Hongjun withdrew, and the chains stretched across heaven and earth loosened with him.
Sect Master Tongtian stood atop the ruins of Jiepai Pass and finally exhaled the turbid breath in his chest.
That breath swept over the Qingping Sword's edge, carrying remnants of the Heavenly Dao karma stripped away when he severed his Sage status, as well as the heavy Dao power pressed into his bones and blood when he confronted Hongjun's Dharma wheel.
When that breath dispersed into the shattered sky, his entire being instead became much clearer.
He had lost the standing of a Heavenly Dao Sage, and his cultivation had once plummeted to rock bottom, yet his divine soul and true spirit had broken free of their old shackles. Even the depths of his Dao heart were rid of that layer of invisible rust.
From now on, the sky was high and the sea boundless.
There were no more cages.
The Mythic Great Luo Technique made the self the Dao source, forming a universe unto itself, imperishable through myriad tribulations.
The supreme technique Gu Changqing had imparted unfolded page by page within Tongtian's sea of consciousness.
Its foundation was a Heavenly Dao-independent system.
It neither borrowed the power of the Primordial World's Heavenly Dao nor waited for its approval.
The cultivator himself was a Great Dao growing ever onward.
Tongtian lowered his eyes to the jade talisman in his palm, brushed his fingertip over its rough surface, then tucked it into his sleeve.
He raised his head, divine light in his eyes piercing the broken clouds over Jiepai Pass.
"Today, I shall reshape my Dao fruit and attain the primordial realm once more!"
As his words fell, he hesitated no longer.
Tongtian sat cross-legged in the void, his palms, soles, and crown facing heaven, as the Mythic