At the frontier of the Three Realms lay the Tianjing Sea.
Because the Chaos Sea was comparatively calm here, devoid of surges and billows, it was called the Tianjing Sea—the Sea of Heavenly Serenity.
Over the years, the universe of the Three Realms had been growing steadily, its heaven-and-earth Grand Daos waxing ever more robust, far surpassing the era when there were only the All Heavens and Myriad Realms. The Three Realms had expanded accordingly, pushing back the Chaos and broadening the cosmos.
The Tianjing Sea was also continually receding outward. Occasionally, divine treasures from the Chaos would drop down from the Tianjing Sea, causing quite a commotion.
Most of these treasures were remnant materials from other universes or the wreckage of exceptionally powerful magic treasures that the Chaos could not dissolve—extremely rare and precious treasures.
Every time one appeared, it sparked fierce contention. With this having occurred many times in history, people came to regard the Tianjing Sea as a sea of treasures. Consequently, some cultivators established an immortal city at the Tianjing Sea called Tianjing City to stand guard here, while others skilled in commerce also arrived to conduct trade.
Near the Tianjing Sea were several remarkable Dao scenes. Among them, the Creation Dao Scene and the Zhongtian Dao Scene were the most vital Dao scenes for the Grand Dao of Creation and the intermediate Daos, attracting many people to come observe and comprehend them. As a result, the immortal city gradually flourished.
On this day, the Tianjing Sea, serene as ever, suddenly rippled with waves. This spectacle immediately drew many gazing eyes upward to search and watch. For most of the time, the Tianjing Sea saw no billows; when ripples did arise, it often meant a treasure from the Chaos Sea had drifted into the Three Realms. The immortals of Tianjing City craned their necks to watch, when someone suddenly cried out, "A ship! It's a ship!"
At the center of the ripples, an emerald rock multi-decked vessel was sailing out from the Chaos. However, far too few people had ever seen an emerald rock multi-decked vessel; they had no idea what it signified. "A treasure from beyond the heavens has finally arrived!"
Wild with joy, people flew toward the vessel. Just then, an object plummeted from the multi-decked vessel, plunging straight toward them with accelerating speed. Its front was pointed like the tip of a spear, spinning as it dropped. Centered on that spear tip, layers of spacetime were sliced open like brilliant coils of rope spinning around the spear—except the ropes were exceedingly fine, slender as hairs, revealing only fractures in spacetime as they cut through!
The spear fell. By the time it reached the people soaring upward, dazzling filaments had completely blotted out the starry sky for ten thousand li around.
"Flee!" people screamed in terror.
Swoosh!
The spear drove down, piercing straight through Tianjing City. Instantly, countless filaments shredded the immortal city along with every soul inside into fine dust. With a single strike, the spear eradicated the immortal city, swept in a wide arc through the starry sky, and slowly rose, flying back toward the emerald rock multi-decked vessel.
Yet as the spear ascended, gray ash began to drift from its shaft like flakes of gray snow. Before the spear could return to the vessel, the imprint upon it was completely undone, turning into Dao ash that scattered over the emerald rock multi-decked vessel.
The two scouts were about to retrieve the spear when, carried by momentum, it flew past the vessel and plunged into the Chaos Sea, vanishing from sight. The two scouts from the other shore did not realize they had just escaped a fatal calamity. Exchanging glances, they were filled with astonishment. They had discovered this universe and spotted Tianjing City, so they had unleashed the spear to wipe out those immortals.
Little did they expect that the Dao patterns of the Three Realms now surpassed the rational patterns of the other shore, causing the spear to disintegrate. Standing at the bow, the two scouts looked out into this unfamiliar universe. They saw the Mortal Realm, Earth Immortal Realm, and Heavenly Immortal Realm suspended across different spacetimes of the cosmos, separated in between either by the Heavenly Sea or by amber substance—a sight rarely seen in other universes.
"I believe we've found the Three Realms." The two scouts looked at each other and promptly took out a seed of the other shore shala tree, planting it in the Tianjing Sea. The seed took root and sprouted at high speed, soon growing from a sapling into a towering tree. "To think the Three Realms is so close to the other shore! Once we return, our fortune is made."
They each left their imprint on the shala tree, boarded the emerald rock multi-decked vessel, and set sail toward the other shore.
Over ten years after their departure, a group of immortals crossed the boundless universe and arrived at the Tianjing Sea. The Tianjing Sea was simply too far from the Three Realms. Even though travel was convenient nowadays, with immortal cities lining the route and teleportation formations within them, a round trip still took several decades.
This group of immortals could arrive so quickly only because they had already been on the way. Upon arriving, they found that Tianjing City had vanished without a trace, and in the Tianjing Sea stood a shala tree that had been growing for over a decade.
Something terrible has happened! Just as the thought crossed their minds, ripples spread outward beneath the tree in ring after ring. An emerald rock multi-decked vessel slowly emerged from the Chaos Sea and came to a halt beneath the shala tree. Then, a second vessel, a third, and a fourth appeared in succession.
The immortals of the Three Realms looked up dumbfoundedly at the sight. More and more emerald rock multi-decked vessels appeared in dense clusters, docking around that shala tree.
"Quick, go back and report!"
Right at that moment, an additional person appeared beside them, looking up at the emerald rock multi-decked vessels. Startled, everyone saw that this person looked like a youth of sixteen or seventeen, tall in stature, yet appearing somewhat lean due to his large frame. His complexion was slightly darker than average, paler than wheat, and his features were handsome. Yet none of these immortals knew when he had arrived beside them.
"An enemy has made a move!" Without thinking, the surrounding immortals unleashed their divine powers toward the youth. But in the next instant, all the divine powers dispersed, unable to exert even a fraction of their might. Suspicious and alarmed, one of them immediately stepped in front and shouted, "I'll cover the rear, you all go first!"
Beneath the shala tree, someone also noticed them. A massive hand reached out from the sky, locking down all of them along with ten thousand li of spacetime, rendering them immobile. With a gentle scoop, the palm gathered them up and flew toward the shala tree.
Terror seized the group as they attempted to flee outward, but space had been sealed; even as immortals, escape was impossible.
"No need to panic," the youth they had just attacked said calmly. "They will soon reap what they have sown."
Before his voice finished falling, snow began to drift through the air—Dao snow fluttering downward in flakes that grew ever more numerous and dense.
Those were snowflakes formed from Dao ash drifting from that giant hand, and the trend was spreading rapidly up the arm. The powerhouse from the other shore who had struck also sensed the change in himself and immediately quickened his pace, retracting his arm.
Surprised, he said, "Strange, how truly strange. Look—is Dao ash drifting from my body, or is Dao ash drifting because this realm has been invaded by our Grand Dao?"
The other powerhouses from the other shore laughed. "Naturally, it's the heaven-and-earth Grand Dao of the Three Realms being disturbed by us! How lofty is the Dao method of our other shore? How could it be disturbed by the Grand Dao of an inferior universe?"
As they spoke, that powerhouse from the other shore had already hauled those Three Realms immortals onto the emerald rock multi-decked vessel. "These natives of the Three Realms arrived just in time. We can interrogate them for information on the Three Realms."
Having reached this point, he suddenly felt itchy all over and hurriedly raised his hands to scratch. That scratching was no trivial matter; in the next moment, wherever he scratched, hair and skin rotted away, drifting up into flakes of Dao snow. That powerhouse from the other shore seemed to turn into a man of ashes, screaming as his hands clawed frantically at himself. His shrieks were wretched to the extreme. The ash and blood drifting from him multiplied, and the ashes grew ever thicker.
Seeing this, the other experts from the other shore on the vessel looked stunned. Suddenly, someone else began to itch and raised their hands to scratch. Wherever they scratched, Dao ash drifted up.
At the same time, they heard faint weeping that grew louder as it approached from the distance. This Dao ash seemed contagious; people of the other shore across the entire vessel were infected one after another, scratching and clawing in non-stop agony as sheets of flesh and skin turned into Dao ash and drifted away. Some, having merely laid eyes on those Three Realms immortals, watched the layers of membranes in their eyes rapidly disintegrate into Dao ash, slough off, and float out, quickly leaving two bleeding hollows!
The experts of the other shore on the other emerald rock multi-decked vessels stared blankly at this scene, utterly at a loss, having no idea what was happening.
Their own bodies involuntarily began to itch, and some saw Dao ash drift from their eyes as well.
Others opened their mouths in violent coughing fits, billowing clouds of Dao ash erupting from their throats!
"Not good!" someone knowledgeable shouted at the top of their lungs. "The Dao patterns of the Three Realms surpass the rational patterns of our other shore! Do not look at those Three Realms natives!"
Yet the Dao weeping had already spread like a plague. Vessel after vessel, the powerhouses from the other shore were infected one after another.
Around the shala tree, cries and wails shook the heavens, and Dao snow swirled in dense flurries. The scene left the Three Realms immortals dumbfounded. Feeling itchy themselves, they scratched, trembling in horror—yet where they scratched, no Dao ash formed.
"The other shore actually found its way here," the wheat-skinned youth murmured with a slight frown. "Are these pioneers, or did Immortals come along as well? Fortunately, I received word from the Other Shore Dao Alliance; otherwise, the Three Realms might have suffered disaster this time."
This youth was none other than Xu Ying, the Dao Ancestor Xu of the Three Realms. After mastering the Grand Dao of Nirvanic Extinction, he had intended to return to the other shore, only to receive a message from the Void Realm just as he was about to depart, reporting that the other shore was mobilizing forces toward the Three Realms.
Powerhouses of the Three Realms had mobilized, rushing to every corner of the universe to search for the shala trees of the other shore.
Xu Ying had rushed from the Earth Realm without using the teleportation formations of the immortal cities along the way, relying solely on his Reincarnation divine power to travel to the cosmic frontier.
He was the fastest, yet it still took him several years to reach the frontier, and another six or seven years searching in all directions before he finally located the shala tree in the Tianjing Sea, just as the other shore's invasion began.
Aboard those vessels, one powerhouse of the other shore after another burst apart, scattering as torrents of Dao ash. Seeing this, many other powerhouses immediately steered their vessels back toward the Chaos Sea.
However, as long as a single person on their vessel was infected—even if by a single flake of Dao ash—everyone else would be infected as well. Even if they fled into the Chaos Sea, they could not escape death and would ultimately turn into Dao ash! Beneath the shala tree was a horrifying, gruesome slaughterhouse filled with agonizing screams, while vessels crashed about blindly like headless flies. Xu Ying watched this cold and impassive.
Suddenly, as if sensing something, he swept his sleeve backward. The Three Realms immortals behind him were instantly swept up against their will, flying backward!
In sheer terror, the immortals saw spacetime on either side warp and curve, forming a brilliant halo.
Only then did they realize that what carried them was a colossal Reincarnation ring, ferrying them in the direction of the Earth Immortal Realm at a speed many times faster than the teleportation formations between immortal cities!
Having sent those immortals away with a wave of his sleeve, Xu Ying fixed his gaze on the Chaos Sea, only to see it suddenly blast open before him. A resonant voice thundered out, "Why throw yourselves into disarray? Have you encountered a formidable enemy?"
Hearing this voice, Xu Ying's mind stirred. Those who came this time aren't just pioneers!
The owner of the voice soon blasted through the Chaos Sea as an emerald rock multi-decked vessel sailed forth. At the bow stood an Immortal, cloak fluttering in the wind, with an expanse of darkness behind him where cave abysses of varying sizes spun.
These cave abysses often manifested the two Daos of gods and demons, coiling around one another in entangled Dao power.
The Immortal possessed jagged, protruding bones, sharp eyes, and high spirits. Suddenly, his gaze swept past the screaming people of the other shore and fell upon Xu Ying.
Utterly astounded, he exclaimed, "You are... Xu Ying of the Taiyi Sect! Hahaha! You wear out iron shoes searching in vain..."
He had only gotten that far when his eyes suddenly began turning into Dao ash, startling him.
Xu Ying's voice echoed in his ears, "All who have not become Dao Masters are mere ants. Even Immortals are just ants among them."
Vision blurring, the Immortal of the other shore saw the youth's figure walking through the gray Dao snow.
"I am True King Haozhen of Grand Dao Lord Shenmo's lineage! I govern a chiliocosm, coexisting with the Dao, deathless and indestructible!"
Roaring in rage, the Immortal circulated his Dao methods and activated his arts. At the same time, in the darkness behind him, the cave abysses blazed brilliantly. Across the great thousand universes, everyone who cultivated his Dao method felt their Primordial Spirits lose control, as if their Primordial Spirits had taken a new master, siphoning their lifelong Dao power and pouring it through the cave abysses directly into True King Haozhen's body!
In a split second, True King Haozhen's cultivation multiplied more than tenfold. Behind him formed two towering divine and demonic Dao shadows that struck out together, augmenting his punch! An Immortal—the body is the Dao, their words the law! His frame stretched, his fist technique unleashing the full might of the Grand Dao to its utmost!
Xu Ying walked straight toward him. True King Haozhen's fist cleaved spacetime, yet before it reached Xu Ying, the Dao power within it could no longer be contained and flowed into Xu Ying's body.
Boom!
The punch met Xu Ying's palm. Faintly visible within Xu Ying was a Hongyuan, transmuting all the Dao power contained in that punch into the energy of Nirvanic Extinction. As the Hongyuan operated, the Nirvanic Extinction Dao power was converted into eight other Dao powers, rendering it harmless.
True King Haozhen froze on the spot, his body trembling violently. Behind his head, cave abysses shattered one after another, and the two divine and demonic Dao shadows collapsed in a thunderous roar.
Xu Ying's counter was unassuming, yet within it lay a Hongyuan, seven Immortal-level Grand Daos, and two Supreme-level Grand Daos, which crushed True King Haozhen's twin Daos of gods and demons. Thus, a Supreme struck upward against an Immortal, shattering his Grand Dao.
Sensing that the Dao patterns had already rotted his physical body, True King Haozhen immediately abandoned his body and sent his Primordial Spirit flying backward, plunging like lightning into one of the cave abysses.
"Trying to flee?" Xu Ying formed a sword finger, stabbed a sword strike into the void, and said indifferently, "Since I mastered the Dao of the Void, not even a True King has any hope of escaping my grasp."
Swoosh!
The sword light sank into the Shenmo cave abyss and vanished. True King Haozhen fled at desperate speed, focusing his consciousness to descend into that universe, possessing the Primordial Spirit of a disciple who cultivated his Dao method, seizing the physical body, barely calming his shaken soul.
Xu Ying is actually this powerful! I only suffered because he caught me off guard. Next time—
Sword light suddenly flared. A deathly intent that extinguished all life under heaven and earth swept over in an instant, submerging him.
Slash!
The sword light vanished. True King Haozhen's glabella split open, pierced straight through from front to back. His Primordial Spirit was reduced to ash and smoke, slain by the sword of slaughter.
At the same time, one emerald rock multi-decked vessel after another sailed out of the Chaos and appeared before Xu Ying. Dao Lord Nie Xuan, a disciple under Grand Dao Lord Shenmo, wore a somber expression as he looked down upon Xu Ying from above.
Around him, Immortals from the Shenmo Dao Sect stepped forth one by one, their aura so oppressive that even the deep Chaos Sea was forced backward.
"Xu Ying of the Taiyi Sect," Dao Lord Nie Xuan barked, his voice like a great bell, "are you rebelling?"
"Rebelling?" Xu Ying looked up and smiled. Suddenly, his figure soared into the sky. "I have waited for this day for a very long time!"
Chapter 810