Chapter 1454: Moonlit Deep Mountains The End of the Road, On the Verge of Death, Hard to Bear the Eight Trigrams Soul

"Meow?"

In Xing Jie, Tan Shen's alchemy movements halted. It leaped over and nudged the fingers of its master, who was soaking in the medicinal liquid.

Not a twitch.

It dubiously scratched at the air with its front paw.

Was that an illusion? It had seemed to move just a moment ago?

So many pills had been fed, even a batch of Sheng Yao refined, and the master had slept for ages...

Wasn't it time to wake up?

"I'm really quite curious—what's this 'plan' that the lofty Dao Dianzhu is so insistent on discussing with me?"

On Qing Yuan Shan, the Tian Ji Kui Lei simply collapsed onto the ground, chatting idly without any further resistance.

Zhu Yi Ke had tried his best.

If he still couldn't escape, it was truly a case of human plans being no match for the heavens' designs.

Dao Qiong Cang sat casually on the limp Zhu Yi Ke's chest. Ignoring the miserable howls from beneath him, he chuckled and said:

"Chatting isn't quite that straightforward."

"In that case, may this humble one ask a question first?"

"Spit it out."

Even captured, one must remain unyielding; speak boldly and without fear.

Dao Qiong Cang paid no mind to issues of respect or disrespect. Pointing at the wreckage of the Tian Ji Kui Lei, he asked, "Just how far have you researched this thing?"

"What you've seen is merely one ten-thousandth of it."

That was actually all he had.

He had tried for a long time but failed to create a Tian Ji Kui Lei with independent consciousness, like Er Hao.

But that was normal.

If it were that easy to research, wouldn't Dao Qiong Cang be a complete waste?

"Heh, if that's only one ten-thousandth, then your mastery of Tian Ji Shu must surpass even mine."

Dao Qiong Cang laughed.

"Scared?"

Jin Ren shot back casually, "If you're smart, let me and old Zhu go."

Even someone as skilled at conversation as Dao Qiong Cang was momentarily stumped, at a loss for words.

Where had he shown any sign of fear?

He shook his head with a wry smile, yanked the array disk head from the Tian Ji Kui Lei with a "snap," and examined it closely:

"This thing looks pretty impressive."

Zzzzt...

The Tian Ji Kui Lei nearly shut down for good.

Jin Ren's spiritual sense was almost severed within that sealed body, leaving him in agony. All he could do was curse the flashy old daoist's cruelty...

Why pull out the head just to ask questions?

"Inside here, there's a lot packed in?"

Dao Qiong Cang's eyes gleamed as he scrutinized the array disk head, finding it increasingly extraordinary.

"Of course. This thing comes from your son—it's basically his life source."

"Er Hao?"

Dao Qiong Cang was taken aback.

"Shocked, huh?" Jin Ren forced a smile. "It's a gift for you. No need to be polite—just take your son's head home!"

Dao Qiong Cang thought it over.

Since Xu Xiao Shou dared to say that, he must have more copies on him. This excuse would work.

He shoved the array disk head back in and casually repaired the Tian Ji Kui Lei, ensuring that spiritual sense wouldn't die on the spot:

"A gentleman doesn't take what others cherish."

"I find it heartening that you enjoy researching Tian Ji Shu."

"Like I said, the doors of Sheng Shen Dian Tang are always open to you—at least, that's my personal view."

It was really returned?

Jin Ren could hardly believe it.

He had studied that array disk for a while, but in the plan, this Tian Ji Kui Lei wasn't meant for battle.

Otherwise, its combat capabilities wouldn't be so weak.

Thus, the array disk head, which replicated Er Hao's database and information repository, was unique.

Dao Qiong Cang had noticed something...

If he took it back, Jin Ren would lose all access to researching Dao Bu's Tian Ji Shu and Sheng Shen Dian Tang's internal information.

Who would have thought Dao Qiong Cang would return it?

What was he thinking?

Had his mind gone haywire?

"In truth, you could have escaped long ago, so why persist?"

Dao Qiong Cang shifted to a more comfortable position, sitting on Zhu Yi Ke's soft belly, and asked offhandedly.

His hip bones, like two sharp knives, stabbed into old Zhu, making his eyes roll back as blood overflowed from his mouth.

That little heart of Dao Qiong Cang's had been stuffed back in earlier.

He had imposed a martial seal on Zhu Yi Ke, not wanting him to die right then—otherwise, he would have killed him outright before.

Jin Ren fell silent.

Dao Qiong Cang spread his arms, embracing the night, and laughed openly:

"No one else is here; the Thirty-Three Heavens Spinning Star Luo Array is fully activated, so the outside world can't observe us."

"Even if Sheng Di casts a glance, I would sense it."

"Therefore..."

He turned his head, speaking seriously: "You and I can speak freely—discuss the Dao, talk of romance, anything goes."

But Jin Ren was lost in that line: "If Sheng Di casts a glance, I would sense it..." Was this flashy old daoist really that powerful?

"You still haven't answered my question."

Dao Qiong Cang asked again.

He had seen early on that during the Si Xiang Mi Jing incident, under Shen Yi's cover, Xu Xiao Shou could have escaped.

What intrigued him was whether Xu Xiao Shou truly followed Ba Zun An's orders or if this was his own idea.

"Give it a try."

Jin Ren replied.

"Oh? Saving Xiang Yao Yao was your own idea to test things out, not Ba Zun An's command?"

"I wanted to know if the Ten Zun Seats are truly as invincible as the rumors say."

Jin Ren smiled, speaking as freely as Dao Qiong Cang suggested.

"Now that you've tested it, what do you think?"

"Just so-so."

"Ha ha ha ha! Even in this state, you're still saying 'just so-so'?"

Dao Qiong Cang pointed at the pile of wreckage in front of him.

"After all your scheming, you only managed to capture one wisp of my spiritual sense—that's it."

Jin Ren scoffed, "If I went all out, I'd crush you like swatting a fly."

"What bold claims from a youngster!"

Dao Qiong Cang was amused. He jabbed and twisted his hip bones into Zhu Yi Ke's belly, wringing out bloody foam from old Zhu's mouth as he gasped for air.

He turned to face the Tian Ji Kui Lei directly, laughing heartily for a while before reining in his amusement to a faint smile at the corner of his lips. Pressing his hand down, he said:

"Let's set that aside for now. Invincible or not, we haven't seen the full picture yet."

Pausing, he asked again: "So, after your battle with Sheng Di, your true body is still recovering?"

Jin Ren stayed silent.

This old daoist was really trying to pry information out of him?

Who did he think he was underestimating? He knew exactly what could and couldn't be said.

Seeing the broken puppet refuse to answer, Dao Qiong Cang wasn't annoyed.

Some questions, when asked, already had answers in his mind.

Young people were still young, after all. If Xiang Yao Yao were here, she'd know not to respond from the first word.

Dao Qiong Cang was quite the conversationalist.

Whenever such a statement landed, he'd lightly brush it aside.

Then, fiddling with the wrecked Tian Ji Kui Lei in front of him, he naturally segued into another topic:

"Since you've researched Tian Ji Shu, have you ever thought about its ultimate limits?"

"Its limits?"

"You can think of it as..."

Dao Qiong Cang drew a large circle in the void, his eyes shining with excitement as he said fervently:

"The ultimate! Profound! Essence!"

Jin Ren was tempted to facepalm, but alas, he had no hands left.

Yet Dao Qiong Cang was immersed in his own world: "You know, even for water-based profound essence, what Shui Gui comprehended wasn't the absolute limit."

"Oh?"

"You've seen Gu Jian Shu. Once it breaks through the second realm, you can step into a profound essence array, like Xiao Kong Dong..."

Dao Qiong Cang summoned a twig with a wave, slashing at the air as if he were a peerless swordsman:

"I've studied the sword marks he left on Void Island. That one strike wounded Yan Lao."

"But you can probably tell, Xiao Kong Dong has barely stepped into the threshold of the second realm of Huan Jian Shu."

"Even so, mastering the profound essence array brings its own issues..."

Dao Qiong Cang dipped the twig in the blood foam at Zhu Yi Ke's lips and drew a small circle on the mountain ground:

"Xiao Kong Dong's second realm is the profound essence array."

He poked the twig into Zhu Yi Ke's mouth, stirring it to draw more blood, and sketched another larger circle:

"Ba Zun An's is also a profound essence array."

Dao Qiong Cang snapped the twig in half, placing each piece into the two differently sized circles:

"Are their profound essence arrays on the same level?"

Jin Ren tensed up.

He was starting to grasp what Dao Qiong Cang meant, yet not fully.

But this guy—admittedly, the things in his head, the problems he pondered...

Were profound!

At least, normal people wouldn't think about such things.

Only someone a bit unhinged would delve that deep.

"As expected of a Tian Ji Shu master, you love getting to the bottom of things—that's a strength."

Jin Ren spoke in a tone like praising a promising child.

"Getting to the bottom..."

Dao Qiong Cang savored the words and nodded. "I do enjoy 'getting to the bottom,' so I've been researching this for quite a while."

He stamped his foot, manifesting a miniature Cang Qiong Hui Juan: "And that's how I came up with this."

Jin Ren was familiar with Cang Qiong Hui Juan.

It could be said to be the "profound essence" of Tian Ji Shu, but he didn't understand what Dao Qiong Cang was getting at by showing it.

"I've wondered if, for spirit refiners, achieving profound essence might only reach seventy or eighty percent of the Dao."

"Even seventy or eighty percent could be the limit of spirit refining, allowing one to form a profound essence array."

"That explains why Xiao Kong Dong has one, and Ba Zun An does too."

Dao Qiong Cang counted on his fingers, "The former gets eight, the latter nine—nothing more."

"Ba Zun An only has nine?" Jin Ren mocked.

"Exactly!" Dao Qiong Cang nodded solemnly. "If ten is the full Dao, he only has nine, still short by one."

"Then who's the 'ten'?" Jin Ren teased. "You're not saying it's you, are you?"

"Not at all, not at all..." Dao Qiong Cang self-deprecatingly lowered his head. "My Cang Qiong Hui Juan is just a copycat version, only seventy percent of Tian Ji Shu."

Profound essence was merely seventy percent of the relevant Dao?

Jin Ren felt Dao Qiong Cang wasn't boasting and fell into thought.

But Dao Qiong Cang offered a different interpretation:

"I like to quantify everything and use numbers to study the Dao."

"I've thought that if seventy percent can mimic Cang Qiong Hui Juan and help my Tian Ji Shu merge with the Dao,"

"Then eighty percent should be the true profound essence array—Tian Ji Shu should be the same!"

"If I cultivate Tian Ji Shu to its eighth realm, I wouldn't need Cang Qiong Hui Juan; I could, like you spirit refiners or ancient sword cultivators, naturally step out a profound essence array and align with the great Dao."

"You don't even have eighty percent?" Jin Ren was stunned.

Dao Qiong Cang raised an eyebrow but didn't answer the question directly. Instead, he said, "Now, I'm plagued by doubts."

"Oh? Why is that?" Jin Ren's curiosity was piqued. Setting aside their positions, he actually enjoyed chatting with eccentrics; their take on the world was refreshingly different.

Dao Qiong Cang smiled and lowered his head, his gaze falling on the Tian Ji Kui Lei wreckage, circling back to the earlier topic:

"Because of you!"

"You cultivate many Daos, yet none to mastery—you clearly haven't grasped even seventy or eighty percent, maybe just twenty or thirty."

"Strangely, you can still step out a profound essence array, weak though it is, with a true harmony of heaven and human."

"This overturns my theory and keeps me up at night."

Damn... As soon as Jin Ren heard this, cold sweat broke out.

Dao Qiong Cang was actually researching his Da Dao Pan. How could that be studied?

It was a cheat!

But if the system was seen as his personal cheat, then at least nine of the Ten Zun Seats had their own cheats, right?

Jin Ren pondered for a long time before asking, "So, what's your take on it?"

"That's why I had a sudden epiphany!" Dao Qiong Cang exclaimed like a child, nearly getting his backside jabbed through by Zhu Yi Ke's belly as he clapped his hands:

"Maybe the path of spirit refining has fallen into a trap!"

"Many get stuck at the Wang Zuo Dao realm, desperately trying to comprehend profound essence there, so they sever the Dao to Taixu—that's wrong!"

"The true path of spirit refining should advance with deeper understanding of the great Dao and one's own realm, step by step..."

"By the time of Feng Sheng, those who master profound essence do so; those who don't can keep studying afterward and perhaps master it."

"That's the right way... I think."

Jin Ren listened, finding the theory groundbreaking.

Genius or madman? After a sharp intake of breath, he couldn't decide.

"You're right!" Dao Qiong Cang turned to him. "With just twenty or thirty percent, you've mastered a profound essence array... Don't suppress your cultivation at the Wang Zuo Dao realm; stick to your path, and you'll succeed!"

Jin Ren breathed a sigh of relief—it was just that meaning.

"I don't want to."

He had no desire to be this flashy old daoist's test subject, and that was his true body's view too.

"Pity..." Dao Qiong Cang seemed to have anticipated it.

"Then how do you explain that after Ban Sheng, or even past the Wang Zuo Dao realm, no one can develop a profound essence array?"

Jin Ren raised the question.

"I don't know." Dao Qiong Cang rarely slumped, lying back on the soft flesh pad and staring at the night sky:

"Maybe it's just hard—after all, profound essence is tough to cultivate."

"Maybe it's habitual thinking; if they can't break through, they sever the Dao and stop bothering to study."

"Maybe it's just a kind of..."

Dao Qiong Cang squinted, comfortably wiggling his backside on the flesh pad, enjoying the evening breeze as he sighed:

"I've toiled my whole life, reached Ban Sheng, so why not relax and enjoy myself?"

"Sort of idea."

Jin Ren had no response.

It all made sense, yet all seemed forced.

Perhaps these were the troubles only a pioneer of the great Dao would face—the future full of uncertainty.

In that moment, Jin Ren's view of the flashy old daoist shifted a bit.

He was quite an interesting fellow, with starkly contrasting sides in public and private...

Quickly, he shuddered and banished that terrifying thought.

Maybe the flashy old daoist was just putting on an act—after all, he was genuinely flashy!

Dao Qiong Cang was still lost in his own world, "So, that's why I asked that question earlier..."

"Which one?"

"You, like me, enjoy testing things. You've tried Tian Ji Shu—what do you think its ultimate profound essence is?"

Jin Ren thought for a moment: "Flesh is weak, Tian Ji ascends?"

The flashy old daoist shot up from the flesh pad, his eyes lighting up.

Soon, gazing at the night sky and the bright moon that obscured the stars, his face took on a hint of desolation:

"But how to achieve ascension?"

"What would it be like after ascending?"

Jin Ren fell silent.

This was like pondering where the world came from, where it would evolve, and where it would ultimately go—a philosophical question.

All unknowns become philosophy when pondered by humans.

Just...

He never imagined the flashy old daoist would think about such things and share them with him.

Am I that impressive in his eyes?

Jin Ren sank into thought.

The silence stretched on.

The night on Qing Yuan Shan was beautiful, save for Zhu Yi Ke, sealed and voiceless, muttering "mmph mmph" as he spat blood foam, teetering between life and death.

Dao Qiong Cang lay on the ground, suddenly turning his head with a grin: "You know, Ba Zun An has a child."

Whoosh, Zhu Yi Ke's rolling eyes snapped back, pupils focusing.

The Tian Ji Kui Lei wreckage seemed to revive, its array disk head glowing brightly.

In the Ran Ming ruins, Jin Ren's eyes also lit up.

If you're chatting about this, I'm all in—why didn't you bring it up earlier instead of those deep topics...

"Dao bro! Come on, spill the details."