Taoist Master Xuanhuang

Chapter 709 What does it mean to be going in the wrong direction?

The Mark of Punishment may not seem large, but it is not large compared to the Crimson Realm, which is like an entire world.

But it radiated boundless divine light, as if casting a spell to freeze people, thus immobilizing the crimson realm.

"Huh? How could this be?"

The Three Crimson Saints realized the danger.

The phrase "fixing the Crimson Realm" here doesn't mean preventing the Crimson Realm from moving, but rather fixing the flow of its internal essence and the rules governing its operation.

That's tantamount to cutting off their source of magical power, and that's what's truly terrifying.

The Mark of Punishment never intended to destroy the realm along with it; it only intended to destroy the sacred within it.

This is much simpler than destroying the entire realm. It's nothing more than using one's own abilities, that is, the will of Xuanhuang to become a saint, as a means. I believe that the spacetime of Heaven's will is fixed.

Put the entire realm into a state of time freeze, and then kill the three saints.

Sigrún has taught at the Iceland University of the Arts as a part-time lecturer since and was Dean of the Department of Fine Art from -. In – she held a research position at Reykjavík Art Museum focusing on the role of women in Icelandic art. She studied fine art at the Icelandic College of Arts and Crafts and at Pratt Institute, New York, and holds BA and MA degrees in art history and philosophy from the University of Iceland. Sigrún lives and works in Iceland.

"Ouch, that's terrifying!"

Emperor Chongzhen gasped in shock. It was terrifying. He had many ideas on how to kill the deities hiding in the realm.

I never expected it to be so simple, so unexpected.

Yes, no fancy methods are needed, just freeze time, it's that simple.

But it's so simple, yet so powerful.

The ability to freeze time is something that any deity, or even any fourth-order True King, possesses.

However, the Divine Society borrows the power of the realm, the True Cultivator Society uses it within its internal domain, and the Mysterious Society is supported by fragments of its own rules.

In short, they all relied on means, the power of the origin of the domain and realm, the power of fragments of rules, and so on.

And the range is very small; for example, it's quite good if it can fix one person in place.

Moreover, this kind of immobilization of a living being or a person is not strictly speaking a time freeze; it is merely a simple magical force that stops a living being, which is far from a true time freeze.

He couldn't imagine how to freeze time in the very origin of a realm. What profound understanding of the laws of time that would require. Even the greatest mastery couldn't be more than this.
"No, no, this is not an understanding of the laws of time, but a will so strong that it interferes with the operation of the world. It is the time laws at the level of the Heavenly Dao no longer functioning," Chongzhen said absentmindedly.

After all, I do have some knowledge; I've read a lot of sacred human records.

They are not truly isolated locals.

"How terrifying!" Emperor Chongzhen was utterly shocked.

It's not just him.

The Dragon King, who was also just watching the show, was quite shocked.

I understand that such an ability is beyond my imagination. It is said that the will of the Lord is king, so what does it mean to have the will of the Lord? This is a perfect example.

I act on behalf of Heaven, directly stopping the laws from functioning and freezing the origin. What other means do you have to use?

There are also genuine practitioners who watch the live stream.

A chill ran down my spine. The Department of Suppressing Evil was still the same Department of Suppressing Evil. The Mark of Punishment had only been used once, to judge those wicked lords of small worlds. Back then, the lords of small worlds were called Lords of Small Worlds.

Sigrún has taught at the Iceland University of the Arts as a part-time lecturer since and was Dean of the Department of Fine Art from -. In – she held a research position at Reykjavík Art Museum focusing on the role of women in Icelandic art. She studied fine art at the Icelandic College of Arts and Crafts and at Pratt Institute, New York, and holds BA and MA degrees in art history and philosophy from the University of Iceland. Sigrún lives and works in Iceland.

"No, no, I'm not reconciled! I'm about to succeed! Why are you targeting me like this? I refuse to accept it... I refuse to accept it..." The leader of the Crimson Three Saints cried out in despair.

Once the origin of the realm is fixed, they, as the sacred beings nurtured by the origin of the realm, are like cultivators who have lost their dantian, or even worse.

Without the dantian, cultivators still possess a powerful physical body and primordial spirit; they have nothing.

"Gentlemen, look... look at how the true cultivators treat us. Our present is your future. Aren't you all awake yet?" said the second sister of the Crimson Saints.

He was at the mercy of others, so he had no choice but to sow discord and instigate other deities to feel a sense of shared sorrow and kinship.

"Shut up! You think it's that easy to die!" Wan Guqing said.

How could he not understand the Blood Saints' scheme? Wasn't it just to gain sympathy?
"Judgement!"

Like a projector lamp, the fates of the three siblings begin to unfold, capable of both freezing time and rewinding it.

The trial is a rewind of time, a rewind of why these three were executed, so that everyone can see clearly what they did.

As the scene begins to unfold.

Scene after scene, a silent battle royale begins to unfold...

"Damn it, damn idiot!"

"As the saying goes, it's not the geniuses who make mistakes that's scary, it's the idiots who work hard. What an idiot, so foolish!"

"Hiss! Is this foreign land so barbaric?"

"Good heavens, this is the essence of an entire city sacrificed for their pitiful progress? If we're talking about energy utilization, we're at ten, and they're not even at 0.1%!"

"Yes, such crude use of energy, what kind of cultivation is this?"

When the three siblings used the supernatural to create massacres, the progress they made was pitiful. After 99.9% of their energy was consumed, everyone was speechless.

What is spiritual practice?
It's simply the use of energy.

Whether it's using extraordinary energy to shape oneself, using energy as a means to fight enemies, or using energy for defense.

Simply put, they are all using extraordinary energy.

The cultivation of the Three Great Methods of the Dao Master consists of three methods for utilizing energy, which enable one point of energy to exert a hundredfold increase in power.

However, the three of them did the opposite, using less than one-tenth of the one hundred units of energy they had.

Others use leverage to move greater energy, but they use greater energy to move themselves—it's the complete opposite.

Sigrún has taught at the Iceland University of the Arts as a part-time lecturer since and was Dean of the Department of Fine Art from -. In – she held a research position at Reykjavík Art Museum focusing on the role of women in Icelandic art. She studied fine art at the Icelandic College of Arts and Crafts and at Pratt Institute, New York, and holds BA and MA degrees in art history and philosophy from the University of Iceland. Sigrún lives and works in Iceland.

"To be honest, it's not that I'm being unreasonable, but I'm genuinely afraid that such fools will put in the effort. If there are too many fools like this, even if our world has a lot of extraordinary energy, it will all be wasted by them."

An old Taoist cultivator was wearing a uniform with the words "Hongmeng" on it.

They are outsourced staff of the Extraordinary Technology City.

You read that right, they are outsourced personnel.

Its main function is to broadcast or provide intelligence to spiritual masters, cultivators, or realm deities from other realms, while also selling extraordinary technology products from the Extraordinary Technology City.

The PhDs at Chaofan Technology City have hired many such outsourced personnel.

Previously, ordinary people and low-level cultivators in the core domain were their largest customer base. Later, they discovered that beings from other realms were the real customers, since there were far more beings from other realms compared to pure humans.

However, there are still few gene cultivators in the Extraordinary Technology City, and each gene cultivator is not only a cultivator, but also a qualified researcher of extraordinary technology.

The greatest use of researchers is naturally to let them conduct research. Staying in the laboratory to conduct research is the greatest stage for gene cultivators and the best place to display their talents.

With no other option, the doctor had to outsource the work.

They hire many cultivators to spread and promote their products in other realms, and let them do whatever they want, such as live streaming or doing other side jobs, as long as it makes money.

He'd get the goods from the Extraordinary Technology City, then travel the land like a peddler to sell them. It wasn't that the teleportation array was bad, it was that he couldn't afford to use it.

He's just a peddler; he might sell for a month or even half a year and still not make enough to cover the cost of a single delivery.

The world can only be measured by footsteps.

Lao Dao was just such a peddler, and also an outsourced worker for extraordinary technology.

He bought a lot of extraordinary technology products from the Extraordinary Technology City, and then embarked on the road of a peddler, going to foreign lands to sell them, earning a profit from the price difference and his hard work.

It also offers some live streaming and messaging features.

For example, the moment the Demon Suppression Department punished the Crimson Realm, he launched a broadcast service, which could be watched by paying enough points.

The old Taoist priest was also the commentator for the broadcast.

In the alien city where he was located, many experts quickly gathered and paid to live stream, including three saints who had just emerged from the realm after the Heaven and Earth were unsealed.

Hearing the old Taoist's complaints, both the three saints and the cultivators of the city felt insulted.

Is he insulting himself?
It seems my own methods are just so-so.

It should be understood that only a minority of deities possess the means of cultivation; most deities are in a blank state, their existence left to chance as they are nurtured by the realm, their future shrouded in uncertainty.

The same applies to cultivators from other realms; the spread of the three great methods has been intentionally narrowed ever since.

The cultivation methods they could obtain were all from their previous worlds, and because their previous worlds were ultimately quite different from the main world, they needed to be modified to some extent.

This stumped them. Cultivating was already difficult enough, let alone modifying cultivation methods. Wasn't this asking the impossible?

However, due to his weak status and cultivation level, he was unable to obtain powerful cultivation methods, which was very frustrating.

When the old Taoist priest said that, they always felt that he was talking about them.

For example, the three holy beings who happened to encounter each other were wild holy beings without any power, and the three siblings could not do what the clumsy creation method they had created.

It remains in a blank state, nurtured by the boundary.

The reason they didn't commit evil deeds was because they dared not, not because they didn't want to.

After all, not all saints reside in places like the canyon plains; causing trouble in foreign lands requires both strength and courage.

With the seal on heaven and earth broken, they felt their opportunity had finally arrived. They secretly observed the situation before starting to look for a way to improve.

Coincidentally, they encountered the Demon Suppression Department broadcasting a live-streamed massacre of the Crimson Realm, and they were immediately terrified.

Why did I come out when it's so dangerous outside?

These are the heartfelt words of three saints.

“They’re doomed. Although I haven’t personally witnessed the judgment of the Mark of Punishment, I’ve heard that after their sins are revealed one by one, there will be a process of conviction, and then they will be judged according to the degree of their sins. These sins formed from resentment are certain to die.”

The old Taoist priest was still diligently explaining.

The old Taoist priest was unaware that three of his audience members were deities.

His cultivation level was insufficient to detect the hidden divinity, so he made such a bold explanation, unaware that there were three hidden big fish among his audience.

"Fellow Daoist, according to your logic, doesn't that mean that the divine has no future at all?"

One of the three saints couldn't help but ask.

"How can you say there's no future? Starting at the fourth rank is no future? I don't even know if I can reach the second rank in this lifetime!" The old Taoist didn't understand the Divine's troubles.

“Fellow Daoist will definitely be able to enter the second tier. What I mean is, from a divine perspective, it seems there is no future?” the divine being said.

"Haha, thanks for your kind words, fellow Daoist. But I know my own limitations. The second stage is too far away. It's too difficult."

"Haha, fellow Daoist is too modest... Fellow Daoist, please share your understanding of the divine, so we can broaden our horizons." Another divine being understood the question posed by the one who had just asked.

But the old Taoist was preoccupied with whether he could enter the second tier, and he didn't want to hear about that. He wanted to hear the old Taoist's views on divinity.

"Hey, why are you all worrying about this? Even if they're not holy, they're still holy. How can their suffering be as bad as ours, these short-lived creatures? They're born immortal, what about us?" the old Taoist said unhappily.

Yes, what about us?

Aside from the three hidden deities, the other high-ranking officials in the city couldn't help but reflect on their actions.

"That's not how it works. Because they've had it, they're even more afraid of losing it. And because of their incredibly high starting point, they're even more afraid of being stuck in the same place. I think every living being has its own difficulties, and the stronger they are, the greater their difficulties become."

The third deity also spoke.

“You’re right, even experts have their difficulties. We don’t know them, but we respect that… As for the sacred future, I think joining a faction is the best solution, or relying on one’s own talent and ability to cultivate. Other than these two paths, nothing else is advisable,” the old Taoist said.

This is based on his experience.

Don't expect a peddler to have any great skills; if he did, he wouldn't be a peddler who makes a living by hard work and reselling.

“Look, this is someone who wants to take the third path, someone who wants to work hard on their own, but if the direction is wrong, no matter how hard they try, it will still be wrong. This world does not allow evil.”

The peddler pointed to the live stream that was still displaying the sins of the Three Blood Saints like a scrolling marquee.

"Hmph!" The three saints snorted coldly, clearly unconvinced.

What does it mean to be going in the wrong direction?

It's all the Dao Lord's fault. If it weren't for the Dao Lord, these holy beings could do whatever they wanted, and no one would dare to say they were going in the wrong direction.

Originally, all living beings were our resources, but now, these assets are being protected.

It's all the fault of the Xuanhuang Dao Master. Why did you influence us? Why did you define so-called good and evil?

People's opinions are determined by their own positions. They are considered sacred, and it's impossible for them to sympathize with or understand ordinary beings. To do so would be to betray their own class.

The Crimson Trio were not seen as evil, but as heroes—three heroes who dared to try.

However, despite their thoughts, Wan Guqing achieved the desired effect.

This live broadcast effectively subdued the sacredness that had transcended boundaries.

Their original plan was to indulge themselves and try it without regard to the cost, but now they need to think carefully.

Of course, it's impossible to get them to give up. The sacredness that has been infected cannot be changed by a single live broadcast. They've just toned it down a bit, or moved it from the open to the covert.

Furthermore, his impulsive and reckless mentality has subsided considerably, and he has begun to study the rules of this world.

This rule is the evil defined by Xuanhuang.

Since we can't overturn the rules set by the Dao Lord, we should study them; we're bound to find some solutions.

Evil is the large-scale slaughter of living beings, and there is a threshold to that. As long as I don't cross that threshold, it's fine.

I also do good deeds.

It is not contradictory to gain merit while committing evil.

……

(End of this chapter)