Chapter 540

Chapter 540: Mortal or Heaven?

"Master, I look forward to our next cooperation."

Having obtained what she desired, Luo Qingcheng prepared to take her leave.

"May success attend your efforts, Daoist friend!" Ye Xu laughed. His vision extended further—if the Hall Master of the Reincarnation Hall truly got subdued by the Dao Clan, the prestige of Heaven’s Secret Pavilion would soar even higher.

By then, experts at the Celestial Lord level would likely arrive one after another.

Even killing a Great Celestial Lord wouldn’t be impossible, nor would acquiring the Nine Great Heavenly Books.

Ye Xu’s heart swelled with anticipation.

After the pair departed, he examined his account and commanded the system, "System, immediately expend 31 trillion Hongmeng points to elevate my cultivation to the Celestial Lord realm!"

Boom!

The instant he spoke.

Time and space within Heaven’s Secret Pavilion shimmered in unison. The entire pavilion grew hazy and wondrous, as if transcending spatial constraints. A boundless, infinite energy surged from various folds of spacetime straight into Ye Xu’s physical body.

His cultivation instantly advanced to Four Tribulations Dao Sovereign.

Ye Xu clicked his tongue in amazement.

Ordinary cultivators inevitably encounter bottlenecks along their path. He alone stood as the exception. Throughout his journey, he’d met no obstacles whatsoever. Neither the Three Disasters and Nine Tribulations of the Dao Lord stage, nor the Five Declines of Celestial Beings that plagued Dao Sovereigns, held any sway over him.

"Truly wonderful—this feeling of getting stronger while lying down…"

Ye Xu remarked with deep satisfaction.

Luo Qingcheng and Luo Qianchen, who had just stepped out of Heaven’s Secret Pavilion, sensed its transformation. Luo Qingcheng glanced back to find the pavilion had vanished completely from her perception, invisible even to the naked eye.

Yet that overwhelming presence pressed down on her heart, a tangible oppression even she couldn’t shrug off.

"Grandmother, the master of Heaven’s Secret Pavilion entrusted you with the details about master and swore by his Dao heart. That proves it’s genuine." Luo Qianchen narrowed her beautiful eyes slightly. "But what tier has his strength truly reached?"

"Beyond the Great Celestial Lord lies the Dao Ancestor Realm."

"Yet there exists one tier even above the Dao Ancestor."

Luo Qingcheng murmured softly.

"A tier above the Dao Ancestor?" Luo Qianchen was profoundly shaken. In all her understanding, the Dao Ancestor stood as the supreme existence within the Hongmeng Dao Realm.

She’d never known a realm beyond them.

Even so, Dao Ancestors remained as rare as phoenix feathers—Luo Qianchen herself had never glimpsed one.

"The tier above Dao Ancestor… is known as Dao One."

Luo Qingcheng’s gaze turned profound. "This realm exists only in legend. No human, god, demon, or monster has ever attained it. Our clan’s ancient texts contain only fragmented mentions."

"Do you know why the Hall Master of the Reincarnation Hall took you as his disciple?"

She shifted the subject abruptly back to the Hall Master.

"Master once told me it was because of my innate wisdom and because a bond existed between us. That’s why he came to accept me as disciple the very moment I descended into the world." Luo Qianchen explained.

"A bond indeed exists."

Luo Qingcheng gave a derisive snort. "The Hall Master of the Reincarnation Hall was once a mere minor cultivator. By sheer chance, he caught a glimpse of the Reincarnation Heavenly Book. From it, he comprehended a Supreme Law, and only then did he gradually ascend to become a Great Celestial Lord."

"This man harbored sinister ambitions, attempting to control the Reincarnation Heavenly Book to ascend to the Dao Ancestor Realm, free from all disasters and tribulations, immortal and indestructible."

"And you are the key."

"Me?" Luo Qianchen’s beautiful eyes flickered, her heart gradually growing heavy.

"When you descended into the world, you were blessed by the power of the Reincarnation Heavenly Book. Within you resides an incomplete Spirit of the Heavenly Book, and you were born with mastery over the innate Origin Dao of Reincarnation."

"If it weren’t for that, how could the Hall Master of the Reincarnation Hall take you as his disciple?"

Luo Qingcheng snorted disdainfully.

"I am just a pawn…" Luo Qianchen’s mind buzzed; she fully understood Luo Qingcheng’s meaning—she was merely a key for the Hall Master of the Reincarnation Hall to find the Reincarnation Heavenly Book.

That was her fate; but what about the remaining eight? Were they just pawns too?

Were the nine young masters of the Hongmeng Dao Realm nothing but a joke?

Luo Qianchen felt utterly ironic.

The world regarded them as the pinnacle of prodigies, yet no one knew they were merely lambs raised by nine powerful beings.

"Chen’er, you need not worry."

Luo Qingcheng spoke with confidence, as if everything was under her control, adding slowly, "The moment the Hall Master of the Reincarnation Hall chose you, he was doomed to fail."

"You are a member of our Dao Clan, the purest bloodline we have nurtured over eight epochs!"

Luo Qingcheng’s voice grew fervent.

No one truly knew the depths of the Dao Clan’s origins.

Luo Qianchen still could not calm down.

She struggled to accept it.

"Then, will those eight also face such a day someday?" Luo Qianchen’s eyelashes trembled; in her eyes, one could not tell if it was hatred or sorrow.

"They will."

Luo Qingcheng nodded.

"However…"

She hesitated for a moment but remained silent.

Luo Qianchen stared directly at her.

Luo Qingcheng murmured pensively, "Only, at this moment, I too cannot understand one thing: if they truly wish to devour you all, thereby controlling the Heavenly Book and ascending to become Dao Ancestors, they could have struck at any moment."

Her eyes were clouded with deep confusion.

Even for the Dao Clan, records on the Nine Great Heavenly Books were scarce; aside from the universally known secret that they could help a Great Celestial Lord advance to the Dao Ancestor Realm, little else was clear about their specific uses.

"Grandmother, now that we have his fatal weakness, when do we strike?" Luo Qianchen asked solemnly. The cultivation provided by the Hall Master of the Reincarnation Hall aimed to make her a pawn; she would never willingly accept manipulation.

Crucially, unlike the Second Young Master and others, she held the power to grasp her own destiny.

"It is not time yet."

Luo Qingcheng gently shook her head.

Killing a top Great Celestial Lord was no easy feat.

"You don’t need to concern yourself with this matter. I have my own arrangements." After speaking these words, Luo Qingcheng’s gaze again became deep and profound.

"What I fear most right now isn’t the Hall Master of the Reincarnation Hall… but the master of Heaven’s Secret Pavilion."

Luo Qingcheng closed her eyes, Ye Xu’s figure involuntarily surfacing in her mind.

Luo Qiancheng deeply understood.

Ye Xu’s ability was too terrifying—nothing beneath heaven or on earth was beyond his knowledge.

With such capability, what could he possibly fail to accomplish?

"Is he a man… or is he Heaven itself?"

Luo Qingcheng murmured.

Hearing this sentence, Luo Qiancheng was also stunned.

She turned around and saw Heaven’s Secret Pavilion restored to its original form. Behind the pavilion, Palaces and grand halls still stood tier upon tier, yet they seemed misaligned, manifesting across different dimensions.

At the end of the jade steps.

Ye Xu stood with his hands behind his back, eyes like starlight, gazing in their direction.

Luo Qiancheng’s heart shuddered violently.

For some unknown reason, she felt a sudden rush of restless panic.

"Overthinking is pointless," Luo Qingcheng stated lightly.

The wings of the Colorful Phoenix fluttered once. Palaces, pavilions, mountains, rivers, and great plains swiftly receded into the distance as the two left the Canglan Immortal Domain, beginning their journey back.

In Canglan Divine City.

Long You watched the Colorful Phoenix vanish from sight, deep in thought.

"The Celestial Lord of the Dao Clan would not descend without reason." He looked toward Heaven’s Secret Pavilion. The young man was also watching him, a faint smile playing at the corners of his mouth.

Long You’s heart sank heavily.

Not one of his actions could escape Ye Xu’s notice.

…

Reincarnation Hall.

Within an ancient, unadorned training ground.

A sun and moon blazed brilliantly overhead amidst stars arrayed like jewels. Below, rivers flowed through lush green lands where ten thousand living beings thrived, painting a scene vibrant with vitality.

Shua!

Suddenly, the sun and moon flickered erratically between brightness and darkness.

If one looked farther, they would see these were a pair of divine eyes. Each star was, in truth, manifested from countless Dao fruit. The mountains and rivers formed his meridians; flowing watercourses served as his blood; and every creature upon the earth was a cell evolved from his essence.

He was the Great Celestial Lord of Reincarnation, and the master of Reincarnation Hall.

"Who dares plot against me?"

The Hall Master of the Reincarnation Hall frowned tightly, a crease forming between his brows like the character for ‘river'(川). During his cultivation, a feeling of sudden inspiration had abruptly unsettled his Dao heart.

Reaching the Great Celestial Lord realm, one escaped disasters and calamity.

Such a surge of sudden inspiration could not be mere coincidence.

Yet.

When he employed his Magical Powers to trace the source of this feeling, all he vaguely perceived was a boundless sea of mist. Every attempt to push it aside proved futile—it lay thick and heavy as the heavens and earth, leaving him powerless.

This situation held few possibilities.

"Within the yang realm, among those of the same cultivation realm who could scheme against me, there are only the six Daoist brothers who, like me, have glimpsed the Celestial Book. Yet we share deep ties—they have no reason to plot against me."

"Other than them… only the Dao Ancestor remains."

The Hall Master’s eyes turned icy. "Could it be the presence residing within Taihuang Abyss?"

But upon further reflection, he shook his head, dismissing the idea.

Though he knew Mu Fanyin’s origin when Taihuang Abyss descended, he had not struck her reincarnated self for fear of tangling in Karma and hindering his Dao path.

He was baffled.

Because neither other top-tier Great Celestial Lords of his level, nor the Dao Ancestor, could possibly have cause to scheme against him.

"The only ones with both the motive… and the capability… would likely be from the Dao Clan where… my dear apprentice resides…"

Gradually, the Hall Master unraveled the threads.

The Dao Clan — an ancient clan whose origins, foundation, and true nature remained invisible even to his eyes.

"To think after countless eons of cultivation," he mused, "the unknown could still unsettle my Dao heart."

Yet the very next second,

a carefree laugh escaped the Hall Master.

"What joy is there in life? What suffering in death?

I will simply pursue my own Dao."