Devouring Dao, Refining All Demons

With the supreme ferocious might of the Innate spiritual treasure, the Nine-Nine Soul-Scattering Gourd, Yuan Ming had slain the Sea Race's three Golden Immortals in one stroke.

Gazing at the three Golden Immortal corpses, still radiating boundless essence and fragments of Dao laws, a trace of resolve flashed through Yuan Ming's eyes.

With a thought, the Heaven-Devouring Dao Scripture within him roared into motion. A terrifying aura, invisible and intangible yet seemingly capable of devouring the myriad Daos of the heavens, spread outward.

A pitch-black vortex emerged from his palm, like an entrance leading to the Return Ruins, slowly shrouding the three corpses.

Devouring Dao, Swallowing Heaven and Devouring Earth!

In an instant, the vast mana the Sea Race Golden Immortals had accumulated through countless yuanhui of bitter cultivation, their fragments of comprehension of the Dao of Water, and even their incomparably resilient life essences were forcibly stripped away and extracted, transforming into three torrents of utmost purity that surged endlessly into Yuan Ming's body.

This power was so immense and chaotic, filled with the peculiar chill and brutality of the deep sea.

Yuan Ming's body trembled faintly. Countless profound runes surfaced across his skin, refining and purifying these foreign powers over and over like a furnace before ultimately turning them to his own use.

His aura began to rise at a visible pace. His already vast and boundless Sea of Suffering expanded once more, his Life Spring erupted even more fiercely, and the "Divine Bridge" between illusion and reality solidified by several degrees, as though it might completely connect at any moment and manifest a heaven-shaking phenomenon.

Once the refinement was complete, Yuan Ming slowly opened his eyes. Divine light flashed within them like lightning, as though countless water-ripple Dao patterns were arising and perishing inside.

The lifelong cultivation of the three Golden Immortals had all been refined by him.

Then, his icy gaze turned toward the Demon Race within Purple Abode Province, who had long since been scared out of their wits and were fleeing in all directions.

Every one of them had witnessed him use the Nine-Nine Soul-Scattering Gourd.

This signature spiritual treasure of Redcloud Ancestor, one of the Primordial World's supreme powers—if word of it leaked, the consequences would be unimaginable!

He would face both the Sea Race's frenzied retaliation and the covetous eyes of every faction in the Primordial World.

"Not a single demon in this place... can be left alive."

Killing intent, like a tangible tide of frost, swept across the entirety of Purple Abode Province in an instant.

Yuan Ming no longer held back. His body transformed into a streak of golden light. Wherever he passed, Solar True Fire swept forth and Sword Qi crisscrossed the air.

Whether they were Heavenly Immortals and True Immortals stubbornly resisting to the bitter end, or lesser demons trembling in fear and trying to hide, all became targets for his extermination.

This was a one-sided slaughter.

Screams, wails, and pleas for mercy rose one after another, yet none could shake Yuan Ming in the slightest.

For the future of the Human Race, and to keep this potentially fatal secret, he had to commit this act of utter extermination and pull up the weeds by the roots.

Purple Abode Province, this legendary immortal island beyond the seas, had now become an Asura battlefield, blood flowing into rivers and demon corpses carpeting the ground.

To commit such monstrous slaughter would inevitably bring Karmic Power upon oneself!

When the last Demon Race member's life force completely faded, Yuan Ming could clearly feel a heavy, filthy, resentment-filled intangible force beginning to coil around his Primordial Spirit and fortune like shackles, bringing a sense of sluggishness and ill omen.

This was the Karmic Power imposed by the Heavenly Dao of the Primordial World. Ordinary cultivators avoided it like the plague. If too much accumulated, one's Dao Path would be cut off and inner demons would swarm forth; in severe cases, heavenly punishment would descend, and one would perish in body and Dao.

Yet Yuan Ming's expression remained unchanged.

With a slight thought, he drew upon the Solar True Fire origin within him that came from Eastern Lord's Heavenly Patrol.

"Burn!"

He let out a low cry, and dazzling golden divine flames suddenly erupted around his body!

These flames of utmost yang and unyielding force did not merely scorch reality—they could also burn away the void.

The crimson Karmic Power winding toward him issued a sizzling sound beneath the scorching of the purest and fiercest Solar True Fire, as if a mournful cry arose from the depths of the soul. It was swiftly evaporated and purified, dispersing into wisps of green smoke.

A short while later, the Karmic Power around him had been washed away completely. His Primordial Spirit became crystal-clear once more, and the pillar of his fortune regained its purity and vitality.

Having finished all this, Yuan Ming began calmly plundering Purple Abode Province's remaining treasures.

The Innate spiritual materials and spiritual roots gathered by the Immortal Court's predecessors were all swept into his possession.

The essence of this immortal island was nearly stripped clean by him.

Casting one final glance at the immortal island he had personally turned into a land of death, Yuan Ming felt no further attachment.

He took one step out of Purple Abode Province, and his body instantly transformed into a crimson rainbow spanning the horizon. Its speed far surpassed ordinary escape light—it was precisely Redcloud Ancestor's supreme divine ability, the Rainbow Transformation Divine Art.

Above the Nine Heavens, demon qi soared into the sky. Immortal palaces stretched in endless succession, magnificent in gold and jade.

This was the Heavenly Court, the core of the Demon Court that ruled the starry seas of the Primordial World and awed all races.

Deep within the Soaring Firmament Palace, inside a secret realm enshrouded by Chaos currents and Solar True Fire, a figure slowly opened his eyes.

His aura was restrained, yet it seemed to contain the mighty power to split heaven and earth. He was Eastern Emperor Taiyi, wielder of the Chaos Bell.

He did not rise. Yet a condensed divine sense had already pierced through layer upon layer of space and reached the mind of the Demon Emperor Di Jun, who was handling the Demon Race's affairs.

"Brother." Taiyi's voice was calm and unruffled, but it carried a trace of barely perceptible gravity.

"Just now, I sensed an exceedingly subtle disturbance from the Sun Star's origin. It was not a normal tide of stellar power. Rather, it seemed as though... it had been very slightly stirred by some power born of the same source."

The Imperial Dragon Qi around Di Jun paused slightly. After sensing for a moment, he gently shook his head. "Second Brother, you are overthinking it. I wield the River Chart and Luo Book; the stars of the heavens are all under surveillance. There has been no change in the Sun Star."

After a brief pause, he said, "Could it be that Bo Xie and those little ones accidentally touched the core while playing in Tang Valley?"

He did not take the matter too seriously.

The Sun Star was where he and Taiyi had been born, and it was also the source of utmost yang in the Primordial World. If anything truly threatened its origin, they would surely sense it.

Since nothing was amiss, this faint ripple was perhaps merely some rhythm of the star itself.

Di Jun's attention quickly shifted. With a trace of concern and anticipation, he asked, "Second Brother, after being in seclusion for so long, have you... found the sliver of life the Dao Ancestor spoke of?"

At the mention of this, even Taiyi's eternally indifferent face seemed to ripple ever so slightly.

He spoke calmly, but his voice carried a resolve that could sever the ages:

"I have found some clues. During my seclusion, I have been attempting to cultivate anew the path of Proving the Dao through Strength."

The moment those words fell, even Di Jun's mind was shaken!

After the Dao Ancestor declared in Violet Firmament Palace that the Three Thousand Daos had been sealed by the Heavenly Dao and that the Path of Severing the Corpses was the orthodox path, nearly all great powers of the Primordial World had turned to the path of corpse severance.

Yet Eastern Emperor Taiyi alone intended to go against the current, emulate Father God Pangu who had split heaven and earth, and use supreme power to forcibly shatter the shackles of the Heavenly Dao!

The difficulty of this path was so immense that it was nearly cut off entirely.

Yet Taiyi was Taiyi. The steadfastness of his Dao heart and the grandeur of his courage were unmatched throughout the Primordial World.

He actually intended to open a new heaven upon this Dao Path universally deemed a "dead end"!

"Good! Excellent!" Di Jun clapped his hands, brilliance bursting from his eyes. "If Second Brother has such ambition, then I shall devote the full strength of the Heavenly Court to aiding you!"

Taiyi nodded slightly, accepting his brother's goodwill. Then he asked, "Has Sage Realm Nüwa given any instructions regarding this Tribulation Epoch of our Demon Race?"

Di Jun's expression dimmed slightly at those words, and he shook his head. "Though Nüwa is the Sage Realm of our Demon Race, the Dao Ancestor has said that Sage Realm cultivators may not interfere with the course of a Tribulation Epoch. Her attitude is already clear."

Taiyi fell silent for a moment, unsurprised by this answer.

Sage Realm cultivators were undying and imperishable, transcending all worldly things. Why would they easily taint themselves with karmic cause and effect for the sake of a race?

Finally, he asked, with a pure desire to seek the Dao in his tone, "The Human Race created by Sage Realm Nüwa has now spread across the land. What is so special about them that they could move a Sage Realm cultivator to act and create them?"

Di Jun, however, was dismissive and even somewhat contemptuous. "According to reports from the lads below, the Human Race is incomparably weak. Their bodies are frail, their souls are ignorant, and aside from reproducing at a passable rate, they are almost entirely useless. It was likely only something the Sage Realm did on a whim while comprehending the Dao of Creation. There is nothing unusual about them."

Taiyi did not ask further.

He had little interest in creatures like ants.

His gaze had long since turned toward the loftier and more arduous summit of the Great Dao.

Taiyi closed his eyes once more. Chaos currents and Solar True Fire surged around him again, engulfing him.

He would continue onward along that solitary road of Proving the Dao through Strength.