Battling Longevity

In Ziwei Northern Sea, within the Sea-Eye Immortal Grotto.

Dense vital essence churned ceaselessly through the immortal cavern, mingling with the power of the Northern Sea's Guixu.

As He Mu and Longevity Heavenly Venerable began discussing the Dao, wondrous manifestations arose one after another.

Lotuses sprouted in the void, golden springs welled from the ground, divine radiance filled the heavens, purple qi came from the east, and an Immortal King patrolled the skies... countless visions appeared together.

After first extending the courtesy of yielding to his host, He Mu began expounding his own Wuliang Great Dao.

As He Mu began to speak, the Four Extremes spread apart the myriad Daos of the universe. A vision of heaven's creation manifested, with earth, water, fire, and wind evolving within it.

Within that vision, He Mu seemed to become a god of creation, the Heavenly Emperor at the center, governing yin and yang and commanding all qi as the vast heavens.

The boundless mortal world faintly upheld his supreme Dao Fruit, and He Mu remained eternal and undying amid the praise and worship of countless ages. His Great Dao overshadowed every truth: he alone was real, unchanging throughout eternity.

Worlds arose and perished, space and time shifted, and the Heavenly Dao cycled. Everything seemed encompassed within this supreme Wuliang Great Dao, becoming the primordial one and the ultimate infinity.

At that moment, He Mu was the true god, the supreme god, eternity itself, without bounds or measure, encompassing all.

Even Longevity Heavenly Venerable, who had lived for hundreds of thousands of years, could not help staring in astonishment at such a Dao.

Even he had never seen an ultimate Dao Fruit of such magnificent scope and such lofty conception.

Such a Dao Fruit seemed almost to exceed the limits of what the mortal world could bear. Before today, even Longevity Heavenly Venerable could never have imagined it. To him, this was truly inconceivable.

Yet soon, Longevity Heavenly Venerable sensed a trace of discord within He Mu's Wuliang Great Dao.

Although He Mu's Great Dao was incomparably vast and its conception nearly perfect, something remained incomplete in its actual construction.

If he had to describe it, this Great Dao was too lofty, almost entirely severed from the mortal world, empty and unsupported. At the same time, it was too perfect to be realized within the Human Dao Domain, like a dream, an illusion, a bubble, a shadow.

Clearly, the power of faith played a crucial role in allowing such a Dao Fruit to remain so stable.

Through the bonds of faith, He Mu's Wuliang Great Dao was finally drawn back into the Human Dao Domain, and its lofty conception gradually approached reality.

In a sense, even if Longevity Heavenly Venerable gained much from such a Dao, he would struggle to turn those gains into practical results.

Of course, the undying essence expressed within He Mu's Great Dao still offered invaluable insights for Longevity Heavenly Venerable's Changsheng Great Dao. Its significance was extraordinary.

In truth, He Mu himself naturally understood every problem Longevity Heavenly Venerable could perceive.

Over the years, he had manifested his Divine Self Dao Body, studied the power of faith in depth, and cultivated the Great Dao of the mortal world... all of these were adjustments and responses He Mu had made to his own Dao Fruit.

Living a third life was likewise a crucial part of integrating his Dao Fruit. Once he succeeded, his Wuliang Great Dao would have no further flaws. Even attaining the Dao of a Red Dust Immortal would become a trivial matter, and no barrier would pose a problem anymore.

Naturally, however, He Mu had no need to reveal any of this before Longevity Heavenly Venerable.

After all, although he and Longevity Heavenly Venerable currently appeared entirely amicable and intimately close, He Mu had never truly trusted this man, who would fall into utter depravity in later ages.

In some respects, their present discussion of the Dao was really more like an exchange of equal value.

As He Mu's voice gradually faded, Longevity Heavenly Venerable began expounding his own Changsheng Great Dao.

His Dao Fruit of longevity began with the revolving transformations of life and death. It moved between birth and destruction, unfolding the most extreme changes between those two poles, like yin arising when yang reached its end and yang arising when yin reached its end, without any conclusion.

Then, between life and death, nirvana was born.

This mighty power of nirvana was exceedingly strange, existing between illusion and reality. It seemed to pass from the unreal into the real, repeating the cycle endlessly and refining an even grander Dao Fruit.

Between illusion and reality, the human body and the Five Great Secret Realms together unfolded into a vast world. Its hidden source fully manifested, becoming incomparably clear.

Within this vast world of the human body, one Gate of Potential after another took tangible form and swung fully open, releasing inexhaustible divine life energy that became the boundless power sustaining Longevity Heavenly Venerable.

It could be said that within such a Dao, the power of the human being was truly developed and expressed to its utmost limit.

Without the Heavenly Dao, unbound by all things, transcending oneself and standing apart from the world-this was the essence of Longevity Heavenly Venerable's Dao Fruit of longevity.

With such an essence, it was hardly surprising that Longevity Heavenly Venerable would fall into depravity in the future. The boundary between life and death had long since blurred in his heart, while concepts such as the universe, all living beings, and heavenly principle had never held any place there.

With such a path, how could anyone expect Longevity Heavenly Venerable to feel compassion for the myriad living beings?

To He Mu, Longevity Heavenly Venerable was like a god truly enthroned far above all others. The passage of countless ages was merely the passage of time to him, nothing worth lingering over.

Nevertheless, Longevity Heavenly Venerable's Dao also benefited He Mu greatly.

His understanding of life and death far exceeded anything the world could imagine, almost reaching an incomprehensible level. Within the Human Dao Domain, it could almost be said that none before him had equaled him, and none after him would surpass him.

Indeed, none of the ultimate Dao cultivators throughout history had been ordinary. As the finest among them, the Nine Heavenly Venerables were even further beyond the world's imagination.

Longevity Heavenly Venerable's Dao Fruit had brought He Mu a tremendous and welcome surprise.

As Longevity Heavenly Venerable finished expounding his Dao, every manifestation within the immortal cavern faded completely, and all returned to stillness.

Yet as He Mu and Longevity Heavenly Venerable met each other's gaze, a faint battle intent rose in both their eyes.

It was the excitement of a hunter sighting worthy prey, stirred only by a true equal, and also a different sort of mutual appreciation.

The next moment, divine light flashed around He Mu, and an external avatar whose cultivation matched that of Longevity Heavenly Venerable's avatar stepped out of the radiance.

Almost simultaneously, the two avatars soared into the sky, heading toward the Cosmic Frontier.

That concludes the second update.

First, my apologies to everyone. Today's updates were quite a bit late. I went out for a group meal, so please forgive me.

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