The Spirit-Absorbing Gourd unleashed boundless devouring force, directly targeting his Innate Imperishable True Spirit. It forcibly drew in a portion of his true spirit fragments and imprisoned them within the gourd.
Yuan Lun activated the Life-and-Death Wheel. As it spun, the power of life, death, and reincarnation surged forth, carrying a crushing pressure that could obliterate all things as it smashed straight toward the remaining Innate Imperishable True Spirit of the Netherworld Serpent Ancestor.
Already shattered beyond repair, the true spirit had no power to resist the force of the Reincarnation Dao. It broke apart even more thoroughly, its fragments gradually suppressed beneath the Life-and-Death Wheel, forever unable to attain liberation.
From the moment the four joined forces to the complete suppression of the Netherworld Serpent Ancestor, fewer than ten breaths had passed.
The Netherworld Serpent Ancestor, who had been so arrogantly invincible and had forced Yuan Jie into retreat after retreat, met a miserable end. His Innate Imperishable True Spirit was shattered into countless pieces and separately suppressed by the Spirit-Absorbing Gourd and the Life-and-Death Wheel. His fleshly primordial spirit was repeatedly crushed and worn away, then continuously refined by the Four Symbols Return-to-Origin Formation, leaving him without even a trace of strength to resist.
Several decades later, with Yuan Yan's help, Yuan Ling and Yuan Lun completely suppressed the Netherworld Serpent Ancestor's broken Innate Imperishable True Spirit. His fleshly primordial spirit, which contained the Dao intent of immortality and indestructibility, was also completely refined by the Four Symbols Return-to-Origin Formation, turning into pure Chaos Origin power.
As for his Primordial Origin, its imprint was refined away as well, leaving behind only pure origin containing the Netherworld Dao and the Nether-Poison Dao.
Yet Yuan Yan and the other three did not dare lower their guard in the slightest. He had been a Perfected Great Firmament Golden Immortal—who knew what contingencies he might have left behind? If even a sliver of life allowed him to escape, they were not afraid of him, but it could still leave future trouble.
At once, the four joined forces again and employed supreme divine abilities, using the Netherworld Serpent Ancestor's remaining aura, Dao resonance, and Karma as leads to eliminate every contingency he had left behind.
Only after clearing away all of the Netherworld Serpent Ancestor's backup plans and ensuring that he had no possibility of rising again did Yuan Yan and the other three finally relax slightly. Only then did they have time to assess the gains and losses of this battle and deal with the true spirit fragments they had suppressed.
Standing in the void with his hands clasped behind his back, Yuan Yan gazed deeply at the region below that had been affected by the battle. After pondering for a moment, he slowly said, "The Netherworld Serpent Ancestor was a Perfected Great Firmament Golden Immortal. He must be an expert left over from the previous Calamity Cycle. Perhaps he knows how to break through to the Primordial Golden Immortal realm. Moreover, his knowledge and understanding of the Primordial World should be useful to us."
"Yuan Lun, Yuan Ling, you have suppressed the Netherworld Serpent Ancestor's Innate Imperishable True Spirit fragments. You two will search his memories."
"Also, our battle with the Netherworld Serpent Ancestor destroyed this region, and Karmic Force has fallen upon us. We should make amends. Yuan Jie, let us first join forces to erase the Great Dao power left behind by the battle, then restore this region. Yuan Lun, Yuan Ling, once you have finished searching the Netherworld Serpent Ancestor's memories, lend a hand as well!"
"Agreed!" Yuan Lun, Yuan Jie, and Yuan Ling all nodded in unison without the slightest hesitation.
As soon as he finished speaking, the four immediately split up and began their work.
At this point, the Netherworld Serpent Ancestor's Innate Imperishable True Spirit had been completely shattered and thoroughly suppressed. With the assistance of the Spirit-Absorbing Gourd and the Life-and-Death Wheel, it was not difficult for Yuan Lun and Yuan Ling to search and extract his memories.
However, after obtaining the Netherworld Serpent Ancestor's memories, Yuan Lun and Yuan Ling learned that he had lived for more than twenty thousand Epochs. His memories were simply too vast, and sorting through them to extract the useful portions would take some time.
Yuan Yan and Yuan Jie, on the other hand, did not need much time to erase the lingering Great Dao power in this region and restore the area afterward.
Their battle with the Netherworld Serpent Ancestor had not lasted very long. Although their clash had inevitably damaged heaven and earth, neither side had been corroded by baleful or resentful qi, and both had retained their reason.
Naturally, they had both deliberately avoided causing large-scale, severe destruction to heaven and earth and incurring even more Karmic Force.
The region affected by their battle was not especially vast. Though the Earth Veins in the affected areas had been damaged, the damage was not too severe.
In less than a thousand years, all four had completed their tasks.
At once, Merit descended from heaven and earth, and it was actually slightly greater than the Karmic Force they had incurred by damaging heaven and earth.
Only then did Yuan Yan and Yuan Jie have the time to connect their minds with Yuan Lun and Yuan Ling and receive the Netherworld Serpent Ancestor's memories that they had extracted and organized.
"So that's how it is!" As Yuan Yan received and sorted through the Netherworld Serpent Ancestor's memories, joy rose in his heart, and understanding flashed in his eyes. At last, he understood how to break through to the Primordial Golden Immortal realm!
To break through to the Primordial Golden Immortal realm, one first had to cultivate one's essence, qi, and spirit to perfection, then fuse them into Hunyuan Power. One then had to merge that Hunyuan Power with one's Great Firmament Dao Fruit, transforming the Great Firmament Dao Fruit into a Flawed Hunyuan Dao Fruit and giving rise to a Hunyuan Ancestor.
If one's foundation was sufficiently profound and one could comprehend the mysteries of Hunyuan, allowing the Great Firmament Dao Fruit to transform into a Flawed Hunyuan Dao Fruit and give rise to Hunyuan Ancestral Qi, then one had already taken half a step into the Primordial Golden Immortal realm.
After that, one only needed time for the Hunyuan Ancestor to merge with the Innate Imperishable True Spirit. Complete fusion was unnecessary; even an initial fusion would allow one to break through to the Primordial Golden Immortal realm.
But if one's accumulation was insufficient, whether in essence, qi, and spirit or in the Great Dao, the Dao Fruit could not transform successfully. Naturally, one would be unable to break through to the Primordial Golden Immortal realm.
What delighted Yuan Yan even more was that, after Yuan Lun and Yuan Ling deduced the matter, they discovered that cultivating the Three-Selves Severing Technique to sever the Three-Selves Dao Bodies, or cultivating the Three Corpse Severing Technique to sever the Three Corpse Dao Bodies, did not conflict with the Hunyuan Dao.
After severing the Three Selves or Three Corpses, one could still walk the path of Hunyuan. This instantly dispelled Yuan Yan's worries, and he no longer needed to fear that Hunyuan Great Firmament would be forever beyond his reach.
But on further thought, that made sense. Whether Hongjun had created the Three Corpse Severing Technique after becoming a Primordial Golden Immortal or had broken through after creating it, there could not possibly have been a conflict. Otherwise, what use would there have been in Hongjun creating the Three Corpse Severing Technique?
Yuan Yan was also somewhat surprised. The Netherworld Serpent Ancestor had actually been a figure from the early days of the Calamity of Ferocious Beasts and had survived for more than twenty thousand Epochs.
Yet after his surprise came a measure of contempt. He had lived from the early Calamity of Ferocious Beasts until now and still had not broken through to the Primordial Golden Immortal realm. How useless was that?
But as Yuan Yan sorted through and understood more of those memories, the contempt in his heart gradually faded.
In truth, the Netherworld Serpent Ancestor's inability to break through to the Primordial Golden Immortal realm was not entirely because he was useless.
His failure to break through was partly due to terrible luck and partly because the Hunyuan Dao was genuinely difficult.
The Netherworld Serpent Ancestor had originally been staying peacefully in his lair when Torch Dragon suddenly came knocking. He was crushed by a single strike, which left a flaw in his Dao Heart and forced him to submit to the Dragon Clan. After joining the Dragon Clan, he did not receive a high position, so his Fortune steadily drained away and his cultivation progressed ever more slowly.
And while he could be considered fortunate for successfully surviving both the Calamity of Ferocious Beasts and the Dragon-Han Calamity, he could also be considered unfortunate. During those two calamities, he was severely wounded several times and nearly died. Merely recovering from his Dao Injuries took him several thousand Epochs.
Before you continue