"This person's cultivation and strength are not far from a Dao Lord's. It is a pity he cultivates only the Divine Dao. Had he cultivated both Gods and Demons, I might not have been his match. Yet had he cultivated both Gods and Demons, he might never have attained his current heights."
Xu Ying murmured, "His strength lies in his single-minded dedication, pushing the Divine Dao to its utmost limit."
Yushao's Divine Dao differed from that of his master, Grand Dao Lord Shenmo. Although Grand Dao Lord Shenmo's Divine Dao was far more formidable than Yushao's, in terms of subtlety and finesse, Xu Ying believed Yushao held the upper hand.
This was because Yushao had conducted meticulous research into the Divine Dao of each universe. Every one of his ancient god Dao bodies corresponded to the Divine Dao of a specific universe.
These ancient god Dao bodies were distinct from one another and immensely powerful.
More importantly, Yushao's deep study of the Divine Dao of these universes had accumulated an immense number of specimens, allowing him to seek the deeper mysteries of the Divine Dao—perhaps allowing him to travel even further than his master.
At this moment, he once again felt the sensation of being watched.
Xu Ying turned his head to look, but saw nothing.
Suspicious, Xu Ying activated the Karma Golden Wheel to inspect his karma threads. Many karma threads connected to him, but the vast majority lay dormant. This was because he had crossed the Chaos Sea to reach the Jing Realm; severed by distance, his past karma could not sense the people and things tied to him, and thus lay still.
And in the Jing Realm, though the threads of karma bound to Xu Ying were not few, a single sweep of his gaze allowed him to distinguish each of them clearly.
Yet, sweeping his gaze across them, he still could not find who was spying on him.
"Wait! Where is that thick karma thread that was tethered to the golden wheel? How did it vanish?"
Xu Ying scrutinized the Karma Golden Wheel. That thread had once granted his karma attainment a substantial breakthrough, yet now it had mysteriously vanished!
"Could someone have severed this thread of karma without a whisper?"
His expression flickered uncertainly. He cultivated the Great Dao of Karma himself, having refined it to the Immortal realm.
For anyone to tamper with his karma was to tamper with his Great Dao of Karma, with his Karma Golden Wheel—there was no way he would fail to notice!
Yet this person had quietly severed the karma without causing the slightest ripple or alerting him, sending a chill down Xu Ying's spine.
"Could the other end of that karma thread belong to a Lord of the Great Dao? Exactly which Lord of the Great Dao from the other shore has come here?"
Xu Ying steadied his mind. The other shore possessed four Dao Masters in all: Tongtian, Dao Master Hua, Dao Master Chuanting, and one Dao Master who had never revealed themselves. Could it be that elusive Dao Master who had arrived here?
"Yet what in the Jing Realm could possibly attract a Dao Master?"
He shook his head. Aside from himself, there should be nothing in the Jing Realm capable of drawing a Dao Master's interest.
"It is best not to provoke such beings. If they took the initiative to sever the karma, so much the better."
Xu Ying pondered briefly, then selected several boulders, slicing them into stone tablets and dividing them into over a hundred slabs. Immediately, a Dao body stepped down from each cave abyss, each writing and inscribing upon the stone surfaces.
His Taiyi and Martial Dao Cave Abysses had successively fused more than three hundred Great Daos. At this moment, he casually split off over a hundred cave abysses, and from each walked out a Dao body to inscribe the stone walls.
Xu Ying's true body continued to occupy himself with his own business, whispering, "Techniques of a Lord of the Great Dao are rare, after all. To obtain this technique, people are willing to cross the Chaos Sea to track me down in the Jing Realm. Killing these pursuers one by one is far too tedious. The best solution is actually to let these pursuers survive and carry the Lord of the Great Dao technique back to the other shore."
His eyes flickered. "If I kill these pursuers, at most I'll kill a few, or perhaps a dozen. At the very outside, a hundred or so. I might even be killed by one of them. But if I send the Xuanhuang Dao Realm Scripture to the other shore, this technique will bring dozens or even hundreds of times more deaths there!"
Suddenly, Xu Ying discovered something; his eyes lit up, and he hurried off in flight.
In the distance, a pair of eyes quietly fixed upon the toiling Dao bodies of Xu Ying. These Dao bodies radiated the aura of the Great Dao. Embodying different Daos, they wore different garments and bore different temperaments—some wild, some sinister, some bright and genial, some domineering.
The eyes seemed somewhat intrigued by this sight. After observing for a moment, they faded away, departing once more in pursuit of Xu Ying.
Although Xu Ying was swift, the owner of those eyes was even faster, arriving ahead of him despite starting later, quietly watching as Xu Ying raced toward a massive rift in the Jing Realm universe.
The fissure was a cosmic scar formed when a heavy object struck down. Within it churned the Qi of Chaos, billowing yet not collapsing downward.
The Hongyuan supporting the Jing Realm remained intact, so Chaos could not invade.
Those eyes observed Xu Ying, watching the young man fly around the fissure, carefully measuring its shape and divining its trajectory.
A moment later, Xu Ying shot away like a streak of flowing light.
Before long, Xu Ying arrived upon a continent within the Jing Realm and found a colossal crater.
"Back then, the second Emerald Rock crashed right here."
He searched all around, yet failed to find the second Emerald Rock within the great crater. Floating in midair, Xu Ying surveyed his surroundings. Suddenly, his gaze fell upon a mountain range outside the crater.
There stood ancient palaces, alongside immortal mountains of various sizes hanging inverted in the sky. Yet these immortal mountains had aged, devoid of immortal spiritual energy—as if even immortal peaks possessed a lifespan and had slipped into deep twilight.
Xu Ying landed upon one of the immortal mountains and looked around. In front of every palace stood an altar, numbering in great multitudes.
This must have been an exceptionally sacred place, surely once bustling with the smoke of incense as countless people came to worship.
For reasons unknown, however, it had fallen into decay and desolation, abandoned by all the Daoist sects of the Jing Realm universe.
Xu Ying sensed carefully, and with a sudden flicker of his body, arrived before an ancient, dilapidated palace.
He looked at the altar before the palace. The pedestal on this altar was square, suggesting that whatever was worshipped upon it must also have been square.
Xu Ying turned toward the palace and gently waved his sleeve. The palace doors swung open with a resounding boom, all restrictions dissolving into nothing.
Right in the center of the hall, an Emerald Rock lay quietly resting.
Xu Ying walked forward, retrieved the Emerald Rock, stepped onto the altar, and placed the Emerald Rock onto the pedestal. Sure enough, it was a perfect fit!
"Back then, after all the cultivators of the Jing Realm were annihilated, the Heaven and Earth Great Dao of the Jing Realm was altered into the Heaven and Earth Great Dao of the other shore. The survivors must have found this Emerald Rock that brought them catastrophe, comprehended the Dao methods and divine powers of the other shore from the principle scripts inscribed upon it, and enshrined it as a sacred relic, offering unending incense."
Xu Ying surveyed his surroundings and exhaled a breath of turbid air. Back then, incense here must have burned fiercely. People had prostrated themselves before the Emerald Rock, thanking it for granting them the strength to withstand harsh environments.
So pious were they that the Emerald Rock became their faith.
An absurd, surreal feeling welled up within Xu Ying's heart.
After a moment, he visited the other immortal mountains and palaces to examine other altars, hoping to find the third Emerald Rock.
This must have been where the ancient ancestors of the Jing Realm worshipped the Immortals of the other shore. A group of mighty Immortals must have sailed here aboard emerald rock multi-decked vessels to preach the Dao in person and receive the veneration of the world.
"Hahahaha, how absurd! How ridiculous!"
He laughed aloud, shaking his head repeatedly.
Laughter also echoed from within the mountains, as if someone were chiming in, laughing right along with him.
"What are you laughing at?"
A woman's voice rang out, sounding rather annoyed. Speaking in the other shore's Dao language, she asked, "What's so funny? What are you all laughing at?"
Xu Ying followed the voice and saw the speaker: a round-faced girl with a baby face. She was not dressed in the attire from when she was trapped in the gelatinous substance, but in traditional Jing Realm garb. She wore a round thorn crown hung with various silver ornaments and beads, with many similar accessories adorning her body.
Pouting petulantly, her round eyes glared at Xu Ying.
"What are you all laughing at?" echoes rolled through the mountains.
The girl grew angry, though she hardly looked intimidating.
Xu Ying walked over to her side and smiled. "Nothing much. Just laughing at how the Jing Realm repays enmity with gratitude, taking their foe as their father. I am Xu Ying. May I ask the young lady's name?"
The baby-faced girl was somewhat peeved and paid him no heed.
Unbothered, Xu Ying continued his search and indeed found the other Emerald Rock within another dust-sealed hall.
In those days, these two Emerald Rocks had become objects of worship for the post-catastrophe people of the Jing Realm, and to this day they remained safely preserved here.
Xu Ying burst into laughter, and the mountains laughed along once more.
"Hey!"
The baby-faced girl said angrily, "Could you stop laughing?"
Xu Ying turned back to look at her and sneered, "Seeing such a preposterous spectacle, why shouldn't I laugh?"
The baby-faced girl snapped, "You're mocking the suffering of others!"
Xu Ying could not be bothered with her and walked away on his own.
"Now that business here is done, there must still be a few surviving scouts around. I'll capture them and have them take me to see the other universes. Then I'll silence them for good," Xu Ying whispered.
"Villain!" the baby-faced girl cried out.
Xu Ying glanced at her and murmured under his breath, "Master Bell, this woman is quite capable—she can even overhear my whispers."
The big bell said, "Ah Ying, this woman was able to fight her way out of Grand Dao Lord Taiyi's cave abyss and reach the Jing Realm. Could she be a Lord of the Great Dao from the other shore?"
Xu Ying chuckled in disbelief. "You're overthinking it. Why would a Dao Master borrow Taiyi's cave abyss? A Dao Master surely has their own cave abyss. Besides, how could a Dao Master get trapped in the gelatinous substance?"
He glanced at the baby-faced girl and said, "Look at her; she doesn't look like an expert in any sense."
The big bell considered this and said, "True. Looking at her cheeks makes even me want to give them a pinch. The fourth Dao Master of the other shore wouldn't travel through Taiyi's cave abyss to reach the Jing Realm, and getting trapped halfway would make them a laughingstock..."
*Clang—!*
It suddenly rang out, and in sheer terror exclaimed, "Ah Ying! Ah Ying! Someone just struck me!"
Xu Ying was astonished. The big bell was clearly inside his Martial Dao Cave Abyss; how could someone strike it?
"Master Bell, are you just twitching because you aren't used to those wrinkles?" Xu Ying asked.
"Possibly. Lately I keep trying to get a clear look at the textures on my surface, and I've gone blind several times as a result."
Just then, Xu Ying sensed someone else arriving in the Jing Realm, so he had his Dao bodies deliver the inscribed stone tablets.
Those who came here to hunt him down were mostly figures in the Immortal realm, the strongest being True Kings. Some took the stone tablets and departed overjoyed. Others preferred a challenge, trading blows with Xu Ying's Dao body before snatching the slab and departing in delight.
Still others preferred to silence witnesses and were the hardest to please, often insisting on slaying Xu Ying's Dao body.
Though it was merely a Dao body, having one slain and having to reforge it was quite a hassle, so Xu Ying had no choice but to drop the slab and flee.
Having handed out twelve stone slabs in this manner, Xu Ying still felt it was too slow.
"If only I could give them all away in one go, so they could brawl and scramble over them on the other shore, killing each other senseless. How wonderful that would be," he muttered.
In the distance, the baby-faced girl rested her chin on her hands, staring at him unblinkingly, seemingly curious about his antics.
In the days since her arrival, Xu Ying no longer felt the sensation of being secretly spied upon; instead, he had the sense of being openly and unabashedly watched.
Nevertheless, Xu Ying had grown accustomed to the baby-faced girl sitting in the distance. The woman harbored no malice toward him, merely curiosity about what he was doing.
"How great a slaughter can twelve stone slabs stir up on the other shore?"
Just as Xu Ying thought this, he immediately sensed another emerald rock multi-decked vessel sailing out from the Chaos Sea.
As soon as this emerald rock multi-decked vessel entered the Jing Realm, Xu Ying suddenly saw that every thread of karma within his sight abruptly bent, snapping in unison toward the exact same location!
"This is..."
Moved, he stood up and channeled his Eye of Karma to look around.
Taking in the karma of the entire Jing Realm universe, every single one of those karma threads had now bent in that direction!
Countless threads of karma flowed toward the same point simultaneously, connecting to an unknown entity!
Even the karma threads on Xu Ying himself began to deflect!
Even when he mobilized the Golden Wheel Karma Tribulation-Crossing Scripture, he could barely control the flow of his own karma!
"Who has arrived? How can they be this powerful?"
His Eye of Karma suddenly swept past the baby-faced girl, and he froze. Upon the baby-faced girl, there was not a single thread of karma!
Ten thousand forms of karma could not touch a hair on her!
"How did she accomplish that?"
***
At the border of the Jing Realm, beneath the shala tree, Daoshengzi had not stepped off the vessel. Instead, he stood at the bow, letting his Great Dao of Reincarnation expand outward.
Just then, Daoshengzi raised his brows. A black-robed Xu Ying strode toward him, black hair fluttering, appearing like a god, like a demon.
"So it is Dao Lord Daosheng."
Xu Ying set down a stone tablet and said, "Dao Lord, the Xuanhuang Dao Realm Scripture you seek is here. Now that you have obtained this Lord of the Great Dao technique, you may depart."
Daoshengzi smiled faintly and shook his head. "Xu Ying, you are mistaken. If it were merely for a technique of a Lord of the Great Dao, it would not warrant such a slaughter from me."
Xu Ying was startled, looking at him in confusion.
Behind Daoshengzi, vessel after vessel sailed out of the Chaos Sea, coming to rest beneath the shala tree. Not a single person was aboard these ships—only pool after pool of blood.
"The bloodstains on these vessels belong to the scouts and Immortals who came seeking you," Daoshengzi laughed. "On my way to the Jing Realm, I personally drove this vessel to pursue those who went before me. Each vessel I caught up to, I slaughtered everyone aboard. Just like that, I carved a bloody path all the way to the Jing Realm!"
The black-robed Xu Ying frowned slightly.
"Among these fourteen vessels, quite a few were returning to the other shore. The Immortals aboard were carrying stone tablets inscribed with the Xuanhuang Dao Realm Scripture."
Daoshengzi produced seven stone slabs and chuckled. "The contents of these slabs are identical, all the Xuanhuang Dao Realm Scripture. But what I desire is not merely the Xuanhuang Dao Realm Scripture. I also want the Hongyuan and the Chaos spirit root!"
His Great Dao of Reincarnation had already penetrated deep into the space-time of the Jing Realm, connecting with the universe as if intending to drag the entire Jing Realm universe into his own cycle of reincarnation!
"Xu Ying, allow me to show you just how formidable the power of the Reincarnation Dao drawn from the Great Thousand Universes truly is!"
At this moment, everyone in the Jing Realm, all living beings, and even the Jing Realm itself were plunging toward his reincarnation!
The black-robed Xu Ying was just about to flee when his footing slipped uncontrollably. He tumbled into the reincarnation, dissolving into the Qi of Gods and Demons, extinguished in the blink of an eye!
Chapter 779