"My name is Zhong Yuliu, though that was my name when I lived in the Jing Realm. On the other shore, my Daoist title was Dao Lord Yuliu, then Grand Dao Lord Yuliu. Later, I was called Dao Master Yuliu."
The baby-faced girl raised a hand, plucked up the shala tree, burned it to ash, and walked toward the Jing Realm, saying, "However, I no longer use the title Dao Master Yuliu. You may call me Ancestor Yuliu!"
Master Bell trembled with a low clang, offering an ingratiating smile with the utmost care. "Yuliu... Godmother, how about I call you Godmother? Godmother, are you a Grand Dao Sovereign?"
"Not quite a true Grand Dao Master yet,"
Dao Master Zhong Yuliu said. "I had originally attained the realm of Dao Master, until Dao Master Hua of the other shore struck me with an axe, cleaving me down from the state of a Dao Master. I nearly died. I hid in every corner while being hunted by Dao Master Hua, but fortunately, I shared some friendship with Grand Dao Lord Taiyi. I fled into his Taiyi Cave Abyss and managed to survive by luck. Furthermore, do not call me Godmother!"
"Understood, Godmother."
Master Bell readily agreed, though wonder filled his thoughts: *Grand Dao Lord Taiyi must be a spy planted on the other shore by some other universe, right? To think he actually climbed all the way to the status of Grand Dao Lord! Still, one more step and he'll be a Grand Dao Master. If he still doesn't rebel by then, he'll practically be the supreme overlord of the other shore.*
Xu Ying slowly awakened to find himself seated cross-legged on a prayer mat inside an immortal palace.
The prayer mat floated in midair, and his Primordial Spirit stood behind him, giving him quite a start. Ever since he refined the Martial Dao Cave Abyss into his physical body, his Primordial Spirit and mortal flesh had become tightly knit as one. Reinforced by his Leakless Golden Body, hardly anyone could force his Primordial Spirit out!
Yet now, his Primordial Spirit had actually left his body!
Xu Ying hurriedly reabsorbed his Primordial Spirit into his flesh. Only then did he notice that his Martial Dao Cave Abyss had separated from his body at some point, also hovering in midair.
The cave abyss hung wide open, exposing the secrets within, revealing his Dao tree and Dao fruits.
Xu Ying's heart tightened. He hastily felt around his clothes and breathed a sigh of relief when he found them all intact.
"The heavens have eyes; my chastity remains."
With a mere thought, the various Dao fruits on the Dao tree radiated brilliant light. Their Dao rhymes lingered long and profound, the Great Daos circulating continuously, moving with far greater agility than before.
Within the Martial Dao Cave Abyss lay an expanse of chaos, where the Chaos Lotus and Hongyuan floated peacefully.
*Where is Master Bell?*
Curious, Xu Ying rose, drifted lightly to the ground, and walked out of the immortal palace.
Once outside, he realized that he had returned to that divine mountain previously buried in Dao ash without even realizing it.
Originally, the mountain had been scarred and desolate, stripped of all life with lingering traces of Dao ash scattered across its surface. Now, however, it flourished with lush greenery and abundant spiritual energy. Even the Great Daos between heaven and earth had been enlivened by its presence.
The nearby Dao ash had completely vanished, likely transformed into the heaven-and-earth Great Daos surrounding the divine mountain.
Yet the Dao ash elsewhere had not disappeared.
*Could this be the baby-faced girl's doing? I remember now—she seemed to sneak up on me and gave me a knock on the head.*
Just as the thought crossed his mind, Master Bell's delighted voice echoed over: "Ying'zi, you're awake? Godmother, Ying'zi is awake!"
"Godmother?"
Xu Ying froze. Seeing the big bell rush over, he hastily asked, "Master Bell, you took the baby-faced girl as your godmother?"
The big bell retorted, "What baby-faced girl? My godmother is named Zhong Yuliu, known to the world as Dao Master Yuliu!"
Xu Ying secretly gave Master Bell a thumb-up, filled with admiration. "She is actually a Dao Master? She doesn't look the slightest bit like one."
Just then, Zhong Yuliu's voice carried over: "What do you think a Dao Master should look like? I am a Dao Master, so what I look like is what a Dao Master looks like. The majestic aura, the calm domineering presence you imagine for a Dao Master is nothing more than your own fantasy."
The young woman strode over with graceful steps, still looking like an overgrown girl. She lifted her head proudly, sweeping a provocative gaze across Xu Ying.
Seeing this, Xu Ying still found it difficult to associate her with a sovereign of the Great Dao.
He hesitated briefly before saying, "Fellow Daoist Yuliu..."
"Call her Godmother!" Master Bell cried, his voice nearly cracking from nervousness.
Xu Ying paused, then changed his address: "Brother Dao Zhong—"
Zhong Yuliu had originally intended to accept if he called her Godmother, but seeing him switch to Fellow Daoist Zhong instead, she hurriedly waved her hand. "You'd better just call me Dao Master Yuliu."
Xu Ying adopted a solemn expression. "Brother Dao Yuliu, why were you inside Grand Dao Lord Taiyi's cave abyss?"
Zhong Yuliu sighed and recounted how she had attained the Dao Master realm only to be ambushed by Dao Master Hua. "My injuries were severe, and my realm was cleaved away by Dao Master Hua, forcing me to flee here as a refugee. I thought I would never have any hope of walking out of that amber spacetime..."
Xu Ying asked in surprise, "Amber spacetime? You mean that gel-like substance?"
"You call the frozen spacetime between the two realms a gel substance? We call it amber. It resembles amber on the verge of solidifying; once you enter, you become trapped, and moving through it is excruciatingly difficult,"
Zhong Yuliu continued. "I originally thought I would never escape. Who could have expected that someone would pass right by me and refuse to lift a finger to save my life? They clearly saw the smile plastered on my face, yet offered no help whatsoever. Enraged, I summoned every last ounce of my strength to chase after them."
Xu Ying was utterly astounded. "Who could be so heartless? Brother Dao, don't take it to heart—perhaps that person simply failed to notice you."
Zhong Yuliu glared at him with puffed cheeks. "After arriving in the Jing Realm, I only gradually began to recover some of my cultivation and dharmic power."
Xu Ying scrambled to change the subject: "Brother Dao is a native of the Jing Realm?"
Zhong Yuliu nodded gently. "Back then, I cultivated in the Taiyi Dao Sect of the Jing Realm. I yearned deeply for the other shore, believing I could fulfill my life's ambitions there. Thus, I smuggled myself through the Taiyi Cave Abyss to reach the other shore."
Her cultivation had been modest back then, so the resistance the amber substance exerted on her was nowhere near as intense as it was now. Even so, it took her over a hundred thousand years to complete the crossing.
Yet as soon as she arrived at the other shore, Grand Dao Lord Taiyi discovered her. Seeing her tremendous perseverance, Taiyi did not send her back, allowing her to cultivate on the other shore instead. However, Zhong Yuliu was unsuited for the Great Dao of Taiyi. Grand Dao Lord Taiyi considered her foolish and expelled her from his tutelage.
Left to her own devices, Zhong Yuliu groped her way forward, throwing herself into underground brawls.
The other shore housed races from countless universes, and they frequently waged war, taking scalps. Zhong Yuliu became an undisputed overlord among them.
Listening to this, Xu Ying found it hard to believe. Zhong Yuliu looked like a sweet, baby-faced girl who was always wearing a tender smile. Could this girl truly have been the infamous scalping overlord of those days?
Zhong Yuliu continued, "Sometimes, to earn money, I volunteered to venture into the Chaos Sea as a scout, searching for other universes to trade for funds so I could purchase cultivation arts. Scouts suffered heavy casualties, so the other shore was remarkably generous to them. Every time we set sail, they paid handsomely regardless of whether we found another universe."
She drifted aimlessly like that for tens of thousands of years. Once, Grand Dao Lord Taiyi descended to the mortal realm of the other shore and encountered her again. Unable to bear seeing her degenerate further, he penned a letter recommending her to True King Jiang Fei, who cultivated the Great Dao of Taichu.
True King Jiang Fei did not think much of Zhong Yuliu either. She often taught cultivation methods and passed down divine powers without explaining them. Zhong Yuliu would then run to Taiyi, begging him to explain the manuals and arts.
"During my spare time, I still went out to sea regularly, piloting an emerald rock multi-decked vessel to monitor three emerald rocks drifting in the Chaos Sea. If I could locate a new universe, I wouldn't have cared even if it brought about catastrophic slaughter,"
Zhong Yuliu said. "Back then, all I cared about was making money—earning more money to buy better cultivation methods. Scouting voyages paid too little; the only real way to strike it rich was finding a new universe. The other shore would bestow immense rewards, enough for a person to break through and attain the Indestructible realm! On my final voyage, I still failed to find a new universe to make my fortune, but I did encounter a wounded young man in the Chaos Sea."
Xu Ying started upon hearing this.
"He had no emerald rock vessel to part the Chaos Sea; he crossed the sea purely with his mortal flesh. He had been gravely wounded by someone, and when he could no longer hold on, he collapsed onto my ship,"
Zhong Yuliu continued. "I revived him, and he was deeply grateful. He told me he hailed from the Dao Alliance and was fleeing the pursuit of a powerful enemy."
"The Dao Alliance?" Xu Ying's spirits rose. This was not the first time he had heard that name.
Zhong Yuliu said, "He told me my aptitude was exceptional, but I was cultivating the wrong Great Dao. He stayed on my ship to expound the mysteries of spacetime. Previously, when I studied under Taiyi, my progress had been painfully slow, and True King Jiang Fei later called me stupid. Yet strangely enough, when I learned from that young man of the Dao Alliance, I mastered the Great Dao of Spacetime to an extraordinarily high realm in no time."
The young man lectured for a month. Once his wounds healed, he crossed the sea and departed on his own.
Not long after Zhong Yuliu returned to the other shore, she attained the Dao through spacetime, achieving the Indestructible realm.
From that point on, her fortunes soared. Step by step, she rose to become a True King, a Dao Lord, and a Grand Dao Lord!
Later, she made a push for the Dao Master realm.
Yet during her attempt to break through to Dao Master, she suffered an ambush by Dao Master Hua's Falling Petals Divine Axe, which nearly cost her life.
Gravely wounded and left with nowhere to turn, she fled secretly to Grand Dao Lord Taiyi, who permitted her to take shelter inside his cave abyss.
Xu Ying marveled, "Taiyi actually did that?"
Zhong Yuliu replied, "Taiyi's heart belongs entirely to the other shore. He believed that I was already a person of the other shore, and Dao Master Hua's action of severing my path to Dao Master and attempting to kill me had violated the principles of the other shore. He is exceptionally principled."
Reflecting on Grand Dao Lord Taiyi's past actions, Xu Ying found that it indeed aligned with his character.
"Then will Brother Dao Yuliu return to the other shore and continue as a Dao Master?"
Xu Ying asked, "With your current cultivation and strength, it shouldn't take long before you become a Dao Master once more. If you return with the status of a Dao Master, Dao Master Hua shouldn't be able to do anything to you."
Zhong Yuliu shook her head and chuckled. "My dream of the other shore was shattered by Dao Master Hua's single axe strike. I will not go back. I intend to remain in the Jing Realm."
She looked toward the barren, desolate realm and said, "While on the other shore, I always regarded myself as one of them, never realizing that Dao Master Hua and the rest never saw me as their equal. Returning to my homeland and seeing the Jing Realm reduced to its current state, I have lost all enthusiasm. I will never return to the other shore."
Xu Ying's eyes gleamed as he probed, "Little Sister, are you interested in overthrowing the other shore?"
Zhong Yuliu's piercing gaze swept over him.
Xu Ying instantly felt a chill run across his scalp. He hastily reached up to touch his head, breathing a sigh of relief when he found his scalp still intact.
Zhong Yuliu shook her head. "The other shore is far more powerful than you know. Xu Ying, you are indeed remarkably talented and charismatic, but you will never shake the other shore. I won't be foolish like you, dreaming of toppling the other shore. That is nothing short of courting death."
Her tone turned stern. "You slipped into unconsciousness by accident. While you were asleep, I observed your Martial Dao." Her delicate brows furrowed slightly, as if finding it difficult to reconcile Xu Ying's Martial Dao with the crude, brutish reputation of martial arts. Composing herself, she continued, "While this acquired Great Dao of yours can indeed fuse various innate Great Daos into a single whole, your comprehension of the acquired Dao itself remains insufficient."
Xu Ying was slightly taken aback.
It was not that he lacked comprehension of the Martial Dao; rather, he was comprehending it every waking moment. Within his Martial Dao Cave Abyss, the supreme intent of his Martial Dao manifested as countless illusory versions of himself, exhausting every possible permutation of martial divine powers.
With every passing moment, new martial arts divine powers were developed and created.
One could say that countless versions of him were constantly pushing the peak of the Martial Dao toward even greater heights.
In this world, no one could be more diligent than him.
"Yet it is not enough. The path you truly ought to take is using the innate to nourish the acquired,"
Zhong Yuliu said. "Your so-called fusion is merely fusion; you have not achieved nourishment. In the martial divine powers deduced by your Martial Dao's supreme intent, do they contain the subtleties of these innate Daos? Nourishing your acquired Dao with the innate Daos you have integrated is the only way to achieve complete harmony, where neither can be distinguished from the other. Once that happens, even if Daoshengzi were resurrected, he would not be able to harm a single hair on your head."
Xu Ying stood stunned, then bowed deeply to the ground in solemn gratitude.
Zhong Yuliu hastily returned the gesture with a smile. "I gained much from examining your cave abyss, which is why I am confident in attaining the Dao Master realm a second time. I was merely stealing a peach to return a plum."
*An illiterate Dao Master,* Xu Ying thought to himself.
He remained on the divine mountain for a time, seeking guidance from Zhong Yuliu on the Great Dao of Spacetime, and reaped immense benefits before he knew it.
In the end, Xu Ying felt out of place staying with this baby-faced girl, so he took his leave.
Zhong Yuliu produced a jade medallion and said, "This jade medallion was given to me by that young man from the Dao Alliance whom I saved back then. He told me that if I activated it in the Chaos Sea, it would guide me toward the Dao Alliance, allowing me to journey there. Since I have no intention of running off, and you risked your life for the Jing Realm, I gift it to you."
After a moment's hesitation, Xu Ying accepted the Dao Alliance token.
It was a square green plaque, devoid of any inscriptions on either side.
The instant he caught the medallion, Xu Ying's mastery of the Great Dao of Karma surged abruptly, skyrocketing with wild intensity.
Jolted by the explosive surge of karmic Dao power, his blood and qi churned violently. He immediately channeled his Martial Dao to pacify the karmic energy, transmuting it into Martial Dao cultivation.
Only after a brief moment did he return to normal.
"Once you return to the other shore, you had best be careful,"
Zhong Yuliu said hesitantly. "When I attained the Dao Master realm on the other shore, I sensed ripples of tribulation fortune there."
"Ripples of tribulation fortune?"
Xu Ying showed a puzzled expression.
Zhong Yuliu did not elaborate further, merely saying, "I cannot say for certain whether it was an illusion. In any case, you had better watch your step."
She shot Xu Ying a meaningful glance and added, "When tribulation fortune strikes, a killing calamity follows. Anyone who is not a Dao Master will struggle even to protect themselves."
Xu Ying's expression turned solemn as he bowed and took his leave.
Returning to the Taiyi Dao Sect of Jingtian, he settled into Xiuhua Pavilion. Before long, Sect Master He Ying arrived to pay a visit. As though anticipating her arrival, Xu Ying had left the door open for her.
Sect Master He Ying stood in silence for a long time before finally gathering her courage to say, "Young Master Xu, this concubine wishes to rebel."
Chapter 783