Chapter 894: Failure of the Fourth Step of Dao

Ding Huan established the Grand Universe Dao Court, but he did not enact any laws or punish those who had served the Zi River World and the Wan Sha World.

In fact, Ding Huan had never left Wanda City at all.

All affairs were handled by a few Pillars of the new Dao Court.

Thus, the entire Grand Universe remained exactly as it was before, with not the slightest change.

Or rather, no other changes would occur in the Grand Universe until the Tianmeng Clan's cultivators fully invaded the human races of the Grand Universe.

This current arrangement.

The most satisfied person was Zhuo Qingfeng; though he did not command the cultivator army, in Wanda City, he was publicly the one with the most influence.

Ding Huan and Ling Zhuzhen were in seclusion, Feng Pu and Yi Qi controlled the cultivator army, and only he could manage Wanda City's affairs.

Now he was no longer the Dao Ancestor—yet what difference was there between what he did now and what a Dao Ancestor did?

His power had not weakened; it seemed to have grown even greater.

As for Feng Pu and Yi Qi controlling the cultivator army, he cared not at all.

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Ding Huan is the Lord of the Dao Court—your cultivator army, Feng Pu and Yi Qi, ultimately isn't still subject to Ding Huan's command?

If Ding Huan tells you to go east, how could you possibly go west?

During his time managing Wanda City, he not only greatly increased his prestige but also acquired many rare treasures.

Wanda City is now the foremost Dao City in the Grand Universe, and Ding Huan has lifted restrictions on human cultivators entering.

Cultivators from all corners come here to trade.

The cave dwellings, shops, and other resources here are all allocated by Zhuo Qingfeng.

Moreover, the protective array blocking the Wanda Mountain Range is also under Zhuo Qingfeng's management—how could he not be elated?

…

The finest cave dwelling in Wanda City was naturally where Ding Huan was in seclusion.

Ding Huan had implanted twenty top-grade Dao veins here, along with that half-supreme Dao vein.

He intended to use these resources to achieve the Fourth Step of Dao through his own Dao world.

Thus, Ding Huan entrusted all matters to others, unwilling to let anyone disturb his attempt to achieve the Fourth Step.

Unfortunately, even Jia Baihe, who trained beside Ding Huan, had reached the Eighth Transformation Saint, and Yi Jie had entered the Seventh-Level Sacred Beast realm.

Only Ding Huan's cultivation remained stuck in the Creation Saint realm.

After centuries of seclusion, aside from his Dao foundation growing deeper and his own world becoming more refined, he had made not the slightest progress toward the Fourth Step.

Ding Huan knew clearly: he could not continue in seclusion.

Perhaps after another few thousand or even tens of thousands of years, he might perceive the Fourth Step through his own Dao and generate his own Dao laws to achieve it.

But he did not have that much time.

In his judgment, the peace of the Wanda Mountain Range would not last more than two thousand years.

Even less than a thousand years remained before the Tianmeng Clan's elites emerged.

When they emerged, it would be an utter catastrophe for the human cultivators of the Grand Universe.

At that point, what meaning would there be for him to remain in seclusion here?

Ding Huan sensed the location where Ling Zhuzhen was in seclusion; beneath the vast number of Dao veins, Ling Zhuzhen's cultivation should have recovered to the Sixth Step of Dao.

That level of cultivation was clearly insufficient.

Ding Huan decided to change strategy.

Since he could not reach the Fourth Step of Dao in the short term, his original strategy could no longer be used.

Originally, he had planned to wait until he reached the Fourth Step of Dao before entering the Wanda Mountain Range to deploy the Tianmeng Clan's gene-killing Dao law.

Now that he had failed to reach the Fourth Step, merely deploying such a law would be meaningless.

This killing law would only enrage the Tianmeng Clan's elites, prompting them to emerge sooner and exterminate the human races of the Grand Universe.

"Lord Dao…"

Upon hearing Ding Huan had emerged from seclusion, Zhuo Qingfeng was the first to rush over.

Ding Huan's divine sense swept across the bustling Wanda City, and he internally marveled at the fellow's competence.

"You've done well. I'll take a stroll through the Wanda Mountain Range," Ding Huan praised Zhuo Qingfeng.

Zhuo Qingfeng exhaled in relief.

He had worried Ding Huan might make a fuss and hold him accountable for exploiting his position as acting mayor of Wanda City to hunt for rare treasures.

Since Ding Huan did not mention it, he clearly did not care.

"Lord Dao, be careful—our people say that recently, Tianmeng Clan cultivators have approached the outer protective array of Wanda City."

Zhuo Qingfeng immediately said.

As expected, Ding Huan felt a heavy weight in his heart.

He knew exactly what the Tianmeng Clan intended, and he knew precisely what the human cultivators of the Grand Universe were about to face—yet he simply lacked the power to change it.

"Dao Ancestor!"

Feng Pu and Yi Qi, who controlled the cultivator army, also came to pay their respects upon hearing Ding Huan had emerged from seclusion.

Ding Huan nodded, spoke no further with these three former Dao Ancestors, and directly entered the Wanda Mountain Range.

If there was truly no way to stop the Tianmeng Clan, then they could only retreat from the Grand Universe.

"The Lord Dao seems somewhat weighed down," Zhuo Qingfeng naturally understood why, and his tone carried a similar heaviness.

"He's probably worried about the Tianmeng Clan—their cultivators are now nearly pressed against our protective array in the Wanda Mountain Range."

"I estimate the Tianmeng Clan will soon attack Wanda City."

Feng Pu sighed—he knew perfectly well why Ding Huan was troubled, and he was anxious too.

He was very clear that if the Tianmeng Clan really attacked, as long as there were strong cultivators who could hold a few of them back, the total annihilation of the human cultivators of the Great Universe would only be a matter of time.

The key was that if, as Ling Zhuzhen said, the Tianmeng Clan still had powerhouses from before the Great Universe's Calamity of Eras, they simply could not stop these people.

Not to mention anything else, just one Ling Zhuzhen, merely at the Fifth Step of the Great Dao, could already contend with Dao Ancestor Qingsha.

This was the gap in strength between Saints before the Great Universe's Calamity of Eras and the Saints of today.

Ding Huan, this Lord of the Dao Court, could even kill at the Creation realm

Dao Ancestor Zihe of the Sixth Step of the Great Dao.

So their Dao was very poor — this was an indisputable fact.

Yi Qi hesitated for a moment and said, "Perhaps there is one more reason…"

Seeing that Zhuo Qingfeng and Feng Pu were both looking at him, Yi Qi then said, "Dao Lord Ding's Great Dao is very extraordinary. It can be said that after stepping into the Fourth Step, even Ling Tingzhu's Great Dao is inferior to his.

Precisely because his Great Dao is so extraordinary, he worries about one thing — and that is karmic upheaval.

We all know that Dao Lord Ding did it for the human cultivators of our Great Universe.

But the abolishment of the various worlds within the Great Universe, the abolishment of the Dao Ancestor titles, and the formation of the Dao Court are all related to Dao Lord Ding Huan…"

Yi Qi did not finish the rest of his words, but Feng Pu and Zhuo Qingfeng both understood in their hearts.

Everyone tactfully did not continue to bring it up.

The meaning was that Ding Huan had abolished the Dao Ancestors and the various worlds of the Great Universe, and organized the cultivator army.

If these changes had no effect whatsoever, and they still could not withstand the Tianmeng Clan's invasion, and even led to the total annihilation of the human cultivators of the Great Universe,

then this enormous karma, Ding Huan would bear for certain.

The Great Universe is the highest-grade star continent in this plane, involving the fate of all human cultivators of the Great Universe — that is no small karma.

Moreover, after Ding Huan established the Dao Court, he also abolished the restrictions on entering the Great Universe.

In other words, the current number of cultivators in the Great Universe is several times more than before, and that's not even the limit.

Ding Huan's Great Dao is extraordinary; once such a Great Dao bears such enormous karma, it absolutely cannot advance a single further step.

Anyone would be anxious about it.

……

Ding Huan once again entered the Myriad Dao Mountain Range. He did not know that the few Dao Ancestors he had dismissed actually felt he was worried about karmic influence.

If he had known, he would only have treated it as a joke.

If he wanted to prove an ordinary Fourth Step Great Dao, he would have done so long ago.

What he wanted now was to prove the Fourth Step Great Dao by perfecting the laws of his own universe.

Proving the Dao through the laws of one's own universe, external karmic causes of billions could not affect him either.

Two Tianmeng Clan cultivators saw that Ding Huan, this human cultivator, actually dared to come to the Myriad Dao Mountain Range, and without hesitation rushed over.

Ding Huan did not even bring out his Calamity-Breaking Blade, and very cleanly threw out a punch.

The spatial tearing carried by this punch blasted one Tianmeng Clan cultivator at the Five-Turn Saint realm and one at the Seven-Turn Saint realm into fragments, and their worlds were directly torn open.

Apart from a few Dao veins being swept away by Ding Huan, there was nothing else that caught Ding Huan's eye.

However, this punch made Ding Huan think of a problem.

Since he could derive a genetic slaughter law targeting the Tianmeng Clan through the Tianmeng Clan's genetic laws, he could equally derive other Tianmeng genetic laws.

For example, the Law of Forgetting — it seemed the Tianmeng Clan had previously cast the Law of Forgetting on human cultivators.

Another example, the Law of Obscuring the Great Dao…

Weren't those Tianmeng Clan powerhouses planning to recover their strength through the resources of the Myriad Dao Mountain Range?

He would make it so these Tianmeng Clan powerhouses could never recover their strength.

He might even make these Tianmeng Clan cultivators forget that they were the ones meant to exterminate the human race.

The Law of Obscuring the Great Dao was not strong enough; best would be the Law of Corroding the Great Dao's foundation…

Through the Tianmeng Clan's bloodline genetic laws, derive a law that corrodes and even collapses the Great Dao foundations of Tianmeng Clan powerhouses.

The more Ding Huan thought about it, the more feasible it seemed.

Others could not do it, but he could.

If his Great Universe Art could not even do this, what was the point of talking about proving the Fourth Step Dao through his own universe's laws?

To prove the Fourth Step Dao, the unknown laws and world laws he would derive were beyond counting.

What difficulty was there in deriving one more genetic law that collapses the Tianmeng Clan's Great Dao?

"Pa pa!" An abrupt sound of clapping rang out.

Then someone said, "Dao friend has such great courage, daring to enter the Myriad Dao Mountain Range all alone."

Ding Huan was immersed in the excitement of having thought of a countermeasure. Hearing this voice, his first instinct was to bring out the Calamity-Breaking Blade.

The other party could appear before him without his noticing — this was by no means an ordinary person.

Standing before Ding Huan was a young man with extraordinary bearing and handsome looks.

Ding Huan never cared whether a man's appearance was handsome, because in his heart the Great Dao was the fundamental measure of a person.

He cultivated the Great Universe Art, and as the laws of all things in the universe he constructed gradually perfected, his appearance and physical body also tended toward perfection.

Ding Huan had never taken these to heart either.

It was simply that the man before him was too perfect, while he himself, due to wandering the void year-round, still had some vicissitudes on his face.

The fellow before his eyes, apart from being handsome, could only be described as elegant and poised.

Clearly he was in the Myriad Dao Mountain Range, clearly this place was full of Tianmeng Clan cultivators — for a human cultivator to be able to hide here was already impressive, let alone maintain such poise; it was truly rare.

"If I am not mistaken, Dao friend should be Ding Huan, the Lord of the Dao Court of the Great Universe." The handsome man cupped his fists, his tone carrying a natural亲和力.

Ding Huan nodded and returned the courtesy: "I am indeed Ding Huan. May I ask how Dao friend is addressed?"

"Hou Yucheng." The handsome man smiled faintly, his words carrying a natural sense of confidence.