Chapter 1737

"Ownerless objects belong to the virtuous."

Zhang Taixuan smiled faintly, "The Dao chose me; clearly, I am the one with virtue."

The Taixuan Ruler fell into his hand and struck toward Hongjun.

Hongjun was so enraged he spat blood.

This was outright murder of the soul.

Not only was he stealing Hongjun's billion-year plan, but also branding him as a man without virtue.

"Enough talk!"

"Let's settle this with our fists!"

Hongjun knew full well he was in the wrong.

It looked as if Zhang Taixuan was seizing his possessions.

In truth, he was not.

This world was opened by Pan Gu the Heavenly Venerable; after Pan Gu's demise, the entity closest to it should have been the world's own Dao.

No matter how much Hongjun had labored for billions of years, he could not change the fact that he was an outsider.

He had done much, aiding the Dao in evolving civilization—he could ask for payment.

But he was too greedy: he did not want merely payment, he wanted to swallow the Dao itself.

This the Dao could not tolerate.

It was like being an employee.

An employee demands wages—it is only natural.

No one has ever seen an employee demand the entire company as well.

Hongjun's actions were nothing short of insatiable greed.

In the past, the Dao could not resist and could only accept its fate.

Then the Chat Group appeared; finally, the Dao found an ally, a chance to vent its bitterness, and a way to preserve itself through the Chat Group's contract.

"Good!"

Zhang Taixuan swept his Taixuan Ruler; boundless power erupted, and the green lotus in Hongjun's hand shattered instantly.

"Proving the Dao through force!"

Hongjun's gaze sharpened, his expression more solemn than ever before.

"You too have walked this path!"

Anyone with sense knew how difficult this path was.

Those who achieved even modest success on it were invariably formidable figures.

Hongjun's thoughts shifted; the shattered lotus became a starry river, and a wondrous array diagram unfolded, enclosing Zhang Taixuan.

"Cut!"

Zhang Taixuan's hand produced an axe—like Pan Gu himself, splitting heaven and earth—the blade shimmered with dark radiance and reduced the green lotus river to ash.

The power of the Dao revealed its supreme divine might for the first time.

"Pan Gu's Axe!"

Hongjun's gaze grew even sharper, "No wonder this world chose you—you've inherited Pan Gu's legacy!"

With a flick of his sleeve, a pitch-black spear appeared in his hand, thrusting toward Zhang Taixuan.

This treasure was the God-Slaying Spear.

Yet unlike its original form—the world's ultimate weapon, a primordial supreme treasure—

Now this spear had transformed into a Chaotic Spirit Treasure, its power increased countlessfold.

The tip of the God-Slaying Spear trembled, countless beams of light swirling around it, manifesting terrifying divine might.

"Indeed, Hongjun, you have no shortage of treasures."

Zhang Taixuan had anticipated this; his Taixuan Ruler swept again, dark radiance swirling like an infinite multiverse descending, and Hongjun felt his spear suddenly grow unbearably heavy.

The spirit treasure he had long cultivated to obey his will now felt stiff and sluggish, as if he had just acquired it and never refined it.

"This…"

Hongjun was stunned.

He was a Dao-Attainment expert.

Though he had not advanced far within the Dao-Attainment realm.

Yet the man across from him was no stronger—he had merely reached the tenth layer of Hunyuan, even with the path of force. Why, in a single strike, had his spirit treasure been subdued?

This was simply unbelievable.

As he pondered, a tremendous force surged through him—the God-Slaying Spear slipped from his grasp.

A dark radiance descended behind Zhang Taixuan; the God-Slaying Spear struggled weakly, then dissolved into a phantom image and was suppressed.

Hongjun summoned inward—but felt no trace of the divine weapon, as if the God-Slaying Spear had never existed in this world.

"Impossible!"

Though once held by Luo Hou, this spear was in truth forged by him—using ancient malevolent energies and the root-stem of the lotus.

This divine weapon was clearly his own creation.

After billions of years of refinement, he had infused it with the essence of countless great calamities, transforming it into a Chaotic Spirit Treasure.

Thus, this spear should have been as much his own as his life-force—yet he had lost it so easily, and now could not even sense it.