Chapter 68: The Source of Everything

Immortal Gate, Divine Weapon Courtyard.

Daoist Nun You stepped out of the flying ship and stood amid a vast expanse of stars. Before her, celestial bodies were arrayed like pieces on a chessboard across the dark void of the universe.

Right in the center of these myriad stars was a giant, fiercely burning sun continuously spewing brilliant light outward. Once free of the star, the light scattered and drifted, splitting into iridescent hues—every single thread carrying enough power to crush anything in the world.

"This is the Eight Trigrams Furnace..." You Xuexin's beautiful eyes grew hazy, captivated by the giant star. Only after a long while did she snap back to reality, glancing at the person beside her with a trace of worry.

"Junior Brother Xuanhe, are you certain there won't be any problems?"

Hearing this, the young man beside You Xuexin immediately patted his chest. "Rest assured, Senior Sister. I've arranged everything. Nothing will go wrong."

"That's good."

You Xuexin nodded and sighed. "After all, this matter concerns whether Master's immortal lifespan can be extended. In this regard, you and I are grasshoppers on the same rope."

"I understand."

Xuanhe agreed wholeheartedly, his expression turning solemn. "Please rest assured, Senior Sister. With the help of the Eight Trigrams Furnace, we will definitely repair the Longevity Rivaling Heaven Gourd this time."

"We still need to be careful."

You Xuexin shook her head. "Although the Eight Trigrams Furnace is excellent, it has its uncontrollable aspects. My Daoist temple inside was once ambushed by the Human Firewood within the furnace."

"Even though I only lost some waste dregs left over from pill refinement, I still sacrificed the attendant boy stationed in the temple who had neglected his guard duties for personal gain... If those Human Firewood don't cooperate and the fire falls short, the Longevity Rivaling Heaven Gourd might still suffer a mishap."

"That is why I sent the Six Desires Heavenly Demon Flag inside."

At this, You Xuexin's tone grew grave. "Of course, this isn't me abusing my authority to conveniently forge the Six Desires Heavenly Demon Flag into a magical treasure. My primary intent is to safeguard Master's lifespan extension."

At these words, Daoist Xuanhe hurriedly gave her a thumbs-up. "Magnificent, truly magnificent, Senior Sister You."

"If Master knew you were this dedicated to his lifespan extension, he would definitely be moved. Your junior brother's admiration for you flows like a surging river..."

"Enough."

You Xuexin cut off Daoist Xuanhe's flattery and continued, "The Heavenly Work Extreme Yang Nine Smeltings have taken their rightful positions. The auspicious hour has arrived. Hurry and open the furnace."

Inside the Six Desires Heavenly Demon Flag, Wang Ping stood with his hands resting behind his back.

At this very moment, even he couldn't clearly articulate his own emotions. He felt both the shock of learning the truth and the sudden clarity of all the clues linking together.

'I was wrong. I was wrong from the very beginning!'

'Great Shun is the Immortal Gate, and the Immortal Gate is Great Shun... I should have realized this long ago. That's why the extraordinary arts of Great Shun share so many similarities with the Immortal Gate!'

'For instance, the breeding of demons in the haunted Lin Family Mansion, or the extraordinary arts that directly attack the soul. All those previous signs had actually been hinting at this truth all along.'

What terrified Wang Ping even more upon deeper thought was the role the Great Shun Dynasty played for the Immortal Gate—it was the Eight Trigrams Furnace used to forge magical treasures. What was a magical treasure? To put it bluntly, wasn't it just a weapon? And the foundation of the Great Shun Dynasty was known as the Divine Armament Martial Dao; a martial artist's bounden duty was to forge powerful weapons.

What did this amount to?

Could it be that the entire Great Shun Dynasty—a vast empire stretching for thousands of miles and shepherding hundreds of millions of subjects—was nothing more than a furnace kept by the Immortal Gate to forge weapons?

What a sick joke!

Wang Ping swayed on his feet, instinctively wanting to deny the speculation. But the more he thought about it, the deeper it took root in his heart.

Or rather, this actually made perfect sense.

Using an entire world as a furnace and the teeming masses as firewood, igniting the boundless mortal realm to temper the weapons of a single sect—the Immortal Gate was absolutely capable of doing such a thing.

Suddenly, Wang Ping felt a splitting pain between his eyebrows, followed by a powerful burst of intent surging into his sea of consciousness. It was the customary memory awakening that accompanied every transmigration.

However, this time was different. What surfaced in Wang Ping's mind wasn't just a memory, but a crisp and definitive scene. In this vision stood You Xuexin, radiating an aura both aloof and alluring. She stood right in front of him, condensing a speck of light in her hand before pressing it firmly against the center of his brow.

That was an order from his master.

In the vision, You Xuexin's voice echoed faintly. "Your mission this time is to gather as many demons as possible and do everything you can to raise your grade."

"That is your primary task."

"Your secondary task is to ensure that the forging of the Longevity Rivaling Heaven Gourd goes undisturbed. Of course, there are specific people in charge of that; you only need to assist from the sidelines."

With that said, the vision faded to black.

But soon after, fragments of memory began to flash and surface one by one in Wang Ping's mind, quickly filling the gaps and answering all the questions in his heart.

"...So that's how it is."

A moment later, Wang Ping raised his head, a look of sudden realization flashing in the depths of his eyes. "Fantastic. I'm gradually understanding everything. So this is the source of it all."

Throughout all of Longxing County—whether it was the actions of the National Academy, the arrival of the Imperial Tribute Hall, or even the extraordinary person hiding in the dark who had killed him last time—the only reason all these various factions had converged on such a tiny county town was, fundamentally, just for a single weapon.

The Longevity Rivaling Heaven Gourd.

"In Great Shun, this thing is a Divine Object grade weapon. In the Immortal Gate, it is a magical treasure on par with the Life-Observing Bone-Detaching Mirror. Its profound utility is exactly as its name implies."

As the name suggested, it extended lifespan.

"Rumor has it that the Longevity Rivaling Heaven Gourd was successfully forged only by expending the power of the entire Great Shun nation, and in the end, it successfully saved a Qi Refining practitioner whose immortal lifespan was nearing its end."

"Thanks to that, the current Son of Heaven of Great Shun picked up some scraps and managed to live to over a hundred and twenty years old... Unfortunately, the Longevity Rivaling Heaven Gourd was damaged after that. Therefore, to extend the lifespan of another Qi Refining practitioner, the Immortal Gate is attempting to reforge and repair this magical treasure this time."

And the National Academy was the Immortal Gate's black glove.

The Longevity Rivaling Heaven Gourd was a magical treasure related to lifespan, so repairing it required using lifespans to fill in its cracks.

The National Academy ultimately selected Longxing County.

The price to repair the Longevity Rivaling Heaven Gourd was quite simple: the lifespans of all the black-headed commoners under Longxing County's jurisdiction, plus the lifespans of half the city's upstanding citizens.

To achieve this, the National Academy began its arrangements.

The first step was to raise taxes.

"After Xu Bingzheng took office as magistrate, he proceeded to raise taxes and deliberately created a famine. Every black-headed commoner who died because of this was fed into the Longevity Rivaling Heaven Gourd."

The second step: creating haunted estates just like the Lin Family Mansion within the city to breed demons.

Thinking of this, Wang Ping couldn't help but rub his forehead, recalling his encounters within the Lin Family Mansion: the extraordinary art planted in Lin Sheng, the method of devouring flesh and blood.

At the time, he had even mocked that extraordinary art as a junior version of the Life-Stealing Thief.

He never imagined his words would be a self-fulfilling prophecy.

"At the time, I didn't see the fully matured demon with my own eyes, which was why I misunderstood... What junior version? What was planted in Lin Sheng was exactly the Life-Stealing Thief!"

"With the Life-Stealing Thief, the demons could become tools for harvesting lifespans!"

The third step: transferring in the imperial military camp.

Under the effects of the famine, the black-headed commoners gathered outside the city. Over time, unrest was inevitable. Meanwhile, the city interior was also unstable due to the rampaging demons. Beset by troubles from both inside and out, a rebellion was bound to break out.

This would be the moment for the imperial army to strike. They could perfectly and justifiably slaughter all the rebelling black-headed commoners, harvesting their lifespans all at once, while also blaming the deaths of the upstanding citizens inside the city on the commoner uprising. The imperial court would remain spotless and pure, and they might even reap the gratitude of the remaining citizens.

"These sons of bitches..."

Having finally sorted out the National Academy's entire master plan, Wang Ping couldn't help but sigh in realization. "It can be called a business with zero cost and infinite profit. They commit every evil deed imaginable, yet they still get to play the side of justice."

"How sinister. Too fucking sinister!"

Fortunately, plans couldn't keep up with changes.

'First of all, because of my existence, Xu Bingzheng lost Chen Haoyan as his chief constable. He was forced to step to the front lines himself, only to be ambushed by Shouchong and severely injured.'

'This undoubtedly slowed down the National Academy's plans.'

'Secondly, because of Madam Su's mysterious best friend, the Xuanjia Camp was transferred to Longxing County. And this military camp is not under the National Academy's control.'

'Finally, and most crucially... the Imperial Tribute Hall.'

Wang Ping recalled the two imperial tribute emissaries he met in his previous life—Shenhou and Xugou—as well as the Emperor's secret decree he received as a Gold-Bearing Brocade Guard.

[Secretly support the civilian uprising and facilitate the rebels in breaching Longxing County]

'At the time, I didn't understand what this secret decree meant. However, after sorting out the National Academy's entire plan, it's not hard to grasp.'

'The wording to "support the civilian uprising" in the secret decree is completely opposite and conflicting with the National Academy's goal of "using the uprising to slaughter the black-headed commoners." From this, it is clear that the imperial court is not a monolithic entity. At the very least, the faction represented by the Imperial Tribute Hall is clearly opposed to the National Academy.'

With this thought in mind, Wang Ping made an immediate decision.

Head to the County Yamen!

Out of both reason and emotion, there was no way he could support the National Academy's deranged city-slaughtering plan. Therefore, the most urgent priority was to find Shenhou and Xugou immediately.

Based on what he had just seen, demons had already begun to wreak havoc inside Longxing County and devour the lifespans of the populace. This showed that the National Academy's plan was already in motion.

He had to stop all of this as quickly as possible.

Time does not wait for me!

With a thought from Wang Ping, the true body of the Six Desires Heavenly Demon King immediately stepped out of the flag. His figure then flickered as he swiftly darted in the direction of the Longxing County Yamen.

Very soon, he arrived at the secluded meditation room where he had died in his second-to-last life.

"No one has come in here..."

Wang Ping breathed a sigh of relief. If no one had seen his corpse from his life before last, then he could flawlessly stage a resurrection from the dead without worrying about being exposed.

The next second, he walked into the secret room.

'Next up is to temporarily possess my corpse, then go find Shenhou and Xugou. Since they dared to come to Longxing County, they should have some trump cards in their hands...'

As Wang Ping thought of this, he suddenly froze.

Following his gaze, he saw his corpse sitting upright in the center of the secret room. Everything below the neck was completely intact and lifelike, yet everything above the neck was empty.

"Where's my head?"

Before dying in that life, he should have reattached his head to his neck. Could it be that after seven days had passed, the head hadn't held steady and tumbled off again?

For a moment, Wang Ping grew a bit anxious. After all, he couldn't just possess a headless corpse and walk outside. But after looking around, he couldn't find the fallen head anywhere. Fortunately, right at that moment, another person inside the secret room strolled over amicably, holding a head by its hair. "Are you looking for this?"

"Yeah, yeah, thanks..."

His voice came to an abrupt halt.

In an instant, Wang Ping's pupils shrank to pinpricks. Reflected in his vision was a kindly old man dressed in white robes, a gentle smile traced upon his lips.

"My good disciple, so this is how you resurrect?"

A soft chuckle echoed in the quiet secret room. "Since you are reviving through the power of a divine armament, you should have destroyed your corpse and erased all traces after dying to leave no hidden dangers. Yet you chose to revisit this old place... You truly are too careless!"