Walking on Thin Ice

At this very moment, Wang Ping was utterly unable to put what he had witnessed into words. Even though his consciousness had long since retreated into the Classic of Great Peace and the cooldown for Fiend from Beyond had ended, meaning where he was should have been the safest place possible, he still felt fear. Gazing as far as his eyes could see, that towering youth's face was like an immortal Buddha or divine being high above the Nine Heavens; mortals upon the earth could not even look upon his full form directly. All because what was even more terrifying than that youthful face was a faintly discernible halo hanging high behind it. Within it, three colors intertwined, churning with an endless, heart-stopping might. That was the truly terrifying presence; the immense power displayed by the youth's face was merely the tip of the iceberg! "......" The youth's face spoke not a word. He merely looked down upon the mountains, his eyes resembling the sun and moon as they took all of Longxing County into view, casting a calm, indifferent glance. In the next instant, the light dimmed. As if everything had been a mere illusion, the youth's face faded away swiftly. The parted clouds converged once more, and all traces of radiant color vanished without a trace. Throughout the entire process, not a single person noticed anything amiss. For the moment the youth's face appeared, everyone—including Shen Monkey, Xu Dog, and the countless mortals of Longxing County—had been unable to resist, subconsciously bowing and kowtowing. Thus, aside from Wang Ping, no one had truly seen the presence of the youth's face. Now that it had vanished, they merely lifted their heads in bewilderment, not knowing why they had just prostrated themselves. Only Shen Monkey and Xu Dog, possessing the highest martial arts, had blood streaming from their seven facial orifices across their terrified faces. They had not seen the youth's face either. Yet their divine intent had sensed the impending doom brought by its appearance... and that mere intangible perception, which could hardly even be called indirect, had caused them to bleed from their seven orifices. Wang Ping had no doubt that had the youth's face increased the "weight" within that gaze by even a fraction, Shen Monkey and Xu Dog would have dropped dead on the spot! That raised the question. "Why didn't he do that?" ............ At the Immortal Sect, before the Eight Trigrams Furnace. The duel between You Xuexin and Lian Shengyue, two true disciples of the Immortal Sect, had long since ceased. Daoist Xuanhe, who was responsible for guarding the area, knelt directly upon the ground. Between them, a youth wearing a fishtail crown and a black-and-white Daoist robe, holding a horsetail whisk in hand, was calmly inspecting the Eight Trigrams Furnace ahead. Overhead, a towering auspicious cloud slowly revolved, its vital energy surging and ebbing like tides, seemingly resonating with the entire cosmos. After a moment, the youth spoke, his voice defying the laws of physics to ring directly beside their ears: "Rise." "That little thief has already fled. I have inspected your Six Desires Heavenly Demon Flag; the artifact spirit is fine... Its turning against its master must have been that little thief's doing." Having said that, the youth sighed with a touch of emotion: "I wondered why no trace of him could be found throughout the grotto-heavens and blessed lands inside and outside the Immortal Sect. Turns out he hid himself inside the Eight Trigrams Furnace. He does possess some nerve. His cultivation should now be at Threefold Tribulation Crossing, currently undergoing his Life Tribulation. Your cultivation is still shallow, so being outmaneuvered by him is only reasonable." Thud! Even though the youth spoke gently, neither You Xuexin nor Lian Shengyue dared relax in the slightest. They immediately dropped to their knees and kowtowed heavily. "Disciples have ruined Master's grand undertaking. We beg Master for punishment!" Seeing this, the youth did not stop them. No one knew how long passed before the youth's voice rang out once more: "Enough. It was also my own impatience in failing to wait for the two of you to cross your heavenly tribulations first." "How about this: return and enter secluded cultivation." "I will prepare all external resources for you. Come out only after you cross the heavenly tribulation and cultivate divine abilities. That way, you will still make it in time for the Immortal-Fan Sword Contest in ten years." "When the time comes, you will have your chance to redeem yourselves through meritorious deeds." "All of you, withdraw." As the words fell, neither You Xuexin nor Lian Shengyue dared disobey, and Daoist Xuanhe even less so. He immediately kowtowed to express his gratitude, then steered his flying boat and departed. Lian Shengyue followed closely behind. As for You Xuexin, she hesitated for a moment before gritting her teeth and whispering, "Master, my Six Desires Heavenly Demon Flag... how should it be dealt with?" "Leave it." The youth remarked casually, "That artifact is already half-ruined and no longer suitable for use. Just leave it in the Eight Trigrams Furnace as nourishment for other treasures." "Make full use of the material so as to avoid waste." "Master's insight is profound." Hearing this, You Xuexin did not dare object. She could only cup her hands in assent, then similarly spurred her flying boat, riding a streak of divine light that quickly disappeared into the depths of the cosmos. Only the youth remained in place. Within the dark cosmos, the youth silently watched the Eight Trigrams Furnace beneath him, as monumental as a star. Only after a long while did he shake his head with an emotional sigh: "So many years have passed." "The Eight Trigrams Furnace, Shennong Cauldron, and God-Conferring Terrace remain the same as ever—stubborn and unyielding, refusing to submit. Truly, a centipede dies but never falls down..." Before his voice had fully faded, the youth had already vanished without a trace. And the instant the youth departed and the auspicious cloud overhead vanished with him, the lingering echoes of his sigh were snuffed out, returning the cosmos to quiet stillness. ............ Within the space of the Classic of Great Peace. Wang Ping lay spread-eagled on the ground, completely slacking off, feeling his violently pounding heart gradually steady itself. "Thank goodness, thank goodness." Wang Ping's heart was filled with relief, because after that youthful face vanished, no giant hand had descended from the sky to crush Longxing County to ash. This proved one thing. 'In the end, there is still a slim hope of survival!' 'At the very least, mighty figures at the level of Immortal Sect Qi Refiners truly find it difficult to intervene directly in the mortal realm; there must be some rather harsh restrictions in the unseen!' Otherwise, why would that Qi Refiner have left? Wouldn't it have been better to directly execute a great divine ability that reversed time and capture the fleeing Heaven-Stealing Thief, just like when he saved Daoist Nun You back then? Yet from beginning to end, he had merely looked on, displaying none of the terrifying might Wang Ping had witnessed before. Could it be that he hadn't wanted to? "Impossible!" "The grand scheme in Longxing County was completely ruined, and he obtained neither a longevity pill nor a treasure. If it were me, I would have risked my life to hunt down the mastermind!" The only possibility was that he could not do it! One had to admit that this was tremendous news. After all, if Qi Refiners could casually meddle in the mortal realm, Wang Ping couldn't imagine how he would ever resist them. Only after a long while did Wang Ping recover from the shock of the high-tier game shown to him by the Immortal Sect Qi Refiner. Then, his expression grew even more pained. Because aside from the Immortal Sect Qi Refiner, he had another trouble. And this trouble might be even bigger. Wang Ping calmed his mind, focused his consciousness, and soon dredged up a radiant, flowing talisman from deep within his memories, upon which three words were vividly inscribed: Time-Stealing Thief! A magical art from the same series as Life-Stealing Thief, an excerpt of the Five Thieves Heaven-Stealing Method, handed to him by the Heaven-Stealing Thief before fleeing so he would take the blame. That was not the crux of the matter. The crux was—at the same time as imparting this Time-Stealing Thief to him, the Heaven-Stealing Thief had invoked this divine art and stolen seven days of time out of thin air! "That's why Fiend from Beyond, which had just entered cooldown, suddenly refreshed. Otherwise, in my state back then, without Fiend from Beyond as a retreat, that Immortal Sect Qi Refiner definitely would have spotted something wrong, seized me, and refined me in an instant, giving me no chance to even flee..." Strictly speaking, the Heaven-Stealing Thief had saved his life. That raised another question. "Did he do it on purpose, or by accident?" Wang Ping's expression was grim as he immediately ruled out any fluke of an accident: "He did it on purpose. He knew that by doing so, I could revive!" The effect of Fiend from Beyond had been exposed! "Is it because I obtained Life-Stealing Thief? I acquired that magical art in the Immortal Sect and brought it back to Dashun... Did that draw his attention?" "How long has he been watching me?" "He and Shouchong are clearly on the same side. With deliberate observation, every effect of Fiend from Beyond has probably been figured out completely by him!" The more Wang Ping thought about it, the more terrified he felt, his scalp tingling with numbness. Sigh. In the final analysis, his cheat simply hadn't worked hard enough. Why couldn't it rewind time? If it could, why would he be agonizing like this! However, now that Fiend from Beyond had been exposed, why hadn't the Heaven-Stealing Thief snatched it? "Could it be... he looked down on it?" Wang Ping stroked his chin: "That makes sense. Fiend from Beyond is a cheat to me, but to the Heaven-Stealing Thief, all of its functions are actually quite worthless." Yet that only applied to Fiend from Beyond. "Fiend from Beyond might be useless to him, but the Classic of Great Peace is different. In time, as the scrolls increase, my talent will only grow higher and higher!" Of course, looking at the worst-case scenario: Perhaps the Heaven-Stealing Thief had realized this as well and deliberately kept him around to improve the Classic of Great Peace for him, intending to drain his value as human livestock first. "...Sigh." After pondering for a long time without coming to an answer, Wang Ping sighed helplessly and gave up borrowing trouble, no longer trying to second-guess the Heaven-Stealing Thief's intentions. Whatever the case, he had survived this time. Then he would keep moving forward. After all, having come this far, it was impossible for Wang Ping to choose to stand still. Even if this was truly a sugar-coated cannonball, he would swallow the sugar coating first. As for whether the cannonball would explode, that could wait until after the sugar coating was finished. Besides, with the capability of the Classic of Great Peace, if he happened to roll a perfect scroll, he might even be able to swallow the sugar coating and hurl the cannonball right back! "I've walked on thin ice my whole life; who knows if I'll ever reach the opposite shore..." Composing his mood, Wang Ping once again stood before the towering tome. The tome fell open, boundless light condensing into text: Current Identity: Six Desires Heavenly Demon King Current Providential Luck: Fifty-three (Imperial Enshrinement Candidate) Consume providential luck to exchange for a new identity? "Yes." Wang Ping nodded decisively. Following the incident in Longxing County, the account of Six Desires Heavenly Demon King, which had already made a name for itself in high-tier matches, was truly no longer suitable for use. Besides, thinking carefully about it, in this Longxing County incident he had even developed such an absurd move as Sub-light Speed Slash, yet still hadn't won. Who could play this kind of match? Better to roll a smurf account early and go stomp some noobs. Immediately after, as the colors on the scroll spun continuously, a full fifty-three points of providential luck were poured in, finally locking onto an identity. A brand-new identity—no longer a petty functionary, and its color had turned azure. Moreover, this time he was not an official. Great Hero of the Shu Region (Azure Scholar) As gold-bearing armed cavalry, you opened the granaries to distribute grain to save the common folk. This righteous deed caused your fame to resound across the greenwood of the Shu region, where all honor you as the Rebel King of the Shu Region. Wang Ping: "......???"