The peerless black hand that covers the sky

Chapter 1058 Heavenly Emperor, I beg you, please stop investigating!

"Heavenly Emperor, I beg you, please stop investigating the 'fate master'! Don't we, who have personally experienced it, know whether he did something bad?"
—I've cultivated for thousands of years, and in my pursuit of progress, I've spent all the savings left by my ancestors for eighteen generations. I was almost about to become a mining slave, the vessel for the Mother Gold Talisman... Now, I've finally found a simple and quick path to advancement, but you all insist on calling it a "pitfall"...

—I don't want to be stuck at this level for the rest of my life, I want to improve!

—Heavenly Emperor, you can't just say "the fate of all beings is in their own hands" when you were promoting the Mother Golden Talisman back then!

—Even the Mother Golden Talisman can undergo a complete transformation, eventually becoming the "Golden Elixir Method," dazzling the world, illuminating eternity, and becoming a path to heaven.

—How can we be sure that the memory of the "Nine Springs" will not lead to a qualitative change and turn harm into benefit?
—Perhaps, it is to transform the fragments of personality hidden in the memories of others into nourishment to cultivate the strongest self-will; or perhaps it is to use it as a means of drawing inferences from one instance to another, to walk a path similar to "other-ization"—this person has grown other personalities, isn't this "other-ization" thorough enough?

There is always a way out!

Just as there is no invincible method, only invincible people.

There are no absolutely unacceptable methods, after all, they all explain the fundamental principles of the universe!

Even if someone seems utterly evil, there's always a chance they can cleanse themselves of their sins and come back to the right path... though that might be difficult, almost impossible.

But turning the impossible into the possible is the true meaning of transcendence!

"...We must believe in the wisdom of future generations, and in the wisdom of all living beings."

Youjiao chuckled, "The Primordial Mystery was sinister enough, wasn't it? Yet someone unified wisdom and transformed the four malignant tumors of the Four Dark Outposts into nourishment for the 'Golden Elixir Method,' thus giving rise to a Heavenly Emperor?"

“Even I am not without the possibility of navigating this path and turning harm into benefit… I have been studying the true meaning of this power, from ‘Sacred Ruins’ to ‘Sacrifice to Gods,’ getting closer and closer to its essence.”

"The 'Sacred Ruins' evolves its spirituality, while the 'sacrifice to the gods' dispels the darkness, revealing a sacred side, turning misfortune into blessing, and disaster into good fortune... Next, if we take another step forward and simplify and popularize this method that can only be performed by beings like myself, making it available to everyone, then the dark clouds that have shrouded the long sky of history will vanish!"

Youjiao sighed, “When I look back then, I can calmly say that all those things I did—treating countless living beings of the heavens as cattle and horses, exploiting and reaping them—were necessary sacrifices!”

"Who can object? Who can question it?"

"What a pity... he died midway through his life."

Youqiao sighed, "It's a pity."

But no one here sympathized; instead, many gloated. The butcher laughed loudly, "You Qiao, you hid quite well, and your plan was excellent..."

"However, with one strike, I'm about to shatter the entire heavens and destroy the entire order of the Great Dao. In the end, you couldn't sit still any longer and had no choice but to reveal all the cards you'd been hiding..."

When it comes to obstructing the way, we still have to look to those who were also ancient overlords!
"This makes me so angry... damn it!"

He was furious. His perfectly good plan to "truly cleanse himself and go ashore" involved delving into the primordial matter, the eerie and ominous, falling into darkness, and then reversing from darkness to become sacred, returning to light from the darkness. At that time, wouldn't the transcendent Dao fruit be within his grasp?

To conceal this plan, he humbled himself and acted hypocritically, doing nothing whenever possible. Despite being a powerful figure among ancient overlords, he pretended to be only able to sit at the same table as the pathetic Emperor of Pollen and to associate with the equally lackluster Burial Master and Butcher.

The result is good!

That scoundrel butcher... ruined his big plan!
"Butcher, you owe me a Transcendent Dao Fruit!"

Youjiao wished he could rush over and strangle the butcher.

"What do you mean by 'owing'?" the butcher yelled. "I killed you and blocked your way with my own skill, how can you say I owe you?"

"Besides... yes, you have the potential to completely end this eerie and ominous era and turn harm into benefit, but don't even mention your efficiency!"

"How many more years? A billion years? Ten billion years? A hundred billion years?"

"Even without the sudden emergence of the Demon Ancestor... could you compare to the Desolate Heavenly Emperor who unintentionally walked the path of sacrifice? Or could you compare to the righteous Ye Heavenly Emperor who turned evil into good?"

"Having once possessed the face of the owner of the bronze coffin for three lifetimes, their transcendence speed must be the fastest!"

"You haven't even paved your way yet, and who knows how many people are already standing on the sacrificial path looking down on you!"

"At that time, you'd better think about how to justify your bad deeds to God. It's a necessary sacrifice!"

The butcher laughed loudly.

"..."

Shi Hao and Ye Fan, who were enjoying the gossip, were speechless... How did this get involved with them?

However, upon closer examination, the butcher's words do make some sense.

Judging from their past plastic surgery, placing themselves above the ritual path might have been an inevitable outcome.

After all, in this world, the Three Generations Bronze Coffin Master is the embodiment of justice and the law!

"Ah!"

Youjiao snorted coldly and remained silent.

This is a fact, and he won't refute it, lest he be ridiculed for being unreasonable.

"So, under the Master's philosophy, there might be hope of achieving enlightenment through unorthodox methods?"

Shi Hao seemed to be deep in thought.

"Desolate!" the burial master cried out, pleading, "Don't let this fiend of fate run rampant just because you hear about 'freedom of transformation' or the possibility of having a successor!"

"Yes, yes!"

Even Chang Heng couldn't sit still!

After all, he was brutally attacked by Huang Yijian, so why should the master of fate possibly escape unscathed?

“That’s not what I meant…” Shi Hao was speechless. “I just felt that after suppressing the master of destiny, the path he left behind could perhaps be experimented with and explored on a small scale, combined with the ‘Great Art of Other-Transformation’…”

"That's not right, that's not right!"

Youjiao spoke again, saying earnestly, "He is the origin of this path, the true ancestor and founder of the Dao. Who knows how many contingency plans he might have left behind?"

"If we're going to suppress him, we need to suppress him completely... Otherwise, if things go wrong, the person in charge will start acting up again, and all the subsequent research will just be a waste of his time!"

He once got caught in the rain.

Now, all he wants to do is tear other people's umbrellas apart!

This is the bond between ancient overlords!

Seeing that a "good friend" might have the potential to transcend worldly concerns makes me more anxious than anyone else!
Such "excitement among the crowd" made Shi Hao almost lose his composure, and he could only sigh inwardly that this bond was truly... abstract.

"Hmph... How to deal with the master is a matter for later. The most urgent task is to thwart his scheme."

Ye Fan sighed, "Intimidating the masses, publicizing potential dangers... Hmm, are there any other good methods?"

"Of course!"

A series of affirmative statements rang out, as ancient overlords mobilized their wisdom, offered advice, and helped Emperor Ye resolve his troubles.

"Intimidation alone is not enough; there will always be those who will take the risk... As long as the benefits are great enough, they're not afraid of going mad, having an unlucky old age, or even dying!" "So what if they don't recognize their own family? An invincible person has no family!"

"It is those with weaknesses who hesitate and are indecisive, having the desire but not the courage to do the deed."

They all said, "Therefore, we need a whole set of combined measures!"

"I would like to hear the details!" Ye Fan said solemnly.

“First, we can follow the path of the person in charge of destiny and leave him with nowhere to go.” Chang Heng explained in detail, “While we are doing our best to suppress his private business that is in demand by the masses, we can also imitate it and create one ourselves.”

"Set new standards."

"The products produced by the 'Master of Fate' are substandard, made in small workshops, and are dangerous and full of hidden dangers... while our 'Main God' are legitimate products with all kinds of quality guarantees!"

"Those who receive the memory empowerment from the destined master will surely have an unfortunate old age and a tragic end... But those who receive the memory empowerment produced by our 'Main God' will surely have a happy and healthy old age, with everything going smoothly..."

"We must give all living beings a choice, guide them to choose products made by the main god, and steal the business from the destiny master!"

"This is the first step!"

Changheng Road.

"Uh... this doesn't seem right, does it?" Ye Fan asked suspiciously. "Didn't you all say that there are huge hidden dangers here? And you even let the 'Main God' go down this path?"

"Moreover, extracting memories from the Nine Springs and then initiating the master is a perfect match... but that's not what I'm talking about!"

“These are not major problems…” Youjiao said quietly, “As long as you dare to compromise, there are always more solutions than problems.”

Why do sentient beings seek help from the "Master of Fate," willingly falling into his trap even knowing there might be hidden dangers? Is it because the "Master of Fate" is benevolent? No, it's because the "God's" tests are too difficult, so they have no choice but to break the rules to improve themselves.

"Then, we can make some simple adjustments... For those who have purchased the 'God's' initiation service, the difficulty of their assessment will be appropriately reduced!"

"The process doesn't matter, as long as the result is what you want, that's enough!"

"Furthermore, the 'Nine Springs' of the deceased... cannot be genuinely imitated, but we can use other methods to find a roundabout way!"

"We'll need to trouble the Desolate Heavenly Emperor..."

"Huh?!" Shi Hao's eyes widened. "Me?!"

“Who else could do this but you!” Youjiao said. “Your ability to transform others is incredibly wondrous… Since there are endless hidden dangers in sentient beings receiving the initiation of memories from others, wouldn’t it be fine to let them receive ‘their own’ wisdom?”

“You use ‘Otherworldly Freedom’ to transform the one being initiated, manifesting their existence, with form, spirit, path, and method… Then you transfer the skill to be initiated, interpreting it with that otherworldly body, transforming it into something of ‘one’s own’… Ultimately, it is imprinted in the heart of the one being initiated.”

"This is a perfect fit!"

"The memory empowerment that has occurred without any risk or hidden danger is the greatest blessing for all sentient beings in the world!"

Youqiao exclaimed in praise.

"This...this isn't right..."

Shi Hao swallowed hard.

Despite his immense power and profound skill, which could cause endless time and space to vanish with a mere glance, he could also transform into countless forms.

But!
Thinking of the incredibly vast number of sentient beings, and facing their all sorts of bizarre thoughts and desires, and then treating oneself like a wish-granting machine, fulfilling their various needs and exchanging their desires...

He felt like he was going crazy!
This... truly is a service to all living beings!
Shi Hao's eyes immediately cleared.

If you asked him to fight against the strange and ominous to protect all living beings, or even to fight against the Three Incarnations Copper Coffin Master, even if it meant paying the price of death, he would not be unable to accept it.

But serving all living beings like this... ugh!

For a child who has not received any compulsory education and is still drinking animal milk, the challenge is a little bit too difficult!
For a fleeting moment, Shi Hao had this thought: Maybe... I should just grab the bucket and run away?
"Desolate Emperor, didn't you once issue beast milk... no, I mean reincarnation tickets?" Youjiao advised, "It's a similar model!"

“No, no…” Shi Hao shook his head repeatedly, “Reincarnation Tickets? How many do I need to make?”

"This 'chief god' is in charge of countless sentient beings!"

"Then, how about trying...?" Youjiao settled for second best.

"Okay... alright, I'll try my best," Shi Hao said reluctantly.

“Doing our best is fine too.” Youjiao smiled. “There can also be a reason… legitimate products, no hidden dangers, low production volume, high price, people should be able to understand… scarcity makes things valuable!”

"Hmm, this means the 'main god' will need to be set up to be more complex. We'll add side quests to the various assessments, and completing them might reward you with special privileges that can be exchanged for the skills and supernatural powers you need... Hmm, these privileges will also need to be tiered, with different levels..."

"It feels more and more enriching!"

Youjiao laughed and said, "Giving creatures with some wisdom and talent, who are willing to explore, some safe and progressive opportunities is the greatest act of benevolence from the 'God'!"

"Besides that, either they are unwilling to make the effort to explore, or they simply lack the ability..."

"Furthermore, they have desires and needs that exceed their personal capabilities..."

"Such a being will likely be unable to resist temptation and will ultimately succumb to the temptation, heading towards its 'destiny master' in a two-way race..."

"They don't care about the price they'll have to pay in the future; they choose to suffer for their future selves..."

"In that case, why not let them be?"

"Let go of your desire to help others and respect their fate!"

"It's time for us overlords to take action when faced with creatures like these!"

There was a pesky chuckle.

"That's right, that makes sense!"

The deceased echoed this sentiment.

"I have a brilliant idea that can give our old friend some minor setbacks and trials on his path, helping him hone his skills to achieve the strongest Dao fruit!"

"Anyway, he's not a good person... and the creatures that flock to him after being selected also have some problems."

"Then go ahead and do it!"

"My method of burying oneself has undergone a completely new evolution... In the past, one had to bury oneself, in a state of being neither alive nor dead, to deeply explore the mysteries of reincarnation and grow stronger through its baptism."

"Now, times have changed. The subtlety of life and death lies not only in the reincarnation of the true soul, but also in the renewal and reshaping of self-awareness..."

"The 'me' in my memory is also me, buried in the years..."

"Then why can't we bury ourselves in the ego of others?"

(End of this chapter)