Chapter 561 - 486: [Seeing the Heaven-Burying Emperor Again]

The Eight Celestial Passes of Mountains and Seas.

Wushi Domain.

"Human World has withdrawn from Shanhai Pass?"

Wu Dao, who had only been back for a few days, suddenly received this message through the military’s intelligence network.

During the months he spent breaking through his cultivation, Human World, which had previously been active alongside the Dragon Hunting Tower at Shanhai Pass, gradually went silent and seemed to cease all operations.

Then, sometime before he emerged from his seclusion,

the Dead Guests of Human World vanished from both the Eight and Nine Heavens Passes. Only the Dragon Hunting Tower continued to launch occasional raids against the Mountain and Sea.

"Wait..."

Wu Dao suddenly realized something.

One of his Incarnations in the Seven Days Pass traveled to the Garrison City where his eldest apprentice, Wuchen, was stationed.

The result?

Wuchen was missing.

He had vanished without a trace right after becoming a Quasi-Emperor and being appointed a Military Lord. The military command assumed he was a deserter and even issued a warrant for his arrest.

And it wasn’t just Wuchen.

His second apprentice, Jiang Han, was also missing.

No one knew where he had gone.

Wu Dao tried to scry their threads of causality.

But he couldn’t find their coordinates either.

’Has it really gotten this serious?’

Wu Dao’s heart sank.

He knew exactly what the disappearance of his two apprentices meant.

Both Jiang Han and Wuchen had causal ties to a Primordial Giant, or even a Dao Artifact.

Wuchen disappeared at the same time as Human World.

This confirmed one of his earlier suspicions: the mysterious organization known as Human World was most likely connected to the Reincarnation Emperor.

Wuchen...

...was the Reincarnation Emperor’s successor.

He even housed the Emperor’s Weapon Spirit of the Reincarnation Emperor within him.

More importantly, the kid had a strong affinity with the Eighteen Netherworlds. He was likely the person chosen by the Reincarnation Emperor to break through the barrier.

As for his second apprentice, Jiang Han...

...he was backed by the Great Freedom Heavenly Demon King.

The Great Freedom Heavenly Demon King was one of the Three Tribulation Masters. He was suspected of having failed to cross the Endless Sea of Suffering and had once sought to cooperate with Wu Dao.

But Wu Dao had refused.

So, the Demon King chose Jiang Han as a substitute.

He hoped that one day, Jiang Han would be able to cross the Sea of Suffering and rescue him, or even bring him to its core to sublimate a Dao Artifact and achieve the Great Dao.

This was because the Demon King’s fundamental nature was Freedom.

If this ’ritual’ of sublimating the Sea of Suffering was completed, it would be enough for him to attain the Great Dao.

The Reincarnation Emperor...

...probably had a similar scheme.

But...

It was too soon!

Jiang Han and Wuchen were only Quasi-Emperors!

Why were these beings in such a hurry?

There could be only one reason.

The sixth great Dao Tribulation was approaching, and they had no choice but to be anxious.

"Martial Ancestor..."

Wu Dao let out a soft breath, his gaze peering through the profound Realm Sea, staring at the tangled, interwoven veins of the Great Dao within the river of time.

The Martial Ancestor.

The progenitor of a Dao, the very source of the Martial Arts Origin Stream.

His Dao Essence permeated the Hongyuan Heavenly Realms and countless dimensions of spacetime, connecting him to every Martial Dao Cultivator through a network of spiritual veins.

This infinite network of martial fortune...

...converged into a vast, surging river of the Martial Dao that rushed toward the Martial Arts Origin Stream in the Ten Celestial Passes.

But now...

...this great river of the Martial Dao flickered erratically.

It was like a candle about to burn out.

It flickered in the wind, releasing its final light and heat, ready to be extinguished at any moment.

The Near-Path Seekers within the Dao.

This was a special realm of existence.

They were too far from true Attainment Dao.

Yet they were a step beyond the Extreme Primordial Chaos, for they were Masters of the Initial Tribulation Dao Civilization who had shattered the shackles of the Thirty-Three Heavens to reach the Thirty-Fourth Layer.

The All Tribulations Masters at their peak...

...as well as the Near Dao incarnations of the All Tribulations Provers...

...all existed in this realm.

In the same realm.

With the same prerequisite of power.

And yet, the Martial Ancestor alone had faced the Near Dao incarnations of the two Desolate Ancestors of the Mountain and Sea, holding his ground since the end of the Four Tribulations. He was truly worthy of the title of the First Dao Ancestor.

But the price he paid was surely terrifying.

Wu Dao could clearly feel that the Martial Ancestor’s Dao and civilization were dissipating, and the martial fortune of the Hongyuan Heavenly Realms was in constant decline.

This was...

...a gamble at the cost of the entire Martial Dao!

If he won, it went without saying that the Martial Dao would be credited with the greatest merit, and the martial fortune of the All Heavens would soar.

But if he lost...

...it wouldn’t just be the Martial Ancestor’s Scattered Dao.

The Martial Dao itself would likely wither and be severed entirely!

This wasn’t a selfish or tyrannical act.

Because the deeper cost was even more terrifying.

Hongyuan itself would be gone!

Why worry about the rise or fall of the Martial Dao then?

’Did they sense the Martial Ancestor was about to completely scatter his Dao, so they had to make preparations in advance?’

A shadow fell over Wu Dao’s heart.

He too had made many preparations, but most of them were just self-deception. He had no absolute certainty they could guarantee his safety.

In the end...

...his cultivation was too low.

A single line higher in the Dao represented an infinite, endless gap.

For a being of lower cultivation to hope for a lucky break in front of one with higher cultivation was like teaching a fish to swim—utterly foolish.

’The Buzhou Great Abyss, the Extreme Dao Bell, the Burning Chaos Furnace...’

Wu Dao’s thoughts raced.

’I must get my hands on the Extreme Dao Bell as soon as possible!’

Otherwise...

...he might not even be able to withstand the first wave of attack from the Mountain and Sea after the Martial Ancestor’s Dao scatters!

"Star Mother, ignore the strain on the main body and the Tao Realm. From now on, operate beyond all limits. We don’t have much time."

Wu Dao issued a command to the Star Mother, who resided deeper in the Realm Sea. Operating beyond all limits meant rapid wear on components and a swift depletion of energy.

But right now, he only wanted to grow stronger as quickly as possible, to gain the power to survive the coming Great Tribulation. Some insignificant costs could be ignored.

Now that he had stepped into the ranks of the All Heavens Emperors,

he could create the materials for All Heavens Emperor’s Soldiers with a mere thought.

This ensured the main body of the Dao Wheel could be sustainably replaced.

As for the Tao Realm and his Divine Soul...

...he would order the Primordial Sect to continue their bloody cleansing of the All Heavens while the Celestial Punishment was not yet fully unleashed. Better you die than I!

"As you command, Father God!"

Upon receiving the command, the Star Mother

showed no hesitation whatsoever.

She disengaged all limiters, unleashing its full potential.

Cracks immediately appeared on the main body of the Primordial Dao Wheel. The Tao Realm went into overload, the Dao Source was consumed at an extreme rate, and the speed of civilization deduction and construction skyrocketed!

The feedback to Wu Dao was immense.

Combined with his own extreme Cultivation,

the creation speed of his Three-Tribulation Dao Vein began to soar.

Meanwhile,

in Hongyuan, behind Shanhai Pass,

the Primordial Sect, which had only been on ’vacation’ for a few days, received the divine oracle and sprang back into action, fanatically harvesting Divine Souls and Tao Realms.

They even...

...sent numerous Priests to ignore the risks, cross the outer perimeter, and wreak havoc in the central regions of the All Heavens.

Risks?

Such things no longer existed.

With Wu Dao having entered the ranks of the All Heavens Emperors, his authority as a Creator had grown. Resurrecting a fallen Divine Envoy was now a simple matter that took almost no time at all.

While his minions worked diligently,

Wu Dao was also hard at work in the Realm Sea, upgrading to stronger Incarnations to ensure a plentiful supply of Five Tribulations Dao Source.

With the Star Mother accelerating the process at any cost,

in just half a month,

Wu Dao created a massive number of Dao Veins.

His foundational combat power stepped into the All Heavens Emperor Third Layer. With his full power unleashed, he was now only two layers away from the Guan Lord of his section of the pass.

However,

unless absolutely necessary,

Wu Dao’s Main Body would no longer make an appearance.

He would focus all his efforts on breaking through to a higher realm.

Under the pretext of having been in seclusion, he upgraded his Wushi Incarnation to the All Heavens Emperor First Layer. When this incarnation "emerged," it caused quite a stir along the defensive line.

But this was only the beginning.

The Wu Race also began to be upgraded.

One All Heavens Emperor after another.

One Peak Great Emperor after another emerged.

Although this had little impact on the overall situation with the Mountain and Sea, for Wu Dao it represented a continuous supply of provisions.

As for those below the Great Emperor Peak,

the Dao Source they could provide was too inferior.

There was no need for them to remain at Shanhai Pass. Wu Dao sent them all to the Primordial Sect to oversee and accelerate the harvesting of Tao Realms and Divine Souls.

This wasn’t just for the resources needed for the Three Tribulations.

It was mainly to accumulate what was needed for the Four Tribulations.

Because he had a premonition.

With the rise of Tribulation Qi, it wouldn’t be long before the Celestial Punishment was fully unleashed. When that happened, it would no longer be so easy for the Primordial Sect to gather resources for him.

「A few more days passed.」

The Guan Lord of Wu Dao’s defensive sector fell in battle once again, and was swiftly replaced by a new Guan Lord at the Tenth Layer of the All Heavens Emperor realm or higher.

It was also on this day

that Wu Dao received another ’old acquaintance’.

"The Heaven-Burying Emperor?"

Wu Dao was slightly surprised, not because the Heaven-Burying Emperor had recovered his cultivation so quickly, but because he was puzzled as to why he would come to this defensive sector.

His intuition told him.

He was here for him.

And sure enough.

After the Heaven-Burying Emperor arrived at the defensive sector,

during a brief lull in the fighting,

he came to the Wushi Domain, sought out Wu Dao’s Incarnation, and revealed a piece of information—

The core of the Extreme Dao Bell was indeed in the Buzhou Abyss Prison, but it was located near the deepest regions of the abyss, a place that only a Peak All Heavens Emperor could possibly traverse.

"He doesn’t need me to escape, does he?"

「Wushi Domain, Military Affairs Hall.」

Wu Dao looked at the Heaven-Burying Emperor—a man who had once placed immense pressure on him—and spoke with a calm expression.

He was genuinely curious.

The Slaughter Emperor couldn’t possibly be unaware that he was the ’Dao-stealer’.

So why continue to nurture him under these circumstances? Why even have the Heaven-Burying Emperor personally tell him the location of the final piece of the Extreme Dao Bell?

"Because the future enemy is powerful—so powerful that it forces all beings beneath them to cast aside their prejudices and join forces."

The Heaven-Burying Emperor’s expression was grave, and he no longer spoke in riddles. Perhaps Wu Dao’s current strength had earned him the right to know some secrets.

"The Great Celestial Venerable, or the Mountain and Sea?"

Wu Dao asked, his eyes narrowing slightly.

He had long suspected why the Slaughter Emperor had been defeated back then. It was definitely connected to the Great Celestial Venerable.

As for the great enemy the Heaven-Burying Emperor spoke of,

it could be either the Mountain and Sea or the Great Celestial Venerable.

"It seems you already know a few things."

The Heaven-Burying Emperor glanced at Wu Dao with a hint of surprise, then nodded.

"The World Emperor’s defeat back then was indeed related to the Great Celestial Venerable..."

A hidden story slowly came to light.

The Slaughter Emperor and Wu Dao were truly alike.

He rose from obscurity in the Divine Wilderness, with inferior talent and potential. In his youth, it was even said that he would be stuck in the mortal realm his entire life, unable to even cross the threshold into the Innate realm.

He had no heaven-defying fortune.

Nor did he have the aid of a predecessor’s legacy.

But this ordinary, insignificant little Martial Artist had forcefully carved a path for himself out of a sheer cliff face.

With a cultivation level not even at the Innate realm,

he created the *Extreme Dao Slaughter World Scripture* that would later shake the All Heavens and Myriad Realms, emulating the Way of Heaven, which "takes from the surplus to supplement the deficient."

Nourishing oneself by devouring others, entering the Dao through slaughter!

Refining the essence of all living beings in the world!

He shattered his shackles time and time again.

He turned the impossible into the possible, walking over the corpses of countless Celestial Prides and monsters to rise from the station of a mere mortal to the apex of the Divine Wilderness.

The Slaughter Emperor of that era...

...was truly a peerless talent of stunning genius.

Among his contemporaries,

only the present-day Luotian Sword Master was qualified to contend with him.

All the others—

—whether they were the so-called Sons of Revival or the Little Ancestors nurtured by the Mountain and Sea or the All Heavens Lord, paled in comparison to his brilliance.

If nothing had gone wrong,

the Slaughter Emperor would have become the bearer of the Celestial Mandate in that age, marching unstoppably toward Attainment Dao and transcendence.

Celestial Mandate.

It was a very abstract concept.

In past eras, it had never truly manifested in a concrete form or locked onto a specific being.

Instead, all living beings in the world vied for it.

It was borne by the one with the densest fortune of qi and Dao.

However, there was a catch.

To achieve the Dao, one had to initiate a Great Tribulation!

Only by infusing one’s own civilization with the Dao-fortune of an entire tribulation could one bear the Celestial Mandate, truly shatter the barrier of the Initial Tribulation, and achieve transcendence in the One Tribulation.