Chapter 728

This stone stele radiates a vast aura of Xuanhuang, suppressing this place and severing countless kalpas of primordial energy.

The scouring of a kalpa sufficient to wear down a world washed over it, yet failed to leave a single trace on the stele's surface.

The eight large characters, "Grand Void Gate, Suppressing Gui Xu," possess an implication that is mysterious to the extreme, eternal and immovable, and impervious to ten thousand kalpas.

It is unknown whose handiwork these characters are; originally, Yu Changsheng thought it was the doing of the Grand Void Gate guardian who had taken a step ahead, but after the assembly of Lingbao combined their strength to tear open the torrent of calamity and arrive before the stele, his thoughts were shaken!

For the stele possesses no array or seal; only those eight large characters, deeply etched into the stele, endure through the ages.

At a single glance, one feels as if the heavens are overturning and the universe is ending, with boundless kalpas sweeping in, yet it stands majestically unmoved, possessing an implication of being indestructible through ten thousand kalpas.

This faint Dao implication is more terrifying than any Buddhist Vajra Indestructibility or Immortal Golden Body, or any Demonic Path's Divine Demon Undying Body or Rebirth from a Drop of Blood realm.

To suppress the calamities here and block that infinite, decaying, and malevolent qi with merely eight characters could never be the work of a mere Grand Void guardian.

The Buddhist holy monk Master Zhutanmo stood before this hundred-zhang stele, one palm held upright before his chest, the other holding an alms bowl.

Arriving beneath the stele, the towering stone monument stood before the crowd like a curtain wall, majestically unbroken and indestructible across ten thousand realms.

Dan Chenzi of the Tushita Palace only said two words: "Da Luo!"

Master Zhutanmo softly chanted a Buddhist name, the halo behind his head growing increasingly brilliant and his wisdom clear, as if he were comprehending the Dao implication on the stele, but after a short while, the crowd heard his chanting grow more urgent, and the halo behind his head was visibly trembling!

Beads of sweat rolled down the forehead of this Yuezhi Bodhisattva, and it was clear the situation was not right.

He looked at the characters for a long time, using his great wisdom to see the eight characters curl up and transform into a spirit pearl, like the Buddha's wisdom reaching perfection, akin to supreme Bodhi and equal enlightenment. Knowing this was transformed from Dao implication, he still felt there was something inside the spirit pearl, and could not help but look again with his wisdom eye.

Who would have expected that this one look would nearly make him kneel to the ground, his golden body shattering!

Thump!

The crowd watched as Master Zhutanmo suddenly knelt halfway, his knees slamming onto the ground before the stele; one kneecap had already struck the ground heavily, while the other struggled to remain unbent, and then they heard a bone-chilling sound of bone cracking.

Master Zhutanmo's entire golden body dimmed, as if his Zen heart had been shattered by the Dao implication within the text.

He struggled to stand up, only to hear a sound like a great bell ringing through his sea of consciousness...

"Since you have seen the Supreme, why do you not kneel!"

Crack!

His golden bowl fell to the ground, and his entire body slammed heavily onto his knees; dark cracks appeared beneath his dark-gold skin, like countless tiny abysses covering his golden body, bottomless and seemingly leading straight to the Yu Jiuyou.

Yu Changsheng felt bone-chilled; as Tanmo knelt, the Yushan beneath his feet actually emitted countless cracking sounds.

He hurriedly walked down from the Yushan, and only when the Yujing Mountain separated from the mountain body did the trembling stop; looking back, Dan Chenzi of Tushita Palace and the old Daoist of Shaoqing had already carried their disciples down from the alchemy furnace and wooden boat, bowing respectfully toward the stele!

Cold sweat rolled down the Primordial Spirit Long Wang, and standing before the stele, his arrogance was entirely gone; the Penglai group scrambled off their ship, their hearts feeling cold.

Even that red lotus descended gently, letting the people on it down, landing before the stele like a sacrificial lotus!

The woman from the Guanghan Palace drove the moon wheel far away, but only flew halfway before crashing down in a sorry state; before this stele, all Lingbao retracted their spirituality, and if the masters of the Lingbao resisted even slightly, they felt the true consciousness of their Lingbao trembling.

Xie An also led a group of aristocratic disciples to scramble off the Clan Records; the ancestral halls and archways where the luck of each family was condensed were all trembling, and had they not gotten off, they clearly would have shattered, leaving the group of aristocratic disciples crawling and looking at the stele with infinite awe.

The Long Wang of the Dragon Palace climbed up from the ground, pretending nothing had happened, and said: "This stele was definitely not left by that guardian!"

Yu Changsheng also said with a grim face: "There is a strand of true Supreme Dao implication within it; could it be the personal handwriting of the Supreme Dao Xie Xie Zushi?"

"Personal handwriting of the Supreme is too much!... But that strand of Dao implication definitely comes from a personal item of the Supreme Dao Xie Xie Zushi; I fear the Grand Void Gate has enshrined the Supreme's clothing and crown within the stele!"

The Primordial Spirit of the Shenxiao Sect could not help but wipe away cold sweat; regardless of where the stele's Dao implication came from, standing here, it absolutely represents the Supreme Dao Xie Xie Zushi! One can only pass by on foot...

If they dared to drive their Lingbao, they would likely face a terrifying calamity where their Lingbao would be shattered.

"Supreme clothing and crown!"

Several Primordial Spirits exchanged glances; why would the Grand Void Gate not keep such a thing as a sect-suppressing treasure, but instead place it in Gui Xu?

Both the Daoist and Buddhist sects have the saying of true inheritance of the mantle; inheriting the clothing and crown of a predecessor is a treatment reserved only for disciples who truly inherit the legal lineage.

If the Grand Void Gate possessed the Supreme's clothing and crown, the entire Supreme Dao would have to bow in respect; as long as one is a member of the Daoist sect, even Dao Lords and Dao Venerables would have to treat it with respect, so how could it be placed in Gui Xu?

After the old Daoist of Tushita Palace bowed respectfully to the stele, he climbed up and said: "The Supreme's clothing and crown is impossible; although the Dao Xie Xie Zushi had two great personal disciples, when the Supreme Xie Xie Zushi merged with the Dao in the past, neither Grand Master Xuandu nor Dao Venerable Wenshi obtained the mantle, otherwise, how would it be the turn of the Primordial Dao to rule the world?"

Dan Chenzi's face looked somewhat unpleasant; among the three direct lineages, Taiqing and Grand Void were both personal disciples of the Supreme Dao Xie Xie Zushi.

Only their Tushita Palace ancestor was born as a fire-tending boy for the Supreme Dao Xie Xie Zushi, and was inherently a step lower.

If not for that gourd of Nine-Turn Golden Pills and the Supreme Yin-Yang Fan passed down, it would be hard to say they were even one of the three direct lineages...

He was somewhat jealous, his tone sour as he said: "But within this stele, there is likely a personal item of the Supreme Xie Xie Zushi sealed away, which is why it carries this strand of Dao implication!"

But regardless of whether the stele hides the Supreme's clothing and crown or a Supreme Dao item, the various Primordial Spirits exchanged glances, their hearts filled with hidden terror; this is a true Supreme sacred trace, and one must not act rashly.

Did you not see Master Zhutanmo, who only wanted to resist the Dao implication, being pressed down and still kneeling before the stele?

They saw Master Zhutanmo grit his teeth and kowtow three times, hands pressed together, bowing his head to chant: "Homage to the Supreme Dao Xie Xie Zushi!"

Only then did his whole body relax, and that invisible pressure vanished, allowing him to stand up.

At this moment, only he knew what he had seen within the stele, and where that strand of Supreme Dao implication had come from. But he dared not speak...

"That is not a relic of the Supreme Dao Xie Xie Zushi, but a demonic shadow left behind from when the Supreme Dao Xie Xie Zushi was the Taiyi Demon Xie Xie Zushi in the past!"

His heart churned, but his mouth remained sealed.

Gui Xu is an object of the New Heavens, originally a world born only after the Supreme merged with the Dao, but within the stele, there is clearly a suppressed shadow of the Taiyi Demon Xie Xie Zushi, which should be the shadow left by the Taiyi Demon Xie Xie Zushi before the predecessor of Gui Xu, reflected in the illusion sea outside.

It is unknown when it was suppressed here by the predecessors of the Grand Void Gate with a stele, and secretly enshrined.

This is likely one of the most terrifying illusions in all of Gui Xu!

Master Zhutanmo finally understood why some Primordial Spirit True Immortals, and even Immortals and Buddhas from the higher realms, had broken into Gui Xu and never walked out alive.

Just think, when those Immortals and Buddhas were crossing the illusion sea, suddenly encountering the shadow left by the Taiyi Demon Xie Xie Zushi, with perhaps a Primordial Demon Xie Xie Zushi standing beside it, even Immortals and Buddhas from the higher realms would be scared out of their wits!

Seeing Master Zhutanmo's lingering fear but sealed lips, the crowd did not expect him to say anything more.

"This stele is crafted from the remnants of great calamities and the relics of creation!"

The Primordial Spirit of Penglai bowed in fear, not daring to look directly at the eight characters, staring at the Xuanhuang-colored stele for a long time before suddenly exclaiming.

"What?"

The various Primordial Spirits felt a shock in their hearts and looked toward the stele together; indeed, the Xuanhuang-colored stele had Xuanhuang qi flowing, but it lacked the charm of the innate Xuanhuang essence from before the opening of the heavens, instead possessing a thick and heavy feeling.

The stele seemed to be made of stone, but when looked at carefully, one could discover that this stone quality was not a single substance, nor was it primordial energy, but something that, no matter how minutely their magic eyes probed, could not reveal a single trace of material particles or primordial energy...

The entire stele seemed to be one entity, indivisible, simply forming a world of its own, condensed from space-time, universe, matter, primordial energy, and spirit!

The various Primordial Spirit True Immortals all came from major ancient traditions and were not without knowledge; there is only one kind of such substance.

That is the creation left behind after ten thousand realms fall into Gui Xu, and all primordial energy, space-time, matter, and living beings are annihilated; great destruction must be accompanied by great creation!

When primordial energy is annihilated, creation qi is born;

When matter is destroyed, some unimaginable wonders are also born, such as divine gold and strange iron, which are extremely precious.

If living beings fall into Gui Xu and are not worn down, they can obtain even more unimaginable creation.

Even when those worlds fall into it and are destroyed, they can give birth to the origin that nurtures the heavens...

And this substance is something that, after the structure of the universe itself is annihilated, condenses space-time, soul, reincarnation, primordial energy, matter, and spirit into one, and can no longer be worn down. When a great world is annihilated, it can only give birth to a piece about ten zhang high; how many world wrecks were condensed to form this hundred-zhang stele?

It is simply shudder-inducing!

At this moment, even Xiao Yu and the others exchanged glances quietly, thinking to themselves: "With such terrifying handiwork, it seems this really isn't the means left by that senior! I guess the stele in the thunder cave is just an imitation of this one..."

"Senior Qian Chen emerged from the demon cave, first stirred up the Jiankang calamity, and then came overseas to enter Gui Xu... It seems it was not without reason! It is mostly because of the arrangements of the Grand Void seniors..."

After Xiao Yu understood this, he subconsciously picked up his old trade; he respectfully took out three incense sticks from his basket, the old Daoist also fished out a handful of talisman paper, and the big guy even more familiarly stepped forward to spread out a piece of tattered cloth, which was the very one the old Daoist had drawn the Bagua on, stained with blood and various traces.

The three of them knelt down on this tattered cloth, kowtowing respectfully toward the stele, sacrificing with the rites of the ancestors...

The three brothers, one burning incense and bowing, one accompanying with kowtows and chanting, and another beside them lighting a fire basin with a broken bowl, burning talisman paper.

This ritual was extremely ancient, and while it looked absurd, it was actually quite serious.

Xiao Yu's incense was the God-Praying Incense he had carefully refined; although it was far inferior to the supreme-grade one bestowed by Qian Chen, it was comparable to the batch Qian Chen had refined using scraps.

It was considered to have emptied his family's savings to refine, and he didn't know how many great tombs he had dug for this...

The old Daoist's talisman paper was a type of Vow-Power Talisman, sealing pure vow power that could be offered to gods and Buddhas to be transformed into heavenly silver.

The big guy's chanting, while vague and strange, was the authentic ancient shamanic chant for sacrificing to ancestors, rumored to be able to communicate with the Yu Jiuyou and even reach the heavenly realm.

Dan Chenzi of Tushita Palace, seeing this scene of burning incense, paper, and blowing and singing, felt his fists harden!

"There's nothing wrong with the ritual, but why does it make me want to hit someone? With the purity of the Daoist sect and the height of the Supreme, what have they been sacrificed into? The dead old grandfather at home?"

"And my Supreme Xie Xie Zushi, what are you group of rogue cultivators bowing to?"

Dan Chenzi's eyelids twitched, waiting for a divine light from the stele to strike down and annihilate these bastards who were randomly recognizing ancestors.

But after waiting for a long time, he only saw the smoke from the burning talisman paper and the incense fragrance transform into a golden pillar of smoke, surging toward the stele, with bits of pure vow power lingering on it, making the stele appear even more miraculous.

The divine light of the stele overflowed, and the surging tide of calamity was suppressed by three parts!

At this moment, in that endless primordial energy calamity, after the mighty primordial energy decayed and was annihilated, the faint trace of creation qi that was born was suddenly swept by the divine light onto the stele.

Strands of creation qi fell, stimulating the characters on the stele; they saw the eight characters on the stele suddenly shrink into a ball, and a chaotic spirit light manifested, becoming a spirit pearl, stabilizing wind, earth, water, and fire, and suppressing the vast calamity.

"Dao Dust Pearl!"

All the Primordial Spirits present recognized that spirit light at a glance.

The background of those three rogue cultivators was indeed not simple; the first sacrifice producing the Dao Dust Pearl could be called a coincidence, but in a place like this, engraved with Supreme Dao implication and status akin to the ancestral tablet of the Grand Void Gate, to still be able to trigger the Dao Dust Pearl, it would be strange if there were no connection behind it!

A clear, light-containing drop of water on the spirit pearl, seemingly containing the sun, moon, and stars, suddenly condensed and slid down...

Dan Chenzi opened his mouth wide and shouted without any dignity: "Creation Spirit Liquid!"

Born as the number one alchemy sect of the heavens and myriad realms, a Primordial Spirit Elder of Tushita Palace, what treasure had he not seen?

Even innate qi, he had refined at least a dozen furnaces of pills!

Innate Yin-Yang Qi, Innate Five-Elements Qi, Innate Xuanhuang Qi... perhaps not as much as Qian Chen, but collecting a strand to refine spirit pills was really nothing to Tushita Palace.

But when he saw that drop of spirit liquid, he still lost his composure!

In the Yu Jiuyou, there are Demon Lords who divide into countless avatars, descending calamities upon the heavens and myriad realms; their Tushita Palace, as a major alchemy house, had fought with those Demon Lords for how many epochs! In the end, they still had to compromise, abandoning one-fifth of their pills to be plundered by pill calamities...

Those Demon Lords, what were they doing that for?

Wasn't it for that bit of creation when the spirit pills were successfully refined?

Only spirit pills of the third turn or higher have a strand of creation qi. And how much creation qi is needed to condense a drop of creation spirit liquid?

A Demon Lord works hard for ten years, dividing into billions of avatars, plundering the creation of the heavens and myriad realms, only to condense that bit of creation spirit liquid... even if a Demon Lord personally takes action to destroy a world, they only seize these few drops of creation!

This is of great benefit to the cultivation of a Dao Lord, or rather, it is something transformed from the Great Dao of Heaven and Earth...

Dan Chenzi saw Xiao Yu and the three of them watching him vigilantly, while holding that broken bowl, taking away the spirit liquid bestowed upon them for triggering the Dao Dust Pearl by sacrificing to the stele.

He immediately disregarded his status and pounced forward, hugging the stele and howling: "My Supreme Xie Xie Zushi!"

"Quickly set up offerings and sacrifices for the Xie Xie Zushi!"

The disciples of Tushita Palace stared dumbfounded at their master, who took out flags, offering tables, basins, and ritual objects from his sleeves... setting up a Daoist ritual for sacrificing to ancestors, completely disregarding the four large characters "Supreme Grand Void" on the stele, recognizing his ancestors on the spot and sacrificing to their common ancestor!

It seemed that the soaring vow power had touched something, and it seemed that in the void, a god could not bear to look directly at it.

Accompanied by a loud sound, the chaos behind the stele surged, and another hundred-zhang stele tore through the void and arrived...

A creation stele of the same material, inscribed with—Yaochi Sacred Land, Suppressing Gui Xu!

The spirit light of the characters on the stele overflowed, transforming into an ancient bronze mirror, suppressing the changes in space-time, and the surging tide of calamity instantly stagnated in the void.

Two steles stood side by side like a city wall, blocking the surging tide of primordial energy calamity...

The various Primordial Spirits were not yet shocked enough!

Immediately following, beside the Yaochi stele, another stele manifested, like mottled green stone, surging with Yin-Yang qi, pressing the void to shake, knocking over Dan Chenzi's ritual, and a piece of the ritual objects on the offering table fell, bottles and jars, stumbling.

Dan Chenzi looked back, his face turning pale.

Because on that stele was clearly engraved—Supreme Tushita, Suppressing Gui Xu!

The black and white qi condensed into a magic fan that divided Yin and Yang, with the sun and moon rotating, hanging in the void with a menacing momentum...