Chapter 54 (1/2)

The words ‘hold on’ determined life and death!

This time, the judgment’s subject seemed to be himself…

The moment Li Changshou shouted, and when he felt the oppression descending from the skies, a realization dawned on him.

Li Changshou, along with the omniscient Grandmaster Heavenly Dao, might be responsible for his current predicament.

Buzz, buzz, buzz—

Suddenly, ripples mysteriously appeared in the sky, accompanied by rumbling sounds.

This alarming oppression covered a 50-kilometer radius, making the living organisms in the area to quiver and remain motionless in fear.

Boom!

Li Changshou looked up again. A 10-feet-wide gray cloud had unknowingly appeared in the sky.

Two crevices suddenly and slowly split open in the gray cloud, as though two huge eyes were gradually opening. The entire gray cloud condensed to form the expressionless face of an old Daoist priest, his empty eyes staring down at Li Changshou.

‘Heavenly Dao? Dao Ancestor?’

In that instant, Li Changshou felt that he was completely exposed, and he sensed a strong feeling of danger.

His instincts were no longer probing him, but were hollering like a metal kettle filled with boiling water!

Even the immortal light emitting from his upper body retreated forcibly into his body!

What should he do?

His current situation was one where the Heavenly Dao would certainly kill him if he was perceived to be an abnormality in the Primordial World!

That was even if he did nothing, and if he was not involved in any karma!

Li Changshou did not want to care so much anymore.

Bearing down on the oppression, he yelled, “I have no intention to challenge Heaven’s authority! This is truly accidental! Grandmaster Heavenly Dao, please hold on a moment!”

‘What am I talking about, making the Heavenly Dao wait for me?’

What the h.e.l.l, it was the Violet Clouds Divine Lightning Alarm!

Li Changshou hastily opened his Dao robe, removed the 60-pockets Dharma treasure shorts he was wearing inside, and put it away inside his bangle.

He did not expect that he would need to reveal some of his trump cards in such a situation.

This was something completely unexpected, given how much preparation he had made for the Heavenly Tribulation.

Initially, the Heavenly Dao was not that vigilant toward him.

A cloth rope with a jade fragment was wrapped around his left shoulder. That jade fragment shone with faint esoteric Dao runes.

It was the Nameless Jade Fragment. When Li Changshou was five, a group of tomb raiders had come by with some ancient wares to trade with the tribe for livestock and money. This jade fragment was treated as an ordinary jade. After Li Changshou had discovered that an ancient character, translated as the word ‘fire’, was inscribed on it, he obtained it through wheedling.

Its function was unknown.

However, ten years after Li Changshou had joined the sect, he had secretly placed the jade fragment beside his Master. Upon using the predictive technique he had just learned, he discovered that he could no longer predict his Master’s future moves, which was something he could do previously.

The jade fragment’s function was to avoid being found through prediction, and it was something he always carried along with him.

The cloth rope was originally a piece of linen splattered with blood. It was found in-between an ancient animal-skin scroll that held historical records of the human race. This linen cloth should belong to a piece of clothing some human expert wore after getting injured.

According to the records written on the animal skin, any human wearing it would gain the protection of the Saints of the human race. However, it had to be used with pure intentions.

After taking off the cloth rope and Nameless Jade Fragment and stuffing them back into his bangle, Li Changshou took out a dagger from it before looking behind him.

The oppression falling on him from the sky had reduced slightly.

Li Changshou was delighted, but he quickly calmed down again. He twisted his head and looked at a spot on the back of his left shoulder. There was an ancient talisman directly tattooed onto his skin, which was currently emitting faint flashes of light.

Li Changshou slid his dagger through the talisman, breaking it instantly…

Fortunately, when the wound healed, later on, the talisman would repair itself as well.

That was the Ancient Secret Talisman of the Mage Race. It was used to evade and provide protection from disasters, trouble, and predictions. It was made by the Mage Ancestor to defend against the demon race.

Its effect would be activated after being carved on animal skin, but carving on flesh and blood would procure greater effects.

There was a similar secret talisman carved at the side of his torso, which Li Changshou cut through as well…

The oppression falling on him from the sky, immediately, reduced once more.

That was not all…

Li Changshou grasped hold of the keyword “protection against prediction”, so he instantly put away all the other items he usually carried with him.

For example, the two old coins sewn into a pocket in his underwear.

They were claimed to be the first version of coins used by humans from the ancient times, thus containing some merits within, combined with the ability to protect against prediction and evade disasters.

A demon bone fragment was tied to his ankle, and a rainbow fish scale was pasted on his thigh…

In total, there were about seven miscellaneous ‘strange’ trinkets Li Changshou had used on his Master—as his test subject—to see if one could use them to evade from prediction techniques…

As these items were not Dharma treasures, they were hard to be discovered but easy to obtain.

Speaking of the Primordial Times, other than the various Dharma treasures, mystical abilities, and experts, the most memorable thing was the mysterious prediction technique.

Experts with high cultivation levels and proficient in prediction would borrow the power from the Heavenly Dao, pinch their fingers together and instantly know what was going on at places far away.

Li Changshou himself could be considered a ‘small secret’, having reincarnated to this Primordial World while retaining his memories from his past life. Thus, he had to keep his guard up at all times. He had obtained these trinkets through hard work and luck.

However, he would never expect that even the Heavenly Dao would be affected!

The oppression was slowly disappearing by this point, along with the old Daoist priest’s face on the gray cloud. However, the gray cloud was still floating above his head.

Li Changshou broke out into cold sweat. He might have collapsed onto the ocean surface if his psychological capability was not strong enough.

He had obtained these items purely to prevent others from using the prediction technique on him, and not to use against the Heavenly Dao.

‘Any intentional disguise when one was at a very low cultivation level would instead attract attention from experts, drawing trouble to oneself.’

As he understood this logic early on, Li Changshou had always been using a common disguise when he was in the sect.

Why would he purposely go against the Heavenly Dao?

Maybe…

Probably…

Could it be that there were different forms of the Heavenly Dao?

Opportunistic, energy-saving, fully-operational, high-performing?

Cough. That was a joke.

The Heavenly Dao monitored all living organisms but did not pay special attention to any, especially those who had yet to become an immortal and were not destructive.

The Eight Lightnings Tribulation Li Changshou just experienced was based on how the Heavenly Dao calculated his potential. The strength was already configured.

It was only when something wrong occurred after he transcended the tribulation that the Heavenly Dao paid attention to him.

Originally, the Heavenly Dao would adjust the strength of the Heavenly Tribulation for other cultivators like Li Changshou, whose cultivation exceeded expectations. This way, the cultivator would undergo a trial hard enough. If the cultivator could not withstand it fully, they would die, and their Dao would disappear.

However, it was unexpected that Li Changshou possessed so many strange trinkets that provided protection against prediction. Therefore, the Heavenly Dao misjudged while it was in the ‘energy-saving mode’.