A journey of survival starting from Zhetian

Chapter 736 Heaven and Earth, I Alone Am Supreme

【Nine Netherworld】, a crimson land with remnants of terrifying supernatural powers.

Zhou Mingrui, draped in a curtain, walked through various illusory future time nodes, avoiding the gazes of those pseudo-other shores "above" who were using their supernatural powers to fight with all their might.

With a hint of lingering fear, He muttered to himself, "This world has finally gone so mad that even I find it hard to adapt."

"These shameless ancient creations have set up a series of schemes that are one after another, longer than the Mother Goddess's large and small intestines combined."

"If I hadn't sensed something after the Daoist Master finished his sermon and, within the Zixiao Palace, used my Other Shore characteristics to drape a curtain and avoid their gaze, I would most likely have stepped into the pit and been forced into this pseudo Other Shore war."

Zhou Mingrui walked a little further, peered into the large pit in front of him, and looked at the few remaining historical traces inside. He clicked his tongue and shook his head.

"Fellow Daoist Zhenwu, you are at least the True Martial Celestial Venerable of Earth, yet you were tricked and dismembered by a bunch of pseudo-Otherworldly beings?"

"Even the true spirit and primordial spirit are scattered and fragmented, with each great supernatural being holding a copy. It's truly tragic."

Zhou Mingrui slowly reached out, his hand covered with hidden spiritual power, activating the characteristics of the other shore, and slowly probed the "remains of Zhenwu" left in the past history. He pulled out an empty Zhenwu phantom with spiritual threads, transforming it into a decent-looking but powerless puppet.

Looking at the puppet, Zhou Mingrui frowned slightly, pondered for a moment, then took out several worms that shimmered with starlight from his body and stuffed them into the puppet's body.

The next instant, wisps of special Daoist Qi began to gather within this "True Martial Secret Puppet".

As this wisp of Daoist Qi circulated, the nine orifices of the human body shimmered with radiance, transforming a worm within the body into Yin and Yang Qi, splitting open nine different heavens and earths, dividing into the two polarities of purity and turbidity, sorting out the four elements of earth, water, wind, and fire, constructing a complete inner landscape, connecting the ancestral aperture between the eyebrows, and emerging from the body.

One after another, the worms that shimmered with starlight were refined by the Yin and Yang energies within the puppet, layer upon layer, imitating the structure of the [Nine Heavens], forming the prototype of the boundless universe, carrying a touch of the true meaning of the Taiji universe.

Zhou Mingrui estimated the information contained within the secret puppet and stopped thinking about further strengthening it.

"It's reached its limit. Once it crosses the threshold of the legendary realm, it will inevitably attract the attention of those pseudo-other shores and cause unforeseen complications."

With a single outstretched hand, Zhou Mingrui shrunk the puppet that had been hovering in front of the legendary gate to a mere ten-centimeter-long doll, which he held between his fingers.

The power of fortune and misfortune operates, and the forces of cause and effect and destiny are indirectly mobilized. Wisps of gray mist quietly spread around, without attracting the attention of a pseudo-other shore. They slowly form a thicker curtain, covering the river of time and destiny, obscuring the secrets of the Nine Netherworld, making the flowing information more chaotic and unpredictable.

Zhou Mingrui looked around, clearing away all traces of himself from all levels. He crouched down, constantly dodging the aftershocks of supernatural powers that occasionally splashed from the "above," and quickly left the [Nine Netherworld]. Shedding the colors of time, he stepped into countless fragments of cosmic light.

"hiss!"

Sensing an ominous aura in the world, Zhou Mingrui gasped in shock.

He could sense that the Real World had begun to rapidly slow down the generation of cosmic light fragments, and one cosmic light fragment after another was beginning to enter the destruction phase, with different areas even experiencing terrifying collapse.

The Great Rift, the Great Freeze, Heat Death, Cold Death, Dimensional Collapse—all sorts of world-ending calamities are playing out in turn across countless worlds, the boundless starry sky, and the vast天地 (heaven and earth).

"The end of an era?!"

"There's actually a master here!"

Zhou Mingrui looked up at the trembling [Nine Heavens Realm] and [Nine Netherworld Realm], staring at the destructive aura spreading from these two nearby paths and flowing into the [Real World], his eyelids twitching wildly.

"After the sermon at Zixiao Palace, many powerful cultivators reached perfection, giving birth to hundreds of pseudo-Other Shore beings. The destructive trend they generated by their all-out battles severely hampered the progress of the myriad worlds in approaching the late epoch."

"Now, there are less than two hundred years left before the end of the world!"

Driven by the power of fortune and misfortune and his own characteristics of the afterlife, combined with his own tortuous past experiences, Zhou Mingrui was able to discern certain things and events in the shadows and see through the inner essence beneath various external appearances in less than a breath.

"All the pseudo-other shores have been manipulated. There are beings who want these pseudo-other shores to fight each other, thereby accelerating the arrival of the end of the era."

Who orchestrated this scheme?

"Is it Buddha or Taoist deity?"

In Zhou Mingrui's mind, only these two could be considered the true will of the other shore, and only these two had the ability to see through the past history, occupy all kinds of futures, and carry out such a layout involving all the heavens and myriad worlds.

However, He couldn't understand why the will of the other side of Heaven wanted to accelerate the arrival of the end of the era.

Once all the heavens and myriad realms are truly destroyed, the terrible apocalypse will turn everything into illusion and emptiness, and no one will benefit from it.

"Wait a minute, if the end of the era arrives, will the difficulty of attaining the other shore also decrease?"

"Moreover, with the end of the era approaching, the time for the Dao Venerable to attain the other shore is also coming soon. After the Dao Venerable successfully attains the other shore, the first one to do so will definitely be the Buddha!"

"Could it be that Buddha, through the schemes of numerous pseudo-other shores, orchestrated this, and the Daoist Master tacitly approved it?"

Judging from the foreseeable future, the greatest beneficiary will be the Buddha. The early arrival of the final calamity will surely allow Him to transcend the weak and heretical path and truly become the orthodox path.

The second beneficiary is the Dao Venerable. The earlier the end of the era arrives, the sooner He will attain enlightenment and reach the other shore.

Zhou Mingrui couldn't see through the others, but he firmly focused his attention on these two, especially the Buddha, and he was sure he wouldn't be wrong.

"Therefore, the time for all those who have achieved perfect creation to reach the other shore, and the time for me to reach the other shore, will come at any moment!"

Upon reaching this conclusion, Zhou Mingrui's expression changed slightly, but he quickly calmed down.

The illusory Great Dao of Perfect Creation has been attained. All authority over the Dao of Fortune and Misfortune is in hand. No one with great supernatural powers can influence Him through their authority as He attempts to reach the other shore.

As for the struggle over the Great Dao and other causal disputes, His involvement in the myriad realms is pitifully small. At present, no great supernatural being has ever had an irreconcilable conflict with Him.

For Him, it seems that all that is needed now is to wait for the Daoist to reach the other shore.

Zhou Mingrui picked up the "True Martial Puppet" in his hand, his eyes deep and mysterious. "However, before that, I need to add a few more backup plans."

His gaze fell upon a fragment of cosmic light called "Nine Villages".

With a slight thought, his figure immediately appeared inside this fragment of cosmic light, standing before a tomb exuding a thick yin aura.

As Zhou Mingrui gazed upon the power of time, the traces of heaven and earth began to "replay." On the empty earth before his eyes, a projection of Zhenwu descended and personally built this cenotaph containing a wisp of the true spirit energy of creation.

He sighed softly in his heart, "Did Zhenwu personally build this tomb because he had long been prepared for his own death?"

"Even the death calamity that was intercepted and killed by more than fifty pseudo-Other Shores in the [Nine Netherworld] was within this person's expectations?" "If that's the case, Zhenwu, this Dao Venerable's attendant is no simple character."

Even those who possess the "possessing the future" category of the other shore of perfect creation cannot predict when they will die, let alone the great beings who were only at the legendary level at that time.

Zhou Mingrui walked a few steps forward and came to a great river filled with the waters of the Yellow Springs.

A suspension bridge spans the riverbed, and a monument stands at the bridgehead.

The inscription reads: "The boundary between life and death."

Zhou Mingrui remained calm. He understood that one of the principles Zhenwu had comprehended was life and death, and it was perfectly normal for this cenotaph to contain the power of the Dao of Life and Death.

By twisting cause and effect and fate, ignoring all kinds of taboos, he stepped over and came directly to a gate carved with various tomb guardian beasts, and slowly pushed it open.

"Rumble"

A series of unusually dull sounds echoed as the heavy, almost black iron-like door opened a crack, allowing a person to pass through.

Stepping inside, wisps of eerie orange light rose, illuminating the passageway and the walls adorned with simple sketches of the Nine Netherworld Demons.

Zhou Mingrui's expression became subtle. He recognized these depictions of the Nine Netherworld Demons as pseudo-Other Shores who were besieging Zhenwu.

"Is this another kind of notebook?"

"Is this an expression that even in death, one will not forget?"

Zhou Mingrui seemed to understand something.

"The Nine Heavens Demon-Subduing Ancestor, Zhenwu, is quite vengeful."

After strolling around and admiring the depictions of the Nine Netherworld Demons on the walls for a while, I saw a long coffin made of Nine Yin Wood, nourished by wisps of Taiyin Earth Qi, lying there horizontally.

Beside this coffin were numerous grand formations of perfect creation level, surrounding and surrounding it, forming a magnificent tomb chamber that resembled a dreamlike bubble.

Zhou Mingrui frowned slightly. Nourishing the coffin with the Yin energy was easy enough, but restricting the coffin with array after array was to prevent "himself" from encountering misfortune, "rising from the dead" from the coffin, and then jumping out to harm all the heavens and myriad realms.

"What kind of logic is this?"

"Is this a setup targeting certain entities, or just a deliberate attempt to create a smokescreen?"

Zhou Mingrui stood quietly before the dreamlike tomb, opening his spirituality without feeling the slightest unease.

He narrowed his eyes slightly, activated the power of fortune and misfortune, and gave himself a set of luck-related buffs. He then reached out and opened the long coffin, quickly tossing the "True Martial Secret Puppet" in his hand onto the few remaining pieces of indestructible clothing. He then immediately closed the coffin, returning the way he came while erasing all traces of his presence.

Standing outside Zhenwu's cenotaph, Zhou Mingrui took out a pocket watch imbued with the essence of the Dao and turned its hands.

"Click. Click"

A clear mechanical vibration slowly rose, and the power of time surged from the unknown, covering "Jiuxiang".

The laws of heaven and earth seemed to have been reversed. The sense of destruction that permeated countless things and objects was "dissipating" one by one, and what rose in return was a special charm that was moving towards "peak". Then came a strange creation that existed only at the beginning of heaven and earth, wandering in this not-so-large fragment of cosmic light.

A concept called "miracle" connects countless principles of law and quietly unfolds in a remote place where no great power or supernatural being is watching.

Inside the cenotaph of Zhenwu, within the long coffin, a puppet resembling Zhenwu emitted heartbeats.

A unique Dao of life and death silently converged from all directions of heaven and earth. Array diagrams unfolded from within this tomb, radiating the power of earth, water, wind, and fire. From the long river of time and destiny, a wisp of the other shore's energy that suppressed heaven and earth was drawn down.

All these forces are gradually bringing Zhenwu back from "death".

Zhou Mingrui's expression hardened, and he muttered to himself, "This is... the Tai Chi diagram?"

"Could it be that Zhenwu has gained the approval of the [Taiji Diagram], thus possessing the authority to wield this peerless artifact from the other side?"

Strands of the power of the Four Symbols swept through, causing Zhou Mingrui's clothes to rustle. The power of the Other Shore level directly lifted the heavy veil covering him, exposing him from layers of history and destiny to a single gaze.

Zhou Mingrui's body stiffened slightly. He could sense a hint of surprise in that gaze, which contained a touch of nirvana and tranquility.

Buddha!

This gaze originated from the Buddha; this weak being was actually watching over this place at all times!

Zhou Mingrui couldn't understand it. In his mind, even if the will of the other shore was watching over this land, it should be the Dao Venerable.

Why would Buddha know about Zhenwu's past arrangements?
Why does He pay attention to this place?

why?
A sturdy monk, draped in a kasaya and holding Bodhi prayer beads, emerged from the void and looked at Zhou Mingrui.

He uttered words that made Zhou Mingrui's heart pound and made him want to run back to the [Nine Netherworld] instantly:

"Fellow Daoist, you have a karmic connection with Buddha."

Zhou Mingrui's face stiffened.

He forced a smile and bowed to the Buddha, saying, "I am unworthy of being addressed as Fellow Daoist Buddha."

"Without the Buddha's great perseverance, enlightenment, and wisdom, how can I be considered a fellow practitioner of the same path as the Buddha?"

Before Zhou Mingrui could finish speaking, Buddha stepped forward, grasped his hand, and wore an extremely kind and radiant smile.

"No, no, no, fellow Daoist, you possess all the qualities of great perseverance, great enlightenment, and great wisdom. You are born with a connection to the Buddha."

A finger radiating a crystal-clear Buddhist light touched Zhou Mingrui's brow, and a series of sudden insights into Buddhist principles instantly erupted from the depths of his mind.

Zhou Mingrui seemed to see a Buddha whose face looked very much like his, one finger pointing to the sky and the other to the earth, his voice like thunder.

"I am the only one in heaven and on earth!"

(End of this chapter)