Chapter 460 - 186: Fire Monkey Treads the Heavens, Great Sage Equal to Heaven, Hei Ming Awakens

To determine a victor and decide life and death!

What a pity...

He felt the immense, mountain-like pressure from behind, and his once-fiery heart gradually calmed.

’Stopping now... so be it.’

"Hei Ming’s return is a joyous occasion. Venerable Bai You, you should still reconsider..."

Su Bai walked up onto the city wall and let out a soft sigh.

"Several thousand years of persistence have led to the day of Hei Ming’s return. If you gather today only to part tomorrow, it would be far too great a shame..."

From Qin Wuliang’s memories, he could tell that Bai You was a man of single purpose.

A man purely dedicated to slaughter and combat.

There aren’t many like him left in the world.

"Fellow Daoist, you must be the one the Venerable Lord spoke of, correct?"

"Seeing you today, I can tell you’re truly extraordinary. Even without me as a burden, my second brother might not be able to defeat you, even if he went all out."

Bai You said nothing, but Hei Ming spoke in a low voice:

"Unfortunately, you’re trying to convince the wrong person. The Netherworld Venerable Lord Sacrifice was my idea from the very beginning..."

Venerable Hei Ming slowly raised his head. Though he was sitting with his back to Su Bai, it was as if they were looking right at each other.

"You?"

Hearing this, Su Bai frowned slightly.

Compared to the renowned Venerable Bai You, this Venerable Hei Ming seemed to have a much weaker presence.

In all the legends, he was always silent and taciturn, a man with seemingly no presence.

But as Su Bai looked at him now, he got the sense that there was something profound and mysterious about him.

’His face is dark... does that mean his heart is dark, too?’

’This was something that even Qin Wuliang, who had been stationed in the mortal realm for so many years, knew nothing about!’

’It just went to show how deeply Hei Ming had hidden his true nature.’

"Among us brothers, our third brother had the most scholarly air. But he was upright and stern, utterly solemn. When it comes to using devious schemes, he couldn’t compare to me..."

Venerable Hei Ming sighed softly, as if reminiscing about the past while also gathering his thoughts.

Su Bai stood atop the city wall, watching that dark, expressionless face. Deep within his eyes, a ripple formed.

A wisp of golden-purple Power of Divine Thought slowly coalesced.

As his Cultivation and Divine Power Technique improved, Su Bai’s control over the Purification Tripod grew more and more skillful.

’When powers clashed, even a being with a Celestial Mandate wasn’t completely impenetrable. He could still spy on some hidden memories.’

"Are you using some sort of technique to spy on us?"

And just then, Venerable Hei Ming’s gaze sharpened as he suddenly asked the question.

"Hm?"

Bai You’s brow furrowed slightly, and his gaze instantly turned cold.

Though he hadn’t sensed anything himself, he didn’t doubt Hei Ming’s judgment.

As his gaze lowered, an endless, cold current once again descended upon the world.

"What makes you say that?"

A thought flashed through Su Bai’s mind. The Purification Tripod within it trembled, and the wisp of golden-purple Power of Divine Thought grew even more solid.

Yet he showed no sign of panic, his gaze remaining calm as he looked at the Black and White Dual Venerable before him.

’My technique for prying into memories might not be an invincible Dharma Gate, but there’s no way Hei Ming could have discovered it.’

’In essence, I’m activating the Purification Tripod to spy on a person’s past.’

’I’m spying on the traces they’ve left on the world, not on their physical bodies.’

’That’s why no one should be able to sense it.’

’Unless a person could gather all traces of their existence in the world...’

’The past, the present, the future... what has happened, and what has yet to happen...’

’...and unite them all within themselves.’

’Simply put, it meant gathering every version of oneself from every timeline.’

’For such a being, the divisions of time and space do not exist. Time and space would be meaningless to them.’

’In that case, my Spying Skill would naturally be useless.’

’If such a person really existed in this world...’

"A brilliant technique. I couldn’t sense a thing, even at such close range..."

Venerable Hei Ming sized Su Bai up, looking him over with considerable amazement.

"If I had a Divine Technique like yours, that would be truly remarkable..."

He seemed certain of it.

"What makes you say that?"

Su Bai patiently asked again.

He could sense that, unlike the cold Bai You, this Hei Ming Venerable Master seemed much more willing to talk.

Perhaps it was a habit of his, or perhaps it was a result of being silent for several thousand years.

"While you were using some imperceptible means to spy on us, you should have guessed..."

"...that we were paying even more attention to you."

Venerable Hei Ming chuckled softly. His voice was no longer hoarse, but had become calm and even:

"Though I fell into a deep slumber, I wasn’t truly dead."

"I could perceive everything my second brother saw, heard, thought, and felt. In that desolate darkness, having lost all sense of the outside world, the only thing I could do was observe, think, and speculate, over and over again..."

He and Bai You, to a certain extent, had already become two sides of the same coin.

What Bai You saw and heard was what he saw and heard.

Su Bai had vaguely sensed as much.

"So?"

"You arrived in this realm approximately ten years, nine months, and thirteen days ago. According to the records in the Book of Life and Death, this body of yours also happened to die ten years ago."

"I can even deduce the exact moment you arrived in this realm..."

Venerable Hei Ming’s expression was calm as he slowly recounted:

"The Boxing Scripture Beginning Chapter, the Eight Trigrams Furnace, the construction of the God-Sealing Platform..."

"Each and every one of these things was a tell. And it was from these events that I deduced you possess some means of prying into the secrets of others..."

"Otherwise, even if you were a heaven-sent prodigy, a peerless talent on par with the Venerable Lord himself, you could never have reached such a level in a mere eight years..."

At this, Hei Ming lifted his gaze. His pure black eyes were like the finest mirrors in the world, reflecting Su Bai’s face.

As if trying to peer into his very soul.

"Fellow Daoist Su, your tells..."

"...are far too many!"