Startled and furious, Wei Xu vaulted to his feet and charged roaring toward Xu Ying. His speed mounted with every stride, his aura swelling ever fiercer, seething with murderous intent!
Yet upon reaching the hilltop where Xu Ying stood, he stopped dead in his tracks, standing there in a daze.
A moment ago, he had not yet accepted the fact that he had been defeated. But the moment he arrived at the crest, reality hit him, and he realized he had indeed lost.
"Dao Ancestor Xu is truly Dao Ancestor Xu. Making a comeback, you still possess such extraordinary power. Wei is thoroughly convinced."
Wei Xu stepped before Xu Ying, bowed until his hands nearly brushed the ground, and said, "It was impetuous of me. What Dao Ancestor Xu needs is not a newly ascended New Dao Supreme like myself, but a Supreme at their peak. Having just entered the Supreme realm, I am merely equivalent to someone who has just attained the Wondrous Realm of Great Luo. I am far from being Dao Ancestor Xu's match, let alone capable of putting pressure on you."
Back during the Battle of the Heavenly Abyss, Wei Xu had been ordered by Useless Qingxuan to display the Ten Extremes Taixu Dao Scenery for Xu Ying to study, allowing him to understand the Immortal Emperor's divine powers.
Back then, Wei Xu had already lost once.
He had not expected that this time, after breaking through under Xu Ying's pressure to attain the Supreme realm, he would be defeated yet again. It left him utterly mortified.
Xu Ying smiled. "Nephew, you still remain within the Taiyi Dao, whereas I have already leaped beyond it. There is no need to belittle yourself. In the future, your achievements will not necessarily be inferior to mine."
"Truly?" Wei Xu's eyes lit up.
"Of course not," Xu Ying answered blithely. "I was only comforting you. Couldn't you tell?"
Wei Xu's face darkened, and he thought, *This dark rascal speaks in the exact same tone as my master—always aiming straight for the heart! I really want to beat him to death...*
Zulong asked, "In that case, does the Dao Ancestor have confidence in breaking through to the Supreme realm?"
Xu Ying laughed heartily. "Of course I do! Far too many people want me dead. With a single wave of my arm, I could summon ten Wondrous Realm Supremes to come kill me!"
Wei Xu and Zulong exchanged glances. *Is that really something to brag about?*
Wei Xu said, "If Dao Ancestor Xu has no other matters to attend to, why not travel with us? Nephew Zhao Zheng and I are heading to Heavenly Sea Ferry to pay our respects to a grand master of artifact refinement."
Hearing this, Xu Ying said delightedly, "I have been waiting for people to hunt me down, only lamenting that my profile was too small. With you at my side, it will surely draw attention, and the experts seeking to kill me will come flocking with joy."
Hearing his words, the two shook their heads inwardly and set out together with him, heading for Heavenly Sea Ferry.
Upon arriving at Heavenly Sea Ferry, Xu Ying spotted a familiar young woman and blurted in surprise, "Chanchan?"
Seeing him, Zhu Chanchan cheered excitedly and dashed over. She thumped Xu Ying's chest twice with her fists and grinned. "Ah Ying, you're still alive? The Heavens must have been blind as a bat to let you off!"
Xu Ying laughed uproariously. "If Senior Brother Tian hears you say that, he will surely open a Heavenly Eye on your forehead that sees straight through to the back of your skull!"
Wei Xu said in a deep voice, "Ancestor Chanchan, I have attained the Supreme realm. Come study me quickly!"
With a resounding vibration, Wei Xu opened his Supreme realm, displaying all its secrets before Zhu Chanchan without reservation.
Zhu Chanchan's eyes shone brightly, and she immediately dived into his Supreme realm to explore its wonders.
Seeing how practiced and familiar they were, Xu Ying grew suspicious. *Has Wei Xu been coming here regularly to let Chanchan study him? That must mean Zulong's treasures were all forged by Chanchan using Wei Xu's realm as a blueprint.*
Just then, sensing something, he turned his gaze toward an approaching Daoist.
"Chief Heavenly Craftsman Yuji pays his respects to Dao Ancestor Xu."
The Daoist stepped forward with a salute, his gaze resting upon Xu Ying with complicated emotions. He thought to himself, *Back in the dark Mortal Realm, it was too dim to see clearly. Looking at him now, he really is a somewhat dark-complexioned pretty boy—just the type Qiongtai likes.*
Zulong Zhao Zheng reminded Xu Ying, "All the treasures of the Supremes were forged by Daoist Yuji."
Xu Ying was profoundly shaken, and a wave of admiration welled up within him.
***
In the Longxing Great World, within the Wudao Mountain Range.
Liu Guanyi sensed the grand aura lingering between heaven and earth. Around him, the Great Daos seemed to hum softly.
The vegetation here was far lusher than elsewhere, and glowing rays seeped up from beneath the earth, indicating that the Great Daos of heaven and earth had been intensely concentrated here moments ago!
Suddenly, rumbling sounds echoed as the mountain beneath Liu Guanyi's feet began to slowly tear free of the ground, drifting upward!
This was not originally an immortal mountain, yet it was evolving into one!
"Someone broke through here and attained the Supreme realm!"
Liu Guanyi was astonished. "Could the one who broke through be Xu Ying? No, no. This Dao power belongs to Qingxuan's lineage, but it lacks the two Dao powers of Void and Taiyi compared to Qingxuan, making it far inferior to the present Xu Ying. In that case, the one who broke through to the Supreme realm must be Wei Xu!"
Yet there was also an aura left behind by Xu Ying.
"Xu Ying was here as well!"
He immediately rose and set off in pursuit of Xu Ying's scent.
***
Within the Heavenly Prison, violent tremors suddenly surged from the depths of the Five Hells. The vibrations grew increasingly violent, as though some colossal monstrosity were stirring up storms within.
*Boom!*
An earth-shattering crash rang out as the Five Hells blew apart. Prison cells went hurtling through the air one after another. Inside, the suppressed wicked convicts and prisoners shrieked, crying out for the wardens to save them.
Those imprisoned here were either heinous, desperate outlaws, nobles and high officials of the Immortal Court who had committed grave crimes, or arrogant madmen who had attempted to change the world.
Yet at this moment, they were utterly terrified, wailing in helpless panic.
Even more miserable than them, however, were the wardens of the Five Hells. These wardens were by no means weak, but while the prisoners had the protection of their cells, the wardens had none at all. Directly exposed to that unimaginably terrifying divine power, they vaporized into thin air one after another!
In the sky, as the cages continued to hurtle upward, three figures flew out in sequence from the shattered Five Hells Heavenly Prison. Two of them were Lou Mingyu and the Holy Venerable. Lou Mingyu shielded the Holy Venerable, his one hundred and eight cave abysses spinning wildly as he attacked the pursuer!
The person facing him had a head of disheveled gray hair, draped in chains, with numerous sharp hooks piercing through his flesh and sinking into his cultivation realms, locking down his Dao tree!
These were merely the external seals; within his body lay far more.
His Three Passes were each sealed with talismans, his God Bridge had been severed, and his bodhimanda was hung with sealing runes. Even around his Dao fruits, numerous talismans drifted, suppressing them.
Yet most of these seals were already damaged, allowing him to amass a substantial amount of magic power.
"Yuan Yu, you actually dare to come see me?!"
The gray-haired elder seemed mad. Meeting Lou Mingyu's divine powers amid terrifying waves of energy, he actually withstood Lou Mingyu's onslaught with his bare body. Furthermore, he used the force of Lou Mingyu's strikes to blast open all the talisman seals on his Three Passes, scattering them into vanishing bursts of flame!
Clashing with the gray-haired elder's attack, Lou Mingyu felt his arms go numb from the shock.
"Yuan Yu, you brat, surrender your life!"
After several heavy clashes with Lou Mingyu, all the realms before his ascension had been unsealed by the impact. He even forcibly reconnected the severed God Bridge within his body!
Leaping into the air, he lunged straight for the Holy Venerable.
Lou Mingyu retreated at high speed with the Holy Venerable. No matter how profound his moves were, he was repeatedly struck by the gray-haired elder's divine powers. The elder's physical body was far sturdier, and in close-quarters combat, every collision left Lou Mingyu grimacing in agony. He could not help shouting urgently, "Master, didn't you say that releasing the foremost of the Twelve Wondrous would allow him to join forces with us?"
The Holy Venerable argued, "I never said that! I only said I would bring you to see him. I never said he would join hands with us, let alone that he would want to kill us."
Feeling a bit guilty himself, he explained, "Jun Wudao hates me above all else. Back then, I defeated him by a narrow margin of a single move, personally sealed and suppressed him, and cast him into the lowest depths of the Five Hells Heavenly Prison..."
Lou Mingyu groaned inwardly.
The battle prowess of the gray-haired elder, Jun Wudao, suddenly scaled another peak as he unsealed his Dao flowers. His Dao tree materialized, adorned in shimmering silver blossoms, dazzling in an instant!
Lou Mingyu clashed heavily twice, only to find his techniques dismantled repeatedly. Only then did he realize just how terrifying Jun Wudao truly was.
Jun Wudao was not breaking Lou Mingyu's divine powers—he was breaking the Holy Venerable's divine powers!
This meant Jun Wudao had practically deciphered and cracked every single divine power of the Holy Venerable!
Suddenly, Jun Wudao's cultivation surged astoundingly once more. Pressed so hard he nearly spat blood, Lou Mingyu gritted his teeth and held on for dear life. He decided simply not to cast the divine powers taught by the Holy Venerable. Instead, unleashing his own intellect, he invented new divine powers on the spot to clash head-on with Jun Wudao!
To his surprise, this proved effective. Unable to dismantle his divine powers directly, Jun Wudao could only meet him with raw force.
Yet Jun Wudao's battle power climbed steadily higher. Suddenly, another Dao fruit shattered its seal, sending his magic power surging dramatically!
Lou Mingyu groaned in distress as he braced himself against this foremost of the Twelve Wondrous, thinking, *Did this senior truly lose to Master by just a single move back then? Why do I feel like Master didn't win honorably?*
He suffered wound after wound, but fortunately, having cultivated a vast number of Dao sceneries, his magic power was virtually boundless, and his physical injuries would heal in the very next breath.
He strove to match Jun Wudao with endless ingenuity, desperately converting everything he had learned and comprehended into new divine powers, doing everything he could to rid himself of the Holy Venerable's influence.
Yet just as he grew barely able to withstand Jun Wudao's tempestuous onslaught, Jun Wudao's magic power surged to yet another level—a third Dao fruit had unsealed!
"Master, just how many Dao fruits did he cultivate?!" Lou Mingyu cried.
Behind him, the Holy Venerable calmly dodged the shockwaves of their clash or casually shattered any stray blasts that came his way, remarking leisurely, "Jun Wudao cultivated nine great Dao fruits in total. Not only is he the foremost among the Twelve Wondrous, but even in ancient eras, he was a rare powerhouse."
"Nine Dao fruits?!"
Lou Mingyu's scalp tingled with dread. He wanted to curse, but since the man behind him was his master after all, he could only grit his teeth and keep fighting Jun Wudao.
He pushed his intellect to its absolute limits, yet he was still repeatedly injured, nearly losing his life under the elder's palms again and again!
Lou Mingyu was on edge, executing every move and stance with utmost perfection to leave no flaw, but Jun Wudao outmatched him by far too much. With every blow he withstood, he coughed up mouthfuls of blood.
Suddenly, Jun Wudao's fourth Dao fruit broke its seal. The Holy Venerable hesitated no longer and immediately summoned his Dao Body Sacred Weapon.
As the Seventeen Dao Body Sacred Weapon was unleashed, it was as if the Holy Venerable at his peak had descended, bearing imperial majesty over all creation as it came crashing down upon Jun Wudao!
His white hair wildly thrashing, Jun Wudao roared, and at this crucial juncture, took yet another step forward, unsealing yet another Dao fruit!
Exerting all his magic power, he met the Dao Body Sacred Weapon head-on. With an earth-shattering boom, Jun Wudao stood frozen where he was, his white hair flying and robes billowing, blood streaming from his eyes, ears, nose, and mouth.
The Holy Venerable shouted, "I stunned him! Run!"
Lou Mingyu was about to flee when his legs buckled, nearly causing him to drop to his knees. Only then did he feel excruciating pain shooting through every bone and limb in his body; even his primordial spirit felt as if it were splitting apart!
More crucially, his various cave abysses had grown enfeebled, and quite a few Dao sceneries within them had suffered heavy damage.
Without hesitation, the young Holy Venerable hoisted him onto his back and shot away through the air.
"Master, why didn't you seize the chance to unleash the Dao Body Sacred Weapon again and kill him?" Lou Mingyu asked weakly.
The young Holy Venerable chuckled. "I don't have much magic power left. Unleashing the Dao Body Sacred Weapon requires far too much magic power. I was simply too powerful in the past."
Lou Mingyu fell silent.
Jun Wudao's hands trembled uncontrollably. He wanted to pursue them, but the chaotic vital qi and churning blood within him surged in reverse, nearly blowing his physical body apart, forcing him to halt.
By the time he suppressed the rampaging vital qi and blood, the master and disciple were long gone.
"Yuan Yu, I will have your miserable life!"
He roared, and his sixth, seventh, eighth, and ninth Dao fruits unsealed in succession, restoring his cultivation base to its past peak in an instant!
Right then, the Immortal Emperor and Good Fortune Supreme arrived together. Good Fortune Supreme gasped in alarm, "Jun Wudao has escaped!"
The Immortal Emperor's eyes flickered. "While his cultivation has not yet fully recovered, we can still eliminate him!"
Good Fortune Supreme hesitated for a moment, then nodded in agreement. Both charged toward Jun Wudao simultaneously. Unexpectedly, the moment they made their move, Jun Wudao's attack was already upon them!
The two Supremes besieged the foremost of the Twelve Wondrous, but after more than a dozen exchanges, they were still unable to subdue him. Instead, the force of his blows left their blood and vital energy churning, growing increasingly stifled and uncomfortable.
Just then, Patriarch Boshan, Yuan Ying, Danxuanzi, and others rushed to the scene. They had originally intended to lend timely help, but upon seeing that the opponent was Jun Wudao, their expressions shifted dramatically. Attacking together, they shouted, "We must not let him escape!"
As the five of them fought Jun Wudao for over ten more exchanges without subduing him, alarm gripped their hearts.
This old man had been suppressed for six hundred thousand years without cultivating, yet his strength remained so horrifying!
With a vicious scowl, Jun Wudao abruptly struck toward Danxuanzi. Danxuanzi's heart leapt into his throat, and he dodged in a panic. Jun Wudao seized the opportunity to break out and speed away, his laughter carrying from afar: "Good Fortune, Boshan, and you brat Mingzun, you are all far inferior to Yuan Yu back in his day!"
Patriarch Boshan had just started to give chase when he noticed no one else was moving, so he quickly stopped, not daring to pursue alone.
Seeing that he did not dare pursue, the others dared not take the first step either. The group stood in the wind, completely speechless.
Good Fortune Supreme sighed. "The Holy Venerable has truly gone senile. Just to save his own life, he actually released Jun Wudao, unconcerned that the world might be thrown into chaos!"
The others nodded in agreement.
***
On the other side, the Holy Venerable carried Lou Mingyu to a safe place. Only then did he let out a sigh of relief and set him down.
"Mingyu, now you know which cave abysses you ought to discard."
The young Holy Venerable smiled. "A supreme expert like Jun Wudao has tested the strengths and weaknesses of your Dao sceneries and cave abysses for you. If your comprehension is sharp enough, you can merge certain cave abysses to forge stronger ones."
Lou Mingyu was twitching all over from pain, yet the various scenes of Jun Wudao lunging to kill him still played in his mind.
"Furthermore, you have finally stepped out of my framework and developed your own divine powers and Dao methods," the Holy Venerable said with satisfaction.
Enduring the agonizing pain, Lou Mingyu struggled to sit up. Examining his cave abysses once more, he immediately discovered that it was just as the Holy Venerable had said: which cave abysses ought to be cast aside and which could be consolidated were clear at a glance.
"This is growth through battle."
Seeing that he had finally attained enlightenment, the Holy Venerable was immensely gratified. "I give you ten days. In ten days, we will go see the second strongest of the Twelve Wondrous!"
Lou Mingyu's heart twitched violently. This time, he had nearly died a hundred times over—was he supposed to go through the exact same thing again?
The Holy Venerable encouraged, "This time was to let you perfect your divine powers and cave abysses, paving the road to the Supreme realm. Going to see the second of the Wondrous is to let you see clearly the barriers before the Supreme realm! Are you going or not?"
Lou Mingyu gritted his teeth. "I'm going!"
The Holy Venerable laughed heartily. "Qingxuan, where I surpass you is that I took on a good disciple! Whereas you only took in two pieces of stinking fish and rotten shrimp!"
Chapter 659