Destiny is ashes

Chapter 1099 Then I'll give you the entire Ancestral Dragon Palace.
Neither the past nor the future; the moment the words were spoken, the dragon gods descended into the 'present'.

The past and the future intertwine around them, and their mere existence makes the surrounding time thick and heavy.

The Dragon Gods of the Four Seasons have descended.

In that instant, the flow of time throughout the entire Northern Profound Sacrifice Continent became momentarily disordered. Although there were no magnificent phenomena or overwhelming effects, for a true powerhouse, the momentary misalignment between the flow of time of the Void and their own was no less significant than a kitten seeing a cucumber behind it.

Almost all eyes turned to the northern frontier in an instant, but in the next instant, these gazes disappeared.

Because they saw it, they saw four shadows that emerged from the passage of time.

—Wow, there are dragon gods from all four seasons gathered here? I'm not watching then, anyway, I don't know if it's a mirage of the past or the future.

Meanwhile, in Hongzhou of the Southern Wilderness, the Qingdu Daoist, who had personally descended, sensed the fluctuations. He sighed, then looked at the Haoyu Heavenly Venerable before him, whose face was grim, and said solemnly, "Alright, there are no outsiders here, let's not pretend to be fighting to the death..."

【Haoyu, you know perfectly well that if I don't let Huan Hongxian fall, he will truly become a Saint-Demon. In that case, won't you be the one suffering the consequences of your True Path cultivation?】

[Your premature fall from grace before even reaching the final stage is tantamount to killing Him!]

Haoyu Tianzun said in a deep voice. Although his attitude was still very bad, if others knew that the relationship between Lianzhendao and Shangxuanjiao was not as 'irreconcilable' as imagined, and that there was even a hint of cooperation from the beginning, they would probably be shocked and cry out.

But in reality, this is not surprising—how could the fall of immortals be kept secret from the Shangxuan Sect? They knew about it from the beginning and tacitly approved it. Until the final step occurred, the two sides were actually half allies.

Haoyu Tianzun was genuinely angry at first, but after seeing the fate of the God One Sect Master, he understood that Qingdu Daoist was right. Although the methods were different, the principle was the same. If the Blood Sea Demon Sect failed, the Refining True Path would naturally succeed as well.

Therefore, He simply flicked His hand, making His stance clear: "Get out of my way! I don't want to see you in the Southern Wilderness Hongzhou!"

[Hehe, that's not up to you.] Qingdu Daoist casually flicked the Ruyi in his hand, and suddenly the phenomena of heaven and earth changed drastically. The vast primordial energy and the fluctuations of the void caused the sea to churn, like a tsunami.

Endless, multicolored clouds and light obscured everything—it seemed like two celestial beings were fighting, but in reality, each of them only left behind a clone, while their true bodies went about their own business.

In the blink of an eye, Daoist Qingdu arrived at Taiyuan and sat in its center. He gazed at the seals, lost in thought: "Old Fei's actions this time are definitely because of An Jing... Including the Ancestral Dragon Palace, which is destined to leave, there are now at least seven Heavenly Venerables centered around the Mingjing Sect and An Jing."

It seems that another battle for supremacy is about to begin.

For the true top-tier Heavenly Sect members of Huai Xu, some things don't require their personal presence to grasp the general outline of events. Therefore, from the beginning, the Four Seasons Dragon God had no intention of hiding anything, and An Jing didn't feel that this matter needed to be kept secret either. Instead, he greeted them with a smile, saying, "Indeed, a Heavenly Dragon who can foresee the future will never be late..."

"Junior Anjing welcomes the Four Seasons Dragon God and Senior Taishan Zhifei!"

Oh, you actually managed to spot me.

Beside the Dragon God, a stream of dark, abyss-like light transformed into the shadow of a majestic, ferocious beast. Its aura was heavy, as if the heavens and the void were about to be crushed and collapsed; it was clearly the Fei of Mount Tai.

He looked at An Jing with great interest: "How did you discover me? If I had hidden myself, even the other Celestial Venerables would have had difficulty detecting me."

—Because I am the Seven Calamities, if I couldn't sense such a powerful and ferocious beast as you, I might as well sell tea eggs.

An Jing thought this to himself, but actually said it as a matter of course: "Because I am a Nature Master."

These words seemed to answer all of Huai Xu's questions, whether it was the Four Seasons Dragon God, the Flying Tiger of Mount Tai, or the Myriad Transformations Divine Pivot, all of whom wore an expression of utter certainty: 【Indeed】

At this moment, the seven half-celestial beings gathered above the Mingjing Sect. Their gazes swept over the heavens and earth, watching the ever-running Academy City, and they all showed approving looks.

The Dragon God remarked with admiration: "We witnessed the reconstruction process of your Mirror Sect within the flow of time, and I must say, the efficiency was truly incredible."

"Indeed," Xing Shilongshen nodded, "The features of the Dao Court era have been somewhat reproduced. The prosperity of the Mingjing Sect is truly unprecedented."

The ancient dragon god, now in human form, laughed heartily and raised his hand to shake hands with An Jing: "An Jing, we are aware of your purpose. Alliances and investments are both negotiable."

As you know, our Dragon Clan has everything and is least concerned about investment. We invested in the Great Chen Dynasty back then, so naturally we can invest in the Bright Mirror Sect now.

He paused, then the Dragon God of Death spoke up: "The problem lies in..."

What do you want to build using the Ascension Path?

"Yes," came the booming voice of Tai Shan Zhi Fei: "My junior has high hopes for you, and you are also a comrade-in-arms from that mysterious place. I will invest in you no matter what. But, Master of Nature, what exactly do you want to create?"

[My former master, the Celestial Mystery Daoist, was also a remarkably talented natural master.] The will of the Myriad Transformations Divine Pivot rippled, flowing into the hearts of everyone present: [He wanted to establish a purely academic sect, replacing the traditional master-disciple inheritance with a rational research system.]

He succeeded, and ultimately failed. The original 'master,' 'great craftsman,' and 'great creator' are now nothing more than elders and sect leaders in different titles. Although he did bring a breath of fresh air to Huai Xu, he was ultimately assimilated by Huai Xu's old system.

It gets straight to the heart of the problem.

The Dragon Gods of the Four Seasons, who govern the rise and fall of dynasties, clearly had a plan in mind long ago. As celestial dragon gods who have mastered the light of the universe, they may have already discussed this issue with Anjing in the future or the past. However, Anjing's most crucial aspect is the present. They can only read about it; the real decision rests with the possibility that Anjing will anchor itself to next.

Taishan Zhifei and Wanhua Shenshu were no exception. As they were both Celestial Venerables, they naturally understood the meaning of Anjing's invitation. Without wasting words, they asked directly.

At this moment, everyone's attention, including Haotian Mirror and Cheng Guang Tianjun's, was focused on An Jing. Although An Jing would discuss this matter with them, to be honest, no one knew the full picture of An Jing's plan.

They had no doubt about An Jing's choices, but they were also curious to hear the reasons why.

"It has not been completely assimilated."

Faced with the inquiries from the Celestial Venerables, An Jing remained calm as ever. He first nodded slightly to the Myriad Transformations Divine Pivot as a response, and then spoke slowly and deliberately: "The scientific research aristocracy and the celestial secrets aristocracy are ultimately a new kind of aristocracy. As long as a person is still a living being, he cannot help but surround and protect powerful beings, thus making people aristocrats."

"A group of monkeys always needs a monkey king. In that case, it's always better to support some new things than to always support the same old, outdated things."

“Of course, I don’t want to make such minor reforms—not out of disrespect for the Celestial Mystery Daoist.” An Jing gestured to the Myriad Transformations Divine Pivot again, and then his tone became serious: “Because I have come to understand that when a person cultivates the Dao, it is the Dao cultivating the person. Similarly, when the Heavenly Demons erode people, it is essentially people erode the demons. In other words, the Heavenly Demons that are now rampaging through the heavens are all specifically targeting the existence of ‘humans’.”

Let me give you an example.

An Jing extended a finger and took out a lucky Furnace of a Hundred Forms from his own cave. He then activated it with his own power, using it as the core to evolve a strange life form.

"If there were a kind of creature that did not rely on sexual reproduction or pollination, but reproduced through budding and through the fusion of hyphal networks, their individual offspring would not be complete. They would need a large number of individuals to fuse into a huge symbiotic entity, or to merge with other intelligent creatures, in order to become a creature with complete intelligence and ultimately form a group of consciousness entities based on different 'forests' or 'hosts'."

"Such beings can certainly be corrupted by the Heavenly Demons. However, will the methods, logic, and efficiency of corrupting them be completely different from those of corrupting humans?" Indeed.

Tai Shan Zhi Fei nodded slightly, while the Myriad Transformations Divine Body suddenly understood An Jing's meaning: "While the intelligent puppets we create can indeed be corrupted by the Heavenly Demons, their resistance is indeed quite strong. Speaking of which, your puppets can indeed resist more of the Blood Sea's corruption—the principle is the same. The Blood Sea corrupts all life, but to accelerate its corruption of humans, it has been specially modified. Although it can also corrupt puppets, the speed is slowed down!"

If this is a completely new life form, it will inevitably force the demons, who are specialized in humans, to change! And this will require time! It is a precious period of uncertainty, enough for us to launch a counterattack!

“That’s right.” An Jing nodded, his gaze sweeping over every Celestial Venerable present, and smiled, “And this gap can even be extended indefinitely!”

"This is the inspiration that the Mirror Scale Realm gave me!"

More accurately, it was that [Primordial Dragon].

Although An Jing only briefly saw the Blood Sea Demon Dragon and did not directly fight it, the fact that the dragon constantly changed its form to adapt to various attacks gave An Jing some insight—the dragon's mistake was that it did not innovate at all, but only used the old to defend the old. However, if it were to use completely new methods, even An Jing would find it difficult to defeat it.

This kind of innovation, this change in mindset, is the right thing to do.

However, it was too weak, its thinking too limited, and it was too foolish, failing to achieve its full potential.

And this path that it has strayed from should be put back on track and carried forward by Anjing.

Perhaps this is also a kind of daylight.

Indeed, this means that for a long time, the Heavenly Demons will be unable to effectively corrupt this new life form.

After listening to An Jing's line of reasoning, all the Celestial Venerables nodded slowly.

The ancient Dragon God rubbed his beardless chin, his eyes revealing an unprecedented look of understanding: "Yes, creation from nothing, creation from nothing... So that's it! The Ancestral Dragon Saint Venerable constantly creates new beings, even allowing them to evolve, all for this reason..."

The Divine Pivot of Myriad Transformations immediately asked: "The Path of Ascension, which completely changes the human form... will indeed greatly slow down the rate of demonic invasion, but ultimately, one is still human, not truly transcending the physical form, and the change is still not significant enough."

"Therefore, to be precise, my ultimate goal is the [Cave Heaven Technique]."

An Jing nodded and admitted, "The Feathered Path is easily corrupted by Heavenly Demons. Not to mention anything else, in the Tianyuan Realm we are going to, the Feathered Path is restricted by major sects and large corporations, and is easily suppressed. I have a subordinate in the Tianyuan Realm whose wife and children were killed by the aftermath of conflicts between cultivators from major sects. He wanted to resist, but his equipment was restricted and he couldn't activate it at all. This kind of extreme oppression makes it easier for demons to corrupt him."

"Therefore, the path of ascension is just a prerequisite for me—through the path of ascension, people gradually adapt to the independence between their 'true spirit' and their 'physical body,' and then transform the physical body into the foundation of the cave heaven, allowing the true spirit to emerge independently, and finally leading to the 'cave heaven method.'"

"In this way, everyone's inner world and everyone's unique spiritual cultivation method will be different. This fundamental difference, comparable to destiny, can completely slow down the erosion of all cultivators by the Heavenly Demon!"

This, in essence... is about completely tearing people apart!

The Dragon God closed his eyes, becoming serious. When he opened them again, his eyes were shimmering with a bluish-green light. He communicated with An Jing through his futuristic vision: "You intend to completely change the essence of 'humanity,' making people no longer human, but 'the world'!"

Whether it's the path of immortality or the path of martial arts, both are essentially about the sublimation of humanity. But your path of ascension and the techniques of the grotto-heaven aim to make people cease to be human, completely severing all ordinary relationships and desires between people!

At the moment of his death, the Dragon God was actually bound by the shackles of other Dragon Gods, making it difficult for him to speak. Yet, he couldn't help but speak: "When humanity becomes the world, truly becoming its own god, it is indeed difficult for the current demons to corrupt it. But in that case, humanity is no longer humanity; each person is an independent individual. What will become of human civilization then?"

"So what?"

An Jing said nonchalantly, "If 'humanity' is so fragile, so easily destroyed, then let it perish."

"The wind can only extinguish a candle that will eventually go out, but even the storms of the void cannot extinguish the fire that burns in the world."

"Human unity must have its foundation. There must also be things that need to be communicated between each independent little world. That is a matter for the future, and it is their own business. But what I want now is for all living beings to have a 'blank period' in front of the Heavenly Demon, a period in which they can breathe freely and choose freely."

"This is my idea. Gentlemen, how do you plan to invest?"

Need I say more?!

After a brief silence, Tai Shan Zhi Fei spoke first, laughing heartily: "If the Mingjing Sect wishes to delve deeper into the study of Heavenly Demons and the Dao of Sealing, all the scriptures in my Tai Shan Great Abyss are available for your perusal. Take them whenever you wish!"

[I'm not that stingy!]

The ancient Dragon God also laughed heartily, his attitude incredibly straightforward: "Since you've explained the Cave Heaven Technique and your own thinking so clearly, I'll give you the entire Ancestral Dragon Palace!"

"The alliance you proposed seems quite good," said Xing Shilong Shen. "The great era has arrived, and I believe the Heavenly Overseer's War will begin soon. We didn't want to in the past, but now... we wouldn't mind being part of the future Heavenly Sect."

The Dragon God nodded in approval: "The entire Ancestral Dragon Palace, along with all the dragon clan's secret techniques, true spirit technologies, and bloodline techniques, are freely accessible to the Mirror Sect!"

[Not quite as extravagant as he seems] Wan Hua Shen Shu sighed: [I still need to go back to the sect to apply, but it's alright, our sect leader has a big gambling streak, I think he'll definitely invest his full potential!]

"That's great."

An Jing's gaze swept over all the Celestial Venerables, finally landing on Haotian Mirror and Ancestor Cheng Guang.

The two elders' sentiments were filled with undisguised emotion and satisfaction.

"It seems that making you the sect leader was indeed the right decision." The Haotian Mirror's light flickered slightly: "Truly impressive, An Jing. Your actions have surpassed those of all previous Mingjing Sect leaders."

At this moment, all the Celestial Venerables looked expectantly at An Jing.

"What's next?" the Dragon God asked. "To the Heavenly Origin Realm or the Great Wilderness Realm? And speaking of which, how exactly do you plan to take us to this other world?"

"Yes, I've never been to another world in all these years. This is the first time in hundreds of thousands of years!" Tai Shan Zhi Fei's tone was full of eagerness, while Wan Hua Shen Shu pondered and said, "I think we should make it a grand affair, with more of a sense of ceremony. Anyway, this matter can't be kept secret. With the reunion of the heavens, the other celestial venerables actually know about this as well."

Since that's the case, why not find an opportunity to advertise?

"now?"

An Jing raised his hand, a matter-of-fact smile on his face: "I'll wait for you guys to give me resources."

"I'm not planning to spend my own money." He spread his hands confidently: "Gentlemen, let's chip in. We need some start-up capital to exchange for a 'Great Void Altar' that can take us to another world together."

(End of this chapter)