"I do not know the difference between the Sword of the Sovereign of Men and the Sword of the Son of Heaven. I beg Master Zhang to enlighten me." Li Zhi suppressed his complicated emotions.
Zhang Sheng asked in return, "What is a sword?"
This was the simplest of questions, yet also the most complex. In an instant, countless answers flashed through Li Zhi's mind, but all of them felt slightly short of the mark.
Zhang Sheng did not make things difficult for him, stating directly, "The true intent of the sword is to cut down the old Heavenly Dao, carving out a new path amidst layers of Daoist fetters. This is true for an immortal sword, and equally so for the Sword of the Sovereign of Men. Holding the Sword of the Sovereign of Men, you ought to overthrow the old dynasty and establish a brand-new heaven and earth for the myriad people.
"If you are to be a Sovereign of Men, you must become the master of an era's Heavenly Mandate. Why degrade it into the Sword of the Son of Heaven? 'Son of Heaven'—it is still placing a heaven above your own head. Is this heaven the Immortal Heaven?"
For a moment, Li Zhi faltered, stammering and unable to speak. When the Sword of the Sovereign of Men had transformed into the Sword of the Son of Heaven, he had initially been overjoyed. This 'heaven,' of course, referred to the Immortal Heaven. Holding the Sword of the Son of Heaven meant Li Zhi had received partial recognition from the Immortal Heaven. The Immortal Heaven was not merely the host of immortals; the immortals merely lived within it.
Zhang Sheng continued, "The foundation of a sword cultivator is essentially the Dao of destruction and establishment. Destroying and establishing complement one another; only when you know what you wish to establish can you know what must be destroyed. Once you truly grasp the Dao of destruction and establishment, you will realize what utter folly it was to abandon the Sovereign of Men in favor of the Son of Heaven."
Li Zhi felt his heart leap into his throat. Even after walking out of the Daoist palace, his face remained somewhat pale, and a heavy cold sweat drenched his clothes.
From what Zhang Sheng implied, was even the Immortal Heaven something to be severed? How could that be possible? Wouldn't that make him an enemy of heaven and earth? Defying the decrees of the host of immortals and resolutely making enemies of two imperial choices had already taken every ounce of courage Li Zhi possessed in his life. Had the King of Qi not made it abundantly clear that he would leave Li Zhi no way out, Li Zhi might never have dared take that step.
Even the host of immortals was unimaginably lofty and unreachable, let alone the Immortal Heaven itself!
Beneath the Tree of the Great Dao, Li Zhi's figure was reflected within the pupil of Wei Yuan's true form. Watching him depart with heavy footsteps, Wei Yuan let out a sigh. It had been nearly a hundred years. The boy from back then had now become a figure of pivotal weight in the grand balance of heaven and earth. Things remained, but the people had changed.
Wei Yuan did not take issue with Li Zhi calling him 'Brother Wei.' Ever since Li Zhi had to rely on Qingming for military supplies, his address for Wei Yuan had shifted from 'Worthy Younger Brother' to 'Brother Wei.' But 'Brother Wei' was the limit; no matter how wide the gulf in their cultivation grew in the future, Li Zhi would never elevate Wei Yuan's seniority again. Older brother or younger brother, both were essentially forms of address among equals. Li Zhi was doing everything he could to remain independent of Wei Yuan, refusing to acknowledge even the slightest karmic tie of subservience—a petty calculation that Wei Yuan saw clearly.
Wei Yuan had no intention of nitpicking, nor did he care whether he had one more subordinate or one less.
Once Li Zhi's figure had receded into the distance, that pupil gradually contracted and vanished, replaced by a new one. This time, what surfaced within the pupil was a patch of primal chaos. Yet it was not empty void; ribbons and streaks of color flowed within it.
In the blink of an eye, several dharma-body puppets entered the field of view, surrounding this region of primal chaos. The colors began to churn violently, and a swarm of sin-beasts surged forth from the shifting hues.
However, having lain in ambush beforehand, the dharma-body puppets struck in unison, effortlessly wiping out all the sin-beasts. Within the pupil, a spark of vitality flew in from afar and plunged into this domain of primal chaos.
As vitality merged into the primal chaos, the colors immediately churned with violent agitation once more, spawning another horde of sin-beasts. This process was repeated several times, until the colors in this spatial pocket faded to near invisibility and their flow ground to a halt—signaling that this pocket of chaos had been temporarily milked dry and the emergence of new sin-beasts would drastically decrease.
Reaping a bountiful harvest, the several dharma-body puppets returned to the square with great satisfaction to hand in their mission.
This pupil then contracted, eclipsed by several new ones. Around these pupils lay countless others. In a single one of Wei Yuan's eyes right now, there were tens of thousands of pupils, constantly being born and extinguished, turning in an endless cycle.
Countless dharma bodies flew into the depths of primal chaos like swarms of bees to reap sin-beasts. Even more engineering cultivators and millions of worker bees bustled about, erecting workshop after workshop all around. Immense quantities of components were produced in these workshops, then assembled into dharma bodies, war forts, or new workshops.
The war forts were no longer what they used to be; varying in size, they now displayed distinct class specializations. The largest capital war fort spanned a thousand zhang and could house tens of thousands of dharma bodies, fully capable of garrisoning an entire region and serving as the offensive and defensive hub of a void.
The dharma bodies had undergone dozens of iterations and were completely different from their initial design, boasting a vast array of functions. Once an expedition cultivator entered a dharma body and accepted a mission, comprehensive prompts guided them through everything. From selecting teammates to squad division of labor, the expedition hub handled it all; cultivators merely needed to follow the instructions, arrive at the designated location, and complete the specified assignment.
Every few months, Wei Yuan would project countless threads of divine sense from his true form, piercing into the primal chaos to extract and convert primal chaos qi. When this occurred, the Sea of Chaos would react violently, spawning sin-beasts without number. This was the carnival season for the expedition cultivators; only in these massive battles held every few months could they exchange for merit. In the blink of an eye, the last life-and-death battle against celestial immortals from beyond had taken place three years ago.
The current Land of Vitality had changed beyond recognition. Across its limited expanse stood dense thickets of workshops. At the very center, the area sheltered beneath the canopy of the Tree of the Great Dao served as a sanctuary for this world, dedicated solely to breeding and nurturing native living beings.
Under the tireless nurturing of Wei Yuan's true form, the Tree of the Great Dao had reached a height of thirty-seven thousand zhang, with a canopy spanning twenty thousand zhang across. From its crown, gossamer strands of immortal qi and iridescent light drifted down like willow catkins, gently descending to the earth to quietly nourish patches of spiritual flowers and herbs. Immortal butterflies fluttered among them, stirring the radiant immortal qi into shimmering cascades.
Beneath the tree sat Wei Yuan's true body. Suddenly, a glint of gold flashed across his brow, and his eyes slowly opened. That drop of inky blood had been completely absorbed.
At this time, the Land of Vitality was not a spherical orb, but stretched out into a long strip, finally making contact with the nearest mountain range. Stretching for a thousand li, this mountain range looked like a colossal beast curled up at rest. Had Wei Yuan not been able to survey the entire expanse of this world, even he would have found it difficult to detect its abnormality.
As the Land of Vitality continually expanded, its vanguard finally reached the foot of the mountain and began to creep slowly up the slopes. With hands clasped behind his back, Wei Yuan's true spirit form walked forward with unhurried steps, climbing steadily alongside the Land of Vitality, yet refusing to set even half a step outside its borders.
Wherever the Land of Vitality swept over, the ash-gray world took on color, and dead, barren lands shifted from illusion into reality. After materializing into reality, many giant boulders took on completely different appearances.
Altered by the Land of Vitality, the mountain became strewn with giant rocks sporting sharp, distinct angles, pointing diagonally toward the sky, bearing no resemblance to the scenery of their native world.
Reaching the mountainside, as a colossal rock took on color, it transformed into a gazebo. Inside sat a black-robed woman with golden eyes, black hair, and two massive horns protruding from her head. Her lower body was the serpentine coils of a snake, wound around one of the pavilion's pillars.
Seeing Wei Yuan, she seemed puzzled. Sniffing the air, she finally said, "...Lord Sovereign?"
The Tree of the Great Dao suddenly shook, and vitality surged forward like a furious tidal wave, instantly submerging the woman and scouring this imprint into nothingness.
Chapter 1464