While the outside world was in an uproar over the Immortal Ancient Continent...
In a remote and quiet courtyard in the Heavenly Dao Ancient City, Ye Ling, who had already disguised himself, changed his face and even concealed his aura. With a handsome, gentleman-like fair white face, was pacing around with a frown on his face.
"Old Turtle, there are cultivators from the White Tiger Clan out there every day trying to capture me, do you really think I won't be discovered by them like this?"
Ye Ling said with a gloomy expression.
Although he had already changed his face and concealed his innate aura with the help of the Inheritance, he still didn't dare to casually wander out into the open.
The White Tiger Clan had threatened him to bring a number of Divine Artifacts that could discover a person's original innate aura, so no matter how he hid, they were bound to find him.
Ye Ling was in a state of panic because of that. He also felt wronged and angry.
He had obviously done nothing, yet he had been made to bear the black pot and become the Inheritor of the Forbidden Demonic Arts.
He was in a terrible mood.
"Don't worry, the secret techniques of the Ancient Deity of Reincarnation are not something that just anyone can see through. If they can find your trail, this Old Turtle will admit his loss."
From the pendant, a burst of light appeared and the form of an old white jade turtle was revealed.
It looked a bit like an Immortal, but its eyes held a slightly sinister look.
This look contradicted its appearance, making it clear from a glance that it was no ordinary turtle.
Ye Ling was relieved to hear this, though he still felt angry as he replied, "I better not find out who it was that set me up. Otherwise, I will definitely tear that person to pieces!"
"Obviously, this incident is related to the man in white from the other night. It's very likely that he is the one who is setting you up."
The Old Turtle spoke for him at that moment.
"But I have never met him, so why would he frame me like this? Could he be an enemy of mine from before?"
He couldn't figure it out no matter how he thought about it, and the closest suspect he had was Ye Langtian.
After all, apart from Ye Langtian, he didn't have any major enemies at the moment.
"If Ye Langtian had the means to do so, he would have made his move on me long ago. Although it's possible, it's not likely."
"Moreover, the timing of the recent outbreak of the Immortal Devouring Demonic Arts is too coincidental, I suspect that the real inheritor of the Forbidden Demonic Arts have actually been practising near the Heavenly Dao Immortal Palace, and he may even be their disciple."
Ye Ling's eyes narrowed.
He was not stupid. After all, he had experienced a lot of conflicts along the way to get to this point.
The more he thought about it, the more everything started to make sense.
'That's why he had the courage to throw the black pot at me so blatantly!'
'That's why he was so vicious!'
"That day, when Yue Mingkong sent people to ambush me, she probably guessed that I possessed the Inheritance of a certain existence and wanted to snatch it…" Ye Ling thought for a while as a flash of wisdom came to him. Suddenly, he couldn't help but shiver.
In broad daylight, he suddenly felt a shocking chill, so cold even his soul almost froze over
"And Yue Mingkong is Gu Changge's fiancee, so Gu Changge most likely knows about this as well."
"The person I was the first to rule out before was the Heavenly Dao Immortal Palace's heir, Gu Changge, but now that I think about it... he's the most suspicious!"
Ye Ling was in a state of shock as he thought of this, his scalp tingling with the gravity of this revelation.
Who would think that Gu Changge might be the Inheritor of the Forbidden Demonic Arts?
If he hadn't made this conclusion himself, even he wouldn't have believed it.
'There are a lot of rumours about Gu Changge, some saying he is cold and ruthless, while others say he is as graceful as a jade, transcendent like a true Immortal.'
'He is now the heir of the Heavenly Dao Immortal Palace, as well as the Young Master of the Ancient Immortal Gu Family... such an identity is simply too prestigious to mention.'
'How could he possibly be the Demonic Arts Inheritor, deliberately destroying his own future?'
"This matter is simply too terrifying. Right under the eyes of the Heavenly Dao Immortal Palace, their heir is the Inheritor of the Forbidden Demonic Arts. Once this matter gets exposed, it will definitely shock the Upper Realm!"
The Old Turtle had a serious look, just as stunned with this information as Ye Ling was. His words were not unreasonable, but such a conclusion was simply unthinkable.
If a normal person had inherited the Forbidden Demonic Arts, such a premise would not be so difficult to believe.
But Gu Changge was not an ordinary person, he was at the top of his generation in the Upper Realm.
What does it mean?
It means he is the equivalent of an Emperor among his peers!
"This matter is of great importance, everything involved here is simply too terrible. Based on what have you just said, Gu Changge is indeed the most suspicious." The Old Turtle said with a solemn look.
Unfortunately, only he and Ye Ling knew about it for now. Even if Ye Ling told others, it was highly likely that no one would believe him.
"Damn it, Gu Changge is the one who set me up all along! I've never even met him before, but my threat to challenge him has led him to do this. He's truly a narrow-minded villain."
"Fine, I will fight you now! So what if you are the reincarnation of a True Immortal? So what if you have a Demonic Inheritance? I am not afraid of you!"
Ye Ling gritted his teeth and clenched his fist, his eyes were filled with anger, but his spirit was strong!
After all, he had defeated many formidable opponents along the way, and although Gu Changge seemed to have all sorts of advantages in terms of timing and location, Ye Ling believed that he could turn the tide against him!
The feeling of being played by Gu Changge, and being framed by him silently made Ye Ling feel extremely angry and humiliated.
"Don't say anything about it yet, no one will believe you even if you tell them, and you might even get yourself killed. Gu Changge didn't touch you because he wanted you to take the fall for him!"
The Old Turtle explained that, to others, this was a mere conspiracy. However, for Ye Ling, it was simply one that he could not refute.
'Gu Changge is too terrifying!'
"Of course, it would be best if we guessed wrong as well, it's really too creepy to have such a terrifying enemy watching from the shadows..." it added with a sigh.
At that moment, there was a knock on the door outside the courtyard.
"Who's there?"
"It's me, Chi Ling!"
A cold, arrogant, crisp voice was heard by Ye Ling.
As these words fell, Ye Ling was instantly delighted and hurriedly got up to open the door.
He still trusted Chi Ling, who had fought alongside him in the beginning, and she was also in touch with him to help him clear his name of suspicions.
The two of them sat across a table in the courtyard and Ye Ling poured her a cup of tea.
"I almost didn't recognise you with your current appearance, Ye Ling." Chi Ling looked at Ye Ling's current appearance and was surprised.
After talking to Gu Changge, she left the Heavenly Dao Immortal Palace and returned to the Vermilion Bird Clan's residence.
After contacting Ye Ling, she followed his message and came to the door.
Ye Ling sighed and said, "Hiding my real face and innate aura is all I can do these days. Otherwise, I'll be dead before I even know it."
After speaking, he told Chi Ling about his recent situation.
At his words, Chi Ling felt some sympathy for him, for how he had somehow been made a scapegoat. It was a horrible thing that happened to him.
"Don't worry, Ye Ling. For the sake of our friendship, I will definitely find a way to help you."
"I've recently approached a powerful person who also thinks you've been wrongly accused, and I'll work with him to help you prove your innocence."
Chi Ling smiled as she spoke.
She didn't say who the powerful man was, because she knew that there seemed to be some conflict between Ye Ling and Gu Changge. It was also a fact that Ye Ling had challenged Gu Changge.
If she said it directly, given Ye Ling's prideful nature, he would probably reject it and not accept the help.
Thus, she was prepared to confess all this only when the time was right.
Perhaps Gu Changge and Ye Ling could become friends as a result.
Hearing this, Ye Ling was a little surprised, completely shocked.
"Who is this powerful person? I'd like to show my gratitude to him." Ye Ling couldn't help but say.
"I can't tell you yet, but among the younger generation, the power he possesses is very rare, even I can't compare to him." That was all Chi Ling could tell him.
When he heard this, Ye Ling was even more surprised and excited.
He was filled with gratitude towards this great person.
How great a person it was to have sent him grace in the middle of a storm!
Afterwards, Chi Ling discussed with him and asked Ye Ling to blend in with her followers, to accompany her inside the Immortal Road in three days.
Naturally, Ye Ling couldn't wait to do so!
Since he was a rogue cultivator without any great powers backing him, it would take a tremendous effort on his part for him to get into the Immortal Road, which is deep inside the Heavenly Dao Immortal Palace.
Chi Ling, being the heir of the Vermillion Bird Clan, had formidable talent alongside many followers. Needless to say, she had saved him a lot of the extra effort.
...
In the outside world, all the cultivators of the ancient cities were in an uproar over the appearance of the Forbidden Demonic Arts Inheritor as well as the opening of the Immortal Road.
Right now, Gu Changge was being even more unscrupulous and active.
In the past, when he had used the Immortal Devouring Demonic Art to cultivate, he still needed to hide his tracks so that he won't be discovered by the elders and disciples when he went to Heavenly Dao Ancient City.
Now he didn't even need to think about such a problem.
After all, Ye Ling was the Inheritor of the Forbidden Demonic Arts.
Meanwhile, Gu Changge had nothing to do with it at all.
"Master."
In a magnificent hall, Yin Mei stood respectfully.
During this period of time, the people of the various Daoist Sects were wary of the Demonic Arts inheritor, keeping a close eye on their Young talented disciples for fear that they might get affected.
But that didn't stop Yin Mei from gathering cultivation resources for Gu Changge.
After all, the Nine-tailed Celestial Fox Family have a wide range of business routes, and many of the industries they are involved in are owned by their clan.
A few examples include brothels, underground black markets, auction houses, and slave trading houses…
Therefore, It was very easy to gather cultivation resources for Gu Changge.
She was always afraid that Gu Changge's identity would be exposed, which is why she was very careful.
But now, thanks to Ye Ling carrying the black pot, even if these things were exposed, Ye Ling would be the one to carry the blame in the end.
Yin Mei only had to carefully cover up her backhand.
"In the past three days, a total of over three hundred young cultivators from the Great-Transcendent Realm, alongside over fifty cultivators from the Saint Realm have been captured. In addition, there were even a few cultivators from the Conferred Lord Realm and Conferred King Realm..."
"Unfortunately, we only captured a few of those above the Conferred King Realm. Lastly, there are a few ancient corpses whose essence and spirit have yet to dissipate..."
Yin Mei reported it to Gu Changge. She had gathered more resources in the past few days than she had gathered in the past half a month.
"Well done."
Gu Changge looked somewhat satisfied as he listened.
"Thank you, Master, for the compliment."
Hearing the compliment, Yin Mei couldn't help but smile happily.
With Ye Ling taking the blame for Gu Changge, it was much easier to do these things.
His true cultivation level was now at the Heavenly God realm, and because of the special properties of the Immortal Devouring Demonic Art, he was not bound by the shackles of realm states.
When he had accumulated enough, he would simply breakthrough.
With these resources, he would only need half a year at most to break through to the Sacred Realm.
Therefore, at this moment, Gu Changge didn't care too much about how his cultivation level appeared on the surface,
Even if the Heavenly Dao Immortal Codex was more potent, those were still Destiny Points that he had to honestly invest.
He didn't believe that he would get exposed, and even if he did, it would not happen unless he took the initiative.
By that time, his cultivation would be stronger than everyone else's, and who would dare to say no to him then?
After that, Gu Changge went to the secluded underground dungeon, which served as his usual base for making contact with Yin Mei.
He knew the saying "Cunning rabbits have three caves" well.
The dungeon where the White Tiger clan found Bai Lie was actually a place that Gu Changge had deliberately set up.
Soon, after half an hour, the Black Dao Treasure Bottle submerged as strands of Black Qi radiated outwards from him.
Finally, it sank back into Gu Changge's spiritual sea as his cultivation came to an end.
"It really isn't easy breaking past the Heavenly God Realm…"
"It seems that the strength of these cultivators is still too weak!"
Gu Changge shook his head with a slight frown as he left the place.
At the same time, he opened his attribute panel:
[Host: Gu Changge
Halo: Destined Heavenly Villain
Weapon(s): Eight Desolate Demon Halberd
Identity: True Disciple of the Heavenly Dao Immortal Palace, Young Master of the Ancient Immortal Gu Family
Innate Bloodline(s): Devil Heart, Dao Bone
Cultivation: Late-Stage Conferred King (Apparent), Early-Stage Heavenly God (Hidden)
Mystical Abilities:
Heavenly Immortal Dao Codex [8th Layer (90%)]
Myriad Changes Demonic Physique (Talent)
Innate God's Spirit Temple (Talent)Void Ability (Talent)
Immortal-Devouring Demonic Art
Infinite Immortal Wisdom
...
Destiny Points: 15,000
Fortune Value: 3,000 (Dark)
System Shop: Open
Warehouse:
Warehouse: Boundary Breaking Talisman x1, Forbidden Talisman x1, Divine Concealment Talisman x1, Fortune Plunder Card x3.]
He deliberately chose not to break through the realm.
For the time being, the apparent realm was enough, so he might as well save the Destiny Points and use them to evolve the world within him.
Gu Changge also had no intention of studying the Heavenly Dao Immortal Codex on his own. Although it wouldn't be difficult with his talent, there was no need to do so.
He looked at the items in the System Shop again, the Bones of the Great Dao were still usable for now.
He soon saw a talent that looked of some interest.
Transcendence[1].
[1: To overcome one's limit and achieve a greater state.]
The name was a bit exaggerated.
In the world of mystical fantasy, anything that dared to have a name like Transcendence would be remarkable, suffering the karma associated with it.
"Transcendence is a supreme gift, but the question is what this would transcend specifically. Perhaps it can be used on either the blood, bone, heart or even the soul…"
Gu Changge looked at its item description and was somewhat impressed.
If he could make a new set of bones, the price would be... 30,000 Destiny Points for one![2]
[2: The bones were calculated per part (10 parts of a set for whatever reason), but Gu Changge was kind enough to assist our peasant brains by doing the math himself.]
'30,000 Destiny Points can be exchanged directly for 3,000 points of Fortune Value!'
Gu Changge pondered about this. After all, it was quite surprising that such a thing was calculated by the pieces and not the whole set.
The human race has a total of 206 bones in the average adult body, so did that mean that he would need to exchange all the bones individually?
With enough Destiny Points, he would eventually be able to replace them all.
'Isn't it 3000 Destiny Points a bone? I don't think anyone needs that much.'
'I'll do the replacement.'
Thinking of this, Gu Changge didn't hesitate as he directly replaced his Dao Bones, transcending this supreme gift.
[Editor's Note: Technically speaking, he replaced Xian'er's bones.]
In an instant, he felt a mysterious and mystical aura envelop him as if something was blossoming and coalescing around his bones.
What was this feeling?
The feeling of a carp leaping out of the water to become a true dragon in the sky.
It was a change in one's nature.
At that moment, Gu Changge had a deeper understanding and control of all the inherited Daoist Mystical Abilities he had previously mastered.
To be more specific, what was once only at the level of mere cultivation methods were now techniques capable of altering the very rules of nature.
Even those at the Sacred Realm would only be at the initial stage of perceiving and applying the rules of nature.
And yet here he was, already capable of manipulating the rules?
At this moment, Gu Changge felt that the 3000 Destiny Points he invested were not wasted in the slightest.
'My current true strength should allow me to kill even a Sacred Realm cultivator now…'
He pondered for a moment before leaving the place to return to the Heavenly Dao Immortal Palace.