His mind reeling in shock, the Grand Dao Lord of Life and Death slowly turned around.
Xu Ying stood not far behind him, yet the Grand Dao Lord had remained completely oblivious as to when Xu Ying had arrived and slipped behind his back.
"That Taiyi could have such a disciple is truly enviable,"
the Grand Dao Lord of Life and Death could not help sighing in lamentation. "Back then, Haoyi was already astonishing enough, but to think another Xu Ying would emerge today. Xu Ying, back in Tianjing, I could already see that you were extraordinary. You bore the fortune of Tianjing and received the true heritage of a Dao Master there. Even then, the thought crossed my mind to study you."
He sighed repeatedly. Had the Void Sovereign not intervened back then, he would never have been cornered to such an extent by Xu Ying today.
When Haoyi came to the other shore, it had taken him over a million years of cultivation before he reached the point of sweeping across the realm unhindered. Yet Xu Ying had only been on the other shore for several centuries, and his strength was already rivaling Haoyi's from back then.
Xu Ying's eyes glinted as he said, "Dao Brother, you slaughtered the Immortals of Qionghua Island, and calamitous destiny has descended upon your head. I am merely acting in accord with that destiny to invite you to meet your doom. Once you die, the calamitous destiny weighing on the other shore will lighten a bit as well."
The Grand Dao Lord of Life and Death snorted coldly. "You claim to act for the other shore, but in truth, it is all for the Three Realms. You dig pit after pit everywhere, burying hundreds of Immortals, all to revive those Dao Masters and throw the other shore into chaos! Xu Ying, I do not believe you possess an ounce of loyalty toward the other shore!"
With his hands clasped behind his back, Xu Ying remarked faintly, "I attained the dao through calamitous destiny, and with discerning eyes, I saw that the other shore's calamitous destiny was growing increasingly dire. That was why I did everything in my power to rescue the seniors imprisoned back then. I wholeheartedly sought to weaken the calamity, yet you brand me a traitor and rebel, while you, sir, nearly wiped out all of Dao Master Hua's disciples, yet dare to proclaim your loyalty. Just what has happened to the other shore? Unable to distinguish right from wrong or black from white—has it been blinded by calamitous destiny?"
Hearing his words, even Li Xiao was inexplicably moved. *This man truly is wholeheartedly devoted to the other shore. Unlike those Old Sacred Clans, who each harbor their own petty schemes, it is a member of the New Sacred Clan like Xu Ying who constantly keeps the safety of the other shore in his heart!*
The Grand Dao Lord of Life and Death spoke no more. Seizing the initiative, he struck, mobilizing all his dao force without reservation.
He had already verified that life and death divine abilities were useless against Xu Ying. Therefore, this strike marshaled all the dao force he had harvested over the past hundred million years, intending to crush Xu Ying with sheer power!
The Hongyuan within Xu Ying's body churned as he threw a punch. This single strike brought forth four types of dao force: karma, reincarnation, calamitous destiny, and slaughter.
Wherever his fist passed, cause and effect were inverted. The Grand Dao Lord of Life and Death immediately felt his attacking techniques warping continuously, completely unable to lock onto Xu Ying!
At the same time, his form seemed on the verge of plunging into reincarnation, the chaotic cycle grinding away at his dao force!
Furthermore, the vast calamitous destiny harbored within Xu Ying's fist instilled in him the sensation of an inescapable doom. Most terrifying of all, it felt as though he were willingly leaning into the fist to meet this slaughterous tribulation!
*During these past few days while I was fleeing for my life, how did his dao methods advance by such a massive leap again?!*
He was appalled. In a mere ten-odd days, Xu Ying had grown increasingly fluid and polished in wielding different dao forces, without the slightest hitch or stiffness.
Every casual gesture was a divine ability. The way he combined distinct dao forces laid bare their staggering might and profundity, leaving even the Grand Dao Lord awestruck.
This was the wonderful utility of the Great Dao of Wuji.
Across the other shore, only True King Guangzheng had cultivated the Great Dao of Wuji to the Immortal realm, yet even True King Guangzheng had failed to grasp the true essence of this Grand Dao.
Originally, it had been difficult for Xu Ying to fathom the true meaning of Wuji as well. However, a single pointer from Dao Master Luo had brought sudden enlightenment, allowing him to cultivate the Great Dao of Wuji to the Immortal realm.
Wuji was the Hongyuan. Cultivating Wuji to immortality had connected the most crucial link in the circulation of his Nine Innate Daos, thereby allowing him to combine them effortlessly.
Fist and palm collided. Xu Ying's body shook violently as he was forced backward, covering ten thousand li with every step. Ten thousand rivers and mountains flickered past beneath his feet as he retreated dozens of paces in succession, neutralizing the terrifying dao force of the Grand Dao Lord of Life and Death.
Yet the moment he fell back, he appeared to lose momentum, trapped in a disadvantageous position and enduring a barrage of blows.
The Grand Dao Lord of Life and Death pressed close behind, his palm strikes growing even more ferocious and overbearing as he surged forward with the dao force harvested over a hundred million years!
Xu Ying's palm power shifted, transforming into three dao forces: Taiyi, Nirvana, and Chaos.
Taiyi encompassed the myriad daos. Though Xu Ying had not cultivated ten thousand daos, he still wielded nearly three hundred. When his palm struck out, the magnificent peaks, steep ranges, rivers, and lakes of the other shore all sent up radiant dao lights, the Grand Daos of heaven and earth bestowing their blessings upon him!
Borrowing the worldly power of the other shore, Xu Ying clashed head-on against the Grand Dao Lord of Life and Death. Yet the instant their palm strikes collided, Taiyi was instantly annihilated, feeding the dao force of Nirvana!
The Grand Dao Lord of Life and Death felt the life and death dao force within his body pouring out wildly to nourish his opponent's power. Enraged, he let out a roar and bore down with every shred of his dao force!
"If you want to devour it, then choke to death on it!"
His face contorted in ferocity. In an instant, Xu Ying grew swollen and bloated, his frame expanding outward. Using his physical body as a Hongyuan, he still found it somewhat difficult to endure the power harvested from the myriad universes over a hundred million years.
Just as he was on the verge of bursting from the life and death dao force, the power within Xu Ying transformed into chaotic dao force. A lotus flower rose serenely from the chaos, bearing a Hongyuan that collided against the Grand Dao Lord of Life and Death's strike.
The Grand Dao Lord of Life and Death's body swayed slightly, while Xu Ying was once again blasted backward.
One retreated while the other pressed forward relentlessly. Watching from a distance, Li Xiao saw Xu Ying on the defensive, seemingly somewhat disheveled and at a disadvantage. Meanwhile, the Grand Dao Lord of Life and Death fought with growing vigor, his physical form towering higher and his strikes turning increasingly savage!
*If he can't hold out, I'll unleash the Lingxing Gate to lend him a hand!*
Just as the thought crossed Li Xiao's mind, the Grand Dao Lord of Life and Death's offensive grew even more domineering. He actually mobilized the Great Dao of Life and Death to draw upon the ambient life and death dao force lingering between heaven and earth!
"Not good!"
Li Xiao's expression changed drastically. Urgently activating the Lingxing Gate, she fled far into the distance. In her haste, she glanced back, only to see death spreading outward like a tidal wave in all directions, centered on the Grand Dao Lord of Life and Death!
Although the mortal realm of the other shore was a fertile land, recent panic over the calamitous destiny had thrown it into turmoil, sparking slaughter everywhere. Wars between states regularly mobilized cultivators of the sixth and seventh realms of the Dao Domain, who unleashed divine abilities and engaged in wholesale butchery, leaving casualties numbering in the millions after a single battle.
With more and more people dying over the years, the ambient dao force of death drifting between heaven and earth grew increasingly potent, turning the sky gloomy and stripping away its azure hue.
Because so many had perished, the various states had no choice but to bring in migrants from the myriad universes. They promised these cultivators of inferior races that if they earned merit on the battlefield and served for three to five years, they would be granted the status of the other shore's Sacred Clan.
For a time, an endless stream of migrants from various universes was funneled into the armies.
On this day, the State of Xiu was locked in combat with the State of Ming. Both sides had deployed millions of troops, and arranged at the forefront of the ranks were migrants from various universes. On the battlefield, they were mere expendables who rarely survived for more than four hours.
Grand Chancellor Qi Ruochuan of the State of Xiu was a powerhouse of the ninth realm of the Dao Domain who had attained immortality. Because he belonged to the New Sacred Clan and lacked background, he had ended up in the mortal realm serving as chancellor.
Possessing exquisite dao methods and profound cultivation, he sat in command within the army, his gaze fixed on the enemy formations of the State of Ming across from him.
*For some reason, this battle has left me feeling vaguely uneasy.*
Chancellor Qi looked up at the sky. For an entity of the Immortal realm whose dao was equal to his body, an uneasy mind often meant that his dao had sensed a crisis between heaven and earth and was warning him.
Could the State of Ming possess an expert even more formidable than himself?
Just as the thought crossed his mind, the sky suddenly tore open. An extraordinarily bizarre dao force surged through the air, as if the Chaos Sea had crushed the Hongyuan boundary of the other shore and descended upon the firmament!
The unimaginably heavy chaotic qi hung overhead like an inverted ocean, surging with billowing waves. Amidst the tumultuous waters, mountain-thick pillars of qi spun like dragons of chaos, threatening to crush the other shore!
Seeing this spectacle, the army of millions of cultivators from the State of Xiu instantly lost all morale, their battle formations showing signs of collapse.
At that moment, the Chaos Sea finally revealed its true nature. Bright light shone from the edges of the sea as petals rose one after another from the ocean floor, forming a twelve-petaled lotus platform.
The lotus platform slowly blossomed layer by layer, and from its center leaped a Hongyuan!
In an instant, bizarre dao sounds resonated through the sky, deafening and vast, as ten thousand daos harmonized together!
Even with Chancellor Qi's vast experience, he was stunned by the scene and forgot to maintain order among the ranks.
Then, he witnessed an even more astonishing sight. Beneath that sea of chaos, a colossal, fleshy-pink mass loomed faintly into view.
"A finger! That's a finger!"
Looking closer, he immediately spotted the other fingers. Beneath that boundless sea of chaos lay an enormous palm!
The Chaos Sea, the lotus platform, the Hongyuan—they were merely divine abilities manifested beneath that palm print!
Chancellor Qi was overwhelmed with shock. Never in his life had he witnessed such a magnificent spectacle!
Right then, the distant mountains suddenly fell into darkness. That darkness rushed outward in all directions like a tidal wave, moving with incredible speed, crossing mountains and ridges in the blink of an eye!
Chancellor Qi possessed exceptional eyesight. Straining his eyes, he was filled with horror. The darkness was not an absence of light; rather, every flower, blade of grass, tree, bird, beast, insect, and fish had been stripped of life in an instant, reduced to decay!
Wherever the darkness passed, even the Grand Daos of heaven and earth snapped and crumbled into ruin!
Terror seized Chancellor Qi. Springing to his feet, he shouted, "Flee—"
The darkness surged toward the battlefield, engulfing it in an instant. Before the millions of cultivators could react, every trace of their vitality was drained away. They withered from young to old, flesh turning to bone, and bone disintegrating into dust!
Their magic treasures and array diagrams rotted and fractured, scattering down as a fine powder.
The Dao of Life harbored within these cultivators was stripped away in a flash.
And the moment they perished was precisely when the Dao of Death was at its strongest, so the Dao of Death was instantly harvested as well!
The Ming army on the opposing side suffered the exact same fate. The darkness arrived so swiftly that it offered no chance to respond, burying millions within its gloom!
Chancellor Qi had reacted early, and being an Immortal, he immediately fled into the distance, covering a million li in an instant.
Yet the darkness surged faster than he could flee, quickly overtaking him.
Chancellor Qi felt his essence and qi draining away at terrifying speed, while his physical body, primordial spirit, and Grand Dao aged with shocking swiftness. Ahead of him lay the capital of the State of Xiu, adorned with immortal mountains like a supreme paradise.
The darkness swept past Chancellor Qi and flooded into the capital.
Chancellor Qi's heart turned completely cold. The tens of millions in the capital were completely annihilated. Not even the monarch managed to survive!
Chancellor Qi collapsed, his body dead, his primordial spirit shattered, and his Grand Dao ruined. Farther out, the darkness swallowed everything, submerging dozens of states including Xiu, Ming, Kang, and Tang—an expanse of myriad tens of thousands of li, consuming billions of lives!
Out in the sky beyond, having absorbed this worldly life and death dao force, the Grand Dao Lord of Life and Death saw his cultivation soar. He launched a desperate assault against Xu Ying while simultaneously attempting to break through into the Dao Master realm!
"If I cannot live, then the world shall be buried with me!"
The Grand Dao Lord of Life and Death let out a long howl. Below, the continent of the other shore looked as if it had sprouted a massive black spot, expanding outward with shocking speed!
His dao force grew ever stronger and his body ever more vast, drawing nearer to the Dao Master realm by the moment!
He had once contemplated devouring all living beings in the world, eradicating every Grand Dao of the other shore to master the life and death of the universe, which would surely allow him to become a Dao Master.
Yet that idea had remained merely an idea; he had never dared put it into practice. After all, three other Grand Dao Lords were his equals, not to mention the Dao Masters who stood above them.
Now, however, cornered with no way out by Xu Ying, he had no choice but to carry it through.
Xu Ying's apparent retreat when clashing with him earlier had seemed like a steady loss of ground, but in truth, it had been steadily wearing down his dao force. At the same time, Xu Ying had driven his innate dao force into the Grand Dao Lord's body—first karma, reincarnation, calamitous destiny, slaughter, and nirvana, followed by Taiyi, Wuji, Hongmeng, and Chaos, ceaselessly assailing his two daos of life and death and devouring his dao force!
Though he appeared to be growing stronger and his attacks more ferocious, it was in reality merely the death throes of a cornered beast.
Before long, the nine alien dao forces would riddle his Great Dao of Life and Death with gaping wounds, leaving him to be dispatched by Xu Ying with ease!
"Sacrifice all living beings under heaven to aid my attainment of the Dao!"
The Grand Dao Lord of Life and Death's voice rumbled like thunder, shaking heaven and earth. "When I attain the Dao, I shall govern the life and death of the Grand Daos; the rise and fall of daos shall follow my will!
"When I attain the Dao, I shall govern the life and death of the myriad kinds; breeding and propagation shall rest in my grasp!
"When I attain the Dao, I shall govern the life and death of all living beings; creation and destruction across the myriad universes shall answer to my heart!
"When I attain the Dao, I shall govern the life and death of the cosmos; the emergence and ruin of the Hongyuan shall follow my decree!"
He swore his vows. The domain of his Great Dao of Life and Death spread ever wider, its dao force swelling more potent, his strength growing increasingly terrifying!
Right at that moment, an earth-shattering sound erupted from within Xu Ying's body. His aura skyrocketed, like chaos being torn open and Hongmeng first dividing. A Hongyuan sprouted and expanded within him, giving rise to the innate Five Tais, coalescing into Taiyi, and bringing forth karma and reincarnation!
When karma fell into disorder and reincarnation reached its limit, calamitous destiny arose, slaughter flared, the tribulation of nirvana arrived, and the Hongyuan shattered to return to chaos.
This cycle repeated itself again and again.
Xu Ying exuded an aura that declared: *I am the universe, I am the Hongyuan, I am chaos!*
This was the realm of the Dao embodied and the Dao equal to the body. Yet for reasons unknown, it gave the Grand Dao Lord of Life and Death the impression that Xu Ying's embodiment was of an even higher order!
Xu Ying closed his eyes. Having broken through to the Immortal realm at this very moment, he gained a deeper understanding of reversing the acquired to return to the innate.
Seeing this, the Grand Dao Lord of Life and Death closed in to kill him. Just then, Xu Ying raised a hand and pointed a single finger.
*Chii—*
Xu Ying's finger force pierced through the Grand Dao Lord of Life and Death's palm, driving his hand back to pin it directly against his forehead.
"Dao Brother Life and Death, I truly wished to let you destroy the other shore and kill every last one of its people. But if you attain the Dao, I fear I won't be able to kill you. Thus, I can only send you on your way early."
Xu Ying's voice echoed in the Grand Dao Lord of Life and Death's ears. Within his body, nine types of dao force erupted violently, instantly forming Hongyuans of various sizes that devoured his life and death dao force!
Feeling the life and death dao force inside him spiraling out of control, the Grand Dao Lord of Life and Death was terrified out of his wits. He rasped in horror, "Are you a Dao Master?!"
"No, I am an Immortal,"
Xu Ying replied, slowly opening his eyes to look straight into his. "It is only that my Immortal realm is different from yours."
Chapter 827