After Shen Ye accepted the Heavenly Ascension Talisman, a young Taoist priest came stumbling in from outside, his face stricken with panic as he shouted, "Master, something's wrong! Something's wrong!"
Seeing the young priest so flustered, those in the crowd who knew the Grand Heavenly Offering Ritual's hidden purpose all turned grave. Could it be those lunatics from Quanxing? Had they finally lost patience and decided to make their move?
Zhang Zhiwei stroked his beard and said, "Calm your heart, steady your spirit. Where has all the cultivation of a Taoist practitioner gone?"
"This disciple's cultivation of the heart is lacking," the young priest replied shamefully. After composing himself, he continued, "I just discovered that Senior Wang Ai has been killed in the back mountain!"
The moment those words fell, the entire venue was shocked.
"What? Senior Wang Ai is dead?"
"Senior Wang Ai was one of the Ten Elders. Who could possibly kill him?"
Everyone who had stayed merely to watch the excitement felt immensely fortunate. Good thing they had not rushed off to catch a flight home, or would they not have missed this colossal bombshell from the world of the gifted?
Even the Heavenly Master found it difficult to remain calm, asking in rapid succession, "How did he die? Can you determine how long he has been dead? Was the body moved from the place of death?"
The young priest recalled, "Senior Wang Ai was killed by a sword through the chest. His body was not moved. As for the time of death, it should have been three days ago!"
"Three days ago? Absurd!" Perhaps Wang Ai's death had struck a nerve, but Lyu Ci, also one of the Ten Elders, appeared especially irritable. "If he died in the back mountain three days ago, how could no one have found him all this time?"
The young priest stammered, "I-I don't know either."
Just then, Wang Bing, wrapped head to toe in bandages like a mummy, staggered down from the platform and glared furiously at Shen Ye. "It was you. It had to be you who killed Grandpa!"
Feng Zhenghao narrowed his eyes and asked, "Leaving aside whether young friend Shen Ye even had the ability to kill Senior Wang Ai, let me ask you first: why are you so certain he did it? And why, a few days ago, were you so certain from the start that Senior Wang Ai had taught him Spirit Binding and General Dispatching?"
"Of course I know, because I was the one who told Grandpa to teach him a lesson and make him hand over the spirit he summoned that day for me to absorb!" He was crippled, his pillar of support had fallen, and in his despair Wang Bing naturally no longer cared about anything. The moment he opened his mouth, he exposed everything.
Hearing Wang Bing admit it himself, the entire venue erupted once more.
"How despicable! As one of the Ten Elders, he actually personally threatened a child!"
"What Ten Elder? He was worse than Quanxing!"
"Am I the only one who wants to know whether Wang Ai was really killed by him?"
Lyu Ci's gaze turned dangerous. "Young friend Shen Ye, don't you intend to explain yourself?"
Shen Ye shrugged and said frankly, "What is there to explain? Which law says that when one of the Ten Elders tries to kill us, we have to stretch out our necks and wait to die?"
"Damn, what a badass! That's fucking awesome!" Zhang Chulan gave him a thumbs-up from the stands. He had long wanted to kill those shameless old bastards too, but he had only dared to think about it.
The people in the stands were also filled with emotion. Of course, they did not think Shen Ye had done anything wrong. If anything, they found what he had done immensely satisfying.
But the problem was that this world had never been governed by right and wrong alone.
Behind every one of the Ten Elders stood an intricate web of connections. Even a natural death could trigger a massive earthquake in the world of the gifted, much less being murdered.
They could already sense that a tremendous storm was about to descend.
Lyu Ci was also choked by Shen Ye's simple and brutal words. Narrowing his eyes, he said, "Even if Wang Ai was in the wrong, killing him was still going too far, wasn't it? But I won't waste my breath reasoning with you. Someone will naturally teach you a lesson when the time comes!"
Then he turned to Zhang Zhiwei. "Old Heavenly Master, the younger generation may be ignorant, but you need to think this through carefully. If you let him become the Heavenly Master, I'm afraid it will cause no small amount of conflict!"
Zhang Zhiwei replied calmly, "The Heavenly Master's Residence's internal affairs are not something you need concern yourselves with!"
Lu Jin laughed heartily and patted Shen Ye on the shoulder. "You've got character and ability. I'm finding myself more and more impressed by you, kid. If the Heavenly Master's Residence doesn't want you, you can come to the Lu Family!"
Shen Ye smiled. "Thank you, Senior Lu, but a few rats in the gutter aren't enough to make me bow my head!"
That night, the stars shone especially brilliantly.
Yet everyone on the mountain felt unusually oppressed, as though a storm was about to break.
Inside Heavenly Master Hall, the Old Heavenly Master and Shen Ye each sat cross-legged on a meditation cushion, facing one another.
Amid the strange silence, the Old Heavenly Master was the first to break the calm. "Young layman, you said you came for the position of Heavenly Master, but you actually have other purposes as well, don't you?"
"The Old Heavenly Master sees all."
"Could you explain it to this old man?"
"There is nothing I cannot tell others. Since the Old Heavenly Master wishes to know, I naturally would not dare conceal anything." Shen Ye said frankly, "To be precise, I came for the seal within the Heavenly Master's Degree!"
A sharp gleam flashed in the Old Heavenly Master's eyes. "A seal?"
"Let me tell a story. Of course, this is merely some personal speculation of mine." Shen Ye spoke at length. "During the Eastern Han Dynasty, Longhu Mountain's founder, Zhang Daoling, discovered a divine object. It could be called the Root of All Qi and allowed one to comprehend the mysteries of heaven and earth's origin. Knowing its wonder, he feared it would be exploited by those with wicked intentions. Yet due to its unique nature, he could not destroy it, so he used the Heavenly Master's Degree as a cover to seal away this origin of heaven and earth."
"Later generations were drawn by the Heavenly Master's Degree's reputation. Even if a schemer obtained the Heavenly Master's Degree, they would only notice its inheritance, not the seal that carried it! Keeping the box and returning the pearl—little did they know that the pearl was merely there to catch the eye, while the box was the true treasure!"
That story had naturally been fabricated by him, but it was not without basis. At the very least, the origin of the world truly existed.
One of the Main World's world origins, Nine Springs, was a divine object born alongside Shennong. Since he had inherited Shennong's Essence Blood, he naturally felt a familiarity with similar origins.
The moment he had stepped onto Longhu Mountain, he had vaguely sensed the existence of a world origin!
And since a world origin could improve one's comprehension, coupled with the birth of the Eight Unique Skills and the legends surrounding the Heavenly Master's Degree, he had reason to believe that the Heavenly Master's Degree was merely a smokescreen of keeping the box and returning the pearl!
"You're more or less right, though some details are off." Zhang Zhiwei sighed. "The Mysterious Ancestor of Heaven and Earth, the Root of All Qi! The ancestors had actually made this clear right at the beginning of the Golden Light Curse. But there is one thing you got wrong. The seal within the Heavenly Master's Degree is not the world origin itself, but a key that leads to the world origin!"
"A key?" Shen Ye pondered for a moment, then a sharp gleam suddenly flashed in his eyes. "Could it be the inner landscape of this heaven and earth?"
Zhang Zhiwei froze for a moment, then sighed. "Young layman, you truly are exceptionally gifted. You grasp the point at once! That's right. Just as practitioners of sorcery have their inner landscapes, this heaven and earth also has one. And the key to entering that inner landscape is the seal within the Heavenly Master's Degree!"
Before you continue