Xu Ying was taken aback, wondering what could have happened to prompt these Tianjing Dao Masters to help them deal with the Dao Venerable.
He immediately caught on and asked in a rush, "Grandmaster, did your journey to Tianjing reveal that the Dao Venerable truly has mastered cyclic verification of the nine Daos?"
The expressions of Jingning, Cenxi, and the others darkened, each keeping their silence.
Dongxuan said, "Both of your guesses were only half right. He has not achieved cyclic verification of the nine Daos; he is only short of the Great Dao of Nirvanic Extinction. But if the other shore plunges into the Nirvanic Extinction Tribulation, he will be able to cultivate a flawless cyclic verification of the nine Daos."
"We, as well as the people of Tianjing who died back then, are merely the price he paid," Jingningzi said, suppressing his fury.
Cenxi said, "Our assistance this time is not out of goodwill toward you. We too are Dao Masters, and we too are paragons. Having been duped and ambushed by him, we cannot let it pass without retaliating!"
Dongxuan said, "How we slaughter each other in the future remains how we will slaughter each other. In contending to cross the great tribulation, there are only stances, no friendship."
Xu Ying and Taiyi nodded solemnly!
"We still need to see Dao Master Hua and convince him!" Xu Ying said.
Taiyi's eyes flickered, and he swiftly wrote a letter by hand, passing it to Tianchengzi. "I must trouble you to make a trip, Fellow Daoist, to deliver this letter to Dao Master Hua. He will come to assist of his own accord. However, he has a fiery temper—the moment you hand it to him, leave at once. Under no circumstances should you linger."
Tianchengzi chuckled. "Though I am no match for him, I am quite swift at running away." Holding the letter, his figure flashed and vanished into thin air. Before long, he arrived at Qionghua Island in Daoji Heaven, barging straight in to request an audience with Dao Master Hua.
Before Dao Master Hua could even open the letter after receiving it, Tianchengzi shot away with a swish, disappearing without a trace!
"Fleeing so quickly—could there be something sinister about this letter?"
Dao Master Hua readied various spirit treasures to suppress the letter, sneering, "Even if you concealed Luo Taizong's divine abilities in this letter, I wouldn't fear it in the slightest!" That being said, he still opened the letter with utmost caution. As he read through it carefully, his face turned increasingly green. There were no divine abilities ambushing him in the letter, yet every word pierced the heart; between the lines, it subtly hinted that if he did not come to assist, he would immediately perish under his Chaos Oath.
Clutching the letter, Dao Master Hua's hand trembled, his teeth clenched in anger. "That old scoundrel Taiyi has gone too far! No wonder you were so warmhearted back then, rushing to the Dao Venerable to rescue me—so you were scheming against me for this moment!" He soon calmed down. Back then, he had sworn the Chaos Master's oath; should he violate it, the Great Dao of the Chaos Master would surely sweep in and obliterate him. He had no choice but to go.
In Tianjing, Luo Taizong strolled through the sky above the realm with leisurely steps. Unwittingly, he arrived at the place where the Dao Venerable had preached in the past. It was here that the Dao Venerable had imparted the Dao, with a hundred or so listeners seated below the platform—and he had been one of them.
Revisiting this old place, Luo Taizong could not help feeling a flood of emotions. Before coming here, he had been the mightiest ancient god of the other shore, the Great Emperor of the universe, the King of the Gods. But after arriving here, his supreme authority had begun to slip away. From the moment he met the Dao Venerable, the Dao Venerable had stripped him of his power as the Great Emperor of the universe.
At this moment, Luo Taizong saw the Dao Venerable appear upon the stone platform, seated in his original position just as he had been one hundred and twenty million years ago, as though he had sat there and never once departed. Luo Taizong also sat down. Looking at the Dao Venerable before him, after a moment, he said, "Dao Venerable, should I address you as Senior Martial Brother, or as Revered Master?"
The Dao Venerable smiled slightly and said, "Master or senior brother are mere titles. Even if you address me as Master, in your heart you would never treat me as one. And if you call me Senior Brother, you would never truly consider me as such."
Luo Taizong chuckled. "Precisely so. Fellow Daoist, I wish to know: before Tianjing encountered the Great Dao tide, had its calamitous destiny already arrived?"
The Dao Venerable smiled and said, "Why does Fellow Daoist Luo wish to know this? It may not be of any use to you!"
Luo Taizong turned solemn. "The truth is always more enticing, and I am no exception. Even if Fellow Daoist Gong does not wish to speak of it, you cannot hide it from me. There are still many Tianjing people who survived the Great Dao tide and remain in the living world today. I need only find them and ask to find out."
The Dao Venerable fell silent for a moment, then murmured, "Back then, Tianjing indeed plunged into calamitous destiny. This calamity came so suddenly, so ferociously, so lethally that it chilled me to the marrow. I was proficient in Taiyi, Karma, Samsara, Slaughter, and Calamitous Destiny, and I deployed every method of deduction to journey into the past and future, yet I found not a single chance of survival. None whatsoever—including for myself. Because what accompanied that calamitous destiny was the Great Dao tide."
Luo Taizong frowned slightly. The simultaneous arrival of the Great Dao tide and calamitous destiny was far more terrifying than an ordinary Nirvanic Extinction Tribulation. In an ordinary Nirvanic Extinction Tribulation, Dao Masters had a chance of survival—for instance, by fleeing into the Chaos Sea. Though calamitous destiny would catch up with them, it would not be as ferocious. But when the Great Dao tide arrived, fleeing into the Chaos Sea was utterly futile, for the tide would overtake you and dissolve your Great Dao. Without cyclic verification of the nine Daos, even a Dao Master would lose all power and turn into a mortal, completely defenseless against the calamitous destiny pursuing them.
The Dao Venerable said, "Having sensed this anomaly and seen the future of Tianjing, I knew that we cultivators inherently walk a path against Heaven—yielding makes one mortal, defying makes one immortal. If the Chaos Sea wished to destroy me and destroy my Tianjing, I would never permit it. I could change all this, yet across every future I searched, Tianjing—including myself—had no future.
"Just as despair gripped me, I suddenly thought of a solution."
Luo Taizong's expression shifted slightly. "What solution?"
The Dao Venerable smiled faintly. "In the Chaos Sea, universes are endless, more numerous than grains of sand in the sea. Therefore, I only needed to find a relatively backward universe to transfer the calamitous destiny to—transferring Tianjing's calamity and my calamitous destiny entirely onto it. Wouldn't that grant Tianjing and myself a new lease on life? This universe had to be brutal and primitive, and its ruler had to be an incompetent fool."
Luo Taizong's eyelids twitched.
"And so, I found the other shore!" the Dao Venerable said leisurely. "Although the other shore already possessed billions of years of history, the ruler of that universe was a cosmic primordial spirit—arrogant, complacent, and exceedingly foolish, playing games akin to cricket fighting. He made his own progeny and subjects fight among themselves in ceaseless fratricide, all to preserve his own reign.
"Yet the Chaos Sea is a black box; no one knows whether the next universe they encounter within it will be benevolent or wicked, strong or weak. Therefore, such behavior was truly foolish beyond measure!"
Luo Taizong clenched his fists tightly!
The Dao Venerable continued, "Their Dao methods were utterly crude, matching my ideal universe very closely. But since this was my first time doing such a thing after all, I had to be extraordinarily cautious, without the slightest room for error. Thus, I observed the other shore for a million years. I conducted meticulous analyses of every single one of them. Their mannerisms, their habits, their temperaments and appearances—I knew them like the back of my hand. I was even more familiar with them than they were with themselves!"
Luo Taizong's eyelids twitched. The Dao Venerable had once observed them for a million years? As the cosmic primordial spirit, he had remained completely oblivious!
"After returning to Tianjing, I refined my plan step by step. Suddenly, I discovered that not only could I transfer the calamitous destiny flawlessly, but I could also use this scheme to achieve another monumental feat!"
The Dao Venerable smiled faintly and said, "Cyclic verification of the nine Daos. By transferring all of Tianjing's calamitous destiny onto the greedy and hideous people of the other shore, Tianjing would not fall into calamity or sink into extinction, while I could truly master the Great Dao of Nirvanic Extinction, achieve cyclic verification of the nine Daos, and henceforth fear no great tribulation whatsoever.
"And all of this required the Great Dao tide."
Luo Taizong sneered, "Only the Great Dao tide could cause the people of Tianjing to lose their power, allowing them to be slaughtered to the last by the other shore, and thereby transferring the calamitous destiny flawlessly!"
The Dao Venerable nodded gently and smiled. "The other shore was brutal, bloodthirsty, and belligerent. With only slight guidance, they would charge into Tianjing and slaughter every Tianjing native. With no Tianjing people left and the Tianjing universe annexed by the universe of the other shore, Tianjing's calamitous destiny could only fall upon the heads of you new Tianjing people."
Picking up his words, Luo Taizong continued, "Being so belligerent, once the other shore took on Tianjing's calamitous destiny, they would quickly bring their own universe to its end, slaughtering one another until reaching extinction. And at that time, Tianjing could revive through the rising tide of the Great Dao."
The Dao Venerable said, "The other shore obtained Tianjing's heritage and basked in glory for one hundred and twenty million years, enslaving thousands of universes during that span. Now, it can be said that they die a fitting death!"
Luo Taizong fell silent for a moment, then laughed. "It seems the Dao Alliance had truly thoughtful intentions when they dispatched me to resolve the calamitous destiny of the other shore. The ruler of the other shore whom you once dismissed as incompetent has now returned from the Dao Alliance."
The Dao Venerable looked at him with gentle eyes, like a teacher regarding his student, without the slightest icy killing intent, but rather profound gratification. "Luo Taizong, you truly exceeded my expectations by far. Even I never imagined that a formerly brutal and incompetent ancient god like you could let go of everything, discard everything, and even abandon your identity as an ancient god to start from scratch." He said with immense praise, "Achieving this alone makes you surpass countless people. Alas, your natural talent is limited. You cultivated only seven Daos before coming to find me, while I have already mastered eight."
Luo Taizong said impassively, "Seven Daos or eight Daos—how much difference is there? Without achieving cyclic verification of the nine Daos, all you and I can deploy are three adjacent Great Daos at a time; we cannot unleash all the Great Daos at once. In terms of cultivation and Dao attainment, there really isn't that vast a gap between us."
The Dao Venerable smiled faintly and said leisurely, "Is this the insight you gained from your cultivation in the Dao Alliance? It seems that after my departure, the Dao Alliance still hasn't made much progress. Luo Taizong, I am only one step away from cyclic verification of the nine Daos, yet the Dao Alliance sent you here. They have underestimated me far too much."
Paying it no heed, Luo Taizong rose and walked toward the outer heavens, chuckling, "Dao Venerable, the tide is still present; it is merely rising slowly. Why would the Dao Alliance need to send a stronger being? Dispatching me here is precisely to let me sever my karma with you. Did you truly believe the Chaos Sea could be duped by you, that calamitous destiny could be transferred through such means?"
As the Dao Venerable also rose and walked with him toward the outer heavens, Luo Taizong continued, "The very reason you and I meet today is that despite all your exhaustive calculations, you still failed to escape the arrangements of the Chaos Sea. After you die, Tianjing will thoroughly repay its karma to the Chaos Sea and cease to exist."
The Dao Venerable chuckled as well. "This Chaos Sea—today, I insist on duping it once."
The two stepped into the Chaos Sea. Without an emerald rock multi-decked vessel, they relied solely on the Dao light radiating from their bodies to push back the incomparably dense chaotic qi around them. They were the mightiest beings of the two great universes, Tianjing and the other shore, hailing from the same lineage and both originating from the Dao Alliance. Their Great Daos circulated, their auras akin. Behind Luo Taizong stood the Ancient God Luo Taizong, even more towering and burly, whereas the Dao Venerable stood alone.
Suddenly, the two struck almost simultaneously. From the very start, they mobilized three Great Daos. Luo Taizong channeled Hongmeng, Wuji, and Taiyi; the power of these three Great Daos was the most vast and majestic, harboring the grandest forces of a universe, and he intended to blast the Dao Venerable to death with sheer, overwhelming might.
The Dao Venerable, on the other hand, channeled Samsara, Karma, and Calamitous Destiny. This was the process of the universe's Great Daos gradually evolving into collapse. He sought to invoke Karma and Samsara to fuel Luo Taizong's calamitous destiny, throwing his mind and spirit into disarray amidst calamity and throwing his Great Dao into disorder.
On the other shore, in the frontier region's Shorea grove, snow-white nether bugs flitted among the trees, fleeing the pursuit of blood bats. Outside the grove, Xu Ying, Taiyi, Dongxuanzi, and the others looked up silently, gazing toward the Shorea grove.
Dao Master Hua stood behind them with a somber face. The Shorea grove blotted out the sky and sun, carpeting nearly every border where the other shore met the Chaos Sea; the reproductive ability of these trees was simply astonishing.
After a long time, the Shorea grove suddenly shook violently, as if a colossal storm had arisen within the Chaos Sea. The tempest soon struck the Shorea trees, sending violent ripples across ten thousand li of woodland. Countless trees suddenly detonated with sharp snaps, disintegrating into ruin, while the formidable nether bugs and blood bats evaporated in an instant.
The Chaos Sea unleashed a colossal roar akin to ten thousand dragons, ten thousand elephants, and ten thousand bulls. The entire sea surface suddenly hung unimaginably low, pressing down almost before Xu Ying and the others.
"It has begun," everyone murmured in extreme tension, looking toward the Chaos Sea. Yet separated by the dense Chaos Sea, even as Dao Masters, they could not glimpse the battle within. Unable to see the clash between the two, they could not determine the optimal moment to ambush the Dao Venerable.
Dongxuan called out loudly, "When do we strike?"
Before his voice even faded, Tianchengzi was seen activating the Great Dao of Spacetime. In an instant, spacetime became like a vast river, and the past several billion years of the other shore's history all materialized within the river. Tianchengzi locked onto the day Gong Jiexuan had first encountered Xu Ying, saying in a low voice, "As soon as we determine when to strike, we can return to the past at any moment."
Yet the Chaos Sea churned violently, thick and heavy, blocking all their attempts to peer inside and leaving them ignorant of how the battle fared. Even Dao Masters such as themselves did not have the qualification to spectate the battle between those two supreme beings.
Xu Ying carefully sensed and captured the shifts in the Nine Innate Daos emanating from the Chaos Sea, circulating his own Great Dao to gauge the ebb and flow of the duel between Luo Taizong and the Dao Venerable. This was the only thing he could do for now. After a long while, Xu Ying's eyes suddenly lit up, and he said hurriedly, "Fellow Daoist brothers, prepare to strike!"
Without another word, Tianchengzi stamped heavily. Spacetime reversed for everyone, and the very next instant, they were back at the moment Xu Ying and Gong Jiexuan had first met.
At that moment six hundred years ago, there was already one Xu Ying who had traveled back into past spacetime to slay Lingxuzi and obliterate Ping Yaozi. And now, a third Xu Ying appeared, making a move against Gong Jiexuan to trigger the Dao Venerable's own Great Dao backlash.
Chapter 858