Revival

The duel between the Lord of Yuanxi and the Fate Dao Ancestor was beyond the sight of the other Immortal Kings and Immortal Venerables. Even if they could see it, they could not understand it. Yet the battle between the Nine Rulers and Yaoguang was felt with crystal clarity. The clash between them was violent enough to grind the Grand Daos to dust. Mere aftershocks of escaping energy, sweeping beyond the perimeter of the Gate of Fate, wreaked apocalyptic devastation across the surrounding Immortal Realm. Countless realms painstakingly cultivated by immortal spirits were wiped out in an instant, and untold sects founded by True Immortals and Dao Lords were reduced to ash. Such unmistakable losses impressed the mortal peril upon every immortal spirit with profound clarity. It likewise drove home to them just how close they were to the catastrophic consequences of this war between two realms. Under these circumstances, when the rulers of the Nine Great Groups mobilized their channels to appeal for the backing of all living spirits, those myriad beings offered up their strength without a second thought. As the spiritual energy offered to the Nine Rulers by the many intelligent beings and immortal spirits swelled, the spiritual energy that the Lord of Yuanxi could mobilize and control naturally diminished. He was presently at the most pivotal juncture of his clash with the Fate Dao Ancestor; for the Nine Rulers to pull such a move now... He instantly sensed the scales of balance tipping in his merging process with the Fate Dao Ancestor. Though the tilt was slight, it alerted him to the impending crisis. The capacity of his spiritual energy to receive and command information from the three thousand Grand Daos could no longer keep pace with the transmission rate of those Daos. If this continued... The three thousand Grand Daos would overwhelm the spiritual energy. Millions of years in the future... Even if the Hunyuan Realm smoothly completed its fusion with the Ancient Immortal Realm, whatever ruled the Hunyuan Realm would no longer be immortal spirits, nor spiritual energy, but the three thousand Grand Daos themselves! "You have truly surprised me," the Lord of Yuanxi remarked. "I am surprised as well," the Fate Dao Ancestor answered in kind. "I did orchestrate and guide the situation inside the Hunyuan Realm, and though I foresaw the ultimate outcome long ago, the process appears to be rather more splendid than I anticipated." "I have made a fool of myself before you," the Lord of Yuanxi said with a hint of regret. "Things have not yet reached the worst-case scenario. Perhaps the Nine Rulers will defeat Yaoguang swiftly and return their power to you," the Fate Dao Ancestor offered consolingly. "On the one hand, even if they triumph, they might not do so. On the other... Yaoguang is not your true trump card. The Time Dao Ancestor, the Void Dao Ancestor, and the Karma Dao Ancestor are." The Lord of Yuanxi gazed at the ten powerhouses locked in combat. "For now... the confrontation between them is merely the first stage." With that, he turned back to the Fate Dao Ancestor. "The advantage of time has already shifted to your side." "Then let us watch how the outcome unfolds," the Fate Dao Ancestor replied. Their exchange carried not the slightest hint of hostility. Instead, like two detached bystanders, they calmly looked on and critiqued the fight to the death between the Nine Rulers and Yaoguang. Yet in truth... Even as he conversed with the Lord of Yuanxi, the Fate Dao Ancestor's consciousness was already echoing within Yaoguang's perception. *Stall for time. Focus on defense from here on. As long as you hold out long enough, all problems will resolve themselves.* Yaoguang gave no reply. He had sensed the surge in the Nine Rulers' power at the very first moment. The elevation of their spirituality allowed them to channel even greater shares of the Grand Dao into themselves. In mere moments, the Lord of Fantian, who was in relatively better condition, saw his Grand Dao shares recover to a hundred and ten thousand, climbing rapidly toward a hundred and twenty thousand, and even a hundred and thirty thousand. He was not the only one; the shares that the remaining rulers could mobilize and smoothly command were also climbing. Depending on the reach of their respective campaigns, each ruler's combat strength grew by twenty to thirty percent. That meant their controllable Grand Dao shares reached anywhere from one hundred thousand to one hundred and fifty thousand. After fighting the Nine Rulers for so long, the amount of Grand Dao shares Yaoguang had shattered from their bodies had not even reached that level. *They're practically cheating!* Yaoguang felt utterly exasperated. He was already fighting one against nine, yet the Nine Rulers were still not satisfied and had chosen to draw upon the spiritual strength of all living spirits across the Hunyuan Realm. At this moment, he was no longer contending merely with the Nine Rulers, but with the Nine Rulers backed by nearly half a world of united living spirits. *Buzz! Buzz!* Ripples of the Grand Dao, far more pronounced than before, surged outward as the rulers cast their immortal arts one after another. A single immortal art was infused with twenty to thirty thousand Grand Dao shares, showcasing the sheer brute force of overwhelming power to perfection. Though Yaoguang could withstand them head-on using his own methods, he could not overcome the fact that more than one ruler was attacking him at once. Almost the instant he blocked one ruler's assault, another ruler's strike followed on its heels. Although these attacks were doubly diminished through the traits of the Lord of Heavenly Dao and the Grand Dao of the Void—so that each blow dealt him very limited damage—the sheer volume would still inflict severe wounds and force him into a disadvantage. The Lord of Shenluo brought down an immortal art, blasting Yaoguang away. The thrill of landing a solid blow drew a cold sneer from the ruler. "Heh, didn't you just say it felt great? Keep going!" "Keep going?!" The Grand Dao of the Void shifted ceaselessly, forcibly turning Yaoguang's flying momentum into a ferocious lunge straight toward the Lord of Shenluo. "Nine rulers ganging up together, and you still have to rely on the power of the Hunyuan Realm! What right do you have to sneer at me?" The power of the void and the power of time surged across his body at full tilt. Paying no heed to the intercepting strikes from the Lord of Tianyuan and the Lord of Dusk, he pounced savagely before the Lord of Shenluo. "Besides, the nine of you working together may hold a slight upper hand right now, but if I resolve to drag you down to the bitter end, taking you with me before I'm killed will be child's play!" *Rumble!* The void collapsing toward the Lord of Shenluo and the Grand Dao powers brought down by the Lord of Tianyuan and the Lord of Dusk struck their intended targets simultaneously. The Lord of Shenluo's colossal ruler body was pierced straight through, and over five thousand Grand Dao shares shattered instantly! Even for him, having raised his Grand Dao shares to a hundred and twenty thousand, an amount like that was still a punishing blow. As for Yaoguang... He fared no better. His figure shuddered violently, and the seamless fusion of void and time Grand Dao powers seemed on the verge of collapsing from the strike. Though it did not disintegrate on the spot, visible flaws and fissures surfaced, and its circulation grew sluggish. Yet Yaoguang disregarded his injuries entirely. Flashing forward, he stayed hot on the Lord of Shenluo's heels, hammering down with another immortal art. *Rumble!* A fresh wave of tremors erupted through the void surrounding the Gate of Fate! With this immortal art, Yaoguang blasted away more than three thousand additional Grand Dao shares from the Lord of Shenluo. At the same time, however, he took a direct hit from the Lord of Creation's attack, and visible cracks spread across the body woven of the Grand Daos of Void and Time. *Do not fight them head-on; stall for time! The Nine Rulers stand in the same camp, but their coordination is by no means seamless. You need only steady your footing to find an opening! Defeating them aside, preserving yourself will be effortless!* The Fate Dao Ancestor's conscious ripples washed through Yaoguang's perception. Yet Yaoguang ignored him completely, fixing his gaze squarely on the Lord of Shenluo. After enduring the Lord of Creation's blow, he utilized the properties of the Grand Dao of the Void to charge before the Lord of Shenluo once more. He had no need to close the distance; he could have condensed immortal arts from afar to deal heavy blows to the Lord of Shenluo, yet he chose not to, flying in close instead. The Grand Dao of the Void and the Grand Dao of Time intertwined as Yaoguang focused the power of spacetime collapse onto both hands, clapping them viciously together against the Lord of Shenluo's body. *Bang!* The Lord of Shenluo's entire ruler body was nearly shattered by the strike, and tens of thousands of Grand Dao powers burst out from him. In his moment of peril, he was forced to scatter his form, retreating frantically like a bank of mist to escape Yaoguang's attack range. By the time his ruler body reconvened under the pull of spiritual power, the Grand Dao power within him had plummeted below eighty thousand shares. Yet Yaoguang was unwilling to let the desperately fleeing Lord of Shenluo go. Even when the Lord of Xiyu and the Lord of Tianyuan struck simultaneously to intercept him, he did not spare them a single glance. As if the Lord of Shenluo were the only thing left in his sight, he charged valiantly before him once more. Void power emanated recklessly from his body, binding the Lord of Shenluo, who was attempting to fall back again, while a Great Void Art, augmented by the Grand Dao of Time, hammered down right behind it. "Yaoguang! Have you lost your mind?! Doing this will only get you killed faster!" The Lord of Shenluo was both shocked and enraged to find Yaoguang singling him out with relentless fury. "I'll make sure to take you with me before I die!" With unyielding resolve, Yaoguang completely disregarded the interference of the other rulers as the Great Void Art tore into the Lord of Shenluo's body once more. Even though the Lord of Shenluo pulled away to evade with all his might, thousands of Grand Dao powers were still ripped from his ruler body. "You're completely mad!" Watching Yaoguang pursue him relentlessly, hellbent on destroying him first, the ruler was flooded with regret. Had he known, he would have held his tongue. Otherwise, even if Yaoguang wanted to drag someone down with him, it never would have been him. The Lord of Creation and the Lord of Tianyuan should have been his first choices. ... *Rumble!* Enduring another barrage from the Lord of Dusk and the Lord of Fantian, Yaoguang tore away more than half of the Lord of Shenluo's body, suppressing the Grand Dao power of his ruler body below sixty thousand. At that moment, the Fate Dao Ancestor's conscious ripples reached him once again. *Your tactics are severely flawed.* The Dao Ancestor's thoughts were cold and detached. *The strength of all living spirits is merely a false facade. Prolong the confrontation, and dissenting voices will inevitably arise from within. Perseverance is the key to victory. Clashing head-on with them serves no purpose other than venting your temper. The Nine Rulers need only sacrifice Shenluo to kill you!* Yaoguang paid him no heed. He continued battering the Lord of Shenluo within an inch of his life. Even as he took hit after hit from the other rulers, causing vast fissures to spread across his body, he refused to back down. Hide away and stall for time? He had no stomach for such indignity. He would kill one first! *A competent sovereign must learn to control his emotions. Emotions should only serve as a tool to catalyze your inner power, not a weakness that compromises your judgment. A war between two realms is never about gains and losses in a single day, but a long-term game. You may find momentary satisfaction now, but in the grand scheme...* The Fate Dao Ancestor's will continued to echo in Yaoguang's perception. His method of transmitting information was consummate—unblockable and impossible to dispel! Yet before he could finish, Yaoguang cut him off sharply: "Shut up!" He fired back directly: "This is how I fight! If you're so capable, why don't you do it yourself?!" The Fate Dao Ancestor was instantly struck dumb. Perceiving their exchange, the Lord of Yuanxi could not help laughing. "Hahaha, it seems your plans are running into trouble." "I do not care about the process, only the outcome. A chess piece may have its own thoughts, but so long as the result is predetermined, the process is irrelevant," the Fate Dao Ancestor replied calmly. Yet as he shifted his gaze toward Yaoguang... To keep the powers of the Grand Daos of Void and Time that Yaoguang had gathered with such difficulty from going to waste... The Dao Ancestor seemed to reach a decision. *If I'm so capable, do it myself?* An invisible ripple spread outward from him. *Very well.* The next instant, the Time Dao Fruit and Void Dao Fruit that had previously been "suppressed" by Yaoguang shuddered violently... And cracked open!