Beneath the Great Dao Tree, a small garden had been laid out.
The garden nestled against a small hill. The hill was modest in size, covered in verdant trees, with murmuring streams and flourishing vitality. A spirit deer chased butterflies up the slope, arriving at a pavilion halfway up the hill. In the center of the pavilion stood a divine turtle bearing a stele upon its back, inscribed with: "Tomb of Xue Wuji, Seventh Hall Master of the Hall of the Bright King, Palace of Grand Beginning."
A breeze swept through, drifting flying petals and fallen leaves into the pavilion. They circled several times before the tombstone and then drifted away—Wei Yuan's divine sense had come to pay respects.
Wei Yuan's true body sat beneath the Great Dao Tree. Leaning slightly forward, he gazed at the two inky beads in his hand.
In truth, they were not black but colorless; they merely absorbed all surrounding light and color, appearing black to the eye. The interior of these two inky beads was unimaginably dense, making it arduous even for Wei Yuan's divine sense to probe inside, yet they were weightless.
Inside, they were far from still, churning and boiling in motion and flux at inconceivable speeds. In an ordinary world, such violent turbulence would generate extreme heat, blazing brighter than the core of a sun. Yet within the beads, it was freezing cold, without a trace of perceptible warmth.
By his instincts of station, Wei Yuan knew these two drops were immortal blood. That woman had originally been formed from the mysterious immortal's little finger, possessing at most four drops of immortal blood in total. Even if she had managed to flee through some means, she had left the greater part of her substance behind.
Looking at the two drops of immortal blood, Wei Yuan began pondering how to handle them. Ordinarily, there were two approaches. The most common was to use such supreme material to forge a peerless immortal weapon. The other was to use them as ingredients to refine heaven-defying, destiny-altering immortal pills—and more than just one.
Given the current circumstances, there was yet another way: to bury the immortal blood beneath the Great Dao Tree and let the tree slowly absorb it as the supreme fertilizer.
After deliberate consideration, Wei Yuan opened his mouth and swallowed a drop of the immortal blood directly.
This was an extraordinarily risky move. Once immortal blood entered the belly, someone with bad luck might be possessed directly; even with slightly better luck, one might be consumed by the immortal blood and turned into a monster. However, refining it with his true body was over a hundred times faster than letting the Great Dao Tree absorb it. Thus, Wei Yuan chose to withstand the erosion of the immortal blood head-on, refining it as swiftly as possible to convert it into his own foundation.
As for the other drop of inky blood, Wei Yuan sent it back to Qingming for research. It was a rare subject for study that might unravel many secrets of the Chaos Sea. Such technological advances were vital to elevating Qingming's power.
In Qingming Immortal City, Wei Yuan's sword cultivator avatar sat in the same hall as the immortals and the hall masters of the Palace of Grand Beginning. The atmosphere in the hall was oppressive, like an impending thunderstorm.
The Palace of Grand Beginning had lost the Hall Master of the Bright King, who had been poised to ascend to immortality. The Sword Palace had also lost dozens of core disciples, suffering an even higher casualty rate than the Palace of Grand Beginning. Casualties among others were one thing, but Shangguan Qianmo's death was utterly unforeseen, leaving both palace masters entirely humorless.
It was True Monarch Xuanyue who broke the silence, saying, "This battle came without warning, and some fellow Daoists may not yet understand the situation. Everyone here has shared life and death together. Why don't you explain to our fellow Daoists why what seemed like a gentlemanly contest suddenly turned into a fight to the death?"
Wei Yuan said in a heavy voice, "In truth, there was never any gentlemanly contest to speak of. That person wanted to destroy my world beyond the heavens from the very beginning. However, I have merit upon me, my mindscape world possesses a touch of immortal heaven's essence, and I am shielded by karmic luck. If she had crushed me with a single strike, the backlash would have vastly outweighed the gain. That was why she adopted the method of leaving a slim chance of survival. In truth, it was to deceive the Heavenly Dao of Chaos so that the backlash from my merit and karmic luck would be far smaller when she destroyed me."
As Wei Yuan explained in detail, those present—who were either immortals or standing right on the threshold of the immortal gate—readily understood.
To put it crudely, in the enemy's eyes, Wei Yuan was a ball covered in thorns: tough and worthless. To put it even more crudely, he was like a fly perched atop a mound of aged dung—swatting it down with a palm strike would be entirely not worth the mess.
According to the Heavenly Dao of Chaos, leaving a glimmer of life aligned with the Dao's principles, vastly reducing the backlash from merit and karmic luck—equivalent to shoveling away the pile of dung.
The enemy had been exceedingly sinister: claiming that if Wei Yuan surrendered the star sand, she would grant another glimmer of life was actually meant to further suppress the backlash of merit and karmic luck—wiping the remaining filth off the fly as well.
As for where that chance of survival lay, the Heavenly Dao of Chaos knew, but how could an ordinary person? Outsiders would only see her as aloof and lofty, her words followed by law, defeating foes through games of strategy, exalted and unreachable. What they did not know was that this, too, was part of that 'chance of survival'—not because she wanted to act that way, but because she had no choice.
Had Wei Yuan not seen through the Heavenly Dao and laid targeted countermoves with the star sand to wipe out her Immortal Tier colossal spirits in one stroke, the final outcome would have been an inexplicable defeat and death. At best, his true body might have escaped, but the Land of Vitality would have been ruined, shattering this ladder to the peak.
Once the immortals understood, silence fell over the hall. After a moment, Feng Hanzhou spoke: "What 'peerless master from beyond the heavens'? I thought she possessed profound enlightenment, but in the end, she's merely a calculating, shameless wretch!"
Yanshi cleared his throat softly and said, "Sword Immortal Feng's words remind me: perhaps her coming here was no chance encounter, but a deliberate journey. She herself said this was a desolate, remote place, and that she had to participate in a battle for fruition. With such a momentous task ahead, why would she travel through such a desolate corner? Moreover, she specifically demanded Star Sand's avatar, so she clearly came for it."
Bai Kaishui suddenly sighed. "Even beyond the heavens, there is no peace!"
The immortals fell silent.
In this realm, all of them stood high above the world, their words commanding the winds and clouds. Yet this battle beyond the heavens felt like a return to the ancient era when saints walked the earth. Though the immortals had descended into puppet avatars, an immortal's true spirit was their greatest strength, and the divine abilities they could channel through puppet avatars far exceeded Scenery Command—with exceptions like True Monarch Xuanyue, the Hall Master of the Bright King, True Monarch Danming, and Zhu Yuanjin.
Yet against a woman formed from nothing more than a little finger left behind by a mighty being from beyond the heavens, not a single one among the immortals could withstand her final strike—whoever tried would die. Even if the immortals possessed the resolve to die, they lacked the power to do so. In the end, it required the Hall Master of the Bright King at perfected Scenery Command to sacrifice himself to intercept that ultimate blow.
With the Martial Ancestor's restrictions now lifted, the immortals truly understood what it meant that there were heavens beyond the heavens.
Among the immortals, Bai Kaishui's seniority and experience far surpassed the rest. Seeing their low spirits, he said, "The struggle for fruition has always been the greatest matter across heaven and earth since ancient times. Contending for a fruition in our realm can take tens of thousands of years even when swift. Fruitions of chaos have only ever been heard of in legend; battles for them have been known to span several eras. Formidable as the enemy may be, it is impossible for them to free themselves and come here anytime soon. We still have time."
The crowd nodded one after another, feeling slightly relieved.
Xuanyue said to Wei Yuan, "Having seen the world beyond the heavens and had the fortune to witness the Great Dao of Chaos, I plan to return to the Palace of Grand Beginning for secluded cultivation. The next time we meet will be when I ascend to immortality."
Wei Yuan was taken aback and said, "There is no need for Patriarch to rush; it is better to be fully prepared. This disciple still has many backup plans. If the enemy comes again next time, today's methods will likely be useless."
Yanshi, Zhu Yan, and Bai Kaishui also urged him to reconsider. True Monarch Xuanyue chuckled and said, "Everyone dreams of a flawless ascension to immortality, walking on eggshells at every turn. But seeing an old friend perish right before my eyes today, this old Daoist suddenly realized: who cares if it's a perfect ascension or not? As long as my divine abilities are strong enough and I can fight well, that's enough! In this life, this old Daoist does not seek perfection!"
Chapter 1454