A figure in green robes with white hair, a profound and gentle aura, leaned against the railing, watching the flowers in the wind. In his right hand, he held a wine pot, a hint of a smile on his face. He was just like the Taoist he had met back when Zhu Rong was still the Fire Official of the human race, during the most peaceful and unhurried days at Xuanyuan Hill.

Wei Yuan tossed the wine pot in his hand to Zhu Rong, then took another pot and drank deeply.

Zhu Rong took a sip, his brow slightly relaxing. "This is wine from the San Miao Kingdom. Where did you get it?"

"I bought it casually on the way," Wei Yuan replied.

Zhu Rong said, "That country is between the Dai and Yanhuo Kingdoms, quite a distance from here. Your 'on the way' seems to have taken quite a detour." Wei Yuan chuckled awkwardly and said, "I didn't expect you could tell where the wine was from with just one sip."

Zhu Rong said calmly, "How long do you think I've been in the South Sea?" "Even though you wrote the *Classic of Mountains and Seas*, I am more familiar with this South Sea than you."

"This kind of wine can only be brewed in the San Miao Kingdom, using the water that flows there. If you go to other places, even if you use the same materials and the same methods, the brewed wine won't have the flavor of San Miao. It would be best if you paired it with fish caught from the Chishui River branch next to San Miao Kingdom."

Zhu Rong was momentarily lost in thought, then said calmly, "You didn't come to reminisce about the old days, did you?"

"Tu Shanyuan."

Wei Yuan leaned against the railing, tilting his head back to drink, pondering how to persuade Zhu Rong. Should he approach indirectly, or lure him gradually? Or, like Confucius' disciples, cite extensively and argue eloquently?

The Art of Mouth Evasion from the Eight Trigrams…

Finally, the Yuanshi Tianzun took a sip of wine, his expression unchanged, and said, "I know your plan." The art of mouth evasion… Ah Liang is better at that. Wei Yuan leaned against the railing, looking up at the sky. "So, I came here to stop you."

"If we can resolve this peacefully, we'll talk it out. If we have to fight, let's have a drink and reminisce before the battle. That way, it'll be a heroic and unrestrained story."

The style is better that way!

It's a pity, though I have some friendship with him, it's clearly not enough. I don't know how to persuade Zhu Rong now.

Wei Yuan regretted it. It's a pity Gonggong didn't come.

However, with Gonggong's personality, seeing Zhu Rong now might just lead to a direct fight.

So, the previous karmic divination prevented Gonggong from coming? Think, think, who else can persuade Zhu Rong? His wife? Or Ah Xuan?

"Ah, right, I almost forgot about this." Wei Yuan suddenly raised his hand and patted his head.

Then he put the wine pot aside and reached into his sleeve, rummaging for a long time, causing Zhu Rong, who had already intended to refuse and whose expression was turning cold, to pause. When he saw Wei Yuan grabbing a head covered in wild, overgrown hair and pulling it out like a radish,

Even the Fire God Zhu Rong was momentarily stunned.

The Yuanshi Tianzun laughed, "Speaking of drinking, I almost forgot about you!" Zhu Rong recognized the head and blurted out, "Xingtian?!"

It was the head of the War God Xingtian, which had been sealed. Wei Yuan had retrieved it from Kai Mingzi.

He had originally planned to return it to Xingtian, but he had encountered Nv Chou and learned about Zhu Rong's situation. After weighing the karma and determining which situation was more dangerous, he had changed direction and come here, hoping to stop Zhu Rong. That was why he hadn't returned Xingtian's head immediately.

At this moment, Xingtian's eyes were tightly closed, deep in sleep. Wei Yuan pointed his fingers together and said, "Wake up!"

Qi flowed, karma followed. Zhu Rong's movements slowed, his eyes fixed on his old friend. Then the Taoist aura dissipated. Xingtian still kept his eyes closed, unmoving.

Wei Yuan: "…………"

He used his power again, pointed his fingers, and shouted, "If you don't wake up now, when will you?!" The qi flowed and changed, but there was still no change at all.

Zhu Rong shook his head.

He was about to dissuade Wei Yuan, telling him that there was a Kunlun seal on it, and that simple power wouldn't be enough to awaken him, when he saw Wei Yuan familiarly knock Xingtian on the forehead twice, take out a pot of wine from his sleeve, gently place it next to Xingtian's head, and then lean down, open the wine pot, and say in a gentle tone, "Xingtian, if you don't wake up…"

"I can't guarantee what you'll get later, whether it's wine or something else, like salt or dragon breath chili powder."

"I can't guarantee it!" Xingtian's head, which should have been sealed, suddenly opened his eyes.

His eyes were filled with terror as he met the gaze of a certain white-haired Taoist. Heart stop! The white-haired Taoist smiled and said, "You're awake?"

"The surgery was a success, you only have a head now." Zhu Rong: "…………"

He watched Wei Yuan casually pick up Xingtian's head and put it aside, then opened a pot of wine for him and placed it next to him.

He saw Xingtian cursing for a long time, but in the end, he still took the straw created by Wei Yuan's conjuration and drank the wine.

He drank greedily, and the wine flowed out from the bottom of his neck.

Zhu Rong couldn't help but laugh.

Xingtian drank greedily, exhaled a long breath, and didn't care how much he drank and how much spilled out.

It didn't matter! Being able to satisfy his craving was enough! This way was even better.

He wouldn't get fat, and he wouldn't get full! He could eat as much as he wanted, and drink as much as he wanted! Could Ji Xuanyuan do that?! Hmph!

"So, what are you two doing?" Xingtian spat out a mouthful of wine and looked up at the turbid aura in the sky. As the War God of the ancient human race, who had roamed the battlefields and was in the first tier below the top ten experts, Xingtian realized something.

"Zhu Rong, you've joined forces with the Turbid World?" "Not exactly joined forces, but you could say so."

Zhu Rong said calmly, "In that era, the means didn't matter. What mattered was surviving that era. And I succeeded in that."

Zhu Rong held the knife in one hand and the wine pot in the other, drinking slowly. Wei Yuan said, "You want to reverse life and death, to create the opportunity for the cycle of reincarnation. I can help you with that."

"You don't have to bear this burden alone."

Zhu Rong tilted his head back to drink, saying calmly, "That's what you call being blinded by a leaf."

"Tu Shanyuan, do you really think that creating the opportunity for the cycle of reincarnation,"

"Giving all living beings, including all things, at least some chance of reincarnation, a chance to come back again, can truly be achieved with just a word from a so-called god?"

The deity in red looked at the sky and said slowly:

"It requires creating a land that can accommodate the creatures of the Clear Qi world, severing this land, stabilizing and pulling this land into a state of neither life nor death, shielding it from the Turbid World, and completely restructuring all the laws of life and death, as well as all the laws that accompany them. It requires ensuring that the fragile souls and true spirits are not damaged in the process."

"It requires resisting the天地烘炉 *tiandi honglu* (heaven and earth furnace) of the Clear Qi, and contending with the mad suppression of the Turbid World." "It requires finding another place for the remaining creatures of the South Sea to live."

"It requires ensuring that this process doesn't trigger a law storm, doesn't cause the earth to tear apart, and doesn't bring disaster to the Clear World."

"That requires the gods and the all-knowing to spend at least five thousand years calculating."

"It's about creating a possibility from nothing, adding a new stroke to the erroneous rules of this vast sky."

"It requires hiding all of this from the Turbid World and maintaining the stability of the Clear World." "All things and all laws cannot be accomplished overnight, but only step by step, to reach this point."

Zhu Rong drank, saying calmly, "Only when you understand and accomplish all of this, will you be qualified to say that you understand me."

"That's not just empty words. In the past five thousand years, I have already intertwined with the power of the Turbid World, using each other."

"Vast clouds, majestic scenery, the situation is already set. Tu Shanyuan, where were you when I thought the sky was wrong? Where were you when I was balancing the Turbid World? Where were you when I was creating the laws? Where were you when I was creating a place where Clear and Turbid, life and death intersected, and clashing with and utilizing the Turbid World?"

"And now, you tell me that you can understand me, help me." The Fire God Zhu Rong's lips curled slightly, his tone indifferent. "Is the understanding of a Celestial Venerable so shallow?"

Oh crap. The nice guy is angry. Xingtian's scalp went numb, his expression stiff.

It's a pity he can't turn his head to look at the ditch next to him, who's even worse at speaking than he is. But he heard Wei Yuan laugh loudly. "Hahahaha, shallow?"

"Then let me ask you, the dignified Fire God, looking down from above, seeing the myriad worlds, have you ever reincarnated?"

"Have you ever understood that regrets can never be satisfied? Have you ever personally experienced encounter after encounter, and separation after separation?"

The white-haired Taoist raised his eyes, calmly looking at the Fire God Zhu Rong, who had spent five thousand years creating the foundation for the cycle of reincarnation alone. He clenched his right hand, golden light flowing, and the Chang'an Sword, still in its sheath, appeared. He tapped the sword with his finger and said, "When you were balancing the Turbid Qi, I was displaced in the human world of the pre-Qin Dynasty, meeting Confucius, seeing off Laozi, and watching my closest senior brother, Zilu, being chopped into mincemeat."

"When you were maintaining the Clear World, I was in the chaotic world of the Warring States Period, riding horses for thousands of miles, sailing for tens of thousands of miles, slaying gods and destroying ghosts, and then watching the country fall and the family perish, watching individuals die in the chaos, and then seeing that the nation representing the Yanhuang race was reborn from the ruins of the chaos, and I had already died on that road."

"When you were trying to structure reincarnation and life and death, I was in the chaotic world of the Three Kingdoms, seeing human lives like pigs and dogs, watching Dong Zhuo act recklessly, watching white bones exposed in the wilderness, I lost my teacher, lost my elders, lost my disciples, and finally watched the disciples of my disciples die for that illusory dream."

"In the Great Tang, in the Great Ming, and now."

"You have never experienced reincarnation, so how do you know the pain of reincarnation?" The Yuanshi Tianzun raised his sword, asking calmly, "Does the great vow of the Fire God Zhu Rong also carry the high and mighty attitude of the gods?"

The understanding of the Celestial Venerable is so shallow. But the great vow of the Fire God is also arrogant.

Looking at Wei Yuan with the sword and Zhu Rong with the knife, Xingtian's scalp tingled. Crap, crap.

This is a conflict of ideas and principles! Crap!

What the hell are you guys? Why were you just drinking, and now you look like you're about to fight?

Are you also civil officials?! No, I have to separate you. Xingtian tried hard.

Then Xingtian realized that he didn't have any hands! Wei Yuan, why didn't you put my head back on!

Wei Yuan held the Chang'an Sword in one hand and smiled, "It seems we can't resolve this with words."

"Fortunately, we still have a more classic method of persuasion."

"Since the Fire God thinks my path is shallow, then please, feel it."

The Taoist raised his right hand, his wrist shook, and the sword sheath flew out. His expression was calm, and the karma of the Turbid World and the land of life and death flowed and changed on his body. His aura became more and more powerful. With karma as the core, combined with the qi of life and death, the Taoist's sword pointed at the Fire God Zhu Rong, and his voice was calm:

"Fire Official, will you not turn back?"

Beneath the boundless,寂灭 *ji mie* (nirvana) golden-red flames were black flames that incinerated everything. The Fire God Zhu Rong said, "What if I disagree, Tu Shanyuan?" Six thousand years of accumulation, six thousand years of independent support, painstaking efforts.

If he were to be persuaded and changed so easily, it would undoubtedly be an insult and a betrayal of the past. "If so…"

Strands of cold sword intent rose up, white hair fell, jade hairpin tied his hair, and the sword intent soared into the sky, but it carried the meaning of illuminating reincarnation and witnessing life and death, which it had not possessed in the past, pointing directly at the Fire God Zhu Rong in front.

"Then please call me the Jade Void Ruler, the Yuanshi Tianzun."

He rolled up his sleeves, sweeping Xingtian's head and true spirit away, sending them behind him. Xingtian heard a familiar and calm voice in his ear. "Retreat behind me."

!!!

Xingtian widened his eyes and was about to speak when he saw boundless flames rising into the sky, saw a crimson color rolling between heaven and earth, burning the sky and boiling the sea, all laws extinguished. But such terrifying heat was torn apart by the sword intent, splitting the sky from the middle. The Taoist carried his left hand behind his back, holding the sword diagonally in his right hand, his sleeves rolling, stepping on the void, his white hair falling and flowing behind him, standing in the midst of these ten thousand zhang of flames, possessing a pure and free aura.

Then he turned his right hand slightly, and the sharpness suddenly exploded. One sword - separates life and death, reveals reincarnation!

The Tao sees all things perish, sentient beings suffer, slaughter begins. Yuanshi, life and slaughter!

ps: Today's first update... four thousand words, I spent some time today sorting out and adjusting the outline, so the first chapter is later.

The hand holding the cigarette trembled slightly, this time the situation is even more outrageous than the great battle in the previous book. Past me, how many pits did you dig?