Countless red lotus flames appeared out of thin air and attacked everyone present with almost overwhelming force.
Shen Mo, who was anxiously waiting in the Southern Kingdom's royal family, received the news of his father's death immediately. Before he could even be shocked, the Four Continents War broke out.
He was busy strategizing to deal with foreign invasion, but because of this, he was unable to contact the subordinate who brought Qin Moyu out in time. When he sent people to search again, he only found the body of his subordinate, and the child had disappeared.
After that, Shen Mo no longer had time to pay attention to the child, because he sensed from his father's remnant soul memories that the events in the Extreme Cold Land were not simple. In order to protect the Southern Kingdom, he resolutely abdicated and chose to go into seclusion to break through to the Tribulation Transcending stage.
After breaking through the Tribulation stage, he realized just how terrifying the enemy he was facing was—an incarnation of the Heavenly Dao, an existence that was virtually invincible.
Even though He orchestrated the war across the four continents, He still couldn't take human form. So He began to create a fourth "protagonist," which was the original plot of the novel that Qin Moyu had seen.
But before creating "Nanxun", He still had to deal with Shen Mo.
Shen Mo's breakthrough to the Tribulation Transcending stage was completely unexpected, but He couldn't send Fen Qi and Zhou Donghan to kill Shen Mo for the time being. After discovering that Shen Mo actually wanted to "unify the four continents", He was overjoyed. He thought that He could use this to continue to create bloodshed and speed up His transformation. So He had Fen Qi and Zhou Donghan make a feigned contact. Zhou Donghan even "generously" gave up half of Yunqi Tower.
Shen Mo pretended not to know their purpose and used their power to carry out his plan, but He gradually realized that something was wrong.
The idea of unifying the four continents seemed like a pipe dream, so why was Shen Mo able to subdue those forces or get them to agree to his conditions without shedding a drop of blood? The bloody conflict he had imagined never happened!
Under Zhou Donghan's investigation, He learned that Shen Mo had stated his conditions when he spoke with those forces: he only needed to superficially submit to the Southern Kingdom, and he would not interfere with the daily operations of these forces, nor did he need any offerings.
Although bowing down and submitting was humiliating, given Shen Mo's strength at the Tribulation Transcending stage, they wisely chose the former over the latter—"ostensibly to please a Tribulation Transcending stage expert"—as the former would lead to a tragic end.
Shen Mo's reason for wanting to become emperor of the four continents is also very simple:
The seal of the extreme cold land cannot be broken even by undergoing several tribulations, and it is impossible to ascend by absorbing spiritual energy alone. Since the Heavenly Dao can take shape by utilizing the bloody battle of the Four Continents War, why can't it take a different approach, become the emperor of the Four Continents, and gather the fortune of the Four Continents to break the seal of the extreme cold land?
After He figured out Shen Mo's purpose, He no longer cared about Nan Xun, whom He had just designated as the "protagonist," and only wanted to kill Shen Mo, but unfortunately it was too late.
Shen Mo had set up countless layers of formations in the cave, making it impossible for Fen Qi and Zhou Donghan to break in. Even if they did manage to get in, it would take a lot of effort, and whether they could kill Shen Mo was still uncertain.
They remained deadlocked until He finally made a desperate attempt to scheme against Shen Yebai and Qin Moyu, trying to be the mantis stalking the cicada, but instead Shen Mo ended up being the one who benefited.
"...And so, I turned the tables on him, not only killing Zhou Donghan but also merging with his split soul."
As Shen Mo spoke, his voice unconsciously softened considerably.
This was clearly a brilliant plan. By sacrificing Qin Moyu, he could severely damage the Heavenly Dao, which originally held two Tribulation Transcending stage cultivators who would never betray him, thus securing an invincible position.
but.
Now, let alone making eye contact, he doesn't even have the courage to glance at Qin Moyu.
What Shen Mo didn't know was that Qin Moyu was calmer than he had imagined.
Just as he had thought, Zuo Shu's unsurprised reaction to Shen Yebai's uncertain fate showed that she had anticipated this. Who else but Shen Mo could have made her scheme against Shen Yebai like this? Now that Shen Mo confirmed it, Qin Moyu didn't know whether he should be glad that Shen Mo was just going along with the Heavenly Dao Plan and hadn't gotten involved in his master's death. Otherwise, he was afraid he would have started fighting with Shen Mo right now.
After hearing what Shen Mo had said, the Demon Lord remained silent for a long time.
"Why."
After a long silence, she finally spoke.
“He can arrange everything, but He can’t just kill you. A simple lightning tribulation is enough.”
The Demon Lord pointed out the only flaw in Shen Mo's story: if the Heavenly Dao could arrange their lives so subtly, it must possess extremely strong abilities. Moreover, after taking human form, its power must have been even greater. So why couldn't it even kill Shen Mo, who was at the second level of the Tribulation Transcending Realm at the time?
“Because.” Shen Mo raised his eyes, as if he could see the clear sky through the roof beams.
"His power is being constantly weakened. Or rather, His authority as the Heavenly Dao has been taken back."
Shen Mo finally turned to look at Qin Moyu and said softly, "Can you summon a Red Lotus Karmic Flame?"
It wasn't a command, but a plea.
Qin Moyu did not answer him, but silently released a red lotus karmic fire.
“Xiang Mei is a true genius of formations.” Shen Mo reached out his hand toward the Red Lotus Karmic Fire.
Qin Moyu's eyes flickered slightly, but he still didn't say anything.
The moment the fair fingertips touched the Red Lotus Karmic Fire, a thin layer of frost condensed—although it seemed far less severe than the previous frostbite inflicted on Shen Yebai—it's important to remember that Shen Mo is a cultivator at the third level of the Tribulation Transcending Realm! Just based on his physical strength alone, he could easily defeat many body cultivators who dared to stop Qin Moyu and the other two.
"The reason why the seal of the extreme cold land can seal the path to heaven is because it created this formation based on the surge of spiritual energy on the path to heaven. What truly traps the extreme cold clan is not the formation, but the path to heaven that they are protecting."
Qin Moyu was initially confused, but quickly understood the difference between the two, and her eyes widened in surprise.
This world is filled with spiritual energy, and the reason why the Path to Heaven is called the Path to Heaven is because it is the place with the most abundant spiritual energy in the entire world. It is the starting point and the end point of the world's spiritual energy cycle, so it can quickly accumulate spiritual energy and break through the world's barriers in one fell swoop because of its special location.
What makes Xiang Mei terrifying is that he not only comprehended the rules of spiritual energy circulation on the Path to Heaven, but also created an array based on these rules. This array in the extremely cold land circulated with the spiritual energy of the Path to Heaven, making it no less difficult than breaking through the array to ascend to immortality.
This is why Shen Mo is so eager to inherit Mei's legacy—only by obtaining the legacy can he more quickly comprehend the rules of the Path to Heaven, better target formation breakthroughs, and reduce the probability of failure.
"And the Crimson Lotus Karmic Fire is precisely because of the formation that it can be used by people in extremely cold places... the purest spiritual energy at the beginning of the world."
Because of that formation, the people of the Extreme Cold Clan and the Path to Heaven formed a strange balance. They were trapped in the extreme cold, but at the same time, they could use this spiritual energy.
"As for why this spiritual energy is in the shape of a lotus flower... I guess that this world may simply be a lotus flower planted in the void by another powerful being."
Shen Mo calmly dropped another bombshell.
He recalled once again the person he had glimpsed during his breakthrough to transcend the tribulation.
The Tribulation Transcending stage is terrifying not only because its members are stronger, but also because those who reach this stage can access the origin of the world and even have the opportunity to travel back to the beginning of the world's creation.
He had deliberately obscured this aspect of those who had broken through to the Tribulation stage before, but He had no intention of paying attention to Shen Mo when Shen Mo broke through, so Shen Mo saw that person.
The person stood in a void. Judging from his figure, he was a young man. He was bending over to examine a lotus flower that had grown to his waist. His face was not visible. As if he had noticed Shen Mo's gaze, he suddenly turned his head away.