Heavenly Dao's Scheme

Purple Cloud Palace.

Hongjun was sitting cross-legged on the high platform cultivating when suddenly he opened his eyes and sensed the aura of the Heavenly Dao.

"How is the Heavenly Dao doing?"

Immediately, a cold voice echoed throughout the Purple Cloud Palace: "The Great Dao... does not see me."

This voice is none other than the Heavenly Dao!

The voice of Heavenly Dao was filled with helplessness. "I followed the lines of the rules and called upon the name of the Great Dao, but there was nothing there. The Great Dao did not respond to me, nor did it show any trace of me."

Hongjun's face darkened.

The original plan was to have the Heavenly Dao intervene and find the Great Dao, hoping it would resolve the issue with Lin Tian.

However, the Great Dao did not respond at all!

"How could this be? Does even the Great Dao fear Lin Tian?"

The Heavenly Dao remained silent for a moment, then slowly said, "Where Lin Tian is, the predetermined trajectory of fate always deviates. How can I, the Heavenly Dao, bear this? Now, the Earthly Dao and the Human Way have also been revived. Before long, they will be in charge of the entire Primordial World. What living being will still obey the Heavenly Dao?"

The Heavenly Dao was extremely angry at Lin Tian.

"If this child is not eliminated, the consequences will be endless!"

How could Hongjun not know?

He gave a wry smile and said in a deep voice, "You and I know Lin Tian's strength best. Even if we join forces, we probably won't have a chance of winning."

The current Heavenly Dao is at the peak of the Heavenly Dao Realm. Originally, it planned to use several great tribulations to absorb some of the Primordial Origin power of the universe, but Lin Tian interfered with it each time.

"Is there no other way for Heavenly Dao to act? Are we just going to let it continue to run rampant, eroding our power and turning this Primordial Wilderness world into its own Lin Tian?"

Hongjun's voice was filled with resentment.

Heavenly Dao fell silent.

For a long, long time.

The Heavenly Dao then spoke, saying, "The Great Dao does not agree, but within the rules, I have one last method."

"What method?!"

Hongjun was extremely excited and hurriedly asked.

Heavenly Dao did not answer immediately.

A constantly shifting beam of light appeared before Hongjun.

Finally, a solid figure materialized.

It was clearly a younger version of Hongjun.

"This... this is..."

The Hongjun was stunned, a bad premonition suddenly rising in his heart.

"Heavenly Dao... what is the meaning of this? Why... do you take on the form of this humble Daoist?!"

The Heavenly Dao remained silent, a slight smile playing on its lips, though its eyes remained icy.

"Hongjun, you are my Dao-merger..."

It slowly raised its left hand and pointed at Hongjun.

"Become one with me completely, merge completely!"

The Hongjun shuddered, his face turning deathly pale.

"Heavenly Dao, what do you mean? Do you want my body?"

The Heavenly Dao still smiled, "That's right, my power, combined with your body, can unleash its strongest strength. This power is enough to deal with Lin Tian."

Hongjun was incredulous. Was this his ultimate purpose in choosing him as the One Who Merges with the Dao?

He wanted to escape, but he found he couldn't move!

"Why do you think I sought you out as a follower of the Dao?"

The Heavenly Dao slowly approached, its voice calm, "If not for the restrictions of the Great Dao's rules, as the will of the Heavenly Dao, I would not be able to directly manifest a physical body and interfere in worldly affairs, so why would I need to do this?"

"Hongjun, you overestimate yourself. Your value, from beginning to end, lies only in providing me with an opportunity to fit in."

"If Lin Tian hadn't ruined so many of my plans and prevented me from breaking through to the Chaos Realm, I wouldn't have needed to resort to this last resort."

Heavenly Dao's eyes were filled with killing intent, his fists were clenched, and his aura was violent.

"Your body, having accumulated too much of my primordial energy over countless eons, is the perfect vessel; I will gladly accept it."

As soon as he finished speaking, Heavenly Dao's body erupted with a blinding white light!

It then burrowed into the body of the Hongjun!

"No--!!!"

The Hongjun let out a unwilling roar. He struggled frantically, unleashing his Heavenly Dao Realm cultivation in an attempt to resist the Heavenly Dao!

However, it was all in vain.

"Heavenly Dao! Stop! We're partners! Without me, you can't handle Lin Tian! You can't—!"

Hongjun made his final struggle.

"Once I have fully recovered, why would I need a collaborator like you?"

The Heavenly Dao showed no mercy, frantically devouring Hongjun's primordial spirit.

"Ah!!!"

The blinding white light completely engulfed the Hongjun!

His body trembled, twisted, and deformed violently in the white light!

At times, he would reveal his true, aged appearance, roaring in pain.

At other times, it transforms into the form of a young Hongjun, with a cold expression.

The two forms alternate and shift, which is quite eerie!

The Purple Cloud Palace continued to rumble, but it was protected by the formation and did not collapse.

After an unknown amount of time, the Purple Cloud Palace gradually returned to calm.

Hongjun closed his eyes, but his appearance had already changed drastically.

He appeared to be a young Daoist priest with flowing black hair, a handsome face, and cold eyes.

He opened his eyes, raised his hands, looked at himself carefully, and then burst into laughter.

"Haha, I did it!"

"Boom!!!"

A tremendous power erupted from his body, shattering the entire sky above Purple Cloud Palace, and the raging Chaos Qi surged into it.

But he restored it to its original state with a wave of his hand.

He made a breakthrough.

Early stage of the Chaos Realm!

"Hahaha... Hahaha!"

Heavenly Dao looked up and let out a long laugh.

"I have finally broken through this shackle! I have gained a true self! And I have the strength of the Chaos Realm!"

Heavenly Dao Hongjun clenched his fist, feeling the surging, boundless power within his body.

"Lin Tian! No matter how mysterious or powerful you are! Now that I have a body, your death is imminent!"

Suddenly, the entire Purple Cloud Palace was filled with purple light, which gathered into a beam of energy that struck the Heavenly Dao directly.

"Ugh!"

Heavenly Dao froze instantly. He clutched his chest, his body hunching uncontrollably, a look of pain on his face!

At the same time, a voice echoed faintly within the Heavenly Dao:

"Heaven... Dao... do you... think... you've won?"

It's Hongjun!

Heavenly Dao Hongjun was utterly shaken, his face filled with astonishment. "How is this possible?! Your primordial spirit... was clearly completely devoured by me! How could you still exist?!"

"Hmph..." Hongjun scoffed, "You think... I, Hongjun... have truly been completely unprepared for you throughout countless eons? How naive!"

"I had long ago secretly left a wisp of my primordial spirit, which I entrusted to... the runes of the Purple Cloud Palace! I didn't expect... you to act so quickly!"

"You...!"

The Heavenly Dao was furious, never expecting Hongjun to be so insidious.

"Destroy them!"

When the Heavenly Dao tried to destroy that wisp of Hongjun's primordial spirit again, it suddenly experienced excruciating pain throughout its body.

"Puff!"

Heavenly Dao spat out a mouthful of blood!

He discovered that he could not fully control his body.

Hongjun regained some control of his body.

"Hongjun, you're despicable!!!"

The Heavenly Dao roared in fury. It never expected that its meticulously planned scheme, which was on the verge of success, would be outmaneuvered by this old fox!

Deep within his consciousness, Hongjun sneered, "Heavenly Dao, we are all the same, we are all the same kind of people, aren't we?"

The Heavenly Dao Dao's expression shifted rapidly, filled with rage.

"I am the Heavenly Dao! The Lord of the Primordial Wilderness! Beneath the Heavenly Dao, all are but ants! You, Hongjun... are no different!"

As soon as he finished speaking, Heavenly Dao sat down on the high platform, intending to completely obliterate Hongjun's primordial spirit. However, although Heavenly Dao had broken through to the Chaos Realm, he was currently injured and not very strong.

Hongjun fought desperately, but Heavenly Dao did not want to give up this opportunity, so it had no choice but to use its power to seal Hongjun's primordial spirit in his sea of consciousness.

He then began to heal his injuries.