Time

"Good." A smile appeared on the face of the Lord of Creation as he offered his praise. "You truly live up to being an immortal spirit capable of obtaining the inheritances of both the Void Dao Ancestor and the Time Dao Ancestor. Everyone here has witnessed your utmost dedication. Once the Gate of Karma and the Gate of Fate are shattered, this contribution will surely earn you a place alongside us, making you the tenth Ruler of our Hunyuan Realm." "Prepare yourself and trigger the Gate of Karma," the Lord of Xiyu urged. "We have waited a long time for this day. I am eager to know just what heights our power as Rulers will reach once the Ancient Immortal Realm is fully integrated into our Hunyuan Realm." He was not the only one; the other Rulers felt the same way. As Level 20 Rulers, their personal spiritual power was already strong enough to locally alter the laws of the Ancient Immortal Realm. However, because of the Ancient Immortal Realm's immense scale, none of them could completely resist the erosion of its worldly laws on their own. Only with the assistance of the Lord of Yuanxi and by combining the strength of all Nine Rulers could they force the laws of the Three Thousand Grand Daos to yield. If they could take another step forward... Even if they could not reach Level 21, and even if they merely reached the Lord of Yuanxi's level, it stood to reason that whenever they encountered other nascent universes in the chaotic void in the future, they would be able to suppress them relying on their own individual power. When that time came, the chaotic void would become their hunting ground. One day, they would grow to rival the entire Ancient Immortal Realm, or even reach a state far greater than both the Ancient Immortal Realm and the Hunyuan Realm. "Let's go," the Lord of Creation said, his gaze sweeping over Immortal King Taiyi and the native cultivators of the Ancient Immortal Realm, such as Immortal King Tianming. He chuckled softly. "Subdue these natives of the Ancient Immortal Realm. Let them witness the kind of power our Hunyuan Realm possesses." "Yes!" Immortal King Taiyi acknowledged loudly. Even though he did not belong to the Creation Group, when a Ruler issued a command, he did not dare disobey. Not only him, but the other Immortal Kings present also quickly put aside their mutual rivalries and prejudices. With the Rulers entering the field in person, their own private battles were already over. At this moment, they had only one identity left—members of the Nine Great Conglomerates. While Yaoguang headed straight for the Gate of Karma under the escort of the Nine Rulers, Immortal King Taiyi gathered the other Immortal Kings and charged toward Immortal King Tianming and the other Immortal Kings of the Ancient Immortal Alliance. Immortal King Tianming and his comrades were naturally unwilling to surrender without a fight. Each resisted with all their might. However, an Immortal King of the Hunyuan Realm with the Lord of Yuanxi's reinforcement was completely different from one without it. Under the Lord of Yuanxi's amplification of computational power, every one of them was as if loaded with a combat assistance system. The Ancient Immortal Alliance's Immortal Kings, whom they previously could only barely contend with, were now easily handled by single individuals taking on two or even three at once. With such a massive surge in combat power, it was only a matter of time before they captured or killed all the Immortal Kings of the Ancient Immortal Alliance. Yaoguang, however, no longer paid much attention to that battle. Although he still wanted to draw some "energy" from those Immortal Kings to accelerate the growth of the more than two thousand newly sprouted branches, the Nine Rulers were single-mindedly intent on breaching the Gate of Karma as soon as possible. They clearly would not permit him to engage in such meaningless diversions. Led by the Nine Rulers, Yaoguang soon arrived beside the Gate of Karma. The closer he got to the Gate of Karma, the more he could feel its vastness and majesty. The Karma Dao Ancestor had effectively embedded his entire self into the Grand Dao of Karma. If the previous concept of a Grand Dao meant controlling the disposable power of the Grand Dao of Karma within the Ancient Immortal Realm, then in the state of a Dao Gate, they had become the manifestation of all the power of the Grand Dao of Karma in the entire world. Shattering the Gate of Karma was equivalent to shattering the underlying framework of the Ancient Immortal Realm's entire Grand Dao of Karma. This was the reason why the Nine Rulers and countless Immortal Kings had been helpless against the Gate of Karma and the Gate of Fate for so long. Judging by the current situation, once the two gates were broken, the core structure of the Ancient Immortal Realm would thoroughly collapse, bringing the entire realm down with it. When that time came, it would be devoured by the Hunyuan Realm without the slightest room for resistance, becoming the Hunyuan Realm's trophy. Therefore, claiming that shattering the Gate of Karma and the Gate of Fate was the definitive fatal blow to the Ancient Immortal Realm was not an exaggeration in the slightest. Once both gates were broken, the hunt would be over, and next would come the time for all the Rulers of the Hunyuan Realm to savor their prey. "Begin. You only need to shake the Gate of Karma; leave the rest to us," the Lord of Creation said to Yaoguang. Yaoguang nodded and stepped forward. Inside him, the power of the Void Dao Fruit and the Time Dao Fruit was activated once more, manifesting the might of the two Grand Daos in the void. Though his grandeur was slightly inferior to that of the Nine Rulers due to the total volume of Dao shares he held, the tremor he produced was vastly superior to that of any Immortal King. Even the Rulers could not help but glance at him an extra time. "What a lucky little fellow... To possess such strength... In the future, taking another step forward to become a Ruler equal to us will truly be well-deserved." "If he didn't possess such capability, how could he shake the Gate of Karma?" "I, for one, am curious about how he managed to find the inheritances of both the Time Dao Ancestor and the Void Dao Ancestor. To this day, that remains a mystery." "How he obtained them is unimportant, so long as he can break the Gate of Karma for us. When I, Shenluo, use someone, I never look at the process—only the results." Spiritual fluctuations rippled across the bodies of the Rulers. These fluctuations intertwined, spontaneously forming a spiritual world even without the Lord of Yuanxi's coordination. It was as if a miniature Hunyuan Realm—or rather, a virtual Hunyuan Realm—had been fashioned around the Nine Rulers as its core. Any of their information and power could be rapidly exchanged within this miniature Hunyuan Realm. While the Nine Rulers were conversing, Yaoguang mobilized the Grand Dao of the Void and the Grand Dao of Time once again. As he plucked at the supreme karma treasure, the Wheel of Karma, using the power of the void and time, the resonance between Grand Daos immediately formed visible ripples that expanded outward, washing toward the Gate of Karma. Under this resonance, the Gate of Karma also trembled faintly, releasing an even stronger power of karma. Almost the moment the Gate of Karma was shaken and leaked its karmic power, causing a minuscule flaw to emerge in its otherwise flawless trajectory of operation, the Nine Rulers moved simultaneously. Their intertwined spiritual power, which formed that near-miniature Hunyuan Realm, surged like a tidal wave, washing over the Gate of Karma in an instant. At the moment of impact... There was no world-shaking roar. There were no earth-shattering tremors. Nor was there any destructive shockwave sweeping across the Immortal Realm. The endless spiritual energy truly seemed like an ordinary tide, blanketing the Gate of Karma and washing across the massive gateway spanning tens of millions of li, without inflicting any tangible damage upon it. Yet, as that spiritual energy washed over the Gate of Karma, a minute fraction of it silently penetrated through the flaw exposed by Yaoguang's resonance, seeping into the Gate of Karma like moisture sinking into the earth. It was minuscule! Extremely minuscule! So tiny that had Yaoguang not been right beside it, participating in the act and constantly watching the Gate of Karma's every shift, he likely wouldn't have noticed the infiltration of this wisp of spiritual energy at all. If shaking the Gate of Karma was equivalent to finally revealing the health bar of a monster that previously seemed part of the static background and environment... Then this infiltration of spiritual energy was undoubtedly the first real damage dealt to that ultimate boss's health bar. -1. Even if it was merely -1 out of a total health pool of one hundred million, it was still a successful reduction in health, representing a transition from zero to one. From this moment forth, the Gate of Karma would no longer be an invincible entity. Rather... Its death knell had sounded! The moment Yaoguang noticed this sliver of "damage," the Nine Rulers naturally realized that their attack had taken effect as well. At this moment, even these mighty beings standing at the very peak of the Hunyuan Realm could not help but burst into hearty, exhilarating laughter. "Hahaha!" "As expected! Success is already beckoning to us!" "The time to reap the fruits of victory has finally arrived. For this Ancient Immortal Realm to have resisted our Hunyuan Realm for so long is truly no small feat." Spiritual fluctuations converged and drifted among the Nine Rulers. Every single Ruler felt genuine joy from the bottom of their heart. Harvesting was, in itself, a delightful affair. Seeing that the plan had succeeded, the Lord of Creation's gaze could not help but fall upon the Lord of Yuanxi. "Lord of Yuanxi, we need your assistance to make our attacks take effect more efficiently. What do you say?" His words caused the gazes of the other eight Rulers to turn back toward the Lord of Yuanxi as well. This was an act of further cementing their primary-secondary dynamic. After forcing the Lord of Yuanxi to yield dominant control, they still wanted him to continue laboring on their behalf. However... "I have no reason to refuse," the Lord of Yuanxi responded calmly. He was the condensation of the collective will of all living beings in the Hunyuan Realm. He represented the desires of all life within it. When word that the Nine Rulers were about to conquer the Ancient Immortal Realm spread back to the Hunyuan Realm, every immortal spirit—regardless of whether they had personally taken part in the war—would naturally share in the pride of this inter-realm victory and wish to witness that triumph arrive as early as possible. Under these circumstances, even if he disagreed in his heart, he would still be swept along by the collective will of all beings, accelerating this process. What was more, the Lord of Yuanxi had no intention of refusing in the first place. Securing an early victory was also his own desire. If the Nine Rulers gained peerless prestige in the Hunyuan Realm from this victory, thereby representing an even larger portion of the collective will and causing him to fall from his status as supreme ruler, that too would be the choice of the Hunyuan Realm's living beings. He would choose to comply. He would respect the will of all life in the Hunyuan Realm. He was not someone who would cling desperately to authority and fight to the bitter end. "Good!" Seeing that the Lord of Yuanxi had agreed, smiles broke out across the faces of the Lord of Creation and the other Rulers. "With the Lord of Yuanxi's assistance, our infiltration efficiency will increase significantly. Magnificent and vast though the Gate of Karma may be, it won't take more than a few tens of thousands of years for us to infiltrate it completely and break it once and for all," the Lord of Creation said. The Lord of Yuanxi nodded slightly. His vast computational power soon penetrated the Nine Rulers' "virtual Hunyuan Realm." Guided and controlled by the Nine Rulers, it followed Yaoguang's successive tremors against the Gate of Karma, seeping steadily into the gate. Having tacitly acknowledged that Yaoguang would become the tenth Ruler, they did not conceal their conversation from him either. *A few tens of thousands of years, is it?* Yaoguang calculated quietly in his mind. The timing was about right. Even when factoring in the subsequent Gate of Fate, there would still be plenty of time to spare.