Chapter 524: Jumping Ball
Translator: Subudai11 Editor: Chrissy
"Can't wait?" Wang Lu was curious about Ouyang Shang's speculation.
"It's very simple. With the potential of the golden generation, hundreds of years later, even if he comes back again, it will be meaningless."
"Hahaha, nice self-confidence speech."
"It's not just self-confidence, the other party believes it too… Do you remember my dialogue with him in the demon spirit dream?"
"I remember every sentence of it, which one of them are you referring to?"
Ouyang Shang said, "It's about me having the providence. At that time, I desperately fled using the Earth Moving Technique while he repeatedly pursued to no avail. He sighed with emotion that due to me possessing the providence and obtaining the protection from the earth, I was particularly slippery."
Wang Lu said, "And then?"
"At that time, his focus was always on me."
"... Well, of course, the main force of escape is you, and the entire demon spirit dream is the stage of your battle, so it is naturally important for him to focus on you only."
"Not just that… At that time, you're not the main focus of his attention, so you couldn't realize some subtle points. Of course, I also just realized it in hindsight. When he spoke at the time, the emphasis was actually on the providence."
"Having the providence?" Wang Lu frowned and began to think about the possible meaning of these words. "First of all, do you really believe in this thing?"
"Half believe, half doubt." Ouyang Shang said, "I believe in luck. Some people are born with good luck, and some are born with bad luck. This is objectively visible. But this thing called providence… There is no perfect theory to explain it so far, so it's difficult for it to be truly believable. I have seen a lot of the so-called great providence. It rose abruptly from the path of the already dead people, and the so-called having the providence is its reverse cause and effect—the winner will become the king, while the loser the robber. The person who wins is a person who has providence, and those who did not succeed are those with small luck that can't be relied on. This is clearly an illogical explanation."
With that, Ouyang Shang even smiled self deprecatingly. "For example, I have the providence, yet didn't I meet with a tragic death in the black tide in your timeline?"
"However, at that moment, I was sure that at least the demon king himself was serious about this providence thing. When he said that sentence, his killing intent was much stronger than normal. It seems that he is very sensitive regarding this providence thing, and in the golden generation… those with providence are not just me alone."
At this point, Wang Lu also felt strange. "So, you think that after tearing his soul to escape, him continuing to entangle us is because of his hatred of the so-called providence? This is strange, what is with this providence that makes him so concerned?"
"I don't know either, but considering what the demon king said, I have a guess." Ouyang Shang said, "His original words are: it turns out there's someone with providence, the whole earth is protecting you. No wonder you're so slippery."
Wang Lu said, "Having providence and the blessings of the earth have a cause and effect relationship, at least it's a parallel one?"
Ouyang Shang said, "In fact, I have always found it very strange. Whether it's my spirit root attribute or my cultivation method, there's no special skill to communicate with the earth. However, my earth element spell is especially good, in which even the Elders can't give out a reasonable explanation."
"... Because mother earth is giving out to you instead of receiving from you?"
"I think it's because of the so-called providence," Ouyang Shang said as he somewhat absent-mindedly stretched out his palm. The pure essence of the true qi of his golden core lightly trembled at the hollow of his palm, and a rock thorn was immediately born out of thin air, pointing straight upward.
"See, I was actually just using the sand, not a rock thorn, but the effect is…" Ouyang Shang shook his head and shook his hand to scatter the rock thorn. "Were it not that when I deliberately control it with my mind, I can still accurately control the effect of the spell, this would be simply a perfect example of uncontrolled spell. When I first learned the five element spells, I once thought that one of the Elders was joking with me, to let me have full confidence in cultivating. However, later on, when I saw how astonished they were, I finally realized that this was not their trick to help me at all."
Wang Lu asked with interest, "Do you think it's because of the providence?"
Ouyang Shang said, "Yes. Moreover, I think, this is the truth of the providence. Suppose we regard the Nine Regions as a huge creature with its own consciousness, then the so-called providence is the reward she bestows to someone that she likes."
Wang Lu muttered to himself irresolutely, "Taking the entire Nine Regions as an independent creature? This is really an interesting idea, but…"
"But people often say heaven and earth are not benevolent and treat everyone as a dog, right? I think heaven and earth are not really that cold-blooded and heartless, but rather, for the heaven and earth, all the creatures are too insignificant, too small to attract her attention, just like a man doesn't care about the ants at his feet on the road. But if there is any reason that causes her to begin to care about these ants… That's where the so-called great providence came into being."
Wang Lu thought for a moment. "That makes sense. So far, in the history, there are two well-known people with the most powerful providence. Immortal Qin and Great Ancestor Desheng both were saviors born in times of crisis that endangered the whole continent. Immortal Qin rose rapidly and unified Nine Regions. The unification of Nine Regions was based on the many years of tangled warfare in Nine Regions, where the Feng Shui line nodes were frequently used as strategic weapons to be detonated and to shock the entire Nine Regions. At that time, if Immortal Qin did not end the war, it was likely that Nine Regions would've been shattered by the cultivators. As for Great Ancestor Desheng, there's no need to say, he's the leader cultivators in the great war of immortal and demon. Were it not for him driving back the demons to their own world, this continent would not be called as Nine Regions."
Ouyang Shang said, "From the annals of history, the rise of the two predecessors was simply unbelievable, definitely not merely because of the Void Spirit Root."
Wang Lu deeply believed so too. "Void Spirit Root is really a waste."
"What?"
"It's nothing, I'm just acting cute, that's all."
"Therefore, I think that whenever Nine Regions is in danger, there would be such a person with great providence, and it does seem to confirm my guess. As for the explanation of those who died in the middle of their path, it was not that difficult: the so-called providence is just an investment on a person in Nine Regions, and any investment is risky."
Wang Lu nodded. "You're right, this conjecture of yours can actually explain a lot of things… including the guy's hostility to us. If we say the golden generation is favored by the Nine Regions, then it is logical that he, as the demon, regard the golden generation as the thorn in his eyes. But, here comes my second question. Who exactly is he? Is he really a demon?"
"Hmm… Do you doubt his demon race identity?"
"Yes, the demon jade being invalid to him is the biggest questionable point. Moreover, his actions are also very controversial among the demon race, and his style of action is not the style of action of demon race."
As he said these, Wang Lu couldn't help but think of the dying cry of the survivor of the howling demon on the mountain of corpses in the demon world.
Ouyang Shang asked, "... Not the demon king of the demon race? Don't you think that this is a bit 'too seeking for novelty'?"
"Fortunately, I happen to know that there is indeed a proletariat party led by the bourgeoisie."
"Hey, don't talk nonsense like that. When you say that, I thought I saw your death sign."
"... Let me put it in another way, I also know that there's a Western Continent people's regime under the leadership of Kunlun slave."
"That's a pretty 'high-end' idea you got there, which is indeed an interesting deduction. In your opinion, if he is not a demon, then what could he be? It is impossible for a speculator to be so lucky that he could deceive the entire demon race, right?"
"Of course not. If it's just a common speculator, after stealing the throne of the demon king, he would've stayed content just to enjoy the wealth of the demon world. However, he did not continue the work as the king of the demon world, but instead directly brought the demons into the dead end, while at the same time leading some remnants, through an unknown mean, to the Nine Regions. Here in the Nine Regions, he did not stay content either as he went to the Western Continent to catch the monster wolf that could devour everything, Fenrir… After that, he was suppressed for two thousand years without losing his motivation. This is completely incomprehensible. In my opinion, it implies involuntary actions."
Ouyang Shang said, "It does indeed not look like what a normal person would do because there's completely no benefit about his works. What's the point in deceiving the demons and then the Nine Regions? What's in it for him? It is indeed more like he's being forced by something, to constantly do something to meet the requirements of the other party. However, he is already the king of the demon world, who else under the heaven has the qualification to force him? And what are the advantages in forcing him to do these things?"
Wang Lu chuckled. "Perhaps it's the legendary demon god?"
Ouyang Shang shook his head. "The gods of the demon world? Like the true immortals of the Nine Regions, that's just an unreachable concept. At least, in theory, there has never been a direct intervention from the gods of the demon world. On Nine Regions, true immortal descending down to the lower realm is only in the legend—the legend about Immortal Qin and Great Ancestor Desheng are only about true immortal passing down the method, nothing more. Whether it's immortal world or demon god world, all seems like a returning road but it's actually a no return road."
"That's weird." Wang Lu said, "If not demon god, then who? Could it be…"
Speaking to this, Wang Lu and Ouyang Shang looked at each other in surprise. They couldn't help but think of an unthinkable answer.
However, before they even voiced out what was on their mind, a cold voice suddenly came in.
"You guys know too much… Sure enough, you two, must die!"
This voice was not unfamiliar to the two. In the demon spirit dream, they had heard him say more than a sentence… Regardless, what was unexpected was that he could actually appear here in the underwater fort carefully reinforced by the cultivators of Spirit Sword Sect!
"Now that you're here, then don't leave!"
Ouyang Shang immediately launched the protection array of the dragon palace. The huge palace emitted a dull rumble sound. Built under the water, the palace that withstood the extremely heavy water pressure slowly sank under the influence of the array, and the thousands of years of sediment under the Blessed Fountain surged and rolled, covering the palace.
Previously, the flood dragon had managed his Blessed Fountain Dragon Palace for thousands of years. One of the important assets accumulated was the sediment at the bottom of the water. Each grain went through the process of being washed with monster qi. Now, under the transformation made by the cultivators of Spirit Sword Sect, it possessed an even more inconceivable mysterious efficacy. As soon as it was used, even a Daoist Master of Deity Stage would not be able to break its defense easily.
However, just as the water-sediment completely covered the palace, Ouyang Shang suddenly felt the golden core in his Jade Mansion jump uncontrollably.
"Bad!"
The manipulation of the Dragon Palace array by one person put up a very high requirement for the precise application of Ouyang Shang's magical power. Overseeing the overall situation in Jindan Stage was actually a kind of cross-level challenge.
Right now, the golden core's jump in his Jade Mansion seemed small, but at the critical moment in controlling the array, it had actually taken the whole body.
Boom! At the top of the Dragon Palace, the huge pressure-stopping force suddenly became stagnant. The next moment, explosion broke out, and the water flooded in.
The large defensive array the cultivators of Spirit Sword Sect relied on instantly broke!