Hearing Chen Xu's call, everyone rushed over, and the Great Sage was no exception.
Pushing off the ground with both hands, this ancestral teacher of the myriad worlds showed absolutely no regard for his image. He scrambled on all fours, rolling and crawling past the other Dao Lords, even overtaking the blood-crimson Qilin who naturally ran on all fours.
Once everyone caught up and followed the direction of Chen Xu's pointing finger, they saw the object clearly and gasped in shock one after another.
“By Truth!”
“Heh, what on earth is this thing?”
“This thing looks even more grotesque than those light-shunning insects underground. Oh, Brother Heavenly Dragon, please don't misunderstand, I didn't mean to gossip about you.”
“What is this? It makes one's skin crawl just looking at it. It's like some evil entity spawned by evil cultivators who practiced the wrong scriptures or reversed their techniques.”
From the Great Sage to the Martial Dao Lords, then to the Yokai Dao Lords, and finally to the Immortal Dao Lords, every single one of them was shocked by the bizarre entity before them.
There was no other reason than the puddle—no, the heap—no, the mass before them.
In short, Chen Xu did not know how to describe this source of the ritual in front of him.
Though it had a humanoid shape, it lacked a defined form. It had a body, but the things making up that body were none other than clusters of constantly twisting and intertwining Dao principles.
These Dao principles occasionally turned illusory and occasionally materialized, making this already grotesque and bizarre thing even harder to stomach.
To give a simple example, the main trunk constituting this body was made of none other than the necrotic Dao principles, which represented the ultimate essence of life.
Wrapping around the necrotic Dao principles and incessantly entangling them were the Dao principles of flesh and corruption.
This resulted in a state where the body would occasionally reveal stark white bones, and at other times only show a heap of unsupported, rotting flesh.
Sometimes, both bones and flesh could be seen together, but the position of the flesh was completely wrong—instead of being outside the bones, it burrowed inside them.
Such common sense-defying phenomena were everywhere on this body.
More importantly, the Dao Lords could not determine whether this unknown creature before them was alive or dead.
The aura it radiated was far higher than that of the Dao Lords, which meant that their usually infallible perception could not function, leaving them to rely on their most primitive physical senses.
But from appearance alone, motionless and seemingly acting on pure instinct, it really did not look like a living creature.
Unless, existences of higher realms were just like this, completely departing from the “ordinary” and hurtling toward a state that was neither human nor object.
Chen Xu could not understand or make sense of it, so he turned his head to look at the Hunyuan Dao Lord beside him.
The Hunyuan Dao Lord wore a profound expression, putting on a thoughtful facade.
But in reality, even this veteran of the Immortal path had absolutely no clue about the bizarre spectacle before him.
Fortunately, if nothing else, a veteran like him had no trouble acting.
“Hmm, this thing is indeed profound. It is like the Dao yet not the Dao, like an object yet not an object, as if all phenomena of heaven and earth are contained within it. Incredible, truly incredible.
Fellow Daoist Sage, what is your take on this?”
The Great Sage scrambled up from the ground. Hearing the Hunyuan Dao Lord's clumsy attempt to deflect attention, his lips twitched slightly in disdain.
How do I see it? I see it with my eyes, I see it with my nostrils. How else could I see it?
In this bizarre place, even his Unique Rank Dao of Insight could not function. Having grown accustomed to seeing through all things, he felt highly uncomfortable.
It was like a casual player who had always used wallhacks in FPS games suddenly getting banned by the system; all of a sudden, even walking felt awkward.
But the Great Sage was the Great Sage after all. Lacking the Dao of Insight was merely losing a single tool.
After all, he had cultivated his Dao principles himself. It was not as if losing them meant he could no longer apply the knowledge in his mind.
The Great Sage stepped forward alone, pulling up his collar with his left hand. His scholar's robes rapidly transformed, extending into a fully sealed mask that enveloped his head.
As if triggering some chain reaction, numerous white silk threads emerged from the hollows of his limbs, completely wrapping the Great Sage up.
Then, holding his pointer in his right hand, the Great Sage pressed a button. The tip of the pointer began to extend. He carefully manipulated it, attempting to harvest some samples from the body.
However, the pointer and the body did not seem to exist in the same space. No matter how the Great Sage swung, thrust, or even slashed, he could not touch the body in the slightest.
When probing with the pointer failed, the Great Sage displayed the greatest quality of a pioneer of truth—the courage to face death. He directly shed his protective suit, reached out his hand, and went to touch the body.
But things did not go as the Great Sage wished. Though he was prepared to pay any price for the sake of truth, truth did not seem to favor him, refusing to open its doors. The Great Sage's hand passed right through the body once again, and then, nothing happened.
It was as if the Great Sage and this bizarre body were not on the same layer, not even in the same dimension.
Seeing this, the Dao Lords in the back let out sighs of disappointment.
If even the Great Sage was helpless, there was no need for them to try.
“Heh, this is just great. We came to help, and now we've trapped ourselves too.”
“Dragon Emperor, do not speak so carelessly in front of outsiders and ruin the reputation of the Yokai race.”
“Tsk, Black Tortoise, look what time it is, yet you're still carrying on about reputation this and reputation that. If we can't get out, what use is reputation? This old dragon can't even use my Dao principles now!
Reputation? We've come all this way, and we don't even know what this pile of junk is called!”
As soon as he finished speaking, the Dragon Emperor had a sudden fit of madness and actually barked an order at the body before him.
“I am the Dragon Emperor of the Yokai Realm! You there, state your name!”
Upon seeing this, the other Yokai Dao Lords looked panicked. Heaven only knew if this entity or this bizarre place had some sort of punishment mechanism.
It wouldn't matter if the Dragon Emperor died, but if they were dragged down with him, they would be in deep trouble.
Yet in the next moment, that grand voice actually echoed once again.
“My name is Ling Sheng.”
Instantly, everyone present froze.
Only after a moment passed and the voice did not ring out again did they finally breathe a sigh of relief.
As for the Dragon Emperor, he grew incredibly arrogant, believing there was something special about himself that had drawn the attention of this unknown expert.
Thus, the Dragon Emperor spouted a series of questions and a whole load of nonsense, but this time, he received no further response.
Watching this, Chen Xu frowned slightly, seemingly realizing something.
At the same time, the light of wisdom shone in the Great Sage's eyes.
Chen Xu and the Great Sage both looked at the surrounding Dao Lords, their gazes scanning across everyone.
Ultimately, Chen Xu's gaze landed on Li Taiji, while the Great Sage's gaze settled on the blood-crimson Qilin.
“Fellow Daoist Li.”
“Your Excellency Qilin.”
Chen Xu and the Great Sage spoke simultaneously, instantly drawing everyone's attention to them.
Chen Xu and the Great Sage also glanced at each other.
The Great Sage showed excellent manners, raising his hand to gesture for Chen Xu to go first.
Chen Xu did not decline. The sooner they figured out this bizarre place, the sooner they could put their minds at ease.
“Fellow Daoist Li, please ask this... er, body, who he is.”
“Oh, sure, no problem.”
Li Taiji did not ask too many questions and simply did as Chen Xu requested.
“Who are you?”
“...”
Total silence filled the space; that grand voice did not ring out again.
The Dragon Emperor immediately began to grin, but before he could laugh out loud, the Black Tortoise anticipated his action and pressed down with a massive tortoise foot, stopping him in his tracks.
“It didn't work? Is it because the value isn't equivalent?”
Chen Xu muttered to himself, then spoke again.
“Fellow Daoist Li, change the question. Ask what realm it is in.”
“Oh, alright.”
Like a model corporate wage slave, Li Taiji meticulously executed the instructions handed down by Chen Xu.
“What realm are you in?”
In the next second, that grand voice actually echoed once more.
“I am of the Existence Rank.”
“Existence?”
“Existence!”
“Existence.”
“Fellow Daoist Li, ask one more thing. Ask if the Existence Rank is the realm after the Unique Rank.”
“Oh, alright.”
“...”
Li Taiji repeated the question as before, but this time, he received no reply.
At this point, the Great Sage stepped forward and looked at the blood-crimson Qilin.
“Your Excellency Qilin, I can tell you about that matter I mentioned earlier, as long as you help me ask a question.”
“Oh? Ask what?”
“Just ask... let's go with the question His Excellency Chen Xu just raised.”
The Great Sage smiled and looked at Chen Xu, his eyes full of warmth, as if looking at a dear friend or a beloved disciple.
In short, this skin-crawling look made Chen Xu instinctively shudder.
“Dammit, what bad luck.”
Chen Xu cursed inwardly. He had almost thought the Great Sage was that kind of person.
After all, geniuses with exceptional intellects did tend to have some strange quirks, much like one of the peak ancestors of the computer science pathway he had studied in his past life.
The blood-crimson Qilin trotted forward.
“Unknown Lord, respected expert, please answer my doubt. Is the Existence Rank the realm after the Unique Rank?”
Compared to the Dragon Emperor and Li Taiji, the Qilin's phrasing was much more polite—or, in modern terms, perfectly proper.
Sure enough, that grand voice rang out once more.
“Yes. The Unique binds the self through Dao principles; Existence imprints the self through Dao principles. After Unique comes Existence.”
Perhaps due to the polite attitude, this response was significantly more detailed.
These consecutive responses also allowed Chen Xu and the Great Sage to confirm one thing.
This unknown existence had transported them here to settle their final payments.
Every single person could ask this unknown existence a question, but whether they would receive an answer depended on whether their payment was sufficient.
Realizing this, the Great Sage slapped his thigh and said with deep regret,
“Shoot! That good-for-nothing Lord of Heaven ran away early! We lost an opportunity, we lost an opportunity!”
Rate on N.U.
