Fishing

The Heavenly Heart Imprint trembled. Immeasurable Heaven Venerable was about to fall.

As the news spread, all races mourned, all the heavens shook, and the Forbidden Zones stirred.

While many were trying every possible means to verify the news, ancient and powerful Heavenly Venerable lineages had already received word from the Forbidden Zones through certain channels, confirming that He Mu did not have long to live.

At once, these lineages grew restless. Many even turned their eyes toward the Wuliang Dao in the Ziwei Star Domain, which reigned over the world and ruled all the heavens.

Then something even more striking happened. The Wuliang Dao began recalling its disciples from afar and shrinking its sphere of influence throughout the universe. On the Divine Continent of Ziwei, every gust of wind and cry of a crane sent people into a panic.

Every outward sign seemed to point to the same truth-Immeasurable Heaven Venerable was truly on the verge of passing away and had no strength to spare for anything else.

Little did anyone know that the Wuliang Dao's current Dao Master was himself filled with trepidation, at a loss over what to do.

The reason was that Immeasurable Heaven Venerable was not in the Wuliang Dao at all! No one in the entire Wuliang Dao knew He Mu's whereabouts!

Not only had He Mu issued no decree whatsoever, but the Wuliang Dao Wheel was also slumbering. To say it was indifferent to the trembling of the Heavenly Heart outside would be an understatement-it showed absolutely no response.

Without any clues or feedback, the Wuliang Dao's senior members were burning with anxiety. Even after several discussions, they had reached no useful conclusion. Yet they had already noticed that certain powers among the stars had begun spying on them, eyeing them like tigers watching their prey, clearly harboring ill intentions.

Under these circumstances, the Wuliang Dao, knowing nothing, could only recall its disciples and shrink its sphere of influence to protect itself before considering anything else.

This move only deepened the outside world's misconception. It was tantamount to sending a false signal, feeding erroneous information to those ancient lineages with ties to the Forbidden Zones.

The Wuliang Dao's Dao Master was worried, but what he did not know was that He Mu had not deliberately withheld a decree to reassure the sect. Rather, he was in a very unusual phase and genuinely had no time to issue one.

All of this stemmed from something He Mu had done not long before.

Earlier, while comprehending the Dao in the Undying Mountain, He Mu had suddenly felt a stirring in his Dao heart and come up with a new idea.

In the original story, the protagonist, Ye Fan, had broken through the myriad Daos to become an emperor, elevating his own Dao above the Heavenly Heart. From then on, he had truly been worthy of the title Heavenly Emperor.

Of course, that was because the Golden Crow Great Emperor had already attained the Dao before him. If Ye Fan wanted to become an emperor, this was his only option.

Nevertheless, the benefits Ye Fan gained after rising above the myriad Daos were very real.

Then could I, as the one who has already attained the Dao in this era, break through the myriad Daos and raise my own Dao above the Heavenly Heart Imprint, taking another step forward?

With this idea in mind, He Mu made an attempt.

In the end, reality proved that although breaking through the myriad Daos was effortless for He Mu as he was now, rising above the Heavenly Heart was not nearly so simple. He Mu ultimately failed.

In truth, He Mu's circumstances were entirely different from Ye Fan's. For Ye Fan, the greatest obstacle to becoming an emperor was the merciless suppression of the Heavenly Heart after the Golden Crow Great Emperor had united with the myriad Daos.

To advance further, all Ye Fan had to do was break through the myriad Daos and then rise above them.

He Mu was different. As the Current Heavenly Venerable, his Dao was already united with the myriad Daos and formed one of the most important components of this era's Heavenly Heart Imprint. To rise above the Heavenly Heart, he would first have to shake his own fundamental Dao.

Thus, if He Mu still wanted to stand above the myriad Daos, he first had to withdraw his own Dao from the Heavenly Heart.

But that brought another problem. Once He Mu attempted to withdraw his Dao, he would shake the very foundation of the Heavenly Dao. In a severe case, he might even directly bring about an age of Dharma's end no less devastating than the one that followed the Fighting Saint Emperor's failed transformation into a Battle Immortal.

At the same time, the Heavenly Heart would tremble violently, creating the false impression that He Mu's lifespan was nearly exhausted and Immeasurable Heaven Venerable was about to perish. By comparison, however, this was merely a minor side effect.

That was precisely the source of the earlier anomalies in the universe.

If He Mu wanted to attempt to rise above the myriad Daos, it would be best to try again only after completely relinquishing the Heavenly Heart. Failing that, he should at least wait until he began his second life before making further plans. Attempting it now was undoubtedly a little too early.

He Mu had even suffered considerable losses from this attempt. At least fifteen hundred years of his lifespan had been swept away by disturbances in the torrent of time during the upheaval of the Heavenly Heart. Although he was already on the verge of living a second life, losing so much lifespan still pained him deeply.

At present, He Mu was busy calming the myriad Daos and reorganizing the countless laws of the universe to prevent any unforeseen consequences from his attempt.

Precisely because sorting out the myriad Daos was so tedious, He Mu truly had little attention to spare for anything else. That was why he had yet to issue a decree to reassure the Wuliang Dao.

When He Mu finally turned his attention back and learned of the universe's current situation, he came up with a plan of his own.

Since some Forbidden Zones had designs on him and all living beings, he might as well let them emerge. Their blood would serve nicely to intimidate the many Forbidden Zone Supremes and save him from having to deal with them stirring up trouble at a critical moment in his transformation.

He could also use this opportunity to fish for the formidable enemies hidden in the shadows. Even if that failed, it should at least serve as a warning to the likes of the black-mist horror, intimidating those enemies into abandoning any thought of exploiting the opportunity to sow chaos.

He Mu was confident. Although he was already in his twilight years, with his Dao body and vitality both in decline, he still had over a thousand years to live despite this loss of lifespan. As for those grasshoppers after autumn, how much longer could they keep hopping?

Moreover, he firmly believed that as long as he remained alive, he could quell any upheaval with Nine Secrets: Dou, even if those Self-Slashed Supremes restored their imperial lives to their peak and attacked alongside the black-mist horror. The majesty of a True Dragon could not be challenged by a pack of sickly cats!

With everything settled in his mind, He Mu decided to cast out the bait first and lure the fish in the shadows onto his hook.

He immediately loosened his hold over the Heavenly Heart and deliberately shook the myriad Daos, throwing the universe's laws into disorder to create an illusion that would deceive everyone.

A moment later, the aura of a Heavenly Venerable on the verge of dissolving into the Dao spread from above the nine heavens into the universe's myriad domains, sending a great tremor through the starry sky.

Everyone knew that Immeasurable Heaven Venerable was truly about to pass away.

For a time, the universe fell silent, and all races donned mourning white.

Just as all living beings remembered Immeasurable Heaven Venerable's achievements and shed silent tears, an upheaval erupted in the very next moment.

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