Mr. You did not speak. He simply nodded first, then, under the watchful eyes of cultivators from all corners of Chenping Continent gathered on Heavenly Summit Mountain, he took out a complete bronze mirror from his bosom right then and there.
Chen Yan, of course, recognized this bronze mirror.
Because he, too, had once owned one-fifth of this mirror's fragments.
The Heavenly Summit Mirror.
In Mr. You's hands, this artifact—regarded as the only dao artifact in the eyes of the Chenping Continent cultivation world—appeared utterly ordinary.
Like nothing more than a simple bronze disc.
But Chen Yan knew full well what this mirror truly represented.
Eight thousand years later, during the Great Chaos of the Immortals, the two Ascending to Immortality cultivators from Heavenly Summit Mountain had flipped the table and started a war with several other Ascending to Immortality cultivators, all because of this Heavenly Summit Mirror.
Gather all the fragments of the Heavenly Summit Mirror, and you could change history.
This dao artifact, which had once triggered a massive battle among six Ascending to Immortality cultivators, was now presented intact before his eyes.
Mr. You had "borrowed" it from the Five Great Sects, going door to door.
Faced with this supreme great power—the only cultivator in Chenping Continent's history to have reached a realm beyond Ascending to Immortality—no one dared refuse his request.
On the current Heavenly Summit Mountain, no one lingered near Mr. You or Chen Yan; they all merely hurried past.
No one knew that the young cultivator in plain-colored daoist robes who had just brushed past them was actually the awe-inspiring Immortal Venerable Fusheng in Chenping Continent's history.
Nor did anyone know that the artifact in the hands of that young cultivator in plain-colored daoist robes was actually the legendary, sole dao artifact of Chenping Continent—the Heavenly Summit Mirror.
"Sir, what do you mean?"
Chen Yan's expression remained calm. He first fixed his gaze on the bronze mirror in Mr. You's hand, then slightly lifted his eyes to look at Mr. You.
"I've already tried using this mirror to glimpse the future."
Mr. You said slowly, then shook his head:
"I can't see anything at all."
"This is the Heavenly Summit Mirror."
Chen Yan lowered his voice and used his spiritual energy to suppress the spread of his words, speaking only loudly enough for Mr. You, who stood before him, to hear clearly.
He was emphasizing this.
The Heavenly Summit Mirror could reflect the myriad sights of the past, present, and future. It could even reach into the past and future from the current point in time through this mirror.
The price had long been stated: the heaviest Karmic Backlash in the world.
Chen Yan was not demanding that Mr. You use the Heavenly Summit Mirror to glimpse the mission he himself needed to accomplish in this era. But he did not understand—did not understand what Mr. You meant by saying that through the Heavenly Summit Mirror, he could see nothing.
"The laws of heaven and earth in Chenping Continent cannot bear the weight of the Heavenly Summit Mirror glimpsing the future."
Mr. You said:
"So we need to find another way—like finding a place that can bear the Heavenly Summit Mirror."
A place that could bear the Heavenly Summit Mirror, enabling one to glimpse the future and the past through it...
The Heavenly Summit Palace.
A white jade palace suspended more than two thousand zhang above the peak of Heavenly Summit Mountain surfaced in Chen Yan's mind.
If there was anything in all of Chenping Continent that could bear the Heavenly Summit Mirror, it could only be the interior of the Heavenly Summit Palace.
Because eight thousand years later, Chen Yan had used the Heavenly Summit Palace and the fragments of the Heavenly Summit Mirror to see everything that had happened in the months before the destruction of Heavenly Summit Mountain.
In other words...
"Even I can't see through your cultivation level right now."
Though he couldn't see through Chen Yan's cultivation, Mr. You clearly understood that Chen Yan definitely knew where to activate the Heavenly Summit Mirror to glimpse the future within the limits of the laws of heaven and earth.
"Perhaps, with that technique of yours that conceals your cultivation, you might even be able to fool the restrictions of the Heavenly Summit Palace."
Mr. You said.
Before the destruction of Heavenly Summit Mountain, the twelfth-generation Steward of Heavenly Summit Mountain, Qinghong Realman—also its final steward—had placed a restriction on the Heavenly Summit Palace: no cultivator above the Martial Spring Realm could set foot inside.
Chen Yan could indeed use the Hidden Immortal Art to bypass that restriction.
And eight thousand years later, he had already implemented this plan before.
"You need to think carefully. You're already carrying over sixty thousand years of 'false cause and effect' on your person. If you use the Heavenly Summit Mirror and take on the 'true cause and effect' of the future..."
Mr. You said, pausing for a moment:
"'True cause and effect' and 'false cause and effect'—after they overlap, no one knows what will happen."
Cause and effect could overlap. This was a fact Chen Yan had long known.
His countless cycles of Save-Scumming had essentially piled cause and effect onto himself, layer after layer.
So he knew exactly what happened when cause and effect overlapped.
"I'll go."
Chen Yan did not hesitate. He reached out and took the bronze mirror.
...
The Daoyan Arena.
Ten enormous circular arena platforms stood within this once-sacred site of cultivation on Chenping Continent.
A young man in a cyan daoist robe, with clearly defined facial contours and a hint of carefree charm in his brows and eyes, moved through the crowd with a pure white Swift Sword at his waist—the blade's surface shimmering with crimson flame patterns.
The Heavenly Summit Mountain Dao Inquiry would officially begin in two days.
The specific rounds of the competition would not be drawn until just before it started.
Little Su's eyes searched through the crowd in all directions.
He kept Chen Yan's teachings firmly in mind.
With Little Su's current Martial Spring Realm cultivation, he couldn't tell whether another person's cultivation level was lower or higher than his own.
And that wasn't all. The cultivation world of Chenping Continent placed great importance on seniority, etiquette, and origin.
This meant that even if he encountered a cultivator of the same cultivation level, if they came from the Five Great Sects or a Top-Tier Sect, Little Su could not address them as an equal.
Being rude would invite scorn.
To that end, Chen Yan had come up with a solution for Su Hongzhen.
No matter who he met on Heavenly Summit Mountain—old or young, high or low in cultivation—he had only one way to address strangers:
"Your Excellency."
Of course, Su Hongzhen would also use only one way to refer to himself:
"Your humble servant."
Su Hongzhen only knew that the robes of Star Heaven Sect disciples were mostly purple in tone.
But right now, there were simply too many cultivators on the Daoyan Arena.
On top of that, every reputable cultivation sect in all of Chenping Continent had gathered here. It wasn't just Star Heaven Sect disciples wearing purple, and Su Hongzhen had no way to distinguish Star Heaven Sect's specific shade of purple.
He wanted to find someone who seemed approachable and try asking around.
In the end, Little Su's gaze settled on a young man who stood alone with no one around him and looked like he had a good temperament.
And that young man was wearing pure white daoist robes, with gilded cloud crane patterns embroidered on his sleeves.