Chapter 646: The Source of the Great Dao, Encompassing All Worlds

After standing silently before the Ancestor Sword Hall for a long time, Xu Xing withdrew his gaze and set off toward the mountain’s base.

After spearheading the formation of the Righteous Alliance, Yuan had anticipated the possibility of the Alliance going astray, so before leaving, he laid down many safeguards to prevent it.

Among them was even Huo—the one person he least wanted to deal with.

To be honest, as a Cave-True, daring to scheme against a True Immortal is already audacious beyond measure.

But his move was indeed clever.

After all, Huo’s personality is eccentric; even if he later learned Yuan had tricked him, he’d likely only find it amusing…

No!

Huo had even visited the very place where Yuan left his hidden message—he likely already knows.

With a flicker of thought, Xu Xing had already reached the mid-mountain slope.

The air grew damp and cold, thick with mist, visibility severely reduced.

Dingdong~

A crisp message notification sound.

Xu Xing paused, pulled out his phone, and saw a message from Bie Xuening.

Senior Sister: “Brother, I’m done here—I’ll be back by afternoon. 🦆❤️”

Isn’t this because her cultivation has advanced enough for her to move freely?

Ning Ruo had previously used the Immortal Web’s power to manifest a Soul Transformation in the Earth Immortal Realm and, together with Xu Xing, studied the “New Heavenly Will” of that realm.

Because the gains were substantial, she summoned Bie Xuening to Lingyin Workshop to upgrade the Immersion Pool…

As for that note, it was actually Bie Xuening who changed it using Xu Xing’s phone.

She originally wanted to change it to “My Dearest Senior Sister,” but after thinking it over, she found it too embarrassing and settled for the simple “Senior Sister.”

Senior Sister: “After this upgrade, the Immersion Pool’s purification time is shorter, and the discomfort experienced by Ascenders during information reception is reduced.”

Senior Sister: “Unfortunately, the Dao-Union barrier remains unbreakable—the connection between the world itself and Dao-Union is too tightly bound.”

Senior Sister: “Next, I plan to study the optimization of the Immersion Pool by referencing how Dao-Attained beings transcend the world itself.”

Hm?

Is this something Senior Sister would say?

The next second.

Senior Sister: “She took my phone—just now, she sent the message.”

Of course—that’s more like her.

A faint smile appeared on Xu Xing’s face as he replied to the message and continued walking down the mountain.

…

…

Several minutes later.

Xu Xing, now at the mountain’s base, had put away his phone.

Ahead on the plaza before the mountain steps,

a figure had already been waiting beneath a tree.

Seeing Xu Xing, her ice-blue, translucent eyes brightened, then she swiftly approached.

“Senior!”

This person was none other than the master of the Cold Moon Sword Palace in the Earth Immortal Realm—and the third Ascender after the Ascension Project’s launch—

Xi Li.

As she drew near, she bowed deeply.

“Greetings, Senior.”

Compared to before, Xi Li had replaced her plain white moon-colored robe with a simple black sportswear outfit, and her once shoulder-length snowy hair was now tied into a high ponytail.

She looked simple, efficient.

“Tell me about your experiences lately,” Xu Xing said as he walked.

“Mm.”

Xi Li followed Xu Xing and began recounting her travels through the Taixuan Realm.

The Central Continent, the starry sky, the people she met along the way…

She offered no embellishment—only briefly naming each place she visited and the one thing she remembered most vividly.

Even so, it took over ten minutes to finish.

“Senior, I still want to join the Sword Sect,” she concluded.

The information from the Immersion Pool had given her a broad understanding of this world.

Her recent experiences had revealed deeper phenomena within it.

As Senior said, this world still has many unresolved problems.

But that hadn’t changed her original intention.

From the perspective of lineage, all she had learned—the foundations of Yin and Sword—came from Senior.

From the perspective of seeking answers, her current height is too low; the “view” she can see is limited.

Therefore, joining the Sword Sect is undoubtedly the best choice.

“Have you decided?”

“Mm.” Xi Li nodded. “I’ve already submitted my application.”

Previously, Master Du had said that if she wished to join, she could contact him directly.

But she wanted to follow the Sword Sect’s formal procedures, even if it took longer—after all, what she had least of now was time.

“The entrance examination is in three days.”

“If you’ve made your own decision, that’s best.”

The two now reached the southwest side of the Sword Sect’s Inner Continent—the area designated for rare spirit herb cultivation.

As far as the eye could see, neat rows of spirit fields swayed with herbs glowing faintly, mist swirling, visible medicinal aromas weaving into colorful auspicious clouds in the sky.

“Because we altered the time flow with the Beast God, you now face centuries of delay.”

“How could this be blamed on Senior?” Xi Li shook her head slightly.

Leaving aside the fact that Senior already secured a glimmer of hope for the human race of the Earth Immortal Realm from the Beast God’s grasp—

she said earnestly, “If we hadn’t done that, we wouldn’t have had even the slightest chance to oppose the Beast God clan.”

She paused, then explained why she held this view.

As one of the Earth Immortal Realm’s top Return-to-Void cultivators, she knew better than anyone the history of her people.

In her view, the earliest Earth Immortal Realm had only a tiny handful of cultivators, and only five Return-to-Void.

It was no exaggeration to say they barely clung to life under Xi’s Dao essence.

Under those conditions, even if the True Immortal Ancestors of Taixuan defeated the Beast God, the remaining Beast God clan Return-to-Voids could drown humanity with a single spit.

Unless the True Immortal Ancestors slaughtered every last Beast God clan member.

But what would the Earth Immortal Realm become then?

With all external enemies gone, there would be no need to vigorously promote cultivation methods or increase the number of cultivators.

The old-era cultivators, wielding earth-shattering power, would remain aloft.

To preserve their status, they would inevitably monopolize cultivation.

Cultivators would tower above the clouds, regarding mortals as mere grass.

The vast gap between Immortal and mortal would ensure that the kind of malignant events once seen in the Cold Moon Sword Palace would only multiply.

Though in her view, the Earth Immortal Realm would inevitably reach that end eventually, decades of war against the Beast God clan had delayed that outcome.

“… ” Xu Xing fell silent for a moment, then said, “You might be suited to become Sect Master.”

Xi Li’s expression remained unchanged:

“After joining the Sword Sect, I will strive toward that goal.”

“Then strive.”

Xu Xing gave a light laugh and turned away.

Jiu Yu has finally met his match.

Because of the altered time flow, Xi Li needs at least four hundred years of accumulation to gain sufficient “life thickness” to bear the weight of Dao-Union.

If Jiu Yu progresses smoothly, he too will begin touching the threshold of Dao-Union around six hundred years from now.