Chapter 679: Ao Hong's Idea

She paused for a moment before continuing, “Those meteorites drifted here from other parts of space. Our own cosmos seems to have some kind of gravitational pull, drawing in matter from other regions. The things from beyond are just one part of it.”

Wang Ping nodded thoughtfully and asked, “Is outer space just darkness?”

Buqiong studied Wang Ping for a moment before answering, “Occasionally, you can see some stars twinkling. I know what you’re thinking. Those stars might be part of other cosmoses, just like our own. But we lack the ability to investigate them. We can’t even penetrate the invisible tension at the edge of our cosmos!”

“Most of those things from beyond are also blocked by that invisible tension…” She stopped, then sighed. “We have many theories, but it’s all useless, because they can only be theories. Fellow Daoist, if you’re interested, you can take some time to go to the edge of our cosmos and see for yourself.”

Wang Ping nodded and cupped his fists. “Thank you for clearing up my confusion, Fellow Daoist!”

“You’re too kind, Fellow Daoist. Until we meet again!”

Buqiong gave a small bow with cupped fists to Wang Ping and Ao Hong, then transformed into a dark stream of light that merged with the atmosphere, vanishing without a trace in the blink of an eye.

Ao Hong looked at Wang Ping with a chuckle. “My place, or your Dao Field?”

“Let’s go to my Dao Field.”

Wang Ping said, his gaze fixed on the sun emerging over the planet’s horizon, its rays washing over him.

The two of them then silently slipped into the atmosphere, landing moments later on the edge of the gardens at the Mountain Peak Dao Field. By now, the sky had completely brightened.

“The Zhongzhou Continent is still the best!”

Ao Hong walked to the cliff’s edge, gazing out at the beautiful mountain ranges of Qianmu Temple and listening to the cheerful laughter of the disciples in the square below.

Wang Ping joined Ao Hong, looking at the vibrant, colorful world before them. The contrast with the world of outer space was stark.

“I’m going down to take a look!”

Yu Lian, having sensed Shen Xiaozhu’s presence, called out to Wang Ping before transforming into a streak of light and flying toward the square at the foot of the mountain.

Wang Ping watched Yu Lian’s departing figure and said, “Alright, Fellow Daoist, can you tell me what’s on your mind now?”

“Heh heh…”

Ao Hong smiled and asked, “Fellow Daoist, you’ve been through the second-seat conference and taken a trip to the moon. What do you think is the main conflict in the Cultivation Realm today?”

“Conflict?”

“Yes, conflict. Every organization has conflicts. The very reason they established the Daoist Palace was to resolve a certain degree of conflict, but some conflicts can never be eliminated.”

Ao Hong looked up at the sky. “Since the day I was born, I’ve known of the True Monarchs’ existence, known that they rule this world. Back then, I only saw them as the goal of my cultivation. Now, they seem to have become an obstacle to it.”

After saying this, he looked at Wang Ping, who remained silent as if he hadn’t heard a word.

“Xiao Shan Lord is the best example. Who do you think pushed for his promotion? You should already have an answer in your heart. That’s right, it was True Monarch Yuan Wu. He’s a very contradictory person. See, by pushing for Xiao Shan Lord’s promotion, he was clearly shaking the positions of the other True Monarchs. And yet, he’s also their agent in this world!”

Ao Hong’s tone was strange. It seemed that in his eyes, only the Fifth Realm Cultivators of the Mystic Sect and the Heavenly Gate were worthy of being called True Monarchs. Others, like True Monarch Yuan Wu, were not.

Wang Ping could only remain silent in the face of Ao Hong’s words, as he didn’t have a figure like the Dragon Monarch watching over him.

Ao Hong also fell silent.

The two silently watched the dueling platform in the square below. At this moment, a Qi Cultivator from the True Yang Sect was defending the stage. He had already defeated several challengers in a row, earning cheers from the nearby Cultivators. He was clearly pleased with himself, basking in the crowd’s adulation while taunting the other Qi Cultivators.

Ao Hong’s attention seemed to be completely focused on the True Yang Sect’s Qi Cultivator. When another Qi Cultivator took the stage to challenge him, Ao Hong said with a smile, “I like that dauntless spirit he just showed.”

He turned to look at Wang Ping. “You lack that kind of spirit!”

Wang Ping was noncommittal. ‘It’s not that I lack that kind of spirit,’ he thought, ‘but the path ahead has to be clear. Otherwise, I’d rather wait a little longer.’

“You don’t seem to think much of my assessment.” Ao Hong seemed to see right through Wang Ping’s thoughts and said with a laugh, “Being dauntless means forging ahead even when there’s no path, not waiting for a path to appear before you press on.”

Hearing this, Wang Ping turned to look at Ao Hong. Their eyes met as he said, “Your plan is to forge a path of your own?”

Ao Hong was taken aback for a moment, then burst out laughing. “You should understand what I mean. Why quibble over words? All schemes, all calculations in this world must align with the grand tide of events. Just like with Xiao Shan Lord’s promotion. Everything he did beforehand was in line with the grand tide, but at the very end, for some reason…”

He shook his head. “There’s no point in talking too much about that. Let’s talk about what we need to deal with right now…” He walked into the nearby pavilion, casually picked up a black Go stone and placed it on the board. “Another jar of that good wine of yours.”

Wang Ping didn’t speak. He formed a Spell with his left hand, and a few breaths later, a branch from a Spirit Wood Tree wrapped around a jar of yellow wine and placed it on the Stone Table in the middle of the pavilion.

“The greatest conflict in the Cultivation Realm right now isn’t these minor squabbles on the Zhongzhou Continent. It’s the attitude toward confronting the things from beyond. The Star God Alliance has only been fighting them for a little over seven thousand years. I suspect the True Monarchs initially wanted to achieve some goal by clearing out these things from beyond. But in the blink of an eye, seven thousand years have passed, and nothing in this world has changed. Their hypothesis, or perhaps their experiment, seems to have failed.”

As Ao Hong broke the seal on the wine jar, he spoke quickly, “If nothing has changed, a change must be made. Some people want change, while others are very stubborn. Of course, most people are simply indifferent. They’ve lived for too long, so long that they’ve lost interest in most things.”

“Mmm, good wine!”

After his praise, he looked at Wang Ping and urged, “It’s your move.”

Wang Ping picked up a white stone and placed it on the board. He then took the cup of wine Ao Hong had poured for him and downed it in one gulp. His yellow wine was brewed from the finest glutinous rice and aged for over a century. It had an indescribable creamy aroma and a captivating sweetness.

“This trip to the moon showed me just how deep their conflicts run. Take Fellow Daoist Buqiong, for example. She seems to be the biggest defender of tradition, yet she intentionally or unintentionally reveals her dissatisfaction with the status quo. She defends tradition because she’s a beneficiary of it, but her own path has reached its end. That’s the source of her dissatisfaction.”

“Then there’s that defector, Wei Kong. He represents the most common sentiment among the lower-level Cultivators in the Star God Alliance. Otherwise, do you think he could have traveled so unimpeded through the Transfer Array to the vicinity of the moon? If he hadn’t tried to destroy the Transfer Array later, he might still be secretly protected by certain people right now!”

Ao Hong picked up a black stone, placed it quickly, and then stared at Wang Ping. “True Monarch Yuan Wu wants to use us as pawns. Why do you think he’s trying to coax those old seniors out of seclusion? He looks so righteous, but he’s utterly vile on the inside!”

Wang Ping had long harbored similar suspicions. After attending the second-seat conference and then journeying to the moon, his suspicions had only grown. Now, Ao Hong had laid them bare.

‘True Monarch Yuan Wu’s goal isn’t to resolve conflicts, but to intensify them, maybe even create more!’

Of course, Wang Ping wouldn’t say this out loud. Besides, he was still only scratching the surface. The reality of the situation might not be what he suspected.

Seeing Wang Ping’s lack of reaction, Ao Hong picked up his wine cup, changed the subject, and said with a smile, “We can’t control what True Monarch Yuan Wu thinks or does. In fact, not only can we not control it, we have to do a beautiful job for him. And we can’t get involved in this matter ourselves—at most, we can be spectators. We just need to remember one thing: in this affair, we are all pawns. Pawns who just follow orders!”

The man seemed so forthright, yet his words were dizzyingly convoluted.

Wang Ping followed by placing a stone. He seemed completely unconcerned with their topic of conversation, waiting quietly for Ao Hong to state his true intentions.

“You and I are newcomers to the Daoist Palace. Since they want to use us as pawns, we can’t let them make a joke out of us.” After saying this, Ao Hong took out a soundproofing array and activated it. He then lowered his voice and said, “What about the Yuqing Sect?”

At these words, Wang Ping looked up at Ao Hong. He knew what Ao Hong meant: they would start by making an example of the old seniors from the Yuqing Sect!