Chapter 49: End of Chaos, the Truth of the Universe

The battlefield of gods and demons shifted heaven and earth.

One day, the Black Path produced six Tian Jun—something no one had anticipated.

After a brief moment of shock, all the Black Path gods rejoiced.

“Good! Good! Good!!”

“Last great calamity, your White Path had two Tian Jun emerge together.”

“Today, my Black Path produced six at once! Six whole ones!”

“Hahaha!!”

The Black Path Tian Jun felt immense satisfaction.

They felt they had finally vindicated themselves.

The shadow of ten thousand years under White Path domination vanished from their hearts.

“Ten thousand years east of the Heavenly River, ten thousand years west of the Heavenly River!”

Jin Que Tian Jun laughed loudly: “Yesterday your White Path reigned supreme; today it is the Black Path’s turn to flourish!”

“Jin Que, your words are spot on!”

“Fellow Daoists, let us push harder—drive them back beyond the Heavenly River and reclaim what belongs to us.”

With six new Tian Jun, the Black Path’s morale surged.

All the Tian Jun clenched their fists, eager to launch a counteroffensive.

“Hey, what are these kids up to?”

Jin Que Tian Jun watched Xiang Xuanqing and the others flying toward the center of the battlefield.

“Are they going to challenge Ling Xu?”

Jin Que Tian Jun saw the six of them charging straight toward the White Path’s first Tian Jun—Ling Xu.

“Good lad!”

A newborn calf fears no tiger.

“Jin Que, stop standing there—don’t let the younger generation steal the spotlight!”

Xuan Shang Tian Jun, the Black Path’s first Tian Jun, was a kind old man.

He watched cheerfully as his old friend and the younger generation outwitted each other.

Xuan Shang planned to wait a bit before rescuing those overconfident youngsters.

Then.

He saw the scene of Ling Xu Tian Jun being brutally beaten.

Xiang Xuanqing held a butcher’s knife; with each swing, he crushed Ling Xu Tian Jun, forcing him to bow his head.

“No!”

Ling Xu Tian Jun was stunned—when had he ever been so humiliated since gaining fame?

“That knife—it’s strange!”

Ling Xu stared fixedly at the butcher’s knife in Xiang Xuanqing’s hand.

The blade was merely forged from ordinary black iron, utterly plain.

Yet why, with each strike, did he feel the overwhelming might of heaven’s wrath, while he himself became nothing but a pig or dog awaiting slaughter?

“Hey you, if you’ve got guts, don’t run!”

Xiang Xuanqing held a mourning staff in his left hand and a butcher’s knife in his right, relentlessly chasing Ling Xu from behind.

“Stop him!”

Ming He stood to the left, Ruo Xi to the right.

Da Siming hovered above, Hong Yun below.

Zhen Yuanzi activated a single transformation talisman, blocking the front completely.

Within the six directions, they trapped Ling Xu Tian Jun utterly.

The White Path Tian Jun were stunned—they never imagined their first Tian Jun would be cornered by six newly elevated youngsters.

“Wu Liang, hurry and save him!”

“Got it!”

Li Ming shouted approval while drawing his sword and charging toward Xuan Shang Tian Jun.

Seeing this, everyone first frowned in confusion, then their eyes lit up.

“Surround Xuan Shang to save Ling Xu—brilliant!”

They also dispatched several Tian Jun to encircle Xuan Shang Tian Jun.

Xuan Shang Tian Jun’s face turned black.

Soon, he was surrounded and trapped by Li Ming and the others.

“Release him!”

Xiu Ming Shen Jun glared at Xiang Xuanqing.

Xiang Xuanqing looked at the surrounded Black Path first Tian Jun.

He shook his head: “You’ve captured Xuan Shang.”

“We’re not related to him in any way—why should we release him?”

With that, Xiang Xuanqing raised his hand and delivered a solid blow, knocking Ling Xu unconscious.

“You—!”

Xiu Ming Shen Jun grew frantic.

Seeing this, Li Ming glanced at Xuan Shang.

Boom!

“Wu Liang, what are you—”

The Tian Jun beside him stared in shock as Li Ming used the hilt of his sword to knock Xuan Shang unconscious.

Li Ming said calmly: “Sorry, my hand slipped.”

The Black-White List instantly judged.

Xiang Xuanqing defeated the White Path’s first Tian Jun, ascending to Black Path’s first.

Li Ming defeated the Black Path’s first Tian Jun, ascending to White Path’s first.

Now, both Black and White Paths were stunned.

“What do we do?”

The situation froze in place.

Everything had unfolded too quickly—both sides were utterly disoriented.

【Did you sense it?】

【It’s here.】

Xiang Xuanqing and Li Ming exchanged a glance, both gazing into the depths of the void.

Two figures, radiant as heaven’s might, appeared upon the battlefield of gods and demons.

They were like embodiments of the Dao, or concentrations of cosmic rules, bringing unbearable pressure to the entire battlefield.

“Fellow Daoists, impressive skills!”

The white-robed immortal spoke first, his gaze cold, his voice icy, as if he were a soulless machine.

The black-robed immortal’s eyes were fierce and cruel, his cheekbones prominent, his expression deeply gloomy.

He did not look at Xiang Xuanqing or Li Ming, but swept his gaze over Zhen Yuanzi.

“You have altered the universe’s rules—you have already earned your death.”

Zhen Yuanzi shrugged indifferently: “Survive first, then talk.”

Compared to the calmness of the six, the Tian Jun of the Black and White Paths erupted into chaos upon seeing these two immortals.

“Gu Tian Jun! Yuan Tian Jun!”

“Aren’t they supposed to have already entered nirvana?” “Could that legend be true?!”

Jin Que Tian Jun murmured: “Ancient lore says the first two Tian Jun of the Black and White Paths ended the Age of Slaughter, bringing great merit to all beings.”

“But their actions defied heaven; thus, after establishing the rules of the new era, they both entered nirvana in succession.”

“Yet, there is another version of this legend!”

Xiu Ming Tian Jun of the White Path frowned, staring intently at the two immortals: “The two Tian Jun never died—they retreated behind the scenes, manipulating everything, watching as this universe rose and fell through calamities.”

“And there are even rumors...”

Jin Que Tian Jun picked up the thread, glancing at the captured Xuan Shang and Ling Xu: “Every generation’s first Tian Jun of the Black and White Paths—without exception—is actually an incarnation of the original Tian Jun.”

“You’re all correct.”

The unconscious Xuan Shang and Ling Xu slowly awoke.

Xuan Shang looked at Jin Que Tian Jun: “One thing—you’re wrong.”

“The successive first Tian Jun are not incarnations of the original Tian Jun.”

“They are food!” Ling Xu Tian Jun’s eyes held a tragic expression.

Hearing this, Xiang Xuanqing’s mind stirred.

He looked at the back of Ling Xu Tian Jun’s head.

There, where the mourning staff had struck, a long fissure suddenly appeared, glowing with a soft radiance.

Xiang Xuanqing immediately frowned.

Through the fissure, he saw inside Lingxu’s body.

Inside, it was utterly empty.

His brain, divine storage, and flesh had all been devoured clean.

Only a neatly stitched human skin remained.

Beside Li Ming, Xuan Shang Tianjun reached behind his head and tore open the fissure.

As he peeled it back, Xuan Shang laughed: “Through the ages, the First Tianjun of the Black and White Paths has known the mystery of Yin-Yang’s cosmic origin.”

“So, after we became the First Tianjuns of the Two Paths forty thousand years ago, we eagerly journeyed to the Ancient Origin.”

“We intended to touch the truth of this world!”

Lingxu Tianjun was also peeling open the back of his own skull.

But he was weeping—deeply, heartbrokenly: “When we met the two Original Tianjuns, we were overjoyed.”

“For they were the heroes who ended the Age of Slaughter! Our childhood idols!”

“As expected, the two Tianjuns did not disappoint us—they warmly welcomed us.”

“At the Ancient Origin, they told us ancient tales, of the Yin-Yang cosmos before the Black and White Lists appeared.”

Xuan Shang’s movements were swift; half his skin had been peeled away, revealing the hollow, luminous interior of his body.

He continued laughing: “They told us of the hardships of the Slaughter Era.”

“The gods fought each other, all living beings slaughtered one another—the cosmos was in constant turmoil, a scene of unspeakable horror!”

“Gu and Yuan Tianjun discerned the truth: behind the Black and White Lists lay a hidden hand. That hand cast the Lists into our cosmos merely to test its Dao.”

“It watched us kill and fight, finding delight in it. Whenever a living being neared Tianjun breakthrough, it would snatch them away.”

“Until one day, this hidden hand seemed to grow weary of our world—or perhaps something changed.”

“In any case, it vanished.”

Lingxu Tianjun’s skin was also half-peeled; he wept: “When Gu and Yuan Tianjun realized this, they were ecstatic.”

“But then came another problem: the hidden hand no longer cared for the Yin-Yang cosmos, yet the Black and White Lists remained.”

“As long as the Lists endure, slaughter in the Yin-Yang cosmos will never cease.”

“So they devised a plan.”

This plan is now known to all living beings.

The two Tianjuns successively attained Dao breakthrough, ending the Age of Slaughter and ushering in the Age of Calamity.

“The two Tianjuns were truly heroic!”

Xuan Shang’s skin was now two-thirds peeled; he still laughed, his smile radiant.

“Though the Age of Calamity still has conflict and slaughter, at least the great calamities have become orderly.”

“The Black and White Paths now compete for the Lists—not endlessly killing as before, but every hundred thousand years, meeting on the Battlefield of Gods and Demons to settle their rivalry.”

“Even with losses, this is vastly better than the Slaughter Era.”

“Moreover, the two Tianjuns had another intention.” Lingxu Tianjun seemed agitated: “As long as the Black and White Lists remain, that vanished hidden hand will one day return.”

“When that day comes, will we be lambs awaiting slaughter? No!”

“We must seize our own fate!”

“We need more Tianjuns, more powerful beings—only then can we resist, even defeat, the hidden hand!”

“The Age of Calamity is the two Tianjuns’ training ground! We must turn the Lists—the source of chaos—into our greatest asset, cultivating our own strong ones and accumulating the cosmos’s strength!”

“Every hundred thousand years, we unleash a calamity, gradually filtering the strong, then inviting them to join the cause of salvation!”

“What a grand plan!” Xuan Shang Tianjun’s eyes burned with fervor; he roared with laughter.

“At that time, we were all awestruck by the two Tianjuns’ brilliance.”

Hearing this, the Tianjuns of the Black and White Paths nodded.

Had it ended here, the two Tianjuns would truly have been saviors of the Yin-Yang cosmos.

Xuan Shang continued: “After the two Tianjuns revealed this grand plan to us, we were ecstatic, desperate to join them and fight for the cosmos’s future!”

“Yuan, our current strength is still insufficient. The hidden hand is immensely powerful—far beyond imagination.”

At this moment, Lingxu Tianjun had also peeled away two-thirds of his skin.

“We swore oaths then: we would strive to cultivate, push ourselves to the limit, and at all costs contribute our strength in the future.”

Xuan Shang and Lingxu laughed and wept: “It was Gu and Yuan Tianjun who chose to keep us, saying we could become part of their power.”

“We were overjoyed and asked to meet other fellow Daoists—like Feiyuan Tianjun, Hanhai Tianjun, Biluo Tianjun… They had all been mighty figures of their eras, once First Tianjuns of the Two Paths.”

“Gu and Yuan Tianjun agreed and took us to them—they were vivid, lifelike.”

“We feasted together, debated Dao together—how exhilarating!”

At this point in the tale, tears welled in the corners of Xuan Shang and Lingxu’s eyes.

“But in the end, we discovered the flaw in our predecessors—too late.”

Lingxu Tianjun’s face twisted grotesquely; he shrieked.

“We fought back, just like our predecessors!”

“We tried to escape, to reveal the truth to all!”

“But we failed.”

“What grand plan? What future for the cosmos?”

“In the end, Gu and Yuan Tianjun cared only for themselves.”

“HAHAHAHAHAHA!!!”

They had now completely peeled off their skins.

Two human skins fluttered in the air like long banners, snapping in the wind.

A chill gripped every soul of the Black and White Paths.

A voice, like that of a spectral wraith, echoed in the ears of all Tianjuns.

“The moment we stepped into the Ancient Origin, we were devoured clean.”

————

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(End of Chapter)