Heaven-Deceiving Art

Chapter 44: Heaven-Deceiving Art

Returning to his small hut, Ning Ye could not wait to project his consciousness into the Thousand Mechanism Hall.

Upon arriving at the Sumeru House, a vast space suddenly unfolded before his eyes. It was so boundless that it felt as if the entire Nine Palaces Mountain could fit inside.

As for the present, aside from the items obtained at the Xuanyu Pavilion, there was nothing else.

Due to the haste of their actions, both Ning Ye and Tianji had grabbed whatever they could get their hands on. In truth, they did not even know which treasures they had snatched from Xuan Mulang, so he began to sort through them one by one.

He discovered a total of twenty-two bottles of pills, all of which were high-quality cultivation medicines. While not exceptionally precious, they were at least usable and could be considered the most valuable items. With these pills, Ning Ye's cultivation speed would undoubtedly accelerate significantly.

In addition, there were four magical tools, two magical treasures, and some rare resources.

The magical tools and treasures were unusable for him, so Ning Ye did not care how good they were; however, some of the rare resources were quite decent.

One particular piece of wood core caught Ning Ye's attention.

It was, quite shockingly, a core of Green Sheep Wood.

Green Sheep Wood was one of the seven great divine woods of the world. It was said that the magical treasure in the hands of Ancestor Qingmu was crafted from Green Sheep Wood; when he unleashed his divine abilities, he could turn a sea of sand into a jungle. It was a pity that despite possessing such heaven-reaching methods, no such transformation had ever been seen in the mortal world.

Xuan Mulang was a disciple of Ancestor Qingmu, so this item was likely bestowed upon him by the ancestor himself, yet it had unexpectedly fallen into Ning Ye's hands.

This was truly a good find; as the source of all wood-based arts, its value was self-evident.

Ning Ye had not expected that his and Tianji's frantic looting would yield such a treasure, and he could not help but feel delighted.

Most importantly, besides being used for weapons, this item could also be utilized for mechanisms, formations, and puppets. While that might be considered a waste, it was at least less likely to be traced back to him.

With the Green Sheep Wood core, Ning Ye was already satisfied. Just as he was preparing to leave the Sumeru House, he suddenly noticed a broken stone tablet in the distance.

This stone tablet was not something he had thrown in; it had existed there from the beginning.

Ning Ye walked over and saw that although the broken tablet was damaged, it was ancient and profound. Just one glance at it made his mind sway, as if he were standing in the midst of a bewildering illusion.

This is... Ning Ye felt a shock in his heart, and he suddenly realized what it was.

A fragment of the Myriad Manifestations Map?

There was actually a fragment of the Myriad Manifestations Map inside the Sumeru House.

The Myriad Manifestations Map was the world's supreme treasure of illusion and one of the ten great divine objects of the Thousand Mechanism Hall. It was a pity that it had shattered after the ancient war, yet now, there was a piece of it right here in the Sumeru House.

At this moment, Ning Ye channeled his Heavenly Mechanism mental cultivation technique toward the fragment. Suddenly, with a boom, the fragment erupted with countless runes.

With a wave of his hand, the fragment flew out of the Sumeru House, ascended into the sky, and transformed into a massive scroll. It was entirely blank, yet it contained rows of text.

Ning Ye was familiar with these characters; they were the ancient Heavenly Mechanism runes recorded by the Heavenly Mechanism Sect.

It read:

"The path of Heavenly Mechanism begins with Insight! To perceive the mysteries of heaven and earth, and to glimpse the secrets of the Great Dao! Thus, in the Thousand Mechanism Divine Palace, the Xuanji Ruler holds the primary position!"

"Next is Creation, to create the beings of heaven and earth and transform the myriad things of the universe. Thus, in the Thousand Mechanism Divine Palace, the Throne of Creation holds the secondary position."

"Then comes Myriad Manifestations, to conjure the sun and moon, to manifest all living beings, to reveal the past and future. The wonders of heaven and earth are all contained within. It is the foundation of the Thousand Mechanism and the root of all laws."

As he read the runes one by one, Ning Ye finally gained a true understanding of the Thousand Mechanism Hall.

Ning Ye's eyes shone with brilliance, and he looked up and laughed aloud: "Hahahaha, so that's how it is! This trip was truly worth it!"

Just as the text stated, the path of Heavenly Mechanism prioritized the thorough understanding of mysteries. Therefore, in the ancient Heavenly Mechanism Sect, the Xuanji Ruler was considered the number one treasure of the Thousand Mechanism Hall. This treasure had no practical combat use, but it could measure the heavenly secrets and decipher the infinite Great Dao; it was the primary necessity for immortals seeking the path.

Next were the Throne of Creation and the Myriad Manifestations Map. The former created the real, while the latter created the illusory. Only by combining the illusory and the real could one reach the foundation.

Only below these was the Kunlun Mirror.

The Kunlun Mirror could traverse time and space, so logically, it should have been the most important.

However, firstly, the limitations of time and space were too great; the Kunlun Mirror could truly traverse space rather than time. Even its ability to foresee the future was far less effective than imagined, so its actual power was insufficient. Secondly, immortals sought the highest heavenly path; to them, the items that allowed them to glimpse the ultimate secrets of heaven were the most meaningful. For this reason, the Xuanji Ruler, which had the least practical combat use, was ranked first.

This could only be attributed to a difference in values.

As for this fragment of the Myriad Manifestations Map, it recorded a lost technique of the Heavenly Mechanism Sect.

The Heaven-Deceiving Art.

Of the ten great divine objects of the Thousand Mechanism Hall, each one corresponded to a unique immortal art, excluding the Sumeru House. The nine divine objects corresponded to nine immortal arts, hence they were called the Nine Heavens Divine Arts. Only these divine arts could control their corresponding divine objects.

The art contained within the Myriad Manifestations Map was the Heaven-Deceiving Art.

The Heaven-Deceiving Art was essentially an illusion technique, but it possessed all sorts of profound mysteries. When combined with the Myriad Manifestations Map, it could conjure all things with infinite subtlety.

It was no wonder this item appeared here. It was likely that when the Thousand Mechanism Hall shattered, the great masters of the ancient Heavenly Mechanism Sect used their final strength to hide the fragment containing the Heaven-Deceiving Art and the general introduction within the Sumeru House.

After the Heavenly Mechanism Sect was destroyed, most of the Nine Heavens Divine Arts were lost along with it. Only one ancestor who was proficient in the Heaven Asking Art had sensed the impending disaster and made preparations, leaving behind the Heaven Asking Art along with two incomplete Nine Heavens Divine Arts.

Because of this, the Heavenly Mechanism Sect fell from a supreme sect to a small school that only knew how to perform divination. It was a pity that although they had the Heaven Asking Art, they lacked the Kunlun Mirror, making it difficult to utilize. By the time they finally recovered the Thousand Mechanism Hall, they discovered it was bound to Ning Ye, rendering it unusable.

Xin Ranzi was kind-hearted and unwilling to kill the goose that laid the golden eggs, so he painstakingly cultivated Ning Ye, hoping that he would one day combine the Heaven Asking Art with the Kunlun Mirror to find the remaining fragments and restore the Heavenly Mechanism Sect, but this only invited the disaster that destroyed the sect.

Now, what Ning Ye had found was the Heaven-Deceiving Art. Although it was also a fragment, it was already usable.

This was perhaps exactly what Ning Ye needed most—the Heaven-Deceiving Art itself possessed the ability to mask heavenly secrets.

Unlike the Heaven Stealing Art, which corresponded to the Heaven-Hiding Prison and possessed a fierce and domineering power—where all the great masters imprisoned within were effectively cut off from heaven, unable to borrow any power—its essence was not to mask heavenly secrets, but to ensure you could not touch any of the mysteries of heaven and earth at all; masking the secrets was merely an incidental effect of that spell.

The Heaven-Deceiving Art was different. Its essence was illusion, and it excelled in the method of deception. Therefore, it was not about making the opponent unable to see, but about making the opponent see only what he wanted them to see.

With the Heaven-Deceiving Art, Ning Ye could re-cultivate the techniques of the Heavenly Mechanism Sect without worrying about the Black and White Divine Palace discovering the secrets of the heavenly mechanism within him, nor did he need to worry about the Heaven Stealing Art losing its effect in four years.

This was excellent; the only downside was that Ning Ye's divided attention would slow his own progress, but with the resources from Xuan Mulang and Wang Sen, it balanced out perfectly.

At this moment, as Ning Ye was calculating his next steps, he suddenly sensed movement in the great hall.

It was the Kunlun Mirror!

Ning Ye hurriedly exited the Sumeru House and returned to the great hall.

The only thing that could trigger an active response from the Kunlun Mirror was that rockery onto which Ning Ye had dripped his blood essence.

Activating the Kunlun Mirror, a stream of light flashed across the surface, and Ning Ye saw Chi Wanning appear beside the rockery.

The night was deep, the night was deep and the people were quiet, and all sounds were hushed.

Chi Wanning stood by the rockery and pressed gently on it a few times, revealing a small hole inside the rockery.

Chi Wanning reached her hand into the hole and took out an object, which was a small booklet. After carefully inspecting it to confirm there were no issues, she thought for a moment, bit her silver teeth, and the booklet turned to ash and dissipated.

Afterward, she simply left.

It was a pity that she was so cautious; even with the help of the Kunlun Mirror, Ning Ye could not see what the booklet was.

After thinking for a moment, Ning Ye lit a Soul-Lodging Token: "Replay, manifest!"

Thus, the Kunlun Mirror re-enacted the scene that had just occurred, but this time, with the help of the Soul-Lodging Token, Ning Ye actually changed the angle, looking at the booklet from Chi Wanning's perspective.

This time he saw it clearly, and his body trembled: "It is actually..."

Ning Ye stood stunned for a long while before finally realizing the truth, and he could no longer suppress his laughter: "Interesting, interesting... No wonder it was like this... Good! Good! This is truly excellent!"

Having made consecutive discoveries, Ning Ye was in a great mood. The image shifted, arriving at the Inspection Hall.

With such a major incident having occurred, the Inspection Hall should not be peaceful right now, and he wanted to see how they intended to respond.

"These are troubled times!"

Inside the Inspection Hall, Fu Dongliu patted his forehead and sighed.

Within two days, two major events had occurred in succession, causing even Fu Dongliu to develop a headache.

His superiors had already issued a strict order: he must find the true culprit within ten days.

But the opponent was cunning and left no clues; where was he supposed to look?

Fu Dongliu possessed the Heart-Eroding Technique; if he didn't fear the damage, he could simply use it to erode their hearts and seize their souls to interrogate them one by one. The problem was that the people within the Green Wood Hall were all favored children of heaven. If he were to investigate them one by one using the Heart-Eroding Technique, the geniuses would likely turn into mediocrities, and those ancestors would certainly not let him off.

What was to be done?

Just then, a disciple hurried to Fu Dongliu's side and whispered a few words.

Fu Dongliu was slightly startled: "Why is he here? Let him in."

Shortly after, a person draped entirely in a black robe walked into the hall.

"Why have you come?" Fu Dongliu said, waving his hand to signal the other party to sit.

As he spoke, the black-robed figure slowly lifted the black hood from their head.