Stepping Forth

*Rumble!* The instant the Gate of Fate was shaken, endless Dao rhymes billowed forth without pause. Immediately afterward, not just the Grand Dao of Fate, but all three thousand Grand Daos manifested in full, appearing around the Gate of Fate like a colossal web. Though this web was translucent, it continuously extended outward, boundless and infinite. If anyone possessed an omniscient vantage point at this moment, they would instantly notice that this web did not merely blanket the Immortal Realm—it reached far beyond, encompassing the starry cosmos and the entire Ancient Immortal Realm within its grasp. Yet even though most people could not behold the Immortal Realm in its entirety—let alone the entire cosmos—the sight of this translucent web composed of all three thousand Grand Daos unfolding before them still shook everyone to their very souls. Never mind the Immortal Venerables and Immortal Kings; even the Nine Rulers and Yaoguang were visibly moved. It felt... Like standing atop a high peak looking out into the distance, only for the boundless celestial dome to suddenly fracture like glass. The blue sky and white clouds, once brimming with an invigorating and serene aura, instantly revealed an unspeakable beauty of ruin. The violent contrast struck straight at the heart while bringing with it an indescribable shock. It was... The shock of a world truly on the verge of facing destruction. Though Yaoguang had long known that once the Gate of Fate was broken and the Ancient Immortal Realm's final line of defense collapsed, what awaited the Ancient Immortal Realm would be total consumption. When that time came, every scrap of matter, energy, and living being within the Ancient Immortal Realm would perish, devoured clean by the Hunyuan Realm. Yet knowing it was one thing; witnessing it unfold before his eyes was quite another. The manifestation of this colossal web played out the final, despairing elegy of the Ancient Immortal Realm, and even the Nine Rulers could not avoid feeling affected. For some inexplicable reason, a sense of grief for a fellow creature's demise welled up in their hearts. "We are destroying a world." Swayed by this emotion, the Lord of Xiyu involuntarily let out a sigh. Destroying a world. The other Rulers also snapped back to their senses. Indeed, they were destroying a world. As it turned out, when witnessing a world utter its final mournful cry, even great beings like them—standing at the pinnacle of existence, whose thoughts and emotions should theoretically have long transcended the realm of mortal creatures—could still feel sadness and sorrow. However, this inexplicable sorrow lasted for merely a brief moment in their hearts before being swiftly suppressed. Who among those who could cultivate to the level of Ruler lacked absolute rationality and conviction? For the sake of their own cultivation and growth, they would not hesitate in the slightest, even if it meant destroying an entire world. "Strike!" The Lord of Creation let out a low shout. In the next instant, the other eight Rulers simultaneously channeled their respective spiritual powers. These spiritual powers merged into one, scouring against the Gate of Fate like a torrential flood in an attempt to grind away the portal that upheld all three thousand Grand Daos. As the Nine Rulers made their move, Yaoguang also recovered from the heart-striking spectacle. He cast a profound glance at the Gate of Fate and the three thousand Grand Daos brought forth by the power of Fate under assault, then quickly reeled in his thoughts. *I believe the breach of the Gate of Karma was merely the Ancient Immortal Realm feigning weakness to the enemy. In fact, that ploy has already begun to bear fruit... While on the surface it looks like the Hunyuan Realm hasn't suffered any impact, the weakening of the Lord of Yuanxi's power is in truth the greatest impact of all!* Yaoguang understood clearly: *It is just like an army of a hundred thousand soldiers. Originally, seventy thousand were commanded by one individual, while the remaining thirty thousand were split among nine others. But now... the army commanded by that one individual has dwindled to forty thousand, perhaps even thirty thousand, while the power wielded by the other nine has grown to sixty or seventy thousand. The total number of soldiers hasn't changed, but when more troops are controlled by more leaders, nine people with nine sets of ideas and nine wills are bound to suffer from diminished execution. Thus, the Hunyuan Realm has already been weakened.* He looked up at the Gate of Fate above him. Under attack, the Gate of Fate was forced to manifest the three thousand Grand Daos. Once the three thousand Grand Daos collapsed, the entire Ancient Immortal Realm would hurtle toward oblivion. On the surface, the Ancient Immortal Realm had indeed reached its final moments. With every blow it suffered, the Gate of Fate, the three thousand Grand Daos, and even the Ancient Immortal Realm as a whole issued anguished wails. Yet Yaoguang remained steadfast in his conviction... *The Fate Dao Ancestor cannot possibly concede defeat so easily. His power is far greater than anyone anticipates.* Yaoguang stared fixedly at the Gate of Fate, his assessment absolute: *If the Void Shattering realm were used to describe the Dao Ancestors, Rulers, and the Lord of Yuanxi, then the Dao Ancestors would at most be ordinary Void Shattering cultivators with combat strength of fifty to sixty million, while the Rulers would have reached eighty to ninety million, like Zhen Xuanyuan. The Lord of Yuanxi could perhaps rival those on the Dao Lord Candidate List. But the Gate of Fate... is definitively above the Void Shattering realm. His form of existence is by no means comparable to the invincible Perfected Lords on the Dao Lord Candidate List, but rather...* His thoughts churned for a long time before he quickly settled on the most fitting comparison. The Golden Book of the Grand Dao! The Fate Dao Ancestor was equivalent to the Golden Book of the Grand Dao! An entity on the exact same level as a Dao Lord. It was just that compared to the Golden Book of the Grand Dao—which was a peak semi-immortal artifact—his grade was probably only that of an ordinary semi-immortal artifact. Aside from having a high tier, his actual displayed combat power was not even on par with the Lord of Yuanxi. *Next, I'm curious to see how he mounts his final counterattack.* Yaoguang thought to himself, feeling in no hurry. Instead, he continuously observed the three thousand Grand Daos manifested by the Gate of Fate, comparing them against the three thousand Grand Daos he had derived over the past tens of thousands of years. As it turned out... His three thousand Grand Daos had already undergone subtle deviations from those manifested by the Gate of Fate. Though both comprised the three thousand Grand Daos that formed the universe, Yaoguang's prior understanding of these Daos was limited after all. On top of that, in order to ensure the multitude of living beings in the Nine Cauldrons Sect could survive smoothly and enjoy a lifespan of 129,600 years at the "Golden Immortal" realm, he had tweaked the parameters of the Grand Dao of the Soul, the Grand Dao of Life, and the Grand Dao of Death. Consequently, even though he had copied them directly from the Ancient Immortal Realm's three thousand Grand Daos, the three thousand Grand Daos he ultimately derived were still not entirely identical to those of the Ancient Immortal Realm. *If they're not identical, so be it. As long as they work. Besides, I personally feel that my three thousand Grand Daos have greater developmental potential than the Ancient Immortal Realm's.* Yaoguang's thoughts drifted. ... The joint progress of the Nine Rulers and the Lord of Yuanxi in grinding down the Gate of Fate did not advance percentage point by percentage point. The speed of attrition increased exponentially. Taking the Gate of Karma as an example: in the first ten thousand years, the portion of the Gate of Karma ground away by the Nine Rulers and the Lord of Yuanxi was less than 0.01%. In the second ten thousand years, it barely reached 1%. Yet in the third ten thousand years, they directly shattered the Gate of Karma. Hence, this process of attrition was essentially a stalemate in its early stages. For a full ten thousand years at least, the Gate of Fate seemed entirely unaffected, remaining just as it had been at the start. Yet Yaoguang could already tell that although the Nine Rulers and the Lord of Yuanxi had ground down less than 0.01% of the Gate of Fate over this ten-thousand-year period, according to his calculations, the Gate of Fate was bound to be breached within fifty to sixty thousand years at best, or a hundred thousand years at most. And the moment the Gate of Fate was breached would also mark the total collapse of the Ancient Immortal Realm's three thousand Grand Daos and its complete devouring by the Hunyuan Realm. At that juncture, the war between the two realms would conclude with the Hunyuan Realm claiming ultimate victory. It was also after ten thousand years of wear down, having confirmed that the Gate of Fate could no longer mend its flaws or maintain a state of perfect operation, that the Lord of Creation spoke to the Lord of Yuanxi: "From here on, divert a portion of your power to assist and coordinate with us, and rein in the rest to guard against the Fate Dao Ancestor's counterattack." The Ruler offered a faint smile. "Although the Fate Dao Ancestor becoming the Gate of Fate is nearly equivalent to the Dao assimilation of a Divine Immortal, I do not believe this Dao Ancestor left himself without any contingencies to strike back. When those methods appear, we will have to rely on you, Lord of Yuanxi, to detect them immediately and counter them." The Lord of Yuanxi knew that the Nine Rulers simply wanted to further reduce its contribution in this inter-realm war. However... It did not refuse. "Very well." As the Lord of Yuanxi agreed, its immense computing power and spiritual energy gradually decoupled from Yaoguang. This left Yaoguang, who had been using his comprehension of the Lord of Yuanxi to further refine his Lord of the Heavenly Dao, wanting more. Yet just as the Lord of Yuanxi was about to decouple, the Gate of Fate—which theoretically required at least forty to fifty thousand more years to be thoroughly ground away—suddenly moved. The three thousand Grand Daos surrounding the Gate of Fate flowed like water, pouring ceaselessly toward the Lord of Yuanxi. Dao profoundities so vast that no words could describe them turned entirely toward the Lord of Yuanxi under the guidance of Fate. It was as if they intended to forcefully burst the Lord of Yuanxi apart using the power of the three thousand Grand Daos and the staggering torrent of information they represented. "This is..." Yaoguang noticed the change instantly. Not just him—the Lord of Yuanxi and the Nine Rulers all jolted with alertness at the same time. Was the Fate Dao Ancestor about to reveal his ultimate trump card? Yet faced with this card being played, the Lord of Yuanxi felt no surprise whatsoever. "You are finally launching your counterattack," the Lord of Yuanxi, representing the collective will of all living beings in the Hunyuan Realm, said with composed calm. "Moreover, according to calculations spanning more than forty thousand years using my computing power, seizing the moment my power dips to burst me with a torrential flood of information representing the three thousand Grand Daos was your optimal choice. Out of 1,817 possibilities, its probability ranked highest." A mind—powerful and somewhat similar to the collective will of sentient beings, yet leaning more toward the will of the three thousand Grand Daos akin to the "Lord of the Heavenly Dao"—rippled outward. "You calculated this?" When that ripple washed out, Yaoguang's eyes lit up. Here it comes, here it comes! The second protagonist of this ultimate battle between the Hunyuan Realm and the Ancient Immortal Realm—the Fate Dao Ancestor—had finally stepped onto the stage in style! Where was his stool? Where was his melon? As though suddenly encountering some terrifying natural predator, Yaoguang instantly drew in all the power of his Void "Dao Lord" and Time "Dao Lord," putting on a show of switching from offense to defense at any cost.