Longevity: From Being Pushed By The Witch

In a pale and empty world...

There was an old man in white robes, hunched over, sitting cross-legged on a lake that resembled a silver mirror.

In front of him stood a redwood chessboard, adorned with black and white, translucent chess pieces.

The old man lowered his head and looked down with cloudy eyes, reflecting the black and white chess pieces on the chessboard.

At this moment...

He became a chess piece, and the chess pieces became him.

Hoo--

Suddenly, a gust of wind blew.

It ruffled the calm lake surface.

The old man behind the chessboard slowly gathered his thoughts. As the reflected chessboard in his eyes gradually dissipated, his eyes returned to their blurry state, but with a touch of desolation.

"Have a seat."

"If you want to drink spiritual tea, make it yourself."

A faint smile appeared on the old man's aged face.

His hoarse voice seemed to have forgotten how to speak after years of silence.

The Heavenly Demon Lord trembled slightly when she saw this scene.

However, she didn't say anything.

Instead, she knelt beside the old man and took out a tea set and a bag of spiritual tea from her storage ring.

Her movements were slow but extremely meticulous.

The old man saw this scene and couldn't help but smile and nod. Then, his cloudy gaze fell on the Blood-Clothed Demon Lord.

He opened his mouth and struggled for a long time before finally managing to utter a few indistinct words.

"You are right, Qinghua... No! Can't! Be! Trusted!"

The last three words, the old man tried his best to pronounce clearly and accurately.

But... there was an irresistible force preventing him from doing so.

Fortunately, he had won the previous chess game.

Because of this, both the Heavenly Demon Lord and the Blood-Clothed Demon Lord heard clearly what the old man had just said.

After saying this, the old man didn't continue speaking.

He just sat calmly in his position, waiting for the spiritual tea that the Heavenly Demon Lord was brewing.

The Heavenly Demon Lord didn't rush or say anything either. She just waited quietly across from him, like a...

Well-behaved student.

After a long time...

A faint fragrance wafted from this ethereal world.

The old man's dying body finally gained a hint of vitality.

He shook his long sleeves and eagerly took the tea that the Heavenly Demon Lord had just brewed. He didn't care about the etiquette of drinking tea and took a sip directly, making a crisp sound.

Only then...

The scalding tea cooled in the air and spread throughout his mouth.

The old man closed his eyes with satisfaction.

"The Heavenly Dao is really cunning."

He held the teacup and said with a smile.

This time, his voice was particularly clear.

Although it still sounded a bit hoarse, it was much better than before.

"If I hadn't won half a point against Him in the first game, there wouldn't have been twelve more games after that."

"Of course... if I win against Him in the second game, or rather, win one more point in the first game, you wouldn't be able to see me now."

"Only with one win and one loss, winning half a point and losing half a point, can the two intertwine and maintain a fragile balance that is not easily broken."

"But in the end, it's because I am too weak. Even though I am the Dao Integration Five Continents Galaxy, I still cannot escape the constraints of the laws of heaven and earth. I can only make simple changes to the rules that are within my reach and not too excessive."

"The saying 'Man proposes, God disposes' is the best explanation and the best shackles."

The old man's mood noticeably improved after speaking so many words in one breath.

He took another sip of tea, this time with a dignified and refined demeanor.

He appeared to be a highly cultured old scholar.

After drinking one-third of the tea in his cup, he looked at the God of Ten Thousand Paths beside him and whispered, "When will the divine altar be able to open?"

"At most thirteen years," came the cold yet gentle voice.

The corner of the old man's eye twitched uncontrollably, and then he glanced at the disobedient girl next to him.

Does he not realize that he is sensitive to the number thirteen now?

After a moment, when he confirmed that his eyelids had stopped twitching, he spoke again.

"Just let everything proceed as usual."

His voice became hoarse and muffled, but it was much better than before.

He took another sip of tea to moisten his throat and then looked at the Lord of the Blood Demon Temple in his blood-red robe, smiling, "What about that little girl?"

The latter paused for a moment and then said, "Although she has already swallowed the Buddha's relics, it will still take several decades to fully refine the energy within."

The old man nodded slightly and whispered, "Karma entangles, misfortune lingers. Only she can bear this burden."

This time, the old man's voice was surprisingly clear, just like when Li Pu and Di Hong were present.

He smiled faintly and continued, "I didn't call you two here for those little ones."

"Let them be, let nature take its course. Don't force or overcorrect anything."

"I called you two here for two things."

The old man picked up his teacup, drank another one-third, and said earnestly, "The first thing is about your future path."

Upon hearing the words "future path," the expressions of the God of Ten Thousand Paths and the Lord of the Blood Demon Temple visibly changed.

The latter was even more puzzled and asked, "Both my junior sister and I have already achieved Dao Integration in the Five Continents and the Vast Sea. Although we can barely reach the state of Unity through the power of the origin... it's still not true Unity."

"Shackles, restraints, limitations, too many of them! Even within the rules, we are not free."

"Why talk about a future path?"

The old man slightly raised his hand to stop the Lord of the Blood Demon Temple's inquiry and smiled, "In the world of Dao Integration, Ascension is indeed cut off."

"But... when the Celestial Clan invades, it is already a higher plane forcefully plundering a lower plane."

"At this time, the plundered plane's rules are disrupted, and the Heavenly Dao is suppressed by the Heavenly Dao of the higher plane, so..."

The old man smiled and didn't continue.

It's not that he didn't want to say, but that he couldn't say.

Even if he could say it, he couldn't put it into words.

After all... the previous few sentences were already so unclear. If it weren't for the exceptional hearing of cultivators and the ability to infer from lip movements, the old man doubted if anyone could understand what he had just said.

Before the two could continue questioning, the old man finished the last one-third of the tea in his cup.

Hmm...

It must be said that the God of Ten Thousand Paths is indeed skilled in making tea. From start to finish, it had the same taste without any sense of layers.

"This heavenly tribulation..."

The old man paused, his previously slightly restored clarity in his eyes once again becoming murky. He looked at the two people across from him and took a deep breath before saying in a solemn tone, "The [Pope] will descend!"

"And it's not just the one from a thousand years ago!"