Chapter 10

This question gave Hun Wusheng an unprecedented sense of challenge and allure.

He began pondering it carefully, trying to uncover the secret hidden within.

Hun Wusheng realized that the vast difference between the two might conceal the secret of the Ancient Three Sovereigns' true Path to Enlightenment.

His heart brimmed with doubt and curiosity, and he wanted to unravel this mystery.

Meanwhile, the Heart of the Earthly Path seemed to be guiding him step by step toward the edge of **.

The deepest secrets of the Primordial World were about to be revealed before Hun Wusheng's eyes.

As he pondered, Hun Wusheng recalled the glorious achievements and honorific titles recorded by the Primordial World's top-grade Innate Divine Beings for the Ancient Three Sovereigns.

Cang Li, Earth Emperor Yue Jian, Human Emperor Nine Heads—these names gleamed in Hun Wusheng's mind, stirring endless flashes of wisdom.

At that moment, the Heart of the Earthly Path's voice echoed once more.

What it mentioned was not baseless nonsense, but widespread speculation among the Primordial Beings.

No one had ever investigated **, yet these rumors had endured to this day.

Hun Wusheng possessed the Beast Emperor of Reincarnation's inheritance and had witnessed existences of the Dao Master Realm and the vast power of the Netherworld, so he believed this without question.

The Ancient Three Sovereigns' power had long surpassed that of the Beast Emperor of Reincarnation. Naturally, they could touch upon the Dao Master Realm.

In truth, they had already reached the utmost limit of their respective paths. It could be said that they had already stepped into the Dao Master Realm.

This was common knowledge in the Primordial World.

Yet precisely because the Ancient Three Sovereigns had failed to attain enlightenment, many Primordial Beings could not accept this fact and even suspected that some conspiracy lay behind it.

But ** often lay hidden behind such simple accomplishments.

At this moment, the Heart of the Earthly Path's tone was filled with respect and awe for the Ancient Three Sovereigns as it raised the heart of the matter: "Then why did the Ancient Three Sovereigns fail to truly enter the Dao Master Realm after attaining enlightenment?"

This was an enormous mystery.

Hun Wusheng suddenly saw the light and proposed an entirely new hypothesis. "Perhaps what the Ancient Three Sovereigns attained was not the Dao Master Realm in its conventional sense, but an entirely new realm."

In that instant, a new Primordial World unfolded before Hun Wusheng's eyes.

He could not help but wonder, Could the Ancient Three Sovereigns have surpassed the Dao Master Realm?

Yet the Heart of the Earthly Path swiftly denied this conjecture. "That is impossible."

It explained that the Dao Master Realm was both the endpoint and the starting point—this was the consensus of the Chaos Demon Gods.

The Great Dao was constantly growing, a Dao Master's strength increased without limit, and the realm knew no bounds.

Yet the Ancient Three Sovereigns' circumstances remained a mystery.

Hun Wusheng gradually guided the topic to its core, engaging in a deeper discussion of the Dao Master Realm.

Though people might divide the Dao Master Realm into Dao King, Dao Venerable, Dao Ancestor, and so on, these were in truth merely different aspects manifested by a Dao Master.

Only the Pangu Clan had perceived the realm beyond the Dao Master Realm and created the Primordial Era.

As for the Dao Master Realm, it was supreme above all else.

What exactly had the Ancient Three Sovereigns achieved? This was an open question, and its answer required imagination and exploration.

As Hun Wusheng contemplated the Ancient Three Sovereigns' achievements, he recalled his experience when he had chosen the Ghost Dao.

At that time, he had seemed to stand within an ocean of Dao, where he saw the Reincarnation Law, the laws of spacetime, karmic fate, and the omnipresent Chaos Law.

He had also seen the powerful Dao laws representing the Heaven, Earth, and Human Daos.

These Dao laws were like the source of the Great Dao. Compared to those mighty Great Daos, his Ghost Dao was like a tender sprout newly breaking through the soil.

The Ancient Three Sovereigns' Heaven, Earth, and Human Daos were like three towering trees, their roots embedded within the Great Dao.

The Heart of the Earthly Path revealed that while the Great Dao's Dao Master Realm was powerful, that very power severed the paths of others.

Once a certain Great Dao had a Dao Master, it became nearly impossible for anyone else cultivating that path to attain enlightenment.

Such Dao Struggles were incomparably cruel and despairing.

Imagine cultivating until you reached the end of the Dao, only to discover that a Dao Master already stood before you. The feeling was enough to send chills down one's spine.

It could drive someone to collapse and deny all their previous cultivation.

Yet the Ancient Three Sovereigns had opened a sliver of life for them and brought new hope.

From the Heart of the Earthly Path, Hun Wusheng learned the story of how the Ancient Three Sovereigns established their Daos, gaining a deeper understanding of the Primordial World.

Amid a brutal environment, the Ancient Three Sovereigns founded the Heavenly Dao, Earthly Dao, and Human Dao, giving all beings a chance to seek the Dao. Their achievements won the admiration of every Innate Divine Being.

This made Hun Wusheng realize that this was a world where the strong were revered and no one pitied the weak.

If he wished to gain a foothold in the Primordial World, he had to become stronger.

Afterward, he thought of Shen Ni, who stood at the same level.

After learning of the Ancient Three Sovereigns, Hun Wusheng realized that Shen Ni's actions could not be as simple as merely failing to attain enlightenment.

Yet he had found no trace of Shen Ni's Dao within the Dao Source Land, which left him puzzled.

He wanted to know what Shen Ni had truly done and decided to continue exploring the mysteries of the Primordial World.

While Hun Wusheng explored the Heart of the Earthly Path, he became deeply interested in the Beast Emperor of Reincarnation's memories.

Hidden within the Beast Emperor of Reincarnation's memories were secrets concerning Shen Ni.

Shen Ni was not the reincarnation of a Chaos Demon God, but a fusion of fierce beasts from a subsidiary world of the Primordial World.

At first, Shen Ni's strength was not formidable; he was even weaker than ordinary fierce beasts in the Primordial World.

Yet through his trials in the Primordial World, Shen Ni began absorbing and fusing the power of countless fierce beasts, gradually displaying traits unlike any other.

What he cultivated was not the power of laws, but a Demon God Power he had created himself.

When that power amassed to its utmost extreme, Shen Ni revealed its most terrifying quality, as though an amalgamation of Chaos Demon Gods had returned to the world.

As Shen Ni rose to prominence, Hun Wusheng could not help but wonder how this senior of the past had gained a foothold in the brutal struggle for the Dao.

As the years flowed by and hundreds upon thousands of years passed, Shen Ji finally sorted out the portions of the Beast Emperor of Reincarnation's memories concerning Shen Ni.

At this moment, Hun Wusheng was immersed in Shen Ni's story, anticipating that he might find an answer within.

By constantly devouring fierce beasts, Shen Ni underwent transformation and growth time and again.

His progress was so terrifying that the Beast Emperor of Reincarnation had personally witnessed Shen Ni gradually catch up to and surpass him.

The Beast Emperor of Reincarnation had once remarked, "Shen Ni, you truly are a monster. If not for Cang Li Shi, the entire Primordial World would long have been yours."

After defeating the Beast Emperor of Reincarnation, Shen Ni did not send him to oblivion, but instead attempted to subdue him.

The Beast Emperor of Reincarnation, who followed the creed that the strong were supreme, had already been won over by Shen Ni's overwhelming might and agreed to follow him.

At that time, Shen Ni was invincible.

Yet just as the Beast Emperor of Reincarnation began following Shen Ni and anticipated unifying the Primordial World, Cang Li Shi appeared.

This was Shen Ni's first—and only—defeat.

Others might have believed Shen Ni and Cang Li Shi had fought to a draw, but the Beast Emperor of Reincarnation knew **—Shen Ni had lost.

Because Cang Li Shi had not even gone all out in that battle.

Only then did the Beast Emperor of Reincarnation truly witness the might of someone blessed by the heavens.

His defeat at Cang Li Shi's hands made Shen Ni change his original method of devouring and evolving, and he began devoting himself to cultivation.

When Shen Ni believed his strength had reached perfection and wished to challenge Cang Li Shi once more, all he saw was Cang Li Shi transforming into the Heavenly Dao.

Cang Li Shi's disappearance became Shen Ni's eternal regret.

Shen Ni did not spare a glance for later figures such as Yue Jianshi and Jiu Tou Shi. In his eyes, there was only Cang Li Shi.

Thus, he sought the secret behind Cang Li Shi's disappearance.

Although Cang Li Shi, as an enemy of the God Clan, had not revealed the Heavenly Dao's secret to Shen Ni, Shen Ni ultimately discovered it through the growth of other fierce beasts.

Upon learning **, Shen Ni was deeply shaken. He realized that he had yet to reach Cang Li Shi's realm of establishing a Dao for all living beings.

Yet Shen Ni refused to admit defeat. He decided to establish a Dao for the Fierce Beast Clan.

However, what he cultivated was not a system of laws, but a unique Demon God Power. This prevented him from merging with the Dao, and he encountered a bottleneck.

At this time, Yue Jianshi established the Earthly Path, giving Shen Ni tremendous inspiration.

Though Shen Ni could not completely overturn the Heavenly Dao, he still possessed his own unique strengths.

In Jiu Tou Shi's era, Shen Ni began emulating his approach, believing that the Dao established by Jiu Tou Shi had merits worth adopting.

The facts proved Shen Ni's judgment correct.

When Jiu Tou Shi established the Human Dao, Shen Ni felt closer to the Dao than ever before.

Since he cultivated Demon God Power and could not merge with the Dao, Shen Ni chose to forge a new path. Taking himself as the origin of fierce beasts, he created a Demon God Dao.

Since the Primordial World could not accommodate fierce beasts, he opened the World of Endless Demon Gods for them to survive in.

In the end, Shen Ni successfully forged a Demon God Dao and became the Dao of the Fierce Beast Clan.

Any fierce beast that gained Shen Ni's recognition could, upon reaching the end, witness the true essence of Shen Ni's Demon God Dao.

Thus, Shen Ni's achievements were comparable to those of the Ancient Three Sovereigns.

As for which was stronger or weaker, that was a matter of perspective.

As Hun Wusheng explored the Beast Emperor of Reincarnation's memories, he glimpsed only the tip of the iceberg behind the Primordial World.

While marveling at the unparalleled brilliance of the Ancient Three Sovereigns and Shen Ni, he also sighed over the Beast Emperor of Reincarnation's fate.

Originally the reincarnation of a Chaos Demon God, the Beast Emperor of Reincarnation possessed both the strength and foundation to unite the Primordial World, yet he encountered challenges from Shen Ni and the Ancient Three Sovereigns in succession.

Even after lowering himself to follow Shen Ni, he still could not escape Cang Li Shi's interference, leaving him unable to reveal his true ambitions.

Though he had finally possessed a sliver of hope of attaining the Dao and becoming a Dao Lord, he suffered successive devastating blows from the Five Directions Divine Lords and the Heart of the Earthly Path, ultimately dying and vanishing from the Dao.

Hun Wusheng felt profound sorrow over this.

However, for himself, the enlightenment he had gained while absorbing the Origin of the Innate Primordial Netherworld Reincarnation Ancestral Qi, together with the Beast Emperor of Reincarnation's inheritance, caused his cultivation to soar.

Although Hun Wusheng had not cultivated deeply, his cultivation realm had already risen to the peak of the True God realm.

As he continued striving, the Yin-Yang Ghost Clan began to grow in number, while his Ghost Dao Authority became ever more active.

Hun Wusheng sensed that if he broke through to the realm of Immortal Venerable God, this authority would be born into existence.

At that time, with his current aptitude, he would become a true high-ranking Innate Divine Being.

Such rapid progress made him consider remaining in the Nether Land for a long time.

However, the Heart of the Earthly Path could not stay here for long; it yearned to explore more.

It urged Hun Wusheng to consider his future path and seek out inheritors of the Earthly Dao Lineage, for remaining here forever did not mean he could become a Grand Unity Venerable God.

Hun Wusheng understood the Heart of the Earthly Path's restlessness, but he also felt helpless.

He decided to first consolidate his cultivation and develop the Ghost Dao and the ghost clan, as these would be his foundation for participating in the Primordial Wilderness in the future.

The Yin-Yang Ghost Clan possessed deep foundations. As long as Hun Wusheng continuously raised his own realm, they would be able to keep pace.

He needed to find suitable wandering souls to increase the numbers of the Yin-Yang Ghost Clan.

After learning the secret behind the Three Sovereigns establishing their paths, Hun Wusheng gained new ideas about the Ghost Dao. This was both an experiment and a development of his own Ghost Dao.

Now, an excellent opportunity lay before him: the remnant body left behind by the Beast Emperor of Reincarnation.

Legend had it that the zombie progenitor Jiang Chen was the Beast Emperor of Reincarnation's second incarnation, and whether Hun Wusheng existed or not affected the completion of the Reincarnation Law.

If Hun Wusheng seized this opportunity, perhaps he could comprehend deeper laws of the Ghost Dao.

Zombies were ethereal, without soul or spirit; they leaped beyond the Three Realms, leaving no trace within the Five Elements.

The remnant body outside, influenced by the karma of its main body, had by chance transformed in the Netherworld Blood Sea into the soulless ancient divine Hou.

Afterward, Hou ravaged the human race and was defeated by Nuwa. Its remnant soul split into the three great Corpse Ancestors—Hou Qing, Ying Gou, and Han Ba.

Jiang Chen shared the same origin as the three and was mistakenly believed to have transformed from Hou, thus becoming known as one of the Four Great Corpse Ancestors.