Destiny is ashes

Chapter 1128 I'm also a cultivator who needs to work harder (4200 words)

Yuan Qingxu's deduction coincided with An Jing's past speculations.

Especially since he had just been in the Tianyuan Realm and was almost captured by the Heavenly Dao of that world and forced to take over his post, he understood Yuan Qingxu's conclusion even more.

“The Xuan Tian Sacrifice also wants to become the new Heavenly Dao, and if you add the Heavenly Will Demonic Sect... ha, and myself too.”

An Jing stood in the void, deep in thought: "When I created the Grotto Heaven Method, the support of Heaven and its tendency to grant me the opportunity to comprehend the Dao were far too obvious."

"Moreover, it's not just Huaixu Heavenly Dao, Tianyuan Heavenly Dao is no exception—they are all supporting me in developing this path. It seems they are all looking for a substitute."

“Back then, Xuan Tianji’s thinking was fine, but his decision-making was flawed. After all, he was not me. His understanding of the ‘Dao’ was not deep enough. He only wanted to ‘merge with the Dao’ and become the Dao One of Returning to Emptiness.”

An Jing's tone carried a hint of emotion: "But 'merging with the Dao' is only one way to become 'returning to the void and becoming one.' It's just that this method is the simplest and most common, which is why everyone named it after a realm."

"But in reality, realms don't exist; they are just an illusory concept in people's imaginations. Xuan Tianji was bound by realms, so he became attached to the illusions and ultimately went down the wrong path."

To become an infinite being, one does not need to be obsessed with destiny... Of course, An Jing also understands that this is not Xuan Tianji's fault, but Huai Xu's fault. Huai Xu has been practicing martial arts for hundreds of thousands of years, and the concept of destiny has been deeply rooted in people's hearts. Destiny is a legend among legends. Even for Xuan Tianji, it is natural to think that it is a shortcut to becoming a Daoist.

However, a shortcut is a shortcut in essence because it is a roundabout way. It is not the right path, and there are reasons why it is not the right path, such as being narrow, complicated, or difficult. In the distant era of the Daoist court, destiny could indeed lead to the attainment of Dao, and Xuan Tianji must have been misled by the records in these ancient texts, which is why he went astray.

The Heavenly Will Demonic Sect is certainly also seeking a similar method. They seek the Mandate of Heaven, cultivate it, and make it a Holy Son or Sect Leader. They probably have similar ideas, but they are more inclined to explore the essence behind the Mandate of Heaven. This is a new path they have found by building on the failure of the Great Chen Dynasty.

Perhaps it could even be said that... the Xuan Tian Sacrifice back then probably received support from the Heavenly Will Demonic Sect!
The Heavenly Will Demonic Sect split from the Upper Profound Sect and traveled to the Northern Profound Sacrifice Continent. Behind this lies an even earlier cause and effect.

In their quest to find a way to replace the Heavenly Dao, they have been secretly supporting related forces, among which the most powerful and closest to success is the Great Chen Dynasty.

The strange situation where the entire imperial dynasty and the Heavenly Will Demonic Sect were intertwined must have been a consequence of that time!
"A slight chill..."

Thinking of this, An Jing's thoughts drifted: "Indeed, when I go to Shenjing this time, I should also find the leader of the Heavenly Will Sect in advance and ask them what they are planning to do."

At this moment, An Jing gathered all his thoughts and looked into the distance.

He lowered his gaze slightly, his expression calm: "Now that the alliance with the Mingjing Sect and me has been formed, it's time to have an open and honest discussion with the Tianyi Demonic Sect about these matters."

"But now..."

“There are more important things to do.”

At this moment, at the top of Liucui Island, the enormous void abyss that stretched from heaven to earth, having completed its guiding mission, began to slowly contract like a tide.

It eventually transformed into a stable core rift, landing precisely at the Taixu Altar atop Mirror City, becoming a fixed coordinate connecting the two realms.

Since the Celestial Venerables cannot descend all at once due to the special nature of the laws of the Great Wilderness Realm, there is no need to expend enormous power to maintain the vast abyss that is large enough for the Celestial Venerables' true forms to pass through; an ordinary spacetime rift is sufficient.

Many of the Heavenly Lords and True Lords who accompanied the descent also personally experienced the unique legal conflicts of the Great Wilderness Realm. After quickly collecting the necessary relevant information, they prepared to return to the Huaixu Realm to bring the intelligence from this place back to their respective sects for analysis, in preparation for long-term exploration in the future.

Those who remained, besides the True Lords who had special missions, included many True Men whose legal conflicts were not so serious.

"This place is a bit like Taiyuan, the place under my house."

At this moment, not far away, Xie Mingfei was distributing talismans to the Heavenly Palace team and the True Person of the Mingjing Sect. Those who received these talismans were surrounded by a halo, which acted as a medium to resist the erosion of the Great Wilderness Realm: "The most dangerous thing in there is not the demonic energy, but the various abnormal laws. Even light will be distorted as a result and will no longer follow its original properties."

"We martial artists are too deeply bound by Huai Xu, so it is difficult for us to adapt to the outside environment in a short period of time. Especially for True Monarchs and above, who are essentially formed by distorting heaven and earth, they are easily rejected by the Great Wilderness Realm. Their very existence is a battle. We True Monarchs are better off, at most we will feel a little uncomfortable and unable to use our skills."

Indeed, among all the True Immortals and True Lords who descended upon the Great Wilderness Realm, only the Dragon Clan fared slightly better, or rather, there was virtually no rejection—this was mainly because the Dragon Clan's physique and existence were spread throughout the myriad realms, making them far more adaptable than humans.

Even so, some of the stronger Celestial Dragons frowned and whispered to each other: "My cosmic light technique is unusable."

[Yes, to be precise, this world is refusing to let us activate its related supernatural powers... What an eerie nature, to be so actively activated. The Heavenly Dao of the Great Wilderness Realm is probably truly abnormal...]

However, Yuan Qingxu noticed that An Jing did not feel any discomfort at all from beginning to end.

Yuan Qingxu could clearly sense that the overly active, even violent, spiritual energy in the Great Wilderness Realm had almost no effect on An Jing.

How to describe it?
If the spiritual energy in the Huai Xu Realm today is like an atmosphere with an excessively high concentration of carbon dioxide, then although the inert demonic energy itself doesn't react much, once inhaled, it will cause chronic poisoning. Only by relying on one's 'fate' as a filter to remove the carbon dioxide and inert demonic energy can one live and cultivate normally.

The spiritual energy that was invaded by demons during the Daoist era, and the spiritual energy of the Tianyuan Realm, is somewhat like extremely humid water mist, mixed with trace amounts of toxic particles. Although there is no problem breathing normally, long-term exposure and inhalation of too much will result in trace poisoning, and the toxins will accumulate in the body.

Moreover, this environment is extremely corrosive to all kinds of creation arrays. Without special treatment, many things will corrode and mold very quickly.

But the Great Wilderness Realm is different.

The spiritual energy in this place is acidic, alkaline, and has extremely strong oxidation-reduction properties!
Let alone breathing, in this place, without using spiritual power or incense to neutralize and restore the spiritual energy, or directly taking prepared spiritual pills, cultivators will destroy a part of their foundation simply by touching the spiritual energy, being eroded, corroded, and restored.

This is also the 'devouring of heaven and earth'.

But Anjing is different.

Anjing's laws, body, soul, and spirit... everything about Anjing is like the most stable and unchanging gold, like the most solid and indestructible steel; it is immortal, indestructible, unchanging, and unmoving.

The spiritual energy of the Great Wilderness Realm is impervious to acid, alkali, poison, and fire; it is something that nothing can diminish in the slightest.

The corrosive laws of the Great Wilderness Realm had absolutely no effect on An Jing. Within him operated another set of fundamental laws, identical to those of any other world, unchangeable by any other. [What exactly is this...?]

Yuan Qingxu murmured to himself, his voice filled with shock: "Even the Great Wilderness Realm couldn't corrupt you, so in all these heavens, even the world most severely corrupted by demonic energy, completely fallen to demonic ways, would probably be meaningless to you, wouldn't it?"

"This is the Eternal Battle Body."

An Jing smiled and took a step forward, bringing Yuan Qingxu's soul sphere into the boundless void: "While my Cave Heaven Technique cannot fully achieve this effect, it can still be immune to most conflicts in legal principles... Perhaps this was initially intended to serve the Heavenly Dao, but in a sense, if the Cave Heaven Technique can be popularized, we Huai Xu martial artists can become the most powerful and least affected demon-slaying cultivators in all the myriad worlds."

"The Seven Fiends Tribulation... it can actually create such a powerful legacy." Yuan Qingxu murmured to himself, his admiration heartfelt. Then, he noticed the unusual activity in the void: "Huh, what are the Celestial Venerables doing now?"

In the boundless depths of the void, the eleven celestial beings, who had previously lingered at the other end of the Tianyuan Realm, seemed to have reached some consensus, or perhaps discovered a crucial clue. They simultaneously set off, transforming into eleven dazzling streams of light, and sped towards a vast world ruin between the Great Wilderness Realm and the Tianyuan Realm.
"Oh, this."

Seeing this, An Jing's lips curled up: "They've gone to hunt down the Holy Demons."

[Hunting...the Holy Demon!?]

Upon hearing this, Yuan Qingxu was initially taken aback, then his face paled in shock: [What Holy Demon? Has the Holy Demon already been born?! And why… why can the Heavenly Venerable 'hunt' the Holy Demon?!]

"That's a bit complicated, but you'll gradually understand it later."

An Jing did not offer much explanation.

now.

In that desolate world ruin, lies the other half of the Tianyuan Realm, the site of the Demon Kingdom's remains.

Within the Abyss of No Return, the phantom of the Holy Demon remains dormant. The nine Great Saints, devoured by the Holy Demon, have only revived a fragment of their spirits and are now riding temporary bodies condensed from the Heavenly Demon, lingering and guarding the phantom of the Holy Demon.

Having regained some of their past wisdom, they were no longer as chaotic as when they were transformed into demons, and instead had their own thoughts.

The power of the Void-Shattering Flood Cannon far exceeds imagination; it is a weapon designed to destroy the world. It would probably take the Nine Great Sages hundreds of years to regain their former full strength.

[At least Feng Xiyu and the others won't fare any better.] Ciyan Great Sage said with a smile: [We only need a few hundred years to recover, but a few hundred years from now, they might be completely corrupted by the uncontrollable demonic influence.]

The Nine Calamities Great Sage, whose prototype is the Ghost Chariot, let out a gloating cackle: "[Although I admire them for being able to persist for so long, the thought that they will eventually fall makes me feel a sense of satisfaction.]"

These nine great demon saints were once the main force resisting the demonic calamity, but they were ultimately defeated, devoured, corrupted, and demonized by the holy demons, completely falling into depravity and losing their original nature. Now, they even act like mortals, harboring schadenfreude and a dark sentiment of hoping that others will also fall into depravity because they themselves have fallen.

[Be careful] Tai Sui Da Sheng is always cautious: [Don't let those Four Saints find us. Before they fall, they will definitely search for us like madmen, risking the destruction of the world and mutual destruction. They will also activate the fragments of Subduing Evil to completely annihilate us.]

That half-demon doesn't mind a lose-lose situation, because it is a demon, and the demise of the Heavenly Origin Realm is part of its fall. But when that happens, we will truly be reduced to ashes.

"How is that possible?" Another being, resembling a giant octopus, waved its tentacles, completely unconcerned. "Our hidden place relies on the remains of many worlds; no tracking technique could possibly find us... let alone those bound by the Heavenly Dao, why would they track us instead?"

At this point, the Great Sage Youyuan became even more spirited: "In the end, what good is finding them? Even in our current state, even if the Four Sages could kick us to death with one kick, it wouldn't make a difference."

[They couldn't possibly unleash a power capable of annihilating us without touching the corrupted demons—although Huai Xu's group possesses the Radiant Cannon, they also seem to have conflicts with them. This is our opportunity!]

As he spoke, the Great Sage Youyuan seemed about to say a few more words, but beside him, the Great Sage Taiguang, whose form resembled countless intertwined vines, suddenly exclaimed: "You'd better shut up—look over there, what is that light?!"

They're here!

[And...more than four?!]

How can there be eleven?!

An Jing gazed at the scene, then slowly withdrew his gaze and laughed: "The Celestial Venerables are truly imposing; I must step up my game too."

You made all of this possible.

Yuan Qingxu murmured. Although he did not know the specifics of the Tianyuan Realm, with his wisdom and experience as a traveler of the farthest reaches of the sky, he had a general idea of ​​what was going on.

Within the framework of a single world, it is extremely difficult to challenge a situation that has already become completely entrenched. Therefore, we, the Skywalkers, must transform into a force that breaks shackles and constraints, guiding the future in a better direction.

But you've done something even bigger: you've helped people around the world, breaking down barriers and creating opportunities for mutual assistance!

[Huai Xu has won; this is the first victory. Then comes the second, the third… until he is invincible, forever victorious!]

"That's why it's called 'eternal war'."

An Jing responded calmly, while Yuan Qingxu sighed deeply: "It's hard to imagine what you're going to do next."

"I?"

An Jing stood in the void, gazing with Yuan Qingxu at the distant horizon where eleven dazzling streams of light were heading straight towards the Holy Demon. He smiled and said, "When the Holy Demon is destroyed, I will begin to try to condense the Golden Core, or rather, try to prove my position as the 'True Lord' of my Cave Heaven Technique."

"Go to the capital with the realm of Divine Treasure? I'm not that foolish. No matter what path I choose, when I return to Huaixu, I will already be..."

"True Lord."

(End of this chapter)