Existence

Of Yaoguang's two demands, the first was somewhat manageable. If all the directors of Creation Group pooled their efforts, brought out their bottom-drawer vessels, or, failing that, drew upon their connections to trade with other Immortal Kings, gathering the Immortal King shares for both the Dao of Time and the Dao of the Void within a thousand years was not impossible—it was merely a matter of paying a steep price. But the second condition... It provoked an immediate uproar among the directors present. "Slay Immortal King Tianyu?!" "How could that be possible?! If handled poorly, it could spark an all-out war between Creation Group and Tianyuan Group!" "Director Yuxiao, do not make such unrealistic demands! We cannot gamble the future of Creation Group just to pave your path to becoming a Void Immortal King!" Nearly all seven directors voiced their objections at once. The repercussions of slaying Immortal King Tianyu were far too severe—severe enough to potentially ruin Creation Group's future. Naturally, they could not agree. Yaoguang did not offer an elaborate explanation. He merely said, "This is by no means impossible. The presence of Immortal King Tianyu poses a threat to Tianyuan Group's current chairman, Yuankun. As long as you can convince Immortal King Yuankun to cooperate, achieving this is within reach." With that, he rose to his feet. "These are my conditions. If you cannot accept them, I will take my offer to Xiyu Group." "Impossible!" Alpha firmly objected. Before he could go any further, however, Xuanqing also stood up. "Please do not be hasty, Director Yuxiao. Let us deliberate first. We will certainly give you a satisfactory answer." Surprise flickered in the eyes of Immortal King Huitian, Immortal King Nizhuan, Immortal King Zaohua, and the others. Judging from Chairman Xuanqing's words... Did he actually have a way to persuade them even on this? For a moment, even Alpha, who had been most openly hostile toward Immortal King Yuxiao, swallowed the words he had been about to speak. "Discuss it amongst yourselves first. Once you have reached a conclusion, just let me know the result." Yaoguang waved a hand and walked out of the boardroom, paying no heed to Chairman Xuanqing's attempts to detain him. Faced with the immense temptation of delivering what could be the final blow to shatter the Ancient Immortal Realm, he knew these directors of Creation Group would never walk away. The initiative had never rested with them; it had always belonged to Yaoguang. It was only because Yaoguang had previously wanted to fleece them as quickly as possible that he had adopted a gentler demeanor. All he had to do now was wait for the outcome. And indeed, within the boardroom, as Xuanqing began explaining the true reality behind Yaoguang's mastery over both the Grand Dao of Time and the Grand Dao of the Void, the expressions of the other directors changed completely. Only then did they realize that Yaoguang's dual cultivation of Time and the Void was not due to some secret technique or a method of two souls sharing one body. Rather, he had obtained the legacies of both the Time Dao Ancestor and the Void Dao Ancestor in the lower realm's Land of Dao Extinction. The Time Dao Ancestor and the Void Dao Ancestor were Dao Ancestors of supreme Grand Daos, serving as two of the four great pillars that formed the entire Ancient Immortal Realm. Above all, the two had merged into one back then, shattering the barrier between the two worlds and projecting their power directly into the Hunyuan Realm. In other words, across the millions of years of war between the Hunyuan Realm and the Ancient Immortal Realm, the Time Dao Ancestor and the Void Dao Ancestor were the only ones who had ever carried the flames of war into the homeland of the Hunyuan Realm itself. Although they had subsequently been crushed with overwhelming force by the Lord of Yuanxi joined by the power of the Sovereigns, the true extent of the shock they had dealt to the Hunyuan Realm was known only to the Lord of Yuanxi and the Nine Great Sovereigns. In fact, the mere fact that the Nine Great Sovereigns had repeatedly dispatched Immortal Kings to the Land of Dao Extinction to search for traces and legacies potentially left behind by the two Dao Ancestors was proof enough of how seriously the Lord of Yuanxi and the Nine Great Sovereigns took them. And now... What other Immortal Kings and Level 18 clearance holders had failed to find in millions of years of searching had been discovered by Yuxiao. If they could make proper use of this legacy... While there was no guarantee it would deliver the killing blow to the Ancient Immortal Realm, it would unquestionably produce a cohort of Level 19 clearance holders. If all went smoothly, nurturing a new Sovereign was by no means an extravagant wish. Small wonder Xuanqing had spared no expense over the past thousand years, doing everything in his power to support Yuxiao in becoming an Immortal King once more. Faced with the temptation of becoming a Sovereign, who could resist?! ... In just half a day, Yaoguang was persuaded by the gentle, conciliatory words of Immortal King Huitian and Immortal King Xuanqing to return to the boardroom. The moment he arrived this time, he was greeted warmly by every single director. "Director Yuxiao, you kept us in the dark so thoroughly! Had you told us earlier that you obtained such a fortunate encounter in the lower realm, our Creation Group would have committed all its strength to support your ascent to Immortal King and enable you to comprehend the Gate of Fate and the Gate of Karma as an Immortal King." "Haha, Director Yuxiao, are a thousand shares of the Grand Dao of Time and a thousand shares of the Grand Dao of the Void enough? If not, we can find a way to scrape together more." "Immortal King Tianyu is indeed Director Yuxiao's greatest obstacle to mastering the Void! If we can slay him, Director Yuxiao's shares in the Grand Dao of the Void will surely approach five thousand! Only with such strength would one have the qualification to comprehend and shake the Gate of Fate and the Gate of Karma! Therefore, Director Yuxiao's conditions are entirely reasonable." One director after another made emphatic declarations of their stance, making it abundantly clear that they stood unswervingly on Yaoguang's side. It was as though the scene of unanimous opposition from just hours ago had never happened. "Thank you for your trust, everyone. Then let us sign the agreement," Yaoguang responded unhurriedly. "Let us make this agreement more detailed this time. That way, both your minds and mine can be at ease." "As it should be." "We will deliberate right now on the specific details, execution timeline, implementation plan, share distribution, and other matters." The directors chimed in, quickly throwing themselves into the details. This time, however, Xuanqing was no longer leading the discussion. Whenever the directors hammered out a clause, they had to seek Yaoguang's approval. The initiative had clearly shifted to him. This sight naturally stirred mixed feelings in Xuanqing's heart. Yet he quickly composed himself. What did it matter if all the directors gravitated toward Yaoguang? Once the agreement was signed, he would still be the first to reach the peak of Level 19 clearance, and likewise the first to break through to become a Level 20 Sovereign. So long as those two goals could be realized—or even... Even if only the first goal were achieved, what did it matter if Yaoguang took over as chairman? And if the second goal could also be fulfilled... Even if it meant driving Creation Group into ruin and sacrificing every member of Creation Group to achieve it, he would not hesitate for a second. Before long, the signing of the agreement was completed. Once the agreement was backed up and registered with the Lord of Yuanxi, smiles spread across everyone's faces. At this moment, the upper ranks of Creation Group had entered a state of unprecedented unity. "Then I will trouble you all to deliver the vessels in your possession as soon as possible," Yaoguang said with a smile. "As soon as I become an Immortal King in both the Dao of Time and the Dao of the Void, we will take action against Immortal King Tianyu. Once he is dealt with, I will head to the Gate of Fate and the Gate of Karma. Whatever results come of it will be the achievement of our collective group. At that point, everyone will be rewarded according to merit and granted higher clearance." "Precisely! We are one collective! Any outcome should belong to our group!" "Hahaha! Years ago, I also thought of studying the Dao of Time, but later found it far too obscure and had to give it up with regret. Still, the shares of the Grand Dao of Time I gathered remain. I will send them over to you right away, Director Yuxiao." "I have good personal relations with Chairman Yuankun. I will contact him immediately to lay the groundwork for plotting against Immortal King Tianyu." The directors responded with beaming smiles. Every director contributed what they could—those with personnel provided manpower, those with funds offered wealth, and those with strength lent their might. United as one, they strove toward the goal Yaoguang had set. Yaoguang nodded. ... When a colossus like one of the Nine Great Conglomerates began operating at full throttle toward a single goal... Even ascending to Immortal King became an effortless endeavor. In the days that followed, vessels bearing the Dao of Time and the Dao of the Void were delivered without interruption. There were so many that Yaoguang hardly had time to refine all the vessels of Time, forcing him to take things one step at a time. After all, he had spent most of his recent time raising his realm in the Dao of the Void; upon reaching the Immortal King rank in the Dao of Time, his progress there had stagnated for a long while. Yet now... With the most crucial step in the Dao of the Void taken, the path forward in the Dao of Time would also become a smooth thoroughfare. ... Within Immortal King Yuxiao's cultivation abode. Yaoguang sensed the growth of the branch representing [Dao Integration: Void] and swiftly poured the final portion of energy into it. As this surge of energy flooded in, the Void branch, whose growth progress had already reached 9998/10000, instantly completed its final transformation and bore a Dao Fruit. The instant this Dao Fruit formed, Yaoguang immediately felt his perception of the Void ascend to an entirely new plane. Expansion! His perception of the Grand Dao of the Void, his comprehension of the entire Ancient Immortal Realm's void, began expanding in a manner of "spatial extension"! Beginning from the cultivation abode where he sat, it swept across the entire Creation Immortal City in an instant, followed by the continent where Creation Immortal City was located, then the neighboring continents, and then... The entire Immortal Realm! Yet even the Immortal Realm was not the limit. As the innate talent—or rather, innate divine ability—derived from that Dao Fruit took effect, his Void perception broke through the blockade imposed by the power of the Hunyuan Realm and spread into the starry cosmos beyond the Immortal Realm. And through that starry cosmos it expanded wildly, until reaching... The ends of the universe! The entire Ancient Immortal Realm! At this moment, inspiration struck him like a revelation. He channeled more energy into the Grand Dao of the Void branch that had already borne its Dao Fruit. In the next moment, his Void perception, which had already encompassed the entire Ancient Immortal Realm, began to ascend. It was not expanding! It was ascending! From the original dimensions of length, width, and height, it extended toward an entirely higher dimension. Under this extension, his Void perception instantly leapt outside the entire Ancient Immortal Realm, reaching beyond it. Although his power of the Void originated from the Grand Dao of the Void of the Ancient Immortal Realm, at this moment, his Void perception seemed to overlook the entire Ancient Immortal Realm from above—observing and inspecting the entire Void Realm as an outside observer from a higher dimension. Like a person turning and studying a globe. Or a pair of eyes examining a holographic projection of a universe with curiosity. Under this scrutiny, silently and imperceptibly, the very essence of the Grand Dao of the Void underwent a transformation. It became something... Something that represented the Void even more profoundly than the Grand Dao of the Void itself. "Existence." Yaoguang suddenly had an epiphany. Born out of nothingness, standing in opposition to chaotic void, representing the core essence of going from nothing to something—Existence!