Shrouding the Heavens: The Ultimate Daoist Venerable

Chapter 216 Origin
When Liang Yu first attained enlightenment, he once sat down in the underworld with the Underworld Lord, the Carefree Heavenly Lord, the Longevity Heavenly Lord, and the Nirvana Heavenly Lord to discuss the Dao. At that time, the Carefree Heavenly Lord and the Longevity Heavenly Lord vaguely sensed from Liang Yu and the Underworld Lord's words that they were unable to enter the path to immortality or transform into immortals.

However, the two people reacted differently.

The Celestial Venerable of Longevity fell into despair, vaguely considering burying himself on the path to immortality. After all, he had been sealed away for a long time, and if he didn't instigate the Dark Turmoil, even as the Celestial Venerable of Longevity who created the Secret Word "Zhe," he wouldn't last much longer. It wasn't until the Reincarnation Plan and the Ancient Scripture of Burying Immortals appeared that the Celestial Venerable of Longevity rallied his spirits and, upon discovering his extremely high compatibility with the Immortal Tomb, began actively exploring it, becoming the first Earth Immortal in the mortal universe.

The Carefree Celestial Venerable, however, was different. He was much younger and hadn't yet had his edges completely smoothed by time. Therefore, he rekindled his fighting spirit and wanted to explore the correct direction he had just realized. After all, Liang Yu and the Underworld Venerable had already far surpassed him at that time, demonstrating strength superior to that of ordinary Dao-proving individuals.

Before, the Carefree Celestial Venerable might have accepted it, after all, the self-inflicted wound had shattered half of his spirit. But having regained his Dao heart, the Carefree Celestial Venerable would never allow himself to fall behind. He wanted to catch up with Liang Yu and the Underworld Venerable and rebuild his invincible belief.

Therefore, the Carefree Celestial Venerable researched a secret technique from the Ancient Scripture of Divine Transformation, which could restore his own condition and prolong his life to a certain extent, thus buying himself time. However, his personal condition did not allow him to conduct research for an extended period of time, so he chose to gather ideas from all sides, recruit more helpers to conduct research together, and combine the strength of everyone to break the deadlock.

Therefore, he traveled throughout the various forbidden zones, contacting dozens of supreme beings, offering this secret technique as payment to jointly research the method for repairing the Sendai. With the aid of this secret technique, those supreme beings could gain hundreds of years of extra lifespan and even reduce the damage to their Sendai, so they naturally agreed to the plan. After all, if such a method truly existed, it would be of immense benefit to them.

During this period, in addition to exploring this method of rebirth, the Carefree Celestial Venerable also searched for numerous ruins in the universe, seeking usable research materials for his own cultivation and the method of rebirth. It was during this time that the ancient corpse of the Divine Silkworm was found, becoming a breakthrough point.

However, the method they ultimately developed was so complex that even the self could not be preserved; instead, it almost entirely transformed into a new life form. Therefore, they abandoned it, and the Carefree Celestial Venerable was thus transferred to the Primordial Ancient Mine. This process occurred between the 52,000 years of Liang Yu's first and second incarnations.

During this process, the Carefree Celestial Venerable unexpectedly obtained a special secret technique from an ancient ruin dating back to before this era. This technique involved offering all things in the world as sacrifices to himself, transforming them into pure energy that he could easily absorb. This method was far more efficient than the secret technique he had previously created. However, at the time, the Carefree Celestial Venerable didn't have much time to explore this method.

During this time, the Carefree Celestial Venerable also unexpectedly discovered a rift in the world, leading to an unknown space. This might be because he obtained that sacrificial method and was thus attracted, or it might simply be an accident.

In short, the Carefree Celestial Venerable sensed several complex auras from this world rift. These included the terrifying and sinister aura emanating from the power of darkness; the aura originating from the Desolate Tower, which was the seal left by the Desolate Heavenly Emperor; and the aura emanating from the seal left by Liang Yu.

Although the carefree Celestial Venerable did not know what was going on, he still hid the crack, perhaps because he could obtain some unknown secrets from it and use them to further his own development.

However, in his later years in his second life, Liang Yu killed fifteen Supreme Beings in succession, shocking the universe. Even after the great battle, Liang Yu lived a third life, becoming even more powerful. He was called the Great Heavenly Venerable by cultivators in the universe, and was above all the Dao Prodigies born in this era.

Although the Celestial Venerable of Freedom hadn't witnessed it firsthand, he still felt a profound sense of powerlessness through this aura. If it were Liang Yu from his first life, he would still have confidence in catching up, but the current Liang Yu seemed to be beginning to fill him with despair. He considered himself Liang Yu's fellow Daoist, believing that even if he fell behind temporarily, he could catch up, but at this moment, he fully realized that he had been somewhat arrogant.

With these complex feelings, the Carefree Celestial Venerable met Liang Yu again. This time, he discovered that the rebirth method they had painstakingly researched together was inferior to the reincarnation method Liang Yu had discovered while distracted during his cultivation. Although Liang Yu ultimately modified their plan, the sense of defeat—that a group couldn't compete with one person—was even harder for the Carefree Celestial Venerable to accept. Moreover, he later learned the details of the ascension plan and the fact that the Moral Celestial Venerable and the Spiritual Treasure Celestial Venerable were still alive and had achieved far greater accomplishments than he had.

In other words, at that time he could only be ranked fifth among mortals, since even the Underworld Lord was above him. Of course, this was only because the Primordial Heavenly Lord had not yet been born; otherwise, he wouldn't even have been able to maintain his fifth position.

Feeling deeply defeated, the Carefree Celestial Venerable, after a series of setbacks, had decided to accept reality, accept Liang Yu's help, and embark on the path of reincarnation and ascension to immortality. There was nothing wrong with that; since he was inferior in skill, he could simply rely on Liang Yu's help. Compared to becoming an immortal, his petty pride was utterly insignificant.

But for some reason, the carefree Celestial Venerable suddenly thought of that world rift. Looking back now, perhaps it was because he was still unwilling to be subservient to others, so he wanted to grasp this last straw.

So he asked Liang Yu, "Besides the Immortal Realm and the world you mentioned, are there any other worlds outside our universe?"

Later, he learned from Liang Yu that the human world was very large, the outside world was even larger, and even the immortal realm was not the main body of this world, but just a drop in the ocean.

When asked how to travel to other worlds, Liang Yu also told him that there might be some special world rifts in this world that could lead to other worlds. The Carefree Celestial Venerable then realized that the world rift he had seen was most likely a passage to other worlds.

Then, he learned of the existence of dark power, a power that could plunge people into darkness but also give them a new life. Thus, the carefree Celestial Venerable's previously resigned heart stirred once more.

At the time, Liang Yu thought that Xiaoyao Tianzun was worried about the possible consequences of this dark power, but in fact, Xiaoyao Tianzun was hesitating whether he should take a gamble and risk a new life in order to catch up with Liang Yu and other pioneers.

Ultimately, the Carefree Celestial Venerable made a decision. He was unwilling to follow Liang Yu as a follower, but rather to forge a new path on his own.

Without madness, there is no life. At that moment, the carefree Celestial Venerable resolved to become a bird without feet, either soaring straight to the heavens or facing death.

In the past, it was this pioneering spirit that made him an invincible figure; now, however, it is this same spirit that has led him down a path of no return.

(End of this chapter)