Inheritance

Dao Master Dongxuan's gaze fell upon the figure enveloped in radiance. Surrounding the man was what seemed to be a miniature Hongyuan, parting the chaotic qi and leaving him entirely untouched! The figure within the radiance was naturally Xu Ying. Though he stood within the Chaos Sea, he remained free of chaotic qi, appearing considerably more at ease than Dao Master Dongxuan had when crossing earlier. Yet the Chaos Sea held far more than chaotic qi capable of assimilating everything; what was even more terrifying was its immense pressure. It was precisely this omnipresent pressure pressing in from the Chaos Sea that curbed the infinite expansion of cosmic Hongyuans, preventing the universes within the sea from gradually diffusing into the void. Without the compressive force of the Chaos Sea, every universe would be endlessly stretched thin by the void until it flattened into an infinitely thin plane. Having crossed the sea alone, Dao Master Dongxuan knew all too well how horrifying this pressure was. Xu Ying's ability to resist it meant his cultivation was extraordinarily profound—he could by no means be treated as an ordinary Immortal! Could he have cultivated from early Immortal to peak Immortal in such a short time? He isn't a reincarnated Dao Master; he shouldn't possess such speed, should he? Dao Master Dongxuan thought, Yet an Immortal is ultimately still an Immortal, not a Dao Master. He abruptly stepped off the vessel and struck out with a palm, unleashing a supernatural power toward Xu Ying as the young man strode through the Chaos Sea! His divine ability was simple and unadorned, lacking flashy draconic displays and bearing the characteristic minimalism of the Taiyi Dao Sect. Yet while that held true in a normal universe, this was the Chaos Sea. The instant Dao Master Dongxuan's Great Dao of Taiyi entered the sea, chaos was cleaved open. Chaotic qi transformed into wind, rain, thunder, and lightning, as well as the three thousand Great Daos of metal, wood, water, fire, and the rest. The distinct Daos combined and resonated, surging through the chaos. The various Daos he cultivated manifested with unprecedented clarity, yet even for a Dao Master of his caliber, his divine power degraded at a blistering rate within the Chaos Sea. The decay of the Daos and their absorption by chaos, until they dwindled into nothingness, was an inevitability! An ordinary Immortal's divine power could endure in the Chaos Sea for only a fleeting moment, rapidly losing potency before dissolving into chaos. But Dongxuan was a Dao Master, and a Dao Master's divine power could hold out far longer. Xu Ying raised a hand to meet the blow head-on, but his expression instantly changed. He quickly withdrew his hand to dodge the strike, sensing that had he taken it directly, his own divine power would have been obliterated, taking his arm along with it. As he retreated, he unleashed the first of the Eight Immortality Methods: the Earth-Opening Seal! Yet the Earth-Opening Seal of today differed vastly from the one of the past. As his seal method engaged, the chaos before him split open in an instant. Hongmeng was first cleaved, Wuji spawned the Five Tais, and Taiyi gave rise to myriad Daos, resembling an axe light cleaving a Hongyuan universe out of chaos itself. This strike surpassed the Earth-Opening Seal of old by leagues upon leagues in its sheer ingenuity. Just as Dongxuan's divine power grew unstable under the relentless erosion of the Chaos Sea, Xu Ying's axe light sliced through the technique. The blade of light bore down upon Dongxuan, striking the crown of his head. Suddenly, the axe light detonated, and the magnificent spectacle of an opening Hongyuan vanished like smoke. Not a mark showed on Dao Master Dongxuan's brow. With an impassive expression, he pressed forward, murmuring indifferently, "Xu Ying, attaining the Dao through Taiyi yields power far beyond your imagination!" He jabbed out a finger. Instantly, the various Daos within Xu Ying's body fell into disarray, teetering on the verge of warring among themselves in mutual destruction! In this moment, Dao Master Dongxuan finally displayed the true foundation of a Master of the Great Dao. Even the Daos within Xu Ying's own body became weapons subject to his command. Far from just Xu Ying, throughout the universe of the other shore, any Dao across the realm that possessed a structure fell beneath his dominion. Such was a Master of the Great Dao. Suddenly, every Dao within Xu Ying's body assumed a structureless state, slipping free from his control. Dao Master Dongxuan was visibly astounded. "A Dao Master? No, you are not a true Dao Master." His fingertips swayed ever so slightly. Before, behind, left, right, above, and below Xu Ying, afterimages of fingers filled every vantage! His Great Dao of Taiyi encompassed time, space, and the void. The moment he unleashed the technique, he sealed off past and future while plugging every avenue through the void, leaving Xu Ying no escape. As a Dao Master, he possessed countless methods at his disposal; crushing an Immortal was as effortless as swatting a fly. Just as his finger was poised to execute Xu Ying, a colossal Reincarnation Ring roared into rotation within the chaos, towering behind Xu Ying—the seventh of the Eight Immortality Methods: Reincarnation. Dao Master Dongxuan's finger pierced straight through Xu Ying's glabella. Xu Ying's eyes turned lifeless, vitality fleeing his frame as his corpse tumbled into the chaos! Yet from within the reincarnation cycle stepped another Xu Ying. Having spent only a single thrust's worth of power, Dao Master Dongxuan sent another finger strike flying, piercing Xu Ying once more! That Xu Ying also became a corpse and fell into the Chaos Sea! And then, yet another Xu Ying strode forth from reincarnation! "The Dao of Reincarnation?" Killing intent flared in the Dao Master's eyes as he sneered, "Xu Ying, as a disciple of the Taiyi Dao Sect, your studies are eclectic indeed. Let us see just how many times you can die." *Chi... Chi... Chi... Chi...* The force of Dao Master Dongxuan's finger penetrated the cycle of reincarnation to execute the Xu Yings within. From that immense Reincarnation Ring, Xu Ying's corpses fell continuously. Sparse at first, they grew denser and denser until they tumbled down like rain. Furthermore, countless corpses of Xu Ying dropped from the void. Some had their brows drilled through by finger force; some had their hearts impaled; some had their primordial spirits blasted apart; some had their Hongyuans shattered; and others were riddled with countless holes, having evidently been stabbed hundreds or thousands of times before dying. The gruesome deaths took every imaginable form! As those corpses plunged into the Chaos Sea, they were immediately swallowed by the chaos, dissolving swiftly into chaotic qi. This divine ability was a new technique Xu Ying had created after assimilating Daoshengzi's reincarnation divine abilities. Every Xu Ying had died in the preceding instant, and every Xu Ying was the Xu Ying of the next instant. But Daoshengzi had only achieved space-time reincarnation, whereas Xu Ying had achieved void reincarnation and chaos reincarnation, allowing his corpses to fall into the Chaos Sea, dissolve into chaotic qi, and return into the cycle of reincarnation! Finding no end to the slaughter, Dongxuan was about to obliterate the radiant ring of reincarnation when it dissolved into the Chaos Sea and vanished. Xu Ying's figure had already materialized beyond the reach of his divine ability—having died tens of thousands of times, he had finally located a flaw in that finger strike and escaped! Maintaining this Reincarnation technique imposed an immense drain, even with his mastery of void reincarnation and chaos reincarnation; he could not have held out much longer. If it had been Daoshengzi in my place, Dongxuan would have broken his reincarnation in a single breath and cost him his life. No sooner had the thought crossed Xu Ying's mind than Dao Master Dongxuan attacked again. Xu Ying formed a lotus seal with both hands and blasted it toward the oncoming Dao Master! The surrounding Chaos Sea churned violently as lotus petals emerged slowly from the depths. An enormous Chaos Lotus gradually bloomed, and from the lotus's center emerged a brilliantly radiant Hongyuan bearing myriad Daos, hurtling toward Dongxuan—the tenth of the Eight Immortality Methods: Lotus Opening. Dao Master Dongxuan paid it no heed and charged straight into the Hongyuan, intending to endure the strike in exchange for an opportunity to attack Xu Ying! Yet when Lotus Opening struck his body, he did not remain unfazed as before; instead, his frame swayed slightly, his charge halted! He was filled with astonishment. While Xu Ying's Lotus Opening was undeniably far more potent than Earth-Opening, it still should not have been enough to obstruct his advance; Xu Ying's current cultivation should have made such a feat impossible. Fortunately, Lotus Opening had merely stalled him for a fleeting moment without inflicting injury. Dongxuan continued forward, but Xu Ying's second divine ability had already arrived—a deceptively simple palm carrying boundless force that slammed into Dongxuan's chest! Dongxuan snorted coldly and erupted with Dao power, blowing Xu Ying backward. Yet as Xu Ying flew back, a succession of divine abilities burst forth from him, starting from the first method, Earth-Opening, all the way to the tenth method, Lotus Opening, each strike more formidable than the last! Concerned that he might be hindered, Dongxuan, who had previously neither dodged nor parried, began shifting his footwork to weave through the incoming techniques, closing in on Xu Ying! Dao light swirled in his eyes as he prepared to loose beams of Dao light to execute the youth, when suddenly, with a resounding boom, an Earth-Opening divine axe struck from behind, slamming into his forehead. The two beams of Dao light instantly flew wide. Sensing another divine ability approaching, Dongxuan swung his palm back to meet it, only to watch a succession of All Heavens detonate beneath his palm print. Immediately afterward, a great dragon soared into being, its radiant light coiling around him to bind him fast. Just as Dongxuan broke free of the great dragon, a bolt of Zhuxian sword qi struck his chest. Though it failed to breach his defenses, the impact sent him sliding backward. Shocked and infuriated, Dongxuan then saw a barrage of various Great Dao divine abilities descending together—the fifth method, Myriad Daos, which Xu Ying had fused with the divine ability Vault of Heaven. Though the Myriad Daos technique did not truly contain ten thousand Daos, its might was extraordinary, blasting Dao Master Dongxuan even farther back. Before he could regain his footing, he fell into reincarnation. Dao Master Dongxuan stood motionless, refusing to let the workings of reincarnation pull him within, and the Reincarnation Ring instead detonated with a series of muffled booms! Yet in the very next instant, Dongxuan was struck by the eighth method, the Chaos Dao Seal, followed immediately by another Lotus Opening Seal. No matter how he dodged, he could not evade these techniques of Xu Ying's; even when he seemed to evade them, they struck him dead-on every time. "Martial Grandfather, the technique that struck you earlier is called Karma! It is the ninth of the Eight Immortality Methods!" Xu Ying's voice echoed through the chaos as he chuckled. "Once struck by this move, no technique can be evaded." Dongxuan shook his robes and strode forward, baffled. "A Karma divine ability? I am a Dao Master, untainted by karma. How could you attach karma to me?" Xu Ying remained where he stood, waiting for his approach, and smiled. "That would be the eleventh of my Eight Immortality Methods: Calamitous Destiny! I merely stirred your calamitous destiny. You shoulder the calamitous destiny of the other shore, so landing karma upon you is no trouble at all!" Dao Master Dongxuan stepped through the chaos to appear before him once more. Taking in Xu Ying from head to toe, he was visibly moved. In the brief span of their clash, Xu Ying's cultivation had made another massive leap forward, effectively doubling his strength. "Have you comprehended Self-Sufficiency of Nature within Taiyi?" Dao Master Dongxuan inquired. Xu Ying smiled. "Has Martial Grandfather not comprehended it?" Dao Master Dongxuan's face darkened! Xu Ying casually unfurled his Great Dao of Taiyi. Dao Master Dongxuan focused his gaze and saw that the number of worldly Great Daos harbored within Xu Ying's Great Dao of Taiyi was steadily multiplying. Every single worldly Great Dao had arisen from nothing, leaping directly from its lowest level straight into the Immortal realm. In the brief span of their fight, the Daos contained within Xu Ying's Great Dao of Taiyi had grown from three hundred and fifty to more than two thousand. Dao Master Dongxuan furrowed his brows. "The Great Dao of Taiyi alone would not suffice for you to advance so quickly. I sense your cultivation has increased sevenfold." Xu Ying showed an expression of admiration and praised, "As expected of Martial Grandfather—you saw through it at a glance!" With a slight thought, Daos such as Chaos, Hongmeng, Wuji, Karma, and Reincarnation surfaced one after another. The worldly Great Daos composing each of these also rose from three hundred and fifty to over two thousand. Had only the Great Dao of Taiyi advanced, it would at most have doubled Xu Ying's cultivation. But with all nine Daos advancing sevenfold, his overall cultivation naturally surged sevenfold. Dao Master Dongxuan exhaled a breath of turbid air. No wonder he had felt the power of Xu Ying's divine abilities mounting continuously! "I came to kill you, yet you ended up learning all manner of worldly Great Daos from me to bolster your own cultivation!" Dao Master Dongxuan wore an odd expression. Xu Ying said solemnly, "Carrying forward the sect's inheritance is the duty of our generation. Now that Martial Grandfather's inheritance has reached my hands, it will not fade into nothingness; it will only flourish!" Dao Master Dongxuan gave him a deep look and brought forth all three thousand Daos of the Great Dao of Taiyi, saying, "Since you address me as Martial Grandfather, I cannot treat you unfairly. Take the rest as well!" Xu Ying was taken aback, but having been granted such an opportunity, he naturally would not squander it. He immediately set to examining the structure of Dao power within every single Dao! Inside his body, the worldly Great Daos contained within the Nine Innate Daos grew ever more numerous, his cultivation climbing by leaps and bounds, growing ever stronger. The Great Dao of Taiyi had always placed the utmost importance on enlightenment! In his youth, Haoyi had comprehended Taiyi Enlightenment from the leek-reaping methods preserved upon the Emerald Rock, thereby grasping the Dao methods of Taiyi. Later, he went to the other shore and received Taiyi's inheritance. Later still, he surpassed his master, grasping the Self-Sufficiency of Nature within Taiyi. Taiyi had been defeated by his own disciple, which led him to complete enlightenment and the realization of this principle. Now, Xu Ying had gone a step further, comprehending the Self-Sufficiency of Nature across all Nine Innate Daos and taking the Taiyi Dao Sect's enlightenment to the absolute zenith! Dao Master Dongxuan felt deeply conflicted. Though he had come under orders to eliminate Xu Ying, he truly appreciated the youth's brilliance, which was why he had granted him ample time to study what he had gathered over all these years. I do not possess such genius, yet my granddisciple does! For a moment, he knew not what to feel. After a short while, Xu Ying assembled all three thousand Daos, his cultivation growing far more profound and filling him with surging confidence! "Xu Ying, if you can withstand a single strike of mine, I will leave at once and kill you no longer; upon my return, I shall bear the rod and plead guilty!" Having said this, Dao Master Dongxuan slowly mobilized the Taiyi Cave Abyss. Within the Chaos Sea, an immense cave abyss rotated at an unhurried pace, slowly coalescing. It was profoundly deep, so much so that even the Chaos Sea could not shake it for the moment! The three thousand Daos flowed out of the cave abyss like a surging tide, merging into a unified whole before pouring into Dongxuan's body! In mere moments, Dao Master Dongxuan's cultivation skyrocketed tenfold! Xu Ying's face fell. He stomped his foot, reversing time and space as he prepared to unleash the Zhuxian sword finger to slay Dao Master Dongxuan in the past, before he had attained the Dao. Yet the Chaos Sea was a vast expanse where time and space could not endure; he had no way of traveling back to the era before Dao Master Dongxuan attained the Dao. In that instant, the Chaos Sea convulsed violently as Dao Master Dongxuan, unleashing his cultivation in full, thrust out a finger, filling the surroundings with afterimages. Xu Ying once again engaged his Reincarnation technique, attempting to flee into the next instant. Yet in the blink of an eye, Dao Master Dongxuan's finger pierced through countless layers of reincarnation. Xu Ying fled toward the next moment in the cycle, one after another of his selves perishing behind him, yet the force of Dao Master Dongxuan's finger still arrived at the back of his head. My life is forfeit, Xu Ying thought, only for Dao Master Dongxuan to abruptly disperse his finger power. He gently patted the back of Xu Ying's head, then turned and strode away! "Worthy of a disciple of Taiyi," his voice echoed from afar. "Since even I cannot kill you, I can only return and plead guilty! Xu Ying, never underestimate those who have attained the Dao through the Nine Innate Daos!"