Chapter 577 - 500: Great War at Nine Heavens Pass

Another furious roar resounded, shaking the Endless Chaos Sea!

WHOOSH~

The boundless Chaotic Qi Flow began to churn violently!

Before the horrified eyes of all the beings in the All Heavens!

A completely crimson leather bag rose from within the Mountain and Sea, its size swelling rapidly. From its opening, scarlet divine lightning rumbled, seemingly unraveling all of existence as if to suck the entire vast Sea of Chaos inside!

The Chaos Bag!

The Ancestral Artifact of the Chaos Race!

The ancient powerhouses of the All Heavens paled, instantly recognizing the origin of the great crimson bag that absorbed and destroyed all things, spewing forth an endless aura of chaos.

It was also from the Second Tribulation!

Furthermore, it was refined from the hide of the Chaos Race’s Dao Ancestor and possessed the power of the Chaos Dao at the level of One Step into the Initial Tribulation, making it in no way weaker than the Infinite Destruction Abyss!

"I won’t let you run wild!"

But if the Mountain and Sea had a Second Tribulation Dao Ancestor...

...did Hongyuan not have one of its own?

SHING!!

The sound of a Killing Sword being unsheathed rang throughout the All Heavens!

The Fourth Elder from the Fuguang World had also made his move. He was a grim, gray-robed elder with gray hair!

He held a Killing Sword that pulsed with the light of tribulation.

The moment the Tribulation Sword was drawn from its sheath!

An aura of forbidden calamity erupted, threatening to bury the Great Dao and all existence. Layer upon layer of sword light flashed, slicing through the Sea of Chaos. Commanding the Tribulation Qi of Shanhai Pass, it slashed toward the Chaos Bag, its killing power unrivaled by any present!

A Nine Tribulation Celestial Soldier!

One of the Ten Great Supreme Divine Techniques!

And also a Daoist Ancestor Artifact!

During the Second Tribulation.

It was created and refined by the Nine Tribulations Dao Ancestor.

He had pioneered the Dao of Tribulation, seeking to attain his Dao through calamity. Unfortunately, he failed in his struggle, but his legacy and his Ancestral Artifact remained.

Within the Military Dao of the Fuguang World...

...the killing power of the Nine Tribulations lineage was unparalleled in the Celestial Domain.

Even the Common Lord Chaos City had to show this lineage some respect. Otherwise, the Nine Tribulations lineage would never have been able to represent Fu Guang and hold a seat in the Elder Council.

"Fine, fine, fine! Then let’s fight! Today, we’ll settle things with Hongyuan once and for all!"

The instant the Nine Tribulation Celestial Soldier was unsheathed!

Another Primordial Ancestor roared from within the Mountain and Sea!

More Ancestral Artifacts began to awaken!

The situation escalated once more.

The intensity of the Great Dao Celestial Punishment skyrocketed, attempting to suppress this pack of frenzied beasts!

But the Nine Heavens Pass had simply been eroded too much.

The influence of the Hongyuan Dao System was far weaker than before, making it impossible to quickly suppress all the rebels!

RUMBLE—

The Ten Celestial Passes of Shanhai Pass began to tremble!

At the nearest of them, the Eight Celestial Passes...

...countless massive waves erupted in the Wild Heaven Realm Sea!

The soldiers stationed in Hongyuan’s many defensive sectors all felt as if the Nine Heavens Pass before them had become a giant powder keg. Surging torrents of Destruction Divine Light illuminated the Sea of Chaos!

If it exploded...

...even Shanhai Pass itself could be annihilated!

"Is this the final battle?!"

"I don’t know! All I know is that the Mountain and Sea is going berserk over the Dragon Hunting Tower, even enduring the Celestial Punishment to bring out so many Ancestral Artifacts!"

"The Dragon Hunting Tower?! Those bastards have done something outrageous again! First they pissed off Hongyuan, and now the Mountain and Sea?"

"The worst part is, we can’t just abandon them! The Dragon Hunting Tower has the Burning Chaos Furnace. If that falls into the hands of the Mountain and Sea, the consequences will be unimaginable!"

The All Heavens Pass and the All Heavens Domains were in an uproar.

Information spread rapidly.

Everyone paying attention to the situation learned that the Dragon Hunting Tower had caused this catastrophe, and as a result, the Mountain and Sea was frantically pushing for a final battle with Hongyuan!

But everyone was well aware.

As long as the Martial Ancestor was there...

...Shanhai Pass would not fall!

「The Ten Celestial Passes!」

On the frontlines of the Chaos Abyss.

The great storm at the Nine Heavens Pass...

...did not affect the clash between the three living Dao Ancestors. With their level of perception, they understood the cause and effect the moment it occurred.

At this moment, the Martial Ancestor’s Martial Dao civilization was weakening.

His towering, majestic figure was growing illusory. If he continued to burn the martial fortune of the All Heavens, he could last for a long time, but he was unwilling to sever the very roots of the Martial Dao!

"Why must you suffer so?"

The Queen Mother of the West and Emperor Huang sighed.

The Martial Ancestor’s status was too lofty.

He had once been the very foundation for all Daos.

Back when the Queen Mother of the West was still weak, she had listened to the Martial Ancestor’s teachings and could be considered half a disciple.

Even though a Daoist was transcendent and detached from mortal affairs...

...seeing her former "teacher" being so stubborn, willing to scatter his own Dao just to stop them, filled her with complex emotions.

"I told you back then," the Martial Ancestor said, his gaze level as he looked at the Queen Mother of the West. "Your ambition is too great. You believe you can control everything, but one day, you are bound to suffer a great fall."

Back then.

The Mountain and Sea was a trackless Wilderness, a land without a Dao. Its creatures knew only to devour flesh and blood, relying on their savage physiques. Those who had awakened their intellect to perceive the Dao were few and far between.

The Martial Ancestor created the Martial Dao.

He built a Daoist Palace on Buzhou Mountain and taught all comers without discrimination.

All intelligent beings from every race in the All Heavens flocked to Buzhou Mountain to seek the Dao. With the exception of the Divine Race, the Martial Ancestor treated all equally, regardless of their good or evil nature.

At that time, the Queen Mother of the West...

...compared to the Five Great Primordial Races (such as the Candle Dragon)...

...had a bloodline that was far too weak.

She couldn’t even climb the steps of Buzhou Mountain.

However, she was among the first creatures in the Mountain and Sea to awaken her intellect. In fact, her Comprehension was so peerless in the Mountain and Sea that she became aware of the Great Dao’s existence even before the Five Great Primordial Races.

In the Mountain and Sea...

...relying on this wisdom and Comprehension...

...she became the leader of the Mountain and Sea’s civilization during the Wilderness era. Later, when the Ten Thousand Races ascended Buzhou Mountain to seek the Dao, the Five Great Primordial Races even took turns carrying her up the mountain.

The Martial Ancestor still remembered it to this day.

He remembered that little beast with the teeth of a tiger and the tail of a leopard.

While the Creatures of Ten Thousand Races bowed to him in awe, she had looked directly at him upon the Dao Platform with intelligent, curious eyes and asked a single question:

"Dao Ancestor, you say that those who eat grain attain wisdom, those who eat meat attain valor, and those who eat qi attain transcendence... Since the Great Dao is a Dao of consumption, when one has reached the end of the Dao, can one then consume the Dao itself?"

...

At the end of the Dao, consume the Dao!

From such a small mouth.

...came such utterly blasphemous words.

At that time, the Martial Ancestor had indeed been deeply impressed by that unassuming little beast.

"To consume the Dao is to rebel. A rebel has no Dao."

That was his answer.

"Natural predation. The weak are meat for the strong."

The little beast retorted with the law of the Mountain and Sea.

"Those who attain the Dao walk the same path. There is no high or low, only the strong who advance further. Where is the rebellion in that?"

It was a clash between the philosophies of civilization and the Wilderness.

It was a clash destined to have no resolution.

They would never walk the same path.

Just as the Martial Ancestor had clearly taught the Queen Mother of the West the Martial Dao...

...she, upon that very foundation...

...had perceived more of the Great Dao’s Taichu ancestral qi beyond the Primordial Qi of the Martial Dao. By consuming all sorts of wondrous qi, she opened the upper Dantian—the ancestral aperture of the Purple Mansion, distinct from the lower Dantian—and created the foundation of the Immortal Dao.

The creation of the Immortal Dao’s foundation...

...and the discovery of more forms of the Great Dao’s qi...

...further solidified the Queen Mother of the West’s belief that there were no absolutes in the world, no unchanging truth, no right or rebellion—only the distinction between what one could and could not do.

Therefore.

After less than a century of seeking the Dao...

...the Queen Mother of the West took the Wilderness Gods of the Mountain and Sea, left Buzhou Mountain, and turned her back on the Martial Ancestor’s path. She later became the Primordial Immortal Ancestor, taking her seat on Kunlun Mountain to preach her Dao to the Mountain and Sea.

Under the influence of her philosophy...

...the cornerstone of the Mountain and Sea’s civilization was laid:

Natural selection, survival of the fittest!

As civilization took shape and intellects awakened, the fundamental nature of the Desolate Divine Seed was not suppressed or abandoned. A delicate balance was always maintained between the two.

Through this constant, healthy competition...

...the Mountain and Sea grew rapidly.

Perhaps.

This was perhaps one of the reasons why the Mountain and Sea was later able to fight against the All Heavens as a single realm.

Neither path could be judged superior or inferior.

Because.

...under the influence of the Martial Ancestor’s philosophy of pursuing peace and the continuation of civilization, Hongyuan had also grown strong, surviving the trials of the Five Tribulations.

Now, as the two conversed once more...

...even after experiencing all the tribulations...

...their core philosophies had not changed in the slightest.

’Playing with fire?’

The Queen Mother of the West’s perfect, divine face remained as tranquil as ever as she gazed toward the heart of the storm in the Nine Heavens. She knew the Martial Ancestor’s words meant more than just that the Dao was irreversible.

’He must have sensed something as well.’

’When a fruit grows too well...’

’...it inevitably attracts unwanted attention.’

’Take that one from the Profound Celestial, for example. After making his move last time, he has been completely silent.’

’He must also be waiting for the fruit to fully ripen.’

’But a fruit that ripens too quickly will grow thorns!’

’So...’

’...I can’t delay any longer.’

HUMMM~

At this thought.

The Queen Mother of the West took a step forward.

Her wondrous Dao civilization began to burn fiercely.

She too was preparing to scatter her Dao to increase her power.

"You..."

The Martial Ancestor frowned, the pressure on him suddenly intensifying.

"What the Martial Ancestor said is not wrong."

The Queen Mother of the West spoke calmly, "Civilization must advance and prosper. We who exist outside the Dao have schemed for eons solely for the sake of that advancement.

You are willing to halt your progress to protect Hongyuan.

We, however, wish to continue climbing higher outside the Dao, toward the ultimate nature. If we succeed, what difficulty would there be in re-entering the Dao?"

Emperor Huang, who stood to the side, said nothing.

But his civilization also began to burn.

His stance was clear.

Once the Mountain and Sea Dao took its place...

...it would not be difficult for them to re-enter the Dao.

This was because compared to the Primordial Path...

...the Mountain and Sea Dao was a "Dao-consumer" they had personally cultivated!

The sudden turn of events at the Ten Celestial Passes...

...after the Nine Heavens Pass had drawn the attention of the All Heavens...

...went largely unnoticed.

Only a few titans who had been closely monitoring the battle felt, with complex emotions, the flow of the All Heavens’ martial fortune—already flickering like a candle in the wind—be completely cut off.

The Martial Ancestor was no longer drawing upon the martial fortune to bolster his power.

He was unwilling to sever the foundation of the Martial Dao, choosing instead to leave hope for those who would come after him.

He began to burn himself down, like a candle turning to ash.

Burning everything he was.