Daluo! Daluo! My Dao Is Complete!

"The evil gods have all been slain! We have won!!" Upon Shengxing, nearly everyone was wild with joy. In the great cities, lanterns were hung and colored streamers strung, and the air was bright with celebration. In many nations the people even poured into the streets, embracing strangers with warmth, or raising cups together, laughing and singing. The whole world was one great revel. Only the cultists who had earlier offered their souls to the evil gods met with disaster. Not only did every bit of the power in their bodies vanish; more importantly, the bodies that had been remade by the evil gods' power were rapidly decaying. In a mere hour they were withered and gaunt, their faces dried and shriveled, their eye sockets deeply sunken, their frames as thin as firewood. They no longer had even the strength to lift a leg and walk. And it was precisely upon seeing this change that the officials of every nation truly confirmed that the evil gods from beyond the heavens had all been killed. Once a god died, the cultists were like rootless leaves, swiftly withering. "The evil gods are all slain. I wonder when Mister Huang Tian will return?" At Dawnlight Headquarters, Vice Chairman Sun Yuanxu, Divine Elephant Sect Master He Ji, and the others had gathered together, gazing up into the long sky. Alas, save for a stretch of azure, they could see nothing at all. After that long, shifting battle with the five evil gods, Huang Tian had long since left the star system where Shengxing lay. It would have been strange if they could still see him. Sun Yuanxu sighed with feeling. "I truly dare not imagine it. That a martial artist could be as mighty as Mister Huang Tian—one man's body, the equal of Shengxing!" Shengxing was only a little more than ten thousand kilometers across, and earlier, after Huang Tian had "transformed," he too had stood more than ten thousand kilometers tall. He Ji slowly let out a breath, white vapor steaming. "To tear stars apart with a human body, to fight and slay gods—this is what a martial artist ought to be!" A brilliant light shone in his eyes, and he was filled with extraordinary longing. "Martial Saint! Martial God! Yet I do not know whether, in this life of mine, I can set foot in a realm like that." Sun Yuanxu glanced at him, patted his solid shoulder, and laughed. "Seek high and low, and in the end there will be a chance of attainment. What's more, Mister Huang has already opened the road ahead for us. Since we know there is a road, however hard it may be, we can still strive to keep walking it. Even if we cannot walk it through, the next generation of martial artists will stand on our shoulders and go on. Sooner or later, the way will be walked through." He Ji shook his head and laughed despite himself. "Then who knows whether that will be several thousand years from now, or several tens of thousands—" Sun Yuanxu laughed aloud. "A thousand years, or ten thousand, is a long time for us. But for a civilization, it is no more than the snap of a finger." They talked and laughed. Suddenly, someone beside them spoke. "Tell me—that one from before, the existence from beyond the universe, the High Firmament Zhonghuang Utmost Saint, Xuanshu Creation Great Heavenly Venerable—do you think he has some special relationship with Mister Huang?" At these words, everyone fell silent. For one thing, an existence as vast and lofty as the Great Heavenly Venerable had already far exceeded their imagination. The strongest of the strong, as they conceived them, were at most like the evil gods, shaking a star-river with a wave of the hand. Yet the Great Heavenly Venerable could strike across who knew how much space and time. It was simply too outrageous. For another, there was clearly a special relationship between the Great Heavenly Venerable and Mister Huang. Otherwise, how could the former have moved to help? And yet Huang Tian's record, from childhood on, was perfectly clear. Never mind another universe—even in Baidi City, Huang Tian had left only twice. Where could he have gone to strike up a friendship with the Great Heavenly Venerable? And then, when one thought of how Huang Tian's strength had advanced by leaps and bounds— Sun Yuanxu gave a light cough. "What meaning is there in thinking so much? The evil gods are dead, and the martial way has a new road. What we ought to do is cultivate properly." The others came back to themselves and nodded again and again. "That's right. Don't think too much. Cultivation comes first. Cultivation comes first." Only He Ji lifted his head toward the sky. In his heart, for no clear reason, an intuition arose. "Mister Huang... perhaps he will never return to Shengxing again—" In the boundless deep void, Huang Tian stood in silence. With a stir of his will, the potential points on the illusory panel instantly became zero. Within his body, a near-endless energy was born. "Boom—" Immeasurable white-gold divine radiance burst from his body like a supernova. The divine radiance shone over all, turning a region of the starfield into a sacred domain of white and gold. His body swelled violently. Every portion of flesh, blood, sinew, and bone was breaking apart, and in the same instant transforming and recombining! Radiance flowed across his skin. His blood surged, becoming a blazing river like molten gold. Sinew and bone unfurled, giving off a roar like stars colliding. His body grew taller and taller, larger and larger! "Pu—" With a sound faint beyond faint, he broke through to the ninth rank! And at that very moment, from the unseen void, a hazy stream of purple qi suddenly descended. The purple qi shone down over his whole body. Then that potential-point panel abruptly bloomed with a crystalline glow. Together with the purple qi, it became a streak of flowing light and vanished into his body. "Boom!!" An even more surging power poured into him, making the body that was already immeasurably vast after the breakthrough swell once more. A long time later. A figure measured in light-years, endlessly towering, stood in the boundless void! Huang Tian slowly opened his eyes. Those eyes were brighter and vaster than blazing stars. Even the light of his pupils had become substantial force. Wherever his gaze moved, the void rippled like water. With one inhalation, the faint light of countless stars, streams of every kind of particle, and the colors of drifting clouds became a seven-colored ribbon of light winding across hundreds of millions of li, like a brilliant Heavenly River, vast and mighty as it poured into his breath. The momentum was so immense that it seemed an entire galaxy was breathing in and out with him. And with one exhalation, the breath he sent forth was like the phantom of a vast star-river being born and dying. Spiral arms of galaxies stretched out. The flash of a supernova burst into being. Gorgeous nebulae spun in a gentle dance, like veils— Countless magnificent cosmic scenes flowed between his mouth and nose, born, and then vanishing like illusions. "I have advanced to the ninth rank. And it is more than the ninth rank—" Feeling the power within him, far stronger than that of a Golden Immortal, understanding dawned in his heart. "After I broke through to the ninth rank, the transformation ought to have stopped. But that streak of purple qi that came flying, together with the potential-point panel, turned into a vast energy and pushed me one step farther." That purple qi was, without a doubt, a gift from the Heavenly Dao of this place. After he absorbed it, besides the power that had surged, he found his resonance with the Heavenly Dao clearer, and his comprehension of this realm's Dao deeper as well. It was akin to Dao integration with Heaven, and yet somewhat different. "The strength of this incarnation of mine now far surpasses a Golden Immortal. Compared with the Dao-integration incarnation, it is indeed somewhat inferior. But the Dao-integration incarnation can only bring its full combat power to bear within the Earth Immortal Realm, while this incarnation of mine, even if it leaves this realm, can still keep some nine-tenths of its strength. If the two were to fight beyond the bounds of a world, it would be hard to say who would win!" After making this judgment, a sudden impulse stirred in him, and from the unseen an understanding arose. "It is time for the unification of all bodies—and a breakthrough!" Blue Star. Yandong Garden. Huang Tian's eyes opened abruptly, divine light brilliant within them. He took one step and left the planet, arriving in the void of space. With a stir of his will, he drew back the incarnations in the late Han world and the evil god world. Immeasurably vast power instantly surged into his body. In the space of half a day, his aura changed, and changed again: from a seventh-rank True Immortal, to an eighth-rank Heavenly Immortal, and then to a ninth-rank Golden Immortal! His cultivation reached perfection! He slowly breathed out a mouthful of clear qi. Then he lifted his eyes and looked afar. Across the endless void, he saw the Great Heavenly Venerable seated amid the layered heavens of the Earth Immortal Realm. Their gazes met. The Great Heavenly Venerable's figure slowly vanished, and a stream of incomparably pure power poured back into Huang Tian's body. The power accumulated more and more, even far beyond the limit he could contain. At the same time, the Dao-integration brand within the Great Heavenly Venerable's incarnation, and its special station, were slowly digested by him. Because of this, his soul sank into a deep, vacant stillness. "Hua-la-la—" A River of Spacetime, whose breadth and end could not be measured, glimmered with countless silver points of starlight. Each point of starlight was the birth and death of a world, the rise and fall of a universe. Within the long river, fish beyond counting swam at their ease. They went from upstream toward downstream, and never turned back. Some fish, halfway through their swim, turned into scattered points of light and dissipated into nothing, as if they had never appeared. Others kept going downstream, and the farther they swam, the vaster their forms became. And in one stretch of the river, a fish was swimming at its ease. Its scales refracted a faint gleam. It seemed to drift with the current, yet its eyes were clear and lively, curiously taking in the scenes of the four directions, above and below. As it swam, it suddenly remembered something. It lifted its gaze and no longer followed the current down. Its tail lashed with all its strength, and it sprang upward! With that leap, watery light sprayed. This watery light was threads woven of time and karma. Countless threads bound it tightly, as if raising brilliant ripples all around its body. Though resistance pressed in layer upon layer, its gaze remained firm, its will resolute, as it strove to leap upward! "Crack—" In the instant countless threads snapped, the scene changed. In the next moment, Huang Tian found himself walking in human form through layer upon layer of light and shadow. Each layer of light and shadow was a stretch of experience he had once lived. He slowly stepped forward. He could see himself in the evil god world, blasting the five evil gods to death, and the Heavenly Dao sending down purple qi. He took another step, and saw himself in the Earth Immortal Realm, cultivating with diligence and care, achieving a Dao Foundation within three days, attaining Heavenly Immortal within several years, and, with the body of a Heavenly Immortal, suppressing the Formless Pure Stream Buddha. He stepped again, and the experiences of the Nightmare World appeared before his eyes: blasting many nightmare horrors to death, passing down the name of Zhonghuang Taiyi, sweeping the whole world clean as those who heard were moved to answer, and at last fighting Fu Di to the death upon the vast ocean, and killing him. He went farther. The light and shadow turned, and the scenes of the Five Directions Realm appeared: his descent and the absorption of his other-self, Thunder Sound Body Forging, Heng'er and Aunt Qin, his entry into the Martial Restraint Guard, his strength advancing by leaps and bounds—and at last his fight to the death with Yin Fenghai in the Yupan Mountain Range, and his deduction of the great divine ability, the Five-Colored Divine Light. He paused a moment, then stepped on. The scenes of the late Han world met his eyes. The azure heavens were already dead. The Holy Infant descended into the world. The Han army was utterly routed. Spiritual water saved the world. All of Ji Province was taken, straight on to Luoyang. Wind was summoned and rain called; thunder was driven and lightning seized. The Han court fell. The Three Institutes of the Daoist Court were established. The Qiang unrest was pacified. All under heaven was taken— Looking back along the whole road, his expression suddenly froze. For if he walked only one or two steps farther, he would be able to see "the day the gears of fate turned"—that is, the scene of the day he obtained his special ability. "My special ability—where did it come from, and what, in the end, is it?" he pondered. "Was it a fated chance bestowed on me by some supreme mighty one? Or am I myself a Daluo existence, reincarnated to cultivate anew? Or is it some conspiracy?" Even with a mind such as his, he could not help a trace of unease at this moment. After all, without the special ability, there would be no him as he was now. If none of it had happened, at this very moment he would probably still be an utterly ordinary wage-earner, rushing about for a living, drowning in ten thousand trivial matters, unable to break free. He drew a deep breath, stilled the ripples in his heart, and then stepped forward! Light and shadow flickered, and a scene appeared before his eyes: The night was at its deepest. In a small room, a young man lay asleep on a bed, his breathing even. Faint moonlight came in through the gap between the curtains, spilling a pale, still radiance, and adding one more measure of quiet to the room. "Huang—Tian—Huang, Tian—" Suddenly, call after call came. The young man on the bed could not help frowning slightly, and turned over. "Huang, Tian. Huang Tian—" The voice still sounded. At last the young man was woken by the calling. Lying on his side, he opened his eyes wide, then sat bolt upright. His finger snapped the light on, and the room was abruptly bright. "Who!" He looked about warily, yet saw no one in the room. "Did I have a nightmare, or was I hearing things?" He frowned, got up, poured himself a cup of warm water and drank it, then turned off the light and went back to sleep. Yet the moment he had just fallen asleep— "Huang Tian, Huang Tian—" He jolted awake, his scalp crawling. He hastily switched on the light, but this time, again, he saw nothing. "Is there something unclean here, or has something gone wrong with my mind?" He wiped the cold sweat that had beaded on his forehead, somewhat at a loss. Beyond the light and shadow, Huang Tian's expression was grave. He watched this stretch over and over, but gained nothing. He saw nothing, and could make nothing out. It was as if the special ability had simply appeared all at once! His gaze shifted, and he guessed in his heart, "Could it be that the special ability did not appear at this moment, but has been with me since birth, and only awakened on this day?" Thinking so, he went on, stepping forward and watching carefully, all the way to the time of his birth— "Nothing. Nothing at all!" He simply could not find when the special ability had appeared! He stood where he was, all sorts of feelings tangled in his heart, and he could not say what he felt. After a long while, he returned once more to the night his special ability had awakened. He watched with concentrated spirit several times over. Seeing that there was still no discovery at all, he sighed softly and waved his sleeve. All the light and shadow instantly burst like foam. "Hua-la—" Upon the River of Spacetime, a fish strove free of the silken net woven of years and karma, and surged completely above the long river. In the next moment, in midair, the fish-body blazed with radiance, and its form transformed. Scales became a Five-Colored Immortal Robe streaming with threads of rosy light. The fish's head lifted and became the face of a Daoist, pure and wise. This Daoist wore a jade crown. His robes were wide and ample, unfurling in the wind. Upon the Five-Colored Immortal Robe flowed the phantom images of sun, moon, and stars, of mountains, rivers, and the great earth. A profound Dao-rhythm was perfect of itself. Beneath his feet appeared a black-and-white Taiji Diagram. The Taiji Diagram slowly turned, giving off a sense of eternity. The Daoist stood in midair, yet seemed to exist above countless spaces and times—endlessly tall, and yet condensed as one. All around him bloomed infinite immortal light, and that immortal light shone upon measureless spacetime. An aura of perfection, transcendence, and unfettered ease spread. Huang Tian looked down upon the vast, surging River of Spacetime, forever racing on, and upon the countless fish swimming within it. He opened his mouth. His voice rolled, spreading through all the heavens and the great thousand worlds. "My Dao is complete!"