The righteous path punishes Heaven

Chapter 42 Unexpected Changes

"You also understand that the Flaming Mountain you are in, and this world, are just projections of fragments left over from the ancient immortal realm. Even if you die today, you will return to the original state when the Xuanxu Ancient Realm opens in the future."

Ming Shan spoke slowly to Dali Wang, then ignored everything else. Having obtained the answer he wanted, he had already exhausted all the opportunities in this place.

After putting the Vajra Bracelet into his storage bag, Ming Shan led the Quanzhen Sect members away from the Flaming Mountain Cave.

With his eyes vacant and blank, Dali Wang scanned everything before him, finally collapsing to the ground and lying unconscious next to Rakshasa.

Just as Ming Shan and the others were about to leave Flaming Mountain, a deep and ancient voice slowly resounded in their minds:

"Trial failed, this realm is about to collapse..."

The sudden turn of events shocked everyone. They had originally planned to continue searching for other opportunities after leaving, but now they were told that the Xuanxu Ancient Realm was going to be destroyed.

The Quanzhen Sect group flew swiftly over the Flaming Mountain and happened to encounter Zhang Yunling flying towards them. Upon seeing his junior brother return, Ren Jixing hurriedly asked, "Yunling! It's good that you're alright! There's been a disturbance in the Xuanxu Ancient Realm this time, and many senior sect members and I have been discussing countermeasures. I'm sure you know about it!"

Seeing how intimately and politely Ren Jixing treated Zhang Yunling, Ming Shan understood the situation to some extent. This young man probably had some talent and was favored by Ren Jixing, which is why he was brought under the wing of Quanzhen Dao.

Seeing the two chatting amicably, he didn't interfere. He just glanced at Zhang Yunling and then said nothing more.

Everyone landed on the ground one by one. Zhang Yunling's face was as pale as paper, and there were still traces of blood on his face, as if he had just gone through a battle and escaped death.

Upon hearing Ren Jixing's words, Zhang Yunling wisely stepped forward, cupped his hands in greeting to the group of Quanzhen Dao cultivators, and immediately softened his expression, presenting a friendly and approachable image.

Seeing Zhang Yunling's calm and unhurried demeanor, as if he were fully aware of what was about to happen, Ren Jixing felt a little more at ease. He stepped forward and asked, "Junior brother, you must know what has happened. Tell me your opinion on the impending collapse of the ancient realm. What do you think?"

"I also heard that voice. It seems to be informing all outsiders in the Ancient Realm. I learned some information in a mountain range in the Mysterious Ancient Realm. It recorded how to properly pass the Flaming Mountain Trial. We need to obtain the magic weapon Banana Leaf Fan and use its power to extinguish the ever-burning flames of the Flaming Mountain, thus saving all living beings around us. But now the Banana Leaf Fan has been taken by the Formless Hand. We have no choice but to take advantage of the Ancient Realm's collapse and the fact that our connection with the outside world is at its weakest, and escape through the entrance as soon as possible."

Everyone present was shocked by Zhang Yunling's explanation, but whether they believed it or not, they had no choice but to do as he said.

All the cultivators hurriedly rushed towards the entrance to the Xuanxu Ancient Realm. Seeing that Ren Jixing's internal injuries had not yet recovered, Zhang Yunling took out a few healing pills from his storage bag and gave them to him so that he would have the strength to fly.

On the way, Zhang Yunling pondered to himself that the opportunity he had to seize in this ancient realm was not in the Flaming Mountain, but in that mysterious mountain peak.

What he didn't tell anyone was that all this information he had learned came from an old man he had met in those mountains.

As he comprehended the formation and history of the Five Realms and Nine Heavens, a small old man dressed in a coarse linen shirt and wearing a black cloth hat suddenly emerged from the ground beside him.

This old man was originally the local deity of Flaming Mountain. He had noticed Zhang Yunling's presence when Zhang first entered the Flaming Mountain territory. He paid even closer attention when Zhang took out the Vajra Bracelet and followed him all the way, eventually arriving at that mysterious mountain range with him.

The local deity claimed to be a disciple of the Heavenly Emperor, just like the Mighty King. He had once guarded the Heavenly Emperor's alchemy furnace, but because a demon beast kicked over the furnace, he was demoted to the mortal realm for dereliction of duty and became the local deity of this Flaming Mountain.

And because the Nine Heavens collapsed back then, this world, which shared the same origin as the Nine Heavens, was destroyed along with them, leaving only a few remnants of primordial power that allowed this world to briefly appear in the Five Domains every thousand years.

After this information was fed into Zhang Yunling's mind, his mentality and cognition underwent a tremendous change. He had already been greatly shocked by learning about the history of the Five Domains and Nine Heavens. Now, Zhang Yunling, who used to regard himself as an ordinary cultivator and only wanted to cultivate to become an immortal like everyone else, has become completely confused.

After resolving the entanglements of the mortal world, he must thoroughly understand the causes and consequences of everything and make amends for the transformation of his soul caused by knowing too much information he shouldn't have known.

Pulling himself out of his thoughts, Zhang Yunling had already followed the group of Quanzhen Dao cultivators back to the entrance to the Xuanxu Ancient Realm.

Looking back into the distance, they could see with the naked eye that the landscape, including the Flaming Mountains, had begun to crumble and collapse, and was about to spread to their area.

Ming Shan then shouted, "Everyone, join me! Let's attack the barrier together and break through it!"

"Yes!!"

Ignoring his injuries, Ren Jixing followed his seniors and attacked the rock wall. With just one magical strike, the wall shattered and collapsed, revealing the stone platform and gate they had entered from the outside.

As all the cultivators hurriedly fled towards the exit, Ren Jixing also grabbed Zhang Yunling's arm and rushed out, but Zhang Yunling still turned her head and stared deeply in the direction where the Flaming Mountain disappeared, still feeling unwilling.

What would have happened if I had known the whole story sooner and discovered the right way to pass the trials of the ancient realm? What other opportunities would I have gained? What would Mighty King's attitude and actions have been...?

Things don't always go as planned, and there will always be regrets. But with loss comes gain. Zhang Yunling gave up the opportunities of Flaming Mountain and the Banana Leaf Fan, but at the same time, he gained the history of the Five Realms and Nine Heavens. Perhaps this is what he deserved. Fate guides what happens.

There will always be people kept in the dark, and there will always be people who know the truth. But how they act depends on how they use that truth to get the results they want.

With their last step, all the Quanzhen Dao members left the Xuanxu Ancient Realm, but then they saw a group of people rushing toward them from behind.

Leading the group was Zhu Yi, who was supporting the seriously injured Li Hongbin on his shoulder, along with several cultivators from Sanqing Mountain.

As Zhu Yi flew towards the exit, he shouted and pleaded, "Fellow Daoists! Leave a way out for others so you can meet again in the future! My elder is an old friend of your sect's Senior Minggui. Please lend us a hand. We will surely repay you handsomely in the future!"

Upon hearing this, Ming Shan turned around and saw Li Hongbin being helped by Zhu Yi and struggling to fly towards him. His expression became complicated.

Without Elder Ming's instructions, no one dared to speak until the group from Sanqing Mountain had reached the exit. Only then did Ming Shan wave his hand and say, "Go, go. For Li Hongbin's sake, you can leave."

"Thank you, Senior Minggui! I will definitely go back and report to the sect to repay your kindness today!" Zhu Yi felt as if he had been granted a pardon and hurriedly led the people of Sanqing Mountain to flee outside.

Zhang Yunling stole a glance and saw Li Hongbin's extremely ugly face, and he couldn't help but have some thoughts.

That so-called reputation that everyone cares about is nothing more than that. In the face of real life-or-death matters, it is as fragile as a carefully nurtured flower, which will sway and scatter with the slightest breeze.

Ming Shan also sighed deeply, turned around and walked towards the cave outside the stone platform, "Let's go, it's time to go back."

Everyone responded in unison and followed. Only then did Zhang Yunling suddenly realize that he hadn't discovered the cave when he entered this ancient realm...

"What's going on..."

There's no time to worry about anything else right now; let's just follow Ren Jixing and the others to infiltrate the sect first.