Xu Ying rubbed the back of his head and stared in daze toward Dao Master Dongxuan, only to find the old Daoist had already vanished into the Chaos Sea!
"Does he even know the way back to the other shore?"
Xu Ying murmured, "There is no one to guide him this time."
Dao Master Dongxuan had followed his emerald rock multi-decked vessel to reach this place. Heading back without such a vessel meant he stood a strong chance of losing his way within the Chaos Sea.
Even with his immense strength, he could not endure the Chaos Sea indefinitely; sooner or later, he would be ground away to nothing. If luck was on his side, at best one or two Dao bones might survive.
"Honestly, he could have watched me and his disciple—my master—fight to the death before leaving!" Xu Ying thought with mixed feelings, blinking.
Yet since Dao Master Dongxuan had departed so decisively, Xu Ying could only guess that the man possessed another multi-decked vessel of his own. "The real problem is, where did my vessel go?"
Xu Ying looked all around. After his clash with Dao Master Dongxuan, he had drifted far from the original battle site and could no longer find where he had left the ship. Fortunately, the distant radiance he had spotted earlier was still visible. Giving up on searching for the vessel, Xu Ying strode toward that light, which ought to be the agreed dueling grounds with Taiyi.
"Are the Dao Masters of the Nine Innate Daos truly this formidable?" He rubbed the back of his head once more. The instant Dao Master Dongxuan had channeled the Taiyi Cave Abyss to unleash a tenfold surge in combat power, Xu Ying had felt the old man's finger force pervade reincarnation, space-time, and the void, catching up to his future self in the very next instant. He had assumed he would die at Dao Master Dongxuan's hands, never expecting that fatal finger strike to turn into a large hand gently tousling his hair.
*I hate it most when people rub my head!* Xu Ying thought. Even so, a smile touched his lips, warmed by a lingering sense of affection.
Though the Taiyi Dao Sect was famous throughout the world for betrayal, no one had ever truly betrayed the sect.
After a long while, Xu Ying finally reached the radiance and froze in astonishment. Before his eyes stood an already substantial cosmic Hongyuan. Beneath the Hongyuan grew a zhi plant—resembling a giant lingzhi mushroom growing on an ancient tree stump, with seven bracket fungus fronds propping up the Hongyuan!
"Taiyi chose this place as our dueling ground?" Xu Ying halted and carefully examined his surroundings, finding nothing else. He walked up to the zhi plant and saw how vigorously it thrived, dwarfing him by countless magnitudes. Standing beneath it felt like standing under a colossal mountain. Fan-shaped bracket fronds extended outward, each perforated with tiny orifices that spouted streams of spiritual light, like lingzhi spores bursting forth!
Xu Ying marveled inwardly and looked at the tree stump, surprised to find it was not dead. Its roots drove deep into the Chaos Sea, connecting to something unknown, drinking in energy from the Chaos Sea to nourish the lingzhi spirit root so it flourished even more.
"What is this tree stump connected to...?"
His curiosity piqued, Xu Ying was about to follow the stump downward to investigate when Grand Dao Lord Taiyi's voice echoed through the expanse: "This stump is rooted in the remnants of this place's previous universe."
Xu Ying followed the voice and saw Grand Dao Lord Taiyi arrive aboard an emerald rock multi-decked vessel. His robes were immaculate; he had clearly encountered no danger along the way.
"You mean the roots of this stump are anchored in the wreckage of a previous universe?" Xu Ying asked.
Grand Dao Lord Taiyi nodded. "Anything is possible in the Chaos Sea. The brilliance of this cosmic Hongyuan lies precisely here: another universe once occupied this exact location. That universe descended into extinction, and its innate spirit root should have been extinguished alongside it to repay the karma of heaven and earth. Yet as it happened, that universe's extinction was not natural—its calamitous destiny had been transferred to it by someone else!"
Xu Ying's thoughts stirred. "An extinction tribulation caused by transferred calamitous destiny cannot fully repay all karma, so the innate numinous treasure was not thoroughly destroyed! Thus, the innate numinous treasure of that universe was reduced to this stump."
Grand Dao Lord Taiyi smiled. "Because the innate numinous treasure was not destroyed, that universe's extinction was incomplete. The treasure remained rooted in this universe to draw power, yet the power it drew had nowhere to go. And so, a wonder occurred: another Chaos spirit root sprouted from the base of this severed spirit root! Along with it came the birth of a brand-new cosmic Hongyuan!"
Standing beneath the Hongyuan, Xu Ying looked up at the two spirit roots and praised with deep admiration: "The old Chaos spirit root siphons power from the cosmic wreckage and the Chaos Sea to nourish the new spirit root and the new Hongyuan. Because of this, both roots and both universes are bound together by karma!"
Grand Dao Lord Taiyi nodded gently. "This was what made me realize that no matter how ingenious the methods of the three Dao Masters—Hua, Lin, and Luo—might be, calamitous destiny cannot truly be offloaded onto other universes. The calamity transferred away will sooner or later return to the other shore."
Xu Ying observed the two Chaos spirit roots and said flatly, "Could this universe be one that died because the other shore transferred its calamitous destiny here?"
Taiyi replied, "Indeed. This universe was named the Lou Realm. When the other shore was struck by its first wave of calamitous destiny, it shifted that destiny onto the Lou Realm. When the catastrophe erupted back then, the realm did not turn to ash right away; it endured the slaughter tribulation for a long time before gradually succumbing to extinction, only then collapsing into nothingness! Later, when I returned here to investigate closely, I discovered that a new Hongyuan had actually emerged on the ruins of the Lou Realm."
Xu Ying activated his Eye of Karma to examine it carefully. Sure enough, he detected the karmic threads connecting the two universes. When he channeled the Dao of calamitous destiny, however, he found no traces of it between them; the calamitous destiny had long since cleared. This nascent cosmic Hongyuan had inherited the Lou Realm's karma, but not its calamitous destiny.
"Which means the calamitous destiny that destroyed the Lou Realm actually returned to the other shore. It was never eliminated!"
"On the contrary, the other shore must also bear the karma of destroying the Lou Realm," Xu Ying deduced. "As the new cosmic Hongyuan opens, that karma will turn into calamitous destiny, making the other shore's tribulations burn even fiercer."
Grand Dao Lord Taiyi said, "Beyond this, there are the Zhao Realm, Yu Realm, Emperor Realm, and other universes that have fallen into extinction or are on the verge of it. They too will return their calamitous destiny to the other shore. In fact, transferring calamitous destiny will only ignite brand-new calamities. The three Dao Masters' scheme to offload their destiny seems brilliant on the surface, but in truth, it is pouring oil onto a fire—carrying firewood to put out a blaze!"
Xu Ying understood why he had chosen this place for their duel and smiled. "You set our battle here to steel your resolve: you must never repeat the mistakes of Hua, Lin, and Luo. You must rely on the other shore's own strength to cross the tribulation and dispel the calamitous destiny—am I right?"
Grand Dao Lord Taiyi replied, "I have another purpose: to tell you that when the Dao Venerable passed down his teachings back then, his motives might not have been pure either. The universe of the other shore is so young; for calamitous destiny to erupt so early, it was likely because the Dao Venerable shifted Tianjing's calamity onto the other shore."
Xu Ying sneered. "Even if the Dao Venerable had impure motives, had your people not rushed over to exterminate them, Tianjing's calamity likely could never have attached itself to the other shore. The other shore brought this upon itself; who else can you blame?"
Grand Dao Lord Taiyi choked on his words, his breath catching. Xu Ying did not take advantage of the opening to strike; his goal was not to kill Taiyi, but to use this opportunity to help him attain the Dao.
Grand Dao Lord Taiyi sighed. "Indeed! Back then, we had a better path available to us: eliminate only the people of Tianjing who had come to the other shore to cultivate, while sparing Tianjing itself! Doing so might have prevented Tianjing's calamity from transferring over. But the Dao Venerable's arrangements were too cunning. He spread the teachings, prompting the ancient gods of the other shore and their descendants to travel to Tianjing in person, bringing Tianjing's Dao methods back. As a result, the Great Daos of Heaven and Earth in the other shore underwent a catastrophic shift, ushering in the era of Dao ash where countless people perished!
"The Daos of the other shore were replaced by those of Tianjing, and the methods practiced by the surviving people of the other shore became identical to Tianjing's. At that point, by stirring up the other shore's hatred toward Tianjing—telling everyone that a million years of Dao ash was deliberate malice on Tianjing's part—the experts of the other shore, led by Hua, Lin, and Luo, marched into Tianjing, wiped out its people, and laid waste to everything!
"By then, the only ones left who could inherit the calamitous destiny of Tianjing's people were the people of the other shore. They had already transformed themselves until they were indistinguishable from Tianjing. Thus, Tianjing's calamity merged into the other shore. Driven by the mounting pressure of that calamity, the other shore began its conquest of other universes, hoping to plunder more treasures to offset the doom inherited from Tianjing!"
Grand Dao Lord Taiyi continued, "The only person in this world who could achieve a flawless transfer of calamitous destiny was the Dao Venerable! Compared to him, Dao Masters Hua, Lin, and Luo are playing children's games. To shift Tianjing's calamity, he was willing to bury all the people of Tianjing alongside it, and even bury himself and the other Dao Masters as well."
Xu Ying circled the Hongyuan, musing, "Perhaps the Dao Venerable never intended to transfer the calamity at all? Perhaps it was simply that your other shore committed too much evil, wiping out Tianjing, and thereby inherited their doom?"
Grand Dao Lord Taiyi said, "Of course that is possible. I would rather believe that I am merely measuring the heart of a gentleman with the petty mind of a scoundrel."
Xu Ying frowned slightly. Was the Dao Venerable truly a gentleman? If he were, why would he pursue Xuhuang and the others, trying to prevent them from bringing the true heritage of Tianjing back to the Three Realms? "The Dao Venerable is far from pure, but the other shore is equally sickening—in fact, its atrocities run far deeper."
Xu Ying paused, then chuckled. "Taiyi, you actually have a way to transfer your calamity too: lead those revived Dao Masters to strike down Hua, Luo, and Lin, and then let me and the Three Realms wipe out everyone on the other shore! That way, you could transfer the calamitous destiny back to Tianjing!"
Grand Dao Lord Taiyi cast him an expressionless glance. "Your mind is full of wicked schemes! Why transfer it to Tianjing and not the Three Realms?"
Xu Ying smiled faintly. "Because we do not cultivate the script of Reason!"
Grand Dao Lord Taiyi gave a cold huff. "I will not do that! The other shore has committed too many evils, and its calamitous destiny is heavy. What I must do is unite all the power of the other shore to shoulder the calamity, cross the slaughter tribulation, and postpone extinction."
Xu Ying sighed, speaking in a low, measured voice: "Teacher Taiyi, your words make me truly want to strike you down right here! If you survive and take hold of power, you might actually rescue the other shore from its peril! Under your rule, the other shore would become far stronger than it ever was under Hua, Lin, and Luo."
A stronger other shore meant a weaker Three Realms, putting his own world in grave danger. Thus, Xu Ying felt an urge to seize this chance to eliminate Grand Dao Lord Taiyi. Looking at the cosmic Hongyuan before him, he narrowed his eyes, the murderous intent in his gaze nearly overflowing!
"Master, when you clashed with Grandmaster Dao Master Dongxuan last time, it was too brief for you to learn all three thousand of his Daos!" Xu Ying manifested a strand of the Taiyi Great Dao and said, "I learned them all from him! Let us not rush into battle; master Grandmaster's legacy first!"
Grand Dao Lord Taiyi sensed his killing intent and knew Xu Ying was genuinely intent on slaying him. Yet he also needed the pressure of a fellow disciple to achieve an astonishing breakthrough in the Taiyi Great Dao and become a Dao Master!
"Once you have learned it, I will show no mercy!" Xu Ying stared fixedly at the cosmic Hongyuan, speaking impassively: "For the sake of the Three Realms, there is nothing I will not do!"
Grand Dao Lord Taiyi looked at his Taiyi Great Dao, paused, and replied, "For the sake of the other shore, I am the same!"
Neither spoke another word. After a long while, Grand Dao Lord Taiyi completed all three thousand Daos and said, "Having perfected the three thousand Daos, it is as though I have cultivated every single Dao of Heaven and Earth to the level of a Grand Dao Lord!" The pooled magical power of three thousand Grand Dao Lords constituted his cultivation.
Xu Ying said, "And so have I!" Each of the Nine Innate Daos encompassed three thousand Daos, totaling twenty-seven thousand kinds—equivalent to concentrating the power of twenty-seven thousand Immortals into a single body.
Grand Dao Lord Taiyi activated his cave abyss, elevating his cultivation and strength to the absolute peak, and said calmly, "Xu Ying, give me pressure. Help me break through!"
"Good." Xu Ying let out a long cry. In an instant, the Hongyuan within him began to turn, merging the nine Daos into unstructured Dao power as he blasted forward with a fist.
Though this punch held no fixed structure of Dao, the power of all Nine Innate Daos was contained within it. Xu Ying's eyes gleamed with savage ferocity, making no attempt to conceal his intent to crush Taiyi on the spot.
Grand Dao Lord Taiyi's expression changed abruptly. Driving his cultivation art to the limit, he met the attack with a fist of his own. Instantly, Taiyi commanded the three thousand Daos, bursting from his cave abyss in ten thousand rays of rosy light to meet the strike. The moment their supreme arts collided, phenomenal visions of time, chaos, primordial genesis, the boundless void, Taiyi, and countless other Daos surged behind Xu Ying in violent, roaring waves.
Xu Ying raised his hand and pressed down, condensing his entire Dao power into extinction. His palm appeared to clasp a miniature Hongyuan of extinction as it came descending upon Taiyi—the Thirteenth Method of the Eight Immortality Methods, the Extinction Seal method!
Grand Dao Lord Taiyi bent forward as though bracing for an impact. Behind him, the chaotic qi of the Chaos Sea was drawn to him and poured into the Hongyuan, using the terrain of the Chaos Sea to shatter the Extinction Seal method with exquisite precision!
Seizing the momentum, Xu Ying shifted his palm force instantly into the Eighth Method of the Eight Immortality Methods, the Chaos Dao Seal method. The surrounding Chaos Sea was immediately mobilized by his command, crashing down with ferocious weight.
Grand Dao Lord Taiyi raised his arms to resist. His own Daos were nearly crushed to the point of obliteration, and fine threads of chaotic qi sprayed from his eyes, ears, mouth, and nose.
Behind Xu Ying, spiritual light coalesced into a colossal dragon that swept violently toward Grand Dao Lord Taiyi's legs. With two sharp cracks, both of Taiyi's leg bones were snapped clean through.
Xu Ying invoked the Tenth Method, the Lotus Opening Seal method, intending to deliver the killing blow, but half of Grand Dao Lord Taiyi's body took flight and hurled itself into the nearby Hongyuan. Ferocity unleashed, Xu Ying charged straight into the Hongyuan in pursuit!
"Teacher Taiyi, today in this New Realm, you shall repay the karma of heaven and earth!"
Chapter 841