Chapter 604: The Mistress of the Daoist Sect

Ye Guan looked at the towering virtual figure in the starry sky. It was not solid, making it difficult to see clearly, and its aura was extremely terrifying. The Ugly Ox's aura was also powerful, but compared to the figure, it was like comparing a firefly to the moon.

He immediately knew that it was the legendary God Ah Nan, one of the most powerful beings during the era of the gods. He could not help but be extremely curious about him.

Just then, the figure gradually solidified into a middle-aged man dressed in divine robes. He wore a large divine robe adorned with various mysterious runes, had long hair draped over his shoulders, and wore a faint smile on his face, giving him a somewhat refined appearance.

"That's not his real body," Mu Yuan said.

Ye Guan frowned slightly, somewhat disappointed. He had thought that a god had truly come.

Ah Nan smiled at Ye Guan. "Mu Yuan, won't you come out and say hello?"

After a brief silence, Mu Yuan appeared.

"I never thought we would meet again," Ah Nan said.

"The Supreme God has chosen him," Mu Yuan replied.

"Is that so?"

"The Supreme God is very disappointed in all of you."

Ah Nan merely shook his head with a smile, which also seemed like a faint sneer.

Mu Yuan continued, "I guarded the First God Hall because I knew that the First God had not truly died yet. As I expected, he indeed left behind a contingency plan. I believe he must have witnessed the internal strife amongst you in the past, too. You all betrayed him, Ah Nan."

Ah Nan chuckled. "Mu Yuan, when the teacher pursued humanity, we followed suit. We did the same thing when he pursued divinity. However, after a while, he suddenly stopped wanting divinity. We are not him. We cannot just let go of divinity like that..."

He shook his head slightly. "After he suppressed his divinity with humanity, he gained the ability to get rid of us. In fact, he still had that capability in his later years. Why do you think he decided against it?"

Mu Yuan frowned, this was also something he had been puzzled about. After all, even if only a trace of the image remained, it would be easy for the First God to eliminate these pseudo-gods. Nevertheless, the First God chose not to.

Ah Nan stared at Mu Yuan. "Because we followed his exploration of divinity with his permission. However, the teacher underestimated how terrifying divinity can be. He could achieve self-dissolution, but we couldn't. Fully aware of that, he opted not to kill us, his followers."

Mu Yuan fell silent. He didn't expect that the First God's disciples also pursued divinity, not just the First God himself. Mu Yuan was not a disciple of the First God, just an attendant, so he didn't know these secrets at the time.

Ah Nan suddenly chuckled. "Actually, divinity is the ultimate goal of the Dao. Once your strength reaches a certain level, you will find that everything, including people and order itself, are all very ridiculous."

"On the vast road of the Dao, I believe it's better to have people you care about and people you like," Ye Guan suddenly said. "Otherwise, even if the Dao is invincible, there would be no point in all of it."

Ah Nan smiled at Ye Guan. "That's because you're still young. You haven't experienced the passage of time, and you still have passion and fervor for this world. Love and similar concepts are still fresh to you. Once you experience enough years and see enough life and death, you will gradually become indifferent and accustomed to it all. In the end, you will understand that for us cultivators, only the Dao is eternal."

Personal pursuits varied from individual to individual. Hence, instead of rebutting, Ye Guan simply looked at Ah Nan. He had his own goals, and others had theirs. Moreover, the exceptional cultivators he had encountered so far, including his own father, aunts, and grandfather, didn't really care about order and sentient beings. They had humanity, but not really much of it.

All cultivators would ultimately move toward a certain direction, albeit gradually. As Ah Nan said, the more experiences one had, the more indifferent one became to everything.

Ah Nan stared at Ye Guan and smiled. "I always thought that the master would choose Confucius, but he chose you instead. I have to say, I'm surprised. On the other hand, it makes me curious why the master chose you. There had to be other reasons."

"Maybe he saw potential in me," Ye Guan calmly replied.

Ah Nan chuckled. "You're quite thick-skinned, but you are indeed quite remarkable. Even in our era, you would be considered a rare genius."

"Are you not planning to fight today?"

"Let's just have a conversation for now. If we can't reach an agreement, we can simply fight later. What do you think?"

Ye Guan nodded. "That works."

Ah Nan got straight to the point. "I'm not greedy. I want half of the master's Ancestral Vein, and a black ancient book, which I believe you have. If you can do that, we can avoid becoming enemies."

Ye Guan shook his head. "Can't do it."

"That's quite a straightforward refusal."

"You want half of my Ancestral Vein and that ancient book not because you genuinely want to make peace with me. Rather, it's to benefit from me first. You'll then betray me and let other pseudo-gods target me while you sit back and reap the rewards. Am I wrong?"

Ah Nan smiled faintly. "Very clever."

Ye Guan took a step forward and opened his hand. A Sword Intent then appeared on his palm. "Let's fight, then!"

He knew very well that the conflict between him and these pseudo-gods was irreconcilable because he had the Ancestral Veins and inheritance of the First God. The gods had once fought a civil war to seize these things, so why would they give up now?

Hence, combat was inevitable.

Ah Nan stared at Ye Guan, a smile appearing on his lips. Instead of attacking, his body gradually became ethereal.

Ye Guan's expression darkened. He had already guessed his opponent's intention.

Just before Ah Nan disappeared, he opened his right hand. Countless dark energies surged out from his palm and rushed toward the small town below.

Ah Nan stared at Ye Guan and chuckled. "You wanted to save people, right? Come, let me see how many you can save."

Ye Guan waved his sleeve, and Little Pagoda suddenly turned into a golden light. In an instant, the entire small town was sucked into the pagoda.

Ah Nan's brow furrowed slightly. However, he didn't make another move. He just glanced at Ye Guan and then quietly disappeared along with the Ugly Ox.

Watching Ah Nan disappear, Ye Guan's expression darkened.

Beside him, Mu Yuan said, "He will definitely spread the news about you inheriting the legacy of the First God. Soon, the other pseudo-gods will come after you."

Ye Guan nodded. He knew that Ah Nan was playing dirty.

Unfortunately, he had no means of stopping him since the initiative was in the other party's hands.

Without much thought, Ye Guan turned around and returned to the Little Pagoda. He then went to the courtyard where Lin Daimei and the old lady were waiting.

Seeing Ye Guan return, Lin Daimei immediately ran up to him, wanting to say something but not knowing how to express herself.

Ye Guan smiled. "It's okay."

"Thank you," Lin Daimei whispered.

Ye Guan smiled and then looked at the old lady, who was nearby. She had already fully recovered.

The old lady looked at Ye Guan with shock, surprised that he had actually removed her curse.

Ah Nan! He was one of the gods!

Ye Guan turned to Lin Daimei. With a smile, he asked, "Are you willing to cultivate?"

Lin Daimei was about to reply but seemingly remembered something. She quickly looked at the old lady, who was now beside her.

The old lady glanced at Ye Guan, then nodded slightly.

Lin Daimei excitedly turned back to Ye Guan. "Yes!"

Ye Guan smiled. Lin Daimei had an extraordinary talent. If she was willing to cultivate, her future prospects would indeed be boundless! Everyone in the small town was no different.

"If I take the town away, will this place still be a paradise?" Ye Guan suddenly asked.

The old lady hesitated for a moment, then shook her head. "I don't know."

Ye Guan fell silent. This place turned into a paradise solely because the First God used to reside here once. If the town were taken away, would this place still be a paradise?

While thinking about it, Ye Guan sensed a presence. He left the Little Pagoda and found a lady standing near him.

The lady was wearing a snowy robe and had her long hair tied up. The scroll in her hand made her look like a scholar.

Ye Guan looked at the lady in front of him, his brows furrowing because he felt a sense of familiarity.

Soon, he exclaimed, "You are the Mistress of the Daoist sect!"

When he went to the Daoist Realm back then, he saw the statue of the Great Daoist Brush Master. Beside it was the statue of a lady, which looked like the person standing before him now.

"Is the Divine Imprint with you?" the Mistress asked.

Ye Guan immediately became wary.

The Mistress opened her palm. A golden light then soared from within Ye Guan and landed steadily on her hand.

Ye Guan's expression darkened. She had just taken the Divine Imprint.

The Mistress glanced at the Divine Imprint and then looked back at Ye Guan. "He chose you."

Ye Guan nodded.

"Follow me," the Mistress said. She then turned and left.

Ye Guan hesitated for a moment but soon followed.

Before long, the two reached a very quiet mountain wall. Below it were several study rooms.

The Mistress led Ye Guan into one of the bamboo houses, then returned the Divine Imprint to him.

Upon retrieving it, Ye Guan asked, "Are you from the Temple of the Gods?"

"The Divine Temple," the Mistress corrected.

Ye Guan nodded but remained silent.

"You intervening to save Daimei's grandmother surprised me."

"You were watching?"

The Mistress nodded.

"If I hadn't intervened, would you have?" Ye Guan inquired.

"No."

"Why not?"

"It wouldn't have been worth it."

After a brief silence, Ye Guan asked, "Why did Ah Nan curse this place?"

The Mistress glanced at him before answering, "The people born in this town are blessed with exceptional talents and Divine Dao Destiny Aura. Ah Nan planted curses within each person that continuously devour their Divine Dao Destiny Aura, which he then uses to cultivate his dark arts."

"Why didn't you intervene to help?"

The Mistress calmly reiterated, "It wouldn't have been worth it."

Ye Guan nodded in understanding, choosing to say nothing more.

Whether someone lent a hand to save others was their business. He had no right to demand anything from them.

"For the sake of a stranger, you exposed yourself as the successor of the First God. Don't you think your actions are foolish?" the Mistress asked.

Ye Guan frowned.

"Do you know what it means to sacrifice the greater good for something small?" she added. "How can you live up to the master..."

Ye Guan suddenly shook his head. "Mistress, where I save people or not is none of your business. You may dislike or disapprove of it, but I don't need your criticism."

He turned and walked away.

Since they couldn't get through each other with words, he found no reason to continue their conversation.

However, at that moment, the Mistress suddenly opened her palm. The Divine Imprint flew out of Ye Guan and landed on her hand once more.

The Divine Imprint was clearly closer to the Mistress. It didn't quite approve of Ye Guan either. After all, he was still relatively weak compared to its first owner. It especially didn't approve of his actions in this situation.

He was too impulsive and lacking in foresight!

Such a person was unlikely to achieve greatness.