Dao Equaling the Heavens
Chapter 300 - 196: Since there is Daozi, Why Bother with the Red Dust

Chapter 300: Chapter 196: Since there is Daozi, Why Bother with the Red Dust

The smoke of battle didn’t touch the expanse of sky.

Chan Xi raised his palm upward, as if lifting the dome of heaven, dazzling lightning turned the cloud layer blue, revealing the Eighth Level of Dao Foundation cultivation.

"Gu, how about we just exchange three moves? If you can block my Five Thunders Skill within three moves, you win."

His handsome face showed a color of helplessness, like a sect’s senior brother who was easy to talk to, feeling a headache for a disobedient junior brother.

The cost of forcible persuasion was immense; if Three Pure Mountain really intended to crash into Jianmu, they would have to act together for a long period, perhaps a hundred years, maybe a thousand, or even thousands of years.

Chan Xi did not want their relationship to become too stiff.

Moreover, he had an additional level of Dao foundation, the Eighth Level that was for the dharma form.

The dharma form was one of the most powerful methods available to cultivators, second only to Divine Skills. Some powerful dharma forms were beyond even what Divine Skills could achieve. And for most talents who entered Immortal Land, their goal was to condense a dharma form through the Eighth Level of Dao Foundation; otherwise, they couldn’t touch the realm of the dharma form on their own.

And those prodigies who could comprehend the dharma form ahead of their time naturally had even stronger personal dharma forms.

In stark contrast, Heavenly Person Xi spoke coldly, "It’s the same to drag him away with broken legs."

"Why don’t you accumulate some verbal virtue? If you stay silent, no one will treat you as mute."

Chan Xi rolled his eyes; although they were born from the same source, people were complex and contradictory.

When the original body used the One Qi to Three Pure Ones, it arranged differently for the three of them. Due to the inherent gender differences, the female body was directly stripped from the heart and allowed to become a completely independent being, a true woman.

Heavenly Person Xi embodied all the desires and evil thoughts, while also absorbed the principle of the ultimate forgetfulness.

Whereas he was the good thoughts because the male body had always been aggressive and needed the most restraint.

Initially, Chan Xi was somewhat discontented, until the moment he thought about leading the three bodies and brought up the matter of celestial marriage, which ultimately led to the female body defecting. He then understood that an overly pure Dao heart was a disaster; if one did not restrain themselves, becoming a demon would be momentary.

"Gu, what do you think?"

Before the words faded, sword light swallowed the vision, under the white light the lightning receded, as if boundless sharpness swung towards him.

Chan Xi took a small step backward, his position and stride reaching the acme of perfection, in his palm, strand by strand of lightning pierced into the sword light, as fine as hair, breaking the surface with points, decomposing all methods with millions of points.

This was the Three Pure Daoist’s most adept capability, comprehended from one of the Daoist Immortal Skills "Five Thunders Skill," extracting its essence to forge Divine Power.

This method could break all methods, substituting attack for defense, regardless of any Divine Power, facing the condensed hair-thin million thunders was like facing shattered frost.

The True Sword Dao, on the other hand, was the opposite, the Sword Qi was extremely hard, naturally cleaving everything it touched.

Thousands of thunders broke, and the void was filled with dense explosive sounds.

In an instant, as everyone’s vision recovered from the sword light.

Gu Wen was already a step in front of the Three Pure Daoist, his body slightly bent, the Immortal Sword had cut through thousands of thunders in the void, and Chan Xi’s figure uncontrollably fell backward, then retreated three steps in succession.")

His eyes widened, emitting a chill and residual fear, a minor cut appeared on his cheek, and blood slowly dripped.

"The first move."

Gu Wen sheathed his sword, he could have pressed his advantage, even possibly taking his opponent’s life.

Historically, his foundation was always underestimated due to the enemy’s misjudgment of the Immortal Sword; mortals tried to comprehend the power of an immortal with their own understanding, dealing with the Immortal Sword with their past combat experiences.

The Immortal Sword cuts all, unstoppable, unbeatable.

This was unlike any conventional cultivator’s combat; no one completely relied on evasion in a fight. It was like a death match in the ring; turning your back to the enemy was akin to death.

If a cultivator could dodge attacks merely with his movement technique, his power must be more than a level higher than that of the attacker.

As of now, only Jianmu’s bifurcation could withstand the Immortal Sword.

After a brief pause, the second sword was swung out again.

Chan Xi, deserving of his reputation as number one of his generation, immediately reacted, not trying to fight back or resist anymore.

Lightning formed a shield, the sword fell, the shield shattered, the trajectory of the Immortal Sword skewed, and Chan Xi’s movement technique, subtle in its observation, dodged another sword.

At this moment, he had abandoned the idea of making Gu Wen lose face,

Gu Wen changed his moves very quickly, altering his cut to a thrust, targeting the throat, then stopping before the neck.

The two stood face-to-face, the high-altitude battling gusts had already been smoothed by the aftermath of their fight, and all eyes from all directions solidified on them.

At this moment, with Gu Wen’s sword pointing at Chan Xi’s throat, the latter stiffened in place.

Like a constellated point of sword light spreading from the hilt, climbing up the blade, the sword edge had not yet arrived, but the light had already drawn a drop of blood, reflecting the visage of the swordsman.

Gu Wen said indifferently, "Surviving my three swords, one can be called a prodigy, what do you think, senior brother?"

Silence!

In an instant, no one answered, no one was shocked.

Yu Hua’s mouth was slightly open, she couldn’t maintain her composure either.

Rumors of the Three Pure Daoist filled her life from childhood, peers and elders constantly narrated his feats; this previously unmet senior brother’s unparalleled image was deeply ingrained in everyone’s heart.

The two intersected, three swords decided the superior.

Shock, disbelief, and even irritation flashed through Chan Xi’s eyes; the most human-like among them, devoid of any former Daoist grace.

His throat moved, seemingly suppressing various evil thoughts, finally speaking somewhat bitterly, "I was arrogant."

Gu Wen sheathed his sword, not mocking his opponent, said, "Senior brother’s strength is the most talented I have encountered."

This was no mere politeness, Chan Xi was just one of his incarnations, yet in the just three swords, he was only on the losing end.

Heavenly Person Xi took a step forward, arriving ten steps away from Gu Wen, appearing as if to join forces for an attack.

His expression cold, he said, "Gu junior brother, you are stronger than we imagined, the situation doesn’t seem so dire, hence you should come with us even more."

A figure drifted into the scene, Chan Xi blocked his way.

"The Human Race is in peril, you should take him away with me."

"All I know, is that bonds differ in closeness, he helped me, I help him. And I too am one of the Three Pure Daoists, entitled to participate in this."

Ao Tang silently approved, his sharp gaze witnessing the rising tension.

As Chan Xi had mentioned, she too was one of the Three Pure Daoist. Helping Gu Wen was part of her own Cultivation Technique.

Gu Wen spoke up, "Sister, let me do it."

He had gotten used to harnessing every potential strength available, an instinct developed while mingling at Dragon Bridge. Mortals were weak and unlike cultivators who concentrated great power into one.

This inertia had persisted till now, uniting all the possible forces he could.

But as the Daoist Sect said, without showing unmatched brilliance, how could one stabilize the universe?

Chan Xi and Xi attacked from both sides, the Thunder Skill triggering celestial phenomena, as they both aimed a palm strike at Gu Wen.

The Nine Revolutions Golden Pill transformed into a golden light and simultaneously, a six-zhang tall golden figure materialized.

The trio’s fight turned into a single entangled mass, with rolls of thunder permeating the battlefield below, and then the sound of sword cries rang out for thousands of miles.

As if responding to the celestial battle of the immortals, the mortals fought even more fiercely, nearly going mad.

The military merit system of the Nanchun Army could turn any feeble farmer into fierce beasts. In such a chaotic age full of demons and ghosts, even an ordinary soldier sought his path.

Some fought for a mere meal, others for military honors and titles.

Boom!

The extremely condensed Sword Qi collided with the vigorous thunder, like two mountain ranges of flint striking each other in the void, igniting a ten-mile radius of empty space.

The explosion expanded, swallowing the clouds, becoming a second sun.

The firelight shone on the face of the Fox Fairy, as she slightly lifted her delicate and white chin, her crimson eyeshadow elongated.

"First there was Qingcang, then came Red Dust; the Human Race indeed carries great Qi Fortune."

------------------

Above the Nine Heavens, the Jade Palace.

Three great powers from different sects convened, with eighteen Venerables seated at the Venerable positions, many of whom were aged, including former sect leaders.

Their bodies hunched, their eyes cloudy, the Life Span Tribulation had brought them to the end of their lives.

At the highest position for the leaders of the Three Religions, the position for Upper Pure remained vacant.

Between Huayang and Yun Miao, two jade tokens were suspended, engraved with the characters for ’Taiyin’ and ’Upper Pure’.

As each True Monarch Venerable invested a strand of Divine Thought, it would descend a bit, until it fell to one of the two.

The Taiyin jade token descended further, many hoped for the resurrection of Qingcang Master, believing only he could resolve the calamities of the Human Race.

While Huayang and a few pragmatists argued otherwise, they were always practically worried for the Human Race.

When left with no alternative, they would unscrupulously resurrect Qingcang Master. But when given a choice, they might abandon Qingcang, despite all having grown under his wing.

Once they gave up the Guardian for Qingcang, now they were abandoning Qingcang for Gu Wen.

All waited in silence, the outcome still uncertain. When Gu Wen pointed his sword at Chan Xi, an elderly Venerable slowly raised his right hand.

A strand of Divine Thought flew into the Upper Pure jade token, like a dam breach. Among the eighteen Venerables, sixteen consecutively cast theirs into the Upper Pure jade token.

Ultimately, the jade token landed in Huayang’s hand; the outcome was undecided, but the Daoist Sect Venerables presumed that the once proud sect member had lost.

They were the current great powers, former prodigies, and they could discern how things stood.

If Daoist and Gu Wen were of the same realm, then Daoist would surely lose.

Thus, they chose to believe in the future Gu Wen, who would undoubtedly save the Human Race from peril.

Just as when the title of Three Pure Daoist appeared, once Daoist arises, why need Red Dust?

The Upper Pure jade token fell into Huayang’s possession, and he couldn’t help but sigh internally; how could he not love his own disciple? But the fact remained that Daoist was indeed inferior to Red Dust, an indisputable truth.

He looked toward Yun Miao, stating, "I won."

Yun Miao shook her head with a smile, implicating, "Daoist lost."

Were it anyone else, Huayang would not have given it another thought, but facing Yun Miao, he questioned everything.

His gaze turned back to the Immortal Land.

The battle had reached its climax; both Gu Wen and Daoist fought with full force, and at this point, there was no room for mere testing; a slight misstep could be fatal.

The only thing they managed to do was avoid vital points, but there was no guarantee that a palm strike or a sword thrust wouldn’t result in death.

The two were evenly matched, creating a deadlock. Huayang keenly noticed that Gu Wen’s Mana seemed infinite. While Daoist struggled from intense exhaustion, Gu Wen maintained his peak condition.

In it, Huayang noticed that from Dao foundation to Mana, to Divine Soul, Gu Wen exuded the essence of Immortal Skill.

The Human Immortal foundation, Nine Revolutions Golden Pill, True Sword Dao, Taiyin Skill.

As if endless talents forged a spectacle of eternity, prodigies counted by foundation, talents by fulfillment, and Red Dust by Immortal Skill.

Huayang withdrew his gaze, his usually steely features unusually wearied; he knew his disciple was decidedly defeated.

The outcome of the combat was unknown; any sliver of hope could turn the tides of life and death. But in a duel of restraint, if Gu Wen didn’t use a killing move, Daoist naturally wouldn’t either.

Such a slight difference had already determined the victory or defeat, unless Chan Xi was willing to interfere.

The unpredictability of events, thus tiresome.

A quarter hour later, the Jade Palace was abuzz.

The golden figure gained the upper hand, switching from defense to attack. After a protracted duel with the Three Pure Daoist, their momentum fell like a collapsing mountain.

Between resurrecting Qingcang Immortal and nurturing a new immortal, Gu Wen chose to face two and defeat the Three Pure Daoist.

As did Qingcang Master in the past, between compromising Jianmu and fleeing further, she opted to break Jianmu.

"If successors possess a third of Master’s prowess, they can be called Three Pure Daoist; with a full prowess, they could even revive the Twelve Demon Ancestors."

Yun Miao’s resonant voice echoed through the Jade Palace, grabbing the Taiyin jade token as if making a dictatorial decision.

"We need to uproot Jianmu, and we want the Immortality Pill too. Let the enemy fear while our response remains only victory."