CHAPTER 1369: CHAPTER 490: THE ONES WHO HOLD THE PIECES_3

"When adults speak, children should not interrupt."

Li Ping’an glanced at him, and Daoist Luya’s figure instantly vanished from this place, expelled directly by the spirit within the coffin.

The spirit within the coffin said indifferently, "An audience should act as an audience, continue."

Li Ping’an continued:

"I previously had many questions I couldn’t figure out, but once I understood one point, everything became clear.

"What reminded me was Daoist Friend Houtu.

"Ancestral Master Hongjun, you are unusually active today, first advising Houtu on executing the cycle of reincarnation, and then personally arranging matters for my father. In your eyes, are these two matters of equal importance? Let me think, what could be so crucial?

"It’s simple—you want to turn my father into a wedge and embed him within the Heavenly Dao!

"Every time my father lectured to the Faceless of the Heavenly Dao, it triggered a strong resonance with the Heavenly Dao, confounding heavenly secrets. The Heavenly Dao bestowed Great Fortune upon my father. If the Inner Heavenly Dao were to devour my father, it could smoothly integrate into the Heavenly Dao and become the core of the Heavenly Dao.

"And this is what you have been doing all along!"

Hongjun frowned and said, "I have no idea what you’re talking about!"

"Not admitting it?"

Li Ping’an said, "Then let’s invite my Daoist Friend!"

He turned to the Faceless of the Heavenly Dao, with a hint of anger in his eyes, and shouted sternly:

"Remove your mask, reveal your true form, let’s see whether you are the Good Corpse, Evil Corpse, Original Self Corpse, or that shattered Creation Jade Disc!"

Hongjun’s face showed a slight twitch.

The spirit within the coffin also looked at the Faceless of the Heavenly Dao with some surprise, murmuring, "Isn’t this thing an incarnation of the Heavenly Dao?"

"Yes, and no."

Li Ping’an sighed:

"If he hadn’t revealed too many flaws, I wouldn’t have doubted his identity.

"But this time, Hongjun, to achieve his aims, made him reveal the foreshadowing laid down since ancient times ahead of schedule.

"Daoist Friend, the Heavenly Dao has no nature, you always say this. Would a Heavenly Dao without nature ever lie? The meaning of a Heavenly Dao without nature is that even the most basic good and evil do not exist; it operates solely according to the established rules, using rules as the sole measure. That is the Heavenly Dao.

"And you, my Daoist friend? Today you deceived me twice, and previously you’ve been constantly covering up for the Inner Heavenly Dao.

"Only after I went to the Southern Continent did I suddenly realize something.

"What should the Heavenly Dao truly be like? When I contacted those inner spirits of the Heavenly Dao, do you know what impression they gave me? They are, indeed, what the embodiment of the Heavenly Dao should be—devoid of any human nature, acting only according to the rules set by the Divine Court, not distinguishing the rules, not pitying all living things, mimicking beings under their influence.

"Then, I discovered, under my influence... that’s right, it was after I intervened in the Divine Court that the divine spirits there underwent drastic changes.

"Unconsciously, they were imbued with humanity by me; they began to experience fear, contemplating their plight as beings.

"Such a short amount of time, yet such changes occurred.

"Isn’t this very similar to the inner spirits of the Heavenly Dao? Similarly, when the Heavenly Dao first came into existence, Emperor Jun sealed it with the Zhoutian Star Battle Array, much like the Heavenly Dao sealed in the Southern Continent!"

Hongjun said calmly, "There are omissions here; how does Your Majesty conclude that the inner spirits of the Heavenly Dao weren’t influenced by Emperor Jun? Or weren’t they influenced by those old ministers who took refuge in the Heavenly Dao during the fall of the Ancient Heavenly Court?"

"It’s simple."

Li Ping’an said:

"When the Inner Heavenly Dao first manifested, the first to appear was the remnant soul of Emperor Jun.

"In the memories of Emperor Jun’s remnant soul, the Inner Heavenly Dao’s Illusionary Realm was clearly described, yet Emperor Jun’s remnant soul seemed to be escaping from a cage, not assimilated by the Inner Heavenly Dao.

"I’ve clearly read this part of the memories, but previously I couldn’t connect these things.

"If the inner spirits of the Heavenly Dao were born due to Emperor Jun, due to the influence of Xihe and Wangshu, why was Emperor Jun repelled? Why should Emperor Jun be assimilated rather than dominating the Inner Heavenly Dao’s Illusionary Realm?

"This actually already shows one thing, that the Inner Heavenly Dao’s Illusionary Realm and its spirits were born before the fall of the Ancient Heavenly Court and actively devoured remnants of the Ancient Heavenly Court’s expert souls to enhance themselves during its collapse!

"The Ancient Heavenly Court had the Zhoutian Star Battle Array, with Emperor Jun, East Emperor Taiyi, the demon master Kunpeng, and other experts stationed there, and the Zhoutian Star Battle Array. Who could intrude here to create the Heavenly Dao?

"The Three Pure Ones? This Transcender? Or you, Hongjun?"

Hongjun closed his eyes, saying nothing.

"It was only a moment ago that I figured it out."

Li Ping’an said:

"The concepts that the Heavenly Dao is divided internally and externally, the Heavenly Court into north and south, these are notions you spread through Houtu to us!

"In reality? The Heavenly Dao should have no internal or external, no north or south, there is only one Heavenly Dao, which is the rules of heaven and earth, the order of the Desolate Era.

"Instead, it’s the Faceless One of the Heavenly Dao, the peculiar being that’s been guiding me to become the Heavenly Emperor, whose relationship with the Heavenly Dao is ambiguous, hard to distinguish between primary and secondary.

"He long ago gave me the answer—the Heavenly Dao has no nature.

"And he, as the only thinking entity, the only having nature, having form thought within the Heavenly Dao, smoothly became part of the Heavenly Dao, very likely as an external consciousness.

"If we straighten out the timeline, it becomes clear.

"The Ancient Heavenly Court was established, the Heavenly Dao was born, the Heavenly Dao was sealed, the Heavenly Dao was infused with a consciousness, Mo Linyuan was controlled, the rebellion erupted, the Ancient Heavenly Court collapsed, and the Inner Heavenly Dao went dormant.

"The Human Race flourished, the Heavenly Dao developed rapidly, but the Heavenly Court couldn’t be established for a long time.

"The Human Emperor continuously nurtured those who could resonate with the Heavenly Dao, but these people quickly lost their connection with the Heavenly Dao.

"I appeared, and the subsequent events progressed smoothly until the chaos of the Inner Heavenly Dao erupted.