Chapter 64: The Dao Ancestor’s Face

The moment Aqing turned to ashes, Ming Zhong broke down, wailing without a care for his image.

At first, he had sought out Jiang Li and Yin-Yang Heaven Seal merely to talk, hoping that, as fellow intelligent beings, they could offer some technological assistance.

Who could have expected that this man and this seal were unimaginably powerful? He had only met them in the morning, and by evening, they had already slain multiple Soul Formation Stage beasts and an immortal beast that was possibly the source of all these creatures.

Everything had happened too fast, too surreal—Ming Zhong felt as if he were in a dream.

He slapped himself twice, the pain confirming that this was no illusion.

It was real!

For the sake of fighting against these beasts, they had forsaken emotions and devoted themselves entirely to advancing technology. Yet after thousands of years, their territory had only shrunk.

Humanity was on the brink of despair, though no one spoke of it.

But now, at last, they saw a glimmer of victory!

“Aqing is gone, but where is Master?” Ming Zhong rejoiced, but Yin-Yang Heaven Seal remained dejected—there was still no sign of the Dao Ancestor.

Jiang Li handed the Dao Ancestor’s storage ring to Yin-Yang Heaven Seal. Since the seal had no hands to hold it, it balanced the ring on its head and continued forward.

Aqing’s location was already at the continent’s edge. After traveling less than a thousand kilometers, the two and the seal found themselves standing at the brink of a sheer cliff—there was no more road ahead.

This was the end of the continent. Beyond lay the vast cosmos, where they would have to break free from gravity to venture further.

Still unwilling to give up, Yin-Yang Heaven Seal plunged into the bottomless abyss. Jiang Li grabbed Ming Zhong and leaped down as well.

Ming Zhong’s mind went blank. It felt as if he were diving into the deep sea, the immense pressure squeezing the breath from his lungs. He had no idea how much time passed before, suddenly, the weight lifted, as if he had surfaced from underwater.

Ming Zhong found himself standing on the other side of the continent—an unexplored realm where no human had ever set foot. The pressure along the continent’s edges was so immense that it could crush several hundred tons of steel into mere millimeters of thickness.

With their current level of technology, they couldn’t create materials strong enough to withstand such force.

Had Jiang Li not been protecting him, the moment he jumped, he would have been flattened into a human pancake.

“It’s so dark!”

Stepping onto the continent’s other side, Ming Zhong was met with utter darkness—he couldn’t even see his own hands.

Luckily, Jiang Li’s voice beside him was reassuring: “Don’t worry. You’re just blind.”

“Oh, thank goodness. I thought this side of the continent just didn’t have a sun.” Ming Zhong sighed in relief.

“You actually believe that?” Even in his low spirits, Yin-Yang Heaven Seal couldn’t help but retort.

Jiang Li tossed out a crimson feather, which emitted a gentle glow, illuminating dozens of miles around them.

Both Yin-Yang Heaven Seal and Jiang Li could rely on their divine senses and didn’t need light. This was purely for Ming Zhong’s sake.

His bodysuit had a built-in lighting function. Once activated, his entire body emitted a faint blue glow, and he stumbled forward awkwardly, his movement erratic—

Like a ghost.

Jiang Li couldn’t bear to watch and immediately pulled out a Golden Crow Feather. “Turn that off.”

With the light from the feather, Ming Zhong could finally see what the other side of the continent looked like—barren, desolate, nothing but massive slabs of rock fused together. Not a single blade of grass grew.

Jiang Li and Yin-Yang Heaven Seal spread out their divine senses as they moved through this wasteland, searching for any trace of the Dao Ancestor. But aside from rocks, they found nothing.

The two and the seal returned to the human side of the continent, yet none of them had any intention of entering the city.

Yin-Yang Heaven Seal then traveled into beast territory, but again, found nothing.

It sat atop a towering mountain, staring blankly at the starry sky. Jiang Li and Ming Zhong accompanied it.

The mountain was locked in an eternal blizzard, temperatures dozens of degrees below freezing, the winds piercingly cold. Yin-Yang Heaven Seal simply sat there, letting the snow bury it.

They all knew—if the Dao Ancestor’s mount had been corrupted by the Outer World Demons, if even his storage ring wasn’t on him, then the Dao Ancestor’s situation was likely dire.

They wanted to help, but they couldn’t even find a trace of him.

Suddenly, Jiang Li seemed to recall something. He leaped into the sky, breaking free of the planet’s gravitational pull, and flew to a nearby celestial body. Looking down at the entire continent, he fell silent.

He connected with Bai Hongtu. Bai Hongtu and the projection of Immortal Changcun stood beside him.

When they saw the continent—

They wept.

The next day, Jiang Li returned Ming Zhong to the human territory, then headed back into beast lands. He slaughtered all Soul Formation and Nascent Soul Stage beasts before digging out Yin-Yang Heaven Seal from beneath the snow.

“Let’s go. The Dao Ancestor isn’t here.”

“You’re lying!”

“We’ve searched everywhere and found no sign of him. Maybe he just left his mount and storage ring here while he’s fighting the Outer World Demons elsewhere, unable to return for Aqing.”

“But I can sense Master’s karmic ties here! That means he was here personally!”

Jiang Li shook his head. “Your karmic powers have failed repeatedly. This is just another mistake.”

“I don’t believe you!” Yin-Yang Heaven Seal turned to face Jiang Li directly, as if glaring at him. “I get it now! You just think searching for Master is too much trouble and are trying to trick me into going back to the Nine Provinces!”

“Calm down and think it through. I’m not refusing to help you. But the Dao Ancestor isn’t in this world. Staying here is pointless. You don’t even know where he is. If he defeats the Outer World Demons, he’ll return to the Nine Provinces eventually. Why not come back with me for now?”

“You’re lying! You just want to trick me into being the core of that grand formation in the Nine Provinces!” Yin-Yang Heaven Seal was clearly unstable. Its mind was still immature, its emotions volatile, and it was incapable of rational thought.

“Yes! You’re the one with a problem! I couldn’t see Aqing’s karmic ties because he was altered by the Outer World Demons! And I can’t see yours either! You must’ve been altered too! Maybe you are an Outer World Demon!” Yin-Yang Heaven Seal trembled slightly, increasingly convinced it was onto the truth.

“Nonsense!” Jiang Li was furious. He reached out to grab the seal. Anyone would be angry at being accused of being an Outer World Demon—it was no different from being called a traitor in certain past eras.

“In the Nine Provinces, I held back. But in this world, I have no restraints!”

Yin-Yang Heaven Seal wasn’t afraid of Jiang Li. Its seal body radiated dazzling white light, like a second sun, bursting with endless vitality.

“I will grant this continent sentience!”

Jiang Li had no idea how large this continent was at first. But after traveling back and forth across it for days, he realized—

It was the size of two of the Nine Provinces.

More precisely, it was as vast as dozens of planets put together!

Now, if such a colossal landmass were to gain sentience—

The consequences would be beyond imagination!

The earth trembled violently. A catastrophic earthquake unfolded—thousand-meter-tall mountains collapsed instantly, crushing countless beasts. The ocean floor split apart, water gushing through the cracks, creating countless rivers as floods raged, forcing beasts to flee in terror.

Suddenly, the sky darkened.

Yin-Yang Heaven Seal looked up—

A single eyelash had blotted out the sky.

Its divine sense expanded to the limit. It finally saw what was covering the heavens.

And it began to tremble uncontrollably.

The Dao Ancestor’s face.