The moment Dao Lord Hunyuan descended, that disciple of the Hunyuan Dao Sect had already perished. His three souls and seven spirits were crushed to powder by the Dao Lord's sheer might, and his primordial spirit transformed directly into Dao Lord Hunyuan's likeness.
The disciple's physical body continued to shift as well, morphing toward the Dao Lord's form.
Those standing nearby seemed thoroughly accustomed to this spectacle, displaying not the slightest panic or terror. Such events had occurred far too many times; there was no need for alarm.
Strangely enough, following Dao Lord Hunyuan's possession, the five fingers of the physical body's right hand dropped off on their own, as though Dao Lord Hunyuan had been born without five fingers on his right hand.
Dao Lord Hunyuan made his way to the spirit mountain where the Taiyi Dao Sect resided. Looking out over the peaks, he saw tens of thousands of immortal mountains suspended upside down. The scale was magnificent, and the spirit energy was so rich it cascaded like waterfalls, giving this place the splendor of the other shore itself.
Amid these immortal mountains lay abundant veins of immortal gold, where disciples of the Taiyi Dao Sect were actively quarrying ore and forging magic treasures.
"Xu Ying, you truly are generous to these lowly wretches," Dao Lord Hunyuan sneered. "Yet you fail to understand that the lives of ants can never compare to that of a true dragon."
With a cold laugh, he walked straight up the mountain. He had no fear of exposing his identity; Xu Ying was an exile who needed to hide his tracks, whereas he was the pursuer and had nothing to fear.
Yet the moment his foot touched the mountain slope, heaven and earth abruptly spun. Spacetime shifted, and in the next breath, he found himself standing inside a multi-storied tower.
"Dao Lord Hunyuan, what audacity you have, daring to descend through body snatching."
Inside the tower, Xu Ying wore a half-smile as he rose to his feet. His gaze fell upon the Dao Lord's right hand, and he remarked, "The Dao wound I left you back then still lingers. It seems you haven't made any progress all these years."
Dao Lord Hunyuan's right hand throbbed with a dull ache as he recalled being wounded when Xu Ying summoned the chaos lotus back then.
"Xu Ying, you truly were hiding in the Jing Realm!" Dao Lord Hunyuan stepped forward, sneering. "Now that your location is exposed, let's see how you escape!"
Xu Ying slowly opened his right hand. Dao Lord Hunyuan was involuntarily swept off his feet, flying directly into Xu Ying's palm.
Moments before, both men had stood at equal height, but as Dao Lord Hunyuan fell toward the palm, his body shrank continuously. By the time he touched Xu Ying's hand, he was as minute as an ant.
"Why would I escape?"
Xu Ying splayed his five fingers, and Dao Lord Hunyuan's body burst uncontrollably into a cloud of blood mist.
From the bloody haze, Dao Lord Hunyuan's primordial spirit floated upward, and various memories were forcefully dragged out by Xu Ying.
"Hunyuan, with my strength, why would I ever need to flee?" Xu Ying searched the avatar's memories, attempting to extract the cultivation secrets of the Chaos Dao. "I am right here, waiting for you to come!"
Dao Lord Hunyuan let out an enraged snort. All his memories instantly annihilated, drifting apart like wisps of chaotic nothingness to deny Xu Ying any chance of prying into them.
"Xu Ying, since you wish for death, I shall grant it!"
His voice receded farther and farther, as though echoing across a vast expanse of spacetime.
Xu Ying inwardly lamented. His true aim had been to obtain Dao Lord Hunyuan's genuine legacy of the Chaos Dao, but the Dao Lord had reacted quickly and severed the link, thwarting his attempt.
As for Dao Lord Hunyuan discovering his whereabouts, Xu Ying gave it no thought.
The myriad universes were thoroughly permeated with the disciples of the various Immortals of the other shore. Their cave abysses hung suspended throughout every realm; avoiding their watchful eyes was outright impossible.
Knowing his exposure was inevitable sooner or later, Xu Ying had never intended to hide.
At that very moment, the Hunyuan Dao Sect received the Dao Lord's decree and immediately began preparing sacrificial offerings to facilitate his true descent.
However, Dao Lord Hunyuan was a Dao Lord after all, possessing terrifically immense cultivation and strength. The quantity of sacrificial offerings required was staggering beyond imagination.
The Hunyuan Dao Sect was utterly emptied of its foundation, and several supreme elders were even placed upon the altar, slated for blood sacrifice in exchange for the Dao Lord's arrival.
The offerings continuously transformed into surging spirit energy, pouring into the Chaos Cave Abyss and streaming toward the other universe.
Simultaneously, Dao Lord Hunyuan set off from his Chaos Cave Abyss on the other shore, heading toward the Jing Realm.
When roughly a third of the offerings had been consumed, Xu Ying led Sect Master He Ying and a host of Taiyi Dao Sect cultivators in an assault on the Hunyuan Dao Sect, unleashing chaos, destruction, and pillaging without a word.
Sect Master Peng Wu was beside himself with fury. He mobilized the Chaos Cave Abyss to clash with Xu Ying, only for Xu Ying to smack him flat against the ground with a single palm strike. Although Peng Wu resided in the Immortal realm—a whole realm above Xu Ying—his foundation was thoroughly hollow, and even his cultivation technique was riddled with deficiencies.
He Ying proved exceptionally valiant. Charging up the altar to seize the sacrificial goods, she swept every manner of heavenly treasure into the Taiyi Cave Abyss.
Upon the altar, the supreme elders awaiting sacrifice saw this and struggled to rise and fight He Ying to the death. However, He Ying unleashed her sect's protecting treasure, the Six Righteousness Encompassing Moons, pinning them down so thoroughly they could not budge.
The woman stepped forward and kicked the back of each supreme elder's knees, sending the old men tumbling onto their knees atop the altar. She laughed and said, "You are offerings as well, but seeing that we're old acquaintances, I won't bother abducting you. That saves my Taiyi Dao Sect a few bowls of rice."
Xu Ying waved his hand. "Let's go!"
The crowd swept away like a tempest, leaving the Hunyuan Dao Sect stripped clean as a wasteland.
Sect Master He Ying was exceedingly thrilled. Flitting swiftly to Xu Ying's side, she beamed, "Young Master Xu, isn't what we did a bit improper?"
Having plundered so much wealth from the Hunyuan Dao Sect and felled so many formidable foes in glorious fashion, she didn't actually feel the least bit guilty.
Xu Ying asked tentatively, "How about we do it again?"
"Splendid!" Sect Master He Ying could hardly conceal her excitement.
The other sects had also caught wind of Xu Ying's presence in the Jing Realm. Under instructions from their respective Immortals on the other shore, they were each assembling sacrifices to summon their patrons.
Yet Xu Ying, He Ying, and their cohorts struck in the interim. Xu Ying suppressed the sect masters of these sects while He Ying led the disciples to crush the remaining experts, sweeping up all the offerings before departing.
Back at the Hunyuan Dao Sect, Sect Master Peng Wu, who had been beaten unconscious by Xu Ying, finally came to. Seeing the offerings gone and the sect's treasures looted down to the last scrap, he wailed aloud in despair.
The disciples rushed over to console him, saying, "Sect Master, let us swiftly notify the Dao Lord Ancestor and have him seek justice for us!"
Hearing this, Peng Wu wept even harder, sobbing through his tears, "The Dao Lord Ancestor is stuck halfway on the road!"
Guided by the spiritual energy raised from the sacrificial rites, Dao Lord Hunyuan was crossing the gelatinous zone toward the Jing Realm, his heart burning with anticipation.
*Once I reach the Jing Realm and capture Xu Ying, that big bell branded with chaos, the chaos lotus, the Hongyuan, and the Xuanhuang Dao Realm Scripture will all be mine! With those treasures, what does a Grand Dao Lord matter? Even becoming a Dao Master would be well within reach!*
Just as this thought crossed his mind, the spiritual energy abruptly dried up. His forward momentum slowed to a crawl, and he eventually ground to a halt within the gelatinous substance.
Dao Lord Hunyuan froze, struggling to move his body forward, yet the substance grew increasingly viscous.
Every slight movement demanded immense exertion, and as the gel turned thicker and heavier, advancing became ever more arduous.
"What is that wretched Peng Wu doing?!"
Dao Lord Hunyuan was incensed. He was currently stranded one-third into the gelatinous zone between the two universes. Continuing toward the Jing Realm would drain an unimaginable amount of magic power and time.
Yet turning back would mean all those expended offerings were wasted, alongside a heavy toll on his time and cultivation.
More critically, it would be a colossal loss of face!
If word got out that a dignified Dao Lord of the Chaos Dao had been made a fool of like this, where could he ever hide his shame?
*Right! If this path is blocked, there is still another route! I can take an emerald rock multi-decked vessel and travel straight to the Jing Realm. It only takes slightly longer than the sacrificial route.*
With this thought, he immediately reversed direction and strove to retrace his steps. Yet the deeper one ventured into the gelatinous zone, the stronger the resistance became. Having penetrated a third of the expanse, the pushback was immense, and because his cultivation was so profound, the adhesion was terrifyingly potent. Breaking free would not be easy!
Boiling with rage, Dao Lord Hunyuan channeled his cave abyss.
At that moment, across the myriad universes, every disciple cultivating the Chaos Dao suddenly felt their cultivation dip by a notch!
Through his cave abyss, Dao Lord Hunyuan directly commandeered the cultivation of these practitioners. His magic power swelled exponentially, and the might of his divine arts soared as he blasted forward!
Dao Lord Hunyuan tore open the gelatinous substance and managed to advance, continuing this relentless harvest as he fought his way through.
The Chaos Dao was inherently difficult to cultivate, and achieving true accomplishment in it was harder still. Consequently, Dao Lord Hunyuan's lineage had never spread as widely throughout the myriad universes as those of other Dao Lords.
Now, the drawbacks of this limitation naturally presented themselves.
Again and again, Dao Lord Hunyuan pressed on by drawing upon his own cultivation and that of his disciples. One year passed, then two, yet there was still no end in sight.
He trudged onward. Another year and more went by, yet he still saw no sign of the other shore.
Despair crept into his heart. *Just how much farther do I have to walk?!*
Then he rallied his spirits. He noticed that the stickiness and resistance of the gelatinous substance seemed somewhat lighter than before. The closer one was to the center of the gelatinous zone, the greater the adhesion and resistance; the closer one drew to the edges, the lighter they became.
In other words, heading toward the middle grew slower, while heading toward the periphery grew progressively faster.
"Once I return to Daoji Heaven on the other shore, I will head straight to the ferry, take a vessel to the Jing Realm, track down that scoundrel Xu Ying, and tear him limb from limb!" Dao Lord Hunyuan growled viciously.
Yet after another two years of trekking, he still caught no glimpse of the Chaos Cave Abyss in Daoji Heaven!
That cave abyss belonged to him, floating within his bodhimanda. Spotting it would mean Daoji Heaven was near.
"Still, the resistance and stickiness have lessened considerably once more," Dao Lord Hunyuan encouraged himself. "I am drawing closer to my cave abyss. It won't be long before I can break out.
"A single ship to the Jing Realm, and I will destroy Xu Ying to claim the Dao Master-level manual and the Hongyuan all for myself..."
At that same time, True King Tianshu, True King Zhongji, and others were each struggling within different pockets of the gelatinous substance, striving to make their way back to the other shore.
They had all attempted to descend directly, only for Xu Ying to sever their sacrifices, leaving them stranded midway in the gel.
Not long after Dao Lord Hunyuan's failed descent, Dao Lord Daosheng received a dispatch from disciples of the Lunhui Dao Sect in the Jing Realm. He was overjoyed. "I have finally found you, Xu Ying! Let us see how you escape this time!"
He chose neither an avatar's descent nor a sacrificial summon, opting instead to take the proper route across the Chaos Sea.
The Jing Realm universe was one of the myriad universes governed by the other shore. Administering these realms required charts detailing their coordinates within the Chaos Sea.
Only three sets of these records existed: one was kept at the Chaos Sea ferry, one was entrusted to the Four Grand Dao Lords, and the last was held by the Dao Masters—of whom there were now four.
Dao Lord Daosheng arrived at the ferry and ordered the garrison commander to prepare a vessel. The commander assigned him two scouts, one of whom was a woman, saying, "Dao Lord, the Chaos Sea is tumultuous. These scouts are exceptionally skilled in navigation and can ensure your safety."
Dao Lord Daosheng nodded.
The commander offered a placating smile. "Dao Lord, is a major harvest taking place in the Jing Realm recently? Quite a few Immortals and True Kings have been rushing there..."
Dao Lord Daosheng's heart tightened. "Others are heading to the Jing Realm as well?"
"Have any Dao Lords departed for the Jing Realm?" Dao Lord Daosheng inquired.
The commander shook his head. "None so far."
Dao Lord Daosheng breathed a sigh of relief, thinking, *As long as there are no Dao Lords, it won't be an issue. With my Samsara Dao, I can handle even an ordinary Dao Lord without trouble.*
An emerald rock multi-decked vessel set sail into the Chaos Sea.
***
Having plundered nine major Dao sects, Xu Ying and He Ying returned high-spirited to the Taiyi Dao Sect.
Xu Ying said with a smile, "If we eradicate these summoned cave abysses and alter the world's Dao methods so everyone can cultivate their own cave abysses, and then fell the Shaying trees of the other shore, the Jing Realm can break free from their grasp entirely."
He Ying had been all smiles, still immersed in the joy of ransacking the nine sects, but upon hearing this, the smile froze on her face.
After a long pause, the graceful woman sighed softly. "Breaking free from the other shore is easier said than done. Far too many people will die..."
Xu Ying looked toward the approaching Taiyi Dao Sect and remarked leisurely, "There are Dao methods that allow one to form cave abysses on their own. Whether you are willing to cast off the servitude of the other shore, and whether you are willing to bear the sacrifice of many lives, rests entirely on your own choice."
Inner conflict waged within He Ying. "Changing our Dao methods will meet tremendous resistance. This is the way of our ancestors; generation after generation, we have cultivated like this..."
In just a few short years, Xu Ying gathered hundreds of harvesting methods for distinct Daos, using the new Dao patterns to interpret and cultivate each one.
The new Dao pattern system mirrored the spirit glyph system, progressing from complexity to simplicity. When one began cultivating a Dao, its patterns numbered in the tens of thousands; as practice deepened, they were gradually distilled and simplified until the true mystery was grasped, culminating in a single unique Dao pattern.
Yet an individual's energy was limited, and the Daos of the world were simply too vast. Xu Ying soon realized that mastering every single Dao was an impossible feat.
"Seventh Master once said that life is bounded, while knowledge is boundless; to pursue the boundless with the bounded is perilous. But my life seems to have no bounds, so it doesn't matter. I can learn slowly and study at my leisure."
At the edge of the Jing Realm universe, an emerald rock multi-decked vessel slowly emerged from the Chaos Sea, docking beneath the lush boughs of a Shaying tree.
At that very moment, high above the Taiyi Dao Sect, a sweet, lovely maiden stepped out from the Taiyi Cave Abyss.
Chapter 776