Master of Strange Dao

The slow demise of the Deities has an important juncture: they even forgot their own divine names.

The Yang-Keeping Devil himself didn't notice this point, or rather, something made him overlook it.

When the Old Emperor Qian personally recited his former divine name, many things attached to that name appeared as well.

The Yang-Keeping Devil's power increased significantly, but even more so did the Mysterious aura.

The Old Emperor Qian was not in need of power, but of the Mysterious aura.

Like a Stone from another mountain polishing his own jade, what he wanted was never direct Seizing Dao.

He was even aware that what these former Deities considered as Seizing Dao was far from being a simple violent seizure.

Seizing Dao, this term itself, is a pit laid out in plain sight.

It's a pitfall for these Deities.

When the Yang-Keeping Devil uttered the term Seizing Dao, the Old Emperor Qian realized this fellow didn't understand the deeper meaning.

The Old Emperor Qian proceeded with his cultivation, using the Yang-Keeping Devil as a Stone to polish his own jade.

The Yang-Keeping Devil remained silent, absorbing the newly surfaced memories, although still incomplete as a whole, they were significantly more than before.

He remembered the so-called Immortal Herbs, a rarity that even Deities would avoid.

Thankfully, the Immortal Herbs have always been just that, unlike intelligent beings with numerous thoughts.

He vaguely recalled that the Immortal Herbs appeared very early, and their origins seemed important.

As for the rest, he couldn't remember more.

He recalled the Ancient God and a bit of how he died back then.

This bit was just a picture.

A Bald man, with a stiff neck, using one hand to crush his True Form into a fireball, calmly overlooking him as if staring at a dead person.

The Bald man said a sentence.

"The God of Slaying was too foolish, he wanted to compete with me.

Indeed, I couldn't defeat him.

Because ultimate slaughter would lead to self-destruction.

Not being able to kill oneself, what's ultimate about that?

I'm indeed too weak, can't even kill myself.

I lost, he won.

I'm alive, he's dead.

All right, everyone is quite satisfied.

Now, I don't know whether you're lucky or unlucky.

Live well."

From just this scene, the Yang-Keeping Devil felt a terrible sense of oppression.

Being strangled and pressed to the ground, then having someone glare and snarling, saying "I lost," is a feeling the Yang-Keeping Devil still can't comprehend.

He doesn't care if the God of Slaying might have been killed by himself, he's eager to understand when he was hit by the Cautionary Treasure Skill.

What is the Cautionary Treasure Skill, and how to unravel this so-called Cautionary Treasure Skill.

And more seriously, he remembered his former divine name, and Dao emerged with it.

However, he was entirely unable to complete a further transformation.

By rights, even if he didn't recover the scattered ranks, he should be able to condense a new True Form according to the divine name.

Because the Cliff Divine King guards the possibility of Deities returning to being Deities.

But it didn't work, the Yang-Keeping Devil couldn't transform at all.

Not even the slightest step could be taken; if it were merely because he was in the Land of Fallen of an Ancient God, it couldn't have restricted him entirely.

He understood what the Old Emperor Qian was doing: he wanted him to struggle, the more he struggled, the more Mysterious aura he would gain, and the better the polishing effect.

Yet he couldn't even lift his foot anymore.

"Is this the Land of Fallen of that Ancient God?" the Yang-Keeping Devil calmed down, no longer hysterical.

"I don't know its name, I just once traveled through the Void and stumbled upon this place."

"I remember now, that terrible Heavenly Tribulation, the purest power amidst destruction.

By rights, your body shouldn't have survived such destruction.

You also found the power of the Ancient God, to sharpen your own Dao?"

The Old Emperor Qian neither confirmed nor denied it, he just said.

"It seems you've recovered quite well, you've regained a bit.

I told you, I just want to borrow your Dao to polish my Dao.

Not to take away your Dao.

You'd better try harder, work a bit more.

If you recover well, you'll have a chance to escape."

After saying this, the Old Emperor Qian closed his eyes, ignoring the Yang-Keeping Devil.

...

Southeast of Dadui, in Jiachen City.

In front of a small temple in the city's east, the temple without a plaque, only the word "Autumn" carved above the main gate.

In front of the small temple, an ominous-looking Execution Platform was built.

Inside the small temple, no statues, no physical objects, only a memorial tablet covered with a piece of red cloth like it was stained with blood.

Ordinary people naturally don't know what this arrangement means; even the local Prefectural Governor doesn't know the detailed inside story and responds that it's arranged from above, surely for a reason.

The prestige of the Dadui court remains quite high, and of course, ordinary people aren't overly concerned about why things are arranged so strangely.

Everyone has their interpretations, and the most widely spread now is executing after the autumn equinox.

The court's explanation is to prevent wrongful cases; all cases requiring execution must be submitted to the court for detailed examination, requiring at least four Cabinet members to personally sign off before execution.

This procedure certainly takes up a significant amount of time, which is intentionally set aside to prevent mistakes.

After the autumn equinox, everything is dealt with en masse.

This is a manifestation of the rigorous and just legal system of the court.

Of course, everyone believes this reason, yet also feels this can't be the primary reason.

Jiachen City is among the twelve major cities of Dadui, to the southeast direction, and is the closest major city to Daqian.