Chapter 2068: Heavenly Secret

“What is this?” Xu Xiaoshou stared in bewilderment.

He had thought that with nowhere left to turn, Dao Qiongcang would reveal a final trump card. Perhaps it wouldn't be as potent as the Blood Demon Reversal Art, but surely he would show his hand. This was precisely why Xu Xiaoshou had deliberately held back from helping.

To his surprise, even on the brink of death, the flamboyant old Daoist priest’s trump card turned out to be a severed hand?

“Is there anything special about it...?”

From a distance, the severed hand appeared to have been cut cleanly at the wrist. Its long fingers were lightly curled as if poised to touch something, forever frozen in that state.

The frozen state completely dissolved as Dao Qiongcang reached his limit. The severed hand seemed to twitch.

The Sea of Memory unfolded beneath Dao Qiongcang’s feet, and visions began to rewind.

Soon, it traced back to the moment a Heavenly Secret Diviner was handing out flyers on the streets of the Southern Domain, and one landed on a certain sickly individual.

“Heavenly Secret Thirty-Six Forms: Grand Tracing Art!”

That was... At that instant, Xu Xiaoshou was deeply moved.

The sickly person in the vision—who else could it be but Bazun An?

Dao Qiongcang gripped the severed hand and flung it forward with all his might. In the fluctuating images of the Sea of Memory, that right hand, seen from a first-person perspective, moved further, heavily patting Bazun An’s shoulder.

History, it seemed, was rewritten in this instant. Bazun An, who had been walking normally on the street, paused slightly as his shoulder felt heavy, then slowly turned his head.

His gaze was cloudy, clearly still in the ‘Hidden Sword’ state. After turning around, he saw only emptiness; not a single reflection of a person appeared in his eyes.

Dao Qiongcang, now trapped in despair, stared intently into those cloudy, yellow eyes and screamed with all his might:“Bazun An!”“Moon Palace Slave is dead!”

That scream, from the last moments of life, carried immense penetrating power. The sound waves exploded, causing thousands of miles of land to crumble and shatter. The shout also stirred up colossal waves in the Sea of Memory, as if, in an instant, it had pierced from the present into past memories.

On the streets of the Southern Domain, Bazun An still saw nothing. Yet, his scalp tingled, and an expression of pain appeared on his face, as if his eardrums had been ruptured by the immense sound.

That ‘attack’ came without warning, nearly tearing him apart. And just as Bazun An’s form flickered and was about to dissipate on the Southern Domain street, the cloudiness in his eyes suddenly vanished, erupting into a brilliant light.

The Sea of Memory condensed into a beam of light. This light, guided by the severed hand’s impending touch and paved by the calling of Bazun An’s true name, instantly traced to Bazun An’s current location. It was similar to how the location of Su Yin's escape outside the Divine Ruins was traced to obtain the true source tablet: the ‘Dragon’ character.

From Dao Qiongcang, who was about to be completely controlled by Sheng Xin, it pierced into the fragmented currents, tore through the starry sky, and even countless hindering trans-dimensional spaces had no effect.

From this point in memory, it traveled to that point in memory.

“This location…” As Xu Xiaoshou’s consciousness traced the light of memory, his pupils contracted sharply.

When his name, Dao Changhe, became zero and transformed into a sea, the call to communicate with his past life actually received responses from two other individuals. One was Nuo Zu, whose hoarse, overlapping voice was highly distinguishable. The other was Bazun An, as at the level of a Zeroing Ancestral God, only Old Eight would still call out “Master Shou” and say “I am here.”

He had roughly memorized both locations, waiting to properly search for them later. He never imagined that Dao Qiongcang, with a single severed hand and a single call, could also pinpoint one of Bazun An’s locations? And with incredible precision! It even felt like a pinpoint sniper shot, hitting its mark with certainty!

“So Dao Qiongcang had a card hidden all along that could always bring Bazun An back?”

“In other words, he always had some degree of certainty about the outcome of the Ancestral God War. Even if the alliance on this side ultimately ended in my defeat, he could still use this to summon Bazun An back and survive?”

“Not through the Eight-Character Order, but through a hidden move unknown even to Demonic Medicine Su, or even me—the severed hand poised to touch Bazun An?”

Boom! With a tremendous shock, Zero’s Meteorite Sky Crystal body, devoid of all power, was shattered into smithereens.

Dao Qiongcang’s body, furthermore, was completely controlled by Sheng Xin from within, oozing extremely twisted black and red demonic power. He had no power to resist.

Under Sheng Xin's final possession, Dao Qiongcang completely failed in his resistance; in fact, he didn't put up much of a fight.

“Hee hee hee hee!” His eyes, now completely scarlet, no longer held any trace of his own spirit, instead reflecting Sheng Xin's arrogant self-satisfaction, and his mouth let out a wanton, smug sneer:

“The Sea of Memory?”“Black Memory Scars?”“They all belong to this Ancestor!”

He clenched his fists tightly, and faint spiritual light exploded around him. Sheng Xin, the remnant of the Sacred Dao, completely purged all traces of Dao Qiongcang's life from the body.

At this moment, he could feel the ‘might’ of this body. Setting aside the most fundamental, high-level body configurations crafted from the most unique crystal ores, or functions like catalytic transformation and restructuring.

The key was that Dao Qiongcang's body contained multiple self-contained crystal worlds. Each individual crystal world measured ten thousand zhang in length, width, and height. These individual crystal worlds, arranged ten thousand by ten thousand by ten thousand, formed a colossal crystal cube.

They were uniform in color, perfectly aligned, and fit together seamlessly, without any ‘deviation,’ like something an extreme obsessive-compulsive person would create.

“Magnificent!” Sheng Xin was utterly amazed. The trillions of Heavenly Secret worlds were incredibly vast.

Yet, in a ‘mustard seed containing Mount Sumeru’ fashion, they manifested externally as a tiny growth beneath the heart, constantly shifting positions within the body through random teleportation.

This prevented the possibility of accidental external attacks or targeted destruction. As long as Dao Qiongcang drew breath, the trillions of Heavenly Secret worlds could not be shattered.

“What exactly is hidden inside?” With such a terrifying number of Heavenly Secret worlds disguised and hidden in this manner, Sheng Xin would not believe for a second that there was nothing within.

Upon taking over the body, he immediately split off a portion of his consciousness and delved into the trillions of Heavenly Secret worlds.

“This…” The moment he clearly saw what was inside, Sheng Xin's mind was greatly shaken, unable to maintain composure.

Within each of those trillions of Heavenly Secret worlds lay a Heavenly Secret Brain, ten zhang in size, crafted from an unknown translucent white crystalline substance.

Surrounding each brain were Spirit Lacunae, serving as the power source for ‘calculation.’ Through the Heavenly Secret array patterns on the Heavenly Secret worlds, they communicated with the external spiritual energy of heaven and earth, replenishing any loss at all times.

One hundred million Spirit Crystals were equivalent to just one Spirit Lacuna. And here, Spirit Lacunae filled every space, dense and countless. To describe it as ‘rich enough to rival a nation’ was an understatement!

“I’m rich…!” Even as a Sacred Ancestor, Sheng Xin had never witnessed such an immense quantity of Spirit Lacunae.

He dared to assert that this could not possibly have been accumulated by one epoch or one generation; it must have been the clandestine effort of countless generations.

For Dao Qiongcang, this batch of Spirit Lacunae was something he absolutely could not touch, even in death. Because, in his world, ‘calculation’ was far more important than ‘combat.’ He could die, but he could not accept his brain ceasing to function.

But in Sheng Xin’s view, this batch of Spirit Lacunae was the ultimate reserve! He didn't need so much calculation; he only needed to detonate this batch of Spirit Lacunae, refine, and absorb the resulting spiritual energy.

Perhaps it wouldn't match the energy prepared by the Medicine Ancestor for ascending to the New Heavenly Realm, but surely it would be at least one-tenth of that?

And if he could just recover thirty or fifty percent of his state... Even if he couldn't defeat Xu Xiaoshou, couldn't he still escape?

Compared to the Dao of Sacred Demons, Reincarnation, or Space-Time, whether for combat or trickery, their life-saving power ultimately paled in comparison to the Dao of Memory. Through the Dao of Memory, he could erase his own existence from Xu Xiaoshou's memories, a form of disguised hiding, and then escape.

Even with Xu Xiaoshou's Sea of Intent Dao, what could he use to pursue? Just how powerful the ‘concealment’ of the Dao of Memory was could be glimpsed from the fact that the Dao Ancestor had hidden his memories for a full ten Ancestral God eras without being discovered.

This windfall was enough to extend his life by half!

“Dao Qiongcang, if I had known you were so wealthy, this Ancestor should have possessed you earlier…”

Sheng Xin regretted not making Dao Qiongcang his primary target from the start. If his choice had been different back then, if he had first seized the Dao of Memory, combining it with his Divine Demon Dao Sea and the Blood Demon Reversal Art, even if the Dao of Shennong's Hundred Herbs Life and Reincarnation were all given to Xu Xiaoshou, what kind of waves could that child possibly stir up?

Alas... One wrong step leads to a series of wrong steps. And in this world, there is no medicine for regret.

But it was enough. Obtaining Dao Qiongcang's final reserves at the last moment was like finding light in the darkest hour of an arduous journey. His resurgence was just around the corner!

“Xu Xiaoshou, in this round, this Ancestor has ultimately won!” Sheng Xin cackled as he withdrew his consciousness, about to look towards Xu Xiaoshou on Crane Pavilion Mountain, whose state was completely depleted, to mock him wantonly.

However, when his consciousness returned to reality and he clearly saw the external world, the fervent excitement of becoming rich overnight was like being doused with a bucket of cold water.

“What... is this…?” The Sea of Memory beneath his feet had transformed into a beam of light.

That light, in its tracing manner, wound its way endlessly through space and time. To the naked eye, its end was nowhere in sight.

But after taking over Dao Qiongcang's body, reading through the external visual memories he couldn't see during his possession, and then realizing what the ‘Grand Tracing Art’ truly intended... Sheng Xin was suddenly chilled to the bone, every hair on his body stood on end in fright, and his mind was violently shaken:

“Ba…” The Grand Tracing Art’s light of memory instantly straightened.

It was as if two points had completely connected, pulling the distance into the shortest possible straight line. From the previously indiscernible end point beyond the immeasurable expanse of space and time, a dazzling white light suddenly appeared, seemingly stepping out in white robes.

The white robes were tattered, and long hair hung loose. The figure flickered, ephemeral as dust.

With a single glance, Sheng Xin felt a chill pierce him to the marrow, almost losing the ability to think.

“Ba…” The person seemed to have just completed a journey of time and space, forgetting time itself, emanating an aura of profound age and experience.

He couldn't discern the person's appearance at all, yet in their hand was a highly distinctive... no, half of a broken sword!

Sheng Xin’s pupils dilated, and he finally cried out in disbelief: “Bazun An?!”

At the end of space and time, the figure in white robes suddenly lifted his gaze. In Sheng Xin's eyes, a brilliant silver-white sword intent instantly appeared, accompanied by a terrifying tearing sensation that seemed to rip him apart from the inside out.

“Get lost!!!” Sheng Xin was truly startled, even terrified.

He had thought that after possessing Dao Qiongcang, he would only need to face Xu Xiaoshou, whose state had plummeted, and thus, he would still have a chance to escape.

How could this be...? How could *that* person be targeting him?!

“Break!” Sheng Xin vibrated with all his might, directly severing the light of memory condensed by the Tracing Art.

With a wave of his hand, he blasted the severed hand—which had been flung forward, touched the void, and was suspended there—into dust.

“Go away, go away, go away!”“Don’t come closer! Grand Knowledge Art!”

Having only just managed to digest a portion of the Dao of Memory and just read about the Grand Knowledge Art, Sheng Xin activated the technique without hesitation.

Into the shattered currents of space-time, the countless dimensions pierced by the light of memory, he stuffed the path leading to Bazun An with meaningless junk memories.

He intended to prevent Bazun An's arrival, creating layer after layer of obstacles on his homeward path, thus buying time to completely close the door of the homeward path that had just been opened.

“Forbidden Art: Split-Space Misdirection!” Sheng Xin seemed to have been afflicted with a ‘sensitive skin’ from another world; after just a glance at Bazun An, he didn't even have time to detonate the Spirit Lacunae within the trillions of Heavenly Secret worlds, focusing solely on closing the door first.

As the art was unleashed, the opened passage before him warped with various spatial displacements, as if colossal boulders had been borrowed from elsewhere and crammed onto the path, blocking it so tightly that not a single gap remained for analysis.

But... something terrifying emerged!

“Beep, beep, beep!”“Warning! Warning! Warning!”“Danger! Red line triggered, lock-on detected! Automatically deploying Grand Misconception Art, attempting to break lock, lock breaking in progress, countdown: three, two, one… Lock break failed!”

“Danger! White robes, broken sword, sword intent and sword self detected! Preliminary judgment: Bazun An. Hostility analysis in progress... Beep, beep, beep! Parallel connection warning: ‘Bazun An,’ ‘hostility.’ No analysis required. Triggering sole option: Flee! Please self-detonate first!”

“Danger! Please self-detonate first. Post-self-detonation self-preservation plans are being deduced, a total of thirty-six thousand four hundred twenty-three methods. Searching for the most suitable self-preservation method… Beep, beep, beep! Please self-detonate first! Warning! You have no time for independent thought. Please self-detonate first!”

“Danger! Lock-on confirmed, no path for self-detonation! The thirty-six thousand four hundred twenty-three self-preservation methods against Bazun An have failed! Automatically engaging Grand Forgetting Art. Deducing whether the Sword Self Zeroing Bazun An can counter memory forgetting guidance. Please relocate first. Recommend immediate use of Grand Diversion Art!”

“Danger! Opportunity to use Grand Diversion Art missed! Direct confrontation and roundabout escape routes have all failed! Entering emotional deduction phase. External aura automatically suppressed, disguised as ‘Pathetic Dao Qiongcang’ form. Recommend using ‘Moon Palace Slave’ to open Bazun An’s emotional connection, playing the sympathy card first. Please speak immediately, state true or false information related to ‘having protected Moon Palace Slave’… Please speak! Please speak! Warning! Please speak immediately!”

“Danger! Please actively use ‘Shou Divine Descent Art’ to summon Xu Xiaoshou through the Black Memory Scar imprint, temporarily stabilizing Bazun An. Deducing risks of Shou Divine Descent Art… Deduction successful. Ten thousand thirty-two fall-level risks, six severe injury-level risks, which are…”

“Danger! Please self-detonate first!”“Danger! Please speak first!”“Danger! Please summon Xu Xiaoshou!”“Danger!...”

“Aarghh—!” Sheng Xin had merely severed the Grand Tracing Art, cut off the light of memory, and used the Split-Space Misdirection art when his brain suddenly swelled, and he clutched his head in agony.

His eyeballs bulged, veins popped on his forehead, and his entire head felt as if it were about to explode. The agony was unbearable.

What is this!? What exactly are all these ‘Dangers’? Are they a hidden move left by Dao Qiongcang?

Sheng Xin's consciousness, connected to the trillions of Heavenly Secret worlds, clearly saw all the Heavenly Secret Brains instantly light up with a red glow, signaling danger.

Then, hundreds of millions of pieces of information surged out simultaneously. Who could withstand such an onslaught without preparation?

It was even more terrifying than the Grand Knowledge Art! The Grand Knowledge Art merely filled the mind with unconscious junk memories.

But every message from these trillions of Heavenly Secret Brains was ‘accurate,’ making one instinctively want to try them. Yet, before he could even try, he was interrupted by the next message, and the one after that. The result was Sheng Xin freezing in place, as if completely subdued by the most powerful control art.

Motionless, for a full three breaths of time!

“Shut up!”“All of you, shut up!”

In that instant, Sheng Xin suddenly realized he wasn't a Zeroing Ancestral God, but a plain, ordinary person.

Any normal person, regardless of who took over Dao Qiongcang's body, could theoretically receive and process trillions of pieces of information simultaneously.

But who could adapt to that? Dao Qiongcang’s powerful computational ability told Sheng Xin that self-detonation, showing weakness, the Shou Divine Descent Art, or any other option, were all correct. He simply needed to choose one; if he missed one, he could use another, no need to fear Bazun An.

However, Sheng Xin's own subjective will instinctively weighed the cost: self-detonation meant losing his Spirit Lacunae; speaking weakly using Moon Palace Slave was beneath his noble Sheng Xin identity; and the taste of the Shou Divine Descent Art was something Sheng Xin absolutely did not want to experience again.

Though he possessed trillions of units of instantaneous processing power, he couldn't adapt to it from the bottom of his heart. Consequently, he couldn't fully entrust his life and death to that trillion-level computational power to accurately deliver calculation results immediately.

Dao Qiongcang’s thinking and combat patterns were fundamentally at odds with those of normal people, such as Demonic Medicine Su or Jianlong Zhantian.

He’s inhuman! Dao Qiongcang, you’ve ruined me!

Sheng Xin felt that during those three seconds of mental blankness, let alone Bazun An, Xu Xiaoshou would have had enough time to crawl up from Crane Pavilion Mountain and hack him to death with Cang Ku eighty thousand times over.

No! Xu Xiaoshou's brain was similarly swollen, his eyes bloodshot, and he writhed on the ground in agony, clutching his forehead.

It seemed he had done something he shouldn’t have—through a kind of mind-reading ability, he had read the thoughts of Sheng Xin, who had just taken over Dao Qiongcang’s body, and hadn’t actively hidden the trillions of calculation processes… the thoughts?

“Aarghh—!” Crane Pavilion Mountain also echoed with cries of frantic pain.

Xu Xiaoshou frothed at the mouth, his entire being seemingly overwhelmed and broken. Finally, amidst the vast sea of thoughts, he found his own ‘sever consciousness deprivation’ thought, and after half a breath, he let out a thunderous curse:

“Damn it!!!”

One body, possessed, rigidly controlled two Zeroing Ancestral Gods.

An opportunity! Sheng Xin chose not to trust the trillion-level Heavenly Secret calculation results. No normal person, after possessing this Heavenly Secret body, could possibly trust this pile of Dao treasures, which were a hot potato to him.

Sheng Xin chose to believe in himself. He wouldn't self-detonate, wouldn't speak weakly, and certainly wouldn't summon Xu Xiaoshou. Instead, he turned and employed the most primitive method: running!

“Forbidden Art: Spirit Sacrifice Forbidden Escape!”“Beep, beep, beep!”“Warning! Warning! Warning!”“Please immediately interrupt ‘Spirit Sacrifice Forbidden Escape.’ Deduction result for escape possibility: zero!”“Danger!...”

“Danger, my ass!”“Shut up!” Sheng Xin consciously tried to shut down the trillions of Heavenly Secret Brains.

However, these things had pre-set programs—any attempt, whether active or forced, to shut down the calculation process and results was deemed a ‘guided’ action. The answer was: he couldn't shut them down! Because Dao Qiongcang himself would never do something that sealed his own retreat!

“Aarghh—!” Sheng Xin was going mad; he had once again been stalled by his own actions.

The Spirit Sacrifice Forbidden Escape had initially allowed him to flee from the Sacred God Continent into the starry sky. Sheng Xin's original intention was to escape into the starry sky, then use the Dao of Space-Time and Reincarnation to randomly hide in another dimension, one that Xu Xiaoshou would take considerable time to locate.

This stall, however, stopped him right at the entrance of the Sacred God Continent.

“Boom!” A sword light rose vertically.

Bazun An's gaze, cast from across countless dimensions, transformed all things into sword qi, holding Sheng Xin suspended firmly in the starry sky.

Impossible! The path was already blocked, the door already closed! Even if it was Bazun An, how could he possibly find the homeward path, the enemy-locking door?

His consciousness swept backward, and a chill ran down Sheng Xin’s spine.

Between him and Bazun An, along the passage spanning countless dimensions, countless radiant doors, brimming with Dao rhythm, had opened at some unknown point.

“Doors?” Those weren't ordinary doors; they were Profound Mystery Gates!

The Profound Mystery Gates were connected by sword intent: some illusory, some myriad, some formless, some heartfelt, some ghostly, some hidden, some emotional. They carved the long, endless distances of space and time into multiple interconnected passages.

Bazun An, from behind the furthest gate, holding Qing Ju, stepped forward. The surging sword intent then passed from gate to gate, instantly reaching the nearest Profound Mystery Gate before Sheng Xin's face, where it condensed into a tall, ethereal white-robed figure.

Don't! Come! Closer! The figure was too faint, clearly not real. Could this faint figure, transmitted from beyond endless space and time, be Bazun An’s limit?

Sheng Xin was certain, beyond a shadow of a doubt, that this was just the beginning, not the end!

Indeed, as the myriad Profound Gates interconnected, what was transmitted was not only Bazun An's sword-self, dulled by the immense distance, but also a soft, judgmental hum as the broken sword was raised vertically:

“The Dao also comes in dreams…”

Don't! Come! Closer! Shut up! Shut up! Shut up! Sheng Xin, the remnant of the Sacred Dao, seemed to have had a sensitive memory triggered.

He was utterly terrified of swords, sword light, and sword verses. At this moment, he wished he could escape from Dao Qiongcang's body.

But if he detached, there would truly only be one path: waiting for death. Bazun An might not be able to kill him, but if Xu Xiaoshou pursued him afterward, what would he use to retaliate?

Nowhere to advance, nowhere to retreat! No, there was a path… Those trillions of Heavenly Secret Brains were his last path to survival!

In this instant, Sheng Xin accepted Dao Qiongcang’s computational and combat methods. He had misunderstood. You were actually right.

Indeed, when facing Bazun An, there were truly only indirect self-preservation methods like self-detonation, showing weakness, or summoning Xu Xiaoshou. Simply running had a zero percent chance of success.

“Speak!” Sheng Xin connected his consciousness to the trillions of Heavenly Secret worlds, desperately seeking a final answer.

They could provide ten thousand answers in an instant. He only needed to cut through his indecision, not hesitate, and directly choose the first self-preservation plan he heard, even if it was mediocre; at least it would save his life.

Dao Qiongcang’s ‘might’—Sheng Xin affirmed it!

But… “Beep!” This time, as he looked, the red light from the trillions of Heavenly Secret Brains suddenly vanished, as if the crisis had been averted. They only emitted a collective faint ‘beep.’

Before Sheng Xin could feel any joy, he heard the final verdict simultaneously proclaimed by the trillions of Heavenly Secret Brains:“Bazun An, Qing Ju, and sword verse have appeared. Hostility detected: one hundred percent. Self-preservation possibility: zero.”“Searching for a suitable successor for the next three generations. No normally surviving population detected on the Sacred God Continent. Search concluded. Result: None.”“Our condolences.”

No—! Sheng Xin went utterly insane.

For some reason, his ears suddenly went deaf; he could no longer hear the chanting of the sword verses from outside.

He unleashed his rage upon the Heavenly Secret Brains, desperately trying to make them pull themselves together, not give up, not offer condolences. He insisted they still had a chance, that united, they were definitely stronger than Bazun An.

Sheng Xin even used Dao Qiongcang’s seemingly ridiculous encouragement to rouse the Heavenly Secret Brains.

But the trillions of Heavenly Secret Brains had all turned gray, ceasing their never-ending, frantic calculations, and instead played a childish voice, likely pre-recorded.

—Even for the end of life, this inhuman entity seemed to have prepared, making it remarkably romantic and ritualistic:

“Our companionship ends here; tomorrow will still be splendid.”“Smile at life; together, embrace the sea.”