Once the Evil Golden Immortal left the Ancestral Court, his injuries verged on erupting.
His wounds were exceedingly severe this time, yet conspicuously non-fatal; evidently, Yuan Weiyang had held back when injuring him.
"That demonic woman is formidable. I really stumbled into it this time..."
Just as the thought crossed his mind, a figure silently appeared at his side. It was none other than Daoist Taiyuan.
Evil Golden Immortal Xiao Lanshan rasped, "Taiyuan, what you asked me to do, I've done..."
Before he could finish, an immense surge of dharmic power bound him, lifting him helplessly into the air.
Daoist Taiyuan closely examined the Dao wounds on the Evil Golden Immortal, lightly tapping a finger onto his forehead. Xiao Lanshan felt his primordial spirit, bodhimanda, Dao tree, Dao flowers, and Dao fruit defy his control entirely, emerging with a series of whooshes!
The Evil Golden Immortal felt both humiliated and infuriated.
"Is this Xu Ying's magical power and Dao methods?"
Daoist Taiyuan strolled through the bodhimanda, scrutinizing the Dao wounds. Yuan Weiyang's divine powers were exquisitely delicate yet grand and expansive.
Her divine arts and Dao methods stemmed not only from the Emerald Rock, but also from the teachings of the Holy Venerable and the Ancestral God. The Holy Venerable and Ancestral God had tutored her for half a year, and under the guidance of these two supreme masters, her vision and mastery had ascended to incredible heights.
However, Yuan Weiyang's style was vastly different from Xu Ying's.
Xu Ying's Dao methods and divine powers were far more savage and violent.
Yet when Xu Ying fought the Immortal Emperor at the Heavenly Abyss, Daoist Taiyuan was trapped in the Mortal Realm and never witnessed Xu Ying's techniques. Thus, he mistakenly assumed the divine power within these Dao wounds belonged to Xu Ying.
Suppressing his shame and anger, the Evil Golden Immortal spoke up, "Taiyuan, you don't understand, this isn't—"
Suddenly, Daoist Taiyuan reached in, plunging his hand into the wound, intent on tearing the Dao injury directly out of his flesh!
Agony seized the Evil Golden Immortal, feeling as though his physical body and primordial spirit were on the verge of exploding. Suddenly, the divine powers Yuan Weiyang had concealed in all his Dao wounds erupted! In an instant, the sky was blanketed by ferociously sharp divine arts, all surging toward Daoist Taiyuan!
Daoist Taiyuan showed no fear. Sneering, he said, "Xu Ying, let's see if your divine power can breach my defenses!"
He circulated the Dao Turning Mind Sutra, his wide sleeves billowing as his divine powers erupted. But in the next breath, over a dozen techniques bursting from those wounds bypassed his defenses, striking his chest, back, Adam's apple, brow, and the back of his head. Several strikes even penetrated his Great Luo bodhimanda, hitting his primordial spirit and Dao fruit!
Daoist Taiyuan's eyelids twitched, his expression darkening.
"What ingenious techniques! No wonder they forced Mingzun to nearly exhaust all his trump cards!"
This short, plump old Daoist was, after all, an extraordinary figure from six hundred thousand years ago, an entity of the Wondrous Realm of Great Luo. Possessing immense wisdom, he quickly grasped the core principles of Yuan Weiyang's divine powers and began rehearsing them move by move right before the Evil Golden Immortal. His Dao Turning Mind Sutra was profoundly marvelous, excelling at mimicking the techniques of others.
The Six Venerables and Twelve Wondrous Ones each possessed unique strengths.
Daoist Taiyuan had earned his reputation six hundred thousand years ago with the title "Grandmaster of Dao Arts"—meaning that no matter whose technique or divine power it was, a single glance was all he needed to replicate it seventy to eighty percent, or even execute it better and more authentically than its creator!
After studying them for only a brief moment, he actually managed to display one by one all the divine arts Yuan Weiyang had used to wound the Evil Golden Immortal, making Xiao Lanshan's scalp tingle with dread.
Taiyuan had never mastered the Great Daos Yuan Weiyang excelled in, but the word "Turning" in the Dao Turning Mind Sutra signified that his Great Dao could transform in thousands of ways and shift at will.
Daoist Taiyuan replicated them to about seventy or eighty percent resemblance, then sank into deep contemplation, pondering how to counter them.
After a long while, the short, stout Daoist leaped up. He executed Yuan Weiyang's divine arts with one hand while demonstrating the countering maneuvers with the other, flowing like moving clouds and flowing water. Before long, he had thoroughly neutralized and dismantled Yuan Weiyang's techniques!
Evil Golden Immortal Xiao Lanshan stood agape, utter despair flooding his heart. 'No wonder this short fatty could reach the Wondrous Realm while I could only become a Golden Immortal. But this fatty used me and treated me with such brutality—I'd be no petty man if I didn't avenge this!'
He made up his mind not to tell Daoist Taiyuan that the one who wounded him wasn't Xu Ying.
'Yuan Weiyang had me come to him bearing these Dao wounds; that young lady most likely intended to scheme against the fat Daoist. If I were her, when Taiyuan arrives, I wouldn't fight him myself. I'd send that bastard Xu Ying to strike, ensuring Taiyuan suffers a grievous loss!'
The Evil Golden Immortal thought to himself, 'Still, the fat Daoist's strength is terrifying. Even if they trap him, they won't be able to finish him off. Xu Ying doesn't possess that kind of power.'
Daoist Taiyuan ran through the counters to Yuan Weiyang's divine powers once more, contemplating further to find even better ways to break them. Once thoroughly prepared, he finally cast a glance at the bleeding Evil Golden Immortal and said indifferently, "Fellow Daoist Xiao, you may leave. Righteousness and evil cannot coexist, but in consideration of your help, I shall spare your life."
Gasping for breath, the Evil Golden Immortal said, "Thank you." With that, he limped away.
Daoist Taiyuan turned around and raised his hand. The gate to the Heavenly Dao domain blew apart with a roar, shattering into pieces.
The short, stout Daoist strode straight inside.
Evil Golden Immortal Xiao Lanshan halted his steps, turned around, and limped back, thinking, 'Taiyuan, let's see what kind of massive tumble you take today!'
Daoist Taiyuan's voice echoed from within the Heavenly Dao domain, chuckling, "Dao Ancestor Xu, I have come by order of the Immortal Emperor to take your life!"
Beside Xu Ying, Yuan Weiyang said, "Ah Ying, it's your turn to fight personally this time. How confident are you?"
Xu Ying stood up and circulated his dharmic power. Cave abysses emerged one after another behind him as he said leisurely, "Originally, I was only fifty percent certain. But after your strike, I gained another fifty percent."
Yuan Weiyang smiled, delighted. "You can open with my Seven Stars Pulling the Moon technique and smoothly transition into your Heavenly Immortal Seal. It should bring unexpected results."
Xu Ying nodded gently.
Yuan Weiyang had comprehended Seven Stars Pulling the Moon together with him; Xu Ying could perform the general movements, though without her refined elegance.
Xu Ying went out to meet Daoist Taiyuan. After exchanging formal courtesies, he asked, "Taiyuan, I am the Ancestor of the New Dao. Coming to kill me, aren't you afraid of being destroyed by heaven and earth?"
Daoist Taiyuan returned the salute, replying, "You are indeed the Dao Ancestor of the New Dao. Before coming to kill you, I investigated, seeking out numerous practitioners to observe their cultivation progress. Dao Ancestor Xu, you are truly extraordinary. With the debut of the Fourteen Realms of the New Dao, your status as a Dao Ancestor is firmly established. Even our achievements among the Six Venerables and Twelve Wondrous Ones in overthrowing the ancient era cannot compare to your merit in completing the New Dao! You are a Dao Ancestor without question!"
His demeanor was full of reverence.
Xu Ying said modestly, "Taiyuan, since you know I am the New Dao Ancestor, why come to kill me?"
Daoist Taiyuan said, "Such is fate beyond one's control. Mingzun reigns as Immortal Emperor and currently holds supreme authority, while the Holy Venerable is reincarnated in parts unknown, his life or death uncertain. I too have no choice and am forced to bear the karmic burden of slaying the New Dao Ancestor."
He stamped his foot, and instantly a Dao tree blazed with light, rising steadily behind him.
This Dao tree was shaped like a flat peach, and the Dao fruit it bore also resembled a peach. This peach had the form of a golden figure coiled around a sizable dragon pearl; its surface bore dragon scales instead of peach fuzz.
Each scale refracted myriad Dao phenomena!
His Great Luo bodhimanda materialized, forming a world of the Great Dao in an instant. The dragon scales of the flat peach reflected the surrounding mountains, rivers, and topography.
With every revolution of the flat peach Dao fruit's radiance, the Great Dao within the Great Luo bodhimanda shifted: from the Dao of Fire to the Dao of Thunder, from Thunder to Wind, from Taiyin to Taiyang, from Heavenly Dao to Earthly Dao, transforming in myriad ways!
Though Daoist Taiyuan hailed from a renowned sect, he had another fateful encounter. He was a descendant of Emperor Haohong, and to evade persecution by the Last Lord of Ziwei, he wandered everywhere seeking immortals and inquiring about the Dao, achieving little for a long time.
Until one day, he stumbled into an archaic cavern and discovered a Dao tome left by an elder of the Dragon Court era. Only then did he attain great awakening and comprehend the Dao Turning Mind Sutra.
From that point on, his cultivation advanced by leaps and bounds. When the Dao weeping erupted, in order to overthrow the Last Lord of Ziwei and avenge his ancestors, he joined the rebel army.
By the time Qingxuan attained the Supreme realm, Taiyuan's cultivation was already fully solidified, leaving him unable to cultivate the Supreme realm, which he regarded as a great regret. Even so, the Dao Turning Mind Sutra remained tremendously powerful, allowing him to leave his indelible mark upon that turbulent and magnificent era!
Xu Ying paid none of this any heed. Stepping forward in a flash, he relied purely on his formidable physical body to crash into Taiyuan's bodhimanda with a thunderous roar!
The Dao world reflected by the dragon scales shattered beneath his impact. Charging forward like splitting bamboo, Xu Ying headed straight for Taiyuan. No matter how ingenious the Dao Turning Mind Sutra was, and no matter how the flat peach Dao fruit continually altered the Dao of heaven and earth into different Great Luo Heavens, Xu Ying broke through them purely with his fleshly body!
Yuan Weiyang's Seven Stars Pulling the Moon divine art erupted from his hands. This technique circulated the power of Taiyin from within the Great Ultimate Dao, manifesting the omen of seven stars cradling the moon, entirely composed of extreme yin energy. A technique capable of wielding Taiyin to such an extent was exceedingly rare.
Seeing this, Daoist Taiyuan was inwardly overjoyed. 'Courting death!'
He immediately mobilized the counter-technique he had just devised, intending to smash through Seven Stars Pulling the Moon. But the moment their techniques met, Xu Ying shifted his move, transforming it into the Heavenly Immortal Seal! Behind him, a world rose up with a boom, as though the Heavenly Immortal Realm were lifting from the horizon to crash down upon Taiyuan!
This strike was like the Heavenly Immortal Realm colliding with the Earth Immortal Realm during the Three Realms Tide. Under this immense pressure, the Great Daos within Daoist Taiyuan's Great Luo bodhimanda snapped and shattered. Dao patterns and runes alike collapsed in ruin!
Daoist Taiyuan sneered, "Switching divine arts? A petty trick—wait, I've never seen this move before!"
Watching the pressing palm print grind down countless stretches of space-time toward him, every counter-strategy he had conceived proved utterly useless against it.
Even if he wanted to dodge, there was no time. His scalp went numb, and he could only raise his arms to meet it head-on.
Boom!
Caught unprepared, Daoist Taiyuan heard two sharp cracks as both his arms snapped. Blood poured incessantly from his eyes, ears, nose, and mouth, and his entire body was flung backward!
Shock and rage gripped his heart. 'The Evil Golden Immortal deceived me! The one who wounded him earlier was definitely not Xu Ying!'
He was a seasoned veteran after all, possessing extraordinary insight. He instantly realized that Xu Ying's execution of Seven Stars Pulling the Moon had ample raw momentum but lacked subtlety. But Xu Ying's subsequent Heavenly Immortal Seal was tyrannical in the extreme!
Xu Ying's strike had almost crushed all the blood and qi out of him. It was unmistakably the brute strength of martial arts, yet judged by the phantom world that had materialized, it also incorporated Heavenly Dao divine arts, making it impossible to unravel.
Xu Ying gave chase to his flying form, thrusting out a finger. Yet instead of aiming at Daoist Taiyuan, he drove the finger straight into Taiyuan's flat peach Dao fruit!
Chhh!
This finger strike was fiercely sharp. The instant his fingertip collided with the flat peach Dao fruit, Daoist Taiyuan's Dao tree and every Great Dao in his Great Luo bodhimanda flared into brilliant radiance. Ten thousand Daos resonated in unison to clash against this single finger!
Spanning ten thousand li, the Great Luo bodhimanda—its mountains, rivers, sun, moon, lakes, flowers, and trees—was entirely formed of the Great Dao. At this moment, all of it unleashed its full might. The Heavenly Dao Ancestral Court was instantly polluted by his Great Luo bodhimanda, smeared with garish colors and a foul stench!
The Great Luo Dao fruit was the core of the Great Luo bodhimanda. When Xu Ying's finger power struck the Dao fruit, it struck the Daoist's most powerful divine art at its very center!
Yet the reason Xu Ying used a finger instead of a fist was precisely to concentrate all his strength onto a single point and pierce through anything.
The Great Luo bodhimanda quaked violently. Then, at the opposite end of the ten-thousand-li domain, a deafening blast tore open as Daoist Taiyuan's bodhimanda was pierced clean through by this finger's force! Sun, moon, mountains, rivers, lakes, trees, flowers, and every manifestation of the Great Dao—even birds, beasts, insects, and fish—were stretched into impossibly narrow strands and reduced back into chains of the Great Dao, driven by the surging finger force as they streamed rapidly out of the ruptured breach!
Pop!
With a soft pop, Daoist Taiyuan's Dao fruit was pierced through, and the ever-shifting Great Daos of the Great Luo bodhimanda froze completely.
This finger strike harbored the Zhuxian sword qi and could be called the Zhuxian Finger, yet it was executed through pure martial arts, successfully piercing the Dao fruit.
Yet the Wondrous Realm of Great Luo was, after all, the Wondrous Realm of Great Luo. In the next breath, the ruptured Great Luo Heaven closed back up, quivering like gelatin, and the Great Luo Dao fruit healed itself.
However, Xu Ying's right leg swept across, slamming heavily against the Dao tree.
The flat peach Dao tree shone brilliantly as the entire Great Luo bodhimanda shuddered violently. Ten thousand Daos jolted together, shaken into plain view, no longer taking the form of mountains, rivers, sun, moon, lakes, and streams!
Daoist Taiyuan finally steadied himself, only to be alarmed by what met his eyes. With a loud crack, his Dao tree snapped, its canopy sheared cleanly away and sailing into the air!
Xu Ying leaped up, striking the Great Luo Dao fruit with finger thrust after finger thrust. Thunderous booms shook the Great Luo bodhimanda as hole after hole was punched through it, and the Great Dao drained away at frightening speed!
Daoist Taiyuan suffered heavy blows, coughing up blood repeatedly. Pale-faced, he hastily surged all his dharmic power and unleashed a beam of innate indestructible spiritual light, shouting fiercely, "Xu Ying, you forced my hand!"
The moment the innate indestructible spiritual light was invoked, its reverberation whipped into Xu Ying, swatting him away with a sharp crack.
"My primordial spirit fragment!"
The Big Dragon's primordial spirit had been studying with Lord Bell these past few days how to break the memory seal on the White Bone Divine Dragon. Xu Ying's duel with Daoist Taiyuan had jolted him awake. Looking over in haste, he was overjoyed.
This innate indestructible spiritual light had already been refined into a weapon by Daoist Taiyuan, fashioned into a long whip of supreme rigidity and ferocity. When cracked, it could extend across tens of millions of li in an instant, even crossing space-time to strike down foes!
This treasure could expand and contract, transforming like a dragon. Wherever the spiritual light passed, even a Leakless Golden Body could not withstand it! Though Xu Ying had just been dominating Daoist Taiyuan, he too could not endure the power of this spiritual light whip, his flesh torn and bleeding from the strike.
Daoist Taiyuan lashed the whip repeatedly, but Xu Ying darted through the bodhimanda like a phantom, moving so swiftly the eye could hardly track him. Every time the whip struck, Xu Ying was already gone.
Suddenly, Xu Ying vaulted onto the whip and sprinted along its length of indestructible spiritual light, racing toward Taiyuan.
Daoist Taiyuan sneered, "Dao Ancestor Xu, do you have any idea how colossal this object truly is?"
Under his manipulation, the whip rapidly grew thicker, larger, and longer, spanning boundless starry space with immense grandeur. Even star rivers appeared minuscule before it.
"This is the primordial spirit of the Far Ancestor of the Primeval Dragon Court! Measured by cultivation and attainment, this Far Ancestor was an ancient being who lived for over a hundred million years, the sole legendary figure to step into the Incorruptible Realm!"
Daoist Taiyuan swung the whip and sneered, "Xu Ying, even if you flew for a thousand or ten thousand years, you couldn't dream of reaching me!"
At that moment, the people of the Earth Immortal Realm could behold the breathtaking spectacle of a peerless colossal dragon traversing the star-filled sky. It appeared deceptively close, yet was unimaginably distant; the dragon's body even cut through the center of the Milky Way, scattering countless stars in its wake.
The displaced stars glittered like sand.
Seeing this, the big bell was struck with horror and hurriedly asked, "Lord Dragon, can you recall your primordial spirit fragment?"
Just as the Big Dragon was about to speak, he saw another Xu Ying on the whip, who had already charged right in front of Daoist Taiyuan!
Daoist Taiyuan realized in a flash: 'The Xu Ying on the whip must be a Primordial Spirit of Heaven and Earth formed from One Qi Purifying the Three Clarities!'
He hurriedly halted the whip's expansion. The whip, thicker than a galactic river, instantly shrunk at high speed. The rapid flux in scale caused his dharmic power to roil uncontrollably, so taxing that his internal organs suffered severe damage under the recoil.
Enduring the pain, he brought the whip around to strike that Xu Ying. With a loud crack, that Xu Ying was actually blasted apart by the whip!
'A trap!'
A chill ran down Daoist Taiyuan's spine as he saw the Xu Ying from the whip leap up and arrive right in front of him!
Boom!
Spectacular Dao landscapes materialized around Xu Ying, engulfing Daoist Taiyuan in an instant!
With both arms crippled, Daoist Taiyuan stood rooted in place, his primordial spirit rising behind him to fend off attacks raining down from every direction. Overwhelmed by the flurry of moves, he suffered wound after wound, coughing up blood continuously.
Chhh, chhh, chhh!
His primordial spirit was punctured with large holes, left completely riddled.
Daoist Taiyuan tried to summon the spiritual light whip, only to find his dharmic power failing him. Facing Xu Ying at close range left him no way out, giving him no opportunity to unleash any magic treasure.
Without further hesitation, his primordial spirit grabbed his physical body and fled outward toward the exit of the Heavenly Dao domain.
Xu Ying transformed into a rainbow streak, catching up in no time. Their bodies brushed in an instant before separating, and Daoist Taiyuan plummeted, vomiting mouthfuls of blood.
Immediately after, both soared back into the air and collided once more. Staggering, Daoist Taiyuan suddenly forced the spiritual light whip into action, lashing toward Xu Ying's back.
Xu Ying flew backward, flipping like a sparrowhawk onto the whip. He hammered down several punches in rapid succession, shattering the imprint Daoist Taiyuan had left within the whip.
Taking advantage of the opening, Daoist Taiyuan had already fled into the distance.
Xu Ying channeled his dharmic power, doing his utmost to invoke the spiritual light whip. He felt the whip drain his dharmic power in a single instant. The whip shuddered, like an immense dragon, whipping through space and time!
In the next moment, tens of thousands of li away, Daoist Taiyuan abruptly detonated in a blast of spiritual light!
Chapter 653