Chapter 282: Mingyou's Dao Path

Today, Wang Ping finally experienced the true privileges of an Immortal Gate True Transmission: a Qi Refining Great Cultivator was channeling profound mysteries to personally guide his cultivation and comprehension.

The results were outstanding.

One might even say they were a little too good.

As for Mingyou claiming this would be the last time, Wang Ping hadn't taken it to heart. What a joke—he planned to leech off this arrangement for the rest of his life!

'The Martial Dao...'

Wang Ping sat cross-legged, his eyelids lowered. The profound mysteries of his Heavenly Martial Campaign Profound Armor lit up, and the Kindling Flame inheritance filled in the necessary knowledge.

To forge a cultivation method.

Throughout the history of the Great Shun Martial Dao, every expert at the Martial Dao Great Grandmaster Rank had stood on the shoulders of their predecessors to forge their own martial arts and carve out a unique path.

Naturally, he was no exception. Now that his Divine Intent had reached the Manifesting Divinity Realm, he was fully qualified to create his own martial arts. Unlike those at the standard Great Grandmaster Rank, however, Wang Ping wasn't satisfied with a purely martial technique. After all, he dual-cultivated both the immortal and martial paths, and the cultivation method he created naturally had to reflect that!

Whoosh...

At some point, Wang Ping's aura shifted. His Earth Yin Water magic power surged, merging with the Ten Thousand Gods Terrestrial Chart as Uniting Earth to Behold Fire manifested once again.

This time, however, the fire qi was different.

It was no longer a blazing, brilliant Yang Fire, but a soft, yielding, luminous Yin Fire. It transmitted brightness and inherited obscurity, exuding a distinctly profound imagery.

Immediately after, Wang Ping's Divine Intent also ignited with flame.

Interweaving in shades of purple and azure, it was none other than the heaven and earth spiritual fire the First Seat had borrowed from the Qingtian Cult to forge the Heavenly Martial Campaign Profound Armor—the Purple-Azure Tushita Fire!

'I see...'

Looking at the seed of fire burning upon his Divine Intent, Wang Ping came to a realization. 'The heaven and earth qi to which this spiritual fire belongs must be the Transmitting Brightness Inheriting Obscurity Treasury-Guarding Qi.'

Human Yin Fire!

With Mingyou's assistance, Wang Ping's comprehension soared. The depths of his eyes filled with the light of wisdom, and profound visions of his path constantly surfaced in his mind.

'Transmitting Brightness Inheriting Obscurity Treasury-Guarding Qi... transmitting brightness and inheriting obscurity, mother and child passing it down in an endless, life-generating cycle... The imagery of this qi focuses on inheritance and continuation. The Qingtian Cult can control the Purple-Azure Tushita Fire because they view the spiritual fire as the core of passing down their sect's Martial Dao.'

'They unintentionally resonated with the imagery of this qi!'

Yet even as Wang Ping reached this realization, new doubts arose.

'Why has this qi appeared on my body? With Mingyou's help, Uniting Earth to Behold Fire actually manifested this qi. What is the reason?'

...

Rumble!

Within the Cosmos, Bukong loosed another arrow. Mingyou repeated his old trick, sacrificing a Glazed Precious Pearl to block it, but this time, Bukong revealed a smile.

"Almsgiver Mingyou, your foundation has been exposed!"

The rolling, thunderous voice provoked the resonant chiming of heaven and earth, making the already grim-faced Mingyou's gaze grow even colder. "Bald donkey, you think you're worthy of prying into my dao foundation?"

"It is the Transmitting Brightness Inheriting Obscurity Treasury-Guarding Qi, is it not?"

The smiling voice echoed not only beside Mingyou's ears but also reached Wang Ping's. "This is the third stream of qi you prepared to cultivate toward becoming a True Person."

For a fire-qi cultivator, only the Li Trigram could be cultivated. The imagery of the Li Trigram consisted of two Yang lines on the top and bottom, hiding one Yin line in the middle. Using his body's Three Talents as a foundation, Mingyou had transformed Earth Yin Fire into Yang Fire, cultivated another stream of Heaven Yang Fire, and now, paired with this Human Yin Fire, he could perfectly complete the Li Trigram.

"That Glazed Precious Pearl is the key."

Bukong's voice continued to ring out. "If this poor monk hasn't guessed wrong, it is the qi seed you planned to use to master the Transmitting Brightness Inheriting Obscurity Treasury-Guarding Qi."

"That is also why it could block my spell art."

"The Transmitting Brightness Inheriting Obscurity Treasury-Guarding Qi possesses the profound mystery of inheritance, capable of dying in one's place to extend life. You used it to bear the brunt, shifting away the damage that should have fallen upon you."

Boom!

This time, Mingyou's expression finally changed. As Bukong spoke, a corner of the five-colored celebration cloud above his head shockingly collapsed.

His dao foundation was damaged!

Just like the old monk Xianming before him, Mingyou had suffered successive heavy blows from Bukong to the point that a portion of his true depths had been seen through. His dao foundation was damaged—this was truly perilous.

In a magical battle between Qi Refining practitioners, killing an opponent purely through the profound mysteries of dao arts was basically impossible. Even for a cultivator who commanded two streams of qi, killing a cultivator who had refined one stream of qi using only profound arts was a pipe dream in most situations; at best, they could suppress and heavily injure them.

The true key to decisive victory was always one's dao progression.

Only with a higher dao progression could one see through an opponent's foundation and true depths via their countermeasures and the profound transformations of their arts, thereby landing a fatal blow.

By the same logic.

During a Qi Refining battle, once one's true depths were seen through—even if it was just a tiny fraction—the situation became extremely perilous, enough to decide the outcome of the fight.

Of course, in this kind of Great Dao struggle, merely knowing the surface information was useless. If one couldn't truly understand the transformations within, they still wouldn't be able to damage a dao foundation. Therefore, it heavily tested a cultivator's comprehension; the higher their comprehension, the greater their advantage.

This was the real reason Mingyou's expression changed.

Merely seeing the presence of the Transmitting Brightness Inheriting Obscurity Treasury-Guarding Qi wasn't all that impressive. What was truly terrifying was that Bukong actually understood the imagery of this heaven and earth qi.

This was far from ordinary!

Meanwhile, Bukong's voice didn't stop. It continued to ring out beside both Wang Ping's and Mingyou's ears simultaneously, shaking the unseen heaven and earth qi.

"Human qi, as the name implies, focuses on the mortal realm. Immortal cultivators sit high above, detached from the mundane dust. If you wanted to successfully cultivate this qi, relying on yourself would be useless."

"You had to rely on the mortals beneath the Qi Refining realm."

"This young friend must be the person you selected. If my guess isn't wrong, the Ten Thousand Gods Terrestrial Chart on his body was imparted to him by you."

"The Ten Thousand Gods Terrestrial Chart was created by the Dani Great Ancestor of the past. After the Great Rebellion was destroyed, although this divine power remained as profound as ever, no one could successfully cultivate it, essentially severing its inheritance. Yet you allowed this young friend to learn it, continuing the inheritance, and thus earned the favor of the Transmitting Brightness Inheriting Obscurity Treasury-Guarding Qi."

"He is your human material, Almsgiver Mingyou!"

Rumble!

This time, the celebration cloud above Mingyou's head shook even more violently. Large swathes of cloud qi dissipated, the blazing sun of the Golden Lamp tottered on the verge of collapse, and cracks surfaced on the Glazed Precious Pearl.

His dao foundation fractured again!

Almost simultaneously, Wang Ping also gained a realization.

'So that's how it is. This is the reason why Uniting Earth to Behold Fire spurred the birth of this fire qi with Mingyou's help. I am the firewood for this flame!'

Thinking of this, Wang Ping looked up at the firmament.

"Old dog... you lied!"

Hearing this, Mingyou twitched the corners of his mouth.

Bullshit. Since when did anyone in the Immortal Gate ever tell the truth!

He had indeed lied. While using the Ten Thousand Gods Terrestrial Chart to overwrite the Eight Trigrams Furnace was indeed the True Person's decree, it was equally beneficial for him.

By doing so, Wang Ping's affinity and attainment with the Ten Thousand Gods Terrestrial Chart would inevitably increase by a massive margin. The higher Wang Ping's mastery of this Major Divine Ability, the greater the feedback Mingyou would receive as the transmitter of the inheritance, earning more of the Transmitting Brightness Inheriting Obscurity Treasury-Guarding Qi's recognition until he finally commanded this qi!

The next second, Mingyou spoke.

"Did you think he was the only one?"

A rumbling dao voice rang out. Facing Bukong's successive heavy blows, he finally could no longer sit still. "I placed the exact same pawn thousands of years ago."

"Who do you think knocked down the Purple-Azure Tushita Fire?"

"The Martial Dao inheritance similarly bears my handwriting."

"I also tried to intervene in the upheaval of the Earthly Nether Earth to continue the Human Nether Earth divine power of the past. That was why You Xuexin and Lian Shengyue existed. It's a pity they didn't live up to expectations."

Having said that, Mingyou's gaze turned toward Wang Ping.

"That's right, he is indeed the most important chess piece of the last thousand years. By harvesting him, I have a high probability of obtaining the true recognition of the Transmitting Brightness Inheriting Obscurity Treasury-Guarding Qi."

"But that is only the final step. Crucial, but not absolute. It relies far more on my thousands of years of accumulation, which finally presented the opportunity for a carp to leap over the dragon gate."

"More importantly, so what if this little beast knows? My layout is built upon the True Person's layout. His divine power is already locked in place. Driven by the True Person, he has no other path to walk, and his death is inevitable. It will bring him nothing more than greater despair before he dies."

This was what it meant to act in accordance with heaven.

From start to finish, Mingyou's layout had borrowed the True Person's methods. By securing benefits for the True Person, he fought for his own advantages while hiding behind another.

The dao voice revolved, re-gathering Mingyou's dispersed cloud qi and repairing the celebration cloud. Although it ended up a circle smaller than before, it finally stabilized.

"Amitabha."

Seeing this, Bukong could only shake his head in regret and sigh. It was a pity; he had only dug out a portion of Mingyou's foundation, failing to truly touch the root of his cultivation.

'If I knew what kind of grand merit he planned to use for his final step to cultivate the True Person realm after assembling the Li Trigram, I would likely be able to completely crush his dao foundation. Unfortunately, there is no way to know. Relying merely on this current bit of damaged dao foundation, it will be very difficult for me to secure victory; at most, we will fight to a draw.'

On the other side, Wang Ping was also filled with helplessness.

He knew Mingyou wasn't actually wrong. The one truly wielding him as a chess piece in this moment was not Mingyou, but Daoist Master Hanguang Danyang.

Whether Mingyou's layout succeeded or failed didn't hinge on him or Wang Ping.

The key was that True Person.

If the True Person succeeded, Mingyou would ascend alongside him; if the True Person failed, he could only admit defeat and forfeit the round.

This was the Immortal Gate's unique method for dealing with lower-realm cultivators attempting to strike upward. Defending across a single realm still carried risks and wasn't stable enough; overwhelming them from two realms above was the only way to be absolutely foolproof.

What beasts!

Very quickly, however, Wang Ping pulled himself out of his negative emotions. Human effort could achieve anything. The more difficult the path ahead, the more it roused his determination.

"The places of hardship in life are precisely the times for cultivation..."

In a daze, Wang Ping recalled the words Kunyun had spoken to him right before he died. He finally possessed a much deeper understanding of that phrase, and the enlightenment in his heart grew even more profound.

This was destiny.

'Breakthrough. I must break through!'

At this thought, the emotions in Wang Ping's heart swelled even higher. "Only by taking another step forward and finding a way to trigger a life tribulation to descend upon me will I have any hope of breaking out of this situation."

Because destiny was fair.

If the True Person's layout was dragged into a life tribulation, then according to the rules of destiny, no matter how absolute the dead end seemed, there would inevitably be a thread of life!