What did this have to do with Earth?
Before he could think further, the scene in the light screen shifted. In the blink of an eye, mountains and rivers appeared in splendor, flowers, birds, fish, and insects moved about, and a waterfall plunged ten thousand feet. A heaven-defying cliff was half-veiled by it. This was no body of water, but a vast river of chaos cascading down the cliff face.
"This is..." Su Yu was stunned. A great terror gripped his heart, because he had seen a stele.
The stele was wreathed in starlight, its silver radiance shining to this day. Immeasurable Dao marks were carved upon it, plainly sharing the same origin as the Indestructible Heavenly Art. Vast chaos swirled around it, and its imposing force was terrifying.
What made Su Yu tremble even more was a bloodstained garment on the cliff. His pupils contracted, and the danger in his heart rose to its peak.
What the light screen showed was Kunlun!
"No. With my current abilities, going to Kunlun means death!" A chill ran down Su Yu's spine. He knew that going there meant nine deaths and one chance of survival, and he had never imagined that this place was connected to Earth.
That was Kunlun, where beast kings gathered in droves and emperor patterns covered the land.
Even Rong Chengshi, who was in the Quasi-Emperor realm, had nearly fallen there. Although Su Yu had half of the Devouring Heaven Demon Jar, he could hardly be confident of surpassing Rong Chengzi.
Overlooking Kunlun, he saw white clouds interwoven with vast chaos. The scenery was beautiful, but hidden within it were terrifying array patterns powerful enough to kill a Quasi-Emperor.
If he went there, life and death would be uncertain...
This was indeed an immortal opportunity of a world-shaking scale: entering the Kunlun Immortal Land. It was just not something a mere Four Extremes cultivator like him could hope for.
Su Yu wanted to interrupt the array patterns, but everything was already too late...
Amid wisps of Chaos Qi, ancient array patterns awakened. Their mysterious presence gradually intensified and linked with the spatial laws in the void. In a moment of fleeting brilliance, ten thousand streams of light and a hundred million rays of immortal light flowed with boundless pressure.
Within the Dao field, an invisible hand seemed to turn heaven and earth and strip space and time apart.
Su Yu activated the Devouring Heaven Demon Lid, hoping to leap out of this domain, but he could not escape it at all. Terrifying laws of space and time shook, sealing off heaven and earth and twisting the entire field.
Space was sealed here, flight was forbidden, and crossing the void was barred. Through the fragments of space and time, the boundless void of the universe seemed visible!
Then, with a startled cry, the slender figure was swept up by the radiance of the Great Dao and shot into the sky. Brilliant purple light illuminated the entire mountain range, countless spatial laws rippling within it.
A void passage was opened, and the immortal light entered it like a ribbon of silk.
The journey through the starry sky began!
Su Yu's heart pounded as he struggled to control his body within the light. He wanted to see his surroundings clearly, but the distance covered in crossing the star domains was too vast. He could only see countless meteors passing behind him, and he could not feel time passing, as though everything had been frozen in this instant forever.
The feeling was like the end itself: silent and soundless, as though time had stopped and the long river of time had stilled for eternity...
Through the Devouring Heaven Demon Lid, he could see terrifying spatial turbulence and fragments of space. His entire body was also in a weightless state, leaving him feeling top-heavy and light-footed.
During this process, he could not feel the existence of time. At moments it passed very slowly, yet countless rivers did flow beneath his feet. An instant and eternity seemed to blend together, as though he were living through a long century.
"I've really screwed up this time..." Even Su Yu could not help wanting to curse.
He knew he had made a mess of things this time. If he really landed in Kunlun, he could only pray for a safe landing, then become an ascetic and slowly attain sainthood in the Age of Dharma's End. Without the Immortal Treasure Map, he could not take a single step, and the chaos immortal soil was no different from poison to him.
Missing everything in the early and middle stages of Shrouding the Heavens was an outcome he could not bear!
At the thought, Su Yu's face turned green. The great world was resplendent, and his life had only just begun. He did not want to go into seclusion in Kunlun and wait for the future Ye Fan to come and save him...
After using the purple jade jue to reveal a spatial node in the divine path, Su Yu drove the Devouring Heaven Demon Lid with all his might, trying to awaken a wisp of emperor's might, break through the spatial passage, and escape.
But doing so was far too risky!!
If the divine path were destroyed, the void passage would close immediately, and he might be cast into eternal darkness. He would be better off going to Kunlun.
He hesitated, struggled, and agonized...
Finally, after seeing that brilliant blue planet, Su Yu gritted his teeth and decided to stake everything on a gamble.
In this life, he did not want to be a supporting character. The great age was like a dragon, and Ye Fan would go to Kunlun's immortal soil in a little over fifty years.
In such a short time, his chances of attaining sainthood were slim. By then, Great Saints would reign supreme beneath the starry sky, leaving him no room to maneuver at all.
Having crossed over into another life, he did not want to spend it this way.
The instant the passage entered Earth, Su Yu hid inside the Devouring Heaven Demon Lid, then cut open his palm and offered his blood to the weapon. With all his strength, he unleashed a burst of supreme divine might at a spatial node.
Like a stowaway forcing his way off a ship, he jumped. The Devouring Heaven Demon Lid began to awaken, becoming crystal clear. The ceramic lid trembled lightly and unleashed a wisp of immortal might. With a boom, it pierced a spatial node and broke through...
Mount Tai rose lofty and majestic, its presence magnificent. The ancients honored it as foremost among the Five Sacred Mountains. Countless poets and scholars had left poems and prose here, and many emperors had performed sacrifices to heaven and earth here to celebrate their achievements.
How magnificent was Mount Tai? Its green stretched endlessly across Qi and Lu. Since ancient times, Mount Tai had been a symbol of the lands of Qi and Lu. Gazing at the Yellow River from its summit, one felt a sense of grandeur swell in the chest. As the sayings went, "Climb Mount Tai, and all under heaven seems small," and "No mountain is greater, no history more ancient"!
High cliffs and plunging waterfalls adorned it like robes, while the Yellow River was its crown and sash. Its rugged grandeur lost none of its elegance, and its quietude diminished none of its majesty.
Lingering clouds resembled peaks and ridges. Golden light pierced clouds and mist, pouring straight down upon the human world. Together with the drifting haze, it made one feel as though one had returned to ancient times, as in the tales of Qi refiners.
Climbing from the foot of the mountain, one could see countless scenic spots and historic sites along the way. Inscriptions stood everywhere, and solemn tablets rose against the cliffs, five thousand years of civilization carved upon them.
It was the height of the tourist season, and visitors were especially fond of the morning view. Quite a few people had gathered on Jade Emperor Peak at Mount Tai's summit, preparing to watch the spectacle.
Suddenly, a gust blew in, the morning wind piercingly cold. Then waves of cloud and mist began to drift into strange shapes, growing much thicker than on ordinary days. The trees on Mount Tai rustled in the distance, and a fine crack appeared in the ground on Jade Emperor Peak.
The clouds parted and the sun rose, filling the sky with golden light. Warm sunlight shone upon the world, bathing everyone in the morning glow.
Clouds and mist on the horizon surrounded the whole summit of Mount Tai, making the tourists on Jade Emperor Peak feel as though they stood in an immortal realm. Flowing clouds lay beneath their feet, drawing endless exclamations of admiration!
Everyone was taking photographs, chatting, or talking among themselves about the unusual events of the morning.
The abnormal weather made this sunrise even more beautiful and dazzling, grand and magnificent. The sight of the clouds and mist was especially captivating, as though it could wash the fatigue from one's body. After being bathed in the mist, everyone looked refreshed and radiant.
In this age of the internet, such an exceptionally rare natural wonder caused quite a stir.
Videos taken by tourists were uploaded online, and interest in the phenomenon quickly grew as netizens discussed it. Some even called it an auspicious omen, earning a flood of likes. Then some people posing as critics declared, "Everyone, spectacles ruin a nation," only to be angrily rebuked: "I'd say you're the one getting in the way."
Soon, the relevant authorities at the geological bureau offered an explanation:
A slight movement of the tectonic plates beneath Mount Tai had caused the spectacle. This was a cloud-and-mist display seen only once in a thousand years, because at Mount Tai's elevation, such a thing would normally be impossible. However, under the influence of this plate movement...
In a field near Mount Tai, a ceramic lid had plunged more than twenty meters into the earth, sending dust flying in every direction as though a bomb had fallen.
Su Yu had also been shaken senseless, his face deathly pale. This time, he really had escaped death by a hair's breadth.
When he used his divine sense to see the soil outside, his face twitched even more.
After great difficulty, he escaped from underground. Seeing the police cars around him and the crowd of onlookers eager for a spectacle, Su Yu did not even dare show himself. Under the gazes of the Shandong uncles and aunties, he fled in disarray, turning into a streak of black light that vanished into the sky.
Chapter 10: Shaping Karma and Forging Good Ties
Only after rising a full kilometer into the sky did Su Yu calm down. He panted heavily, then his vision went black, and he nearly fell from the sky.
This time, the Devouring Heaven Demon Lid had nearly sucked him dry.
Su Yu struggled to steady himself. His entire body ached, and his legs were utterly limp, as though he had stayed up every night for a month while continuously rewarding himself more than a hundred times. He was completely exhausted.
Though he was in terrible condition, Su Yu glanced at the familiar surroundings beneath him and pressed his lips together. His eyes trembled slightly, and a special feeling stirred in his heart.
A wanderer had returned home. Though this was only a parallel world, the mountains and rivers were the same, and that offered a kind of emotional comfort...
After finding a patch of wasteland in the suburbs and resting for a day, Su Yu came back to life.
Looking back on how he had courted death this time, he felt a lingering fear.
The facts proved that without the buffs of being an ancient Heavenly Venerable's reincarnation and a certain Heavenly Emperor's older brother, there were some things he still could not do. Otherwise, he was very likely to get himself killed...
But after the fear passed, he became extremely excited.
This time, he had nearly died in the starry sky divine path and nearly fallen to his death, but he had finally landed on Earth. Su Yu knew exactly what that meant.
But this great opportunity had a prerequisite!
"The coffin convoy had better not have arrived already..."
Su Yu muttered to himself and set to work.
He soon learned that Mount Tai had not yet been placed under lockdown and that tickets to go up were still available. He let out a long breath.
He had not missed the second opportunity since coming here after all...
"Nine Dragons Pulling the Coffin, the encounter on Mars, the blessed fortune of the Desolate Ancient Forbidden Land..." Su Yu murmured, dazzling light bursting from his eyes.
The clouds and mist on Mount Tai dominated the major headlines online, and Ye Fan, at his hotel, also came across the news. He was full of anticipation for tomorrow's trip to Mount Tai.
The Mercedes from last night had helped him save face among his classmates. Liu Yunzhi had become the clown, and those who had previously treated Ye Fan coldly had all changed their attitudes. Although Ye Fan was not the sort of person who cared about others' opinions, who would willingly listen to their scorn and mockery?
If such a person really existed, without the seven emotions and six desires, could that person still be considered human?
At least he could not...
Ye Fan turned to look out the window at the vehicles passing along the asphalt road below. His thoughts drifted involuntarily back to his school days, and to the woman he found somewhat hard to forget. Meeting Li Xiaoman today had left his emotions in some turmoil.
At last, Ye Fan smiled in release. Let the past stay in the past. The road of life was still long, and this was only a passing scene along the roadside...
Wang Ziwen and Zhou Yi, who were at the hotel reception desk, also began talking about the clouds and mist on Mount Tai.
Wang Ziwen scrolled through his phone for a while, then turned to Zhou Yi and said,
"I wonder if we'll get to see that kind of sight tomorrow? I heard it only happens once in a thousand years. People online are making it sound miraculous. First the whole sky shone with light, then the clouds and mist surged. A lot of people said the Buddha had manifested..."
"I hope so!" Zhou Yi replied with a smile as he booked tickets. He too was full of anticipation for tomorrow's trip to Mount Tai.
The two of them were covering all the expenses for this class reunion, but that was nothing to him and Wang Ziwen. Given their status, it was no more than a hair on nine oxen.
"Can't get them? The tickets are already sold out, and even paying extra won't work."
"It's all right, Zhou Yi. The experts all said it was a once-in-a-millennium spectacle. There's no way it could happen again the next day." After the events of that morning, the number of people buying and booking tickets had surged.
Their group had originally planned to see the sunset on Mount Tai, and they had already bought the tickets.
Then, after the spectacle of clouds and mist, Zhou Yi and Wang Ziwen had offered to go in the morning instead, but they were still a step too late...
At this moment, Su Yu was carefully taking in the scenery of Mount Tai, utterly unaware that he had nearly changed the timeline.
By coincidence, he had fallen very close to Mount Tai. One could even say that his landing point was Mount Tai itself.
This gave Su Yu a suspicion: each of the spatial nodes he had seen through the purple jade in the starry sky divine path might have a special significance.
But it was too early to say any of that now.
Landing at the foot of Mount Tai, Su Yu felt a trace of the weight of the ages. It was the accumulation of years, the gathering of time. This mountain was extraordinary, having endured through ages so distant that it gave one a sense of profound weight.
Ever since coming to this world, Su Yu had spent these days cultivating alone. Now that he had returned to a populated place and was walking among the crowd, he felt a hint of ethereal tranquility.
The stream of people coming and going on the mountain path could not affect him as he drifted along with the flow.
Gradually, Su Yu's steps grew lighter and he became more relaxed. His essence, Qi, and spirit gradually became one, faintly merging with all of heaven and earth.
He chose not to ride a rainbow. Instead, he walked out of the area step by step, then went to look for traces of Ye Fan.