The Prince Can Do Divination

Chapter 344 - 228: The World’s Vicissitudes Are Past, the Outcome Decided; I Am the Martial Saint of the Mortal World, Slaying Demons and Purging Devils

"I heard the Prince wanted to see me?"

Xun Yu gave a faint smile and a slight bow toward the imposing figure’s back.

Lu Mingyuan turned around, his expression impassive. "I’ve heard," he said, "that you are the most knowledgeable, strategic, and promising scholar of the Confucian Temple. And that you’re also one of the world’s few Tenth-Rank Chess Attendants. Countless Emperors from various Dynasties have sought a game with you, but none have had the opportunity."

"That’s all just an empty reputation."

Xun Yu smiled faintly, paying it no mind.

"Today, I wish to ask you a question."

Lu Mingyuan, ever direct, did not beat around the bush.

"What exactly are the Upper Three Grades?"

Hearing this, Xun Yu seemed to have guessed something. He asked with a smile, "I take it the Prince wishes to break through to the Thirteenth Realm?"

"Precisely."

Lu Mingyuan tucked his hands into his sleeves and nodded calmly.

"Though I am of little talent, I happen to have been researching this very subject recently."

Xun Yu gave a slight smile, then began to pace as he explained:

"The Prince’s inability to achieve a breakthrough is not his own fault. It’s most likely due to insufficient Destiny."

Lu Mingyuan frowned. "The Great Yan is at the height of its power, and I am a Prince of the Dynasty. How could my Destiny be insufficient?"

Xun Yu smiled. "It is true that the Great Yan is at its zenith. But compared to the Taoist and Buddhist Sects, which have tens, or even hundreds of thousands of years of accumulated Destiny, it is but a newborn babe."

"This humble one has been researching a certain field of study, and I have just begun to scratch the surface."

"Get to the point," Lu Mingyuan said sternly.

Xun Yu explained, "It is a field of study that allows one to nourish oneself with the Destiny of others. You could use the Destiny of the Three Religions, for instance, to bolster your own. This field of study... it doesn’t have a name yet."

Of course, Lu Mingyuan knew what this was.

Still not resigned, he pressed, "Is there no other way besides your method?"

Xun Yu pondered for a moment before nodding. "There is another way, but it is immensely difficult. Practically impossible."

"That would be to plunder the Destiny of the Wilderness World and the Holy Netherworld. Doing so would complete what you lack, and the supply would be inexhaustible."

"The Wilderness... the Holy Netherworld..."

Lu Mingyuan hadn’t expected such an answer.

"The Destiny of the Central Plains has long been divided amongst the Three Religions and the Celestial Destiny Dynasty," Xun Yu said calmly. "If you want Destiny, you can only go and take it from the other two worlds yourself."

’So that’s how it is.’

At least Lu Mingyuan had an answer. It wasn’t a complete waste of time.

’Here in the Scroll World, I won’t waste my time arguing with this fellow. I don’t have the energy for it.’

’If we were in the outside world and Xun Yu dared to show his face, I’d definitely find an opportunity to teach him a lesson he wouldn’t forget.’

After receiving his answer, Lu Mingyuan began to roam the land. He crossed rivers and journeyed far, taking in the magnificent scenery—the morning dew at dawn, the sunsets over sheer cliffs, the vast, starless nights. He witnessed the monstrous tides of the East Sea, the endless yellow sands of the Western Wilderness, and the majestic Hundred Thousand Mountains of the Southern Barbarians, taking it all into his sight.

「An unknown number of years passed.」

One day, while residing in a small town, Lu Mingyuan looked up to see tens of thousands of Sword Cultivators streaking overhead on their swords, like a swarm of locusts migrating toward the Northern Realm.

’What’s happening over there...?’

Lu Mingyuan, now sporting a beard, looked toward the heavens and followed them to investigate. He found a young Qi Cultivator and began to ask questions.

The young Sword Cultivator’s face filled with reverence. Lu Mingyuan stood in mid-air without the aid of a Flying Sword, clearly a supreme Martial Artist of at least the Feather Transformation Realm. The young man cupped his fist respectfully and said:

"What would you like to ask, Senior?"

Lu Mingyuan asked, "Why are you all flying to the Northern Realm in such great numbers?"

The young Sword Cultivator explained, "The Demon Country and the Demon Race are invading the Central Plains at the same time. We are heading to the Great Wall to reinforce it. The scale of this war is immense. The Saints of the Three Religions and the leaders of the Dao Alliance are all on their way."

’So, the war has begun.’

Lu Mingyuan nodded. "In that case, I’ll go with you."

’I’ve never seen a Saint in action. This is the perfect opportunity.’

Following the northward-bound Sword Cultivators, the journey took several days.

Gradually, a towering and majestic wall appeared before them.

’Lu Mingyuan swore he’d never seen a wall so high in his life. It was like a giant. He wondered what kind of creatures it was built to defend against. The Demon Race, perhaps?’

For some reason, as time went on, Lu Mingyuan felt he was beginning to understand things that had once been impossible to know, to glimpse a much vaster world.

This was his first time witnessing the great war between the three worlds.

In the weighty tomes of history, it was mentioned with only a few scant lines.

_Demon Fiends invade the Northern Realm. Seven campaigns fail. The Saint Ancestor Master arrives in person, yet does not prevail._

He recalled the words of Wei the Ninth from the Cold Palace.

"When you reach the Twelfth Realm, seeing me will be like a mayfly beholding the cosmos. Only then will you glimpse a corner of the true world."

Lu Mingyuan felt he was drawing ever closer to the truth of the world.

Heavy garrisons were stationed in all the border States and Counties, poised to strike. At the slightest move from the Demon Fiends beyond the Northern Realm, troops could be dispatched immediately to crush them.

At dusk on the day of Lu Mingyuan’s arrival, an oppressive, heavy silence hung over the top of the wall.

CRACK. CRACK.

A Garrison Commander raised a Magical Treasure war banner. With a series of sharp cracks, the flagpole shot upwards, growing longer and thicker until it was a full hundred zhang in length and as wide as a pillar. It burst through the protective Array atop the wall, the banner unfurling with a sound like whipping thunder.

"ROAR!"

From the dark, oppressive mass of the army not far away, a Demon Ape let out a furious roar. Its body swelled to a height of three hundred zhang. Though this wasn’t its largest form, the sight was still shocking to the soul.

The vast Demonic Qi pouring from its body blanketed the top of the wall, startling countless Cultivators.

Led by over twenty Nascent Soul Great Cultivators, the Cultivators on the wall surged forward like a tide, rushing toward the Demon Ape at top speed.

The earth began to rumble and shake. In the sky, roiling black clouds blotted out the setting sun.

In an instant, the potent aura of war swept across more than half the wall’s length.

The millions-strong army of the Demon Race and the Demon Country swarmed like locusts, a dense mass of black specks that covered both the sky and the ground.

"ROAR."

The fearless Demon Ape, like a moving mountain, charged madly forward and crashed into the Human Race’s army. Its two massive hands, imbued with the power of the Demon Dao, swatted out in all directions.

As if it were swatting at mosquitoes, each of the Demon Ape’s blows shattered the bodies of a large group of soldiers.

Soldiers of the Court’s army rained down from the sky.

To put it in perspective, cultivators at the Golden Core and Nascent Soul Levels were powerful enough to be Sect Leaders of their own Sects or masters of a Blessed Land. They were considered top-tier figures in any State or County.

Yet now, in less than a quarter of an hour, over a hundred such experts had been smashed into a bloody pulp, their remains piling up thickly on the ground as their blood pooled into a small creek.

The scene was so gruesome that even the battle-hardened soldiers of the Court were stunned into a daze. Fortunately, a steady stream of reinforcements was arriving, otherwise they likely would have broken ranks and fled.

Then, as the humans watched, the trajectory of a Celestial Saber streaked across the sky, leaving a long, brilliant tail in its wake. With the drawing of the blade, a dazzling light burst into existence.

It sliced off the Demon Ape’s head.

A heroic man stood in the void, a Treasure Saber in his hand. His hair and beard whipped in the wind, and he exuded an incomparable majesty—an effortless authority. His aura was immense, and the astonishing pressure radiating from him crushed every Demon Fiend within a hundred-li radius, forcing them to the ground, unable to rise.

As someone who had one foot in the Martial Saint realm, Lu Mingyuan had naturally become a walking weapon of destruction in the Mortal World.

Seeing this unfamiliar expert of the Human Race, a General from the Demon Country asked cautiously:

"Who are you? I have never seen you, nor have I ever heard of your esteemed name!"

Lu Mingyuan stood still, his hand resting on his saber. He said coolly, "I am the Martial Saint of the Mortal World. All you Demon Fiends, come and meet your doom."

...