Chapter 379 – Way of Gain and Loss, Tai Sui Body

The match between Profound Water Academy and Lihuo Dao Academy marked one of the final two contests in the Dao Academy Tournament.

Upon the conclusion of today’s match, the victor would challenge the reigning champion, Clear River Dao Academy.

Although this was only the penultimate match,

most spectators considered the outcome to be virtually predetermined.

Was Profound Water Academy strong?

Having defeated Tianjiu Academy, which also possessed Golden Core Stage combat capabilities,

Profound Water Academy’s strength was undoubtedly formidable.

Yet, the concept of strength had always been relative.

While Profound Water Academy was indeed powerful compared to other academies,

in the face of the current Lihuo Dao Academy,

their strength appeared rather ordinary.

Otherwise, why would Lihuo Dao Academy have dismissed all members except Lu Chen, sending the rest home?

Such arrogance stemmed from their belief that Lu Chen alone could triumph over the entire Profound Water Academy.

To those unaware of the internal circumstances, this was their interpretation of Lihuo Dao Academy’s current situation.

And this speculation was half correct.

Lihuo Dao Academy did indeed believe that Lu Chen alone could surpass the entire Profound Water Academy.

The only distinction lay in the actual reason for the academy’s departure, which differed from public perception.

Due to Lu Chen’s previous ‘destruction’ of the arena on the first floor of the Great Wilderness Pagoda,

the venue for this year’s Dao Academy Tournament had been relocated to another level within the pagoda.

This minor change went largely unnoticed by regular spectators,

and no one found it particularly unusual.

However, for certain vigilant individuals, this adjustment by the Great Wilderness Pagoda raised alarms.

Yet, they were already committed, with no turning back.

Missing this opportunity meant waiting indefinitely for another chance as favorable.

Amid the bustling arena, some began to covertly execute their plans.

Unbeknownst to them,

the new arena, while resembling the previous one,

held one critical difference:

the current arena was surrounded by numerous concealed Sumeru Spaces.

Many assumed the spatial arrangement within the Great Wilderness Pagoda followed a stacked structure,

but as one of the Immortal Alliance’s iconic edifices,

its internal design was far more complex.

The Great Wilderness Pagoda could be divided into three sections.

The first section, used during the early stages of the tournament,

indeed featured a spatially stacked layout,

but this ‘stacking’ occurred within a single continuum.

The second section comprised the Underground Prison,

with a spatial configuration similar to the pagoda’s surface, existing in the tangible world.

The third section formed the true core of the Great Wilderness Pagoda:

the area dedicated to imprisoning Demons and Heretical Cultivators at the Deity Transformation Stage.

This realm consisted of isolated, independent spaces,

serving as a unique form of Blessed Land.

It was crucial to note that the defining trait of the Deity Transformation Stage was the ability of Embodying Dao.

To effectively confine cultivators at this stage, the optimal method was severing their connection to the surrounding cosmos.

Various techniques existed for this purpose, with two proving most effective.One method involves using special means to directly seal the physical bodies of Transformation Soul Stage cultivators.

This prevents them from releasing their own spells and Divine Abilities.

It’s equivalent to placing shackles upon these Deity Transformation cultivators.

The other method is to seal them within a special space where they cannot perceive the power of heaven and earth.

The Great Wilderness Pagoda employs both methods simultaneously.

Therefore, when viewed from the outside, the Great Wilderness Pagoda appears no different from other tall towers within the Immortal Alliance.

However, in reality, the spatial structure of the pagoda’s core area resembles a “Rubik’s Cube.”

The outermost layer of the cube corresponds to the real world.

The interior consists of numerous special spaces stacked together.

This approach offers many advantages.

The greatest benefit is the ability to shift prisoners’ locations at specific times.

Making it extremely difficult for outsiders to pinpoint exactly where prisoners are held.

Additionally, the Pagoda Master of the Great Wilderness Pagoda possesses the ability to monitor the entire structure.

This allows her to transfer the spaces containing prisoners whenever necessary.

Thus, the entire Great Wilderness Pagoda essentially functions as a small world completely under the Pagoda Master’s control.

Engaging in combat with her here would be like throwing an egg against a stone.

This explains why the Immortal Alliance, upon discovering the movements from Great Thousand Mountains,

pretended to be unaware, intending to lure them into the Great Wilderness Pagoda.

Simply put, the pagoda’s environment is perfectly suited for ambushes and dividing enemies.

In preparation for the impending battle, many high-level cultivators have been secretly stationed within the Great Wilderness Pagoda.

These high-level cultivators were recruited from outside Wildlands Province.

The entire process was conducted in secrecy.

Ensuring no information would be leaked.

Thus, the outside world remains completely unaware.

However, exceptions exist in all matters, and no person or plan can achieve absolute perfection.

For instance, everyone in the Immortal Alliance believes the Great Wilderness Pagoda is impregnable.

That no one could possibly achieve a Breakthrough, and those imprisoned could never escape.

This has been proven true over the thousands of years since the pagoda’s establishment.

Consequently, the internal arrangements of the Great Wilderness Pagoda have remained unchanged for a long time.

Often, fortresses are breached not from the outside, but from within.

In one of the prisoner spaces within the Great Wilderness Pagoda…

The person confined in this space is the Thousand-Year Elder.

“Soon, soon…”

Trapped behind a golden barrier, the Thousand-Year Elder gazed at the shield before him, a strange smile spreading across his face.

The Seal Pillars surrounding him showed fine cracks on their surfaces.

From these cracks emerged numerous tiny black tendrils.

These tendrils moved with eerie vitality, as if possessing life of their own.

They continuously consumed the material of the Seal Pillars.

Because the Thousand-Year Elder could partially steal heavenly secrets and learn hidden knowledge in advance,

The Immortal Alliance frequently sought his divination services.

From his imprisonment until now, the Thousand-Year Elder had been confined for three hundred years.

Three hundred years is enough for mortals to produce several generations.

Even for cultivators, three centuries represents a considerable length of time – long enough to forget certain things.

Such as the Thousand-Year Elder’s true origins and the full extent of his capabilities.Due to inertia, the Immortal Alliance subconsciously assumed that Thousand-Year Elder’s ability was related to foreseeing heavenly secrets.

This misconception was not surprising.

When Thousand-Year Elder was first captured, the ability he demonstrated was precisely this—always anticipating the Immortal Alliance’s movements one step ahead.

Had it not been for Xiao’s extraordinary strength and his ability to partially obscure his own heavenly secrets, ultimately catching Thousand-Year Elder off guard, the Immortal Alliance would have found it far from easy to capture him.

After capturing Thousand-Year Elder, although the Immortal Alliance conducted multiple inspections, they were limited by insufficient information, ultimately allowing Thousand-Year Elder to deceive them into believing that foreseeing heavenly secrets was his greatest means.

In reality, foreseeing heavenly secrets was merely one of Thousand-Year Elder’s methods—or rather, a manifestation of his true capability.

What Thousand-Year Elder truly excelled at was “exchange.Using this method, he could sacrifice his own Lifespan to exchange for a certain degree of heavenly secrets, thereby achieving the effect of foreseeing them.

The lost Lifespan could then be replenished through his innate talent.

His talent, or Bloodline Divine Ability, allowed him to gain additional Lifespan by devouring other living beings.

At that time, Thousand-Year Elder had just emerged and had not accumulated much Lifespan. Moreover, to evade the Immortal Alliance’s pursuit, he had consumed a significant amount of Lifespan.

Otherwise, even with Xiao’s considerable strength, capturing him would have been nearly impossible.

Although Thousand-Year Elder was captured, he never considered giving up from the start.

From the very first day he was imprisoned in the Great Wilderness Pagoda, he began plotting his escape.

His means of escape lay in his Innate Divine Ability—the Dao of Gain and Loss.

For every gain, there must be a loss.

Although the Immortal Alliance obtained many heavenly secrets through Thousand-Year Elder and reaped considerable benefits, this process was not without cost.

On the surface, Thousand-Year Elder helped the Immortal Alliance foresee heavenly secrets at the cost of his own Lifespan, and the Immortal Alliance responded by reducing his imprisonment term.

In reality, this was merely Thousand-Year Elder’s smokescreen.

What he truly gained from the Immortal Alliance was precious “Spiritual Power.”

Every time Thousand-Year Elder assisted the Immortal Alliance with a task, he would demand some Spirit Stones in advance as energy to activate his abilities.

Naturally, the Immortal Alliance was not unprepared for this.

They closely monitored Thousand-Year Elder, confirming that after each foresight, he completely exhausted his Spiritual Power.

Over time, the Immortal Alliance grew less suspicious of the Spirit Stones required for each foresight.

In truth, what Thousand-Year Elder consumed to activate the Dao of Gain and Loss was his own Lifespan, not Spiritual Power.

So, where did the Spiritual Power converted from those Spirit Stones go?

Naturally, Thousand-Year Elder used the Dao of Gain and Loss to transform this Spiritual Power into his own “Dao.”

This method was a classic case of “hiding in plain sight.”

After all, cultivators at the Transformation Soul Stage are beings who embody Dao—Dao is their very essence.

Thus, as long as Thousand-Year Elder concealed it well, it was difficult for outsiders to detect the additional traces of “Dao” on him.Using this method, Thousand-Year Elder temporarily stored this portion of spiritual power.

Although there would be significant loss when converting it back to spiritual power,

over three hundred years, the amount of spiritual power Thousand-Year Elder had accumulated reached quite an impressive level.

Relying on this stored power, Thousand-Year Elder secretly began corroding the formation that imprisoned him.

Currently, though he couldn’t completely break the formation,

he had preliminarily achieved his goal:

gaining partial control over this spatial domain.

When the timing was right,

he could embody the Dao, completely control this space, and escape the Great Wilderness Pagoda along with the entire spatial domain.

Indeed, from the very beginning, Thousand-Year Elder had never considered merely fleeing this space.

Leaving aside whether he had such capability,

the mere fact that any spatial anomaly here would immediately draw the attention of the Great Wilderness Pagoda Master made

Thousand-Year Elder dare not act recklessly.

Yet attempting to escape without damaging this sealed space was equally unrealistic.

Thus, Thousand-Year Elder conceived another approach.

The principle was simple:

if the space imprisoning him was treated as a whole,

what Thousand-Year Elder was doing was essentially installing wheels onto this space.

This would enable the entire space to move, achieving maximum effect with minimal effort.

As long as this sealed space could be separated from the Great Wilderness Pagoda, Thousand-Year Elder would effectively have escaped.

Admittedly, this method was extremely bold,

as it required not only profound understanding of spatial principles

but also external assistance.

Once the sealed space separated from the Great Wilderness Pagoda’s control,

the pagoda authorities would immediately detect it and initiate pursuit.

Without outside help, Thousand-Year Elder attempting to evade capture by both the Great Wilderness Pagoda and the Immortal Alliance

while carrying an entire space would be nothing but fantasy.

Yet remarkably, Thousand-Year Elder had made preparations even before his capture.

After calculating that he couldn’t afford the cost of escaping the Immortal Alliance’s pursuit,

he used his remaining limited lifespan to perform another divination.

This time, he sought to determine whether he would have any chance to escape the Great Wilderness Pagoda in the future.

The result showed that while difficult, an escape opportunity did exist –

but only at a specific time.

Merely calculating this timing cost Thousand-Year Elder nearly ninety percent of his lifespan,

equivalent to the combined lifespan of millions of people,

demonstrating how crucial this information was.

It was precisely because he knew the approximate timing

that Thousand-Year Elder had remained so composed all along.

After all, what people fear most isn’t difficulty, but hopelessness.

Knowing there was a chance to escape, Thousand-Year Elder naturally wouldn’t give up easily.

Now, the escape time he predicted three hundred years ago was drawing near.

At this thought, the smile on Thousand-Year Elder’s face grew increasingly radiant.

Simultaneously, a phantom image of Tai Sui began materializing around him.

Indeed, “Tai Sui” was Thousand-Year Elder’s true form –

his original body.

From the very beginning, Thousand-Year Elder was never a heretical cultivator,

but rather a shapeshifted demon.

It was just that Tai Sui’s transformation art was so exceptional

that even the Immortal Alliance failed to recognize Thousand-Year Elder’s true nature.He merely thought the other party was a heretic cultivator practicing the Demonic Path.

“The time has come for fortune to turn, heaven lends its strength… the heavenly secrets shall soon reveal themselves.”

After murmuring these words, Thousand-Year Elder looked up at the space above his head, seemingly waiting patiently for something.

Simultaneously, some from the Great Thousand Mountains disguised themselves in various professions and infiltrated the Great Wilderness Pagoda…

(End of Chapter)