Zhang Tianle and Liu Yiyi's curiosity was instantly piqued.

“The divination I performed is exactly the same as the one performed by your grandmaster. He and I are indeed each other’s final destination.”

Zhang Tianle and Liu Yiyi: "..."

Okay, okay, is this how you play it?

Liu Yiyi seemed to have thought of something and glanced at Zhang Tianle.

"Forget it. Let's not talk about those messy things from the past. Tell me about your master's current situation first." Master Hui'an took a deep breath, took Zhang Ninghe's sword from Zhang Tianle's hand, and was no longer affected by these emotions.

“His condition is a bit strange.” Zhang Tianle narrowed his eyes, thinking of the feeling his master had given him back then.

"He gives me the feeling that he is deeply integrated with the Heavenly Dao. No! To be precise, my master seems to be a puppet of the Heavenly Dao, rather than the spokesperson of the Heavenly Dao as they say."

Master Hui'an nodded, signaling him to continue.

"He gives me a very contradictory feeling; he seems to be integrated, yet he's somewhere between not being fully integrated and not quite."

Otherwise, Zhang Ninghe wouldn't have been able to use his great magic to teleport him back from the Demon God Realm.

"Is it contradictory?" Master Hui'an raised her head and smiled. "I hope I'm not overthinking it."

Zhang Tianle raised an eyebrow.

"Your master probably didn't tell you about the legends of the Heavenly Dao and our Shundao Hall."

Zhang Tianle and Liu Yiyi shook their heads.

They really hadn't heard of it.

"Wait a moment." Master Hui'an walked towards the backyard.

After their master passed away, the two of them had hardly ever been to the backyard, which was now overgrown with weeds.

A moment later, Abbess Hui'an returned carrying a rusty iron box.

She handed the box to Zhang Tianle: "This contains the secrets of our Shundao Hall and the Heavenly Dao."

Zhang Tianle opened the metal box.

Inside, a scroll of notes lay quietly.

A leather-bound notebook.

But this skin...

Zhang Tianle narrowed his eyes.

“This is human skin. To be precise, it’s the skin of our second patriarch.” Master Hui’an seemed to notice Zhang Tianle’s strangeness, followed his gaze, smiled, and explained to him, “This is where it all began.”

"The second-generation patriarch divined some special clues and thus signed a contract with the Heavenly Dao. That is, the successors of Shundao Hall will all bear this secret of the Heavenly Dao. That is the Fusion Dao."

Rongdao?

“For details, you can take a look at that human skin notebook.” Master Hui’an pointed to a yellowed human skin lying quietly inside the box.

This human skin has been specially processed, which is why it won't rot.

Zhang Tianle took out the human skin of the second-generation patriarch from the box.

The moment he picked up the human skin, he entered a special space.

A place filled with a sea of ​​flowers.

There is a small fenced courtyard in the middle of the sea of ​​flowers.

An old man sat cross-legged in the small courtyard with a fence.

The moment Zhang Tianle looked over, the old man also opened his eyes.

In just a moment, the distance between the two changed instantly, and when Zhang Tianle blinked again, he was already standing in front of the old man.

"A junior member of Shundaotang?" The old man smiled at Zhang Tianle and gestured to the person in front of him: "Sit down."

With that gesture, a prayer mat appeared in front of him.

Zhang Tianle, without any hesitation, sat down directly on the prayer mat.

"Is it almost here? Time flies!" The old man exclaimed before Zhang Tianle could even speak.

This is all very mysterious...

Zhang Tianle resisted the urge to roll his eyes.

“Grandmaster, shall we get straight to the point? I’m not very bright and can’t decipher the riddles you’ve given me.” Zhang Tianle pointed around: “Let’s talk about the relationship between our Shundao Hall and the Heavenly Dao, and what the relationship is between each successor and the Heavenly Dao. To be precise, what kind of cooperation did you reach with the Heavenly Dao back then?”

This collaboration allowed the soul of the second-generation patriarch to willingly remain in the mortal realm, within a small human skin notebook, free from reincarnation.

Don't be fooled by the birdsong and fragrant flowers here; it's not truly a paradise. To be precise, it's all an illusion.

More accurately, the second-generation patriarch was trapped inside this human skin manuscript.

This is quite intriguing.

He discussed everything with the Heavenly Dao, yet he willingly remained inside this human skin notebook. What was his purpose?

"Second Generation Ancestor, did you leave this human skin scroll by yourself, or are you trapped here?"

Upon hearing Zhang Tianle's words, the second-generation patriarch looked at him with some surprise.

"Interesting! Very interesting. I didn't expect this generation of disciples to be so interesting."

In the past, the people who came here were all well-behaved little boys who did whatever he said. What surprised him was that this little boy actually dared to ask this question.

"What if I'm trapped here? What if I choose to stay here? What difference does it make?" The second patriarch smiled gently: "No matter what, don't I have no choice but to live a humble life here?"

Humble?

Alive?

"Grandmaster, let's talk about your contract with the Heavenly Dao. I'm in a hurry, so if you can't tell me, I'll be leaving now."

The second-generation patriarch: "..."

He retracted his statement that there was any suspicion regarding the disciple's disciples and grand-disciples.

This is simply an unfilial grand-disciple.

He hasn't had anyone to talk to in so many years, and this child is already ready to leave as soon as he arrives.

Did he not know that he relied on the changes of the times mentioned in the words of these people to get through this endless loneliness?

Even though he can calculate it, shouldn't he at least verify what he's calculated?

His own curiosity hadn't been satisfied yet, but this kid wanted him to satisfy his curiosity.

There's no such thing as a perfect life.

"You haven't shared with me what the situation is like outside. How about we consider this an equivalent exchange?" The second-generation patriarch smiled at Zhang Tianle.

He believed he would agree.

Then, the next moment, Zhang Tianle waved to the second patriarch and said, "Goodbye."

As soon as he finished speaking, Zhang Tianle's figure disappeared in front of the Second Ancestor.

Second Ancestor: "..."

You bastard!

That damn thing!

At this moment, if he weren't bound to this human skin scroll, he would have rushed out and given this unfilial disciple a good beating.

No one dared to treat him like that.

but……

He suddenly sighed.

With a wave of his hand.

Just as Zhang Tianle's soul was about to enter his body, the second-generation patriarch brought him back: "Never mind, let me first explain my contract with the Heavenly Dao. After I finish, you tell me about the changes outside. Besides, so many years have passed; the outside world has probably undergone earth-shattering changes, hasn't it?"