Mysterious mirror hanging high

"Good, disciple!"

The Divine Dream Daoist said with satisfaction, "They all didn't think much of you, only regarding you as a useless player, but you turned out to be the most promising one..."

"Changqing bet on Jingyu, while Master bet on you... Yiyuan and the others also think that Jingyu can succeed, but I hope that in the end, it will be you, Lu Yingzhao, who will become the Venerable One."

Upon hearing this, Lu Yingzhao said in a low voice, "This disciple will not let down Master's cultivation... nor will I let you lose to Daoist Changqing."

“Master’s victory or defeat is not important. Master only hopes that you can survive.” Shenmeng Daozun said gently, “I do not ask you to become a Venerable in this era. As long as you can become a Dao Lord, that’s enough. As long as you can become a Dao Lord… Master can protect you through the great calamity at the end of this era.”

Lu Yingzhao remained silent for a long time, then suddenly asked:

"Master, why is your disciple not favored by the esteemed elders? Is it because the path of unifying the three treasures of essence, energy, and spirit, and proving the Dao through force, is truly far inferior to proving one's worth through destiny?"

"That's not it."

Shenmeng Daozun shook his head and said, "In fact, the strength of a path has no relation to the success rate of attaining the Venerable Realm on that path. My master has seen geniuses whose combat power in the Mahayana Realm was thousands or even tens of thousands of times greater than yours countless epochs ago. But strong combat power does not mean a strong path, much less that a path can lead to the end."

“We just think that compared to Jing Yu, you have embarked on a more difficult path—and this does not mean that Jing Yu took a shortcut. On the contrary, the relatively easy path is one that only he can walk.”

"Before you reach the Nascent Soul stage, the probability of you and Jing Yu becoming Venerable is about the same, both extremely slim, almost nonexistent."

"But after reaching the Nascent Soul stage, Jing Yu completed the Great Dao of Destiny, and his probability of becoming a Venerable soared to one in ten thousand."

"And you... with the three treasures united, proving the Dao through force... the probability of becoming a Venerable has also skyrocketed. According to our calculations, it is probably barely one in a billion."

Lu Yingzhao looked surprised: "The difference is really that big?"

Shenmeng Daozun shook his head and chuckled: "Actually, the probability is equally slim, but I can tell you that a one in ten thousand probability seems like nothing, but Jing Yu is undoubtedly the most promising candidate to become a Venerable in this era."

"And you... the probability of becoming a Venerable is one in a billion. If we were to rank the probabilities of becoming a Venerable, you would not fall out of the top three in this era."

"A one in ten thousand chance, and that's the most promising candidate to attain the highest status in this era?"

"With a probability of one in a billion, how could such a vast number of beings across countless worlds rank in the top three?"

Lu Yingzhao gasped: "Just how difficult is it to become a Venerable One?"

"Difficult, difficult, difficult!"

Shenmeng Daozun shook his head and said, "Back then, my master also had the right timing, location, and people. Even if there was a slight mistake in a small part, he would have missed the opportunity to become the Venerable One... You want me to prove it again? I'm not even confident that I can succeed a second time."

Shenmeng Daozun sighed, "So even for Jing Yu, we don't expect him to become a Venerable within one era. As long as he cultivates smoothly to the Dao Lord realm and spends hundreds or thousands of eras honing his skills, he might have a chance to become a Venerable."

"And you... the path that your master originally arranged for you, you were absolutely certain of ascending to the throne."

“But since you want to go your own way and disdain wielding the power of the Thunder Lord, and prove your Dao by force, I estimate you only have a 30% chance of becoming a Thunder Lord.”

"This disciple is ashamed," Lu Yingzhao said, bowing deeply.

"There's no need to feel ashamed." Shenmeng Daozun shook his head and said, "On the contrary, I should praise your ambition... If you really had taken the path of thunder, you could have steadily become a Dao Lord, but the probability of becoming a Venerable would be far less than the current path."

"After all, there is absolutely no correlation between the probability of becoming a king and the probability of becoming a sage."

Shenmeng Daozun said calmly, "As Changqing's biological son, Wanshou Daojun's path to becoming a Daojun is inevitable, but his probability of becoming a Venerable is even lower than that of you and Jingyu before you became a Divine Transformation."

"I am very pleased that you can choose your own path."

"Besides... you're now left with no choice but to go down this path to the bitter end."

Shenmeng Daozun said, "You should have noticed by now, right?"

Lu Yingzhao nodded: "Disciple has discovered...Disciple is no longer favored by the Thunder Law alone; this law no longer favors me alone."

"That's normal. Since you refused to refine the Law of Thunder into your acupoints when you were in the Nascent Soul stage, it means that you probably won't go too far on the path of thunder in the future. The laws of heaven and earth also have the instinct to seek advantage and avoid harm, and they will also save themselves."

Shenmeng Daozun said leisurely, "It's only a matter of time before a Thunder Lord emerges in the Immortal Realm to regain control of thunder. If you don't do it, someone else will naturally take your place... This great cause and effect of calamity must ultimately be borne by someone."

Lu Yingzhao smiled gently and said, "It's a good thing that there will be successors."

"Yingzhao, you are my only disciple in this era. Live well, and I will always reserve a place for you to safely survive the great calamity of this era."

The voice of the Divine Dream Daoist gradually faded away, and his figure also turned into nothingness and gradually disappeared.

Lu Yingzhao kowtowed three more times at the place where Shenmeng Daozun had disappeared, then sighed and vanished into the spatial storm in a flash.

Half a month later

Lu Yingzhao appeared in a desolate, dark place.

This place is called "Secluded Valley"... It is a secret realm that Lu Yingzhao specially chose.

There are no sun, moon, or stars here; only countless gray, almost tangible, pillars of ghostly energy hang from the dome above.

These columns of air, varying in thickness, continuously draw upon the deathly energy dissipating from all the heavens and myriad realms, converging here to fill the entire dark abyss with an intensely dense, almost impenetrable, nether aura.

This aura is a deadly poison to ordinary cultivators, but it has a strange nourishing and stabilizing effect on ghost cultivators who are only left with their souls.

Inside the secret realm, the weakened souls of Yun Xuance and more than twenty other cultivators from the Immortal Continent were being protected by Lu Yingzhao's pure magical power, and were suspended in the air.

The dense aura of the underworld was spontaneously and slowly seeping into their souls, repairing the parts damaged in the underworld prison.

"The aura of the underworld here is rich, which is perfect for you to reshape your ghost bodies and cultivate the path of the ghost."

Lu Yingzhao glanced at everyone and said, "Your physical bodies are shattered, your nascent souls are gone... and your grotto-heavens have been destroyed. Your original paths to enlightenment have been severed."

"Fortunately, I still have a little bit of true spirit left, which can be used to cultivate the path of ghost cultivation."

She said calmly, "Becoming a ghost cultivator is still considered cultivation in this life. You don't have to suffer the pain of being ignorant of the true spirit, and you still have the opportunity to reach the pinnacle of the Great Dao."

“I have crossed out your real names from the register, so ordinary ghost messengers can’t find you.”

"How far you can go on the path of ghost cultivation depends entirely on your luck."

Yun Xuance stepped forward, his expression worried: "Fellow Daoist Lu... I thank you for this... but after this battle, I'm afraid you will also come into the sights of Yuwen Tianfu."