Chapter 284: A True Person Steps Into the Mortal Realm!

As the words fell, the twenty-four-colored radiant light shifted.

Time nearly froze. Only a will that reigned above all creation echoed through heaven and earth, arriving above the Eight Trigrams Furnace in an instant.

"Clang!"

Almost simultaneously, the dormant Heaven's Will Profound Blade awakened on its own. The blade's light blocked the way, and a voice that would rather break than bend resonated through Cosmic Deep Space:

"Halt!"

"By the Immortal Decree, I oversee the Eight Trigrams Furnace. Those above Qi Refining are forbidden to enter. True Persons and True Monarchs shall not interfere with the mortal realm. Do you intend to defy the decree?"

Hearing this, the will rippled through the void, releasing a chuckle.

"Why would I defy an Immortal Decree?"

"It is just that I happen to have one of my own."

With those words, light flared. The newcomer brought forth another decree woven with laws of reality, manifesting as a brilliant immortal radiance that descended before the blade's light.

An Immortal Decree was not absolute. After all, the Immortal Gate had more than one immortal. If one had left a decree forbidding those above Qi Refining from interfering with the Eight Trigrams Furnace, another could naturally leave one permitting passage. Of course, this also involved agreements and tacit understandings between the immortals themselves.

"The Eight Trigrams Furnace, the Divine Farmer Cauldron, and the God-Conferring Platform."

The newcomer continued, "In the past, the immortals sealed these three former domains of the Great Rebellion, converting them for their own use. To prevent the Great Rebellion from rising again, they also left behind decrees just in case."

"Under normal circumstances, interference is forbidden. However, by invoking a decree, one is allowed to act once. The price is that they cannot act again for three hundred years."

As his voice fell, the blade's voice gradually quieted.

"True enough."

High in the firmament, a blurry figure slowly emerged upon the Heaven's Will Profound Blade. "However, your decree belongs to the Divine Farmer Cauldron."

The Divine Farmer Cauldron was under the jurisdiction of the Immortal Prescription Courtyard, while the Eight Trigrams Furnace belonged to the Divine Weapon Courtyard.

In other words:

"You are using a decree from the Immortal Prescription Courtyard upon the Divine Weapon Courtyard's furnace?"

"Why not?"

The newcomer chuckled. "They are all Immortal Decrees. Why bother distinguishing between the Divine Farmer Cauldron and the Eight Trigrams Furnace?"

The figure within the blade spoke coldly:

"When the Divine Farmer Cauldron ran rampant back then, the Immortal Gate's intervention was extremely limited. That was precisely because they lacked an Immortal Decree, leaving the Qi Refining practitioners and True Persons unable to act."

"So it was in your hands all along."

The blade's light grew dimmer. It trembled with a hum, seemingly unwilling to concede. Yet, the blade intent that was supposed to sever everything couldn't even approach that majestic will.

If the decision were entirely its own, it certainly wouldn't acknowledge it. However, while it could stop Qi Refining practitioners, it could not stop a True Person. Since the other party had brought an Immortal Decree, their actions were nominally justified, and the initiative no longer belonged to the blade. To stubbornly block the way now would only invite humiliation.

"...You may only act once."

"Naturally."

With that, the Heaven's Will Profound Blade vanished from its spot. The majestic will let out a light laugh before hurtling down toward the mortal realm!

...

The Eight Trigrams Furnace, Great Shun Capital.

Inside the Tribute Hall, Chenlong sat cross-legged. Sitting opposite him was a woman, slouched carelessly on a Meditation Mat with one leg crossed and the other propped up.

"Chenlong, I can no longer comprehend your Divine Intent," she said.

Her sigh was heartfelt. "Observing the self within, seeking nothing from without—your path has diverged completely from mine and the other four at the Great Grandmaster Rank."

"That's normal."

Chenlong nodded, taking it as a matter of course. "After all, I'm just this invincible. It makes sense that my path stands out a bit. There's no need to be surprised, First Seat."

"I have to be surprised," the woman said, shaking her head. "It's unbelievable. You've clearly forged a new path, so why has your strength only grown this tiny bit? If we evaluate your current combat prowess against the heavens, you could probably only spar with a Middle Divine Ability cultivator, and there's a high chance you'd still lose."

She sighed heavily.

"If that weren't the case, I would have brought you along when I took Wang Ping to Guanchao City for weapon forging, instead of leaving you behind in the capital."

Chenlong fell silent.

After a brief silence, he gave a relaxed smile.

It's fine. It's not a big deal, he thought. Being weak doesn't affect my invincibility. It's just that they're the pioneers, while I've only just started. My Divine Intent hasn't yet reached full mastery.

If anything, being weak just proves that my path is boundlessly wide and without an end, while the others have already hit their limits. Because I am weak, I have won!

Looking at the completely unfazed Chenlong, the woman marveled even more.

"To remain unshakeable even after hearing that—impressive."

Her admiration expressed, she offered her conclusion: "In my eyes, this Divine Intent path of yours is actually much better suited for a genius to walk."

She phrased it delicately. Why was it suited for a genius? Because a genius could constantly grow stronger, and the stronger they grew, the more they accumulated that heart of invincibility. However, some people simply had capped potential. They might be considered geniuses in the mortal world, but placed within the Immortal Gate, they were nothing more than unremarkable, ordinary people.

And who was this person?

Looking at the woman whose face was full of hints, stopping just short of saying it outright, Chenlong's expression didn't waver. I'm invincible. This person the First Seat is talking about definitely isn't me.

With that in mind, he immediately puffed out his chest and pumped his fist.

"Obviously, I am exactly that kind of genius."

Bang!

Chenlong crashed onto his back. The woman calmly retracted her fist. "It seems you aren't... To maintain this state, you can only deceive yourself."

"When Wang Ping returns, pass this Divine Intent path on to him."

"Ugh... it's fine. I am invincible."

Clutching his nose, Chenlong sat back up, having already brushed aside what had just happened. Following her train of thought, he said, "I've tried, but he didn't grasp it."

"Just because he couldn't grasp it before doesn't mean he won't later," the woman said plainly. "My path of Divine Intent is entirely unique. Even I haven't truly figured out its profound mysteries, let alone managed to pass it on to others. But you are different. Your path started from a humble beginning, so in theory, it can be replicated."

"This will be good for Wang Ping."

"Alright, I'll figure out a way to teach him."

Chenlong nodded, harboring no thoughts of keeping it to himself. But as he looked at the tranquil expression on the woman's face, his brow suddenly furrowed.

"First Seat... Master."

"Hmm?"

The woman raised her eyes to look at him. It had been many years since Chenlong last called her Master, even though strictly speaking, he was her very first disciple.

"What is it?" she asked with a smile.

"Were you... entrusting me with your final wishes just now?" Chenlong's voice dropped low. "I remember the last time you acted like this was when you completed the Manifesting Divinity spirit form."

The creation of the Martial Dao was never a storybook tale of a single person emerging from nowhere, defeating all invincible rivals across the world, and claiming the peak. It was a chaotic era where extraordinary persons poisoned the common folk and the imperial court sat idly by. The woman and Chenlong, both having grown up in that era, had faced life-and-death crises more than once.

That was, until the Manifesting Divinity spirit form appeared.

The woman pioneered the Martial Dao, elevating the combat power of the Great Grandmaster Rank from slightly surpassing a Loose Immortal to rivaling Divine Powers. It was nothing short of a qualitative leap, and naturally, the process was fraught with immense hardship.

Back then, at least, she had pursued it with the resolve to die.

Even when her intuition warned her of the extreme danger—that there was more than a fifty percent chance she would die in the attempt—she still went through with it. That was the only reason the current Martial Dao existed.

That time, she had also entrusted her final wishes to Chenlong.

Now, this was the second time.

"Haha."

Seeing Chenlong looking at her with the same trepidation as that young boy from years ago, despite the gray already touching his temples, the woman smiled.

"Some people never grow up. You really haven't grown up at all."

She shook her head.

"It's fine. It might sound like a final wish, but it might not come to that. I've made preparations, and my intuition tells me the odds of survival are about three in ten."

"Compared to the one-in-ten chance when I was comprehending the Manifesting Divinity spirit form, that's already pretty good."

Chenlong fell silent for a moment before giving a heavy nod.

"...Understood."

"Master, please take care out there."

Only then did she look satisfied. Standing up, she patted Chenlong's head, ruffling his hair, before picking up her wine gourd. She turned and waved.

"I'm off."

With that, her figure vanished.

She walked right out of the Tribute Hall just like that. Every step she took was incredibly grounded; she moved unhurriedly, yet at astonishing speed, as if the earth itself were collapsing beneath her feet.

Before long, she had left the capital behind. Far from the crowds, she arrived deep within an ancient mountain forest, finally coming to a halt before a cliff.

Wind surged up from the bottom of the gorge, whipping her robes into a violent flutter.

She then raised the wine gourd, tilted her swan-like neck, and took a deep, fierce gulp. A sigh of satisfaction immediately escaped her throat.

It had been many years since she last drank.

Thinking back, she had once sworn off alcohol. It was only because the heavy thoughts suppressed at the bottom of her heart could finally be aired for a brief moment that she drank another gourd.

"Can't get greedy, though," she murmured.

With a soft laugh, she hung the gourd back at her waist. She shifted her gaze, looking up toward the sky above. "Senior, are you going to keep waiting?"

She had lived in seclusion for many years. Throughout this time, her true body had never appeared before others. She usually rode the wind via her Divine Intent, wandering the world. This had sparked many speculations. Chenlong used to think she was hiding from Xuanhe, while Xuanhe believed she was hiding from the Heaven's Will Profound Blade.

Dashun Taizu thought she was hiding from him.

However, only she herself knew the truth. If it were only those people, she wouldn't need to hide at all. If she so wished, they wouldn't cross paths with her in a lifetime.

That even included Great Cultivator Mingyou. Though a bit troublesome, they weren't enough to force her into hiding for decades, daring only to roam the world using her Divine Intent.

The one she was truly hiding from—

"Rumble!"

Meteoric fire plummeted from the sky in a dazzling display of twenty-four colors, streaking across the firmament like a rainbow. The atmosphere between heaven and earth grew incredibly heavy, as if some formless entity was descending.

—was this one.

Standing at the edge of the cliff, the woman looked into the empty space ahead and cupped her hands. "This junior, Lian Ruzhao, greets the True Person... That is the correct title, right?"

"..."

Before her, in a higher dimension invisible to mortal eyes and undetectable even by Qi Refining practitioners, a hazy figure stood in silence.

The majestic will stared fixedly at her.

He was absolutely certain that she could not see him. If she had, she would have suffered severe injuries at this moment. Yet, she had still pinpointed his exact location.

All because of that so-called Martial Dao Divine Intent.

Intuition?

"Truly an anomaly..."