Chapter 672: Eternal War

Although these Dao Marks do indeed have the function of promoting one's own Dao and allowing others to gain corresponding insights into the Dao, these were not the fundamental purposes for leaving behind the Dao Marks in the first place.

After all, they only wanted to disgust that old scoundrel back then.

Forget it, better not to tell the truth. Let the matters of the past be buried in time; from now on, these Dao Marks will be a case of predecessors planting trees for successors to enjoy the shade.

Xiaoyaozi sighed inwardly.

However, Li Heng observed with meticulous detail and noticed the change in Xiaoyaozi's expression, immediately realizing that there might be other purposes involved, and it was not as simple as he had guessed.

But none of that mattered anymore.

Li Heng changed the subject and spoke.

"When I observed these Dao Marks last time, these paper money fragments and burnt-out candles were not there. I wonder if you know what this is about, fellow Daoist?"

Xiaoyaozi sighed.

"I will not hide it from you, fellow Daoist; these paper money and candles were burnt by me."

Li Heng was slightly startled and spoke.

"Does that not mean..."

Before he could finish speaking to Li Heng, Xiaoyaozi nodded and continued, "That is correct, just as you think. The fellow Daoists who left these Dao Marks behind have all passed away."

"It is actually so?"

Li Heng raised his eyebrows, very surprised; this was quite different from what he had originally expected. However, he also sensed that there was no need for this Xiaoyaozi to lie to him, so it should be true.

"What kind of power could threaten the Hongdao Level? Is it power from the Great Void, or from those Calamities and monsters, Ominous and Terror?" Li Heng asked in confusion.

There are dozens of Dao Marks in the Hongdao Space, which means there were originally dozens of Hongdao Level existences, but now dozens of Hongdao Level existences are all dead; it is truly terrifying.

"Power from the Great Void?"

"It seems you have already encountered those greedy fellows who claim to be the Righteous Dao, disparage our Dao as the Outer Path, are extremely arrogant, and seek power from the Great Void. However, it is not them; one can only say it is related. After all, no matter how strong they are, they cannot create such a crushing situation for us. Except for the Dao Lord from endless ages ago, no one can completely suppress our Transcendence Path."

"What truly caused so many Hongdao Level existences to fall are those Calamity monsters, Ominous and Terror. They come inexplicably, appear inexplicably, and carry out indiscriminate destruction upon the Great Void. But what is strange is that within this indiscriminateness, these Calamities and monsters specifically focus on us experts who cultivate the Transcendence Path; their encirclement and hunting of us are several times greater than for other paths."

"Back and forth like this, so many Hongdao Level existences have fallen." Xiaoyaozi looked at these Dao Marks with some sadness and said sorrowfully.

"Targeted hunting of the Transcendence Path?"

Li Heng was somewhat surprised; why had he not encountered it?

Seeing Li Heng's expression, Xiaoyaozi spoke again.

"Looking at your reaction, you have not encountered the targeted hunting of those Calamities and monsters? No wonder; it seems you are in a relatively stable environment, and only in this way could you avoid those Calamities and monsters and attain the Hongdao Level."

"A relatively stable environment? Is it not stable on your side, fellow Daoist?"

Li Heng asked.

Among the countless eras he has currently come into contact with, although there are traces of Calamities and monsters, and many eras have been wantonly destroyed by these Calamities and monsters—such as the era he is in, which is already on the verge of the End Tribulation.

But overall, it is still stable.

At the very least, there is still the inclination for infighting between the various eras.

"The whole world is engulfed in war, eyes filled with blood and bone."

Xiaoyaozi answered briefly.

"That is indeed very unstable. But you and I are both in the Great Void, so why is there such a big difference? Why has the chaos on your side not reached me?"

Li Heng spoke, but he already had an answer in his heart.

"This is not strange, because it is very likely that where I am and where you are are not interconnected. When the fellow Daoists were still here in the past, I also wanted to visit some of them, but the result was that I could not go. Moreover, this lack of interconnection is not a hard obstacle like a barrier, but a desperate distance that you do not have the ability to reach."

"Within cognition and outside of cognition."

Li Heng said immediately; he thought of Duochong Xianshi.

"You put it succinctly, fellow Daoist; that is exactly it."

Xiaoyaozi nodded and said.

"However, even so, do not be lucky, fellow Daoist. In the past, there were some fellow Daoists whose locations were also very stable and peaceful, and there were not even any so-called Calamities or monsters. But in the end, these Calamities and monsters still spread to their locations."

"This seems to be a general trend that no one can avoid."

He reminded Li Heng to be careful.

Li Heng nodded; he had long had this sense of anxiety.

"Besides this, do you have any understanding of those Calamities and monsters, fellow Daoist? Since I started growing, I have met many people and many things, most of which have been answered, but only these Calamities and monsters remain confusing and full of mysteries."

At the beginning, he only felt that these Calamities and monsters were a problem with the World, that the World was sick. But later he discovered that this phenomenon also existed outside the World, spreading throughout the entire Great Void, and no one could solve this phenomenon; it was simply unreasonable.

"What you said, fellow Daoist, is exactly what I want to ask."

Xiaoyaozi said with a bitter smile.

The place where he is located is in a life-and-death struggle with those Calamities and monsters; the high-level combat power is almost all dead, yet he cannot see any glimmer of hope, and there is nowhere to escape. No matter where he flees, these Calamities and monsters follow like a shadow.

No one wants to know the information about these Calamity monsters more than he does.

"However, I do have a conjecture here: these Calamities and monsters may be related to the Wuqiong Weizhi outside the Great Void."

Xiaoyaozi said with a solemn expression.

Li Heng was slightly stunned; this was a very simple conjecture. As long as one knew that outside the Great Void was the Endless Unknown, basically everyone would have raised this conjecture. Why did Xiaoyaozi specifically bring it up?

Could it be that there is evidence?

However, Xiaoyaozi shook his head.

"But I may disappoint you, fellow Daoist; I have no evidence for this conjecture. It is just that the spiritual sense in my heart vaguely guesses in this direction; perhaps it is related to the Eternal War between the Unknown and the Known."

"The Eternal War between the Unknown and the Known?"

Li Heng heard a new term again.

"On our side, the concept of Dualism is prevalent. The Known and the Unknown are a whole, just like black and white Yin and Yang. The Known cognizes the Unknown, and the Unknown devours the Known; this is a Cycle, and this state of transformation is Eternal, hence it is called the Eternal War."

Xiaoyaozi explained.

Li Heng nodded, lost in thought; it was an interesting theory. But, are the Unknown and the Known really a whole? If one treats both as a whole, would that not mean cognizing the Unknown and turning it into the Known?

In this way, what else remains Unknown?