Chapter 132: An Unexpected Person

In this moment, it felt as though the space inside and outside the room had been divided into two separate worlds.

Despite sitting in the county town with a bustling market just outside the window—where neighbors strolled amid a boiling cacophony of voices—all these external sensations receded from Wang Ping's perception.

In heaven and on earth, only one person remained.

That was the young Daoist priest sitting upright before him. His expression was perfectly tranquil, his eyes devoid of any anger, and his manner exceptionally polite.

"Greetings, Daoist friend."

He set up a small table and brewed a pot of fine tea right between himself and Wang Ping, then poured two cups and placed one before each of them.

Immediately after, a light breeze swept past.

An unprompted wind, an unprompted sound—yet in an instant, it blew away all the restrictions binding Wang Ping. His senses flooded back into his body.

"Why have you returned?"

The woman sat quietly on the other side of the table. Though still formed of Divine Intent and invisible to ordinary mortals, she was so real she could even pick up her teacup and drain it in a single gulp.

"I have come for the Child of Destiny."

Daoist Xuanhe chuckled softly, though not a trace of amusement reached his eyes. Looking right past the woman, he fixed his gaze straight on Wang Ping. "Where is Ye Chao? Where have you hidden him?"

Wang Ping wasn't surprised that his identity had been exposed. After all, his disguise technique was only good enough to fool the ignorant Loose Immortals inside the Eight Trigrams Furnace. Flaunting it before a true disciple of the Immortal Gate was simply leaving himself open to ridicule by experts. Furthermore, the man in front of him... was clearly no ordinary Immortal Gate disciple!

After a moment of silence, Wang Ping took the initiative to ask:

"The ancestor of Book Mountain, Xuanhe?"

Daoist Xuanhe's laughter grew even colder. "Has anyone ever told you not to answer a question with a question? Hand over Ye Chao, and this matter ends here."

With that, he looked toward the woman again.

"...I know you are powerful. Within this Eight Trigrams Furnace, your destiny is likely the absolute highest. But bearing such a destiny inevitably comes with a price."

"Destiny?"

Wang Ping's eyes twitched slightly. Daoist Xuanhe caught this subtle change in expression and immediately looked back at him. "What, you still don't know?"

"The destiny of this backer of yours can be called the most noble in this world. It never deviates, summed up in just two words."

"The Strongest."

"With this destiny, she is invincible in this furnace world. No one can defeat her. From the moment she was born, she was destined to be number one in the world."

"However, if the Immortal Gate discovers that such a destiny has emerged within the Eight Trigrams Furnace, do you know what they would do? Qi Refining practitioners forcing their way into the lower realm would be inevitable. If necessary, the perfected ones and true lords of the Eight Immortal Peaks might even cast their gazes downward. That would be a true, world-ending calamity."

"If not for me, the world within the furnace would have been turned upside down long ago."

"You must know this as well, which is why you have hidden yourself away. You haven't shown your face in all these years, choosing only to wander outside using this Divine Intent."

Only then did the woman's ethereal voice faintly ring out:

"Daoist friend, you are speaking a bit too much."

"I have no choice but to speak."

Daoist Xuanhe spoke indifferently, "If I don't say more, how will you understand my stance? I will say it one last time. Hand over Ye Chao, or we all perish together!"

As his words fell, a deep gloom instantly spread from beneath his feet, erasing the surrounding world in a flash. Wang Ping felt as if he had plunged straight into an abyss, utterly unable to move. His rapidly racing thoughts abruptly halted. Everything fell into stagnation, and the flow of all phenomena was forcibly brought to a standstill.

Only Daoist Xuanhe continued to move freely.

"Never mind. Even if I asked and you answered, I wouldn't believe you."

"I might as well search your soul."

He strolled through the stagnant world and casually placed his palm over Wang Ping's face. His majestic spiritual consciousness flooded entirely into Wang Ping's sea of consciousness...

"Bang!"

In the next second, Daoist Xuanhe's fingers were violently jolted away. The influx of spiritual consciousness came to a screeching halt, and his formerly indifferent expression instantly froze on his face.

It was entirely because of what he had seen inside Wang Ping's sea of consciousness.

"The Life-Stealing Thief and the Time-Stealing Thief?"

'What relationship does this guy have with the Heaven-Stealing Thief? Or is he one of the identities controlled by the Heaven-Stealing Thief? Have I walked right into a trap?'

"Hiss...!"

Daoist Xuanhe unconsciously took a step back, his expression flashing with doubt and alarm. Then, he heard the ethereal voice from beside him: "Can we talk now?"

Daoist Xuanhe spun around, only to see the woman still sitting perfectly composed within the gloom. She hadn't fallen into stagnation at all. It seemed she had intentionally refrained from stopping him just now. Seeing her like this, even though it wasn't his first time, still drew a sigh from his lips.

'Why can't I trap her?'

He was already at the Tribulation Transcending Second Layer. The divine power that had originally helped him survive his heavenly tribulation and which he had ultimately forged was called the Corpse-Still Dragon Manifestation. It was a middle divine power.

The profound mechanism of this divine power was quite simple.

It was the ability to freeze all phenomena, turning the heavens and earth into a 'Corpse-Still' state where not even a single thought could turn. Meanwhile, he himself became the 'Dragon Manifestation', able to move freely amidst the absolute stillness.

Relying on this divine power, although he hailed from the Eight Trigrams Furnace, he wasn't considered weak among the inner sect disciples. Yet he was utterly helpless against this woman.

She seemed completely immune to his divine power.

"Do you really intend to perish together with me?"

Daoist Xuanhe gritted his teeth. "If we both let loose and shake the Eight Trigrams Furnace to its core, I will be punished, and you will be captured. We will both suffer."

"There's no rush."

Compared to Daoist Xuanhe, who was clearly growing anxious, the woman appeared quite calm. "My intuition tells me that we have an opportunity to cooperate."

"Cooperate?"

Daoist Xuanhe took a deep breath before sitting back down in his original spot. In the next second, the gloom brightened. The divine power was withdrawn, and Wang Ping snapped out of his daze.

'...Huh?'

To him, he had only blanked out for a fleeting instant before quickly recovering. Yet in that single instant, Daoist Xuanhe's seated posture had become noticeably different from what he remembered.

'No! I definitely spaced out for more than just a moment!'

'What just happened?'

'Was time paused?'

Cold sweat instantly soaked Wang Ping's back. However, he forced himself to maintain a facade of composure, making sure not to show any obvious signs of panic.

"Speak, then. How do you plan to cooperate?"

Daoist Xuanhe spoke up again.

On the other side, the woman tilted her head and replied casually, "I don't know... but my intuition tells me that you should explain things to us first."

"You!"

Daoist Xuanhe flared with irritation. But recalling the woman's bizarre intuition, he suppressed his anger and said grimly, "You wouldn't understand even if I told you."

"In short, that Ye Chao is the reincarnation of a true transmission disciple from the heavens above. And that true transmission disciple has a senior brother who doesn't want him to return from his reincarnation. Therefore, he ordered me to keep watch over him here, using a magic artifact to continuously grind away this reincarnated true transmission's destiny, until it is finally divided up and devoured."

The woman indeed did not understand.

However, Wang Ping heard it loud and clear, and a sudden wave of realization washed over him. 'Ye Chao is the reincarnation of an Immortal Gate true transmission? Why would a true transmission be reduced to falling into Great Shun?'

Unbelievable!

Thinking of the question, he asked it outright. Backed by the woman and armed with the resurrection charges of the Outer Heavenly Demon, Wang Ping bolstered his courage and asked, "What is the name of that true transmission?"

Daoist Xuanhe frowned slightly at the words, but he still answered:

"The senior brother is named Kunyun. He is at the Tribulation Transcending Third Layer and is currently undergoing his fate tribulation. The reincarnated one is named Kunlun..."

At this point, he glanced at Wang Ping.

Recalling what he had just witnessed, he suddenly shifted his tone. "He was banished for participating in the Heaven-Stealing Thief incident, punished by being cast into the Eight Trigrams Furnace to reincarnate."

Participating in the Heaven-Stealing Thief incident!

Wang Ping's pupils violently contracted. He asked again, "How did he participate?"

"...Rebellion."

Daoist Xuanhe hesitated for a moment before finally gritting his teeth. "The Heaven-Stealing Thief rebelled against the Immortal Gate, and true transmission Kunlun followed. Kunlun's master placed righteousness above personal ties and captured him."

"He was cast into the Eight Trigrams Furnace, never to be reincarnated for all eternity."

If that was the case—

'That reincarnated true transmission, the current Ye Chao, is actually the Heaven-Stealing Thief's teammate???' Wang Ping sorted out his thoughts and immediately froze in place.

Soon after, his expression turned ashen:

"The Heaven-Stealing Thief is right here in Great Shun and appeared in Longxing County earlier. If this reincarnated true transmission is his former follower, how could he not attempt a rescue?"

Upon hearing this, Daoist Xuanhe was utterly unconcerned.

"He can't be saved."

"Ye Chao was implanted with the Fate-Peering Bone-Slicing Mirror long ago, and his destiny has been mostly devoured. His current bearing as the Child of Destiny is nothing more than a final burst of fading vitality."

"You could say he is already dead."

"Forcibly trying to save him will only make him die faster."

"Then... what about swapping fates?"

A flash of inspiration suddenly struck Wang Ping. He recalled the Five Thieves Stealing Heaven Myriad Transformations Divine Talisman he had seen. Among its methods, one perfectly suited this situation.

"The Merit-Stealing Thief!"

"The thief of merit can replace one's identity and accomplishments... Could this method swap his fate?"

Daoist Xuanhe paused upon hearing this.

Only at this moment did he finally develop some interest in Wang Ping's origins. 'This kid even knows about this. He seems awfully familiar with the Heaven-Stealing Thief.'

Could he be a bandit cultivator who smuggled himself into the Eight Trigrams Furnace?

However, he quickly shook his head. "It's useless."

"The prerequisite for swapping fates is that the tiers of destiny must be equal at the very least. But true transmission Kunlun's destiny is exceedingly noble. Where would you find someone with a destiny equal to his?"

"Secondly, the Heaven-Stealing Thief has not yet reached Qi Refining after all. No matter how brilliant his methods, if he wishes to swap fates, he must stay by Ye Chao's side for a prolonged period. Furthermore, such a massive undertaking will inevitably cause the torrents of destiny to shudder. When that happens, forget about me—even the sect's Qi Refining practitioners will notice."

At this, Xuanhe sneered:

"If you ask me, this Ye Chao might just be bait laid by the sect's Qi Refining practitioners. They're just waiting for the Heaven-Stealing Thief to come to his rescue, so they can hook that big fish."

"If he dares to save him, he dies!"

"Unless he is like Kongzhi and those Brahma Cultivators who infiltrated the Eight Trigrams Furnace, holding a secret treasure specially prepared by the mighty figures of the Brahma Nation to obscure heaven's secrets..."

Before he even finished speaking, Daoist Xuanhe's expression abruptly froze.

Seeing this, Wang Ping hurriedly asked, "Senior? Have you discovered something suspicious?"

"I did not, I haven't, don't talk nonsense!"

Daoist Xuanhe abruptly stood up. "I've thought it over, and actually, this matter isn't very urgent. Let's leave it here for today. We can discuss the rest another day."

With that, his figure suddenly turned illusory.

Witnessing this, Wang Ping realized what was happening in an instant.

'No! There's a problem with Ye Chao... This bastard wants to run away!'

Immediately after, he swiftly brought out the Six Desires Heavenly Demon Flag, opening the flag's spatial dimension to throw the Ye Chao inside directly at Daoist Xuanhe.

"Senior, please wait..."

Before Wang Ping could finish speaking, Daoist Xuanhe abruptly stopped in his tracks.

Of course, this wasn't because of Wang Ping, but rather because the moment Wang Ping unfurled the Six Desires Heavenly Demon Flag, a slender, jade-like hand reached out from within it.

And lightly came to rest upon his neck.

"Since you're already here, why rush to leave?"

Feeling the chilling cold radiating against his neck, only a single thought remained in Daoist Xuanhe's heart.

'I'm done for!'

On the other side, Wang Ping, who had originally intended to dump the problem onto someone else, froze completely in place. The matter he had inexplicably forgotten earlier finally resurfaced in his mind.

Soon after, he looked with some disbelief at the tall, slender figure who stepped out of the flag's space, capturing Daoist Xuanhe with just a single hand.

"...Chen Luoyan?"