Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh!

A blue Escape Light shot from the far left, attempting to pass in front of Xiao Mu, darting to the right.

Suddenly, an ethereal glass lamp appeared above the Escape Light, flickering in and out of view, but had Xiao Mu not been using his Spiritual Eye, it would have been invisible.

Crack!

A Thunderbolt sounded from within the human body, and a wail echoed from within the Escape Light.

The Escape Light vanished, and with a plop, an old and frail figure fell to the ground, bleeding from the Seven Orifices, already lifeless.

"Village Protection Team member!"

Xiao Mu recognized at a glance that the elder was a member of the Village Protection Team and tried to reach out to help but was far too late.

In fact, the elder had just suffered the power of retribution, a force that originated within his body. Behind that retribution stood the Heavenly God, the Retribution Emperor, so even if Xiao Mu had wanted to save the man, he would have been unable to.

"The Retribution Lamp, what appeared above the elder's head just now, must have been the Retribution Lamp!"

"The power of Heavenly God has already permeated this Earth, and from today on, life, death, retribution, and reincarnation shall begin to influence it."

"Even a Variant in the True Realm can die, with every person subject to the tribulations of aging, illness, death, calamity, retribution, and the cycle of fate."

The death of the elder filled Xiao Mu with dread, but fortunately, he could sense the existence of various powers of Heavenly Dao. At the same time, he felt his own strength was sufficient; the various powers of Heavenly Dao pressed down upon him, yet for the moment, they could not break through his own authority and thus could not be enforced upon him.

This meant that at least for the short term, Xiao Mu did not have to worry about life and death, retribution, reincarnation, and destiny.

However, as time passed, these powers of Heavenly Dao that enveloped Xiao Mu would slowly intensify, and one day they would become a threat to his life.

"I wonder what makes the threat of the power of Heavenly Dao and if it is influenced by other factors in addition to time? Is there a way to weaken it? Is it true that the stronger one's power, the less affected they are?"

Unable to resist pondering how to weaken the power of Heavenly Dao, Xiao Mu felt agitated.

The sudden calamity almost made him change his plans and turn back to find a quiet place to contemplate how to avoid the influence of Heavenly Dao.

His rational mind told him that this would be futile, and it would be better to take this opportunity to continue searching for traces of Variant Cultivators.

Finding Variant Cultivators meant gaining the Variant Cultivation Method, which in turn meant using it to increase his strength.

From any perspective, the improvement of his strength seemed to help him resist the power of Heavenly Dao.

"Enough, continue on, hopefully, I can find a Variant Cultivator soon."

Xiao Mu proceeded forward, circling around the Village Protection Team member who had just suffered retribution, deliberately strolling in front of the doors of ordinary villagers.

The majority of ordinary people were not affected in the slightest, carrying on as usual.

Xiao Mu was initially surprised, but upon further reflection, he understood why.

For these ordinary people, whether the power of Heavenly Dao had infiltrated or not made no difference; who it truly affected were those Variants in the True Realm, even those in the Mortal Realm were hardly touched.

After all, ordinary people do not have the power to change their fate; those in the Mortal Realm have little ability to do so, and only those in the True Realm begin to challenge Heavenly Dao and are naturally constrained by it in turn.

Ordinary people can only live a hundred years (assuming), and after those years are up, the power of Heavenly Dao begins to take effect, leading to death and entry into reincarnation.

Those in the True Realm have evolved from the Mortal Realm and also have but a hundred-year lifespan, which they extend to two hundred, three hundred, five hundred, or even longer through cultivation.

But these extensions of life are attained by resisting Heavenly Dao, by withstanding the cycles of life, death, retribution, and fate; the longer one lives, the longer they resist, and the more power of Heavenly Dao accumulates in them.

Once this power accumulates to a certain point, surpassing the limit that their bodies can bear, Heavenly Dao sends down punishment and the moment of destruction arrives.

The more Xiao Mu thought about it, the more he believed his analysis was correct. The descent of Heavenly Dao's power upon this Earth was certainly no blessing, but only by understanding it could one better resist it.

"Increasing one's strength is the best way to counter Heavenly Dao; the stronger one is, the more capable they are of combating the power of Heavenly Dao, and the less likely they are to be killed by it."

"However, these are only the conclusions I have drawn for now, they might not all be correct, but no matter, as my understanding of Heavenly Dao deepens, I can gradually refine my perception."

"As the power of Heavenly Dao enters, this Earth is undergoing changes again; many places have likely become different from before, and we can no longer rely on past experience, lest mistakes arise!"

Xiao Mu cautioned himself inwardly to avoid the errors that can arise from habitual thinking.

Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh!

The light of an Escape Art shone, and the sound of three Mutated Beings arriving from the East was heard.

On seeing Xiao Mu, the three Mutated Beings suppressed their Escape Light and revealed themselves, two men and a woman.

"It's people from the monitoring team!"

Twilight Forest Village was divided into two outward-facing task teams: the patrol team and the Village Protection Team, each responsible for different work. With Xiao Mu's knowledge of Twilight Forest Village, he recognized the origins of these two men and a woman at a glance.

"Good day, Daoist!"

Among the two men and one woman, a man of average height who looked very steady raised his hand to greet Xiao Mu.

"So it's friends from the patrol team, hello!" Xiao Mu nodded in acknowledgment to the three people.

"Excuse me, Daoist, have you seen any members of our patrol team run into accidents along the way?" The steady man was very polite and humbly asked Xiao Mu.

"I haven't seen any members of the patrol team, but I did see a person from the Village Protection Team suddenly die from a thunderstrike."

Xiao Mu recounted what he had just witnessed regarding the elderly member of the Village Protection Team.

"A member of the Village Protection Team! May I ask, Daoist, where exactly?" The faces of the steady man and his two comrades changed.

"Over there! Just go straight ahead for about three kilometers!" Xiao Mu replied, pointing in the direction he had come from.

"Thank you, Daoist. Follow me!"

After thanking him, the steady man hurriedly led his comrades toward the direction Xiao Mu had pointed, disappearing into the escape light. From within the escape light, a voice still managed to reach Xiao Mu, "The power of Heavenly Dao has entered this Heaven and Earth, and any Mutated Being could potentially die. Daoist, you are traveling alone; please be cautious for your safety."

Before Xiao Mu could thank them, the man had already led his comrades far away.

"The power of Heavenly Dao has entered this realm, and even the patrol team knows about it—the information spreads really fast! No, that's not right; the patrol team didn't detect the change in Heavenly Dao but discovered the anomaly because someone on their team died."

The new information weighed heavily on Xiao Mu's mind, but he quickly collected himself and continued on his way.

Put put put!

A small electric bike approached from behind Xiao Mu.

Although remembering his identity, Xiao Mu stopped in his tracks as per a Daoist's custom, stepped aside to the left of the road, and let the electric bike pass first.

As the electric bike drew closer, Xiao Mu saw that it was driven by an ordinary woman in her fifties, with shoulder-length curly hair and a slightly plump figure.

In the basket in front of the bike, Xiao Mu caught a glimpse of a paper bag containing dozens of Dao Talismans.

The Dao Talismans shone with Spiritual Light and emitted a faintly mysterious aura.

"Could it really be such a coincidence?"

Xiao Mu wore a puzzled expression.

A few days ago, he had specifically inquired about this with Zhao Jingyan.

In Twilight Forest Village, families who experienced strange events wouldn't seek help from Mutated Beings but would often buy some Dao Talismans and place them in their homes or on the persons where strange events occurred, hoping to avert evil and calamity.

Although this method was actually futile, for ordinary people, it still provided some psychological comfort.

The Dao Talismans in the woman's bike basket caused Xiao Mu to immediately associate her with the strange events.

He took another look at the woman.

At this moment, his Spiritual Eye was still open, and under the view of the Spiritual Eye, the woman's complexion appeared black as if it were the bottom of a pot.

This was a sign of impending disaster, so intense that Xiao Mu felt uneasy.

Before the power of Heavenly Dao entered this realm, Xiao Mu's Spiritual Eye could detect things that ordinary people could not, especially being highly sensitive to omens of disasters.

And after the power of Heavenly Dao entered this realm, the influence of disasters on ordinary people only increased.

Xiao Mu realized that before the power of Heavenly Dao entered this realm, even if this woman was destined for disaster, her complexion would not have turned this dark.

The situation now was mostly due to the dramatic changes in the Earth and Heaven, in addition to her own impending personal calamity.

"Good day, Layman!"

Xiao Mu gave a respectful bow.

"Good day, Daoist!" The woman braked the bike, dismounted, and returned Xiao Mu's gesture.

After the great changes, with Taoism becoming prominent, ordinary people held a fair amount of respect for Daoists.

Xiao Mu's expression turned solemn as he said gravely, "Nightmares affect reality, and to die within a dream is often the doing of Divine Spirits, while Dao Talismans are made by those who are Mutated Beings in the Mortal Realm, and are futile in restraining Divine Spirits."

"I'm afraid using Dao Talismans, layman, may not save your family."

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