Chapter 407 – Reversing Cause and Effect, Inverting Result into Cause

Just as the little girl Jiuyao was about to grasp the Longevity Sword, an unexpected turn of events occurred that took everyone by surprise.

Someone had reached out first, seizing the hilt of the Longevity Sword before Jiuyao could.

But this person wasn’t Lu Chen. Instead, it was one of those ‘Immortals’ whom Lu Chen had been unable to meet since arriving at the Great Hall.

It was a man bathed in flames, his features obscured by the fiery glow.

After taking hold of the Longevity Sword, the man spoke softly: “Jiuyao, you cannot take this sword… not yet.”

Without waiting for Jiuyao’s response, he waved his hand.

Immediately, Jiuyao appeared to be grabbed by the collar, flailing her limbs as she was carried away to the rear of the Great Hall.

Clearly, the man wanted to speak with Lu Chen alone.

Words that Jiuyao was not meant to hear.

After Jiuyao departed, Lu Chen studied the man before him – his blurred features and ethereal form.

After a moment’s contemplation, Lu Chen said: “Fellow Daoist, these flames surrounding you… they should be the Yangming Earth Fire of my Azure Cloud Sect, correct?”

As a True Disciple of Azure Cloud Sect’s Danyang Peak,

though Lu Chen didn’t require Danyang Peak’s Yangming Earth Fire for alchemy,

he was thoroughly familiar with this extraordinary earthly flame.

That’s why he had immediately recognized the unique fire surrounding the mysterious man upon his appearance.

Though uncertain of the man’s exact origins,

Lu Chen surmised he must have some connection to Azure Cloud Sect’s Danyang Peak.

At Lu Chen’s question, the mysterious man’s eyes grew momentarily distant.

He sighed with emotion: “Azure Cloud Sect… it’s been so long since I’ve heard those three words.”

“Indeed, the extraordinary fire surrounding me is precisely the Yangming Earth Fire from Danyang Peak’s earth veins of Azure Cloud Sect.”

“I never imagined that after all these years, Dao Lord, you remain so familiar with Azure Cloud Sect.”

As if recalling something, the man abruptly changed the subject: “But wait, if it’s you, Dao Lord, then perhaps… time hasn’t been as long as one might think.”

As he spoke, the surroundings of Lu Chen and the mysterious man grew indistinct.

The Sumeru mist that could block perception and divine abilities completely enveloped them.

After accomplishing this, the mysterious man spoke again.

“I know you have many questions, Dao Lord, but due to certain special circumstances, we cannot provide answers here. There is great Karma involved – please understand.”

With that, the mysterious man shifted the topic to Jiuyao.

“Though this is my first time seeing Jiuyao, I presume you’ve already somewhat guessed her origins, Dao Lord?”

Lu Chen pondered briefly before replying calmly: “If I’m not mistaken, that child… should be the manifestation of this land’s Great Dao.”

The mysterious man nodded: “Indeed, in a certain sense, that child is the Heavenly Dao of this fragmented world, and the method we devised to counter those Otherworldly Immortals.”

“Dao Lord, do you know what truly forms the Foundation of those Otherworldly Immortals?”

Recalling the two Legacy memories he had previously witnessed, Lu Chen analyzed coolly: “By merging True Spirit with the Great Dao, those Otherworldly Immortals appear to be individual entities, but in reality, each is merely a manifestation of the Heavenly Dao.”

“In a certain sense, those Otherworldly Immortals are the ‘children,’ while the true ‘mother’… is that distorted Heavenly Dao.””Everything they do essentially only serves to strengthen the Heavenly Dao of their original world.”

“If we don’t thoroughly resolve that distorted Heavenly Dao, no matter how many times we kill them, it will only address the symptoms rather than the root cause, making little difference to the overall situation.”

“Indeed, what the Dao Lord said reveals the fundamental difference between those Otherworldly Immortals and us.”

“It’s just that we both overestimated ourselves and underestimated them…”

As he spoke, the mysterious man raised his hand.

On the back of his right hand, a bizarre eyeball was visibly embedded.

The eye appeared quite sinister, as if possessing its own life.

Seeing this, Lu Chen immediately furrowed his brow.

Without a doubt, this eyeball belonged to an Otherworldly Immortal.

Or rather, it was the True Spirit of a Heterodox Immortal.

To parasitize the True Spirit of an Otherworldly Immortal on one’s own body…

This was undoubtedly not a good thing.

Though Lu Chen couldn’t see the expression on the mysterious man’s face when he raised his hand,

he could sense a trace of helplessness from the gesture.

Although the mysterious man had never revealed his origins,

Lu Chen was certain he must be an existence at the level of an Immortal.

And Immortals, in principle, should already share the lifespan of heaven and earth, transcending the mundane.

Yet now, not only was this mysterious man trapped in a small palace,

but his body had also undergone some strange transformation.

For an Immortal, this was undoubtedly a form of torture.

Combining this with the scenes Lu Chen had seen in the Legacy memories before,

he knew that the method the Immortals ultimately devised to break the immortality of the Ancient Immortals was to Seal the True Spirits of those Ancient Immortals.

This would make the distorted Heavenly Dao of the Nine Realms mistakenly believe these Ancient Immortals were still alive, thus preventing it from recreating their bodies.

In this alternative way, they achieved the goal of ‘killing’ the Ancient Immortals.

But now, it seemed this method was far from as perfect as initially thought.

“Have you… already started being gradually assimilated by those Otherworldly Immortals?”

Assimilation with Otherworldly Immortals, or being contaminated by their Dao—

this was the conclusion Lu Chen could deduce based on the current information.

The mysterious man chuckled bitterly and said, “Yes. If this transformation continues, in another thousand years, we might become the next generation of Otherworldly Immortals.”

“At present, there are only two ways to resolve this. One is to give up suppressing these Otherworldly Immortals and let them return.”

“The other is to completely eliminate the source of these Otherworldly Immortals—that is, the distorted Heavenly Dao.”

“Otherwise, we can only continue to exhaust ourselves like this.”

“Until one side completely fails, with no room for compromise.”

“Originally, our plan was to use the power of the Eternal to Seal these Otherworldly Immortals completely in a small realm.”

“But later, we discovered that although the Eternal herself is unique, suppressing so many Otherworldly Immortals at once would also contaminate her to some extent.”

“To prevent these Otherworldly Immortals from reviving again, we ultimately made a decision.”

“That was to select a group of people to share the burden on the Eternal.”

“From the very beginning, we had calculated the risk of being assimilated by the Otherworldly Immortals.”

“However, we judged at the time that as long as we suppressed this batch of Otherworldly Immortals, the war between the two realms might soon come to an end.””As long as that distorted Heavenly Dao is completely resolved, the Heterodox Immortal True Spirits sealed within us will not only cease to affect us but will instead be further refined by us, becoming part of our own cultivation base.”

“Thus, even knowing the immense risks of this course of action, we still decided to proceed.”

“However, we never anticipated this war would last so long. Even after an entire Yuan has passed, it has yet to reach a true conclusion.”

“And we… cannot hold out until the next Yuan.”

At this point, the mysterious man fell silent for a long while.

He seemed somewhat disheartened, perhaps feeling helpless about the current situation and the future.

Fortunately, this despondency did not last long.

The mysterious man withdrew his hands into his sleeves and looked up at Lu Chen.

“Dao Lord, my appearance here is not to demand anything of you, but to inform you of our circumstances.”

“This war against the Otherworldly Immortals must conclude within this Yuan.”

“If we cannot bring everything to an end in this current Yuan, then this war… will be our defeat.”

Though the mysterious man’s tone remained calm, Lu Chen could sense the profound weight behind his words.

A final decisive battle within this Yuan.

This was not a matter of the Immortals’ personal desires but a necessity forced upon them.

Because if things continued to drag on, the original Immortals would soon transform into new Otherworldly Immortals.

With one side weakening as the other strengthened, defeat in this war would inevitably be theirs.

Though aware the situation was grim, Lu Chen hadn’t realized how little time remained for him.

He made a rough estimate in his mind.

The current era of the Immortal Alliance was already in the late stages of this Yuan.

Optimistically, he might have a thousand years left.

Pessimistically, perhaps only a few hundred years, or even less.

And Lu Chen leaned toward the latter scenario.

Because if these Heterodox Immortals had truly been completely suppressed,

He wouldn’t have encountered the Black Lotus Sect sacrificing an entire city’s population in Luocheng years ago.

Nor would there have been any so-called Buddha Mother’s gifts.

While Lu Chen couldn’t be certain about other things, he was quite sure the Black Lotus Sect’s Buddha Mother had already awakened.

Back during his time at Luocheng High School, Lu Chen had sensed the Black Lotus Buddha Mother’s gaze.

It was only due to the existence of “True Immortal Cultivation”

That this surveillance was blocked for him.

Now that one Heterodox Immortal had clearly awakened, it was likely others had followed suit.

They simply couldn’t extend their influence directly into the Immortal Alliance yet due to some special reason,

Only able to achieve certain objectives through their followers within the alliance.

Considering this, Lu Chen asked: “Do you know where most of these Otherworldly Immortals currently reside?”

The mysterious man thought for a moment before responding: “Heterodox Immortals are manifestations of the distorted Heavenly Dao. Once separated from their original Dao, their power becomes greatly suppressed.”

“Although we have been dormant here for millennia and know little of the outside world’s changes,”

“Before we voluntarily used our bodies to seal the Otherworldly Immortals’ True Spirits and fell into slumber,”

“The conflict between the two realms’ Great Daos had already reached its climax.”

“Based on the information I’ve gathered over the past millennium, it appears both our world’s normal Heavenly Dao and the Ancient Immortals’ distorted Heavenly Dao have begun their Fusion.””In this process, to gain the upper hand, both sides’ Heavenly Dao will mobilize all available resources to the fullest extent.”

“This includes the most precious Primordial Violet Qi.”

“For us, Primordial Violet Qi is the key to Immortal Ascension, and for those Otherworldly Immortals, it is no different.”

“Therefore, if any Otherworldly Immortals truly awaken, their foremost task would be to find a way to absorb Primordial Violet Qi, as only then can they quickly restore their strength.”

“In this era where the Heavenly Dao remains hidden and Primordial Violet Qi has vanished, the only place I can think of to obtain Primordial Violet Qi is the Otherworldly Immortal Ancient Court.”

“Similar to how the Thirty-Three Heavens are the birthplace nurtured by Primordial Qi, the Otherworldly Immortal Ancient Court is where their world nurtures Primordial Violet Qi.”

“Currently, the Thirty-Three Heavens are completely sealed off, and I suspect the Otherworldly Immortal Ancient Court is much the same.”

“But being sealed does not mean disappearance. If any Otherworldly Immortals have awakened and regained some strength, they must be hiding within the Ancient Court.”

“Moreover, due to their previous failure, they will certainly not reveal themselves easily this time.”

“They will only emerge from the Ancient Court once they are fully confident of success.”

“If the Dao Lord says this, it seems you have encountered awakened Otherworldly Immortals.”

“To think that in this era of a hidden Heavenly Dao and vanished Primordial Qi, there are still Otherworldly Immortals clinging to life.”

“Say what you will about these beings, their survival skills far surpass those of ordinary Immortals.”

Hearing this, Lu Chen largely understood the reasons behind the current era’s inability to achieve Immortal Ascension.

Primordial Qi is the key for all Cultivators to Ascend and become Immortals.

According to the mysterious man, the two realms’ Great Dao are currently undergoing some form of Fusion, or struggle for dominance.

In this process, the Primordial Qi that was once scattered throughout the Major Thousand Worlds has been entirely reclaimed by the Heavenly Dao.

Moreover, no new Primordial Qi will appear.

Unless this conflict between the two realms’ Great Dao reaches a conclusion.

As for the Immortals and Ancient Fiends born from their respective Heavenly Dao…

On one side, to suppress the Ancient Fiends, the Immortals used their own Great Dao as vessels to forcibly Seal the True Spirits of those Ancient Fiends.

And to avoid being assimilated or corrupted by the Ancient Fiends’ True Spirits, they had no choice but to fall into slumber.

This is the reason for the disappearance of Immortals.

On the other side, the situation for the Ancient Fiends is quite similar.

Apart from those who were Sealed, this era must still have some ancient Otherworldly Immortals surviving.

Or perhaps some who were fortunate enough to escape being Sealed by the Immortals, thus managing to revive.

However, in the absence of Primordial Qi, these Otherworldly Immortals are generally not very powerful.

Having already lost to the Immortals once, the newly awakened Otherworldly Immortals are bound to be more cautious.

Consequently, they dare not move about freely in the present world.

This creates the phenomenon of Otherworldly Immortals being extinct.

And this is the current state of Immortals in the Immortal Alliance Era.

Combined with the fact that the Immortal Alliance Lands are now many times larger than the Central Province in the game, Lu Chen became even more convinced that the current Immortal Alliance territory must include parts of the Ancient Fiend Nine Realms.

Understanding this, Lu Chen immediately sensed the terrifying undercurrents hidden beneath the Immortal Alliance’s peaceful atmosphere.

Once those Otherworldly Immortals accumulate enough power, or if the Nine Realms Heavenly Dao triumphs over their world’s Heavenly Dao, the peace of the Immortal Alliance would be completely shattered.

Thinking this, Lu Chen looked at the mysterious man before him and said, “You went to such great lengths to summon me here—surely it wasn’t just to tell me these things, was it?”The mysterious man nodded.

He raised the Longevity Sword in his left hand and released it on the spot.

In the next second, the Longevity Sword immediately flew behind Lu Chen.

Gazing at the Longevity Sword with a solemn expression, the mysterious man said, “Dao Lord, the one who summoned you here was not us, but yourself.”

“The sole reason for your arrangement is to reshape the immortal spirit in this era where Immortal Ascension is impossible.”

“Though we do not know how you plan to achieve this, nor why you have chosen to do so,”

“this is indeed something you had prepared long ago.”

“To reverse Karma, to invert cause and effect—you are the only one among us… capable of such a feat, and our greatest hope for victory.”

(End of Chapter)