When the four Dao Masters—Hua, Lin, Luo, and Tongtian—saw him dividing his focus, simultaneously comprehending while wielding an innate spiritual treasure to battle others, they inwardly praised him for being young and promising.
Only Dao Master Hua's expression was rather unsightly.
These four great banners were his magical treasures, used to suppress Dao Master Ji Cang. The origin of the four banners was extraordinary as well: they were treasures formed from the Chaos spirit root of the Hong Realm Universe.
The Hong Realm Universe was also a magnificent, vast universe. The four banners had been born from chaos, absorbing energy from the Chaos Sea to guard the Hong Realm's Hongyuan, growing alongside it.
When the Hongyuan grew to its limit, accompanied by the thunderous boom of heaven and earth being cleft open, the universe opened, and the Hong Realm was born. The four banners consequently fell into the Hong Realm, transforming into four heavenly spectacles.
Back when the other shore discovered the Hong Realm, the natives had raised the four banners to resist the trailblazers, slaying countless among them. It was not until Dao Master Hua personally arrived and expended considerable effort that he managed to claim the four banners.
He had simply never expected that these treasures, instead of falling into Dao Master Ji Cang's hands, had wound up in the possession of juniors like Xu Ying.
"Could it be that Ji Cang gave the four banners to Xu Ying and the others? Is he truly that generous?" he wondered in confusion.
At the same time, in the Zhao Realm Heavenly Court, Qingxuan, the Holy Venerable, Daoist Wukong, and Shi Tianyang each raised a great banner against the Zhao Realm Heavenly Emperor. The banners fluttered as though the four great flags formed a complete universe, with diverse Dao powers shifting unpredictably.
The Zhao Realm Heavenly Emperor was the master of the Great Dao of the Zhao Realm. The moment they clashed, his vision blurred, and he found himself plunged into a vast, boundless space-time. All around him, various powers of the Grand Dao shifted unpredictably: the transition from Hongmeng to Wuji, the transformation of the Five Tais from Taiyi to Taiji, from Wuji to Taiyi, and from Taiyi to the Ten Thousand Daos!
As the clouds of the banners swirled, these various Dao powers shifted and evolved, trapping him within!
As every manner of Dao power invaded, for a time he was actually unable to keep pace with the shifting Dao powers within the banners. Suffering repeated setbacks, he was driven deep into the Four Banners Gate Formation.
Yet in merely a moment, the Zhao Realm Heavenly Emperor stabilized the situation. Having attained the Dao through the Grand Dao of the Sun, he was utterly unyielding and supremely yang, as if all the suns of the Zhao Realm were concentrated into a single body, dazzling with blinding brilliance!
"You are not bad at all—to have refined an innate formation so exquisitely!"
The Zhao Realm Heavenly Emperor could not help praising them, saying, "Especially that dull-witted fellow—to think he could deploy the formation with such ingenuity. Truly, one cannot judge a book by its cover!"
Shi Tianyang thought, Dull-witted? Is he talking about me? This scoundrel actually dares look down on me!
Then he suddenly realized: Wait. I've never refined the Hundao Apricot Yellow Banner, so how am I wielding this flag so smoothly?
At this thought, he quietly loosened his grip on the flagpole, only to see that even without his control, the banner continued to fly back and forth, constantly activating the profundities within!
Shi Tianyang stared blankly. So it turns out I'm just here to provide the mana to power the banner.
The Zhao Realm Heavenly Emperor's strength clashed against the Dao power of the Four Banners Gate Formation, withstanding all attacks while jolting the four men's blood and qi violently. Soon, he fought his way to a gateway, raised a palm to imprint it onto the gate, and strode inside.
Qingxuan and the other three each let out a muffled groan, sensing that the banners in their hands were sluggish in operation, likely due to the intrusion of the Zhao Realm Heavenly Emperor's power.
While channeling the power within the banners to suppress the Emperor's might, the four waved the banners anew.
Within the second gateway, all manner of Dao powers converged to form Dao scenery of astounding scale—some suppressing, some refining, some battering, some locking, deploying all sorts of bizarre attacks!
There was even a Dao scenery of Samsara, swallowing the Zhao Realm Heavenly Emperor into the cycle of reincarnation, plunging him into the enigma of Samsara and making him forget his true self.
Yet the Zhao Realm Heavenly Emperor fought his way out of the Dao manifestations, arriving beneath another gateway, and once again raised a palm and struck the gate.
Qingxuan and the others groaned, their blood and qi churning.
The Zhao Realm Heavenly Emperor breached the third gateway, and before long broke out, located the portal, and did the same, striking the gate with another palm.
Qingxuan and the others coughed up blood, their breath unsteady.
Reaching the fourth gateway, the Zhao Realm Heavenly Emperor smiled. "If you could truly draw forth the innate spiritual treasures' full might, you might still suppress me. But alas, your cultivation is far too low!"
Qingxuan and the others strained with everything they had to drive the banner gate formation, but they were already wounded, and the formation fell into disarray. In mere moments, the Zhao Realm Heavenly Emperor found the gateway and slammed his palm against it.
The four coughed up great mouthfuls of blood and tumbled downward.
Before the Elegance Pagoda, Xu Ying frowned, instantly sensing that the Four Banners Gate Formation had been broken. He could not help but feel startled and uncertain. Just who is so formidable as to break our formation?
On their journey to the Zhao Realm, they had drifted in the Chaos Sea for seven full years, and Xu Ying and the others had refined the four great banners for seven years as well.
They had exchanged the profundities within the banners among themselves, and when deploying the Four Banners Gate Formation in concert, their coordination was seamless and effortless.
When the four of them raised the banners, even a Grand Dao Lord would be refined to ash!
Yet this defeat had been so swift and absolute.
Could it be that the Zhao Realm truly has a Dao Master?
He did not know who Qingxuan and the others were confronting; he had merely used his mastery over karma to sense that they were in danger, and thus had cast out the Apricot Yellow Banner to help the four weather the calamity.
Just as Xu Ying was about to activate the Apricot Yellow Banner to sweep the four away and escape the lethal tribulation, he suddenly noticed on the Karma Golden Wheel that there was no fatal karma tied to Qingxuan and the others. His mind stirred, and he relaxed.
The Zhao Realm Heavenly Emperor strode out of the banner gate formation, only to see a colossal giant standing outside. Ferocious muscles rippled across his sinewy frame, a bone wheel twisted behind his head, and his hair flew about like coiling dragons, resembling a god stepped out of primordial antiquity.
"A Dao Master of the other shore!"
The Zhao Realm Heavenly Emperor's heart jolted, while Qingxuan and the others breathed a collective sigh of relief. Ji Cang had finally been stirred by their vicious battle.
Useless Qingxuan chuckled and said, "Dao Master Ji Cang, this is the Zhao Realm Heavenly Emperor. If you wish to seek vengeance, why not join hands with him?"
Hearing this, the Holy Venerable had a revelation: So this was Qingxuan's intention all along.
When Qingxuan made a bet with Shi Tianyang asserting that the Zhao Realm Heavenly Emperor must be a Dao Master, he had originally thought it was merely an inexplicable wager. Only now did he understand that Qingxuan wanted to draw out the Zhao Realm Heavenly Emperor so Dao Master Ji Cang could join forces with him against the other shore.
Dao Master Ji Cang wished to enter seclusion, and the Zhao Realm Heavenly Emperor was unwilling to expose himself as a Dao Master; hence, an alliance would normally have been impossible.
Yet meeting in this manner opened the possibility of an alliance.
Dao Master Ji Cang fixed his gaze upon the Zhao Realm Heavenly Emperor, exceedingly astonished. "You are a Dao Master? You achieved the Dao Master realm in the Zhao Realm?"
The Zhao Realm Heavenly Emperor was surprised at first, but then grew composed and laughed heartily. "All my life, I have acted with utmost caution, concealing that I had attained the realm of Dao Master for fear of discovery and fatal disaster. I never dared reveal my strength. I never expected that my greed would be lured out by these juniors using treasures, thus exposing me. Since that is so, why should I endure any longer?"
Mobilizing the Grand Dao of Heaven and Earth of the Zhao Realm to empower himself, he proclaimed in a clear voice, "I am the sovereign of the Zhao Realm, the king of the Great Dao, Emperor Lord Zhao He!"
Previously, even before marshaling the Grand Dao of the entire Zhao Realm, he had already firmly suppressed Qingxuan, the Holy Venerable, the other two, and their Four Banners Gate Formation. Now, harnessing the Grand Dao of Heaven and Earth, his cultivation and might were all the more domineering and overwhelming!
Sensing his cultivation climbing steadily, Dao Master Ji Cang nodded slightly and praised, "Your cultivation and strength are not bad. To cultivate into a Dao Master, you truly have some ability. It is just a pity that you are not of the Sacred Clan; in cultivation and strength, you still fall far short of a Dao Master of the other shore."
Emperor Lord Zhao He shook his head. "Brother Dao, you are mistaken. Prior to the Dao Master realm, it might make sense to say that superior race, cultivation method, and Dao patterns yield higher cultivation and greater strength. But upon reaching the Dao Master realm, where all are Masters of the Great Dao, race, cultivation methods, and Dao patterns are no longer the dividing gap. What limits a Dao Master's strength is solely one's individual comprehension of the Grand Dao. And I am not necessarily inferior to any Dao Master of the other shore's Sacred Clan."
Dao Master Ji Cang said, "Your perspective is too shallow. In the Dao Master realm, while the Great Dao lacks rigid structure and forms an undivided, chaotic whole, truly erasing differences in Dao patterns, some Dao Masters can govern only the Grand Dao of a single universe, whereas other Dao Masters command the Grand Dao of myriad universes. How can they be mentioned in the same breath?"
Emperor Lord Zhao He's pupils constricted slightly as an inexplicable competitive urge welled within him. "Myriad universes share the same Dao source, all originating from the Chaos Sea. What difference is there between mastering one realm and mastering a thousand realms?"
Dao Master Ji Cang wore a look of disappointment and shook his head. "A Dao Master like you would not last a single move before wily old foxes like Hua, Lin, and Luo; you would be slain on the spot. You think your endurance over all these years is forbearance, believing you will turn the tables sooner or later. Little do you know that in their eyes, your forbearance is merely a joke."
Useless Qingxuan pushed himself up, enduring his injuries as he helped the Holy Venerable and the others to their feet, whispering, "Something isn't right. We had better put some distance between us."
Carrying the four banners, the four quietly retreated.
Emperor Lord Zhao He said, "You are injured. I would very much like to ask for your guidance, yet I worry it might seem like taking advantage of your condition."
Dao Master Ji Cang shook his head. "Merely minor injuries. They limit only sixty or seventy percent of my power; defeating you with the remaining thirty to forty percent is still trivial."
Hearing this, Useless Qingxuan and the others hastily retreated with all their might, putting as much distance as possible between themselves and the spot.
At the same time, before the Heaven and Earth Elegance Pagoda, Xu Ying felt the aura of slaughter permeating the world suddenly intensify, and his heart skipped a beat. The calamitous destiny of the Zhao Realm has been triggered.
He did not know where this Elegance Pagoda had come from, nor why calamitous destiny and the aura of slaughter flowed from within it, but the calamitous destiny of the Zhao Realm was steadily mounting.
Suddenly, another cave abyss took shape behind Xu Ying—the Calamitous Destiny Cave Abyss!
His Dao of Calamitous Destiny was also growing steadily!
Karma, calamitous destiny, and slaughter mutually nourished one another, gradually causing his cultivation speed within the Calamitous Destiny Cave Abyss to accelerate!
In the other shore, Dao Master Luo, Dao Master Lin, and the others continued to watch Xu Ying's cultivation. Seeing his Calamitous Destiny Cave Abyss manifest, they all nodded in approval.
Dao Master Lin praised, "No one taught him how to cultivate calamitous destiny, yet he was able to perceive it, form a cave abyss, and refine the Great Dao. Truly a genius."
Dao Master Luo praised, "His talent and comprehension are rare throughout history. In time, becoming a fellow daoist of ours is well within reason."
Dao Master Tongtian suddenly said, "Have you noticed? The change in the Zhao Realm's calamitous destiny is somewhat strange."
The three Dao Masters were startled. Observing Xu Ying's cultivation progress closely, they too discovered the anomaly.
Dao Master Hua said, "Xu Ying's progress in calamitous destiny is too swift—unreasonably swift. This indicates that the calamitous destiny of the Zhao Realm has already been stirred."
"Yet the speed is simply too fast!"
Dao Master Luo also noticed something and said, "Look at Xu Ying's Slaughter Cave Abyss; it is transitioning toward the Immortal realm. This shows that the slaughter in the Zhao Realm has been triggered as well. Based on the amount of calamitous destiny and slaughter aura we transferred over, even if it provoked calamity and slaughter, it shouldn't happen this quickly."
Dao Master Lin pondered for a moment before saying, "There is one possibility: the Zhao Realm itself was already on the verge of calamitous destiny. Our transfer of calamity and slaughter merely happened to spark the calamity that was destined to erupt in the Zhao Realm."
"There is another possibility," Dao Master Tongtian said after some thought. "There is another entity of the Dao Master realm within the Zhao Realm. By linking his own Great Dao to the Zhao Realm's Grand Dao of Heaven and Earth, calamitous destiny and slaughter entered his body."
A Master of the Great Dao commanded the heaven-and-earth Great Dao of a universe, wielding terrifyingly immense Dao power, but would simultaneously be influenced by that Dao power.
If that universe were engulfed in calamitous destiny, the calamity and slaughter would affect this Master of the Great Dao.
Hua, Lin, and Luo were all stunned. Dao Master Lin murmured, "Could it really be such a coincidence?"
At the same time, within the Zhao Realm, Emperor Lord Zhao He rose to his full height, bringing the might of the Zhao Realm Universe's Grand Dao of Heaven and Earth bearing down upon Ji Cang!
Making his move now, he had no need to hide anything; he unleashed his cultivation and strength without reservation. Behind him, tens of thousands of rays of multicolored Dao light streamed from the void, connecting to his body and his fists!
This spectacle was truly magnificent to the extreme!
Qingxuan, the Holy Venerable, and the others each stabilized a great banner, channeling its power and shouting, "We must block it!"
Boom!
At the collision point of the two Dao Masters' techniques, even the Grand Dao of Heaven and Earth fell silent for an instant before violently erupting. Qingxuan, the Holy Venerable, and the others strained to drive the Four Banners Gate Formation to withstand the shockwaves, feeling the various Dao manifestations in the formation wobble precariously!
The Zhao Realm Heavenly Court was blasted millions of li away amid violent tremors, undulating violently as immortal palaces exploded one after another and immortals were crushed to death by the impact!
Even Xu Ying, far away in the Zhongji Heavens, felt the immense collision resonating across the universe!
The aura of slaughter is surging higher and higher!
Xu Ying was filled with shock and doubt, sensing that alongside the rise in the aura of slaughter, the calamitous destiny was escalating wildly!
Far away on the other shore, Dao Master Luo's expression shifted as well, turning grave. "Everyone, the intensity of the Zhao Realm's calamitous destiny has already surpassed that of our other shore."
Dao Master Hua's eyes flickered, and he sighed, "It seems the Zhao Realm was doomed to perish; we merely poured oil on the fire. Daoist Luo, continue transferring the calamitous destiny—add another burst of flame."
High above the Zhao Realm Heavenly Court, two Dao Masters clashed. Originally, Dao Master Ji Cang had exercised restraint, thinking to subdue Emperor Lord Zhao He so they could join forces in the future against the overlords of the other shore.
Yet Emperor Lord Zhao He mobilized the Grand Dao of Heaven and Earth of the Zhao Realm, his onslaught growing fiercer and fiercer. Every technique pressed Ji Cang uncomfortably, even threatening to trigger his Dao injuries.
Ji Cang, having been suppressed for countless years and not fought in ages, had once been a demon lord who had slaughtered beyond count. At this moment, he simply marshaled the entirety of his cultivation and power, laughing uproariously, "Emperor Lord, since you wish to witness the true strength of a Dao Master of the other shore, I shall grant your wish!"
Boom!
Behind him, a swath of darkness suddenly emerged. Within that darkness, universes great and small lit up one after another like miniature other shores!
These universes were not numerous—only around a hundred or so—yet their heaven-and-earth Grand Daos were stirred to action by Ji Cang!
Caught up in the thrill of the kill, Ji Cang lunged forward with a claw outstretched toward Emperor Lord Zhao He, shouting, "This is the true combat strength of a Dao Master of the other shore!"
Pfft—
Emperor Lord Zhao He was seized in his grasp. Ji Cang's primal savagery flared, and with the slightest exertion of force, the Dao Master suddenly exploded, showering fresh blood everywhere.
Sprayed full in the face with Emperor Lord Zhao He's Dao blood, the ferocious killing intent in Ji Cang's heart vanished like melting snow.
"What did I...?"
Horrified, he cried out in shock, "What in the world was controlling me?!"
Chapter 793