Volume One: Youthful Encounters in Humble Times Chapter 136: The New Morning Sun

The Dao of Primordiality engulfed the Immortal, returning all things to their origin. The Immortal’s spirit dissipated, and the jade bone shattered into specks of starlight. Seeing this, the Dao of Return to Ruins ignored the Daoist and promptly swallowed the starlight whole.

Having consumed the Immortal’s jade bone, the entity dispersed in satisfaction, leaving a clear, empty space around the Daoist and his companions.

Li Yu watched this, puzzled and astonished. "Master, is the Return to Ruins a living creature?"

The Daoist glanced at the cowering Nether Beast beside them and replied, "If the Nether can give birth to exotic beasts, then surely the Return to Ruins can do the same, can it not?"

This question was directed at the Nether Beast. Upon hearing it, the creature hurried forward and offered a fawning smile. "Hehe, how could creatures like us compare to a great master such as yourself? If you wished to deal with us, we would be mourning our demise at your hands in a mere heartbeat."

The Nether Beast’s response was an admission and a statement of submission. They were indeed beings born of heaven and earth, yet even as such unique entities, they posed no threat to the Daoist.

The truth was exactly as the beast feared. It had previously thought the gap between itself and the Daoist was not insurmountable; even if it could not defeat him, escaping should not have been difficult. Now, it realized that even a single shred of the Daoist's divine sense could force it back to its original form. All their previous skirmishes had been nothing more than a playful pastime for the Daoist; he had never intended to truly harm the beast, otherwise, it would not be here today.

In truth, the beast had misjudged the Daoist. Previously, the Daoist had only reached the fifteenth realm of the mortal world and had not yet broken his limits; he had utilized the Dao of Primordiality to ascend to the Dao Origin realm of an Immortal. Thus, engaging the beast while restricted to the fifteenth mortal realm had not been an easy task.

However, once the Daoist broke through those limits, he was no longer a creature of the same tier as the Nether Beast. Even though he had not undergone the heavenly tribulation to become an official Immortal, having ascended through the Dao of Primordiality, his final strength was formidable.

The Daoist smiled at the Nether Beast. That look held many layers of meaning, all of which made the creature shudder. It thought to itself, *Am I just escaping the wolf's den only to fall into the tiger's maw?*

"I know you have already dissolved the bone nails," the Daoist said. "If you wish to remain as you are, I do not mind keeping you in this form."

Though the Nether Beast was unwilling, it had no choice but to manifest its true form. Only then did Li Yu realize that the legendary and fearsome Nether Beast actually resembled a charming, simple-minded Cloud Kun.

Li Yu was dumbfounded. *One truly cannot judge a book by its cover,* he thought secretly. *The old sayings are right. Who would have thought the dreaded monster would be such a cute little creature in its true form?*

In reality, the Nether Beast’s true form was several times larger, but it had been severely weakened by the bone nails. The form it now took was directly tied to its diminished strength.

The Nether Beast could endure the Daoist's gaze, but it could not stand the way Li Yu looked at it—as if it were a common pet. It tolerated the Daoist out of fear for his overwhelming power, but this mere child, lacking both status and strength, had no right to make it feel submissive.

"What are you looking at?" the beast snapped at Li Yu. "Keep staring and I'll eat you."

Had the Nether Beast said this in its prime, it might have been intimidating. But in its current state, it sounded like nothing more than a blustering, hollow threat.

Li Yu didn't mind. He continued to stare with a fearless gaze. What the beast did not know was that while Li Yu began by looking at its appearance, he soon began to perceive something extraordinary.

The Daoist saw it too, but while Li Yu saw it with his physical eyes, the Daoist perceived it with his spiritual ones. As the Nether Beast shrank, strings of flowing runes appeared within it. If the Daoist was not mistaken, these were the runes of the Nether Dao.

The Daoist was now merely a wisp of divine sense and could no longer practice; however, his young disciple was different. Li Yu had a long future ahead of him with infinite possibilities. If he could fully comprehend these runes, he would gain not only a path to enlightenment but also a powerful defensive trump card for future crises.

Gauging his remaining time, the Daoist exercised his Dao of Time to slow the flow of the surrounding space, allowing Li Yu to successfully imprint the runes of the Nether Dao into his soul. This was Li Yu’s destiny, and the Daoist would not break it; he would only facilitate it.

The Nether Beast wanted to flee, but it was just as exhausted as the Daoist and lacked the strength to resist. It could only watch as the man robbed it of its own Dao to etch into the soul of his disciple. It felt like a brazen, barbaric looting of its very essence, but then it realized—this was the Daoist’s usual style. He had plundered many things from it in the Nether Sea using this very same attitude.

Thinking of this, the beast swallowed its anger and allowed the Daoist to proceed.

Li Yu’s action was unconscious. As a natural Dao body, everything related to the Dao flowed into his soul instinctively. This was his talent, and it was truly terrifying.

The Daoist’s greatest fear was for others to discover this unique trait. Li Yu’s innate resonance with the Great Dao was so profound that it was not limited to one or two paths; in the Daoist's estimation, given the right circumstances, Li Yu could perceive any Dao in existence. This meant that, given enough time, Li Yu would eventually enter the Dao, ascend, and reach the highest realms.

For him, cultivation was merely a matter of time. Once the issue with his heavenly apertures was resolved, cultivation would be as effortless as eating or drinking. If the ancient masters knew of this, they would scramble to possess his body, and ascended Immortals would tear out his talent to graft it into their own.

The process of imprinting the runes was involuntary, and even the Daoist could not predict how long it would take. Fortunately, he could slow time within a specific space. He worried, however, that he might run out of time before the process was complete, forcing him to interrupt.

As time ticked by, the Daoist’s anxiety grew. Finally, Li Yu awoke. He had been unaware of the passage of time, feeling only that he had drifted into a wondrous world of indistinct darkness. Yet, it was not the darkness of night; it was the darkness before dawn, holding the promise of light.

Once the imprinting was finished, the darkness in his soul was pierced by a beam of light like a sharp sword, turning the void into a realm of radiance.

He opened his eyes to look at the Daoist. It was plain to see that the Daoist was no longer vibrant; his skin, once like that of an infant, was now visibly withered. Even as a construct of divine sense, he looked utterly drained, as if his very essence had been hollowed out.

Li Yu understood immediately. The Daoist had sacrificed himself for his sake. Even though he knew this was only a fragment of his master, his heart ached. His true master had spent his life living for others, for Heaven's Gate Town and its people. Had he ever lived for himself?

"Master," Li Yu asked, his voice choking, "are you really leaving us now?"

The Daoist, appearing unconcerned, flicked Li Yu’s forehead and laughed. "Your master is not so weak. My work is not yet finished; you may continue to admire my presence for a while longer."

It was a joke, but to Li Yu, it revealed an indescribable sorrow. Nothing in this world is constant; there is only the sudden, unannounced arrival of impermanence.

After saying this, the Daoist looked at the Nether Beast. "You have two choices. You can either volunteer to be my disciple’s guardian beast, or I can beat you until you become his guardian beast. Decide which path you wish to walk."