Destruction

There had originally been seven Void Dao Lords on the field, but when the Xu Guang God Venerable fell, they had already sensed something amiss. Two of them realized the situation was dire and quickly withdrew. The remaining five... Although they had likewise sensed the anomaly, they never could have imagined that the six God Venerables ambushing Yaoguang and Penglai would be defeated and killed so quickly. Rather than believing the God Race had suffered a crushing defeat, they were more inclined to believe Yaoguang had merely put on a false front of strength and had been slain on the spot under the surprise attack of the six God Venerables—and that the fallen Void Dao Lord was none other than this newly ascended Dao Lord. An ingrained perception forged over tens of thousands of years was hard to alter easily. It was like someone claiming a person could train for less than a month and win an Olympic championship; anyone else would scoff at it as nonsense. Where would that leave professional athletes who had trained bitterly for years, or even over a decade? This was precisely why the five Void Dao Lords stubbornly refused to leave despite sensing a Dao Lord's demise, insisting on going to see what had happened with their own eyes before giving up. Even as subsequent Void Dao Lords fell... Because the Great Dao shockwave from the first Void Dao Lord's death overlapped with the others, the Dao Lords merely thought the shockwave of that single demise was unusually violent, unable to accurately assess the exact situation. So it was that... Before they had time to uncover the truth, Yaoguang had already charged into this starry sky via the teleportation array. The moment he manifested, he directly brought out the Bahuang Heavenly Mirror to distort the perceptions of the five Dao Lords. One Dao Lord who had additionally cultivated a perception-type soul Dao art immediately sensed something was wrong. However, he also received Yaoguang's special attention, becoming the first soul to fall beneath his sword among the five Void Dao Lords. With their senses disrupted, the remaining four Dao Lords could no longer accurately judge their surroundings at all. Some immediately cast void secret arts in an attempt to pull away and flee, only to be forcefully suppressed by the watchful Yaoguang. Others pushed their protective Dao arts to the absolute limit, waiting for an opportunity. Yaoguang naturally paid no heed to those entrenching themselves for now. Only after dispatching the Dao Lords scrambling to break out and flee did he free up his hands to slay the remaining, isolated, entrenched Void Dao Lords one by one. The entire process... Just as Yaoguang had anticipated, was even easier than dealing with the six God Venerables. Compared to slaying these five Void Dao Lords, what Yaoguang dreaded more was the vast power that was almost on the verge of enveloping this starry sky. That power was so immense and majestic that even with an Immortal Venerable's realm, he felt a sense of powerlessness against it—it was undeniably an existence at the level of an Immortal King. Though true immortals had never been heard to descend to the mortal realm for countless years, Yaoguang dared not gamble. He dared not gamble on whether this Immortal King truly possessed the power to strike at him across the barrier between the immortal and mortal realms. Therefore, after refining only a mere 3.2 share from the five Void Dao Lords, he swiftly restrained his aura. He even utilized his Immortal Venerable realm control to suppress his void Great Dao fluctuations down to a level comparable to an ordinary Dao Lord. Immediately afterward, he activated the teleportation formation. His figure flashed, returning to the battlefield where Dao Lord Penglai was located. On that battlefield, a fierce clash was unfolding between Dao Lord Penglai, the Destruction God Venerable, and the Slaughter God Venerable. These two God Venerables were the strongest within the God Race. If the battlefield were placed inside their Divine Kingdoms, each would possess the power to contend with a top Dao Lord in direct combat. Even though the battlefield was not within their Divine Kingdoms at this moment, the strength the two could muster was still not to be underestimated. Fighting one against two, Dao Lord Penglai was unable to gain any real advantage, at best merely tangling with them and making it difficult for the two to pull away. Seeing Yaoguang leave and return so swiftly, the Slaughter God Venerable's expression changed. "So fast?!" "Yaoguang's comprehension of the Grand Dao of the Void has reached the pinnacle, already no inferior to a true immortal. Other Void Dao Lords cannot display their full power before him at all, so how could they contend with him? By now, they've likely scattered in panic!" The Destruction God Venerable, seeing through Yaoguang's capabilities, said, "The plan has failed. I will bring out our final protective supreme treasure. We break out and return to the God Race!" The Slaughter God Venerable nodded. Things had reached this point; they could no longer care about the Dao Contention. If they didn't bring out their life-saving measure now, they might well perish here today. At that moment, a sword talisman appeared in the Destruction God Venerable's hand. The instant this sword talisman manifested, a vast, surging power of destruction radiated from it... Merely the leaking energy fluctuations sent chills down Dao Lord Penglai's spine. Even Yaoguang, who had just arrived on the scene, felt a faint sense of peril. Although this thread of danger was not yet fatal, it seemed... To have already exceeded the damage limit that the Endless Tower could withstand. "Is that a talisman left behind by the Final Ancestor God?!" Dao Lord Penglai cried out in shock, as if suddenly realizing what it was. The next instant, unprecedented destructive power slashed down from the sword talisman. "Careful!" Dao Lord Penglai's divine thought whirled rapidly, and her Sea of Origin contracted violently, wrapping her whole body within it. Yet even so, when that pure, vast, and majestic power of destruction erupted from the sword talisman, it nearly evaporated her contracted Sea of Origin with overwhelming force. This destructive power even forcefully cracked and shattered the power of the Grand Dao of the Void, leaving only the pure Grand Dao of Destruction across this boundless starry sky. Using destruction to reign supreme over the spatial Great Dao that allowed all Great Dao powers in the world to manifest. Such might... "The Great Destruction Art!" Yaoguang's heart shuddered. This was an Origin Dao art! An Origin Dao art worthy of being called an immortal art! When Dao Lord Penglai had used the Dao Extinguishing Fire to instantly slay Dao Lord Wujin back then, its might had only been infinitely close to an immortal art. But the power erupting from the sword talisman in the Destruction God Venerable's hand at this moment genuinely belonged to a true immortal art! The origin immortal art of the Grand Dao of Destruction—the Great Destruction Art! "Go!" Yaoguang, who had been about to join the fray, hesitated no longer. He scooped up Dao Lord Penglai, whose Sea of Origin was on the verge of collapsing, elevated the Grand Dao of the Void to its limit, and broke out from that dazzling, brilliant light of destruction in an instant. Yet even so, that dazzling wave of destructive power still swept over him. The Endless Tower, which had previously withstood nine Dao arts with ease, shuddered violently, seemingly pushed to the upper limit of the damage it could endure. Fortunately, with the Endless Tower buying a brief moment of resistance, Yaoguang's Void Flicker finally managed to activate. In a flash, he tore free from that starry sky, covering hundreds of millions of li in a single breath. Even so, he could still feel the torrent of destruction behind him rapidly expanding and diffusing, sweeping outward in all directions at an unbelievable speed. For a time, he executed Void Flicker dozens of times in succession, putting immense distance between himself and that battlefield. Only when that unrooted, drifting power of destruction finally exhausted itself did he manage to halt his flight. "To think... it would be this strong." Yaoguang felt a weight settle on his heart. A strike from a true immortal would likely be nothing more than this. Of course, had he gone all out, he could have intercepted the two God Venerables. Yet that would have required deploying the full power of his void Great Dao. That mysterious, vast might had already cast its "gaze" in this direction; if he were to exert his full strength again... Heaven only knew what consequences it would trigger. "Unlike the Demon Ancestors and Dao Sovereigns, the Ancestor Gods of the God Race are far more willing to leave trump cards for their descendants. Rumor has it that the Primordial Ancestor God left behind an Immortal Divine Kingdom to serve as the God Race's everlasting foundation. No matter what danger the God Race faces, as long as they retreat into that Divine Kingdom, even dozens or a hundred Dao Lords joining forces couldn't hope to breach it. Meanwhile, the Final Ancestor God left them three sword talismans, each an absolute killing instrument embodying the peak of the Path of Destruction!" Dao Lord Penglai said with a solemn expression, "During the ancient God-Demon War, the Origin Demon Ancestor sought to completely wipe out the God Race. In the end, the God Race unleashed three destruction sword talismans in succession, heavily injuring the Origin Demon Ancestor and forcing him to abandon his thought of exterminating them... We assumed those talismans had all been exhausted in that war. Who could have imagined that the Destruction God Race still had one preserved!" Ancestor God! Dao Sovereign! Demon Ancestor! Buddha Ancestor! Martial Emperor! Human Sovereign! These were all honorific titles bestowed by the world upon those Dao Integration experts who had dominated an era, shining so brilliantly that they almost exceeded worldly comprehension. Figures like Dao Sovereign Diyi of the Taiyi Immortal Sect, Dao Sovereign Hongmeng of the Heavenly Dao Sect, and Dao Sovereign Zaohua of the Sanqing Sacred Hall were beings among the Ten Immortal Sects who stood above all Dao Lords. There were also Human Sovereign Shang Tang, Martial Emperor Panwu, the Origin Demon Ancestor, the Primordial Ancestor God, and the Final Ancestor God... All of them were likewise existences comparable to Dao Sovereigns. "Legend has it since ancient times that these beings were reincarnations of immortals. Precisely because of this, they were able to display power in the mortal realm that far exceeded others of their level. One must understand that even for an existence hailed as an invincible Dao Lord, fighting ten opponents at once is the limit. Yet as for them..." Dao Lord Penglai glanced toward the surging waves of destruction at the edge of the starry sky, then looked at Yaoguang. "Each of them could practically treat ordinary Dao Lords as nothing, truly suppressing all Dao Lords of an entire era by their strength alone." Noticing the strange look in Dao Lord Penglai's eyes, Yaoguang seemed to guess her thoughts and chuckled. "You don't take me for a reincarnated immortal too, do you?" "Though you are still slightly short of those Dao Sovereigns, facing you is already no different for a Void Dao Lord than facing a Dao Sovereign, is it?" Dao Lord Penglai paused before adding, "Especially considering you have cultivated for less than five hundred years. Compared to those Dao Sovereigns who needed thousands of years before making their names resound across the world, you are still in your growth period." "Dao Sovereign!" Hearing this, Yaoguang checked the void share within him, which had increased to 8.9. The increase in share allowed him to mobilize even more of the Grand Dao of the Void. This immense void Great Dao power, combined with his Immortal Venerable realm control... Allowed him to display might rivaling that of an invincible Dao Lord even when facing other Dao Lords. Once he upgraded the Wuji Sword to a semi-immortal artifact as well, balancing the three... His combat prowess would certainly climb to another peak. When that time came... Facing dozens or a hundred Dao Lords head-on might prove difficult, but by relying on his advantage as a Dao Lord of the Void, drawing out the battlefield, and spending some time, defeating dozens of Dao Lords would be by no means an impossible feat. However, to truly match the likes of Dao Sovereign Hongmeng, Dao Sovereign Diyi, and Dao Sovereign Zaohua—sweeping forward invincibly and treating hundreds of Dao Lords like nothing... "Even with a 9.9 Great Dao share and three to five semi-immortal artifacts, it would still be difficult to achieve!" Yaoguang was absolutely certain of this. They either carried genuine immortal artifacts. Or... Their realm was so high that they were no longer Immortal Venerables. Instead, they were... Immortal Kings!