Origins

Yaoguang could sense Dao Lord Penglai's concern. Yet that concern wasn't directed at him personally, but rather... The war between the Hunyuan Realm and the Ancient Immortal Realm. Yes. A war between two realms. At this moment, he realized that the forces of the Hunyuan Realm, spearheaded by the Nine Great Groups, were waging war against the Ancient Immortal Realm. The core battlefield of this war lay in the Immortal Realm. Harnessing the power of the Lord of Yuanxi, the Hunyuan Realm entered the lower realms through a method akin to reincarnation. From there, they cultivated into Dao Lords in the lower realm before ascending to the Immortal Realm to join the war against it. As for the means of waging war... "Seizing greater shares of the Great Daos to become Dao Ancestors?!" These two thoughts surged in Yaoguang's mind. Judging by the current state of affairs, it seemed only the powers of Fate and Karma remained unconquered in the Ancient Immortal Realm. All others—even ones as mighty as Time and the Void—had been seized. Perhaps this world had originally lacked Dao Lords altogether, and only after the war erupted between the Hunyuan Realm and the Ancient Immortal Realm and Dao Ancestors fell did a unique existence like "Dao Lord" arise. "What is the actual situation in the Immortal Realm right now?" Yaoguang asked. "Overall, we hold a massive advantage," Dao Lord Penglai explained briefly. "The Three Thousand Great Daos have largely been occupied, broken down, and brought under our control. Only the Fate Dao Ancestor and Karma Dao Ancestor have completely transformed into conceptual rules, evolving into Gates of the Great Dao to make their final stand. Were it not for victory drawing near—causing the Nine Great Groups to become less united than before—the Gate of Fate and Gate of Karma would likely have been breached already. "However, 3.3 million years ago, in that decisive campaign, the Time Dao Ancestor and Void Dao Ancestor used a composite immortal art to fuse the powers of Time and the Void, shattering the barrier between the Ancient Immortal Realm and the Hunyuan Realm. For a time, their influence even projected into our Hunyuan Realm. They seemed intent on using the very method we had employed to infiltrate the Ancient Immortal Realm—reincarnation—to preserve a sliver of life. They escaped to the lower realms, leaving over a hundred associated Great Daos impossible to fully bind and weave together. Therefore, the Ancient Immortal Realm still retains the possibility of turning the tables." "The Time Dao Ancestor and Void Dao Ancestor..." At that moment, a flash of insight struck Yaoguang's mind as sudden realization dawned upon him. Could those two Dao Ancestors... have reincarnated somewhere around Beihai Star? Furthermore, could that "calamity" zone spanning a billion light-years across, which he had observed earlier, be the scar left behind when the two Dao Ancestors broke through the cosmic barrier? Across countless years, Immortal Kings had descended to the lower realms at regular intervals, reincarnating to roam the star realm of Beihai Star. Was their true purpose to search for the reincarnations of the Time Dao Ancestor and Void Dao Sovereign in this starry sky? Or perhaps to find the legacies left behind by their reincarnations? Or something else entirely? And as for that reincarnated legacy... Yaoguang focused his mind on the glazed treasure tree shimmering with radiant light. "Is it this?" Yet immediately afterward, he shook his head. No! This glazed treasure tree was something he had brought with him before transmigrating, not something inherited after transmigrating. Wait. According to his deduction, the world he had seen through Higher-Dimensional Cognition that stood above the Immortal Realm was the Hunyuan Realm. In other words, this treasure tree must have come from the Hunyuan Realm! When the Time Dao Ancestor and Void Dao Ancestor chose to fuse as one at the final moment, they broke through the cosmic barrier between the Ancient Immortal Realm and the Hunyuan Realm, projecting their power into the Hunyuan Realm. Even though they ultimately failed and had to preserve their vitality through reincarnation, falling back into the Ancient Immortal Realm—into this very starry sky where Beihai Star was situated—who could guarantee... that when they broke through the cosmic barrier into the Hunyuan Realm, they hadn't left this "ancient tree" behind in the Hunyuan Realm as a seed? Over millions of years, those Immortal Kings reincarnated as Dao Sovereigns and scoured this starry sky again and again, yet never found the legacy or relics of the Time Dao Ancestor and Void Dao Ancestor precisely because the "ancient tree" serving as the legacy was never in this universe at all—it was in the Hunyuan Realm! Until a thousand years ago, when he chanced upon this ancient tree, and it brought him from a tiny, ordinary planet in the Milky Way of the Hunyuan Realm back into the Ancient Immortal Realm, embarking on a marvelous journey from the Yaoguang Realm to the Cangwu Realm, from the Cangwu Realm to Beihai Star, and now soon onward to the Immortal Realm? This... A wave of disbelief washed over Yaoguang. He could hardly believe what had happened to him. Yet... Based on Dao Lord Penglai's words and combined with the information he currently possessed, this appeared to be the only explanation. "The Time Dao Ancestor and Void Dao Ancestor!" Yaoguang exhaled a long breath. Seeing that Dao Lord Penglai still appeared concerned about his condition, he could only weigh his words carefully and say speculatively, "Thank you for your concern. Nothing more will come from discussing my situation. Unless I can find the power of the Time Dao Ancestor and Void Dao Ancestor, nothing can be changed." "This..." Dao Lord Penglai frowned slightly, and then an epiphany struck her. "Back when you cultivated into a Dao Lord of the Void, you insisted on killing another Dao Lord of the Void... Could it be that your Dao Lord quota wasn't even approved?" "I didn't have a quota at the time," Yaoguang replied. It seemed many beings in the Immortal Realm were aware of the existence of "quotas." Or rather, the Nine Great Groups held the secret of the "quotas," and even possessed special methods to allocate them to help eligible beings of the Hunyuan Realm undergo Dao Integration smoothly. "No quota..." Dao Lord Penglai found it hard to believe. "Having cultivated into an Immortal King, with the contributions accumulated from your vast experience in this world, your clearance level should have reached at least Level 18. That grants the privilege of facing the Lord of Yuanxi directly; applying for a quota ought to have been effortless..." At this point, she looked at Yaoguang. "Has the infighting within the Creation Group deteriorated to such an extent? They wanted to wipe you out completely, giving you no chance of making a comeback? Why didn't you report this? Once reported, the great supreme intellect, the Lord of Yuanxi, would surely grant you justice." Yaoguang shook his head, looking as though he didn't wish to pursue the topic. Seeing this, Dao Lord Penglai gradually calmed down as well. Yaoguang's unwillingness to report to the Lord of Yuanxi meant either he had illicit secrets to hide, or... His revenge would strike with thunderous fury. He surely would not rest until the other board members of the Creation Group met the same fate as his own. After pondering for a moment, she offered a cautious suggestion: "The process and experience of advancing from a Dao Lord to an Immortal King are the most precious data and wealth. That data alone is enough to fetch tens of billions of Supreme Credit Points. If you're willing, once you ascend to the Immortal Realm, I can contact the board of directors of the Xiyu Group on your behalf. They would absolutely be eager to purchase your experiences and insights. In fact, if you're willing to join the Xiyu Group, securing the position of President of the Void Division wouldn't be difficult at all." "I recall that relations between the Xiyu Group and the Creation Group are quite good?" Yaoguang asked. "Your clearance is higher than mine, so you should know the reality. That so-called 'good relationship' is merely to maintain an outward appearance of solidarity. In truth, as the Nine Great Groups gain an overwhelming advantage in the war against the Ancient Immortal Realm, competition among the nine groups has grown increasingly fierce. Poaching personnel from one another happens all the time. After all, you could say we've reached the stage of carving up the pie. And the pie is only so big; every bit added to your own share is taken from someone else's hands." Dao Lord Penglai shook her head as she spoke. She clearly didn't look favorably upon divvying up the spoils before victory was even secured. Yet, despite her extraordinary talent—having entered the Ancient Immortal Realm as a Level 17 immortal spirit—she was still too young and lacked influence. Before achieving sufficient merit, she had little persuasive weight. Then again... As the war between the two realms drew to a close, it was becoming increasingly difficult for newly arrived immortal spirits like her to rapidly raise their clearance levels. "We'll see when the time comes," Yaoguang said, adding, "Besides, you shouldn't be so certain. Perhaps I'm not the Immortal King Yuxiao you speak of." Dao Lord Penglai smiled, not surprised in the least by Yaoguang's refusal to admit his identity. Evidently, this Immortal King was burdened with considerable troubles. Besides... She never expected to sway a heavyweight who had once been eligible for a seat on the Creation Group's board of directors with just a few words. Of course, it was genuinely not impossible that Yaoguang was not Immortal King Yuxiao. Yet based on his ability to cultivate into a Dao Sovereign in the lower realm... His level before entering the Ancient Immortal Realm was definitely not low. He was at least a peer like her—Level 17, groomed as an Immortal Venerable and making a push toward Immortal King. Establishing good ties with such a compatriot in advance could never go wrong. For a moment, neither of them spoke. Yaoguang needed time to digest the information he had just received. And Dao Lord Penglai needed to carefully weigh how to interact with Yaoguang moving forward. Earlier, she had assumed Yaoguang was like her—an immortal spirit entering the Ancient Immortal Realm for the first time—since much of his behavior fit that profile. Now, however, a newcomer had suddenly turned into an Immortal King searching for the legacies of the Time Dao Sovereign and Void Dao Sovereign, possibly an Immortal King who had lived for hundreds of thousands of years. Naturally, this forced her to reconsider how she should treat him from now on. Just then, the Dao Lords of the Ten Immortal Sects rushed over leading numerous cultivators. To avoid awkwardness, Dao Lord Penglai said, "My apologies. I spend most of my time cultivating and tempering my soul and am not good at socializing, so I'll take my leave first." Yaoguang nodded. "I'm the same." Dao Lord Penglai glanced at him, slightly surprised. Then she smiled and departed promptly. Watching Dao Lord Penglai leave, understanding dawned on Yaoguang. Although the Penglai Immortal Sect founded by Dao Lord Penglai was counted among the Ten Immortal Sects, this Dao Lord actually had very little interaction with the other Dao Lords. She maintained an aloof demeanor that seemed completely detached from the world. Even during her clashes with the Nine Demon Immortal Lineages, other factions had rarely offered any substantive assistance. Previously, he thought it was because Dao Lord Penglai had only recently become a Dao Lord and was unfamiliar with the other factions and Dao Lords. Now it seemed... This was perhaps the pride of a Level 17 immortal spirit from the Hunyuan Realm. With the potential destined to attain Immortal Venerable, she disdained wasting too much time on these native lower-realm cultivators, who might not even have a chance of ascending. Shaking his head, Yaoguang composed himself and greeted the arriving Dao Lords, moving to seize the territories of the demon, fiend, and god races and lay down the foundation for humanity's future growth.