Thoughts flashed through his mind in an instant. The person who cracked his Immortal Slaying Sword Finger had to be proficient in the Great Daos of Spacetime, Karma, Samsara, Slaughter, and Calamitous Destiny—and their Dao attainment had to surpass his own to crack it.
Yet who else in this world besides himself could master so many Great Daos at the same time?
Furthermore, even if their Dao attainment exceeded his, they might not necessarily be able to crack it. Xu Ying's Dao attainment had advanced by leaps and bounds, yet he believed even he himself could not crack it.
Their Dao attainment would have to surpass his by a great margin to have any hope of unraveling it.
*Could it be Zhangsun Shenghai? But Eldest Senior Brother Shenghai would certainly never do such a thing, nor could his Dao attainment surpass mine.*
*Could it be the Dao Venerable? Yes, the Dao Venerable disseminated the Nine Innate Daos when he preached. He must also be proficient in all Nine Innate Daos, and his Dao attainment is certainly far above mine. But the Dao Venerable has no reason to act, break my Daofa, and save Dao Master Luo...*
*Could there be someone else besides the three of us who has mastered the Nine Innate Daos?* As he was lost in wild thoughts—
Dao Master Luo pulled his robes closed and slowly stood up, laughing. "I thought there was no hope of ever standing up again in this lifetime, yet who could have guessed this day would come! Hahahaha! Fellow Daoist Xu, I can stand!" His legs were still far too emaciated, nothing but skin and bones, trembling slightly.
Xu Ying hurriedly stepped forward to support him, but Dao Master Luo raised a hand to stop him, wanting to walk on his own. He laughed and said, "No need to support me. Now I can finally stand; I can finally walk normally!" He laughed heartily and continued, "Not only can I stand, I can also realize my grand ambitions, and even more, take my revenge with my own hands!" His gaze turned deep and gloomy. "Taiyi crippled me with that strike, so he will definitely strike again. Next time he acts, it will be to take my life. But fortunately, I am already certain of how to deal with him!"
Xu Ying was utterly astounded. Could Dao Master Luo actually counter a method like traveling to the past to kill?
Dao Master Luo smiled faintly. "Taiyi used you as a medium to trade a strike with my Great Dao. That clash likely made him think he can withstand a blow from me and survive. Since he managed to cripple me last time, he will definitely try to take my life this time. And this time..." His voice turned chilling. "...is when I take his!"
Xu Ying's eyes darted as thoughts raced frantically through his mind. *Why is Dao Master Luo so certain he can break my divine power? The Great Dao he cultivates is the Soul Dao, an innate Great Dao comparable to the Dao of Strength or Dao of Spirit—nothing overwhelmingly exceptional. Different disciplines are like different mountains, to say nothing of Daos. It should be utterly impossible for him to crack my divine power. Then how can he be so sure he can not only crack my technique, but also kill both me and Dao Master Taiyi? Could it be...*
A shiver ran through him. *Could it truly be the Dao Venerable who helped him erase the Dao injury I left him? No, the Dao Venerable couldn't possibly help him. Dao Master Luo said he could eliminate Taiyi and me, which clearly means he possesses the capability and means himself. But the Dao Venerable wouldn't stay by his side to help him. That person wasn't the Dao Venerable...*
Xu Ying voiced his agreement.
Dao Master Luo returned to the jade couch. Xu Ying began unraveling the lingering Great Daos within the Dao injury bit by bit. Xu Ying's strike pierced through spacetime, unifying past, present, and future; only by weaving together Calamitous Destiny, Slaughter, Karma, Samsara, and the two Daos of Time and Space could such a feat be achieved. But because the Great Daos were blended into one whole, it was extraordinarily difficult to crack.
Even Xu Ying himself could not undo it. Moreover, this Dao injury grew along with Dao Master Luo's Dao attainment and cultivation—the stronger Luo's cultivation, the stronger the Dao injury, making it even harder to crack. However high Dao Master Luo's cultivation reached, so too grew the Dao injury. Growing on its own, it had long since reached the level of a Dao injury at the peak of the Dao Master realm!
However, the bulk of Dao Master Luo's Dao injury had now been broken by someone, leaving only remnants. Unraveling them was not difficult for Xu Ying.
"Dao Master, who helped you unravel this Dao injury?" Xu Ying asked directly out of sheer curiosity. "Since this person could crack your Dao injury, sweeping away these remaining remnants should have been an effortless wave of the hand for him. Why didn't he finish the job?"
Dao Master Luo's eyes flickered, and he spoke unhurriedly. "That person is naturally formidable beyond measure. Sweeping away the remaining Dao injury would indeed have been effortless for him. But he wants to control me even more, and wants to see me make a fool of myself, so he deliberately left the remnants behind."
Xu Ying said in astonishment, "Who could be so audaciously bold?"
Dao Master Luo sighed. "He has the right to be so audaciously bold."
Seeing that he was reluctant to speak of this person, Xu Ying pressed no further, instead continuing to cleanse Dao Master Luo's Dao injury bit by bit.
*From Dao Master Luo's words, that person seemed to be someone from the other shore, whose status was likely no lower than Luo's. Could it be one of the other two Dao Masters?* He thought of Dao Master Hua and Dao Master Lin. Dao Master Hua cultivated the Dao of Strength, proving his Dao through force; he certainly could not crack this divine power.
Xu Ying smiled and said, "Congratulations, Dao Master, on finally ridding yourself of this stubborn affliction."
Dao Master Luo could not hide his excitement either. He laughed heartily. "My chronic ailment is cured, and Fellow Daoist Xu deserves the greatest credit!"
Xu Ying hurriedly demurred with humility. "This is entirely thanks to your immense fortune, Dao Master. What ability or virtue does this disciple have?"
Dao Master Luo felt as if his heart had been pressed warm several times over in the depths of winter—inexpressibly comforted. He smiled and said, "Truth be told, when I speak with others, they always fear and dread me. My disciples are like that, and outsiders are no different. Even the four Grand Dao Lords dare not speak freely before me. As for Dao Masters Hua and Lin, they only intrigue and plot. Only talking with you is carefree and unconstrained, bringing a smile to my face."
Xu Ying accompanied him as they walked out of Anyou Palace, smiling. "It is only because you are so approachable, Dao Master, that this disciple dares to be a little bolder. Dao Master, the scenery here is so exquisite, yet why is it called Mount Jiuqiu?"
Dao Master Luo raised his eyes toward the nine hills ahead, his gaze shifting. "They are merely nine ordinary knolls, nothing remarkable about them. I am a nostalgic man. Back in the day, I made my start at Jiuqiu, so when I cleaved open Daoji Heaven, I relocated Jiuqiu into Daoji Heaven."
Xu Ying appeared awed with respect. "You rose to great heights without forgetting your roots, never abandoning your initial heart. This disciple cannot hope to match such character!"
Dao Master Luo laughed heartily. Right then, a voice chimed in with a laugh: "Shizong, what has made you so merry?"
The smile faded from Dao Master Luo's face, his body stiffening involuntarily, though he relaxed in the very next instant and chuckled. "Father, my injuries have healed, so I simply got a little carried away..."
He subtly waved a hand, gesturing for Xu Ying to withdraw. Xu Ying bowed and stepped back, stealing a glance. He saw another man approaching—one who bore some resemblance to Dao Master Luo, yet looked far younger than him. The young man's gaze fell upon Xu Ying. As they brushed past each other and Xu Ying drew further away, the young man finally withdrew his gaze.
"Shizong, who is that person?" the young man asked.
"He is a disciple of Taiyi who received Taiyi's true teachings. He came to help cleanse the remnants of the Dao injury on my body." Dao Master Luo held both reverence and dread toward this man, along with a trace of resentment in his heart, but he concealed it well. He added, "Taiyi has already attained the Dao and become a Dao Master. He will surely make a move against me this time, so I am preparing a grand surprise for him."
That young man was Dao Master Luo's father, named Luo Taizong. Glancing at Luo, he sneered, "Taiyi hid himself so deeply. If he attained the Dao, he must have attained it in Taiyi, Karma, Samsara, Calamitous Destiny, and Slaughter. Do you think you can kill him with just your Nine Spirits Spacetime Heavenly Tribulation? Be careful not to get slaughtered by him instead of killing him."
Dao Master Luo snorted and asked, "Why did Father return from the Dao Alliance?"
"If I didn't come back, who knows what kind of mess the other shore would become under you three bastards? Besides, there is an outcast of the Dao Alliance stirring up chaos here. You three are nowhere near a match for him; I must deal with him personally."
Luo Taizong said indifferently, "Don't think I returned this time to seize power. That meager power you three bastards hold isn't worth my attention."
Dao Master Luo was quite unwilling to swallow this, but he still bowed his head and agreed, smiling. "Naturally. What doesn't the Dao Alliance possess? Why would you care for the petty wealth of our other shore?"
Luo Taizong glanced at him. "Your vision is too shallow, so your cultivation realm can only stop here. Let me check and see if that disciple of Taiyi truly healed you."
Dao Master Luo returned to Anyou Palace. Luo Taizong examined him and said in surprise, "This disciple of Taiyi actually has remarkable ability. While the Dao injury remnants I left behind weren't that potent, they weren't something an Immortal at the ninth realm of the Dao could unravel. To think he could crack them so easily."
He pondered for a moment, making no move to unravel the rest of the Dao injury remnants. He signaled Dao Master Luo to pull up his trousers. Dao Master Luo felt both humiliated and furious. Silently pulling up his pants, he said, "You clearly have the ability to dispel the Dao injury remnants for me, yet you refused to lift a hand, leaving me to rely on an outsider's help."
Luo Taizong laughed. "Out of regard for you being of my bloodline, not leaving you a cripple was already generous enough. Don't push your luck. Back when you joined hands with Hua Shengsheng and Lin Chuanting, you even wanted to purge me, forcing me to flee far away to the Dao Alliance. A fierce tiger does not devour its cubs, yet a venomous son devours his father! Shizong, in the past you were inferior to me, and today you are still inferior to me."
Dao Master Luo was overwhelmed with shame and anger. Luo Taizong paid it no mind, gazing outside and murmuring, "However, that brat who treated your Dao injury is quite interesting..."
"Quite interesting..." Dao Master Luo said warily, "You absolutely must not touch Xu Ying. I still need him to treat my other Dao injuries."
Luo Taizong paid no heed to his warning at all, laughing. "Since when do my actions require your consent?"
With that, he walked out of Anyou Palace.
Xu Ying stood before Mount Jiuqiu, observing its geography and calculating where the tomb entrance and main burial chamber were located, and where to dig a robber's tunnel to lead straight inside.
Just then, a voice called out: "You are Xu Ying?"
Xu Ying turned at the sound to see the young man whom Dao Master Luo had called 'Father' walking toward him. He hurriedly saluted. "Disciple Xu Ying greets the Supreme Dao Ancestor."
Luo Taizong walked straight up beside him, sized him up from head to toe, and smiled. "So you are the one who healed my son's Dao injury? You are proficient in Taiyi, Karma, Samsara, Calamitous Destiny, and Slaughter?"
As he examined Xu Ying, a secret shock rippled through his heart—he actually could not discern what Great Dao Xu Ying cultivated!
In his eyes, Xu Ying appeared just like an ordinary mortal who had never cultivated. There was no aura of any Great Dao within him; he was unified as one in Hunyuan, plain and unadorned. This realm strongly resembled that of a Dao Master, yet held differences: a Dao Master's Great Dao was unconstrained and an integrated Hunyuan whole, yet one could still discern what Great Dao the Dao Master cultivated. On Xu Ying, however, one could not even tell what Great Dao he practiced. Such a circumstance was exceedingly rare.
Xu Ying said respectfully, "Yes, this disciple studies under Taiyi."
"Taiyi?"
Luo Taizong sneered. "That precocious Taiyi?"
His gaze turned chilling, fixing firmly on Xu Ying as he sneered, "How could someone who cannot even understand his own cultivated Great Dao, someone who needed pointers from his own disciple to prove his Dao, simultaneously master Karma, Samsara, Calamitous Destiny, and Slaughter? How could he pioneer such an exquisite Daofa?"
Xu Ying felt a chill in his heart.
"Unless the one proficient in these Great Daos wasn't him. Unless the one who created the method of reversing spacetime to kill wasn't him." Luo Taizong said indifferently, "If that person wasn't him, then who could it be?"
Xu Ying smiled and said, "What the Supreme Dao Master says is true. Within our Taiyi Dao Sect, there are indeed others proficient in various Great Daos. My senior brother Zhangsun Shenghai is the foremost among them."
Luo Taizong was somewhat surprised and said with amusement, "There is someone else besides you who has mastered the Nine Innate Daos? However, even if there is someone else, you cannot clear your own suspicion."
Xu Ying burst into laughter. "The Supreme Dao Master wouldn't think Dao Master Luo's injury was caused by me, would you? If I had caused it, how could I treat him? Besides, how could I possibly possess such strength?"
Luo Taizong smiled faintly. "Even if you caused it, it doesn't matter."
Xu Ying looked at him in baffled astonishment.
Luo Taizong remarked languidly, "An unfilial son constantly defies my wishes. Giving him an unforgettable lesson is a fine thing. I quite appreciate it."
Xu Ying grew even more bewildered.
Luo Taizong tossed a token over and said, "If you caused it, that only proves your capability. Keep this first."
Xu Ying hurriedly caught it. Looking closely, he didn't know whether to laugh or cry: what fell into his hand was actually a square, green blank tablet—a Dao Alliance Token!
*So he is from the Dao Alliance! No wonder he could crack my divine power.*
Composing himself, Xu Ying produced an identical token.
Luo Taizong froze, staring at the token in his hand. "You... you are also from the Dao Alliance?"
Xu Ying sighed and took out yet another token. "Counting yours, I have three of them now," he said helplessly.
Chapter 845