Sisui slowly opened his eyes.
Before him was the familiar preaching platform, yet his own stature and the profound wonderss surging within his body had weakened a thousandfold.
By a rough estimate, he was likely only at the Great Perfection of the Golden Core.
No, it should be a fraction higher, he thought, since I currently command both the Dharma Body Dao and the [Yin-Yang]. I am the cultivator closest to the Nascent Soul stage.
Compared to the history he had just witnessed, a segment of time had been bypassed. I've truly returned?
Sisui blinked, looking around with a sense of disbelief. Yet everything he felt was so tangible, devoid of any trace of falsehood.
So this is Deity Transformation.
Sisui looked up, gazing beyond the light sea into the depths of the Dark Void. Above this current stretch of history, he faintly glimpsed a magnificent palace.
Zixiao Palace.
From that higher dimension, a gaze fell upon him, pinning him firmly into the history with an irresistible force.
Altering fate against the heavens—this was precisely it.
After a moment of reflection, Sisui withdrew his gaze and began organizing his memories. He quickly realized which point in time he had returned to.
Three days before the Ancestral Dragon's blood sacrifice. At this point, the original me was still oblivious to the coming disaster, even planning my next lecture... while on the other side, the Primordial Saint has already taken action. He has allied with Shen Shen, Cang Hao, and Nian Yao, preparing to overthrow the Three Foundations.
Sisui let out a soft sigh.
That preparation involved the sealing of the Ancestral Dragon. The six Dao Lords would join forces to suppress the Ancestral Dragon's physical body, establishing the Immortal Nexus as the center of the light sea.
Simultaneously, they would seal the [Five Elements].
Nian Yao was responsible for sealing [Metal], Cang Hao sealed [Water], Sisui himself sealed [Earth], Myriad Laws sealed [Fire], and Du Xuan sealed [Wood].
Upon this foundation, the Primordial Saint used [Inevitable Fate] to lock the seals permanently. The Ancestral Dragon's stature as an Innate Dao God ensured that the completion of the seals would cause severe backlash to every presiding Dao Lord. However, under the Primordial Saint's arrangement, the impact on Nian Yao and Cang Hao was negligible.
Only the Dao Lords of the Three Foundations suffered.
Sisui needed no reminder of his own fate; after suppressing [Earth], the variables brought by the backlash directly caused the "Altering Causes to Change Effects" that resulted in his ten-thousand-year imprisonment.
After Du Xuan suppressed [Wood], he was forced to transfer the entire tribulation of the backlash to the lower-tier cultivators of the Spiritual Power Dao, leading to that lineage's near-extinction.
Myriad Laws fared slightly better. His countermeasures weren't as crude as Du Xuan's; though he also transferred the "Inevitable Fate" of the backlash to his subordinates, he did so more gently. After suppressing [Fire], the Dao of Dao Arts was merely trapped within its World Realms, unable to travel outward, preventing a mass death toll.
Incredible.
Reviewing the Primordial Saint's schemes now, Sisui had to admit that the man was as brilliant as he was evil.
Not only did he use the Ancestral Dragon's hand to cripple the paths of the Three Foundations, but as the architect of the entire ordeal, he emerged unscathed. He avoided the dragon's backlash and even used the opportunity to complete [Paramita].
And back then, Sisui had actually thanked him!
To the old Sisui, it seemed that if the Primordial Saint hadn't proposed the sealing method at the critical moment, they might not have won that battle.
Now he saw it was all a calculation.
Inside Zixiao Palace, Lu Yang also felt a sense of awe.
When he first discovered this truth, he too was deeply shaken by the Primordial Saint's foresight.
"From the moment he lured the Ancestral Dragon into the blood sacrifice, he had been plotting in the shadows. To him, the entire event was a win-win."
The Primordial Saint won twice.
Back then, Lu Yang thought the Primordial Saint was truly infallible and was terrified of him. It wasn't until later that he realized this scoundrel was just like him.
They were both cheaters.
Once he realized they were both using "cheats"—and that the Primordial Saint's cheat wasn't as powerful as his own—Lu Yang lost his fear.
"Now, it's time to watch Senior perform."
Lu Yang calmly sipped his tea. He had easily defeated the arrogant Primordial Saint after only a dozen restarts.
What about Sisui?
Compared to Lu Yang's own journey, the current Sisui held an overwhelming advantage over the Primordial Saint, even if he faced his own unique difficulties.
Meanwhile, Sisui was deep in thought. Defeating the Primordial Saint isn't the priority right now.
The key is the Ancestral Dragon.
He hadn't forgotten the "purpose" of his return. It wasn't just to kill a villain, but to rectify past mistakes and forge a better ending.
If it were just about killing the Primordial Saint, he could find him right now and slap him out of existence.
But then, how would he deal with the Ancestral Dragon?
He had to admit that while the seal was a trap, it was the only method that actually worked to defeat the dragon.
If he killed the Primordial Saint now, he might lose the battle against the Ancestral Dragon. If he failed, he wouldn't just fail to stop the blood sacrifice; he might not even survive himself. That could hardly be called a "better" ending; in some ways, it would be worse.
So, the Primordial Saint had to live for now.
To deal with him, Sisui had to wait until after the Ancestral Dragon was suppressed. In other words, he had to willingly swallow the bitter pill of the seal's backlash.
"...A worse starting hand than I imagined."
Sisui stood up, his expression unwavering. His mind was made. He wouldn't wait for the blood sacrifice to begin before acting.
By then, people would already have been sacrificed.
In this life, he would not allow such a conclusion.
Today. Right here. Right now.
Summon all Dao Lords immediately to slay the Ancestral Dragon. Keep the damage contained at the Dao Lord level; it must not reach the cultivators below!
As Sisui made his decision, Lu Yang, sitting in Zixiao Palace high above the Mortal World, sensed something and looked toward the ceiling.
The [Door of Transcendence].
This portal, crafted from the Primordial Saint himself and suspended above all, suddenly shifted. Infinite colors bloomed one after another.
Such a mutation immediately drew the attention of the light sea's cultivators. This was a sight only Nascent Soul Dao Lords could perceive. They manifested their Primordial Spirits into the Dark Void, gazing from afar at the door and sensing the infinite power and profound wonders surging within.
"What is happening?"
"Is the Primordial Saint's soul refusing to dissipate? Impossible. With [Profound Nexus Governing Change Dao Venerable] here, even if he lingered, how could he cause a disturbance?"
Just then, as the brilliance on the [Door of Transcendence] grew brighter, a faint voice emerged out of nowhere, echoing through the Dark Void:
"To nurture the infant, one must rely on the mother; to return seven and nine times, one must know the master."
"Mounting the phoenix and riding the crane to reach the Great Void; returning to sleep drunk amidst the mist and clouds."
With every word, the voice grew louder. By the final syllable, it thundered through the entire Dark Void.
For the Dao Lords, this was a terrifying sight. The voice was unmistakably the Primordial Saint's. But he had supposedly transformed into the [Door of Transcendence], eternally stalled on the path to Deity Transformation. Why had he suddenly awakened?
Panic began to spread.
However, as time passed, everyone realized something was wrong. The voice faded, but the Primordial Saint did not appear.
The light sea remained calm.
It was as if the Primordial Saint had simply been bored, stepped out of the door to shout, and then retreated back inside without doing anything else.
Why?
Among the Dao Lords, only a few like the World Honored One, who dealt with karma, could faintly grasp the truth: the Primordial Saint hadn't done nothing.
It was just that his actions weren't in the [Present].
They were in the [Past].
But even they only had a faint inkling. The only one who truly saw what the Primordial Saint had done was Lu Yang in Zixiao Palace. Yet he remained composed.
"This method actually works!" Lu Yang sighed with genuine wonder. "I really am a genius of intrigue."
The Primordial Saint's true body within the [Door of Transcendence] was trapped in a state of "Supreme Forgotten Emotions." His only obsession was Deity Transformation and transcendence, leaving him permanently stalled on that path.
To seek but never obtain—life's greatest agony.
However, this unique seal had a condition— the Primordial Saint believed this was his only path to Deity Transformation.
Because he thought it was the only way, even if it were a road of no return, he would persist in his Supreme Forgetfulness state without hesitation.
Once Lu Yang understood the Primordial Saint's current logic, things became easy.
"By creating a new path to Deity Transformation—one separate from the [Door of Transcendence]—I can divert a portion of his attention."
The path couldn't be too strong; if it were, the Primordial Saint might abandon the door entirely for the new road, which would ruin the plan. But it couldn't be too weak either; if there were zero hope of Deity Transformation, he wouldn't bother looking at it.
The current situation was just right.
"Through Senior Sisui, I used my own Deity Transformation essence to tamper with the [Past]. Under my gaze, whatever happens becomes reality."
"Sisui can use this to alter his fate."
"So can the Primordial Saint."
"Of course, it's only possible in theory. After all, I am the [Variable]. If the Primordial Saint actually manages a comeback, I'll just restart the game..."
Lu Yang calculated with his fingers and nodded.
This combination of maneuvers finally shook the Primordial Saint's body within the door, prompting him to actively rebuild a connection with the reality he was supposed to have abandoned.
This was the opportunity.
"If Senior Sisui can seize this chance to defeat the Primordial Saint in history and reshape the [Past], I can let him push that influence back into the [Present]."
At that point, the connection the Primordial Saint built would become a massive transfusion tube, injecting steady Deity Transformation power into Sisui. Using the Primordial Saint as the material, Sisui would inevitably become the second Deity Transformation expert of this era. That was the primary goal of Lu Yang's layout.
As for the secondary goal, that would depend on luck.
"Heh." Lu Yang chuckled. "What lies beyond the Dark Void after transcendence... it's too dangerous no matter how I look at it."
He wasn't a powerhouse like [Jun].
Rather than bravely transcending to face the risks of the outer void, Lu Yang preferred to find someone to scout the way for him first.
Thinking it over, the Primordial Saint was the perfect candidate.
The man was despicable, shameless, and possessed zero morals, yet he was resilient and adaptable. As a scouting tool, he was unsurpassed.
Besides, even if he died, Lu Yang wouldn't feel an ounce of pity.
That was the secondary goal. In short: let the Primordial Saint suffer first while I take the glory. I'm sure he'll understand.
Lu Yang stood up.
With a wave of his hand, a gleaming wisp of light rose from the historical fragments below, which he caught deftly.
The light rippled.
Swirls of brilliance, resembling fire and water moving in harmony, clustered around the light until they formed a shape: a man with a cold, expressionless face.
It was the image of the Primordial Saint. This was a wisp of consciousness cast down by his true body in the door, drawn by the historical fragments Lu Yang had created. Lu Yang had caught him. Strictly speaking, everything he had done was fishing, and Sisui was the bait.
The Primordial Saint had bitten.
"This one wisp is enough."
Lu Yang ignored the changes within the historical fragment itself. With his blessing of the restart power, Sisui's victory was already a destined karmic result.
He didn't focus on how Sisui changed history. Instead, for the first time, he concentrated all the power of the [Variable] onto the wisp of the Primordial Saint's consciousness. Simultaneously, his [Deity Transformation] stature began to roar, pouring out power like it cost nothing.
Every living thing has a thread of survival.
Even this wisp of consciousness theoretically had a chance to escape, develop in secret, and eventually strike for the Deity Transformation realm.
The probability was just infinitesimally low.
But now, under Lu Yang's reckless influence, that near-zero probability was swelling rapidly due to the [Variable].
After a long while, Lu Yang slowed down.
"Only a thirty percent chance...?"
Even with his current stature and profound blessings, he could only raise the probability of "The Primordial Saint's consciousness staging a comeback and attaining Deity Transformation" to about thirty percent.
"Whatever. If it fails, I'll just try a few more times."
Lu Yang looked casual. He recorded every detail of this layout, intending to pass it down as an inheritance to the next generation of Deity Transformation experts.
That way, if any future expert shared his caution regarding the dangers of transcendence and wanted to scout ahead, they could replicate this operation and fleece the Primordial Saint's body for all it was worth. The man was in a state of Supreme Forgetfulness, after all—he'd never learn his lesson.
"Ah, I really am a virtuous person."
Lu Yang sighed with emotion, then tossed the wisp of consciousness toward the [Door of Transcendence], guiding the false future possibility outward.
Rumble!
Thick darkness swept in, flooding Lu Yang's vision. An unprecedented sense of lightness filled his Primordial Spirit.
This is transcendence...
Lu Yang understood that he was simulating the sight one would see after transcending. Only a talent like the Primordial Saint could bear the weight of such power.
Of course, since it wasn't a true transcendence, the wisp's "Deity Transformation transcendence" was entirely based on the stature Lu Yang provided; it was a fabrication. The moment he withdrew his power, the wisp would lose its qualification and be crushed by the immense pressure outside the Dark Void.
"In short, it's like launching a rocket."
The "Primordial Saint Rocket," equipped with a recorder, was launched toward the unknown lands beyond the void to record the specific environment and ecology.
As for the rocket itself?
Lu Yang never intended to recover it. He was far more interested in what was out there and where [Jun] had finally gone.
The darkness lasted for a very long time.
Even Lu Yang lost track of how much time had passed before a ray of sunlight finally pierced the gloom, faintly revealing a blurred landscape.
"That is...?"
Lu Yang froze.
In that blurred landscape, he saw a cosmic starry sky, but it wasn't the sky from his memories, nor did it contain a blue planet.
There was only a door.
A towering gate constructed from linked stars, pinning something firmly in its center. It was a gate the size of a galaxy.
As for the object locked within the gate, it was shrouded in a brilliant blue-green light, resembling a sun surrounded by stars. He found it impossible to look away.
"...The Azure Sun?"
(End of the Side Story)