Chapter 73 : Clearing the Stage

Chapter 73: Clearing the Stage

At the instant Long Tao took that step forward and his words fell,

the shock, fury, and the terror sparked by the name “Xianqi” on the Wuyi Sect Golden Core True Person’s face were all wiped away as if by an invisible hand, completely freezing into rigidity!

What replaced them was a kind of fear that could not be described in words—primitive, pure, and absolute!

Within his perceptual world, nothing else existed anymore! His Divine Sense—his powerful Divine Sense that he had painstakingly refined over hundreds of years and that was enough to look down upon others of the same tier—at that very instant seemed to have collided head-on with a vast, blazing sun that had exploded out of thin air, boundless and resplendent!

Beyond Nascent Soul!

This was absolutely soul-pressure that surpassed the Nascent Soul level!

Deification!?

That thought was like the sharpest ice spike, instantly piercing through all his cognitive defenses! No! That was impossible!

Anyone with knowledge of ancient secrets knew clearly that the world they inhabited was, in truth, merely a fragment left behind after a greater world had shattered.

This was precisely why many top-tier sects possessed supreme cultivation methods that pointed directly toward Deification or even higher realms, yet no one could truly cultivate to those levels.

The fundamental reason was that the world’s “capacity” and “tier” were no longer sufficient!

Nascent Soul was already the highest realm the Heavenly Dao of this world could permit to exist stably.

Deification? It did exist! Their Wuyi Sect had three Deification Ancestors presiding, and it was said that the Nine-Xia Heavenly Sect also had three.

But those ancestors dared not show themselves lightly.

They could only remain hidden year-round within their own painstakingly compressed and crafted pocket worlds, clinging to existence in a special state akin to “slumber,” avoiding the scrutiny of the Heavenly Dao.

The moment they dared to step out of their pocket worlds in their true bodies, heavenly tribulation would immediately be triggered! That was not the tribulation thunder containing a sliver of hope that cultivators faced during breakthroughs, but the Heavenly Dao’s pure, merciless annihilation! Heavenly lightning would fall without end until the “foreign object” that could not be tolerated by this world was completely reduced to ashes!

Because power at the Deification level already posed a real threat to this fragile world and was something the Heavenly Dao absolutely could not tolerate!

Yet the soul-pressure before him—vast like a sea of stars and blazing like a great sun—brutally shattered all his common sense! He had seen nearly all of the Wuyi Sect’s Nascent Soul True Lords and had carefully observed their Divine Souls.

Not a single one possessed such terrifying might that made his soul tremble and nearly forced him to kneel in submission!

Ancestor Xianqi! That’s right! This person had just called him “Xianqi old wretch”!

That form of address split through his chaos like lightning.

Yes! Only an existence of the same level would dare address that person so casually! This seemingly Qi-Refining–stage “itinerant merchant” … no, this senior expert was actually someone who could associate with Ancestor Xianqi as an equal! If that was the case, then possessing a Deification-level Divine Soul realm… suddenly didn’t seem so impossible to accept.

But… why?

Why would an existence so terrifying personally appear for the sake of a mere Yaoguang Azure Phoenix Egg? At their level, spirit beasts under their command were likely already beyond counting.

Even possessing true Holy Beasts would not be surprising.

The Wuyi Sect Golden Core’s gaze suddenly turned toward Nan Yuchen, who was trapped among the tree roots, and an answer that made his scalp go numb abruptly surfaced—

“Child of Destiny”!

This senior was not here for the Azure Phoenix at all—he was here for this boy named Nan Yuchen! To make a Deification-level existence disguise himself as a Qi-Refining Minor Cultivator and personally act to protect someone’s path… this Nan Yuchen was likely far more than an ordinary Child of Destiny!

No wonder such warnings had always circulated in the Cultivation World: do not bully the poor youth, and especially do not provoke those whose luck was heaven-defying, because you never knew whether he was the Heavenly Dao’s own beloved son! In the past, he had treated it as a joke.

Today… he truly experienced what it felt like to “poke a hole in the heavens”!

“Y-You… no… Senior!” His voice was dry and trembling, filled with unprecedented reverence, and he no longer cared that the other party was still outwardly displaying Qi-Refining Sixth Layer cultivation.

An iron law of the Cultivation World: cultivation, techniques, and magical artifacts could all be disguised—only the Divine Soul was difficult to fake! The Divine Soul could be suppressed and weakened, but it could never be strengthened out of nothing! Trying to bluff with Divine Soul pressure? Absolutely impossible!

“You’ve been… disguising yourself as Qi Refining… in order to… protect this kid?” He was almost certain of his own guess.

“Some things are not meant for you to know.

Don’t ask.” Long Tao’s voice remained calm, yet carried an authority that allowed no doubt.

“However, I am someone who values fairness. Just now, regardless of your reasons, since you did not strike at me while I was in disguise… then at this moment, I will also give you an opportunity.”

A chance at life! A sudden chance at life!

The Golden Core True Person’s eyes instantly burst forth with an extremely fervent light of longing.

At this moment, he only prayed that the other truly regarded him as an ant and had not even the slightest interest in toying with him!

“Five breaths.” Long Tao spoke slowly, giving an extremely brief window of time.

“I will give you only five breaths.

As long as you can leave this Secret Realm within five breaths, everything that happened here today, I will treat as if I never saw it.”

Long Tao made this decision out of sheer helplessness.

When the “System” infused his Divine Soul, it had clearly informed him that with his fragile body, which had only just opened its Qi Sea, the terrifying load of a thousand Soul Lamp Value could be maintained for at most about ten breaths! It wasn’t that he didn’t want to keep up the act of an unfathomable expert for a while longer—he truly didn’t have the time! He had to scare off this Golden Core boss as quickly as possible!

“Many thanks for Senior’s mercy!!”

The Wuyi Sect Golden Core did not hesitate or doubt in the slightest! Before his words had even finished falling, all the spiritual light of the magical artifacts on his body flared to their utmost limits.

His entire person transformed into a blurry streak of light and, at a near life-burning, desperate speed, instantly tore through the air and fled madly toward the direction of the Secret Realm entrance! He didn’t even dare leave behind a single harsh word!

Just to be safe, Long Tao forced himself not to relax immediately.

He continued to maintain that unfathomable expert’s bearing, hands clasped behind his back, as if silently counting those five breaths.

Only when he clearly felt that the vast, sea-like yet unbearably heavy Divine Soul power within him receded like a retreating tide did an irresistible, soul-deep exhaustion and drowsiness crash down like mountains collapsing and seas roaring, nearly drowning him completely.

“Senior… itinerant merchant?”

Nan Yuchen, still trapped among the tree roots and having witnessed this unbelievable scene, spoke with shock he could not conceal and a trace of confusion.

“That person… did he really leave?”

There was one thing he could be absolutely certain of: this senior who called himself an itinerant merchant could not possibly be Senior Brother Long! Because just now, his own Divine Sense had instinctively brushed against that terrifying soul-pressure! If he hadn’t reacted extremely fast and sealed his Divine Sense tightly at the very first moment, he would likely have been knocked unconscious on the spot! That was an existence so powerful it lay far beyond his comprehension!

“Yes, he left.” Long Tao’s voice carried a trace of fatigue that he could not fully conceal.

He turned around to look at Nan Yuchen, his tone holding a hint of apology.

“However… little friend, there is one matter for which I still must apologize to you.”

“Huh?” Nan Yuchen froze.

“Senior, you saved me—why… why would you need to apologize to me?”

“It can’t be helped,” Long Tao sighed softly and began fabricating the final lie to bring everything to a close.

“There were reasons behind it. In order to quietly enter this place, I had no choice but to temporarily borrow this senior brother’s body of yours. Now… the crisis has passed, and it is time to return the body to him.”

After finishing this last sentence, Long Tao could no longer hold on.

His vision went black, his consciousness sank completely into darkness, and his body slumped forward limply.

Before losing consciousness, the last thing Long Tao hurried to do was continue acting cool in front of Nan Yuchen—disguising his earlier self as a peerless expert attached to his own body.

Although doing so would bring many troubles, he could not think of any other method for the moment, and moreover, many things afterward would finally have someone else to take the blame.

Meanwhile, Nan Yuchen, still trapped among the tree roots, having heard this shocking “truth,” was urgently struggling to break free and go check on him when he suddenly felt a movement in his chest!

Crack—

The Azure Phoenix Egg pressed tightly against his chest suddenly split open with a fissure along its shell.

Immediately afterward, a wet, fluffy little green head, crowned with egg fluid containing starlike radiance, clumsily pushed its way out of the crack.

It curiously looked at Nan Yuchen with its clear eyes, then let out two faint yet distinct chirps.