Chaos Dao Sheng Jue

Chapter 1527 The Road to Life and Death

Nezha plopped down on the ground, muttering curses:

"Damn it, this illusion is so frustrating! I can see it but I can't touch it, I can only watch helplessly as that guy gets stabbed in the heart by his own wife!"

Lu Chen remained silent. He stood there, closed his eyes, and regulated his breathing, while simultaneously processing the information he had gained from the illusion.

Shadows, an old Taoist priest, devouring, fusion, fragments of the Heart of the World, the shadow of imitating one's beloved... Behind these fragmented pieces of information, there seems to be a secret hidden from the public.

"Did you see the face in the shadows clearly?" Lu Chen opened his eyes and asked slowly.

“I don’t know him!” Fang Xinyi spoke first. “In my memory, there is not a single piece of information or rumor about him.”

Nezha scratched his head: "I think that face looks a bit like... like a lot of people. I can't quite put my finger on it, it just feels like it doesn't have its own fixed appearance, and after looking at it for a while, it seems like anyone could be it."

Lu Chen nodded and didn't delve any further. However, he learned an important piece of information from their conversation: they were unaware of the old Taoist priest's existence.

"Now is not the time for discussion; the most urgent task is to get out of this fog."

During the time Lu Chen and the others were recuperating, the surrounding chaotic mist underwent subtle changes. The mist no longer spread evenly, but instead flowed and dispersed slowly to both sides like a receding tide, revealing the true scene ahead.

Then, a fork in the road appeared in front of them.

Two roads lead in two completely different directions. At the crossroads stands a broken stone tablet, on which are engraved two large characters in ancient divine script—"Life" on the left and "Death" on the right.

“This is a path of life and death.” Fang Xinyi stood up, her expression solemn. “Ancient texts record that there are three trials deep within the Nirvana Forbidden Land. The first trial, the Chaotic Mist, tests ‘unwavering resolve.’ The second trial, the Path of Life and Death, tests ‘choice and courage.’ It seems we have passed the first trial.”

"A choice?" Nezha stepped forward, his gaze solemn as he scrutinized the two paths before him. "A path to life or a path to death? Is there even a choice? Of course, we'll take the path to life!"

However, after examining it, Lu Chen shook his head and said, "It's not that simple."

He stepped forward and stood in front of the stone tablet to examine it carefully. The inscription on the stone tablet was already blurred and the edges showed signs of erosion by time, but one could still feel the power of the laws that the engraver had infused into the strokes.

More importantly, when his gaze fell on the character "life," the circulation speed of the Chaos Dao Life Technique within his body increased slightly; while when he looked at the character "death," the cultivation technique showed a slight stagnation.

“Both paths are dangerous, but both offer opportunities,” Lu Chen concluded. “The choice is not about picking the safe one, but about deciding which ‘path’ to take to face the challenges ahead.”

Fang Xinyi pondered for a moment after hearing this and said, "The path to survival may mean 'endless life,' testing endurance and resilience; the path to death may mean 'living towards death,' testing decisiveness and explosive power."

"Then let's go down the dead end!" Nezha said without hesitation. "I hate all this dawdling. If we're going to fight, let's fight. If we're going to die, let's die a quick and painless death!"

Fang Xinyi turned to Lu Chen and asked, "What do you think?"

Lu Chen pondered for a moment: "I want to choose the path of death."

"why?"

“Because we don’t have much time.” Lu Chen looked into the depths of the mist, where even more powerful fluctuations of law could be faintly felt. “The chaotic mist has receded, but the other dangers in the forbidden area will soon sense our presence. Although dead ends are perilous, they often mean shortcuts. We need to reach the core area as soon as possible.”

After a pause, Lu Chen added, "Moreover, the Chaos Dao Life Technique that I cultivate inherently contains the concept of 'seeking life in death.' Taking the path of death might allow me to comprehend the laws here more quickly."

Fang Xinyi and Nezha, who already regarded Lu Chen as their leader, nodded in agreement upon hearing this.

So the three adjusted their stance, reformed their formation, and stepped onto the fork in the road marked with the word "death".

The moment I took my first step, another wave of dizziness washed over me.

It's not spatial teleportation, but a drastic change in the flow of time!

Lu Chen often cultivates in the Sky Time Tower and is extremely sensitive to changes in the flow of time.

Nezha and Fang Xinyi, however, felt as if their bodies had gone through countless cycles from youth to old age and back to youth in an instant, and their consciousness was almost torn apart by this time.

Seeing the clue, Lu Chen immediately activated the Chaos Dao Life Technique and then struck out with his palm to help the two stabilize their minds.

At this moment, looking around again, the scene was completely different.

There is no road ahead.

Or rather, the path is broken. They are standing in a void, with the "ground" beneath their feet made up of countless fragments of space.

These fragments vary in size and shape; some are as stable as mountains, while others ripple like water. Above, the sky is similarly fragmented, with scenes from different times superimposed on the same canvas.

On one side, the sun is rising, on the other side, the stars are shining brightly, and in another area, a torrential rain is falling—it's all so mysterious and fantastical.

“Time turbulence and spatial fragments intertwine…” Fang Xinyi gasped in shock upon seeing the scene before her. “This is a hundred times more dangerous than I imagined!”

However, before she could finish speaking, a space fragment the size of a tabletop suddenly exploded on the left, shooting towards the three of them like a blade, arriving almost in the blink of an eye.

"Watch this!" Nezha roared upon seeing this, rapidly activating the Primordial Creation Technique to its limit, his divine essence erupting instantly, and then he slammed out a palm strike.

He actually managed to blast away most of the spatial fragments. But one piece still grazed his shoulder, leaving a spray of golden blood.

The blood splattered in the air, and a bizarre scene unfolded: instead of landing, the blood rapidly congealed, weathered, and vanished into nothingness in mid-air, all within a single breath.

"The flow of time here is more than a thousand times faster than outside!" Lu Chen's pupils contracted upon seeing this, and he said gravely, "Any injury will worsen instantly!"

"Look ahead!" Fang Xinyi suddenly pointed into the distance.

There, on a relatively stable fragment of space, sat a desiccated corpse.

The mummified corpse was dressed in clothing from tens of thousands of years ago, with several magical artifacts, now devoid of any spiritual power, scattered around it.

Even more bizarrely, the flow of time around the mummified corpse was noticeably different, as if it were protected by some kind of force, forming a small "time stasis" area.

“Those are the remains of previous explorers,” Lu Chen said in a deep voice. “It seems we are not the first people to come here.”

"How could he have died here?" Nezha stared at the mummified corpse. "He doesn't look injured."

Just as Lu Chen was about to observe more closely, a warning suddenly struck him: "Back off!"

The three of them simultaneously dodged backward.

The next second, the flow of time at the spot where they had just stood accelerated a thousandfold! That area underwent a cataclysmic transformation in an instant; the ground rocks weathered, crumbled, and turned to dust. The entire process took less than half a breath in reality—it was terrifying…