added fuel to the fire. All the Qi Refining practitioners ate the meat, while he drank the broth... With Kunyun dead, Kunlun has officially survived his life tribulation.'

'However, looking back in hindsight, Kunyun did have hidden helpers. Although Mingyou's plan managed to rope in all the Qi Refining practitioners, how could the higher-ups—the True Persons and True Monarchs of wood qi—ever agree to such a thing? If they had known, they definitely would have intervened to help Kunyun achieve Qi Refining Entering the Dao.'

"Hiss...!"

At this thought, Wang Ping inhaled sharply, arriving at the exact same conclusion as Great Cultivator Tianxing: 'Mingyou must have an even greater backer behind him!'

Otherwise, for a matter as crucial as damaging the wood qi, how could not a single wood qi cultivator have calculated it in advance? The only one involved was Dashun Taizu, and he was a helper.

'Biyang's... is far too ruthless.'

Wang Ping sighed with endless emotion.

On the other side, however, the aftershocks caused by the damage to the wood qi had yet to cease. By now, they had finally and completely enveloped the Cosmic Deep Space beneath the Immortal Gate.

Naturally bearing the brunt of it was Mingyou, who was the closest.

He spread his arms wide and let out a long breath, as if exhaling all the decay he had accumulated over the years. Within his physical shell, vitality burst forth anew.

'Three hundred and sixty-five years.'

A light ignited in Mingyou's eyes. He looked inward and quickly saw the lifespan he had gained. It wasn't much, but to him, it was incomparably precious.

After all, it had been a very long time since he had felt such surging vitality. The profound mysteries that had gone dormant as his time limit approached were now reawakening, one by one.

'There's still a chance!'

Mingyou felt infinitely energized. Snatching back over three hundred years of lifespan meant he had over three hundred more years to strike at a higher Realm.

As long as he became a True Person, his lifespan issues would be swept away completely. Cultivation—in the end, it was nothing more than fighting the heavens for one's life. Everyone in the Immortal Gate was the same.

Kunyun was like that; how was he any different?

"Amitabha..."

Meanwhile, on the other side of the Cosmos, Great Cultivator Tianxing had also received an infusion of lifespan. His head of white hair turned pitch-black, and his aura surged violently.

Compared to Mingyou, Tianxing hadn't quite reached the point of his oil running dry, but he was still in a rather dangerous spot, teetering on the edge of his twilight years. Snatching back lifespan from the heavens brought him immense benefits as well. He had already been suppressing the Ascetic Monk in their fight; now, with a mere raise of his hand, a single palm strike sent his opponent flying.

"Amitabha..."

The towering giant Buddha staggered back through the starry sky and helplessly chanted a Buddhist moniker. Then, reaching out a hand, a mountain-like Buddha palm plunged straight into the Eight Trigrams Furnace.

"Clang!"

In an instant, the Heaven's Will Profound Blade awakened once more. The blade light chopped down, instantly leaving a bone-deep gash on that mountain-like Buddha palm.

Bean-sized droplets of golden Brahma blood dripped down.

Seeing this, Mingyou moved with godly speed. He immediately swept his sleeve, collecting those drops of golden Brahma blood and giving the Ascetic Monk absolutely no chance to reclaim them.

Witnessing this, the Ascetic Monk's mountain-ridge-like brows twitched violently, but he didn't dare say a word. He could only continue extending his arm to grab hold of Jin Hai.

Just like that, Jin Hai was plucked out of the Eight Trigrams Furnace.

After finishing all this, the Ascetic Monk finally took a step back. The Buddhist light atop his head tore open the Cosmos, impressively manifesting overlapping Zen forests and rows of temples within the rift.

"Farewell. I won't see you off."

Mingyou offered his farewells with a smile.

A second later, all the anomalies vanished. The Ascetic Monk took Jin Hai and fled back to the depths of the Brahma Nation, clearly not daring to linger in the Immortal Gate for a moment longer.

After all, Kunyun's life tribulation had ended, and the torrent of destiny was gradually returning to its proper course. If he didn't take this chance to leave, it would probably be too late.

As for Kunyun's death—even though it had eliminated a True Transmission of the Immortal Gate and a hidden danger for the future—Jin Hai felt no joy whatsoever. Kunyun may be dead, but the outcome was even worse than if he had succeeded in becoming a Qi Refining practitioner. The latter would have simply meant one more enemy, whereas the former had resulted in every Qi Refining practitioner in the entire Immortal Gate receiving a monstrous windfall.

If he had known this would happen, he would have been better off helping Kunyun!

..........

Within the Immortal Gate, inside the Eight Trigrams Furnace, as Jin Hai was taken away, the sword light that had been constantly tangling with him finally dissipated, revealing a sorry figure.

It was none other than Xuanlongzi, whom Kunyun had invited as his reinforcement.

However, Xuanlongzi's current appearance was truly quite pathetic. His entire body was stained with bits of gold, and a foul stench radiated from him, impossible to conceal.

This was all caused by Jin Hai.

His time limit had already been fast approaching, and after suffering the corrosion of Jin Hai's divine power, the Five Turbidities Evil World, the fire of his life had grown incredibly weak, reduced to a mere flicker.

Yet, he didn't show the slightest hint of dejection. Instead, he was in high spirits.

"So Kunyun failed..."

Xuanlongzi looked toward the direction where Kunyun's body and Dao had perished. Wind and thunder still raged in that area, and spiritual energy swept wildly about, but it was merely the residual aftermath.

"...Whatever. It has nothing to do with me."

Xuanlongzi quickly adjusted his mindset. After all, his sole purpose in this battle had been to survive Jin Hai's hands, and he had now achieved that.

He didn't care whether Kunyun lived or died. What mattered was that he had survived, meaning he could use Kunyun's compensation to make one final, desperate bid for Qi Refining Entering the Dao.

Kunyun had failed his struggle for his life, ending with his body dead and his Dao erased.

However, such things were already a common occurrence in the Immortal Gate.

Next, it would be his turn.

Turning around, Xuanlongzi cast one last glance in the direction of the Dashun Imperial Palace. The enemy who murdered Changyangzi, the junior he thought most highly of, was over there.

But... forget it.

He certainly thought highly of Changyangzi, but no matter how highly he thought of him, how could the junior compare to himself? Compared to avenging his disciple, his own Dao was far more important.

In the next second, Xuanlongzi also vanished from where he stood.

Meanwhile, inside the Dashun Imperial Palace.

Wang Ping also sensed Xuanlongzi's gaze. Although he didn't know the reason for it, with the Ever-Suppressing Six Harmonies Cauldron beside him, he wasn't particularly worried.

'The life tribulation has ended.'

Wang Ping focused his mind, showing no hesitation whatsoever.

It was time to pivot!

His thoughts turning, Wang Ping discarded all reluctance. Right then and there, he prepared to detonate his already perfected Ten Thousand Gods Terrestrial Chart, kill himself to restart, and shed all karma.

He had no choice. High-level games were simply too hard to play!

In this life tribulation, from being plotted against to becoming a pawn, he had almost no autonomy from start to finish. It could be said that Mingyou had manipulated him flawlessly.

'No matter what, the knowledge I gained from You Xuexin is still here. If I can't find a Gui water divine power, at worst I'll just cripple my Gui water magical power along with everything else and start from scratch. I'll find a more ordinary Dao. I think Bing fire is pretty good, and the divine power When the Kalpa Fire Blazes is quite formidable too...'

Thinking up to here, Wang Ping was already beginning to research his opponents for low-level games.

However, in the very next second, his expression suddenly froze.

The reason was simple. Even without the influence of the fire qi, his divine power, the Ten Thousand Gods Terrestrial Chart, had taken on diamond-like properties.

It wouldn't break!

It wouldn't shatter!

'Why is it like this?'

Wang Ping's pupils violently contracted. It was different from before. Previously, under the influence of Uniting Earth to Behold Fire, no matter how much his divine power was damaged, it would multiply and grow back exponentially.

But now, he couldn't damage it at all.

This meant he had no way to switch his cultivation to another Dao. He could only bear the burden of the Ten Thousand Gods Terrestrial Chart—a divine power he wouldn't be able to hide no matter where he went!

[It is the historic feat.]

Right at that moment, the Treasure Cauldron beside him vibrated slightly, and a voice transmitted over: 'You killed that envoy of the People of Heaven and caused the wood qi to suffer damage, triggering the historic feat from back then.'

A historic feat from back then?

An answer quickly surfaced in Wang Ping's mind: "Purging the Stale Qi of the Six Heavens?"

[Correct.]

The voice of the Treasure Cauldron Spirit carried a tone of pity: [After Purging the Stale Qi of the Six Heavens, the Great Rebellion's progress halted right there... You are now the Great Rebellion within this historic feat.]

[Your divine power, the Ten Thousand Gods Terrestrial Chart, inherited the qi destiny of that envoy from the People of Heaven, perfectly aligning with the historic feat of Purging the Stale Qi of the Six Heavens. Therefore, it naturally must comply with the outcome of this feat. Just as the Great Rebellion halted and advanced no further, so too does your divine power. It has no further opportunity for progress; instead, it has become your burden.]

"...What?"

Wang Ping's eyes instantly widened.

The Treasure Cauldron Spirit continued: [For the Tribulation Transcending Third Layer, depicting a destiny form requires using your divine power as a brush and your magical power as ink, ascending together into the torrent of destiny.]

[But now, you can no longer lift your divine power.]

[Other people's divine powers are ordinary writing brushes, but your divine power is an iron brush forged from refined steel, pressing down on you like a massive mountain.]

[With it pressing down on you, you cannot enter the torrent of destiny, let alone depict your own destiny form, unless your cultivation base can reach the Tribulation Transcending Third Layer. However, if you can't enter the torrent of destiny and lack a destiny form, it is impossible for you to reach the Tribulation Transcending Third Layer... Both ends are deadlocked. It has effectively severed your Dao.]

[...My condolences.]

Wang Ping sat stunned for a long time before he finally managed to comprehend the meaning conveyed by the Treasure Cauldron Spirit:

'My cultivation... is permanently stalled!?'