Chapter 904: Jing Xizhen Really Was Driven Back

Seeing Jing Xizhen leave, Ding Huan forcefully slew Dao Ancestor Qingsha; Yan Jiuyue couldn't even control her own trembling.

If Ding Huan wanted to kill her, he only needed to say one word.

She carefully retreated, hoping no one would see her at this moment.

In fact, everyone saw Yan Jiuyue withdraw from the great hall; it was just that no one paid her any attention.

Ding Huan, who had originally wanted to kill Yan Jiuyue, saw Yan Zhuo's lonely expression and still held back from acting.

Yan Zhuo was still a decent person; killing Yan Jiuyue right in front of him would be somewhat unkind.

Ding Huan's divine sense swept over and confirmed that Jing Xizhen had indeed left the Dao Court great hall, and only then did he walk over and sit down in the Dao Lord's seat.

"Zhuo Qingfeng greets the Dao Lord. During this period, with the Dao Lord absent, everything in All Dao City has been fine; only today did some unexpected incidents occur."

The moment Ding Huan sat down, the first to come forward and pledge loyalty was Zhuo Qingfeng.

The rest of the people couldn't even be bothered to despise this fellow.

They could be certain that if Jing Xizhen had kept backing Qingsha, then the first person to step out and oppose Ding Huan would definitely have been Zhuo Qingfeng.

Ding Huan nodded, raised his hand to completely erase all traces of Qingsha, and then gestured for Hou Yucheng to sit beside him.

Zhuo Qingfeng was a true petty person, whether it was this fellow's luck or anything else.

For things that hadn't been done yet, Ding Huan couldn't exactly go punish this fellow.

However, he could let this fellow do some things that were inconvenient for him to do himself, such as killing Yan Jiuyue.

Ji Baihe didn't need Ding Huan to say anything; she took the initiative to sit on Ding Huan's other side.

"Everyone, let me first share some good news with you all. The Tianmeng Clan has been completely wiped out; there is now not a single Tianmeng Clan cultivator left in the Great Universe."

The Tianmeng Clan is gone?

Hearing Ding Huan's words, everyone was dumbfounded.

The Tianmeng Clan was so powerful—how could they have vanished?

"Dao Lord, the Tianmeng Clan is so domineering—how could they possibly vanish in an instant?" Feng Pu couldn't help but ask.

He had fought the Tianmeng Clan before and knew very well how many strong experts the Tianmeng Clan had.

Ding Huan pointed at Hou Yucheng beside him: "This is Dao Friend Hou Yucheng. He has been dealing with the Tianmeng Clan in the All Dao Mountain Range the whole time. Dao Friend Hou and I joined forces, and by a fortunate coincidence, wiped out the Tianmeng Clan."

"Oh, may I ask Dao Lord Ding how exactly the Tianmeng Clan was wiped out?" an abrupt voice rang out.

Everyone turned to look and saw that Jing Xizhen, who had just left, had entered again; no one knew how he had gotten in.

Ding Huan's heart also gave a jolt; fortunately, he had been laying down barrier laws the whole time.

He absolutely would not give Jing Xizhen any chance to get close to him.

Fortunately, Jing Xizhen seemed to know that Ding Huan was wary of him, so he didn't step forward at all and instead found a seat in the back to sit down.

For a powerhouse of his level, sitting anywhere was the same; there was no question of front or back, superior or inferior.

Perhaps in his heart, as long as he was willing, he could sit in Ding Huan's seat at any time.

Regardless of why Jing Xizhen had just given up forcibly protecting Qingsha, Ding Huan did not use his previous attitude toward Jing Xizhen.

"Brother Hou has been watching the Tianmeng Clan at the outer edges of Chaos the whole time. He knows that near the edge where the Tianmeng Clan approaches Chaos, there is a Chaos Barrier. What this Chaos Barrier wraps around is the Calamity Dao Rule and various Calamity Laws..."

"The Calamity Dao Rule and various Calamity Laws?" Jing Xizhen exclaimed in shock, standing right up.

The preciousness of such Calamity Laws—others might not know, but he knew it all too well.

The Calamity Laws wrapped by a natural barrier in the Chaos Zone exist because when the universe's great calamity arrives,

a portion of the laws that form the calamity had not yet fully erupted when they were wrapped up by the Chaos Barrier.

And so these Calamity Laws were preserved.

It could be said that the probability of being able to form a barrier wrapping Calamity Laws was less than one in hundreds of millions.

If he could refine this thing, his strength would definitely reach another level.

Of course, he wouldn't refine it now; he needed to wait until after severing his Dao before refining it.

Right now he knew better than anyone that his Great Dao Eighth Step was only at this point.

Once he truly left the Great Universe, his Great Dao Eighth Step would be a joke.

If after severing his Dao he re-proved the Fourth Step—Saint of Establishing Words—and then refined the Chaos Barrier wrapping the Calamity Laws, his strength would definitely be no weaker than those fellows, perhaps even stronger.

"Yes, it really was a barrier wrapping Calamity Laws. Dao Friend Hou and I spent over a hundred years, and only through various means did we guide this barrier to the Tianmeng Clan."

"You detonated this Calamity Law barrier?" Jing Xizhen asked urgently.

If that were the case, then it truly would be a waste of heaven's gift.

Ding Huan nodded: "Correct. Only this method could wipe out the Tianmeng Clan and preserve the Great Universe."

Since he'd said it, Ding Huan still decided to find a time to go to the All Dao Abyss and unleash a Calamity divine ability.

Jing Xizhen sighed and sat back down.

It seemed his fortune was still a little lacking.

If he had arrived here just a little earlier, he would have gone and wiped out the Tianmeng Clan himself; as for the barrier wrapping the Calamity Laws, it would naturally have been his, Jing Xizhen's.

Still no good—even to wipe out the Tianmeng Clan, one must have proper title and standing.

At the very least, he would have to be the Dao Court Lord of the Great Universe; otherwise it would be meaningless.

Ding Huan had already set up a void barrier in front of him for protection, and only then did he breathe a sigh of relief.

Unlike Jing Xizhen, the rest of the people, upon hearing that the Tianmeng Clan had been wiped out, were all immensely excited.

That meant the human race could freely enter the All Dao Mountain Range to seek cultivation

resources.

"Many thanks to the Dao Lord. The Dao Lord's establishment of the Great Universe Dao Court was right. If the Dao Lord had not stepped forward, the human race of the Great Universe might very well have perished here."

Yi Qi stepped forward, bowed, and saluted, his tone extremely reverent.

Feng Pu and Zhuo Qingfeng also hurriedly stepped forward, bowed, and saluted.

Even Zhuo Qingfeng, that sort of opportunist, felt deep down that Ding Huan was extraordinary.

Jing Xizhen was somewhat envious—this was the power of merit.

He cupped his fists, his tone sincere: "Dao Lord, I was rude before. What you've done for the Great Universe has earned my respect.

I, Jing Xizhen, may have my own calculations, but I am absolutely not a petty person. If you don't believe me, you can ask Brother Ling."

Ling Zhuzhen nodded: "What he says is correct. Jing Xizhen is a bit selfish, but he's not a petty person. If there's no conflict of interest, he won't scheme against you in the dark."

Clearly both Ling Zhuzhen and Jing Xizhen had noticed Ding Huan's wariness toward Jing Xizhen.

Ding Huan nodded, then also cupped his fists and said: "Dao Ancestor Jing, in that case, what is past is now wiped clean."

Jing Xizhen understood what Ding Huan meant—that the matter of his support for Qingsha was over.

If he made a move again, then everyone would just wait and see.

Jing Xizhen truly had no intention of continuing to act against Ding Huan.

Acting against Ding Huan was utterly meaningless to him.

"Please don't mention the matter of Dao Ancestor. If I hadn't known the Dao Ancestor was too laughable, I wouldn't have left the Great Universe. In the Great Universe, there is only one person qualified to be called Dao Ancestor.

As for the likes of us, cultivators at the Eighth Step of the Great Dao who can only exist in this one plane, calling ourselves Dao Ancestors is far too presumptuous."

Jing Xizhen waved a hand, his tone returning to sincerity.

"Brother Jing, did you really find a second high-grade universe plane?" Ling Zhuzhen had long wanted to ask this question.

Jing Xizhen was silent for a while before saying: "I think it should be…"

Deep down he didn't think it "should be"—he felt the Great Universe was not worthy of being called a high-grade universe star continent.

Although Ling Zhuzhen's cultivation had dropped, he didn't mind it at all in front of Jing Xizhen: "Brother Jing, either it is or it isn't. What do you mean 'should be'?"

"Brother Ling, if we had only just stepped onto the path of cultivation, could you or I have distinguished the strength and completeness of a world's rules?"

"No," Ling Zhuzhen said without hesitation.

Jing Xizhen sighed: "That's exactly how I feel. I thought that since I was at the Eighth Step of the Great Dao, I would surely be able to sense the strength of a world's rules or whether its Dao principles were complete, no matter where I was.

But in that place, I couldn't sense anything at all. It was just like when I first entered the Cultivation World—I couldn't perceive the rules of the True Cultivation World either."

"So you mean the world's rules in the place you went were so complete and so high that even you couldn't sense them?" Ling Zhuzhen looked at Jing Xizhen with some doubt.

Jing Xizhen said: "I'm not sure. The fact is, there I wasn't even a match for a Sixth Step Great Dao cultivator."

"A Sixth Step Great Dao cultivator that powerful?"

"No, no Sixth Step Great Dao cultivator was my match—"

"—at all."

Ling Zhuzhen fell silent. Although he had long known there were problems with the Dao proven in the Great Universe, a Eighth Step Great Dao cultivator unable to defeat a Sixth Step Great Dao cultivator was still hard for him to swallow.

Jing Xizhen's strength was definitely greater than when he had left the Great Universe—more than one tier stronger, in fact.

If even Jing Xizhen couldn't defeat a Sixth Step Great Dao cultivator in that place, then he, Ling Zhuzhen, certainly couldn't either—in fact, he'd fare even worse.

When he had gone through the Calamity of Measurement, he understood that one could not prove the Fourth Step of the Great Dao here.

Truly facing this problem, it still hurt his heart.

Jing Xizhen's return must have something to do with the Great Dao. He had even striven to recover to the Sixth Step of the Great Dao—did that even have meaning?

Right, Ding Huan's Great Dao should have had a breakthrough. He could ask for guidance later.

Ding Huan said nothing.

He believed that once he reached the Sixth Step of the Great Dao, he could definitely take Jing Xizhen.

No, he didn't even need the Sixth Step—as long as his cultivation stabilized a bit more, when he advanced to the Fifth Step of the Great Dao, he could take Jing Xizhen.

"I'm not sure whether the Great Universe is a high-grade universe in the true sense. There is one thing I can be certain of, though.

In the Great Universe, I perceive the world's rules here very clearly, and I can also see the upper limit of the Dao that can be proven here…"

Ding Huan spoke up: "Dao Friend Jing, didn't you prove your Dao through technology? If so, the strength of a universe's rules shouldn't have much to do with you, should it?"

Jing Xizhen's expression was very self-mocking.

He still answered: "That's because I hadn't previously discovered the essence of the Great Dao. Whether it's the Dao of technological proof or the Dao of law and method, they share one essence: aligning with the world's rules.

Technological Dao proof aligns with the world's rules through external objects; the Dao of law aligns with the world's rules through one's own comprehension.

The strengths and weaknesses here are clear as day. Those who don't understand are simply deceiving themselves."

In fact, when he was in the Great Universe, he had already understood this. He just hadn't been willing to face it, because he had built his world on technological Dao proof.

Now that the Great Universe had collapsed, what was there left to hide?

"In that case, what is the main purpose of Dao Friend Jing's return this time?" Ding Huan stared at Jing Xizhen.