Did He Wudi choose to stay behind because he truly believed that if he left, no one would close the gate?

No.

Many disciples were queuing up to take turns closing the gate.

Closing the gate was just an excuse—an excuse that allowed him to stay.

Although he had lived in the Eternal Sect for less than a hundred years, He Wudi had already come to see this place as home. He loved his adorable fellow disciples, loved the cafeteria’s food, and loved every blade of grass and tree in the sect.

If the scroll only allowed one entry into the Land of Eternal Life, and missing it meant there would be no second chance, then…

“I’ll give up today.”

He Wudi stood with his back to the bronze cauldron, his gaze resolute as he said, “I have no regrets.”

In fact, he had often pondered a question late at night: Was being forced to have his level reset and descend to the lower realm after snatching the Seven Profound Radiant Breaking Fragment Scroll a blessing or a curse?

Later, after joining the Eternal Sect, he finally got his definitive answer—it was a blessing, a stroke of fortune.

Some might say that as the leader of the Mind-Filling Trio, He Wudi had always believed the sect was connected to Senior Seven Profound, so naturally he would consider it a blessing.

Not so.

The deeper he came to understand the sect, the more he saw himself as part of it.

He Wudi had long since stopped caring about the Seven Profound Saint Venerable. Even if he knew the truth, he would still happily serve as the gate-closing disciple.

The Eternal Sect.

It seemed to contain some kind of magic.

Once you made contact with it, once you integrated into it, anyone would become deeply infatuated, unable to extricate themselves.

Take Ye Xingchen, who had been aloof his entire life—from initially being tsundere and putting on airs, hadn’t he now become willing to climb mountains of blades and dive into seas of fire for the sect and his fellow disciples?

Night Emperor Kuang.

Invincible Gou.

Though their personalities were vastly different, they shared common ground. Before joining the Eternal Sect, they had both kept loneliness as their companion. But once they integrated into the sect and understood trust and emotion, they would sacrifice everything.

Just as Tang Sanzang said to Supreme Treasure: “When you understand sacrificing yourself for righteousness, you’ll naturally come back and sing this song with me.”

Ye Xingchen understood.

He let go of his pride from his previous life and truly considered himself a disciple.

He Wudi understood.

He gave up the opportunity to go to the Land of Eternal Life, willing to continue standing at the gate to shelter everyone from wind and rain.

“Swish!”

He Wudi raised his hand again.

With his head lowered and a smile at the corner of his mouth, he shouted, “Eternal Sect—Nice!”

In an instant, all the sect disciples raised their hands and shouted in unison, “Eternal Sect—Nice!!”

The sound echoed through the heavens, reverberating throughout the entire Eternal Realm.

“…”

Jian Guixu and Gu Tianxing exchanged glances.

Though neither understood what “Nice” meant, they could deeply feel the unique culture belonging to the Eternal Sect, belonging to this group of surging waves.

Jun Changxiao smiled.

He smiled seriously, smiled like spring sunshine.

His disciples had the chance to return home but resolutely chose to stay—how could he let them down?

The Land of Eternal Life.

Jun Changxiao raised his head, looking at the night sky filled with stars, thinking silently, “This seat will bring the entire sect there, even if it means the Upper Cosmos as the finale.”

…

The next day.

The bronze cauldron was once again placed on the main peak’s martial arts field.

All the disciples gathered around.

They had all witnessed yesterday’s scene with the scroll appearing, so they eagerly discussed it.

“Wudi.”

Jun Changxiao sat in the great hall and said, “How did you discover the secret hidden inside?”

The Universe Sacred Battle had been held for eleven sessions.

Previous champions all had sufficient time to study it after obtaining it.

But from beginning to end, no one had unlocked it. Yet He Wudi figured it out after just a short while—calling it luck would be a bit too heaven-defying.

In fact?

It wasn’t luck at all.

Rather, He Wudi had grasped the key.

And this key wasn’t something he’d just figured out—it dated back to when he entered the ancient tomb to search for the fragment scroll.

“This disciple experienced various mechanisms and trials, and finally entered the main tomb chamber. Not only did I obtain the Seven Profound Radiant Breaking Fragment Scroll, but I also saw a special pattern on the wall,” He Wudi recalled.

Many powerful warriors had entered the tomb at the time, and he had grabbed the fragment scroll and fled at the fastest speed.

“So.”

Jun Changxiao said, “The pattern you saw was identical to the one on the bronze cauldron?”

“Yes.”

He Wudi nodded and said, “If I hadn’t observed it carefully, this disciple probably wouldn’t have remembered.”

Warriors had strong memories—what they saw wouldn’t be forgotten, unless they couldn’t recall it.

Yesterday.

While studying the bronze cauldron, He Wudi always felt he’d seen it somewhere before. It wasn’t until he remembered the pattern in the tomb that he suddenly understood.

Actually, the two patterns weren’t completely identical—there were many subtle discrepancies in various places.

Perhaps they weren’t discrepancies.

Perhaps they were the correct unlocking pattern lines!

With this thought, He Wudi pressed his hand on the pattern lines and explored along the intricate route. The result… he really guessed correctly.

The pattern inside the bronze cauldron was actually more like a scrambled Rubik’s cube.

The pattern carved on the main tomb’s wall was the complete version.

Since He Wudi had seen the original, rearranging it according to that pattern was naturally quite easy.

Of course.

The pattern lines on the bronze cauldron’s surface were extremely complex.

Each point’s transformation would generate hundreds of thousands of variations, so without the original for comparison, randomly piecing it together would be virtually impossible to solve.

“I see.” Jun Changxiao understood.

It wasn’t that his disciple had heaven-defying luck, but rather that he knew the correct answer in advance.

“Wait!”

Jun Changxiao said, “You just mentioned a tomb? Does that mean Senior Seven Profound has already passed away?”

“He might have passed away.”

“If he passed away, he passed away—what do you mean ‘might have’?”

“Senior Seven Profound has always been elusive like a dragon—showing his head but not his tail. In the Land of Eternal Life, almost no one has seen his true appearance. Everyone only knows he hid the Seven Profound Radiant Breaking in a tomb, but as for life and death, no one knows.”

“…”

Jun Changxiao fell silent.

There’s already a tomb—how could the person still be alive?

Not necessarily.

Actually, in high-level martial arts worlds, especially top-tier powerhouses just loved to play mysterious. They liked building fake tombs, throwing all their martial arts resources and whatnot inside for fated individuals to inherit.

You think they’re dead, but they might still be alive.

You think they’re alive, but they might have died long ago.

In short.

Powerhouses who reached extremely high levels liked to mystify things to highlight their status.

Take Jun Changxiao for example—sometimes when idle, he would wonder: when his time came, should he build several thousand fake tombs and place them across various planes for posterity to search for?

“Shameless.”

The System had criticized him before.

“Here’s the question.”

Jun Changxiao said, “The cauldron was left by Senior Seven Profound, and the correct pattern was placed in the Land of Eternal Life’s tomb. What does this mean?”

“He didn’t want anyone to solve it,” the System said.

The pattern inside the bronze cauldron was chaotic and disorganized. Solving it by luck was completely a pipe dream.

Since no one could solve it, why leave it in the Upper Cosmos waiting for a fated person?

Or could it be…

Jun Changxiao suddenly thought of something and said in astonishment, “Were the bronze cauldron and the pattern in the tomb prepared for Wudi from the very beginning?”

“This…”

He Wudi was a bit confused.

The bronze cauldron was in the Upper Cosmos, and the correct pattern was in the Land of Eternal Life.

The two belonged to different dimensional places—simultaneously mastering both simply shouldn’t exist.

However.

He Wudi had entered the ancient tomb and memorized the correct pattern.

In the end, because of snatching the Seven Profound Radiant Breaking, he was forced to have his level reset and descend to the lower realm, participated in the Universe Sacred Battle, and obtained the bronze cauldron that needed to be solved.

“Is it a coincidence?”

“No!”

He Wudi said firmly, “This is definitely not a coincidence. My coming to the lower realm and joining the Eternal Sect were all arranged by Senior Seven Profound!”

The power of mind-filling spread through his consciousness sea.

Finally, he clenched his fist and thought silently, “Since Senior Seven Profound arranged this, I absolutely cannot let down his old self. I’ll wholeheartedly assist the Sect Master and the Eternal Sect!”

The Eternal Sect’s strongest mind-filler king—bar none.

—