The Greater the Karma

The big bell was also quite curious and asked, "Since you have immortals here, why don't you cross the tribulation and ascend? Wouldn't it be better to ascend and become an immortal yourself?" You Xuan shook his head. "Cross the tribulation and ascend? How could it be that easy? The Thunder Marsh is so terrifying; triggering the calamity fortune leaves one with only a dead end." Xu Ying was taken aback. "What does that have to do with the Thunder Marsh?" You Xuan said, "Whenever we face our tribulation, the Thunder Marsh appears and unleashes thunder and fire, teeming with dragons, phoenixes, flood dragons, crows, and the like. It's completely impossible to survive. Attempting the tribulation is simply courting death." Xu Ying recalled how terrifying that Thunder Marsh Dao scenery was. Even he had nearly come to grief within it. If the Dao creatures inside—the dragons, phoenixes, qilin, and the rest—had entangled him, he would have had his hands full dealing with them. When someone of You Xuan's caliber attempted ascension, if the Thunder Marsh manifested alongside it, their strength would make survival utterly impossible. He was suddenly reminded of when the Heavenly Dao world held sway over the heavenly tribulations of Qi Refiners across the myriad worlds of the heavens. Back then, trapped by the super heavenly tribulations, people could not ascend either, giving rise to alternative methods for longevity, such as harvesting leeks and angling for souls. Xu Ying carefully recalled what he had seen upon entering the New Universe. At the time, his gaze had swept across the entire realm, yet he had found no higher plane akin to the Heavenly Immortal Realm or Daoji Heaven. *What on earth happened in the New Universe? Could these mighty entities still be hidden in a mortal realm like the Emerald Void Continent?* At Mount Tianjing on the Emerald Void Continent, Zhangsun Shenghai moved with graceful ease beneath the mountain's Dao scenery. Looking up, he studied the display: suspended in the sky like the Milky Way, it pierced straight in from beyond the firmament, penetrating the earth and mountain ranges in a magnificent spectacle. "Peculiar. The Great Daos of heaven and earth flourish here, so why are there no immortals? Furthermore, the cultivation of the people is not high at all. Stranger still are certain ruins, which clearly seem left behind by Indestructibles or even Lords of Great Dao!" Astonished, he surveyed the surrounding landscape and thought, *The Dao framework here is even more ingenious than that of the other shore; even the Daos I cultivate are suppressed by it! Had I not cultivated Calamity Fortune and Nirvana, I likely would have died right here!* When the sudden transformation occurred earlier, he had been right in the midst of it, facing the same peril that had confronted Xu Ying and the others. However, he had quickly realized that the Great Dao of Nirvana and the Great Dao of Calamity Fortune were unaffected by the spirit runes, which had spared his life. Even so, the sight of thousands upon thousands of experts perishing had shaken him deeply. Suddenly, he spotted something. In a flash, he slipped into the Dao scenery. Deep within lay a palace that felt wonderfully pleasant. Zhangsun Shenghai stepped inside and thought quietly, *I wonder how Junior Brother Xu and the others are faring? Good men don't live long, so he's bound to survive a long time.* Elsewhere, the Great Dao of Life and Death turned into billowing clouds of dust and smoke. Ji Youru spurred his Cave Abyss of Life and Death, channeling majestic dharmic power and Daos from the Great Thousand Universes to resist the spirit transformation as he plummeted toward the Emerald Void Continent. Having studied under Grand Dao Lord Life and Death, he had already begun spreading teachings across the Great Thousand Universes to harvest practitioners. As such, his cultivation was far deeper than that of his peers, and he possessed far more life-saving means. Earlier, he had been wounded in battle against Xu Ying and forced to flee, and now he too had fallen victim, infected by the spirit runes. This had forced him to harvest the Great Thousand Universes ahead of schedule. At this moment, he exhausted every technique and pushed himself to the absolute limit, all merely to survive. *Boom!* Ji Youru crashed into the ground with a wretched scream. His physical body and primordial spirit blew apart, and his cave abyss dissolved into billowing Dao ash that soared into the sky, ending his life in an instant! On the other side of where he fell, two more trails of dense smoke plummeted from the sky toward the Emerald Void Continent. Standing amid the thick plumes of one trail was a young woman positioned between a Yin Wheel and a Yang Wheel—the foremost disciple under Grand Dao Lord Yin-Yang, named Yin Rao. Inside the other trail of smoke was the senior brother under Grand Dao Lord God and Demon, Lu He. Lu He also possessed an extraordinary treasure shielding his body; the rolling clouds of dense smoke were in fact the dissolution of Indestructible-grade treasures. As for Ji Youru, he should not have died so quickly, but when he had joined the ambush against Xu Ying, Xu Ying had pierced the Contract of Life and Death—an Indestructible treasure bestowed upon him by his master's sect—leaving him without a protective magic artifact. Lu He and Yin Rao fell from the sky one after the other, landing vast distances apart. The moment Yin Rao touched the ground, she saw a local cultivator flying toward her. Without hesitation, she channeled the Great Dao of Yin-Yang and seized control of the newcomer. She immediately searched the person's soul and locked their spirit, extracting every last memory of their life to uncover the mysteries of the various spirit runes. With ruthless decisiveness, she focused her full concentration, altering her Dao framework before the Yin-Yang Wheels could fully undergo spirit transformation. On the other side, the instant Lu He hit the ground, his divine sense erupted in all directions, sweeping across several thousand li and bringing every person within that radius under his control! He abandoned his physical body and possessed an individual of exceptional talent. By the time he completed this, his Indestructible treasure had already dissolved into cinders, and soon his original body followed suit, reducing to ashes! Both preserved their lives through their respective methods, each left trembling with lingering dread. *What kind of world is this New Universe, anyway?* Xu Ying accompanied You Xuan to Taiwei Palace. Overcome with excitement, You Xuan hurriedly summoned all disciples, elders, and grand elders to pay homage to the old immortal. Seeing that the old immortal had nothing left but a head, the disciples and elders were all startled. Yet, hearing that Xu Ying came from the Thunder Marsh and that the structure behind him was the Thunder Marsh Immortal Palace, none dared show disrespect. They hurried to prostrate themselves in worship. Once their bows were completed, an immense force gently buoyed them back to their feet. Feeling how boundless and unfathomable this power was, their hearts filled with awe and uncertainty, convincing them that Xu Ying was indeed an old immortal. Xu Ying's gaze, however, fell upon Taiwei Palace. This palace was undeniably an immensely ancient and formidable immortal artifact, yet for some reason it had gathered dust and fallen into the mortal realm, treated by You Xuan and his peers as an ordinary palace... *It is likely an Indestructible treasure,* Xu Ying reflected silently. You Xuan and the others were of far too low a realm to ever activate Taiwei Palace; they couldn't even unleash a hundred-millionth of its might, leaving them guarding a treasure blindly without realizing its worth. *There truly are supreme figures in this world. Otherwise, how could an Indestructible treasure exist?* Xu Ying thought to himself. *Yet You Xuan and his peers have never seen an immortal. How can that be?* This universe clearly possessed exceptionally advanced spirit runes that surpassed even the principle runes of the other shore, yet cultivation stopped dead at the Ascension stage. There were evidently no immortals, yet ancient treasures like Taiwei Palace existed. It was utterly bizarre! You Xuan and the others attended to his every need with utmost care, tending to his daily routine and bringing forth various cultivation arts and texts for him to peruse. Xu Ying studied the spirit runes from these works while picking up their spoken language on the side. Within a few days, he was already able to converse with them in the local tongue. When Xu Ying asked about the origin of the spirit runes, You Xuan said, "The spirit runes seem to have existed from the very beginning. Their origin is impossible to trace." Xu Ying could only set the matter aside and concentrate on converting his own talismans, Dao patterns, pattern principles, and dragon patterns into spirit runes. As his comprehension of the spirit runes deepened, he couldn't help but marvel at the potency of this Dao framework. Such a structure could analyze the Great Dao to a far higher level, striking directly at the essence of the Dao! As his understanding grew, he gradually discovered that fewer and fewer spirit runes were required for the framework. The higher one's Dao attainment, the simpler the spirit rune structures became, and the more profound one's cultivation grew! When he first encountered the spirit framework, there had been thousands of varieties of these Dao markings, and the structure of any given Dao had been exceptionally complex. But as he grasped it more thoroughly and structured one Great Dao after another using spirit runes, the types of spirit runes dwindled to a mere four or five hundred. When he analyzed higher Daos such as Taiyi and Chaos to reconstruct his cave abysses, the varieties of spirit runes dropped below a hundred. Furthermore, the higher the realm to which he parsed these Daos, the fewer varieties of spirit runes were needed! "If I elevate it to the Indestructible level, the number of spirit runes might drop to fewer than ten!" Xu Ying had a sudden epiphany. Once only a single spirit rune remained, one would reach the culmination of the Indestructible realm, just a step away from entering the realm of Lord of Great Dao! "In the realm of Lord of Great Dao, the Great Dao is unstructured, possessing no construction whatsoever! Following this trajectory, once an Indestructible practitioner in the New Universe cultivates until only a single spirit rune remains, they can naturally step into the realm of Lord of Great Dao!" Xu Ying froze. Spirit runes were not a cultivation method; they were merely a foundational Dao framework. Yet this approach to cultivation was like a direct path to the realm of Lord of Great Dao! *Grand Dao Lord Taiyi and the others are desperate for a Dao Master-level cultivation method, never imagining that another universe exists where the cultivation system leads directly to the Dao Master realm starting from basic Dao runes!* Xu Ying could not help but sigh in admiration. *The Dao system of the New Universe is truly formidable!* His head floated into the air as he immediately began deducing various spirit runes, refining Taiyi until only thirty-odd spirit runes remained. However, for the Great Daos of Chaos and Hongmeng, he could only compress them to around a hundred spirit runes, while Samsara and Wuji could only be reduced to about three hundred before he reached an impasse. The fewer the types of spirit runes, the closer one came to the essence of the Dao. Yet reducing the number of types required immense accumulation and wisdom. Only now did Xu Ying realize that although his attainments in Chaos and Hongmeng were not inferior to Taiyi, he had not devoted as much dedicated effort to those two Daos. Consequently, reconstructing them with spirit runes proved exceptionally arduous, yielding little major progress. *I need to invest more effort into these two Daos. How can I get rid of the True Kings or Dao Lords who master them and get my hands on their cultivation manuals...? Right, there's also the Great Dao of Karma!* Xu Ying's eyes lit up. He and Zhangsun Shenghai had already deciphered the Golden Wheel Karma Calamity Deliverance Scripture, but he had been unable to cultivate it because forming the Karma Golden Wheel required entering the mortal world. *Aren't I in the mortal world right now?* No sooner had the thought crossed his mind than Xu Ying acted, immediately channeling the Golden Wheel Karma Calamity Deliverance Scripture to cultivate the Great Dao of Karma. However, his attainments in this Dao were exceedingly shallow. In just a few days, he ended up generating nearly ten thousand spirit runes, making the structure of the Karma Golden Wheel unimaginably complex and unwieldy to activate. Yet Xu Ying felt he had made modest progress, thinking to himself, *Cultivating this scripture requires immense karma—the greater the karma, the faster my skill will improve! Staying cooped up in the immortal palace won't embroil me in any karma. Time to take a walk outside!* Channeling the Taiyi Great Dao structured by spirit runes, his body gradually restored itself to its original state. He stepped out of the Thunder Marsh Immortal Palace. Within his Martial Dao Cave Abyss, the big bell and the Zhuxian broken sword were diligently studying the spirit runes Xu Ying had organized, striving to make their own breakthroughs. Outside the palace, Sect Master You Xuan was leading disciples in practicing swordsmanship. Looking on, Xu Ying found the sword path of Taiwei Palace rather clumsy—it focused purely on raw power, lacking any of the nimbleness and swiftness native to true sword arts. Unbeknownst to them, wispy threads of karma from these thousands of disciples subtly linked to Xu Ying, faint yet perceptible. Xu Ying felt his attainment in the Great Dao of Karma rise slightly. A sudden thought struck him, and an idea for a sword technique sprang to mind: *I can integrate the Great Dao of Karma into swordplay!* With that thought, he immediately summoned the Zhuxian broken sword. The broken sword had been hard at work modifying its own runes into spirit runes when Xu Ying seized control, swiftly transforming the numerous runes within it into spirit runes in a flash. The sword could not help feeling both embarrassed and irritated! *You little brat, tampering with the imprints on my body...* Yet the Zhuxian broken sword suddenly felt exceedingly comfortable, its power climbing steadily to heights greater than before. Swallowing its indignation, it thought, *He did it for my own good after all. I finally understand Lord Bell—having a human help you cultivate really is far more delightful than cultivating on your own.* Xu Ying had no idea what the sword was thinking. He simply wielded it, unleashing the karmic sword dao divine ability he had comprehended. His sword light moved like gossamer threads, like golden wheels, like flowing time, and like heaven and earth. Imbued with a potent sense of predestination, it moved according to karma and flowed with destiny, leaving an opponent nowhere to dodge and nowhere to hide! Once the set of sword forms finished, Xu Ying stilled the sword. The Karma Cave Abyss behind his head buzzed as it revolved, and without him even realizing it, his cultivation in the Great Dao of Karma had surged to the ninth realm of the cave abyss! As he sheathed the blade, he noticed that everyone below had stopped practicing, staring up at him with wide, fixed eyes. Suddenly, You Xuan knelt and kowtowed. "I beg the old immortal to bestow this immortal swordsmanship upon your disciple!" Behind him, the thousands of Taiwei Palace members prostrated in unison, chanting with one voice, "We beg the old immortal to bestow this immortal swordsmanship upon us disciples!" At that moment, Xu Ying saw the various karmic threads upon them suddenly thicken, each strand shining with brilliant light. *Buzz!* Thousands of karmic threads coalesced behind him, gradually forming a golden wheel! Enlightened, Xu Ying bent forward, gesturing upward with both hands, and smiled. "Rise. I shall pass on to you this 'Karma Immortal-Proving Sword'!" Overjoyed, the crowd hurriedly bowed in gratitude before rising. Xu Ying then set up an altar at Taiwei Palace to preach the Dharma, teaching the profound spirit runes he had comprehended over recent days, followed by the karmic spirit runes. On the twentieth day, he finished imparting the complete Karma Immortal-Proving Sword. On the thirtieth day, having mastered the Karma Immortal-Proving Sword, You Xuan challenged demonic path grandmaster Taishu Xi and slew him in a single strike, sending shockwaves across the realm. On the Emerald Void Continent, the demonic path flourished; those who turned demonic were practitioners yearning for longevity. In the New Universe, even those who cultivated to the Ascension stage possessed only a thousand-odd years of lifespan, bound eventually to face aging, illness, and death. Unwilling to perish, they turned to the demonic path, resorting to all manner of heinous methods to prolong their lives. The Three Islands, Six Saints, and Twelve Venerables of the demonic path attempted to ambush You Xuan, only for You Xuan to slaughter them all. Overnight, You Xuan took on the aura of the foremost figure of the righteous path. Looking upon himself, Xu Ying found the karma upon him noticeably heavier, and his cultivation climbed steadily alongside it, filling his heart with delight. "The greater the karma, the faster the cultivation! It truly is so!" "Before long, my Great Dao of Karma will be ready for ascension! When that time comes, I'd like to see what this Thunder Marsh heavenly tribulation is really all about."