Clang!
Sword cries rang through the heavens. A Quasi-Saint's aura surged forth, and with the might to annihilate all things, cleaved off a corner of the Demon Court.
Watching the Demon Court collapse, Taiyi's hand clenched tightly inside his sleeve. His gaze was deep and unfathomable.
"I am Tongtian. The Demon Court trespassed into my dojo. Know this: a Saint must not be insulted lightly. Today, I have severed a corner of your Demon Court. From now on, no member of the Demon Clan may approach within a thousand miles of Kunlun. Otherwise, do not blame me for failing to warn you!"
Bolstered by holy power, Tongtian's icy voice resounded throughout the Primordial World.
All Beings looked over and saw that the Demon Court, which had endured since time immemorial, was now ablaze with spots of Divine Fire. Countless buildings crumbled and fell to the earth, while the bodies of Demon Generals and Demon soldiers rained down in uncountable numbers.
"This... Was that a Quasi-Saint who made a move?!"
Trembling, they stared at the scene before them, as if they had returned to the battlefield that had swept across the entire Primordial World tens of thousands of years ago.
Tens of thousands of immortals had died that day. Among them were even Golden Immortals of Taiyi and Great Luo.
Even in the Primordial World, these cultivators had been figures powerful enough to dominate their own territories. Now, a Quasi-Saint had casually struck them down, leaving them dead and their Dao destroyed.
The demons of the Demon Court fell silent as well. They had thought that joining the Demon Clan would let them roam the Primordial World unchecked.
But this scene had made one thing perfectly clear: no matter how many weaklings gathered together, when faced with a true powerhouse, they could still be slaughtered at will.
In this world, the strong would always rule.
If you truly offended someone you shouldn't have, even the Demon Court couldn't protect you.
At the thought, they were all overcome with fear.
The Northern Region, once fouled by those beings steeped in Karmic Debt, enjoyed a brief spell of peace that would last for many years to come.
In the boundless Chaos.
Zixiao Palace.
Chaos Qi raged, powerful enough to annihilate an ordinary Great Luo Golden Immortal.
Yet Zixiao Palace suppressed a region of Chaos, through which it flowed like a docile river.
Anyone looking closely might even have thought Zixiao Palace seemed somewhat unreal, as if it stood apart from Chaos, yet remained incomparably transcendent.
Inside Zixiao Palace.
Hongjun opened his eyes and turned his gaze toward the Demon Court in the Primordial World.
Though he had remained in Chaos all this time, he had been watching everything happening in the Primordial World.
He was about to merge with the Heavenly Dao, so naturally he had to ensure that its development wasn't affected in any way.
When he had seen East King Duke establish the Immortal Court, he had regretted it somewhat—regretted giving him the title of Heavenly Emperor.
After all, East King Duke had no part in the Heavenly Dao's future course.
If he hadn't been at a critical point before merging with the Dao, unable to leave Zixiao Palace at will, he would have wanted to set things right himself.
However...
Seeing Tongtian's imposing might as he suppressed the Demon Court, Hongjun felt thoroughly satisfied.
This was one of the reasons he had taken the Three Pure Ones as disciples.
Though he couldn't make a move at will, the Three Pure Ones were different.
The Immortal Court was powerful now, but the Great Desolation Tribulation wouldn't begin for hundreds of thousands of years.
In that time, he would have already held the Third Sermon.
The Three Pure Ones would have become Saints by then. How could East King Duke hope to resist three Saints?
At the thought, Hongjun's worries disappeared. He turned his attention back to comprehending the mysteries of merging with the Dao.
Heavenly Court.
Divine Hall.
East King Duke sat on a high dais, with two golden scrolls laid out on the table before him.
The scrolls were covered in traces of varying auras—some incomparably powerful, others as feeble as the wind.
"The Myriad Immortals Scroll!"
This was the treasure Hongjun had bestowed upon him after he became the Head of Male Immortals.
It could record the names of all the male immortals under Heaven, making it easier to keep them in check.
The other scroll belonged to West Queen Mother, but he had asked her to hand it over.
"Good Corpse?"
East King Duke's gaze passed through the Heavenly Court and crossed billions of miles to see the sword Tongtian had swung.
The other Great Powers and All Beings were either amazed by the might of Tongtian's sword or focused on something else. But East King Duke's attention was fixed on Tongtian himself.
When he saw Tongtian sever his Good Corpse, he felt no envy. Instead, a mocking smile appeared at the corner of his mouth.
Proving the Dao by Severing Three Corpses seemed like an unrivaled Great Dao that led straight to Sainthood, but in reality, it was a dead end.
That was why he treated it merely as a method, like the Three-Life Body he had manifested, and had no intention of actually severing his three corpses.
There were many paths to Sainthood. The most arduous was the path taken by Great God Pangu: opening Heaven by force. If successful, one would become a Great Dao Saint directly.
As for more recent examples, during Dao Ancestor Hongjun's era, Demon Ancestor Luohu and the leaders of the Dragon, Phoenix, and Qilin Clans had each forged their own paths and become Saints.
Demon Ancestor Luohu had come especially close, needing only one more step to become a Saint.
So severing the Three Corpses wasn't the only way to become a Saint.
And once the corpses were severed, there was no going back. You could only see that path through to the end.
Even after you finally severed all three corpses, you still had to merge them to become a Saint.
At that point, you could only accomplish it by using Primordial Violet Qi.
The problem was that there were only seven strands of Primordial Violet Qi in total. Three went to the Three Pure Ones, two to the Two from the West, and one to Nuwa. That left only one.
And even if you seized that last strand of Primordial Violet Qi from all the Great Powers, becoming a Saint with it would leave you at the mercy of the Heavenly Dao.
You would become a puppet of the Heavenly Dao, working for it.
What he wanted was freedom, not to become a puppet with no control over his own fate.
So he would follow the same path as Great God Pangu.
Prove the Dao through laws.
Naturally, he didn't dare imagine proving the Dao by force like Great God Pangu, creating the Primordial World and becoming a Great Dao Saint in one stroke.
But he had the Chat Group, which could gather the auspiciousness of the heavens. It was perfectly suited to the Auspiciousness Great Dao.
And the Law of Faith was a branch of the Auspiciousness Great Dao.
As long as he fully comprehended the Law of Faith, the Auspiciousness Great Dao would be within his grasp.
East King Duke shook his head and came back to himself. He wasn't even a Quasi-Saint yet, so there was no use thinking about all that now.
He gathered his thoughts and focused on the Myriad Immortals Scroll before him.
Ever since he had obtained the scroll, he had felt that it contained some flaw and wasn't perfect.
He had never understood why. But after West Queen Mother agreed to become the Immortal Court's Queen Mother and handed over her own Myriad Immortals Scroll, he finally understood the source of the imperfection.
"There are no two identical leaves in the world, so naturally there can't be two identical Magic Treasures—unless they were originally one and the same treasure!"
East King Duke's mind stirred. The Heavenly Emperor Seal emerged from his body, emitting boundless divine light that illuminated the entire Heavenly Court.
Ever since he had established the Immortal Court, the Heavenly Emperor Seal seemed to have come alive, brimming with vitality and living up to its name even more.
After all, before then, he had only held the title of Heavenly Emperor without the power to match it, so the Heavenly Emperor Seal couldn't display its full might.
As the Heavenly Emperor Seal appeared, the two golden scrolls seemed to be powerfully stimulated and began to emit Seven-Colored Divine Light.
Strands of Heavenly Emperor Auspiciousness flowed slowly from the Heavenly Emperor Seal, winding around the two Myriad Immortals Scrolls and wrapping them tightly like threads.
Thud!
A drop of water fell into a pool. The Great Dao murmured!
[ Ding! Through tireless effort, you have comprehended the secrets of the Myriad Immortals Scroll and obtained the Investiture of Immortals! ]
A long-awaited notification lit up before him.
"The Investiture of Immortals?!"
Before you continue