Zhangsun Shenghai had preached the Dao in the Spirit Realm for several decades, imparting the supreme arts bestowed on him by Dao Master Zuo Lian to the realm's cultivators. He departed only after many immortals had emerged and the heritage had stabilized.
His Dao companion, Yin Rao, did not leave with him. Instead, she chose to stay behind in the Spirit Realm to serve as a Dao Ancestor. Although the Spirit Realm's resources were not as abundant as those on the other shore, here they remained unclaimed. Staying in the Spirit Realm offered far greater possibilities than returning to the other shore.
Yin Rao had urged Zhangsun Shenghai to stay, but he had his own ambitions and remained determined to leave.
Xu Ying had left him an emerald rock multi-decked vessel. The imprints etched upon the vessel had already turned to Dao ash, a problem that would leave anyone else helpless. However, Zhangsun Shenghai had long since studied those imprints thoroughly. By redrawing them, he was able to sail through the Chaos Sea and return to the other shore.
While others failed to detect any hint of the so-called killing intent, Zhangsun Shenghai practiced the Dao of Slaughter and perceived it with sharp clarity.
*Could Master be waking up?* he wondered in utter astonishment.
***
Xu Ying and Qingxuan the Good-for-Nothing sped along, pursuing the Zhuxian broken sword into an unfamiliar domain. Here, jagged mountains stood grim and foreboding like a forest of spears and halberds. For reasons unknown, the mountain masses had grown remarkably thin and sheer.
Enormous rock pillars and peaks lay strewn at odd angles, jutting from the earth like discarded swords.
The Dao forces of countless Grand Daos seemed to have been pulverized by something, left shattered and scattered about.
Upon entering this place, both Xu Ying and Qingxuan the Good-for-Nothing felt a prickling sting on their skin, and the Dao forces of the various Grand Daos within their bodies grew fragile.
Qingxuan the Good-for-Nothing raised a hand, manifesting a divine ability in the shape of a fire phoenix. It spread its wings to soar, but in the very next moment, the Dao force forming it unraveled amidst this bizarre landscape and gradually dissipated into nothingness.
"Life is merely an accident; grim annihilation is the cosmos's eternal state," remarked Qingxuan the Good-for-Nothing. "Dao Ancestor Xu, the bleak killing aura here can obliterate all Grand Daos! I have never witnessed killing intent of such terrifying potency!"
"Perhaps you have," Xu Ying said, shaking his head.
Qingxuan the Good-for-Nothing froze for an instant before realizing who he meant. "You mean... the one who caused all this is Sword Master Tongtian?"
Throughout the history of the Earth Immortal Realm, Sword Master Tongtian was a figure whom few were willing to mention. The killing intent radiating from his Zhuxian Sword had formed a forbidden zone where no one dared tread. Though some practitioners lingered in his Biyou Palace to practice sword arts, none were his true disciples.
His footprints had even reached the fringes of the universe. He had visited the ruins of the Yuan Realm and called upon the Master of the Ruins there. Yet his deeds remained shrouded in mystery.
Qingxuan the Good-for-Nothing hesitated. Back then, to eradicate all obstacles to the New Dao, Qingxuan and the Holy Venerable had once stormed Biyou Palace and battered the Zhuxian Sword into fragments, so there was indeed some history between them.
Up ahead, the grim slaughtering aura pervading heaven and earth grew increasingly thick and terrifying, to the point of disrupting the circulation of their own Grand Daos.
Xu Ying suddenly realized that this Dao of Slaughter was even interfering with his Martial Dao, threatening to sever it completely. *Could this really be the resting place of Sword Master Tongtian?*
He felt deeply unsettled. On the other shore, Sword Master Tongtian was known as Daoist Tongtian, one of the realm's taboos. Most of the Immortals and True Kings Xu Ying had encountered were unwilling even to utter his name.
Everyone maintained strict secrecy regarding this Daoist. Yet from scattered fragments, Xu Ying had pieced together that Daoist Tongtian had once wrought several horrific, bloody massacres on the other shore! Merely mentioning his name was enough to silence crying children in fear.
*Still, with so many powerhouses on the other shore and Dao Masters holding sway, how could they tolerate Sword Master Tongtian remaining at large to this day? With the might of a Dao Master, executing Sword Master Tongtian shouldn't have been difficult.*
Just as the thought crossed his mind, thunder rumbled across the sky. An Immortal who cultivated the Thunder Grand Dao descended from above, unleashing countless bolts of lightning in all directions. Sweeping over everything around them, the lightning turned this desolate killing ground into a vast thunder pool!
With a booming crash, the Immortal landed, blocking Xu Ying and Qingxuan the Good-for-Nothing's path.
He immediately sensed his thunder pool being suppressed, shrinking continuously as his Thunder Grand Dao cracked and fractured.
Yet his cultivation and strength were boundlessly formidable. Paying no heed to such slight attrition, he reached out to seize them, barking, "Xu Ying, hand over the Xuanhuang Dao Realm Scripture!"
The surrounding thunder pool suddenly morphed into a hand of the Grand Dao, grasping toward Xu Ying and Qingxuan the Good-for-Nothing.
Although this Immortal was not a True King, but merely an ordinary Immortal-realm existence, the cave abysses behind his head shone with blinding radiance. Tens of thousands of large and small thunder pool cave abysses lay concealed in the dark, granting him an ocean of magic power far surpassing an Immortal like Qingxuan the Good-for-Nothing.
Harvesting thousands of mortal universes granted an exponential surge in strength!
Without hesitation, Xu Ying mobilized his Martial Ultimate Attainment. In an instant, his strike transformed into the Chaos Huntian Hand, meeting the thunder hand formed from the Immortal's Thunder Grand Dao head-on!
Their magic power erupted in a flash. As their divine abilities expanded outward, they were instantly sliced apart by the surrounding stone peaks!
How tyrannical were the divine abilities of these two combatants? One was an Immortal whose stature matched the Great Dao, whose body was unified with it; the other was an existence whose Chaos Grand Dao had nearly reached the Immortal realm, possessing unparalleled, ferocious divine abilities! Yet their techniques were sliced through effortlessly by these stone mountains without leaving a single mark on the terrain.
Xu Ying and the Immortal were both jolted back by the impact. Springing forward once more, they unleashed their divine abilities in a flurry of rapid exchanges.
The Immortal, having achieved stature equal to the Dao, could manifest divine abilities with a mere thought, unleashing Dao might with every gesture. Meanwhile, Xu Ying had cultivated his Martial Dao to the utmost peak, activating and retracting his divine abilities seamlessly, striking with brutal speed and fury.
In the span of a breath, thousands of divine abilities clashed, yet the Immortal failed to gain any advantage, fueling his mounting frustration.
That supreme aura of grim slaughter carried a terrifying will capable of destroying the Dao itself—something far beyond ordinary sword dao.
After observing for a moment, Xu Ying felt a sudden stir in his heart. *The operation of this sword formation seems to contain the profound mechanics of the Dao of Slaughter!*
He had always shared a deep affinity with the Zhuxian broken sword. Blessed with extraordinary sword dao talent, he had grasped a supreme sword intent in his earlier years merely by gazing upon the Zhuxian broken sword. Later, after earning the broken sword's acknowledgment and witnessing Daoist Tongtian's Zhuxian Sword Formation, he had directly comprehended the wondrous shifts of the sword formation.
Now, discerning the mysteries of the Dao of Slaughter from the sword formation was a natural progression. From within the sword formation came the furious roars of the Immortal who had attained the Dao through thunder. Pushing his power to its absolute limits, the Immortal fought desperately against the formation. His thunderous Dao voice roared deafeningly, even carrying the poise of forging all creation and life out of sheer desperation!
*His Thunder Grand Dao is remarkably profound!*
Watching from afar, Xu Ying was stirred. Yet his attention was immediately drawn back to the marvels of the Dao of Slaughter. Killing intent surged within his body, instilling a fierce urge to kill a few adversaries right then and there just to test his skill.
At that moment, the power of the sword formation was exhausted, and it quieted down.
The surrounding mountains stood grim and silent, just as before. The stray aura of slaughter drifting between heaven and earth gradually grew calm.
The tempest of killing intent inside Xu Ying gradually settled. Standing at the core of the formation alongside Qingxuan the Good-for-Nothing, he looked outward. The Immortal who had attained the Dao through thunder remained standing where he was, possessing four heads and eight arms, holding various magical treasures such as an umbrella, an axe, a chisel, and a mirror in an awe-inspiring stance.
He swept his gaze toward Xu Ying, his voice booming like rolling thunder: "Can the Dao of Slaughter left behind by Daoist Tongtian truly execute Immortals and annihilate the Grand Dao? I don't believe it."
The Immortal's body suddenly shuddered. With a clatter, the magical treasures in his hands shattered into pieces. Then, as if sliced into countless minuscule fragments, his entire form burst apart, scattering across the world.
He had refused to believe that the Dao of Slaughter could destroy his Thunder Grand Dao, yet he had been reduced to powder inside the sword formation!
Xu Ying and Qingxuan the Good-for-Nothing were deeply shaken. Reaching out, they lightly touched the fragments of the Thunder Grand Dao lingering in the air.
The Thunder Grand Dao still existed; only the Immortal whose stature equaled the Great Dao and whose body was unified with it had perished—they were not truly immortal.
Qingxuan the Good-for-Nothing shuddered, muttering, "We can still die..."
Xu Ying suddenly sensed shockwaves from a clash between other Immortals. Rushing forward, he spoke rapidly: "This place is perilous beyond measure! If people fight here, it will trigger an even greater slaughtering might! Let's go!"
Qingxuan the Good-for-Nothing hurried after him. Moving like streaks of wind and lightning, the two followed the path taken by the Zhuxian broken sword.
Elsewhere, Dao Lord Wuchen descended among the sword mountains alongside two female Dao Lords, Gu Daochan and Xiuhuixian. Dao Lord Wuchen possessed a burly, imposing physique, while the two female Dao Lords carried themselves with graceful elegance, each standing upon the summit of a sword mountain.
"This place is..."
Dao Lord Wuchen surveyed his surroundings, his expression shifting slightly as he recognized where they were.
"Back then, Daoist Tongtian attempted his breakthrough to the Dao Master realm here, only to be ambushed by Dao Master Hua and slain on this spot. His Dao of Slaughter shattered here, forming this forbidden zone,"
Dao Lord Wuchen said in a heavy voice. "If we clash here, even you and I will find it hard to emerge unscathed. Fellow Daoists, must you insist on vying for the Xuanhuang Dao Realm Scripture?"
Having battled multiple Dao Lords, he bore numerous Dao wounds and was gravely injured, yet his imposing aura still suppressed both Gu Daochan and Xiuhuixian.
However, he knew that besides these two, other Dao Lords were also watching Xu Ying, scheming to seize the scripture.
If he delayed too long, news of Xu Ying's presence nearby would reach the ears of the other three Grand Dao Lords. If that happened, Dao Lord Wuchen would have no choice but to leave empty-handed in bitter regret.
Seizing the Xuanhuang Dao Realm Scripture before alerting the Grand Dao Lords was of paramount importance!
Gu Daochan chuckled. "Wuchen, the Xuanhuang Dao Realm Scripture is not your private property. Anyone can lay claim to it. Hand over Xu Ying, and we shall share it equally."
A feral gleam surfaced in Dao Lord Wuchen's eyes, and he laughed heartily. "If everyone possesses a copy of the Xuanhuang Dao Realm Scripture, will a Dao Master-level art still be a Dao Master-level art? With so many Dao Masters created, how are the resources to be divided? The three Dao Masters of our other shore are sustained by thousands of mortal universes. With every new Dao Master, the three Dao Masters must surrender a portion of their resources. If you scatter a Dao Master-level cultivation technique to the winds, how many shares will the three Dao Masters have to surrender?"
The two women attacked in unison. Gu Daochan sneered, "Then there is no need for further words! Let our strength do the talking!"
Xiuhuixian smiled. "I'd like to see whether the Sacred Clan is truly as formidable as the rumors claim!"
The three clashed amidst the sword mountains, their myriad Dao methods surging with ferocious power. The surrounding peaks began to glow, shining even brighter than during Xu Ying's previous battle. Even from a great distance, Xu Ying could sense the Dao of Slaughter growing extraordinarily active!
"The Dao of Slaughter is demanding a sacrifice!"
Xu Ying and Qingxuan the Good-for-Nothing realized the truth simultaneously. Exchanging a glance, Qingxuan said, "Dao Ancestor Xu, could it be that the Dao of Slaughter here requires those who have attained the Dao to be sacrificed to reawaken it?"
Xu Ying nodded. "It does resemble some sort of sinister sacrifice!"
Just then, the Dao of Slaughter erupted once more. Boundless sword light surged, submerging the battlefield!
Xu Ying came to a halt. Looking from afar, he found himself drawn once more to the Dao of Slaughter, the killing intent within him stirring restlessly. Left with no choice, Qingxuan the Good-for-Nothing stopped as well.
Where the sword light erupted, an apocalyptic scene unfolded, terrifying in its annihilation of all Grand Daos!
Amidst that battlefield, Dao Lord Wuchen's figure resembled an unmatched titan, fighting desperately to break out from the desolate expanse, only to be dragged back into that cataclysm time and again!
Trapped in the cataclysm alongside him were two other figures, struggling fiercely to escape with their lives.
Xu Ying observed the workings of the slaughter formation. Gradually, his own killing intent resonated with heaven and earth, swelling ever fuller as his comprehension of the Dao of Slaughter deepened.
His attainments in the sword dao were likewise shifting toward the Dao of Slaughter, like a blunt blade being honed to a razor-sharp edge!
Suddenly, the disturbances of the Dao of Slaughter ceased, and the sword light vanished entirely.
The energy unleashed by the clash between the three Dao Lords—Wuchen, Gu Daochan, and Xiuhuixian—had been completely drained by the slaughter formation.
Bloodied and battered, the two graceful figures staggered into the air and fled with all their might, but Wuchen was nowhere to be seen.
Xu Ying and Qingxuan the Good-for-Nothing peered ahead. Suddenly, Dao Lord Wuchen's burly frame rose slowly from the shattered Grand Daos. With an expression dark as thunder, he strode toward them.
Having narrowly escaped death under the formation's might, his temper had grown extremely volatile.
Without warning, Xu Ying called out in a clear, resonant voice: "I am Xu Ying! The Grand Dao Master-level technique, the Xuanhuang Dao Realm Scripture, is in my hands! I shall carve this technique onto the nearby cliff face! Whoever wants this art, come and claim it!"
Dao Lord Wuchen flew into a violent rage. Dragging his grievously wounded body, he charged forward, bellowing like thunder: "Xu Ying, you're courting death!"
Qingxuan the Good-for-Nothing was struck with realization. "Dao Ancestor Xu, are you trying to offer a sacrifice?"
Xu Ying watched the oncoming Dao Lord Wuchen, his eyes gleaming. Shaking his head, he replied, "The sacrifice is merely incidental. My comprehension of the Dao of Slaughter has reached a critical juncture. Perhaps I can use this opportunity to truly master it."
Turning around, he began carving the Xuanhuang Dao Realm Scripture into the stone cliff!
A chill ran down Qingxuan the Good-for-Nothing's spine. For the sake of this Dao Master-level cultivation technique, this place would soon become a river of blood!
Chapter 768