Chapter 494: Holy Dao (II) (4K)

A small divine stone appeared in his hand.

Earthly radiance flowed across the divine stone.

Yet its entire body was black in color.

Within it, the power of multiple heavenly and earthly great Dao laws manifested, primarily centered on earth, life and death, profound yin, and reincarnation, as if the great Dao of life and death had been nurtured and formed within.

A message surfaced deep in Zhang Jian's sea of consciousness.

Reincarnation Divine Stone: A fragment left behind after the netherworld's underworld endured the great calamity of the degenerate age, yin darkness and annihilation, and the collapse of the netherworld, containing the essence of an ancient netherworld underworld, encompassing various heavenly and earthly netherworld and reincarnation legal traditions; refining it grants control over the heavenly and earthly Dao authority of the netherworld underworld, enabling comprehension of the mysteries of life and death reincarnation!

(Note: This item can be submitted to the supreme ruler of the netherworld underworld; submission carries a certain chance of gaining favor from the Ten Directions Netherworld Emperor of the netherworld underworld.)

Zhang Jian's eyes flickered slightly.

To him, this treasure was exactly what he needed in dire straits.

He would not hand it over to seek favor from the netherworld underworld emperor.

Currently, the earth aspect of his Mountains and Rivers State Diagram occupies a primary position on one side.

According to his conception, this Dao diagram will only achieve full function when it gathers the authority of the two earthly masters from myth and legend; he will by no means give away the treasure he has obtained.

As Zhang Jian focused his mind, he immediately integrated this reincarnation divine stone into his Mountains and Rivers State Diagram.

Yet upon integrating the reincarnation divine stone into the Mountains and Rivers State Diagram, Zhang Jian instantly felt that within the cosmic world, countless heavenly and earthly great Dao law authorities were merging into it.

Zhang Jian proactively merged the Nine Nether Life and Death Golden Seal technique with the reincarnation divine stone.

Using this third-stage technique as an anchor, the Nine Nether Life and Death Golden Seal evolved into a vast netherworld realm, visible to the naked eye, which instantly expanded as if transforming into a true netherworld underworld that merged into the Mountains and Rivers State Diagram.

Its integration also accelerated the fusion of two other heavenly and earthly divine objects.

The Heart of Dimension, part of the power of the Primordial Birth and Destruction Pearl, was further released.

At the core, Zhang Jian could clearly sense through this reincarnation divine stone that he seemed to behold a vast netherworld vortex standing firm in the depths of the void.

And as he focused his mind, he seemed to merge entirely with that vast netherworld vortex.

Zhang Jian was not unfamiliar with this scene.

He had experienced it many times before.

Each time he fused such heavenly and earthly treasures, he could use the opportunity to examine the deepest aspects of these treasures, the most precious traces of the great Dao.

After each contemplation, his strength would undergo a leap in a short time!

Zhang Jian could sense that at the beginning of this netherworld's formation, it was merely a primordial mass of ancestral qi, within which a portion of yin-attribute Dao qi had adhered, and it was slowly evolving, gradually transforming into a great vortex penetrating the yang world.

If following its evolution, it would, like the heavenly and earthly treasure wheel Zhang Jian once contemplated, naturally manifest as a vast heavenly and earthly great realm once its evolution was complete.

And in an instant, Zhang Jian's expression suddenly changed; he sensed that from the depths of the void, a pure white hand suddenly reached out, a finger pointing forth, as if a vast heavenly and earthly great reincarnation had been torn open from within, absorbing that mass of ancestral qi and numerous netherworld-attribute Dao qi, instantly transforming into a colossal life and death reincarnation Dharma aspect, resembling the embrace of heaven and earth.

As the life and death reincarnation turned, countless voids shattered, forming around it a vast cosmic world.

That was a vast heavenly and earthly realm of netherworld attribute.

Simply by appearing, it would become the lower central region of the surrounding heavenly dimensions.

After that jade finger pointed and opened everything, it naturally retracted, a fleeting glimpse; Zhang Jian still felt a shock to the heart.

Zhang Jian did not look longer, for he knew that gazing too long at such an existence, even a few times, even if separated by spacetime Dao traces, would provoke a sensation, and thus draw its attention.

Zhang Jian temporarily looked but did not wish to deal with such an existence.

His mind focused on the evolution of the netherworld heavenly and earthly realm.

The spectacle of the boundless heavenly and earthly great Dao in motion was as if laid bare, leaving him entranced and intoxicated.

His innate primordial spirit rapidly turned, memorizing; visibly, his primordial spirit's depths surfaced one after another heavenly and earthly great Dao runes, swiftly condensing into great Dao patterns, with the core transforming into a Dao seal supplementing the authority of the State and Altar Emperor within.

Zhang Jian's mind continued to sink into the evolution of the vast heavenly and earthly great Dao.

Boundless yin qi naturally flowed from the surroundings, and soon a portion of powerful divinities detected its presence; teams of yin-attribute divinities entered, established order, and called it the Nine Prefectures Underworld!

Upon its birth, the Nine Prefectures Underworld stood alongside numerous other underworlds, jointly accepting the jurisdiction of a great power and exercising authority.

It once shone brightly in its peak period.

Countless ghosts and spirits gathered; within it, a mighty ghost path great supernatural being had once been born, making it the central region of the underworlds of various realms.

But the moon has its waxing and waning, the tide its ebb and flow.

The Nine Prefectures Underworld had also endured repeated great calamities born of heavenly and earthly motion, or the life and death reincarnation path encountered problems, or the yin and yang realms developed rifts, allowing the yang world to invade, and it had also faced extraterritorial demon gods.

In repeated great calamities, it gradually declined, until a vast divine light burst forth from the depths of the reincarnation passage, violently tearing apart the Nine Prefectures Underworld; countless extraterritorial demon gods swarmed in; although the gods successfully repelled and slew the invading demon gods, it too gradually declined, until the world-ending calamity arrived, and it failed to pass through the world's internal formation and destruction; countless netherworld heavenly and earthly laws collapsed, a portion of netherworld ancestral qi transformed into a deity that fled into the void, while the remainder, under countless compressions of energy, became the reincarnation divine stone!

Zhang Jian opened his eyes.

At this moment, he slightly calculated with his fingers; this was already half a month later.

His body now flowed with a vast netherworld great Dao divine radiance; the radiance circulated, and as he focused his mind, he evolved in the void the spectacle of a vast netherworld great world, capable at any moment of inverting the life and death of all things, casting them into reincarnation, and turning them into nothingness.

This is a terrifying power.

Zhang Jian knew that having mastered annihilation, he now also mastered life and death, reincarnation, netherworld, and multiple other heavenly and earthly authorities.

Moreover, these divine Dao authorities' powers are profound and substantial, completely connected to heavenly and earthly treasures.

What he currently masters is only the third stage, but as he integrates with heavenly and earthly treasures, authority will continuously increase.

Zhang Jian knew that at least before the fifth stage, he would encounter no bottleneck.

Zhang Jian felt that his innate immortal technique, the Mountains and Rivers State Diagram, was also growing in power.

Yet he had not entered the realm of the fifth-stage immortal technique.

Not because he could not, but because his own Dao practice had not caught up, preventing the Mountains and Rivers State Diagram from naturally advancing to the fifth stage.

Zhang Jian, however, did not mind.

With such progress, he was already quite satisfied.

When he achieves the great accomplishment of the Holy Dao, after enduring a period of arduous cultivation, he will surely be able to elevate his Dao law by one level.

……

And while Zhang Jian controlled a portion of the netherworld origin, in a vast and boundless earthly realm, this place was filled with immeasurable netherworld phenomena.

It was like a valley of myriad streams, with the boundless yin qi of heaven and earth gathering here from all directions.

At this moment, deep in the void, the immeasurable yin qi of the netherworld trembled.

The netherworld's cycle of rebirth passage also trembled, as if sensing that a great divine adept who mastered the source of the netherworld had been born within.

Deep in the netherworld's underworld, many ghosts and spirits, even powerful beings who had attained the great Dao of immortals and gods, sensed this scene and trembled inwardly.

Yet they did not understand the root cause behind this great Dao omen.

Only deep in the netherworld did a portion of the ancient gods' manifested immortals and gods faintly perceive it; these mighty beings wore solemn expressions.

The divine mandate was solemn and unique, with some domains being taboo and forbidden to others; now that there was one who mastered the netherworld, it was highly likely they were opening another source, and such an existence posed an unknown threat to the many deities who mastered the netherworld.

Many immortals and gods worried anxiously, while a portion of the ancient mighty beings' incarnations remained calm and composed.

They paid no heed to this change.

The vastness of the heavenly void was too great; rather than worrying about others, it was better to find ways to elevate one's own Dao path!

……

After Zhang Jian emerged from seclusion, he formally announced external expansion, issuing an edict first sent to the southern divine province, commanding the many human kingdoms of the southern divine province, and even the immortal sects and Dao lineages, to acknowledge the status of the Great Xia Dynasty as the suzerain state, dissolve their monarchies, style themselves as feudal lords, accept the garrisoning of Great Xia troops, and establish protectorate offices; otherwise, heavenly troops would descend and destroy their ancestral temples and morning meals.

Upon the issuance of this edict, many immortal sects and Dao lineages along the coast of the southern divine province surrendered in the face of the wind.

Earlier, Zhang Jian had defeated a heavenly immortal-level ghost god in Bailu City and shattered the Yin-Yang two realms' gate; this matter had long been made known to all by the efforts of the "concerned ones."

Many cultivators of the immortal sects and Dao lineages weighed themselves, thinking they could not compare to a heavenly immortal-level ghost god.

Especially after the news spread that the great toxin of the Xihe Department's land had been resolved by the Great Xia Emperor, more and more major powers were willing to acknowledge the Great Xia Dynasty as the suzerain state, gradually becoming a trend.

Subsequently, the two major superpowers of the southern divine province, the Ji Clan and the Tianyi Sect, expressed their positions in succession, leading most regions of the southern divine province to announce their acknowledgment of the Great Xia Dynasty as the suzerain state in quick succession; some dynasties "voluntarily" abolished their state titles and resided as feudal states.

At this moment, between heaven and earth, many immortals and high-level cultivators could sense that the dragon qi and imperial qi pervading the Dongxuan Divine State began to gradually cover the southern regions behind it, with boundless dragon qi gathering above Haojing City in the Dongxuan Divine State.

That magnificent national fortune, the coiling red dragon, encompassed heaven and earth, shocking to behold.

"As all hearts turn toward it, the sage path shall be fulfilled!"

In the southern divine province, above the ancient hill province, the two ancient immortals of the Ji Clan gazed afar at this scene; in their eyes, the dragon qi nurtured by the Ji Clan and the imperial star transformed from imperial qi were suppressed to a certain extent.

Above the azure heavens, the imperial star gradually dimmed, while one imperial star enveloped nearly half of the Zhongshan Realm's land, like the sun at high noon.

They had seen this kind of spectacle many times before.

This was the spectacle of the sage path nearing completion.

In the eyes of the two Ji Clan heavenly immortals, there was a hint of sigh; since the end of the ancient war, heaven and earth had never given birth to a sage king; the immortals had originally thought such an existence would never appear again in heaven and earth, but now it seemed another human sage king had arisen!

Although the appearance of a human sage king meant other sage king clans would inevitably have to bow, in the long run, humanity would surely flourish once more in an era.

However, during this period, other immortal sects and Dao lineages might have to tuck their tails and live cautiously.

The might of the sage king cannot be lightly offended.

Fortunately, this Great Xia Emperor is a benevolent ruler and should not be overly harsh.

Of course, even if he were harsh, it should have nothing to do with the Ji Clan.

On the contrary, the Ji Clan are ministers of the dragon.

Ji Ning glanced at the silent Ji Tianyun beside her, thinking inwardly that this old fellow was indeed cunning; originally she thought his severing of a heavenly immortal seedling was due to greed for life and fear of death, but now it appeared he truly had far-sighted vision.

……

And as many major powers in the southern divine province gradually changed their banners and allegiance, the Great Xia Dynasty turned its gaze toward the Western Divine Province, issuing the same edict to be transmitted there.

Compared to the prosperity of the southern divine province, the human kingdoms of the western divine province were much smaller.

Among the many major powers, the human factions of the western divine province were actually in a weak position; upon hearing the Great Xia Dynasty's edict, they eagerly accepted the decree and hastily raised the Great Xia Dynasty's banner, seeking protection.

This change was both laughable and lamentable.

The southern divine province, the western divine province—most human factions' allegiance strengthened the mighty momentum of the Great Xia Dynasty.

As for the remaining northern divine province and the returning abyss divine province, many major powers still hesitated.

Yet this hesitation did not last long.

The superpower of the northern divine province, the Nanhua Immortal Sect, was the first to declare its stance, willing to honor the Great Xia Dynasty as the suzerain state; this great momentum was now irreversible!

……

At Haojing City, in the grand court assembly, Zhang Jian formally received the sect master of the Nanhua Immortal Sect and then bestowed upon him the title of Northern Azure Heaven Numinous True Lord, after which he formally returned the state letter to him.

The Nanhua Immortal Sect will, in name, submit to the Great Xia Dynasty, offering tribute once every hundred years and dispatching a batch of disciples every ten years to enter the State and Dao Palace established in the northern divine province to participate in construction and maintain order in the northern divine province.

And as repayment, the Great Xia Dynasty will also grant the Nanhua Immortal Sect corresponding sect treatment, bestowing certain authority and convenience.

Besides the Nanhua Immortal Sect, there are also many northern divine province immortal sects and Dao lineages that take the Nanhua Immortal Sect as their model; Zhang Jian has already bestowed corresponding titles upon them in advance.

As long as they are willing to submit and follow the Great Xia Dynasty, Zhang Jian can overlook many matters, letting bygones be bygones, including the various obstructions mentioned earlier.

And correspondingly, if these immortal sects and Dao lineages, after returning, secretly continue to cause trouble for the Great Xia Dynasty, he will not show leniency.

Now, the Great Xia Dynasty coordinates many immortal sects and Dao lineages, with powerful beings as numerous as clouds; among them are not a few scattered cultivators and true immortals who have attached themselves, as well as a portion of immortals from various immortal sects and Dao lineages.

The hearts of many immortals incline toward allegiance; this is indeed a great force.

Of course, even more so is Zhang Jian himself, this innate emperor, whose divine power can shake heaven and earth, causing myriad immortals to bow their heads.

With the submission of the Nanhua Immortal Sect of the northern divine province, the northern divine province also gradually came under the dragon qi and imperial qi of the Great Xia Dynasty.

In less than a few years, the banners of the Great Xia Dynasty were successively planted across four of the five great divine provinces, a tremendous achievement.

And also the will of the people.

……

The Tongshan Dao lineage, however, at this moment was up to mischief on the mountain.

Since the return of the demon-refining cultivators from the Western Divine Province, the State and King's Cauldron has been intermittently shouting about wanting to run away.

The entire Tongshan mountain, up and down, has been disturbed by it to the point of no peace; even the two second-generation ancestral masters are suffering immensely from headaches.

The reason is that the State and King's Cauldron no longer wishes to be the stabilizing treasure of the Tongshan Dao lineage; it wants to leave Tongshan.

It is preparing to enter the Great Xia Dynasty, to become that dynasty's national fortune spirit treasure!

For this, they threw tantrums and rolled on the ground, using every low and despicable trick they could.

The three second-generation ancestral masters also suspected that Zhang Jian was up to no good, intending to lure away the Sacred King's supreme treasure, the State and Altar Cauldron.