Chapter 229: I've Become a Furnace-Tender?

The Immortal Gate, Xuanlu Grotto-Heaven.

"Welcome back, Patriarch!"

A streak of light tore through the Cosmos, coming to a steady halt within the grotto-heaven. It revealed a figure with a weathered face and white hair—Xuanlongzi, just returned from the Eight Trigrams Furnace.

A throng of cultivators had long been waiting inside the grotto-heaven. The vast majority were Xuanlongzi's own kin, with a small fraction made up of his disciples. The Immortal Gate held no taboos about such things; let alone inner sect disciples, even independent cultivators could establish their own lineages—they just wouldn't receive official recognition.

"Martial Uncle!"

A moment later, a Daoist with a sword on his back hurried over. A fawning smile plastered his face, though his eyes held a hint of nervous probing.

"Ah, Yuhong,"

Xuanlongzi glanced at the sword-bearing Daoist, his gaze placid. "Why are you running wild around my place again? Didn't I tell you I didn't want to see you right now?"

"Answering Martial Uncle,"

Daoist Yuhong hastily replied. "I came to congratulate you. I heard that you displayed great divine might within the Eight Trigrams Furnace, fighting a Brahma Cultivator true transmission to a standstill..."

Xuanlongzi cut him off before he could finish.

"Heard? Where did you hear this?"

The old man looked somewhat surprised. After leaving the Eight Trigrams Furnace, he had specifically made a detour to the Heaven and Earth Pavilion, intending to play the part of a bandit cultivator and make a small fortune.

But he had found the Heaven and Earth Pavilion completely deserted. The cultivators from all factions had vanished. His original target—Yuan Chengsong, the inner sect disciple and Major Divine Ability cultivator who served as Kunyun's deputy—was nowhere to be found, and his karmic threads couldn't be traced. After searching for three months, Xuanlongzi had returned in disappointment.

The news had already spread in just three short months?

Xuanlongzi frowned deeply. This might be beneficial for others, but for a cultivator like him who was on the verge of facing his life tribulation, it was disastrous.

Because life tribulations were the most susceptible to karmic disturbances.

The greater the fame, the heavier the karma. The heavier the karma, the more trouble would arise when the life tribulation struck. This was why most cultivators at the Tribulation Transcending Third Layer chose to live in seclusion.

"What exactly is being spread?"

Xuanlongzi pressed.

Daoist Yuhong understood the underlying concern and immediately answered honestly, "There actually isn't much about you, Martial Uncle. Most of the rumors are focused on the newly promoted true transmission disciple."

"A newly promoted true transmission? Who?" Xuanlongzi paused.

"Dousheng."

At the mention of this name, Daoist Yuhong's expression turned complex. Heaven knew how shocked he had been when he first heard this Daoist title.

Once upon a time, the owner of this name had been just an ordinary independent cultivator who had barely refined his magic power. Yuhong could have crushed him with one hand. Yet now, the man had transformed into a high and mighty true transmission disciple... and that wasn't even his most absurd achievement.

What was even more absurd was how he had been promoted to true transmission.

Daoist Yuhong lowered his voice.

"Word is that this person originated as an independent cultivator, a mere Human Firewood furnace attendant in the Eight Trigrams Furnace. Yet he overthrew his superior, using his divine power cultivation to defeat Senior Brother Kunyun head-on."

"Because of this, an exception was made to promote him to true transmission."

"Rumors are flying across the Immortal Gate that he gained the recognition of a lost Spiritual Treasure within the Eight Trigrams Furnace. It was only through this monumental fortuitous encounter that he managed to pull it off."

"Many are already calling him the Immortal Gate's number one independent cultivator, the strongest divine power practitioner."

"His fame has truly skyrocketed."

Hearing this, Xuanlongzi's brow gradually relaxed, and his expression turned peculiar. Striking down Kunyun from below? I see. This is the handiwork of that major cultivator.

Even outside Bliss Immortal Peak, he didn't dare speak that person's name directly.

However, as a four-thousand-year-old veteran of the inner sect, Xuanlongzi had heard of Mingyou and had even lived through the most glorious era of that major cultivator.

Therefore, he knew exactly what this meant—

This is a method to shift karma!

As expected, Kunyun must have been schemed to death by that major cultivator. It's just that, for whatever reason, he dumped the karma onto someone else.

Thinking of this, Xuanlongzi felt a surge of schadenfreude.

The title of the Immortal Gate's number one independent cultivator was fine; nobody cared about that. But a title like "the strongest divine power practitioner" wasn't something just anyone could bear.

Not to mention that after killing Kunyun, this person must have inherited all of Kunyun's qi destiny. In the eyes of any cultivator lacking qi destiny, he's a prime piece of meat.

Without a doubt, this newly promoted true transmission disciple was going to run into trouble very soon.

...

Inside the Eight Trigrams Furnace, Dashun Imperial Palace.

"This Biyang's... is going too far!"

Beside the towering Treasure Cauldron, Wang Ping was cursing a blue streak, absolutely furious. Over the past three months, Great Shun had returned to its former tranquility, no longer plagued by its previous turmoil.

Truth be told, the battle three months ago had deterred quite a few people. This was especially true after the great war, when Wang Ping had openly taken up residence in the imperial palace. It terrified the extraordinary people of the world into inaction. The Old Emperor, in particular, had completely ignored state affairs since that battle, claiming to be gravely ill.

On the other hand, Wang Ping's own intuition told him something was completely wrong.

He had discovered that across all of Great Shun, everyone who had witnessed that battle had somehow forgotten all the other participants who had taken action that day.

Tianxing, Mingyou, Dashun Taizu, and the Brahma Nation's Ascetic Monk.

Jin Hai and Xuanlongzi.

All these figures had been wiped from the witnesses' memories. The karma for Kunyun's death and the severe damage to the Wood Qi had all been concentrated entirely on him.

"It's the exact same in the Immortal Gate,"

Wang Ping said through gritted teeth. "What number one independent cultivator of the Immortal Gate? What strongest divine power practitioner? There's a problem with this karma. My divine power has grown even heavier!"

[This is perfectly normal.]

The Treasure Cauldron Spirit transmitted its voice faintly. [After all, that new master of yours... well, is very powerful. Exceptionally powerful. He is deliberately increasing the karmic weight of the great deeds on your shoulders.]

[Your killing of Kunyun covertly aligns with the Great Rebellion's historical deed of severely damaging the Wood Qi. Through his manipulation, this imagery and karma have been focused entirely onto you. As a result, if someone wants to settle the score for this deed in the future, their first target will be you, not him.]

Wang Ping's jaw dropped upon hearing this.

"...Are you saying that if the Qi Refining practitioners tied to the Wood Qi want to repair the damage it suffered this time, they will only set their sights on me?"

[Yes.]

"They won't go looking for that Biyang's?"

[They will not.]

Wang Ping was speechless.

He was being made the scapegoat once again!

At this thought, Wang Ping's hands trembled with rage. It took him a long time to recover. Letting out a long breath, he then pulled out a decree.

It was a letter of appointment, officially making him the new Furnace-Tending Disciple of the Eight Trigrams Furnace. Mingyou's seal was stamped at the bottom. At first, Wang Ping hadn't understood what this meant and had even been quite happy. After all, it implied that he too could embezzle the Immortal Gate's assets and engage in massive smuggling and money laundering.

But now, he understood.

"That old bastard... he didn't want to bring me back to Bliss Immortal Peak because he was afraid of being tainted by karma again! So he threw me here to fend for myself!"

Wang Ping took several deep breaths to calm himself.

Calm down.

Didn't I think about this earlier? Being schemed against to this extent and turned into a tool was already expected. It's not really a surprise.

He was simply too furious to let it go.

After all, having his divine power locked, his cultivation halted, and feeling manipulated from start to finish was a terrible experience. The psychological trauma of being thoroughly trashed in a high-level game was simply too heavy.

Even resorting to suicide for a fresh start required extreme caution; he couldn't just act recklessly anymore.

However... it wasn't as if there was no way to break out of this situation.

I still need to practice the Martial Dao!

Wang Ping sighed inwardly. The Tribulation Transcending Third Layer... I definitely can't reach it relying on immortal cultivation alone. With my divine power locked, it feels like a massive mountain pressing down on me.

At the Tribulation Transcending Second Layer, all cultivation focused on divine powers. The higher his cultivation, the stronger his divine power became. And the stronger his divine power, the harder it suppressed him, making a breakthrough increasingly impossible.

It was a complete dead end.

If he wanted to break through, he had to forge a new path. He had to cast aside the Immortal Dao and use his advancements in the Martial Dao to elevate his divine power. No matter what, there was still a glimmer of hope.

With this thought, Wang Ping finally relaxed.

"Regardless, I've obtained almost all of Kunyun's qi destiny this time, and the Ten Thousand Gods Terrestrial Chart has been perfected. I'll pass the final Heavenly Thunder tribulation first!"

...

The Immortal Gate, Immortal Prescription Courtyard.

"Boom!"

Peals of thunder boomed and the wind howled fiercely. This had been the scene at the Immortal Prescription Courtyard for the past three months. Wind and thunder raged together as the aftereffects of the damaged Wood Qi surged across the world.

Beneath this tempestuous sky sat an ancient pavilion. Two Daoists, one old and one young, sat facing each other within it. Lightning flickered in the old Daoist's eyes, his every movement carrying a solemn majesty. The young Daoist sat perfectly straight; though simply dressed, he exuded an inexplicable aura of nobility.

"Shunhe has entered seclusion."

The old Daoist suddenly spoke. "He suffered no small loss this time. The moment he returned to the Gongshun Grotto-Heaven, he went into seclusion and even pasted a True Monarch's decree outside his door."

"He's afraid."

The young Daoist chuckled lightly. "It seems his foundation truly was damaged, otherwise he wouldn't resort to this. He's worried someone will take the opportunity to stab him in the back."

The old Daoist shook his head. "If you ask me, he was just too bold. Relying on his great deeds from founding Great Shun, he threw his weight around the Eight Trigrams Furnace with the might of a Corpse Dissolution Immortal. He absolutely deserved that slash. That vicious blade was probably enraged by him as well; it chopped away at least half of his life."

"Because of this, all his scheming this time was for nothing."

"With the Wood Qi damaged, although his esoteric foundations suffered, he could still have turned the tables and extended his lifespan. But that single strike knocked him right back to his original state."

"After all that back and forth, he gained absolutely nothing."

"If he didn't have someone protecting him from above, with that True Monarch's decree plastered outside his grotto-heaven, I fear a Wood Qi Daoist Master would have already shown up at his door to teach him a lesson."

"However... Xianfu,"

At this point, the old Daoist suddenly raised his eyes, looking at the youth before him—the one who ranked third among the Immortal Gate's many true transmission disciples, placing him even above Kunyun.

"This is also your opportunity."

"You cultivate the human-yang wood, the Profound Firmament Governance-Bestowing Talisman-Wielding Qi. The Immortal-Brahma Sword Battle is approaching, and I have already secured the right for you to preside over it."

"Now that the Eight Trigrams Furnace is under the influence of the Turbid Earth and Darkened Heavens, immense chaos is bound to erupt. Those bald donkeys from the Brahma Nation will surely seize the opportunity to slip in. This is a crisis, but it is also a fortuitous encounter. It's the perfect opportunity for you to establish your own great deeds... and I imagine your life tribulation will also manifest there."

"This disciple understands."

The young Daoist bowed slightly. "After making some brief preparations, this disciple will head to the Eight Trigrams Furnace. It's the perfect time to meet this Junior Brother Dousheng, whose fame has been soaring so highly as of late."