The Third Time

Boluo’s form began to disperse like smoke and mist. Brilliant truths flowed through his eyes, and a faint smile curved his lips.

At the center of his heart, the radiance of the Authority suddenly blazed to its utmost intensity.

The power of faith was rapidly purified, transformed into pure qi that drifted freely through the air. Yet the grand formation created by Hengwang forcibly absorbed the wandering pure qi.

It was not only his power of faith. Boluo’s origin force and flesh were also nourishing the origin concealed within his heart.

Bai Xuanling did not hesitate. He allowed Boluo to employ his methods and swept out with his sword.

Azure light brushed across the sky. Boluo’s form was cut cleanly in two, and the raging sword intent was soon extinguished in an instant.

Boluo’s gaze shifted as he watched his lower half turn into nourishment and be drawn in by Hengwang below. The energy required by the grand formation beneath him was gradually being filled.

A faint smile tugged at the corners of his lips.

“This Authority allowed me to observe the causes and effects of all living beings over a hundred years, to witness the cycle of karma and reincarnation, the power of faith, and greed. With the Mahayana Buddhist teachings, it also resolved the doubts in my heart, allowing me to regain clarity for this brief moment. How laughable that this Authority possesses rules but no distinction between good and evil… and yet it fell into my hands.”

Boluo murmured with a smile:

“Traverse the wishes of all, refine myriad divine practices.”

“Mahayana Buddhism—observe the mind, observe the thoughts.”

“The Authority is genuine, but alas, it is naive.”

“This is the price the Heavenly Dao must pay for overstepping its rules.”

Chu Xingchen drew a deep breath, his eyes widening. His divine sense began operating beyond its limits as he tried to use the innate Primordial Unity Dao-Setting Two-Qi Pearl to move the pure qi.

“It’s useless.”

Boluo’s form dispersed, leaving behind only his gaze directed toward Chu Xingchen. There was no triumph in his eyes, only the relief of liberation.

The moment his words fell—

In the distance, a mass of turbid qi, no weaker than the pure qi into which Boluo had transformed, likewise surged into the sky.

Chu Xingchen shifted his gaze toward the overwhelming turbid qi.

He saw Heavenly Demon Meiyu seemingly crush something in her hand, causing a surge of origin force to boil forth.

This aura… Chu Xingchen was not unfamiliar with it.

Was it Xu Linglong?

Meiyu had personally crushed the core of Xu Linglong’s origin.

No one knew how long Boluo had kept it hidden. Only shortly before this had he handed Xu Linglong’s origin force to Meiyu.

Boluo had said that how this core of origin was used was entirely up to Meiyu. She could absorb it, or she could use it to nurture another Xu Linglong.

Allowing this core of origin to be used according to Meiyu’s wishes was Boluo’s sincerity—and the condition for winning her over.

A faint smile appeared at the corners of Meiyu’s lips. Boluo had calculated everything long ago.

This core of origin… had been destined to be used at this very moment, exactly according to Boluo’s plan.

Meiyu glanced at the blood-mist formation formed by Hengwang and sighed softly. The origin force throughout her body began to boil and burn as well. She also reached out and lightly tapped the space between her brows.

With a gentle touch, she shattered the core of origin hidden within her sea of consciousness.

Dense origin force spread outward, silently devouring or mutually annihilating all divine sense and Dao rhymes.

Seeing this, Heavenly Demon Zhong Su acted just as decisively and shattered his own core of origin as well.

At this moment, he was also willing to believe that Boluo, who had paid with his life, could win this battle.

Chu Xingchen no longer wasted his efforts. He allowed the pure and turbid qi to be absorbed by the grand formation below, then raised his head and called out with spiritual power:

“Is there any cultivator here who knows how to separate the pure and turbid qi?!”

No one answered.

Chu Xingchen exhaled and tightened his grip around Wanban.

With so many cultivators fighting, spiritual power had become a chaotic mess. In particular, the techniques cultivated by the Tribulation Transcendence cultivators differed greatly, and so did the pure and turbid qi they produced. The pure and turbid qi of high-level cultivators was as vast as towering mountains. With the slight movements and interference from spiritual arts, naturally, it could not be separated too clearly.

Chu Xingchen had observed for a long time before discovering that something was wrong.

The pure and turbid qi generated by these clashes was probably being absorbed by Hengwang below as well.

But by this point, everyone had already fought themselves bloody. Moreover, stopping now would be completely meaningless.

To be able to convert pure and turbid qi into energy…

Was this the power of the Authority?

The Heavenly Dao really knew how to scatter its treasures.

Although no one knew how to separate the two types of qi, many cultivators began using their own methods to obstruct the origin force and the power of the Authority.

The effects were naturally present, but for now, they were far from sufficient.

Bai Xuanling moved to Chu Xingchen’s side and looked down at the formation that had begun to activate. He casually struck out with two sword blows, only to discover that the attacks were directly absorbed by the formation and transformed into pure qi as well.

“It’s the Authority,” Bai Xuanling said with certainty.

The grand formation began to operate, and its absorption of the two types of qi grew increasingly violent.

Chu Xingchen exhaled. “Take a guess at what this thing is.”

“Nothing more than the two realms,” Bai Xuanling replied with certainty.

“Any thoughts?”

“We’ll kill whatever comes.”

Chu Xingchen lowered his eyes and pondered for a moment before saying:

“If that’s the case, wouldn’t it be too easy for the two realms to be connected?”

“I’ve read the Records of the Great Calamity. Back then, the slaughter reached such a scale, yet the spiritual veins had not even been divided. If that alone could connect the two realms, they should have been connected long ago. Why wait until today?”

Bai Xuanling thought for a moment before understanding what Chu Xingchen meant.

“You’re saying… the Heavenly Dao even lost the Authority over the boundary between the two realms? That’s why the two realms can connect? If we find the lost Authority, perhaps the two realms will no longer be able to connect?”

Chu Xingchen slowly raised his head, then sighed softly. His expression grew faintly distant as he began sorting out the sequence of events.

When the Heavenly Dao was intact, it could only cross over by using certain methods, and the price of crossing over was enormous. Even the Heavenly Demon Realm could not sustain such a cost indefinitely, which was why it ultimately lost the war it had nearly won back then.

The Heavenly Dao descended personally, lost its Authority, and won the war.

If one looked at it directly, the Heavenly Dao should have intervened twice.

The first should have been when the True Dragon was born in response to fate.

At that time, the Heavenly Demon Realm should have been at its height, and it likely would not have noticed anything unusual about the barrier.

Then it must have been the second time, when humanity answered the calamity.

Yet when he calculated it carefully, the timeline still did not fit. Humanity had been answering the calamity for a very long time. If the barrier had been lost then, the Heavenly Demons should have realized it back at that time.

Then… there had to be a third time.

Chu Xingchen suddenly understood.

That third time was himself.

The day he arrived here was the day the Heavenly Dao lost the Authority over the barrier.

By violating the rules, it had lost its Authority.

Chu Xingchen lifted his eyes and looked toward the system panel.

As for the so-called system, Chu Xingchen had made his own conjectures before. Now, naturally, he had also considered that it might be the Authority of the Heavenly Dao.

Suppose—

Suppose this so-called Disciple-Accepting System was the choice of the Heavenly Dao.

The Authority over destiny and fortune had been lost, causing the Heavenly Derivation Sect’s art of divining fortune and misfortune to fail.

The Heavenly Dao had also lost this Authority, but through some method, it had placed it in his hands and turned it into rewards, while he had chosen to give those rewards to his eldest disciple?

The lost Authority over time was now controlled by Li Xingtian.

Chen Baiqing’s ability to dispel confusion was an Authority.

Haoran was an Authority.

Karma was an Authority.

Yunze was also an Authority—or perhaps he himself had been formed from the Authority of the True Dragon.

The so-called egg was simply an Authority that had been gathered anew.

Chu Xingchen gazed at the grand formation below, which was about to begin operating.

Then did he also possess an Authority—the Authority outside the system?

Could the lost Authority over the barrier have unknowingly ended up on his person, perhaps becoming the system’s screen, or perhaps… the system’s storage space?

Could this be the power of the Authority over the barrier?

Bai Xuanling looked at Chu Xingchen, who remained silent. He stepped closer, gently raised a hand, and placed the Authority of Willpower left behind after Boluo’s demise into Chu Xingchen’s hands.

“Kid, if the sky falls, you won’t be the only one holding it up.”

“If you haven’t figured it out yet, wait until you have. I’ll handle things here for now.”