Resurrection

Outside Beihai Star. Yaoguang's open palm slowly closed. As his palm came together, that patch of void spanning dozens of light-years—contracted and gathered into his hand—was crushed completely to powder. Every meteorite, star, speck of matter, and living being within was likewise reduced to nothingness. "Quite tough," he remarked. When crushing this starry sky, he had met with a bit of stubborn resistance from the Dao Lords, who had attempted to burst through the void. However, once he switched his method of "crushing" the void from the Great Void Art to the Spacetime Collapse Art, all structural support within the void collapsed. It was like discovering the shell was slightly thicker than expected when squeezing an egg; all one had to do was exert a little more force. And then, naturally, the egg was crushed without a hitch. "Handled," Yaoguang murmured. Having eliminated the Dao Lords in this starry sky, Yaoguang entered the state of Higher-Dimensional Cognition, using the Grand Dao of the Void to quietly sense the surrounding expanse. Only after confirming that, aside from Dao Lord Taiwei and the others on Beihai Star, the closest Dao Lord was several million light-years away did he withdraw his gaze. Yet, while using the power of Higher-Dimensional Cognition to sense the Dao Lords in the surrounding void, he seemed to notice something. When wiping out the nearly hundred Dao Lords in that void, an unseen resonance had formed between him and something far away. Through Higher-Dimensional Cognition, this resonance pointed Yaoguang directly to its source. The Immortal Realm. With a shift in thought, his "vision" elevated once more, instantly transcending the bounds of the lower-realm starry sky to take in the entire Immortal Realm—and indeed, the entire Ancient Immortal Realm. In that moment, he saw it clearly. "Karma," Yaoguang murmured. Yet it was not the Gate of Karma. Instead, it was some top-tier immortal artifact of the Karma path. Or perhaps... A supreme sacred artifact? A divine artifact of the Grand Dao? "Whether immortal artifacts or sacred artifacts, they effectively correspond to unmastered shares of the Grand Dao. However, both Karma and Fate possess Dao Ancestors, meaning neither path has genuine immortal artifacts or sacred artifacts. There are only special sacred artifacts bestowed and recognized by the Dao Ancestors of Fate and Karma. And those two special sacred artifacts are held in the hands of the native cultivators, an organization known as the Ancient Immortal Alliance." Yaoguang understood clearly. After all, he was a board member of the Creation Group, so he could peruse such intelligence at will. "The Ancient Immortal Alliance possesses three supreme treasures in total: the Mysterious Gate, representing the ability to borrow the authority of Fate; the Wheel of Karma, representing the ability to borrow the authority of Karma; and the Grand Dao Crucible, which is likely a condensation of destiny formed after the Ancient Immortal Realm sensed its crisis, capable of refining immortal spirits to create all things." What he had sensed was likely the power of the Wheel of Karma. Yaoguang reached out into empty space and clenched his hand. That wisp of "Karma" power was drawn out and cast into his "chaos essence." Then, tempered and cleansed by the "chaos essence," it was infused into the Glazed Treasure Tree. Instantly... A new branch sprouted forth upon the Glazed Treasure Tree. [Dao Integration · Karma] "If I'm not mistaken..." Yaoguang channeled a portion of the energy accumulated within the Glazed Treasure Tree into the [Dao Integration · Karma] branch. Before long, this branch had grown to a certain maturity, reaching the Immortal Venerable level of 100/10000. Having reached this stage, he once again drew upon small amounts of power from other Grand Daos—such as Creation, Destruction, Life, Soul, and Reincarnation—and poured them into his "chaos essence." This time, while there was still no semblance of "order" among these Grand Daos, a certain linkage and harmony had emerged between them. "If I were to describe the current 'chaos' essence as a living being, it has practically finished gestating. It's just that... without the coordinating power of 'Fate,' this being's growth would veer in an aberrant, twisted direction. In the end, it would probably... grow into an evil god or monster like Cthulhu?" Yaoguang was somewhat curious. Of course, curious as he was, he had no intention of conducting such an experiment on his own "chaos essence." As the wisps of energy from Karma, Creation, Life, Soul, Reincarnation, and the other Grand Daos he had drawn forth were depleted, he did not channel any more energy to continue evolving his "chaos essence." Now that he knew obtaining the power of "Fate" was all that was needed to complete the final link in the evolution of chaos, there was no need to rush. "With my current mastery over Higher-Dimensional Cognition, as long as I come into contact with the authority of Fate, I can immediately sprout a branch of 'Fate' power. Although a newly grown branch would be far from bearing a 'Dao Master' level Dao Fruit, once I have it, nurturing it is only a matter of time. It won't be too late to attempt the evolution of 'chaos' after completing the 'Fate' link." Yaoguang already had a clear plan. He glanced at the numerous remaining branches on the Glazed Treasure Tree, his gaze settling on the branch of [Dao Integration · Time]. This branch had long since reached the tipping point of transformation. Since conditions now allowed it... With a thought from Yaoguang, the branch of the Grand Dao of Time grew rapidly, reaching its limit in an instant and condensing into a Dao Fruit. A Dao Fruit titled "Dao Master," identical to that of the Grand Dao of the Void. Relying on this Dao Fruit, he could, just like a "Dao Master" of the void, gather all shares of the spacetime dao in the world into himself in a single breath, transforming into the Time Dao Ancestor within an instant. Having reached this stage, his realm had already caught up to both the Time Dao Ancestor and the Void Dao Ancestor—and in a unified state, no less. At most, he simply had not reclaimed the shares yet. "I wonder if, after forcibly reclaiming all shares of the path of time and the path of spacetime, I could contend against a Dominator empowered by the Lord of Yuanxi with the enhancement of the 'Lord of the Heavenly Dao.'" The thought flashed through Yaoguang's mind. Yet in the end, he did not intend to test it. The other side had more than one Dominator. If he truly chose to swiftly reclaim all shares of the void and time, the Lord of Yuanxi would inevitably sense it and treat him as a mortal threat. At that point, if the Hunyuan Realm possessed even an ounce of collective unity, what he would face would be the nine great Dominators swarming him together alongside the Lord of Yuanxi. Thus... he had to wait. He would add Karma and Fate before anything else. "I wonder whether I, as the inheritor of both the Time Dao Ancestor and Void Dao Ancestor, can obtain the power legacies of the Gate of Fate and Gate of Karma? If I can truly obtain the legacies of these two Supreme Grand Daos, coupled with the power of the 'Lord of the Heavenly Dao' and 'chaos' essence..." Yaoguang pondered. When that time came, taking on ten enemies single-handedly might not be out of the question. After considering it for a moment, Yaoguang composed himself and focused on the present. Although the branch of time had condensed a Dao Fruit and reached the limit of the Time Dao Ancestor... This was not his limit. "Let me see what the Grand Dao of Time looks like when breaking through the 'Dao Ancestor' level under Higher-Dimensional Cognition." With this thought in mind, Yaoguang instantly continued pouring energy into the already perfected branch of [Dao Integration · Time]. Instantly... It was as if a filter had shattered. Or as if an astigmatism had suddenly been cured. Yaoguang felt his perception of the world transform. In a daze, he returned to a higher plane and witnessed something resembling the Grand Dao of Time, yet distinctly different from it. In this wondrous state, time no longer symbolized the passage of seconds and minutes; rather, it represented memory, a mechanism of operation, and a process of evolution. And all of this seemed so clearly traceable. Following these traces, he looked at his "chaos" essence... There was not much change. Yet when he turned his gaze toward the "Ancient Immortal Realm," he suddenly discovered that in his eyes, the world seemed intertwined and shifted. As he looked closer, the existence of the Ancient Immortal Realm was no longer a simple "world" form; instead, it was gradually stretched into a line. Words could not describe the sensation. Yet everything experienced by the Ancient Immortal Realm had truly become a line. When he focused his gaze on one point along this line, it was the Ancient Immortal Realm. And when he turned his gaze to another point on this line, it was still the Ancient Immortal Realm. The feeling was bizarre, yet palpably real. It was like... "The wave-particle duality of light?" The thought abruptly surged into Yaoguang's mind. In his eyes at this moment, the concept of the Ancient Immortal Realm existed in two forms: both a photon and a light wave. The wave form was one thing—like a long river constantly flowing forward with the passage of time. Yet the particle form... Every minute and every second was like a discrete node. These nodes could be freely manipulated by him. He could even... With a shift in thought, Yaoguang's gaze fell upon a time node from not long ago, before this starry sky had been destroyed. Then, the power within his "chaos" essence wrapped around him, guided by the "Dao Master" Dao Fruit of the Grand Dao of Time, and he suddenly reached out, locking precisely onto a meteorite only a dozen or so meters in diameter. *Buzz! Buzz!* The power of the Grand Dao of Time flowed ceaselessly, triggering a violent resonance at that moment. Amidst the resonance, the powers of the Grand Dao of Creation, Grand Dao of the Stars, Grand Dao of Destruction, and Grand Dao of the Five Elements surfaced one after another. Like shackles, they sought to bind Yaoguang's "chaos" essence, shaking the time power he commanded with his "Dao Master" Dao Fruit and attempting to repel him. However, this confinement was not overly severe. With a slight exertion of force, he broke through all these Grand Dao restraints, and ultimately... This meteorite, which by all rights had just been destroyed, abruptly appeared right before him! "This!?" Yaoguang was stunned. He looked at the meteorite, then turned his gaze toward the Ancient Immortal Realm stretched into a line—or rather, flowing forward like a great river—and at that meteorite which no longer "existed" in the Ancient Immortal Realm's "past." In his eyes shone a trace of disbelief. "Such power..." He took a deep breath. If physical matter could be retrieved, what about people? He quickly began searching through this starry sky, soon locating the first Dao Lord he had slain. Following the same method, he used the power of time as a guide and acted with his "chaos" essence, coiling around that Dao Lord. Yet this time, when he tried to pull the Dao Lord away, the resistance he encountered was countless times greater than when pulling out a rock. It involved not only the Grand Daos of Creation, Stars, and the Five Elements, but also the powers of the Grand Dao of the Void, Grand Dao of Time, Grand Dao of Karma, and Grand Dao of Fate. These powers intertwined into an immense net, binding Yaoguang himself and jolting his "chaos" essence. The collision was so violent that his "chaos" essence was rapidly depleted. As his "chaos" essence drained, a faint weariness welled up within his heart. Not only did his communion with the Grand Daos grow sluggish and obscure, but even the functioning of his thoughts and consciousness seemed to slow down. Nevertheless, Yaoguang held on through sheer willpower. Guided by the Time Dao Master's authority and fueled by the power of his chaos essence, he forcefully dragged this Dao Lord out from that "spacetime" where he had already perished. Bringing him back from death to life!