125: Chapter 126 Puppet's Final Thread

The scene before his eyes began to blur and vibrate; the resonance between the qingming pearl and the qingming inkstone seemed to have reached its limit.

This space, constructed from the Dao Rhyme of emptiness, was on the verge of collapsing.

At the final moment, Shen Moyan saw the high-hanging black sun seem to ripple slightly.

The Ever-Burning Lamp on the ground went out, and the entire space shattered with a bang.

Shen Moyan's consciousness was violently snapped back to reality.

The scene before him was like a reflection in water stirred by an invisible giant hand, beginning to twist, blur, and flow backward... The shattered fragments of mountains and rivers reassembled, the pouring snow swirled back into the firmament, the extinguished four-colored halos lit up again before fading, and the dao transmission stele that suppressed the Mountain and Sea returned to the heavens, its light quickly withdrawing and becoming illusory... Finally, even the profound black sun that enveloped everything gradually faded away... Time was flowing backward.

This grand, epic scroll was being forcibly retracted before him.

Shen Moyan returned to his demon incarnation body, as if the decades he had spent in the Ancient Mountain and Sea had passed in just an instant.

When all the light and shadows dispersed, Shen Moyan found that he was not standing in the snowy ruins, but in a state of absolute nothingness.

Neither space nor time existed; there was only eternal silence.

In the center of this void lay a desolate coffin that exuded a faint aura of sorrow.

The coffin was neither wood nor stone, its material indistinguishable.

And upon the lid of the coffin sat an entity.

His figure could not be described by any common concepts; His body was like a cluster of stars, as if He were the source and destination of all living beings.

The moment Shen Moyan's spiritual sense touched Him, he naturally understood His title.

Star River Brightening Fate Controller!

The entity that had been conversing with the Qing Ming Fate Controller in that space just now was precisely Him!

At this moment, this supreme entity who governed the Mountain and Sea was looking down, carelessly playing with something.

That object was exactly the qingming pearl that Shen Moyan had just dug out from the Five-Colored Heavenly Realm!

The qingming inkstone existed within the qingming pearl and had not yet been discovered by Him.

The Fate Controller's fingers—if they could be called fingers—lightly brushed across the surface of the qingming pearl, reading the information and Karma it carried.

Shen Moyan's demon incarnation body's Divine Soul shook violently, but he found himself unable to move or speak, like an insect trapped in amber, capable only of watching.

The Star River Brightening Fate Controller seemed to sense his gaze and slowly raised His head.

From beneath the mask, a lofty message was transmitted:

[Thank you.]

The three words were directly branded into the depths of Shen Moyan's Sea of Consciousness.

Decisively, Shen Moyan returned his consciousness to his true body within the qingming inkstone.

"My Realm..."

Shen Moyan felt all over his true body, his heart filled with shock.

[Current Realm: Purple Mansion Realm Middle Stage (Twisted Immortal Path)]

[Current Lifespan: 3,000 years]

Just three words had caused his dharmic power to surge and his lifespan to increase further.

This wasn't even the greatest gain; Shen Moyan's Sea of Consciousness had expanded more than thirty times its original size, allowing him to calculate much more.

Now, if he controlled the Xuan Ming Azure Flame to purify Yi Shukuang's demonic kernel, he estimated it wouldn't take a thousand years, but only a few decades.

The new qingming pearl had not completely fused with the qingming inkstone, but Shen Moyan could already perceive the outside situation through that qingming pearl.

After gathering these clues, Shen Moyan murmured to himself.

"So... that's how it is... I understand now!"

The birth of the Star River Brightening Fate Controller was no accident at all!

The five Fate Controllers perhaps represented the five most fundamental Daos of the Shanhai Realm, corresponding to the Five-Colored Heavenly Realm.

They foresaw the threat of the future Sovereign, but were powerless to resist it head-on.

Thus, before the final decisive battle, perhaps it was Qing Ming who proposed an idea.

But because of this very idea, his companions unexpectedly all perished.

That was why a backup plan was made.

The Qing Ming Fate Controller took portions of the Origin authority from the five Fate Controllers, imbued with the original intent to oppose the Sovereign and support the living beings of the Mountain and Sea, and fused them with the will of the Heavenly Dao to jointly conceive a brand-new "existence" that transcended the old system.

That existence would be born at some point in the future; its birth was inevitable.

That existence is the Star River Brightening Fate Controller!

It is the desperate gamble of the Shanhai Heavenly Dao itself!

Because it had just been born, it was still an infant.

And the Five-Colored Heavenly Realm, this coffin, was the starter gift pack for the Star River Brightening Fate Controller.

By taking the authority of the five Fate Controllers, it allowed the Star River Brightening Fate Controller to pass through its novice period in a short time and rapidly grow to a strength capable of contending with the Holy Court.

"And if He were to personally search for the backup plans, He would surely be discovered by the four Immortal Lords of the Holy Court..."

"He knows I have a secret, but doesn't know exactly what it is, so He tacitly permitted and guided me to explore the Five-Colored Heavenly Realm, all to use me as a variable to find the various backup plans of the ancient Fate Controllers..."

As a Fate Controller born after a gap of three million years, every move of the Star River Brightening Fate Controller was watched by those powerful gazes.

"But what a pity... what a shame!"

A hint of mockery flashed in Shen Moyan's eyes.

The plan was good, but did He think the Holy Court was just for show?

"The four Immortal Lords—Sansheng, Wanbao, Nine Songs, and Liangyi... the four sovereigns under the Sovereign—had long ago discovered the Fate Controller Brightening as the Heavenly Dao's backup plan!"

The announcement on the Nine Songs Net was the evidence.

"Therefore, He could only use the battle with the Six Hells Demon Venerable to go to the Yao Race territory, and then use the Four Seas—the Yao Race's domain—to detour to the Five-Colored Heavenly Realm and retrieve the backup plan."

Shen Moyan recalled the intelligence he had obtained from True Person Linglong.

"The qingming pearl left by the Qing Ming Fate Controller in Feiguang Prefecture was something He neither knew about nor could obtain under the Demon Venerable's influence, so He could only place His hopes on the Five-Colored Heavenly Realm."

"He doesn't know that the real qingming pearl has long been in my hands!"

Within the space of the qingming inkstone, Shen Moyan laughed heartily.

'As I Have Written' had refined this life's qingming pearl, turning it into Shen Moyan's own qingming inkstone.

The Star River Brightening Fate Controller still thought the qingming pearl Shen Moyan obtained from Yi Shukuang was a lead, a lead to the Five-Colored Heavenly Realm.

He glanced at the qingming inkstone he was currently in; through it, he connected to the qingming pearl outside that originated from the Five-Colored Heavenly Realm and saw the Star River Brightening Fate Controller sitting high atop the coffin, playing a game of chess.

He seemed a bit puzzled as to why Shen Moyan's demon incarnation body outside had suddenly lost consciousness and breath.

"The chess player enters the fray personally, the Heavenly Dao makes a desperate gamble..."

"And you still want to use me as a chess piece? Humph..."

He himself, the "variable" He was unaware of, was one of the chess pieces chosen by the Star River Brightening Fate Controller to restore the Mountain and Sea.

A pawn used to cross the river and contend with the Holy Court.

If he continued down this path, Shen Moyan's entire life would become a marionette controlled by the [Star River Brightening Fate Controller].

Probing for Him, facing the higher-ups of the Holy Court on His behalf.

And if this continued, his own thoughts would be subtly influenced by that Fate Controller, truly becoming His Puppet.

Shen Moyan's figure slowly merged into the shadows of the Qing Ming Space, with only a whisper echoing in the silence, filled with determination:

"So what if you are a Fate Controller? So what if you are the supreme of the Mountain and Sea?"

"I, Shen Moyan, have undergone five Reincarnations and struggled for a hundred years, with countless trump cards and secrets upon me!"

"Below, I can slay prodigies of the same Realm; above, I can plot against Inscription Dao Demon Venerables!"

Shen Moyan's gaze was more resolute than ever before.

"Even the Six Desires Heavenly Realm cannot delude my heart! My fate is determined by me, not by heaven! Even if you are a Fate Controller born from all living beings!"

"Using myself as the brush, As I Have Written..."

"Final Stroke—!!!"

...In the Five-Colored Heavenly Realm, the Star River Brightening Fate Controller watched in shock as the qingming pearl in His hand dissipated into bits of golden runes.

[This...]

He looked around warily, but was instantly enveloped by a void of darkness.

In the darkness, He seemed to see something incomprehensible, and then completely fell into the void.

[End of this life. Zhipan. Final Stroke.]

[Returned to the location of the Bookmark.]

[Final Stroke completed. Awakening achievement for this life—]

[mastermind (Gold)]