Gate of Myriad Mysteries

Indeed.

An Adult Pixiu feared the Vermilion Bird, Zhu Yan, Qiongqi, and the Heaven Swallowing Sparrow, but that did not mean it feared Shi Yi, a youth whose feathers had not even fully grown in. It simply did not want to invite trouble.

It understood clearly.

The Great Wilderness's four great ferocious beasts had not earned their reputations through boasts, but through slaughter.

Shi Yi possessed the Crimson Feather bestowed by the Vermilion Bird. This undoubtedly told everyone that Shi Yi was her person. Whoever touched him had to consider whether they could afford to provoke the Vermilion Bird.

"If you want me to give up, you can try!" Shi Yi said without backing down.

Though he was cautious by nature and unwilling to place himself in danger, the Willow Deity was currently within his Ten Celestial Passages. Even if the Heavenly King himself came, he would not retreat a single step.

"Youth—no, envoy of the Vermilion Bird, aren't you being far too overbearing?"

Seeing that Shi Yi showed no sign of yielding, the Adult Pixiu felt somewhat uneasy. It feared that the Vermilion Bird, or perhaps an even stronger Dao Protector, might be lurking nearby.

In a one-on-one fight, it was no match for the Vermilion Bird and would be roasted alive in minutes. Moreover, a Young Supreme like Shi Yi, who possessed Ten Celestial Passages, could not possibly lack a Dao Protector behind him.

"The Mountain Treasure was born before heaven and earth. It is destined to be mine."

The ten Celestial Passages behind Shi Yi resembled ten blazing suns, radiating boundless light and heat as they carried him slowly toward the Mountain Treasure.

"Wait."

The Adult Pixiu instantly blocked Shi Yi's path, its two enormous pupils fixed tightly upon him.

"If you want to fight, then fight."

Shi Yi drove his Ten Celestial Passages to their utmost limit. The energy of heaven and earth within a hundred miles was swept in by them, forming a massive vortex funnel.

Such divine might

had long surpassed the Spirit Transformation Realm and carried a trace of the Array Formation Realm's presence.

Blood Moving, Celestial Passage, Spirit Transformation, Inscription, Array Formation, Venerable.

These were the six realms of the human world.

A Venerable was a Human Supreme, hence the name Venerable.

Yet Shi Yi, at the Celestial Passage Realm, could rival the Array Formation Realm. Even Young Supremes who likewise possessed Ten Celestial Passages could not accomplish this.

Shi Yi's Ten Celestial Passages, formed with the Daoist Thirteen Classics, were not comparable to the Ten Celestial Passages others had gambled their lives to obtain.

It sounded somewhat strange.

Why were Ten Celestial Passages won by risking one's life inferior to Shi Yi's Ten Celestial Passages, formed by listening to the sounds of the Dao?

But that was reality. Much of the time, risking your life and fighting desperately did not mean you would obtain the best result.

Put simply,

this was the difference between studying and not studying, the difference between relying on brute strength and using one's brain.

Faced with Shi Yi's utterly unrestrained dominance, the Adult Pixiu fell silent for a long while before sighing. "If my son had not been hunted down by humans, he would have been about your age. Perhaps he could not have opened Ten Celestial Passages like you, but he would still have been a prodigy."

Yes, its only son had died, and it had eventually taken revenge.

It had killed the enemy as well, but what did that change?

The dead would never awaken again.

It still remembered that day.

When it had watched its only child be disemboweled, its heart's blood—its true blood—extracted, how much pain had this old father felt in his heart?

"What does that have to do with me?" Shi Yi asked, unable to understand.

Ferocious beasts killed humans, humans killed ferocious beasts, humans ate ferocious beasts, and ferocious beasts ate humans.

There was nothing to say about it. It was all part of the natural cycle of heaven and earth.

"It naturally has nothing to do with you. But if you are willing to acknowledge me as your adoptive father, I can give the Mountain Treasure to my own child." The Adult Pixiu revealed its true intention.

Having lost his beloved son, he lived in pain every day. Thus, after seeing Shi Yi's talent and potential, his first thought had been to take Shi Yi as his adopted son.

"Huh?"

Shi Yi could hardly believe his ears. The faint ache in his heart became indescribably complicated, as though he were being asked to acknowledge a thief as his father.

"I am very serious. You may consider it. The Mountain Treasure and the complete Pixiu Treasure Technique can all be yours," the Adult Pixiu said sincerely.

Just as the Adult Pixiu was attempting to lure Shi Yi into becoming its adopted son with the Mountain Treasure and the Pixiu Treasure Technique, far above the Eight Regions of the Lower Realm, above the Nine Heavens Ten Earths,

a bloody hand reached out above the endless River of Time.

"What a familiar aura. Shi Yi, I finally... finally found you."

The bloody hand was incomparably enormous, blotting out the sky and covering the sun. It nearly covered the entire River of Time, seeming intent on seizing Shi Yi's past and present lives and erasing every trace that he had ever existed.

This shocking sight

naturally alarmed the enlightened beings above the River of Time. Yet before they could react to the gigantic bloody hand, a burst of indistinct Daoist murmuring suddenly rang out.

"The Dao that can be spoken is not the eternal Dao. The name that can be named is not the eternal name."

"The nameless was the beginning of heaven and earth; the named was the mother of all things."

"Thus, ever without desire, one may observe its mystery; ever with desire, one may observe its manifestations."

"These two arise from the same source yet bear different names. Together they are called mystery. Mystery upon mystery, the Gate of Myriad Mysteries."

As the final indistinct words, "Gate of Myriad Mysteries," resounded, a profound gate appeared above the River of Time, directly blocking the enormous bloody hand.

Upon closer inspection,

there were still many bloody handprints remaining upon that profound gate.

Naturally, Shi Yi had no idea that a bloody hand was trying to erase him, nor did he know that a gate had been secretly protecting him from being erased by it.

Only the Willow Deity

vaguely sensed that someone wanted to completely erase Shi Yi from the source of time. This puzzled her. Shi Yi's Dao heart was so unsteady, yet he was worth someone paying such a great karmic price to erase him?

Over these years,

the Willow Deity had come to understand Shi Yi's personality and character fairly well. She knew that he was cautious, thought thrice before acting, and was an exceptionally steady person.

If she had not made him come to contend for the Mountain Treasure and promised to protect his life, with his cautious nature, he would never have come to seize it.

Could it be

that his so-called unsteady Dao heart was all an intentional disguise?

It did not seem like it!

It felt as though, if given the opportunity, he truly would dare to defy all morality.

Shi Yi had no way of knowing the Willow Deity's inner thoughts.

Looking at the Adult Pixiu before him, he said with absolute resolve, "I am very sorry for what happened to your son, but I cannot become your adopted son."

The moment his words fell,

the Adult Pixiu's aura surged. An immense killing intent instantly descended, and it said coldly, "You humans have a saying: refuse a toast only to drink a forfeit. Since you are unwilling to become my adopted son, then prepare to fall. A fallen prodigy was never a prodigy."

To be honest,

the Adult Pixiu was already somewhat enraged from humiliation. It believed that it had been sincere enough, that it genuinely admired Shi Yi and truly wished to accept him as an adopted son. Yet it had not expected such a merciless rejection.

Did he look down on it?

Though it was not one of the Great Wilderness's four great ferocious beasts, it was still the foremost ferocious beast beneath them. Or would this boy rather be the Vermilion Bird's dog than become its adopted son?

"Heh. You aren't qualified!"

Shi Yi did not care in the slightest about the Adult Pixiu's threat.

He had Mother Willow, the Willow Deity.

Who in the Eight Regions of the Lower Realm had the ability to kill him?

"A Young Supreme with Ten Celestial Passages, before you fall, I permit you to state your name."

The Adult Pixiu's calm tone revealed an indescribable viciousness. It had just confirmed that the Vermilion Bird was not here, and there was no one else nearby apart from Shi Yi.

"Yun Potian!"

Shi Yi held his head high and spoke this false name once more.

What a joke.

How could one make a name for oneself outside without even a fake name?

"Yun Potian. I will remember it. A very imposing name. I will beat you half to death, erase all your memories, and turn you into my true son."

The Adult Pixiu nodded in satisfaction, though the vicious glint in its pupils grew ever stronger.

"You're still not giving up on that damned idea!"

Shi Yi clutched his chest, feeling as though his lungs were about to explode from rage.