Chapter 462 - 409: [Outer Path Creatures, Inner Path Attainment Dao]

WHOOSH... WHOOSH... WHOOSH...

The Chaos churned, boundless and infinite.

It contained the All Heavens and Myriad Realms, a cosmos of infinite space-times. Since the dawn of creation, the Great Dao had given birth to the Nine Great Celestial Domains, but it had also nurtured countless other strange dimensions.

At the very source of the Great Dao’s flow.

There existed a peculiar space-time.

Threads of karma and fate from all manner of beings intertwined, bathed in the flowing light of immense fortune. It resembled a shattered cocoon, one that had once nurtured some incredible existence within.

WHOOSH—

At a certain moment.

Ripples spread through the Chaos.

Clad in green robes with black hair, the handsome and radiant Qing Yu Celestial Venerable, a red gourd hanging from his waist, stepped out of the Chaos. As his eyes reflected the strange world, a ripple of emotion passed through them. "Fulong Village..."

In his sight,

The countless threads of fortune, karma, and fate peeled away, revealing the scene within the cocoon.

A village.

It was no more than a few dozen miles in circumference.

Utterly unremarkable and overgrown with weeds.

And yet, this desolate village was where a heaven-defying scheme had once been laid, an act against the heavens to carve out and devour a portion of this world’s Celestial Mandate.

Qing Yu Celestial Venerable.

He had been one of the masterminds behind it.

WHOOSH—

With a single step, light and shadow shifted around him.

He seemed to have stepped into a forgotten land outside of time and space. An utter silence reigned, broken only by the sight of endless weeds swaying in the wind.

Qing Yu Celestial Venerable did not linger.

He took another step.

The scene changed once more, and he found himself upon a boundless bronze altar.

At the altar’s core.

Several figures, completely shrouded in Chaos Qi, had been seated in meditation for a long time. Their Dao Essence seeped into the altar, causing bizarre and phantasmagorical scenes to slowly shift as they searched for something within the reverse flow of time and space.

"Have you found it?"

Qing Yu Celestial Venerable asked.

"It’s difficult."

One of the figures, around whom Chaos Qi swirled with the glint of dying and rebirthing sword light, spoke coldly. "It has taken us three years, and we can only confirm that the one who rescued the empty shell back then was the entity from Shanhai West Mountain.

"What happened afterward to create that vile creature is impossible to deduce. The celestial secrets and karma are heavily shielded, likely by a top-tier concealment-type Celestial Treasure."

"However, we can confirm one thing."

Another person spoke, their voice chilling. "That vile creature should be the Divine Desolate Tribulation Demon from back then. It has the same trait—impervious to scrying, with Cause and Effect Immunity."

The Divine Desolate Tribulation Demon...

At the mention of this name,

the corner of Qing Yu Celestial Venerable’s eye twitched.

The expressions of the other giants, whose incarnations had participated in the Ten Tribulations of the Divine Wilderness, also soured.

This was because,

even to this day,

they remained the laughingstock of the All Heavens.

"Even the Great Celestial Venerable can’t find it?"

a woman interjected.

Her voice carried a hint of doubt.

It broke the awkward silence.

"That is what I came to tell you."

Qing Yu Celestial Venerable showed no displeasure.

His expression turned grave as he said, "The Celestial Treasure is only one factor. There is also an unknown Power at play, completely blocking any attempt to spy on that vile creature.

The Great Celestial Venerable speculates

that its origins are very likely not within Hongyuan, which is why all attempts at deduction are futile."

Origins not within Hongyuan.

That would make it an Outer Path Creature.

Upon hearing this, the faces of the giants darkened.

Since the dawn of creation,

in every tribulation, there have been Daoists who transcended the Great Dao.

How incredible the world beyond the Dao was,

the giants of the major Celestial Domains had naturally gleaned fragments of information about it from the Near Dao avatars left behind by those various Daoists.

However...

"If it really is an Outer Path Creature, entering the Primordial Path of Hongyuan would require a comparable level of power. How could it be so weak?"

one of the giants questioned.

It didn’t make logical sense.

"That is the greatest mystery of all."

Qing Yu Celestial Venerable shook his head slightly, then added, "The Great Celestial Venerable only said its origins are not within Hongyuan; that doesn’t necessarily mean it’s truly an Outer Path Creature.

"The Mountain and Sea, the Netherworld, the Human World...

"Since the dawn of creation, some space-times that have broken away from the Hongyuan Heavenly Realms have been drifting aimlessly within the Great Dao. During the Four Tribulations, the Mountain and Sea even attempted to completely separate from Hongyuan and form its own Dao.

"The one from West Mountain who rescued the empty shell back then.

"That may well have been part of its scheme.

"And then there’s the Dragon Hunting Tower!

"It, too, faintly exhibits traits of not being within the Dao. There are many suspects."

The Dragon Hunting Tower...

"Those bastards!"

At the mention of the Dragon Hunting Tower, those anti-Human Dao elements,

the giant from the Daluo Celestial Domain gritted his teeth in hatred.

Three years ago in Hongyuan,

the Three Tribulations Burial Realm in the Daluo Celestial Domain—the eye of the tribulation—was detonated. Tribulation Qi contaminated the Daluo Celestial Domain’s destiny, ravaged the Eternal Sand Space-Time, and caused the fall of innumerable beings.

The Tribulation Qi of the Great Dao.

It’s a ’virus’ born from the Dao Root Source itself.

Aside from a few beings with special cultivation methods, not even Great Emperors dared to be easily tainted by it!

Many of the Grand Cosmoses near the Burial Realm

collapsed the instant the Tribulation Qi erupted.

Countless Holy Lands with million-year legacies were wiped out, and some Emperor’s Lineages only escaped the calamity after paying a terrible price.

The ones who suffered the most

were the Great Emperors of the Daluo Celestial Domain who had been tasked with suppressing the Burial Realm. They were closest to the point of detonation and thus bore the brunt of the Tribulation Qi’s assault.

They weren’t killed by the blast,

but ninety percent were contaminated by the Tribulation Qi, succumbing to demonic corruption and losing their sanity. They wreaked havoc across the Daluo Celestial Domain, causing all manner of tragedies.

Those who were lucky enough to escape,

are still in death-seclusion within the Chaos to this day. They dare not enter Hongyuan, as doing so would trigger the Tribulation Qi inside them.

It was foreseeable that

eradicating the Tribulation Qi would be a process measured, at minimum, in tens of thousands of years.

This was no exaggeration.

The Taiyi Emperor Star, a top-tier Primordial Artifact in terms of scale,

was comparable in power to a Peak Primordial Chaos Dao Emperor. But how long did it take to eliminate the Tribulation Qi from the Four Tribulations Chaotic Star Heaven?

Tens of millions of years, and it’s still not done!

That even after such a long time, it still wasn’t completely gone, showed just how deep-rooted and tenacious the Great Dao’s Tribulation Qi from a single tribulation could be.

But in terms of the greatest impact,

it was still the Daluo Celestial Domain.

After the pit of the Three Tribulations Burial Realm exploded,

they naturally couldn’t let the corruption spread.

Numerous top-tier Overlords swiftly constructed a "Firebreak Line," expending immense manpower and resources to sever a vast region of space-time and halt the spread of the Tribulation Qi. It was a crippling blow to them all.

But this was only a temporary solution, not a permanent cure.

The contamination from the Tribulation Qi was irreversible.

From the moment the Burial Realm exploded,

the destiny of the Daluo Celestial Domain had been on a downward spiral. The only way to reverse it was for someone to overcome the tribulation, achieve Attainment Dao, and use their newfound Dao fortune to purge the corruption.

Otherwise,

in the future, the Daluo Celestial Domain would decline, just like the few victims of the Five Tribulations in the Profound Yellow world.

But Attainment Dao...

The implications were too great.

One could only achieve Attainment Dao when the great fortune of a Hongyuan-wide tribulation converged upon a single being. At any other time, it was virtually impossible.

Furthermore,

the explosion of the Burial Realm three years ago, and the subsequent battle in the Chaos that affected All Heavens, had numerous other impacts on the state of Hongyuan.

The greatest change

was that Celestial Punishment, the "antivirus program" that maintained the Great Dao, seemed to have evolved.

The restraints became even stricter!

The price for acting against Celestial Punishment grew higher!

Those at the Emperor Realm could no longer easily defy Celestial Punishment to unleash their Power. From now on, Hongyuan would be a world dominated by those below the Emperor Realm.

Under this new structure,

the influence and authority of the Common Lords of the Emperor’s Lineages and Daoist Lineages would be somewhat weakened, preventing them from acting as unscrupulously as before.

The culprit behind all these changes?

Without a doubt,

it was the Dragon Hunting Tower!

Regardless of whether Wu Dao, the Slaughter Emperor, Great Zizai Heaven, and the Dragon Hunting Tower were involved in some sordid conspiracy,

at the final moment,

if the Dragon Hunting Tower hadn’t ’stuck its oar in,’

the Burial Realm would never have exploded!

The Daluo Celestial Domain wouldn’t have fallen into decline.

Ye Xuan, the reserve for the Celestial Mandate, could have been saved.

And the Divine Desolate Tribulation Demon, Great Zizai Heaven, and the Slaughter Emperor would not have been able to escape unscathed.

"What exactly is hidden inside the Dragon Hunting Tower?"

The Chaos Qi around one figure dissipated, revealing Emperor Hong Shi. Dressed in a simple white palace gown, the noble and majestic Empress rose to her feet, her domineering gaze filled with an unconcealed chill.

Ye Xuan wasn’t just a reserve for the Celestial Mandate.

He embodied the future of the Luotian Sword Realm in this era, and more importantly, he was the successor she had personally groomed.

The guilt from failing to protect Ye Xuan

was something she still couldn’t let go of. It had become an obsession, one that could only be resolved by slaying the Divine Desolate Tribulation Demon and destroying the Dragon Hunting Tower.

But this was incredibly difficult.

The Divine Desolate Tribulation Demon’s location couldn’t be divined.

The same was true for the Dragon Hunting Tower.

And compared to the relatively weak Divine Desolate Tribulation Demon, the Dragon Hunting Tower was even more mysterious and unfathomable, hiding some unknown and terrifying great existence.

During the battle three years ago,

the Celestial Venerables of the Celestial Court had fought their way into the deepest part of the Dragon Hunting Tower. The Celestial Court should know what’s hidden inside.

But to their surprise,

Qing Yu Celestial Venerable’s gaze grew heavy as he said,

"Three years ago, although we fought our way to the deepest part of the Dragon Hunting Tower, we failed to draw out its ultimate foundation. Instead, we encountered an unknown Dao Artifact!"

An unknown Dao Artifact?

As soon as he said this,

all the giants were astonished.

As Hongyuan’s ultimate killing artifacts, once activated, a Dao Artifact was said to be the Great Dao made manifest, capable of changing anything and everything within the Hongyuan All Heavens and Myriads of Worlds.

Since the dawn of creation,

how many Dao Artifacts had been born

was a fact well known to all the giants. For an unknown Dao Artifact to suddenly appear was truly mind-boggling.

And from what Qing Yu Celestial Venerable was implying,

the Dao Artifact wasn’t even the Dragon Hunting Tower’s ultimate foundation. Deeper within, there was still some unknown and greatly ominous existence hidden away!

For a moment,

the Dragon Hunting Tower, an ancient faction of untraceable origin, became shrouded in yet another layer of mystery in the minds of the giants.

However,

there was one thing

that Qing Yu Celestial Venerable did not reveal.

During that battle three years ago,

the reason the Celestial Court intervened

wasn’t because of the Dao Artifact. It was because the Great Celestial Venerable had sensed a source-aura within the tower, similar to that of a Daoist.

An unknown, suspected Daoist existence.

And a Daoist from *within* the Dao, at that.

This was the most unbelievable part of it all!

It would introduce all sorts of unpredictable variables into the Celestial Court’s future plans.

And then there was Wu Dao, the suspected Outer Path Creature.

He was another anomaly for the future.

Therefore,

after the battle of the Burial Realm,

it wasn’t just Daluo Heaven and the other All Heavens.

The Celestial Court itself had never stopped searching for the whereabouts of the Dragon Hunting Tower and Wu Dao. A Heaven and Earth Net had been cast across the All Heavens; the moment they revealed themselves, they would be met with a thunderous, overwhelming strike.

"The Divine Desolate Tribulation Demon holds the Extreme Dao Bell and is tied to the great karma of that event. It can’t stay hidden forever,"

the giant from Profound Yellow Heaven analyzed calmly.

"The Divine Desolate Tribulation Demon only has a Great Saint’s cultivation.

If it makes any major moves in the future, it will surely have to ring the Extreme Dao Bell, exposing itself and becoming a conspicuous, living target."

"Well said,"

the giant from the Qingming World agreed. "

The Dragon Hunting Tower has always hunted the Celestial Prides of the All Heavens. While they may not dare to show themselves for a while, they won’t be able to hold back forever.

With the experience from last time,

no matter how capable they are, they won’t be able to escape our grasp."

"What we need to focus on now is the Mountain and Sea Realm."

Qing Yu Celestial Venerable’s gaze shifted toward Buzhou Heaven.

Beyond Buzhou Mountain at the edge of Buzhou Heaven, endless plumes of Tribulation Qi billowed like signal smoke, threatening to erupt and lash out at Hongyuan at any moment.

The battle three years ago

had affected the Hongyuan All Heavens and Myriads of Worlds, causing the Tribulation Qi within the Dao to surge and demonic obstacles to fester. There were faint signs of the same chaos that preceded the outbreak of the Five Tribulations.

If the Mountain and Sea Realm added fuel to the fire,

and took this opportunity to launch a major offensive against Hongyuan,

the Six Tribulations might not be far off.

No, that wasn’t right.

It wasn’t a matter of "if."

The Mountain and Sea Realm was *already* doing it!