Chapter 1545: The Divine Relic's Super Dao Transformation, Ancestral God List Top Zhou Tian Shen

"Welcome to Shen Zhi Yiji!"

It felt like a dream. When he opened his eyes again, a mysterious and ethereal voice echoed in his mind.

Even though he had prepared himself, Xu Xiaoshou was still startled.

After all, when everyone else entered the Ranming site, there hadn't been anything like this experience...

"Once inside, you'll be randomly placed, and everyone will hear the voice of Zhan Shen Guan. At that time, Master Xu, don't panic—it's probably just for about the time it takes to brew half a cup of tea. He'll personally introduce you to the background of the Zhan Shen Guan site."

"Personally?"

"That's right. From what we've gathered, Zhan Shen Guan doesn't seem aggressive at all; on the contrary, he's quite approachable... But as for what he actually says, everyone who comes out forgets it. We've run many tests, and no one can remember."

"Alright, then another question: My second true self has already entered the site once. Can my original self still go in?"

"It should be possible. We've already had Ban Sheng Zang Ren try it. When a Ban Sheng's incarnation enters the site, they hear nothing and can do nothing—it's just like those Tianji puppets tested in the Sheng Shen Hall, basically as if they never entered... If your second true self didn't hear the voice, it's probably judged as 'fake' by the Zhan Shen Guan site. Only your original self can trigger it..."

"The plot."

"Uh... yeah, it's exactly like you said, Master Xu, that 'plot' thing."

"As long as I can get in, that's good. I still want to take a stroll up Sheng Shan and put some pressure on them. If I end up causing trouble and can't get out, that would be super awkward."

"Hehe, I still suggest the same thing, Master Xu—you could just go straight in..."

"That's a great suggestion. I'll keep it in mind."

This trial was completely different from the usual ones. The biggest change was that Xu Xiaoshou had gone from being a pawn manipulated by others to being the one holding the pieces—he could get advance information on so many things now.

Back in Bai Ku, he knew nothing and charged in blindly. In the end, even when Bai Ku exploded, he didn't gain much.

Everything—the Yan Python, the Four Swords—was all a trap, just toilet paper used to clean up messes for others later.

On Void Island, he also went in clueless, fighting that undying cockroach-like Yu Ling—how could it be so strong? It was just an Yi Dao, after all; how could it be that powerful?

In the end, he found out it was one of his own. The Crystal Palace didn't even want to fight back; it meant you could take it all, just please stop—there's no need for this...

When the Shui Gui revealed his face, it wasn't just Yan Wuse who was stunned!

But now, things were different.

The times had changed.

Xu Xiaoshou sat in the Xing Jie, sipping tea, and enjoyed the intelligence that others had risked their lives to obtain.

He finally experienced the kind of strategic joy that Ba Zun An and Dao Qiong Cang must have felt, becoming the very type of person he had hated most back then.

He was much later than most in entering the Ranming site, but because of Li Fugui's existence, his grasp of the internal information was far greater than that of the average clueless wanderer.

In the past, he was the one fighting tooth and nail; now, aside from not personally feeding anyone the Jin Zhao fire seed, without the bald head and dark circles, Xu Xiaoshou felt he wasn't much different from Sang Lao.

"Ah, the price of growth..."

When he landed in the Ranming site, his eyes hadn't even adjusted yet, but his "perception" had already swept the surrounding scene into his mind.

A barren wilderness.

No threats.

"Good, I didn't land near that Yue Gong Li. That was the Sheng Shen Hall's only chance to kick me out."

With that, Xu Xiaoshou could focus entirely on the voice in his mind. He realized Li Fugui had missed a few things:

It wasn't just the voice.

After a moment, he also saw images—plot images!

"Boom!"

The chaotic world shook, heavens shattered, earth split, and finally, the entire plane was torn to pieces by disordered forces.

"Shen Zhan..."

As soon as Zhan Shen Guan Ranming's hollow, void-like voice emerged, Xu Xiaoshou's mind sharpened, flashing with images and terms like Tianzu, Void General, Mo Shen—all remnants from Void Island, mere threads connecting to the unknown.

He realized what was coming next might not be something to skim over—he had to pay close attention.

Xu Xiaoshou focused his thoughts, immersing himself as if to pierce through the essence of the images in his mind, trying to uncover something...

And he actually noticed a few details!

In the Shen Zhan, amidst the tangled and chaotic forces, there were traces of Tianzu's power, demonic power, divine power, Shu Zu... or rather, a purer, more sinister evil god power than Ai Cangsheng!

"So detailed..."

Xu Xiaoshou almost overlooked this small detail at the beginning of the image.

Because it was laced with heavy guiding and forgetting forces, making people instinctively ignore it.

But he'd experienced this kind of guidance and forgetting too many times lately—all thanks to Dao Qiong Cang.

So, even without "Jingshen Awakening" to remind him, the moment that uncomfortable feeling hit, he knew something was "off"!

He realized he was getting desensitized...

Maybe because he'd tallied up various Daos to the Yi level?

Or because he already possessed Tianzu and Long Zu powers, giving him a basic understanding of other Zu source powers?

Maybe both—and the closer he got to "Sheng Di," the more sensitive he became!

"Tianzu's power..."

Sensing that familiar force, Xu Xiaoshou was certain that other Ban Shengs, or even Shen Yi and Ai Cangsheng, probably wouldn't notice this.

Because they likely couldn't distinguish Tianzu's power—this world, he feared, was the only one who knew what it looked like.

In his mind, Zhan Shen Guan Ranming's voice continued with the Shen Zhan images, but it was intermittent and hard to make out:

"Shen Zhan... Thirty-three Chong Tian collapse..."

"I... stabilized the collapsing triangular realm... planted the Zu tree... named: Shen Zhi Yiji..."

Xu Xiaoshou frowned as he listened.

It was so hard to remember!

If he had come before grasping the Mang Yi, he probably couldn't have pieced together even that many words.

Fortunately, it wasn't just the voice; the increasingly blurry and incomplete Shen Zhan images helped with understanding.

It was clear that Ranming had tried his best, making an effort for any potential inheritors to know what he had done:

At least, a war among four gods had shattered the many layered planes stacked above...

"Wait!"

Xu Xiaoshou noticed Ranming had said "Thirty-three Chong Tian."

Counting carefully, those stacked planes before being shattered by the Shen Zhan seemed to number exactly "thirty-three"?

In the image, a pair of axes suddenly hooked up, pulling in the shattered triangular realm, crossing countless chaotic objects, and hurling it into a brand-new continent...

"Wait!"

Xu Xiaoshou suddenly recalled the tiny, sesame-sized island that had just barely brushed past that triangular realm...

It looked just like Void Island, floating in the fragments of spacetime!

"So, the Shen Zhan happened in the fragments of spacetime... or rather, outside the Sheng Shen Continent plane?"

"Thirty-three Chong Tian... Shen Jie? After it was shattered, those axes must have been Zhan Shen Guan Ranming's, hooking back three fragments of the realm and throwing them into the Si Xiang Secret Realm of the Sheng Shen Continent..."

"Is that the origin of 'Shen Zhi Yiji'?"

Xu Xiaoshou's breathing grew heavier.

Starting with such a high level—if Li Fugui wasn't joking, that "Zu Shen Ming Ge" might really be possible!

Xu Xiaoshou focused even more, trying to extract more information from this external intelligence.

But the images in his mind flashed and shifted; after the Shen Zhan, a long stretch was murky and incomprehensible.

"Did Ranming fall too, leaving him so weakened..."

Xu Xiaoshou pondered wildly, then suddenly remembered something from the earlier information—there seemed to be a "Zu Shu"?

"That's right, those three hooked fragments of the realm, if just thrown onto a continent, would only cause catastrophic disasters, not form a 'inheritance'."

"To integrate three world fragments into a 'Shen Zhi Yiji' as a separate dimensional space hidden in the Si Xiang Secret Realm, it would indeed need something like my Xing Jie—a tree to connect it all."

"So, Shen Zhi Yiji must have at least one Zu Shu!"

Xu Xiaoshou's eyes lit up—this was information Li Fugui hadn't provided.

He was incredibly interested in planting trees now, since he already had a world at home with cities built and people settled; one Long Xing wasn't enough.

To nurture it into a great world like the Sheng Shen Continent, he'd need at least nine to summon the divine dragon, right?

He'd already collected Long Xing, fragments of Shen Bai Liu, fragments of Pu Ti Gu Mu, and fragments of Xue Shu.

These probably wouldn't appear in Shen Zhi Yiji.

The rest: Jiu Ji Gui was on Gui Zhe Sheng Shan, Da Shi Huai was in Bei Ming Di Jing, and Jian Ma was on the most famous Dong Shan of Zang Jian Zhong.

"So, it has to be either Cang Qiong Zhi Shu or Di Ying Sheng Zhu!"

Cang Qiong Zhi Shu could birth Tian Huo and nurture a Sheng Di-level Jin Zhao Lao Zu—its power was unimaginable.

As for Di Ying Sheng Zhu... Xu Xiaoshou narrowed his eyes.

What was that?

He realized he only remembered the name.

The images in his mind gradually solidified, becoming somewhat visible again, and Xu Xiaoshou quickly refocused.

The Shen Zhan was over.

Vaguely, all he could see now was an island—Shen Zhi Yiji!

It sat in boundless chaos, much like Void Island.

But while Void Island could return to the continent, the chaos where Shen Zhi Yiji was rooted seemed independent, outside the Sheng Shen Continent...

The only connection was probably being summoned by calling "Ranming" and getting pulled in!

Shen Zhi Yiji, or the island of the gods, didn't look large. Like the "Thirty-three Chong Tian" he'd seen before, it was divided into three layers, pyramid-shaped and getting smaller toward the top.

"It's those triangular realm fragments!"

Xu Xiaoshou pondered, feeling that Shen Zhi Yiji had imitated the structure of what might have been "Shen Jie."

But what was the special purpose behind this structure?

Soon, Zhan Shen Guan Ranming's voice appeared in his mind again.

Still hollow, still void, still ethereal—it didn't sound like a real person, more like a legacy sound manifested with intent at the time:

"Shen Zhi Yiji, formed from the triangular Shen Jie, named as one Chong Tian, eighteen Chong Tian, thirty-three Chong Tian..."

"Shen Zhi Yiji, forging countless Daos, building the wheel of reincarnation and heavenly ascent, treasures abound, fates fulfilled, all virtues present, all vices equal..."

This time, Zhan Shen Guan's voice was clear, and the meaning straightforward.

Xu Xiaoshou listened intently; essentially, Ranming was just bragging about how powerful he was and how many treasures Shen Zhi Yiji held.

But soon, none of it would be yours... Xu Xiaoshou thought to himself, listening for a long time until he reached the key part at the end:

"For those seeking inheritance, discern me, transcend Dao Hua, ascend the three realms, and behold my true name."

"For the secondary, gather eighteen Shen Zhi Ming Xing to obtain the Zu Shen Ming Ge."

"For the lowest, ascend the Zu Shen Bang, and each shall gain accordingly."

With that, the rambling ended, and all the images in his mind shattered, transforming into a solemn, sacred shadow of a god.

Nothing was clear.

No face, no features.

Yet Xu Xiaoshou felt it was a human form, that it was Ranming, that it was the realm of a Zu Shen!

It was clearly looking at him, asking: Do you understand?

"Can we communicate?"

Xu Xiaoshou, ever persistent, tried, worried the god might not understand his clumsy ancient speech, so he rephrased:

"Do you speak kindly?"

"Do you wish to speak?"

"Are you hungry?"

He didn't want to just listen; he wanted to chat with Ranming, to have a dialogue!

In his mind, the remnant of the "god's shadow" lingered—who knew if it heard him.

Xu Xiaoshou didn't care; he tried every trick, even using provocation:

"Tianzu didn't fall and talked with me, but you're dead? Just a remnant shadow? How lame..."

No response, so he switched tactics:

"I conversed with Tianzu, awakened Jian Shen in my heart, gained Dao from Long Zu, fought Xie Shen, touched Sheng Mo power, and grasped half of the Dao of life and death. Give me a chance; let's chat?"

He threw out everything he could; he figured Ranming probably knew these figures and not much more.

Suddenly, Xu Xiaoshou thought of something.

"Empty resentment, do you recognize it?"

He even brought up his only connection among the Ten Zu, though he wasn't sure if it was real...

Zhan Shen Guan Ranming remained silent.

Regrettably, it seemed like just a puppet.

Strangely, if you didn't count Xu Xiaoshou's self-talk, the image of Ranming should have faded after everything was said, but it had lingered in his mind for a long time!

Maybe it really heard him?

Or disdained to respond?

Xu Xiaoshou recalled the scene when he went to see Tianzu with Ba Zun An... Gods don't bother talking to ants, like how he wouldn't randomly answer an ant's questions now.

Unless that ant was arrogant enough to have the power to slay gods!

Imitating his past self, Xu Xiaoshou put on a proud expression and coldly declared:

"In a hundred eras, no one like me; in ten thousand years, no greater. I'll count to three; if you don't come out and meet me, you'll miss your chance."

"Three!"

The words had barely left his lips.

The Ranming remnant shadow vanished.

"Uh..."

Xu Xiaoshou was left hanging awkwardly.

Good thing no one else was around...

Wait, no—the process was right, but the outcome was wrong. Looking down on me?

Xu Xiaoshou remembered, Ranming and Tianzu were probably friends, right?

Tianzu's "Zhi Shan Zhi Yuan" Sui Jun Shield was in the Ranming site, waiting to aid Sheng Nu.

"This is weird; it should have heard..."

"Is the problem with me? I don't think so! Then it must be with Ranming..."

As his vision gradually cleared and he could see his surroundings, Xu Xiaoshou stroked his chin, furrowed his brow, and let his imagination run wild:

"Could Ranming be deaf?"

In Shen Zhi Yiji, the air was filled with not just normal heavenly spiritual energy, but also Sheng Li!

Xu Xiaoshou watched a wisp of pure Sheng Li drift by, and his thoughts wandered, leaving him stunned.

Wow...

What a divine place!

"Hiss."

Xu Xiaoshou swallowed it whole, feasting to his heart's content, and felt a bit sorry for the others.

Without swallowing a Sheng Ji Guo.

Without some special opportunity to birth the first wisp of Sheng Li in their Qi Hai.

Lian Ling Shi below Ban Sheng absolutely couldn't swallow this kind of naturally born Sheng Li.

Because it was unrefined, violent energy—swallowing it would mean death!

Such a great opportunity drifting right by, yet untouchable...

"Even Tai Xu would cry with envy!"

Xu Xiaoshou chuckled as he walked forward, and in less than the time for a cup of tea, more unclaimed Sheng Li appeared for him to swallow.

He gulped it down.

No need to calculate; just swallowing normally like this.

By the time he left Shen Zhi Yiji, his Lian Ling realm would probably be on par with the average ordinary Ban Sheng.

And because of his robust physique, he could swallow even more Sheng Li here, while other Ban Sheng had limits!

As he walked, Xu Xiaoshou verified many things.

First, the concentration of heavenly spiritual energy was completely different; even in the wilderness, there was Sheng Li to swallow. If he found a cave heaven blessed land, the Sheng Li would be endless!

"Not bad for Shen Jie, Shen Realm, Thirty-three Chong Tian!"

Second, gravity, constraints, rules, and Daos were all different here.

It seemed there was no concept of treasures hiding their aura; everything could shine fully because the rules here were on a higher level.

The most obvious was that his "Breathing Method" was greatly limited; he could no longer swallow a myriad of miles, maybe just ten or so.

And his "Space Yi," "Life Yi," "Sword Dao Yi," etc., felt like they'd dropped from 80 to around 50 or 60.

"This constraining feeling..."

"No, it's not 'constraint'; it's that the Daos here are more complete, with more to comprehend?"

Xu Xiaoshou recalled what Ranming had said about the three paths to inheritance, which had levels of superiority.

The "Zu Shen Ming Ge" that Li Fugui mentioned was only second.

The first was "discern me, transcend Dao Hua, ascend the three realms, and behold my true name"...

"What does 'discern me' mean?"

"Transcend Dao Hua... those three words feel a bit like surpassing the 80 Dao tally..."

"Ascend the three realms—here, 'realms' probably means 'Shen Realm,' 'Shen Jie,' and the three realms are the triangular Shen Realm, meaning this Shen Zhi Yiji..."

Xu Xiaoshou looked up at the gray sky, deep in thought.

"From this first Chong Tian, transcend and ascend to the eighteen Chong Tian, then to the thirty-three Chong Tian..."

"Behold my true name—meaning seeing the real Zhan Shen Guan, or his inheritance, to get more?"

"Then, second is getting the Zu Shen Ming Ge, and last is ascending the Zu Shen Bang for consolation prizes?"

Transcending and ascending consecutively... it sounded pretty far-fetched.

Xu Xiaoshou suddenly understood why Li Fugui only mentioned the "Zu Shen Ming Ge" method—the first one was probably only for the Ten Zu seats; no one else even qualified to consider it!

"From this angle, Ai Gou isn't just at a loss; it's a massive, bloody loss!"

Xu Xiaoshou grinned widely.

The enemy's loss is my gain.

He hadn't gotten anything yet, but he was already overflowing with benefits.

Looking at it this way, Dao Xuanji was basically a genius—one slip-up and you lose the world; two and you lose the Zu Shen!

"Calm down, calm down..."

"I can get more. Let's set a small goal: pluck every feather as I go, take everything I can, and speedrun Shen Zhi Yiji!"

Xu Xiaoshou quickly brought himself back to reality.

Transcending was something he didn't even dare think about yet, since he hadn't clarified if it was really as he imagined.

Besides, with the Ten Zu...

Xu Xiaoshou didn't feel much reverence and certainly wouldn't blindly follow.

He vaguely remembered Tianzu had given him an inheritance, but that guy was vicious—not a good god at all.

If he'd slipped up even a little, he'd have been played until nothing was left. Was Ranming any better? He had to stay cautious...

"Zu Shen Bang!"

Back to reality, the reality was that "Zu Shen Ming Ge" was a necessity, even if he didn't want it, he couldn't let the Sheng Shen Hall have it.

This thing was essential for sealing gods and claiming ancestry beyond Ban Sheng or Sheng Di positions.

"Collect eighteen Shen Zhi Ming Xing to seal the bang; at the end of the trial, the one who gets it obtains the 'Zu Shen Ming Ge,' and the rest get their consolation prizes and go home."

"But Shen Zhi Yiji isn't just for show; whoever gets the Shen Zhi Ming Xing and where they are will all be listed."

"This thing, called 'Zu Shen Bang' but really a 'Hunting Bang,' will appear in the palm of your left hand once everything ends."

As Li Fugui's words flashed in his mind, Xu Xiaoshou flipped over his left hand and indeed saw a faint, illusory axe mark in his palm.

Probing it with his spiritual sense:

"Buzz!"

A illusory scroll unfurled before him, blank and formless.

But looking at it, the blank scroll manifested the image in everyone's mind that best fit the three words "Zu Shen Bang."

After blinking, Xu Xiaoshou, who had nothing at first, could now see a name.

And that name was quite familiar!

"Zu Shen Bang."

"One, Zhou Tian Can, six."