Read Novel Full Chapter 541: This Zouyu Is Not That Zouyu!
Chapter 541: This Zouyu Is Not That Zouyu!
The contents of the jade slip given by Chong Guang contained only one sentence:
【The descendant of the Zouyu clan within the Sacred Sect entered the sect five thousand years ago.】
At first glance, this single sentence seemed entirely out of context, yet it instantly brought back to Lu Yang a long-forgotten conversation he had had with a descendant of the Zouyu clan.
What had the other party said back then?
‘The Zouyu descendant, predecessor of Tianwu, was forced into exile during the last millennial catastrophe that should have taken place in Jiangdong. The 【City Head Earth】 and their Fruit Position were lost together.’
The more Lu Yang thought about it, the more alarmed he became.
At some unknown moment, dark clouds had already gathered above, casting down a heavy shadow, as if someone were gazing down at the world from above the firmament.
Yet Lu Yang did not mind. By now, he already had a general understanding of the state of the four Dao Lords: although they seemed to constantly monitor this world, in truth, they seldom intervened. Most of the time, they simply weren’t paying attention to this forsaken place.
Often, what people perceived as the Dao Lords’ attention was merely the natural reaction of Heaven and Earth.
This time was no different. It looked menacing, as though a Dao Lord had turned their gaze this way, but at most, it was only a ripple of thought stirred within them.
A Dao Lord would not so easily "look" upon the present world.
At least, after ten lifetimes of cultivation, Lu Yang had only ever seen the World-Honored One do such a thing. As for the other three Dao Lords, he hadn’t seen even a shadow of them.
In other words——
‘The meddling World-Honored One again?’
Lu Yang lifted his head and looked at the dark clouds overhead. At once, he activated the 【Laws of the Immortal Kingdom】, and in an instant, multicolored lights surged forth, mercilessly dispersing the gloom.
He then continued to ponder deeply:
‘According to what that Zouyu descendant said, the regime change of the Dao Court should have occurred five thousand years ago—at the time of the last millennial catastrophe.’
But in reality?
Lu Yang still remembered clearly. When the officials of Tianwu gathered before Xuanwu Gate to host the unrestricted Jiangdong fighting tournament, they had shouted—
‘The imperial dynasty has nurtured its scholars for fifteen thousand years!’
Tianwu Dao Court had existed for at least ten thousand years. As its predecessor, how could the Zouyu Dao Court have been overthrown only five thousand years ago?
It made no sense.
In that instant, Lu Yang suddenly understood:
‘Just like the vanished three thousand years, another… temporal contradiction!’
No, it couldn’t even be called the second contradiction—because this one also occurred around the time of the last millennial catastrophe. Rather, it further corroborated Lu Yang’s suspicion:
‘This has to be the work of the World-Honored One!’
Yet very soon, an even greater question surged into Lu Yang’s mind:
‘If that’s the case… why is the Zouyu descendant in the Sacred Sect? If it truly involved the World-Honored One, they should’ve been taken into the Pure Land and converted long ago.’
Lu Yang’s thoughts spun rapidly. More and more hidden truths surfaced in his mind, forming a coherent logical chain. Reflected in the real world, this manifested as increasingly loud thunder, like ghosts wailing and gods howling—for at the level of the Dao Lords, even “knowing” itself was a crime.
‘The Sacred Sect’s founding ancestor… the World-Honored One.’
Lu Yang stroked his chin. Based on his previous speculations, if the World-Honored One had managed to reach Nascent Soul back then, it must have been thanks to substantial support from the Sacred Sect’s founding ancestor.
But this was the Sacred Sect.
How could the Sacred Sect offer help without strings attached? Not to mention, the World-Honored One’s creditworthiness was not exactly stellar. How could the founding ancestor be certain he wouldn’t turn hostile after achieving the Dao?
Whether sentimentally or logically, the Sacred Sect’s founder must have left a contingency plan.
‘The Zouyu descendant… should be that contingency!’
The clearly disordered timeline, the connection to the World-Honored One, yet still remaining within the Sacred Sect, unbothered by the Pure Land—this was clearly a tacit agreement between the World-Honored One and the Sacred Sect’s founder!
Which brought forth the question:
The timeline confusion surrounding the Zouyu descendant—the Zouyu royal clan, which by all accounts should have been exterminated fifteen thousand years ago—why would they claim to have perished only five thousand years ago?
‘The core mystery of 【City Head Earth】—【Grasping the Past and Present】!’
Changing the causes of the past to forge the effects of the present—clearly, the history of the Zouyu had been altered, resulting in two completely divergent causal lines.
‘This Zouyu… is likely not that Zouyu!’
Lu Yang had spoken with Empress Xiao many times and had memorized the histories of Tianwu Dao Court, including some secret records of how Tianwu overthrew the previous dynasty.
‘If you don’t uproot the weeds, they’ll grow back with the spring breeze. Even a first-layer Qi Refining disciple of the Sacred Sect knows that. How could the Tianwu royal clan not understand? According to the records, the Zouyu royal clan was annihilated fifteen thousand years ago—there’s no way any pure-blood descendants could have survived!’
The Zouyu descendant in the Sacred Sect—his origins were clearly wrong!
And yet, no one had noticed.
Even the Tianwu Dao Court itself had failed to perceive the issue.
Lu Yang included.
He had known about the Zouyu royal clan’s intel from several lifetimes past, and he had obtained Tianwu’s records from Empress Xiao ten years ago.
But until just now—
Until Chong Guang handed him that jade slip—this knowledge had been locked away, known yet unconnected.
Chong Guang’s jade slip was the key that unlocked the memory.
‘The vanished three thousand years, the mystery of 【City Head Earth】—history had been altered.’
The next moment, Lu Yang suddenly realized: ‘The Zouyu descendant of the Sacred Sect likely came from that altered, now nonexistent, history!’
‘Because it involved the secret of the World-Honored One’s ascension—and they were once royalty wielding 【City Head Earth】—they were kept by the Sacred Sect’s founding ancestor. But with hidden methods. In short, this was the founding ancestor’s tool to blackmail and restrain the World-Honored One, preventing betrayal!’
‘This is the step I was missing.’
The Zouyu descendant of the Sacred Sect was inherently contradictory—on one hand, they lived in this world, but on the other, their origin did not belong to it.
It was precisely this uniqueness that had affected Lu Yang.
‘【Heavenly Fire】 must rule over the world—but the Zouyu descendant of the Sacred Sect remained untouched by the glow of 【Heavenly Fire】, and yet the karma they carried was absurdly vast.’
Generally speaking, 【Heavenly Fire】’s rule over the world did not need to be so meticulous—it didn’t need to extend to every single individual.
After all, mortals and Qi Refiners were too insignificant—their karma often just followed the larger currents.
Most of the time, as long as Lu Yang controlled the upper echelons, the mortals and Qi Refiners below naturally came under his domain—he didn’t even need to exert himself.
But the Zouyu descendant was different.
Their scale may have been small, but their karma was immense… In the eyes of 【Heavenly Fire】, they were a tiny yet indelible blemish.
Even their submission was meaningless.
Because they did not belong to this world—nor to its current history—their very existence violated the imagery of 【Heavenly Fire】!
【Heavenly Fire】: warming the mountains and rivers, radiating across the cosmos.
How could there be any who were untouched, any place that remained unruled?
The more Lu Yang thought, the deeper his brows furrowed:
‘If I don’t find a way to remove them, this blemish will resurface during my attestation of 【Heavenly Fire】 and interfere with my ritual to rule the world!’
The most direct method, naturally, would be to do what he had done with the Pure Land—kill them all.
But the Zouyu descendant was far too special. After all, if his guesses were correct, this was the very tool the Sacred Sect’s founder used to blackmail the World-Honored One.
Who would dare kill them? Who could?
If he really made a move, the World-Honored One might just die laughing!
‘If they can’t be killed, then I must find a way to reach their source—so that the radiance of 【Heavenly Fire】 can touch them as well.’
Besides that, there was another problem.
Lu Yang looked up, eyes fixed on Chong Guang directly ahead.
The knowledge in that jade slip was of the utmost importance—it involved the World-Honored One’s secrets… Even if Chong Guang was acting sect master of the Sacred Sect, there was no reason he should know such things.
And yet, the jade slip he delivered happened to be exactly what Lu Yang urgently needed.
Who guided him?