Chapter 125: Heavenly Origin 2

"Your aptitude is decent. Would you be willing to become my servant and act on my behalf?"

Li Changsheng naturally noticed the expressions of the two before him. After a brief pause, he turned his gaze toward Qing Li and spoke indifferently.

"This servant is willing! Thank you, my Lord!"

Qing Li could hardly believe her ears. After a momentary shock, a flash of ecstatic joy rippled deep within her eyes. She hurriedly knelt and bowed deeply to Li Changsheng, kowtowing repeatedly.

"Open your mind."

Li Changsheng’s expression remained calm as he spoke softly. A faint, eerie aura surged around him, and his hands moved in a rapid series of incantations. A complex, ancient-looking rune manifested in the space before them—jet-black and deeply sinister.

Sensing the malevolence within the rune, Qing Li’s body trembled. Though fear welled up from the depths of her soul, she quickly suppressed it.

"Qing Li is honored to be your servant, my Lord. From this day forth, I shall never harbor a single thought of betrayal."

With a look of utmost reverence and piety, she bowed to him once more. Qing Li knew her own potential well. The Lord’s earlier compliment was mere politeness; in truth, it was surely some specific capability she possessed that had caught his eye. Only then had she earned the qualification to follow him. Otherwise, a figure like him could have extinguished her soul and body with a mere wave of his hand. Thinking of this, her respect deepened further.

*A sharp mind. She is clever enough.*

Noticing the subtle shift in her expression, Li Changsheng curled his lips into a knowing smile and flicked his finger toward her. The jet-black rune, brimming with endless, eerie power, shot toward the center of Qing Li’s brow and vanished within.

The strange energy of the rune began to merge with her soul and flesh. Deep within his heart, Li Changsheng felt a new sensation: Qing Li’s life and death were now entirely under his control.

"Thank you, Master, for your grace!" Qing Li bowed again, her expression filled with reverence.

"Ding! Subjugated a Child of Great Fortune. Destiny points are beginning to synchronize."
"Ding! Host's Destiny points..."

As the system’s voice echoed, a trace of surprise flashed in Li Changsheng’s eyes. This was followed by an almost imperceptible smile. He seemed to have found a path leading toward a state beyond invincibility.

"I grant you the Nascent Soul cultivation base and a volume of the Undying Asura Sutra."

After a moment of contemplation, Li Changsheng waved his hand, and a jade slip appeared, floating before Qing Li. As the sound of the River of the Underworld roared behind him, a surge of incredibly pure spiritual energy rushed into her body.

*Crack... crack, crack...*

"This is..."

As the sound of something breaking within her body echoed, excitement flickered in Qing Li’s eyes. Feeling the quality of her internal spiritual energy skyrocketing, her shock was beyond measure. With her natural talent, breaking through to the Nascent Soul stage would have taken years, perhaps even decades! Yet, with a single word from this Lord, she had broken through in the blink of an eye. To follow such a powerful master meant her future was bound to be limitless.

Thinking this, her reverence grew even more profound. She bowed deeply once more, like a devout believer.

"Beyond the cultivation technique, the jade slip contains information about a certain person. Find him and do everything in your power to bring him under your control. When the time is right, I will contact you. Go."

Watching Qing Li, Li Changsheng’s expression remained unreadable, his voice calm.

"Your will be done, Master!"

Qing Li did not dare to delay. After bowing again, she grabbed the jade slip and turned to leave. Watching her retreating figure, Li Changsheng wore an enigmatic smile.

*The successor of the Demon Immortal? I shall cut off your opportunities, grind down your spirit, and soon, it will be time to pull the net closed.*

As for Qing Li’s competence, Li Changsheng had no doubts. Bu Yuzi was deep and cunning, and definitely a ruthless character. That Qing Li had managed to serve as a slave by his side for years while only at the Golden Core stage proved her capability. As it happened, what he needed was not just raw power, but someone with extraordinary cunning like her.

As for whether he might be biting off more than he could chew, or if the Child of Fortune might poach his subordinate? Li Changsheng was unbothered. Why would she abandon a powerful backer to live a life of hardship with a Child of Fortune who hadn't even reached the Golden Core stage? Li Changsheng was certain that even if Qing Li had gone mad, she would never make such a choice. Moreover, his million Destiny points were not just for show.

"Young Master," Zhao Wan’er said, her voice hesitant as she looked thoughtful after Qing Li had departed. "I feel there are many suspicious points in what the young man in white said. We should not trust him lightly..."

"I am already aware," Li Changsheng replied with a soft, dismissive laugh.

It was true that Chu Ling sat at the Tianyuan point of the chessboard, and that a Demon Immortal was suppressed there. However, Bu Yuzi was at the Dao Realm; that he would choose to possess the successor rather than the Demon Immortal himself was suspicious. He had sensed the source of the corpse aura when he entered the secret realm, and it was Bu Yuzi. That corpse of the young man in white was likely something he had scavenged from elsewhere.

A wretch who would not even spare a corpse—would he really pass up the chance to possess a powerful Demon Immortal? Li Changsheng knew he hadn't lost his mind; he was at least not foolish enough to be unable to distinguish right from wrong. There was something strange beneath this place, certainly a hidden secret, and one that required a Dao Realm expert to explore.

"Only accessible to the Dao Realm, is it..." Li Changsheng murmured, then chuckled. *Dao Realm? I have plenty of those!*

In an instant, the River of the Underworld behind him shook. An endless, eerie aura surged forth, instantly shrouding the entire Tianyuan Winery.

*Screech!*

A fierce, bone-chilling sound erupted, and hundreds of phantom bone dragons materialized! They circled the area, exuding terrifying pressure.

"Shatter!"

Li Changsheng uttered the word, a sharp light in his eyes as he took a light step. The ground where he stepped erupted into a violent storm! In the span of a few breaths, the earth within dozens of miles cracked and buckled, buildings collapsed, and the land was blasted open, revealing a magnificent, solemn green underground palace!

"Flatten it all." Li Changsheng stood in the void, holding his beauty, and ordered calmly.

*Screech!*

The hundreds of bone dragons surged toward the underground palace.

*Boom! Bang! Crash!*

In moments, the architecture of the green palace collapsed into dust. Everything was wiped clean.

*???*

*Where is the Demon Immortal? Where is the coffin? Could that dog, Bu Yuzi, have lied about everything?* Li Changsheng was stunned. He saw no Demon Immortal, no coffin, and not even a single evil spirit.

*Was I played?*

As soon as the thought arose, it was dismissed. Scanning with his divine sense, he sensed something strange. He vanished and reappeared atop the largest pile of rubble. With a wave of his hand, a storm swept away the debris, revealing a nineteen-by-nineteen Go board.

The board looked ancient, with a faint divine intent circulating within. It was a complex game of black and white, filled with the aura of Immortals, demons, and slaughter. At the Tianyuan point in the center, a solid, blood-red piece pulsed with monstrous demonic energy.

"A single thought of the Demon Immortal, dominating the heavens?" Li Changsheng sneered at the arrogance of the piece.

He drew a drop of water from the River of the Underworld, and with a thought, a jet-black piece formed. He picked it up with two fingers and dropped it directly onto the Tianyuan point, intending to replace the blood-red piece!

*Hum!*

The blood-red piece seemed to sense a mortal crisis and emitted a piercing hum. A fierce, frantic will surged toward Li Changsheng’s piece, desperate to crush the intruder. It would rather perish than allow anyone to stand above it!

In an instant, the eight phantom pieces on the edge of the board sensed the blood-red piece's will and surged with rejection, all attacking Li Changsheng’s piece.

*Bang!*

Two breaths later, a sharp sound echoed. The entire board went silent. The blood-red piece, along with the eight phantom pieces, shattered instantly. Li Changsheng’s jet-black piece remained firmly at the Tianyuan point. The board’s aura of Immortal-demon slaughter vanished, leaving only the black piece, its dark light circulating in silence.

*Ding! The Demon Immortal’s main inheritance has been severed. Lin Hao’s Destiny points reduced by 3,000. Rewarding the host with additional Destiny points.*

Li Changsheng smiled contemptuously. *Severing Lin Hao’s main inheritance and eroding his confidence... this Child of Fortune’s time is coming to an end.*

Meanwhile, in a strange mountain forest in the Eastern Region, Lin Hao was locked in a fierce battle with a powerful body cultivator. Just as Lin Hao, shrouded in eerie blood energy, was gaining the upper hand, he suddenly froze, his spiritual energy stagnating. A strange sensation of choking overwhelmed him, causing him to cough violently.

The body cultivator seized the opportunity, throwing a punch that left Lin Hao coughing up blood and severely wounded.

"We shall meet again!" Lin Hao growled, his eyes bloodshot, before vanishing into a mist of blood.

*Ding! Child of Fortune severely wounded. Rewarding host with 1,000 Destiny points.*

Li Changsheng, standing over the ruins of the winery, was surprised for a moment before a look of realization dawned on him. Destiny was linked to luck; those with heaven-defying luck could cause their enemies to suffer even while doing nothing. By destroying Lin Hao’s inheritance, he had indirectly caused the boy’s luck to plummet, leading to his defeat.

*A Child of Fortune? Soon, he will be so unlucky he might choke to death just by drinking water,* Li Changsheng thought.

"The Eastern Region, is it?" He murmured, gazing into the distance. He withdrew the bone dragons, gathered his beauty, and stepped into the void.

When he reappeared, he was at the Sword Sect.

"Welcome, Master." Zhao Ming, the sycophant, flew over, bowing piously. The Sword Elder also appeared, his figure manifesting as a phantom of strange power.

"Seeing your sincerity, I grant you the status of Underworld Servant and the cultivation base of the Soul-Communication stage."

Li Changsheng flicked a drop of the River of the Underworld toward Zhao Ming, which transformed into a rune and merged with his brow. He then channeled a portion of the pure power he had taken from Bu Yuzi into Zhao Ming.

Zhao Ming’s eyes widened in shock as his cultivation base soared. *To communicate with the divine through a single thought... what kind of power is this? Even a Mirror-stage cultivator would find this difficult! If the Master is truly a god... then my service is a blessing.*

Zhao Ming quickly suppressed these thoughts, for gods were not to be trifled with. If his master was indeed a god, he had everything to gain.