Chapter 83: Walking on Thin Ice

At this moment, Wang Ping could no longer find the words to describe the sight before him.

Even though his consciousness had long since escaped into the Taiping Sutra and the Outer Heavenly Demon's cooldown had ended, meaning he should have been in the safest place imaginable—

—he still felt terrified.

Looking into the distance, that towering youth's face resembled a sacred immortal or deity from the highest heavens. The Mortals on the ground could not even bear to look directly at his full form.

What was even more terrifying than the youth's face was the faintly discernible halo hanging high behind it. Three colors interwoven within it surged with endless, heart-palpitating might. That was the true terror. The mighty power displayed by the youth's face was merely the tip of the iceberg!

The youth's face did not speak. It merely looked down over the mountains, its eyes—resembling the sun and moon—taking in the entirety of Longxing County with a calm, indifferent glance.

An instant later, the radiance dimmed.

As if it had all been an illusion, the youth's face rapidly faded away. The scattered clouds gathered once more, and all the brilliant light vanished without a trace.

Throughout this entire process, no one noticed anything amiss.

The moment the youth's face appeared, everyone—including Shenhou, Xugou, and the countless Mortals in Longxing County—had been unable to control themselves, instinctively kowtowing to the ground.

Thus, other than Wang Ping, no one had actually seen the youth's face. Now that it was gone, they simply lifted their heads in bewilderment, having no idea why they had just bowed. Only Shenhou and Xugou, whose martial arts were the highest, had blood streaming from their seven orifices down their horrified faces.

They had not seen the youth's face either.

Yet their Divine Intent had sensed the crisis brought by its appearance... even this formless sensation, which could not even be considered an indirect glimpse, was enough to make them bleed from their orifices.

Wang Ping had no doubt that if the youth's face had added even a fraction more "weight" to its gaze, Shenhou and Xugou would have died on the spot!

That begged the question.

'Why didn't he do it?'

At the Immortal Gate, before the Eight Trigrams Furnace.

The spell battle between You Xuexin and Lian Shengyue, two Immortal Gate True Transmissions, had long since ceased. Daoist Xuanhe, who was responsible for standing guard, had dropped directly to his knees.

Standing between them was a youth wearing a Fish-Tail Crown and black-and-white Daoist robes, holding a whisk. He calmly observed the Eight Trigrams Furnace right in front of him. A majestic auspicious cloud above his head slowly rotated, its energy surging and ebbing like a tide, as if resonating with the entire universe.

A moment later, the youth spoke. His voice defied physical laws, echoing directly in the ears of the three people. "Rise."

"That little thief has already left. I have examined your Six Desires Heavenly Demon Flag. The artifact spirit is fine... the backlash against its master was likely that little thief's doing."

After saying this, the youth sighed with some admiration. "No wonder I couldn't find a trace of him in any of the grotto-heavens or blessed lands inside or outside the Immortal Gate. So he hid inside the Eight Trigrams Furnace. He does have some nerve. Currently, his cultivation should be at the Tribulation Transcending Third Layer, and he is undergoing his fate tribulation. You two have shallow cultivation; falling prey to his schemes is only natural."

Thud!

Even though the youth's words sounded reassuring, neither You Xuexin nor Lian Shengyue dared to relax in the slightest. They immediately knelt and kowtowed heavily. "We have ruined Master's grand plans. Please punish us, Master!"

Seeing this, the youth made no move to stop them.

After an unknown amount of time, the youth's voice finally rang out again. "Enough. It was my own impatience as well. I did not wait for the two of you to cross your heavenly tribulations..."

"Go back and enter secluded cultivation."

"I will prepare all the necessary external resources for you. Wait until you cross your heavenly tribulations and cultivate Divine Powers before coming out. That way, you will still make it in time for the Immortal-Brahma Sword Battle in ten years."

"When the time comes, you will naturally have the chance to redeem yourselves."

"Now, step down."

You Xuexin and Lian Shengyue dared not disobey, and Daoist Xuanhe even less so. He immediately kowtowed in gratitude before summoning his flying boat and departing.

Lian Shengyue followed closely behind.

As for You Xuexin, she hesitated for a moment before gritting her teeth and asking softly, "Master, how should my Six Desires Heavenly Demon Flag... be handled?"

"Leave it,"

the youth said absentmindedly. "That artifact is already half-ruined and is no longer fit for use. Just leave it in the Eight Trigrams Furnace to serve as nourishment for the other Dharma treasures."

"Making full use of its materials will save it from going to waste."

"Master is wise."

Hearing this, You Xuexin dared not object. She could only cup her hands in agreement. Immediately after, she also activated a flying boat, riding a streak of divine light as she rapidly vanished into the depths of the universe.

Only the youth remained in place.

In the dark universe, the youth stared silently at the Eight Trigrams Furnace below, which was as majestic as a star. After a long while, he shook his head with a deep sigh. "So many years have passed."

"The Eight Trigrams Furnace, the Divine Farmer Cauldron, and the God-Conferring Platform are still the same as always. Stubborn and refusing to submit. Sure enough, an insect with a hundred legs does not stiffen even when dead..."

Before his words finished echoing, the youth vanished without a trace.

The instant the youth left and the auspicious cloud above his head disappeared, the lingering echoes of his sigh were instantly snuffed out, returning the universe to absolute tranquility.

Inside the Taiping Sutra's space.

Wang Ping lay spread-eagle on the ground, looking entirely resigned to his fate. He felt the violent beating of his heart gradually return to a steady rhythm.

'Thank goodness. Thank goodness.'

Wang Ping's heart was full of relief. After the youth's face vanished, no giant hand had descended from the heavens to smash Longxing County to ash.

This proved one thing.

'There's still a sliver of hope after all!'

'At the very least, it is genuinely difficult for mighty figures at the level of an Immortal Gate Qi Refining practitioner to interfere with the mortal realm. There must be some kind of extremely harsh restriction in the unseen world!'

'Otherwise, why would that Qi Refining practitioner leave? Couldn't he just use the same terrifying Divine Power that rewinds time—the one he used when he saved Daoist Nun You—to drag the fleeing Heaven-Stealing Thief back? But from beginning to end, he just watched. He didn't show a hint of the mighty power I saw before.'

'Is it because he didn't want to?'

'Impossible!'

'The entire layout in Longxing County was destroyed, and not a single life-extending pill or Dharma treasure was obtained. If it were me, I would have hunted down the mastermind behind the scenes no matter the cost!'

'The only possibility is that he couldn't do it!'

He had to admit that this was incredibly good news. After all, if Qi Refining practitioners could freely interfere with the mortal world, Wang Ping had absolutely no idea how he could fight back.

Only after a long while did Wang Ping finally recover from the shock of the high-tier game the Immortal Gate's Qi Refining practitioner had shown him. But then, his expression grew even more pained.

Because aside from the Immortal Gate's Qi Refining practitioner, he had another problem.

And this problem might be even bigger.

Wang Ping calmed his heart and focused his mind. Soon, he dug out a radiant talisman from the depths of his memory. Engraved clearly upon it were three words:

[Time-Stealing Thief]!

It was an immortal method of the same series as the Life-Stealing Thief, a remnant volume of the Five Thieves Stealing Heaven Method. The Heaven-Stealing Thief had handed it over to him to act as a scapegoat before fleeing.

But that wasn't the key issue.

The key issue was that while passing this Time-Stealing Thief technique to him, the Heaven-Stealing Thief had also cast the immortal art to steal seven days of time out of thin air!

'That's why the Outer Heavenly Demon, which had just entered its cooldown state, suddenly recovered. Otherwise, in my condition at the time, without the Outer Heavenly Demon as an escape route, that Immortal Gate Qi Refining practitioner absolutely would have noticed the anomaly. I would have been grabbed and instantly refined, without even a chance to run...'

Strictly speaking, the Heaven-Stealing Thief had saved his life.

That begged the question.

'Did he do it on purpose, or was it an accident?'

Wang Ping grimaced, immediately discarding the wishful thought of it being an accident. 'He did it on purpose. He knew that by doing this, I would be able to resurrect!'

'The effects of the Outer Heavenly Demon have been exposed!'

'Is it because I obtained the Life-Stealing Thief? I got this immortal method in the Immortal Gate and brought it back to Great Shun... Did that draw his attention?'

'How long has he been watching me?'

'He and Shouchong are obviously on the same side. With his deliberate attention, I'm afraid he has thoroughly figured out all the effects of the Outer Heavenly Demon!'

The more Wang Ping thought about it, the more terrified he became. He felt his scalp go numb.

'Sigh, when it comes down to it, my cheat just isn't working hard enough. Why can't you rewind time? If you could, why would I be in such distress!'

But since the Outer Heavenly Demon was already exposed, why hadn't the Heaven-Stealing Thief come and snatched it?

'Could it be... he looks down on it?'

Wang Ping rubbed his chin. 'That's true. The Outer Heavenly Demon is a cheat for me, but to the Heaven-Stealing Thief, all of its functions are actually quite useless to him.'

However, that only applied to the Outer Heavenly Demon.

'The Outer Heavenly Demon might be useless to him, but the Taiping Sutra is different. Given enough time, the more scripture scrolls there are, the higher my aptitude will become!'

Of course, thinking about the worst-case scenario...

Perhaps the Heaven-Stealing Thief had also discovered this and was intentionally keeping him alive to upgrade the Taiping Sutra for him, wanting to first squeeze dry his value as human livestock.

'...Sigh.'

After pondering for a long time but failing to figure it out, Wang Ping sighed helplessly. He gave up on needlessly worrying and stopped trying to guess the Heaven-Stealing Thief's intentions.

Regardless, he had survived this time.

Then he would just keep moving forward.

After all, at this point, it was impossible for Wang Ping to simply stand still. Even if this was truly a sugar-coated cannonball, he would eat the sugar coating first.

As for whether the cannonball would explode, he would worry about that after finishing the sugar coating.

Besides, with the Taiping Sutra's abilities, if a perfect scripture scroll was generated, he might even be able to finish the sugar coating and throw the cannonball back!

'My whole life has been like walking on thin ice... I don't even know if I'll be able to reach the opposite shore...'

Gathering his emotions, Wang Ping stood once again before the towering tome.

The tome opened, its boundless light condensing into text:

[Current Identity: Six Desires Heavenly Demon King]

[Current Fortune: 53 (Imperial Shrine Consecrator Candidate)]

[Consume fortune to exchange for a new identity?]

"Yes."

Wang Ping nodded decisively. After the incident in Longxing County, the Six Desires Heavenly Demon King account was already known in high-tier matches; it was truly inappropriate to keep using it.

Besides, thinking carefully about it, during this Longxing County incident, he had even developed a ridiculous move like the Sub-light Speed Slash, yet he still hadn't won.

'How can anyone play a game like this?'

'I'd be better off starting an alt account early to go wreck noobs.'

Immediately afterward, as the brilliance on the scripture scroll continuously swirled, a full fifty-three points of fortune were poured in. Finally, it locked onto an identity.

A brand-new identity. It was no longer the [Bailiff], and even the color had changed to cyan.

And this time, it wasn't an official position.

[Shuzhong Great Hero (Cyan Scholar)]

[As a Gold-Bearing Brocade Guard, to save the black-headed commoners, you opened the granaries to distribute grain. This righteous act has made your name resound throughout Shuzhong's greenwood, where they universally revere you as the Shuzhong Rebel King.]

Wang Ping: "...???"