The moment the composite immortal art was unleashed, ordinary Dao Lords felt as though the heavens were collapsing and the earth were caving in.
The alignment and interlocking resonance of five Grand Daos forged an inescapable realm of death that sealed off heaven and severed earth.
Every Dao Lord caught within was overcome by a helpless sense of despair, as if there were no road to heaven and no gate into earth.
If they could withstand the void immortal art, they could not withstand the time immortal art; if they withstood the time immortal art, they could not withstand the destruction immortal art; and even if they somehow held off destruction, the Five Elements and Yin-Yang immortal arts lay in wait behind it.
There was always one tailored to end them.
Worse still, the immortal art attacks derived from these five Grand Daos resonated with, depended on, and amplified one another. When they came crashing down, they utterly exceeded the defensive limits of ordinary Dao Lords.
Even the quasi-immortal-art methods displayed by certain top Dao Lords with the help of external aids were crushed effortlessly beneath this composite immortal art, failing to achieve anything at all.
Crushed along with them were the Dao bodies they had painstakingly forged.
In contrast to the other Dao Lords who could not even withstand a single exchange, Po Suo and Yuan Kong—the two immortal spirits hailing from the Hunyuan Realm—recognized the origin of this immortal art immediately.
“A composite immortal art! A composite immortal art! How could it possibly be a composite immortal art?!”
“The only beings capable of mastering a composite immortal art are Immortal Venerables standing at the very pinnacle, and Immortal King–tier entities!”
The instant he recognized the devastating might of this art, Yuan Kong transmitted his divine sense: “Your Highness, spare us! We are on the same side... I belong to the Changsheng Group—”
Before he could finish, Daoist Po Suo had already come to his senses. Grabbing him, Po Suo retreated at breakneck speed. “Do you think an incarnation of an Immortal King wouldn’t know that the Yongsheng Sect is our Changsheng Group’s lower-realm branch? Can’t you see he came specifically for our Changsheng Group?!”
Jolted by the reminder, Yuan Kong’s mind reeled.
“I knew the struggle above had grown fierce, but... for an Immortal King at the supreme echelon of the group to project power down to the lower realm to pull the rug out from under us?! Have the Nine Great Groups... cast aside all pretense and plunged into total war?!”
Terror consumed his heart.
According to the information he possessed, although the internal strife among the Nine Great Groups had begun, they were supposed to maintain a standoff—contending without rupturing relations completely.
How could...
an Immortal King personally take the field?!
How was that possible?!
Yet, as they watched that abruptly appeared figure slaughter the other Dao Lords with a composite immortal art and then lock his gaze onto them, charging straight in pursuit, they had no choice but to accept the truth of their suspicion.
“Flee!”
The two Dao Lords immediately abandoned the native cultivators—who in their eyes were already dry bones in a tomb—and pulled back with all their might.
Even though the Spacetime Collapse Art unleashed by Yaoguang possessed the innate property of contracting space, it surprisingly still failed to check their retreat.
However, Dao Lord Yuan Kong’s previous reaction had already tipped Yaoguang off that these two were precisely the targets he sought.
Just as the two Dao Lords broke free from the Spacetime Collapse Art, a surge of divine sense swept forth with the momentum of the Grand Daos, rolling in like a tempest.
“Suppress!”
The powers of five Grand Daos—Space, Origin, Chaos, Soul, and Stars—interlocked simultaneously, forming a gateway that sealed the world and suppressed this region of the starry sky.
The two retreating “Dao Sovereigns” became like gnats mired in mercury; no matter how desperately they struggled, they remained trapped, unable to tear themselves away in the slightest.
“An Immortal King!”
A glimmer of panic flashed in Daoist Po Suo’s eyes. He released a jewel from his hand, and a surge of green energy billowed forth, barely managing to force open the suppression of the Gate of the World.
Within that green energy, Yaoguang sensed a power distinct from the level of the three thousand Grand Daos.
It was precisely because of this that, even though Yaoguang had completely confined them within the Gate of the World, they were still able to pull themselves out from its perimeter.
“This is... the power of the Hunyuan Realm!”
Yaoguang realized what it was in an instant.
The Grand Dao Pagoda manifested behind him.
The might of this supreme sacred artifact surged to its absolute limit. One Grand Dao after another was drawn upon and channeled into the void suppressed by the Gate of the World.
Under this ceaseless infusion of Grand Dao power, the suppressive strength of the Gate of the World grew drastically, rapidly washing over and eroding the green light radiating from the jewel in Daoist Po Suo’s hand.
As the two clashed, the energies cancelled each other out and ground down at an astonishing pace.
This sight brought clarity to Yaoguang’s mind.
Though the Hunyuan Realm had conquered the Immortal Realm—the core of the Ancient Immortal Realm—its power was merely projected within the Immortal Realm and had not engulfed the cosmic starry sky as a whole.
This much could be deduced from the distribution of the “gray mist” he had observed.
Because the laws of the Hunyuan Realm had not yet completely corrupted the power of the three thousand Grand Daos in the cosmic starry sky, even when Daoist Po Suo brought forth the laws of the Hunyuan Realm, they still could not override the laws of the Ancient Immortal Realm.
In the end...
That green brilliance was suppressed by the Gate of the World brought down by the Grand Dao Pagoda, utterly worn away by the relentless advantage of the Grand Daos.
“No!”
The instant the green light dissipated, Daoist Po Suo let out a cry of shock and fury: “Bullying the weak as an elder—this battle violates the rules...!”
Rumble!
Carrying the power of the composite immortal art Gate of the World, the Grand Dao Pagoda scattered the last trace of green light. Without losing an ounce of momentum, it bore down upon Daoist Po Suo and Dao Lord Yuan Kong, grinding their bodies into dust in an instant.
“I have memorized your aura! This isn't over!”
The moment they were crushed, the remnants of their divine sense erupted with fury and bitter resentment.
Yet Yaoguang paid no heed to their emotions, pushing his soul perception to its absolute zenith instead.
He clearly sensed that as the two were crushed, a portion of power resembling the Grand Dao of the Soul—yet distinct from the Ancient Immortal Realm’s Grand Dao of the Soul—was drawn away, seemingly attempting to depart from this world.
Yaoguang strode forward, extending his hand to seize that peculiar energy.
Yet to his surprise... the energy seemed entirely unsupported by the Grand Dao of the Void, passing straight through his grasp.
His expression shifted at the sight.
He immediately gathered the power of the Grand Dao Pagoda once more to form a new Gate of the World, hoping to use the power of this supreme sacred artifact to suppress the energy.
Yet...
it was useless.
Tugged by an extraordinary set of laws, this soul energy was wholly unaffected by the composite immortal art Gate of the World and was on the verge of returning to another world.
That was...
the Hunyuan Realm.
“I can’t bind it!”
Yaoguang’s heart sank.
Yet in the next second, as if struck by inspiration, he cast a strand of consciousness onto the Glazed Ancient Tree within his mental world, then unhesitatingly poured a portion of the energy from the [Demon Hunting] branch into the [Artifact Crafting] branch.
In an instant, his cognition was elevated boundlessly. His perspective detached from himself and even the starry sky where the Yongsheng Sect was located, rising to a vantage vast enough to encompass the entire Immortal Realm—and even the Ancient Immortal Realm.
When that field of vision expanded even further, taking in the gray mist blanketing the Ancient Immortal Realm, he discovered that the remnant souls of Daoist Po Suo and Dao Lord Yuan Kong were following the mist clinging to the Grand Dao of the Soul, returning back into that shroud of gray mist and on the verge of slipping beyond his perception.
In the rush of the moment, Yaoguang had an epiphany. Blessed by sudden insight, he instantly used his mastery of the Grand Dao of the Soul to meld into its cosmic power, reached out to the two Dao Lords Po Suo and Yuan Kong through the Grand Dao of the Soul itself, and, using the two Dao Lords’ “souls” as a medium, made contact with the Hunyuan Realm.
Almost the very instant he touched the Hunyuan Realm, an unspeakable dread erupted violently from the depths of his soul.
This terror was unimaginably intense, exploding like thunder deep within his soul and instantly tearing him out of that miraculous state of touching the core of the Hunyuan Realm.
Immediately afterward, his form plummeted precipitously—falling, falling...
crashing back into his true body faster than ever before.
Upon returning to his physical body, he swiftly took stock of his surroundings, his gaze locked intently on the cosmic starry sky.
Yet his soul seemed to pierce through the cosmic surface, peering deep into the interior of the Grand Dao of the Soul.
At this moment, the Grand Dao of the Soul was trembling ceaselessly.
Having cultivated the Grand Dao of the Soul with the aid of the supreme sacred artifact, Yaoguang could clearly feel this Dao being corrupted and overlaid by a terrifying force.
However, this forced corruption and overlaying seemed to have provoked the resistance of the Grand Dao of the Soul—and indeed all Grand Daos not yet claimed by a Dao Ancestor. For a time, neighboring Daos such as the Grand Dao of the Heart, the Grand Dao of Illusion, the Grand Dao of Truth, and the Grand Dao of Order shook violently all at once.
Under this upheaval, the terrifying force attempting to forcibly corrupt and overlay the Grand Dao of the Soul gradually stalled and dispersed.
Only quite a while after this power cleared away did the agitated Grand Daos slowly settle.
Seeing this, Yaoguang let out a quiet sigh of relief.
The Hunyuan Realm had not, after all, completely conquered the Ancient Immortal Realm.
Although the defeat of the Ancient Immortal Realm was close at hand, until it was entirely subjugated, the uprising and resistance of the three thousand Grand Daos could perhaps still inflict grievous damage on the Hunyuan Realm.
That was why certain wills within the Hunyuan Realm had held back from forcibly corrupting, overlaying, and refining the three thousand Grand Daos for their own use.
“Phew!”
Once he was certain that terrifying energy had gradually dissipated, a portion of Yaoguang’s mind returned to the depths of his mental world.
More specifically, around the Glazed Treasure Tree.
There...
a wisp of gray mist had indeed appeared.
Though very faint, it was undeniably present.
With certain thoughts in mind, Yaoguang swiftly channeled this wisp of gray mist into the Glazed Treasure Tree.
As the gray mist was infused, the Glazed Treasure Tree swayed gently.
Beside the main branch, a brand-new branch began to sprout and grow.
“It worked!”
At the sight, he could not conceal the delight in his eyes.
Higher-Dimensional Cognition was a power entirely beyond his comprehension.
Just as an ant could not comprehend the thoughts of a human.
It was only thanks to the Glazed Treasure Tree serving as a medium that he could draw upon the power of Higher-Dimensional Cognition, gathering all manner of information he sought through the method of “keywords.”
However, the acquisition of keywords was clearly tied to the Glazed Treasure Tree and beyond Yaoguang’s control.
Yet just moments ago, he had made a daring decision: to use his own method to leverage Higher-Dimensional Cognition to form the “keyword” he needed. And in the end...
he had succeeded.
The newly grown branch clearly conveyed a piece of information:
Spirit of Wisdom.
Tier 1.
Chapter 546