CHAPTER 182: DAO OF REINCARNATION

"Lord Seventh..." Bai Ze stepped forward and bowed toward Feng Tiancheng. "My Lord, we have always remained in this small world. Each of us may harbor our own motives, but the king is the last hope of our beast clan. We would never allow anyone to harm him," he said calmly.

Kui Bull scratched his head and grinned foolishly as he stepped forward. "Yes, my lord. If anyone dares harm our King, I, Kui Bull, along with Golden Dragon, would fight to protect him."

Feng Tiancheng snorted coldly. "Hmph... I doubt you'd be so reckless."

Turning to the kneeling crowd, he said, "Stand up. You're all high-level demonic beasts. Kneeling like this is unbecoming."

"Yes... Yes... Thank you, Lord Seventh," Flame Demon stammered, wiping sweat from his forehead as he stood shakily. "We will protect the king with our lives."

As the tension in the small world eased, Lu Chen leaned close to Red Fox and whispered, "Red Fox, was Grandpa Feng really that strong? Why do you all seem so afraid of him?"

"Shh... quiet," Red Fox whispered back as she tugged his sleeve with her delicate hand. "Back then, Lord Seventh shared the same title as the Lord of Rituals, standing as another God of Slaughter. His battle suppressing the Northern Region's aristocratic clans with just a few treasures was what earned him the title."

"Little Lu, what are you two whispering about?" Feng Tiancheng asked with a chuckle, glancing at Red Fox. "Are you talking about me? Come, let me hear it. How do you see me in your hearts?"

Red Fox quickly retreated several steps. "N-nothing..."

Seeing this, Feng Tiancheng laughed more heartily. "Am I really so terrifying that you'd even hide from me?"

"Hahaha, definitely not, Grandpa Feng. We were just talking about how you single-handedly suppressed the Northern Region," Lu Chen said with a loud laugh as he walked over and took Feng Tiancheng's arm. "I didn't expect you to be so strong back then. Looks like I've gained myself a solid backing."

Feng Tiancheng patted Lu Chen's head, his smile kind and gentle. "Hahaha, don't worry, Little Lu. As long as I live, I'll always protect you."

Yet to the beast leaders, that same, unfamiliar smile appeared all the more fearsome, for they had never seen it before.

"All right, Little Lu. The small world just absorbed a great deal of power. Go and see how it has changed," Feng Tiancheng told Lu Chen while summoning a projection beneath the Innate Divine Tree. "The small world itself hasn't changed much. Most of the Void energy you transferred has flowed into the Tower of Time, while the rest was absorbed by the Innate Divine Tree. Currently, we don't yet have a proper method to handle the Void energy. What happened is already the best possible outcome."

Pointing at the Innate Divine Tree, he went on, "The tree has become the core of this small world. These newly added energies are what's truly pushing its evolution. I believe it won't be long before it becomes a fully fledged planetary world."

A look of intoxicated delight crossed Feng Tiancheng's face. "To create a real world with mortal power alone... this has always been my greatest dream in crafting treasures."

Noticing the sudden quiet around him, he snapped back to himself and gave an awkward smile toward the Tower of Time in the distance. "As for the Tower of Time... I still can't enter. I truly have no idea what happened inside."

Following his gaze, Lu Chen looked at the tower and whispered with a smile, "Grandpa Feng, I recently obtained a chance to enter the first floor, though only for myself."

"I suppose that sentient planet you acquired must be from there," Feng Tiancheng said as his eyes swept across the small world. "We've been inside before, but we were driven out after only a glimpse of the planet carved on the stone monument."

"Yes, Grandpa Feng. I entered by chance. My Green Sovereign Divine Tree, mutated from the Divine Vine, allows me to generate primordial spirit qi. Without that, I'd never have had the opportunity to enter it."

"Hehehe... How fortunate! How unexpected!" Feng Tiancheng retracted his gaze, laughing cheerfully. "Do you know, the Great Dao of Heaven and Earth always follows cause and effect? Everything is bound by karma."

At his words, the beast leaders immediately perked up. Even a glimpse of Feng Tiancheng's former insights was enough to inspire them to pursue their own understanding of the laws.

"Grandpa Feng, I know. I studied it recently. There are fifty Great Daos of Heaven and Earth, forty-nine of which manifest in the world. Humans can only walk the one that does not."[1]

Lu Chen spoke earnestly, "In other words, the Great Dao of Heaven and Earth is inherently incomplete, leaving a sliver of opportunity in everything."

"Hehehe, I once thought the same. But when I truly began to study the Great Dao of Heaven and Earth, I realized that of all the laws human cultivators perceive, less than a tenth belong to them."

Feng Tiancheng smiled at Lu Chen. "The phrase 'humans walk one Dao' actually refers to all beings, including beasts and all of creation. They already occupy nine-tenths of the laws, leaving only the smallest, most precious fraction to true human cultivators."

"Could this be why human cultivators have to contend for the Dao with all things across heaven and earth?"

Lu Chen watched Feng Tiancheng frown deeply and asked seriously, "Grandpa once said that even ants cultivate. They are also competing for a kind of Dao, striving to carve out a path of their own among all things in heaven and earth. Was that what grandpa meant back then?"

"Ants cultivating? Hah, that's not something I've heard you mention," Feng Tiancheng said gently, turning to Lu Chen. "But this matter regarding ants' cultivation... I used to hear it often from someone. On a stormy night, that person suddenly roared this very phrase and, with a single thought, transcended mortality into immortality, transforming from a useless young master into a cultivation expert at the Earth Core Realm in an instant."

"Grandfather, could this person be—"

"The number one God of Slaughter of my era, known as the Imperial Lord of Rituals. A young master, born of a worthless clan and completely devoid of cultivation talent. Yet, on that rainy night, he directly comprehended the initial step of a Dao in the world, one with the highest potential."

At the mention of the words "Imperial Lord of Rituals," Flame Demon's previously calm spirit trembled, unconsciously releasing his Earth Core Realm energy throughout the small world.

A fierce surge of spirit qi slammed into Lu Chen, battering his meridians. He immediately spat blood and collapsed to his knees.

"Flame Demon..." Feng Tiancheng quickly activated a formation, trapping Flame Demon at its center. "It seems your tens of thousands of years were spent in vain. You've been losing focus repeatedly. Or have you been hiding something from me?"

"N-no, no... absolutely not, sir!" Flame Demon stammered, wiping cold sweat from his forehead and forcing himself to suppress the surging energy. "It's just... just now, upon hearing the name Imperial Lord of Rituals, my heart became unsettled."

"Him again... Is he really that formidable? Just the mention of his name is enough to shake Flame Demon's spirit. Every time you mention him, it's always with the title 'God of Slaughter' attached." Lu Chen rose to his feet, wiped the blood from his mouth, and looked at Feng Tiancheng. "Grandpa Feng, is he still on the continent? After all you've said, I really want to meet him."

"Him? He's probably gone." Feng Tiancheng gazed toward the Thirty-Three Mountains, a hint of nostalgia in his eyes. "Even his most treasured instrument, the guqin, has long since lost its original spirit. But as long as we still remember his renown, he should return in some form. As I mentioned before, there are fifty Great Daos of Heaven and Earth, forty-nine of which manifest across heaven and earth. When he was around, he was close to comprehending the final, lost Dao—the Dao of Reincarnation, which has never manifested in the world."

"Dao of Reincarnation?" Lu Chen looked at Feng Tiancheng in confusion. "What exactly is the Dao of Reincarnation? Every one of your manuals mentions it, yet I still don't fully understand."

"As long as a cultivator's or mortal's Divine Psyche Incarnation is strong enough, even if they are lost in the void or die and vanish from the Dao, as long as someone can call their name, they can return to the world in full form."

Lu Chen responded, "Could this be why cultivators' names must be acknowledged by heaven and earth when they are given?"

At the same time, the fog in his eyes began to clear, his pupils growing darker and brighter. "Am I right? Grandpa Feng?"

"Hahaha, I don't know where you learned this, but you're both right and wrong." Feng Tiancheng patted Lu Chen on the shoulder and smiled. "Right in the sense that the rumor has never disappeared since ancient times. Mortals and cultivators alike follow it. Wrong in that, in all my years of cultivation, I've never heard of anyone returning via the Dao of Reincarnation."

"Little Lu, do you believe the Dao of Reincarnation exists?"

"I... I don't know. But—"

Feng Tiancheng interrupted before Lu Chen could finish. "Hahaha, it's fine not to know."

He laughed, but the laughter carried an unmistakable sorrow. "Everything here is settled. There's nothing more to do. You should leave, and I must return to the Thirty-Three Mountains."

With that, Feng Tiancheng lifted the formation's suppression and, in a few steps, soared directly toward the Thirty-Three Mountains.

1. This is a very famous Daoist phrase, often cited from the Book of Changes (I Ching / 易经). The saying expresses that the Dao (cosmic order) is complete and flawless, but Heaven leaves a small margin—a hidden path. That "one" allows humanity to maneuver, avoid destruction, and find survival or transformation. It reflects a Daoist idea that even within the strict laws of nature, there's always a sliver of flexibility, a way for humans to adapt and endure. ☜