Chapter 660: Soul Search

“Hm?”

Fang Xing, who was riding his sword through the sky, suddenly sensed something amiss.

Within his dantian, the golden and silver temporal lotus Qi surged, and emerald lotus leaves manifested around him, forming layers of defense.

“A secret technique warning? Someone is tracking my causal thread?”

“But I’ve only just arrived in the True Immortal Realm—equivalent to being born anew—who could possibly latch onto my causal thread?”

In an instant, Fang Xing remembered the one who had called out, “Friend, please stay a moment.”

“Of course—the ones who say that are always trouble!”

“Could it be a Dao Lord exceptionally skilled in causal arts? Or did they use some secret treasure?”

Fang Xing’s thoughts flashed like lightning, yet his movements did not slow.

He pointed his fingers into a sword, and natural force descended, forming a blade of emerald green.

Upon the blade’s edge, golden and silver lotuses bloomed, leaving behind lotus seals.

“One sword—sever the causal thread!”

He slashed at himself, a deep gleam flashing in his eyes, and the heavens and earth suddenly blurred.

A thin causal thread stretched from the void, connecting to his body.

At its far end appeared to be a talisman?

“What kind of talisman could do this?”

Fang Xing swung his sword and cut the causal thread.

Boom!

The causal thread shattered violently.

But it was too late—autumn waters had already spread along the severed thread.

Splash!

In an instant, Fang Xing saw a lake of autumn waters.

From within the lake, a pair of eyes—bright as stars, clear as autumn waters—flashed.

“Autumn Water Dao Lord?”

Fang Xing sighed: “Too slow!”

Boom!

At that moment, the power of the Autumn Water Dao descended, forming a jade hand shimmering with lake light and autumn hues, gently slapping down!

“Ten Thousand Swords Return to One!”

Fang Xing slashed his sword, as if cleaving time and space—the River of Time and the primordial source of space surged down like a brilliant silver river, striking the Autumn Water jade hand.

Splash!

The Dao power shattered, turning into a rain of droplets.

Fang Xing merged his body with his sword, momentum unbroken, like a white rainbow piercing the sun, stabbing into the void—clearly attempting to flee.

Splash!

In the void, emerald flags emerged, forming a grand array.

Clang!

Fang Xing’s swordlight split into countless blades, his sword qi startling ghosts and terrifying gods—but every strike landed on the emerald flags and was deflected by rippling waves.

Water benefits all things without contending; thus, none under heaven can contend with it!

“Autumn Water Dao’s defense is truly formidable… I’ve seen it today.”

Fang Xing sighed.

Then he saw a carriage pulled by nineteen True Immortal phoenixes, and inside sat a female Dao Lord clad in a Daoist robe.

He knew clearly—he had lost by a hair’s breadth.

Earlier, Autumn Water Dao Lord had caught a trace of him, but he had spotted it and severed the causal thread with one sword.

Unable to act directly, she had sent two remote strikes and tossed over a set of “Autumn Water Array Flags,” establishing the “Autumn Water Great Array!”

Had his earlier sword not only destroyed the jade hand but also shattered the flags, he could have escaped—free as a fish in the sea, a bird in the sky.

But alas… he hadn’t!

Thus, those few instants of delay had been enough for Autumn Water Dao Lord’s true body to arrive on the battlefield!

A Fourteenth-Level Dao Lord capturing a mere Thirteenth-Level True Immortal? Naturally, it was as easy as plucking something from a sleeve.

“Your sword art is truly astonishing—you must be the most brilliant sword immortal.”

Autumn Water Dao Lord’s bright eyes glimmered, her divine thought sweeping like a tide: “To withstand two strikes from a Dao Lord while still a True Immortal—you have every reason to be proud! No wonder you received the Transcendence Legacy!”

“With your strength, a normal First-Step Dao Lord might not hold you. But unfortunately, I’ve already taken the Second Step.”

Autumn Water Dao Lord’s heart burned with eagerness.

“First-Step Dao Lord? Second-Step Dao Lord?”

Fang Xing smiled faintly—he understood this was the True Immortal Realm’s power hierarchy.

Four-Step Dao Lords correspond directly to the Four Stages of the Dao Lord.

One who reaches the Fourth Step is essentially equivalent to a Primordial Dao Master—the Dao Lord’s Fourth Stage!

Though his cultivation avatar had not yet broken into Dao Lord, his true body was already at Fourteenth-Level power, and the Dao paths he cultivated were supreme.

Combined, he could rightly be called a “True Immortal Overlord”—a Sixth-Rank Law Lord—capable of clashing with, even defeating, a normal First-Step Dao Lord.

Even if he couldn’t win, he could escape.

But facing a Second-Step Dao Lord? He was simply outmatched.

“Transcendence Legacy?” Fang Xing chuckled, silently communicating with the Gates of All Realms: “All you Dao Court Dao Lords, disciples of Dao Lords… have you all defected to the Demon Sovereigns and Beast Sovereigns?”

“Under the tide of fate, to follow is to live, to resist is to die—it’s unavoidable.”

“You too are part of the Dao Court, blessed by the Immortal Dao—shouldn’t you now surrender the Transcendence Legacy and lend us aid? If we one day overthrow the Beast and Demon Sovereigns, you may be remembered for ten thousand generations—perhaps even gain a chance at reincarnation.”

Autumn Water Dao Lord’s tone was gentle, yet laced with implicit threat.

After all, Fang Xing’s last escape had been suspiciously smooth.

She wasn’t certain she could capture him!

“Hah… Dao Lord, you’ve misunderstood one thing—I am a sword cultivator!”

Fang Xing laughed loudly: “Sword cultivators never bend—they break!”

Clang!

The moment he spoke, a thousand swordlights flashed.

Infinite swordlight converged, fused with temporal and spatial power, forming a single white thread that slashed toward Autumn Water Dao Lord.

!

The blade’s sharpness was terrifying—worse, the flow of time shifted in an instant!

It was a sword of instantaneous death!

Poof!

Before Autumn Water Dao Lord, endless ripples of water appeared, undulating and diminishing the force of that sword strike.

She looked at the tip of her right index finger—a thin sword wound, a single drop of glistening crimson blood forming.

“Excellent sword art—you’ve wounded me! Had this been a normal First-Step Dao Lord, you might have slain him, achieving the feat of a True Immortal killing a Dao Lord. But alas… when a Dao Lord bleeds, disaster follows!”

Autumn Water Dao Lord formed hand seals, and spiritual light shimmered into being.

The celestial and terrestrial Qi surged wildly, repelled by Dao power.

In an instant, Fang Xing felt as if he had entered another world.

In this world, the laws of nature were utterly forbidden!

Even his most potent temporal and spatial laws had no effect whatsoever!

This was the might of a Dao Lord!

Dao flows with the world, unweakened—but True Immortal Law Lords could not withstand it.

“Heaven moves, water flows, nourishing all beings…”

As Autumn Water Dao Lord chanted, the heavens and earth transformed into an endless autumn sea.

Splash!

From the dark depths of the sea, an indescribably vast creature rose, leaping from the water.

It was a Kun-Peng!

Boom!

The great Kun’s wings struck, as if the heavens collapsed—the Autumn Water Dao surged down with overwhelming force.

In an instant, the True Immortal Realm’s void shattered; countless spatial cracks spread across tens of thousands of miles.

A Dao Lord’s casual strike could turn a region of the True Immortal Realm into an absolute wasteland!

Autumn Water Dao Lord, confident in her power, stepped forward and teleported to a massive crater.

At the crater’s bottom, Fang Xing’s head was crushed under endless autumn waters, solidified into crystal-like blocks, bearing a gravity heavier than Primordial Water.

Thin threads of autumn death’s chill seeped into Fang Xing’s meridians, piercing his dantian, freezing the golden and silver lotus.

Only the emerald root still twitched slightly.

A flash of green light allowed him to avoid collapsing under the crushing weight—barely keeping him from kneeling.

“The Transcendence Legacy is indeed extraordinary—even under my Autumn Water Dao’s suppression, you still have a sliver of strength?”

Autumn Water Dao Lord was astonished, then stepped before Fang Xing, locking eyes with him.

She exhaled like orchid fragrance, smiling sweetly: “Too bad… you’re only a True Immortal now. Had you already attained Dao Lord status, even those three-step Dao Lords might not be your match… you might even surpass Xiao Yao and achieve the fourth step of Dao Lordhood!”

“Is Xiao Yao merely a three-step Dao Lord?”

Fang Xing clenched his teeth, as if struggling to speak.

“Heh… of course. Otherwise, with the Xiao Yao Dao and the Immortal Dao he wields, had he taken the fourth step, whether he achieved Primordial Dao through returning to the primordial or through the post-heaven path, he could barely have survived against the Beast Sovereigns and Demon Sovereigns—then the True Immortal Realm’s balance wouldn’t be this way.”

Dao Jun Qiushui seemed to be deliberately revealing secrets to draw Fang Xing’s attention, so she could secretly perform a soul-searching technique on him.

“Too bad, the Beast Sovereigns and Demon Sovereigns are unlikely to give him this chance… but the Dao Lords within our Dao Court won’t yield either; many have secret plans underway…”

“My plan is you… I beg you, fellow cultivator, to grant this favor, for we both belong to the same Immortal lineage.”

Dao Jun Qiushui suddenly advanced, her eyes glowing with strange light, piercing Fang Xing’s pupils!

—Soul Search!

At that moment, behind Dao Jun Qiushui, the void sealed by Dao laws suddenly rippled again!

No!

Not the Law of Space—but some mysterious force beyond the Void Dao, forming an invisible gate!

A sun of indescribable hue, encompassing all, containing all… seemingly existing above infinite time, crashed through layers of spacetime and descended!

—The Eternal Spacetime Sun King Spell!

Fang Xing’s cultivation avatar smiled faintly, and within his mind sea, the Great Sun Furnace rose, causing Dao Jun Qiushui to snort coldly—clearly, her Dao Lord soul had been injured!

Then, from within the boundless sun, a Great Sun Tathagata emerged, his face identical to Fang Xing’s true body, both palms thrust forward!

—Infinite Light!

—Infinite Lifespan!

The Tenth Form of the Great Sun Tathagata Palm—Great Sun Nirvana!

BOOM!

The full power of the Pan Wu Dao descended, shattering layer upon layer of Qiushui Dao’s defenses and striking Dao Jun Qiushui’s back!

Dao Jun Qiushui screamed in agony, crippled in a single blow!

This was naturally the result of Fang Xing’s cultivation avatar creating an opening for his true body to launch a full-force ambush!

Of course, the fundamental reason was that Fang Xing’s true body, though also a two-step Dao Lord, was stronger than Dao Jun Qiushui!

In other words, if both faced the Battle Heaven Stele, Fang Xing’s palm imprint could penetrate over two thousand one hundred meters, while Qiushui Dao Lord could manage at most one thousand four to five hundred!

“I beg you, Dao Lord, to show mercy and grant this humble immortal!”

Fang Xing’s cultivation avatar laughed wildly, a mad gleam on his face as his Great Sun soul emerged and surged directly through Dao Jun Qiushui’s pupils into her mind sea!

—Reverse Soul Search!

(End of Chapter)