Chapter 309: Dueling Dao

The surroundings shifted instantly to another place; Shi Hao's body glowed with divine radiance, and the crimson Great Luo Sword Embryo in his hand blazed with divine light as he scanned his surroundings warily.

Just moments ago, he had sensed not the slightest anomaly.

What had the Su Zongzhu of the Tianyi Sect done?

Floating islands of golden streams and emerald peaks, with spiritual waterfalls cascading tens of thousands of zhang, resembled a celestial pure land; here, his spiritual sense detected the presence of countless powerful cultivators without reservation.

"Where is this place?! This isn't Da Huang, nor the Eight Lower Realms."

The Eight Lower Realms could never contain so many powerful cultivators!

He looked up at the boundless heavens, where it seemed a mighty being gazed down upon the world from infinite time and space; his gaze stretched far away, where a massive bronze gate stood open, radiating terrifying energies from within—like primordial beasts from ancient chaos.

Shi Hao searched for traces of the others present moments ago, but before him lay only a drunken cultivator sprawled on the ground and the one who had first exposed him as Ye Fan.

Where were the others? Had they abandoned their own sect members?

Shi Hao felt a pang of disgust; he had shown no malice, had even spared the feeble true dragon without roasting it for meat, yet the Tianyi Sect was so base—capable of abandoning their own after merely encountering minor setbacks.

This ruined his mood for teaching Ye Fan a lesson; his immediate priority was to question these two and find out where they were.

Shi Hao's nostrils twitched; suddenly, he caught a sweet, fragrant scent.

Crunch crunch.

The crisp sound was jarring; Shi Hao turned and saw the Su Zongzhu of the Tianyi Sect had changed clothes and was shoving handfuls of golden, bite-sized snacks into his mouth, his expression relaxed, utterly unlike his earlier demeanor.

This realm is our Tianyi Sect's territory; if you defeat us, I'll give you a hundred bottles of Zui Xian Niang—what's the harm? Our Enforcement Elder Ye Fan loves to teach arrogant prodigies a lesson; if you can even make him beg for mercy, I'll give you thirty bottles.

Really?!

Truly. No need to worry about casualties—he won't die here. Oh, and preferably make him cry and beg.

He was right before his eyes, yet with his current perception, he could not sense the man's presence at all; coupled with the man's aura seamlessly fused with heaven and earth, Shi Hao felt an extreme danger.

But since the man had shown no ill intent for now, what harm was there in accepting? After all, that Ye Fan was nothing more than.

"Fight!"

A thunderous roar erupted; Ye Fan's hair stood on end, each strand pointing skyward, golden blood qi surging upward with waves of crimson clouds, his power skyrocketing rapidly, the radiance bursting from his body threatening to shatter the heavens.

Shi Hao stared at Ye Fan in disbelief, his eyes filled with unprecedented shock—not because of the man's rapidly escalating power, but because of the Dao within him.

A figure manifested: another Ye Fan, seated upon the ninth heaven, wreathed in xuan-huang qi, overlooking all creation like a celestial sovereign born anew.

"Self-contained realm, body as seed, sea of qi manifestation…" Shi Hao murmured to himself.

This was the Dao he had forged!

How is this possible?

In response came a fist that sent ripples across the vast expanse, and Ye Fan's boiling, burning sacred blood.

Ye Fan's lips curled into a smile; without doubt, no matter how this one had arrived here, it was an unparalleled, once-in-eternity opportunity—an encounter with that Huang!

At this moment, Ye Fan understood: he had returned to Lin's World; the celestial Dao's power, which he had once experienced, was again flooding into his body—not as abundantly as during film shoots, but enough to elevate him to Grand Saint level.

Even if this Dao boost was fleeting, for now he could fully revel in battle, fearlessly fight against stronger prodigies, and upon returning to his own world, transform every insight gained here into his own accumulation.

Shi Hao's fist met Ye Fan's, answering the man's fierce battle intent in his own way.

Even if the man held countless secrets and had risen to his own realm, so what?! Only battle!

"Fight!"

The Phoenix Divine Art manifested: faint phoenix wings fluttered behind him, yet in an instant, his second punch struck Ye Fan's chest; brilliant light exploded, and from Ye Fan's body came a repelling force.

Is his physique incredibly strong?

Shi Hao wasn't in a hurry; he reversed his sword and stabbed toward Ye Fan's third eye. The blade's aura barely grazed Ye Fan, who barely dodged—but even the brushstroke shattered his defenses, and golden blood droplets seeped from the ancient holy body's skin.

"The qi of this blood… it's you?!!" Shi Hao froze; his eyes trembled like an earthquake—he finally remembered where he had seen this man before.

The Emperor's Pass! A mysterious powerhouse from another timeline!

The Wùwù Mǔqì Cauldron no longer shimmered with a blend of multiple immortal metals, nor did stars rotate within its breath, nor did a brilliant star-river ebb and flow inside its mouth.

But there was no mistake: Shi Hao had once used his Hua Zi Zi Zai Method to simulate this man's Dao fruit; this aura—it was him, no doubt.

Originally, that mysterious man's cauldron had breathed divine radiance, chasing another warrior clad in blue-gold armor through the River of Time, storming into the Emperor's Pass battlefield, and indirectly aiding him in repelling the Alien Domain.

But why is he so young now?!

A possibility surfaced in Shi Hao's mind: could he have traveled through time?!

"Jie!"

As if answering his guess, Ye Fan activated the Jie Secret, causing the youth to merge with the image of the man Shi Hao remembered: long black hair flowing, deep pupils, majestic aura dominating the world like an emperor.

"Interesting!" Shi Hao shed all restraint; his demeanor turned utterly fierce.

A hunch, thrilling beyond measure, stirred in his heart; he swung the Great Luo Sword Embryo at Ye Fan, who had tenfold greater power, while his other hand clenched into a fist, golden radiance blasting toward the Wùwù Mǔqì Cauldron.

Amidst drifting crimson divine light, Ye Fan fell once more into disadvantage—but he did not lose heart; this was normal. Even with temporary power, the gap in accumulated foundation remained as vast as heaven and earth.

If merely this could bridge the gap between them, he would doubt whether this man was truly that "Huang," that Shi Hao.

If so—

Then refine himself further within battle.

Dozens of punches descended; Ye Fan spat blood, yet remained fearless; pain could not deter him from wanting to see just how powerful this first man of ten thousand ages truly was.

He had prepared himself to gain little from this fight, given the reality of his true realm—but now, his mind was clearer than ever; every punch, every slash he endured granted him insight; in the clashing of fists, he perceived the very essence of "Dao" within the man's divine arts.

This battle shall not end!

Ye Fan summoned all his strength; Tianyi's will continuously poured into him, repairing his body, while Shi Hao struck with ruthless precision, leaving no hesitation.

"Hit hard. Don't hold back," Su Zongzhu glanced at Song Shuhang, sprawled in the center of the battlefield; though he didn't know what the Ye Tian Di was up to, yet—

"Sorry, Shuhang. Life is like this. Crunch crunch."

"Sometimes you can't resist—you must go with the flow. Don't blame me."

Su Zongzhu ate popcorn, his figure gradually fading from the spot.

In the boundless void, countless worlds piled up; the Tian Di's gaze swept across, and the sea of time and space churned, countless fragmented, disordered pieces of information piling chaotically, rising and falling with the tides of time.

"If I chase you and catch you, I'll have my way with you." Ye Tian Di strolled casually, holding a branch from the Awakening Dao Tree, occasionally parting clusters of worlds and then restoring them:

"In this dimension of the void, the universe is truly peculiar. Unless a great transformation occurs, a natural universe, once mature, can continuously evolve new worlds; the emergence of a dominant consciousness is not entirely dependent on maturity."

"Not here, not here either—oh, sorry, Han Dao friend, so you're hiding here! I got the wrong person. Have you seen the transcendent who's been cultivating for one year and two months? His foundation seems unstable; I wanted to help him solidify it."

"No, I haven't. Then I won't disturb you. If you've got time, why not come to my place? Why run off so fast?"

Ye Tian Di repaired the shattered universe and began searching again, tracing the connection between his separated selves, Ye Fan and Song Shuhang.

"Who was that just now?" The figure of Huang Tian Di appeared from the side: "He fled too far into the dimensions—I had to exert considerable effort to find him."

"Han Dao friend, didn't you see him before?" Ye Tian Di slowly searched the void like opening blind boxes.

"I have a faint memory," Huang Tian Di replied. "Not deep."

"Didn't you greet him?" Ye Fan was about to say something, but suddenly recalled the scene: Han Li, with his back to Shi Hao, asking Su Lin for Zui Xian Niang; upon noticing the sudden appearance of an unknown figure, he immediately retreated far away, then summoned a teleportation gate when Shi Hao revealed his identity, and vanished the instant conflict erupted.

Han Li was not among those he had just relocated.

Ye Tian Di: "."

Huang Tian Di: "."

"Did you notice?" Ye Tian Di stopped his movements and asked. "About Su Lin's world."

Huang Tian Di withdrew his attention and said: "The world you brought me to is intriguing, but... it's not yet the time."

"The path has no end; if it did, the pioneer's duty would be to press forward and forge a new road." Ye Tian Di opened a world and shook his head in disappointment.

"But we've never even seen an end—only endless, nearly identical scenery," Huang Tian Di chuckled. "I thought we were merely participating in the convergence of countless dimensions, but it turns out there are unexpected gains. Regardless, I suppose we won't grow weary on this journey."

Huang paused, then shifted tone:

"So you plan to beat Chu Feng senseless as soon as you reach the front?"

"When are you returning my sword?"

Ye Tian Di shook his head. "You think too small of my heart's eye. Didn't you just secretly give Shi Hao a boost? That's not allowed—you're bullying Ye Fan, a mere Four Poles cultivator."

Huang Tian Di glanced at him. "Keep talking, and I might just punch you until you cry—I could trade that for thirty bottles of Zui Xian Niang."

Outside Wangshu Pavilion, on Shuijing Peak.

"You're finally back! Everyone's gone mad..." Emperor Yufeng spoke timidly, eyes welling with tears, as if he'd seen the most terrifying thing in the world.

"Your Sacred Stele is poisonous! Even if you didn't want me playing games, you didn't have to poison a child like this!"

"Zhong Li, you must stand up for me!"

Su Lin was livestreaming the battle between Ye Fan and Shi Hao as a promotional teaser for the next version—or perhaps a legendary quest—of the Simulation Universe; in the meantime, he was playing the mystery man and setting up betting odds to recoup some losses.

Unexpectedly, a quarter of the cultivators inside the Simulation Universe had already gone insane.

"You are One, and you are Ten Thousand..."

"Namo Amitabha Buddha..."

"The Dao that can be spoken is not the eternal Dao! The Dao that can be spoken is not the eternal Dao! I've awakened! I've awakened, hahaha!!!"

"Praise the Light! Oh Lord!"

Su Lin's eyebrows twitched. He stared blankly at the "cultivators" stretching from the topmost steps of Wangshu Pavilion down to the training ground.

Su Lin's neck stiffened as he turned to Emperor Yufeng. "What did you do?"

"I followed your instructions and recruited disciples widely!" Emperor Yufeng whined.

"I feared your item might be dangerous, so I first released a hidden quest—those who completed it could become disciples of the Tianyi Sect. But that cultivator had a loose mouth—word spread fast, ten became a hundred..."

"Then... waaah... they lined up to touch the Dao-Transmission Stele. After touching it, they all went mad. Over there... a few even turned into monsters."

"Only one person remained unharmed. You said this stele contained one's own Dao! You liar! Waaah!"

So why do you distrust this kind-eyed, benevolent old sect leader?

Su Lin stared at the "Juejie Sacred Stele" standing before Wangshu Pavilion. He now understood why he hadn't found it when inventorying the items—he'd assumed he'd left it at Liu Li Ting and planned to retrieve it later.

Su Lin stared blankly at the "things" below, raised his hand, and dispelled the lingering Juejie Sacred Stele imprint from their bodies.

"Mommy!! There's a monster!!! Aaaaaah!!!"

"I'm from the Dao Sect! Buddha, don't come near me, please don't!!!"

"What is that thing... a deity?"

"Immortal! No, you're not an immortal—let me go!"

Su Lin snapped his fingers and summoned a manifestation of the God of Time and Space.

"Help me reset their memories—or reset their very state."

"Yes."

The mad cultivators blurred and vanished from Shuijing Peak. Su Lin fell silent for a long while, gazing at the Juejie Sacred Stele, his mind filled with doubt.

"Is this stele... faulty?"

Kleine, sipping a sobering soup pulled from a historical projection, said: "I'd like to borrow this Dao-Transmission Stele someday."

"What for?" Su Lin asked. "To transmit your Yuanshi Tianzun Dao?"

"No—I'd use it directly as a weapon. It should be devastatingly effective." Kleine touched the smooth surface. "Is there any way to directly activate the Dao inside? I suspect its destructive power would be immense."

After speaking, Kleine pointed to a young man nearby wearing a monocle.

The man adjusted his monocle, carved from crystal, and said:

"I sincerely apologize for my past actions of casually stealing others' lives."

"Mr. Kleine, please rest assured—I am now a true human. May I study cultivation in this sect?"

Emperor Yufeng pointed at the young man. "Yes—the only one who didn't go mad. Would you consider him?"

No... perhaps this man is already insane.

"God of Time and Space, you missed one."

The monocle-wearing stranger vanished. Su Lin put away the Juejie Sacred Stele. Such a situation should not occur again.

Previously, the greatest obstacle to his cultivation was that the Jin Dan and Nascent Soul would fight each other when he absorbed Qi and focused entirely on cultivation, rendering cultivation impossible; now, after being separated by the Eternal Furnace Core, they would no longer brawl and beat each other.

In the future, he could even let the Cloaked Figure Nascent Soul and the Six-Winged Jin Dan split apart and cultivate separately within his body, signing a non-aggression pact with the Eternal Furnace Core as the boundary; as for whether these things might seem strange, he could simply create avatars later.

The Eternal Primordial Source contained within the Eternal Furnace Core allows his physical body and spiritual soul to grow continuously, and enables him to stack or differentiate his various states—similar to avatars or soul splits—but as complete, growing entities.

This is the true value of a million points; having spent so much, he wouldn't just take some mediocre item from the Eternal Dominator's Wisdom Soul and hand him a cultivation technique plus a stat reset like charity to a beggar.

Haven't you seen that stat reset costs at least 300,000? As for cultivation techniques, he currently doesn't lack any single technique at all, and he'll have opportunities to obtain better ones later.

"Next, I can try cultivating the Eight-Nine Profound Art."

Su Lin, filled with excitement and anticipation, watched alongside the awakened others as Ye Fan and Shi Hao fought.

Without the base bonuses granted by the Simulation Universe, many people now would barely be able to discern the details of their battle.

In this feast of spells and techniques, even mere observation could yield abundant gains.

"Incredible…" Weigong Shilang watched the spells blooming in their hands, swords meeting fists—each mistake could mean irreversible ruin, ending in blood; Shi Hao's Great Luo Sword Embryo and sword art were realms he could not comprehend, not even perceive in form.

"Ye Fan is growing at an astonishing rate." Zhongli focused intently on the two battling in the sky, afraid to miss a single moment; what began as Shi Hao's absolute domination had now become Ye Fan occasionally striking back. "Is it because encountering Shi Hao has fully awakened his talent?"

"Aren't we missing someone…?" Lu Mingfei tremulously pointed at the battlefield center, where a familiar figure had been swallowed by the collapsing ground. "Should we save him?"

"Missing someone?" Su Lin looked around and said, "Probably just a spirit from the battlefield; legends say that during Supreme battles, certain spirits love to crowd to the front row to watch the Supreme duels—after all, 'to hear the Dao in the morning and die in the evening' is acceptable. Lu Mingfei, you should learn this spirit."

"Is that so…" Lu Mingfei saw a crimson sword qi descend from the sky, tearing apart everything below, and broke into a cold sweat.

(End of Chapter)