Xu Ying awoke from his enlightenment and looked ahead, only to see a sudden burst of brilliant light as an ancient, magnificent world unfolded before his eyes.
He beheld immense sweeps of Taiyi qi, Hongmeng purple qi, chaotic qi, Taicang qi, the two qis of Yin and Yang, the two qis of Xuanhuang, and the Five Elements qi...
All manner of primordial qi of heaven and earth drifted across the boundless expanse, some floating like auspicious clouds, others rising like pillars upholding the firmament.
Looking farther into the distance, he saw wondrous spectacles of Dao scenery, breathtaking and magnificent, each manifesting in unique shapes and forms.
To comprehend the Great Dao there would undoubtedly allow one to enter the Dao swiftly and achieve extraordinary attainments!
In the New Dao Xu Ying had pioneered, the most critical step in cultivating a cave abyss was forming Dao scenery. Yet natural Dao scenery in the Three Realms was sparse, consisting mostly of the eight great Dao sceneries left behind after Emperor Qingxuan's death.
As for other Dao scenery, it was scattered across the cosmic starry sky. Xu Ying had seen many magnificent Dao landscapes during his ascension, but only after replenishing the core of the Primordial Source did the Three Realms' Dao scenery gradually multiply. Even then, most remained deep within the cosmos, requiring arduous journeys across the stars to reach and comprehend one by one.
Yet on the other shore, Dao scenery was densely concentrated within this bountiful world, astonishing in both number and variety!
The wondrous splendor of this realm surpassed anything he had ever seen in the Three Realms.
"No wonder this place is called the other shore. It truly is the other shore envisioned by cultivators—its Dao methods flourish, its Dao scenery is rich, and its Dao qi is abundant!"
Xu Ying could not help but marvel. The other shore had plundered thousands of universes across the Chaos Sea, amassing their wealth here to forge such a spectacular sight.
Shi Tianyang, however, was filled with dread. As they drew closer to the ferry, about to exit the Chaos Sea, he muttered anxiously, "How are we going to pass through?" He had originally been the garrison general of this place, forced to abandon his post under Yinyuanzi's coercion, and now he was being coerced by Xu Ying. His heart raced in turmoil, certain that if they were discovered, he would end up dead without even a burial ground.
Right then, emerald rock tiered ships glided out from the ferry one after another, setting sail and speeding straight toward them!
"We've been discovered!"
Shi Tianyang's god-fiend body was incomparably formidable; also at the eighth Dao realm, he could go toe-to-toe with Xu Ying. At this moment, his feral ferocity flared, truly terrifying, startling even Xu Ying.
Xu Ying also swiftly adjusted his posture, on high alert, thinking, "If fighting breaks out, I'll activate Master Bell and test what those strange textures on its walls are all about!"
Suddenly, a woman aboard one of the emerald rock tiered ships barked, "What are you two doing? Why are you heading back to the ferry? Hurry up and search for that newly born Primordial Source!"
Xu Ying and Shi Tianyang froze.
The woman snapped, "If you dare to slack off, True King Jiuquan will have your heads when he finds out!"
Xu Ying whispered, "Fellow Daoist Shi, these scouts seem to be under orders from True King Jiuquan to find that Primordial Source."
Shi Tianyang's eyes widened, and he stammered, "Not 'seem to be'—it's certain! True King Jiuquan is here too..."
Xu Ying followed his gaze and saw a tall outlander standing aboard one of the tiered ships, wearing a high coronet and a long robe that was cyan on the outside and white on the inside. His complexion was ghastly pale, giving him an austere, gaunt appearance.
Behind him lay a swath of darkness, within which cave abysses of varying sizes faintly sank, spun, and drifted. A fully formed Immortal True King!
Xu Ying's heart skipped a beat. Hurriedly turning the ship around, he said to Shi Tianyang, "Let's head back into the Chaos Sea first and wait for an opportunity to return!"
Coming to his senses, Shi Tianyang dared not cross paths with True King Jiuquan. Joining forces with Xu Ying, he drove the emerald rock tiered ship back toward the depths of the Chaos Sea.
True King Jiuquan suddenly sensed something. Glancing toward them, he knitted his brows in suspicion. "Those two scouts seem significantly stronger than the others."
The tiered ship beneath his feet surged forward, plunging into the Chaos Sea.
"A Primordial Source has been born in the Chaos Sea, and I was the first to sense it. If I can claim it, attaining the realm of Lord of Great Dao in the future will be well within reach!"
Fervor burned in his heart. The Primordial Source had formed not far from the other shore, but by the time its ripples reached the other shore, they were exceedingly faint, nearly impossible for ordinary senses to detect.
With his extraordinarily sharp perception, he had caught those imperceptible tremors, which was why he had rushed to the ferry and dispatched these scouts into the Chaos Sea to help him track down the Primordial Source.
A Primordial Source was the embryonic bud of a universe, harboring immense energy and the complete Grand Dao morphology of an entire cosmos. Claiming it would inevitably elevate his cultivation and strength by leaps and bounds!
If he could refine a Primordial Source into a cave abyss, it would surpass an Immortal-grade cave abyss a hundredfold, offering real hope of ascending to the realm of Lord of Great Dao.
Aboard their tiered ship, Xu Ying and Shi Tianyang suddenly felt True King Jiuquan's aura drawing near. Their hearts pounded, and they quickly urged the ship to pick up speed.
Shi Tianyang fretted inwardly, "Could it be that the True King discovered I betrayed the other shore?"
Just then, another emerald rock tiered ship sailed into view, emerging from the chaotic qi. Soon, even more ships appeared, cutting through the void.
"They're searching this sector, not hunting me for being a traitor!"
Shi Tianyang breathed a sigh of relief.
Xu Ying's mind stirred, and he said suddenly, "The Primordial Source True King Jiuquan is looking for lies along this route. Could it be the very one that emitted the temporal ripples we encountered earlier?"
Shi Tianyang realized the truth and said, "It has to be! That Primordial Source should be where we first encountered the golden ship!"
Xu Ying shook his head. "If we go by chronological order, that Primordial Source ought to be where the golden ship was completely destroyed. It must be nearby!"
Shi Tianyang's heart thudded wildly. Beating True King Jiuquan and those scouts to the punch, finding the Primordial Source, and claiming it for themselves? The idea was utterly daring!
"Since I've already betrayed the other shore, I might as well make it absolute!" he thought.
Xu Ying concentrated on sensing the other shore shala tree. After a moment, a slender rootlet came snaking through the murky waters.
Xu Ying immediately steered the tiered ship in the direction from which the rootlet had grown.
Around them, emerald rock tiered ships grew scarcer, and they drew closer to where they had last seen the wreckage of the golden ship.
"The Primordial Source should be right around here!" Xu Ying slowed the ship and ceased sensing the shala tree, whereupon the rootlet retracted in an instant, vanishing into the chaos.
The two steered the ship cautiously, searching the surrounding area, but even after circling again and again, they found nothing.
Suddenly, Xu Ying had an epiphany. "The World-Crossing Golden Ship was likely destroyed eight million years ago. We need to turn back!"
Hearing this, Shi Tianyang steered the tiered ship in reverse.
After a few days, Xu Ying called out, "Stop! It should be right around here!"
Growing even more cautious, the two carefully sensed their surroundings as the ship made several loops around the area. Suddenly, Xu Ying caught sight of a hazy tiered ship ahead, sailing forward.
Aboard that ship was none other than Xu Ying himself!
Shi Tianyang saw the ship as well, and then saw another version of himself standing on deck!
He froze in bewilderment.
Just then, they saw yet another tiered ship sailing toward them, equally hazy, and the people on board were once again themselves!
"The Primordial Source is definitely nearby!"
Unable to conceal his ecstatic joy, Xu Ying laughed. "The ripples emitted by the birth of this Primordial Source are growing weaker and weaker! These temporal echoes recorded us both as we headed toward the other shore and as we came back, placing all these versions of us into the same space-time!"
Shi Tianyang grasped the crux of it as well, saying, "But the temporal echoes it causes are too subtle, which is why those versions of us appear so blurry!"
They arrived at the point where the two ships intersected and searched their surroundings. Suddenly, layered images of emerald rock tiered ships appeared before them, each carrying a Xu Ying and a Shi Tianyang!
These ships, these Xu Yings, and these Shi Tianyangs stretched continuously toward an immense source of light!
Xu Ying raised his hand, and the countless Xu Yings ahead raised theirs in unison.
He glanced back, and countless Xu Yings behind him turned their heads as well, gradually fading into transparency.
"That Primordial Source is right here!"
Suppressing his excitement, Xu Ying steered the ship toward the light source. In front of him and behind him, countless Xu Yings also steered their ships, sailing into the light.
As they drew closer to the light source, the influence of the Chaos Sea waned, and increasingly distinct Dao resonances reached their ears, as if the most knowledgeable and majestic deity in the world were chanting the true exposition of the Great Dao!
It was breathtaking. The moment the emerald rock tiered ship entered the light source, all the ships, all the Xu Yings, and all the Shi Tianyangs suddenly collapsed inward, condensing from infinity into unity!
They crossed into a bizarre space filled with wondrous spiritual radiance. Rays of light coalesced into green leaves and lotus blossoms, resembling a pristine, sacred pond of spiritual light within the Chaos Sea.
At the center of a colossal lotus formed from innate spiritual light, a modest Primordial Source floated quietly among the petals, undulating gently, expanding and contracting as though breathing.
It was the first time Xu Ying had ever laid eyes on an intact Primordial Source. Inside it, a universe in the making was faintly visible, its Great Daos slowly taking shape.
Once his eyes fell upon it, he found it impossible to look away.
He even felt an impulse to leap into the Primordial Source, to resonate and dance with those Daos and evolve alongside this newborn universe.
Shi Tianyang was similarly mesmerized. In just a short span of time, both of their cultivation realms leaped upward!
After an unknown length of time, the two blinked and shook their heads. The evolution of the Daos within the Primordial Source had reached its conclusion; further evolution would merely strengthen the Daos within that universe and expand the Primordial Source itself.
"How long have we been here?" Xu Ying asked suddenly.
Shi Tianyang shook his head. "I don't know either. It feels like an eternity, yet also like a single instant."
Right then, a voice called out, "True King, we have finally found the location of that Primordial Source!"
Storing it away proved simple enough, but the very next instant, Xu Ying felt the chaotic qi within his Chaos Cave Abyss pouring out, swiftly drained clean by the lotus in the lotus pool!
"This lotus draws energy from the Chaos Sea to nourish the Primordial Source and help it grow. It must be a living entity of chaos, born alongside the Primordial Source. But the energy it absorbs is far too immense—vastly beyond what my Chaos Cave Abyss can endure!"
Xu Ying urgently hissed, "Move, quickly!"
Without a second thought, Shi Tianyang immediately propelled the emerald rock tiered ship into the vast Chaos Sea.
They had barely departed when the tiered ship carrying True King Jiuquan arrived. Yet no matter how thoroughly they searched the area, they found nothing.
True King Jiuquan suddenly leaped from the vessel and plunged into the Chaos Sea, darting about like a massive bat as he searched for traces of the Primordial Source.
Seeing this, the scouts aboard the ship dared not utter a word, hurriedly steadying the vessel.
After a moment, True King Jiuquan snapped his fleshy wings shut and landed back on the prow, saying, "Someone beat us to it and took that small Primordial Source before we arrived!"
His expression softened slightly, and he said, "Let us hope so."
The tiered ship immediately turned about, sailing toward the other shore.
Back at the other shore ferry, Xu Ying looked toward the garrison general and asked, "Is there any other place where we can slip in undetected?"
Shi Tianyang shook his head. "This is the only spot connected to the Chaos Sea. Everywhere else is perilous; even an Immortal True King cannot easily set foot there."
He steered the ship out of the Chaos Sea. The garrison general projected a guiding divine light over their emerald rock tiered ship, hauling it toward a berth at the ferry.
Standing on the dock, the general smiled. "Welcome back, scouts. Did you manage to find the Primordial Source... wait, who are you?"
He looked Shi Tianyang up and down, exclaiming in shock, "You're Shi Tianyang, the previous garrison general! Didn't you fall into the Chaos Sea and die?"
Just then, several other garrison generals inside the ferry heard the toll of a bell and rushed out. Before they could even confront Xu Ying, he darted forward and landed right in front of them, striking the big bell. As the bell chimes reverberated, the generals were blasted to ash by the bell's power before they even had a chance to resist!
Within Xu Ying, his Chaos Cave Abyss hissed softly as its chaotic qi was steadily absorbed by the lotus resting inside.
Chapter 727