Reflections on the Heavenly Dao: Cultivator Li Fan Falsifies Heavenly Dao's Transmission with Ghostly Means to Deceive All Beings

In a trance, the surging purple-black baleful aura around him, along with the inexplicable momentum shooting up to the sky from Su Ji's body, caused his originally clear thoughts to experience a momentary disconnect.

A memory from over twenty years ago attacked his brain without warning.

It was an inconspicuous small hillside deep within the Great Wilderness. The snow hadn't completely melted, revealing the withered yellow turf underneath.

At that time, he hadn't yet donned this golden robe that symbolized his status. He was just a reckless youth wandering behind the Scruffy Daoist.

"Master."

The young Zhao Teng, holding a dead branch in his hand and gesturing with sword moves, asked unconvincingly, "Master, what is the background of that girl today? You actually didn't dare to take her as a disciple? Is her talent even greater than mine?"

"You said something about this girl having great providence."

"What exactly is this providence thing? Can it be eaten? Or can it be used to smash people?"

Hearing this, the Scruffy Daoist, who always carried a wine gourd and never seemed to have a proper posture, stopped in his tracks.

He turned his head, and a rare trace of a helpless smile appeared in those eyes that were always half-squinted.

"Providence..."

The Daoist tilted his head back, took a gulp of cheap strong liquor, and exhaled a breath of white mist.

"That thing is illusory. It cannot be caught, cannot be spoken of, and cannot be seen..."

"It is not a cultivation technique, so it cannot be trained; nor is it a magical treasure, so it cannot be snatched away."

"But it is also everywhere."

"Turning ill luck into good, that is providence; breaking through in a desperate situation, that is providence; a desperate counter-kill, that is providence; surviving a great disaster and gaining a fortuitous encounter, that is even more so providence..."

The Daoist sighed, seemingly feeling that this explanation was too abstract and his silly disciple wouldn't understand.

He looked left and right, his gaze falling to the ground.

There was a black ant there, struggling to drag a dead bug toward its nest.

"Disciple," the Daoist pointed at the ant, "Try crushing it to death."

The young Zhao Teng was stunned for a moment.

What was so hard about that?

Although he had just entered the sect, let alone an ant, he could slap a cow to death with one strike.

"Alright!"

Zhao Teng gathered the meager spiritual energy in his body, concentrated it in his palm, and even put on a proper stance before viciously slapping down at the ant.

The palm wind howled, kicking up dust from the ground.

Seeing that the ant was about to be turned into a puddle of mush.

"Smack!"

A crisp sound rang out.

A piercing pain came from his cheek. Zhao Teng was slapped so hard he spun in place three times before falling flat on his butt, seeing stars.

Cupping his rapidly swelling face, he looked at his master in utter bewilderment.

In that instant just now, his master's hand was countless times faster than his palm strike, arriving first despite moving later, and solidly slapping his face.

"Master?!" Zhao Teng was so wronged he was about to cry. "What is the meaning of this? Didn't you tell me to hit it?"

The Daoist retracted his hand, not even glancing at him, merely staring at the ant that was still continuing to carry the bug.

The Daoist pointed at the completely unharmed ant, his tone terrifyingly calm.

"If this ant had great providence on it."

"The moment you struck, I would suddenly feel that this ant shouldn't die, or I would find you an eyesore, or my hand would cramp... In short, I would take action to interrupt you."

The Daoist turned his head and looked at Zhao Teng sitting on the ground.

"Even if you are a thousand times or ten thousand times stronger than it, you can't do anything to it."

"Because in that moment, you are not fighting an ant."

"It is you, fighting against this heaven and earth, fighting against all 'coincidences'."

The young Zhao Teng listened, dumbfounded.

Ignoring the pain on his face, he climbed up from the ground and patted the dirt off his butt.

"Then... wouldn't a person with great providence be invincible? Then why do we even cultivate? When people meet, there's no need to fight, just comparing whose providence is stronger would be enough, right?"

"It's not that simple."

The Daoist shook his head and took another gulp of wine.

"Providence can be consumed, transferred, or even suddenly disappear."

"And to achieve the effect I just mentioned, at the very least..."

The Daoist extended a finger and waved it in front of Zhao Teng.

"The providence of both sides must have a gap of over a hundredfold."

"A gap even larger than the difference in cultivation between you and me."

Zhao Teng clicked his tongue, "What kind of monster would that be?"

The Daoist didn't answer directly.

He just patted Zhao Teng on the shoulder and said earnestly:

"Disciple... you only need to know one thing."

"Your aptitude is not bad. Being able to meet me in a remote backwater like the Great Wilderness shows that the providence on you is not weak either. Your future accomplishments will be boundless."

"However..."

The Daoist's face suddenly became serious. In those eyes that were always drunk, a light flickered that made Zhao Teng's heart palpitate.

"If one day, you truly face such an enemy..."

"Run."

"Don't hesitate, don't look back, and don't care about face. Run immediately!"

"It is impossible for you to win."

"This kind of person, we call them 'born to answer the tribulation'."

"He is the darling of the Heavenly Dao, the corrector of the era, the trendsetter destined to stir up monstrous waves."

"Even if that person's final destiny is incomparably miserable, dying in the midst of tribulation, dying beneath the Heavenly Dao, he will absolutely not die by your hands."

"Do not stand in that person's way."

...

The memory receded like the tide.

Zhao Teng suddenly snapped back to reality.

The scene before him overlapped with that withered yellow hillside from over twenty years ago.

Only this time, there was no Scruffy Daoist standing beside him.

He looked at Su Ji.

Looking at that man bathed in blood, yet possessing a momentum like a rainbow.

At this moment, Su Ji gave him the feeling of being that "ant" carrying some grand will.

And he, Zhao Teng, was that reckless youth who didn't know the immensity of heaven and earth, vainly attempting to stretch out a finger to crush him.

The viscous air around him, the spiritual energy repelling him, his sword moves inexplicably slowing down...

That wasn't Su Ji's demonic arts.

That was...

This heaven and earth, making a move against him!

"Master..."

Zhao Teng's fingers gripping the sword turned white from exerting too much force.

"I don't believe it!"

"If I run away here! It would be equivalent to denying all my efforts over the past twenty-plus years!"

Facing Su Ji's attack.

Zhao Teng subconsciously wanted to raise his sword to block.

But at the exact moment he raised his hand.

"Crack."

A faint, crisp sound.

His giant sword, forged from ten-thousand-year profound gold and hailed as indestructible, its hilt... had actually cracked?

Without any external force striking it, without any warning.

It was just that coincidental. At the most critical moment, due to a tiny flaw in its internal structure, combined with being in a high-temperature environment for a long time, that tiny flaw was infinitely magnified, ultimately splitting open a gap.

The spiritual energy was instantly interrupted.

The golden sword light that should have shot up into the sky was snuffed out with a poof, like a pinched-out candle flame.

Zhao Teng's eyes widened, looking at the broken sword in his hand that dropped the ball at the critical moment, his mind going completely blank.

Even magical treasures would betray him?

"Bang!!!"

The Fallen Dragon Spear smashed solidly onto his shoulder.

Protective golden light?

In the face of that purplish-black destructive power, it was as flimsy as paper. It could not block the attack for even a split second before instantly shattering.

"Ah!!!"

Zhao Teng let out a shrill, miserable scream.

He only felt half of his body go completely numb, the sound of his own bones shattering clearly transmitting to his eardrums.

His entire body plummeted like a falling meteor, smashing ruthlessly into the rock layer below.

Shattered stones pierced the air, and dust billowed in all directions.

Su Ji did not stop.

He did not even glance at Zhao Teng's miserable state upon landing.

That profound state of mind told him that this single strike was still not enough to claim Zhao Teng's life.

How could the vitality of a Soul Formation cultivator be so fragile?

"Take advantage of his weakness to take his life!"

Su Ji's figure flickered as he charged directly into the rolling dust.

He felt absolutely fantastic right now.

That sensation of being propelled forward by the entire world was simply addictive.

With every thrust of his spear, the surrounding wind would automatically help him correct his angle and increase his force; with every step he took, the rocks beneath his feet would provide the most perfect and stable support.

"When the time comes, heaven and earth share their power!"

Was this... the feeling of using a cheat?

Within the dust.

This Young Master Zhao, who had previously acted so high and mighty, viewing Su Ji as nothing but an ant, was now completely disheveled and covered in blood.

A large chunk of his left shoulder had caved in; it was clearly crippled.

Seeing Su Ji charging over, he pulled out a handful of talismans from his storage ring. Without even caring about their specific effects, he hurled all of them toward Su Ji.

"Explode! Explode! Explode!"

Boom! Boom! Boom!

Multicolored radiance exploded within the narrow space.

The momentum was massive, looking extremely terrifying.

But the bizarre thing was...

During their flight toward Su Ji, those spells either collided with one another and detonated prematurely, or they were blown completely off course by inexplicable air currents.

Su Ji did not even need to deliberately dodge.

He just charged straight through, not suffering so much as a scratched piece of skin.

"This..."

Master was right...

Su Ji burst through the dust and appeared right in front of Zhao Teng.

He looked down from above at this once-arrogant enemy, not uttering a single word of nonsense.

Squelch!

The long spear descended.

There were no miracles.

The tip of the spear pierced through Zhao Teng's heart without any resistance, firmly pinning him to the ground.

"Ahhhhh!!!"

Zhao Teng convulsed in agony, his hands gripping the ground so tightly that his fingernails broke off.

Su Ji pulled out the long spear, bringing up a shower of blood.

Then, he prepared to stab down once more.

A bizarre voice suddenly echoed in Su Ji's ears.

[The Heavenly Dao has sensed it. Cultivator Li Fan has used unfathomable means to forge a Heavenly Dao transmission, successfully deceiving all living beings.]

[Specially bestowing a Flawless Golden Core, and proclaiming it to the world!]

In that instant, Su Ji could feel the karmic luck on his body rapidly disappearing.