Volume One: Youthful Encounters at a Subtle Time Chapter One Hundred Sixteen: The Daoist's Choice, Part Two

The old monk’s strike, which plunged the world into stillness and extinction, was no ordinary feat. The Daoist felt the world he had created fading away at an alarming speed, even the Great Daos within it beginning to crumble bit by bit. Yet, no trace of panic crossed his features.

He transmitted his voice to Li Yu, "Little Fish, this is your master's final supernatural technique, known as the 'Spirit of the Divine Dao.' It is less of a technique and more a method of deriving the Great Dao itself, targeting the very essence of the Dao."

With that, he unleashed it. No sooner had the Spirit of the Divine Dao appeared than the crumbling Great Daos began to reshape themselves with incredible speed, and, in a subtle maneuver, they imprinted the old monk’s technique of extinction onto themselves.

His actions left everyone present stunned, especially the old monk, who had never imagined that his opponent could reshape the Great Dao, or even imprint his own method of extinction upon it.

Within a few moments, the Great Daos of the world they occupied were restored, and the world itself became as firm as it had been before.

The only ones who had yet to strike in earnest were the woman in white and the old Daoist priest.

The woman in white, having observed the Daoist’s three supernatural techniques, praised him, "The 'Universe in the Palm' turns the world into your own, making you the center of all existence. 'Heaven’s Heart Boundless' transforms you into the Great Dao of this world, turning yourself into the world from the inside out. As for the third technique, though you did not name it, I can see that you have turned the Great Daos of everyone in this world into your own. As long as you do not die, the Dao will not dissipate, and the world you created will not vanish. Your three techniques have touched upon the very essence of the Source of the Dao. Truly magnificent!"

The woman in white was unique; since achieving sainthood, her supernatural ability was to see through all illusions and perceive the true nature of reality.

The old Daoist priest asked her, "Bai Ling, since you have seen through it, do you have a way to deal with him?"

Bai Ling shook her head. "I did not expect that in this era, someone could touch the threshold of the Source of the Dao. His cultivation and foundation have surpassed our understanding. The methods we know can no longer suppress him. Within his world, we cannot affect him, nor can we damage the world he inhabits. Since we cannot replace the Great Dao he has mastered, he stands in an invincible position."

"Are we then just to watch him and do nothing?" the old Daoist asked.

Bai Ling gazed at the Daoist, as if having realized something, and said, "Perhaps, from the very beginning, what he intended to do was beyond our comprehension. It is not that we can do nothing; it is that from the moment we stepped into this game, everything has been unfolding exactly as he envisioned."

The old Daoist looked at the Daoist and insisted, "I wish to try once more."

He pressed his hands together in the seal of Great Radiance and chanted, "Heaven and earth are natural; let all foul spirits disperse. Within the void, the Primordial Truth shines bright. Spirits of the eight directions, obey my command... Let the filth vanish, and the Dao’s energy remain forever. By the order of the law, may humanity be saved."

As the words fell, the old Daoist drew down brilliant light from the heavens. As the light emerged, the very sky and earth began to shimmer and fade.

The Daoist recognized this as the "Purification of Heaven and Earth" from the Eight Great Incantations of the Daoist school. Originally, this incantation was used to purify the surrounding spiritual energy to aid in cultivation. Here, however, the old Daoist had combined it with the Great Radiance Seal, intending to purify the Daoist and his world as if they were mere filth.

The Daoist felt a sense of respect; he had not expected the old Daoist to find a way to stop him even at this late stage. In theory, this was a viable approach. The Daoist had turned this space into his own, making him an anomaly to the original world—a foreign element that the world itself would seek to expel.

The old Daoist was now using the power of the world itself to resist him. If he could successfully "purify" the Daoist, everything associated with him would naturally dissipate from existence.

The Daoist felt the immense pressure of heaven bearing down on him, sensing that his own Great Dao and techniques were being cleansed bit by bit, yet he remained unmoved. What, then, was his final reliance?

The others had already been expelled from the Daoist’s world. To battle the five saintly spirits, the Daoist had to focus his entire heart and mind, making the expulsion of irrelevant parties a necessity.

Watching from afar, the others saw the Daoist holding his own against the five saintly spirits, and their estimation of his power rose even higher. They realized he had not wanted to kill them before; had he truly wished to, he could have wiped them out with a wave of his hand. Yet, seeing that even the five saintly spirits were struggling, their anxiety deepened.

Li Hongxiao asked the others, "It seems the five saintly spirits have no way to contain him. If you have any other ideas, speak now."

Silence fell upon the group. Just as it threatened to persist, Guo Nan, an ancestor of the Tianmen Town clans, spoke up. "I do have one method, but it may completely sever the life force and the geomantic prosperity of Tianmen Town."

Li Hongxiao looked at him and said, "Speak freely."

Guo Nan was blunt: "It is impossible to rely on the five saintly spirits to defeat the Daoist. Our only recourse is to destroy Tianmen Town, reducing this space to nothingness. Only then can we break the Daoist’s technique and allow the five saintly spirits to unleash their true power."

This ruthless plan had crossed some minds, but no one had truly dared to suggest it. This was not just about the lives of the people in the town; removing its life force and geomantic foundation meant killing the goose that laid the golden egg. Tianmen Town would cease to exist, becoming nothing but a forgotten past.

Yet, Guo Nan was right. It was their only way. The Daoist’s technique stood before them like a wall; if they could not break it, they had no power to stop him from destroying the town. No one raised an objection. Xie Tong of the Great Sword Green Mountain had wanted to intervene, but a look from Cao Xihe silenced him.

Once the decision was made, the members of the five great families and a portion of the rogue cultivators set out to find the lifeline of Tianmen Town. By breaking its geomancy and using the method of reversing Yin and Yang, they would turn the town into a dead land. The Daoist’s technique, while a world of its own, was ultimately built upon the foundation of Tianmen Town. If the space itself were destroyed, the foundation of his technique would crumble.

The Daoist was not unaware of these movements; in fact, his attention had never left them. As they prepared to strike at the town, he murmured to himself, "So, you have finally decided to act? Then, it is time for me to take my final step."

As the old Daoist’s technique bore down on him and his space began to falter, the Daoist unveiled his fourth technique. Upon seeing it, the old Daoist’s face showed unprecedented shock. "Impossible! How could you have comprehended such a Dao?"

"Why not?" the Daoist asked proudly. "Just because you sealed the five Great Daos away, did you think future generations could never find them again?"

The other four, seeing the Daoist effortlessly break the old Daoist’s technique, finally understood how he had reached the fifteenth realm.

Bai Ling exclaimed, "I never expected you to have comprehended the Dao of Primordial Beginning."

The Daoist replied with a meaningful smile, "So, that is what you call it!"

"Since you have mastered this," the Sword Saint stated, his tone turning cold and resolute, "we can no longer let you live."

Under the influence of the Dao of Primordial Beginning, the old Daoist’s purification incantation was reduced to its rawest, most pristine energy, which was then absorbed by the Time Sword Array of the Heavenly Gate. The bronze gate began to show the ravages of time, its surface mottled with dark green rust.

Bai Ling no longer held back. Though she doubted they could defeat him, they had to kill him. As a spirit of heaven and earth who had achieved sainthood after surviving the great tribulations, she unleashed the purest Great Dao of Heaven and Earth.

A vast, overwhelming force of life surged toward the Daoist—the Dao of Life. The Dao of Life and Death was among the most profound mysteries in existence. The Dao of Life could save, but an excess of life force could be as deadly as any poison. She did not use the Dao of Death, knowing it would be ineffective against one who had mastered the Dao of Primordial Beginning.

The other four also unleashed their own Great Daos. The battle reached a fever pitch. Originally, they had felt a degree of mutual respect, loath to destroy a talented successor, but they now realized the Daoist had violated a taboo left by the ancient saints—a law even more severe than the prohibition against destroying the Heavenly Gate.

The Dao of Primordial Beginning was linked to the most closely guarded secrets of the ancient Immortal Realm. They had sealed all knowledge of the five Great Daos to ensure they would vanish from the world forever, yet here it was, manifested in the Daoist.

In that moment, they were struck by profound questions: Who was this man? How had he discovered the Dao of Primordial Beginning, and how had he managed to cultivate it?