Merit Illuminated the Primordial Wilderness, Saintly Might Descended Upon Heaven and Earth

There was no earth-shaking spectacle, only a strike of utmost simplicity.

A strike refined to the utmost, imbued with the intent of tracing all things back to their origins, seemed to ignore the barriers of space and time as it met head-on the Ten Thousand Evils Fallen God Claw, which could destroy heaven and earth.

At the same time, merit appeared behind Donghua. There was no stalemate as expected, no violent explosion of energy, no frenzied clash of laws.

Before Yang Yuan Dao Jie, which contained the power to trace everything back to its origin, the enormous claw formed from ten thousand years of sin and baleful energy seemed to have met its natural nemesis.

Where the attack passed, the wailing phantoms of the Chaos Demon Gods silently vanished like bubbles. The vast baleful energy, enough to defile all laws, was thoroughly purified by the utmost yang and purest power of returning to the origin. The razor-sharp claw streaks that tore through space and time, along with the frenzied will they carried, were reduced to nothingness and unraveled into the most primal chaos energy.

Qiongqi's all-out, desperate strike could not withstand even the slightest bit of that ruler-shaped ray, which seemed to embody utmost purity and yang. It was cleaved apart and utterly dispersed!

The power of Yang Yuan Dao Jie continued onward, like a great sun purifying the world. After destroying the Ten Thousand Evils bone claw, it did not pause, but swept on toward Qiongqi's true form.

In an instant, Qiongqi's enormous beastly body froze.

There was no earth-shaking explosion, no gruesome spray of bloody fragments.

Before the power of Yang Yuan Dao Jie, which reached into the very source of things, its existence itself began to be "erased."

The baleful energy protecting its body melted like snow before that light. Its indestructible hide, flesh, and blood began to disintegrate inch by inch, as if an irresistible law were erasing it directly from the level of existence.

Its roar, filled with shock, rage, and unwillingness, still echoed between heaven and earth, but its source no longer existed.

In the space of a breath, the traces of Qiongqi, the king of vicious beasts who had once dominated the world with his ferocious might and stirred up boundless turmoil, were utterly and cleanly erased from this world by the utmost pure and yang power of Dao Jie, which brought all things to an end.

Its body, Nascent Soul, and true spirit all returned to nothingness.

In the void, only the pure emptiness left in the wake of that ruler-shaped ray remained, along with the bright, clear world below, briefly purified.

Donghua stood with his hands behind his back, gazing toward the place where Qiongqi had vanished. The baleful energy between heaven and earth had dispersed, and all was clear once more.

He felt the ceaseless flow of the Dao's rhythm in this world and sighed leisurely:

"When fortune comes, heaven and earth lend their strength. When fortune fades... even heroes are not free."

As his words fell, the clouds remained light and the wind calm.

The vicious beast Qiongqi, who had once ravaged the Primordial Wilderness, had ultimately become but a wisp of tribulation ash, lost to the vagaries of fate.

Without proving the Dao, one remained an ant. No matter how peerless one's brilliance or how overwhelming one's ferocity, when a Great Tribulation arrived, one still could not escape the fate of being "not free when fortune fades."

Donghua's gaze grew ever more profound and resolute. The dormant magic power within him began to circulate and resonate in a way it never had before.

The path he sought was by no means the ordinary path of a Quasi-Saint.

Only Hunyuan!

Only by stepping onto the Hunyuan Path, forging a path of his own, could he sever all bonds of cause and effect, truly master his own fate, and attain great ease, great freedom, and ultimate transcendence!

With this thought, his Dao Heart grew clear, without the slightest hesitation.

Just as Donghua's thoughts turned and his Dao Heart grew ever more resolute, the reward from heaven and earth for slaying the first-generation vicious beast arrived as expected.

Perhaps because among the vicious beasts he had slain was a being of such overwhelming karmic burden as the first-generation Qiongqi, the merit descending from heaven was even more abundant than Donghua had expected.

Vast heavenly might looked down from the void. In an instant, the sky above the entire Extreme North Land was enveloped in endless golden auspicious light.

Layer upon layer of merit clouds churned and gathered, while streams of auspicious radiance poured down like the Heavenly River. They illuminated this barren land, which had been shrouded in baleful energy for countless epochs, in dazzling splendor and clarity.

This magnificent manifestation of merit instantly alarmed the entire Primordial Wilderness. Countless Innate Divine Beings awoke from their cultivation, sending their divine senses through the air to investigate the sudden upheaval in the north.

Golden radiance of merit showered down from the heavens. Seven-tenths of it turned into the most immense golden torrent, completely engulfing Donghua.

Another two-tenths flowed like a gentle stream into Taizhen beside him. The final tenth quietly seeped into the dry, fractured ley lines of the Extreme North Land below, nourishing the wounded earth.

As the power of merit swept through the void, the dense baleful energy that had previously lingered without dispersing was briefly driven away. The vague outlines of several Innate Great Arrays, hidden deep within the baleful energy and radiating an ancient aura, were also revealed.

Donghua stood still, bathed in the dense Merit Golden Light as a sacred aura flowed around him in abundance.

He did not hurry to absorb this gift of heavenly merit. With a mere thought, he gathered the immense merit deep within himself for future use.

"Perhaps I can use this to form a Golden Wheel of Merit one day." Donghua's thoughts stirred, and his gaze turned to the few Innate Great Arrays revealed by the cleansing power of merit.

Donghua was about to move and retrieve the spirit treasures within the few Innate Great Arrays, but at that very moment—

An indescribably vast pressure came crashing down from beyond the heavens, instantly enveloping the entire Primordial World Heaven and Earth!

Space and time seemed to freeze, and all things fell silent. Mountains bowed, rivers stopped flowing, and every living being in the Primordial Wilderness, immortal or mortal, felt a reverence rise from the depths of their souls, as if they were tiny specks of dust. They could not help but want to kneel and pay homage.

Donghua and Taizhen also felt their bodies grow heavy. The pressure descended directly upon them, as though the heavens themselves were collapsing.

Fortunately, the golden light of heavenly merit still surrounded them, flowing ceaselessly and resisting that mighty, irresistible saintly presence. They remained composed.

The next instant, sacred and ethereal yet unmistakably clear Dao Sounds seemed to ring out from past and future at once. They echoed through every inch of the void and shook the boundless Primordial Wilderness:

"High above, amid the ninefold clouds, I recline and realize the true Dao."

"Beyond heaven and earth, black and yellow, I shall hold the exalted seat of the teaching master."

"Pangu gave birth to the Taiji; the Two Forms and Four Symbols follow in turn."

"One Dao is passed down to three friends; the two teachings divide into Expounding and Intercepting."

"Leader of the Mystic Gate, one qi transforms into Hongjun."

The Dao Sounds lingered on, their echoes never fading.

Then the grand voice rang out once more, proclaiming to heaven and earth:

"I am Hongjun. Today I have attained sainthood. Ten thousand years from now, I shall expound the Great Dao in the Zixiao Palace amid the Chaos beyond the heavens. All who are fated may come and listen."

Only after the final words of the Dao Sound fell did the terrifying pressure enveloping heaven and earth recede like a tide.

The world returned to tranquility, as though everything that had just happened were merely an illusion.

Only the Dao Sound echoing in the hearts of all living beings, and the words "Zixiao Palace," remained deeply imprinted in the minds of every creature.

Taizhen let out a soft breath, her beautiful eyes filled with solemnity. She gazed beyond the heavens, and though her voice was quiet, it carried a hint of understanding. "Is this the realm above Daluo? It is like the vault of heaven collapsing, making us realize how a firefly pales beside the Bright Moon."

She and Donghua exchanged a glance. In each other's eyes, they saw the same shock, as well as a deeper yearning for the Great Dao that had been kindled within them.

Donghua looked into the depths of Chaos, his gaze profound. "It seems retrieving the spirit treasures will have to wait. The lecture at Zixiao Palace must take priority."

He swept his sleeve, his tone solemn. "Ten thousand years will pass in the blink of an eye, and Chaos is perilous beyond measure. We must set out at once."