Chapter 848: Omniscience

While Baize and the Azure Dragon were talking, the person who was "more of a true dragon" than a True Dragon had already soared high into the sky, above the sea of clouds. Chu Liang headed straight for the Celestial Pivot Pavilion atop Mount Reticence.

Naturally, it was a daunting task to try and find a needle in a haystack. However, if he could employ the Omniscience, then it would not be impossible to retrieve that very needle with precision.

Dragons were known for their ability to mate, not socialize. Arrogant and rigid by nature, they found it difficult to even speak of losing the Dragon God's relic. And since the Celestial Pivot Pavilion's Omniscience could not be used at will, the dragons had never used to this method to try and find their missing relic.

In truth, aside from the upper echelons of the Divine Nine immortal sects, no one treated the Omniscience as something they could use regularly. Nevertheless, it was different for Chu Liang, whose teacher was Di Nufeng. Knowing he could utilize her influence, his first thought was to use the Omniscience to search for the Dragon God's Orb.

Di Nufeng had always treated the Celestial Pivot Pavilion like her own home—using whatever she wanted whenever she pleased. The Celestial Pivot Pavilion had helped her out numerous times. Otherwise, would she have allowed the Wind-Catching Hall to survive after all the times it had slandered her in

The Seven Stars Gazette

?

So, when Chu Liang went there to borrow the Omniscience, he had no qualms about doing it. After all, he was just cashing in on his esteemed teacher's reputation!

However, something unexpected occurred.

Upon reporting his name at Mount Reticence, the sect leader of the Celestial Pivot Pavilion came out to greet him in person.

It seemed that after the recent battle at Mount Shu, Chu Liang's name had finally made its mark. From this point on, no one would ever treat him as a mere junior.

The logic was simple.

If a young disciple could become the Assembly of Immortal Sects' champion and save his declining sect from collapse, then that disciple would undoubtedly hold a status on par with the head disciple of his sect.

If a disciple could create the largest commercial hub in the entire world of immortality cultivators from scratch solely with his intelligence and abilities, then his status would undoubtedly be on par with a sect elder. And if his sect didn't fall, he would almost certainly be marked as the next sect leader.

There were all still within the reasonable bounds of possibilities.

However, if a disciple from the younger generation could suddenly pull out a legendary artifact to save the sect just as it was on the verge of collapse, rescuing it from the depths of despair and even paving the way for a bright future... Well, the sect leader might just be willing to call that young disciple "Father."

The possibility of a disciple doing that was nothing short of fantasy, yet it had indeed occurred. Chu Liang's status had risen precisely because he had pulled off one miraculous feat after another.

...

Among the sect leaders of the Divine Nine, Enlightened Wulou was one of the younger ones. He appeared to be in his thirties, with fair skin and long eyebrows. As his wide-sleeved robes of gray and white fluttered in the wind, he exuded the air of an immortal.

Upon seeing him, Chu Liang promptly cupped his hands together and bowed. "Greetings, Sect Leader Wulou."

"Haha, no need for such formalities, Young Hero Chu," Enlightened Wulou said with a gentle smile, waving his hand. "I just returned from a meeting in the capital of Yu, where I discussed your problem with the other sect leaders of the Divine Nine."

The Noble Dharma had put forth the proposal to eradicate the Demon God's life essence. No one opposed it, nor did anyone act on it immediately. A matter of such great magnitude naturally required a joint deliberation between the imperial court and the Divine Nine.

To keep the matter a secret, the Terrestrial Ten were not given the right to be involved in the deliberation. Among the Divine Nine, only the Penglai Supreme Sect abstained from participation.

Chu Liang replied, "Apologies for the trouble, Esteemed Senior."

After all, the problem had arisen because he had secretly raised a Heaven-Devouring Bug. He had indeed brought trouble to others, so it was only right that he apologise.

"It's no trouble at all." Enlightened Wulou waved off the apology. "As cultivators, it is our duty to slay monsters and defend our Dao. Considering my position as a sect leader, it is only right that I do my part."

Hearing the way he spoke, Chu Liang quickly figured out that Englightened Wulou belonged to the faction that supported the slaying of the Demon God. He did not mention the result of the deliberation, which meant the two factions were in a deadlock.

Nevertheless, that wasn't what occupied Chu Liang's mind right now.

After exchanging pleasantries with Englightened Wulou, Chu Liang explained why he was there.

Hearing that Chu Liang had come to borrow the Omniscience, Enlightened Wulou showed a troubled expression. "This... Young Hero Chu, if we could use the Omniscience freely, we wouldn't be stingy with it. But there's something you do not know. Each activation of the Omniscience costs one of our elders from the Heaven Observer lineage several years of their lifespan, and there are only five of them left.

"That's why the Omniscience is not available for outsiders to use. Even when we do special favors for sects in the Divine Nine, we only use the Omniscience once or twice in a century. It hasn't been that long since your teacher made quite a scene at Mount Reticence and asked us to use it to find you.

"And this time, it's not a critical matter of life or death. If we let you use the Omniscience for something like this, and word gets out, how are our elders supposed to survive in the future..."

Chu Liang nodded along attentively.

He patiently waited until Enlightened Wulou was done. Then he offered a jade slip and said quietly, "The esteemed elders are truly admirable, burning themselves like candles to light the way for others. I've heard that it is possible to restore a person's lifespan, but only certain treasures of nature can do it. Sect Leader Wulou, this is a small token from me... for the esteemed elders, to compensate them a little for their loss."

Enlightened Wulou took the jade slip, and his brows twitched slightly. He swiftly tucked it away in his sleeve, said nothing, and turned around to push open the gates of his sect.

"Someone open up the Heaven-Seeking Cave for Young Hero Chu!"

...

The Heaven-Seeking Cave was the forbidden ground within the Celestial Pivot Pavilion where the Celestial Tome, the Omniscience, was kept. It was completely off-limits to everyone and was only opened when the Celestial Tome needed to be used. The cave lay behind Mount Reticence, nestled within dense woods—a rather inconspicuous location.

Enlightened Wulou led Chu Liang into the cave.

According to him, he

had

to oversee the use of Omniscience this time. He didn't feel right making another elder sacrifice their lifespan for something that might not be worth the cost—especially since

he

had taken money for it.

They walked through a winding cave passage lined with softly glowing walls for quite a while before arriving at the heart of the cavern. In the center of the open space stood a massive stone wall shaped like a semicircle. Its surface was a smooth ash gray, inscribed with characters resembling those of the Great Dao of Talismanic Script. In the dim space, these characters pulsed faintly with light.

Earlier, Enlightened Wulou instructed Chu Liang to write down everything he knew about the object he was searching for—the more details, the better. The more information the Omniscience was given, the more accurate its deductions would be.

Thus, Chu Liang wrote down everything the Azure Dragon had told him on a slip of paper. Holding it in one hand, Enlightened Wulou used that hand to make a sequence of hand seals, then he suddenly pinched the paper between two fingers and flung it into the air with a whoosh.

The paper burst into flames, swiftly turning into ash.

As he continued making hand seals, the stone wall before them lit up, and the inscriptions across its surface began to shift.

It was then that Chu Liang realized the lines weren't complete. They moved in parallel, but the lines didn't connect, indicating that at least half the content wasn't visible on this stone wall.

Yet, even that much was enough. The wall glowed brightly for a moment.

As Chu Liang gazed at it, he felt a wave of dizziness sweep over him. It was the weight of a Great Dao crushing his soul. His eyes saw only the written characters, but what appeared in his mind was a display of shifting lights and shadows.

They showed a pair of Human-Faced Jade Essence Flowers. Then the lights and shadows showed two tiny figures—one black, one white. They swiftly transformed into terrifying, violent, and murderous evil spirits that reeked of blood...

The pair appeared to be the twin Ghost Xiaos. The Celestial Tome had deduced and conjured their forms through the Great Daos in the mortal world.

All things in the world were bound by cause and effect. Even if the targets were carrying treasures that blocked the secrets of heaven, countless chains of cause and effect over the past three thousand eight hundred years could still yield a lot of crucial information. The Omniscience could not provide a direct answer, but it could deduce the most probable effect from the causes.

Enlightened Wulou's complexion had turned noticeably paler. He was under far greater strain than Chu Liang.

A moment later, the wall's light dimmed, and the moving characters froze, leaving only one line remaining.

As Enlightened Wulou studied the characters, he said slowly, "Where the Jade Essence Flowers first bloomed... lies the path the resentful souls once walked."