After Dao Lord Hong died, those who had been manipulated by karma into attacking one another felt their bodies regain freedom of movement. Only then did they breathe a sigh of relief, their hearts filled with shock and dread.
In just that brief span of time, they had nearly slaughtered one another to death!
Dao Lord Hong's Grand Dao of Karma had not used supreme cultivation to control each treasure, nor had it suppressed the five of them through raw magical power. Instead, it had altered the karmic logic governing the actions of those treasures and Xu Ying and his companions.
Every move they directed at Dao Lord Hong was logically transformed into an attack against someone else, another treasure, or even an act of self-mutilation.
"The Grand Dao of Karma is truly terrifying. With cultivation like ours, when ensnared by karma, we were powerless to resist. For anyone with less cultivation than us, controlling them would likely be even easier!"
Xu Ying still felt lingering dread. "The Grand Dao of Karma is ridiculously powerful. I fear it's not the slightest bit weaker than the Grand Dao of Taiyi! It might even be stronger!"
The only reason Dao Lord Hong was not a Grand Dao Lord was that this Grand Dao was simply too difficult to cultivate to its ultimate peak.
Furthermore, Dao Lord Hong's own aptitude was limited, preventing him from cultivating this Dao to the very pinnacle.
Grand Dao Master Xuanhuang flew over. He glanced at the group, and his gaze promptly settled on Xu Ying, a look of perplexity appearing on his face.
Xu Ying was clearly not a person of Tianjing, yet he had become one of his inheritors. Even Grand Dao Master Xuanhuang felt a moment of daze, wondering if a mistake had been made somewhere.
However, the current situation left him no time to dwell on it. "Follow me!" he said.
This realm lay within primal chaos. Once Xu Ying and the others received the inheritance, this place was destined to collapse. By now, cracks had already formed across many areas, and surging torrents of chaos qi came pouring in.
Grand Dao Master Xuanhuang soared into the air with the five disciples. The space ahead burst open, revealing the Tianjing Ruins outside.
Leading them out of the chaotic space, Grand Dao Master Xuanhuang and the others looked back to see the space behind them collapse with a tremendous roar. Boundless chaos qi engulfed that expanse and surged toward the Tianjing Ruins along the tunnel Xuanhuang had opened.
Grand Dao Master Xuanhuang waved his hand to seal the passage, shutting out the Chaos Sea. "The calamity has not yet arrived," he said. "We do not yet need to repay our karma. The Chaos Sea cannot catch up to us!"
He took a step back and watched the passage he had just sealed. After a moment, with no movement from the passage, he finally relaxed completely.
Could it be that even he wasn't certain whether the calamity would come?
Could it be that even he could not be sure if he could protect himself when the calamity struck?
Grand Dao Master Xuanhuang turned around and swept his gaze over the five of them again. When his eyes fell upon Xu Ying, he was once again bewildered, unable to shake the feeling that something had gone wrong for this kid to appear among the ranks of those tasked with reviving Tianjing.
He set the thought aside for now and looked away toward the Tianjing universe, which was already a vast ruin.
His gaze was somber, moving slowly across the broken landscape.
This was the native land that had nurtured him, but now it had turned into scorched earth, a barren wasteland. The resentment and hatred between heaven and earth could never be washed away.
"The Great Dao tide reduced the once-thriving Tianjing to waste, and even a Grand Dao Master could not prevent it. Is there still a path ahead to avoid the Great Dao tides and escape the calamity?"
He murmured to himself, "Does the Great Dao have an end? At that end, can the Great Dao tide still reach it? And is the calamity like me, forever unable to find an end?"
Suddenly, Grand Dao Master Xuanhuang drifted upward and walked toward the direction where his other self was battling the four Grand Dao Lords.
His form drew along the endless resentment of the Tianxu. The wronged souls of those who had died tragically at the hands of the other shore had long since been extinguished, ceasing to exist, yet their resentment lingered on, turning into the karma of this world.
He was revived for vengeance.
Xu Ying, Zhuo Daochun, and the other three pursued him for a few steps before coming to a halt.
Grand Dao Master Xuanhuang had gone to merge with his other self. Once united, even if the four Grand Dao Lords joined hands, they would likely be no match for him.
"However, Grand Dao Master Xuanhuang cannot possibly win. He is bound to lose, because the other shore also has Grand Dao Masters," Zhuo Daochun said. "The Grand Dao Masters of the other shore will never permit Grand Dao Master Xuanhuang's resurrection."
Xu Ying nodded. "When the four Grand Dao Lords fall, that will be the moment the Grand Dao Masters of the other shore take action. Right now, Tianjing's Daos are only in their nascent stages of revival; Grand Dao Master Xuanhuang's strength has by no means returned to its peak, so he cannot be a match for the Grand Dao Masters of the other shore."
Wei Yi asked, "Then what should we do?"
Xu Ying's gaze swept across the faces of the four. "You have only one way to survive: remain in the Tianjing Ruins. Fight the experts from the other shore who invade this place, and rely on the revival of Tianjing's Great Dao to grow and strengthen. If you don't mind, you can become rebels."
Shi Yuting wanted to laugh, but did not dare.
Originally, he had not known he was of Tianjing descent either. Only after coming here and receiving those fortunate opportunities did he vaguely guess he might be a descendant of Tianjing people.
Only then had he deduced that his master, Grand Dao Lord Shenmo, had sent him here likely to obtain the Grand Dao Master's inheritance.
Once the inheritance was acquired, what awaited him would probably be death.
Thus, the four of them had no choice but to rebel.
Xu Ying said with great warmth and enthusiasm, "If you want to be rebels, I have connections! I'm from the same hometown as the rebels in the Tianjing Ruins. My whole reason for coming to the Tianjing Ruins this time was to visit them. I can introduce you."
The four exchanged looks and each nodded helplessly.
All four had received a portion of the Grand Dao Master's inheritance, and all four Grand Dao Lords coveted it. If they proactively handed over the Xuanhuang Dao Realm Scripture, they might at least keep an intact corpse; if they refused, they would die an agonizing death.
Furthermore, the myriad universes were all under the control of the four Grand Dao Lords. Fleeing to any universe would be courting death. Only by staying in the Tianjing Ruins was there a glimmer of hope.
Zhuo Daochun asked, "Junior Brother Xu, you aren't staying?"
Xu Ying smiled. "I am a disciple of Grand Dao Lord Taiyi and loyal to my teacher to the core. How can you lot of rebels compare to me?"
Wei Yi said, "Grand Dao Lord Taiyi knows you're a rebel too! Won't staying behind just be seeking your own doom?"
Xu Ying laughed. "Right now, Grand Dao Lord Taiyi needs me; I don't need him. If none of you left, I might indeed die. But with all four of you running away, I'll actually be safe."
Zhuo Daochun and the others pressed him no further. Zhuo Daochun asked, "Then how do we get to know those rebels?"
Xu Ying let out a long cry and called out clearly, "Xuhuang—! Heavenly Venerable Taiyi—! Ancestor of Earth Immortals—!"
He called out repeatedly. After a moment, a voice approached swiftly: "Coming! We're coming!"
The voice was very unfamiliar, belonging to none of Xuhuang, Taiyi, or the Ancestor of Earth Immortals.
The owner of the voice finally revealed himself: an elderly man dressed in a grayish-white Daoist robe. His hair was grizzled, his frame gaunt, his features plain.
Xu Ying, however, was both surprised and overjoyed upon seeing him, and hurriedly bowed. "Dao Ancestor Yuxu! Disciple Xu Ying greets you!"
Xu Ying praised, "Patriarch truly has an accurate eye for people."
The group hurried after Dao Ancestor Yuxu, vanishing into the darkness. Before long, they found Xuhuang and the others hidden in the shadows. Aside from Heavenly Venerable Taiyi and the Ancestor of Earth Immortals, Xu Ying also saw Dao Ancestor Taiqing, Dao Ancestor Yuqing, and others, his heart surging with excitement.
The most renowned Dao Ancestors in the history of the Earth Immortal Realm were all gathered here.
"Buddha Ancestor!"
Xu Ying's eyes lit up as he spotted Buddha Ancestor and the Buddhas of Mount Sumeru, and he hurriedly stepped forward to pay his respects.
Back when he had first ascended toward the other shore, had Buddha Ancestor and the Buddhas not spotted him and intercepted him in time, he likely would have fallen into the other shore's hands long ago and been tortured into revealing the whereabouts of the Three Realms.
"My karmic connection with Buddha Ancestor extends beyond that," Xu Ying bowed to the Buddha and smiled. "A string of Buddhist prayer beads left behind by Buddha Ancestor saved my life multiple times, and with those beads I rescued Buddhist Disciple Jijue, who was trapped in frozen spacetime. Now Jijue has attained the Supreme realm, and Buddhism in the Three Realms flourishes by the day."
A great Buddha asked, "Is Jijue doing well?"
Xu Ying pondered a moment and said, "Extremely well, though he abhors evil as a deadly foe."
"Amitabha, excellent, excellent," the Buddhas praised together. "Fortunately, we always taught him to direct his heart toward goodness."
Seeing his confusion, Buddha Ancestor said, "Jijue is not native to our Three Realms. We found him in the Tianjing Ruins. By nature, he bore tremendous ferocity, harboring terrifying resentment deep within that even we Buddhas could not dispel. We had no choice but to teach him the Buddhadharma, hoping he could use it to refine and dissolve his resentment and ferocity."
Xu Ying recalled how Jijue would talk about delivering people and making them convert at the drop of a hat, and smiled. "He is much better now. I didn't feel any ferocity from him; on the contrary, he is quite compassionate."
The Buddhas all showed joyful expressions.
Buddha Ancestor could not help but smile as well. "We suspected he might be a fiend god formed from the resentment and grudges of the Tianjing Ruins. Leaving him here would only cause his ferocity and hatred to grow heavier and heavier. That is why we intended to have him leap into the Three Realms via a cave abyss. It seems the soil and water of the Three Realms are indeed good, nurturing him into a virtuous person."
"Amitabha, excellent, excellent," the Buddhas praised grandly.
Great Dao Lord Xuhuang said, "Stop exchanging pleasantries. The showdown between the four Grand Dao Lords of the other shore and Grand Dao Master Xuanhuang is a rare opportunity. Are you going to watch or not?"
Xu Ying and the others hurriedly went before Xuhuang. Xu Ying expressed his thanks to Xuhuang, saying, "Thanks to Brother Dao for sending me back to the Three Realms in time and providing the Calamity Evading Scripture."
Xuhuang smiled. "A trivial matter, not worth mentioning. Fellow Daoist Xu, how long did it take you all to decipher the Calamity Evading Scripture from start to finish?"
Xu Ying pondered for a moment and said, "Eight years in all."
"Eight years, is it?"
Xuhuang, the Ancestor of Earth Immortals, and the others looked somewhat dejected. Dao Ancestor Yuxu said, "If it took eight years, then the Three Realms' Dao methods and divine abilities haven't advanced much compared to our day. They remain far from being a match for the other shore."
Xu Ying said, "We have now survived a harvest of the Heavenly Immortal Realm, and we've improved the dragon patterns, runes, and Dao patterns so that the pattern script of the other shore cannot directly replace the Great Daos of the Three Realms. We also pioneered the New Dao, creating a path that turns apertures into abysses and refines cave abysses within oneself."
"Yet it is still too far behind the other shore," Great Dao Lord Xuhuang remarked. "That Hunyuan Cave Abyss Calamity Evading Scripture was merely a cultivation technique of the ninth Dao Realm. Requiring so much time, so many geniuses, and taking a full eight years to decipher it shows that the Three Realms still suffer from immense deficiencies in fundamental runic architecture, fundamental Great Daos, higher Great Daos, and higher cultivation methods."
Xu Ying thought carefully and nodded in agreement. "My purpose in coming to the other shore this time is precisely to obtain the true scriptures."
"Only by becoming a person of the other shore can one cultivate the methods of the other shore. Anyone who attempts to bring the true scriptures of the other shore back to their homeland will suffer utter annihilation," Great Dao Lord Xuhuang said calmly. "In the history of the Three Realms, someone has already proved this."
Xu Ying said, "Human Emperor Haoyi. When his corpse returned from the other shore, I was the one who went to receive it and buried him at Mount Qian in Ziwei, resting alongside the other emperors."
Great Dao Lord Xuhuang said, "Knowing that this is the fate awaiting you, do you still insist on fetching the scriptures?"
"I do!" Xu Ying said resolutely.
The Ancestor of Earth Immortals said, "Fetching the true scriptures doesn't necessarily have to be from the other shore; it can also be done in the Tianjing Ruins. The Daos of the Tianjing Ruins are currently reviving. The Great Daos of heaven and earth will grow stronger, and those Grand Dao Masters and Immortals will also resurrect one by one. The cultivation methods they left behind will appear in the world one after another. Seeking scriptures in Tianjing is better than on the other shore."
Xu Ying said, "Tianjing could be destroyed by the other shore at any moment; the danger is too great. We need to prepare on two fronts: you remain in the Tianjing Ruins, and I will stay on the other shore."
The Ancestor of Earth Immortals frowned slightly.
Dao Ancestor Yuxu said, "But fetching scriptures on the other shore is exceedingly perilous. Are you confident?"
Xu Ying smiled. "What Emperor Haotian could achieve back then, I can achieve as well."
As they spoke, a sudden rumble of the Great Daos echoed in the distance, like the cataclysmic uproar of heaven and earth rending apart. Everyone looked hastily and saw that the skies behind the four Grand Dao Lords had torn open simultaneously, faintly revealing phenomena of the myriad universes!
It was not that the myriad universes had truly been connected by them, but rather that the powerhouses of those universes were summoning the Taiyi, Yinyang, Life and Death, and Shenmo cave abysses. The connections formed between each cave abyss and those universes manifested as these phenomena.
Yet the lineages of the four Grand Dao Lords were ancient beyond measure, their disciples and successors legion, and the cave abysses summoned were countless. Thus, when the four Grand Dao Lords channeled the power of the cave abysses, it seemed as though they were dragging the myriad universes straight out of the Chaos Sea and into the Tianjing Ruins!
"The foundation of the Grand Dao Lords is truly unfathomable," Dao Ancestor Taiqing sighed dejectedly. "Without harvesting the myriad worlds, relying solely on comprehending the Dao and cultivating on one's own, there is simply no way to match their terrifying magical power."
At this moment, the battle between the four Grand Dao Lords and Grand Dao Master Xuanhuang had also reached its most critical juncture. The magical power of the four Grand Dao Lords truly suppressed heaven and earth, suppressing all things; even the reviving Daos of Tianjing were held down by them!
Their momentum harmonized seamlessly, as if the myriad universes were their cave abysses, and the heavenly and earthly Great Daos of the myriad universes were being commanded by them!
Yet Grand Dao Master Xuanhuang's power was even more terrifying and incomprehensible. Each of his strikes seemed like a natural strike launched by the Great Daos of heaven and earth, distorting the opponent's Dao methods and even transmuting their techniques into his own!
Though the aura of the four Grand Dao Lords rose higher than his and their divine abilities were world-shaking in might, they still could not harm him in the slightest.
Suddenly, Grand Dao Lord of Life and Death took a blow from Grand Dao Master Xuanhuang. Spitting up a mouthful of blood, he turned and fled without a word, the phenomena of the myriad universes behind him collapsing and extinguishing in vast swathes.
Xu Ying was somewhat bewildered. "Is the Grand Dao Lord of Life and Death's strength really that weak?"
Xuhuang smiled faintly and said, "He was wounded by me. Grand Dao Master Xuanhuang merely caused his old wounds to flare up. The injuries I left him aren't so easily healed."
Having said that, he began to cough violently.
The Dao injuries left on him by the Grand Dao Lord of Life and Death were not so easily healed either.
Chapter 748