The Twenty-Third Chapter: Huang Tian Rebukes the Heavenly Dao, the Great Dao Protects Him, and Great Dao Merit Pours Down as if It Were Free!

Whoosh!

Pangu Will passed through Huang Tian's body without causing him any harm.

Instead, it stirred the boundless Earth Vein Power within a radius of tens of millions of li around Buzhou Mountain, drawing it continuously toward the mountain's base.

Earth Vein Power merged with Great Dao Merit, flowing steadily and evenly into the twelve stone tablets.

The tablets radiated a heavy, ocher light, drawing Pangu Will inside them.

Great Dao Merit tempered the tablets into Merit Spiritual Treasures. They linked with the boundless Earth Vein Power, making up for the weakened source of the Buzhou Pillar.

With the Merit Spiritual Treasures protecting it, Pangu Will dissipated much more slowly.

As time passed, more and more Earth Vein Power was drawn in, ensuring that Pangu Will would not fade away again.

With the twelve merit stone tablets and Pangu Will guarding it, not even a Sage could knock down Buzhou Mountain.

Rumble!

As Huang Tian continuously used his qi and blood to control the Kongtong Seal and hasten the gathering of Earth Vein Power—

Nine Sounds of Heavenly Thunder rang out. A violent aura of destructive thunder appeared in an instant, shrouding an area tens of millions of li wide.

A colossal eye, blotting out the sky and sun, appeared and disappeared amid endless, heavy thunderclouds.

"What are you staring at?"

"If you've got the guts, attack. If not, get lost!"

Huang Tian raised his hand toward the sky. Faced with the Heavenly Dao's spying, he showed nothing but contempt.

Only when Buzhou Mountain collapsed could Pangu Will dissipate completely.

Only then, with Pangu Will gone, could the Heavenly Dao take over.

Now Huang Tian wanted to preserve Pangu Will forever, which naturally ran counter to the Sentient Heavenly Dao's designs.

The Eye of Heavenly Dao lurked amid the thunder, restless and ready to act—but it didn't dare make a move.

Huang Tian had used the body of Buzhou Mountain itself to forge the twelve stone tablets.

Then he had infused them with Great Dao Merit, Earth Vein Power, and Pangu Will.

Even if the Heavenly Dao could shatter those twelve tablets, the Karmic Retribution from doing so would be enough to make its consciousness dissipate on the spot, leaving behind only the impartial Heavenly Dao.

So, faced with Huang Tian's provocation, the Heavenly Dao merely watched in silence.

"Heh."

"Martial Dao Dharma Image, appear!"

"Inscription!"

Huang Tian gave the Heavenly Dao a cold laugh. Seeing that it didn't dare attack, he didn't waste any more time. He manifested his Martial Dao Dharma Image, fifteen hundred million zhang tall.

A divine weapon made entirely of condensed qi and blood appeared in the Dharma Image's hand. It began inscribing True Martial Dao Intent onto the twelve stone tablets, stroke by stroke.

Huang Tian carved a different True Martial Dao Intent diagram onto each tablet.

Different living beings could comprehend countless possibilities of the Martial Dao from the diagrams on the twelve different tablets.

Each diagram contained not only methods for cultivating the Martial Dao, but also myriad Martial Dao Combat Techniques and Martial Dao Divine Abilities.

The entry-level cultivation method had no requirements. Any living being with sentience could comprehend it.

But to understand the Martial Dao Combat Techniques and Martial Dao Divine Abilities, a living being needed a certain degree of talent and a suitable lineage.

Rumble!

Only after Huang Tian finished inscribing the final True Martial Dao Intent diagram did a violent roar resound across heaven and earth.

Rare flowers rained down from the sky, and Golden Lotuses Springing from the Earth.

An ancient, profound Dao aura appeared from nowhere around the twelve stone tablets.

At the sight of this, the Eye of Heavenly Dao could no longer hold back.

It sensed that if Huang Tian's plan succeeded, the Buzhou Pillar would never collapse.

As long as Pangu Will existed, the Heavenly Dao would remain beneath it. How could it tolerate that?

Crack!

The next moment, before the Heavenly Dao could attack Huang Tian, lightning struck the Eye of Heavenly Dao, and it vanished in an instant.

An eye surrounded by boundless Great Dao Merit appeared. It was none other than the Eye of Great Dao.

The Eye of Great Dao had summoned the lightning that struck the Eye of Heavenly Dao. The latter retreated in defeat and hid, not even daring to keep spying on Huang Tian.

"Interesting."

Huang Tian glanced up at the sky, understanding why the Eye of Great Dao had appeared.

Hongjun's Immortal Dao was based on taking from others. At its core, it was an unsustainable way of consuming the Prehistoric World.

The Martial Dao, on the other hand, was symbiotic, complementing the Prehistoric World.

What's more, Huang Tian was protecting the Buzhou Pillar, and thus safeguarding the Prehistoric World's complete development.

That was why Great Dao Merit had appeared.

As the Eye of Great Dao drove away the Eye of Heavenly Dao, another boundless expanse of Great Dao Merit gathered, ready to descend upon Huang Tian with its blessing.

"The Eye of Great Dao?"

"Has the world gone mad? Why has it bestowed so many blessings of the Great Dao in less than a million years?"

"Could he really be the Son of the Great Dao?"

The terrifying pressure of the Eye of Great Dao instantly filled every corner of the Prehistoric World.

Di Jun and Taiyi in Lingxiao Treasure Hall.

Laozi, Yuanshi, and Tongtian on Kunlun Mountain.

Minghe in the Sea of Blood, Zhenyuanzi at Wuzhuang Temple, and Hong Yun.

Every one of the Prehistoric World's top Great Divine Powers gasped and cried out in shock.

They looked up at the Great Dao Merit appearing in the sky as if it were free, their eyes red with envy.

"Could it be that I stole the Three Purities' Heaven-Opening Merit through the Immortal Dao, and that's why the Witch Clan truly became Pangu's Orthodox Lineage?"

"This much Great Dao Merit would be enough to make someone a Quasi-Saint Peak."

"Never mind. Now that the Heavenly Dao has been born and taken over the workings of the Prehistoric World, the Great Dao can't keep appearing forever."

"As long as my Immortal Dao continues spreading among the countless living beings..."

"No matter how many twists and turns the process takes, once I achieve Dao Integration, the outcome will be the same."

Worried that another attempt to divine the secrets of heaven would bring retribution, Hongjun made his decision quickly. He closed his eyes and resumed his state of Dao Integration.

Di Jun, Taiyi, Minghe, the Twelve Ancestral Witches, and the Three Purities dared even less to divine anything.

After all, the Eye of Great Dao had stepped in to protect Huang Tian. Who would dare try to divine the matter?

Even a Sage might be struck down on the spot if retribution from the Great Dao fell upon them.

Rumble!

At that very moment, on Buzhou Mountain—

Huang Tian finished his final inscription, and the vast Great Dao Merit in the sky finally gathered into shape.

Heaven and earth roared. The Great Dao Merit descended, dividing into ten portions.

Two portions were evenly distributed among the twelve stone tablets of Buzhou Mountain, which blazed with golden light.

A moment later, the light faded. The twelve stone tablets had taken on the same color as Buzhou Mountain—ancient and weighty, a deep gray.

"Not bad!"

Huang Tian nodded in satisfaction.

Tempered by Great Dao Merit, all twelve stone tablets of Buzhou Mountain had become Low-grade Innate Merit Spiritual Treasures.

Their quality wasn't especially high, but their ability to suppress fate rivaled that of an Innate Supreme Treasure.

And with the Prehistoric World's Earth Vein Power protecting them, even the Heavenly Dao couldn't destroy the twelve stone tablets of Buzhou Mountain.

Huang Tian used the Kongtong Seal to hold the other eight portions of Great Dao Merit aloft in the sky.

"By the name of Martial Ancestor, I proclaim this to heaven and earth!"

"I have observed that Qiankun is flawed and All Living Beings remain ignorant. There is no path to ascend to immortality or prove the Dao, and living beings waste their lives bound by mortal bodies."

"Today, I establish the Human Immortal Martial Dao, opening a path never before seen through the ages!"

"I shall pass down the way of attaining sainthood through the body and breaking through the heavens with martial might, sheltering mortal beings and laying the foundation of the Martial Dao."

"Let the Great Dao bear witness, and Qiankun serve as proof!"

Without a moment's hesitation, Huang Tian's thunderous roar shook the heavens.

Rumble!

Heaven and earth roared. The Eye of the Great Dao trembled slightly, and boundless, natural Dao aura filled the world, gathering into a great character: "Martial."

The character "Martial," born of the Great Dao, had barely appeared before it split into twelve portions. Together with eight tenths of the Great Dao Merit, they sank into the twelve stone tablets of Buzhou Mountain.

From then on, the stone tablets of Buzhou Mountain would be known as the Martial Dao Stone Tablets.

With the Dao aura of the character "Martial" enhancing them, the True Martial Dao Intent diagrams on the twelve Martial Dao Stone Tablets became even more lifelike, containing the mysteries of the Three Thousand Laws.

Rumble!

The roars resounding through heaven and earth grew more and more intense. Even more Great Dao Merit than before was gathering.

But the Great Dao Merit formed into a Merit Golden Cloud, and still showed no sign of descending.

Huang Tian looked up. A mysterious intuition let him see through everything: within the Merit Golden Cloud, some supreme treasure seemed about to appear!