Near the Chaos Dao scenery, complete chaos erupted. At this moment, nearly everyone came under attack: their respective Chaos Daos spun out of control, their Chaos cave abysses involuntarily manifested, and their Chaos qi poured out uncontrollably, impossible to stem!
Only cultivators standing far in the distance escaped this misfortune, not having been ensnared by the Chaos Lotus hiding within Xu Ying's cave abyss.
Scrambling and tumbling, those cultivators fled far away in panic. Looking back, they saw tens of thousands of cultivators of the Chaos Dao standing frozen in place like string puppets, completely immobilized.
Behind their heads, their Chaos cave abysses spun wildly, and boundless Chaos qi was ruthlessly squeezed out, surging frantically into the cave abyss behind the human youth's head!
Even more horrifying to them, that gargantuan Chaos Dao scenery began to tilt and shrink steadily, spinning as it poured straight into the cave abyss behind the youth's head!
"What kind of monster is that youth?"
"This is harvesting—it must be harvesting! Could he be a Dao Lord cultivating the Chaos Dao, come to harvest cultivators of the Chaos Dao?!"
"How utterly outrageous! Aren't they only supposed to harvest other universes? He's even harvesting our own people!"
Appalled, they turned and fled even farther away.
"I'm sorry!" Xu Ying apologized with utter sincerity to several experts of the other shore near him. "I would rather beat you to death with my own hands than harvest you—I just can't control it..."
Those people stared at him in sheer terror, completely speechless.
Seeing this, Xu Ying resigned himself to his fate, letting the Chaos Lotus absorb those cultivators and the Chaos Dao scenery; resisting was useless anyway.
"Maybe I can take advantage of this to get a piece of the pie."
A glimmer of hope rose in his heart. The other shore's Chaos Dao scenery was composed of the Chaos Dao; by comprehending this Dao scenery, one could attain the Chaos Dao.
Before long, the Chaos qi in the cave abysses of the outlander cultivators who cultivated the Chaos Dao, along with the Chaos Dao they had cultivated, was sucked dry. One by one, their auras wilted. Yet the Chaos Lotus still held control over their cave abysses; as the cave abysses spun wildly, any newly produced Chaos qi was instantly seized by the Chaos Lotus as well.
Meanwhile, the Chaos Dao scenery poured out furiously, and the Chaos Dao contained within it flowed directly into Xu Ying's cave abyss.
The Chaos Dao was notoriously difficult to cultivate, yet at this moment, Xu Ying felt myriad insights flooding into his mind in rapid succession, his mastery climbing by leaps and bounds!
Apparently, the Chaos Lotus only cared for the Chaos qi; as for the power of the Great Dao contained within the Chaos Dao scenery, it considered it useless junk and cast it aside.
It dumped the Great Dao from the Dao scenery into Xu Ying's Chaos cave abyss, causing Xu Ying's mastery of the Chaos Dao to soar!
"Lord Lotus really does care about me," Xu Ying thought, overjoyed.
Vast as the Chaos Dao scenery was, being swallowed like this made it shrink rapidly. The Chaos Lotus was not merely gulping it down like a whale; it was dumping it in by the bucketload.
Just as the Chaos Dao scenery shrank by more than half, poised to be completely drawn into Xu Ying's cave abyss before long, a boundless, desolate aura suddenly descended from the heavens, crushing the surrounding spacetime!
"What monster dares seize a Dao scenery in our other shore?!"
That voice was immensely heavy. The moment it echoed out, the cultivators around Xu Ying could not withstand the Great Dao carried within it. One after another, they burst apart with loud pops, turning into wisps of Chaos qi!
A few powerful beings managed to withstand the Dao voice, yet Chaos qi bled from their eyes, ears, mouths, and noses!
Xu Ying was startled. Among these cultivators were experts of the seventh level of the Dao realm, yet even they could not resist the Chaos Dao carried within that Dao voice!
"The newcomer's cultivation and strength might be even higher than True King Jiuquan's! Lord Lotus, let's go!"
Decisive without hesitation, he leapt into the air, heading straight for Hao Yu's enlightenment ground.
The Chaos Lotus was still reluctant to part with the Chaos Dao scenery, but seeming to recognize that the newcomer was no ordinary foe, it greedily gulped a few more mouthfuls of Chaos qi before severing its connection to the Chaos Dao scenery!
In the next moment, the sky collapsed as an outlander resembling an ancient god descended beside the Dao scenery. His entire body was shrouded in an intensely dense Chaos Dao, and behind his head lay a pitch-black expanse, where countless Chaos cave abysses faintly rose and sank.
Where he stood, space ceased to exist and time remained immutable, untangled by time and unburdened by karma—truly transcendent, towering, and consummate.
Those few experts who had not yet perished under the Dao voice paled drastically upon seeing this person. "Dao Lord Chaos!"
The instant they looked upon him, their bodies began disintegrating at rapid speed, quickly collapsing and dissolving completely into Chaos qi.
The Chaos qi drifted toward Dao Lord Hunyuan and flowed into his body.
Dao Lord Hunyuan was like a god of plague; whoever looked upon him was assimilated into Chaos qi. His level of Dao attainment was mind-boggling.
"An alien from another universe?"
Dao Lord Hunyuan's gaze fell upon the fleeing Xu Ying, a look of surprise crossing his face. "Which universe's creature is this? How dare he steal the Chaos Dao scenery, and steal so much of it? There is something bizarre about him! Wait... this brat's face looks rather familiar..."
Dao Lord Hunyuan suddenly recalled that back when Yinyuanzi informed all the Indestructibles of Daoji Heaven that the Heavenly Immortal Realm was out of control and harvesting had begun, he had also invaded the body of a dragon powerhouse, seizing his primordial spirit and slaying his physical body.
Yet, out of nowhere, his head had been pierced through by a sword, preventing him from harvesting many dragons.
"So it's the barbarian from the Three Realms! If this dark rascal raised a broken sword, he would match completely!"
Xu Ying fled at full speed. Looking back, he saw that the space behind him had somehow turned into sheer chaos, eroded until it no longer existed!
Then, ahead, to his left and right, above and below, spacetime continually collapsed into nothingness, leaving behind only boundless chaos!
Xu Ying surged with all his magic power, summoning the big bell to blast forward.
With a resounding clang, the Chaos qi blocking his path was blasted open by the big bell, and Xu Ying shot through the breached opening.
"Eh? The imprint on this dark rascal's treasure..."
Dao Lord Hunyuan's surprised voice rang out as he reached out a hand, clawing toward Xu Ying and the big bell.
His body was towering and immense. As he leaned down and grabbed, the world around Xu Ying was instantly locked down, spacetime steadily collapsing and shrinking toward his palm like a cataclysmic disaster destroying heaven, earth, and all Great Daos!
Trapped within it, Xu Ying felt a sudden surge of despair.
In the Three Realms, when he fought Indestructible realm existences like the Far Ancestor, Emperor Ming Xun, Emperor Mingdao, and the Holy Venerable, he could hold his own without falling into a disadvantage, and even gain the upper hand.
Yet upon arriving at the other shore, he finally saw how immense the gap was between the Supreme realm and the Indestructible realm—it lay before him like an insurmountable chasm.
When an Indestructible of the other shore took action, any divine power or Dao technique of the Supreme realm was utterly useless. The suppression from a higher realm was not something that comprehending more Great Daos could bridge.
"Treating a dead horse like a living one!"
Xu Ying roared, channeling all his magic power at once into the Chaos Lotus, projecting it outward.
Cradling the Primordial Source, the Chaos Lotus flew serenely out from his Chaos cave abyss. Its petals were divided into twelve layers, spreading outward layer by layer, while fine wisps of Chaos qi drifted from the openings in the lotus center, nourishing the Primordial Source.
"The dark rascal actually possesses a cosmic Primordial Source!"
Seeing this, Dao Lord Hunyuan was both shocked and overjoyed. Clenching his fist down hard, he laughed aloud. "I thought I had merely come to capture a brazen little devil, yet to have such a harvest—heaven is truly helping me!"
Xu Ying channeled the Chaos Lotus. The Chaos Lotus remained motionless, its petals barely trembling, yet loud cracking pops rang out as Dao Lord Hunyuan's massive fingers exploded one after another, shattered to dust!
His magic power depleted, Xu Ying immediately held aloft the Chaos Lotus, leaped from Dao Lord Hunyuan's bare palm, turned tail, and sprinted with all his might toward Hao Yu's enlightenment ground.
Dao Lord Hunyuan froze, staring at his right hand in disbelief. All five fingers were gone, severed cleanly at the base. The cross-section was exceedingly smooth, without even an open wound, having already healed.
He channeled the Chaos Dao, trying to regrow his five fingers, but they simply would not grow back!
It was as though these five fingers had never existed at all!
Dao Lord Hunyuan's lips quivered. "The Three Realms' dark rascal shattered my Chaos Dao... shattered my Chaos Dao..."
His Dao was one with his body; his physical form was identical to the Dao. Had his five fingers merely been severed, it would not have frightened him so deeply.
That would only have meant Xu Ying held an extraordinarily powerful treasure capable of wounding his Dao body.
But erasing his five fingers without leaving a wound, rendering them incapable of regrowth—this was erasing his five fingers on the level of the Great Dao itself!
Such terrifying Dao attainment was something he had never heard of!
"The Primordial Source, and that lotus-shaped treasure, are enough to help me break through Indestructible and attain the position of Lord of Great Dao!"
His heart burned with passion, and he strode forth in pursuit of Xu Ying. "And that peculiar bell—to actually break through my suppression—is extraordinary as well. There must be something marvelous about it; it's well worth seizing!"
Ahead, Xu Ying channeled his modified Martial Extreme Dao Attainment. The primordial qi surging from the Taiyi cave abyss grew more abundant and rapid.
For a being like him who had attained the Supreme realm with incomparably vast magic power, once his cultivation was exhausted, recovering it was exceptionally difficult. However, having grasped the Taiyi true legacy and reverted from nine back to one, even if his primordial qi was completely drained, it could recover in no time.
Just as Dao Lord Hunyuan was on the verge of catching up to him, Xu Ying suddenly slipped into a forbidden zone composed of countless divine power imprints, vanishing without a trace.
"The Hao Yu forbidden zone?"
Dao Lord Hunyuan hastily came to a halt. This forbidden zone was the enlightenment ground of Grand Dao Lord Hao Yu before his duel against Grand Dao Lord Taiyi.
That battle was of momentous significance, shaking the other shore and Daoji Heaven.
Originally, no one had favored Hao Yu, believing he would surely meet defeat. Yet unexpectedly, Hao Yu defeated Grand Dao Lord Taiyi, seizing the exalted title of Grand Dao Lord.
His prior enlightenment ground had preserved his divine powers, drawing countless people eager to enter and obtain Hao Yu's heritage. Yet countless lives were lost, until it ultimately became a desolate forbidden zone shunned by all.
"How on earth did that Three Realms rascal slip inside? Right... Hao Yu came from the Three Realms, and this rascal comes from the Three Realms too. Could he be Hao Yu's successor...? No, that's not right! Hao Yu clearly died!"
Hesitant and not daring to enter, Dao Lord Hunyuan suddenly sensed something. Leaping into the air, he flew to the other side of the forbidden zone.
True King Jiuquan and Yu Xuantong were currently pushing forward with great effort, attempting to break through more divine power imprints.
Over these two years, they had delved deep into the forbidden zone, getting closer and closer to Hao Yu's enlightenment ground at its core.
At that moment, a voice drifted over leisurely from behind them: "Fellow Daoists, going through such arduous pains to pierce Grand Dao Lord Hao Yu's forbidden zone—could it be that you intend to learn Hao Yu's Dao methods and divine powers? Aren't you afraid of offending Grand Dao Lord Taiyi?"
Hearing this, the two Indestructibles felt a chill. The few disciples they had remaining coughed up mouthfuls of Chaos qi, severely injured by that mere voice.
The two Indestructibles hurried to protect their disciples. Yu Xuantong turned with a smile and said, "So it is Brother Daoist Hunyuan. Why has Brother Daoist, instead of dwelling in Daoji Heaven, found the leisure to come laugh at us here?"
True King Jiuquan's gaze fell upon Dao Lord Hunyuan's right hand, and he asked in astonishment, "Brother Daoist, what happened to your hand?"
Dao Lord Hunyuan showed no emotion, pulling his right hand into his sleeve as he said, "Someone stole the Chaos Dao scenery and disturbed me, so I descended to investigate. The thief fled into this place. I had originally planned to go in, but sensing that you two fellow Daoists were here as well, I came over to see."
Yu Xuantong's eyes flickered, and he chuckled. "What does Brother Daoist propose?"
Dao Lord Hunyuan said, "We join forces and brave Grand Dao Lord Hao Yu's forbidden zone together! Against a mere human from the Three Realms, I refuse to believe the three of us cannot break his divine power imprints!"
Yu Xuantong and True King Jiuquan exchanged a glance and secretly breathed a sigh of relief, thinking, "It seems Dao Lord Hunyuan does not yet know that barbarian from the Three Realms carries supreme treasures. We must not tell him! With his assistance, we can completely break the imprints and forge a way through!"
The three Indestructibles immediately joined forces, pushing toward the direction where the Dao tree and the immortal palace stood.
Xu Ying had long since arrived beneath the Dao tree. He saw that Daoist Wukong and Shi Tianyang had awakened at some unknown point and were each practicing their Dao arts; only the Zhuxian broken sword was still absorbed in comprehension.
It was, after all, a magic treasure; though it had developed sentience, its comprehension still lagged far behind Xu Ying and the others.
Without hesitation, Xu Ying stowed the Zhuxian broken sword and said swiftly, "We cannot linger here. Let's go, quickly!"
Daoist Wukong asked, "Do we head back the way we came?"
Xu Ying shook his head. "Follow me. I will lead you out!"
The two hurried after him. Xu Ying suppressed the agitation of the divine power imprints along the way, leading them rapidly toward the outside.
*Rumble!*
At the core of the forbidden zone, Dao Lord Hunyuan, Yu Xuantong, and True King Jiuquan joined forces and finally broke through the last divine power imprint, arriving beneath the Dao tree.
Harboring their own hidden motives, the three swiftly searched the area, but Xu Ying was nowhere to be seen.
"Did they leave?"
Remembering Xu Ying's nimble movements when slipping into the forbidden zone, Dao Lord Hunyuan's expression shifted slightly. He immediately charged outward, shouting, "Get out! Fast!"
At the same time, Xu Ying, leading Daoist Wukong and Shi Tianyang, emerged outside the forbidden zone.
Xu Ying turned back to survey the forbidden zone. Seeing the divine power imprints—formed from various Great Daos such as mountains, rivers, stars, epochal light, and primordial origin—arranged in neat arrays across the sky, an inspiration suddenly struck him. "Gentlemen, would you like to witness what happens when the true Firmament of Divine Powers erupts?"
Daoist Wukong and Shi Tianyang halted immediately, looking eager to give it a try.
All at once, the three of them each unleashed a divine power, blasting it into the firmament of divine powers.
Within this firmament, the first divine power imprint was triggered, its might instantly sweeping across all directions. In the next breath, all the divine power imprints were ignited!
In that single instant, Xu Ying, Daoist Wukong, and Shi Tianyang felt the peerless might of Emperor Haotian at his zenith!
This strike shook the entire other shore in radiant splendor.
Within the forbidden zone, Dao Lord Hunyuan, Yu Xuantong, and True King Jiuquan paled drastically. Each desperately channeled all their cave abysses across numerous universes, and in an instant, boundless power erupted from within the three Indestructibles!
"Join forces—!" a shrill, piercing scream tore from Yu Xuantong's mouth.
*Boom!*
Dazzling Dao light warped spacetime within the forbidden ground. The radiance shone directly into Daoji Heaven, blasting a massive hole through Daoji Heaven that took a long time to heal.
Standing in the distance, Xu Ying and his companions stared blankly at the spectacle, muttering, "That was simply too magnificent..."
On this day, yet another Indestructible fell on the other shore.
True King Jiuquan was buried within the forbidden zone.
Chapter 733