Departure

On Ziwei Ancient Star, in the Northern Sea, within the Sea-Eye Immortal Grotto.

He Mu sat upright on a lotus dais, level with Longevity Heavenly Venerable, who had sealed himself within immortal source.

Longevity Heavenly Venerable slowly began to speak, recounting the various secrets of Lingbao that he knew.

"Long ago, during Heavenly Venerable Lingbao's third lifetime, an Immortal Corpse awakened and emerged into the world, wreaking havoc throughout the universe. As the Current Heavenly Venerable, he chose to battle it. Yet after that battle, his injuries were so severe that he had no choice but to dissolve his own body, hoping to forge a new road to immortality.

I must admit, Lingbao was truly extraordinary. But how could the Road to Immortality be easy to walk? Even living another lifetime is far from simple. You must have felt that deeply yourself, fellow Daoist.

Sure enough, Lingbao ultimately failed. His body dissolved completely into the Dao of the universe, becoming one wondrous land after another.

Afterward, the world believed Lingbao had fallen utterly on the path of bodily dissolution, leaving nothing more than another set of dry bones beside the Road to Immortality.

But the world is ignorant. From what I know, heh, that wasn't what happened at all. What Lingbao did was even bolder, likely far beyond anything the world could imagine!"

At this point, Longevity Heavenly Venerable could not help giving a dry chuckle, as though mocking the world-or perhaps merely himself.

Then he looked up at He Mu again, shifting the subject as he spoke.

"Do you remember that wisp of black qi we saw when we went to the place where Lingbao sealed the Immortal Corpse?

Even he probably never realized that he nearly ended up sewing a wedding gown for Heavenly Venerable Lingbao."

As Longevity Heavenly Venerable continued his account, he revealed, one by one, all the secrets of Lingbao that He Mu had never learned.

And through his account, He Mu slowly pieced together Heavenly Venerable Lingbao's audacious plan.

Once he knew the full story, even He Mu felt considerable waves stirring in his heart at Lingbao's designs.

Longevity Heavenly Venerable had occupied the Northern Sea for untold years and had gained a profound understanding of the black qi that once opposed the three great Heavenly Venerables. He had also explored many of Heavenly Venerable Lingbao's ruins because of it, gradually reconstructing the broad truth of what had happened.

And that truth was far more complicated than what He Mu had previously known.

Unlike He Mu, Heavenly Venerable Lingbao's opponent back then had not been the remnants of an Immortal Corpse that He Mu had faced during his first lifetime.

It had been a genuine, complete immortal body that had awakened, beguiled by that eerie black qi.

Its strength had truly surpassed the human Dao domain, bringing it almost to the threshold of the immortal Dao.

After battling it, Heavenly Venerable Lingbao had indeed suffered grievous injuries, and his lifespan had been greatly depleted. His third lifetime would likely soon reach its end, so he had to begin a fourth as quickly as possible.

Yet any claim that Heavenly Venerable Lingbao had truly been powerless to attend to anything else at the time was surely a rumor.

He had thoroughly sealed the remains of the Immortal Corpse for two reasons: first, to isolate them from the outside world and prevent the black qi from causing trouble again; second, to use the Immortal Corpse as a source of power to nourish his transformation into an immortal.

But its immortal Dao origin was too vast and powerful. Even Heavenly Venerable Lingbao, who had already lived three lifetimes, could not fully control such power and make it entirely his own.

Yet this was a vital part of his envisioned ascent to immortality, one he could never abandon.

For that reason, Heavenly Venerable Lingbao chose an exceedingly unusual path of corpse dissolution.

In his vision, after he separated the five great secret realms, the Sea of Bitterness would evolve into countless chaos gods and demons, turning one into myriad beings. Through the Daos of those myriad spirits, it would bear his supreme Dao Fruit and help him contain and digest the origin power of the Immortal Corpse.

The Immortal Platform would serve as a place to house and nurture the true spirit of his primordial spirit, producing the supremely precious Immortal Platform Divine Liquid. It would both nourish his spirit and act as a Dao marker, connecting to the great dragon within the human body in preparation for the final reunification.

As for the Dao Palace, Four Extremes, and Dragon Transformation secret realms, they would respectively stabilize his Great Dao, absorb Heaven and Earth origin qi, and link the five great secret realms.

The Dao Palace would accumulate the true qi of the five elements, nourish his imperial life, and bolster the Sea of Bitterness. The Four Extremes would become heavenly pillars, supporting Lingbao's Great Dao and stabilizing his Dao attainments. Dragon Transformation would connect the secret realms while awaiting reunification.

Finally, he would use the Four Immortal-Slaying Swords and the Immortal-Slaying Array Diagram to guard his dissolving Dao body and protect his Dao.

Without any unforeseen variables, Heavenly Venerable Lingbao's scheme could have been called perfect. But unforeseen variables were precisely what the universe never lacked.

In the end, Heavenly Venerable Lingbao could not account for everything. An accident occurred during his corpse dissolution, and together with some unknown upheaval, it ultimately caused his failure.

Yet even so, Heavenly Venerable Lingbao had not perished. On the contrary, he still existed in this world, though his condition was not necessarily good.

Through the scattered clues his avatars had discovered throughout the universe, Longevity Heavenly Venerable had once glimpsed truths unknown to the world, including the fact that Heavenly Venerable Lingbao had never died.

He had also tried to find Heavenly Venerable Lingbao, but in the end, it had been like drawing water with a bamboo basket: all for nothing.

If someone like Heavenly Venerable Lingbao was determined to hide, Longevity Heavenly Venerable, a mere Self-Slashed Supreme, could never find him without breaking out of his immortal source.

Likewise, Longevity Heavenly Venerable had no wish to truly antagonize Heavenly Venerable Lingbao, so he abandoned the matter.

The only action he had taken over the years that could count as another step forward was accompanying He Mu to the Immortal Corpse's sealing ground and using the black qi to conduct a small probe.

Now, however, as the Current Heavenly Venerable, He Mu was different from Longevity Heavenly Venerable.

He had no concerns about his lifespan, nor did he fear the many contingencies Heavenly Venerable Lingbao had prepared.

Seeking out Heavenly Venerable Lingbao was nowhere near as difficult for him as it was for Longevity Heavenly Venerable. In fact, he had already obtained the most elusive clues from Longevity Heavenly Venerable himself.

As previously agreed, when He Mu was about to leave, he gave Longevity Heavenly Venerable the essence of the White Tiger Divine Medicine.

He brought out the medicinal liquid essence of the White Tiger Immortal Medicine. At his fingertips, nine drops containing powerful life-giving immortal essence took the shapes of tiny yet lively white tigers.

The nine little white tigers began tumbling about the moment they appeared, then let out several childish roars at He Mu and Longevity Heavenly Venerable.

After hearing Longevity Heavenly Venerable's account, He Mu felt that this journey had yielded a rich harvest, and all his objectives had been fulfilled.

Thus, he had no desire to linger here any longer. He intended to leave and begin attending to the matters ahead.

With a flick of his finger, the nine drops of divine medicinal liquid flew toward Longevity Heavenly Venerable's immortal source. A moment later, divine light blazed from the immortal source, and the liquid slowly merged into it.

After handing over the essence of the White Tiger Divine Medicine and confirming there were no further matters, He Mu bade Longevity Heavenly Venerable farewell and left the North Sea Immortal Grotto.

After leaving the immortal grotto within the North Sea Eye, He Mu stood above the Northern Sea. After some thought, he decided to visit the Lingbao Immortal Platform first.

In his view, whether he wished to seek out Heavenly Venerable Lingbao or probe the movements of the black qi, this was a place he had to visit.

The next moment, the Golden Light Avenue unfurled beneath He Mu's feet, carrying him toward the ancient star that would be known in later ages as Heavenly Soldier.

The third update is finished, and the revisions are complete too. Barring anything unexpected, there will still be three updates today.

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