Chapter 445: Righteous Path Alliance

Chen Yu withdrew his hand and stood still. The boundless golden light receded like a tidal wave, converging back into his body.

The twenty-four sword cultivators at the Golden Core stage reappeared in midair, their faces still dazed.

After the sword intent faded, the lingering charm of that single strike remained within their sea of consciousness, leaving everyone savoring the experience. Some even gained new insights because of that sword strike.

Chen Yu turned around to face the crowd.

Everyone’s gaze focused on him, waiting to see what he would say.

His expression was calm, yet carried a solemn weight.

“The great heavenly calamity is imminent, and the calamity of magical creatures and demonic beasts has not yet subsided. In extraordinary times, extraordinary measures must be taken.”

“I, the Dao Leader, propose that from today onward, all major Righteous Path forces unite with one heart and mind, forming the Righteous Path Alliance. Together, we will consolidate our collective will, set the world right, and jointly confront the coming great heavenly calamity.”

The Righteous Path Alliance?

Those three words fell into their ears, causing a tremor in the hearts of all the Golden Core cultivators.

Throughout the ages, there had been attempts to command the world and unify the Righteous Path to face a great calamity.

But every attempt ultimately ended in failure.

The deep-seated animosities between sects, the unequal distribution of spiritual veins, the conflicts of Dao principles... the hearts of people were always divided. Unity was never something that could be dissolved with a single word of “solidarity.”

But this time, it seemed different.

Gu Songyue, the Sect Master of the Three Origins Sect, was the first to clasp his hands in salute: “The Three Origins Sect is willing to follow the Dao Leader’s lead.”

Behind him, Wu Shouzhuo slowly nodded, a satisfied smile full of relief spreading across his aged face.

Xue Qin, the Supreme Elder of the All-Through Dao Sect, gently tapped her walking stick and declared in a deep voice, “The All-Through Dao Sect also has no objections.”

With the leaders of the two top righteous sects of Xu Xuan Heaven expressing their stance one after another, the Golden Core cultivators of the other sects exchanged glances for a moment before bowing in salute and responding in deep voices: “We are willing to follow the Dao Leader.”

The next day, at the Hundred Mountains of the Southern Wastes.

The Dao Assembly was not interrupted by the brief conflict of the previous day. Instead, it continued to progress under the tacit understanding of all parties.

On the Dao Platform of the main hall, elders from various sects engaged in a lengthy debate over how to deal with the coming great heavenly calamity.

Meanwhile, the site for the Righteous Path Alliance Palace was also decided. It would be located in the Hundred Mountains. From this day forward, this venue for Dao discussion would become the core region governing the Righteous Path forces of Xu Xuan Heaven.

After several rounds of discussions with the sect elders, the Universal Xu Xuan Spirit Mountain Grand Formation, which Wu Shouzhuo had envisioned for most of his life, finally passed smoothly at the Dao Assembly.

In the past, the reason this grand formation had been delayed for so long was never about the difficulty of the formation itself. The crux of the problem lay in the fact that the distribution of the world’s spiritual veins had always touched the most sensitive nerves of all factions, triggering a chain reaction with a single move.

The demon beasts feared that humans would use the formation as an excuse to encroach on the marshlands’ veins, while the human sects suspected that the demon beasts would take the opportunity to infiltrate the Southern Wastes’ spiritual hubs. Mutual suspicion had persisted for centuries, keeping this grand, epoch-making vision confined to theoretical deductions.

But now, Xu Xuan Heaven had a Dao Leader.

The day before, under the watchful eyes of everyone, he had slain with a single sword strike a great demon beast on the verge of ascending.

That Devouring Demon Fox, which even Shao Qingsong and Tan Ke together had failed to suppress, hadn’t even lasted a single breath against his sword.

The remnants of the Azure Phoenix and Chi tribes in the Great Marsh, after witnessing him manifest his true dragon form, had bowed their heads and declared themselves his subjects, addressing him as Dragon Sovereign, their arrogance completely shattered.

In the eyes of humans, he was the foremost cultivator in a thousand years; in the eyes of the demon beasts, he possessed the true dragon bloodline and was the chief of all beasts.

These two identities combined made the once-entangled concerns and disputes seem insignificant in the presence of this Dao Leader.

Of course, this did not mean that the major sects had no worries at all.

But Chen Yu made a promise on the spot.

The Universal Xu Xuan Spirit Mountain Grand Formation would first be implemented as a pilot project in the Southern Wastes. Once the formation’s effects could be verified, cultivators from across the world would be invited to observe.

If this step passed verification, the formation would then be gradually promoted to other regions.

With these words, many of the elders who had lingering doubts put aside most of their concerns and began calculating something else:

Setting up the Universal Xu Xuan Spirit Mountain Grand Formation was an unprecedented and monumental project. The manpower and resources required were incalculable, and sects skilled in the methods of kingly craftsmanship would inevitably play a central role.

For those civil engineers and architects who had long been on the sidelines, this was undoubtedly a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.

Many sects were already secretly planning that, once this matter was settled, they would immediately send their disciples proficient in kingly craftsmanship to the Southern Wastes, hoping to get a piece of the pie in this grand project.

However, Chen Yu’s ambition was far greater than they imagined.

The Universal Xu Xuan Spirit Mountain Grand Formation was merely the starting point of his entire layout.

If the Universal Xu Xuan Spirit Mountain Grand Formation could be completed, the spiritual energy of heaven and earth would henceforth circulate endlessly and continuously. With abundant spiritual energy, geniuses would emerge in droves, and all paths would have greater room for development and breakthroughs.

Benefiting the present age and bringing profit for a thousand years—this statement was by no means an exaggeration.

But this wasn’t enough.

The Universal Xu Xuan Spirit Mountain Grand Formation could only determine the potential of Xu Xuan Heaven, but it could not raise its upper limit.

Unlike Zeyarila, once cultivators in Xu Xuan Heaven reached the late Golden Core stage and their comprehension of the Great Dao was perfected, they would, at a certain moment of spiritual inspiration, be guided away. They would shatter the void and ascend to the upper realm.

As for where they ascended to, no one knew.

The accounts in ancient texts were vague, and the records in various sects’ scriptures were often contradictory.

Some said it was a world far more vast than Xu Xuan Heaven, while others believed that ascension was merely the dissolution of the physical body, merging with the Great Dao.

It was precisely because of this ascension mechanism that the power ceiling of Xu Xuan Heaven was capped at the late Golden Core stage.

Once one surpassed this boundary, they were forced to leave this world, unable to stay.

This was what put them in a passive position when facing outer-realm demigods.

Throughout the entirety of Xu Xuan Heaven, no cultivator could remain in their complete form above the Golden Core stage. Naturally, no one could truly contend with outer-realm entities.

If this were Zeyarila, things wouldn’t be so complicated.

Over there, Professionals could break through their limits step by step by advancing to Legendary, igniting divine fire, and forging Divine Essence. Each step had a relatively clear path to follow.

Giant Dragons had the protection of the Dragon God, Elves had the shelter of their ancestors, and even Demons had their Abyssal Lords to back them up.

But in Xu Xuan Heaven, once a cultivator reached the end of the Golden Core stage, they could only face that ascension gate to the unknown alone. No one knew what lay behind it, and no one, after crossing that threshold, could come back to tell later generations what kind of world it was.

His idea was to figure out what this so-called “ascension” really was. Then, he would completely reform Xu Xuan Heaven, open a stable passage that could allow for round trips to the “upper realm,” and make ascension no longer irreversible.

If ascension truly existed, it should become the norm, not the endpoint.

He wanted those cultivators who had ascended to still have the opportunity to return to Xu Xuan Heaven.

Of course, he wasn’t sure whether the “upper realm” even existed.

It was also possible that the essence of ascension was not actually going to a higher-level plane.

The deeper his understanding of this world, the more he felt that Xu Xuan Heaven’s ascension was full of doubts.

Why must ascension occur at the late Golden Core stage?

Why was ascension irreversible?

Why had no ascender ever sent back a message?

The answers these doubts pointed to might not align with his expectations.

Even connecting to the upper realm might not be as wonderful as he thought.

With the emergence of stronger beings often came manipulation and monopoly.

As long as ascenders hadn’t lost their humanity, conflicts over power, resources, and Dao lineage were inevitable.

This held true everywhere, regardless of the location.

But no matter what, the true nature of ascension had to be figured out.

Perhaps there was another way out hidden within it—a path that didn’t require ascension but could still deal with enemies from beyond the world.

However, before realizing this idea, he needed to do one thing first: cultivate a Golden Core transcendent.

With his current cultivation, forcibly shattering the void to ascend was not a difficult feat.

But until he had uncovered the truth about ascension, he couldn’t possibly use himself as a test subject.

In recent years, there had been circulating conspiracy theories about ascension within Xu Xuan Heaven.

Some cultivators privately suspected that so-called ascension was merely a beautified term for the dissolution of the soul and its return to the cycle of spiritual energy.

In simple terms, it was death.

That ascenders throughout history had sent back no news could be interpreted as transcending the mortal world and being free from all things. But it could also be explained as the dissipation of the soul and consciousness completely merging with the Great Dao, becoming part of the rules governing this world’s operation, and thus naturally being unable to send any messages back.

Cultivating an ascender was neither particularly difficult nor particularly easy.

For a Golden Core cultivator to go from the late stage to the step of sensing the heavenly mechanism required accumulation and opportunities that varied from person to person.

But he already had a preliminary idea.

He just needed time.

Apart from the discussion on the Universal Xu Xuan Spirit Mountain Grand Formation, the focus of this Dao Assembly was how to deal with that outer-realm demon beast lurking beyond the Abyss.

Wu Shouzhuo’s brows were tightly knit, his tone heavy: “That great demon beast is clearly beyond what Golden Core-level power can handle. Once it breaks through the boundaries of the Abyss and enters Xu Xuan Heaven, the consequences would be unimaginable.”

Xue Qin slowly shook her head and sighed: “But we are trapped by the Golden Core lifespan. Even if we spend our entire lives honing our Dao arts, we’re merely spinning in the same pond.”

“Even if someone could surpass the Golden Core in their Dao arts, they would immediately trigger the celestial phenomenon of ascension and be forced to leave Xu Xuan Heaven. How, then, could they deal with that Dao-destroying demon beast?”

Chen Yu sat cross-legged in the main seat. It wasn’t that he had no ideas.

If he couldn’t raise his cultivation level, perhaps raising his Magical Creature rank to the demigod level would allow him to confront that Astral Realm creature with his physical body.

But demigods weren’t cabbages sold by the pound at a market; they weren’t something you could just achieve at will.

The Empire’s Astral Realm exploration was still ongoing, but no breakthrough news had been reported yet.

For now, the only hope was that the Empire could quickly find the Astral Realm coordinates of the Abyss.

Once the coordinates were locked, they might be able to seek help from the Giant Dragons.

Just as the atmosphere was growing a bit somber, Zhuang Weisheng, an elder from Blissful Heaven, slowly stood up. He clasped his hands in salute to everyone present and spoke: “Everyone, this old man may have a plan.”

His voice cut through the chatter on the Dao Platform, and all eyes turned to him.

Zhuang Weisheng took a deep breath and said: “At the root, the difficulty still lies in the boundaries of this world. The late Golden Core stage is the limit of a Heavenly Being. Once surpassed, ascension is forced, and no one can remain in Xu Xuan Heaven in a transcendent state.”

“But what if it’s not a person that crosses that boundary, but an object?”

These words were startling, shaking all the Golden Core cultivators present. Their eyes gleamed with thought.

Chen Yu vaguely guessed his idea. He nodded slightly, indicating for him to continue.

Zhuang Weisheng didn’t keep them in suspense. He continued: “You all should know that Blissful Heaven produces only formation cultivators. Just now, I carefully examined the Universal Xu Xuan Spirit Mountain Grand Formation proposed by Elder Wu. I deeply feel that while this formation’s scope is grand, it is not without room for further optimization.”

He looked at Wu Shouzhuo, then glanced around at all the sects present. “My idea is to lay down a Heavenly Formation on top of the Universal Xu Xuan Spirit Mountain Grand Formation.”

“The Earth Formation will govern nourishment, nurturing the spiritual veins and flourishing all things, just as Elder Wu envisioned. The Heavenly Formation will govern slaughter and warfare, remaining hidden and inactive in normal times, not disturbing the Earth Formation’s operation.”

“The spiritual energy of heaven and earth will still circulate, and the growth of all things will remain as usual. But if that outer-realm demon beast truly breaks through the Abyss and steps into Xu Xuan Heaven, the Heavenly Formation will activate in response.”

“Blissful Heaven is willing to exhaust all its efforts to design this formation. Using the world’s spiritual veins as its foundation, we may enable the Heavenly Formation to possess transcendent power.”

“Of course, the specific design of this Heavenly Formation, and where its formation foundations should be placed, this old man will need to return to Heavenly Mountain to discuss in detail with my fellow sect brothers.”

“Here and now, I sincerely invite all formation cultivators under heaven to journey to Heavenly Mountain and discuss the grand plan of these two formations, Heaven and Earth.”

A buzz of discussion rose on the Dao Platform.

Although Zhuang Weisheng’s proposal was bold, upon closer thought, it was surprisingly reliable.

Using formations as a medium to convert the spiritual energy of heaven and earth into offensive power was theoretically feasible. It was just that no one before had ever dared to imagine such a colossal scale.

The moment Zhuang Weisheng finished speaking, an elder from the Eight Wastelands abruptly stood up, his voice booming: “Dao Leader! We also have something to say!”

He took a deep breath and clasped his hands in salute: “Since the Righteous Path Alliance can gather the power of all cultivators under heaven through external means, then magical artifacts should also be a viable path.”

“Our Eight Wastelands has specialized in artifact forging for generations. We are the most skilled in the art of refinement. If we can gather the Dao insights of all the Golden Core cultivators into a single entity and forge a never-before-seen Great Dao artifact, it may be possible to give birth to transcendent power.”

Gu Songyue clasped his hands and asked: “It’s not that I doubt your sect’s forging skills, but this thousand-Dao object would need to merge the insights of different Golden Cores. Each insight carries the original owner’s soul imprint. They would conflict with one another, and the Great Dao would not tolerate it.”

“I fear that before the lesser Dao artifact is even forged, it would already be destroyed in the furnace. Even if it luckily takes shape, with such a motley artifact, I doubt anyone could wield it.”

The elder from the Eight Wastelands laughed heartily, his voice like a great bell: “Sect Master Gu’s point is well taken. Under normal circumstances, this is indeed the case.”

“But the Grand Void Contemplation Dao of your Four Wastelands is not comparable to ordinary artifact refinement methods. You can not only contemplate things that exist, but even things that don’t exist, and use that to forge the most suitable Dao embryo.”

He fixed his gaze with burning intensity: “Forging a lesser Dao artifact is indeed extremely difficult. But if we can gather the power of all artifact refiners under heaven, then this matter may not be impossible.”

He paused briefly, then turned his gaze toward the white-robed figure in the main seat: “As for the artifact’s master, I believe the Dao Leader is the most suitable candidate, isn’t he?”

Everyone suddenly understood.

They remembered Chen Yu’s shocking method of borrowing swords from the day before.

Twenty-four completely different sword Daos had merged into him at the same moment, transforming into that sword strike that spanned heaven and earth.

With such a divine method of merging multiple Daos, it seemed not impossible for him to wield an artifact that similarly contained multiple insights.

Chen Yu lowered his head in thought for a moment.

The method of borrowing Daos through Gel Fusion could not actually be applied to inanimate objects. But if he used the Dao Gel containing the Embryonic Yuan Slime Dao as the embryo to forge this artifact, he might be able to unleash one or two-tenths of the Great Dao artifact’s power.

Although it was somewhat regrettable, that one or two-tenths would likely be sufficient.

However, upon closer examination of the principles, this Great Dao artifact would actually be more suitable for a cultivator with a pure mind and no prior Dao enlightenment to use.

Without one’s own Dao, there would be no conflict with the multiple Daos condensed within the artifact.

But the problem was that a cultivator needed at least a Golden Core to refine and activate a magical artifact. And to achieve a Golden Core, one must necessarily comprehend a Dao.

This created a deadlock.

Without one’s own Dao, one could not become a Golden Core. Without being a Golden Core, one could not activate a Great Dao artifact.

And a Golden Core cultivator would inevitably clash with the Daos of others within the artifact.

The path proposed by the Eight Wastelands might not be truly feasible.

But he didn’t pour cold water on them publicly. Instead, he handed a gel clone to the elder of the Eight Wastelands, allowing him to summon artifact refiners from across the world under the name of the Righteous Path Alliance and attempt to forge this Great Dao artifact together.

After this Dao Assembly concluded, Chen Yu did not stay long in the Hundred Mountains.

He left only a few Golden Core elders stationed there to oversee the initial construction of the Righteous Path Alliance Palace. Then, together with his fellow disciples from the Three Origins Sect, he set off and returned to the sect.

The first thing he did upon returning to the sect was to formally take Guo Dong’s clone as his disciple. Along the way, he also included the Qi Training clone and Shao Qingsong.

Shao Qingsong was one of the first friends he had made after coming to this world, and he had treated him well. Chen Yu gave him a gel clone as a Fake Core to help him with his insights.

If he could comprehend the Great Dao from this, his path forward would be smooth from then on.

If not, this gel clone could protect him in critical moments and ensure his safety.

When Shao Qingsong received the Fake Core from his master, he was somewhat flattered, feeling a bit dizzy from the whole experience.

So, had he caught the attention of the Supreme Elder?

A few days later, scattered rumors began circulating within the sect.

It was said that, besides him, more than twenty other Foundation Establishment cultivators in the sect had also received Fake Cores bestowed by the Supreme Elder.

Some disciples privately sighed in admiration. This Fake Core was truly marvelous. Ever since they began nurturing it, comprehending the Great Dao had become as easy as eating and drinking.

Those obscure and difficult scriptures and classics, when reread, now had their profound meanings naturally surfacing between the lines. It was as if the barrier that had once existed had completely vanished.

If this continued, the Three Origins Sect would have more than twenty new Golden Core cultivators in the near future.

The speed of this accumulation of depth could no longer be described merely as shocking the past and present.

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