Chapter 1562: Chapter 1562
Chapter 1562: Chapter 1562: Favored by Destiny
Upon hearing these words, the old man lifted his head, looked at He Ao, and with a smile said, “Friend, you must come from ‘after’ the world’s ‘death’, right?”
He Ao did not hide it and nodded lightly.
“Of course,” he slowly continued, “I know it’s not the ‘death’ of the world you’re curious about, but why I know the world would ‘die’.”
He paused, looked up at the giant crack above, “In fact, at this very moment, the world is already dead.”
Upon hearing this, He Ao was slightly stunned.
The old man lowered his head and continued, “What I saw in my dream was the scene of the world’s death. At that time, I merely thought it was a prophecy. I tried many methods, attempting to change all this, but ultimately, they all ended in failure. Later, I finally realized,”
He looked at He Ao, “this was not a prophecy, but the ‘future’, an inevitable future. When the ‘wailing’ of the world appeared in my dream, the world was already dead; its soul had already died. Now only its remnants live, and these remnants will soon go to extinction.”
Perhaps due to cultural differences, his words seemed somewhat metaphysical, but He Ao roughly understood what he meant.
“As for how I can sense the world’s ‘death’,” the old man raised his head to look at He Ao, “I must ask you a question,”
He paused slightly and asked softly, “Are you from outside the heaven?”
He Ao paused slightly and nodded lightly.
The old man’s gaze clearly brightened, and he continued to ask, “Are you an Immortal then?”
Hearing this question, He Ao momentarily pondered.
Based on the information he previously collected, in this Martial Arts World, what they call ‘Immortals’ are Martial Arts Angels.
But to this day, He Ao still didn’t know what a Martial Arts Angel exactly was.
In the end, He Ao shook his head, “I don’t know what you mean by immortals, but presumably, I should not be what you call an immortal.”
Upon hearing his words, the light in the old man’s eyes dimmed.
“For you to reverse the flow of time and reach me here, you must have extraordinary means,” he sighed softly, “you yourself are already akin to other beings similar to immortals, aren’t you?”
This time, He Ao did not deny it.
“Actually, don’t laugh at me,” the old man slightly rose, gathered his long sleeves, “all my life, I’ve been in pursuit of the Immortal Method.”
He looked up, gazing at that blank stele, and sighed long, “In the beginning, I was just a farmer working for the lord, at fifty, I was already getting old, it was then by a chance encounter with an old master that I entered the door of Martial Arts, becoming a Martial Artist that Introduces Qi,
“From the beginning, my cultivation speed was incredibly fast, it usually takes an ordinary person five years at the minimum to go from Introducing Qi to Qi Cultivation, but for me, it only took one year,
“To go from Qi Cultivation to Opening Mansion, normally ten years for others, I also only needed one year,
“But at the Opening Mansion Realm, I was stuck for thirty years. By then, I was already over seventy, far past the vibrant blood years of a Martial Artist. People said I wouldn’t make it.
“But in those thirty years, I collected all the cultivation techniques under heaven, created my own method of breathing and exhaling, and finally broke through the heavenly barrier, and transformed into Divinity in one day.
“After that, from Divinity to Refining God only took me six months,
“At eighty-five, I had already defeated heroes under heaven, reaching the pinnacle of the Refining God Realm,”
He turned back, looked at He Ao, laughed hoarsely, “Human desire knows no bounds, after becoming number one under heaven, I desired immortality, and to be immortal, I needed to become an immortal,”
He sighed lightly, “After that, for thirty-five years, I pondered how I could advance further, seeking the Immortal Way.”
He turned back, looked at the stele on his right, “It is rumored that in ancient times, there is a method to become immortal. So I spent ten years digging through all the ancient tombs and found the Ancient Relic, ultimately obtaining this Corpse Dissolving Immortal method of Killing People to Refine Pills.”
He Ao looked at the picture on that stele.
“I wonder what friend thinks of this method,” the old man chuckled bitterly, “by then I was over two cycles, a hundred and twenty years old, on the brink of death. Although a normal Refining God Realm Martial Artist can live up to two hundred years, I entered the Dao too late and was physically frail,
“At one hundred and twenty-five, that was my limit. Although I found this Corpse Dissolving Immortal method, this method was too harmful to the harmony of heaven, I ultimately gave up.”
He turned back, glanced at the stele on the left engraved with the breathing method, “With no hope, I consolidated all I had learned in my life and created this breathing method,
“This method can be cultivated by even the lowest-level Martial Artist. It is compatible with all martial arts schools. Practicing this method can speed up cultivation and greatly increase the breakthrough chance.
“I distributed this method freely to the world. In two or three years, martial arts flourished; the number of Martial Artists breaking through to the Refining God Realm was several times the usual.”
He looked at He Ao, sighed long, and laughed, “From then on, I sensed the ‘favor’ of heaven and earth. At my limit year, I did not die, but the life extension granted by heaven was not much, only about twenty years, so I began to ponder if there might be another ‘Immortal Method.'”
He Ao watched him, quietly listening to his tale.
“I spent fifteen years, and conceived a new method, which I called the ‘Harmonization Method,'” he sat back down in front of He Ao, continuing, “to harmonize the body with the Dao, merging oneself with the world, becoming a part of the world, thereby becoming an immortal.”
“It sounds a bit radical,” this method left He Ao a bit stunned, then he looked at the old man and said softly, “So, did you succeed?”
“No,” the old man shook his head, “I attempted to merge myself with heaven and earth by leveraging my connection, but ultimately failed.”
Upon saying this, he raised his head, looking upwards, unsure if gazing at the sky or the massive crack in it, “Our heaven and earth are not complete, and for reasons unknown to me, unable to merge,
“But while trying to merge, I discovered traces of several Corpse Dissolving Immortals surviving from ancient times, they have always hidden among people.
“Later, I found these Corpse Dissolving Immortals and discovered they were killing people to extend their lives, creating a massive blood debt. The Corpse Dissolving Immortal method was not a perfect Immortal Method; if one ate humans for a day, they would eat humans for life.”
His gaze lowered, seemingly lost in memory, he sighed, “At that time, I was already on the brink of my limit, so I relied on my connection with heaven and earth, invoked its might, and killed the first Corpse Dissolving Immortal.”
He sighed long, “Most of them were heroes of their time, some with talents far greater than mine, but ultimately could only rely on blood sustenance, how tragic,
“I searched all the way, executing these leftover monsters of the old era one by one,
“Finally, I met the oldest Corpse Dissolving Immortal, it was he who created the method of the Corpse Dissolving Immortal, and he too once attempted the Harmonization Method. He survived for tens of thousands of years.
“Even using the power of heaven and earth, I could not kill him, but he gave up resistance, allowing me to kill him. Before his death, he told me a secret,”
The old man raised his head, fixed his gaze on He Ao, “Beyond heaven, there are Immortals.”
He Ao’s gaze was fixed on him, seemingly wanting to see a change in He Ao’s expression.
Yet, He Ao just quietly watched him, “So, you touched the boundary of the world?”
According to the system’s description of the Trapped Destiny Plate, it was originally created by wizards to verify the rules of fate and to steal the power of divine beings, thereby creating a small world.
However, because a soul within this small world touched the world boundary, it alarmed the power of the divine beings, ultimately leading to destruction.
The concept of ‘Immortals beyond Heaven’ spoken by the first Corpse Dissolving Immortal likely refers to the observation of wizards controlling the world from outside of it.
“So,” hearing He Ao’s words, the old man was slightly stunned. After a brief silence, he sighed, “The world’s destruction was indeed because of that adventurous ‘infringement’?”
He sighed deeply, looking at He Ao, hoarsely saying, “It wasn’t me who touched the boundary of the world, but my disciple.”
Now it was He Ao’s turn to show some slight surprise, quietly watching the old man, calmly waiting for his next words.
“I received a method to extend life from the initial Corpse Dissolving Immortal, allowing me to extend my life by another thirty years,”
The old man slowly rose, gazing intently at the middle of the three steles, the blank one, and slowly spoke, “I knew he told me about the message beyond Heaven, hoping I would test, explore, and ‘see’ the scenery beyond Heaven.
“I knew it wasn’t purely out of goodwill, but I couldn’t resist the yearning for the path of immortality. Since there are immortals beyond Heaven, there must surely be a method to become immortal, and the world beyond might be more complete than this one.
“So I turned my gaze outward, attempting to break through the boundaries of this world, seeking the possibility of immortality. That initial Corpse Dissolving Immortal told me that to break through this world, one must not act recklessly or impulsively,”
“Eventually, I developed a method to break through the world,”
He turned around, looking at He Ao, “This method was a revised version of my previous ‘Harmonization Method,’ temporarily merging my aura with the world, then approaching the world’s edge to break out from it.”
“A very ingenious idea.” He Ao nodded lightly.
He Ao had actually already understood that this world couldn’t bear the existence of a ‘Martial Arts Angel.’ From the beginning to the end, it was nothing more than a sandbox for a wizard’s experiment.
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Whether it was that initial Corpse Dissolving Immortal or the old man now before He Ao.
That Corpse Dissolving Immortal cautioned the old man not to be ‘reckless,’ most likely because he was too conspicuous beforehand, attracting the wizards’ attention from outside and being stopped by them.
This also aligns with his awareness of the knowledge ‘Immortals beyond Heaven,’ he might have even had some level of contact with the wizards outside.
And the method the old man proposed was, in a sense, a stealthy way to slip out of this world.
Judging from the final result, his method succeeded.
The wizards did not notice the attempt to touch the world’s edge from within.
Given these wizards’ vigilance, having avoided their detection, this method could indeed be called ingenious.
After all, if the world was that easy to explode, it would have exploded long ago.
“But I never fully practiced this method,” the old man sighed longingly as if he guessed the reason behind He Ao’s lament.
“When I fused with the world and attempted to extend outward, I distinctly felt the world’s ‘fear,’ and I realized such behavior might bring disaster to the world.
“Ultimately, I completely abandoned the method.”
The atmosphere became somewhat oppressive for a moment.
“Did you pass this method on to your disciple?” He Ao looked at him.
“No,” the old man looked at He Ao and shook his head, “after realizing that the method might invite disaster, I burned all the manuscripts and never spoke of it again.”
His tone hesitated slightly, then seemed to fall into some memory, “That child was my only disciple, his talent far exceeded mine. He was only ten when I took him under my wing, and in ten years, he advanced from an ordinary person to the Refining God Realm.”
According to the old man’s previous account, Energy Introduction was probably F-level, while Refining God was B-level. Achieving B-level in ten years was indeed considered extraordinarily talented.
He Ao gazed at the old man, quietly listening to his narrative.
“At twenty-five, he defeated all the martial arts academies and became the world’s number one,” the old man’s eyes plunged into deep recollection, seemingly with a certain sentimentality, “I entrusted him with the unfinished Harmonization Method, hoping that in his lifetime, he could forge a path to becoming immortal, but I didn’t expect his talent to be so outstanding…”
When the old man mentioned this, He Ao realized something, he looked at the old man, “He created a method to break through the world based on your Harmonization Method?”
“Yes,” the old man lowered his head and smiled bitterly, “He somehow found traces left by my earlier enlightenment, even if just some simple directional thoughts, but he still used them to complete my method. He was too excellent and too arrogant; he didn’t notify me and attempted the ‘Shattering Void.’
At this point, his tone paused, “I felt the world’s tremors, and from that day on, he never returned, while the world also perished.”
He Ao raised his head, looking at the massive crack in the sky, “It sounds like destiny’s clock.”
“Yes, destiny bestowed too much favor upon him,” the old man lamented, “which ultimately led him down a completely wrong path.”
“Perhaps,” He Ao was silent for a moment, “this is the direction fate desired to see.”
The undulating sea splashed against the rocks, making a rustling sound.
Warm and humid winds brushed across the faces of those seated on either side.
He Ao’s gaze swept across everything around him, the sky, and the earth.
‘Trapped Destiny Plate,’ can it truly trap fate?
And hearing He Ao’s words, the old man fell into a momentary bewilderment and doubt, “Are you suggesting that destiny drove the child towards this path?”
Evidently, he never considered, or likely never thought of such a matter.
Destiny is also a part of the world’s composition, does it intend to destroy this world?
He Ao watched the old man before him.
After a brief silence, he slowly spoke, “This world is ‘incomplete’…”