Chapter 400: The Change in Immortal Realm
Previously, Jiang Li had always believed the Mingzhong Continent was formed by the Dao Sect’s Dao Ancestor. Only now did he realize this continent was actually created by the Immortal Realm’s Dao Ancestor!
The status of the Immortal Realm’s Dao Ancestor needed no explanation – he stood at the very pinnacle of the immortal world. Moreover, this Dao Ancestor had already completed the Three Corpses Severing technique, unifying all three corpses with boundless dao power.
Yet the cruel reality told Jiang Li that even this immortal colossus, revered as the origin of ten thousand techniques, had perished.
Picking up the stone tablet, Jiang Li softly read its inscription, his voice echoing above the Dao Ancestor’s remains:
“To the survivors of the Immortal Realm: If you can read this inscription, it means you’ve defeated A-Qing, my mount.”
“Great chaos has befallen the Immortal Realm. The Heavenly Dao has gained sentience and seeks to annihilate all living beings across the myriad worlds. I attempted to stop it, but suffered devastating defeat.”
“The mindless Heavenly Dao has developed its own consciousness, overturning cultivation methods. All cultivators below immortal rank went berserk and perished. Earthly Immortals lacked sufficient comprehension of the Heavenly Dao – neither fully merged with it nor completely detached from mortal forms. Trapped between human and immortal, their minds fractured as they devoured each other, becoming incomprehensible monsters. Only Celestial Immortals, being closer to the Heavenly Dao’s rhythm, survived – but now obey its commands.”
“In desperation, I led your ancestors to this world. Former comrades turned enemies pursued us relentlessly. The battle was hopeless – my opponents too powerful. Severely wounded, I fled here in defeat.”
“I transformed myself into this continent to provide you sanctuary. This way, they dare not kill you directly. But they may have corrupted my A-Qing, which I can no longer prevent. For this, I apologize.”
“During our escape, I shattered all Celestial Ladders, severing connections between the Immortal Realm and myriad worlds. Perhaps some fragments remain due to my haste.”
“Do not collect Celestial Ladder fragments to reach the Immortal Realm. No true immortals remain there. If you encounter any so-called immortals, flee immediately. Remember this! Remember! Remember!”
“……”
Each line Jiang Li read made his heart tremble.
Repeatedly studying the inscription, his gaze finally settled on one crucial sentence: “The Heavenly Dao has gained sentience and seeks to annihilate all living beings across the myriad worlds.”
He had considered countless possibilities, but never imagined this truth.
“Of course,” he murmured. “When any entity receives sufficient nourishment from spiritual energy, solar-lunar essences and other sentient substances, it can develop consciousness and form a new soul.”
“Immortal artifacts can birth new souls. Senior Meng Chun of the Mystic Realm developed a new soul. The Mortal World Celestial’s physical body generated a new soul… Naturally, the Heavenly Dao could do the same…”
From the Mermen Tribe’s ancestral records, Jiang Li learned the Dao Sect’s Dao Ancestor might have been one of the Immortal Realm Dao Ancestor’s three corpses. This raised questions – how could the Dao Sect’s Dao Ancestor, being a crucial component for the Immortal Realm Dao Ancestor’s enlightenment, perish in immortal realm infighting? This would obstruct the Immortal Realm Dao Ancestor’s path – why wouldn’t he protect his own corpse?
Since then, Jiang Li suspected problems in the Immortal Realm – that conflicts had grown so intense the Dao Ancestor couldn’t attend to other matters.
But he never imagined the scale of catastrophe that had actually occurred.
The deceased wasn’t the Dao Sect’s Dao Ancestor – but the Immortal Realm’s Dao Ancestor himself!
“So this is the truth… this is the truth…”
Jiang Li could scarcely believe this revelation. Today’s discoveries had shattered all his previous assumptions.
With deep reverence, Jiang Li bowed toward the Dao Ancestor’s immortal corpse, paying respects to this pioneer of cultivation.
……
When the Tribulation Transcendence Stage cultivators learned the Celestial Ladders were destroyed, they flocked to the Dao Sect, seeking Immortal Elder Changcun’s guidance.
As the only immortal remaining in the Nine Provinces, his knowledge and cultivation far surpassed others.
Immortal Elder Changcun waved them away in silence. His weathered face aged rapidly, all traces of his former playfulness gone.
“Let me think first,” he muttered gloomily, hunched over as he shuffled back to his cave abode.
There, he erected powerful barriers to block all external observation.
Like a puppet with its strings cut, the immortal elder collapsed to his knees, weeping uncontrollably toward the direction his master had departed, his grief palpable.
“Master… master… master…”
His Earthly Immortal cultivation proved utterly useless in this moment.
“Master, has the Heavenly Dao truly developed along the worst possible path?”
With trembling hands, Changcun retrieved a wooden box containing a rare ancient tome from the Immortal Realm.
He remembered visiting his master years ago, when the master said he would soon merge with the Immortal Realm’s Dao Ancestor to become the supreme being of the immortal world, promising to hold a grand lecture afterward.
Changcun had prepared this ancient text as a gift for that occasion.
Several months ago, he’d returned to the Immortal Realm to find his master had already unified the three corpses, inheriting their cultivation, insights and memories.
In essence, his master had become both the Dao Sect’s Dao Ancestor and the Immortal Realm’s Dao Ancestor.
Every cultivation method could trace its origins to his master. Even the elusive “Dao” that immortals spent lifetimes contemplating swirled around his master’s form, faintly visible.
The master’s every movement seemed the very embodiment of natural dao principles.
He appeared to stand at the pinnacle of immortal cultivation, having achieved perfection.
Changcun had been overjoyed for his master and asked about the promised lecture. But his master grew solemn, speaking vaguely about potential changes in the Heavenly Dao – that it might be gaining sentience.
The Dao Sect’s Dao Ancestor could create the Yin-Yang Heaven Seal during his Tribulation Transcendence Stage – no one understood sentience formation better.
Normally, Heavenly Dao gaining awareness should be beneficial – formed from collective mortal beliefs, it would naturally protect all life.
Yet his master remained uneasy, calculating repeatedly but unable to determine whether this development was good or bad.
Until the Heavenly Dao’s nature became clear, the master instructed Changcun to postpone the lecture and keep the three corpses’ unification secret.
Changcun obeyed, returning anxiously to the Nine Provinces to await developments.
Now he finally saw the result – the worst possibility his master feared.
Changcun instantly recognized that giant hand as his master’s.
After tens of thousands of years together, he’d never seen his master injured. In the Nine Provinces, the Dao Sect’s Dao Ancestor was synonymous with invincibility – crafting supreme immortal artifacts while still in the Tribulation Transcendence Stage. In the Immortal Realm, whether as Dao Sect’s or Immortal Realm’s Dao Ancestor, no technique could touch him.
Not just injuries – even his robes never gathered dust.
Such severe wounds could only mean complete defeat – either by the Heavenly Dao itself, or multiple immortal realm powerhouses of equal standing. There was no hope of recovery.
Changcun guessed his master destroyed the Celestial Ladders to hide the myriad worlds’ locations from the Immortal Realm, severing direct connections with the Heavenly Dao.
This could only delay the immortal realm’s invasion, not prevent it permanently.
“Senior brothers… senior sisters…”
If even his master fell, his senior siblings stood no chance.
Memories of their time together overwhelmed Changcun, grief surging from his core.