Chapter 580: The Choice at the Threshold of Dao Merging

Immediately, Xu Xing's gaze swept across the entire Earth Immortal Realm, looking over each of the Return-to-Void cultivators born after the time flow had been altered.

Speaking solely of the Return-to-Void realm, without considering Dao Merging.

Apart from a very small portion, the foundation of every single one of them could be called 'solid.'

They were nothing like those watered-down Return-to-Void cultivators from the Xuan Realm before.

However, precisely because of the altered time flow among them, within the short term they almost had no possibility of advancing to Dao Merging.

Dao Merging is an exceptionally special 'realm.'

Cultivators who reach this level are without exception those who wield myriad laws and bear myriad Daos upon themselves.

Changing the heavens and swapping the earth is but child's play; even within the indestructible, imperishable, calamity-proof Central Continent, they possess the mighty power to shatter the void.

That is what is called a 'Great Power'!

The threshold of Great Power is exceedingly difficult to cross.

Therefore, only beings who have been tempered by the long passage of time and possess a sufficiently weighty life-span can merge with the Dao, wield myriad laws, and achieve Great Power!

Five hundred years in the Grand Mystery Realm!

This is the time required to achieve Dao Merging!

Whether it be Xi Li or the other Return-to-Void cultivators within the Earth Immortal Realm, aside from Fu Mu and Jing Yao, all of them cultivated within the Earth Immortal Realm after the time flow had been altered.

Naturally, their own life-span was also 'false.'

In other words, they were still unable to bear the weight of 'Dao Merging.'

By contrast, Xi Yun was entirely different.

He was a special individual born from the fusion of 'Xi' and 'Evening Cloud.'

Who was Xi?

The undisputed number one of the human race in the Earth Immortal Realm.

One of the founders of cultivation, the first and only Cave-Truth Limit cultivator of the human race in the Earth Immortal Realm!

An absolute prodigy who once contended with the Beast God Darkness, and at the moment of defeat could still borrow the 'Anchor' planted by Hun Tian Yi to burn away his own impurities, preserving a trace of Dao essence to shelter the human race.

Speaking broadly, even among the Cave-Truth cultivators of the Grand Mystery Realm, few could outshine him.

The trace of Dao essence left behind by such a figure was naturally extraordinary.

It not only allowed Evening Cloud to leap across two realms and achieve Tongxuan.

Even the lingering afterglow of Dao essence remaining after being slain with a single finger by Hun Tian Yi Immortal was enough to let Xi Yun pull far ahead of the others, possessing even within the distorted time flow a sliver of possibility for Dao Merging.

Of course, if he truly relied on the lingering afterglow of Xi's Dao essence to advance to Dao Merging, Xi Yun's subsequent cultivation would also be far more difficult than that of other cultivators.

And Xi Yun at this moment had also vaguely sensed some of this, hence he lingered at the threshold of Dao Merging, unable to move forward.

"A small reminder—let us see how he chooses…"

Advancing to Dao Merging like this would make it difficult to take another step forward later on.

But to truly give up such an opportunity to advance to Dao Merging also required tremendous resolve and courage.

Cultivation is no game.

He had reached his current step through the lingering afterglow of Xi's Dao essence; if he were to give it up here, the hardships of starting over would be no fewer.

It was also possible he could never return to his present height.

In a certain sense, the risk of 'giving up' was even far greater than that of 'accepting'!

How to choose in the end was entirely up to him.

At once, Xu Xing's gaze left the Earth Immortal Realm and continued looking toward the distance.

At the same time, the sword-intent spirit-body seated deep within the Earth Immortal Realm also quietly rose and walked toward the present world.

……

……

Earth Immortal Realm, Qianyang Dao Palace.

At the deepest part of the Dao Palace, the seclusion ground of the master of Qianyang Dao Palace, a stretch of crimson-gold flowed and circulated.

Within it quietly floated a blazing fireball radiating endless light and heat, like a blazing sun.

It was precisely the one that had once resided within the human race's inheritance holy land, formed from the manifested external aspect of Xi's Dao essence.

Though it had already lost its Dao essence, it remained an extremely wondrous exotic treasure, greatly helpful to the cultivation of 'Yang-attribute' Dao-vein cultivators.

One hundred and thirteen years ago.

Facing the gradually strengthening human race, the Beast God Clan, already on the brink of defeat, feigned surrender, causing the human race to split internally into two factions.

One faction, led by the older Return-to-Void cultivators such as Xi Li, Fu Mu, and Jing Yao, refused to accept the surrender and insisted on continuing the fight.

The other faction consisted of Xi Yun and a few other Return-to-Void cultivators who had advanced later.

They had not experienced the more distant eras, and believed the casualties between the two races were already great enough; it would be better to cease hostilities here and recuperate.

Coupled with the problems that had arisen in the 【Dao Beginning】 lineage left by Xuan's incarnation, which left Xi Yun deeply grieved, he himself also did not much wish to continue fighting.

At the beginning, the two sides merely held differing opinions and could still discuss matters calmly.

But under the instigation of the Beast God Clan, friction gradually arose between the two sides, ultimately erupting into open conflict.

In that battle, the human race's inheritance holy land was smashed apart.

Xi Yun seized the exotic treasure formed from the manifested Dao essence of Xi, broke away from the original human system, and founded Qianyang Dao Palace.

The Beast God Clan took advantage of the internal chaos of the human race to launch an attack, causing one Return-to-Void cultivator to fall, seven Return-to-Void cultivators to be severely wounded, and the cultivators beneath them need not even be mentioned.

The human race of the Earth Immortal Realm suffered grievous losses.

It also caused the final decisive battle, which should have ended long ago, to drag on for over a hundred years…

Within the fireball.

Inside, waves of flame surged ceaselessly; streams of crimson-gold flowing fire drifted in from all directions, overflowing with splendid radiance…

At the head of the hall stood a strange dais woven of flowing fire, ringed by waves of flame.

Within it seemed to hold a thousand kinds of true flame and ten thousand sparks of firelight.

Upon the dais, a single figure sat quietly in stillness.

He was clad in a gold-and-white ritual robe embroidered with markings of crimson-gold divine fire.

Long hair draped over his shoulders, sword-brows and starry eyes, and a single bright crimson-gold vertical mark between his brows.

Ten thousand streams of flowing fire circled at his sides, as though standing guard.

Seen from afar, he was like the Lord of Blazing Heaven, the Great Emperor of Ten Thousand Flames—too awe-inspiring to look upon directly.

He was none other than the master of the Qianyang Dao Palace, the foremost person of the human race in the Earth Immortal Realm today—

Xiyun!

At this moment, a jade book rested in his palm, his fingertips brushing across character after character of golden script.

"Merging with the Dao…"

Feeling that vague and hazy boundary, Xiyun could not help but sigh softly within his heart.

He closed the jade book, and upon its surface were six bold, vigorous great characters—

*Dao Shi Xuan Wei Zhen Jing*

A touch of complex emotion inevitably surfaced in his eyes.

Since the moment he became aware and took up cultivation, he had never met with any great setback.

Compared to others, not only did his cultivation progress far faster, he had not even encountered any bottleneck.

Yet along this journey, there were still two great regrets.

The first was the matter, one hundred and thirteen years ago, when his views clashed with several fellow Daoists, ultimately leading to the outbreak of civil war among the human race.

Even though in the final battle he had single-handedly held off seven Return-to-Void experts of the Beast God race, slaying four of them, and himself teetered at death's door.

The guilt in his heart had not faded in the slightest.

As for the other…

It was 'Shi'.

His most prized disciple—a Dao heart crystalline and flawless, a talent unmatched beneath the heavens!

At a young age he had founded the endlessly profound 【Dao Shi】 lineage.

He knew when to advance and when to retreat, and understood his original heart.

It was no exaggeration to say he was even more outstanding than he himself had been back then!

At that time, he had truly regarded him as his own child.

Upon hearing the news of his fall, his heart had been cut as by a knife.

However…

The 【Dao Shi】 lineage he had founded later became a dagger thrust at the human race, and even he himself had once been brought to the brink of death.

To this day he still could not forget that fleeting, startling glimpse from back then.

That figure, who seemed to sit at the boundless highest place, as though he were the very source of all that transcended.

"Shi… was everything truly a lie…"

Xiyun's heart was filled with bitter anguish.

Back then, because problems had arisen with the 【Dao Shi】 lineage, he had gone to investigate the origins of 'Shi'.

Yet he had found nothing at all.

He did not wish to, and was even less willing to, believe that everything from the past had been nothing but lies…

But just at this moment!

Whooosh~

The waves of flame standing guard at his sides suddenly surged, and a figure slowly appeared within the boundless crimson-gold true flame ahead.

"Who?!!"

A warning rose in his heart, all thoughts instantly gathered, and he stared fixedly ahead, golden light flickering in his eyes.