On the Path to the Great Dao

In the underworld, Divine Capital.

The city was eerily quiet. Even the most boisterous demons were silent, all eyes fixed on the Grand Sacrificial Officer's estate.

Outside the estate, Daocheng, Song Yi, and the others watched in silence as Chu Feng's Divine Embryo rose into the air.

These past few days, the Grand Sacrificial Officer had personally taken action, helping Chu Feng refine the wisp of Grand Supreme Purple Qi that Chen Shi had sent. Chu Feng's cultivation had been climbing steadily, quickly reaching the Divine Descent realm.

At this realm, a cultivator's Divine Embryo would return to the Celestial True God's body. For a single instant, the cultivator could connect with the Celestial True God's thoughts and consciousness, contemplating heaven and earth, comprehending the mysteries of various Dao techniques.

After the Divine Embryo returned to the Celestial True God's body, it would soon descend once more, returning to the cultivator's body. This was called Divine Descent, also known as the True God's Descent.

This was also the key to Chen Shi's plan to demonize the True God, formulated all those years ago.

By seizing the moment of connection with the Celestial True God's consciousness, they would have the True God activate the Profound Yin Nine Heaven Art, corrupting the True God into a demon!

"Can the demonization of the True God really succeed?" Daocheng murmured.

His cultivation was still rising madly, surging toward the Unity realm!

Though the wisp of Grand Supreme Purple Qi that Chen Shi sent was small, the power it contained was immense, helping Chu Feng break through realm after realm like splitting bamboo!

The next instant, Chu Feng arrived at the Three Corpses realm. When cultivators reached this realm, they needed to Sever the Three Corpses and forge a pure yang Primordial Spirit to withstand thunder tribulation without fear. But Chu Feng had refined the Grand Supreme Purple Qi, and the demonic miasma within his body was so pure that he didn't even need to sever the Three Corpses!

His cultivation reached the Refining Spirit realm, his Primordial Spirit a hundred zhang tall, and only then did the power contained in that wisp of Grand Supreme Purple Qi finally run dry.

The Grand Sacrificial Officer was extremely tense. He shouted, "Child Feng, the moment your Divine Embryo returns to the True God, immediately activate the Profound Yin Nine Heaven Art!"

He had deliberately saved a portion of the Grand Supreme Purple Qi's power to help Chu Feng rapidly break through the subsequent realms while his Divine Embryo returned to the True God, allowing Chu Feng to drive the Divine Embryo from a higher realm and command the Celestial True God's power!

The moment Chu Feng's Divine Embryo merged with the Celestial True God, he felt an incomparably vast consciousness surround him. His awareness seemed to sink into a boundless ocean of thought.

He immediately followed the Grand Sacrificial Officer's instructions and activated the Profound Yin Nine Heaven Art.

The True God's ocean of consciousness was stirred by him, moving with his awareness as he activated the Profound Yin Nine Heaven Art.

"BOOM!"

The heavens trembled violently, alarming nearly everyone in the Western Ox New Continent. People looked up to see, behind the two great suns, a sudden eruption of rolling demonic miasma forming a massive halo in the starry sky!

The First Heaven of the Demonic Path had formed!

Once this heaven formed, the light it emitted illuminated the Celestial True God's silhouette. For the first time, the masses of the Western Ox New Continent saw the True God's true face.

He was neither god nor buddha. His features were regular and dignified, his countenance imposing. A ring of beard extended from his temples down around his chin.

His eyes opened, transforming into two great suns that gazed upon the mortal world. But there was no emotion whatsoever in those eyes.

He was a sacrifice offered to the Celestial Way of the Western Ox New Continent.

The moment the Shang King offered himself to the Celestial Way, it meant he could not retain his own consciousness. The Celestial Way was ruthless, the Celestial Way was impartial, the Celestial Way was inconstant. To retain one's own consciousness was to no longer be the Celestial Way.

To extend the lives of all under heaven, he had to abandon his own life.

"BOOM!"

A second demonic domain opened behind the Celestial True God's head, followed by a third, a fourth!

The Profound Yin Nine Heaven Art was worthy of being the demonic technique Chen Shi had created to corrupt the True God. In just a few short moments, it allowed this young boy Chu Feng to pollute the Celestial True God!

The Celestial True God's body was demonizing at terrifying speed. Even the Celestial Way hidden within his body was transforming toward the demonic path!

The Grand Sacrificial Officer looked up at the cataclysmic changes in the heavens, his heart pounding. "Chen Shi... he actually did it! He's too terrifying..."

Chen Shi had created the Profound Yin Nine Heaven Art when he was barely ten years old.

"A man like that must be killed," the Grand Sacrificial Officer murmured.

Despair Slope, outside the Falling Flower Palace. Wu Qi looked up at the sky. Without any sacrifice needed, the Celestial True God's full appearance was revealed, layer upon layer of demonic domains forming halos stacked behind his head.

"Your Majesty..."

Wu Qi whispered, two streams of tears sliding down from the corners of his eyes. "This old minister is useless. After Your Majesty sacrificed yourself, this old minister failed to eliminate the culprit Xun Jiangmu and restore peace to the world. This old minister... has destroyed Great Shang!"

His tears fell like rain.

Chen Shi walked out of the Falling Flower Palace and said, "Cry! If crying could kill the Celestial Venerable, he would have died long ago!"

Wu Qi wiped away his tears, his heart hardening once more. "King Chen, once I repay this debt of gratitude, I will owe you nothing!"

Chen Shi smiled and nodded gently.

Wu Qi immediately flew off.

Li Tianqing, Yang Bi, and Zhong Wuwang emerged from behind Chen Shi. Li and Yang headed straight for the Celestial Way Academy. Zhong Wuwang hesitated for a moment, then caught up to them and said in a low voice, "What are you doing? Don't cause trouble! You're walking to your deaths!"

Yang Bi nodded. "Yes, we're going to die."

Zhong Wuwang was stunned.

These people... were they really going to die? When had Chen Shi and the others become so reckless?

He fell back a step, gritting his teeth and whispering, "Chen Shi, you promised me you wouldn't cause trouble once we entered Despair Slope!"

Chen Shi laughed. "Of course we won't cause trouble. Er Niu, just rest easy."

Zhong Wuwang's expression shifted between uncertainty and gloom as he followed behind him, thinking, "If I rest easy, you'd have sold me out long ago! But then again... we've identified seven possible weaknesses of the Celestial Venerable. With the Immortal Art of Immortality and Wu Qi's strength, we should be able to defeat him, right?"

A glimmer of hope stirred within him.

He carried the Innate Dao Embryo, so the Celestial Venerable would definitely try to eliminate him. To him, as long as the Celestial Venerable lived, his life would never be secure.

If he could use Chen Shi and the others to eliminate the Celestial Venerable, that would be a tremendous benefit to him as well.

"The Immortal Art of Immortality is so powerful, and Chen Shi and the others are brimming with confidence. This battle will surely succeed!"

His gaze grew fervent. "If battle breaks out and other Celestial Way Immortals interfere, I will stop them and contribute to this war!"

Chen Yindu remained at the rear, watching Gong Wanqing struggling within the Phoenix Profound Flame. He was silent for a moment, then said, "Wanqing, I would love to watch you suffer torment and die in agony, to avenge the pain of losing my wife. I wish I could slice you into a thousand pieces and cast you into the mountain of knives and sea of fire, making you taste every bit of the suffering I endured back then. But I have more important matters to attend to."

The Phoenix Profound Flame engulfing Gong Wanqing had already weakened from before. The Phoenix Profound Flame that Little Duan Immortal used to refine Gong Wanqing could only sustain for two days. Little Duan had underestimated Gong Wanqing's cultivation and her art of creation.

Though Gong Wanqing was tormented within the Phoenix Profound Flame, relying on her art of creation, she had stubbornly held on until now.

"Wanqing, you are nominally my master, but in truth, we are fellow Daoists. We studied the art of creation contained within the Recreate Heaven-and-Earth Furnace together. I imagine you've made considerable progress over these years."

Before Chen Yindu, qi and blood gradually condensed, forming brilliant talismans in the air.

Talisman connected to talisman, forming Dao patterns, creating a circle.

Chen Yindu flicked his finger, and the Dao pattern sank into Gong Wanqing's body. He walked away, his voice carrying back: "This is the art of creation I've developed. If you can unravel it, you live. If you cannot, you die."

With a thought, the Locking Dragon Whips coiled around Gong Wanqing fell away one by one.

Gong Wanqing collapsed to the ground. Suddenly she felt the Dao Pattern of Creation that Chen Yindu had struck into her body begin to operate. Alarmed, she ignored extinguishing the Phoenix Profound Flame on her body and immediately mobilized her own comprehended art of creation to resist the Dao pattern.

She knew well the danger of the art of creation. Used for good, it could revive the dead and restore flesh to bones. But if used for evil, it was utterly terrifying!

Unexpectedly, the moment her art of creation touched Chen Yindu's Dao Pattern of Creation, it was immediately absorbed by the pattern. Gong Wanqing's heart sank. "Oh no!"

Her action was like a key activating the Dao pattern, and a bizarre art of creation erupted within her body!

The art of creation, proliferating Dao patterns!

Gong Wanqing immediately sensed every part of her physical body and Primordial Spirit growing and swelling at a proportional rate!

The result of all her organs growing proportionally was that the volume of her heart, liver, spleen, lungs, and kidneys quickly exceeded the surface area her muscles and skin could support. Her body began to inflate like a balloon, her skin stretching tighter and tighter!

"This is the great Dao rule of creation!"

Her heart trembled in terror. She immediately understood the principle behind Chen Yindu's technique. He had used the proliferation method within the Dao of Creation to issue a growth command to her body and even her Primordial Spirit!

Every organ in her body, every constituent particle of every organ, was growing at a proportional rate. The result was deformation of her organs and physical form!

"The prerequisite for solving this divine ability is to comprehend the great Dao rules of creation, then unravel it!"

Her mind spun at lightning speed, faster than it ever had before.

Back then, because she admired Chen Yindu, she had saved him and taken him as her disciple. Chen Yindu had taught her the methods of creation, leading her onto the path of creation. Together they had studied the Recreate Heaven-and-Earth Furnace, comprehending many exquisite arts of creation from within it.

After Chen Yindu left Despair Slope, she had built upon their shared foundation, going further to comprehend the creation method of forging heavenly soldiers, earning the Celestial Venerable's high regard.

She had always believed that with the ebb and flow of progress, her art of creation had far surpassed Chen Yindu's. After all, she had spent these years studying the Recreate Heaven-and-Earth Furnace, while Chen Yindu had been running around, wasting more than a decade grieving over his grandson's death. Surely he couldn't match her.

But today, seeing the proliferating Dao pattern, she realized that while she had been improving, so had Chen Yindu!

Though Chen Yindu had never become a true immortal, his achievements in Dao techniques had caught up to her, even surpassed her!

Gong Wanqing's body began to contort. The consequence of the proliferating Dao pattern was that her physical form grew severely disproportionate. And as time passed, the faster her body grew, the greater the degree of deformation!

Even more terrifying, her brain was also expanding. Every constituent particle of her brain was growing proportionally, slowing her thinking speed more and more.

Her body soon collapsed, piling up on the ground like a mountain of flesh, occupying more and more surrounding space at an accelerating rate!

Her Primordial Spirit was undergoing the same transformation, becoming increasingly sluggish.

"I... can... com... pre... hend... the... pro... lif... er... a... ting... Dao... pat... tern..."

Her thoughts slowed, her brain growing duller. When she tried to marshal her thoughts, it seemed like lightning flashed through the ravines between her cerebral cortex folds.

She knew that if she couldn't comprehend the mystery of the proliferating Dao pattern, she would surely perish beneath this strange great Dao rule. But as her thoughts grew slower and slower, her chances of unraveling it dwindled further and further.

"CRACK!"

A pillar was snapped by her expanding body, but it didn't fall. Instead, it was engulfed by her flesh.

Her flesh filled the great hall, straining the roof until it creaked. It grew out through the doors and windows, spreading across the covered walkways, covering the rockeries and rooftops.

This mass of flesh no longer bore any resemblance to Gong Wanqing. Her head had become grotesque, covered in flesh. Even those who knew her best couldn't recognize who this endlessly growing pile of flesh once was.

The flesh spread madly, filling the Falling Flower Palace, gradually crawling over the entire mountaintop, growing downward toward the fairy mountain's base.

She was dazed, her thoughts and consciousness already blurred.

"Evil spirit invasion!" The Celestial Way Immortal guarding the Recreate Heaven-and-Earth Furnace spotted this and shouted in alarm.

By now, Despair Slope was in complete chaos. The Celestial True God's demonization had thrown everyone into panic. Now a fairy mountain being covered in flesh immediately made them think of the curse.

The true immortals flew up, each activating their Dao techniques and attacking the fairy mountain covered by Immortal Palace.

"Immortal Luo, the celestial signs have changed! Quickly notify the Celestial Venerable!"

On the fairy mountain, the flesh exploded.

Gong Wanqing's thoughts were transmitted with increasing sluggishness. She no longer knew how to resist, watching helplessly as her fellow sect members attacked, ready to hack her into a thousand pieces.

One of the immortals raised a Li Fire Cover, enveloping the entire fairy mountain. Within the cover, Li Fire erupted.

The immortal raised a finger before his mouth and nose, chanting silently. A fierce wind rose within the cover, feeding the fire, which burned hotter and hotter. Within just a few breaths, all the flesh was burned to ash. Even the fairy mountain itself was melted by the heat, molten rock flowing down!

"Such an evil spirit, daring to sneak into Despair Slope!"

The immortal withdrew his Li Fire Cover and said grimly, "Now I've refined it to the point of utter annihilation. It can never cause harm again!"

Little Duan Immortal, currently wearing Gong Wanqing's appearance, stood beside the Recreate Heaven-and-Earth Furnace. The moment the immortals flew out, this young woman lifted the immortal furnace, many times larger than a fairy mountain, with one hand, attempting to stuff it into her small world.

Her Dao Realm was Chen Shi's small temple, extremely cramped. There was no way she could fit such a colossal object inside.

She immediately tried to refine the Recreate Heaven-and-Earth Furnace smaller, but no matter how she worked it, this precious immortal treasure wouldn't budge.

Little Duan Immortal's heart skipped a beat. "With my cultivation, I can't lift this thing!"

Just then, the immortals who had slain Gong Wanqing were returning, and they happened to witness this scene. Each of them hesitated for a moment.

"What are you fellow Daoists standing around for?"

Little Duan Immortal shouted. "The celestial signs are in upheaval, evil spirits are invading, and we're at a critical juncture in forging heavenly soldiers! Why aren't you helping me secure the Recreate Heaven-and-Earth Furnace? Are you waiting for evil spirits to invade and steal this treasure?"

The immortals hurried over at her words, each raising their Primordial Spirit to lift the Recreate Heaven-and-Earth Furnace.

The furnace shrank rapidly. Little Duan Immortal was overjoyed. "A bit smaller, and I can place it in my husband's small temple."

She had just thought this when suddenly the Celestial Venerable's voice rang out: "What kind of monster is this? Daring to transform into Immortal Palace's appearance and come to my Despair Slope to deceive and swindle!"

Little Duan Immortal immediately felt a barrage of suspicious gazes fall upon her.

The Celestial Venerable walked out of the True God Dao Field, sweeping a grave glance at the demonizing Celestial True God. Then his gaze fell upon Little Duan Immortal. He was about to speak when his expression suddenly changed drastically, his face showing utter disbelief.

"Wu Qi! Aren't you supposed to be dead?"

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