Secular world: My destiny has no taboos

Chapter 491, Section 501: The Second Deal with the Mortal Master
Lin Beixuan was almost stunned on the spot. The information he had just received was simply too overwhelming. In just a few words, he felt as if he were seeing a huge chessboard, and he was just a piece on that chessboard.

It wasn't just him; even the mortal gods seemed to be just slightly larger pawns.

"You heard everything?" Venerable Tiangang turned his head to look at Lin Beixuan and said calmly.

"Ahem." Lin Beixuan coughed twice, his expression gradually becoming serious. "The Venerable One should have been able to block out these sounds, so why didn't he do so in the end? Instead, he let me hear them?"

The Heavenly Gang Venerable gave Lin Beixuan a deep look: "Didn't you want to know these things back then? Now that you know, why are you afraid to listen?"

"Actually, knowing this matter won't do you any good, but since Yin Yang Xuan Guan has said these things to your face, I naturally don't need to go to the trouble of shielding you from hearing them."

Upon hearing this, Lin Beixuan stood up from the futon and looked at Venerable Tiangang, saying, "Venerable should be able to see that this divinely created organ in my heart came from Lu Chenjiang, right?"

“I do know.” Venerable Tiangang nodded noncommittally.

Lin Beixuan raised an eyebrow: "So, the main reason you helped me and dealt with Kang Xingshen back then wasn't because of that piece of Tai Sui meat, but because you saw that I had Lu Chenjiang's heart inside me."

The Heavenly Venerable turned around without answering, and instead picked up the half-eaten watermelon from the table.

Lin Beixuan smiled and didn't dwell on the matter, instead changing the subject.

"What exactly happened during the era of Lu Chenjiang?"

Upon hearing this, Venerable Tiangang paused in his hand holding the watermelon, his eyes slightly raised as if he were recalling something.

What happened sixty or seventy years ago is not a short time, even for a layman.

“Lu Chengjiang, like you, is a returnee.”

Lin Beixuan frowned slightly; he had heard the term "returnee" countless times.

"Do 'those who return home' refer to us, people from another world?"

In fact, Lin Beixuan's identity was not that of a mortal. This was already known to everyone, so Lin Beixuan did not intend to hide it at this moment and simply stated it directly.

The Celestial Venerable had long seen through Lin Beixuan's identity: "That's right, that guy, like you, doesn't belong to this world."

"At that time, he was the only one returning home."

"He couldn't bear to see the corrupt dynasty decline and the people starving to death on the roadside, so he directly rose up in rebellion, wanting to correct this situation."

"But reality is never that simple!"

"The secular world is a diverse place, with all sorts of people, from the three religions to the nine schools of thought, from incense and gods to demons and monsters... This world is far more complex than he imagined."

"However, he overcame all these problems one by one. Until one thing happened that dragged us ordinary people into it, and we had to get involved and enter the fray."

"What's going on? Is it about Chenlong's bet?" Lin Beixuan asked curiously.

Venerable Tiangang shook his head: "It's not Chenlong's bet, but rather comes from an enemy in the domain."

At this point, Venerable Tiangang's expression instantly turned serious.

"The enemy of this realm originates from beyond the heavens; it does not belong to this mortal world, nor does it belong to your world."

Lin Beixuan frowned slightly, subconsciously thinking of the enormous woman he had seen in the border area.

Could she be a domain enemy?

The Celestial Venerable continued, "Because of the influence of the enemy in the realm, and with the persuasion of the Sheep, I, along with the Monkey, the Rooster, and the Horse, joined this war that should have belonged only to you mortals."

After pondering for a moment, Lin Beixuan asked, "Could it be that Lu Chenjiang's enemy, the one from the past dynasties, is related to the regional enemy?"

"The past dynasties had nothing to do with their enemies; what they had to do with were... us!"

The Celestial Venerable looked at Lin Beixuan with a deep gaze: "How do you think you returnees entered our world?"

Lin Beixuan's brow twitched upon hearing this: "Then by helping Lu Chenjiang, aren't you helping your enemy?"

"At that time, the world was suffering greatly. Lu Chenjiang's choice was not wrong, nor was our choice. Dynasties that last for hundreds of years will eventually face a reshuffle. It's just that in the end, we failed."

Lin Beixuan pondered this question without finding a solution: "But what does this have to do with the impact of the extraterrestrial enemies? What role do we, the returning home, play in all of this?"

The Heavenly Gang Venerable looked into Lin Beixuan's eyes and uttered two words calmly: "Variable!"

"The world wants stability, but the enemy wants chaos."

"The reason we support Lu Chengjiang is that we hope he can unify the corrupt dynasties, put them in a do-or-die situation, and nip the variables in the bud. Otherwise, the variables will spread like an energy vortex, and the entire secular world will be like a funnel, with its source constantly being lost."

"This is where we disagreed with Yin Hu and other worldly masters back then."

"They believed that the existing order should be followed and that the variables should not be actively amplified, so they wanted to kill Lu Chenjiang."

"But in our view, the real variable is the corruption and decadence of past dynasties, and Lu Chenjiang is precisely the one who can correct it."

Lin Beixuan looked at Venerable Tiangang and took the initiative to speak: "Then you guys started fighting, and in the end you even lost?"

“Loss?” Venerable Tiangang laughed upon hearing this: “How could we, the mortals, possibly lose this war?”

"The real losers are the dynasties whose dragon veins were severed, Lu Chenjiang who ultimately turned into a handful of white bones, and these mortal beings!"

The Heavenly Gang Venerable's gaze fell on Lin Beixuan: "Since the appearance of you returnees, the celestial phenomena have become unpredictable and variables have frequently occurred. This world has begun to develop in a direction that even we cannot see through. Therefore, it is not wrong to say that you were brought by the enemy of the domain."

Lin Beixuan frowned and said, "In our world, it is the appearance of various mortal transit points that leads us to this place."

The Heavenly Gang Venerable gave Lin Beixuan a meaningful look, but did not argue with him. Instead, he said calmly, "Alright, let's stop here for today. Even if you knew more, it wouldn't help us. It would only add to our troubles."

The Heavenly Gang Venerable looked out the window at the darkening sky and said, "You have many things to attend to, so don't waste your time here."

"You've come hoping I can help you guard the rear, right?" Venerable Tiangang stated Lin Beixuan's purpose directly.

“That’s right.” Lin Beixuan nodded after a moment of silence.

"I promise you!"

The Celestial Venerable put down the half-eaten watermelon he was holding and waved to Lin Beixuan, seemingly wanting him to leave quickly. Lin Beixuan was overjoyed; he had been worried that the Celestial Venerable wouldn't agree so easily, but he hadn't expected him to be so decisive. Then he heard the other man's next words: "What kind of deal did you make with that guy Yin Hu?"

Lin Beixuan thought for a moment, then, without hiding anything, recounted his agreement with Yin Hu.

Upon hearing this, Venerable Tiangang nodded repeatedly, even displaying a look of sudden realization on his face, as if to say, "So that's how it can be done!"
Upon seeing this scene, Lin Beixuan had a vague premonition of something bad. Then he saw the Heavenly Gang Venerable throw away the watermelon in his hand and pace back and forth on the offering table.

After a moment, Venerable Tiangang turned to Lin Beixuan and smiled, "This time, I'll initiate the transaction!"

"Although I do not have any buildings that can help perfect the underworld, I do have something else."

As he spoke, Venerable Tiangang flipped his small hand, and a dark vortex appeared in his palm.

Lin Beixuan was puzzled, then he saw a light mist rising around the vortex.

"What is this?" Lin Beixuan asked, raising an eyebrow slightly.

The Heavenly Gang Venerable smiled and uttered the words that shocked Lin Beixuan the most in the calmest voice.

"It took me a lot of effort to devour and intercept what you call... this transit point."

"This thing tried to swallow me, but unfortunately I am the god of devouring, and it was devoured by me and preserved until now."

"Heh." Venerable Tiangang lowered his head and sneered, "How could I not know about the infiltration of the enemy from the domain and that so-called gate?"

At this moment, as if answering the words left behind by Yin Yang Xuan Guan when he left, he looked indifferently at Lin Bei: "As long as you agree to one request, I will give this thing to you."

Lin Beixuan stared at the wisp of mist floating in the palm of the Heavenly Gang Venerable, his heart pounding.

If his senses were not mistaken, the mist before him was clearly a small, fixed boundary, and judging from the casual manner of the Heavenly Gang Venerable, he seemed not at all worried about the mist dissipating.

If he could possess it, it would completely solve his problem of not being able to easily return to reality.

Since his body descended to the mortal world, if he wanted to return, he had to find those temporary passing fogs or fixed passing places to return to reality, which was undoubtedly very troublesome.

For some unknown reason, there were very few border crossings in Luozhou. He had sent many people to actively search for border crossings in Luozhou, but all of them came up empty-handed.

On the contrary, the places occupied by Zigu Goddess and Evil Spirit True Lord are frequently visited by people.

It was as if some special entity was deliberately manipulating the location where he appeared, intentionally avoiding appearing next to him.

This time, Lin Beixuan was also somewhat helpless.

However, if he could possess this transit land held by the Heavenly Gang Venerable, it would undoubtedly reduce a lot of trouble for him, and its importance would be no less than the Yin-Yang Xuan Guan's transaction with him regarding the Yin-Yang Xuan Guan's building.

"Well? Have you made up your mind?" Venerable Tiangang asked, staring at Lin Beixuan's calm face.

"What are your conditions?" Lin Beixuan did not rush to agree, but asked after careful consideration.

"It's simple, just help me find the Monkey King!"

"Just to help you find a mortal master?"

"You think it's simple?" Venerable Tiangang sneered, looking at Lin Beixuan: "For so many years, I have never stopped searching for Brother Monkey. He is the one among our faction that chose Lu Chenjiang who knows the enemy of the domain best. He once followed the Lord of the Underworld and blocked the opened gate all by himself."

"Don't you mortal masters have any contact with each other?" Lin Beixuan asked, frowning.

"Several hundred years ago, when the underworld still existed, there were some. After a series of changes, some became like-minded friends, while others couldn't wait to fight each other upon meeting."

"Just look at how I am with that guy Yin Hu, and you'll know if there's any connection."

The Heavenly Gang Venerable glanced disdainfully at the pouch hanging from Lin Beixuan's waist, as if looking down on the Yin-Yang Xuan Official who was communicating with him through the ancient mirror.

"My requirement is to find a solution within three months. Is that possible?"

Three months is neither a long nor a short time for Lin Beixuan, but if he uses it to find a mortal master, it will probably be quite difficult.

Even the Heavenly Gang Venerable himself had difficulty finding it, let alone him, especially since he had many other things to do.

After careful consideration, Lin Beixuan held up one finger: "One year!"

Surprisingly, after Lin Beixuan mentioned the one-year timeframe, Venerable Tiangang agreed without hesitation.

"Alright, one year it is. As long as you can help me find Shenhou, I'm willing to wait for you for a year."

Lin Beixuan's face immediately darkened, realizing that he had been tricked.

Immediately afterwards, he heard the Heavenly Gang Venerable say in a sinister tone, "If you fail to accomplish this within a year, I will not only take back this power, but also take away your original power."

However, these words did not have much effect on Lin Beixuan.

Because after a year, he is confident that he can raise his strength to the Great Luo realm, at which time even a mortal master might not be without the power to fight him.

Seeing that Lin Beixuan readily agreed, Venerable Tiangang asked Lin Beixuan to extend his palm. He used his fingers as a brush to draw a complex inscription on the palm.

Then, Lin Beixuan felt a tearing pain coming from his palm.

He saw his palm split open from the palm lines, opened his mouth, and dragged the mist sent by the Heavenly Gang Venerable into it. After finishing, he didn't forget to stick out his tongue and lick his lips.

[You have received a special modification from the Pig-Heavenly Venerable. Your palm, influenced by the Devouring Rules, has spontaneously transformed into a divinely created organ—Palm Calamity.]

[Master of Calamity: Influenced by the power of the Pig - Heavenly Venerable, this master brings calamity and devours boundless evil. Strength +200, Misfortune +500. Additional ability: Devouring. Additional pathways: Devouring authority (minor), Imprisoning authority (minor).]

Looking at his increasingly strange hand, Lin Beixuan tried to move it and found that the strange mouth in his palm would turn into a light-colored mark when he didn't want it to, and would turn into a giant mouth to devour his target when he wanted to release its power.

To be fair, Venerable Tiangang is quite generous at times. He just gave me an Eye of Digestion, and now he's giving me a Palm of Calamity that can devour and imprison targets, and it even contains a slight power of devouring authority. It's as if he's being trained as a temple keeper for the Venerable Tianzun Temple.

Lin Beixuan sensed the mist within his palm, a mist unlike any other power in the mortal world, through the palm of his hand. With a thought, the mist surrounding the border was expelled from the palm of his hand and gradually spread around him.

Upon seeing this, Venerable Tiangang glared and immediately cursed, "Put it away right now! I don't want to go to your world!"

(End of this chapter)