Primordial: From a grain of soil to the ancestor of all paths

Chapter 348 Several Speculations on the Heavenly Dao's Arrangement

"Heavenly Dao!"

After piecing together the various doubts in his mind, Taiqing naturally came to this conclusion!
It must be the Heavenly Dao secretly influencing Yuanshi and everyone on the Heavenly Dao's side!

It must have been He who caused Yuanshi to become possessed by demons!
In a more serious case, it is possible that Taiqing himself, as well as Jieyin and Zhunti, have already unknowingly begun to become demonic!

In fact, before this, Taiqing had the same question as Hongjun.

Why would Heaven allow Hongjun to gradually gain control of His power? What exactly is He plotting?
Judging from the current situation, the Heavenly Dao's backup plan must be related to Yuanshi's demonic possession!

"But what's the point of doing this?" Taiqing was very puzzled.

Even if the Four Sages of Heavenly Dao all fell into demonic possession under the influence of Heavenly Dao, they still wouldn't be able to deal with Hongjun, who controlled ninety percent of the power of Heavenly Dao, right?
"Could it be... that Heaven wants to resurrect the Demon Ancestor Rahu and find a way to give him enough power to contend with our teacher?"

"And the demonization of us Heavenly Saints is nothing more than adding four usable subordinates for the Demon Ancestor Rahu?"

"Or perhaps, is the demonization of us Heavenly Saints one of the prerequisites for resurrecting the Demon Ancestor Rahu and granting him sufficient power?"

"And why would Heaven allow my second brother to expose his demonic transformation at such a crucial moment?"

"Is it because the Underworld is blocking the way that the Heavenly Dao is temporarily unable to control the actions of the Primordial Beginning?"

"Or is it because He feels that even though He has been exposed, it doesn't matter anymore?"

Or perhaps, both of these reasons are true?

Various thoughts flashed through Taiqing's mind, but none of them could completely explain his doubts.

This only deepened his confusion!
He had a premonition that Heaven was probably playing a much bigger game in the dark!
However, compared to all of this, what Taiqing cared about more at this moment was...

"What do we do next?"

"Could it be that we should let our second brother and the remaining three Heavenly Dao Saints fall into demonic possession?"

"If I resist, I don't even know if I've already been secretly planted with the seeds of demonic transformation, so how can I resist?"

"If you want to ask someone else for help, who should you ask?"

This was the first time Taiqing had felt such confusion and helplessness!
There was no way around it; as a Heavenly Saint, the gap between him and the Heavenly Dao was simply too vast!

Many things were already destined when these Heavenly Saints got involved in the conflict between Hongjun and the Heavenly Dao!

"That's it!"

"After this incident, I'll take my second brother, as well as Jieyin and Zhunti, to see our teacher!"

"Perhaps he has some method?"

Taiqing shook his head; this was the best solution he could think of at the moment!

As for now, let's see if the corrupted Yuanshi truly possesses the strength to defeat the Styx.
"what is that?"

"How could Yuanshi's avatar possess such a dense concentration of demonic energy?"

"Has he... become possessed by a demon?"

"No, it was the Heavenly Dao that used the inner demon tribulation left by the Demon Ancestor Rahu to make Yuanshi fall into demonic possession, thus bringing him back under His control!"

"If this continues, will we also fall into demonic possession?"

"Perhaps this isn't a bad thing?"

"Haven't we long considered using demonic methods to achieve our plan for the great prosperity of the West? It's just that we haven't been able to access the power of demonic arts before!"

“That’s right. If we can become demonic 'naturally', it will save us a lot of trouble!”

"Furthermore, we can also take this opportunity to see how much power Yuanshi can unleash after he becomes possessed by demons, and whether this power can truly enhance our chances of completing the Western Expansion Plan?"

"If the power of this demonic path isn't as strong as we imagined, then we should try to avoid falling into demonic possession, lest we offend our teacher!"

Unlike Taiqing's worries, Jieyin and Zhunti, after their initial shock, actually began to look forward to it.

Or rather, their obsession with the rise of the West has been manipulated by their inner demons, making them not resist, and even secretly anticipate, the power of the demonic path!

"I see!" Qinglian, who had been observing from the shadows, nodded slightly, realizing, "It seems that this must be one of the methods that Heaven has taken to resist Hongjun's refining of her?"

"To demonize the Four Heavenly Saints, to resurrect the Demon Ancestor Rahu, or perhaps there are other ideas?"

"These methods, whose specific uses are currently unknown, may not actually be able to deal with Hongjun, but they should at least keep him busy for a while, right?"

"So, is this a good thing for us?" Tianyan asked.

“Not necessarily!” Tai Chu pondered for a moment, then gently shook his head and said, “If the Heavenly Dao’s purpose is merely to resist Hongjun’s refinement of us by means of demonizing the Four Sages of the Heavenly Dao and resurrecting the Demon Ancestor Rahu, then it would indeed be a good thing for us!”

"But what if the purpose of Heaven is not just this?"

"For example, let the demonic path replace the immortal path that already existed in the primordial world!"

"You mean, after dealing with Hongjun, the Heavenly Dao plans to make Demon Ancestor Rahu the new spokesperson for the Heavenly Dao, provided that He really will resurrect Demon Ancestor Rahu?" Qinglian quickly understood Taichu's meaning and asked in surprise.

But upon closer examination, it's not impossible!
Regardless of the circumstances, Hongjun, the current representative of the Heavenly Dao, has already betrayed the Heavenly Dao!

If possible, Heaven would never let Hongjun go!

After Hongjun is dealt with, the Heavenly Dao will inevitably need a new representative!
If the Heavenly Dao truly intends to resurrect the Demon Ancestor Rahu, then the latter is naturally the best choice to become the new spokesperson for the Heavenly Dao!

"But this might not necessarily be a bad thing for us, right?" Tianyan asked with some doubt. "Even if Demon Ancestor Rahu really replaces Hongjun, what we need to do won't change much." "On the contrary, given Hongjun's example, the Heavenly Dao will never give Demon Ancestor Rahu another chance to refine his will!"

"The Demon Ancestor Rahu, who did not control the power of the Heavenly Dao and was merely its representative, was probably not as threatening to us as Hongjun is now, was he?"

"Moreover, even if the Heavenly Dao really intends to resurrect the Demon Ancestor Rahu and use him to deal with Hongjun, can the Demon Ancestor Rahu, who was once a loser, really defeat Hongjun?"

“Your ideas are all correct!” Tai Chu nodded first, then shook his head and said, “But I believe that the Heavenly Dao must also know these things.”

"Then He must have other plans!"

"What layout?" Qinglian asked with a frown. "Logically speaking, even if Demon Ancestor Luo Hou was resurrected by the Heavenly Dao, he should only have the cultivation and strength of a Quasi-Saint at the peak."

"Even if he received the blessing of the Heavenly Dao, how could he possibly contend with the ninety percent of the Heavenly Dao power that Hongjun controlled, with only one-tenth of the Heavenly Dao power remaining?"

"I have some guesses!" Tai Chu stopped keeping them in suspense and began to reveal his thoughts: "Just as the more beings who cultivate the immortal path and the three thousand heavenly laws, the stronger Hongjun and the heavenly path become, perhaps the more beings who cultivate the demonic path, the stronger the Demon Ancestor Luo Hou will become!"

"Think about it, even a Heavenly Dao Saint like Yuanshi, who possesses the ultimate power of the Primordial Realm, has been corrupted by demons. So what about the others in the Primordial World?"

"Needless to say, Taiqing, as well as Jieyin and Zhunti, must have already had the seeds of demonic transformation planted by the Heavenly Dao without their knowledge!"

"Then how could the other deities in the primordial world possibly resist?"

"Once the vast majority of beings in the primordial world unknowingly begin to fall into demonic possession, and this completely erupts one day in the future, how powerful will the Demon Ancestor Rahu and the one-tenth of the Heavenly Dao that has already chosen the demonic path become?"

"At that time, with the help of that layer of Heavenly Dao, Demon Ancestor Rahu might not be unable to contend with Hongjun, right?"

"Moreover, if the vast majority of living beings in the primordial world were to unknowingly fall into demonic possession, it would mean that these beings would be completely controlled by the Demon Ancestor Rahu and the Heavenly Dao!"

"After that, when Demon Ancestor Rahu replaces Hongjun and becomes the new representative of the Heavenly Dao, the Heavenly Dao's control over Hongjun will reach an unprecedented level!"

"Because by then, only a very small minority will stand up against the will of Heaven!"

"Of course, these are all just my guesses at the moment."

"However, I am very confident that this is most likely the Heavenly Dao's plan, or at least one of its plans!"

“What you said makes a lot of sense!” Qinglian nodded in agreement after hearing Taichu’s words, but she quickly noticed a crucial problem: “No, something’s not right!”

"If the demonization of the Primordial Beginning could be successful with only one-tenth of the Heavenly Dao's power remaining, and with a long period of time spent influencing it, then I can understand it!"

"But now that the matter of Yuanshi has been exposed, it will inevitably arouse the vigilance of the Heavenly Dao side."

"Under these circumstances, wouldn't Hongjun, who has already mastered ninety percent of the Heavenly Dao's power, have an even greater chance of disrupting the Heavenly Dao's plans?"

"It's impossible that the exposure of Yuanshi this time was really a major mistake by the Heavenly Dao?"

"No, even without this incident, Yuanshi could have been exposed at any time. It's impossible that the Heavenly Dao didn't have a contingency plan for this!"

"In other words, the Heavenly Dao is confident that it can still resolve the threat posed by Hongjun, even though Yuanshi has already been exposed and Hongjun is on high alert?"

"But how exactly is He supposed to do that?"

“This is indeed a big question!” Tianyan said with doubt, “Could it be that even though the Heavenly Dao, with only 10% of its power remaining, knew that these plans were unlikely to succeed, it had no choice but to take a gamble?”

"But the odds of winning this bet are too small, aren't they?"

"Moreover, this doesn't seem like a plan that the Heavenly Dao should have considered in order to resolve Hongjun's pre-existing issues!"

"Hmm, all of your ideas are quite correct!" Tai Chu nodded slightly, also falling into deep thought. Soon, he had a new idea, and then, with a somewhat strange expression, he guessed, "Do you think it's possible that Hongjun didn't actually refine ninety percent of the Heavenly Dao's power?"

"This is merely an illusion created by Hongjun under the influence of the Heavenly Dao."

"We can only guess, based on Hongjun's various actions, that he is close to completely refining the will of Heaven!"

"Even we ourselves have been influenced by the Heavenly Dao?"

"After all, even if the Heavenly Dao cannot directly change our thoughts like Fellow Daoists Taiyi and Dijun, it can still influence our judgment in these details, right?"

"What?" Upon hearing Tai Chu's guess, Qing Lian instinctively felt it was impossible, then murmured with a similarly strange expression, "Now that you mention it, I do have a vague feeling that some of my perceptions are a bit off!"

"I understand, it's the power of the Heavenly Dao!"

“That’s right!” Tianyan quickly added, his expression also turning somewhat off. “I also suddenly feel that I might have some problems with my understanding of the power of the Heavenly Dao?”

In fact, the true cultivation level of the Heavenly Dao may have already reached that of the Primordial Limitless Golden Immortal!

It's far more than just the initial stage of the Primordial Chaos Limitless Golden Immortal!
During the Investiture of the Gods, Hongjun had already refined 90% of the power of the Heavenly Dao, but the power he displayed was only at the late stage of the Hunyuan Taiji Golden Immortal (Dao Integration) realm.
In other words, 90% of the power of a Primordial Limitless Great Luo Golden Immortal at the early or even mid-stage is only equivalent to that of a Primordial Taiji Great Luo Golden Immortal at the late stage.

This just doesn't make sense no matter how you look at it, right?

But no one noticed anything was wrong!
The only explanation is that, in order to scheme against Hongjun and even His many enemies, the Heavenly Dao had already secretly influenced some of the perceptions of the Primordial Beings!

Because this part of their understanding is so small, even insignificant, compared to all the understanding they had at the beginning, they made a tiny (hundred million) misjudgment of Hongjun's current power, and even the true strength of the Heavenly Dao!
However, once Tai Chu pointed out this misjudgment, Qing Lian and Tian Yan were able to quickly realize that their understanding was not quite right!
In fact, it wasn't just Qinglian and the others!
Any being in the primordial world who believes that the Heavenly Dao's strength has not reached the level of a Primordial Limitless Golden Immortal, or who believes that the power displayed by Hongjun during the Investiture of the Gods was completely normal, may have had some of their perceptions secretly altered by the Heavenly Dao!

Of course, the vast majority of beings in the primordial world never actually reach the point of knowing the true power of the Heavenly Dao!

"Looking at it this way, Hongjun seems rather 'pitiful'!" Tianyan sighed after regaining his senses. "He clearly hasn't even mastered seventy percent, or even half, of the power of the Heavenly Dao, yet he mistakenly believes that he only has one tenth left and can completely obtain the power of the Heavenly Dao!"

Little did they know, they had already been outmaneuvered and killed by the workings of Heaven!

"Moreover, Hongjun is a Heavenly Dao Saint. Even if his current strength is not weak, it might be even easier for the Heavenly Dao to influence his perception!"

"That's not right!" Qinglian thought of another question: "Since Hongjun may not even have control over half of the power of the Heavenly Dao, why would the Heavenly Dao go through all this trouble? Wouldn't it have been simpler to just eliminate him directly?"

(End of this chapter)