Quest for the Heavenly Abyss

Chapter 5 The Dao Inquiry Simulator

The Slaughtering Heaven Sword hovered three inches from the sect leader's glabella. Ye Mo's pupils alternated between gold and black. In the main peak's council hall, three hundred elders collectively summoned their magic treasures, yet they trembled under the pressure of the Nine Netherworld Flames.

"I give you two choices." Ye Mo's voice had a metallic quality. "First, dissolve the Blood Sacrifice Grand Array and hand over all the remnant souls of the demon god. Second..." He raised his hand and crushed the sect leader's rhombic crystal. "Let the Slaughtering Heaven Sword drink the blood of the Lingxiao Sword Sect."

The sect leader's natal sword suddenly burst out with a dazzling golden light, and countless sword qi shot out from the sword body. Ye Mo instinctively activated the Devouring Heaven Technique and found that immortal qi and demonic qi formed a perfect cycle within his body. For every sword qi absorbed, the Slaughtering Heaven Sword gained an additional golden pattern.

"You... You have already mastered the coexistence of yin and yang?" The sect leader retreated in horror. "Impossible! Even the first-generation sect master couldn't..."

"There is nothing impossible." Ye Mo raised his hand and shot out netherworld chains, nailing the sect leader in the center of the Eight Trigrams Array. "Now, activate the Dao Inquiry Simulator."

Before his words had even fallen, the copper furnace suddenly flew out from Ye Mo's embrace. The furnace lid automatically opened, revealing the suspended holographic projection device inside. The images of the three hundred elders were sucked into the furnace body and formed a controllable three-dimensional model in the void.

"This is... the deduction system of the Taixu Sword Sect?" The voice of the sword spirit was filled with surprise. "I didn't expect the first-generation sect master to have left such a move."

Ye Mo controlled the projection with his spiritual power and found that each elder's life soul was connected to different causal red lines. When he cut a certain elder's red line, that elder suddenly spat out black blood and his cultivation level plummeted by three levels.

"Now, I need to know the overall picture of the Blood Sacrifice Grand Array." Ye Mo pressed the Slaughtering Heaven Sword against the sect leader's throat. "Will you tell me yourself, or let the simulator unravel it bit by bit?"

The sect leader's pupils suddenly turned into vertical snake pupils. "You think you've won? The real Blood Sacrifice Grand Array..." His voice suddenly stopped, and his body turned into black fog and was sucked into the copper furnace. Ye Mo was surprised to find that the conversation records between the sect leader and the remnant soul of the demon god appeared in the simulator.

[Three years ago・At the bottom of the Falling Demon Abyss]

"As long as you help me become the spokesperson of the Heavenly Dao, I will help you break free."

"Deal, but I want the heart blood of the person with the Nine Yin Absolute Meridian."

"Don't worry, I will make him voluntarily become a sacrifice..."

Ye Mo closed the projection and looked at the model of the Blood Sacrifice Grand Array in the simulator. This was a huge array covering the entire cultivation world. The core position was precisely the protective grand array of the Lingxiao Sword Sect, and at the eye of the array, three hundred and sixty-five life soul beads floated.

"Three hundred and sixty-five cultivators at the Transcendent Spirit Realm are needed for their life souls." Ye Mo murmured. "No wonder the sect leader has cultivated so many sword prodigies."

Before he had even finished speaking, the simulator suddenly issued an alarm. Three hundred and sixty-five red dots lit up simultaneously, representing the cultivators at the Transcendent Spirit Realm from various major sects who were all rushing towards the Lingxiao Sword Sect. Through the "causal deduction" function of the simulator, Ye Mo saw the scene three days later:

He himself was nailed to the heavenly pillar by countless swords piercing through his heart. The Nine Netherworld Flames were sealed by the Demon Suppressing Bell. When the Blood Sacrifice Grand Array was activated, the spiritual veins of the entire cultivation world began to flow backwards...

"This is your future way of dying." The sword spirit's voice was tinged with sarcasm. "Now you know why the first-generation sect master let you control the simulator, right?"

Ye Mo frowned as he looked at the "key choices" options in the simulator:

Detonate the Nine Netherworld Flames in advance and perish together with the cultivation world.

Disguise as the sect leader and continue to lay out plans to find the weakness of the eye of the array.

Activate the "time regression" function of the Slaughtering Heaven Sword.

He chose the third option but found that it required consuming the source of the Nine Netherworld Flames to activate. When Ye Mo pressed his fingertip on the "confirm" button, the entire main peak was suddenly enveloped by a blood-colored light curtain, and the movements of all the elders froze in place.

"Time regression has been activated." A mechanical voice sounded. "You have three days to change the future."

Ye Mo's consciousness was pulled into the space of the copper furnace. Here, three hundred and sixty-five crystal balls were suspended, and each ball played different memory fragments of cultivators. He randomly clicked on one and saw the scene of the sect leader of the Yuqing Sect signing a contract with the remnant soul of the demon god.

"So that's how it is." Ye Mo murmured. "All the leaders of the righteous path have been parasitized by the remnant souls of the demon god."

He called out the interactive interface of the "Dao Inquiry Simulator" and found that readers could influence the direction of the plot through voting. The current highest-voted choice was:

[Option A: Slaughter the cultivation world and completely eradicate the remnant souls of the demon god.]

[Option B: Unite the parasitized cultivators and reverse-control the Blood Sacrifice Grand Array.]

[Option C: Find the "second form of the Slaughtering Heaven Sword" left by the first-generation sect master.]

Ye Mo chose option C, and the simulator immediately generated a task guide: "Go to Mount Buzhou and find the main body of the Slaughtering Heaven Sword suppressed at the bottom of the mountain."

When Ye Mo opened his eyes, he found himself already standing at the foot of Mount Buzhou. The space here was extremely distorted. Every three steps he took, he would return to the original point. He tried to mobilize the Nine Netherworld Flames but found that the flames automatically condensed into ice crystals when they touched the distorted space.

"Interesting." Ye Mo murmured. "This is the realm of time laws."

He took out the copper furnace. Suddenly, all the nine dragons on the furnace lid turned towards the north. Ye Mo followed the guidance and, on the seventh spatial jump, saw a stone tablet engraved with: "Time Temple. No entry for those without the mandate of heaven."

The moment he pushed open the temple door, Ye Mo's right eye suddenly ached intensely. He saw his future self - with white hair hanging down to the ground, pupils burning with black and white flames, holding two Slaughtering Heaven Swords and standing in the shattered cultivation world.

"Remember this moment of pain." The future Ye Mo spoke. "This is the only way for you to become the new Heavenly Dao."

Before Ye Mo could react, the bronze door in the center of the temple suddenly opened, revealing the suspended main body of the Slaughtering Heaven Sword inside. This sword was ten times larger than its previous sword spirit form. The sword body was covered with time cracks, and in each crack was sealed a different Ye Mo from a different time line.

"So... I have failed in every time line." Ye Mo murmured. He reached out and touched the sword body. All the cracks lit up simultaneously, and the consciousness of countless "selves" flooded into his sea of consciousness.

In a certain time line, he saw himself successfully detonating the Nine Netherworld Flames but being backlashed by the Heavenly Dao and turning into a demon. In another time line, he merged with the remnant soul of the demon god and became a new demon god but was killed by a more powerful being after a hundred years of rule.

"Now, make your choice." The phantom of the first-generation sect master appeared. "Will you inherit all the failed experiences or repeat the same mistakes?"

Ye Mo closed his eyes and merged his consciousness with the memories of all time lines. When he opened his eyes again, a brilliant galaxy flowed in his pupils, and the yin-yang patterns under his skin turned into the shape of a time hourglass.

"I choose... to rewrite all time lines." Ye Mo murmured. He raised his hand and sucked the main body of the Slaughtering Heaven Sword into the copper furnace. Suddenly, the "causal editor" interface appeared on the furnace body, and the names of all the cultivators parasitized by the remnant souls of the demon god became editable codes.

When Ye Mo changed the "parasitic state" to "symbiosis", the entire cultivation world suddenly shook violently. He saw three hundred and sixty-five Transcendent Spirit Realm cultivators simultaneously spit out black fog. This black fog condensed into the phantom of the remnant soul of the demon god in the air.

"How dare you tamper with causality!" The demon god roared. "I will make you wish you were dead!"

Ye Mo sneered and merged the Nine Netherworld Flames with the time laws. The phantom of the remnant soul of the demon god twisted in the flames and finally turned into three hundred and sixty-five miniature demon gods, each bound by a time chain.

"Now, your task is to repair the damaged spiritual veins." Ye Mo sucked the miniature demon gods into the copper furnace. "After you complete it, I will give you a new life."

After dealing with all this, Ye Mo returned to the Lingxiao Sword Sect. He saw the sect leader and the elders kneeling in the main peak square. A "symbiosis" mark appeared on the glabella of each person.

"Next, it's time to deal with the warning of the Heavenly Dao." Ye Mo murmured. He called out the "Heavenly Dao dialogue" interface of the simulator and found that the Heavenly Dao messenger was waiting for his response.