The Great Dao of Taiyi encompassed all manners of worldly Great Daos, which naturally included the two Daos of Spacetime. Dao Master Taiyi channeled both Daos, cutting into the spacetime of the past. Searching as he went, he unknowingly drifted back to one hundred million years ago.
Dao Master Luo followed him like a shadow, clinging closely behind.
Though he did not know how to channel the two Daos of Spacetime to travel into the past, he was a master of the void. In the Dao of Void, even Xu Ying was far from matching his attainments.
Hidden within the void without alerting Taiyi in the slightest, Luo thought to himself, *Taiyi is crafty and calculating. He must be traveling into the past to rendezvous with Xu Ying. I will follow him back and see how the Nine Spirits Spatiotemporal Heavenly Tribulation wipes out this rebellious pair of master and disciple in one fell swoop.*
Just then, Dao Master Taiyi suddenly halted and looked around. As spacetime shifted, he found that this place was still Daoji Heaven, though Daoji Heaven at this point had only just begun to be opened.
The three Dao Masters had bestowed numinous treasures, and numerous Immortals joined forces to wield them, cleaving Daoji Heaven out of the Chaos Sea.
Many cultivators of the seventh and eighth Dao Realms were imprinting various treasures into Daoji Heaven to adorn the realm.
There was also Dao scenery plundered from other universes or offered as tribute, arranged in Daoji Heaven as landscape. It was arguably the most magnificent and inspiring spectacle to behold in the aftermath of the great calamity.
Dao Master Taiyi stood watching for a long time before murmuring wistfully, "Had calamitous destiny never arisen, with so many Dao Masters on our other shore, how magnificent and prosperous we would have been! Daoji Heaven would have been even vaster and far more brilliant than it is today!"
Dao Master Luo listened in silence, thinking, *Taiyi isn't completely useless after all; he still cares for the other shore.*
Dao Master Taiyi's expression grew complicated as his voice carried into Luo's ears: "If back then we hadn't evaded the calamity, but had actively confronted the calamitous destiny instead, could we have overcome that disaster? Would the other shore have become even stronger afterward? Wouldn't you say so, Dao Master Luo?"
Dao Master Luo was slightly startled. Stepping out of the void, he remarked in surprise, "Taiyi, you noticed I was tracking you? Your Great Dao of Taiyi is indeed wondrous."
"The Great Dao of Taiyi encompasses various Daos such as the soul, the ethereal spirit, the divine, and the psyche. No matter how you conceal yourself, Brother Luo, you cannot hide from me." Dao Master Taiyi raised a hand, and a bronze immortal palace materialized, complete with a tea table and fragrant brew.
"Brother Dao, please!" Taiyi invited.
Dao Master Luo smiled faintly. "Taiyi, you seem such a prudent and staid man, yet your heart is anything but settled." Confident in his own strength, he had no fear of Taiyi whatsoever. With broad, proud strides, he walked into the immortal palace and sat upon a prayer mat before the jade table.
Taiyi came forward, gathered the hems of his robes, and sat opposite Dao Master Luo to pour the tea.
"Is this etiquette from the Three Realms?" Dao Master Luo asked with a furrowed brow.
"It is the tea ceremony of the Three Realms, merely an acquired Dao. My disciple Wu Yi came from the Three Realms and taught me these things." Having poured the tea, Taiyi smiled. "The civilization of the Three Realms is extraordinarily refined, unlike the rugged ways of our other shore. Our other shore's civilization was simply too rough, lacking any deep attainments in acquired Daos." As he spoke, he could not help but think of Xu Ying.
Xu Ying possessed exceptionally high talent in acquired attainments.
Taking a sip of tea, Dao Master Luo looked toward the cultivators toiling away outside. "The original civilization of our other shore was ruined long ago. Today's civilization is nothing more than an offshoot of Tianjing's civilization. Besides, back then our other shore merely treated people like livestock to sacrifice to gods... There was nothing special about it. Without Tianjing, we wouldn't have been able to overthrow my father, Luo Taizong, either."
Taiyi concurred. Lifting his teacup and savoring the brew, he said, "Tianjing brought us both good and bad, but far more bad than good..."
Dao Master Luo chuckled. "Good and bad are hard to judge so quickly. Tianjing's arrival primarily brought change. The Dao of Change holds limitless possibilities; the strong seek opportunity amidst change, turning an uncertain future into one favorable to themselves."
Pondering these words, Taiyi nodded gently in agreement. "Is that why Brother Luo chose the soul Dao, the easiest one to cultivate, back then?"
Dao Master Luo said, "Precisely. Tianjing's arrival brought more advanced knowledge, bound to trigger a tremendous upheaval. That upheaval and reform were certain to reshape the balance of power across the other shore. Thus, I chose what suited me best. The soul Dao was the simplest Great Dao for me, allowing me to rush to the highest realm in the shortest time. In such an era, whoever became a Dao Master first would seize the most resources first, and whoever had the resources could dominate the other shore."
Taiyi sighed with feeling. "There were two others just as clever—Dao Master Hua and Dao Master Lin were also luminaries among men. Back then, I was quite foolish; I chose the Great Dao of Taiyi."
Dao Master Luo chuckled. "You were too staid. You thought that because the Nine Innate Daos were supreme, the achievement would surely be greater. But you never considered that in an era of great turmoil and brutal strife, who would let you cultivate in peace? Only by becoming the strongest in the shortest time can one survive."
Pouring more tea for him, Taiyi said, "Brother Dao faced the world as the strong and survived to this day; I faced the world as the weak and have survived to this day as well. Thus, the Dao of Change does not mean the strong remain forever strong and the weak remain forever weak. The strong can become weak, and the weak can become strong. That is what true change is."
Raising his teacup, Dao Master Luo's eyes flickered. "Taiyi, there is more to your words than meets the ear."
Dao Master Taiyi's expression turned solemn as he raised his cup. "Brother Dao, I respect your public spirit in repeatedly searching for ways to quell calamitous destiny and prolong the life of the other shore. But this path is wrong. Only by directly facing calamitous destiny can the calamity be extinguished. I, Taiyi, ask that you not make an enemy of me."
Dao Master Luo set down his teacup without drinking and sneered, "Taiyi, your greatest asset is your prudence, but your greatest flaw is your naivety. Do you truly believe that facing calamitous destiny head-on will allow you to survive it? If it could be survived, why didn't the Dao Venerable do so? Why did he transfer it onto our other shore instead? If you wish to prolong the life of the other shore, transferring calamitous destiny is the only way."
Taiyi frowned. Dao Master Luo continued coldly, "This transfer of calamitous destiny is no ordinary transfer. We intend to use Dao Master Tongtian's name to entice more genius cultivators from the boundless universes to come to the other shore, turning them into consumable fodder for the calamity."
Tongtian belonged to the New Sacred Clan. When news broke that someone from the New Sacred Clan had become a Dao Master of the other shore, it set off a wild craze of migration and smuggling into the other shore. Later, when the other shore opened its borders, even more cultivators flooded in, contributing to the transfer of calamitous destiny.
Dao Master Luo continued, "This was a stratagem crafted by Brother Hua, Fellow Daoist Lin, and me. Only by exhausting this batch of the New Sacred Clan can the sacred race of the other shore be preserved. As for the other Dao Masters, they are merely tools to extinguish the calamity for the three of us."
Taiyi still held his teacup aloft without setting it down. "Is this calamitous destiny fiercer than any era before? Brother Dao, this time you are sacrificing so many cultivators of the boundless universes, so many Dao Masters of the other shore and Tianjing, and even Brother Hua was sacrificed by you. What about next time? When the next calamitous destiny arrives, what will you sacrifice then?"
The corner of Dao Master Luo's mouth twitched. This wave of calamitous destiny had arrived with such violence that he had had no time to prepare contingencies and was forced to resort to the worst measures. Yet after transferring it this time, the next wave would likely be even more terrifying—and there would not be so much consumable fodder left by then.
Taiyi said, "Our only option now is to seize this opportunity and actively answer the calamity to extinguish it. When the Heavenly Dao deteriorates, mend the heavens; when the Earthly Dao breaks down, restore the earth; when the Human Dao collapses, recuperate and rebuild. Our other shore universe has existed for only a few billion years. Even with calamitous destiny transferred onto us, a glimmer of survival remains..."
"Preposterous nonsense!" Dao Master Luo cut him off, his voice chilling. "Answer the calamity? Extinguish the calamity? Do you want me to die? I have swept across the realms, ruling the boundless universes in the Chaos Sea. The lives that have perished by my hand are countless, and several universes have fallen into nirvanic extinction because I transferred calamitous destiny onto them! Hahaha! How crushing is the calamitous destiny upon my shoulders? You want me to answer the calamity?" Murderous intent flared in his eyes. "Taiyi, you are telling me to die!"
Dao Master Taiyi frowned. "I believed you cared for the safety of the other shore, which is why..."
"I do care for the safety of the other shore, but its safety comes second to my own!" Dao Master Luo raised his brows. "How precious is my life? I am a Dao Master, a supreme being holding the power over life and death of countless beings across boundless universes! Even the other shore cannot compare to me! Taiyi, do you not think the same in your heart?"
Taiyi replied solemnly, "The other shore gave birth to me and nurtured me. In my heart, its safety comes first."
With a flick of his sleeve, Dao Master Luo shattered the jade table, teapot, and cups into dust. He sneered, "Then there is nothing left to discuss. Taiyi, show me what you've truly got."
Dao Master Taiyi drank down the cold tea remaining in his cup and sighed. "Brother Dao, this is one hundred million years ago. Our other shore only governs two hundred and fifty-six universes. There is one newly discovered universe where no Dao Master has yet descended, though scouts have already found it. As of now, the universes you can sense number only these two hundred and fifty-seven."
Dao Master Luo's heart gave a jolt. He urgently reached out with his senses toward the boundless universes. Behind him, the projections of universe after universe manifested—exactly two hundred and fifty-seven, neither more nor less. The boundless universes indeed existed within this Chaos Sea, yet in this era, no scouts had reached them or observed them. What was unobserved remained unknowable. Consequently, he could not sense those universes, nor could he borrow Dao power of the nine Daos—such as soul, ethereal spirit, divine, and psyche—from them.
"Two hundred and fifty-seven universes. Each universe allows you to mobilize nine types of Dao power, equivalent to peak Dao Masters of nine Great Daos," Dao Master Taiyi said placidly, sitting opposite him. "Add your own Dao power, and that makes two thousand three hundred and twenty-two peak Dao Masters of ordinary Great Daos. Dao Master Luo, in terms of Dao power cultivation, you are not much stronger than I am."
Dao Master Luo burst into thunderous laughter. "Taiyi, you think far too highly of yourself! You achieved the Great Dao of Taiyi only a few centuries ago. How much Dao power could you possibly have? Even assuming your Great Dao of Taiyi can encompass three thousand Great Daos, and assuming you reached the middle Dao Master realm in a few centuries, you would only possess the Dao power of three thousand middle-stage Dao Masters of ordinary Great Daos. In Dao power, you fall far short of me!"
Taiyi answered solemnly, "What I cultivate is the Great Dao of Taiyi, one of the Nine Innate Daos. Of all Daos under heaven, the nine are supreme. What you cultivate are merely secondary Daos, subsidiary branches under the Great Dao of Taiyi. This alone levels the gap in Dao power."
Dao Master Luo's eyes flickered, and he said leisurely, "What about numinous treasures? How many innate numinous treasures do you have to contest with me?"
Taiyi replied calmly, "After Dao Master Hua died, I contested for numinous treasures as well, but I am not greedy. Having enough is sufficient."
Before Dao Master Luo could speak again, Taiyi went on, "Your realm is higher than mine, but my cultivation method surpasses yours. My Great Dao is stronger than yours, but your Dao power exceeds mine. You have more treasures than I do, but my divine arts surpass yours. As for experience, I became a Dao Master not long ago, while you rely on sheer Dao power to overwhelm others. When it comes to life-and-death combat between Dao Masters, you and I are evenly matched."
Dao Master Luo exhaled a breath of turbid air and looked outside the immortal palace.
Taiyi said, "Rest assured, I do not possess the cyclic verification of the nine Daos and cannot change history. Even if they see us, they will forget. You and I can fight here without reservation until the loser dies. Brother Dao, I have already embraced the resolve to die."
Dao Master Luo's eyelids twitched violently. In a raspy voice, he asked, "You didn't come here to join Xu Ying in killing my past self?"
Taiyi shook his head. "I once had that thought, but you must have made thorough preparations. Why should I make a redundant move? I only needed to lure you here, and in this very moment, fight you to the death."
Dao Master Luo's heart pounded wildly. Suddenly he laughed aloud. "I have cultivated the Great Dao of Void! The void is in no way inferior to the nine Daos!"
Taiyi shook his head. "You have not attained the Dao of Void. Had you attained it, I would fear you somewhat, and would only dare make my move after luring you to an even older era. As you are, you only warrant being lured here. You can no longer escape."
With a mature face, firm tone, and composed demeanor, he seemed utterly certain of accomplishing what he set out to do.
"You do not understand the Great Dao of Spacetime and cannot flee from the past," Taiyi said calmly. "Meanwhile, I have countless opportunities to kill you. Even if I am not your match, I can drag you back to even more ancient eras until I cut you down."
At that moment, Dao Master Luo's Dao heart finally wavered.
In the exact instant his resolve shook, Taiyi's Dao arts surged. He wielded the Luotian Dao tree, pushing the power of this single numinous treasure to its absolute peak. Its three thousand branches converged into unity, fusing seamlessly with him like the Great Dao of Taiyi itself. Its might doubled as it swept toward Dao Master Luo!
*Boom!*
The immortal palace detonated, and Dao Master Luo was blasted backward, smashing the rear hall into utter smithereens.
Chapter 876