As the core of the Yellow Springs Grotto-Heaven took shape, Wei Yuan watched countless scattered yin souls drift in from all directions, converging into the Yellow Springs. Previously, Wei Yuan could neither see nor sense these minute spirits, but now, with the Yellow Springs Grotto-Heaven in place, they appeared before him with absolute clarity.
A watery sheen surfaced in his left eye. Looking through it, the entire world shifted, turning from solid to ethereal and crisscrossed by countless fine lines of light. The whole world resembled a vast cavern draped in colossal cobwebs.
As Wei Yuan's gaze swept across, countless threads snapped, their ends drifting toward him. Touching his divine sense to one of the thread ends, he discovered to his horror that it was a thread of karma—a karma of life and death!
Within a radius of ten thousand li, the karmic ties of life and death governing all sentient beings were severing from the Great Dao of Heaven and Earth, reconnecting instead to Wei Yuan!
Wei Yuan was shocked!
Even an immortal could not shoulder such a staggering burden. With his slender arms and legs, what right or ability did he have to take charge of so many lives and deaths?
Naturally, every sacrifice yielded a gain. If Wei Yuan could truly bear such karma, even across just ten thousand li, his might would instantly surpass Yanshi and Xu Wangu, trampling the likes of Lu Changhe, the Left Sage King, and the Little State Preceptor beneath his feet.
Yet it was like an ant trying to move a mountain or a mayfly shaking a tree—the spirit was willing, but the strength fell far short.
Snapping to his senses, Wei Yuan hastily suppressed the Yellow Springs Grotto-Heaven's power and reach, restricting it to a mere few dozen li—barely enough to cover the Medicine Garden—and fixed it there.
In the Medicine Garden, the little rooster suddenly stirred from sleep. It cast a glance underground, shook its body, and sent a single feather fluttering into the Medicine Garden's grand defensive formation before sinking back into slumber.
Even after imposing these emergency limits on himself, Wei Yuan remained uneasy. The more he thought about the affair, the stranger it felt.
Earlier, when Wei Yuan completed the Gate of the Many Realms, it could attract the souls of perished humans nearby, primarily those who lived and died in Qingming. These people already shared deep karmic ties with Wei Yuan, and those drawn in were souls strong enough to develop sentience after reincarnation. Such souls possessed substantial innate strength; otherwise, they would remain muddled after rebirth, incapable of developing sentience, and would soon dissipate even if successfully reincarnated.
But the Yellow Springs Grotto-Heaven was entirely different. Not only did it span a vast expanse, it turned nothing away, drawing in even the faintest sparks of souls from small beasts and insects, every one bound by clear karma. Paired with the Gate of the Many Realms and the reincarnation within the Smoke and Fire of the Mortal World, this was practically establishing an independent Heavenly Dao of his own—an act of supreme heresy.
In both rank and impact on the Great Dao of Heaven and Earth, the Yellow Springs Grotto-Heaven likely stood even above Maiden Yin-Yang. Tracing the chain of events backward, its core stemmed from the Yin Soul Cauldron. When Wei Yuan acquired the cauldron years ago, he had paid it little heed, assuming it was merely an ordinary Scenery Command spirit treasure, and had kept it tucked away until now.
Then came his premature involvement in the war of immortals, which granted him the ability to establish a new grotto-heaven.
And his journey to the far north where he obtained the cauldron had been driven by a great karmic curse. He had incurred that curse by killing a shaman girl in the Nether Cold Realm and obtaining Maiden Yin-Yang. Pushing back even further, how had he entered the Nether Cold Realm in the first place?
If the Yellow Springs Grotto-Heaven was truly the focal piece of the entire board, then whoever set this trap possessed a terrifying grasp of foresight, turning even Heavenly Shamans into unwitting pawns and anticipating Wei Yuan's path for over a decade.
Yet what frightened him most was the possibility that the Yellow Springs Grotto-Heaven was only a midpoint link.
Wei Yuan shuddered involuntarily. He could not afford to think any deeper; the more he pondered it, the more unreal the entire world seemed.
Acting decisively once he had preliminarily stabilized the Yellow Springs Grotto-Heaven, he packed his belongings and headed north, arriving at the Northern Mountain Gate to seek an audience with Immortal Monarch Yanshi. This was the perk of being a disciple of the Palace of Grand Beginning—Wei Yuan still had powerful backers to lean on.
Yanshi was toying with a small egg marked with blue-black speckles. Seeing Wei Yuan arrive, he quietly put it away. But Wei Yuan had sharp eyes and caught sight of it. For some reason, the aura of the egg felt strangely familiar, as if he had encountered it somewhere before.
As he pondered, tens of thousands of strands of azure qi abruptly vanished, and Wei Yuan thought of the little rooster, realizing the egg bore some resemblance to it. A rooster... an egg?
Wei Yuan felt as though he had stumbled upon something extraordinary. But on second thought, divine creatures were omnipotent; what was laying an egg compared to their powers? Hadn't he forced a shadow dragon to lay an egg as well, using it as a culture medium to cultivate a genetic virus that nearly wiped out the mirage demons?
Looking at Wei Yuan, Immortal Monarch Yanshi's brow knitted slightly. "What brings you here? Strangely enough, I cannot divine your purpose."
Being here at the Northern Mountain Gate, anchored by the remains of several immortals below, Wei Yuan had far fewer misgivings. He recounted the matter of the Yellow Springs Grotto-Heaven and manifested it, taking care to mention that no heavenly tribulation had occurred when the grotto-heaven formed.
A trace of gravity crossed Yanshi's face. He questioned Wei Yuan closely about every action taken during the breakthrough, then pondered at length before speaking: "At first glance, the Yellow Springs Grotto-Heaven took shape because you poured in the karmic luck of a million mortals, triggering an unforeseen change. Taking that in isolation, the change is a good thing. The Yellow Springs Grotto-Heaven's stature is vastly superior to the original, and it aligns remarkably well with your dharma idol—a match made in heaven, so to speak.
"However..."
It was precisely that "however" Wei Yuan dreaded.
Yanshi fell silent again. Deep in thought, he reflexively lifted his teacup, but as he moved to take a sip, the cup abruptly shattered, splashing tea all over his robes.
Wei Yuan hurried forward, using his sleeve to wipe the tea from the monarch's clothing. He felt no remorse for his garment; Yanshi's tea was notoriously expensive, and that splash of tea was worth far more than the robe Wei Yuan wore.
Yanshi suddenly chuckled. "Liuli has never been half as filial as you."
Wei Yuan replied, "Patriarch has shown great kindness to me. Attending to little matters for Patriarch is only natural."
Yanshi shook his head. "You rascal, you sound glib, yet your words come from the heart, which makes things truly difficult. As for your situation, it is practically impossible that no one played this piece—the odds of that are lower than Great Tang's Grand Ancestor reincarnating into you. But if someone truly made this move, that person is utterly terrifying, possessing abilities far beyond mine, and I cannot divine a thing.
"Yet Heaven always leaves a sliver of life. You have only just begun; this is merely the opening phase, not yet the middle game. Even if you fall into a dead end, the mastermind behind the curtain would never let you die right now and will surely preserve a glimmer of hope for you. I am merely pondering where that hope might lie."
Wei Yuan asked hurriedly, "Where does the hope lie?"
Yanshi shook his head. "...I don't know."
While Wei Yuan was still dumbfounded, Yanshi added, "In any desperate predicament or mortal trap, there is an eternal method to break through: shattering the impasse with sheer strength. You might want to consider where your greatest strength lies, and rely on it to break the deadlock. Therein lies your hope of survival."
Moments later, Wei Yuan departed the Northern Mountain Gate and returned to Qingming. Watching the earth rush past beneath him, he pondered where his true strength lay.
Tracing his thoughts from the Smoke and Fire of the Mortal World all the way to Qingming, he realized that reaching his present standing was largely thanks to immense karmic luck. At first, it was karmic luck from beyond heaven, but lately it had shifted to being dominated by the azure qi of human fortune. And how did that azure qi come about?
Ever since the issuance of Qingyuan, massive waves of azure qi from human fortune had poured in for one reason or another.
A torrent of thoughts flashed through Wei Yuan's mind, leading him to a somewhat bizarre conclusion: his greatest strength was... being rich?
Far to the west, Shengxin and Huixin emerged from the deep mountain forests. Gazing upon the great shaman city ahead, Huixin nearly wept tears of joy.
Shengxin's spirits lifted as well, and he said, "After being hunted for so long, we can finally live comfortably! Once we enter the city, I'll treat you to a taste of true luxury and opulence!"
Huixin looked at Shengxin, then at himself. The two Great Shamans were now clad in nothing but tattered robes, entirely destitute. Every item and dharma treasure of any value had been sacrificed by Shengxin during their flight to sever the pursuers' karmic lock.
As a result, they had successfully escaped the deadly trap, but were left penniless.
Huixin snapped irritably, "Not a single good thing has happened since I teamed up with you! A Heavenly Shaman oversees the holy city ahead, and we don't have a copper to our names. What good life are you blabbering about? Do you dare rob people right under a Heavenly Shaman's nose? With the way we look right now, even coolies would look down on us!"
Shengxin smiled faintly. "Relax, money is no issue, nor do we need to rob anyone. Look, what is this?"
Shengxin fished a crumpled piece of paper from his pocket. No matter how Huixin scrutinized it, it appeared to be nothing more than an ordinary sheet of jade paper with nothing written on it—clearly not a promissory note.
Shengxin did not keep him in suspense. Solemnly flattening the jade paper, he chanted an incantation under his breath for a moment, then opened his eyes and shouted, "...At the cost of ten years of unrequited love and heartbreak suffered by the brother who trusts me most—turn stone to gold!!"
He pointed a finger. The jade paper instantly transformed—not into gold, but into a neat little stack of azure paper notes.
Huixin had not yet recovered from the shock of Shengxin's terrifying spell and asked instinctively, "Where's the gold? What is this?"
Shengxin picked up the neat stack of azure paper notes, beaming brightly. "This is... Qingyuan!"
Chapter 824