Chapter 297: Spirit-Invoked Mingyou, the Bond Between Master and Disciple!

Facts proved that although Kunlun claimed to have defected from the Immortal Gate alongside the Heaven-Stealing Thief, his conduct still carried the heavy imprint of the Immortal Gate.

At the very least, he remained incredibly adaptable.

At Wang Ping's earnest request, he readily agreed. Forming a hand seal, he projected two blurred silhouettes of light into their surroundings.

They were none other than the Heaven-Stealing Thief and Tianxing.

"A brief parting truly warrants a fresh look."

The Heaven-Stealing Thief chuckled, his tone touched with nostalgia. "How long has it been? In just a few short years, my good disciple, you have actually reached this level of cultivation."

"When timing aligns, heaven and earth share the same strength." On the other side, Tianxing spoke in an equally deep voice. "If you hadn't been chosen as a True Person's pawn, even a peerless genius with absolute comprehension would need hundreds of years to reach the Tribulation Transcending Third Layer. How else could anyone achieve it so rapidly in just a few years?"

"Conversely, when luck fades, even a hero loses his freedom."

"Take Kunyun, for example."

At the mention of his former beloved disciple, Tianxing sounded faintly regretful. "He simply ran into that exact moment in time. Even with heaven-defying abilities, there was nothing he could do."

Wang Ping dismissed the remark.

"Since you both think my cultivation is progressing too fast, why don't we trade places? You two can be the True Person's pawns, and I will go cultivate bitterly for several hundred years. How does that sound?"

"Hahaha."

The Heaven-Stealing Thief and Tianxing immediately burst into laughter. Then, as if they hadn't said anything at all, they shifted the subject with seamless, tacit understanding.

"Why do you want to enter the Heavenly Craft Cave Abode?"

"Naturally, it is for my dear master Mingyou," Wang Ping answered without hesitation. "He doesn't want you to ruin the fire qi, so he asked me to stop you."

His voice had barely faded.

Atop the towering fortress of the pass, heaven and earth suddenly dimmed. A solitary lamp flickered to life as if someone had cast their gaze downward, followed by a teeth-gritting rebuttal:

"Nonsense! I am not, and I did no such thing!"

Mingyou had also arrived.

"Ah, Master, why are you here?" Wang Ping feigned surprise.

"The Great Rebellion Exploits of Purging the Stale Qi of the Six Heavens must be destroyed, and the Heavenly Craft Supreme Yang Nine Smeltings Qi must be preserved. This is not just my demand, but the True Person's requirement."

Mingyou couldn't even be bothered to acknowledge the little beast Wang Ping. The lamplight turned directly toward the Heaven-Stealing Thief.

"Gan Wujiu, you should understand this."

Immediately after, he looked toward Tianxing. "As for the Mid-Heaven Orthodox Origin Blended Harmony Qi, the True Person didn't explicitly state his stance, but I support you."

"If you are willing to abandon the destruction of the Heavenly Craft Supreme Yang Nine Smeltings Qi, the rest is not entirely off the table. Of course, the premise is that you cannot ruin the True Person's layout—such as by cooperating with him." Only then did Mingyou finally glance at Wang Ping, his eyes brimming with icy coldness.

"Are you still stubbornly resisting?"

Mingyou's voice was full of mockery.

"Unfortunately, the more you struggle and the more you learn, the more you will understand your own powerlessness. Giving up early and cooperating obediently is your only choice."

Wang Ping ignored Mingyou. Instead, he suddenly looked at Tianxing.

"If I remember correctly, Senior cultivates Human Yang Metal, the Mysterious Halberd Revolving-Transformation Renewal Qi. Just like my master, you also wish to cultivate truth and attain the Dao."

"That is why Senior wants to extinguish the Earth Yang Fire and welcome back the Human Yin Earth. The former is to weaken the fire qi, and the latter is to bolster the earth qi. Fire overcomes metal, and earth generates metal. By adjusting the cycle of generation and restriction of the world's qi, the element that suppresses metal weakens while the element that enhances it grows stronger, creating an environment perfectly suited for cultivating metal qi."

"But, Senior."

As he reached the end, Wang Ping's gaze flickered. "If I am not mistaken, the metal qi has also suffered losses. Among the Ancient Qi of the Six Heavens, there seems to be a strand of metal qi as well."

"You mean... Heavenly Yin Metal?" Tianxing raised an eyebrow.

'He finally steered it to this topic!'

Wang Ping was inwardly elated, but on the surface, he spoke casually. "Yes. Since Senior intends to use metal qi to cultivate truth, why not find a way to retrieve the Heavenly Yin Metal?"

Before Tianxing could reply, Mingyou spoke up.

"Because there is no need."

He looked at Wang Ping with a faint, mocking smile and drawled, "Fellow Daoist Tianxing seeks the Qian Hexagram in his current cultivation. The metal of the Qian Heaven is the supreme yang of heaven and earth."

"To form this hexagram, all three cosmic realms—Heaven, Earth, and Humanity—must be yang metal."

"Therefore, for Fellow Daoist Tianxing, the destruction of the Heavenly Yin Metal has absolutely no negative impact; it is actually beneficial. Why would he ever want to bring it back into the world?"

Hearing this, Tianxing cast a sidelong glance at Mingyou.

'You Biyang bastard... You know so much about my cultivation path. Are you plotting to scheme against me?'

Mingyou, however, had no interest in Tianxing. He focused his attention entirely on Wang Ping. The lamplight condensed into a figure that smiled back at him.

He had long seen through Wang Ping's petty scheming in asking about the Heavenly Yin Metal, but he didn't bother exposing it.

'The Ever-Suppressing Six Harmonies Cauldron contains the inheritance of the Qi Ingestion Method. Hiding it from ordinary Qi Refining practitioners is one thing, but does he truly believe he can hide it from me and the True Persons!'

Even so, Mingyou was in no rush.

After all, unlike Tianxing, his cultivation schemes rested entirely upon the layout of Daoist Master Hanguang Danyang. He didn't need to do anything deliberately.

He just had to sit back and wait for Wang Ping to crash and burn.

'Mayflies shaking a tree, unaware of their own strength...'

Just as Mingyou felt he had vented his frustrations and his mood was turning for the better, the very next second...

"Oh, Master."

Wang Ping spoke in a ghostly tone. "Your disciple's pockets have been a bit tight lately. How about you lend me some spending money? Any seven or eight Spiritual Treasures will do just fine."

Mingyou: "???"

"What, you don't want to hand them over?" Wang Ping raised an eyebrow. "If you don't, I'll snap. Right Beyond the Pass is the Brahma Nation. Do you believe I won't charge in there and die right in front of you?"

"The Great Rebellion Exploits on my body haven't dissipated yet!"

Mingyou: "..."

'This little beast, he never ends!'

Seeing that Wang Ping actually wanted to repeat his old trick to hold him hostage, Mingyou's mood instantly soured. Even the projected firelight wavered slightly.

"You won't die."

After a moment of silence, Mingyou sneered. "Do you think the Brahma Nation has no interest in your identity within the Great Rebellion? The True Persons and the Brahma Nation reached an agreement long ago."

"Even if you charge into the Brahma Nation, no one will kill you. At most, they will just drive you away."

"Did you really think you could use the exact same threat twice?"

Hearing this, Wang Ping nodded.

"Then I'm leaving."

With that said, a streak of escape light flared as he prepared to rush toward the grasslands Beyond the Pass.

"Wait!"

Right before Wang Ping entered the Brahma Nation, Mingyou spoke up again and stopped him. "I don't have any Spiritual Treasures... If you're going to ask for something, make it realistic!"

Only then did Wang Ping turn around with a smile.

"Master, you really do have feelings for me after all. You can't bear to watch me die."

'Feelings my ass!'

Mingyou's eye twitched. He knew Wang Ping was almost certainly bluffing, and his intelligence couldn't be wrong—the Brahma Nation likely wouldn't kill Wang Ping either.

But... he didn't dare to gamble on it.

With a True Person watching over the Immortal Gate, he was as steady as Mount Tai. But once inside the Brahma Nation, everything became an unknown variable. What if some Ascetic Monk suddenly went crazy?

"Observing Heaven and Earth Qi."

Wang Ping voiced his true demand. "Master has quite a profound mastery over the Twenty-Four Qi. Why don't you give me that Daoist manual?"

"But I don't want a copy condensed from spiritual sense. I want the original manual that Master carries around on a daily basis."

"Fine."

Mingyou agreed readily. After all, Observing Heaven and Earth Qi, just as the name implied, was merely a collection of notes he had casually jotted down while comprehending the Twenty-Four Qi.

After being carried for so long, it had naturally become a dharma treasure.

Was it precious? Naturally, it wasn't. The Daoist secrets of the Twenty-Four Qi recorded within were mostly superficial. To a Qi Refining practitioner, they were nothing special.

"My good disciple, this is truly the last time," Mingyou said in a deep tone, tossing a Daoist booklet straight out of the lamplight and into Wang Ping's arms.

"Threatening me is useless, because the one who decides your life and death is not me. Your threats are not permanent either. Don't forget, you still have a way out. Xianfu still regards you quite highly over there, but if you push things too far, I might not keep this lifeline open for you."

"Many thanks for the guidance, Master."

Wang Ping paid it no mind, calmly stowing away the Observing Heaven and Earth Qi.

Immediately after, he split off a portion of his mind and sank it into the Great Peace Mortuary. He looked at the towering tome, trying his best to keep his expression neutral and suppress the urge to let the corners of his mouth rise.

'It really works!'

The original copy of the Observing Heaven and Earth Qi had been carried by Mingyou for who knew how many years. Naturally, it retained a massive amount of his consciousness fragments.

As a result, Invoking Deities was activated!

'It's a pity Mingyou's cultivation is too high. The consciousness fragments accumulated over all these years are actually only enough to barely condense a single portrait on the scripture scroll.'

Invoking Deities wasn't omnipotent either.

The collection of consciousness fragments was closely linked to one's cultivation level.

Take the First Seat, for example. Wang Ping had stayed by her side for two and a half years, yet he had never managed to collect a single consciousness fragment, proving just how profound her mental cultivation was.

In comparison, although Mingyou's mental cultivation was not as high as the First Seat's, his Immortal Dao cultivation was far too high. Consequently, even though he left behind a massive amount of consciousness fragments, condensing a portrait consumed just as much. The two offset each other, and in the end, forming just a single portrait used up all the fragments.

'Forget it, at least I have it!'

Wang Ping quickly adjusted his thoughts and immediately activated Invoking Deities. At the same time, he triggered Golden Sea Desiccation, dragging all distracting thoughts out of his sea of consciousness.

Spirit-Invoked Mingyou!

This was the true bond between master and disciple!

In an instant, unimaginable thoughts erupted within Wang Ping's sea of consciousness. This was the massive Dao foundation accumulated over ten thousand years, the profound accumulation of a top-tier Qi Refining practitioner.

Taiping Sutra, grant me an epiphany!

Boom!

At this very moment, Wang Ping felt as if his mind had been split in two. One half continued dealing with Mingyou, Tianxing, the Heaven-Stealing Thief, and Kunlun as usual.

The other half, however, entered a state of super enlightenment. A boundless sea of Dao accumulation was deducing for him, helping him analyze a problem he had never quite been able to pin down before.

Heavenly Yin Metal.

Was using this path to break through his locked divine powers truly viable? Were Heavenly Craft and the others fooling him, or had he genuinely misunderstood?

Immediately after, he received his answer: 'It is viable.'

'The path of Heavenly Yin Metal—first combining Wu to form fire, then using the fire to combine with Xin to form water, and finally escaping from beneath the Ten Thousand Gods Terrestrial Chart—is a workable concept.'

'This point does not differ from what Heavenly Craft said... But there is one thing that Heavenly Craft, Tianshuang, and even Tianqu—this group of qi-ingesting practitioners—did not tell me. If the quality of the Heavenly Yin Metal spiritual material I use is too high, it will actually be harmful to my divine powers and the Ten Thousand Gods Terrestrial Chart.'

In standard generation and restriction relationships, earth generates metal.

However, this cycle of generation and restriction was not absolute, especially between yin metal and yang earth. Once yin metal became too abundant, it would instead form a special alteration: "metal stealing earth qi."

Earth is the mother of metal; when metal steals earth qi, the mother weakens while the child thrives.

'Thus, metal strikes and stone shatters, the earth empties and collapses, with no logic of continuity left... Under such circumstances, it might even severely damage my Ten Thousand Gods Terrestrial Chart.'

At first glance, this was actually a good thing.

After all, if the Heavenly Yin Metal could heavily damage the Ten Thousand Gods Terrestrial Chart, it would become much easier for him to combine with Xin to form water and escape his locked divine powers.

But if that were the case, it left one problem utterly inexplicable.

'I am already bearing the identity of the Great Rebellion. If the Ten Thousand Gods Terrestrial Chart is severely damaged again, it would be equivalent to heavily damaging the Great Rebellion in a symbolic sense!'

'It wouldn't just be severely damaging the Great Rebellion.'

'My divine powers fall under the governance of the Human Yang Earth, the Origin-Governing Battle-Axe-Wielding Fate-Governing Qi. Once they suffer such damage, the world's qi will most likely be affected as well.'

Naturally, the Immortal Gate would be more than happy to see that happen.

The problem, however, was that the path of the Heavenly Yin Metal was proposed by Heavenly Craft and unanimously approved by the others. Yet, they were supposed to be subjects of the Great Rebellion.

How could this be!?