Translator: CinderTL
The great dao river.
Tian Wen, the institute director of the Supreme Research Institute, the omniscient supreme powerhouse who claimed to know everything and be capable of anything, suddenly felt a premonition.
Having cultivated nine great daos—time, karma, void, chaos, soul, flowing light, devour, destruction, and reincarnation—he seemed to glimpse something within the great dao river.
"That's..."
The vision jolted him awake from his contemplation of the great dao river.
"The great dao of the soul... is collapsing!"
He initially thought he was mistaken.
But...
Through the reflection of the great dao of time, supplemented by the divination of the Grand Dao of Karma, the collapse of the great dao of the soul appeared to be unfolding before his very eyes.
Moreover...
Just moments later, the vision vanished.
"How could this be?!"
The Ultimate Powerhouse of Tian Wen reactivated the great dao of time, attempting to peer into the future's great dao of the soul. But the future had become a swirling chaos, obscuring his vision.
He couldn't see clearly.
Yet the recent collapse of the great dao of the soul, and the tragic fall of countless Dao Venerables who had achieved body-soul unification with it, still lingered in the depths of his mind. Even as an Ultimate Powerhouse, he struggled to maintain his mental composure.
"What's happening in the outside world?"
The supreme powerhouse, who claimed to be omniscient and omnipotent, felt a growing unease.
This unease compelled him to act.
In the next instant, his form abruptly detached from the great dao of reincarnation where he currently resided, gradually descending toward the material world.
The process seemed instantaneous.
However, due to the vast difference in the flow of time between the great dao river and the mortal realm, even at full speed, his return to the material world would still take several years.
Within the Great World of the Gods, at a certain moment, many divine beings suddenly ceased to worship the High God who reigned supreme over all deities.
These divine beings understood that when they achieved the Divine Emperor realm, the God Above Gods would release them from all constraints, allowing them to attain Heart's Perfection and complete freedom.
Now, they sensed the disappearance of these "shackles." While initially surprised, they soon rationalized it.
With the Profound Yellow Great World invading their Great World of the Gods, the God Above Gods naturally needed to lift all restrictions to accelerate their growth.
Freed from these constraints, the divine beings' mindsets naturally shifted. They began to pursue Heart's Perfection, living truly for themselves and their own advancement.
As a result, the God Above Gods' significance in their hearts diminished drastically.
In the future, should the God Above Gods' will remain absent for an extended period, they would realize with a start:
Oh, the God Above Gods hasn't appeared in ages.
Without dwelling on it, they would refocus their attention inward, striving to become gods above gods themselves.
Everything unfolded gradually, naturally, like water finding its course.
No one would find this abnormal.
Occasionally, a Divine Emperor would sense something amiss, but they would quickly reassure themselves.
It's perfectly normal. Such a supreme being perceives time differently from us.
The only ones who truly sensed the abnormality were the Human Dao Harmonization Experts, who had been secretly observing the great battle through various channels.
And...
The Progenitor of All Demons, who was still resisting.
Unlike the others, he had witnessed the god above gods vanish bit by bit before his very eyes.
He had watched this great Dao Harmonization Expert, along with the portion of the great dao of the soul he had unified with, be utterly erased.
It was an erasure beyond description.
Reduced to nothingness.
As if...
He had never existed.
There was no longer any such thing as the "god above gods."
Though the Progenitor of All Demons still remembered him, much like one recalls a scene from a dream, a dream remains just that—a dream.
Even if fragments of a dream linger upon waking, these illusory, nonexistent things will inevitably fade from memory over time, lacking any substantial anchor to reality, until they vanish completely.
This realization sent a chill down the spine of the Progenitor of All Demons, a Dao Harmonization Expert whose Mind Realm had long since reached perfection.
This power...
The Progenitor of All Demons stared at Li Chunjun.
At that moment...
He seemed to have encountered a being he could only describe as a "natural predator."
Only this term could truly capture the emotional turmoil churning within his heart.
"Continue," Li Chunjun said, his gaze shifting to the Progenitor of All Demons.
The single word jolted the Progenitor awake.
He stared at Li Chunjun, feeling like a mouse caught in the hawk's gaze—an indescribable terror.
Fortunately, as a being whose Heart's Perfection had reached an irreversible state, he quickly regained his composure.
He immediately made what he believed to be the wisest choice.
"Great progenitor divine being, I pledge my allegiance to you!" the Progenitor of All Demons declared, bowing his head.
"Allegiance?" Li Chunjun responded, neither accepting nor rejecting the offer.
The Progenitor of All Demons quickly added, "Yes, I wish to serve the great progenitor divine being!"
He immediately elaborated, "Our purpose is to handle matters too inconvenient for certain powerful figures, thereby proving our worth. Once we lose our value... we might even be stored as 'Immortal Artifact' reserves..."
This statement confirmed the truth Li Chunjun had divined through the Grand Dao of Karma.
He fixed his gaze on the Progenitor of All Demons and asked directly, "Who do you serve?"
"The Explorers Guild Master, the boundless supreme expert," the Progenitor of All Demons declared, immediately revealing the ultimate powerhouse's title. He continued, "For hundreds of millions of years, this supreme expert has visited our Great Worlds to impart the Dao. Each time, he accepted three thousand nominal disciples. Over countless millennia, only three of us successfully attained the Dao: myself, the God Above Gods, and the Shadowless Ancestor."
A bitter expression crossed his face. "We repeatedly sought to join the Human Race, but were invariably rejected. They kept us around to handle matters the Explorers Guild found inconvenient to address directly. Sometimes, even Ninth-Tier cultivators wielding guild tokens could command us to act."
"The Explorers Guild," Li Chunjun murmured, recognizing it as one of the Nine Great Human Race Institutions.
This organization specialized in exploring territories beyond the Human Race's borders.
Once a territory was deemed worthy of development, the War Commission would mobilize to subdue the Great World. Afterward, the Immortal Alliance, Starry Sky Group, and other factions would move in to develop and colonize it.
Before long, the Great World would become part of the Human Territory.
Over countless millennia, this process had become a standardized procedure.
Nearly all of the human race's three thousand great worlds had been acquired through this method.
"In the past, even if we had revealed this information, no one within the Human Race would have believed us. They would have dismissed it as Foreign Race treachery, a divisive ploy to undermine the reputation of the Ultimate Powerhouses. The Shadowless Clan, the predecessor of the Myriad Transformations Race, suffered a catastrophic fate because of this. Their Dao Venerable was prematurely harvested, and their Shadowless Dao Ancestor was forged into an Immortal Artifact."
The Progenitor of All Demons quickly continued, "But you are different. You are a progenitor divine being, naturally opposed to the Human Race. Even if you were to join them, they could never truly trust you... because you are too powerful! The Human Race will never tolerate such a formidable existence within their territory!"
Li Chunjun paid no heed to the Progenitor's latter half, which carried a hint of flattery.
The Human Race didn't forbid powerful beings; it was simply that...
He was too unique.
So unique that those who had achieved dao unification saw in him a glimmer of hope for breaking through to become an Ultimate Powerhouse and beyond.
This was why they had secretly tasked these dao unification experts with probing him.
"So, what were your orders this time?" Li Chunjun asked.
"To assist the God Above Gods in engaging you in combat and, if possible, to ascertain the true nature of the void great dao you have cultivated."
As the Progenitor of All Demons spoke, a flicker of apprehension crossed his eyes. "Based on our previous observations, they seem to believe they've grasped the true nature of the void great dao. They think that by combining enough different great daos, they can suppress it. But now it seems... neither the god above gods, myself, nor anyone else has truly understood the void great dao's true power."
"I have," Li Chunjun said calmly. "Theoretically, the void great dao works as they believe. By uniting different great daos, one can prevent it from manifesting its divine properties, even making it difficult to maintain self-preservation."
In essence, the void great dao is only half a level higher than other great daos.
The reason his void great dao is so formidable...
is because he himself is immensely powerful.
His Life Level is exceptionally high.
If anyone else were to cultivate the void great dao to his level, they would likely need tens of millions, or even hundreds of millions, of years of refinement!
To fully master the void great dao and nullify the power of all forty-nine great daos, it would likely take hundreds of millions, billions, or even tens of billions of years.
The Great Unification Realm is even more unfathomable.
However, he didn't elaborate.
Instead, he asked directly, "Which Dao Harmonization Experts and higher-level beings are involved?"
"The one who issued direct orders to me was the Vice Guild Master of the Explorers Guild, Purple River Supreme Sovereign! But beyond this Supreme Sovereign, I've also uncovered traces of the War Commission, the Immortal Alliance, and the Supreme Research Institute. Among them, the Immortal Alliance seems to be the primary instigator."
As the Progenitor of All Demons spoke, a flicker of awe flashed in his eyes. "To swiftly coordinate so many forces toward a single goal... an Ultimate Powerhouse must have intervened."
"Ultimate Powerhouse," Li Chunjun murmured, repeating the words.
He knew that one day he would inevitably confront the nine great ultimate powerhouses. He just hadn't expected that day to come so soon.
After a long silence, he asked, "If the Demonic Race supports the Divine Race, you wouldn't have sent only you, would you?"
"No. Given the unique nature of the god above gods, we initially assumed you would theoretically annihilate all his Avatars... that is, you would cleanse the entire Divine Race before targeting him directly. We had mobilized a massive force, planning to reinforce the Great World of the Gods. But..."
The Progenitor of All Demons trailed off awkwardly. "But we never anticipated you would confront the God Above Gods' true body so quickly, forcing this Dao Harmonization Expert to prematurely request our aid. That's why I hastily arrived on the scene through the Starry Sky Group's channels."
"If the Demonic Race has arrived, what about the Myriad Transformations Race? How long until they arrive?"
"They should all be able to enter the Great World of the Gods within half a year," the Progenitor of All Demons replied.
"Half a year," Li Chunjun nodded slightly. "In the meantime, let me properly witness your great dao of devouring."
(End of the Chapter)
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