Dao Master Shi Lan cowered behind Dao Master Lin, consumed by sheer terror, and rasped, "Brother Lin, Taiyi is running amok against reason and nature—strike him down at once!"
Dao Master Lin said solemnly, "Taiyi, I never sought fame or fortune, which was why I did not vie with you. You wished to be the ruler of the other shore, and I yielded it to you. I pursued my own Dao in seclusion from the world, so as not to let worldly entanglements disturb my Dao heart. Little did I expect that after only a few centuries of seclusion, you would throw the other shore into such utter ruin!"
Murderous intent flashed in Dao Master Taiyi's eyes as he walked toward him, his tone chilling. "Lin Chuanting, was all of this not orchestrated by your hand?"
Dao Master Lin flew into a rage, speaking with bitter indignation, "Orchestrated by me? Was it I who severed the Heavenly Daos of the other shore, or was it I who slaughtered so many of our fellow Daoists here? Taiyi, open your eyes wide and look! Just look at what you have done!"
His voice was deafening and enlightening. Dao Master Taiyi's mind suddenly cleared somewhat. He looked around him, only to see Dao snow swirling and fluttering thick across heaven and earth, leaving the entire realm dim and murky.
From the depths of space and time came waves of Dao weeping, like the dying groans of shattering Great Daos.
The other shore seemed to be tilting. Space and time grew unstable, and the various Great Daos showed signs of snapping under the crushing weight of the Chaos Sea!
Dao Master Taiyi shuddered in horror, suddenly jolted to realization. "I killed nineteen Dao Masters, destroyed nineteen Heavenly Daos of the other shore, and dragged the other shore back into calamitous destiny! I... I..."
"You are a sinner against the other shore!"
Dao Master Lin took a step forward, his eyes blood-red as he barked, "Taiyi, you are a sinner against the other shore! Tell me, what was your true purpose in all of this?"
His roar carried the resonance of the Dao, piercing through illusions and shaking the soul, as if calling forth the truest truths buried deep within one's Dao heart.
From within Dao Master Taiyi's body, nineteen Great Daos contained in the Taiyi Great Dao—including the Azure Dragon, Five Tones, Six Harmonies, Eight Wildernesses, Mountain, and Geomagnetism—flew forth. Connecting with heaven and earth like nineteen rays of glowing mist, they aligned with heaven and earth, mending the Heavenly Daos for the other shore!
Even as a Dao Master, he instantly felt burdened with shackles, as though nineteen Great Dao chains were weighing down upon him!
The other shore had originally been plagued by calamitous destiny and killing tribulations for over a thousand years. Only recently had the calamitous destiny quieted down, halting the slaughter and granting a few centuries of respite to recuperate and rebuild.
Yet over that millennium of calamitous destiny and slaughter, the Heavenly Daos had been worn down to a fragile state. Had the other shore been allowed to rest and recuperate, with more and more cultivators attaining the Dao, the Heavenly Daos would have gradually grown stronger and cast off their frailty.
Dao Master Taiyi had drawn geniuses from the myriad universes precisely to consolidate and strengthen the Heavenly Daos of the other shore. Sadly, that process had now been shattered by his own hands!
Signs of fracturing Daos had already appeared across the other shore. Even with him personally filling the void in the Heavenly Daos using his own Great Dao, it merely delayed the inevitable!
Dao Master Taiyi let out a muffled grunt, looked up, and said in a heavy voice, "My purpose was to free the other shore from calamitous destiny! To make the other shore mighty once more, so that it would become the other shore for all universes!"
"Yet of all the Dao Masters of the other shore, only three remain—you, me, and Shi Lan!"
Dao Master Lin sneered, "Does your so-called strengthening of the other shore mean slaughtering the Old Sacred Clan to the last soul? Does strengthening the other shore mean handing it over entirely to foreign races? Is this your original intent? Taiyi, look back! Look at your true heart! Tell me, what was your purpose when you set out to cultivate Taiyi?"
Dao Master Taiyi felt as though struck by a thunderbolt, utterly shattered.
He remembered the vow he had sworn when he first learned of the principles of the Taiyi Great Dao:
"I swear to cultivate Taiyi: When I attain the Dao, my people shall never be bullied or toyed with by ancient gods; when I attain the Dao, my homeland shall be the other shore that all yearn for; when I attain the Dao, my race shall be the mightiest and most glorious of all."
Yet as he looked down, all he saw was his hands drenched in the blood of his own people—and the blood of the strongest among them, no less.
The powerhouses of the Old Sacred Clan had nearly been wiped out by him.
The vow he had made upon stepping onto the path of the Taiyi Great Dao now seemed like a mockery of himself. The Sacred Clan of the other shore was on the brink of extinction!
Dao Master Lin watched him, noticing that his Dao heart was thrown into chaos.
Taiyi's greatest strength had always been his Dao heart; nothing could shake it.
With that formidable Dao heart, Dao Master Taiyi had been able to tread carefully even when vastly outmatched by Dao Master Luo, luring the invincible Luo into the past to dissolve all his advantages into nothingness.
Dao Master Luo, who was supposedly impossible to defeat, had been effortlessly vanquished and slain by him to fulfill the tribulation.
At that time, Taiyi had been weak, yet invincible.
Yet without that powerful Dao heart, Taiyi was merely a Dao Master cultivating the Taiyi Great Dao, no different from any other.
When top masters clash, a shaken Dao heart spells certain death!
In the distance, Gong Jiexuan's eyes flickered. "Taiyi's Dao heart is already in turmoil. Why hasn't Lin Chuanting struck? Now is the best opportunity to kill him!"
Beside her, Dao Masters Cen Xi, Yu Xi, and Haining were also watching the scene unfold.
They had only just returned to the other shore when they witnessed Taiyi slaughtering the Dao Masters of the realm, shattering the Heavenly Daos and plunging the other shore into calamitous destiny.
Only, this time they chose to look on from afar without getting involved.
Dao Master Haining said, "Dao Master Lin is toying with him. He is in no hurry to kill him right now; he wants to wait until Taiyi is thoroughly ruined. Lin Chuanting could be said to be the cleverest among the three of Hua, Lin, and Luo. He has most likely comprehended the marvels of Cause and Effect. He may have blinded Taiyi with cause and effect, leading Taiyi to make false judgments and fall into this predicament."
For one who cultivated the Great Dao of Cause and Effect, clouding cause and effect was child's play. The blinded victim would lose their sense of judgment and commit acts that defied reason.
"It is the mindset of playing cat and mouse when victory is already assured," Cenxizi remarked. "What Dao Master Lin wants is far more than simply defeating Taiyi. He wants to crush Taiyi's Dao heart and demolish his reputation before the eyes of the entire world, and then tear him limb from limb—all while the people clap and sing his praises."
Yuxizi added, "What he seeks is to become the savior in the hearts of everyone on the other shore, and to have the illustrious name of Lin Chuanting sung across the Chaos Sea. Only then will his triumph over every rival be absolute."
Gong Jiexuan asked, "Do we need to help?"
All three Dao Masters shook their heads together.
Yuxizi said, "My lady, we are no longer in the same camp as Taiyi. Our faction consists only of ourselves now. As for Taiyi, he is no different from Dao Master Lin."
Cenxizi murmured, "My lady, if the other shore were to grow powerful under his rule, Tianjing would be in grave danger."
Gong Jiexuan froze, then nodded in silence.
In a few centuries, Taiyi had put the other shore back on track. Geniuses from the myriad universes were drawn here and became part of the realm. They cultivated and attained the Dao, helping the other shore swiftly recover from the scars of calamitous destiny and bloodshed.
If that continued, in less than a few thousand years, a new cohort of Dao Masters would emerge on the other shore!
By then, the other shore would be mighty again, its Heavenly Daos rock-solid!
And at that point, the other shore would pose a tremendous threat to Tianjing!
"For Tianjing, a dead Taiyi is the best Taiyi," she murmured.
Dao Master Lin sent his divine consciousness ringing across the other shore, manifesting as a voice that blasted in everyone's minds: "Taiyi, your crimes are monstrous, but I shall not take advantage of you in your moment of weakness! You have slaughtered nineteen Dao Masters, yet I grant you time to recuperate! In one month, you and I shall duel here to the death!"
He turned and took his leave.
Dao Master Shi Lan and Lu Yiren hurried after him. Shi Lan asked indignantly, "Brother Lin, why not kill him right on the spot? Why give him a chance to heal?"
Dao Master Lin laughed heartily and shook his head. "Heal? You twenty stupid pigs—are you even worthy of wounding Taiyi?"
Dao Master Shi Lan's face changed slightly, her pride stung. Yet considering Dao Master Lin's power and her own precarious position, she swallowed her indignity.
Having nothing left to hide, Dao Master Lin said leisurely, "Idiots like you could never wound Taiyi. Taiyi did not even unleash his full strength; with nothing more than himself and a single tree, he struck nineteen of you dead. He killed Luo Shizong, and the three hundred-odd numinous treasures in Luo Shizong's possession all fell into his hands."
Dao Master Shi Lan shuddered, fear surfacing on her face.
Dao Master Luo was dead, but where were the innate numinous treasures he had controlled? Clearly, they had fallen into Taiyi's hands, yet Taiyi had never once spoken of them!
"Taiyi's cultivation realm is still shallow; he cannot possibly control so many numinous treasures!" Dao Master Shi Lan quickly said.
Dao Master Lin glanced at her as if looking at a sow, sneering, "With your meager wits, you thought to kill him? Taiyi intended to kill you all and me long ago, but knowing his strength was insufficient against me, he left his Dao avatar on the other shore while quietly traveling to other universes. Over the past century or more, he has mastered the Heavenly Daos of at least four or five universes."
Dao Master Shi Lan stood dazed.
Dao Master Lin continued unhurriedly, "His Taiyi Great Dao contains three thousand Heavenly Daos and is renowned for its immense Dao power. One man alone is equivalent to three thousand ordinary Dao Masters. Once he draws upon the Dao power of those four or five universes, his magical power will multiply four or five times over! That way, the numinous treasures he can activate will increase dramatically, giving him the leverage to threaten me!"
Dao Master Shi Lan held her tongue.
She no longer knew what to say and could only listen obediently.
Lu Yiren said, "Which is why Master could not delay eliminating Taiyi for too long; you had to act early to blind Taiyi and drag him into the tribulation."
Dao Master Lin was proudest of this disciple and smiled. "What did I do? I did nothing at all. When Taiyi went off seeking opportunities to grow his strength, I did not seize the chance to strike. When fools like Jiuyou and Lingqin came looking for me, I never showed my face either. They couldn't help but make their move on their own, testing and finding out that Taiyi was merely a Dao avatar. All I had to do was tell them that to eradicate Taiyi, they first had to eradicate Taiyi's remaining followers. And off they went to do it, happily as can be. I did not even need to manipulate cause and effect directly."
Lu Yiren bowed respectfully. "Master's Great Dao of Cause and Effect has reached the pinnacle of perfection, beyond all description."
Dao Master Lin laughed heartily, paying no heed to Dao Master Shi Lan beside him. "The other Dao Masters were merely petty opportunists scrambling for immediate scraps. They understood neither Taiyi nor me. Such fools deserved to die."
Lu Yiren inquired, "There is still one thing this disciple does not understand: since Master has victory firmly in hand, why grant a month's time for Taiyi to recover?"
Dao Master Lin glanced at him and smiled. "You are a clever man; you already know the answer."
Lu Yiren quickly bowed. "This disciple trembles; I am slow-witted."
Dao Master Lin waved it off and smiled. "Though Taiyi's Dao heart is wounded, fighting him would still be perilous. Leaving him a month will only damage his Dao heart further! Over this month, he will wallow in guilt and self-reproach for severing the Heavenly Daos of the other shore. With every passing day, he will grow weaker. After thirty days, my victory will be guaranteed."
Admiration showed on Lu Yiren's face as he praised sincerely, "Master's wisdom is profound!"
Dao Master Lin chuckled. "More than that: now that the other shore has plunged into calamitous destiny, Taiyi's attempt to mend the heavens means contending against that destiny. With every day he resists it, his burden will grow heavier. After thirty days, laden with shackles and his Dao heart shattered, what will he have left to fight me with?"
Hearing this, Dao Master Shi Lan was seized by boundless dread. She thought to herself, 'No wonder... no wonder we died at the hands of the three of them all those years ago. Before Lin Chuanting, I am nothing more than a pig... From now on, if I just play the fool, I might still live...'
No other thoughts crossed her mind.
Gong Jiexuan gazed toward Taiyi from afar and saw Dao Master Taiyi doing everything in his power to mend the nineteen shattered Heavenly Daos of the other shore.
In ordinary times, he might have been able to repair them, but right now heaven and earth were engulfed in calamitous destiny. No matter how he mended and patched them, the nineteen Great Daos broke as fast as he repaired them!
He had no choice but to use his own Daos to substitute for the missing nineteen, shifting the crushing pressure of the calamitous destiny onto himself so that the other Daos would not shatter!
Gong Jiexuan suddenly asked, "What would happen if we killed Taiyi right now?"
"My lady, if that were done, the Great Daos of the other shore would gradually collapse, ultimately heading toward irreversible extinction," Dongxuanzi's voice came from afar. "And you might well lose your one glimmer of hope for survival because of it."
Gong Jiexuan and the others were astonished upon hearing this. Looking toward the sound, they saw Dongxuanzi walking over, having arrived unnoticed.
He had clearly broken free from the other shore's calamitous destiny; had he stayed in Tianjing, he would never have had to fear falling into the tribulation. Yet here he was.
Cenxizi frowned and said, "Brother Dongxuan, do not do something foolish. You have already broken free from the calamitous destiny. Even if the other shore goes into extinction, you will not die."
Dongxuanzi smiled. "He is my disciple, after all. I cannot bear to watch him throw his life away."
He walked straight toward Dao Master Taiyi. Taiyi was sitting desolate in the void, drained of all spirit and vigor, gaunt and haggard, his Dao heart withered.
The nineteen glowing rays of Great Daos extending from his body looked like swords piercing forth from his Dao heart, leaving it battered and bleeding.
"Fool! Ever since the calamitous destiny quieted, you have been blinded by Lin Chuanting with the Great Dao of Cause and Effect!"
Dongxuanzi's expression darkened as he scolded Taiyi, "Every step you took fell right into his calculations: your willingness to sue for peace, leaving behind a Dao avatar to journey into the Chaos Sea, conceiving the desire to kill these Dao Masters, and even shattering the nineteen Great Daos—all of it was anticipated by him!"
Dao Master Taiyi trembled violently. He lifted his head, tears streaming down his aged face, and fell to his knees in a deep bow, choking out, "Master, I... I have lost!"
"Fool, of course you lost!"
Dongxuanzi scolded, "You have disgraced me! You let yourself be played for a fool by the Great Dao of Cause and Effect, disgracing the Taiyi Great Dao! But..."
He shifted his tone, a look of encouragement surfacing as he smiled, "Taiyi is also one of the Nine Innate Daos; Taiyi is not weaker than Cause and Effect! You have merely suffered a momentary defeat. As long as you rouse yourself, you can still win!"
Flames danced in his eyes as he grinned. "Hand the burden over to me—I will help you mend the heavens! Go forward with confidence, and fight a fight to the death against that man Lin!"
Chapter 888