The Great Heavenly Venerable's Past

"Until King Xuantian burst onto the scene, the family founded by the first-generation bloodline was one of the foremost powers across the land of Xuanhuang." "They were not inferior even when compared to the ancient sects. People speculated that aside from the True Immortal bloodline, it was perhaps because they had stolen several immortal treasures when they fled the First Venerable's side back then." The voice of the immortal Great Heavenly Venerable Xuanhuang truly deserved to be called melodious. It sounded like a clear spring murmuring through the mountains, or a soft breeze brushing past. While it soaked into the senses quietly, it also gave a feeling of warmth and intimacy. "Speaking of which, I fear the fate of that First Great Heavenly Venerable's descendants was not a pleasant one." "Senior is indeed perceptive. Long ago, when King Xuantian returned from the Immortal Realm and swept across Xuanhuang leading the Twelve Dharma Kings, it was this first-generation bloodline family that spearheaded the resistance, attempting to make themselves alliance leaders and restore their ancestor's domain. Strictly speaking, since they could command the various factions, they did possess some strength. In the very beginning, they truly caused no small amount of trouble for King Xuantian." "However, that was also due to King Xuantian's unnecessary mercy. Once he finally steeled his resolve, no one in the world could stand in his way any longer." The Great Heavenly Venerable seemed to harbor an unusual feeling toward King Xuantian; when she mentioned him, a slight tremor surfaced in her tone. Li Fan keenly caught that this was not mere admiration. It was mixed with a faint undertone of resentment. Yet the Great Heavenly Venerable seemed oblivious to her own slip and continued, "This first-generation bloodline family did not inherit the strength of a True Immortal, yet their conduct and style were astonishingly similar to their progenitor's. Only after King Xuantian led his forces to breach their territory were the heinous deeds committed within brought to light." "To ensure the purity of their True Immortal bloodline, they permitted only inbreeding within the family. They secretly rounded up exceptionally gifted young children and used secret arts to strip them of their talents. They enslaved and controlled other cultivators with restrictions to make them work to the death. They even sacrificed massive numbers of living beings at regular intervals just to maintain the stability of their bloodline... Their crimes were truly too numerous to record, utterly abhorrent." "In a fit of fury, King Xuantian transformed and suppressed every member of that first-generation bloodline family..." The Great Heavenly Venerable spoke eloquently. To her surprise, Li Fan suddenly waved his hand to cut her off. "Enough straying from the point. Let us return to that First Great Heavenly Venerable. If I am not mistaken, when the First transformed into a mortal, he did not use ordinary methods. Instead, he preserved his immortal body to leave himself a way out. Am I right? If the right opportunity arose, he could use that immortal body to ascend from mortal to immortal once again." "He was indeed worthy of being entrusted with great responsibilities by the Immortal Realm, capable of moving freely between mortal and immortal." "And the reason you depicted him as utterly worthless in your story was simply to make me overlook him as much as possible—all to hide the existence of the Great Heavenly Venerable's immortal body..." Li Fan's gaze gradually turned cold. Though exposed, the female Great Heavenly Venerable showed no trace of panic. She merely looked at Li Fan with a calm expression, answering him with silence. Li Fan did not mind either. "In truth, I can tell you were telling all of this to stall for time. A method that would allow you to escape even under my confinement..." Li Fan cast a glance into the distance. For the first time, the female Great Heavenly Venerable's expression shifted slightly. Li Fan continued, "And by being willing to listen to you talk so much, was I not waiting as well?" Now that the moment had arrived, Li Fan hesitated no longer. The suppressed power of the Immortal Soul of Mo Sha instantly erupted, engulfing the female Great Heavenly Venerable's body in a flash. The astonishment was still etched on her face, yet in the very next second, she became like a petrified statue. She was drained of all vitality. Li Fan had not killed her; he still preserved a wisp of vitality in both her body and her divine soul. He had merely employed the method of sealing a heavenly pillar to temporarily freeze her. "Asking question by question is hardly as convenient as seeing for myself." Li Fan shook his head slightly. He had never been one to easily believe a woman's words. Everything this Great Heavenly Venerable had just said, he had treated purely as amusement. As for the actual truth, Li Fan needed to observe it with his own eyes. And the reason he had not struck earlier was due to her office as Great Heavenly Venerable Xuanhuang. The Great Heavenly Venerable Xuanhuang was tied directly to the safety of the Xuanhuang Realm. If he rashly crippled or slew her, it might plunge the realm into turmoil. And turmoil in the Xuanhuang Realm was the last thing Li Fan wanted. After all, every single one of his anchors in this temporal space was established right here. Why would he destroy his own foundation? Thus, during the time he spent severing her connection to the Xuanhuang Realm, he had first utilized the Momentum of a True Immortal to temporarily acquire the authority of Acting Heavenly Venerable of Xuanhuang. Only after ensuring that removing the female Great Heavenly Venerable would not cause any harm to the Xuanhuang Realm did he strike decisively. Li Fan had not forgotten the hostility she and the Xuanhuang Heavenly Dao had shown toward him when he first arrived in this temporal space. "Let me see." Li Fan narrowed his eyes. The female Great Heavenly Venerable was like a book, its pages turned and savored by him one by one. While Li Fan was reviewing her memories, the Xuanhuang Heavenly Dao exhibited instinctual caution and curiosity regarding the female Great Heavenly Venerable's sudden loss of contact and Li Fan's abrupt usurpation of her position. There was also bewilderment and inquiry. Dark clouds gathered thickly in the sky above. A fluctuation of consciousness that was a colossal behemoth compared to ordinary cultivators descended upon the mountain peak where Li Fan stood. It was as if heaven and earth had inverted in an instant, the weight of the entire Xuanhuang Realm pressing down upon his shoulders. Li Fan merely let out a cold snort and stomped his foot violently. In the next instant, the inverted heavens were flipped right back. His divine sense soared into the sky, suppressing on the spot the Xuanhuang Heavenly Dao that had dared to manifest its conscious fluctuation. The current Xuanhuang Heavenly Dao had not yet experienced the subsequent catastrophe or the corrosion of other cultivation realms. Its temperament was not yet that bizarre. Even the twisted Xuanhuang Heavenly Dao of later generations had been thoroughly tamed by Li Fan, let alone the one before him now. The oppression of a True Immortal's might, the vital nourishment of immortal spiritual energy, the display of the Immortal Soul of Mo Sha swallowing all power... Under this combination of threats and inducements, the Xuanhuang Heavenly Dao instantly retreated, making no further stir. Only then did Li Fan return to examining the "book" before him. The female Great Heavenly Venerable had been sealed into a heavenly pillar, her past memories frozen page by page. Though they were merely countless static scenes, they did not hinder Li Fan from peering into her past. The female Great Heavenly Venerable was named Yi Yutong, originally an ordinary mortal of the Xuanhuang Realm. Because her family enjoyed the protection of the Xuantian Sect, they enshrined a faceless Xuantian statue in their home. Later, although the Xuantian Sect issued an order to confiscate the statues and forbid further worship, Yi Yutong's parents secretly kept the statue out of a mortal's simple-hearted gratitude, continuing to pray to it day and night. Originally, all was peaceful. Though the Xuantian Sect had issued the decree, they did not carry out sweeping searches; it had seemed to be a mere formality. However, one day upon waking up, Yi Yutong discovered in horror that both of her parents had died abruptly in their bed. And the cause of their death was that their faces, just like the faceless Xuantian statue, had vanished. Having lost their facial features, they had been unable to breathe and suffocated to death. Fortunately, this bizarre change had occurred while they were asleep. They had felt no pain, passing away peacefully. Under the rule of the Xuantian Sect, mortal lives were treated as lives. A married couple dying abruptly, and with the faceless Xuantian statue involved, immediately caused a sensation. People talked in hushed confusion, their hearts filled with bafflement. Why would worshiping the benevolent and merciful Xuantian statue invite such calamity? The Xuantian Sect soon sent people to quell the disturbance, claiming that the family had violated the Xuantian Imperial Edict and worshiped with malicious intent, thereby suffering a backlash. Yi Yutong was also brought before King Xuantian. To this day, Yi Yutong still remembered the immense delight in King Xuantian's expression when he laid eyes on her for the first time. And so he took her in, sheltering her within the sect. Only much later did Yi Yutong understand the reason for King Xuantian's delight. It was because he had found a qualified successor. In truth, the young Yi Yutong had accompanied her parents every day to worship that faceless Xuantian statue, yet no change had occurred to her. According to King Xuantian and Yi Yutong's own deductions, she had likely been influenced imperceptibly by the faceless statue while still in the womb. Not only had she not lost her life because of it, but she had also been born unharmed. Consequently, she possessed a natural adaptability to the statue's power. It was precisely because of this unique innate constitution that she had survived the calamity and subsequently caught King Xuantian's eye. Yet catching his eye did not mean she received extraordinary favor. Perhaps it was to prevent others from noticing her peculiarity. In any case, the first half of Yi Yutong's life was spent growing up alongside the countless orphans adopted by the Xuantian Sect. Aside from King Xuantian occasionally visiting in secret to impart cultivation mantras and check on her physical condition, her treatment was no different from that of the other orphans. And so Yi Yutong grew to adulthood. For some reason, her cultivation speed was far slower than that of her peers. Even though her natural talent was ten or a hundred times greater than theirs, it felt as though an invisible hand constantly suppressed her from above, forcing her progress to advance only according to a prearranged schedule. The ridicule of her peers and the pressure within the sect drove Yi Yutong to break down in tears countless times. During a rare moment alone with King Xuantian, she could not help but question him. King Xuantian had merely offered an incomprehensible remark: "By being slow, one can survive; by being slow, one can prevail. To prevail is to attain longevity." Her heart was full of grievance. Fortunately, she endured it all in the end. At the age of twenty-nine, she finally achieved the Golden Core realm, formally stepping over the threshold of a true cultivator. Though she had been slow, she could at last serve the sect in the future. Regrettably, what followed was disaster... On that day, chaos abruptly engulfed the sect. Countless terrifyingly formidable auras attacked from outside. And the Xuantian Sect, typically fortified with impenetrable defenses, proved unable to organize a decent counterattack in time. As a mere Golden Core cultivator, she could only drift with the tide, fleeing frantically alongside the crowd. In a daze, she thought she heard King Xuantian's voice. Yet the scene was far too chaotic, and she could not tell if it was an illusion. Outside the Xuantian Sect, countless cultivators laid ambushes and carried out slaughter. Those sects that normally trailed behind the Xuantian Sect, seemingly loyal and devoted, showed no mercy when butchering Xuantian disciples now. Fortunately, Yi Yutong was only a Golden Core cultivator and hardly a figure of importance in the sect. Risking severe injuries, she barely managed to escape with her life. Overcome by the severity of her wounds, she blacked out soon after. During that time, she seemed to have a very long dream. When she awoke... She had somehow inexplicably become the Great Heavenly Venerable Xuanhuang. Aside from the records and memories of past Venerables regarding the Xuanhuang Realm, there was also a set of instructions left by King Xuantian. In essence, this was King Xuantian's contingency plan. If he met with misfortune, the measures he had left upon Yi Yutong would activate, automatically making her the successor to the position of Great Heavenly Venerable. By rights, inheriting the position of Great Heavenly Venerable required passing specific trials. Yet according to King Xuantian, when she was very young and had just entered the sect, she had already passed the Great Heavenly Venerable trial and become a designated candidate. Yi Yutong had no memory of this whatsoever. Having gone to sleep as a mere Golden Core cultivator, she woke up inheriting the full might of the Great Heavenly Venerable. That power, capable of casually suppressing Dao Integration cultivators with a wave of her hand, made Yi Yutong tremble all over. The first thought that surfaced in her mind was to seek vengeance against those perfidious scoundrels of the Ten Sects of the Immortal Dao. Yet right at that moment, the intrinsic warning of the Great Heavenly Venerable surged within her. Once one became the Great Heavenly Venerable, one could not slaughter the innocent out of personal grudges. In other words, despite commanding incomparable power, she could not even take revenge. And she could not even abandon the duty. The horrific sight of her childhood companions dying tragically at the hands of the Ten Sects remained vivid before her eyes. To ask her to let go of this enmity, and even assist and coordinate with the Ten Sects of the Immortal Dao that had replaced the Xuantian Sect to maintain the safety of the Xuanhuang Realm— how could she possibly accept that? She had tried to resist the restrictions placed upon her as Great Heavenly Venerable Xuanhuang. Yet before the punishment of the Heart Fire, which would burn her to ashes the moment she violated the mandate, Yi Yutong ultimately backed down in fear. She could not disregard her own life for the sake of revenge. This filled her with even deeper shame. Every day spent as the Great Heavenly Venerable was an agonizing torment akin to purgatory for Yi Yutong. When faced with those detestable enemies seeking eager audiences, Yi Yutong could only choose to refuse. Out of sight, out of mind. While attending to the affairs that maintained the Xuanhuang Realm's safety, Yi Yutong secretly searched for news of King Xuantian. She desperately wanted to return the office of Great Heavenly Venerable to him, and then openly seek vengeance against the Ten Sects. Yet she searched the entire Xuanhuang Realm and could not find the slightest trace of Xuanyuan Hong. It seemed he had perished in that upheaval. Even so, an intuition from the unseen told her that King Xuantian was likely still alive. Thus, over all these years, Yi Yutong had never given up hope of finding him. Only... She had thought she would remember her hatred for the Ten Sects forever. Yet time possessed the power to heal all things. Fifty years, a hundred years. Eight hundred years, three thousand years. As the long river of time flowed past, the figures of her former companions had long grown blurry. And the culprits behind the rebellion back then—without her ever needing to lift a finger— had mostly died of old age, their lifespans exhausted. Only then did Yi Yutong begin to comprehend the words King Xuantian had spoken to her all those years ago: "By being slow, one can survive; by being slow, one can prevail. To prevail is to attain longevity." Her desire for revenge gradually faded. Yet the office of Great Heavenly Venerable Xuanhuang remained the one burden Yi Yutong had always wished to lay down.