Time to Show the Real Skills

"Still hasn't taken effect?" Crow Daoist froze. He had thought that pinpointing the Arctic Immortal Light within this chaos already counted as it taking effect!

The old woman was interested as well. "Little friend, what do you plan to do?"

Shen Ye calmly uttered four words: "Deduce the heavenly secrets!"

With that, he ignored their curious gazes and activated Ziwei Dou Shu with all his strength!

His attainments in Ziwei Dou Shu had indeed not run deep in his previous life, but after learning of the Fate Nullification Body's traits, he had consciously begun cultivating Ziwei Dou Shu.

Those who deduced the heavenly secrets were bound to sink deep into the great web of karma!

The more they calculated, the deeper they sank; the more difficult deduction became, like a dead knot!

When a deducer became completely trapped within it, that was the moment they went from an observer beside the chessboard to a chess piece within the game!

But Shen Ye was born untouched by karma. He could calculate however he pleased!

Though his results might not necessarily be accurate, his proficiency was soaring at a rate visible to the naked eye!

Moreover, the success rate of deduction was related to the information one possessed.

If he extended the scope of his deduction to the entire Northern Plains, it would naturally be difficult. But given that he already knew the Arctic Immortal Light was within this patch of chaos, the difficulty of deduction was naturally reduced by a great deal!

Most crucially, deducing the heavenly secrets was, in a sense, also an event of probability, influenced by luck.

For one favored by the Heavenly Dao, deducing the heavenly secrets was as effortless as asking their father where the house keys had been put!

And Shen Ye held the Destiny Orb. Luck was the last thing he feared being affected by.

Destiny Orb, burn my fortune!

"I've calculated it!" Shen Ye abruptly opened his eyes and pointed with his right hand toward a nearby gorge. "Start digging from here!"

"Be careful!" The old woman took the immortal fire and struck the Chaos Barrier within the gorge with an incomparably tyrannical palm.

Outside, this palm strike could shatter even a smaller star. Yet when it landed upon this chaos, it did not stir much of a disturbance. It merely dissolved part of the Chaos Qi Flow, carving out a narrow, winding path several dozen meters long!

But in Crow Daoist's eyes, it was an entirely different kind of shock!

With the immortal fire in his hands, he could not even penetrate deeply into the primordial qi vortices outside. Yet in the old woman's hands, it possessed the power to reopen chaos itself!

Shen Ye secretly breathed a sigh of relief as well. He had not been sure whether, in the original course of events, the old woman's excavation of this path had been affected by the chain reaction from another Path to Immortality.

Fortunately, the combined force of a peak Great Sage and immortal fire could also break through chaos!

"The immortal light lies deep within this chaotic path, roughly three or four li from here. I'll have to trouble you, Senior, from here on!" Shen Ye was greatly pleased. This new tool was indeed far more useful than that old Crow Daoist!

The old woman could only smile bitterly. Her full-strength strike had opened up merely several dozen meters of Chaos Qi Flow. To tunnel all the way to where Shen Ye had indicated, these old bones of hers would be half ruined!

While the old woman transformed into a chaos miner, Shen Ye did not remain idle either. He began comprehending the scriptures of the Four Extremities Scroll on the spot.

Though he was only at the first level of the Dao Palace realm, he had long since ceased to have any bottlenecks. As long as he gathered all the supreme treasures needed to suppress the divine treasury, he could break through in an instant.

Seeing Shen Ye able to devote himself to cultivation even in such a place, detached from worldly things, Crow Daoist could not help but marvel at how transcendent the state of mind of the master he intended to follow was!

More than ten days passed like this before the heaven and earth's primordial qi suddenly began to riot.

Shen Ye was startled awake from cultivation. He saw hazy immortal light blooming from the entrance of the chaotic path, while the Great Dao rumbled and immortal music mingled with sacred chants, stirring within people an urge to comprehend the Dao!

"Arctic Immortal Light!" Crow Daoist cried out excitedly!

"Come, let's go take a look as well." Shen Ye rose with a smile and walked into the tunnel.

At the deepest part of the path was a bubble-shaped grotto-heaven. Formation patterns densely covered its surroundings, sealing the Arctic Immortal Light within!

Though Arctic Immortal Light was measured in strands, each strand was not small.

The immortal light resembled a true dragon, several zhang long, suffused with Immortal Qi and bearing an awe-inspiring aura!

Crow Daoist stared at the sight before him, dumbstruck. Though he had been mentally prepared, he was still shocked by the number of strands of immortal light.

There were twenty-four strands in total, as though they were recounting an ancient history spanning 2.4 million years!

Not only him—even the old woman's Dao heart wavered for a moment.

She had cultivated in the Northern Plains for thousands of years, yet could not obtain even a single strand of immortal light. But today, twenty-four whole strands lay before her eyes!

Shen Ye chuckled softly. "According to our prior agreement, seven strands of immortal light here belong to this junior."

The old woman snapped out of her shock and smiled bitterly. "To be honest, I never thought you would be able to find the immortal light, and I did not take our agreement seriously. But now, it seems this old woman has gained an enormous advantage!"

Shen Ye shook his head. "Senior need not dwell on it. Without your assistance, I would not even have been able to enter this ancient well!"

"That is not how it should be said. Without me, you could have found someone else to help you. But without you, no matter what I did, I could never have obtained these immortal lights!" The old woman shook her head as well. She knew that there were at least two people in this land who were no weaker than herself, perhaps even stronger!

Seeing that Shen Ye still wished to say something, the old woman proposed a compromise. "How about this? We split these immortal lights evenly!"

Shen Ye hesitated for a moment, then slowly nodded. "Then I shall do as Senior says!"

Once Shen Ye agreed, the old woman impatiently collected a strand of immortal light and began refining it.

The next moment, her withered, slack skin unexpectedly regained some of its luster. Her cloudy pupils became much clearer, and her formerly deathly body strangely began to radiate youthful vigor!

The old woman exhaled a breath of turbid air and sighed. "Had I not obtained this strand of immortal light, this old woman might have had only a hundred years or so left to live. Little friend, you could be said to have granted this old woman a second life!"

"This Arctic Immortal Light can actually increase one's lifespan!" Crow Daoist's eyes burned with incomparable fervor. Given the old woman's heaven-reaching cultivation, she had likely consumed every kind of divine longevity-extending medicine more than once, making them difficult to benefit from any longer.

Under such circumstances, Arctic Immortal Light's ability to extend one's lifespan naturally made it all the more precious!

"Ah, why did I redeem my reward so early?!" Crow Daoist was drowning in regret!

Had she known she could obtain the life-extending Arctic Immortal Light, she would have shamelessly used her escort reward to exchange for some, no matter what—she would have been satisfied with even a tenth of a wisp!

"You flatter me, Senior!" Shen Ye said with a smile. "With your cultivation, it may not be impossible for you to defy the heavens and live out a second life!"

"A second life... Not even every Ancient Emperor can live out a second life. What virtue or ability do I possess?" The old woman sighed emotionally, then placed a small array platform carved from white jade into Shen Ye's hand. "Consider it that I owe you a favor, little friend. If you ever need me, activate this array platform, and I will cross domains to come!"

In truth, she had a few private thoughts of her own.

Taking the initiative to owe someone a favor was not necessarily a kind of wisdom for navigating life!

To make immortal fire follow him, and to calculate the location of the Arctic Immortal Light—those two words, "immortal," were alone enough for her to find a way to maintain their connection!

What if he could even calculate the Path to Immortality? Wouldn't that mean she still had a sliver of hope of entering the Immortal Domain?