Moreover, with spiritual energy and demonic energy now merging, they can't even cultivate anymore.
Everyone believed that the Cangling Continent was truly in dire straits, yet they couldn't even find the reason why it was in such a predicament.
Fu Mingxu's suspicions were confirmed one by one. He often stood on the high platform of Tianxuan Sect, gazing at the sinking sky in deep thought, but he couldn't come up with a better solution. In the end, even the Buddha Wuchen stopped performing the ritual, leaving Zhang Yanran alone in Tianxuan Sect, her whereabouts unknown.
The idyllic scene of clouds drifting by has been absent for a long time. The boundary between day and night is becoming increasingly blurred, until eventually one has to rely on the passage of time to make the distinction.
Fu Mingxu had originally gone to the Tianxuan Sect market to ask Shen Ange for information, but after being recognized several times in the market as the one who had almost been kidnapped after dissolving demonic energy from a mortal's body, he stopped going.
The major sects did not conceal the current predicament of the Cangling Continent. Under Han Tao's leadership, countless cultivators were searching for the root cause of the problem.
Some people want to defy fate, some choose to live in the present, and some go astray; all sorts of things happen one after another.
A few days later, on the day when the entire continent was plunged into darkness, on the day when Fu Mingxu was resting with his eyes closed under the ancient pine tree on the high platform of Tianxuan Sect as usual, Immortal Lord Siyang finally appeared.
"Fu Mingxu." His voice was very soft, as if it came with a gentle breeze, as if it could ride away at any moment.
Fu Mingxu suddenly opened his eyes. In the murky darkness, Si Yang Xianjun's full head of white hair was startling.
"Immortal Lord, you..." he began to speak, but was surprised to see that double pupils had appeared in the other's eyes.
Si Yang Immortal Lord waved to him, slowly walked up to him, and called out again, "Fu Mingxu."
Fu Mingxu then realized that something was wrong with him. The sky was dark and gloomy, but he was glowing with a soft light, as if the light of the stars had gathered on him alone.
"I can't hold on much longer." Si Yang Xianjun's double pupils trembled. He took a breath before speaking again, "The demonic spirit within Han Tao's body has completely merged with his dragon soul. All the demonic energy of the entire continent will once again flow into his body."
“We’ve all been fooled!” He pointed his index finger to the sky above. “Someone wants to use the entire continent to fall into demonic possession and attract divine punishment, forcibly breaking the barrier between the two realms.”
His gaze toward Fu Mingxu was gentle yet filled with pity. "At that time, the entire Cangling Continent will be annihilated, becoming its burial offering."
He spoke with such certainty that Fu Mingxu was jolted, his voice becoming hoarse as he asked, "For whom?"
It was only past noon, yet not a single ray of light shone down from the sky. The sun, which had once brought light to the land, seemed to have completely abandoned this world, showing no mercy whatsoever, leaving all things to their own devices.
Siyang Immortal Lord did not answer, but simply stared at him intently.
The answer seemed self-evident. The guess that had been forcibly suppressed and buried deep in Fu Mingxu's heart finally surfaced little by little under his gaze.
"My mother, right?" Even though his father avoided the topic, there were still loopholes in his words, but he didn't ask further, not wanting to make things difficult for him.
Looking at that face that was comparable to a god, Si Yang shook his head. "I don't know who your mother is. After I came out of the Witch Clan Ruins, I stayed in the Demon Realm. Through the deduction of the Great Art of Heaven and Earth, I found another divine soul in Han Huan's body."
He paused for a moment, then casually waved his hand, sending a beam of starlight enveloping the two of them.
Fu Mingxu didn't know what he had done, why even the starlight he emitted wasn't as bright as before.
"With the help of the Heavenly Dao, I captured his soul." This was the first time he had done something so "vicious." Although he had no choice, he did not want to say more. "He came from the Upper Realm with the purpose of finding out who caused the Red Phoenix Star to move, and then strangling him after finding out."
Upon hearing this, Fu Mingxu was startled.
Then, Immortal Lord Siyang's lips twitched, as if he had heard a joke, "His superior is named Siming. He is to find the Golden Dragon who protects the young master and investigate together."
"When I found him, he was trapped inside Han Huan's body by a dragon aura and could not get out, otherwise I would have found you long ago."
Si Yang didn't need to say who was the one who trapped the soul of the upper realm; Fu Mingxu could guess.
“I was born in Cangling, and all my cultivation has come from hard work. But to be able to stand at my current height is also due to the permission of the Heavenly Dao.” Si Yang’s gaze fell on the sky, whose boundaries had become blurred. “When the Heavenly Ladder was broken, the Heavenly Dao knew that the Cangling Continent would one day be destroyed.”
"With the Heavenly Ladder severed, demonic energy will flourish. When the entire continent is overrun by demonic energy, and all things vie for a final chance to survive, the resulting calamities will become so great that even heaven and earth cannot bear them. Then, the Ninefold Heavenly Punishment will destroy the world." He slowly revealed the cruelest truth of this world. "At that time, the vast power of the Heavenly Punishment will break through the restrictions between the upper and lower realms. When the Azure Spirit Heavenly Dao is destroyed, the calamities generated throughout the continent will be transformed into your merits through the magic array."
"You will ascend by stepping over the sins of all things, and reshape your destined solitary destiny."
Every drink and every bite has its cause and effect. Si Yang used all his cultivation and the divine soul of the current Tianjizi to exchange for the opportunity to communicate directly with the Heavenly Dao.
Meanwhile, memories from another timeline before the time rewind re-entered his mind, so he sought out Fu Mingxu again, still hoping to obtain a sliver of hope from him.
The overall situation is settled. Even Heaven itself has exhausted all its efforts to withstand this desperate situation.
Si Yang Immortal Lord sighed heavily and looked at Fu Mingxu again, "The choice is yours. Even if you ascend as they planned, the sins of this world will have nothing to do with you."
"That's all I can do."
He was already panting heavily after saying these words, so Fu Mingxu quickly helped him up and moved him to sit down under the pine tree. He said in a deep voice, "I should have thought of that sooner."
What Han Tao should have thought about when he chose self-destruction after going to the previous timeline; what he should have noticed from the veiled meaning in his father's words; and even more so, what he should have thought deeply about when the little mermaid carried the blood of both of them.
He felt like a chess piece, placed in a desired position and used to perform a desired function.
But no one is willing to be a pawn, and he doesn't care about being destined to be a lone master.
"Immortal Lord, do you still have the ability to trace back to the origin of my bloodline?" He looked directly at Immortal Lord Siyang, his dark pupils appearing even more inky against the dim sky.
Si Yang didn't even ask him what he wanted to do, but just smiled and said, "There's a little left."
If Fu Yangxu hadn't transferred the power of the stars within him to him, he wouldn't have been able to do so much. He also understood that Fu Yangxu didn't want his son to live in pain after being forced to ascend and learn all this, so he used his son's words to tell him.
As for why he didn't say it outright, it might be related to Fu Mingxu's mother, or perhaps he simply couldn't speak about it.
As is customary, Han Tao will not return for another two hours. He will see many things during the Origin Retrospection, but the actual time in reality will be no more than half an hour.
As Si Yang Xianjun nodded, Fu Mingxu had a thought. He flicked his large blue fish tail onto a nearby rock, then summoned the chaotic energy. A mark resembling a black full moon with a white outer ring appeared on his forehead.
"Let's begin." He smiled at Si Yang Xianjun, as if he were doing the most ordinary thing.
As soon as he finished speaking, the dark sky was instantly filled with stars, the Big Dipper shone brightly, and a phantom with a human body and a snake tail flashed by.
As the phantom with a human body and a snake tail opened its eyes, Fu Mingxu heard a song from the void, and then his soul fell into chaos.
The starlight flashed for only two breaths before vanishing completely to everyone's astonishment. Inside the Tianyan Sect, Qi Muyuan, who was talking with Han Tao, was shocked, "Master!"
His heart pounded violently, and the uneasy throbbing drove him to exert all his strength towards the glimmering starlight.
Han Tao didn't understand what had happened, but he felt that things were getting out of his control. An inexplicable unease made him transform into a golden light and follow Qi Muyuan.
What they didn't know was that long before the source was traced back, Si Yang, just in case, directly activated the aura he had deliberately left in the Demon Realm, misleading those who wanted to pursue it.
Beneath the ancient pine tree on the high platform of Tianxuan Sect, Si Yang, with his white hair, had lost all his starlight and was weakly leaning against the pine trunk. If it weren't for the pills that Fu Mingxu had prepared in advance and kept taking them, it probably wouldn't have been as simple as just spitting out a few mouthfuls of blood.
Even so, he has damaged his very essence and can no longer glimpse the secrets of heaven.
He let out a weak breath and looked at Fu Mingxu, who was sitting cross-legged opposite him.
In the instant before retracing his origins, Fu Mingxu, as if sensing something, summoned the Dragon Flame. Now, the mark of the Candlelight Clan appeared on his forehead, with chaotic energy in his left hand and the Dragon Flame in his right, as he sat upright between heaven and earth.
"I hope you can find a true chance for Cangling to live," Si Yang murmured, then slowly closed his eyes to rest.
Heaven and earth were silent, only the Heavenly Dao within the laws concealed everything for them with its last sliver of understanding.
Chapter 106
By tracing back to the roots of the Dragon Flame, Candle Illumination, and Mermaid heritage, Fu Mingxu, as if standing from a third-person perspective, finally saw everything about them in the long river of time.
Everything has a traceable pattern; what they encounter are all causes and effects formed in various ways within fate.
In the first timeline, Han Tao was originally intended by Fu Mingxu's mother as a reserve for her son's future bloodline awakening. After her memories were erased, she deliberately threw him into the dragon territory in the form of a dragon egg, where he was picked up by Ao Qin who happened to be out.
The dragons here were not his home, so he didn't subconsciously feel a strong sense of dependence on them. Aside from repaying Ao Qin's kindness in teaching him cultivation, he promised to take the position of dragon leader after Ao Qin's death and protect the dragons.
Apart from Han Zhengzhi, he never thought of establishing his own power within the Dragon Clan. Even the industries he developed on the Cangling Continent were all in the name of the Dragon Clan. Any Dragon Clan member who became the leader could become the owner of these industries.
Because of the protective spell placed on him by his mother, even though Han Tao had some of his memories erased, he still subconsciously paid attention to him and couldn't help but follow behind to protect him. Love arose from nowhere, and by the time he realized it, it had already taken deep root.
Even though I didn't know him at all back then.
Before the two could even get to know each other, the great war between good and evil had already begun. Han Tao remained conscious throughout, but his body deteriorated rapidly as he lost all his cultivation. It wasn't until the priest calculated that his destined person had appeared in the Fu family that he realized this was the only way for him to activate his dragon body's self-repairing power using the karmic power of his destined person.
But the priest couldn't figure out exactly what he meant. He subconsciously assumed that the person worthy of him was naturally the most outstanding prodigy of the Fu family, and certainly not an ordinary person.
However, he ultimately did not marry into the city lord's mansion under the guise of a marriage to bring good fortune. That very night, he escaped the Fu family by following a well-memorized path. Fu Shanqing was not forcibly taken away by the city lord's mansion, and aside from Han Zhengzhi's interference, he found nothing. This was because Han Zhengzhi knew that Fu Shanqing was not the person his master wanted, and this had nothing to do with the priest's divination or destiny.
Despite losing all his cultivation and suffering damage to his dragon body, Han Tao's consciousness remained clear. He learned that the dragon clan had abandoned him after he could no longer wake up, and he also heard the priest sighing by his bedside: "Ao Qin said that you would never betray the dragon clan, and also instructed that when we find that you can no longer protect the dragon clan, we must return to the ancestral land of the dragon clan."
“You are a good leader, but far less important than the survival of the dragons.”
"Feel sorry."
Apart from Han Zhengzhi, all the other dragons returned to their ancestral land. As for why the dragons didn't take him back because he was still powerful, it was simply because, apart from him, who might be able to lead others across the Void Sea, the other dragons could only protect themselves while crossing the Void Sea.
Time continued to move forward. The dragon clan left, but Han Zhengzhi refused to leave or abandon him. He took him to find the Heavenly Profound Beast, but they were captured on the spot by some disciples of the Heavenly Profound Sect, and in the end, Han Zhengzhi's soul was destroyed.
Han Tao lay alone on the back mountain of Tianxuan Sect, having fallen into demonic possession on an ordinary day.
From then on, the Fallen God was born, the world changed color, the sun and moon were extinguished on the Cangling Continent, and demonic energy ran rampant.
He was besieged countless times, and the blood of countless cultivators and demons flowed through his hands. However, whenever he was influenced by demonic nature and wanted to unleash his killing spree, there was always a faint force of the laws of heaven that stopped him.
At first, he thought that Heaven wanted to protect those people, but later he realized that the Heavenly Dao of Cangling wanted to protect him.
Heaven did not want him to bear too many sins, which would ultimately bring divine punishment upon him, nor did it want the Cangling Continent to be destroyed under divine punishment.
After fighting with Immortal Lord Siyang, Han Tao concealed his aura and went to the Mermaid Domain in the deep sea.
Thus, he in this time and space witnessed Han Tao's "inner demon" scene.
Right here, the flow of time was split in two under the control of the Heavenly Dao. When Han Tao could not carve his name on the Three Lives Stone with his blood and could only leave in sorrow, the Heavenly Dao secretly extracted a wisp of Han Tao's and its own soul, creating another possible ending.
Fu Mingxu, a mortal, enters the East Sea and becomes a merman. He meets Han Tao, who also comes from the East Sea, and the two fall in love. Han Tao then takes Fu Mingxu back to the ancestral land of the dragon clan.
However, what Cangling Heavenly Dao did not expect was that the mortal Fu Mingxu, who possessed the Zhuzhao bloodline, could attract the attention of the Upper Realm even if only a trace of his divine soul activated the bloodline.
The Heavenly Dao immediately realized that things were not as simple as they seemed on the surface, but Han Tao's obsession with Fu Mingxu was too deep. Even though the two were just a wisp of divine souls, Fu Mingxu was pregnant with a child in the body of a mermaid.
The moment the little mermaid was born, the people from the upper realm forcibly broke the barrier between the upper and lower realms and entered the ancestral land of the dragon race.
The Heavenly Dao, who originally wanted to tell Han Tao that there was another way out, didn't have time to regret it. He hurriedly merged two strands of his divine soul into the little mermaid's body, and then threw the little mermaid into the void, waiting for her parents to arrive and sense her coming out.
The other timeline came to an abrupt end, and the two timelines that had been separated by the Heavenly Dao merged again, returning once more to the Three Lives Stone where Han Tao had written words in blood.
The Heavenly Dao dared not modify it arbitrarily, nor did it have the extra power of laws to alter the timeline.
It placed its hopes on Tianjizi Siyang of the Tianyan Sect.
It showed Si Yang the increasingly tragic future of the Cangling Continent after Han Tao fell into demonic possession, as well as everything his disciple Qi Muyuan did to make the Heavenly Ladder reappear.
As it wished, Si Yang, with the well-being of all living beings in his heart, deduced that the only hope for life on the Cangling Continent appeared in Fu Mingxu. In the end, he did not hesitate to expend half of his cultivation and Tianjizi's ability to turn back time, bringing everything back to before Han Tao fell into demonhood.
The point in time that can be reversed cannot be controlled independently; it can only be automatically deduced by the power of heavenly secrets to the point when the causal line is strongest.
Since the completion of the third timeline, Fu Mingxu, who followed this timeline, unexpectedly returned to the original timeline. His brief encounter with Han Tao changed Han Tao's mind, ultimately leading him to self-destruct in the face of divine punishment rather than allow the Heavenly Ladder to appear. He knew that only in this way could he avoid his destined fate of becoming a world-destroying fallen god, thus leaving hope for each other in the next timeline.
Therefore, what remains now, what truly exists, is the space-time in which Fu Mingxu currently exists.
From the moment he went to the city lord's mansion under the guise of bringing good luck, all the threads of cause and effect were imperceptibly affected and deviated from their intended course.