Chapter 494 (4): White Jade Capital in the Sky

Yang Chongxuan’s younger brother was also an innate Dao Seed, and he possessed a strong innate affinity with water. Meanwhile, Yang Chongxuan possessed a strong innate affinity with the mountains.

It was because of this that his clan had ultimately sent him to Treasure Mirror Mountain.

What kind of bullshit reason was this? Did they just pull this out of thin air?

And what was with this extremely deep mountain stream in front of him?

Yang Chongxuan patted his hands clean and leaned back. Apart from those bullshit reasons, there was also a profoundly mystical explanation.

His younger brother, who possessed a strong innate affinity with water, would very likely encounter a treacherous life-and-death battle of the Great Dao if he ventured to Treasure Mirror Mountain.

Yang Chongxuan was very puzzled about this explanation. Apart from the city lord of Skeleton Wall City and that crazy skeleton, Pu Rang, what other dangers could his younger brother possibly face here? His younger brother wasn't a fragile weakling, and he was instead like a slippery eel. That being the case, how could ordinary Nascent Tier cultivators catch him, someone who was adept at defence and extremely good at running away?

Sect Leader Zhu Quan of the Flax Robe Sect wasn't stupid either, and she might even step forward to protect his younger brother if it were necessary. The two mighty figures from the Small Mystery Capital Temple and the Great Round Moon Monastery weren't troublemakers either, and the Daoist priest from the temple might even take a fancy to his younger brother's abilities. As such, wouldn't that be a decently-sized opportunity to forge a good relationship?

Including that prophecy, Yang Chongxuan found all of these mystical explanations extremely dull.

Yang Chongxuan suddenly recalled that young wanderer wearing a bamboo hat for no apparent reason.

He could tell that they were walking on the same path.

However, Yang Chongxuan hadn't wanted to engage in any competition at the time.

𝙛𝓻𝒆𝓮𝒘𝙚𝙗𝒏𝙤𝙫𝓮𝒍.𝓬𝒐𝙢

He was waiting for the fated opportunity to arrive.

It would be a better choice to avoid potential trouble. One would do well to heed the advice of these old sayings.

Perhaps that young wanderer was the fated opportunity?

Yang Chongxuan fell deep into thought, forming seals with his hands as he quietly performed divination on the matter. Even though he had slacked off when learning about divination, he was still a notch above most ordinary elites. His clan possessed immense knowledge, after all.

After a short moment, however, Yang Chongxuan lay down and closed his eyes, deciding to go to sleep as he remarked, "This has got nothing to do with me. The sun is high, but I continue to sleep, brushing aside the myriad worries that plague the world."

He then murmured, "I do envy that Spiritual Master Fire Dragon. He can cultivate while awake, and he can also cultivate while asleep. I wonder if there are any other similar immortal techniques in the world. If there are, then I definitely need to steal them to learn."

A rich and mellow voice sounded beside Yang Chongxuan, saying, "Such immortal techniques naturally do exist. One is in the Flowing Dawn Continent, and cultivators can comprehend Dao in their sleep, allowing them to achieve double the results with half the effort. The owner of this immortal technique has traveled to the Northern Complete Reed Continent now, and if my divinations are correct, this was also the person who obtained the fated opportunity of the Hanging Inkstone Divine Maiden in Mural City.

"As for the other person, he coincidentally has some ties with an old ancestor belonging to my branch. Thanks to this, I know that he hails from the Eastern Treasured Vial Continent's Jewel Small World. However, he's already traveled to the Southern Whirl Continent now. He can practice the sword both during the day and in his sleep, and as long as he doesn't die unexpectedly at a young age, it's only a matter of time before he attains the Great Dao. However, it's inevitable that a battle of the Great Dao will eventually take place between these two people."

Yang Chongxuan didn't open his eyes, and he simply smiled faintly as he said, "So it's the temple master. What brings such an esteemed guest over? Perhaps you're here to compete against a junior for a fated opportunity? This isn't very good, is it? The treasure here is nothing more than a radiant mirror that can expose a demon's true appearance, but perhaps Temple Master has taken a fancy to it?"

An old Daoist priest was sitting cross-legged near Yang Chongxuan. He didn't need to draw on any spiritual energy, and he simply needed to issue a silent command in his mind for the mist above the deep stream to automatically gather together and condense into a sitting mat.

He was none other than the old temple master from the Small Mystery Capital Temple.

The old temple master didn't answer Yang Chongxuan's slightly disrespectful question, and he simply looked at the deep stream and said with emotion, "Looking at this water again, I still feel that it's brimming with limitless opportunity. This is simply inconceivable."

Yang Chongxuan sat up straight and sighed, "I never imagined that there would come a day when I would feel slightly more at ease by relying on my clan and background."

The old temple master smiled and said, "If your parents are capable, then that means you were capable when entering reincarnation. This is nothing to be ashamed of, so why are you feeling so troubled, Young Fellow Cultivator?"

Yang Chongxuan grinned and replied, "Let's get this straight first, Temple Master. I only ask you to not compete with me for this fated opportunity pertaining to the treasure mirror. As for passing down Dao power and forging good relationships or whatnot, perhaps my younger brother would be open to these kinds of things. However, there's no need for Temple Master to try any of these things with me. I won't accept these offers."

The old temple master laughed heartily and remarked, "I feel like you're even more interesting than your younger brother."

Yang Chongxuan wrapped his hands behind his head and said, "I'll treat this as a form of praise."

There was an Esteemed Mystery Department in the largest empire in the central region of the Northern Complete Reed Continent, and this department oversaw many Daoist temples in the capital, keeping track of the Daoist priests and their ceremonies. At the same time, this department also oversaw the Buddhist temples as well as the genealogical records of the monks.

The leader of the Esteemed Mystery Department was someone with the surname Yang, and he was both the imperial preceptor as well as the owner of the Lofty Cloud Palace. Three of his ancestors were Upper Five Tier cultivators, yet they had all passed away and departed from this world one after another.

The Lofty Cloud Palace was a descendant Daoist temple much like Mount Longhu's Heavenly Master Residence.

The power and foundation of this Daoist force were unfathomably immense.

There were two young talents in the younger generation, and they were a pair of brothers who had already been regarded as innate Dao Seeds during their childhood.

One caught the attention of Heavenly Lord Xie Shi, but he was unable to become Xie Shi's disciple because this heavenly lord was unable to take disciples. Even so, Xie Shi still taught him Dao techniques. The older brother liked to travel around from a young age, and he was much like a divine dragon that was elusive and difficult to find. It was said that he was born with twin pupils, and he had gained this extra fated opportunity over his younger brother thanks to being born first. This older brother should have been the clan leader in waiting, but he was far too undisciplined to assume this responsibility. His clan failed to change his bad habits after much persuasion, so it could only give up and let him be.

As time went on, the younger brother vaguely became the inevitable choice to become the next leader of the Esteemed Mystery Department. Meanwhile, the older brother was enveloped in the shadows of his younger brother's huge fame, causing him to become increasingly silent and obscure.

The old temple master looked up and gazed into the distance, most likely looking toward the archways at the entrance of Malicious Ghost Valley. He then shifted his gaze and looked toward Orchid Scent Town, saying with a faint smile, "I've come this time to tell you that the fated opportunity has arrived."

Yang Chongxuan was unfazed, and he asked, "Why did Temple Master come all the way here to tell me this?"

The old temple master's expression was solemn as he replied slowly, "I performed a divination just then, and the result was 'great opportunity to kill.' However, good fortune and calamity come hand in hand, so this result actually caused me to feel slightly uneasy, giving rise to a minor imperfection between my conscience and my Great Dao. In the end, I decided to give this choice to someone else, allowing me to take this huge burden off my shoulders. I safeguarded my conscience, but I also feel a great sense of loss. It's as if I let slip a fated opportunity."

"In other words, Temple Master wants to use a borrowed knife to kill someone?" Yang Chongxuan asked with a sneer. "You can wipe your hands clean of the situation, but I'll have to charge over headfirst and act as the idiot who takes the fall? Even Temple Master is hesitating about whether he should kill someone, so even if I'm capable of killing them as well, will my small frame be able to withstand the huge consequences?"

The old temple master shook his head and replied, "You're an innate Dao Seed who doesn't belong to the three branches of the Heavenly World. Just how rare and precious is this? This is the reason why I've left the Small Mystery Capital Temple to tell you these things."

He then stood up and said, "I hope you make the right decision."

"There's one thing that I don't understand, so please clear things up for me, Temple Master," Yang Chongxuan suddenly said.

The old temple master nodded and said, "Feel free to ask."

"The person who needs to understand reason the most is precisely the person who refuses to listen to reason the most. On the other hand, the person who's willing to listen to reason is the person who seldom needs these reasons. What should be done?" Yang Chongxuan asked.

The old temple master smiled and replied, "This is a question that Confucian disciples need to mull over again and again. As for you, thinking about these questions is nothing more than baggage in your mind. Why ask for these headaches? There are many mediocre people troubling themselves in the world, but they're simply oblivious and happy to indulge in their naivety. Why are you trying to wake them up from their sweet dreams? Their temper can be regarded as good if they only chide you by calling you nosy. If they're more unforgiving, then they might even view you as a detestable enemy. That being the case, are they the stupid ones, or are we the stupid ones?"

Yang Chongxuan couldn't help but chuckle in speechlessness. He stood up and shook his sleeves in a proper manner, surprisingly bowing at the old man and saying, "Thank you for clearing up my confusion, Temple Master."

He then said something from the bottom of his heart, remarking, "Cultivating the Great Dao is simply for the sake of pursuing truth."

There was a look of praise and approval on the old temple master's face as he nodded lightly before disappearing in a flash.

When Yang Chongxuan came to his senses, he spread his hands before clenching them into fists and continuing, "The strong forge a path and hack aside the thorny obstructions; the weak follow blindly and appreciate what's given."

He rubbed his chin with his palm, and after a brief moment, he started to suppress a chuckle with great difficulty.

Would he care at all about that question? In reality, that question was the biggest headache plaguing Liu Jinglong these past few years.

However, the answer given by the temple master of Small Mystery Capital Temple was beyond Yang Chongxuan's expectations. The temple master indeed deserved a respectful bow from him.

After returning to the peach tree forest, the old temple master didn't return to his Daoist temple straight away.

Instead, he gazed up at the sky as he walked through the peach tree forest.

No matter what the reason for his decision was, that young wanderer politely turning down their offer to visit and drink a cup of tea wasn't enough to bring the matter to an end.

It was because of this that the old temple master had asked his good friend, the old monk, whether they needed to leave that cup of thousand-year-old peach syrup tea there.

In reality, did the Small Mystery Capital Temple need an outsider like the old monk to decide these matters?

In any case, the old monk had offered a very concise response: Excessive talk begets mistakes.

This reply allowed the old temple master to comprehend something and immediately become alert.

In the end, the old temple master made a decision that allowed his heart to once again become calm and his mental state to once again become flawless. However, the more he performed divinations, the more something felt amiss. With his current cultivation base, even a life-and-death challenge from the city lord of Malicious Ghost Valley's Skeleton Wall City wouldn't be able to affect his Dao Heart in the least.

That being the case, the old temple master activated a bonded mystical ability that he dared to say was absolutely unique in the world. Expending a huge amount of true origin power and sacrificing sixty years of cultivation progress, the old temple master activated the mystical ability of primordial deities that allowed him to observe heaven and earth. Only then did he finally discover some clues and traces.

Looking at the two ends of the thread, one end connected to He Xiaoliang who was currently in Skeleton Wall City, and the other end connected to that young wanderer who had politely turned down his invitation.

This was already strange enough, but there was something even more shocking when he looked at one of the other threads. With He Xiaoliang as the origin of the thread, the thread traveled outside Malicious Ghost Valley and Skeleton Shoal and directly soared to the heavens above the Northern Complete Reed Continent, seemingly forming a connection with someone from beyond the Majestic World!

The old temple master already possessed a flawless body, yet he still became drenched in sweat after he stopped his mystical ability.

There was intense resentment in his heart.

Who was He Xiaoliang a disciple of? How did an outsider Daoist nun from the Eastern Treasured Vial Continent suddenly enjoy such a rapid rise in the Northern Complete Reed Continent? Not only that, but how did she successfully establish a sect with the full support of Heavenly Lord Xie Shi?! Those truly standing atop the mountain peaks of the Northern Complete Reed Continent already knew about this, didn't they?

The old temple master glowered at the heavens, feeling a strong urge to immediately charge to that world and travel to the White Jade Capital, asking that branch master for a please explain.

Trusting the divinations and killing their target might indeed lead to good fortune.

However, was Lu Chen treating him as a puppet on strings? Was he treating him as a dog who would wag his tail in front of other people's courtyards and beg in pity?!