Chapter 1445
Extra 4: A Strange Baby Was Born
Chapter 1445 Extra Chapter: A Strange Baby Was Born
Beyond the Sea of Light.
Unlike any other secret realm or cave within the Sea of Light, this realm is devoid of any mysteries or dazzling light, containing only an ancient tea table.
On either side of the tea table was a futon, equally devoid of any mystical power. However, strangely enough, when Xu Ming's immense power, enough to make countless people lose their way, landed around the tea table, it seemed to fall into an abyss and be swallowed up, unable to create even the slightest ripple.
At this moment.
Two figures sat on cushions on either side of the tea table. Their appearances and demeanors were different, yet they gave off an inexplicable sense of similarity.
Soon, one of the tea drinkers at one end spoke up.
He was a young man dressed in a Taoist robe, with a warm smile on his face and a vast, wise light in his eyes, as if some profound mystery was flowing within them.
“Fellow Daoist Tingyou, your ‘False Divine Transformation Technique’ is still too rudimentary. It only provides a general outline and does not include specific implementation methods.”
As soon as he finished speaking, the white-robed, white-haired youth at the other end of the tea table smiled helplessly and said, "There's nothing I can do. My cultivation level only allows me to deduce to this point. Using the [Gate of Transcendence] to forcibly raise my rank is theoretically feasible, but there's really no way to make bricks without straw."
"That's why I've come to seek your guidance, fellow Daoist."
Faced with the praise from Patriarch Tingyou, Dao Tianqi waved his hand shyly: "You flatter me. I am just a few years older than Fellow Daoist Tingyou."
"Even without me, fellow Daoist, with more time to cultivate, I believe you can resolve these issues."
"Fellow Daoist is too modest."
Master Tingyou shook his head: "The origin of my wisdom is now clear. It is all thanks to that child Lü Yang. It was not my ability alone."
"Compared to ordinary people, I might even be able to outperform them."
"However, compared to someone as naturally divine as you, fellow Daoist, I am still far inferior."
Dao Tianqi laughed upon hearing this, "Huiguang is not the only one; cultivation ultimately depends on the individual. But Fellow Daoist Tingyou, why did you deduce such a method?"
"It's just a small contribution."
Ancestor Tingyou said with some helplessness, "The final tribulation has not yet been resolved, so that child Lü Yang is still under pressure. After all, he is not considered very strong among those who have reached the Nascent Soul stage."
"Given time, I'm worried something unexpected might happen."
"If we could use a secret method to recommend a few [False Nascent Soul] cultivators, it might help him share some of the pressure and resolve the final tribulation ahead of time."
After saying that, Master You sighed and said, "I am not good at fighting, so I can only use my brain in this kind of thing. I ask you to lend me a hand."
Upon hearing this, Dao Tianqi's expression turned serious: "Fellow Daoist, rest assured."
"This concerns the final tribulation, and I will never shirk my duty. However, the methods of divination cannot be developed in isolation; perhaps I should consult with other Dao Lords."
As soon as he finished speaking, he looked at the jade slip in his hand.
".hehe."
Just then, Dao Tianqi seemed to suddenly remember something, and a smile appeared on his lips, attracting the attention of Ancestor Tingyou, who looked on with some curiosity.
"Fellow Daoist."
"You flatter me, but the scene before me is reminding me of some childhood memories." Dao Tianqi relaxed his brows, his smile growing even brighter.
"Back then, my senior brother would often come to me with all sorts of cultivation techniques, asking me to help him deduce them. He had a lot of tricks up his sleeve back then, sometimes bribing me, sometimes threatening me. Later I found out that he was acting on someone's orders to test my abilities."
The expression on Master You's face turned slightly serious when he heard "that person".
Now that things had come to this, Dao Tianqi no longer hesitated. He nodded decisively, then looked up at the [Gate of Transcendence] and said softly with a smile:
"That's right, it's the First Saint."
"Looking back now, he must have been preparing for the [Fame and Nature Seize Heaven Method] at that time, which is why he had to conduct a final test on the talents before that."
"I was young at the time and naturally knew nothing about it."
"Senior Brother Butian and Senior Brother Danding are a bit older, but their wisdom and cultivation are somewhat lacking, so it's difficult for them to notice the subtle changes."
"Only the eldest brother."
“His wisdom is second only to mine, and his cultivation is also high.”
At this point, Dao Tianqi's expression softened, the once terrifying memories no longer shrouded in darkness: "He must have sensed something back then."
"Greetings, Master!"
Upon arriving at the gate of the hut in the center of the cliff, Shi Tianyi immediately bowed respectfully. When he looked up again, a blurry figure appeared before him.
He was a young man.
The young man's appearance was not particularly outstanding; in fact, it could be described as ordinary. At first glance, he looked like any ordinary person you could find anywhere in the city.
"Congratulations on your completion of seclusion, Master."
With a smile, Shi Tianyi finished his bow and rubbed his hands together as he approached the young man: "Thanks to Master's guidance, my cultivation has improved recently."
"Oh?"
Upon hearing this, the young man glanced at Shi Tianyi, then reached out and grabbed his wrist. After sensing for a moment, he nodded slightly: "You've reached the Great Perfection of Qi Refining."
"That's quite fast. It seems you have a very high talent in weapon crafting. I see your foundation is solid. Don't you plan to try Foundation Establishment immediately?"
"It's too dangerous."
Shi Tianyi shook his head, his face still showing lingering fear: "This disciple actually sensed something. If one entrusts their entire life to the path of [weapon refining], while it may elevate one's rank, it's like hanging oneself below the Great Dao, with nothing beneath one's feet. The slightest carelessness could lead to one's demise."
"This is foundation building."
The young man remained noncommittal, saying calmly, "Build the foundation of the Great Dao and ascend the gate to immortality. Only by stepping into this realm can you truly be called a human being."
Shi Tianyi was taken aback upon hearing this: "Only those who have reached the Foundation Establishment stage are considered human?"
"Master, what does this mean?"
The young man did not answer, but smiled and said, "You will understand in time. But judging from what you've said, you want me to protect you, right?"
"Hey hey hey."
Shi Tianyi immediately showed a shy expression: "I can't hide it from Master. Foundation Establishment is too dangerous. Only if Master helps me keep an eye on things can I feel at ease."
At this point, he added with some excitement, "In the future, when I have achieved a certain level of cultivation, I will definitely change this dangerous way of cultivation, so that every Foundation Establishment cultivator can have something to stand on to consolidate their cultivation, and not have to live with their lives hanging by a thread like they do now."
"Ambitious."
The young man nodded: "Alright, close your eyes and concentrate. I will protect you. I have another important matter to entrust to you after you break through to the Foundation Establishment stage."
"okay."
With boundless trust in his master, Shi Tianyi closed his eyes and began his attempt to break through to the Foundation Establishment stage, while the young man watched him with a gentle smile throughout.
'.'
The smile vanished in the next instant.
The young man silently looked at Shi Tianyi, then took out a gleaming golden book from his sleeve: 'Now, all the materials are gathered.'
'The next step is to establish a sufficiently deep connection with these four people through various means, ideally gaining their genuine trust. Only then can the [Fame and Nature Seizing Heaven Technique] be 100% effective. It seems this master-disciple game will continue for a while longer.'
Thinking of this, the young man looked up at the sky.
From this day forward, I am truly alone.
In Shi Tianyi's eyes, his master had only gone into seclusion for a period of time, but in fact, he had gone to deal with a matter during that time.
[Erasing his own name.] His parents, relatives, friends, neighbors—everyone who knew his name had been personally killed by him, their souls extracted and their spirits refined, vanishing from this world.
As for the four disciples, including Shi Tianyi, they only knew that they were "Master".
As for his real name, no one knows.
"It's alright."
'Soon, once the [Name-Seizing Heavenly Law] is truly established, I will be able to roam the Sea of Light with my new name; my old name will be useless.'
Thinking of this, the young man couldn't help but look at his palm—fair, slender, like a pearl, as if it were a perfect object crafted by the hand of God. However, in a daze, he seemed to see countless wronged souls roaring on it, and he could even smell the pungent smell of blood.
What did I do?
"Killing my parents, killing relatives and friends, killing close friends, just to find my true self—is this still me? Did I really have to go this far?"
The young man suddenly felt a sense of unease.
An indescribable sorrow suddenly welled up as genuine tears.
His hands began to tremble uncontrollably. He tried to suppress it, but to no avail. More and more emotions surged up like a landslide and a tsunami.
He had to come up with something.
Tears streamed down his face, and trembling spread through his limbs. If he didn't find a way to suppress these emotions, he was afraid he would go crazy!
"."
The young man took a deep breath, then closed his eyes and activated the technique he had learned from the book, unleashing a powerful strike at his own consciousness.
Boom!
In an instant, a resounding echo like the grandest bell reverberated in the young man's heart, and an emotion symbolizing sorrow was stripped away from his invisible Dao heart.
Immediately afterward, as if all the previous emotions were merely insignificant illusions, the young man regained his composure. When he looked at his hands again, he had no other thoughts. Wronged spirits? The smell of blood? So what? It was pointless to grieve for them; they were all burdens that hindered him from going any further.
Almost simultaneously.
"Hey! I did it!"
With a dramatic increase in his rank, Shi Tianyi suddenly opened his eyes, a joyful smile on his face, and immediately planned to report the good news to his master.
Then he saw it.
Having just severed the [Sorrow] and regained his composure, the master's gazes collided in the void, and time seemed to stand still at that moment.
"Master?"
Shi Tianyi blinked, and the joy in his smile faded unconsciously.
".What's wrong?"
The next second, the young man smiled slightly, his smile as gentle as Shi Tianyi remembered, and his tone was still full of concern for his disciple.
It's as if nothing has changed.
However—something has changed.
'illusion?'
'No, it's not an illusion!'
Shi Tianyi would never doubt his intuition. Just a moment ago, he did indeed sense a master who was completely different from the one in his memory.
Cold, indifferent, and heartless.
The gaze directed at him was not that of someone looking at a disciple, but rather like that of someone looking at a piece of meat on a chopping board, pondering which part to start cooking.
Even so, Shi Tianyi almost instinctively buried his doubts deep in his heart, while adjusting his expression to show the respect a disciple should have when facing his master, and said in a deep voice: "Master, I have already established my foundation. You just said that you have some important matters to entrust to me?"
The young man remained silent.
He remained silent, maintaining a gentle smile, looking at Shi Tianyi, while the atmosphere at that moment fell into an indescribable chill.
"."
Unbeknownst to him, Shi Tianyi even stopped breathing, as if a venomous snake had crawled onto his heart, slowly tightening and choking his heartbeat.
Shi Tianyi did his best to maintain the stability of his expression.
'No, that's not right, it can't be too stable.'
'You have to panic!'
The next moment, Shi Tianyi's expression thawed like a spring breeze, revealing timely fear and helplessness: "Master? What did I do wrong?"
".Hahaha."
Just then, the young man suddenly laughed, his hearty laughter instantly dispelling all the coldness: "Wanbao, Wanbao, you really are the most like me."
"Alright, stop pretending."
“It was Master’s fault just now. He didn’t hide from you when he was cultivating his primordial spirit. If you were frightened, just say so. Keeping everything to yourself will only scare you.”
After saying that, the young man patted Shi Tianyi's shoulder forcefully.
With this palm strike, Shi Tianyi immediately fell to the ground, only then realizing that he had unknowingly broken out in a sweat and his legs had gone weak with fear.
"Master, did this on purpose?"
"Are you trying to scare me?"
In an instant, Shi Tianyi felt a surge of shame and anger welling up in his heart, but at the same time, a deep sense of relief also emerged. It was just a misunderstanding.
—How could that be?
'No, I can't think about it anymore.'
—What misunderstanding could make me feel like I was almost killed? My master really did want to kill me just now, and that was also a misunderstanding on my part?
'It's normal that Master has high cultivation.'
—Even if we take a step back and say that this is how a master treats his disciple.
He can't be wrong.
—In the end, does Master truly consider me his disciple? Was what he just said the truth, or was he merely trying to dispel my doubts?
'.'
Shi Tianyi did not think about it any further.
Although he had never done this before, he mastered it without any instruction and very smoothly transformed all his emotions into a faint look of fear.
Then, adjust to complaining:
"Master, you scared me to death!"
"Alright, get up. Look at your guts." The young man said indifferently, "What I'm asking you to do is very simple: find something for your junior brother to do."
"Take these techniques and let him practice them."
"Disciple obeys!"
Shi Tianyi respectfully accepted the jade slip handed over by the young man, then turned around, rode a beam of light, and quickly disappeared into the distant horizon.
Watching his departing figure, the young man's lips curled slightly: 'His speed wasn't fast, nor was it slow. As expected of the [Master of Cause and Effect] in history, even in his youth, his temperament is still outstanding. Once the [Name and Nature Seizing Heaven Method] is completed, proving [Time] should also be on the agenda.'
Oh well, I was planning to write this as a draft, but I forgot to ask for leave until tomorrow.
(End of this chapter)