A Glimmer of Hope

That hand extended a finger and gently lifted the leaf of the Great Dao before it. Immediately afterward, a vast expanse of void turned boundlessly profound. Wei Yuan adjusted his field of vision, and only then did he see clearly that it was no endless deep space at all, but an eye—and what was boundlessly profound was the pupil of that very eye! That hand was unimaginably colossal as well, a single palm enough to hold up the entire Land of Vitality. The leaf of the Great Dao remained its original size, not even amounting to a speck of dust before that palm. The earlier sight of the leaf being plucked like a flower was purely because the entity's divine abilities were so overwhelming that they warped heaven and earth as well as perception itself, making the hand seem only slightly larger than the leaf. Wei Yuan felt a sharp throb in his mind; he had actually suffered an injury. He was utterly shocked. Could merely glimpsing a fraction of this entity's true form inflict harm on him? Wei Yuan adjusted his divine sense once more, and this time he finally saw more of the whole picture. It was a being of supreme beauty, holding the leaf of the Great Dao on the tip of one finger, gazing at the Land of Vitality with keen interest. Yet Wei Yuan still could not see the being's full form, only the upper body. Extrapolating from this, was its true form not even vaster than the dragon-shaped mountain range stretching across the horizon at the end of the world beyond the heavens? She seemed intrigued by the Land of Vitality and reached down to grasp it, but her fingers failed to close, blocked by an invisible layer of shadow. A giant bird then emerged above the Land of Vitality—three heads and nine eyes, wings spanning tens of thousands of li, bracing desperately against the descending hand. "Still a bit troublesome. A pity I cannot linger." The little finger of her hand suddenly detached, transforming into a robed woman as cold as an iceberg. When she opened her eyes, all Wei Yuan could see in an instant was a bizarre pair of gray-gold pupils! Having learned from before, Wei Yuan immediately adjusted his perception and finally caught sight of the departing figure. In just a single instant, she seemed to have already reached the end of this universe. As if sensing Wei Yuan's gaze, she turned her head slightly, offering him only her profile before stepping into the depths of the universe, walking toward antiquity. The robed woman with gray-gold eyes stood ten thousand zhang tall. She slowly sat down as a treasured chair materialized beneath her and a low table appeared before her. Upon the table lay a board marked with three hundred and sixty-five intersecting lines. By now, with the mysterious figure's departure, the three-headed giant bird had vanished as well. The shadow within the ancient full moon had dimmed to near imperceptibility; in that brief instant of confrontation, not only had the energy of the mist locks and star sand been thoroughly depleted, but the foundation of the three-headed bird had also been damaged. Looking down from on high, the robed woman said impassively, "Once I finish destroying you, I must hurry off to take part in the battle for fruition. However, I always leave a glimmer of hope in my dealings. If you hand over the star sand, that chance can be raised by a fraction more." As she spoke, the entire Chaos Sea resonated, and those words were engraved into the Chaos Sea as a temporary Great Dao of heaven and earth. The lights in the Expedition Hall instantly turned dark red, and every cultivator within Flourishing of the Many Realms received a notification: The enemy of the Dao has appeared. The "Final Battle" has begun. Exchange options updated. Exclusive exchange area opened; mid-battle exchanges accepted. At the same time, operations across all of Qingming's institutions decelerated, and numerous minor, unimportant projects were severed directly from their connection to Flourishing of the Many Realms. The conserved computing power converged from all directions toward Central Qingming like small ripples. Wei Yuan had always kept Flourishing of the Many Realms primarily dedicated to sustaining Qingming's day-to-day operations, and everyone from top to bottom had grown accustomed to its assistance. Only now did Wei Yuan recall the vast majority of its computing power to go all out! Countless ripples converged into a monumental surging wave. Sitting beneath the Tree of the Great Dao, Wei Yuan grew in stature, his mind clearer than ever before. Without needing his physical gaze, everything across the vast cosmic domain between himself and the robed woman was reflected in his heart as clearly as the lines on his palm. This sensation of absolute control nearly captivated Wei Yuan. He watched as the woman reached out, a white stone appearing between her fingers, and placed it upon the board. In truth, the white stone did not physically exist. When she raised her hand, an invisible net of the Great Dao rose from the Chaos Sea. As her fingertip lightly plucked at the net, towering waves immediately surged across the Chaos Sea, and the shifting reality of that moment was fixed by her into a white stone and cast onto the board. Countless vortexes appeared in the void, spewing primal chaos qi. As the primal chaos qi entered this domain, it instantly shifted from formless to tangible, transforming into armored warriors wielding halberds who strode through the void, charging toward the Land of Vitality. Wei Yuan's heart tightened, but then he quietly breathed a sigh of relief. A speck of black light resided at the core of each armored warrior; every one of them possessed the strength of the dharma idol realm. Though they were as numerous as the sea, they were not insurmountable. Wei Yuan immediately began optimizing defensive protocols, seeking to reduce casualties to a negligible level. Yet the woman picked up a second white stone! In an instant, the armor on all the warriors took on vibrant color, its quality rising by a whole tier. Wei Yuan's heart sank; the difference between unarmored and properly armored was vast. The woman pinched a third white stone... Unable to hold back any longer, Wei Yuan shouted, "I haven't even played a stone yet!" The robed woman replied coolly, "There was never a seat for you in this match. But if you insist on playing, then come over." A bowl of black stones appeared on the table before her, accompanied by a seat opposite. Judging others by his own standards, Wei Yuan was certain it was a trap. So long as he remained within the Land of Vitality, there was still a chance to turn the tables. If he stepped into her immortal domain, he would not even know how he died. Although the appearance of the black stones was likewise a law of the Great Dao engraved into the Chaos Sea, whatever could be engraved could also be erased—to say nothing of tactics like fine print and concealed clauses, tricks Wei Yuan knew all too well. Seeing that Wei Yuan would not emerge, the woman merely remarked indifferently, "A petty mind." Then, she placed the white stone down. Red light gleamed across the halberds of every warrior, their sharpness climbing another notch. Yet that was not all: the woman picked up a fourth white stone and set it down gently. A ray of light appeared within each armored warrior, varying in hue—every single one of them had gained an innate divine ability! Wei Yuan was so incensed he wanted to curse out loud. Although those abilities were merely common ones like Swiftness, Counterattack, or Resilience, they undoubtedly elevated the warriors' combat strength by another notch. These warriors originally possessed the power of early-stage dharma idol. Enhanced with upgraded armor, weapons, and innate divine abilities, their strength was now firmly in the middle stage. Moreover, the immortal power consumed by the latter three stones was far lower than the first. In this way, she conserved her immortal force. Countless armored warriors charged across the void, while numerous battle fortresses ascended from the Land of Vitality. Great legions of avatars rushed into departure positions, swiftly assembling, receiving orders, and heading out to their respective battlefields. After she played four stones in succession, Wei Yuan could already tell that her immortal power was comparable to that of an Immortal Lord—far stronger than Old Madame Bao or Immortal Zhao Li, and exceeding even Duke Yansheng, who had inherited the legacy of ancient sages. And the total immortal power within the bowl of white stones before her was roughly double the total energy currently accumulated in the Land of Vitality. This was the "glimmer of hope" she had spoken of.