Chapter 826: Chapter 47: Evil Venerate
Seeing Zhou Yan silent, Hua Qiudao stood up after restoring his peak combat power.
He walked back and forth a few steps, revealing a look of contemplation and reminiscence.
After a long time, he finally spoke: "Nine years ago, a person named ’Zhou Yan’ came forward and took away all the cultivators who had comprehended the Supreme Dao, saying that the Heavenly Pivot Ancient Town was opened and they were about to head to the Outer Ancient Star.
The most outstanding among them were Yang Qingtan, Ye Kongxing, Zhao Sikong, Qin Ruyu, and Fang Yinghong.
These five were exceptionally gifted, uniquely favored, especially after enlightenment at the Immortal Pool, their progress was astonishing, as if suddenly enlightened again, their cultivation advanced rapidly, truly remarkable.
Originally, I was also among them, but at the time, a solar storm broke out, causing many ordinary people to suffer calamity for no reason, so I wanted to do something for them, thus I gave up that journey.
Just as I was about to intervene in this disaster, that ’Zhou Yan’ stopped me."
"I remember very clearly, back then he said things like ’One thought towards good, one thought towards evil; good and evil can’t be defined by anyone, right and wrong distinguish themselves,’ it seemed very reasonable.
In other words, if the predetermined fate is for them to perish, forcing them to live is not necessarily a good thing for ordinary people."
"This theory, on the surface, is very reasonable, but once I think deeply about it, it surely causes a terrible impact on the accumulation of my years of cultivation. At that time, I faintly felt something was amiss, but didn’t expect that ’Zhou Yan’ was fake.
This was only confirmed when I met Liu Haoxin.
However, during this time, there have been unknown forces chasing us, if it were not for relying on a very ancient forbidden land array to come here, I’m afraid it would have been difficult for us to survive.
If not for luck, or because the Qi Fortune carried by my Merit Power allowed me to survive near-death situations time and again, perhaps by now I would have become a heap of bones or a walking dead controlled by others."
Hua Qiudao explained.
Hua Qiudao’s words had a significant impact on Zhou Yan, and Zhou Yan did not expect that so many things had happened during his tribulation period.
These events were all very unbelievable, beyond the normal scope.
After spreading the Tao, the prosperity of the Cultivation World did not appear; instead, it seemed as if it had obtained a chance, suddenly meeting certain requirements and being harvested.
Although Zhou Yan was unaware of some things, once this feeling appeared, Zhou Yan knew that those cultivators were bound to have unfortunate fates.
"I have also understood this matter, and it’s largely similar to what you talked about, except I haven’t figured out who that person appearing under my identity is. But anyway, in the future, all these will have a result."
Zhou Yan pondered and said. He thought for a long time but could not find specific clues, and within the range of the world enveloped by his Soul Power, Zhou Yan also searched many people’s memories, yet found no indications.
Some things, the more one wants to know the answer, the harder it is to grasp enlightenment. And often when one no longer cares about the answer, the answer might appear.
Zhou Yan tried hard, knowing that even now, pursuing it, if the other party intends to annihilate all traces, he ultimately would find nothing.
These matters can’t be rushed.
"Yes, that’s also why I managed to eke out an existence after meeting Liu Haoxin.
They seem to have great envy for my Virtuous Energy. But this energy comes from the gratitude energy of those suffering cultivators and ordinary people, gathered within me. I have also vowed to serve this Heaven and Earth to the best of my ability, how could I give it to them? They called this energy similar to Virtuous Energy and gratitude as ’Merit Power,’ and said ’Infinite Merit,’ but unfortunately, I can’t comprehend the wondrousness of this energy, having a treasure mountain but unable to develop it. Otherwise, I would certainly be able to use my capability to avoid many disasters for cultivators and ordinary people."
Hua Qiudao sighed, evidently some lingering feelings, for he clearly felt guilty and self-reproachful, believing he hadn’t done enough.
Although Zhou Yan didn’t actually agree with his approach.
In Zhou Yan’s view, many cultivators lack any sense of righteousness or morality, so the saying ’A blessing of rice, a grudge of rice’ is quite so.
But Hua Qiudao had his own cultivation style, Zhou Yan wouldn’t interfere.
Zhou Yan sighed as well, but then he restrained all his Soul Path sensing power, softly pointed his virtual hand towards the void, erasing all traces left in this space.
Afterwards, he finally spoke: "You two aren’t in any great trouble now, since survival here is impossible, I’ll take you to an Ancient Land after a while, then help you open the Heavenly Pivot Ancient Town on you, and you’ll undergo a complete transformation."
Zhou Yan made the arrangements.
Upon hearing this, Liu Haoxin naturally had no objections, immediately knelt to perform a disciple’s bow, and Hua Qiudao also intended to follow this ritual, but was stopped by Zhou Yan again.
"You and I, let us be treated as equals, after all, your Virtuous Energy heart is your own Tao, unrelated to my Tao. Just as before, we are better off as friends."
Zhou Yan accepted Liu Haoxin’s disciple bow but rejected Hua Qiudao.
Hua Qiudao is a truly great person, benevolent, with a heart to aid the world, thus making vast vows. Such a person, even now seemingly nothing, but once away from the Heavenly Pivot Ancient Town, will have a total eruption.
In terms of character and the way of dealing with people, such a person has truly high moral standards, worthy of respect, and Zhou Yan does not feel qualified to take him as a disciple. Moreover, the Tao he follows does not belong to the Emperor Xuan Yuan’s Energy lineage.
Hua Qiudao is magnanimous, and did not dwell too much on this issue, as soon as Zhou Yan spoke, he understood the intention, so he stopped the action, yet he still bowed deeply, saying, "Let this bow be a formal repayment of your great kindness. For now, Hua Qiudao is somewhat powerless, unable to repay, so I offer this token of my appreciation."
Zhou Yan nodded, then suddenly turned, his gaze as if penetrating this Heaven and Earth, directly looking towards a void outside the snow-land.
Under Zhou Yan’s previous sensing, this world was nearly devoid of cultivators, all cultivators had nearly vanished.
But as soon as the Soul Power sensing was retracted, the void unexpectedly manifested a strong, vast, and majestic aura.
This aura was very old and grand, mighty, with the strength of the aura Zhou Yan had witnessed in the Fu Xi Ancestral Land, from the black-clothed man there.
At that time, Zhou Yan felt utterly powerless against such a formidable force.
But now, Zhou Yan was unafraid.
"Master, the chase is upon us again, and this time, it’s... it’s this destructive Evil Dragon... we, we..."
Liu Haoxin was somewhat nervous, even a bit hopeless.
It wasn’t that he didn’t trust his master Zhou Yan, but he profoundly understood what this destructive Evil Dragon represented.
"Fellow Daoist Zhou Yan, you should leave. This matter initially had nothing to do with you. Perhaps, I can use Merit Power as leverage to temporarily stabilize the situation, but the time will certainly not be long. You are powerful enough, and you might have a chance to escape."
Hua Qiudao spoke with considerable gravity.
His voice also conveyed a heavy sense of resignation.
"Destructive Evil Dragon? What kind of creature is that? Let me take you to meet it then."
Zhou Yan’s gaze was calm. With a casual wave of his hand, a unique spherical space suddenly appeared in the Void, enveloping both Hua Qiudao and Liu Haoxin within it, much like a transparent bubble. The bubble floated easily beside Zhou Yan, motionless yet as steady as Mount Tai.
After completing all this, Zhou Yan moved, bringing both Hua Qiudao and Liu Haoxin to the snowy mountains outside.
Standing in the Void, the transparent bubble around them, Hua Qiudao and Liu Haoxin both displayed an expression of astonishment.
"Boom——"
The ground shook as if a nine-level earthquake occurred.
Then, a blackish-red Blood Light suddenly appeared in the Void, subsequently transforming into a monster resembling a bat and lizard hybrid magnified ten thousand times, completely dark red.
The monster’s two curved teeth resembled tusks, protruding from its mouth, gleaming with a cold, eerie light.
"You two seeds are actually—hmm? Evil Venerate, haven’t you already returned to the Fiery Flame Domain? Why have you come here again?"
The Fire Dragon spewed out breaths of sulfurous stench, yet spoke human language, its voice deep but extraordinarily clear.
"Eh? No, you’re not the Evil Venerate. You are—you are that Clone!"
Suddenly, the Fire Dragon exclaimed, its eyes filled with endless astonishment.
Immediately, it seemed about to send out some bizarre information as if intending to relay this shocking news.
But instantly, as it tried to move, it suddenly froze, unable to move a muscle.
Void Sword Body, lock the Void!
Thunderflame Sword Body, Thunder Power’s Secret Technique paralyzes time until it feels like it stops, causing the Fire Dragon’s body to become instantly paralyzed.
The combination of both instantly froze the Fire Dragon in the Void.
"It seems you know many secrets, so let me see what else you know!"
"Original Dao’s Original Soul Power shatters illusions!"
Zhou Yan reached the pinnacle of Original Dao, forcefully penetrating deep into the Fire Dragon’s memory, forcefully Soul Searching for the other’s memories.
These memories appeared like circular rings, layer upon layer continuously sinking.
In the end, they formed a point, a core point, which was the core of the memories.
Zhou Yan searched all the way but only got fragments before the memory viewing was abruptly interrupted.
In an instant, Zhou Yan’s Soul Power felt like it was in another world, arriving in a bizarre abyss.
There was nothing here, just a pure black.
In the midst of the endless darkness, a pair of eyes blazed with purple flames.
This pair of eyes was filled with bloodthirst, ferocity, terror, rage, and various powerful and shocking negative emotions.
They stared at Zhou Yan, making him feel chilled to the bone.
"I never expected you to reach this point? It seems we have a chance to meet in the ’Domain.’ Before that, everything about your past will be completely annihilated and disappear; you will never be able to find it."
"This is what you sought, and it’s a severe warning for you!"
"If you have a fate meant for ants, don’t attempt to gaze up at the heavens!"
These purple flame eyes spoke pure Tai Chu Runes.
Zhou Yan felt that even though he had mastered the Tai Chu Runes to an extremely profound degree, compared to this entity, it was as if he knew nothing at all.