Chapter 625: Revival

Endless darkness.

Endless cold.

Endless annihilation.

Is this death?

Minghe Laozu's consciousness drifted in a void.

He could see his own Quasi-Sage Dao body, cultivated for hundreds of millions of years, crumbling inch by inch under Pangu's phantom's single axe strike that opened heaven and split earth.

The Yutu and Aobi Swords wailed in grief.

The Twelve-Grade Karmic Fire Red Lotus's light completely dimmed.

Twelve million nine thousand six hundred Blood God Child avatars, along with his main body's true spirit, were all completely erased under that purely ultimate "Force" Law.

There was no pain, because even the soul that perceived pain no longer existed.

There was no unwillingness, because before that kind of power, any emotion was superfluous.

He lost, defeated utterly and completely.

Blood Sea not dry, Minghe not dead?

Truly a colossal joke.

Before absolute power, nothing is undying.

Just as he was about to completely return to nothingness.

A faint purple light suddenly lit up in this eternal darkness without any warning.

That purple light, noble and mysterious, seemed to contain the most primordial ultimate truth between heaven and earth.

It ignored that Pangu axe intent that destroyed everything, effortlessly wrapping around Minghe's last wisp of true spirit that was about to dissipate.

Immediately after, an irresistible pulling force came.

Time and space reversed, cause and effect were reshaped.

When Minghe's consciousness regained clarity again, he discovered he was kneeling prostrate in an ancient, vast palace.

The palace hung high above endless Chaos, surrounded by swirling purple qi, with heavenly sounds resonating in waves.

This place is...

Zixiao Palace!

Minghe suddenly raised his head and saw that figure seated high upon the cloud dais.

It was an ordinary old man wearing a coarse gray robe, beard and hair all white, face ordinary, without any expert's aura on his body, like a stubborn stone that had existed since ancient times.

But the moment his gaze met those half-open half-closed eyes of the old man, Minghe only felt his true spirit trembling violently.

In those eyes, there were no stars, no sun or moon, only a stretch of ancient-well-no-ripple indifference.

That was the Heavenly Dao!

"This minor god Minghe pays respects to the Ancestor of the Dao! May the Ancestor of the Dao's holy longevity be boundless!"

Minghe's head knocked heavily against the icy ground, his voice trembling violently from extreme fear.

He never dreamed even in his wildest dreams that he would actually arrive at this holy land that all Great Wasteland powers dream of in this manner.

Even more unexpected, the one who fished him out from complete death would be this supreme Dàozǔ Hóngjūn!

"Minghe."

Hongjun spoke, voice dry and calm, not carrying a shred of emotion.

"Do you know your crime?"

Just four simple words, yet they seemed to contain the supreme divine might of words becoming law.

Minghe only felt the weight of the entire Great Wasteland world pressing down on his true spirit in an instant, almost collapsing on the spot.

"This minor god knows his crime! This minor god knows his crime!"

Minghe's tears flowed abundantly, kowtowing frantically, "This minor god should not have defied heaven and slaughtered living beings! Should not have colluded with the Witch Clan, creating boundless karma! Beg the Ancestor of the Dao for mercy, spare this minor god's life! This minor god is willing to eternally guard the Blood Sea, to atone for the Great Wasteland!"

He was afraid.

Facing the Twelve Ancestral Witches, he dared to go mad, dared to clamor for mutual destruction.

But facing Hongjun, he couldn't even give birth to a single thought of resistance.

Because he clearly knew that his survival wasn't because his life was tough, but because the Ancestor of the Dao wanted him to live.

If the Ancestor of the Dao says he dies at the third watch, he absolutely won't live past the fifth watch.

Hongjun looked down at Minghe, humble as an ant, his indifferent eyes without the slightest ripple.

Him saving Minghe was naturally not because of benevolence.

"You and the Witch Clan, using Pangu's blood essence, Earth Turbid Evil, and Blood Sea Karma, created the Asura Clan." Hongjun stated the facts flatly.

"What was that Pangu blood essence like?"

"... Hegemonic, violent, filled with the most primal destruction and vitality." Minghe dared not conceal even a bit, recounting his feelings at that time in full detail.

"What about the Earth Turbid Evil?"

"... Filthy, heavy, as if bearing all negative emotions since heaven and earth first opened."

"How did your Blood Sea Karma fuse with those two?"

Hongjun's questions became increasingly detailed.

He didn't ask why Minghe did this, nor did he care how many people he killed.

What he cared about was only that process.

Minghe dared not remain silent, and could only speak everything he knew, along with the Blood God Child transformation method, without the slightest reservation.

Hongjun listened quietly, in those half-open half-closed eyes, that ancient-well-no-ripple universe began to rapidly deduce.

Countless law threads intertwined and collided in his consciousness.

The Hegemonic Way of Pangu's Blood Essence.

The filth of the Earth Turbid Evil.

The resentment of the Blood Sea Karma.

Three completely different powers were forcibly kneaded together in his deduction.

Once, failure.

Twice, collapse.

……

After an unknown amount of time, a barely perceptible glint finally flashed in Hongjun's indifferent eyes.

He saw it.

He saw Pangu's "Dao" of grand opening and closing, one force breaking ten thousand methods.

Crude, direct, yet containing the most primordial ultimate truth.

That was another path completely different from the "Heavenly Dao" he had merged with.

A path he could reference, even fuse.

"So that's how it is."

Hongjun lightly spat out four words.

He raised his hand, pointing lightly at Minghe below.

A strand of pure Power of Creation, mixed with a wisp of purple Primordial Qi, sank into Minghe's true spirit.

Minghe's damaged true spirit was instantly repaired.

His Twelve-Grade Karmic Fire Red Lotus, which had been beaten back to its original form, shone once more, even more condensed than before.

The wailing of the Yutu and Aobi Swords also ceased, faint purple electric arcs flowing over their blades.

His cultivation not only recovered to Middle-stage Quasi-Sage, but even faintly touched the threshold of Severing the Third Corpse.

"Thank you, Ancestor of the Dao, for the grace of recreation!"

Minghe was excited beyond measure, kowtowing wildly once again.

He thought he had gained a blessing in disguise, winning the Ancestor of the Dao's appreciation.

But he did not discover that in the depths of his true spirit, a Gray Mark even more hidden than Primordial Beginning Purple Qi had already been quietly branded.

From today on, he was no longer the Lord of the Blood Sea, Minghe.

He was a chess piece the Dàozǔ Hóngjūn had placed in the Blood Sea, on the Dao of Karma.

"Go." Hongjun's voice was still flat, "In secret you may re-establish the Asura Teaching. Only in the future, you must follow the Heavenly Numbers, and must not wantonly create killing karma."

"Yes! This humble deity obeys!"

Minghe Performed a Respectful Salute, his figure then sent out of Zixiao Palace by a gentle force, returning once more to that dried-up Blood Sea.

Looking at the Blood Sea slowly recovering below, Minghe's eyes flashed with the wild joy of a Survivor After Calamity, as well as unfathomable reverence for the Ancestor of the Dao.