Merit Descends, Transforming the Sects of the Heavens

Beyond the Thirty-Three Heavens, inside Zixiao Palace.

The mighty Great Dao Immortal Music gradually faded, and the supreme Creation Immortal Light above the nine heavens, which had been revealing the three thousand Great Daos, slowly drew inward.

Dao Ancestor Hongjun (Su Chen Soul Avatar) sat high in the depths of the chaotic void. His profound eyes, which seemed to hold countless cycles of reincarnation, swept calmly over the seven people seated below.

Three paths to the Dao—Proving the Dao Through Strength, Proving the Dao by Slaying the Three Corpses, and Proving the Dao Through Merit!

These three transcendent paths led straight to the source of the Great Dao. Like a towering beacon, they pierced the boundless darkness that had plagued countless cultivators across the heavens for tens of thousands of years.

"The Dao has no name; it manifests through cause and circumstance."

Dao Ancestor Hongjun's voice was cold and vast. Every word became a golden imprint of the Laws, engraved deep within the seven listeners' souls:

"Merit is the recognition of heaven and earth, the foundation of order. Those who follow heaven's will, answer the needs of others, do good, and protect the living will receive Merit Golden Light from the Heavenly Dao."

"When a Calamity Cycle descends and baleful qi spreads, that light can shield you from the calamity's corruption, preserve the clarity of your true spirit, and turn danger aside."

"Once you return, understand this well. Do not repeat the ruin of the dragons and phoenixes, or the witches and demons."

With that, the Dao Ancestor's avatar raised his right hand and brushed it lightly through the void.

Boom!

Seven streams of purple-gold immortal light containing the Merit-Sensing Method burst from his fingertips and silently entered the foreheads of Lin Qiye, Ji Changkong, Supreme Mystery True Lord, Tu Shanye, Netherworld Blood Emperor, Ye Chen, and Canghai Old Daoist.

It was the supreme secret teaching on sensing Heavenly Dao merit in the real universe and guiding all living beings to uphold order!

"We bow in gratitude for the Dao Ancestor's supreme compassion!"

The seven mighty Dao Listeners were overwhelmed. They struck their foreheads against their cushions and Purple Qi Auspicious Clouds in deep bows.

The next instant, a vast pull descended through the void. Purple-gold radiance enveloped their souls, tore through the chaos, and carried each back to his body.

The doors of Zixiao Palace slowly closed, and silence returned to the Chaos Forbidden Zone Beyond the Thirty-Three Heavens.

The Heavenly Demon Great Realm, Nine Nether Blood Sea.

This blood-red ocean spanned untold tens of billions of miles. Thick, foul-smelling demonic qi of slaughter churned across it year-round. Deep beneath the waves, countless hideous demons tore at and devoured one another, while the stench of blood filled the air.

Suddenly!

Two beams of purple-gold divine light erupted from the temple floating at the heart of the Blood Sea, illuminating the entire ocean!

The soul of the First Demon Emperor, the Netherworld Blood Emperor, had returned to his body!

Crash!

The vast Blood Sea surged into towering waves. The Netherworld Blood Emperor shot to his feet from his blood-red throne. His crimson eyes, once filled with brutality and bloodlust, were now remarkably clear, with faint purple-gold immortal light flowing deep within them.

"Your Majesty! You're awake?!"

Below the temple, dozens of powerful, fearsome demons dropped to their knees. A demon general in black bone robes stepped forward and reported with a fawning grin:

"Your Majesty, while you were in seclusion, we assembled three million troops of the Blood Sea Demon Army! Give the order, and we'll cross the stars, slaughter every human mortal in the three surrounding Minor Thousand Worlds, and refine their resentful souls into a supreme demon banner for Your Majesty's amusement!"

In the demon realm of old, such conduct had been routine. Answering violence with violence and forging artifacts from mortal souls were among the Devil Dao's favored practices.

Yet at this report, the Netherworld Blood Emperor's face turned livid!

After hearing of the horrors of the Heaven and Earth Tribulation in Zixiao Palace and seeing how Karmic Baleful Qi could grind its victims to dust, he now had to listen to a subordinate propose slaughtering the innocent and accumulating more baleful qi. A chill shot from the soles of his feet to the crown of his head!

Fools! A pack of fools with a death wish!

They were pushing him and the entire Blood Sea toward death in the Calamity Cycle!

"Bastard!"

The Netherworld Blood Emperor was so furious that he did not wait for the demon general to finish. He swept out his sleeve!

Boom!

A surge of unstoppable demonic power exploded outward, striking the Dao-Slaying Stage Black-Bone Demon General. He spat blood as he flew backward and smashed through three blood-red divine pillars!

"Your Majesty?! Wh-why?!" The Black-Bone Demon General lay on the ground, howling, his face full of disbelief and terror.

Every demon in the hall went pale and trembled.

The Netherworld Blood Emperor clasped his hands behind his back, his Blood-Red Emperor Robe stirring without wind. He looked down on the demons, his voice as cold as an ancient glacier and heavy with unquestionable authority:

"From this day forth, heed my first iron law!"

"All who serve the Blood Sea are forbidden to slaughter mortals without cause! You are forbidden to kill the innocent indiscriminately! Anyone who disobeys will be flayed, have his tendons torn out, and be burned as a human torch before being cast into the depths of the Nine Netherworlds, never to be reborn!"

"What?!" The demons' eyes nearly popped from their sockets. They wondered if some evil had taken hold of their emperor's soul.

Forbid demons from killing people and refining their souls into artifacts? What kind of Devil Dao would that be?!

The Netherworld Blood Emperor snorted. His eyes shone with the depth of one who had glimpsed the Heavenly Dao:

"Shortsighted fools! You care only for the thrill of killing, ignorant of the karma that governs heaven and earth. When baleful qi grows too dense, a Calamity Cycle descends!"

"Did you not see how the Dragon-Phoenix Primordial Calamity and Witch-Demon Calamity ended?! Even beings as mighty as Ancestral Dragon, Yuanfeng, and Eastern Emperor Taiyi were reduced to ashes! What are you, to dare accumulate Heaven and Earth Baleful Qi as you please?!"

At the names Ancestral Dragon and Yuanfeng, and the mention of the Witch-Demon Calamity, the demons below shuddered with instinctive dread.

They, too, had clearly seen the terrifying arrival of the Ancient Star Abyss and the broken pillar of Buzhou Mountain through the starry sky projections.

The Netherworld Blood Emperor drew a deep breath. His tone softened slightly, but remained grave:

"In his compassion, the Dao Ancestor passed down the wondrous path of Proving the Dao Through Merit. Today, I formally establish the Asura Teaching!"

"The Asura Teaching does not preach senseless killing. We slay great evils and uphold order! Slay a wicked fiend who defies the order of heaven and earth, and you may earn merit from the Heavenly Dao!"

"Protect a region's peace or clear the Nine Netherworlds of foul qi, and you may earn merit from the Heavenly Dao!"

"Every disciple of my teaching shall make accumulating Heavenly Dao merit the highest priority! With merit upon you, the Calamity Cycle will pass you by, and the Heavenly Dao will protect you!"

The Netherworld Blood Emperor's mighty voice echoed across the entire Heavenly Demon Great Realm and over the Nine Nether Blood Sea.

Then he formed a seal with both hands and chanted the founding tenets of the Asura Teaching.

Hum—!

A clear, resonant note rang out from the heavens. A faint wisp of pale-gold light, weak yet incomparably noble, appeared above the Netherworld Blood Emperor's head!

It was the first wisp of Heavenly Dao Merit Golden Light bestowed by the Canglan Realm and the Heavenly Dao's source across the heavens. He had upheld order by founding a teaching to restrain the demons!

As the golden light entered his body, the hidden wounds left in his soul by his cultivation of the Devil Dao of slaughter vanished in an instant! His soul felt clear, whole, and sheltered by heaven and earth!

"Merit... it really is merit from the Heavenly Dao!!"

The Netherworld Blood Emperor trembled with delight, his eyes blazing.

The dozens of demons below saw the pale-gold auspicious glow around their emperor and felt its soothing presence settle over their souls. All their doubts vanished. They threw themselves to the ground and kowtowed frantically:

"Congratulations, Your Majesty! You have founded the Asura Teaching and upheld the Heavenly Dao's righteous cause!"

"We obey our leader's sacred decree! Slay great evils! Gather merit! Uphold order!"

The Heavenly Demon Great Realm was not alone.

Deep in the Primordial Demon Realm, the Nine-Tailed Celestial Fox Ancestor, Tu Shanye, also began sweeping reforms after returning to her body.

As the Demon Realm Supreme, he announced the founding of the Demon Teaching and forbade demons from entering mortal worlds to prey on humans. Instead, they were to open up barren star domains, clear blocked spiritual veins, and aid weaker beings.

Whenever a Demon King did a good deed or restored a stretch of lifeless land, a faint Merit Golden Light descended from the sky. It could help him break through a cultivation bottleneck and resist the demons of his heart!

The mood of the entire Primordial Demon Realm changed. Demons who had once been savage and combative now fought tooth and nail for assignments to restore dead stars and rescue disaster-stricken mortals!

In the Ziwei Star Domain, Supreme Mystery True Lord returned to his body and promptly renamed the Supreme Mystery Sect the Supreme Mystery Xuanmen.

He dispatched every elder and direct disciple to the Minor Thousand Worlds to heal the sick, quell disasters, establish lecture altars, and teach mortals simple breathing techniques for cultivation. They broadened the people's understanding and accumulated boundless merit.

Canghai Old Daoist, a Starry Sky Rogue Cultivator, traveled among dead mining stars and guided low-level cultivators who had lost their way. Billions of rogue cultivators came to honor him as Great Benefactor Canghai.

A sweeping transformation of order, driven from the top by the mightiest figures in the heavens, spread through the universe at a nearly frantic pace!

The old ways of wanton slaughter and survival of the strongest gave way to a contest among the heavens' mighty cultivators to see who could do the most good and earn the most Heavenly Dao merit!

Canglan Realm, Primeval Holy Land, Library Pavilion.

Afternoon sunlight streamed through the window lattice and fell across the wooden desk.

Su Chen, still dressed in a blue-green robe, reclined at ease in his chair. His slender fingers held a cup of warm Spirit Tea, and his expression was gentle and calm.

On the interface within his sea of consciousness, the system's cold, stately mechanical voice rattled off one earthshaking figure after another:

[Ding!] Dao Listener Netherworld Blood Emperor has founded the Asura Teaching and restrained the Devil Dao. Baleful qi across the heavens has fallen dramatically! Dao Listener Tu Shanye has founded the Demon Teaching and protected living beings. Order throughout the worlds has improved dramatically! Dao Listener Supreme Mystery True Lord has spread the Xuanmen Dao Arts and broadened mortal understanding. The fortunes of civilization have surged explosively!

[Reconstruction of universal Heavenly Dao order: 100%!] The underlying Laws of the myriad worlds have fully integrated the host's system of Merit and Calamity Cycles! Eighty percent of the positive karma generated by good deeds across the heavens will automatically flow to the host!

[Karma Points are increasing exponentially!] Karmic feedback from the founding of the Asura Teaching: +3,000,000 points! Karmic feedback from the founding of the Demon Teaching: +3,000,000 points! Feedback from the rise of Xuanmen and the advancement of civilization across the myriad worlds: +8,000,000 points!

[Congratulations, host. Total available Karma Points: 26,600,000!]

"Twenty-six million, six hundred thousand Karma Points."

Hearing that unimaginable number, Su Chen took a sip of Spirit Tea. Deep in his gentle eyes was the utter composure of someone gazing down on the universe and all its ages.

He had forcibly turned a savage cultivation world, where the strong devoured the weak, into an orderly Xuanmen system built on accumulating merit.

Not only had that earned him more than twenty million Karma Points in one stroke, it had made the entire starry expanse of the heavens a "super farm" that produced Karma Points for him without end!

As long as the mighty cultivators of the heavens kept doing good to avoid calamity, he, the unseen mastermind, would receive a vast share of their karma every moment!

"Order is secure, and I have ample funds."

Su Chen set down his cup, brushed a speck of dust from his robe, and smiled inscrutably:

"Then... it's time for the Canglan Realm, the 'source of Xuanmen,' to display the authority that rightfully commands the heavens."

On the system panel, Su Chen slowly opened the list of the highest-tier physical manifestations, tiers four and five.

His gaze settled on a supreme structure he had long been preparing, one that would make every world in the heavens bow to the Canglan Realm in reverence—

[Physical manifestation: Desolate Ancient Heavenly Court—the Southern Heavenly Gate in its entirety!]