Fate

Dao Sovereign Huanyin was proficient in the Grand Dao of the Soul. Immortal King Guangcheng was corroded by the power of fate. On the path toward the Yongsheng Sect, information regarding the two Immortal Kings flowed through Yaoguang's mind. Through his consummate comprehension of the Grand Dao of the Soul, Dao Sovereign Huanyin had developed the technique of two souls in one body. Although Yaoguang had slain his lower-realm avatar, his true self had not perished. Therefore, even if Yaoguang truly wished to glean some of the profundities regarding the Grand Dao of the Soul from Dao Sovereign Huanyin, he could never obtain them merely from an avatar. Under these circumstances, between the two Immortal Kings, the one who held far greater interest for Yaoguang was Immortal King Guangcheng. "Corroded by the power of fate... I would really like to know what the Ancient Immortal Realm's Grand Dao of Fate—revered as the foremost of the three thousand Grand Daos, governing all three thousand Grand Daos—truly is." Yaoguang pondered, a thought flashing through his mind. "If I slay Immortal King Guangcheng this time, is it truly because I wish to purge the lower realm's immortal spirits, or is it... the tug of fate, steering events to its advantage?" With this speculation in mind, he pushed his command of the Grand Dao of the Void to its limit. Shuttling repeatedly through space, the Yongsheng Sect, situated at the center of the universe, soon loomed before his eyes. Compared to the Star Sun Group's investment in the Xingri Sect, although the Changsheng Group had dispatched Immortal King Guangcheng to oversee the overall situation in the body of a Dao Sovereign, not enough time had passed. The number of Dao Lords he had gathered together still fell short of the Xingri Sect's, and Guangcheng was their sole Level 18 immortal spirit. Upon his arrival, Yaoguang's formidable divine sense rapidly suffused the entire perimeter of the Yongsheng Sect, carried by the power of the void. "Sixteen Dao Lords." Yaoguang locked onto each of them one by one. To avoid alerting the enemy prematurely, the first target in his sights was naturally Immortal King Guangcheng, who had already attained the level of a Dao Sovereign. In a single shuttle through space, he materialized directly inside the palace where Immortal King Guangcheng was reviewing documents. The very instant the Immortal King sensed something amiss, the Grand Dao Pagoda was summoned. Dao after Dao was mobilized, swiftly coalescing into the composite immortal art: Spacetime Collapse. "Who's there?!" Sensing the tremors of spacetime, Immortal King Guangcheng instantly triggered a Grand Dao resonance. With a sharp shout, immortal artifacts and immortal arts took shape rapidly in his hands, fully displaying his vast, consummate combat experience. Yet before his immortal artifacts or immortal arts could display their due might, Yaoguang uttered a single word: "Deprive!" In the next instant, this Dao Sovereign—who had once reached the level of an Immortal King—felt as though his Grand Dao power had lost its primary medium for manifesting in the world: the void! It was like casting an emperor of supreme authority into an uninhabited desert. No matter how great his power, even if a fit of rage could leave millions of corpses and rivers of blood, it became utterly meaningless. Power stemmed from others. Without people, no matter how noble the emperor was, he remained merely an ordinary mortal. Such was Immortal King Guangcheng at this moment. Stripped entirely of the power of the void, his Grand Dao power could hardly manifest. Without manifesting Grand Dao power, he could not execute immortal arts! Forget immortal arts—he could not even unleash Dao arts. This Dao Sovereign, who theoretically possessed the strength to dominate an era, was stripped directly of his realm, suppressed until he was no different from a Void Piercing cultivator. While his own power was suppressed, his opponent's terrifying momentum did not diminish in the slightest. Feeling the horrifying force within the Spacetime Collapse Art—as though all of spacetime were being annihilated—Immortal King Guangcheng roared in fury, "This power... Yuxiao! It's you?! You were the one who wiped out the Changsheng Sect our Changsheng Group established in the cosmos, weren't you?! You dare go so far—are you not afraid of the Changsheng Group's vengeance?!" Unfortunately, Yaoguang had no intention of wasting breath on him. As he hurled the Spacetime Collapse Art toward Immortal King Guangcheng, his entire focus was directed toward sensing everything in all directions, seemingly trying to capture the power of fate that invisibly coordinated the three thousand Grand Daos. The result... He found nothing. Frowning, Yaoguang did not slow his Spacetime Collapse Art in the slightest, instantly crushing Immortal King Guangcheng into fine dust. In the moment before he was obliterated, the Immortal King also reined in his anger. He had already realized that this Immortal King Yuxiao did not care about the Changsheng Group's retaliation in the least. He could not use the prestige of the Changsheng Group to deter Yuxiao from acting rashly. Furthermore, his own strength was leagues below Yuxiao's current might. Knowing for certain that death was inevitable and this "account" was thoroughly scrapped, he naturally would not scream and shout, pointlessly forfeiting his dignity. "In the Immortal Realm, with the power of the Lord of Yuanxi present, no matter what crises I faced, I could always find a glimmer of hope amid unexpected peril. To think that right after arriving in the lower realm, I would meet such an end." The Immortal King sighed and dissolved into nothingness. "Fate." Only these two words echoed in the void, lingering long after. "Fate." After slaying this Dao Sovereign, Yaoguang murmured the two words as well, simultaneously activating the innate power of a Dao Master of the Void in an attempt to capture the true traces of fate. Yet just as before, he found nothing. "So miraculous? Can the existence of the Grand Dao of Fate truly be sensed only by entering the Gate of Fate?" he muttered to himself. Pondering for a moment, he seemed to think of something. He focused his mind directly on his essence of "existence." Then, using the "void" as his foundation, he expanded this essence outward. However, the moment his essence of "existence" extended, it immediately met with resistance from the surrounding cosmos. This resistance came from the three thousand Grand Daos. Even though the laws of the three thousand Grand Daos in the lower realm's starry skies were not as strict as in the Immortal Realm, Yaoguang still faced ubiquitous pressure when trying to unfold his essence of "existence." This pressure not only attempted to destroy him, but also sought to repel him entirely. Fortunately, Yaoguang did not maintain the expansion of his essence of "existence" for long. He merely used it to envelop the region of the starry sky where Immortal King Guangcheng had fallen. And then... Though it was an expanse of void thoroughly annihilated by the Spacetime Collapse Art, as his essence of existence swept over it, numerous traces of the Grand Daos were revealed upon it. The most prominent were naturally the Grand Daos that formed the Spacetime Collapse Art: the Grand Dao of Time, the Grand Dao of the Void, the Grand Dao of Destruction, and several others. In addition, there were many Grand Daos that had resonated with those of the Spacetime Collapse Art, as well as the Grand Daos that Immortal King Guangcheng himself primarily cultivated. Beneath his essence of "existence," the traces left by these Grand Daos had nowhere to hide. Yet among all the traces, the one that caught Yaoguang's attention most was undoubtedly a supreme trace of a Grand Dao that seemed to govern and orchestrate the evolution of all Daos. Upon seeing this Grand Dao trace and sensing its unique nature, Yaoguang instantly understood. "Fate!" It was the Grand Dao of Fate! Moreover, through the Grand Dao of Fate, he faintly sensed an unspeakable, undefinable connection between himself and Immortal King Guangcheng. Had the power of fate coordinated and orchestrated everything so that this great battle would inevitably erupt between him and Immortal King Guangcheng? Until Immortal King Guangcheng, who was deeply corroded by the power of fate, met his complete demise? "So miraculous?" Yaoguang found it somewhat unbelievable. He had thought that he had never been touched by the power of fate, and that without relying on his essence of "existence," it would have been impossible to uncover any traces of the Ancient Immortal Realm's "fate." Yet... Fate had long since woven a great web, dragging him into it and orchestrating for him to deliver the fatal blow to Immortal King Guangcheng? Yaoguang quietly sensed the traces of this so-called "fate," ultimately discovering that the point of connection this power had with his essence... was his very person. His cultivation system. Unless he could completely abandon this world and cast aside everything he had gained from it—only then could he jump beyond the three realms and no longer reside within the five elements, freeing himself from the power of fate. Otherwise, so long as he remained a living being of this world for even a single day, he could never entirely escape the influence of the Grand Dao of Fate. "Abandon everything from this world..." Yaoguang's expression grew solemn. "The Grand Dao of Fate sounds less terrifying than the Grand Dao of Destruction, less comprehensive than the Grand Dao of the Void, and less miraculous than the Grand Dao of Time. Yet in truth... it embodies tyranny to the utmost extreme... As long as a living being exists and walks within the Ancient Immortal Realm, they will be subject to the influence of the power of fate, with nowhere to hide." He took a deep breath. "It is merely that some powerful individual lifeforms possess greater capability to face the crises and hardships brought by fate." As he pondered, Yaoguang could not help but think of himself. "I have already comprehended the essence of 'existence.' In theory, I could completely depart from the Ancient Immortal Realm, unbound and unconstrained by its three thousand Grand Dao rules. Even if the Hunyuan Realm consumes the Ancient Immortal Realm in the future and causes the three thousand Grand Daos to perish, I could still survive in the chaotic void by relying on my essence of 'existence.' But... that is not the life I want." Yaoguang paused, then added, "Yet a life invisibly manipulated and controlled by fate is not what I want either." At this moment, he even thought of those Dao Lords who were resolutely determined to ascend to the Immortal Realm. They... could be said to have chosen ascension for their lifelong pursuits and convictions. Or it could be said that fate had long arranged the script for them, preventing them from slacking off and waiting around for death. Either ascend to the Immortal Realm to stake everything on a desperate gamble, or simply be captured, slain, and refined by the immortal spirits of the Hunyuan Realm. Dead or alive, it was better than idling away their days doing nothing. "Perhaps... I am the same," Yaoguang muttered to himself. "Which is why I have been driving forward without a single moment of rest..." Though this was merely a guess of his, it held a strong ring of truth. "So... is it really too much to ask that I just want to peacefully kick back and take it easy? In the Hunyuan Realm, the Lord of Yuanxi and the Nine Rulers perceive the minute and subtle, sensing every stir within the realm. In the Ancient Immortal Realm, the power of fate threads the needle, weaving the life paths of living beings and compelling them to march one after another onto the battlefield against the Hunyuan Realm..." Those at the very top always wanted those below to move, to sacrifice themselves, to throw away their lives, all so that they could achieve their own objectives. Realizing this, Yaoguang suddenly felt a flicker of irritation. Originally, he had intended to develop a more perfected immortal art of the Great Dream of a Thousand Years and shroud both the Ancient Immortal Realm and the Hunyuan Realm in a dreamscape so they could coexist in peace. Yet now... that was clearly wishful thinking on his part. Yaoguang stood where he was, remaining silent for a good while. Only after a long time did he compose his thoughts. "I'll proceed with the original plan and study the Great Dream of a Thousand Years first, to see if it's feasible. If it isn't, and the Ancient Immortal Realm's Grand Dao of Fate and the Hunyuan Realm's Lord of Yuanxi stubbornly refuse to let it go and deny me peace..." Yaoguang paused, then bared his teeth. "I'll just devour you all!"