588: A battle for the ultimate truth! I peer into your world, you covet my body!

"You waited for me to come just to devour me!" Lu Jiuyuan looked at him with a smile.

"I am coveting your world. You are coveting this body of mine, composed of hundreds of millions of worlds."

The two looked at each other.

Hongjun also smiled.

The smile was very faint, as faint as ripples on water.

"Your Dao is not yet Perfection. Seven hundred million Small Worlds are not enough! One billion two hundred and ninety-six million worlds are required for Perfection! I will lend you a hand!"

Hongjun extended a finger.

There was no brilliance or pressure at the fingertip, only a point of "Truth."

When Truth reaches its extreme, it becomes Void.

When Void reaches its extreme, it becomes the Dao.

Lu Jiuyuan's mind concentrated to the extreme!

Within his body, seven hundred million Small Worlds trembled in unison, and the rivers of two Major Thousand Worlds roared and churned, but he forcefully suppressed them, offering no resistance!

That finger tapped on the center of his brow.

Hongjun was smiling.

The smile was as faint as a moon's reflection in water, shattering at the slightest touch.

"Take it."

It said.

"My Dao, my Law, my Chaos, my Zixiao, everything of mine."

"To assist you in reaching Perfection."

Boom!

Lu Jiuyuan's Sea of Consciousness exploded.

No, not exploded, but "expanded."

It spread crazily from seven hundred million Small Worlds.

Seven hundred and ten million, seven hundred and fifty million, eight hundred million, nine hundred million... one billion!

One billion one hundred million!

One billion two hundred million!

One billion two hundred and ninety-six million!

The number of Perfection!

Every world gave birth to mountains, rivers, stars, suns, moons, flora, fauna, and the rise and fall of civilizations.

Every world flowed with the Dao laws that Hongjun had branded over hundreds of millions of kalpas: Clarity and Turbidity, Yin and Yang, Karma, Reincarnation, Annihilation, Creation...

Lu Jiuyuan's aura climbed madly.

His figure dissipated in Zixiao Palace, transforming into a sea of Chaos stars, within which floated one billion two hundred and ninety million points of light, with three of the most brilliant star clusters suspended in the center, shining like the sun and moon together.

But, within the sea of stars, there was another will.

The will of Hongjun.

It also dispersed its physical form, turning into a torrent of Dao laws, but it had not vanished; instead, like mercury spilling onto the ground, it seeped into the Foundation of every newborn world.

Five hundred and ninety-six million worlds were quietly dyed with its color.

It was a hazy gray, like the mist of Chaos at the beginning of heaven and earth, silent, deep, and carrying an ancient desolation.

"Now," Hongjun's voice echoed from every corner of the sea of stars, "let you and I contend once more within this perfected body."

Lu Jiuyuan felt an unprecedented "wholeness" within his body, and also felt the "strangeness" of nearly half of the worlds.

It was like a person suddenly growing an extra half of a limb that did not belong to them; it was warm yet unfamiliar, and restless.

"How shall we contend?" Lu Jiuyuan asked.

His voice had also changed, grandiose and void, as if billions of worlds were resonating.

"A battle of the Dao," it said.

In the sea of stars, two points of light lit up.

One was as bright and clear as the morning star; that was Lu Jiuyuan.

One was as chaotic as the evening mist; that was Hongjun.

The two points of light met for an instant, then mixed together, with you in me and me in you!

The entanglement of light and darkness was silent, yet more soul-stirring than the screeching of the Immortal Slaying Sword Formation.

Lu Jiuyuan was the light.

Bright and sharp, carrying a nascent and surging will, it was like the rising sun spreading over the sea, irresistibly flooding over one world after another.

His seven hundred million Small Worlds were the cornerstone, and the two Major Thousand Worlds were the pillars; wherever the torrent reached, stars flickered, Dao laws were reshaped, and all things were imbued with his unique, almost tyrannical "Order."

Hongjun was the darkness.

Chaotic and deep, like the night that had existed since time immemorial, it did not contend or seize, yet it was everywhere.

Its five hundred and ninety-six million worlds were silently scattered throughout the sea of stars, like pebbles that had lain at the bottom of the water for hundreds of millions of years—smooth, cold, and carrying the roundness and stubbornness polished by time.

Lu Jiuyuan's light surged over, attempting to wash away, dissolve, and assimilate these pebbles.

The light was very bright and very hot, enough to boil oceans and evaporate rivers.

But the pebbles just lay there quietly, wrapped in light and scorched by heat; their surfaces even became slightly hot, but inside, they remained the same cold that had persisted for hundreds of millions of years.

They did not resist.

They just "were."

The light flowed past, but the pebbles remained in place, not having moved even a fraction.

Lu Jiuyuan felt that "stagnation."

It was like the sharpest blade cutting into the toughest oxhide; it cut in a third of the way, but could not advance an inch further, and instead was tightly gripped, caught in a dilemma.

His worlds were roaring, howling, and spinning madly, outputting vast and peerless power.

But Hongjun's worlds were like deep whirlpools, silently devouring this power, and then... returning to silence.

This was "accommodation," this was tolerance!

It was as if what Lu Jiuyuan was pouring out was not a force of destruction, but sweet spring water and rain, which were quietly absorbed by those ancient worlds, nourishing something even darker and more unfathomable within.

"Your Dao is too new."

Hongjun's voice echoed from every corner of the sea of stars, flat but carrying the dust of ages.

"What is new is sharp. What is sharp is easily broken."

Lu Jiuyuan did not answer.

His will condensed, and the light no longer spread aimlessly, but transformed into billions of extremely thin and sharp needles!

The tips of the needles flashed with cold light, aiming at the tiniest crevices of every "pebble," and stabbed down!

Not seeking to sweep everything, but only seeking to break the surface at a single point!

Hongjun gave an "oh" of surprise.

It was like a sleeping ancient god having the sole of its foot tickled by a blade of grass.

Those silent pebbles, for the first time, moved slightly.

Not to dodge, but... to turn over.

The side the pebbles turned over had no light, no darkness, only a void of "Emptiness."

The extreme of Emptiness is "Nothingness."

The needles stabbed into the "Emptiness" as if stabbing into a dream, encountering no resistance; even the will, Dao laws, and power attached to the tips of the needles seemed to fall into a bottomless abyss, instantly losing all connection.

Lu Jiuyuan let out a muffled groan.

It felt as uncomfortable as throwing a punch with all one's might into the air, almost dislocating one's bones.

"What is new also has its advantages." In its voice, for the first time, there was a slight fluctuation, like a stone being dropped into a dry well.

"Sharpness, adaptability, and unexpectedness."

"Unfortunately, it is still 'Being'."

"My Dao begins with 'Nothingness'."

Following its words, those five hundred and ninety-six million "Empty" worlds suddenly connected with each other.

It was not a torrent like the light, but like ink dripping into clear water, slowly spreading.

Between "Emptiness" and "Emptiness," invisible veins were born, forming a web that was unimaginably huge yet ethereal.

The net was soft and light, as if it did not exist.

But when Lu Jiuyuan's torrent of light surged again, this net quietly appeared and gently scooped it up.

The torrent rushed into the net, its speed decreased sharply, its direction was deflected, and the surging power was divided, guided, and dissipated at countless nodes of "Emptiness."

It was like a monstrous wave crashing into an endless forest of seaweed; the momentum was still there, but the power had already dissipated into a thousand branches and leaves, futile.

Lu Jiuyuan stopped.

In the sea of stars, the tide of light temporarily retreated, revealing the three most brilliant stars at the core: the two Major Thousand Worlds and the embryonic form of the Fengshen World that had not yet been completely refined.

He "looked" at that net of "Emptiness" that was everywhere yet nowhere to be found.

"Using Nothingness to transform Being, using stillness to control movement." Lu Jiuyuan's voice sounded, still calm.

"As expected of the eternal Hongjun."

"But is your 'Nothingness' truly 'Nothingness'?"

He suddenly smiled.

The laughter sent ripples through the sea of stars.

"If you had truly reached 'Nothingness,' why would you need to occupy these five hundred and ninety-six million worlds?"

"If you had truly forgotten 'Self,' who is it that is contending with me right now?"