Chen Yan had not expected to meet "Mr. You" again.
But thinking it over, it was also somewhat reasonable.
When Chen Yan faced Mr. You’s questioning, he didn’t immediately know where to begin answering.
Because the "Mr. You" sitting in front of him now did not recognize him.
"Just a single body-forging cultivator at the Myriad Transformations realm, yet sealed by methods above Ascending to Immortality — that's rather interesting..."
Saying this, Mr. You raised his hand, made some calculations with his fingertips, then his expression froze.
"Chenping Continent... gone?"
"Yes."
Chen Yan replied:
Mr. You fell silent for a moment as he pondered, then looked up:
"Was it me who told you to come to this city?"
"Yes."
Chen Yan nodded.
Clearly, the previously casual Mr. You had finally grasped how dire the situation truly was.
"Who was the steward of Heavenly Summit Mountain before Chenping Continent perished?"
Mr. You continued to ask.
"Heavenly Summit Mountain fell seventy thousand years ago, and its last steward, the twelfth steward, was Qinghong Realman."
Chen Yan answered.
From Mr. You’s questions Chen Yan could tell something.
This Mr. You inside Fusheng City seemed to know nothing of the previous circumstances on Chenping Continent.
"Qinghong, Qinghong..."
Mr. You muttered the name of the last steward of Heavenly Summit Mountain, his hands never stopping as he continued to calculate.
Then his movements halted.
Because he could calculate no further.
Chenping Continent’s heavenly patterns had completely collapsed, becoming illusory.
What now sustained Fusheng City was only the remnant radiance of dao rhyme left by the Immortal Venerable Fusheng back then, constructing a false "law."
This little remainder of dao rhyme could not bear any more fluctuations.
Otherwise, Fusheng City would likely collapse into nothingness just like Chenping Continent.
"My name is Chen Yan, a disciple of Kongyuan Mountain of the Kongshan Sect. Senior, have you heard that our sect had an ancestor named Yan Yunhe more than seventy thousand years ago?"
Chen Yan tried.
Mr. You nodded:
"A faint sect."
Then he continued:
"Since it was 'me' who told you to come here, then tell me, why would 'I' tell you to come here?"
From the way Mr. You spoke in Fusheng City, Chen Yan was now fully convinced that the Mr. You outside the city and the one inside might be the same person, but their memories were not shared.
"Sir, you told me that as long as I reached this Fusheng City, I could rid myself of the cause-and-effect attached to me."
Chen Yan said.
"Oh?"
Hearing this, Mr. You seemed intrigued. He fixed his gaze on Chen Yan and smiled:
"What kind of cause-and-effect have you been tainted with?"
"Since the moment Heavenly Summit Mountain fell more than sixty thousand years ago, all the cause-and-effect of Chenping Continent has been placed upon me alone."
Chen Yan said slowly.
The smile on Mr. You’s face stiffened again. He suppressed his urge to calculate fate’s mechanisms and murmured:
"What exactly happened outside the city?"
"If you are willing, sir, I can tell you everything I know."
Chen Yan said.
"Go on."
The Mr. You inside Fusheng City said.
This almost-omnipotent immortal indeed needed Chen Yan to explain what had occurred outside the city.
Chen Yan began from seven thousand years ago, when Su Hongzhen fell and the era of the severed path to immortality began.
He also briefly mentioned the fall of Heavenly Summit Mountain and the rise of the Five Great Sects.
Then he told of how the Dao Basis in the Fallen Sword Mountain Range—Su Hongzhen’s dao basis—decayed, and how Su Hongzhen, carrying fragments of the Heavenly Summit Mirror, witnessed Heavenly Summit Mountain’s devastation within the palace’s illusion, took on cause-and-effect, and caused the revival of immortal ways.
Next came the two Ascender reincarnations of Heavenly Summit Mountain, who intended to change the outcome of the mountain’s fall while Chen Yan bore over sixty thousand years’ worth of cause-and-effect.
That led to the chaos among the immortals, then the dying Mr. You threw Chen Yan into Fusheng City, and then up to the present.
"......"
Mr. You said nothing, merely digesting the torrent of information he had just received.
Finally, he nodded and once again wore the familiar calm, detached expression Chen Yan had come to know, as if everything were under control:
"I think I roughly understand how 'I' would have thought."
...
The center of Fusheng City was not some bustling structure, but rather a barren patch of empty ground.
At the center of the vacant lot stood a very ordinary stone platform, about three feet wide and five feet high.
Mr. You, dressed in plain daoist robes, walked ahead while Chen Yan followed behind.
"Do you know Tian Su Realman?"
Mr. You asked without turning his head, addressing Chen Yan who trailed him.
"Yes. Tian Su was the first steward of Heavenly Summit Mountain, and the first Ascender of Chenping Continent."
Chen Yan answered.
"Before Tian Su, no Ascenders had appeared on Chenping Continent. In the eyes of the world, Dao Union was already the pinnacle of the immortal path."
Mr. You spoke as he stepped toward the empty lot:
"It was only when Heavenly Summit Mountain burst onto the scene and Tian Su Realman suppressed his enemies that the world realized that from Body Forging to Dao Union was merely the below-immortality realm, and if there’s a below-immortality, naturally there must be an above-immortality."
Ascending to Immortality.
"But the might of an Ascender is terrifying. Any Ascender could, with little effort, destroy the entire Chenping Continent. The Ascenders before acted with restraint."
Mr. You said:
"However, some believed that Ascenders should not exist in this world, because when an Ascender truly tries to exert their ability, they must break the limits of heavenly laws, causing their own Dao Basis to be counterattacked and consumed by those laws..."
As he spoke, Mr. You’s gaze fell on Chen Yan standing behind him:
"What do you think?"
"I am only a Myriad Transformations realm cultivator, far from the upper three realms, let alone Ascending to Immortality."
Chen Yan replied.
"But if what you say is true, that would mean you are deeply tied to Heaven’s Dao Fate."
Mr. You stood in front of the enclosing wall, then waved his sleeve. Ten balls of light flowed out from his sleeve and floated toward the stone platform in the lot’s center.
Chen Yan widened his eyes.
Because those were ten Dao Bases!
The Mr. You outside the city had said he had returned to Fusheng City nine times.
That meant he had brought back nine Dao Bases to Fusheng City.
As for the tenth Dao Basis...
Chen Yan’s gaze settled on the translucent-glazed ball of light.