Using entries to cultivate immortality in chaotic times

"..."

The scholar was silent for even longer this time, appearing as though he was waiting for something. Moments later, he continued, "The Heavenly Dao Beauty is a product favored by the Heavenly Dao. Anyone who dares to imprison, coerce, or use force to make Ji Renjian offer herself will be detested by the Heavenly Dao."

"The backlash from the Heavenly Dao's loathing is swift."

"There have been attempts in the past, and heavenly thunder struck immediately."

"But on Ji Renjian's journey away from Jing Province, she encountered many petty thieves, yet not a single heavenly thunder fell. Once, I even waited a moment longer, and those villains had already removed Ji Renjian's outer garments, but still, no heavenly thunder descended."

"In the end, I took action."

"Do you understand what this means?"

Fat Long looked at the scholar's younger brother bewilderingly, hoping to exchange glances with him, but the younger brother stood quietly by his side as if he had heard nothing at all.

"Er..." Fat Long pondered hard for a while before he ventured, "Does this mean you replaced that heavenly thunder?"

"No."

The scholar shook his head, "The Heavenly Dao has no self-awareness. The absence of heavenly thunder means that those petty thieves had no lust in their hearts, they were just giving me the opportunity to play the hero and rescue the beauty."

"I didn't think too much of it at the time. It was only later, when I was being pursued, that I understood much more."

"And that included this matter."

"Someone had struck me with a Heart Gu, causing me to coincidentally encounter Ji Renjian and used the lives of a great many pawns to deepen the karmic ties between Ji Renjian and me."

"Attempted to make Ji Renjian and me become a Taoist couple."

"No... just wait!"

Fat Long took a deep breath and, with one hand propping his chin and a thoughtful look, paced around three times before he seriously looked at the scholar, "You mean to say, someone used the lives of numerous pawns as the price, just to help you win the beauty?"

"All the benefits are yours?"

"What is he plotting?"

"He's trying to prove his way to Nascent Soul, or rather, he's trying to break out of this cage."

The scholar stretched out his arm, feeling the Sword Intent of the engravings on the stone pillar, gently touching them, and feeling a pricking sensation as he spoke softly, "I dare not say his name, but I can tell you who he is."

"He is the current State Preceptor of Da Xia."

"A very terrifying person."

"He tried to bestow Ji Renjian to me, to create an unparalleled peerless Sword Cultivator and then utilize me to break the cage of Da Xia. However, at the final moment, my true nature was too resistant to such an act."

"The State Preceptor then shifted his target to Ji Taiping."

"I have observed Ji Taiping over the years; he has progressed rapidly and has stepped into the realm of Human Sword Unity, a realm all Sword Cultivators dream of. Last time in Kai Mountain City, I sensed the residual Sword Intent, it was violent like a volcano under a layer of ice."
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"This is a sign of rapidly elevating one's realm by forceful reliance on external objects."

"..."

Hearing these secrets for the first time, Fat Long opened his mouth in disbelief and murmured, "Is the State Preceptor really so terrifying? Even Da Xia's number one Sword Cultivator is his pawn?"

"Yes."

The scholar suddenly smiled, "I've met him once, a very young man, but for some reason, his pupils seemed cloudy, and his behaviors and methods didn't seem to belong to a young person."

"By chance, I discovered one of the entries in his word group."

"The white entry, talking nonsense."

"The more people the spun lies deceive, and the higher the Cultivation of those deceived, the more Cultivation he can enhance for himself."

"Such a person has taken the seat of State Preceptor of Da Xia."

"Many times, I wonder whether His Majesty is still clear-headed, and how many people and things inside Da Xia can still be believed; no one can tell."

Upon suddenly encountering this information, Fat Long's mind crashed for a moment before he murmured, "Why didn't you talk about these things when Brother Qiu was around?"

"Because of the Sword Bone."

The scholar's expression remained calm as he caressed the engravings filled with Sword Intent on the short stone pillar, "These memories were sealed with Sword Intent in the deepest part of my Sea of Consciousness when I faked my death. Later, as my Cultivation plummeted, I couldn't unlock these memories."

"The Sword Intent contained in these engravings shattered the fetters I had laid."

Fat Long looked at the scholar slowly touching the engravings on the short stone pillar and suddenly remembered that at this challenge, Brother Qiu told him that someone who touched the engravings had been injured by the remaining Sword Intent, splattering blood everywhere.

Yet the scholar, having touched the engravings for a long time, suffered no harm at all.

"What will you do now?" Fat Long furrowed his brows and looked at the scholar, "The State Preceptor probably thinks you're dead, but now you've appeared in Da Xia again; doesn't that mean he'll come after you?"

"It doesn't matter."

The scholar shook his head, "All he wants is a peerless Sword Cultivator, and me, now reduced to a cripple, definitely cannot match Ji Taiping. Ji Taiping is now the strongest Sword Cultivator in his eyes."

...

Meanwhile—

Chen Qiu had already stepped into the colorful vortex in front of him, appearing in a Heavenly Dao Secret Realm.

This Secret Realm was not extensive, a platform similar to a sect square, with a giant Eight Trigrams Array carved into the ground.

This Eight Trigrams Array was divided into nine palaces: Qian Palace, Kan Palace, Gen Palace, Zhen Palace, Central Palace, Xun Palace, Li Palace, Kun Palace, and Dui Palace.

And these nine palaces each corresponded to.

Magic Practitioners, talisman cultivators, Array Repairers, Alchemy Cultivators, Artifact Cultivators, Evil Cultivation, Demon Cultivation, Body Cultivation, Sword Cultivators.

These nine palaces were situated in nine different directions, and the moment he stepped into the Eight Trigrams Array, eight palaces instantly dimmed, with no color, while the ground of the palace representing Magic Practitioners faintly emitted a milky white light.