Only when the incense in his hands burned down to ash did Xu Ying finally straighten his back.
This unexpected journey had stirred countless thoughts and emotions within him.
Dao Lord Zuo Lian said, "Now that the memorial rites are paid, an old regret is settled. Fellow Daoist Xu, let us part ways here."
Xu Ying hastily said, "Brother Dao, don't you want to give me a parting gift?"
Dao Lord Zuo Lian looked at him, puzzled.
Xu Ying blinked. "For instance, some kind of medallion or token? Think carefully—do you have anything like that on you?"
"Are you referring to a Dao Alliance Token?" Dao Lord Zuo Lian shook his head. "That object is ill-omened. If you ever encounter one, Fellow Daoist, you would do best to keep it at a respectful distance. You have shown me great kindness; I cannot bring misfortune upon you."
"Ill-omened?" Xu Ying froze. How could a Dao Alliance Token be ill-omened? Why should one keep the Dao Alliance at arm's length?
Dao Lord Zuo Lian bowed and said, "Fellow Daoists, farewell!"
Xu Ying was about to urge him to stay, but Dao Lord Zuo Lian had already summoned his multi-decked vessel and stepped onto the weathered craft. "The Dao Alliance is not nearly as mighty or righteous as you imagine. Coming into contact with it will only bring calamity!"
Dao Lord Zuo Lian drove the vessel out into the Chaos Sea, his voice drifting back: "Fellow Daoist Xu, within Chaos there is no karma, or karma may even be inverted—effects become causes, causes become effects, in total disarray. Since the Kaiyuan Divine Axe brought you here, an unseen, immense force must be guiding you to fulfill what you are fated to do. And also..."
As he drifted into the distance, his voice was eroded by the Chaos Sea, turning faint and indistinct: "...Stay far away from the Dao Alliance."
Xu Ying stood upon the ruins of the Spirit Realm, murmuring, "Stay far away from the Dao Alliance? But I already have two Dao Alliance Tokens in my hands!"
He had originally possessed three, one of which he had gifted to Zhangsun Shenghai.
"What kind of faction is the Dao Alliance, truly? Why were Shentu Lun and the others so determined to resist it back then? Why did Dao Lord Zuo Lian, even after suffering defeat and joining the Dao Alliance, remain so resentful of its deeds, insisting that it is neither mighty nor righteous? What exactly has the Dao Alliance done?"
Xu Ying stood silently for a long time before suddenly setting these worries aside. Breaking into a smile, he said, "Ancestral God, I share no small karmic bond with the Spirit Realm. I am the Dao Ancestor of the Immortal Dao in the Spirit Realm, and my karma here is vast. You share no small karmic bond with the other shore, being its cosmic primordial spirit. With these two karmic threads intertwined, we were brought straight to this place."
The Ancestral God possessed a fair amount of insight into the Great Dao of Karma. Hearing this, he said, "I hadn't thought of that just now, but your words make it all fall into place. Indeed, if the other shore was founded upon the ruins of the Spirit Realm, then the two of us are truly the only ones suited to open it."
He paused, then added, "Though of course, I think Dao Lord Zuo Lian would have been better suited to replace you, and Luo Taizong better suited to replace me. Yet Dao Lord Zuo Lian was plagued by guilt and merely fled the Spirit Realm's Nirvanic Extinction Tribulation, while I ended up replacing Luo Taizong. In the end, opening the other shore can only fall to the two of us."
Xu Ying smiled. "Taiyi wouldn't do, nor Dao Master Lin, nor Dao Master Luo. As for the other Dao Masters of the other shore, they are nothing more than petty scoundrels. What virtue or capability do they possess to speak of opening the heavens? Ancestral God... take out the divine axe!"
The Ancestral God produced the Kaiyuan Divine Axe. The instant it appeared, the spiritual light that had been constantly circling the Hongyuan suddenly snapped around, blazing with brilliance as it poured down in a torrent.
*Boom!*
The spiritual light surged into the Kaiyuan Divine Axe in the Ancestral God's grip. Peerless Great Dao power erupted from the blade at once, blazing with radiant majesty that lit up the surrounding Chaos Sea.
Far in the distance, Dao Lord Zuo Lian was bathed in the axe's glow. Watching his shadow stretch out from beneath his feet into the depths of the Chaos Sea, he looked back and was momentarily dazed. Amidst the boundless Chaos Sea, a divine axe shone with dazzling splendor, as if a supreme divine majesty had been awakened, sending forth the Great Dao power of cleaving open Chaos from its blade.
"Could Xu Ying and the Ancestral God truly be driven by some wondrous force, returning to the past to fulfill what was meant to be?" he whispered. "Yet I only mentioned it off the cuff!"
Zuo Lian gazed into the bottomless Chaos Sea, murmuring, "The power of this ocean is truly unfathomable and beyond reckoning!"
The Ancestral God stood tall upon the jade platform, the Kaiyuan Divine Axe buzzing and trembling in his hands. From the wreckage of the magical treasures all around, streams of spiritual light suddenly rushed toward the Kaiyuan Divine Axe like shooting stars, bearing the undying wills of the Spirit Realm's people—You Xuan, Yin Rao, and the rest.
The Chaos Sea could destroy everything. It could obliterate their physical bodies and primordial spirits, extinguish their Great Daos, and crush their heritages, yet that immortal resolve—the conviction to protect all living beings—endured.
It was a will that the Chaos Sea could never annihilate. Rising from the ruins and amidst the Chaos Sea, it had condensed into a Chaos spirit root meant to open heaven and earth. Growing ever stronger, it urged whoever held the axe to split the heavens and divide the earth, carving out a home for all living beings amidst the boundless Chaos—a haven that was the other shore of their dreams.
*Crash!*
The spiritual power within the colossal remnant of a magical treasure drained completely, and it collapsed like dust, reduced to ash. Then, another piece of treasure wreckage exhausted its spiritual power, collapsing into ruin. Watching the treasures crumble one after another, Xu Ying felt a pang of sorrow in his heart. The treasures these Dao Masters of the Spirit Realm had left behind in the Chaos Sea after their deaths—the sole proof that they had ever existed—were shattering one by one, vanishing into nothingness.
*Yet a new universe is about to be born upon these very ruins!*
Just as this thought crossed Xu Ying's mind, he saw You Xuan's Karma Golden Wheel break apart as well, ceasing to exist. His heart twitched, the scene searing itself into his Dao heart, leaving behind a dull ache.
Xu Ying shouted, "Ancestral God, what are you waiting for? Refine the Kaiyuan Divine Axe while you have the chance!"
Hearing this, the Ancestral God immediately imprinted his own Great Dao of Heaven and Earth into the divine axe. However, the Chaos spirit root's power continued to surge wildly, making his imprint seem insignificant and leaving him unable to truly master the weapon. Seeing this, Xu Ying rushed behind him and channeled his own Dao power into the Ancestral God's body to lend him a hand. Having attained mutual corroboration of the Nine Daos, Xu Ying possessed boundless, majestic magic power, which merged with the Ancestral God's strength into a roaring torrent that poured straight into the Kaiyuan Divine Axe.
The axe's radiance grew brighter and brighter, and strange, magnificent Great Dao patterns surfaced upon its shaft. These patterns had not existed when the axe was merely in the form of spiritual light; only through the joint refinement of the two did they now emerge.
Suddenly, the divine axe hummed and vibrated so violently that the Ancestral God's arms went numb, rendering him unable to hold on. With a sharp whistle, the weapon tore free from his grip. The moment the Kaiyuan Divine Axe flew out, all the remaining treasure fragments shattered completely, and countless motes of spiritual light surged forth to merge into the axe.
Xu Ying and the Ancestral God soared into the air at once, giving chase. The divine axe circled the Hongyuan of the other shore, continuing to cleave open the Chaos state, splitting it into the Hongmeng state that flowed into the Hongyuan. The axe's power was so tremendous that even Xu Ying and the Ancestral God, the mightiest beings below the level of Dao Master, could not easily draw near.
A slight pulse of the power bursting from the axe made both of them feel as if they were about to be sliced in two. Rashly approaching would surely mean certain death.
Xu Ying immediately summoned the Great Dao Sutra Banner. Its nine tiers unfurled into nine canopies, granting him immense support as a majestic Dao power comparable to a Dao Master's flooded through him. Shielding the Ancestral God, Xu Ying braved the axe's terrifying might and forced his way closer.
"Ancestral God, don't try to grab it! We can't control it yet—refine it first!" Xu Ying shouted.
The axe flew in circles around the Hongyuan, striking stroke after stroke into the Chaos state, opening up the Chaos and nourishing the growth of the Hongyuan of the other shore.
Xu Ying and the Ancestral God followed close behind, relentlessly pursuing the soaring weapon. The Ancestral God seized the opportunity to fuse his Great Dao imprint into the Kaiyuan Divine Axe again and again.
Over the past century or more of journeying through the Chaos Sea, Xu Ying had used his spare moments specifically to refine the Great Dao Sutra Banner. Now, under his urging, the banner split into nine, soaring up and down to deflect the terrifying might pouring from the Kaiyuan Divine Axe in all directions.
Even though the Great Dao Sutra Banner was also an innate numinous treasure and a Chaos spirit root, its power fell far short of the Kaiyuan Divine Axe. Before long, cracks began spidering across the surfaces of the nine canopies. Fortunately, the treasure was extraordinary; with just a bit of refinement, the cracks swiftly mended.
Even so, such horrifying power left Xu Ying inwardly shaken. *Among all the numinous treasures I have encountered, I'm afraid not a single one can compare to this Kaiyuan Divine Axe.*
"Ah Ying, look at the way the axe splits the Chaos—doesn't it look like a series of axe techniques?" the Ancestral God's voice rang out.
Xu Ying immediately directed his gaze toward the trajectory of the Kaiyuan Divine Axe. Having started his path in the Martial Dao, he was well-versed not only in sword arts and saber arts, but also in the principles of axe techniques.
Xu Ying was instantly captivated by the axe's movement. Within the Hongyuan of his physical body, the ultimate intent of the Martial Dao erupted, and silhouettes materialized around him, practicing the axe technique in tandem.
The Ancestral God had noticed it earlier and started learning first, yet his aptitude was far inferior to Xu Ying's. In contrast, Xu Ying swiftly mastered each of the fiercely Yang, overwhelmingly unyielding axe forms.
Following the Kaiyuan Divine Axe as it circled the Hongyuan, Xu Ying soon learned all seven forms. Polished through the ultimate intent of the Martial Dao, the seven forms became second nature to him, honed to the pinnacle of technique.
In this brief span, the Hongyuan of the other shore absorbed the Hongmeng Dao power and expanded rapidly, swelling outward. However, the Dao power within it remained in the Wuji state; the Hongmeng Dao power flowing inside stopped once it evolved to the Wuji state, refusing to progress into the Taiyi state.
*If it doesn't evolve into the Taiyi state, the Hongyuan cannot be considered mature and will not open,* Xu Ying thought anxiously. *And if the Hongyuan grows too massive, its own power will be unable to split itself open. Only an immense external force could crack it. The strength required to open it might soon exceed the limits of the Ancestral God and me!*
If the Hongyuan of the other shore grew too large, cleaving it open would not only demand stupendous power, but would also invite a proportional backlash from the Chaos Sea. However much force one exerted to open the heavens, the Chaos Sea would strike back with equal ferocity—an exceptionally perilous prospect.
*We must finish refining the Kaiyuan Divine Axe as quickly as possible!* With no time to hesitate, Xu Ying stopped channeling his power into the Ancestral God and used his own Dao power to directly refine the Kaiyuan Divine Axe. Previously, he had lent his power to the Ancestral God to assist him, but because the Ancestral God's Dao methods were less refined, the progress had been sluggish. Now that Xu Ying joined in directly, their speed increased by leaps and bounds.
Yet the Hongyuan of the other shore continued to swell, already encroaching upon the vicinity of the Spirit Realm's ruins. If it kept expanding, it would inevitably swallow the ruins whole.
"We can't let it keep chopping—if it keeps going, opening the heavens will be a death sentence!" Xu Ying suddenly merged the nine canopies back into the Great Dao Sutra Banner, bringing its nine tiers forward as a shield. With a shake of his shoulder, the Xuanhui Pagoda of the Cloud Realm emerged, pressing down upon the Kaiyuan Divine Axe to check its momentum slightly.
"Ancestral God, grab it!" he roared. Clutching the banner's pole, he braved the axe's terrifying might to close the distance. In an instant, the axe's radiant edge sliced through seven tiers of the banner, and the eighth tier tore apart right after. Just as it was about to cleave the ninth tier and slay Xu Ying, the Ancestral God seized the shaft with both hands.
Decisive as ever, the Ancestral God poured all his Dao power into the Kaiyuan Divine Axe, attempting to activate and master the treasure.
Yet the weapon resisted far more violently than he had anticipated; its blinding blade turned and swung straight toward his forehead! At that critical juncture, Xu Ying reached out and gripped the shaft, combining his strength with the Ancestral God's to drive the axe. Only then did the gleaming blade finally halt, inches from the Ancestral God's brow.
Breathing a sigh of relief, Xu Ying and the Ancestral God exchanged a glance, both drenched in sweat. Suddenly, their feet touched down upon the jade platform. The Ancestral God's feet aligned precisely with the footprints etched into the stone.
The Ancestral God froze, murmuring, "Could it truly have been me who opened the heavens and created the other shore? Otherwise... otherwise..."
A voice whispered from the depths of his heart: *Otherwise, why could I so easily command the Great Dao of Heaven and Earth of the other shore, and even strip Luo Taizong, the authentic cosmic primordial spirit, of his dominion over it?*
Xu Ying looked up. The Hongyuan of the other shore had expanded right before their eyes, close enough to touch. This Hongyuan was locked in the Wuji state, incapable of evolving into the Taiyi state through its own strength. If no one cleaved it open, it would likely mutate into a monstrosity within the Chaos Sea, eventually detonating and collapsing back into Chaos.
"Ancestral God, the first form: Heaven-Opening Form!" Xu Ying shouted.
Gripping the divine axe, the Ancestral God chuckled. "Ah Ying, 'Heaven-Opening Form' lacks poetic grace. As the verse goes: 'Stars and moon open the celestial battle-array, mountains and rivers form the earthly encampment; the evening breeze blows the painted horn, spring colors gleam on fluttering pennons.' Why not call it the Stars and Moon Opening the Heavens Formation?"
Xu Ying shot him a dark look.
The Ancestral God grinned. "It still has 'opening the heavens' in it!"
Even as he spoke, he summoned every ounce of his power and poured it into the Kaiyuan Divine Axe. In an instant, his physical body expanded immensely, shifting from a youthful Ancestral God into a mature one, his muscles bulging so fiercely that his garments ripped apart. Amidst surging clouds of mist, the Ancestral God swung the Kaiyuan Divine Axe, executing the technique: Stars and Moon Opening the Heavens Formation!
Instantly, the divine axe resonated in perfect harmony with his Dao power. Vast and magnificent, the axe's might transformed into a dazzling radiance that illuminated untold tens of thousands of miles across the Chaos Sea, slicing straight into the Hongyuan of the other shore, where the Wuji Dao power was exceptionally dense.
Yet, from the moment the Ancestral God swung the axe until his strength was spent, he still failed to cleave open the Hongmeng. Seeing this, Xu Ying hesitated no longer and instantly poured all his power into the axe as well.
In the next instant, within the Hongyuan of the other shore, the Hongmeng split open, Wuji transformed, and myriad Daos were born.
Chapter 868