Chapter 1587: The Great Heavenly Divination Technique Foresees the Opportunity, Casually Entering the Ancestral God's Scheme

A bad premonition...

At the entrance to the Ran Ming Site passageway, Dao Qiong Cang stood with his sleeves hanging, waiting for a moment, when he suddenly felt a stifling pressure in the space around him and a surge of irritability in his emotions.

As a Ban Sheng, one should remain pure and untainted, and such signs rarely appeared—let alone on someone like him, Dao Qiong Cang.

"Where exactly is the danger?"

Dao Qiong Cang glanced around, scanning his surroundings.

The oppressive feeling from the environment made him sense that he was being restrained by some unknown force, yet he couldn't pinpoint its source.

This wasn't impossible.

After all, Dao Qiong Cang wasn't omnipotent.

As long as that force wasn't directly targeting him but instead influenced the surroundings in a roundabout way, eventually affecting him through changes in the environment...

Even with multiple Tian Ji brains, he wouldn't detect this "guiding" power, because it wasn't intentionally aimed at him.

Fate was the best example of this.

Everyone knew they were caught in fate, yet no one could change it.

"Regardless of the strangeness, since the three divinations for entering the Ran Ming Site all showed good omens, the danger must be outside..."

But Dao Qiong Cang looked around again and felt that the Si Xiang Secret Realm didn't seem like a place of danger.

Stepping back from this, he swept his Sheng Nian downward, and the entrance of the Ran Ming Site appeared as a massive beast's head hidden beneath a cliff, beside a mountain stream.

He himself stood in the beast's mouth, waiting for it to either spit him out or swallow him whole.

The initiative lay in someone else's hands... Perhaps that was the real danger!

"I can't wait any longer!"

The increasingly stifling intuition made Dao Qiong Cang realize that neither advancing nor retreating, sticking to the middle path, might sometimes be the best choice, but in this situation, it was far from ideal.

Because inside the Ran Ming Site, something touching his existence could be Xu Xiao Shou, who was the biggest "variable" himself.

Facing Xu Xiao Shou in a fight meant playing into his strengths of being reactive; only taking the initiative could turn the tables.

However, interfering with the variable by entering the Ran Ming Site might play right into the hands of the strangeness that caused the three good omens, leaving him hesitant:

Either inside and outside are both fortunate, so any choice would work.

Or inside is fortunate and outside is dangerous, or vice versa, requiring him to determine the exact nature of the fortune and danger before deciding whether to wait or enter the site.

Or both inside and outside are dangerous, in which case he'd have to choose the lesser of two evils.

Ignoring the first option, the rest required him to calculate the Tian Ji himself.

But Tian Ji...

"If I divine anything related to the Zhan Shen Guan or the Zu Shen, it will definitely be interfered with, so it's better not to divine at all, since the results would be unreliable anyway."

"But now, I have no choice but to divine—how else can I find my way without casting stones?"

For the first time in decades, Dao Qiong Cang felt torn over a decision; even back on Void Island when he calculated the Di Huo Ming Yi, it hadn't been this agonizing.

At least then, he knew that acting wisely and preserving himself would secure his future.

There was no time to think it over!

Dao Qiong Cang's mind raced, and soon, his thoughts, like his Sheng Nian, leaped out of the dilemma:

"That's right, why get stuck on whether 'entering the Ran Ming Site is fortunate or dangerous'? The answer to that question is already set."

"I just need to shift the divination to 'whether waiting here is good or bad'..."

This would indirectly avoid the interference from the strangeness in the Ran Ming Site.

Such a simple method, and he hadn't thought of it earlier?

Dao Qiong Cang slapped his forehead and began to calculate, pinching his fingers, but his movements froze abruptly.

"I wouldn't normally overlook this..."

This meant that the strangeness had been targeting him all along, not just anything related to the Ran Ming Site.

Perhaps from the moment the Ran Ming Site emerged, when he went to the Tian Ti to seek refuge, he had already been marked.

In that case, even divining "whether waiting here is good or bad" would yield a predetermined answer.

That wasn't Tian Ji; it was a fate arranged by someone else!

"What a hassle."

Dao Qiong Cang furrowed his brow and pulled out the Tian Ji Si Nan.

Finger-pinching divination was basic, but if he was interfered with, the answer would be fabricated.

Using tools like turtle shells or Si Nan might offer some help, but...

Gazing at the self-made device in his hand, Dao Qiong Cang fell into thought.

With a Zu Shen-level strangeness interfering, would even turtle shells or Si Nan make a difference?

It would still be fake!

Dao Qiong Cang set down the Si Nan and looked into the distance from the Ran Ming Site entrance, seeing the misty Black Water Stream, the rugged mountains and cliffs above it, and the vibrant scenery of the Si Xiang Secret Realm.

What he cared about wasn't whether someone had touched the mark of his existence; it was what might happen after entering the god's relic—would Ran Ming take notice of him, suppress him, or even seize him?

His enemies had always been only the Zu Shen!

"And to counter the Zu Shen's guidance..."

Dao Qiong Cang sighed deeply, knowing that for this divination, he'd have to use the Si Xiang Secret Realm as the turtle shell and Si Nan, and draw on the fortunes of the Sheng Shen Continent that had birthed Zu Shen, to withstand the influence of the god's relic at the Zu Shen level.

But if he did that...

"It'll be exposed."

Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh!

A sudden gale rose from nowhere.

Mu Lin, who was overseeing the Si Xiang Secret Realm and waiting for the Sheng Gong trial to end, suddenly sensed something amiss.

Where did this demonic wind come from?

One Ran Ming Site wasn't enough—now someone else wanted to cause trouble in the Si Xiang Secret Realm?

He sprang up and leaped into the high sky, his Sheng Nian sweeping out in fury, ready to rebuke the anomaly, but his voice and Sheng Nian retracted abruptly.

What on earth?

Did I just see who I thought I did?

Rumble—

Thunder rumbled across the nine heavens, rolling endlessly.

Ban Sheng Wei An shot to his feet, staring oddly at the dark clouds gathering over the various regions of the Si Xiang Secret Realm.

Jie Lei? A tribulation?

Is someone daring to undergo a tribulation here in the Sheng Gong trial grounds?

"Who dares to..."

As Wei An shouted, his Sheng Nian swept out, but his voice halted suddenly. He plummeted from the sky and hid behind a large rock, looking around in panic.

What was that?

Did I just see a wanted criminal?

"What's happening? Another intruder?"

"No, please, let us pass safely to Sheng Gong. At the very least, let me finish the trial and return to Nan Yu safely. Please..."

At the same time, the trial participants still in the Si Xiang Secret Realm all trembled as they looked up.

They saw, at the center of the world, a towering illusory Sheng Xiang suddenly manifest.

He had white hair and bare feet, a face like a jade crown, one finger pointing to the heavens and the other to the earth.

A profound Cang Qiong scroll unfurled from his waist, instantly spreading across the entire Si Xiang Secret Realm and activating the countless Tian Ji arrays left by the Sheng Shen Hall, forming a massive black-and-white Yin Yang fish pattern encompassing the world.

The Sheng Xiang made no movements.

Yet everyone who looked at him felt as if his hands were forming seals rapidly, the seals connecting with heaven and earth.

"The heavens are Qian, the earth is Kun."

In their ears, a Dao Yin boomed into existence, a mere murmur that shook like thunder.

It didn't harm anyone; it just left all the trial participants dizzy.

When they regained their senses, the Cang Qiong scroll had evolved into eight parts, with two already imprinted on the heavens and the earth.

The giant Sheng Xiang with flowing hair remained still, but an illusion showed his hand beckoning, drawing in the Jie Yun, and his other hand pulling, stirring the winds.

"The gentle wind is Xun, the tribulation is Lei."

Whoosh! Boom!

Gales howled as they passed through.

Jie Yun gathered faintly.

The wind was summoned from the future, the thunder drawn from the past, first fixing the heavens and earth, then fixing time?

"What is he trying to do?"

Mu Lin appeared abruptly beside Wei An.

If it weren't for Dao Qiong Cang having protected the Sheng Shen Continent for decades, giving off a positive and upright image...

At that moment, Mu Lin would have believed he was about to sacrifice everyone in the Si Xiang Secret Realm to an evil god!

"It seems... like... he's just divining?" Ban Sheng Wei An said, his eyelids twitching wildly, his tone uncertain.

"Divining?" Mu Lin turned to him irritably, grabbing Wei An's face and pinching his fingers. "Is divining supposed to look like this?"

"Never mind that. With Dao Qiong Cang back, that Cang Sheng Emperor who's been searching for him..."

"Hmm."

Mu Lin couldn't see the scenes on Gui Zhe Sheng Mountain.

He only knew he'd never seen Dao Qiong Cang act so ostentatiously.

This divination spectacle completely upended his image of Tian Ji masters.

But it wasn't over yet!

"The sparrow fire is Li, the dark water is Kan."

As the Zhu Que vein's volcanoes erupted and the Ji Yuan force was drawn in, the Xuan Wu vein's four waters surged, with black currents rushing endlessly.

This scene, using the four symbols as a turtle shell to divine Zu Shen power, reached its climax.

In the void, at the final moment, the Sheng Xiang's gaze lowered, fixing on Dao Qiong Cang's true position at the Ran Ming Site entrance.

In everyone's ears, the murmuring voice like a grand bell tolled for the last time:

"The barren mountain is Gen, the black stream is Ze."

The Cang Qiong scroll, transformed into eight parts, dissolved into flowing light and returned to its positions.

At that instant, the Si Xiang Secret Realm seemed fitted with mechanisms and gears, clicking as they turned, making everyone inside feel the world spin.

The earth became the sky, fish soared through lava, mountains moved within waters and marshes, and Jie Lei churned beneath feet...

It was a bizarre spectacle!

At the same time, beyond the nine heavens, a beam of Zhan Shen Guan's guiding divine light descended.

But this time, before it could approach the Sheng Shen Continent, it was neutralized by an unknown force.

The Sheng Gong trial participants knew none of this; they only knew they'd experienced an incredibly profound event.

All the rules of the world were disrupted, operating in a complex but predetermined manner.

This was a scene that even dreams could hardly conjure; it shattered the worldview they'd held for decades.

Unfortunately...

This extraordinary experience didn't last long.

Everyone awoke from their daze to find that all the anomalies had vanished.

The Si Xiang Secret Realm was still the same Si Xiang Secret Realm.

The void's Sheng Xiang seemed as if it had never appeared.

"Was I just standing on the Dao principles?"

Someone marvelled at the moment they had aligned perfectly with the Dao, quickly entering a state of enlightenment.

"That Xuan Wu and Zhu Que were so beautiful!"

Someone had glimpsed the legendary sacred beasts sealed in the Si Xiang Secret Realm.

"Tian Ji arts! This is what Tian Ji arts are truly like!"

"I recognize him—he's... the Dao Hall Master!"

Someone recalled the face of the Sheng Xiang, etched in their memory, with no sense of awe or fear of a divine encounter.

He was gentle, kind.

He came quietly and left just as quietly.

"Report—"

"No need to report; I saw it."

On Gui Zhe Sheng Mountain, below Sheng Huan Hall, Ai Cang Sheng gazed far toward the Si Xiang Secret Realm, witnessing the entire Great Zhan Tian Shu process.

He didn't understand Tian Ji arts, but he remembered this technique.

Dao Qiong Cang had once explained to him that Tian Ji arts were methods to calculate heavenly mechanisms, and the most powerful ones used the heavens and earth as turtle shells and fate as the stakes, able to probe the past and future, and measure the changes of gods and ghosts.

"Pity..."

Ai Cang Sheng shook his head with a light sigh.

By the time he saw the Great Zhan Tian Shu, Dao Qiong Cang had already left his side.

"Not going after him?" Xi fell silent for a moment before asking. "The Dao Hall Master has finally appeared."

"No..." Ai Cang Sheng shook his head slowly. "He's not declaring his return; he's just been forced to surface briefly underwater."

"But now there's a trace!"

Xi was anxious.

"Can you grasp his body and his heart?"

Xi fell silent at that.

Ai Cang Sheng said no more.

He'd thought it through during this time—even if he could drag that person back, only to find it was a Tian Ji puppet in the end...

Better not to drag him back at all!

"What was the Dao Hall Master doing?" Xi asked dejectedly.

"Divining."

"What was he divining?"

"Don't know. It must be related to the Ran Ming Site, though."

"The result?" Xi's face showed a flicker of hope. If the Ran Ming Site issue was resolved, could the Dao Hall Master return?

Hearing this, Ai Cang Sheng just glanced at him expressionlessly.

How should I know?

On Sheng Mountain, the only one who might have understood the Great Zhan Tian Shu's result had long been shattered.

Even if she hadn't been, the result she saw would likely just be what Dao Qiong Cang wanted her to see.

Who could really know with Tian Ji arts?

"Loss..."

At the Ran Ming Site entrance, Dao Qiong Cang's expression wasn't great.

After using the Si Xiang Secret Realm and resisting the Ran Ming Site's strangeness with the five domains' fortunes, the result of his divination on "waiting here" wasn't ideal.

The final hexagram presentation was similar to his initial premonition, moving between the Gen and Dui palaces.

Since the hexagram started with the Si Xiang Secret Realm, it should be interpreted through it.

The answer still pointed to the barren mountains and cliffs outside the Ran Ming Site entrance and the Black Water Stream below the cliff.

"Below the mountain is a marsh; the marsh nourishes the high mountain, depleting the lower to benefit the upper."

Dao Qiong Cang pondered briefly, and many interpretations came to mind:

First, it could mean Sheng Gong as the mountain above and Qi Lin as the marsh below, with the Si Xiang Secret Realm imprisoning the Sheng Di Qi Lin, drawing on its power to strengthen Sheng Gong's fortunes.

Second, it could mean the Ran Ming Site as the mountain above and Sheng Shen Hall or the Sheng Nu as the marsh below, like a snipe and clam fighting while the fisherman profits—the "site's strangeness" was growing by depleting the "dual Sheng forces," though the exact nature of that strangeness remained unknown.

Third, it was about himself.

Dao Qiong Cang paced back and forth, furrowing his brow in thought:

"Deplete me to benefit another?"

Here I am—what's there to deplete?

It couldn't hurt or kill me; it was all benefits and no harm.

The person inside had only touched my Tian Ji consciousness body, a lifeless puppet. What could he gain from that?

Just some frustration from being toyed with?

"But if I let it go, the balance will be upset, and the impact could be significant..."

It might even lead to major variables in the future, potentially deciding the final outcome.

"But that's probably an exaggeration."

Soon, Dao Qiong Cang shook his head and chuckled.

Tian Ji was just Tian Ji, and hexagrams weren't absolute.

These interpretations were only what he personally saw and derived from the Great Zhan Tian Shu.

Of course, there were other ways to read it:

"Qi Lin doesn't resist, willingly depleting itself to benefit Sheng Gong—that's a wise path of self-preservation."

"Both Sheng forces don't fight back, allowing the Ran Ming Site's strangeness to thrive and command them, which could bring their own opportunities."

"Similarly, if I don't enter and stay beneath 'it,' this depletion could become a beneficial loss."

Intervening in the balance or going with the flow.

As long as it wasn't excessive or insufficient, both were viable paths.

Unfortunately, Dao Qiong Cang didn't want another Tian Ti hanging over his head.

"Forget it, let them wait a bit longer."

Dao Qiong Cang didn't call out the Zhan Shen Guan's true name.

Instead, he stepped forward, walking steadily toward the depths of the Ran Ming Site entrance.

"Yi yi yi..."

"Great God Descent Technique, using intent as the seal, imprinted in memory, like hanging behind the mind—think of it and it's gone, look back and you won't see, forgotten yet existing yi yi yi oh."

"Hiss! So it's imprinted in my 'memory' through the Yi Dao Pan? It exists if I don't think about it, but disappears if I try to find it? That's sick—who designs a Ling Ji like that?"

"Yi yi yi..."

"So, does that mean my comprehension of the Yi Dao Pan is pretty high? Hmm, cultivating the great path of intent starts at one and reaches perfection at ten—what level am I at now?"

"Yi yi yi about eight or nine yi yi yi oh."

"Eight or nine? That's almost surpassing Dao Hua!"

Xu Xiao Shou was startled, then quickly relaxed.

Able to give his self-created Tian Ji puppet intelligence, Dao Qiong Cang's mastery of the intent great path must be profound.

This full-sized puppet was something he'd refined earlier, though Xu Xiao Shou didn't know when, but Dao Qiong Cang surely hadn't stagnated.

Perhaps his insight into the intent great path was even higher than his own!

He needed to first ask about the seal of the Great God Descent Technique and how to break it... Xu Xiao Shou was curious about the flashy old Daoist's other abilities, but suddenly felt a sense of urgency.

He sensed his chances to ask questions were running out.

The flashy old Daoist might show up anytime, so he had to focus on the key: the Great God Descent Technique.

"Show me the Great God Descent Technique once, then demonstrate the full way to break it."

Xu Xiao Shou adopted a posture as if offering his neck for the slaughter.

Suddenly, he felt this approach was too risky—how could he let such a precious body be sealed?

"Yi yi yi..."

"Hold on, don't use it on me. Use it on the water ghost instead—the one with the mask."