Chaos Is Formed; Hongjun's Dharma Image Subdues the Heavens

That night, no one across the myriad worlds slept.

In the Ziwei Star Domain, amid the depths of space.

The Heavenly Frost Immortal Sect's mountain-sealing array gave off a faint glow. Countless elders huddled inside the sect's protective array, still shaken.

Hundreds of millions of miles from the Ziwei Star Domain, within immortal powers such as the Supreme Mystery Immortal Sect, the Primordial Ji Family, and the Nine Nether Demon Sea, countless old monsters at the Tribulation Transcendence Stage who had slumbered for long ages gathered in their ancestral halls. Grim-faced, they discussed the terrifying sight of the Netherworld claiming souls the day before.

Suddenly.

Every old monster at the Tribulation Transcendence Stage and every Primordial Sect Master jerked their head up at almost the same instant!

"What's happening?! Why is my life-bound soul... trembling?!" shrieked a nine-thousand-year-old Primordial Ancestor who had one foot over the threshold of True Immortal.

He had sensed no killing intent. Nor was this the panic of someone facing imminent death.

It was an instinct rising from the deepest reaches of the soul, from the very hierarchy of life and the source of the Great Dao—an instinct to submit and worship!

"Aaaah—!"

An ancient, weathered sound that seemed to transcend time and space erupted simultaneously in the depths of the cosmic Heavenly Dao throughout the Three Great Star Domains and the Thirty-Seven Great Thousand Worlds!

At that moment, the stars lost their color, and the sun and moon their light.

As billions of beings across the myriad worlds stared in a daze, the starry sky above the nine heavens was suddenly wiped away as if by an invisible hand!

The stars vanished. The Milky Way disappeared. Even the cold, black vacuum of space melted and broke apart in an instant, reverting to the most primal, most violent Chaos Qi!

Earth, Water, Fire, and Wind ran rampant!

Pure qi did not rise, nor did turbid qi sink!

There was no concept of time, no direction in space. Only boundless Chaos Lightning churned and roared!

"What... what is that?!"

In the Heavenly Demon Great Realm, a Primordial Demon Emperor larger than a planet stared at the sky above, now a sea of chaos. Every scale on his body stood on end, and his enormous blood-red eyes filled with despairing disbelief.

"Has the universe... been destroyed?! Have heaven and earth returned to chaos?!"

"No! Look! There's something deep inside the chaos!"

Within the Ziwei Star Domain, the supreme head of the Supreme Mystery Immortal Sect cried out, pointing at the sky with a trembling hand.

Every living being across the myriad worlds followed his gaze.

At the center of that world-destroying chaos, a strange light appeared—faint, yet eternally undying.

It came from a damaged Ancient Jade Tablet that radiated an unimaginable aura of creation!

The tablet turned slowly. With every revolution, it brought forth a Supreme Great Dao beyond all the rules known to the myriad worlds.

Three thousand Great Daos wheeled and danced around the damaged tablet!

Then.

Above the Primeval Holy Land in the Canglan Realm, at the very heights of the Ziwei Star Domain, in the deepest reaches of the Heavenly Demon Great Realm...

A majestic manifestation slowly rose beneath the damaged tablet. It wore a dark Daoist robe, its face indistinct, and emanated an aura that could crush the myriad worlds and give rise to all things in the universe!

The manifestation was not enormous. It even looked like an ordinary old Daoist.

But merely by sitting quietly amid that violent chaos, he reduced the Chaos Lightning and Earth, Water, Fire, and Wind—forces that could tear an old monster at the Tribulation Transcendence Stage to shreds in an instant—to tame sheep prostrate at his feet!

He suppressed chaos!

He brought forth all arts!

The instant that majestic manifestation appeared, every cultivator across the myriad worlds, from mortals at the Qi Refining Stage to mighty experts at the peak of the Tribulation Transcendence Stage, found the circulation of their cultivation techniques forcibly halted!

They felt that the so-called "Laws of Heaven and Earth" they had cultivated all their lives were as insignificant before this old Daoist's manifestation as doodles in the sand!

"Heavenly Dao above..."

On the Primeval Main Peak in the Canglan Realm.

Ji Changkong dropped to both knees with a crash. His eyes locked on the dark-robed old Daoist suppressing chaos in the sky. Tears streamed down his aged face as his whole body shook.

"He isn't a Great Emperor... he isn't an Immortal!"

"He's... the source of the Laws! The beginning of the Myriad Daos! The teacher of this entire universe's Heavenly Dao!"

Beside Ji Changkong, Lin Qiye, with the Broken Sword on his back, had gone red-eyed. The Golden Mark deep in his forehead blazed more fiercely than ever, while the voice of the Eight-Nine Profound Art in his mind resonated with the manifestation above with unprecedented force!

"True Lord... is this the 'Primordial World' the True Lord spoke of?!" Lin Qiye gripped his sword hilt, his heart pounding.

And deep in the starry sky.

The old monsters who had hidden in the shadows and lorded over others for tens of thousands of years had lost every trace of their lofty authority.

Thud!

Thud!

One renowned expert after another dropped like stones, whether in the air or inside ancestral halls, and prostrated themselves before the manifestation in the sky, kowtowing with utmost reverence!

The crushing disparity in their standing before the Great Dao left their Dao hearts capable of nothing but worship. Not the faintest thought of resistance arose.

Just as all the myriad worlds sank into deathly solemnity and worship.

The dark-robed old Daoist's manifestation, seated deep within the chaos, slowly raised a hand.

"Hummm—"

Behind the old Daoist, the void beyond the nine heavens split open. An imposing Daoist temple, ancient and solemn, built entirely of purple-gold glazed stone and chaos stone, gradually emerged from the Chaos Qi.

Above it hung an exceedingly plain plaque. It bore only three simple ancient characters, yet contained the ultimate mysteries of the Great Dao:

[Zixiao Palace]!

The old Daoist's manifestation did not open his mouth. Yet a supreme Daoist voice, ethereal and seeming to reach across countless ages, rang through every living being's mind, cleansing the souls of billions across the myriad worlds:

"High upon the ninefold clouds I rest; upon a cushion, I grasp the Dao's true essence." "Beyond heaven and earth's mystic yellow, I shall reign as Sect Leader." "Pangu gave birth to Taiji; the Two Forms and Four Symbols followed." "One Dao passed to the Three Friends; the Two Teachings split into Chan and Jie." "I lead all of Xuanmen; from one breath came Hongjun."

"One breath... became Hongjun?!"

"Dao Ancestor Hongjun?!"

Those five lines sent the entire expanse of the myriad worlds into an uproar!

Hearing such unimaginably grand lines as "Beyond heaven and earth's mystic yellow, I shall reign as Sect Leader" and "Pangu gave birth to Taiji," old monsters who had lived tens of thousands of years felt their scalps prickle and their souls nearly burst!

The master of the teachings who governed the Heavenly Dao?!

The source of the Two Forms that brought forth Taiji?!

What did that mean? It meant the Heavenly Dao they had spent their lives cultivating was merely one of the orders this Dao Ancestor Hongjun had brought forth long ago!

Yet before the mighty experts of the myriad worlds could recover from their shock.

The vast Daoist voice from Zixiao Palace once again swept across the worlds:

"I am Hongjun. Today, I bring forth the Primordial World and shall teach the Supreme Immortal Dao in Zixiao Palace, Beyond the Thirty-Three Heavens." "Those across the myriad worlds who possess Great Destiny, great perseverance, and great insight may bear a Zixiao Dao-Hearing Edict and send their souls Beyond the Thirty-Three Heavens to hear me teach." "The first lecture... shall bring forth the three thousand Great Daos and point the way to the Ascension Path!"

"Boom—!!"

Those final words struck like an ancient divine thunderbolt of boundless power, shattering the composure of every mighty expert across the myriad worlds!

The Ascension Path?!

The three thousand Great Daos brought forth?!

At that moment, the old monsters whose lifespans were nearly spent, who had been stuck at the peak of the Tribulation Transcendence Stage for thousands of years, felt their eyes burn red. Their breath rasped like bellows!

"Ascension! It's the path to ascension!"

"The Dao Ancestor has manifested! The lectures at Zixiao Palace are beginning!"

"Hahahaha! Heaven hasn't forsaken me! Heaven hasn't forsaken me!"

Countless old monsters at the Tribulation Transcendence Stage threw back their heads and laughed within their sects, tears of excitement spilling from their eyes.

The Netherworld's earlier appearance had shown them the terror and cruelty of death. Now, Dao Ancestor Hongjun and the sudden arrival of Zixiao Palace had laid a broad, sunlit road to eternal life and the Supreme Immortal Dao directly before them!

"The edict! I need a Zixiao Dao-Hearing Edict!"

"No matter the cost, I must secure a place at that lecture!"

The entire universe descended into an unprecedented frenzy to seize an edict!