“The mastermind behind the scenes is the Four Ancient Immortals?” Lu Yang was taken aback; then a peculiar expression crossed his face.

So the Left Historian Immortal is saying that the mastermind the Immortal Fairy has been searching for all this time is actually fabricated by the Four Ancient Immortals, and that the real masterminds are the four of them?

Qing He also hadn’t expected this answer. So this was what the Left Historian Immortal had seen when we asked him to examine the murder process?

The Left Historian Immortal grew anxious upon noticing the group’s varied expressions, most of them unconvinced. “Everything I’ve said is true!”

Every time he recalled this matter, he would break out in a cold sweat. When the Four Ancient Immortals questioned me, their expressions were amiable, and they had granted my every request.

At first, I thought these were the Four Ancient Immortals’ genuine display of emotions. But after I saw the truth of the past, when I looked at them again, I could only feel the bizarreness and murderous intent behind their smiles.

If I hadn’t been quick on my feet and claimed that I didn’t see anything, I would have died right there and then!

“Have you ever considered that the past you saw might be false?” Lu Yang couldn’t help but ask. No matter how I think about it, it doesn’t add up. Setting aside everything else, are the Heaven Mandate Immortal and the other three the kind of people who would scheme against the Immortal Fairy just to obtain the Everlasting Dao Fruit? What would they stand to gain?

In the Everlasting Immortal Fairy’s words, why still chase after power when you’re already an immortal? That’s too exhausting.

“I even examined all four of their pasts to verify whether what I saw was real or false!” the Left Historian Immortal argued agitatedly. I’ve kept this matter bottled up for nearly four hundred thousand years; I might as well let it all out today.

“I saw the broken Jianmu World Tree develop consciousness and become the Epoch Immortal. I saw the Heaven Mandate Immortal buried in the tomb as a burial good. I saw the Qilin Immortal born from the essence of heaven and earth. I saw the Nine-Layers Immortal born into the Lianshan Clan, a great human clan.”

The origins of the Epoch Immortal, the Qilin Immortal, and the Nine-Layers Immortal were no secret. Only the Heaven Mandate Immortal’s origin didn’t match his exalted image, so he rarely spoke of it outside. This indicated that, at least in this regard, what the Left Historian Immortal saw was true.

“I also saw that though their actions appeared righteous and dignified outwardly, they were full of schemes behind the scenes. They acted one way in front of you while behaving differently behind your back, putting their interests above all else!

“They approached you simply because they had set their sights on your talent. You deduced the concepts of ‘Incipient Dao Fruit’ and ‘Dao Fruit’ and explored the realm of ‘immortal’ alone. Such talent is unparalleled across the ages!

“They were also worried that you would be the first to become an immortal. That’s why the Epoch Immortal persuaded you to abandon the Silent Annihilation Dao Fruit and switch to the Everlasting Dao Fruit. His true intention was to trap you within this matter, preventing you from achieving immortality. They never expected you to let go of your obsessions and condense the Everlasting Dao Fruit instead. This made them envious of you and harbor killing intent, and they ultimately struck you down!”

Lu Yang frowned. What’s going on? The things described by the Left Historian Immortal make it sound like he is viewing the Four Ancient Immortals through a conspiratorial perspective.

“Hold on, did you say that the ‘Dao Fruit’ was deduced by the Immortal Fairy alone?” Lu Yang turned to ask the Everlasting Immortal Fairy. “Immortal Fairy, I recall you saying that the concept of ‘Dao Fruit’ was jointly derived by the five of you?”

“That’s right.” The Everlasting Immortal Fairy was not the only one who affirmed this.

Hui Doudou and Qing He also had recollections of this.

There was clearly a problem with the past that the Left Historian Immortal had seen.

“That’s impossible!” The Left Historian Immortal was stunned. I couldn’t have misremembered something as groundbreaking as deducing the “Dao Fruit.”

Lu Yang said gravely, “If the four immortals were truly the culprits, how did they manage to make the entire world forget the Immortal Fairy?”

“They must have some method I don’t know about!” The Left Historian Immortal refused to acknowledge his mistake.

Faced with the Left Historian Immortal's answer that couldn’t be considered an answer, a theory took shape in Lu Yang’s mind. “What you saw isn’t the real past—it’s a fake past the mastermind fabricated for you!”

But Lu Yang was still perplexed. Why would the mastermind’s fabricated past leave such a glaring loophole as “the Dao Fruit was comprehended by the Immortal Fairy alone?” Is there some unavoidable reason? Could it be...

“Immortal Fairy, if the Heaven Mandate Immortal and the other three immortals truly had the personalities the Left Historian Immortal described, what would you do?”

“What would I do? Stay away from them, of course,” the Everlasting Immortal Fairy replied in a matter-of-factly way. I can tell who’s good and who’s bad.

“And if you had to deduce the Dao Fruit, would you still have invited the four of them to join?”

The Everlasting Immortal Fairy rubbed her chin, imagining what she would do. Finally, she answered with certainty, “No. I would have deduced it alone. Even by myself, I should still have been able to derive the result.” 𝐟𝕣𝗲𝕖𝕨𝗲𝐛𝗻𝗼𝐯𝗲𝚕.𝗰𝚘𝐦

“That explains it! The past shown to the Left Historian Immortal by the mastermind was a hypothetical scenario based on the changes in the personalities of the four immortals!” Lu Yang declared with conviction.

That said, Lu Yang still couldn’t figure out how the mastermind had accomplished this. Only a Dao Fruit could influence the observations of the Insight Dao Fruit.

Is this something the Karma Dao Fruit can achieve?

“How is this possible? Does that mean a mastermind truly exists?” At this moment, the Left Historian Immortal felt his worldview overturned. The four immortals’ personalities weren’t as malicious as I’d thought, and they truly harbored no ill intentions.

“Then the one who threatened me back then wasn’t the four immortals but the mastermind?”

“Threatened you?

“On the night after that matter concluded, someone was waiting for me in my temporary palace. They told me to abandon my Dao Fruit and that if I didn’t, they would kill me directly.”

Recalling that figure, the Left Historian Immortal felt an unstoppable fear spreading in his heart. “The aura that person emitted... they could have absolutely killed me!”

“Who was that person?”

“I don’t know. They never showed themselves. I always thought they were one of the four immortals. But if the past I saw was false and a mastermind truly exists, the one who threatened me must be that mastermind!

“Under his coercion, I had no choice but to abandon my comprehension of the Insight Dao Fruit and destroy it.”

“You no longer have the Insight Dao Fruit?”

“Yes.” The Left Historian Immortal smiled bitterly.

The Insight Dao Fruit could perceive the ten directions. If I still had it, I could have located the Silent Annihilation Immortal and wouldn’t have foolishly courted my own death by choosing to act in Demon City.

“Then what about the Battle of the Great Era you later predicted?” Qing He asked. The notion of the Battle of the Great Era had originated with the Left Historian Immortal, who claimed that such an event would occur 390,000 years into the future.

The Left Historian Immortal sighed. “Although I lost the Insight Dao Fruit, I was originally skilled in divination. Even if I can’t reach the level of the Insight Dao Fruit, my divinations are still quite good.

“I divined that 390,000 years in the future, a fortuitous opportunity to achieve immortality would appear. Half-immortals and immortals from various eras would emerge and clash, and heaven and earth would be plunged into chaos. Some would become immortals, and some immortals would perish.

“However, my divinations aren’t completely accurate. For example, according to my divination results, the Battle of the Great Era should have already begun, with various factions fighting long ago. The world shouldn’t be this peaceful.

“In addition, I divined that I would obtain an Everlasting Incipient Dao Fruit by establishing the Everlasting Creed. But as you all can see, I failed.”

Lu Yang’s expression grew increasingly strange. It seems that if I hadn’t found the Everlasting Creed’s headquarters back then, the Left Historian Immortal could have succeeded.