Chapter 1 The Beginning

* * *

Buzz!

In the unfathomable depths of the void, two gazes collided like tangible entities, stirring up waves of world-ending cataclysms amidst the myriad realms and countless layers of void and heaven.

Countless beings living in the cracks of time and space trembled and wailed in terror. These beings, capable of piercing through the layers of the realms, were already considered powerful, yet they were still extinguished by the two gazes.

"Extinction!"

Upon the crimson lotus, the Great自在天魔主's smile vanished completely, his gaze filled with undisguised astonishment: "You actually reached this step?"

For beings like Him, there were few things or people in the world that could surprise Him, but at this moment, beholding the existence atop Mount Sumeru, the Great自在 couldn't help but be moved.

It wasn't just astonishment that this person had returned to obstruct Him, but rather the progress of his cultivation.

The closer one got to the Da Dao Ji, the harder it was to advance – this was no exaggeration. Back then, this old Buddha was already the foremost beneath the Saints, and few could match him across all the eras.

To think he'd made such astonishing progress!

"Seven myriads of years have passed, yet the Demon Lord's demeanor remains as magnificent as ever."

Facing the eternally existing Master of the Demonic Path at the other end of the void, the old Buddha beneath the seven-colored treasure tree clasped his hands together. After a bow, he shook his head:

"But you should not have returned!"

"Oh?"

The Great自在 raised a brow like a sword, shaking his head in turn: "Times have changed. There cannot be the slightest accident."

He was somewhat familiar with this scene.

During the upheaval of the Heavenly Rebellion, this 'Extinction Buddha' had used similar words to persuade the梵 Saint's lower realm incarnation to turn back.

And afterwards, this Extinction Buddha had lived up to his reputation as the foremost beneath the Saints, displaying a peerless strength that awed the myriad races.

Without rising, merely sitting atop Mount Sumeru and casting down that Seven Treasures Mystical Tree, which exhausted the marvels of primordial divine powers, he swept away all the rebels who had displayed shocking strength in the Heavenly Rebellion.

In one fell swoop, he quelled an unprecedented great change, causing countless long-lived old antiques to pale in fear.

But now, it was different from back then. That Heavenly Rebellion was merely a prelude to the great enemy from beyond the heavens. Now, it had reached the moment of decisive victory.

"With me present, there will be no accidents."

Upon the blood-colored lotus platform, the old Buddha sighed softly: "Now, that may not be so certain... Your arrival has revealed a flaw!"

"Hmm?"

The Great自在's gaze darkened: "Extinction, you are being presumptuous!"

The Great自在 seemed displeased.

With his cultivation and status, few dared to speak to him in such a manner throughout the ages, but his gaze flickered, and he rarely suppressed his anger.

"A war of words is meaningless."

The old Buddha's expression remained unchanged as he said calmly, "For the sake of stability, Demon Lord, remain in the Demonic Realm and do not emerge for now."

"You are becoming increasingly presumptuous!"

The Great自在's eyes were filled with coldness and simmering rage: "Even the梵 Saint would not dare to order this Demon Lord!"

"He is not me."

The old Buddha did not waste words.

He simply raised his hand and flicked a finger, sending a Dao seed woven from seven-colored light streaking across the sky, disappearing into the void:

"Taking one step forward is easy, but this old monk may not grant the Demon Lord any more face!"

Rumble!

The Demonic Realm trembled violently, the sea of blood churning, and bloody waves surged into the sky, as if to tear apart the Demonic Realm's void and engulf the nine heavens and ten earths.

A fierce and sharp sword light almost couldn't be contained from soaring.

But after a long while, the commotion subsided.

Upon the crimson lotus, the Great自在's face was ashen, but he slowly closed his eyes, suppressing his terrifying killing intent and the fire of fury that could incinerate the heavens into the depths of his heart.

"Bald donkey!"

.......

A single glance felt like ten thousand years.

The exchange of gazes across the two realms contained too much within it, causing even An Qisheng's mind to tremble.

His mind was momentarily dazed.

"Knowing yourself and your enemy doesn't guarantee victory in every battle, but not knowing your enemy ensures defeat..."

In his daze, An Qisheng seemed to see that honest young man named 'Wen Ming' again, the young man muttering to himself with a complex expression.

Buzz~

And as his voice fell, a tide rose in An Qisheng's mind. At the deepest part of his Yuan Shen, the Daoyi Diagram rippled with watery light, as if infinite Daos were interwoven within it.

Faintly, there was a tendency to gather and unify, transforming into a brand.

This was the brand of that King of Demons, the Master of the Demonic Realm, the first and eternal Demon, the Demon Lord Da Zizai Tian!

Since coming to this world, he had collected countless divine powers and ancient books. While his purpose was to sort out his system, he also sought the brand of a Saint.

However, the gap between realms was like the distance between heaven and earth. Even if his evaluation in the Daoyi Diagram had reached five stars – 'Nirvana' – he was fundamentally incapable of fabricating the brand of a Saint out of thin air.

But now, with a single glance, the brand that had been unattainable for decades was slowly gathering.

"Wen Ming..."

An Qisheng's mind was touched, and he felt the flow of various memories, making him feel complex and inexpressible.

This brand that was about to be transformed was the very reason why King Yu had left a battle mark in the Demonic Realm.

The information conveyed by Da Yu was simple and scarce, but it was enough for him to understand some things.

Tens of thousands of years ago, Da Yu combined the power of the Great Xia Dynasty, using the Celestial Master's Mansion as the center, and the continents and seas as the medium, with Great Xia's fortune and his own divine powers as guides.

He set up a great formation to isolate the realms.

Not only the Netherworld Path, but also the Animal Path, the Desire Demon Path (Demonic Realm), and the Celestial Path were cut off from the Earth Immortal Path.

This was not only to protect the beings of the Earth Immortal Path from being consumed by the flames of anger in the realms, but also to leave behind battle marks.

To fight against the Saints when they descended upon the realms.

The real purpose was to help him form this 'Saint Brand', a brand that was of utmost importance to him!

"I don't know what to call you, but addressing you as 'Teacher' shouldn't be wrong."

The young man spoke to the void, and in the end, he bowed across the boundless void, unable to rise, his voice choked with emotion:

"Teacher, this disciple is incompetent and can only do so much. The rest will have to trouble you..."

"Huff!"

A myriad of thoughts, accompanied by a breath of turbid air, scattered into the sea of stars. When he opened his eyes again, An Qisheng had regained his composure.

Feeling the flowing information in his heart, and the Saint Brand that was about to gather, his last apprehension had finally been broken.

An eternally existing Saint possessed all the secrets since the beginning of Huangtian, including those of the Saints themselves!

This meant that this ancient world was finally about to fully unfold before him!

"Hmm? Haha!"

And in the sea of stars, the White Emperor, who was still standing tall amidst the collision of stars, burst out laughing.

"Your heart is in turmoil!"

Beneath his disheveled hair, the White Emperor's expression was gleeful and cruel: "A single step, yet it's like being separated by a sea of stars. Can you understand the despair and unwillingness of this Emperor?!"

Rumble!

The sea of stars surged, and the stars shattered once again. In the next instant, countless divine figures manifested within the Divine Court, transforming into a storm of meteors and howling forth.

"I am not inferior to Him in terms of talent! But a single step is all it takes to be forever unable to catch up. Do you understand the pain in this Emperor's heart?!"

In the sea of stars, the White Emperor unleashed his full power, wantonly and violently destroying the rolling storm of stars. He allowed the storm to strike him again and again, yet he remained unshaken.

This was the deepest repression in his heart, as well as the unwillingness he felt when he sensed the descent of the Great Zizai.

"You will be no different from this Emperor!"

"You were also a pioneer!"

Faced with the White Emperor's violent outburst, An Qisheng responded calmly: "I am different from you."

In the next instant, like a stone falling into a deep well, the silence was broken.

"You?"

His voice trailed off abruptly, and the White Emperor's gaze shook. He saw that Hong Xuan Daoist, who had been sitting in the Divine Court for so long without moving, had suddenly stood up.

His eternally unchanging calm and indifferent expression had, in an instant, turned into an extremely terrifying violence.

Boom!

Merely standing up, such an insignificant action.

A vast and boundless aura surged forth, like a thousand torrents, piercing through the entire Star Sea Formation. Then, the starry figure that resembled a storm of stars also merged into his body.

Even this Star Sea Formation was collapsing at an extreme speed, wanting to return to his body.

In that instant, his body became incomparably radiant, and pure and powerful Dao light burst forth from every inch of his body.

Faintly, through the radiant Dao light, one could see that his body no longer contained flesh and blood in the ordinary sense.

Instead, it was replaced by immortal mountains and divine temples.

It seemed that countless gods resided within his body, each opening up their own unique blessed lands and spiritual grounds, even divine kingdoms and forbidden zones.

These countless gods were of varying strengths, but even the strongest among them were not particularly powerful to the White Emperor. The weaker ones could be destroyed with a flick of a finger.

In theory, even if these gods were combined, they would not pose a great threat to him.

However, at this moment, when they truly merged into the Daoist before him, they unleashed a terrifying and horrifying wave that caused his expression to change.

This kind of technique, this kind of divine power...

"Transforming the body into a Divine Court?! You, you are the Human Realm..."

The White Emperor's body trembled, and a look of bewilderment and shock flashed across his face. As if he had thought of something, he was about to blurt it out.

He had never seen such a divine power.

But he had heard of it.

During the 'Heavenly Rebellion' tens of thousands of years ago, there was one person who used this method to restrain the Nine Heavenly Sovereigns of the Daoist sect.

He faced nine Creation Golden Immortals who were proficient in joint immortal arts, and among them, there were three who were near-Saints!

That person...

Boom!

A rumbling sound that seemed to come from the distant past completely drowned out all the sounds of the White Emperor. It was the Dao sound of combined palms, finger flicks, and hand seals into one.

A palm that exhausted the mysteries of divine powers, rose slowly amidst the interweaving of five colors.

At the moment when the regulations merged and all the gods returned to one, a sense of completion that was lost and found arose spontaneously in An Qisheng's heart.

The 'Qi seed' Divine Court that once remained in the Human Realm had finally returned after a long period of time, carrying a tremendous harvest that exceeded anyone's imagination.

It merged with him!

"He is using me to hone his divine powers?!"

The White Emperor finally took a step back, and his expression changed drastically as he looked around.

At this moment, that palm, which seemed to contain countless and infinite divine powers within it, appeared simultaneously in all directions, even in layers of void.

It squeezed out all spiritual energy and occupied all spatial transformations.

Behind the silence was an overbearing will that was beyond imagination!

"You have done everything you were supposed to do..."

The giant palm pressed down, extinguishing all spiritual energy and severing all shifts and transformations. The only thing that remained was the voice that seemed to be speaking to him and to himself.

"Leave the rest to me!"