Chapter 1 The Departure and the Altar

With a belly full of thoughts, Ruyi Monk departed, neither agreeing nor refusing, and returned to the Tathagata Courtyard as the sun prepared to rise.

Ruyi Monk possessed sufficient forbearance. He could endure the oppression of Tianyi Taoist for a hundred years, and he could remain silent under his shadow for sixty years. However, that did not mean he had no ideas of his own.

Should he live in the shadows for the rest of his life until his lifespan ended, or should he seek another path?

It was a choice, and yet not a choice.

In fact, with his current strength, traversing the four seas and five continents in a single day might be an exaggeration, but thirty years was enough to establish the other four Fengshen Platforms.

However, the diffusion of his Qi Seed and the replacement of his magnetic field had not yet spread throughout Daqing and Zhonglu. Once he stepped out of Zhonglu, he would face great danger.

He had possessed the ability to seek good fortune and avoid disaster as early as the Jiu Fu Realm, let alone now.

Therefore, he needed others to take this trip for him.

Whoosh~

A gentle breeze stirred An Qisheng's long hair at his temples.

He stood before the Fengshen Platform with his hands clasped behind his back, took a deep look at the rising red sun, and sat down cross-legged, taking out the Youqiu Biying Altar (Wish-Granting Altar) with a flip of his hand.

In the past sixty years, he had made offerings a total of fifteen times, about once every four years.

He had no feelings of guilt or worry about the offerings.

Although this altar was a cosmic treasure from the Barbarian Desolate World, seemingly an anchor point for that great power, the Starry Sky Building Master, to locate other worlds and universes.

But the future of this world was already beyond repair. Even if another Starry Sky Building Master came, it wouldn't be worse.

Perhaps two negatives make a positive?

What restricted his number of offerings was the recovery speed of the Yixie Taoist.

Contrary to his original idea, Yixie Zhenren's (Deviant Evil Perfected Man) primordial spirit could not support him in making offerings continuously...

On the miniature altar, the Yixie Taoist, in his skeletal form, was on the verge of death, no longer having the strength to even curse. The entire skeleton looked numb and dull.

The primordial spirit could absorb the essence of heaven and earth to recover, but the loss of its origin was not something that could be easily compensated for.

"You are worried..."

As An Qisheng sat down cross-legged, the Yixie Taoist's weak and hoarse voice rang out.

In his eye sockets, ghostly flames flickered faintly.

"I am not a saint, naturally I will worry, be afraid, be terrified, be in pain..."

An Qisheng nodded slightly, without denying it at all:

"Humans have seven emotions, heaven has five poisons, demons have a hundred desires. This is all normal. However, my heart is like a bright mirror stand, and as long as I wipe it diligently from time to time, it will naturally remain free of dust."

He was not cultivating the path of emotionlessness, nor did it mean that emotions were something bad.

Emotions were not born from the heart, but were a reaction mechanism of the countless tiny particles that made up the human body. Unless one abandoned the physical body, it would be difficult to avoid being controlled by emotions.

And once one abandoned the physical body, the yin energy and resentment between heaven and earth would also sway one's mind.

Whether it be emotions or desires, there was no need to fear them like floods or wild beasts. Using emotions, integrating cells, consolidating internal organs, uniting the mind and body, was his Dao.

"You..."

Looking at the calm white-robed Taoist in front of him, a chill rose in the Yixie Taoist's heart.

A person who admitted his shortcomings and spoke about them openly was extremely terrifying, especially since he already knew that this person was now the strongest on the surface in Daqing.

An Qisheng lowered his gaze, looking at the Yixie Taoist, who was tightly trapped by the altar, his eyes deep:

"You can be considered a person of some importance, and you have helped me a lot these years..."

Hmm?

Hearing An Qisheng's calm words, a great sense of foreboding rose in the Yixie Taoist's heart:

"You, what do you want to do?!"

Having been together for sixty years, no one knew better than him how cold and fierce this white-robed Taoist was beneath his gentle exterior.

Such a person was more terrifying than any great demon or great monster.

A sudden gentle opening was definitely not a good thing.

An Qisheng smiled and changed the subject:

"You've had this altar for quite some time. Do you know its origin, its function, and the secrets behind it?"

"What?"

The Yixie Taoist was slightly stunned. After his primordial spirit had been cut so many times, his thoughts moved very slowly.

"This altar is called the Youqiu Biying Altar (Wish-Granting Altar), also known as the Replacement Balance. It is a cosmic treasure from another world..."

Without waiting for him to answer, An Qisheng explained to himself:

"This altar comes from a great world called the Barbarian Desolate World. Its original owner was called the Starry Sky Building Master. He probably forged more than one batch of similar altars..."

Wish-Granting Altar?

Replacement Balance?

Cosmic Treasure?

Barbarian Desolate World, Starry Sky Building Master?

There are more than one of these altars?

The Yixie Taoist listened with his mind swaying, in shock and uncertainty: "You, how do you know?"

He was horrified.

His entire rise depended on this altar, so he naturally knew its terror.

But he had it for hundreds of years, and he did not know that this altar had such a terrifying origin.

How could this person know?

"You can't deny, you can be regarded as a person with great fortune."

Finally, An Qisheng sighed slightly.

This Replacement Balance was as high as five stars. Its value was beyond what ordinary people could imagine. Apart from the Dao Yi Diagram fragment of unknown level, this was the highest level treasure he had seen.

That the Yixie Taoist could obtain it was naturally due to his fortune.

The Yixie Taoist was somewhat dazed:

"You, why are you telling me this?"

"I hope you can find a way out of desperation, turn misfortune into good fortune, and live up to your identity as a person of great fortune..."

An Qisheng smiled faintly and pointed a finger at the altar.

Whoosh~

A visible ray of divine light descended from his fingertip and suddenly submerged into Yixie Zhenren's snow-white skeleton.

"No, no!"

Red light shone brightly on the altar, like a blood basin mouth, swallowing him whole amidst Yixie Zhenren's sharp screams.

Buzz~~~

The blood-red light surged, and countless tiny runes circulated within it at an unimaginable speed.

An Qisheng closed his eyes slightly, his divine will highly condensed.

Naturally, he was not just trying to squeeze out the remaining value of Yixie Zhenren, but also wanted to see what kind of world was on the other side of this Replacement Balance.

Was it the Barbarian Desolate World, or another world?

An Qisheng had wanted to do this for a long time.

Vaguely, he felt that one day in the future, this Replacement Balance would play a great role.

Buzz~

As he closed his eyes and focused, An Qisheng sensed the altar's leap.

A wisp of his divine will, protected by Dao power, was hidden under the bones, within Yixie Zhenren's primordial spirit, wanting to try whether he could glimpse the mysteries on the other side of the altar.

Swish~

A sound like water was heard.

An Qisheng's wisp of divine will, wrapped in Dao power, carefully probed out, sensing.

This was a bizarre and strange passage, with endless blood-red intertwined in a dim void. Visibly, the blood-red was being annihilated by the void.

Revealing the Yixie Zhenren's skeletal body beneath.

Whoosh~

Silently, Yixie Zhenren's body exposed outside the red light had already disappeared, more thoroughly than vaporization, as if it had been directly wiped from the world.

Yixie Zhenren's skeletal body, with toughness far exceeding any ordinary metal, and the attached mana aura was even more...

Yixie Zhenren let out a silent scream.

No sound could be made here.

An Qisheng's heart was heavy. In an instant, the red light pierced through the nothingness, crossing an unknown length of road, at an unbelievably fast speed.

But even at such a fast speed, much of the red light was annihilated.

It seemed that in less than an instant, more than 80% of Yixie Zhenren's skeletal body had been annihilated!

Only the most resilient skull, protected in the best condition, crossed with the red light and disappeared into an unknowable place.

........

Above the vast wilderness, ten suns hung in the sky, scattering endless light.

In a corner of the boundless earth, countless towering peaks rose from the ground, soaring into the clouds, at heights of unknown thousands or tens of thousands of zhang.

Among the mountains and above the earth, everywhere were towering trees that several people could not encircle, and countless vines hanging on the mountains and trees were unknown hundreds or thousands of meters long.

Among the mountains and valleys, countless prehistoric beasts roamed, and the roars of giant beasts often resounded through the sky.

Startling countless giant birds with wings spanning dozens of zhang.

Even more giant beasts charged through the mountains and forests, fighting each other, smashing small mountains and large trees, fighting nakedly.

Sky,

Earth,

Mountains,

Giant beasts...

This boundless world exuded an ancient and desolate aura.

This was a stark, free-for-all world where the strong lived and the weak died, a nakedly barbaric world!

Beside the mountains, there was a small village.

This small village was backed by mountains, with a great river flowing in front. Upon closer inspection, the entire village was actually built on the stump of an unknown giant ancient tree!

The sunlight, as bright as flowing fire, illuminated the sky.

Sounds of people could also be heard in the small village. Tall and sturdy men were doing morning exercises early in the morning, while men on duty were yawning as they went back to rest. Many children were running and playing in the village.

But whether it was the men doing morning exercises, the men on duty, or the mischievous children chasing chickens and sparrows, none of them dared to approach an ordinary wooden house in the village.

The wooden house was not large, and it occupied the very center of the old tree stump's grain.

All the wooden houses around it were some distance away from it, indicating that the owner of the wooden house had a very high status in it.

Ten suns hung in the sky, shining brightly, and there were no clouds in the tens of thousands of miles, making the light very strong.

But the wooden house was dark.

An oil lamp was the only light inside.

Through the light, one could see an old man wearing gray animal skins and disheveled hair dancing around a miniature altar about one person tall, gesticulating and chanting an unknown song.

The song was desolate and ancient, but not a single sound came out of the house.

As the old man continued to shout and chant, a red light gradually appeared on the altar, enveloping the upper half of an unknown fierce beast's corpse.

Upon seeing this, the old man jumped even more frantically, shouting even louder.

Buzz buzz buzz~~~

After a while, the red light suddenly flashed and then went out.

The old man first took two steps back in horror, then rushed forward two steps and pounced on the altar, his face full of joy.

On the altar, the half corpse of the ferocious beast had disappeared and was replaced by a mysterious skull that was silver-white with golden hues, with two clusters of faint green fire flickering in its eye sockets, the upper and lower jaws constantly colliding, making a 'click-clack' sound!