Heaven-Piercing Great Dao Demon
The moment the cyan -Golden Long Sword pierced through the inky water wall, it was as if thousands of Glazed Ice cups shattered simultaneously in the world. The crisp sounds exploded layer upon layer, causing the waves of the East Sea to pause for a beat. The instant the blade sliced through the water's surface, cyan-gold light surged like a tide over the inky curtain of water, gradually pushing back the churning blackness and revealing the clear water beneath before it was stained.
The most turbulent waves condensed into fleeting Ice Crystals in the air, reflecting the flowing cyan-gold patterns on the Ice Crystals's surface. These patterns writhed like living things, gradually peeling away the inky blackness of the water wall. As the Ice Crystals fell, they struck the Sword Spine, shattering into countless tiny points of light, like stars scattered on the sea, shimmering and undulating with the waves.
The gray robe of the Heaven-Reaching Carefree Demon burst open with a thud, and the shredded cloth, carrying Star Orbit Fragments, swarmed towards the sword like a swarm of bees in a storm. The Star Orbit Patterns and the runes of Life-Death Runes rubbed violently together, producing a hissing sound as if the throats of a hundred dying beasts were being torn apart simultaneously, even causing the air to crack like a spiderweb. The Star Orbit Fragments still retained the faint light of the Seventh Star of the Big Dipper, and when they collided with the sword light, they burst into tiny Mars, dancing like fireflies in the Rift.
The Chaos Qi seeping from the crack glowed with a faint purple light, but the moment it touched the golden light flowing on the sword, it turned into wisps of white smoke. Within the smoke, tiny specks of stardust could be seen struggling and shimmering before finally dissipating into nothingness. As the white smoke rose, it encountered Ice Crystals in the air, condensing into tiny mist droplets. When these droplets fell onto the sea, they stirred up shallow ripples. The moment the ripples touched the curtain of sword light, they too were tinged with a bluish-gold hue.
The crimson light beneath his hood suddenly extinguished, revealing a shadow as deep as spilled ink, empty yet exuding a chilling aura. His form then disintegrated into billions of Gray Mist particles—scattering like ink blown by a gale, staining half the sky Primordial Chaos gray, even obscuring the sun to a pale golden halo; when they coalesced, they solidified into blurry human figures. Each reorganization caused the surrounding Chaos Aura to surge even more violently, even causing ripples to spread across the patterns of the Spirit Vein Grand Network. The golden light flowing through the mesh of the network flickered, as if it might be swallowed up by the all-pervasive Gray Mist at any moment. The Gray Mist particles made a rustling sound when they collided, like countless grains of sand rubbing against each other, mixed with faint murmurs. If you listened carefully, it sounded like the weeping of a creature being swallowed up.
"Order? Vitality?" The laughter emanating from the Gray Mist sounded like countless porcelain shards rolling wildly inside a bronze cauldron, carrying both the sharpness of metal and the dullness of an object, echoing across the sea in layers. The laughter struck the Spirit Vein's light network, bounced back, and transformed into countless tiny sound waves, causing the windowpanes of the distant fishing village to tremble slightly.
"Do you think that by shattering this body forged from the dust of the Nine Heavens Star Dust, you can trap the origin of Primordial Chaos? Primordial Chaos has no beginning Wu Zhong; how can your mere Laws of Life and Death confine it!" Before the words were finished, a muffled thunderous roar suddenly resounded from beneath the sea. The sound came from the deepest part of the ocean, as if an High Antiquity behemoth was awakening from billions of years of slumber. The seawater began to surge violently, and black waves rose from the once smooth surface, their tops glowing with purple light, as if the Chaos Power was stirring beneath.
Billions of black beams of light burst forth from the water, each beam over ten zhang thick, covered with the same vortex patterns as those on the Heaven-Reaching Carefree Demon Arm. Each vortex greedily swallowed and spewed stardust, turning the drifting clouds in the sky into cotton-like fragments. Even the outline of the distant Floating Island was distorted beyond recognition, like a crumpled painting that had been barely smoothed out. In the gaps between the beams of light, one could see stars being sucked in, spinning rapidly, leaving long tails of light, before finally being swallowed by the vortexes and turning into wisps of black light on the beams.
Where the beams of light converged, the Gray Mist was forcibly compressed by Invisible Power, condensing into a gray-black cocoon the size of a millstone. The complete Big Dipper Star Orbit appeared on the Cocoon Shell, the light of the seven stars flickering like the faint breath of a dying person. Gray Mist continuously overflowed from the surface of the cocoon, only to be forcibly pulled back by the surrounding beams of light, forming thin streams of mist that wrapped around the Cocoon Shell like silver threads, intertwining with the Star Orbit Patterns to create intricate designs.
Golden light seeped from the gap in the seventh star—it was the Spirit Vein Origin he had devoured, now colliding wildly with the Chaos Power within the cocoon. This caused the cocoon to expand and contract continuously, the sound of the leather taut mingling with the crackling of shattering runes. Each collision caused the surrounding seawater to surge up to a height of ten feet, the white foam on the crests turning grayish-black. Within those golden rays of light, the phantom of the Spirit Vein Grand Network could be seen, repeatedly impacting the Cocoon Shell, attempting to break free of its constraints. Each impact dimmed the Star Orbit Patterns on the Cocoon Shell.
"Born of Primordial Chaos, I am beyond the reach of the Laws of Life and Death!" The moment the Cocoon Shell suddenly shattered, a blinding black light shot into the sky like a sharp sword, dyeing half the sky an indistinguishable inky black, even swallowing most of the sun's light, leaving only a pale golden-red hue on the western horizon. The shattered fragments scattered with sharp whistles, turning into tiny Black Hole upon contact with the seawater, briefly engulfing the surrounding waves before disappearing on their own, leaving behind swirling vortexes.
An even larger figure burst forth from the shell. The original gray cloth robe had transformed into Mysterious Black Daoist Robe, with star Star Orbit Patterns on the hem flowing in gold and black, like two Giant Snake tearing at each other, leaving winding light trails on the fabric. Wherever the light trails passed, miniature scenes of the Stars' Life and Death appeared on the fabric. Fragments of the Cocoon Shell remained on the edge of the robe, visibly merging into the fabric, making the Star Orbit Patterns even clearer, as if embroidering the entire starry sky onto it.
The moment the hood slipped down, a face shone between reality and illusion—the left half was as pale as ancient jade, covered with fine, spiderweb-like Star Patterns, between which flowed a pale golden light. Upon closer inspection, one could even count the arrangement of the Big Dipper, the distance between the stars perfectly matching their trajectories in the night sky; the right half was a flowing black mist, revealing countless distorted human faces, some crying, some laughing, their lips moving but uttering no sound, as if forever trapped beneath their flesh, only able to gaze at the outside world with despairing eyes. With each rotation of the Star Patterns on the left half of the face, the black mist on the right half churned more violently, as if two forces were vying for dominance over this body.
The copper coin at his fingertips was gone, replaced by half a broken jade slip. The edges of the jade slip were jagged, like a bone that had been bitten off. The strokes of the character "Dao" carved on it were Demonic Qi Erosion, but the remaining strokes exuded a strange power, as if trying to break free from the jade slip and leave a Primordial Chaos mark in the air. There were also tooth-like marks left at the broken part of the jade slip, from which a faint black mist seeped, connecting with the Chaos Qi emanating from his fingertips to form a thin line of mist.
"From this day forward, my name is Heaven-Piercing Great Dao Demon." As he raised his hand, his Mysterious Black Daoist Robe fluttered in the Primordial Chaos wind, revealing a starry sky within as the robe billowed. Countless stars were born and died within it, faintly corresponding to the Star Map of the Tianyan Continent, even the trajectories of falling stars were exactly the same. The movement of raising his hand brought up a gust of wind, which carried stardust and black mist, causing the surrounding seawater to recede and reveal black reefs beneath, bearing the marks of being eroded by Primordial Chaos.
Twelve wings, formed from Primordial Chaos mist, slowly unfurled behind him. Each wing was like a hanging curtain, over a hundred feet wide, supporting a miniature world—in some of these worlds, stars never fell, yet they exuded Death Qi like corpses. Living beings, the moment they landed, knew when they would turn to ashes, their faces forever bearing a numb calm. Even the laughter of children carried an indifference born of a profound understanding of life and death; their laughter, falling to the ground, could create tiny craters. In other worlds, vegetation grew against the sunlight, leaves curled like ghostly claws, roots exposed to the air writhing wildly, like countless venomous snakes greedily absorbing the resentment of living beings, the soil... They were all dyed a purplish-black, and stepping on them would produce a sound like bones shattering, with dark red liquid seeping from the cracks; in some realms, the concepts of "birth" and "death" were completely reversed, newborns with heads full of white hair and wrinkles around their eyes began to forget everything in the world from birth, while the elderly waved their pink fists in their swaddling clothes, their cries carrying a vicissitude that did not match their age, as if they had already seen through the vanity of reincarnation. A faint Gray Mist lingered at the edge of each miniature realm, isolating them from the outside world, and Twisted Runes could be seen on the mist, as if reinforcing these distorted worlds.
"You say order hides attachments?" The Heaven-Piercing Great Dao Demon flapped its wings, and the twelve directions of heaven and earth, like twelve inverted mountains, pressed down on Ren Xiaoyao with the momentum of shattering the sky. The strong wind generated by the flapping of its wings stirred the surrounding air into vortexes, in which tiny stardust floated, swept by the wind and smashed towards Ren Xiaoyao. Before it could get close, it was blocked by the cyan -Golden Sword Light, turning into specks of light.
Wherever it passed, the runes of the Spirit Vein Grand Network began to reverse, the once flowing golden light turning inky black, like a polluted stream, even the patterns of the runes twisting into serpentine shapes; the smoke from the fishing village's chimneys solidified into black icicles, with Mars leaping within them, yet they could no longer warm the surrounding air; even the windows of the nearest bamboo houses were covered with a thin layer of frost, and distorted human faces could be seen in the frost flowers; the old fisherman's memory of his son's palm suddenly became bone-chilling, like holding a block of ancient ice, freezing his knuckles until they stiffened, and he subconsciously pulled his hand away, black water seeping from the Safety Knot pattern on the oar handle, the water as viscous as ink, dripping onto the deck and etching small pits, from which faint black smoke rose, emitting the smell of burning rotten wood. The runes of the Spirit Vein Grand Network emitted a faint hum as they reversed, as if resisting this twisting force; some runes could not bear the burden, flickering a few times before dimming, leaving small gaps.
"Then I will make this attachment a thorn piercing through order! Let the beings you protect watch their own thoughts turn into the most vicious Curse!" His voice carried a hint of mockery. As his words fell, the Gray Mist at the edge of the twelve worlds suddenly thickened. The phantoms of beings in those miniature worlds all looked up, their faces showing pain, as if their minds had been seized by Invisible Power.
The Life and Death Vortex behind Ren Xiaoyao spun wildly, and the azure-gold light, like the rising sun, condensed into a huge Light Wheel behind him, within which countless chains emerged. As the Light Wheel Light Wheel, it emitted a deep hum, echoing the hum of the Spirit Vein Grand Network, forming an invisible barrier that stabilized the inverted runes, preventing them from deteriorating further.
The chain, as if plated by sunlight, gleamed with a warm luster, and was densely engraved with the Living Beings' Prayers —the murmurs of a woman drying herbs, each word transforming into a tiny medicinal flower, swaying gently on the chain, releasing the fragrance of mint and mugwort, making even the air fresh; the voices of children counting the meshes of fishing nets, their innocent tones condensing into tiny particles of light, rolling along the chain and producing a crisp, bell-like sound, interspersed with the rhythm of waves crashing on the shore; and the breathing rhythm of Ancient Dragon slumbering on the icy plains, transforming into heavy runes embedded at the nodes of the chain, the faint cracking of ice heard as the runes shimmered, a sound imbued with the budding of life. Where the chain connected to the Light Wheel, new prayers continuously flowed in, making the chain's light ever more intense, even the medicinal flowers on it seemed to be touched by morning dew, appearing vibrant and fresh.
The moment the chains intertwined to form a shield, they emitted a clear, bell-like sound. The sound was pure and solemn, as if it could cleanse all the filth of the world and block the impact of the twelve directions. The energy released at the point of collision caused the surface of the East Sea to cave in, forming a whirlpool with a diameter of a thousand feet. The clear sound spread throughout the surrounding area, and the thin frost on the bamboo windows of the fishing village fell in response. The black water stains on the old fisherman's oars also faded considerably, revealing the original wood grain underneath.
The seawater at the edge of the whirlpool stood upright like a wall, its surface so smooth it reflected the drifting clouds in the sky. At its center, however, a golden lotus bloomed out of nowhere, its petals layered upon each other, numbering in the thousands. On each petal sat the phantoms of countless creatures: a woman in Southern Region Medicinal Hut turning over herbs, her fingertips still stained with medicinal juice; a snow rabbit on the Far North Ice Plains munching on green shoots, its three-lobed mouth chewing with relish; children chasing butterflies by Floating Island, freshly picked wildflowers tucked into their hair... They all nodded to Ren Xiaoyao, their eyes filled with undisguised trust and expectation, as if entrusting the peace of the entire world to him. As the lotus bloomed, it emitted a faint golden light, which fell upon the water walls at the edge of the whirlpool, causing the upright seawater to slowly recede, no longer so menacing.
"There is more than one Great Dao, yet none can be separated from the principles of living beings." Ren Xiaoyao walked on lotus flowers, the golden lotus beneath his feet radiating even brighter light with each step. The patterns on the petals flowed with the aura of Spirit Vein, and wherever the aura passed, even the air rippled slightly. With each step, the lotus petals unfurled a little further, pushing back the surrounding Chaos Qi and revealing the clear seawater beneath, where fish could be seen fleeing in panic.
"The 'Dao' you forcibly distorted is nothing but water without a source, a tree without roots. It seems to encompass everything, but in reality, it cannot even accommodate the natural growth of a single blade of grass. How can such a Dao be called the Great Dao?" The longsword at his fingertips transformed into a stream of light and merged into the chain. The power of prayer on the chain grew even more intense, actually condensing into a thin layer of golden frost on the surface of the chain. Within the frost flowers, one could see the figures of countless living beings at work: the fishermen's focus as they mended their nets, the gentleness of the women spinning thread, the joy of the children chasing and playing... The golden frost made a slight crackling sound as it condensed, and the medicinal flowers and light particles on the chain became more vibrant. The fragrance emitted by the medicinal flowers also became more intense, and even the distant fishing village could smell this bitter yet reassuring aroma.
The frequency of the Heaven-Piercing Great Dao Demon suddenly increased, and the twelve directions of heaven and earth began to collapse like a water vat tossed with a giant stone—the eternally unfallen stars transformed into burning meteorites, dragging long fiery tails as they crashed into their own earth. From the craters they created, gurgling black water gushed forth, in which swam translucent fish, their bellies revealing undigested stardust that shimmered faintly. The regressive roots of vegetation suddenly and frantically coiled around the necks of living beings, yet those bound wore smiles of relief as their bodies transformed into fertilizer nourishing the earth. Tiny green shoots sprout from the roots, their tips glistening with tiny dewdrops; in the upside-down world of life and death, as the old man turned to ashes in his swaddling clothes, tender green buds emerged from the ashes, their tips still covered in fine ash; on the decaying body of a newborn, a pure white flower bloomed, its petals still adorned with glistening dewdrops, reflecting the sky and the silhouette of a running child. Amidst the shattered fragments of the collapsing world, the illusory figures of those creatures who had been numb or in agony now wore expressions of relief, as if this collapse were a liberation for them.
The collapsing fragments transformed into countless black arrows, their tips as sharp as razors, gleaming with a chilling light. Each arrow bore a face of despair—the final expression of the creatures in his distorted world, tears still lingering in the air, carrying an unyielding pain, as if etching this endless sorrow into the hearts of everyone who saw them. As the black arrows pierced through the Chaos Qi, the black mist around their shafts thickened, and the faces of despair twisted even more violently, as if trying to break free from the arrows and spread their pain throughout the entire world.
Ren Xiaoyao neither dodged nor evaded; the chains suddenly dispersed like flying catkins, transforming into countless cyan-gold threads of light that precisely wrapped around each black arrow like spring rain. The moment the threads dispersed, the previously condensed golden frost turned into specks of golden light, merging into the threads and adding warmth to them. As the threads swept across the sea, they stirred up golden ripples, and wherever the ripples touched, the polluted seawater began to clear.
The power of prayer on the filaments flowed upstream along the arrow, like a warm stream nourishing parched land, gradually softening the despair on the black arrow and revealing a peaceful expression—on the ground where the meteorite struck, verdant seedlings sprouted from the cracks, pushing through the scorched soil, their leaves still adorned with dewdrops formed from stardust, refracting the sunlight into a rainbow of colors; the entwined roots loosened their grip, blooming into clusters of white flowers in the air, their petals still glistening with morning dew, reflecting the blue sky and white clouds, shadows of birds in flight; the decaying newborn transformed into... Points of sunlight fell upon the inverted world, giving rise to a field overgrown with Clover. Dewdrops on the blades reflected the smiling faces of children, their laughter as clear and melodious as silver bells. Beside the swaddling clothes where the old man had vanished, a peach tree laden with fruit grew, several birds perched on its branches, their clear and melodious voices weaving a beautiful melody with the rustling of leaves in the wind. As each black arrow was entangled by a thread of light, the black mist around its shaft dissipated, eventually turning into a wisp of green smoke. Only those peaceful faces remained briefly on the light thread before transforming into specks of light that merged into the thread, making its radiance even brighter.
"This is impossible!" For the first time, the Heaven-Piercing Great Dao Demon showed surprise. The Star Orbit on his Mysterious Black Daoist Robe began to fade, and the golden and black light became dim, like a candle flame about to go out. "The Chaos Dao is inherently ruthless and unattached, treating all things as straw dogs. How can there be such peace! You must have used some kind of Illusion Technique to try to shake my Dao Heart!" His voice was filled with disbelief, and his body trembled slightly due to the fluctuation of his emotions. The Star Patterns on the left side of his face and the black mist on the right side became disordered, as if this sudden change had disrupted the balance of the two forces.
"How can the Way of Ruthlessness bear the weight of Heaven and Earth?" Ren Xiaoyao's voice resounded through the sky, echoing across the sea like a great bell. Wherever the sound waves reached, even the seawater rippled with regular patterns. The rhythm of Power of Life and Death in his voice brought a sense of peace to all the creatures that heard it. The old fisherman in the fishing village subconsciously straightened his back and gripped his oars more firmly.
The light threads suddenly tightened, weaving the fragments of the twelve directions into a new light net. Four-colored runes—"Birth," "Death," "Order," and "Emptiness"—flowed through the mesh, intertwining and circulating to form an endless cycle. The instant the light net tightened, the previously scattered fragments were reassembled. Although no longer a complete world, they formed small cycles within which the phantoms of life peacefully arose and perished, free from their previous pain and distortion.
"Look, even in a distorted world, living beings yearn for balance. This yearning stems from instinct, comes from the depths of their hearts, and is the foundation of the Great Dao. The Great Dao without living beings is nothing but a desolate Void." Ren Xiaoyao's gaze fell on the phantoms of living beings who had regained peace within the net of light, his voice filled with unwavering determination. The four-colored runes within the net of light circulated even more rapidly, "life" and "death" intertwined, "order" and "emptiness" reflected each other, completely incorporating the shattered fragments of heaven and earth into the cycle, even the finest dust particles were tinged with the luster of the runes.
The collision of the Light Net and the wings of the Heaven-Piercing Great Dao Demon produced a deafening roar, like the Beginning of Heaven and Earth, shattering the clouds into dust. Even the distant Southern Region Spirit Vein Tree swayed gently, its leaves flickering with runes, as if echoing the collision of the Heaven and Earth Laws. The roots of the Spirit Vein Tree spread underground, transforming the aftershocks of the collision into energy that nourished the earth, causing the Ancient Lotus in the Southern Domain Marshes to bloom with several new leaves.
The dark wings shattered inch by inch, turning into a sky full of stardust. Each fragment stirred up a small cloud of black mist as it landed, but it was purified by the golden light of the Spirit Vein as soon as it touched the sea surface, turning into harmless water vapor. As the water vapor rose, it encountered the net of light in the air and condensed into raindrops with runes, which fell on the sea surface. Wherever the raindrops passed, the traces left by Primordial Chaos were completely washed away, revealing the original azure blue of the sea.
As the water vapor rises, it condenses into a small rainbow, outlining the fishing village. Within the rainbow's seven-colored band, one can see the busy figures of fishermen. The fishermen are gathering up their nets, which have been rummaged through by the wind and waves, their faces showing relief at surviving a disaster. Children chase the rainbow's end on the beach, their laughter as clear and crisp as wind chimes.
The Star Orbit on his Daoist robe completely vanished, revealing his paper-white skin beneath. Within the blood vessels beneath his skin, Chaos Power and the Spirit Vein Origin were tearing at each other wildly, causing his figure to flicker like a candle flame in the wind. Whenever the golden light of the Spirit Vein Origin gained the upper hand, his figure solidified a little more, revealing more of his delicate, porcelain-like skin; while when the Chaos Power retaliated, the black mist spread again, once more obscuring the vibrant life force.