Chapter 1592: To Seek the True Name, One Must Face Danger; Revealing the Profound Secret Invites Heavenly Punishment

In the Shen Zhi Yiji, I've encountered two things that are hard to explain so far.

The first one is the Di Ying Sheng Zhu.

The principle is to trust those you use and not use those you distrust.

Since he had decided to make the most of Dao Qiongcang's ability to predict and calculate, Xu Xiaoshou didn't hesitate to ask the most sensitive questions.

He knew full well that for ordinary matters, Dao Qiongcang could just capture someone and search their soul to find out.

So, unfortunately for him, what puzzled Xu Xiaoshou was exactly what Dao Qiongcang would be most interested in.

"The ancestral tree..." Dao Qiongcang murmured, lowering his head.

Everyone's eyes turned to this white-robed, long-haired master of divination, each with their own expectations and thoughts.

Some decided to believe only a third of it.

Some decided to believe half.

And then there was Sang Lao, who planned to listen to it all but not use it, judging later whether Dao Qiongcang was truly loyal to Xu Xiaoshou based on future events.

After a short while, Dao Qiongcang finished thinking and looked up, speaking calmly:

"You all probably know that the Di Ying Sheng Zhu is the world tree of the Shen Zhi Yiji."

"But you might not know that before it became the world tree of the Shen Zhi Yiji, and before it fell into the hands of the Zhan Shen Guan..."

"The Di Ying Sheng Zhu once had a connection with the Yao Zu."

Yao Zu?

Xu Xiaoshou raised an eyebrow, thinking of the strange life force in the Hei An Sheng Lin—was that the source of its power?

It was unexpected, yet made sense.

Xu Xiaoshou had thought that most of that strangeness came from the influence of the evil god's power.

"No!"

Soon, Xu Xiaoshou realized he wasn't wrong and frowned as he spoke:

"The Di Ying Sheng Zhu has indeed shown strange life forces, but in most cases, it mainly uses the evil god's power."

Shui Gui and Bai Zhuo nodded upon hearing this.

They had all entered that dark world and had a deeper impression of the evil god's power than of some abstract Yao Zu force.

—If just having strong recovery meant it was Yao Zu's power, then wouldn't Xu Xiaoshou be the reincarnation of the Yao Zu?

"The evil god's power..."

Now, it was Dao Qiongcang who was surprised.

He shifted his gaze to the black-robed corpse of the Zhan Dao on the ground nearby:

"This divine descent of mine did get quite close to the 'Hei An Sheng Lin' once. Is that how you all refer to that forest?"

"If it's the evil god's power, then I understand."

Everyone's curiosity was piqued, and they waited for Dao Qiongcang to continue.

But after dragging it out for a while, he just looked innocently as if there was nothing more to say.

"Don't keep us hanging!"

Xu Xiaoshou couldn't stand it.

What he hated most wasn't just Dao Qiongcang's outward appearance, but his inner nature as a teasing mystic.

Leaving things half-said was like starting to relieve yourself and then stopping midway without cleaning up—just disgusting!

"Fine..."

Dao Qiongcang put on an expression that said, "If you haven't figured it out by now, I'll have to dumb it down for you," and spread his hands as he said:

"It's straightforward."

"When you entered this relic, you must have seen the scenes of the divine war, right? It showed the powers of the four ancestors: Tian Zu, Mo Zu, Sheng Zu, and Shu Zu."

He paused, seeing the thoughtful looks on the others, and continued:

"But to get the full picture, you have to step back and look at it from the Zhan Shen Guan's perspective. So, in that divine war, there should have been His power involved as well."

"In other words, besides the four ancestors' powers, there was another force at the level of an ancestral god: the Zhan Shen power."

That would be...

The war of the five ancestors!

Xu Xiaoshou nodded but didn't want to think deeper: "So what?"

"So, the result of the divine war was that Tian Zu, Sheng Zu, and Zhan Shen Guan's side—probably led by Ran Ming—lost."

The righteous gods lost to the evil gods?

Xu Xiaoshou knew that Tian Zu and Ran Ming were on good terms.

But how had Dao Qiongcang concluded that Tian Zu, Sheng Zu, and Zhan Shen Guan were on one side, while Mo Zu and Shu Zu were on the other?

Before he could ask, Dao Qiongcang tapped his chin with his fingers and paced as he pondered:

"Wait, no, I shouldn't say 'lost.' It's more like this..."

"They might not have succeeded in stopping Mo Zu and Shu Zu's goals and left some 'loose ends.'"

Xu Xiaoshou carefully studied Dao Qiongcang.

He couldn't tell if this was just Dao Qiongcang making things up or the result of careful analysis.

Glancing at Sang Lao, Shui Gui, and the others, they all looked equally puzzled.

"It can also be understood like this..."

Xu Xiaoshou sighed, realizing that if it were just up to half-saints or saint emperors, Sang Lao and Shui Gui could analyze it fairly well.

But at the ancestral god level, only someone like Dao Qiongcang, from one of the five great saint emperor families, with access to vast ancestral secrets, could make such overarching judgments.

It wasn't hard to see why. Xu Xiaoshou tried playing the fool to draw him out:

"Isn't Shu Zu one of the good ones? The evil god is the bad one."

Dao Qiongcang immediately gave him a surprised look, as if eyeing an ignorant barbarian, and said with a smirk:

"As everyone knows..."

"Sheng Zu and Mo Zu are enemies, Tian Zu and Zhan Shen Guan are allies, and Mo Zu and Tian Zu even fought on Xu Kong Dao. As for Shu Zu, before his corruption, he was indeed on the 'good' side."

"But for various reasons, after Shu Zu became an evil god, he joined Mo Zu's camp... As a descendant of Tian Zu, you're a bit clueless, aren't you?"

Xu Xiaoshou gritted his teeth and grumbled.

Your "everyone knows" is a bit niche, isn't it!

After his disdainful remark, Dao Qiongcang pinched his chin, stared at the ground, and pretended to think:

"Well, that's true. When you got Tian Zu's inheritance, He had been gone for who knows how long. Why would He bother mentioning such trivial details?"

"You should spend more time getting close to Ba Zun An. He was with the Yue Gong Nu for a while, so he knows all this. You two could chat about it..."

He looked up suddenly, as if realizing something:

"Oh, it seems you haven't been in touch much since Xu Kong Dao, or maybe not much before that either?"

"So, he doesn't really like dealing with you, huh? Or can you contact him, but having an equal conversation is tough?"

"Hmm, in that case, when I was going after you before, I didn't need to worry about Ba Zun An at all, since getting him to help would cost you a lot..."

"Sigh, overthinking everything really holds you back. I should take risks more often..."

Dao Qiongcang punched his palm, looking annoyed.

The surroundings fell silent.

This chatty mystic's rambling made everyone's scalp tingle, especially Xu Xiaoshou's.

This guy was constantly analyzing!

He had only asked about Shu Zu's dual nature, and now Dao Qiongcang had looped it back to his relationship with Ba Zun An.

How does your mind even work... Xu Xiaoshou suddenly had the crazy idea of capturing Dao Qiongcang one day and dissecting him.

Oh no, I'm turning into the villain!

Xu Xiaoshou quickly refocused and steered back to the topic: "How does the result of the divine war relate to the Di Ying Sheng Zhu?"

Still not clear?

Dao Qiongcang raised his eyebrows high and said in surprise:

"Isn't it obvious?"

"The continent is called Sheng Shen Continent, not Mo Shen Continent or Evil Shen Continent."

"Of course, Mo Zu and Shu Zu's side ended up losing."

"The five ancestors' war—though I don't know exactly when it happened—the Mo Zu side definitely lost in the end. That's why I corrected myself earlier about the Sheng Shen side 'losing.'"

"Since Mo Zu and Shu Zu ultimately failed, and Sheng Zu, Tian Zu, and Zhan Shen Guan didn't win, it means they couldn't fully stop Mo Zu and Shu Zu's plans back then."

Dao Qiongcang ticked off his fingers one by one:

"Shu Zu eventually became an evil god..."

"Zhan Shen Guan's Fu Gou Tian Jing triangle planted the ancestral tree..."

"The Di Ying Sheng Zhu inherited the Yao Zu's power, but you said it mainly uses the evil god's power..."

He stopped after ticking them all off and looked at Xu Xiaoshou, whose eyes were wide open. After mumbling a bit, he said helplessly:

"Seven or eight out of ten, Zhan Shen Guan was tricked!"

"The evil god's remnants latched onto the Di Ying Sheng Zhu and, while He was leaving His inheritance in the Shen Zhi Yiji, secretly plotted to recover, grow, and expand..."

"You can phrase it however you want. Basically, that's the idea, everyone. I don't need to spell it out more, right?"

"Speaking so openly... My friend, Xu Xiaoshou, don't you think I'm being generous?"

After going around in circles, they finally arrived here.

Everyone felt enlightened, yet deeply disturbed.

"What you said makes sense..."

What terrified Xu Xiaoshou wasn't that Zhan Shen Guan had been tricked, but Dao Qiongcang himself.

He had only mentioned that the Di Ying Sheng Zhu mainly used the evil god's power!

And this showy old Daoist had connected it to the five ancestors' war, linked it to the history of Sheng Shen Continent, and looped back to the Di Ying Sheng Zhu itself, arriving at an answer that was seven or eight out of ten accurate...

Was the reason he couldn't figure it out just because he knew nothing about the ancestral gods' relationships?

No!

Calm down and think.

Tian Zu and Ran Ming were allies, and Tian Zu was enemies with Mo Zu.

Xu Xiaoshou had known this since Xu Kong Dao, even confirming it when he bonded with the Void General Hong and heard the words spoken as Hong was killed by a demonic aura—that is, Mo Zu himself: "Ran Ming, sorry, I have to go first..."

The enmity between Sheng Zu and Mo Zu was common knowledge.

As for Shu Zu's corruption into an evil god, leaving curses in the Nan Yu that turned it into the "Sin Soil," and the chain from Qi Shu Great Emperor to Xue Shu to Xue Shi Zhu to the evil god—Xu Xiaoshou had learned all that after encountering the Xue Shi Zhu's secrets.

The premises Dao Qiongcang used for his conclusion, except for the Di Ying Sheng Zhu inheriting the Yao Zu's power, which Xu Xiaoshou didn't know, were all things he was aware of.

And yet, his conclusion had nothing to do with the Yao Zu's power!

That meant...

"If I just thought about it and connected the dots, I could have gotten this answer myself!"

This realization was even more despairing.

Because not only Xu Xiaoshou, but also Sang Lao and Shui Gui, as he turned to look at them, all wore expressions of helplessness.

None of them had reached this conclusion!

What was even more despairing was that after wasting so much time in the Shen Zhi Yiji, they had racked their brains without getting anywhere, and even with hints, it would take ages to figure it out.

Yet, Dao Qiongcang had casually pulled out the answer in a few casual remarks.

"Hah..."

Xu Xiaoshou ran his hand through his black hair, over his scalp, and let out a long sigh.

That excuse—"because he's from a saint emperor family and knows more ancestral secrets, so he sees further"—was just a self-deceptive fig leaf!

He really does have something special!

Xu Xiaoshou wasn't afraid to admit he'd just taken an intellectual hit, but he quickly let it go—if Shi Zun was the only one lacking, and if Xiang Yi didn't truly love him.

After slowly calming down, he stared at the showy old Daoist opposite him and shook his head in admiration:

"I've long heard of 'Tian Gao Yi Chi Ba Zun An, Shen Gui Mo Ce Dao Qiongcang'—and now I see the reputation is well-deserved."

"I haven't seen if Ba Zun An is really a chi taller than the sky."

"But my friend, your Shen Gui Mo Ce is something I've experienced again today. My apologies for underestimating you..."

So annoying!

If he weren't Dao Qiongcang, I'd drag him into the Tian Shang First Tower.

Putting Li Fugui, Sang Lao, Shui Gui, and others together still wouldn't match the thrill of dealing with one Dao Qiongcang.

But...

If he weren't the Shen Gui Mo Ce Dao Qiongcang, what would be the point of dragging him in?

Xu Xiaoshou couldn't help but wail inwardly:

Gui Bao, why can't you step up?

Look at this showy old Daoist—if you could stand shoulder to shoulder with him, what would Zhu Yi Ke use to fight you for the second-in-command spot? I'd worship you like a god, burning incense every day!

"Has it come to this..."

Dao Qiongcang enjoyed the flattery, his expression pleased, and he said casually:

"Actually, Xu Xiaoshou, you don't know this, but I envy you."

"I've heard of 'Peerless in the World, Not Xu Die; Too Busy to Clone, Unbearable Lord; One Man Spawns Thousands, Hard to Tell Right from Wrong'... I'm dying of curiosity about that 'incarnation technique' you used on Xu Kong Dao and that night on Qing Yuan Shan. What is it? Can you teach me?"

Xu Xiaoshou's mouth twitched, almost correcting that it wasn't an "incarnation technique," it was a "second true body."

But quickly...

"Guided by fate, passive value, 1."

Damn!

I flatter you a bit, and you probe my secrets?

Showy old Daoist, you're really seizing every opportunity, aren't you?

Xu Xiaoshou hurriedly ended the mutual praise session and pretended not to hear, continuing on his own:

"Old Daoist, since you said the Di Ying Sheng Zhu is contaminated by the evil god's power as His backup, and now it's growing by devouring the Shen Zhi Yiji's power..."

"What level do you think the Di Ying Sheng Zhu's main body is at now?"

Playing dumb on purpose.

Xu Xiaoshou already knew the Di Ying Sheng Zhu had reached the level of a "divine court prototype."

And the divine court was the foundation of an ancestral god, so the answer was obvious.

Now...

They hadn't found the Di Ying Sheng Zhu's power on the eighteenth heaven, so Shen Yi must have chased it to the thirty-third heaven.

Dao Qiongcang entering the scene at this point was no coincidence.

And for his own safety, he could even pay to use his abilities.

Maybe the current calm was just the calm before the storm.

—When the sky falls, it's in an instant!

Xu Xiaoshou had to prepare in advance.

Compared to the Di Ying Sheng Zhu, he wanted to know, from the Shen Gui Mo Ce Dao Qiongcang's perspective, how to view this "evil god backup."

"An interesting question..."

Dao Qiongcang smiled ambiguously, fiddling with his fingers, and gave Xu Xiaoshou a strange glance before looking down and glancing again: "What you're asking isn't just that, is it?"

Xu Xiaoshou responded with a noncommittal expression and didn't speak.

Dao Qiongcang said helplessly: "The ancestral tree's level isn't low to begin with. If you're talking purely about 'combat power,' it starts at peak half-saint or low-level saint emperor."

"The Di Ying Sheng Zhu inherited the Yao Zu's power, so it's definitely at saint emperor level."

"After being contaminated by the evil god's power, the Yao Zu's power corrupted, giving it high-level saint emperor combat strength."

"But contamination is still contamination—the boost in power comes with corrupted intelligence and weakness, which is a kind of balance."

"In my opinion..."

Dao Qiongcang hesitated as usual, but after seeing Xu Xiaoshou's fierce glare, he chuckled and said:

"Under normal circumstances, treat it as a mid- to high-level saint emperor in battle, and you'll be fine."

"Oh, right, isn't Shen Yi here? I don't see him. Weren't you together?"

The topic shifted abruptly.

Xu Xiaoshou almost didn't catch up.

When he realized, Dao Qiongcang's eyes swept over the slightly panicked but feigning calm Bai Zhuo and Cen Qiaofu, and he bared his teeth, saying angrily:

"So, that jade talisman to summon Shen Yi is fake?"

You bastard...

Just answer the question!

Do you have to counter with a question every time?

Xu Xiaoshou almost punched the showy old Daoist's face. This guy was impossible to guard against.

But in a flash, he realized Dao Qiongcang might not know the truth about the summoning jade talisman; he was probably just testing the waters as before.

—The reactions of everyone now would be the "premise" for his judgment!

And given his personality, how could Cen Qiaofu and Bai Zhuo know if he could summon Shen Yi?

How dare Dao Qiongcang use their reactions to guess about his trump card?

Xu Xiaoshou put on that signature sly Daoist smile and kicked the ball back:

"What do you think?"

Dao Qiongcang burst out laughing, then his expression turned serious as he pointed a finger at Xu Xiaoshou:

"You're annoying."

Xu Xiaoshou didn't bother arguing and returned to the topic, continuing to make use of Dao Qiongcang:

"Under normal circumstances, the Di Ying Sheng Zhu has mid- to high-level saint emperor combat strength. What about under abnormal circumstances?"

Aside from the irritating parts, Dao Qiongcang was really useful!

"Abnormal? That would mean the Di Ying Sheng Zhu has infiltrated the entire Shen Zhi Yiji—it's already got the ancestral god destiny, the foundation to become an ancestral god, plus the evil god's power..." Dao Qiongcang's eyebrows twitched. "You have two questions, right?"

Here we go again.

Xu Xiaoshou realized that using the showy Daoist came with a subtle discomfort, and he knew why.

Dao Qiongcang's nature wasn't one to be easily manipulated.

He always tried to subtly regain control in a passive situation.

So, when he felt uneasy, it meant Dao Qiongcang was already making his move... Xu Xiaoshou summed it up and nodded thoughtfully on the surface:

"Yes."

His second question wasn't about the Di Ying Sheng Zhu; it was about Zhan Shen Guan Ran Ming.

Dao Qiongcang could calculate; Xu Xiaoshou really wanted to test him and ask:

If the Shen Zhi Yiji is contaminated, has Ran Ming's will and inheritance been contaminated too?

That "Feather Ascension Three Realms, Behold the True Name"—should he seek it or not?

He hadn't asked yet and hadn't revealed anything.

Yet, Dao Qiongcang clicked his tongue and smiled:

"I suggest you combine the two questions."

"If things are abnormal, it's probably not just the Di Ying Sheng Zhu—nothing will be normal. That means..."

"The ancestral god destiny is lost, and in the Feather Ascension Three Realms to behold the true name of Zhan Shen Guan Ran Ming, you might only end up... facing the evil god!"

Xu Xiaoshou's face changed.

Sang Lao, Shui Gui, Cen Qiaofu, and Bai Zhuo were all horrified.

The evil god... hadn't he... fallen?

"Loose ends!"

It was like a thunderclap in their minds.

Everyone recalled what Dao Qiongcang had mentioned earlier about the evil god's remnants and backups!

The Shen Zhi Yiji was Ran Ming's inheritance for his descendants.

But the evil god had foreseen this and planted a trap in the Di Ying Sheng Zhu early on.

So, when Ran Ming acted, using the ancestral tree Di Ying Sheng Zhu as the world tree to stabilize the Shen Zhi Yiji, he was actually planting the evil god's backup in his own garden and exposing his back to his enemy?

A chill ran down everyone's spines.

What was this?

The Shen Zhi Yiji—everything left for his descendants, all the treasures and inheritances—had unwittingly become a breeding ground for the evil god's revival, with even his own will eroded over endless ages?

The fundamental reason for combining the two questions was that the Di Ying Sheng Zhu wasn't just the Di Ying Sheng Zhu; it was essentially the evil god's "ghost beast" host, perfectly hidden in advance.

" snap!"

Dao Qiongcang snapped his fingers.

The others snapped out of it, their bodies jolting as they looked over.

He extended his left palm, manifesting the Ancestral God List, aimed it at the group, and smiled at Xu Xiaoshou:

"You and Yue Gong Li have each gathered eighteen Shen Zhi stars, qualifying you to summon the ancestral god destiny and end the exploration of the Shen Zhi Yiji."

"You're all smart, knowing to use each other as probes, but have you considered this?"

Xu Xiaoshou's mind tensed, vaguely understanding, and heard him continue:

"Smart people dealing with smart people is like fools dealing with fools?"

"Besides forcing it, who would willingly lift that self-deceptive veil?"

"And by the time you're all fully prepared and strong enough to force each other, how much time will that take, and what might happen in between?"

"The key is, if you don't summon the ancestral god destiny and don't want to behold the true name in the Feather Ascension Three Realms... will the Di Ying Sheng Zhu, or rather the evil god's remnants, just stay away?"

Dao Qiongcang's fingers, still snapped, pointed upward.

Xu Xiaoshou and the others looked up at the gray, murky sky, like that self-imposed veil of ignorance.

"A cage..."

Yes, it was a cage.

A cage of perception, a cage of thought.

Scheming against others while trapping yourself, step by step locking on the chains, narrowing your vision—a massive cage.

Only by breaking through the cage's sky could you truly feel the "terror"!

At this stage, the Sheng Nu and Sheng Shen Dian Tang were locked in mutual exhaustion, fighting to the death here—wasn't that exactly what the Di Ying Sheng Zhu, or the evil god's remnants, wanted to see?

And in the sealed Shen Zhi Yiji, with the Di Ying Sheng Zhu devouring so many half-saint destinies and luring Shen Yi to the thirty-third heaven, wasn't that the perfect snipe and clam struggle?

"Shen Yi!"

Xu Xiaoshou's pupils contracted sharply. If what Dao Qiongcang said was true, then Shen Yi's long silence...

"No!"

Xu Xiaoshou snapped out of it and glared at Dao Qiongcang: "You're just scaring me?"

Now, it was Dao Qiongcang's turn to wear that signature enigmatic smile and say nothing.

"You're scaring me!"

Xu Xiaoshou repeated.

Dao Qiongcang didn't answer, just narrowed his eyes and chuckled:

"Xu Xiaoshou, have you ever heard that what you fear most is what comes most?"

What did that mean?

Murphy's law?

Before Xu Xiaoshou could respond, Dao Qiongcang kept his finger pointed at the sky and sighed:

"Revealing heavenly secrets invites heavenly retribution."

"And I'm treating you with sincerity, even revealing heavenly secrets, but you still doubt me... That invites heavenly retribution too."

Heavenly retribution?

Fear what comes most?

Xu Xiaoshou's pupils dilated as he stared into the distant sky, seeing the gray clouds surging and moving rapidly.

" snap!"

Dao Qiongcang clenched his raised hand and snapped again, his tone eerily sinister:

"Heavenly retribution... has arrived..."

As soon as he spoke, the sky cracked open, and from it emerged a massive, sinister, purple eye.