Chapter 4735: The True Purpose
In the Primordial Desolation of Chaos, Lin Moyu flew out from the World Origin Water.
Almost half of the lakes formed by the World Origin Water had disappeared, and restoring them might take tens or hundreds of millions of years.
Great Venerate Baizhong had no objections to this.
Although the World Origin Water belonged to him, it was not his foundation and thus had little impact on him.
In his view, as long as he himself could become stronger, a mere amount of World Origin Water was nothing worth mentioning.
When Boyang and Baizhong saw Lin Moyu, a flash of shock appeared in both their eyes.
The two exchanged a glance and confirmed their impression.
In their senses, Lin Moyu's realm had not changed, but his aura had.
He was clearly stronger than before.
They felt that facing Lin Moyu now was like facing a being of a higher level.
They even had the illusion that, should Lin Moyu wish to kill them, it would not be difficult at all.
Noticing their looks, Lin Moyu roughly guessed what they were thinking and smiled.
"Daoist friends, is there some question on your minds?"
Baizhong and Boyang snapped back to themselves and spoke in unison.
"Congratulations to Daoist Lin on yet another advance in cultivation."
Lin Moyu smiled.
"It was only a small insight. Many thanks to Daoist Baizhong for providing such a large amount of World Origin Water."
Baizhong repeatedly said, "It was a trifling matter. For this World Origin Water to be used by Daoist Lin is its good fortune."
Only now did Lin Moyu realize that even Great Venerates could flatter someone with a perfectly straight face and steady heart.
A red gleam flashed through Great Venerate Boyang's eyes.
"Daoist Lin, what do you plan to do next?"
Lin Moyu noticed the change in his gaze and understood that Boyang was not doing it on purpose; rather, the Heavenly Calamity of the world had already begun to affect the Great Venerates.
He was constantly shifting between two roles: the public enemy of the world and a Great Venerate of the world.
At the same time, he was also the one destined to face the tribulation.
In this great calamity, countless people would see him as their opportunity.
When the calamity reached its peak, even Great Venerates would inevitably be affected.
For now, Boyang and the others could still control their thoughts; even if influenced, they could suppress it.
But after some time, that might no longer be the case.
Lin Moyu did not hide anything.
"I will activate the final grand formation and see what the Calamity Great Venerate's true scheme is. At the same time, I will also search for passages leading to other worlds and broaden my path."
"If the two of you can find similar passages, you may trade with me."
Baizhong and Boyang's eyes both brightened slightly.
They, too, needed Primordial Qi of Creation, and according to Lin Moyu, as long as they found passages to other worlds, they could exchange them for such qi.
This looked very much like their chance.
Lin Moyu continued, "But I must add another word. It would be best if the two of you found a secluded place to go into seclusion and not seek too much, or accidents may well happen during the great calamity."
Great Venerate Baizhong sighed, a hint of a bitter smile on his face.
"Daoist Lin is not aware: we are entangled in cause and effect and likely cannot avoid it."
Great Venerate Boyang also sighed.
"Ever since Daoist Calamity began laying out his plans back then, we have already been pieces on the board. Avoiding it now is probably impossible."
Lin Moyu knew that they were in the game and enmeshed in heavy karma.
Avoidance was not impossible, but it was extremely difficult.
After a brief thought, he said, "The two of you share karma with me as well, but as long as you firmly hold to your Dao hearts, you should be able to escape the killing tribulation."
"If you truly cannot avoid it, standing with my elder sister should be the correct choice."
Although both of them longed for higher realms, they wished even more to keep living.
And Lin Moyu had already revealed to them a way out: when it came time to choose sides, they could stand with Lin Mohan.
"Many thanks, Daoist Lin!"
They both bowed to Lin Moyu.
They naturally understood the meaning behind his words.
Lin Moyu then flew toward the formation hidden behind the World Origin Water.
He sent out a rune, which easily activated the formation.
With his current mastery of formations, he already stood beyond the world and far above the Calamity Great Venerate.
The formations laid down by the Calamity Great Venerate no longer held any secrets from him.
"Let us see what you are really trying to do."
Lin Moyu stepped into the formation and, as if returning home, made his way straight into its core.
At the center, the statue of the Calamity Great Venerate still stood tall.
Upon seeing Lin Moyu, it emitted a deep voice.
"You have finally come."
Lin Moyu heard a trace of impatience in that tone and replied casually, "Too many matters delayed me. You know my situation there are many people trying to kill me at the moment."
The Calamity Great Venerate was located within the Primordial Desolation, and could only roughly sense what happened in Chaos.
So any excuse Lin Moyu made up would be enough to fool him.
The Calamity Great Venerate showed no suspicion.
"This is the path you chose for yourself, and it is also the path you must walk."
Lin Moyu chuckled.
"That is not quite right, is it? Was this not the path you chose for me?"
The Calamity Great Venerate said, "This venerable one merely pointed out a direction for you. The road is something you walk on your own. Since you have come, this venerable one shall take his leave."
He clearly did not wish to linger.
Lin Moyu also knew that he would not stay long, because Lin had already become a Great Venerate; the more he spoke with Lin, the more likely he was to let something slip.
The Calamity Great Venerate might not yet realize that he was already leaking weak points everywhere.
Lin Moyu said, "Very well, you can go. I will begin refining the formation."
Space shattered, and the statue plunged into the rift and vanished.
Watching the space rapidly repair itself, Lin Moyu revealed a faint smile.
"So it was here."
The path by which the statue departed was a grand formation that the Calamity Great Venerate had prepared beforehand.
It resembled a cross‑domain formation, but was far stronger, locking directly onto a fixed point.
Previously, Lin Moyu had only been able to tell that the point lay somewhere in the Primordial Desolation.
Now, however, he knew its exact location, with an error of no more than a thousand li.
That point was essentially the Calamity Great Venerate's hiding place, and he would never have imagined that his sanctuary would be exposed like this.
Once the space was fully restored, Lin Moyu gave a light laugh and began refining the grand formation.
This time, the refinement was completely different from before.
Previously, he had followed the Calamity Great Venerate's plan step by step, but now he was walking his own path.
Lights flashed within his mind as the twelve grand formations scattered throughout the Primordial Desolation linked together, interweaving into a gigantic net.
This net covered almost the entire world, with the exception only of the deepest region of the Primordial Desolation.
Now, by refining the final formation, Lin Moyu was filling in the last missing corner of that great net.
"So the true control of the formation lies here after all."
Lin Moyu had realized that even if he refined all twelve formations, the ultimate control over them would still not be in his hands.
His own role was merely to bear the backlash of the formation.
A formation that covered nearly the entire world and possessed terrifying power drew upon many Great Daos, one of which was the Dao of Karma.
Once activated, the formation would produce a shocking backlash that had to be borne by someone.
The supposed "master" of the formation Lin Moyu was actually being used to shoulder that backlash.
The true controller of the formation was the Calamity Great Venerate, hidden behind the scenes.
One could imagine that once the formation was activated, Lin Moyu, as the bearer of the backlash, would be gravely injured even as a Great Venerate.
The Calamity Great Venerate's arrangement seemed to be for Lin Moyu's benefit, but in truth, it was to lure Lin to voluntarily place his neck on the chopping block and then keep working for him after death.
"How wonderful your plans are. In that case, I must disappoint you."
With a thought, Lin Moyu sent out countless runes.
Some fell into the current formation, while others traveled through the links between formations and appeared in the other arrays as if by teleportation.
Very soon, all twelve formations carried Lin Moyu's runes.