Chapter 568: [Dao Celestial Stele!]

Shanhai Pass, Nine Heavens Pass.

The first Garrison City, Mountain and Sea City.

BUZZ—

The light of the Super Star Hub faded.

Wu Dao and a group of other conscripted All Heavens Emperors stepped off the altar. They had yet to take in the desolate grandeur of Shanhai Pass.

RUMBLE—

A sound like thunderous, rolling waves.

It came crashing in from the farthest reaches.

A tide of the Great Dao stirred, shaking infinite, boundless, and limitless dimensions. In that instant, the vast Shanhai Pass became a lone boat in a raging sea—rocking precariously, yet stubbornly holding its ground.

BOOM!!

When that tide had built to its absolute limit.

The immense wave suddenly slammed against the dike outside Shanhai Pass that severed all things, stirring up a bizarre and fantastical curtain of spacetime.

Within each droplet of the splashing spray.

Wu Dao observed all sorts of Dao Rules and orders from the ancient Taichu era—the untamed Power of the Great Dao when it first created the Celestial Realm Space-Time of the All Heavens Domains.

Inside the droplets,

endless dimensions were being born and destroyed.

Universes of the All Heavens and Myriad Realms were forged and extinguished within those water droplets. The massive wave, formed from this collective, created an extremely abstract and grotesque scene.

Any being whose form of life was not advanced enough

would have been instantly overwhelmed and burst apart by the sheer volume of information carried by the great wave striking Shanhai Pass.

“So this is the Taichu Universe Sea? Ancient legends say Shanhai Pass is a ruined domain opened up by Hongyuan. The closer a Celestial Gate is to the Sea of Chaos, the more ancient and wild its spacetime structure.”

“That’s right. The layout of Nine Heavens Pass simulates the rebirth of the Great Dao, the ancient form of the All Heavens and Myriad Realms at the moment of their creation.”

“The myriad Dao Rules within the Great Dao are too primitive and violent. Even as a Tenth Heaven Heavenly Emperor, I feel terribly suppressed. My inner civilization-universe feels like it’s being stretched taut, on the verge of being torn apart by the domain’s field.”

“That’s normal. Nine Heavens Pass is a Primordial Battlefield. Besides the field of the Taichu Universe Sea, there are also various destructive fields left behind by Primordial Chaos battles.”

“Primordial Chaos… Within the Dao, Primordial Chaos is the limit. Beings of this sequence are as rare as a phoenix’s feather in all the heavens. That’s why there usually aren’t any battles at Nine Heavens Pass. But when there are, All Heavens Emperors are nothing but cannon fodder.”

…

‘Within the Dao, Primordial Chaos is the limit.’

Wu Dao listened to the discussions of the other All Heavens Emperors. With his past perspective, he would have agreed. But now, he was noncommittal.

Because above Primordial Chaos,

there were still Near-Path Seekers and Dao Artifacts.

And even…

beings like the Great Celestial Venerable.

A person’s perspective and understanding

expand with the information they are exposed to.

When he first came to Hongyuan,

Wu Dao had thought that Great Emperors were the most incredible figures in Hongyuan. He even had the ridiculous notion that Hongyuan had, at most, a few thousand Great Emperors.

He was once proud of collecting Emperor Scriptures.

But after coming to Shanhai Pass,

and truly witnessing Hongyuan’s hidden depths,

he finally understood.

Great Emperors were nothing at all. Even the stronger All Heavens Emperors were expendable. Only Extreme Primordial Chaos cultivators could be called true giants.

However,

he was also grateful for his previously narrow perspective.

If he had been overambitious and come to Shanhai Pass earlier, his starting point wouldn’t have been the Five Celestial Passes. Under the deterrent of Celestial Punishment, he would have never been able to collect Hongyuan’s Emperor Scriptures.

He might not even,

have been able to create the Three Lives Stage.

As for Mountain and Sea’s Emperor Scriptures,

the Mountain and Sea Dao had not yet fully formed.

The All Things Tribulations stage of his Essence Devouring Art would have been impossible to carry out, and it was hard to say how his Primordial Magnetism Path and Essence Devouring Art might have been warped.

‘It’s true that there are few battles at Nine Heavens Pass. And in the time I’ve been at Shanhai Pass, I haven’t heard any news of a Primordial Chaos expert dying in battle.’

His thoughts returned to the present.

As Wu Dao followed the personnel from the Elder Council’s military department to the dike where he would take up his post, his mind was on the battle situation at Nine Heavens Pass.

The phrase “Within the Dao, Primordial Chaos is the limit”

was a bit of an exaggeration,

but it was enough to illustrate the power of the Primordial Domain. Every Primordial Chaos being was one of the main constructs within the Great Dao.

Their Dao Essence radiated out, suffusing the Great Dao’s heavens.

They stood at the very source of a Dao, their own civilizations intrinsically linked to its fate. Therefore, as long as the Dao did not perish, neither would they.

The only time they could be killed

was when immeasurable Tribulation Qi threw the Dao into chaos.

The connection between a Primordial Chaos civilization and the Great Dao would be infinitely weakened, making it difficult for them to return via their Dao Essence.

But even that was incredibly difficult.

This was because the lifeform of a Primordial Chaos being was a conceptual existence, even more terrifying than being indestructible through ten thousand calamities. It was absolutely impossible to refine an opponent of the same realm and level to death.

The reason no Primordial Chaos expert had died at Nine Heavens Pass

was precisely this.

The number of All Heavens Primordial Chaos beings in the two realms was too small. They were all known by name, registered and recorded from the First to the Thirty-Third Heaven in both realms.

There was no such thing as hiding.

Therefore,

every time the two realms went to war,

they would basically be matched up for one-on-one combat. There was no opportunity for the strong to bully the weak. There were only clear victories and defeats, no glorious sacrifices. Neither side dared to sacrifice a Primordial Chaos being carelessly.

Another point worth mentioning is that

for an All Heavens Emperor to become a Primordial Chaos being,

ordinary destiny is simply not enough to fuel the civilization’s advancement. The transformation from a Heavenly Emperor to a Primordial Chaos being is just too terrifying.

Only the cake of a One-Tribulation’s Dao fortune,

by taking a piece of it,

could an All Heavens Emperor achieve the Primordial Chaos realm.

Thus, the current Primordial Chaos beings

are basically a bunch of old fossils and living relics, the beneficiaries of All Tribulations. The youngest Five-Tribulations Primordial Chaos being is already hundreds of thousands of years old.

This creates a rather abstract contradiction.

If a tribulation isn’t initiated,

one cannot reach Primordial Chaos or achieve Attainment Dao.

But initiating a tribulation

is destined to bring darkness to All Heavens.

Fortunately,

Wu Dao did not yet face this limitation.

His body was like the Great Dao, compatible with ten thousand Daos.

His Primordial Magnetism Path had no incompatibility with other Dao civilizations, allowing him to directly plunder the great fortunes of the myriad Dao’s Civilization Fruits.

He could even

“exploit” the Great Dao before he had even achieved his own Dao.

For him,

the biggest stumbling block was likely the fortune of civilization required for Dao attainment. The living beings beneath the Dao could not possibly satisfy his needs.

Wu Dao even suspected

that even if he became the “Celestial Mandate” of this tribulation, the final victor, the fortune of a One-Tribulation Dao still wouldn’t be enough for his Primordial Magnetism Path to truly achieve Attainment Dao.

Because according to the current trend,

his Primordial Magnetism Path would have reached a Five-Tribulations Dao Practice by the time he approached Attainment Dao. He couldn’t possibly throw away a watermelon to pick up a sesame seed—to painstakingly build a Five-Tribulations Dao Foundation only to have a mere One Tribulation’s worth when he transcended.

Not to mention,

trying to contend with the Great Celestial Venerable with just a One-Tribulation Dao Practice

was likely unrealistic.

How to fight his way out of this encirclement, and how to achieve a “grand slam” Attainment Dao afterward?

This became the foremost question in Wu Dao’s mind.

He had some rough ideas, of course.

But there was no getting around Mountain and Sea, the Great Celestial Venerable, and the other powerful competitors of the sixth Dao tribulation.

Phew—

As his thoughts ebbed and flowed,

Wu Dao followed the Guiding Envoy from Shanhai Pass and arrived at the location of Nine Heavens Pass’s center of power: the Elder Council.

After entering this area,

he could clearly sense vast, magnificent auras lying dormant, like abysses of the Great Dao rising and falling. They carried the majestic might of one that could swallow everything and dominate a concept of the Dao.

Gazes, one after another.

They were calm and rippleless, as profound as the firmament.

They probed him from unknown, distant spacetime Dao fields, landing upon his body.

But they only lingered for a moment before withdrawing.

There was no domineering or condescending air, nor could he feel any emotion. They seemed to be passionless and desireless Supreme Gods.

But Wu Dao knew

that this was just an illusion.

To be passionless and desireless is to be empty and without wisdom.

As long as a being possessed wisdom and autonomy, it was impossible for it to be devoid of passion and desire—unless it was merely a cold, running program.

Who knows?

Perhaps right now, deep within the Elder Council,

some old coot was staring at him like a tiger, burning with insatiable hunger. It was just that their essence was too high for him to notice.

Speaking of that old coot,

he had to admit they were hidden incredibly well.

So far, the Commander’s Law Enforcement Team had only confirmed that the “big tiger” was one of the Elders.

Without a precise target,

they didn’t dare act rashly and alert the enemy.

Because the cost was too great.

The original nine Grand Elders of the Elder Council were all at the Primordial Peak cultivation level. If they acted rashly without confirming the target,

once violence erupted,

there would be no Celestial Punishment in Nine Heavens Pass to stop them!

After leaving the Elder Council’s area,

“Have there been no major battles at Nine Heavens Pass recently?”

Wu Dao perceived the vast Magnetic Field information he had observed along the way, knowing those auras belonged to the Primordial Strong People of Nine Heavens Pass. He couldn’t help but pose the question to the Guiding Envoy.

“One just ended half a month ago.”

The envoy guiding Wu Dao was a member of the Law Enforcement Department, a Peak Immortal Dao Heavenly Emperor. He replied tersely.

Finally,

as if he felt Wu Dao was somewhat special, he added a word of reminder:

“The conflicts between Primordial Chaos beings rarely result in victory, defeat, or death. Their battlefields are mostly in the depths of the Taichu Universe Sea and won’t affect the All Heavens Emperors. Therefore, the key to victory or defeat at Nine Heavens Pass always lies with those below the Primordial Chaos realm. For now, at least.”

“Is that so? Thank you for the reminder.”

Wu Dao nodded his thanks.

In just a few short sentences, the Guiding Envoy had summed up the situation at Nine Heavens Pass with perfect clarity.

Primordial Chaos beings don’t face victory, defeat, or death.

That’s because they have already reached the normal limit within the Dao. Any existence that can reach this step is a peerless figure of their generation, and there are basically no innate advantages or gaps between them.

The only difference

is who is a Layer higher than whom.

But with the small number of Primordial Chaos beings fighting in matched pairs, such a disparity doesn’t occur.

Thus,

the role of a Hongyuan Primordial Giant

is basically to hold back the Primordial Chaos beings of Mountain and Sea.

The key to victory or defeat every time still lies in the slaughter among the All Heavens Emperors and Great Emperors below the Primordial Chaos realm.

The Guiding Envoy’s deliberate reminder

was to tell Wu Dao

that the battlefields of Nine Heavens Pass are far more brutal than those of Eight Celestial Passes. Even Peak Heavenly Emperors are not particularly valuable here. He must not be careless or arrogant.

Judging by the current tragic state of Nine Heavens Pass,

with not even five percent of its territory remaining,

was enough to show

that in past wars, Hongyuan’s All Heavens Emperors were basically no match for those of Mountain and Sea. Perhaps it was a matter of numbers, or perhaps an Innate gap.

In short,

once an All Heavens Emperor sets foot in Nine Heavens Pass, they basically have one foot on the path to a glorious death.

In just three short years,

without reinforcements from All Heavens, it was said that less than ten percent of Shanhai Pass’s original All Heavens Emperors now remained.

‘That is…’

After leaving the Elder Council’s district in Mountain and Sea City,

Wu Dao raised his eyes and finally spotted, at the center of the vast city’s network of domain fields, the world-shaking Celestial Stele he had long heard about—

the main body of the Dao Celestial Stele!

Upholding the Great Dao above, suppressing Mountain and Sea below!

Endless rosy clouds and auspicious light swirled in a bizarre and fantastical display.

Layer upon layer, it propped up the All Heavens and Myriad Realms. Everything that existed and would exist, all the myriad phenomena of the Great Dao, seemed to be contained within that single stele.

It was so magnificent and towering that even with Wu Dao’s current perspective and understanding, he could not observe the slightest trace of the Celestial Stele’s true form.

The amount of information it carried,

as if he were truly facing the unnamable Great Dao itself,

made Wu Dao “dizzy.”

He could only vaguely sense

that all the Magnetic Field networks and information of Shanhai Pass’s Ten Celestial Passes, as well as the destinies of all beings and all phenomena, seemed to converge and intertwine there, suppressed by the Dao Celestial Stele.

Perhaps,

this was one of the sources of the Dao Celestial Stele’s power as a Dao Artifact. The manifestation of the Great Dao had unified the Magnetic Field Power of the Ten Celestial Passes. Its greatness was unimaginable.

The core of Shanhai Pass’s Magnetic Field network…

Wu Dao took a deep look at the somewhat illusory, or rather, weakened Dao Celestial Stele, and withdrew his Magnetic Field perception, which was aching from the overload of information.

The Dao Celestial Stele unified the entire Magnetic Field.

That wasn’t entirely accurate.

Because the Dao Celestial Stele could not completely unify the Magnetic Field Power of the forbidden zones in Shanhai Pass where Tribulation Qi had settled.

This was also what Wu Dao was currently doing.

Every time he advanced,

after satisfying his own Cultivation needs, he would secretly dispatch his surplus Incarnations to the various forbidden zones of Shanhai Pass to sort out their networks.

Whether he could succeed or not was another matter.

The real tragedy would be not daring to do anything at all.