Shrouding the Heavens: The Ultimate Daoist Venerable

Chapter 176 Chuanying
Time flies, and years pass quickly. In the blink of an eye, another 18,000 years have passed. Now, there are only about 2,000 years left before the opening of this path to immortality.

After this period, Lingbao Tianzun was nearing the end of this life. After all, he had already existed for over 40,000 years. It was estimated that he would begin his next life not long after the path to immortality opened.

The current Daoist Celestial Venerable, who is deeply immersed in enlightenment, is in a relatively better position. After all, he was born late and may be able to live until the end of the second incarnation of the Primordial Celestial Venerable before he also ends this incarnation.

As for the Underworld Lord, his lifespan in this life was actually less than 40,000 years. If it weren't for the Underworld God's ability to reduce his energy consumption in the Underworld, his life would have ended by now.

In fact, if he hadn't worked with Liang Yu to decipher these strange places, thus elevating the Source Technique to a higher level, creating the Netherworld Scripture, and researching the Thunderous Essence, his life would have ended even earlier.

Even so, he has already lived considerably longer than in the original timeline. After all, in the original timeline, the Underworld Lord Coco disappeared midway through the founding of the Heavenly Court and never witnessed the opening of the Path to Immortality. But now, there's no problem for him to live until the end of this Path to Immortality.

Meanwhile, Liang Yu's fourth incarnation had already reached the lifespan limit of his previous life, which was 48,000 years, but he still had a considerable amount of lifespan remaining. This was normal, as each transformation should bring an increase in lifespan and an improvement in strength, so his lifespan in this life should be longer than in the previous one.

Although his vital energy has begun to decline and the death energy in his sea of ​​consciousness is gradually overshadowing his life energy, he should still be able to live for more than ten thousand years.

Moreover, due to the unique nature of the Yin-Yang Dao Body, Liang Yu could transform death energy into life energy by activating the characteristics of his physique, thus maintaining his youth and peak condition until the end of this life. However, he deliberately chose not to do so now, letting nature take its course.

However, by now, his Chaos Dao is nearing perfection. This means that his transformation in his next life is practically guaranteed. He will then have more time to do other things.

Of course, the reason they were paying close attention to the Path to Immortality was not because they wanted to try it themselves, but because this point in time might make those forbidden zones no longer able to hide and they would have to fight for it.

Of these forbidden zones, Yuhua Island has already been discovered by Yuanshi Tianzun, and now only the whereabouts of Shangtian remain unknown.

However, they decided not to wait any longer. If Heaven didn't reveal its will when the path to immortality opened this time, they would first eliminate all the other forbidden zones. Even if only one forbidden zone of life remained, it wouldn't pose much of a threat.

After all, they are all destined to become immortals in the mortal world, and they don't have much energy to waste on these parasites. The path to immortality in the mortal world becomes more and more difficult, requiring them to concentrate even more.

However, the biggest difference between the current timeline and the original timeline is perhaps that the current Yuanshi Tianzun is still Yuanshi Tianzun, not Emperor, and he has not established a Heavenly Court.

Now, he appears more like a preacher spreading Taoism throughout the universe than a supreme emperor who reigns over all heavens. However, although the form has changed, he still possesses an aura that commands the worship of heaven, earth, ghosts, and gods.

In the original timeline, the gods and spirits worshipped him because he was the supreme Heavenly Emperor, the ruler of the Heavenly Court, and he almost ruled over most of the universe. Now, the gods and spirits worship him because they respect him as the teacher of all ages, allowing the Taoist lineage in the universe to reach an unprecedented peak and ushering in a golden age for cultivators.

Although the scale was not as grand, from a positive perspective, it's hard to say whether establishing a Heavenly Court or the flourishing of Taoism was better for future generations.

However, in a sense, although he hasn't ended the old era, he has ushered in a new one. Of course, he was originally referring to grand eras like the mythological era or the chaotic ancient era, so this smaller era, which might only last tens of thousands of years, is indeed significantly smaller in comparison.

However, at this time, the second incarnation of Yuanshi Tianzun was only 18,000 years old and still at his peak. Who knows what will happen in the future?

On this day, the Primordial Celestial Venerable was preaching and touring the universe as usual when he landed on a barren and dilapidated ancient star. He frowned and used his supreme divine power to manipulate the laws of heaven and earth, giving this decaying ancient star a new life.

This was certainly not something he did casually, but rather because he had visited this ancient star before achieving enlightenment in his first life, and had even made some friends there.

Now, our ancestors have returned to dust, and this ancient star has undergone tremendous changes, becoming completely different from what it once was, and has even begun its path to extinction.

This reminded Yuanshi Tianzun of the past, and he couldn't help but feel compassion. That's why he restored it and saved it from its doomed future.

But now, the former glory of the ancient star is completely gone, and cultivators are almost extinct. Even if the environment recovers, it's unknown how long it will take before a large number of cultivators reappear.

Therefore, Yuanshi Tianzun did not leave, but began to preach and spread the Dharma everywhere. Moreover, there were no restrictions; both mortals and cultivators could participate.

Thus, this barren ancient star began to regain its vitality, giving birth to more cultivators. In this way, perhaps in just a few thousand years, this place will return to its former glory. After all, this ancient star wasn't actually that powerful back then; it didn't even have many saints.

On this day, while he was preaching, he saw a boy dressed in animal skins, carrying a black hard bow on his back and a stone club in his hand, looking like a young hunter who had come out of the mountains and fields.

Of course, the Celestial Lord of the Beginning noticed him not because he was a hunter like himself back then, but because of his exceptional talent and physique.

The boy had clearly traveled a long way, looking travel-worn and covered in sweat and dust. Seeing his disheveled appearance, everyone present cast disdainful and hostile glances his way.

After all, this was the immortal who had saved them; how could he be so disrespectful? Before listening to the lecture, they had all bathed and fasted to show their sincerity, fearing they might displease the immortal. Yet this mountain boy, who hadn't even fully explored the Sea of ​​Bitterness, dared to be so negligent, which greatly displeased them. But the immortal said nothing, and they dared not make a fuss, only gesturing with their eyes.

Seeing the people's sleek clothes and unfriendly expressions, the young man remained calm and unconcerned. Since there were no more prayer mats available, he simply plopped down on the ground.

The Primordial Celestial Venerable withdrew his gaze and continued his sermon. For a moment, the crowd was completely captivated, overjoyed, as if they had heard the truth of the world. The young man, too, seemed to be in a trance, utterly stunned.

After the sermon was finished, everyone bowed deeply to show their respect and then quietly left. The young man, however, was still lost in thought, immersed in what he had just heard.

After a long while, he finally woke up. Seeing that everyone around him had already left, he couldn't help but feel a little annoyed. However, when he saw that the celestial being who was preaching was still sitting in front of him, he showed a hint of joy.

So he immediately knelt down and kowtowed twice.

Yuanshi Tianzun also felt a surge of curiosity about this unconventional and carefree young man, and he couldn't help but ask, "What's your name?"

The boy replied, "Chuan Ying."

(End of this chapter)