Chapter 825: The plan of the great fortune teller

“Forever?” Baal’s anger flared.

“Yes, forever. That is the purpose for which I created you,” the voice answered candidly.

“I refuse to accept such a fate. You cannot bind me,” Baal immediately replied. Although he had witnessed the other party’s immense power with his own eyes, he was unwilling to have his thoughts constrained in such a way.

His thoughts should never exist for the sake of another existence.

“Yes, I cannot bind you, but I don’t need to bind you. I only need to keep you here. I don’t need to do that at all. You will think, because you can do nothing else. You don’t even know how to ‘not think,’ do you? Can you stop your own thoughts?” The voice laughed.

Baal, however, immediately perceived something. This intelligent man quickly replied, “You can laugh… You still have such desires, which means you can be reasoned with. Perhaps we can negotiate. The content of my thoughts can become ‘How can I make you set me free?’”

“Of course,” the voice replied. “I don’t care what you think, as long as you are still thinking. Even if the content of your thoughts is to destroy me, I don’t mind. In fact, I very much hope you can achieve that.”

“I am very curious, how can an existence like you possess the mind of a Mortal like me? I thought… a God should be more indifferent,” Baal said.

But the voice replied, “Why try to guess my nature? Suppose you are a single-celled organism. In your eyes, life forms are only single-celled. Multicellular beings are collections of groups. At this point, if you ask a Dragon composed of billions of trillions of cells whether it is ‘one’ or ‘many,’ how would it explain it to you?”

“If you possess wisdom beyond mine, you should be capable of answering me,” Baal said.

“Indeed, I possess that ability, but why should I help you? The more doubts you have, the more you will think. This is the purpose for which I brought you here.”

Baal was speechless. His fear and surprise completely vanished. After the other party’s reply, a sense of ‘annoyance’ towards this great existence arose in his heart.

But the voice seemed to not care at all. He said, “Alright, I will give you one last question, and then you will fall into eternal thought. At least for you, it will be eternal. I will provide you with all the tools to assist your thinking, and I can even send you into that new Universe to grow with it. My only requirement for you is to keep thinking, to think forever.”

‘Think forever,’ the voice said, as if the words ‘forever’ were very light.

This suffocated Baal, and his anger grew even stronger.

“Then my question is, tell me your name. At least tell me how I should address you. Then, I will use my thoughts to find a way to end you. I cannot endure your torment. My thoughts will never belong to you. I will prove that your actions are wrong,” Baal’s tone was resolute.

Although he made this choice, Baal knew that his reaction was clearly what the voice wanted.

It should be known that Baal had originally chosen death because his Dao Heart was shattered and he was unwilling to think. He was originally immortal.

And now, he had rekindled the vitality of thought, though this was due to anger.

The other party was able to choose him precisely because he possessed such qualities, such a rebellious heart. He would never stop thinking, nor would he stop resisting.

Only such a Baal could satisfy the other party’s needs, which is why Baal came here.

But Baal also wasn’t prepared to give up on himself or try to suppress the other party by being passive. That wasn’t his style either.

When faced with the heat death of the Universe, he still mustered the courage and spent countless hours fighting against that inevitable future. And now, he had merely changed his goal.

He would continuously think, using all his wisdom, all his energy, all his time, expending everything, sparing nothing, to find a way to destroy the other party, as revenge for the other party’s cruel and evil deeds.

This was Baal’s goal.

“My name is Chongnian, the Grand Diviner of Shaman God Mountain. As for your idea… history might prove you right, but no one can prove it now. Now, begin your thinking,” the voice said.

Thus, in the next moment, the voice disappeared, and at the same time, Baal was exiled into the new Universe. He would be the first intelligent life in this new world, and he was also granted ‘eternal life.’

He would forever maintain his current state, ensuring that Baal would never die. Even if Baal’s Dao Heart eventually collapsed and he sought ways to self-destruct, and he found one, the voice would recreate him, turning the possibility of his death into a bubble.

Baal would be immortal no matter what; this was the will of that voice.

As Baal entered the new Universe and began his endless ‘thinking’—

At the same time, the true form of the hand that held the Universe gradually revealed itself.

It was an ordinary middle-aged man, wearing an ordinary robe, sitting in an ordinary small house. The small house was nothing special, just a simple thatched hut.

But the place where the thatched hut was built was very peculiar.

The thatched hut floated in the boundless Void Realm, and beneath the hut was an extraterrestrial wonder.

The extraterrestrial wonder—the Heavenly River.

One of the Five Elements in the Universe, the manifestation of ‘Water’.

The Heavenly River, the dwelling of all Gods, water essence floating as the Heavenly River, majestically circulating in the heavens.

This was also the gate of Taiyi, the Lord of Star Officials and the Emperor of the Divine Dao. This long river wound through the long sky, one of the ‘Three Waters,’ and the Origin manifestation of the Universe’s Five Elements.

The Three Waters are the Heavenly River, the Earth River, and the Middle River. These three waters sometimes flow freely, sometimes become blocked. Under the holy rule of Taiyi, the water color is clear, without any foam. There are giant fish and great dragons, whose forms are immeasurable. When they exhale, the eight directions darken; when they shake their fins, the Five Mountains undulate. Giant fish swallow the sun, dragons coil in the sky, and stars and rain fall.

Chongnian, the Grand Diviner of Shaman God Mountain and Zhong Minglou’s Master, was responsible for guarding this place in the Human-Shaman battlefield, and simultaneously extracting the Origin of Water. Using the essence flowing from the Heavenly River as a foundation, he forged Spiritual Artifacts from water, and then provided them to the front lines.

From a distance, it looked like a small house floating above the Heavenly River, with a galaxy behind it.

These galaxies, if examined closely, were all ‘worlds’ that had been shrunk.

Worlds from Fourth-Rank to Sixth-Rank, many of them, were all laid out there.

And he was, at the same time, conversing with countless people, having conversations similar to ‘Baal,’ and then sending them into new worlds.

Countless beings were continuously transmitting the results of their ‘thinking’ to Chongnian. Although these thoughts conflicted with each other and were inconsistent, they were still meaningful.

Chongnian was very pleased that these noble minds could continuously offer ideas, as their task was to find such methods, which might lead to paths from the known to the unknown.

However, just as he was doing all this, Chongnian suddenly felt a summons.

A summons from his beloved Disciple.

What was going on? Zhong Minglou had always been a reclusive person; how could he proactively seek him out?

Thinking this, Chongnian gently waved his hand.

Many worlds were pushed aside by him, and a path extended before him.

His Disciple was only a Fifth-Rank, unable to cross the endless Void Realm, so he needed his help to guide him.

This kind of guidance was actually very convenient. For a Third-Rank, it was just a matter of reaching out.

The terrifying distance that a Fifth-Rank could not cross, even crossing which would directly cause the foundation of their existence to shake or even perish, was nothing in front of a Third-Rank.

There’s a game called Huarong Dao. By moving various pieces, you help a certain piece move from its initial position to the middle of the bottom of the board. If you don’t have experience or aren’t very smart, then you need difficult calculations to get out. This involves some topological manifolds and is quite troublesome. There might even be an ‘unsolvable’ option, where all parts of the Huarong Dao are blocked, and you simply can’t get out.

A Fifth-Rank was that piece.

But a Third-Rank could pick him up from the board. This was the second path.

Completely ignoring the rules of the board and the limitations of spatial dimensions, just pick the person out.

Now, this path pierced through space-time, preparing to bring Zhong Minglou over from a higher level.

Chongnian’s expression looked quite pleased, because he was actually proactively sought out.

He liked this Disciple very much. Zhong Minglou was truly promising. After so many years of cultivation, less than ten thousand years in total, he had already reached Fifth-Rank. He truly lived up to being his Disciple. Even if he couldn’t compare to those few Universally renowned Prodigies, he was still very excellent.

However, what troubled Chongnian a bit was that Zhong Minglou’s diviner-like reclusive nature wasn’t faked. This Disciple was truly very reclusive, so much so that he wouldn’t seek him out for many years, and he didn’t even send messages to congratulate him on holidays, which made Chongnian, full of unexpressed Masterly love, quite disappointed.

Seeing other people’s Disciples always chasing their Masters for guidance, and the harmonious relationship between Master and Disciple, he was also very envious, especially the Great宗 next door, whose name seemed to be Yushan… His Disciple was a girl named Yun Luo.

That little girl was so sweet, calling him ‘Master’ with every other word, truly melting Yushan’s heart, spoiling her beyond measure.

Unfortunately, his Disciple was a quiet one.

Of course, he was actually quite satisfied. After all, some Master-Disciple relationships were like enemies, with the Disciple constantly thinking about how to overthrow the Master’s Dao, and the Master constantly thinking about how to correct the Disciple from going astray.

This kind of Master-Disciple relationship… how to put it, it’s not necessarily bad, just that they are at odds like enemies. But sometimes, isn’t it enemies who understand each other the most? It’s just that Chongnian didn’t like it.

Chongnian still preferred a harmonious Master-Disciple atmosphere.

However, in the next moment, Chongnian’s expression suddenly changed.

There was someone else beside his precious Disciple.

This made his beautiful mood decline quite a bit.

But Chongnian still chose to guide them. After a while, two figures landed there.

One was Zhong Minglou, and the other was Li Qi.

Li Qi didn’t speak, waiting for Zhong Minglou to introduce him.

Then Zhong Minglou stepped forward.

Chongnian also immediately stood up, waved his hand, and all the surrounding worlds were repelled, sinking into the distant Heavenly River.

This Grand Diviner, with a beaming smile, walked up to Zhong Minglou: “Oh, Minglou, what made you suddenly think of coming to me? Is there a problem with the war? But I remember you were winning every battle over there, you’re truly promising!”

“There’s no problem with the war, Master. I came this time to introduce someone to you,” Zhong Minglou said, looking towards Li Qi.

Chongnian also immediately looked at Li Qi.

His previously smiling expression immediately turned cold.

Li Qi’s face darkened, and he couldn’t help but inwardly complain… This change was too drastic, clearly the doting kind.

However, he still bravely stepped forward and said, “Senior Chongnian, I am Zhong Minglou’s friend.”

“Hmm… Invoker, Fourth-Rank. It’s quite rare for him to hang out with Minglou. Are you a Yan Ke?” Chongnian asked.

Chongnian didn’t use his power as a Grand Diviner to deduce Li Qi’s Origin. There was no need. After all, he was Minglou’s friend. Although he didn’t like it, he wouldn’t speak ill of him, and deducing might even alarm the adults in his family.

To be able to hang out with Zhong Minglou, and also be a Invoker, he was definitely a Young Master of some sort.

To be honest, Chongnian actually felt a mix of relief and disappointment simultaneously.

The relief was that Minglou actually had friends and wasn’t as reclusive as he imagined. Perhaps he even had a relationship with some girl privately. Chongnian thought that the one in charge of slaughter, the one named ‘Fanlu,’ was quite good.

The disappointment was that Zhong Minglou had never told him these things. Although the Master-Disciple relationship was actually good, and Chongnian also cared about his Disciple’s privacy and wouldn’t deduce every event Zhong Minglou encountered.

Knowing everything was not good; it wasn’t suitable for the Disciple’s growth and development. Respecting his Disciple, this had always been Chongnian’s view.

Of course, Zhu Fengdan, who was uninhibited, was an exception. Before Li Qi reached Fourth-Rank, his memories were repeatedly scrutinized by Zhu Fengdan. His past and present lives were thoroughly calculated by Zhu Fengdan. If it weren’t for the fact that the outer Dao was too far, she would probably have gone to Earth to stroll around a couple of times.

There was truly a considerable difference between the two…

If Li Qi knew the difference between the two, in all senses, he would once again lament his teacher’s unreliability.

However… every Great Shaman had their own personality, after all.

Facing the gaze directed at him and the conjecture about his Yan Ke identity, Li Qi shook his head: “Senior, you are mistaken. I am Li Qi. Senior should have heard my name.”

“Li Qi… Third Zhu’s Disciple? Oh, no food at home, so you came to a classmate’s house for a meal, huh?” Chongnian asked.

Li Qi’s face flushed with embarrassment, and he could only laugh twice, trying to gloss over it.

The way he said it was as if, in elementary school, a child whose parents were addicted to mahjong and didn’t cook, would go to his good friend’s house to scrounge for food because he was hungry.

Although…

It didn’t seem wrong, did it?