Xu Ying charged into the Hongyuan. Looking across it, he saw various Dao powers intermingling within, indistinguishable from one another: water and fire blended harmoniously, yin and yang complemented each other, gods and devils shared a single form, life and death were bound together, the Five Elements were united, the Four Symbols had not yet been established, and the Eight Trigrams and Nine Palaces remained undifferentiated.
There were no stars, nebulae, or galaxies here; light was everywhere.
It had already passed through the periods of Chaos, Hongmeng, Wuji, and the Five Tai, and was now at the juncture where the Great Daos of Heaven and Earth were evolving yet had not fully manifested.
The Great Daos of Heaven and Earth were in a primordial state, and within cultivation, this primordial state bore a distinct designation.
Xu Ying also possessed a Hongyuan, but it had not yet evolved to this stage, leaving him largely in the dark regarding the primordial state of the Great Dao. Only now, having barged into this Hongyuan, did he truly understand what was meant by the Unstructured Great Dao and primordial unity.
The tenth stage of the Dao realm—the realm of a Lord of Great Dao—was precisely the Unstructured Great Dao and primordial unity. It was nearly identical to this Hongyuan born upon the cosmic remains of the Lou Realm. In a daze, he even felt that the Hongyuan was itself a Lord of Great Dao, merely one devoid of any wisdom or self-awareness.
Only after a Hongyuan opened and the ten thousand Daos manifested would its realm drop to becoming the Dao embodied, equal in stature to the Great Dao. Meanwhile, humans and other sapient races were merely vermin living upon the body of an immortal universe. Of course, this was only his passing conjecture. Even as he pondered this state of primordial unity, he lunged toward Taiyi.
Xu Ying had already attained the Unstructured Great Dao and thus had no need to comprehend it anew. Grand Dao Lord Taiyi was likewise captivated by the conditions within the Hongyuan. He stood at the Great Perfection of the Immortal realm, only half a step from breaking through to the Dao Master realm. Yet though it was merely half a step, an insurmountable gulf separated them; even though he had saved several Dao Masters, their experiences were not enough to enable his breakthrough. The Hongyuan's Unstructured Great Dao and primordial unity, however, brought him countless insights. His flesh grew at astonishing speed, regenerating his lower body. Just as Xu Ying closed in to strike, he flipped upright.
Within Xu Ying's body, the explosive power of the Unstructured Great Dao was even more astounding, rolling forward like toppling mountains and overturning seas. With a resonant hum, an incomparably bright Reincarnation Ring manifested, revolving and howling around him as its center. Instantly, the surrounding unowned Dao power in its primordial state was mobilized by him, sweeping into reincarnation and causing his dharmic power to surge in a near-vertical climb. At this moment, Xu Ying even felt as though he were a Dao Master himself.
"Old Thief Taiyi, your death is due! Even the heavens aid me!" Xu Ying stood before the Reincarnation Ring and slammed a palm down. The Dao power channeled through reincarnation erupted, more than tenfold stronger than any might he had ever unleashed before.
Grand Dao Lord Taiyi also channeled Dao power, gathering Taiyi Dao power to form a Taiyi Dao Sword before thrusting it forward. With this single thrust, aside from the Dao power mobilized by Xu Ying's reincarnation, all the remaining primordial Dao power answered his call.
The Taiyi Dao Sword's power skyrocketed to meet Xu Ying's palm strike. Sword and palm collided, neither yielding an inch. Two Dao Master-level forces detonated, jolting their bodies violently. Both let out muffled groans and coughed up blood.
Xu Ying had initially planned to drag Taiyi into reincarnation with this blow, yet failed to budge him. Puzzled at first, he soon realized: *The Dao power of Heaven and Earth inside this Hongyuan is in a primordial state—which is to say, a Taiyi state. By using the Taiyi Great Dao to cast divine powers, he can mobilize far more primordial Dao power.*
Realizing this, he immediately shifted his own Dao into the Taiyi Great Dao to mobilize Dao power as well. Sure enough, the primordial Dao power within this Hongyuan answered his command, surging with even greater ferocity.
"Master, let me see you on your way!" Xu Ying bowed deeply. The ultimate intent of the Martial Dao erupted, transforming into the Firmament of Divine Powers as it crashed toward Grand Dao Lord Taiyi. At the same time, the Dao power within this cosmic Hongyuan shifted in tandem with his technique, turning into peerless might that accompanied his strike.
"I dare not accept your grand courtesy!" Grand Dao Lord Taiyi likewise bowed, his own technique's ultimate intent bursting forth as thousands of Taiyi divine powers converged into a firmament of their own. When their Dao methods and divine powers collided, it was as if two symmetrical spheres of light rapidly ballooned outward to either side. Xu Ying and Grand Dao Lord Taiyi each grunted and tumbled backward. The moment they steadied themselves, both lunged forward again, Taiyi divine powers erupting anew.
Xu Ying laughed heartily. "Taiyi, you old rascal! To shamelessly steal the divine powers of your disciple Wu Yi!"
Grand Dao Lord Taiyi laughed. "The disciple I taught has surpassed his master! It only proves how well I taught him!"
Xu Ying drove the Dragon Dance divine power with Taiyi Dao power. Within the Hongyuan, three thousand Great Daos condensed into the form of the Far Ancestor's Great Dragon, surging forward with proud ferocity toward Taiyi. The might of this strike even surpassed the Far Ancestor Great Dragon's true body. Had the Far Ancestor been here, he could not have helped but praise, *Xu Dao Ancestor is truly formidable! Quickly, sacrifice me!*
Grand Dao Lord Taiyi raised his Dao sword, severing the dragon's head, plucking its tendons, and lopping off its claws, only to be swatted away by the dragon's tail.
"Old bastard, still not dead?" Xu Ying unleashed thousands of All Heavens Seals, as though the myriad worlds of the Earth Immortal Realm were crashing down upon Grand Dao Lord Taiyi.
Grand Dao Lord Taiyi stamped heavily. Beneath his feet, what seemed to be an expanse of the other shore materialized, parting the two of them far across space. Next, sword light showered down like falling stars, piercing through the All Heavens Seals and driving straight for the center of Xu Ying's palms.
The two of them discovered that the more Taiyi Dao power they mobilized, the deeper their comprehension of the primordial state grew. However, Grand Dao Lord Taiyi had steeped himself in the Taiyi Great Dao far longer, boasting deeper cultivation and the ability to mobilize even more primordial Dao power. Though initially no match for Xu Ying, he could now draw upon the cosmic Hongyuan to fight on equal terms.
Certain divine powers even posed a genuine threat to Xu Ying. The pace of their exchange grew ever faster, countless Dao methods and divine powers emerging in endless succession. One symmetrical sphere of light after another ballooned outward. The outermost spheres had already thinned into faint halos, across whose surfaces various unstructured fragments of Great Daos gradually detached from the primordial state, becoming orderly.
The Great Daos in this cosmic Hongyuan were disordered, existing in primordial unity, yet the divine powers of Xu Ying and Taiyi were ordered, gradually disrupting the Hongyuan's primordial state. Ordinarily, it would have taken tens of millions or even hundreds of millions of years for a cosmic Hongyuan to evolve to this stage. But Xu Ying and Taiyi both happened to cultivate the Taiyi Great Dao. For a cultivator, pursuing the Taiyi Great Dao meant seeking the single incontrovertible truth amidst myriad Daos, bringing them into primordial unity. Yet for a cosmic Hongyuan, the process was the exact opposite: from a state where myriad Dao powers formed a primordial unity, it had to evolve toward the orderly separation of various Daos—yin and yang complementing each other, gods and devils standing opposed, light and darkness parting, and the Five Elements generating and overcoming one another. The paths of the cultivator and the cosmic Hongyuan ran in opposite directions.
As Xu Ying and Taiyi battled within this Hongyuan, their comprehension of primordial unity deepened with every strike. Yet neither noticed that the cosmic Hongyuan was also continuously growing and expanding outward, layers of halos overlapping. Everywhere they passed, the primordial Dao power gradually grew ordered.
At the same time, the seven-leaf lingzhi supporting the cosmic Hongyuan quickened its pace, drawing even more power from the chaos to pour into the Hongyuan. Xu Ying slapped his crown, and a wisp of Chaotic Dao Qi shot skyward, turning into a lotus flower. Where the lotus bloomed, a youth draped in chaotic qi stepped down and charged toward Taiyi, laughing, "Old Thief Taiyi, do you recognize Chaotic Xu Ying?"
Taiyi raised his Dao sword to block Chaotic Xu Ying's strike, only for Xu Ying's true body to kick him in the chest, sending him stumbling back. Another streak of Hongmeng purple qi rose from Xu Ying's crown, forming a gateway. As the doors swung open, a purple-robed Xu Ying strode out and attacked, laughing, "Have you met Hongmeng Xu Ying?"
Taiyi sneered, "Nothing more than two extra traitorous disciples! Why should your master fear? Come at me together!"
"Old bastard, you asked for it!" From the Wuji Dao Qi above Xu Ying's head stepped a Formless Xu Ying, lacking eyes, ears, mouth, or nose, with a boundless halo behind his head, brandishing the Taiji Diagram and the Wuji Diagram.
Then Taiyi Dao Qi soared skyward as a Taiyi Xu Ying stepped forth, hurling the Taiyi Golden Bridge to smash down upon Grand Dao Lord Taiyi. Next came the thunderous chime of Reincarnation Dao, the Reincarnation Ring spinning as a Reincarnation Xu Ying emerged, intent on sending Grand Dao Lord Taiyi into rebirth. A strange Karmic Eye blinked, and a Karma Xu Ying walked out, instantly driving a golden wheel to throw Grand Dao Lord Taiyi's Dao methods into disarray. A Calamity Xu Ying tossed bursts of calamitous destiny onto Grand Dao Lord Taiyi to disrupt his Dao heart. A Slaughter Xu Ying raised the Immortal-Slaying Sword, seeking to send his master to early bliss and a decent reincarnation. And an Annihilation Xu Ying sought to devour Grand Dao Lord Taiyi whole to settle karma with Heaven and Earth.
Grand Dao Lord Taiyi could barely handle one Xu Ying, let alone all of them. He took blow after blow, beaten black and blue with multiple Dao injuries racking his body. Annihilation Xu Ying swallowed him whole several times, though fortunately he wielded his Dao sword to slash open Annihilation Xu Ying's belly and escape. The greatest danger, however, was Xu Ying's true body lurking among the nine, repeatedly coming within a hair's breadth of taking his life. Fortunately, this was a universe in the Taiyi primordial state; the Hongyuan offered inexhaustible primordial Dao power, and his growing comprehension of the Unstructured Great Dao and primordial unity bolstered his cultivation, keeping him from being beaten to death.
"Dao bodies? I know that trick too!" Grand Dao Lord Taiyi sneered. He slapped his crown, and three thousand Dao bodies manifested, charging toward Xu Ying.
Seeing this, the nine Xu Ying Dao bodies sneered, "You think you have more than us?" Each slapped their crown, producing three thousand Dao bodies of their own.
Both sides clashed in a chaotic melee. Dao bodies fell continuously, meeting untimely ends—though fortunately, only Dao bodies perished. Still, manifesting so many Dao bodies severely depleted the cultivation of both true bodies, leaving them battered and bruised as each suffered mob beatings from the other's Dao bodies.
Suddenly, Xu Ying and Grand Dao Lord Taiyi retracted their Dao bodies simultaneously, marshaled all their power, and charged at one another. With an earth-shattering crash, they collided once more, both hurled backward by the staggering impact. Unable to stabilize themselves, the two flew out of the cosmic Hongyuan and plunged into the Chaos Sea.
Xu Ying unleashed the Earth-Opening divine power. Wherever the axe light fell, visions of opening Heaven and Earth manifested in the Chaos Sea: boundless black and yellow qi surged, stars burst forth, and it seemed as though the axe light had hewn a universe directly from the chaos. All the Dao powers of this miniature universe were infused into this single strike, possessing peerless might. Grand Dao Lord Taiyi drove his Dao sword to meet the axe light. Wherever his blade swept, the chaos parted to reveal myriad rivers and mountains, the rotation of the sun and moon, and three thousand Great Daos giving birth to a world within the chaos. When Dao sword met divine axe, their Dao powers clashed and interfered, branding Dao manifestations and Dao scenery into the Chaos Sea that lingered without dispersing.
The two moved with blinding speed. Before one move finished, the next was already born, trading lightning-fast blows.
Without the cosmic Hongyuan's reinforcement here, Grand Dao Lord Taiyi's Dao power fell a step behind Xu Ying's once more. Under this barrage of lightning-fast exchanges, he began to flag. Yet his gains from the battle within the cosmic Hongyuan had been immense; his comprehension of the Unstructured Great Dao and primordial unity grew deeper, causing his cultivation and strength to gradually rise. The trouble was that as he advanced, Xu Ying advanced as well, keeping him permanently a step behind.
*If we keep fighting like this, I will surely lose within a hundred moves and die within a thousand. Even if I flee, the Chaos Sea will grind me to death. Xu, that thief, truly intends to kill me!* Grand Dao Lord Taiyi finally saw the true face of the thief in his sect. His eyes flickered as he looked for a chance to return to the cosmic Hongyuan.
Yet Xu Ying knew Taiyi's mastery of the Taiyi Great Dao was superior, so he naturally refused to give him any opening to reenter the Hongyuan. The two clashed within the chaos, every move unleashing dazzling sights of creation. The Dao sceneries they left behind in the Chaos Sea, however, were rootless visions destined to be erased before long. But the cosmic Hongyuan's rate of expansion was gradually accelerating as well, steadily swallowing up the Dao sceneries left by the two. And after devouring these sceneries, its expansion accelerated even faster. Xu Ying sensed something was amiss and pushed Taiyi deeper into the Chaos Sea, yet the Hongyuan's expansion showed signs of spiraling out of control.
*A pity Dao bodies cannot be deployed in the Chaos Sea, or dividing into nine would have killed the old bastard already,* Xu Ying thought.
Grand Dao Lord Taiyi exerted everything he had, exhausting his life's wisdom to contend with Xu Ying, yet he still fell back step after step. In mere moments, the two had exchanged hundreds of moves. Grand Dao Lord Taiyi had already lost, stepping move by move toward death under Xu Ying's relentless pressure.
Suddenly, an intensely bright Dao light shone from behind them, piercing through the chaotic qi and stretching their silhouettes infinitely long. Within that light, the chaotic qi of the Chaos Sea seemed to dissipate, thinning by the moment. Yet the chaotic qi had not truly vanished; rather, it was transforming into thousands of streams of Dao power, merging into Heaven and Earth.
Xu Ying was currently chopping a palm toward Taiyi's head. Grand Dao Lord Taiyi was covered in blood, his Dao sword shattered back into Taiyi Dao Qi, entirely unable to withstand the strike.
Suddenly, Xu Ying froze. He saw that the boundary of the cosmic Hongyuan had unknowingly swept past them, speeding into the distance. Wherever the Hongyuan's boundary engulfed, the chaotic qi dissolved into pure Dao power. A new universe was forming.
At the same time, wonderful intuitions stirred in both their Dao hearts. They turned to look back, only to see grand Dao sceneries across this new universe casting eerie, gentle Dao radiance. Immense Dao manifestations floated through the cosmos, imparting unique hues to this universe still taking shape. Their respective Dao manifestations and Dao sceneries had become the Dao manifestations and Dao sceneries of this newborn universe. The two stared in daze, forgetting their duel for a moment.
From this moment on, the primordial Taiyi Dao power gradually differentiated, forming the various Great Daos of Heaven and Earth. The process of Taiyi differentiating washed over them with insights like a tidal wave. Lights flickered in the eyes of both Xu Ying and Grand Dao Lord Taiyi as they fell silent, immersed in this wondrous revelation.
And accompanying these revelations was boundless Hongmeng purple qi—the greatest karmic merit in the universe: the opening of Heaven and Earth.
Chapter 842