Self-Severance

The nearby Dao Masters could not help bursting into laughter at his words, shaking their heads as they laughed. Dao Master Haining said, "Sect Master Xu, what is your skill compared to the Dao Venerable's? The Dao Venerable's achievements are like towering mountains to which even we can only look up with reverence. How could you presume that one of his Daos has not reached perfection?" Jingning said coldly, "If even you could cultivate it, how could the Dao Venerable fail to do so?" The several Dao Masters from Tianjing nodded in agreement one after another. Dongxuan also said, "When the Dao Venerable guided our cultivation back then, whatever we comprehended of the Nine Innate Daos, he could wield with effortless mastery, understanding them far more profoundly than we did." Dao Master Taiyi said, "The Dao Venerable is omniscient. It is impossible that there is any Great Dao he has not perfected." Hearing Taiyi say the same, Xu Ying said, "If one has cultivated the evolutionary cycle of the Nine Daos, then when the Dao Tides arrive, one becomes a self-contained universe running endlessly in cycle. How could one be affected by the tides? If the Dao Venerable was affected, either one or several of his Great Daos have not reached perfection, or his cultivation has remained intact all along, and he merely pretended to be affected by the Dao Tides! There are only these two possibilities!" He glanced around at everyone and smiled. "Do you believe the first, or the second?" "Bullshit!" Dao Master Jingning's hair bristled with fury. He rushed forward, grabbed Xu Ying by the collar, hoisted him up, and barked, "Suspecting that one of the Dao Venerable's Great Daos has not reached perfection is one thing, but how dare you suspect that the Dao Venerable was never affected by the Dao Tides at all!" "Jingning, kill him!" Cen Xi shouted. Yu Xi fumed, "Let me reduce him to chaos!" The crowd was beside themselves with rage, ready to tear Xu Ying to shreds. To them, the Dao Venerable was both father and master. Had the Dao Venerable not returned from the Dao Alliance all those years ago, bringing supreme arts from the alliance to guide them, how could they have attained their present achievements? The Dao Venerable was also Tianjing's pillar of stability. With him around, the other shore had not moved to ruthlessly slaughter Tianjing. The two possibilities Xu Ying laid out might mean little to outsiders, but to them, it was an intolerable insult and humiliation. They were determined to do away with him! "Xu Ying, apologize!" Dao Master Taiyi barked. Dongxuan had initially hesitated over whether to kill Xu Ying and purge this disgrace of the sect, but hearing this, he snapped to his senses and hastily said, "Hurry up and apologize! Spout any more nonsense, and your grandmaster will tear you apart too!" Xu Ying let his limbs hang limp like a dead fish and hurriedly apologized to the Dao Venerable: "This disciple should not have tarnished the Dao Venerable's name. The Dao Venerable possesses magnanimous forbearance; please spare me." Gong Jiexuan thought for a moment and said, "Everyone, calm your anger. We still need his assistance to eliminate Luo Taizong, so let us spare him this once." Only then did Dao Master Jingning put Xu Ying down, though everyone's fury still simmered. Gong Jiexuan said, "Let us continue our drills." Leaving Xu Ying behind, the crowd resumed drilling their joint combat techniques. Dongxuanzi walked over to Xu Ying's side. Xu Ying rubbed his neck and said, "Thank you, Grandmaster, for speaking up to help just now." Dongxuanzi said, "From now on, you must never tarnish the Dao Venerable's name again, or even I will not let you off!" Xu Ying agreed. After a moment, he hesitated and asked, "Grandmaster, is there any Dao Master in Tianjing who attained the Dao through Nirvanic Extinction?" Dongxuanzi shook his head, then realized what he meant and sneered. "Our Tianjing indeed has no Nirvanic Extinction Dao Master, but that is because the Great Dao of Nirvanic Extinction is far too difficult to cultivate, particularly the trial of Dao assimilation. However, the Dao Venerable's cultivation in the Great Dao of Nirvanic Extinction is indisputably at the Dao Master level!" Xu Ying's eyes flickered, his gaze falling upon Cen Xi as he lowered his voice. "The Dao Venerable once told me that he was not particularly proficient in the Great Dao of Wuji, yet later, Dao Master Luo's phrase 'true legacy of Wuji' proved he had lied." Among the people Gong Jiexuan had brought this time: Yu Xi cultivated Chaos; Gong Jiexuan cultivated Primordial Origin; Cen Xi cultivated Wuji; Dongxuan cultivated Taiyi; Jiangning cultivated Karma; Jingning cultivated Slaughter; Haining cultivated Calamitous Destiny; and Wuxi cultivated Samsara. Of the Nine Innate Daos, only Nirvanic Extinction was missing. *If the Dao Venerable's Great Dao of Nirvanic Extinction was also cultivated to the level of a Dao Master, then with the sequential verification of all Nine Daos, he would have no flaws left and could not possibly be affected by the Dao Tides.* Xu Ying frowned slightly. *In other words, the Dao Venerable was at his peak from beginning to end. During that great massacre directed against Tianjing a hundred and twenty million years ago, he could have wiped out every expert from the other shore with a single thought, leaving none alive! But...* Why didn't the Dao Venerable act? Xu Ying fell into a daze, pondering for a long time without understanding. *The Dao Venerable completing the sequential verification of the Nine Daos is merely a conjecture of mine. Perhaps, as I previously guessed, one or more of his Great Daos have not reached perfection, which is why he was affected by the Dao Tides. I had best continue cultivating my method of evolving the innate from the acquired.* This time when Xu Ying cultivated the sequential verification of the Nine Daos, he did not begin from Nirvanic Extinction. Instead, he began with Taiyi; after completing one cycle of verification, he started anew from Karma. He cultivated again and again, disregarding whether his Hongyuan Heaven-Opening gave birth to new Heavenly Daos. Later on, Xu Ying began reverse verification: from Nirvanic Extinction to Slaughter, then to Calamitous Destiny, Karma, and Samsara, cycling through reverse verification in ceaseless repetition. The others had initially been astonished, but as time went on, they grew accustomed to it. Later still, Xu Ying restrained his Hongyuan, taking his physical body as the Hongyuan and evolving Hongyuan Heaven-Opening within himself. Seeing that he appeared completely lifelike on the outside, the others paid it no mind. Months passed imperceptibly. The three Dao Masters—Hua, Lin, and Luo—shaved down the Heavenly Daos, drastically reducing the power of the other shore's Heavenly Daos. Taiyi, Gong Jiexuan, and the others also achieved seamless coordination. Everyone gathered together to deliberate their strategy. Dao Master Hua said, "Since everything is prepared, we invite our Dao friends from Tianjing to locate Luo Taizong and eradicate him, eliminating future troubles for both our realms!" Everyone voiced their agreement. Dao Master Jiangning immediately activated the Eye of Karma. In an instant, he grasped the myriad karmas of the other shore, searching for Dao Master Luo's karma. At the same time, Dao Master Haining channeled the Dao of Calamitous Destiny, pouring it into the Eye of Karma to perceive the karmas and calamitous destinies of all living beings across the other shore. Not an iota of karma could touch a Dao Master directly, yet cosmic karma was inescapable, and calamitous destiny even more so. Thus, with the two Dao Masters Jiangning and Haining joining forces, tracking down his whereabouts was as effortless as reaching into a pocket. "Found him!" Dao Master Jiangning and Dao Master Haining exclaimed in unison, "He is in Anyou Palace on Mount Jiuqiu!" Dao Master Luo was greatly astounded. "In my palace?" Daoji Heaven, Mount Jiuqiu, Anyou Palace. Luo Taizong was instructing Zhangsun Shenghai when his mind suddenly stirred. He smiled and said, "They have found my whereabouts and will arrive shortly. Shenghai, you may leave." Zhangsun Shenghai bowed slowly toward him, kowtowing as he said, "Your Excellency's favor of remaking Shenghai makes you my revered master. It grieves me that I can do nothing for my master. Since Master knows they have found you, why not evade them and go roam freely in the Chaos Sea?" Luo Taizong rose to his feet. Tall and slender, hands clasped behind his back, he walked leisurely toward the exterior of the hall and said with a smile, "While in the Dao Alliance, I sensed that the calamitous destiny of the other shore had arrived. This calamitous destiny is unlike any before. In the past, it was fine to let my worthless son and his two scoundrel friends deal with it. But this time, the calamitous destiny is exceedingly dangerous; no matter where I hide, I would not escape doom. Therefore, I had to come in person to dissolve this great tribulation of the other shore!" He stepped outside the hall, his demeanor proud and imperious. "I am the Great Emperor of the ancient gods, the sovereign of all living beings. Having ruled the other shore for billions of years and enjoyed its veneration for billions of years, it is only right that when calamitous destiny erupts, I return to eliminate the calamity for all living beings of the other shore!" He looked down at the fragmented other shore below and sneered, "This is my realm, yet my worthless son and his two scoundrel friends have ravaged it into such a state! This slaughter and calamitous destiny of the other shore still requires me to dispel in person!" Zhangsun Shenghai stepped behind him, looking at him with conflicted eyes. During the era of the ancient gods, Luo Taizong had been the most tyrannical of rulers. To preserve his dominion, there was no evil he had shrunk from. Yet when calamitous destiny struck the other shore, he still returned to his homeland, intending to resolve the calamity for it. It was truly hard to imagine that this was something a tyrant would do. Zhangsun Shenghai left Anyou Palace. As he walked out of Mount Jiuqiu, he saw Dao Masters Hua, Lin, Luo, and the others rushing toward this place, with his other master, Dao Master Tongtian, among them. Zhangsun Shenghai flew silently toward the outskirts of Daoji Heaven, thinking to himself, *Even within the other shore, there are heroic figures. It is just that the other shore of today can no longer tolerate him.* He was flying toward the Chaos Sea, preparing to use its power to scour clean Dao Master Lin's imprint from the Nirvanic Fire-Tipped Spear. On the other side, Xu Ying was also hastening to refine the Nirvanic Azure Emptiness lamp. This lamp was a pure Nirvanic numinous treasure that contained the terrifyingly immense Great Dao of Nirvanic Extinction; it was unknown which universe's Chaos spirit root it originated from. Dao Master Hua had not cultivated the Great Dao of Nirvanic Extinction and had been utterly incapable of leaving any imprint on this treasure. Therefore, Xu Ying had no need to wash away an imprint with the Chaos Sea; he only needed to leave his own imprint upon the Azure Emptiness lamp. Standing before Anyou Palace, Luo Taizong looked toward the crowd. He saw Hua, Lin, Luo, and Tongtian trapping him within a Four Images formation, forming the first layer of offense. Xu Ying, Taiyi, Cen Xi, and the others stood in the outer perimeter, deploying a Five Elements formation to form the second layer of offense. Dao Masters Dongxuan, Jingning, Xuannü, Qixian, and others occupied the third layer; fourteen Dao Masters raised innate numinous treasures, forming the third layer of offense. Back at Hanging Ridge, Dao Master Hua and the others had not had time to arrange a formation; simply joining forces in siege, they had severely wounded Luo Taizong. This time, the Heavenly Daos had been weakened, the other shore had been partitioned, and Dao Masters from Tianjing were assisting them to lay an inescapable dragnet. Luo Taizong seemed doomed! Everyone wore solemn expressions, speaking no words as only Dao sounds vibrated through the air. Luo Taizong shook his head and said, "Shizong, Shengcheng, Chuanting, you are still as useless as ever. To deal with me, you actually shattered the other shore, casting aside all living beings. The evil you have wrought over this past hundred million years far surpasses the evil I committed across billions of years." Dao Master Luo said grimly, "Father, over this past hundred million years, the other shore ruled myriad cosmos, prospering and flourishing, giving rise to countless Immortals—far surpassing your era! You had better stop flattering yourself!" Dao Master Lin stepped forward and shouted, "You manipulated every race, setting demigods, divine-bloods, and mortals to slaughter one another, solely to preserve your dominion! Your villainy deserves death!" Luo Taizong's eyes burned like torches as he said indifferently, "A petty view of fools! I was the ruler, an ancient god; naturally, I had to exhaust my heart and mind for the ancient gods and maintain our rule. How could I betray my own race to nurture yours? Today, you are the rulers. Would you betray yourselves to hand power over to others?" When Dao Master Luo and Dao Master Lin met his gaze, they actually shrank from looking him in the eye. In Luo Taizong's gaze, there was only frankness. He was frankly evil. Dao Master Luo, Dao Master Lin, and their ilk, however, were not frank enough. When they committed evil, they had to drape it in the mantle of righteousness and claim that calamitous destiny was looming. Luo Taizong's gaze landed on Holy King Xuannü's face, and he sneered, "Xuannü, you too are an ancient god, yet you betrayed your own race. You thought yourself pure and noble, unaware of how foolish and ignorant you were! Having overthrown my rule, what became of you?" Holy King Xuannü stepped forward, channeling the Chaos spirit root Frost Flower, and said coldly, "You were brutal by nature, monopolizing power and hindering the progress of the other shore's Dao methods. Being overthrown was only natural!" "A childish, womanly view!" Luo Taizong scoffed. "After I was overthrown, what was your fate? Were you not killed by others and suppressed beneath the ocean floor, unable to turn over? Taiyi rescued you, but even if you accomplished anything, after using you, he merely treats you as a mascot!" Dao Master Taiyi said, "Luo Taizong, the era of the ancient gods has already passed. Why cling to it?" Luo Taizong glanced at him and sneered, "An ambition higher than the heavens, but a life thinner than paper; grand aspirations with scant ability, your skills mediocre at best. What face do you have to bark wildly before me?" Dao Master Taiyi was not angered. Luo Taizong looked around at everyone and chuckled. "You have sunk so low that you actually joined forces with Tianjing people. These Tianjing people came to our other shore, cultivating our Heavenly Daos and seizing our fortune, yet you allied with them to oppose your Great Emperor of the ancient gods!" He said dismissively, "In your hands, the other shore is truly finished!" Dao Master Hua said grimly, "Luo Taizong, you have already been greatly weakened. Today, you cannot escape even if you grow wings! Strike!" The moment his words fell, the four Dao Masters took a step forward in unison, raising various innate numinous treasures to press down upon Luo Taizong! "Who said shattering the other shore and weakening the Heavenly Daos could weaken me?" Luo Taizong laughed aloud. His towering physique stood upright, facing the array of innate numinous treasures head-on. Suddenly, with a sharp crack from his cranium, a line split open between his brows like an eyelid parting left and right. From that parting slit walked out a human-sized Luo Taizong. His Great Dao aura surged with world-overturning intensity, and together with the towering Luo Taizong, he channeled the Great Dao of Karma, throwing the attacks of the innate numinous treasures into chaos! Instantly, the myriad treasures of the three Dao Masters—Hua, Lin, and Luo—clashed against one another; not a single blow landed upon him. Only Dao Master Tongtian's Immortal Slaying Sword remained unaffected, severing karma and stabbing directly forward! The ordinary-sized Luo Taizong raised his other hand, meeting the Immortal Slaying Sword with his bare palm, and chuckled. "You have no idea how formidable the Dao Alliance truly is. Only after going there did I realize that everything I had seen, comprehended, and learned in the past was base and inferior." Xu Ying's eyelids twitched furiously. With a resonant hum, an incomparably bright wheel of reincarnation rose before him, standing upright behind Luo Taizong's head. The crowd and their innate numinous treasures were swept up by that wheel of reincarnation, tumbling into the cycle of reincarnation. *Run!* The thought involuntarily surfaced in Xu Ying's mind: *If I run now, there is still time!* He backed away, only to see Dao Master Wuxi leap past the others, channeling the Great Dao of Samsara in an attempt to rescue everyone. However, his Dao power was simply no match for Luo Taizong. Xu Ying had intended to flee, yet as if possessed by ghosts and gods, he stepped forward instead. Transforming his body into reincarnation, he lent Wuxi a hand. The two combined their might to shake Luo Taizong's Great Dao of Samsara, allowing the others just enough time to raise their innate numinous treasures, jointly suppress the reincarnation, and break free from it. "I severed myself, turning from a Dao Master into a mortal and cultivating anew from the ground up, only to attain today's achievements," Luo Taizong's thunderous voice rang out. "Did you truly believe that shattering the other shore could weaken me?" Within his reincarnation, the Eye of Karma of the Great Dao of Karma suddenly emerged, followed by Taiyi, Wuji, Primordial Origin, Calamitous Destiny, Slaughter, and the other Daos manifesting from within his body! One towering and one small, two Luo Taizongs stood facing the crowd.