Library of Heaven’s Path

Zhang Xuan shook his head and replied, “I’ve never heard of it before.”

“You’ve never heard of it before?” Ancient Sage Zi Yuan was slightly surprised to hear that answer. With a slight frown, he asked, “Zhang shi, you met our teacher’s clone in the Azure, right? Do you notice any difference between our teacher and his clone?”

“Difference?” Zhang Xuan pondered for a moment before replying. “To be honest, at the very start, I was unable to discern any difference at all, be it in terms of his body or soul. I would say that the greatest difference between the two of them is their personality…”

It was not without reason that he had been fooled by Kong shi’s clone back then.

If not for the other party’s attempts to kill him, he might have been fooled by the other party’s facade.

“Humans are born with turbidity inside of them. They undergo birth, ageing, illness, death, and all sorts of suffering. This leads to desire, envy, lust, greed, and all sorts of emotions consuming their mind, leading them to be fixated with inconsequential things,” Ancient Sage Zi Yuan explained.

Zhang Xuan nodded in agreement.

There was no human who was devoid of desire. Even the most selfless of saints would find it hard to transcend their desires.

Zhang Xuan was filled with many desires as well. He desired to love and to be loved; he desired to be understood; he desired to eat delicious food; he desired to be strong…

These were powerful desires that drove him.

“Severing the Three Necrophorus is a technique that severs one’s unnecessary fixations and malevolent intent, thus returning purity to one’s mind and body,” Ancient Sage Zi Yuan replied.

Hearing those words, Zhang Xuan’s body stiffened up a little.

Was that for real?

If this was true, the technique would really be frighteningly formidable!

“We have practiced the technique as well. Back when we were on the Master Teacher Continent, we severed our Three Necrophorus and used them to seal off the passageway between the Azure and the Master Teacher Continent,” Ancient Sage Zi Yuan replied.

“I see! So those were your Necrophorus…” Zhang Xuan nodded in realization.

He had wondered how they were all still around despite having seen their corpses back on the Master Teacher Continent. It turned out to be a side effect of a technique that they had been practicing!

The necrophorus that was severed from one’s body would appear to be no different from one’s real body, such that it was nigh impossible to tell the difference.

The similarity was so great that it could fool even the heavens!

“Indeed. Back while he was on the Master Teacher Continent, our teacher severed his Benevolent Necrophorus and forged it into the Great Codex of Spring and Autumn. In the Azure, he severed his Malevolent Necrophorus and sealed it in the Ethereal Hall, which turned into the clone that you met. If I’m not mistaken, he used the hands of God Monarch Lingxi to sever his Ego Necrophorus,” Ancient Sage Zi Yuan explained.

“Benevolent Necrophorus, Malevolent Necrophorus, and Ego Necrophorus?”

“Only through severing persisting thoughts of good and evil and overcoming one’s sense of self will one be able to transcend one’s fixations,” Ancient Sage Zi Yuan explained. “Our teacher was born with a fragment of the heavens within him, and every time he used it, a sliver of gray energy would be left within his body. This gray energy was fused together with his body and his soul, making it impossible to remove it. So, he devised the technique, Severing the Three Necrophorus, in order to free himself of the gray energy in order to achieve true liberation!”

“I see…” Zhang Xuan nodded in realization.

That would explain why Kong shi had been able to remain composed right from the start. It seemed like everything, from the start of the battle to his resignation in the end, had gone according to his plan.

Through using Luo Ruoxin’s strength to sever his Ego Necrophorus, he would be giving up on everything that he had been persistently holding onto thus far. As a result, he would be freed from the mark that the heavens had left on him, allowing him to achieve true transcendence.

As expected of the World’s Teacher. He was decisive in his actions, and he had everything in his grasp.

Zhang Xuan looked at his own body and saw that the gray energy within his body had grown quite a bit. It was lodged deep within his body and soul, making it impossible to remove it.

Even with his Pathos of Heaven, he was unable to do anything about the gray energy within him.

“In order to successfully Sever the Three Necrophorus, one has to fool the heavens first. As such, other than our teachers and a few of us, there is practically no one who knows of this technique. Our teacher has also never imparted it to anyone else. Furthermore, once this technique has been used, the heavens will automatically repair the flaws accordingly, making it impossible to use it a second time. It’s probably for this reason that our teacher didn’t impart it to you,” Ancient Sage Zi Yuan explained.

Zhang Xuan nodded in response.

As someone who possessed a fragment of the heavens as well, he could understand that much.

In order to be freed from the shackles of the heavens, one would have to first learn how to fool the heavens.

Zhang Xuan would eventually have to find a way to free himself from the shackles of the heavens as well, but Kong shi’s method would not work for him.

After all, after the precedence from Kong shi, the heavens would surely be guarded against it a second time. If he dared attempt it, he might just end up being obliterated by the heavens in the process of doing so.

“Zhang shi, our teacher has discussed your matters with us before. He says that just like him, you have to find a way to transcend the heavens. Even though it is a different route from what he took, it seems like both he and God Monarch Lingxi have already prepared a way out for you,” Ancient Sage Zi Yuan said.

“Prepared a way out for me?” Zhang Xuan was astonished.

This was the first he had heard about this.

“Our teacher didn’t tell us what God Monarch Lingxi’s plan is, but I do know about what our teacher has left for you. For one, the Deathless Monarch is something our teacher prepared specifically for you,” Ancient Sage Zi Yuan said.

“This…” Zhang Xuan was stunned.

He had thought about this before. If Little Chick had descended to the Master Teacher Continent together with the Otherworldly Demons after his demise, he would have been in the otherworldly battlefield instead of being on a mountain range on the Master Teacher Continent.

And it seemed like he was right after all. It was an intentional move on Kong shi’s part, but he did not realize that the latter had prepared it for him.

Thinking deeper into the matter, a unique trait of Little Chick was his ability to resurrect from death. After absorbing his blood at the Lucid Lunar Lake, he had gained a portion of his resurrection ability as well.

If he lost his life somehow, there was a chance that he might be able to come back to life after the passing of innumerable years.

Just that…

So what if he came back to life?

There was a good chance that another consciousness would arise out of him, and he would become another person altogether.

Putting everything aside, even though his clone originated from the same soul as him, his clone was a compulsive braggart, very different from the humble and low-profile person he was.

In other words, just because two beings originated from the same soul did not mean that they were identical existences. Their consciousness could vastly differ from one another, making them distinct individuals.

The hand that Kong shi had left behind only guaranteed his return to life, but it was not enough to preserve his consciousness.

If that was the case, what was the hand that Luo Ruoxin had prepared for him?

Zhang Xuan could not help but fall into deep thought.

Two objects surfaced in his mind.

First, the disguise amulet that allowed him to alter even his bloodline.

It was an artifact that was more formidable than he had initially thought; it could actually fool even Conferred God Kings. However, it did not seem to have anything that had to do with the heavens.

Is it the crimson pendant then?

There was a droplet of blood within the pendant that carried powers that he could not comprehend.

This pendant had proven to have the ability to restore composure into his consciousness whenever his mind fell into disarray.

The first time it happened was when he suddenly realized that the Heaven’s Path Divine Art was not as perfect as he thought after entering the Azure. That had nearly caused his cultivation to go berserk, but the pendant had managed to calm down the chaos within him.

The second time was when he doubted the existence of the Pathos of Heaven a moment ago.

Both times, it had shaken his consciousness awake during a critical moment. Given so, was it possible that it had the ability to retain his consciousness even after he resurrected from death?

But that did not make sense either.

Luo Ruoxin was the one who had given him this pendant, so if she already knew this much, what was she still worried about?

If they could both survive the War of the Heavens through such a method, everything was good, was it not?