Master of Strange Dao

"Heh, is this what you call burning bridges after crossing the river?" The Black Robed Man sneered repeatedly.

"No, it's just that you've shown your face in Daqian. You're marked for death. This year, fewer people are traveling for pilgrimages, and on top of those returning, the Langya Institute still has three Primordial Spirit Realm, and five Third Tribulation Realm members. If you want to die, go ahead and try. See if they don't kill you at first sight. By then, no one can save you."

"All right, it just so happens that the Southern Sea seems to be calming lately. I'll go there and investigate. Also, don't forget, I need the things I asked for.

This time your efforts failed completely, and everything was lost.

You also exposed the poison of the Abyss and the Abyssal Rift.

I told you not to let that useless Evil Dao Zhao Tiancheng go, but you didn't listen, thinking you could clear your name if things changed.

Can you wash your hands clean of this?

My dear Dean Wu.

Has a mad dog from the Jinyi Wei troubled you lately?

You assumed it had nothing to do with you, handled it so cleanly.

Do those people in the Langya Institute still treat you the same as before?"

The old man in the darkness raised his head, none other than Dean Wu of the Langya Institute, who once taught Dao Cultivators from the An Family.

The Black Robed Man wasn't wrong. Recent events had indeed made his days difficult.

Because the others in the Langya Institute weren't fools.

No matter how the investigation appeared on the surface, he was merely someone who had taught Dao Cultivators from the An Family, and he had taught many people.

No one would find any traceable connection to him in all the other matters.

It all seemed clean.

But, in reality, without evidence, he still had a feeling that other deans within the Langya Institute were secretly investigating him.

He had realized the problem, that he had been too clean, which only aroused suspicion.

But he couldn't change his ways; his habit had been to clean up immediately after completing a task, by the time something went wrong, it was too late for damage control.

All he could do was maintain this cleanliness.

"You don't need to worry about these matters anymore. The Heavenly Materials and Earthly Treasures you wanted, I'll have someone deliver them to the Southern Sea. Not these days, though; it's too obvious and might be detected."

"Heh..."

The Black Robed Man let out a sneer, stood up, and vanished.

When Dean Wu was left alone, he sneered and cursed inwardly.

Such idiots, Zhao Tiancheng was a fool.

And this guy was also a fool.

But Zhao Tiancheng, being an Evil Dao, well, his death was no loss, quite fitting even.

This other guy, on the other hand, he could not let him die, because he still needed him for tasks only he could accomplish.

They had secretly found a clue, had tracked it gradually, and finally discovered that the "god" was sealed in the Abyss, and it was the Dadui Seal.

This meant they had to seek the help of the Feng and Yin Two Families. On the surface, however, no matter what, the Feng and Yin Two Families would never become involved in this matter.

They could only find a way to force them to act.

Now that they had returned, the seal naturally was resolved.

But the Sealed Item was missing.

The next step was to find that Sealed Item.

Thinking about the death of that guy's incarnation, hearing its description, Dean Wu could roughly understand what had happened.

There was more to that place than just the Dadui Seal; the Dadui Seal merely borrowed the power of another greater Seal.

For sure, that guy's incarnation had provoked what lay within that large Seal.

Got itself noticed.

Fortunately, he never informed that guy of the greater Seal there, hadn't had the chance to speak of it.

He knew, though, that he informed the incarnation, but currently, he had yet to come across its incarnation or had time to know about it.

Now it was too late for him to find out, and Dean Wu decided not to tell him at all.

Better for him to remain unaware, lest knowing would result in his Primordial Spirit being torn apart, inadvertently giving that terrifying being a Dao Mark.

They couldn't take that risk.

No amount of planning, no matter how comprehensive, could withstand such an awful entity.

None of them dared to provoke one that had been suppressed for unknown years, yet still retained its full spiritual wisdom and terrifying power.

Daring to plot against Jinlan Mountain's sleeping giant, which was bound by the Dadui Seal, was already pushing the limits.

Dean Wu sat there for a long while, waiting quietly.

Suddenly, a shadow appeared.

"Is that guy stabilized?"

"Stabilized, but he seems to have strong opinions."

"No problem. Use him when applicable, discard him when not. That type of person could never truly side with us."

"Some issue occurred on the Abyss side..." Dean Wu recounted the earlier conversation.

The shadow fell silent for a moment.

"Ignore that place. Whatever requires an entire layer of the Abyss to suppress, no matter what it is, it's beyond our current capabilities to test.

First, figure out where the Sealed Item is, and get that 'god's' Sealed Item."

Upon hearing those words "an entire layer," Dean Wu felt a chill run through him and nodded immediately.

"I understand, I won't investigate."

...

Six months quickly slipped by.

Yu Ziqing spent his time at home, dutifully tossing a Gold Coin he crafted between his fingers, bouncing it repeatedly.

He flipped the coin thrice daily, like clockwork.

He always guessed heads, and no matter how he pinched it or tried to adjust its shape, following methods from memory, controlling power, deliberately tossing it, it could indeed show tails.

But as long as he closed off his perception, oblivious to heads and tails, when the coin landed, it was always heads.

He remained unsure how strong the luck he borrowed was, to always land on heads for six consecutive months.

"Qingqing, stop digging, look at you, you've developed such muscular shoulders. Come and flip coins with me."

"Brother, there's no point in only guessing tails..." Qingqing grimaced.

"Then you guess heads, let Little Tree Demon toss it, absolutely fair."

Yu Ziqing closed his eyes and tossed the coin to the watching Little Tree Demon.

When the Little Tree Demon threw it, the coin landed.

"Heads," Qingqing guessed immediately.

"Then I guess tails."

Opening his eyes, sure enough, it was tails, Yu Ziqing and Qingqing's faces both showed boredom.

"Little Tree Demon, let's do it two more times."

The second result was the same; Yu Ziqing won every time.

Yet, on the third drop, Yu Ziqing guessed heads without much thought.

Upon opening his eyes, he saw it was tails.

Startled, Yu Ziqing eyed the Little Tree Demon.

"Did you move it?"

"No, no."

Yu Ziqing picked up the coin himself, closing off his perception to continue flipping.

Tossing ten times, he guessed correctly six times.

Grasping the coin, Yu Ziqing burst into hearty laughter.

"After six months, I finally guessed wrong, hahaha..."

He stepped out laughing, heading outside, while the trunk of the Little Tree Demon took on a shocked expression, and Qingqing looked utterly bewildered.

They couldn't tell if Yu Ziqing was severely ill.

Losing luck and yet being this happy?

Yu Ziqing dashed into the cave where Old Yang resided.

"Old Yang, I finally guessed the wrong side today!"

"Oh, you got past it?"

"Seems like it. I tried, ten times, guessed wrong four times."

Yu Ziqing's face beamed with a smile he couldn't contain.

Even he never imagined he'd be this happy when his luck turned for the worse one day.

He feared no true combat, but such mystical matters genuinely made him nervous.

Better to believe than disregard it.

The harder an achievement made with borrowed luck, the greater the influence, naturally the higher the potential cost.

Thus, recently he had even dared not have the hungry ghost continue making beef jerky.

Worried that the hungry ghost, tapping into his luck, might actually recreate the kind of beef jerky he first tasted, the impact of such an event would be too great.

Apart from routine cultivation, Yu Ziqing limited himself to flipping coins for experiments.