Immortal Shangxuan stated his identity calmly.
The new Heavenly Dao is the supreme being that rules over all living beings in the universe.
He looked down at the bound Ye Shubai and said calmly, "Each Heavenly Dao will only choose one successor. I have waited for ten thousand years but have not found a suitable candidate until you appeared."
"I'm giving you a chance to follow me."
The meaning of these words was already very clear; Immortal Shangxuan had given Ye Shubai a chance to reach the heavens.
Even if Shangxuan Xianzun was not a descendant of the Heavenly Dao, it was still an honor to be noticed by a powerful immortal. If it were someone else, they would have been so shocked that they would have fallen to their knees, happily agreeing to do it, and acting like a dog.
However, Wen Yun and Ye Shubai knew that it was useless to fawn over a madman.
So Ye Shubai just looked at the other person indifferently, unmoved.
And Wen Yun went even further.
After a moment of hesitation, she immediately asked back, "No, according to what you said, if you are really the successor designated by the previous Heavenly Dao, then the previous Heavenly Dao would naturally tell you how to advance. But it has been ten thousand years, why haven't you reached the Dao realm yet?"
Isn't it possible that God is so blind as to choose a fool who has been standing still for ten thousand years as his successor
Wen Yun was always good at hitting her enemies' weak spots. At this moment, her seemingly ordinary question coupled with a sincere expression of "please don't brag" was really a ruthless stab into Shang Xuan's heart.
Even though Immortal Shangxuan was so indifferent and could kill his disciple with his own hands without changing his expression, his face turned gloomy at this moment.
Obviously, he was anxious.
Immortal Shangxuan waved his sleeves without looking at Wen Yun, and said coldly: "It's ridiculous. How can you shallow people know the mysteries of the way of heaven? If so, why not let you see the true order of heaven!"
This time he didn't give Wen Yun another chance to speak.
The Ten Thousand Realms are divided into 3 realms according to their locations. The Eastern Realm is the most prosperous, with the majority of humans in the population. The Western Realm and the Southern Realm are next, with various alien races in the majority. The Northern Realm is a desolate land, and most of the realms inside are small worlds that have become wastelands, or worlds with meager source power. It will take tens of millions of years for someone to ascend from them, and due to the scarcity of resources, almost no one is willing to set foot in this area, hence the name, Northern Wasteland.
Shang Xuan took Wen Yun and Ye Shubai to break through the void and headed north.
The closer you get to the Northern Wasteland, the fewer bright spots there are in the void. Once you enter the Northern Wasteland, there are only a few dim spots that are about to go out at any time, which means that the life in that world is about to run out. The entire void seems dead and gloomy. At first, Wen Yun thought it was because there were fewer worlds in the Northern Wasteland, but after a closer look, she found that there was actually no difference between this place and the Eastern Wasteland, except that the lights in those worlds were all extinguished.
That is a wasteland without any life.
In the darkness, there is no concept of time. No one knew how much time had passed before a ray of light appeared in front of Wen Yun's eyes. As Shang Xuan Xianzun approached, the light began to gradually grow stronger. In the darkness, it was so bright that it almost hurt Wen Yun's eyes.
No one knew that there was a world as big as the Cloud Sea Realm hidden in the Northern Wilderness!
When looking at this world, Master Shangxuan's icy expression finally relaxed. There was a strange emotion in his eyes, as if he was looking at his own child.
"This is the world I created with my own hands ten thousand years ago. This is how the universe should be."
However, almost the moment he stepped into this world, Wen Yun realized something was wrong.
Normally, such a big world should be the upper realm, right? However, Wen Yun could not sense the existence of source power at all here. This place was like a bigger cultivation world, with no source power but only spiritual power!
As if seeing the confusion on Wen Yun's face, Shang Xuan Xian Zun said calmly: "The outside world has lost its way and is in chaos and disorder. It is not time to let them go."
In other words, the reason why this world only has spiritual power is that it may have come from the hands of the Immortal Supreme Xuan!
Wen Yun took a look and ruthlessly revealed the truth: "Actually, you are worried that they will know the truth about being kept in captivity after they ascend to heaven, right?"
"Keep them in captivity?" Immortal Supreme Xuan lowered his eyes and looked at the world below. He said calmly, "For the weak, as long as they have no ability to resist, they will have the same fate no matter where they are. In comparison, this is an absolutely fair and beautiful world."
This is actually a very beautiful world.
There are towering and majestic mountains, as well as rushing and magnificent rivers. Everything seems to be similar to the world of cultivation. There are even various alien races besides humans living here, and they live together, and it seems that they have long been accustomed to each other's existence.
However, she saw beautiful mountains and rivers, prosperous cities, and well-organized villages. Everything seemed orderly, and she actually felt that this really was a good world.
Wen Yun even saw that there were nearly ten different races living in the mortal village below. Children of different appearances were gathered under a tree at the entrance of the village playing some kind of game. Even if she was standing in the clouds, she could hear their silver bell-like laughter.
However, at this moment, a human child was suddenly pushed to the ground by another taller and stronger minotaur, and the laughter stopped abruptly.
The child on the ground quickly got up and kicked the bull-headed kid: "You cheat when you can't win. Damn it!"
The Minotaur child immediately rolled up his sleeves and fought back: "How dare you hit me! I'll fight you!"
The two children were fighting with each other, and the other children around them didn't dare to step forward and could only try their best to persuade them.
Such scenes were not uncommon for Wen Yun. They were just children fighting. Even the group of sensible children on the Tenth Peak occasionally had conflicts, let alone mortal children.
As usual, the two children would probably start crying and going to their parents for justice, acting like a spoiled child and seeking comfort.
However, surprisingly, after the two children stopped fighting, they did not run home immediately. Instead, they wiped their tears, gritted their teeth and glared at each other.
Human child: "I'm not wrong! You're the one cheating!"
The bull-headed boy stiffened his neck and refused to give in: "I just didn't mean it, but you did it on purpose!"
"Do you dare to let the immortal judge?"
Hearing the other party say this, the bull-headed boy seemed to shrink back, but he looked at his friends who were gathered around him and didn't want to admit that he was cheating at this time, so he had to bite the bullet and said, "Okay, let the immortal judge!"
So, the two of them made the same move—
They all took out a half-finger-long incense stick from their pockets, lit it and placed it in front of them, then knelt on the ground with great respect and silently recited something.
At this moment, the clever child who had gone to report the incident came running over with a group of adults, who appeared to be the parents of the two people who had been fighting.
After seeing the two lit incense sticks, they rushed over desperately and tried to snatch the incense and extinguish it.
"How dare you light incense and pray for the gods for such a small matter!"
"Put it out, quick!"
However, it was too late. A floating cloud flew out from the deep mountains in the distance, and with it came a young cultivator who was about to reach the foundation-building stage.
He was dressed in plain white clothes, his brows were numb and cold, even though a group of children below were crying and talking about what was happening below, the monk did not show any emotion, but just lowered his eyes and listened quietly.
The child's parents knelt on the ground and kowtowed desperately to beg for mercy: "Fairy, the child is ignorant and lit incense. We will go back and beat him up. I hope you..."
The monk held a whisk in his hand and said calmly, "If mortals have any grievances, they will be judged by the immortals. Please light the immortal incense, and I need to judge for justice."
He looked at the human child and said, "You are so young and yet you hurt your companions at will. This is evil. I will cut off one of your toes as a punishment."
As soon as he finished speaking, the monk waved the whisk in his hand, and blood oozed out of the cloth shoes on the child's feet. One of his toes was actually cut off!
Amid the cries of his companions, the bull-headed child was frightened to the point of turning pale, and tried to flee home using both his hands and feet. However, the monk on top of him used his spiritual power to restrain him and pronounced the verdict: "You have acted treacherously and have an impure heart. This is evil. I will cut off one of your hands as a punishment."
The mortals on the earth cried their hearts out while holding their children who had fainted from the pain, but no one was dissatisfied with the immortal. Instead, they kowtowed respectfully and handed over a box of spiritual jade to the immortal, sobbing and saying, "Thank you for your fair judgment, immortal. I send you off with respect," and so on.
In this absurd scene, the monk seemed to have just done something familiar, turned around and walked away on the clouds.
Immortal Shangxuan also led Wen Yun and Ye Shubai to follow the cultivator and quietly walked into the sect in the mountains.
At first glance, this sect is quite similar to the Qingliu Sword Sect. The disciples each live in seclusion on different hills, and many of them also gather together to sit and discuss Taoism.
However, all of them had calm and peaceful expressions on their faces, neither joy nor anger. Even the one who lost the fight had a calm expression on his face. He just bowed and walked away.
They are more like immortals than those who ascended to heaven, and they do not have any human emotions or desires at all.
The Immortal Supreme Voice watched this scene and said with satisfaction: "Mortals are ignorant and foolish, but they often complain that the way of heaven is unfair. Then I will give everyone a chance to seek justice. Practitioners need to cut off their emotions and desires to prove the way of Taoism. They are the most suitable judges."
"If the monks also feel that this is unfair, then the law of nature will judge."
What is the way of heaven in this world? Soon, Shangxuan Immortal Venerable let Wen Yun and Ye Shubai know the answer.
Above the sky, a bolt of thunder rumbled downwards. Somewhere in the distance, a cultivator in the Nascent Soul stage fell to the ground. Opposite him, another cultivator who was holding incense and kowtowing kept kowtowing, muttering to himself, "Heaven has eyes."
But Wen Yun could see clearly that the so-called heavenly thunder was completely different from what she had experienced before. It was just an ordinary lightning spell, but what really killed the Nascent Soul cultivator was the law of life and death contained in it!
Wen Yun stared at the scene in a daze.
This is clearly just a fake heaven created by relying on the power to crush the entire world.
The Immortal Supreme Xuan had a calm expression and looked down at all living beings.
He seemed to understand what Wen Yun and Ye Shubai were thinking, and said calmly: "This world has existed for ten thousand years. Mortals respect immortals, and immortals fear the way of heaven. It is precisely because they all have awe in their hearts that this world can be so orderly. Mortals do not have to be displaced and their families broken up, and cultivators do not have to kill each other for opportunities. Whether it is your lower world or the upper world like Yunhai Dongxuan, you can't do this. Outside, whether it is mortals or cultivators, they are dominated by greed and evil thoughts, and there is no fear in their hearts. The so-called freedom belongs only to the strong, while the lives of the weak are like grass and are worse than livestock."
"Do you dare to be sure that the outside world is better than this world?"
"Perhaps you will say this is an illusion, but the peace here has lasted for ten thousand years. Do you dare to say that the reality outside is better than these illusions? Moreover, the creatures in this world have been like this for ten thousand years, and generations have been like this. Everyone has long been accustomed to it. The truth and falsehood are only between people's thoughts. Why bother to be obsessed with it?"
"If one day all the worlds become this world, then the people in the lower world will not have to worry about being dominated by the people in the upper world, and the people in the upper world will not dare to kill innocent people. Do you think this is wrong?"
"On the road to seeking truth, sacrificing a small number of people is worth it. The world doesn't understand me. Since you are the same person as me who controls the road of life and death, you should understand this truth."
Immortal Supreme Xuan looked at Ye Shubai and his voice became gentle: "I use the power of the law of life and death to establish the way of heaven in this world, but it is not enough to change all the worlds into this. This is why I search for the power of the law. If you are willing to follow me to reshape the order of all the worlds, I don't mind waiting for another thousand years to search for more power of the law and leave your law of life and death."
Ye Shubai lowered his eyes and looked at the world below and fell into silence for a long time.
Immortal Shangxuan looked at Wen Yun, his eyes becoming colder: "But the way of heaven is ruthless, before that you need to cut off all the ties."