In Daoji Heaven, at Zhiren Hall on Qionghua Island where Dao Master Hua lived in seclusion, a massive axe suddenly came howling and whirling, cleaving open the void as it arrived!
Dao Master Hua raised a hand. His sinewy, massive hand caught the axe handle, and his body pivoted, dissipating the ponderous force carried by the weapon.
The great axe flipped up and down in his hands amidst a shower of fallen blossoms, parrying the first and second sword qis that stabbed through the void.
Yet the third sword qi was not aimed at him at all. Instead, it struck down, splitting Zhiren Hall wide open, followed by Qionghua Island being cleanly severed in two!
Next, the sky of Daoji Heaven was cleaved apart, revealing an immense rift!
Dao Master Tongtian knew very well that these three sword strikes would be hard-pressed to injure Dao Master Hua. Thus, they were not meant to harm, but to humiliate. Cleaving Zhiren Hall, rending Qionghua Island, and tearing a gaping hole in Dao Master Hua's secluded retreat so everyone could witness Dao Master Hua's embarrassment was his true objective.
"Insolent fool!" Dao Master Hua could not help but fly into genuine fury. In an instant, the skies of Daoji Heaven darkened. Ever since he achieved renown and supremacy, rarely had anyone dared to sweep away his dignity like this.
Grasping the Fallen Blossom Divine Axe, he was about to set out in person to confront Dao Master Tongtian when a Dao boy hurried over and said, "Dao Master Hua, my master says that now that Dao Master Tongtian is a ruler of the Great Dao and holds a place on our other shore, you are all fellow Daoists. Why must you fight to the death?"
Dao Master Hua glanced at the Dao boy. Seeing that the youth was tall and well-built, and though a native of the other shore possessed a refined and scholarly air, he said, "You are of Dao Master Lin Chuanting's lineage?"
The Dao boy replied, "Yes. This junior is Lu Yiren."
Dao Master Hua lowered the Fallen Blossom Divine Axe and said, "Your aptitude is not bad. Cultivating into a Dao Lord in such a short time is indeed rare. Tell Dao Master Chuanting that those not of our kind are sure to be of a different mind. Our other shore can tolerate outsiders as Immortals, but not as Dao Masters."
Just then, another Dao boy hurried over, bowed, and said, "Dao Master Hua, my master commanded me to come and inform you that had Daoist Tongtian merely been an Immortal, killing him would have been of no consequence. But now that he is already a Dao Master, he ought to be treated with courtesy."
Dao Master Hua showed neither anger nor pleasure on his face. "I understand. Return and tell Chuanting and Dao Master Luo that I shall spare Dao Master Tongtian this once."
The two Dao boys acknowledged the command and departed separately.
Once outside Qionghua Island, the two Dao boys exchanged a glance. The Dao boy under Dao Master Luo smiled and said, "Are you Senior Brother Lu? I have long heard of your great renown. Word has it you possess peerless talent, which caught Dao Master Chuanting's eye, prompting him to take you into his sect. Dao Master Chuanting hasn't accepted a disciple in ages; making an exception for you is truly rare."
Lu Yiren bowed slightly. "My eyes were unseeing, and I failed to recognize Senior Brother. Might I ask Senior Brother's name?"
"I am Taishi."
The Dao boy smiled. "Among our Old Sacred Clan lineage, outstanding figures rarely emerge. You are the vanguard of recent years, and your future achievements will surely be limitless."
Lu Yiren hastened to thank him, saying, "My knowledge is shallow and modest, and there is much I do not understand. I must ask Brother Taishi to look after me."
Taishi laughed. "Rest assured. We of the Old Sacred Clan ought to support one another anyway, lest we be bullied by the New Sacred Clan."
As the two walked and conversed, Taishi said, "Dao Master Tongtian's revival this time could be a good thing, or it could be a bad thing. The good is that our other shore gains another Dao Master. The bad is that if handled poorly, our other shore gains an enemy. My master, Dao Master Luo, wishes for the other shore to have an additional Dao Master. But Dao Master Hua detests evil like a deadly foe. If no one stops him, that enemy will become a certainty."
Lu Yiren praised, "Brother Taishi speaks the truth. My master thinks so as well. I even heard Master say that back when the other shore pacified the Heavenly Realm Chaos, certain matters drove Dao Master Hua to strike against the other Dao Masters, causing casualties among them."
Taishi looked around warily. Seeing that no one was about, he finally whispered, "Matters like that are taboo. Never speak of them, or you'll lose your head."
Lu Yiren felt a chill in his heart and hastily agreed.
Taishi said, "After that upheaval, countless experts of our other shore perished. Only then were we forced to recruit people of extraordinary talent from other universes to enter the other shore. Originally, they were meant to be slaves and menials. Unexpectedly, their strength grew greater and greater, so we had to grant them the status of the New Sacred Clan. Yet who could have foreseen that the New Sacred Clan's influence would grow so massive that they've become too unwieldy to control, demanding ever more power."
He paused, then added, "This time, the two masters intervened to prevent Dao Master Hua from touching Dao Master Tongtian precisely to appease the New Sacred Clan and keep internal strife from erupting on the other shore. This Dao Master Tongtian possesses too heavy a killing aura, and no one likes him, so he is unlikely to form cliques and factions. But if Dao Master Tongtian had enough cunning and scheming to rally the New Sacred Clan, he truly would have to be eliminated!"
Full of admiration, Lu Yiren praised, "My wits are slow, nowhere near as sharp as Dao Brother's."
Taishi chuckled. "When you've experienced enough of these matters, you'll become sharp too. Still, Dao Master Tongtian reviving so quickly was somewhat beyond Master's expectations. Master even suspects there might be a hidden mastermind behind it, someone connected to the Dao Masters who were eliminated back then."
He shook his head and said, "Back then, the work should have been clean and thorough..."
Lu Yiren felt his hair stand on end, sensing that although Daoji Heaven appeared glamorous and radiant, beneath it lay buried countless corpses and bones.
When Zhangsun Shenghai steered his boat to the place of the fall, he saw that the ripples of the Great Dao of Slaughter had already settled, and the clash against the Fallen Blossom Divine Axe in the sky had drawn to a close.
Suspicious and uncertain, he rushed toward the core of the fallen land, thinking, "Master has always hidden here in a state between life and death. What kind of unexpected change could have caused Master to revive?" Having spent these years preaching the Dao in the Spirit Realm without coming here, he felt anxious and uneasy, dreading some sinister turn of events.
Yet when he reached the heart of the area, he saw Xu Ying conversing with Dao Master Tongtian, chatting and laughing in an apparently familiar manner.
Dao Master Tongtian was originally someone of overwhelming slaughter aura, stern and unsmiling; in the legends of the other shore, anyone who had seen his smile was a dead person...
Yet at this moment, this seemingly stubborn, gloomy old man actually wore a faint, barely perceptible smile as he chatted with Xu Ying about who knew what... Furthermore, Xu Ying's broken sword had been restored at some unknown point, and was now flying around Dao Master Tongtian.
From time to time, it gave off sword chimes, as if conversing with Dao Master Tongtian and Xu Ying.
The more Zhangsun Shenghai watched, the more bewildered he grew. He hurried forward, bowed, and said, "Disciple Shenghai pays respects to Master! Master has bestowed upon Shenghai the grace of rebirth; had Master not guided me back then, I fear Shenghai would never have achieved anything in this life..."
He spoke with deep emotion. Recalling all the grievances and discrimination he had endured when coming to the other shore to study in his early days, his eyes could not help reddening.
Dao Master Tongtian said, "Rise. My lineage does not have so many strange rules. Back then, seeing your peerless talent, I did not want you to drift through life in mediocrity and end up useless, and I also intended to use the occasion of your attaining the Dao to facilitate my revival. I simply did not expect that I would encounter a different opportunity, allowing me to revive right here and become a Dao Master."
Zhangsun Shenghai hastily stood up, glanced at Xu Ying, and asked, "Master, this is...?"
Dao Master Tongtian said, "This is Xu Ying, a fellow countryman of mine. That your master was able to revive this time is all thanks to Fellow Daoist Xu, who sacrificed numerous Immortals, True Kings, and Dao Lords to awaken the Dao of Slaughter. Address him as Martial Uncle Xu."
The corners of Zhangsun Shenghai's mouth twitched. After a pause, he stammered, "M-Martial Uncle Xu..."
Xu Ying gave a slight smile and said, "Nephew Shenghai, no need for formalities. We can each keep to our own: in the Taiyi Sect, I'll call you Senior Brother, and outside the Taiyi Sect, you call me Martial Uncle."
Zhangsun Shenghai probed, "How about we determine seniority by strength?"
Xu Ying flatly refused.
Dao Master Tongtian said, "Your Martial Uncle Xu shares deep ties with me. Carrying the sword I left behind in the past, he resolved the Yuan Realm crisis at the borders of the universe and completed the Three Realms' Hongyuan Core. Having obtained the fortunes I left behind, he then saved me at my place of fall, awakened me, and helped me attain the Dao." He paused, then added, "The Dao of Karma, the marvel of destiny—it is truly unfathomable."
Xu Ying inspected the Great Dao of Karma and likewise felt that the wondrous interplay of fate between him and Dao Master Tongtian was breathtaking.
The karmic seed of goodwill sown by Dao Master Tongtian in the past had been picked up by Xu Ying; after reaping that goodwill, Xu Ying rescued Dao Master Tongtian here, helping him revive and become a Dao Master.
Yet what puzzled Xu Ying was that his karmic connection with Daoist Tongtian spanned across the Chaos Sea. Wasn't it said that karma did not exist within the Chaos Sea?
Why could the bond between the two remain so tightly linked even after traversing the Chaos Sea?
Perhaps the Great Dao of Karma could pass through Chaos.
Xu Ying's eyes flickered as he considered the relationship among tribulations, Chaos, and karma. He thought, "Deciphering the connection between karma and Chaos might well be the key to freeing oneself from apocalyptic calamity and achieving true, boundless liberation. But right now, I have no understanding of tribulations and have no way of exploring their relationship."
Dao Master Tongtian inquired about the state of the Three Realms. Xu Ying therefore recounted the unification of the myriad worlds of the Earth Immortal Realm, the Three Realms Tide, and finally their creation of the new Dao patterns.
Dao Master Tongtian said, "Could you let me see these new Dao patterns?"
Xu Ying smiled. "Why not?"
With a gentle wave of his palm, the new Dao patterns created through the combined wisdom of the elites of the Three Realms and the Yuan Realm emerged. Serving as the foundation of the Great Dao, these diverse Dao patterns explained the most fundamental profundities of Dao arts.
These Dao patterns were no small matter. They displayed a distinct potential to surpass the old masters, and even caused the spirit patterns Zhangsun Shenghai cultivated to faintly tremble.
Dao Master Tongtian rested his gaze upon these Dao patterns. After pondering for a long time, he altered over a dozen strokes of this set of Great Dao patterns.
Following his revisions, the quality of the Dao patterns immediately advanced another step.
Xu Ying hastened to express his thanks.
Dao Master Tongtian said, "Great Dao patterns are fundamentally the bedrock of the Great Dao. Yet once cultivated to the Dao Master realm, no Dao pattern is of any use anymore. You may devote effort to this, but you must not let it delay your personal cultivation."
The Great Dao has no excess; his words were also well-intentioned. Cultivating to the Grand Dao Master realm meant achieving the unstructured Great Dao—any Great Dao was stripped down to the Dao itself, without any structure to speak of. Painstakingly researching Dao patterns at the cost of wasting one's time and intellect would be putting the cart before the horse, losing more than one gained.
Xu Ying smiled and said, "These Dao patterns were not refined for myself, but for all living beings of the Three Realms. My aim is merely to clear a path leading straight to Dao Master for them. If I can make this path slightly less fraught with thorns, potholes, and detours, I will be more than satisfied."
Dao Master Tongtian looked upon him and said with solemn respect, "Fellow Daoist Xu is a person of noble vision. Truly admirable."
He was not a man of many words. Having eased his homesickness through Xu Ying, he stepped into the void.
Xu Ying and Zhangsun Shenghai stood behind him. Dao Master Tongtian turned around and looked down at his place of fall. Suddenly, he spread his five fingers wide. Instantly, all Daos in the fallen land below vanished without a trace, the world annihilated, and in a breath, it collapsed back into Chaos!
In Xu Ying's Chaos Cave Abyss, the lotus in the Chaos pool stirred restlessly, actually tempted to steal the Chaos Qi.
Yet Dao Master Tongtian was simply too formidable; it did not dare act brazenly.
Dao Master Tongtian invoked his sword. The Zhuxian Sword flew forth and split open the Chaos Qi. Instantly, heaven and earth were opened, a universe was born at its origin, and the Great Dao began its evolution starting from Wuji through the order of the Inherent Five Tais. When it reached Taiji, the two qis of Xuan and Huang were born, transforming into the dark heaven and yellow earth. Heaven and earth were newly formed, evolving myriad Daos. In an instant, that mass of Chaos Qi had formed the scenery of a brand-new universe, though it was far smaller—truly pocket-sized.
Moreover, the heavenly and earthly Daos within this world were all transformations of the Dao of Slaughter born in response to the moment, not authentic worldly Daos. All Daos in this universe originated from Dao Master Tongtian; even if life arose within it, none could ever surpass him.
Still, such a spectacle of creation was exceedingly rare. Xu Ying and Zhangsun Shenghai each used Dao Master Tongtian's creation of heaven and earth to verify their own learning and insights, immediately grasping numerous mysteries and gaining a great surge in cultivation.
Having cleaved open Chaos and reenacted myriad Daos, the Zhuxian Sword also transformed dramatically from before, acquiring the aura and resonance of a Dao Master supreme treasure.
This place was still named Biyou Palace.
Dao Master Tongtian stepped into this pocket universe, recreated Biyou Palace, and said to Zhangsun Shenghai, "Now that you are my disciple, there is no need to return under Taiyi's banner. Taiyi is unworthy."
Zhangsun Shenghai was both surprised and delighted, hurriedly acknowledging the command. Hearing this, Xu Ying was also surprised and delighted, thinking, "Oh Shenghai, now you've lost the one chance you had to be called Eldest Senior Brother! When we meet, you'll have no choice but to call me Martial Uncle! What good is having stronger cultivation? The world runs on human relationships and etiquette!"
Yet he felt somewhat puzzled, thinking, "It seems Dao Master Tongtian has no intention of leaving. Now that he has become a Dao Master, isn't he afraid that the other Dao Masters of the other shore will come to besiege him?"
At that moment, a familiar voice drifted over: "Disciple Lu Yiren, by order of Dao Master Chuanting, comes to invite Grand Master Dao Master Tongtian to attend a gathering at Huangji Hall in Daoji Heaven!"
Xu Ying's eyes lit up. "Lu Yiren! He became Dao Master Chuanting's disciple?"
Another voice rang out at the same time:
"Disciple Taishi, by order of Dao Master Luo, invites Grand Master Dao Master Tongtian to attend the gathering at Huangji Hall in Daoji Heaven!"
Yet another voice called out: "Disciple Li Xiao, by order of Dao Master Hua, invites Daoist Tongtian to attend the gathering at Huangji Hall in Daoji Heaven!"
Dao Master Tongtian stood up and said to Xu Ying, "Now that I have become a Dao Master, the other shore has two choices: one is to kill me, and the other is to have me join them."
"They come here to test my attitude."
Xu Ying nodded in agreement and asked, "What does Dao Brother intend to do?"
Dao Master Tongtian walked outward, his expression indifferent. "We shall know once I go."
Seeing him depart, Xu Ying did not linger in Biyou Palace. He bade farewell to Zhangsun Shenghai and returned to the Taiyi Dao Sect.
A few days later, word spread.
Dao Master Tongtian had become the fourth Dao Master of the other shore.
Hearing this news, Xu Ying was not the least bit surprised.
Chapter 771