"The old thief broke through the Dao?"
In Grandhaven Prefecture, Li Zhiheng, dressed as a Daoist, sat quietly drinking tea.
Gazing at the wisp of white smoke rising from his hand, he suppressed the bewitching whispers of 'Kill him! Kill him! echoed from the Heavenly Dao Divine Heart.
His gaze remained complex for a long time.
The shopkeepers nearby were a family of three, serving tea and pouring water for Li Zhiheng.
The one in charge was a middle-aged man. He walked over to Li Zhiheng's side, carrying a plate of snacks. Looking up, he broke Li Zhiheng's train of thought.
A worried look filled the middle-aged shopkeeper's eyes. "Guest, the city is full of 'cultivators' right now. You had better quickly find a safe place."
As the main city of the prefecture, Grandhaven City occupied the sprawling area of an entire Region.
Its towering city walls were forged from rare materials, making it an exceptionally rare sight.
Rumor had it that hundreds of thousands of years ago, before the Imperial Dynasty was even founded, Human Race cultivators built it to defend against the Wu Tribe and Demon Race.
It was expanded continuously over the ages, resulting in its current layout, maintained by generations of cultivators.
It was a pity that, looking around, there were absolutely no commoners left on the streets.
Even the sparse few people wandering about were fully equipped cultivators, highly vigilant of one another.
The Blood Moon was coming; who had the time or luxury to police cultivators? One careless misstep could lead to murder and robbery.
In the sky above, flying swords and spirit boats darted back and forth.
It was estimated that almost every cultivator in Grandhaven Prefecture was frantically rushing toward Grandhaven City.
Of course, there were exceptions outside the city as well.
Li Zhiheng had seen them: cultivators nearing the end of their lifespans who claimed territories as petty kings, keeping commoners penned up like livestock to enjoy their final moments of pleasure.
They fantasized that when the Western Frontier's disaster finally arrived, they could transform into the legendary demons and monsters, attaining immortality.
The cultivators passing by Li Zhiheng didn't dare to act out of line in the slightest.
"This shopkeeper's family... weren't they slaughtered two days ago? How did they come back to life?"
"Hurry up and leave, the one sitting there drinking tea is clearly no ordinary person."
Li Zhiheng ignored the cultivators fleeing as if running for their lives.
He looked back at the shopkeeper. "Why don't you leave?"
"Leave... where could we possibly go? It's death no matter where we run. We are just commoners." The shopkeeper sighed heavily, carrying the plate away to busy himself.
Li Zhiheng waved at the cute little girl. The girl looked to be seven or eight years old. Unafraid of strangers, she walked right up to Li Zhiheng's side.
Expressionless, Li Zhiheng gently patted the child's head. "Child, are you afraid?"
"I'm afraid. It's been chaotic here for decades. I heard the people here randomly kill others everywhere. Ah Hu from next door died."
The proprietress placed both hands on the girl's shoulders, her expression turning incredibly gentle.
"It was the people from the Sage Master Martial Academy who were killing. I recognize them.
My husband and I are usually so busy; we have to wake up in the middle of the night to knead dough.
Niuniu would carry her book basket to school early every morning. I used to tell her that when she grew up, she could become an immortal... She never came back."
"The next day, we searched and searched. We found her at our breakfast stall. Her feet were completely blistered; she must have run for a very, very long way.
When it got dark, she must have panicked, lost her sense of direction, and found her way back to the stall."
The little girl was innocent and pure. "Our family is together again."
Li Zhiheng chatted with the family of three for a while, then let out a long sigh.
Leaving a stack of yellow joss paper on the table, he turned to leave.
"Sage Master Martial Academy, one of the three major factions of Grandhaven Prefecture.
I know of them. Thank you for your hospitality. I will repay you for this morning tea when the time comes."
Turning away, he saw the family of three waving at him.
After he had walked far into the distance, the shop behind him was suddenly revealed to be covered in thick dust—merely a ruined, shattered stall.
Lying there were three skeletal remains, two adults and one child, their tattered clothes fluttering lightly in the wind.
Li Zhiheng walked down a street that still maintained the illusion of a prosperous scene, only to let it revert to the tragic, lifeless reality of scattered bones.
Along the way, eating and talking, scattering yellow joss paper, and owing spiritual favors.
"This isn't how you devour karmic luck! You should rob it, not exchange for it!!!"
"What you are exchanging for is hidden merit! I don't want it! I don't want it!!!"
"Thump... thump..."
The heart was beating wildly.
The Zhao Clan Old Ancestor's Heavenly Dao Divine Heart—this artifact truly had an ancient history.
In the past, following the Zhao Clan Old Ancestor, it devoured human karmic luck and was hunted down by the Demon Race—alas, wiped out.
To replenish karmic luck, he devoured his own descendants, and in Azure Cloud Prefecture, he had wanted to devour the karmic luck of two entire prefectures.
Following Li Zhiheng, it basically starved for nine meals out of every three days.
Finally getting a full meal, this karmic luck, let alone negatively influencing Li Zhiheng, actually ended up restraining the heart with its dense karmic merit.
That karmic luck was left behind after people died—the lingering resentment of the deceased. Li Zhiheng was essentially conducting a transaction with karmic luck.
"If you don't help them get revenge, I'm going to explode!!!"
The heart roared in absolute fury.
Li Zhiheng frowned, muttering to himself as he walked.
"The immortals and gods want to restore their rule. You and the Blood Moon are exactly the same.
I rely on you to cultivate, but I will not blindly bend to your will. My elders told me to be a good person, so I will be one."
"By the way, are you an immortal?"
The heart beat even faster, then screamed frantically: "I don't know! Go devour karmic luck for me! I want to grow up! Grow up!!!"
Li Zhiheng raised an eyebrow. The Heavenly Dao Divine Heart was undoubtedly an object of the immortals and gods.
But this heart was a little different from the Blood Moon and the entity in the Banshu family.
It was purely driven by hunger, and its host got to enjoy the benefits alongside it—it just depended on who had the willpower to suppress whom.
Centuries had passed. Li Zhiheng had been continuously exploring methods to suppress the Divine Heart.
Discarding one's humanity was one way, but when Yuanwu lost his life, that method was broken.
The Old Ancestor had always said that blocking a river is worse than channeling its flow.
"If you are an immortal, just eating won't do. I'll teach you how to be an immortal."
"You teach me???"
The heart skipped a beat, and then... "I don't want to eat hidden merit! I want karmic luck, pure karmic luck!!!"
Li Zhiheng merely shrugged his shoulders.
The young Daoist strode down the street where bones littered the path and cultivators ruthlessly roamed, heading straight toward the Sage Master Martial Academy, as if casually walking through a living purgatory.