589: The Finale

Hongjun was silent.

That web of "Emptiness" trembled slightly.

It was very slight, but Lu Jiuyuan caught it.

"Your 'Non-existence' is a shell." Lu Jiuyuan's light shone once more; the Star Domain condensed, compressed, and transformed into three swords!

All three swords were lone swans!

One took the initial form of a large awl.

One took the form of a sword coiled with a Dragon and Phoenix.

One took the form of a scroll of the heavenly law of merit and virtue.

One to sever "Cause".

One to break "Effect".

One to execute "Self".

"Everything the Great Heavenly Venerate bestowed upon me is in these swords! Hongjun, receive them!"

The three swords thrust out simultaneously.

They did not cut the web, nor did they break the world; they pointed directly at the most subtle, most fundamental point of "obsession" within the veins of "Emptiness".

Why did Hongjun contend?

Why did he help him reach Perfection, and why did he occupy nearly half of the world?

It was not for transcendence, nor for the Dao.

It was only for a touch of "unwillingness".

A touch of "Self-attachment"—the "Dao Ancestor" looking down upon ten thousand kalpas, yet ultimately failing to take that final step!

The swords arrived.

The "Emptiness" web shook violently!

The primordial silence was broken, and within five hundred ninety-nine million worlds, a sound of shattering, extremely faint yet extremely clear, rang out simultaneously.

Like the first crack on an icy surface.

Hongjun finally manifested his form.

Within the Upper Dantian, above the spiritual altar.

Only, a speck of dust had stained his hempen robes.

The Sea of Chaos in his eyes stirred slightly.

He lowered his head, looking at his own palm.

In the center of his palm, there was a shallow white mark.

It was not a wound.

It was a "trace".

A trace of having existed.

"What a... sword of executing 'Self'." Hongjun slowly raised his head, looking across at him.

Lu Jiuyuan's figure also re-condensed, his eyes shining terrifyingly bright.

"You now have my trace on you," Lu Jiuyuan said.

"Yes." Hongjun admitted it quite frankly.

"You are no longer Non-existence! You are Existence, and Existence is me!"

Lu Jiuyuan took a step forward, the Star Domain behind him boiling; the power of seven hundred million worlds and the two Major Thousand Worlds no longer flowed, but began to... rotate.

Surrounding those three core points, forming a massive, all-consuming vortex.

"Your Dao should belong to me now."

The vortex pressed down.

It was not light, it was not darkness; it was pure "devouring".

Devouring "Existence", and also devouring "Non-existence".

Devouring "Cause", and also devouring "Effect".

Devouring every Dao, every Law, the Foundation of all existence.

Hongjun watched the vortex, watched the white mark on his palm, and smiled.

This time, the smile was very real.

Even a bit... relaxed.

"If it belongs to you, that is fine too."

He loosened his grip.

It was not giving up resistance.

It was letting go of all "attachments".

Five hundred ninety-nine million worlds simultaneously erupted with brilliant light!

Like billions of Epiphyllum flowers, in an instant, they released the beauty and stillness accumulated over countless kalpas all at once!

The light merged into the vortex.

It was not being devoured.

It was an active "giving".

Carrying Hongjun's insights and Laws from billions of kalpas, it poured unreservedly into Lu Jiuyuan's torrent.

In the Star Domain, Lu Jiuyuan's body shook violently.

The number of Perfection climbed crazily!

One billion two hundred sixty-six million worlds resonated in unison, their Laws completed, their Foundation perfected!

The three Major Thousand Worlds anchored the center, shining like the sun, moon, and stars, ruling over all worlds!

His aura completely transformed.

Ancient, vast, encompassing everything, yet transcending everything.

Hongjun's figure gradually faded.

At the final moment, he looked at Lu Jiuyuan, his eyes as clear as a child's.

"Now, you are 'One'."

As the voice fell, his figure turned into the Dao, completely merging into that boundless Star Domain.

Lu Jiuyuan stood alone in the center of "Non-existence".

He closed his eyes.

When he opened them again, his eyes reflected the birth and death of all heavens and worlds, the joys and sorrows of trillions of living beings.

He reached out and made a faint grasping motion.

In his palm, it seemed as if Chaos was being born and dying, and yet it also seemed empty.

"The Dao contention is over."

"From now on,"

"I am One, I am Heaven, I am the Dao, I am... a Chaos Demon God!"

Heaven and Earth were silent.

Silent enough to make one panic.

In the Ziwei Enclosure, Bo Yikao finally finished reviewing the last document on Star Domain defense, rubbed his brow, and looked up at the flowing galaxy outside the palace.

The galaxy remained the same, but the Dao Rhyme operating deep within that galaxy had changed owners.

Marquis of the West held another jar of imperial wine he had found from somewhere, leaned against his imperial throne, humming a tune from Western Qi, his face filled with unconcealable smiles.

He suddenly raised his cup, gesturing to the empty palace, then drank it all in one gulp.

"A toast... to the new Heaven."

On the Investiture of the Gods Platform, souls arrived in an endless stream; the list shone with golden light, and one name after another appeared, then faded away.

The once-mighty Immortals and the cunning Demons were now merely true spirits on the list, waiting for new divine positions and a new order.

The East Sea had long since calmed, the giant waves turning into shimmering ripples.

Biyou Palace was left with only broken walls and ruins, submerged in the deep blue seawater; occasionally, a few fragmented pieces of array diagrams floated with the currents, like scales shed after a giant beast's death.

Jinao Island was silent.

The surviving members of the Jie Sect on the island looked at the empty dais, looked at the qingping sword that had once split the firmament but now hung empty, their faces devoid of sorrow or joy, filled only with a bewildered, deathly silence.

Daoist Duobao silently gathered the few shattered prayer beads scattered on the ground.

Our Lady of the Golden Spirit closed her eyes, as if in deep meditation; only her slightly trembling fingertips betrayed her inner turmoil.

Lost.

The winner takes all, and the loser... doesn't even have bones left.

Mount Kunlun, Jade Void Palace.

Primordial Heavenly Venerate sat alone on the cloud bed, the water-moon mirror light before him having long dissipated.

Before him was a game of chess, black and white intertwined, locked in a fierce battle, yet at a certain moment, it had fallen into an eternal deadlock.

He held a white piece, hesitating for a long time without placing it.

Then, he lightly flicked his sleeve.

The chessboard, the pieces, along with the invisible game, all turned into a wisp of light smoke and dissipated.

He looked outside the palace, where there should have been the Immortal Caves of the Eleven Golden Immortals, where there should have been lingering Immortal music; now, there were only empty, silent mountains and a vast sea of clouds.

"Follow Heaven..."

He whispered, his voice devoid of emotion.

"Heaven is no longer Heaven."

He slowly closed his eyes.

The doors of Jade Void Palace closed silently, cutting off the inside from the outside.

In Eight Views Palace, Laozi was still riding his green ox, slowly circling around.

Before Xuandu Cave, the Wind and Fire prayer mat lay quietly.

It was as if he had never left, and as if he had never cared about the duel that decided the fate of the world.

The West, the Land of Ultimate Bliss.

Daoist Jieyin's face remained sorrowful, and Daoist Zhunti's smile remained warm.

In the Eight Treasures Karma Pool, lotus flowers were in full bloom, with chants echoing, peaceful and serene.

"Senior Brother, we lost big, we even lost ourselves completely..." Zhunti said softly, toying with the Seven-Treasured Branch.

Jieyin looked toward the East, his gaze seemingly piercing through endless space-time, landing on the core of the Heaven and Earth where the outcome was already decided, and slowly shook his head.

"Cannot be spoken, cannot be measured, cannot be sought." His voice was low: "Hongjun lost, the new Heaven is formed, the rules... have changed."

They stopped talking and just watched the lotus flowers in the pool quietly.

A lotus flower quietly closed, its petal edges stained with a faint, inconspicuous dark red belonging to the killing tribulation Qi, which was then instantly dissolved by the boundless golden light of Karma.

Chaos.

There was no longer Zixiao Palace.

There was not even "that place" anymore.

There was only a void, and in the center of the void, a person standing quietly.

Lu Jiuyuan.

He looked no different from before, the same eyebrows and eyes, the same figure.

But if anyone could see him, they would find that there were no reflections in his eyes.

No stars, no Heaven and Earth, no living beings.

Only the "Dao" itself, birthing and dying, cycling back and forth.

He reached out his hand, palm upward.

In his palm, three points of light appeared.

One was the Investiture of the Gods Major Thousand World, which had been thoroughly refined, its Laws perfected, acting as the core of governance; it floated quietly, like the sun in the sky.

One was the original Major Thousand World of the Middle Dantian, majestic and grand, flowing like moonlight.

One was the other Major Thousand World transformed from the Lower Dantian, steady and heavy, unmoving like a star.

Between the three, invisible veins connected them, flowing with the majestic power of one billion two hundred sixty million worlds, yet they were a whole, perfectly integrated without obstruction.

He had attained the Dao.

Therefore, he was omnipresent.

With a slight movement of his mind, he "saw" the chuckling Marquis of the West in the Ziwei Enclosure, saw the silent Primordial Heavenly Venerate, saw the sorrowful and lonely Jieyin, saw the circling Laozi, and also saw the deathly despair on Jinao Island.

He saw the jumping names on the investiture of the gods list, saw the changes of human Dynasties, saw the growth of vegetation, saw the scurrying of ants.

Joys and sorrows, birth, aging, sickness, and death, rise and fall... everything was within the "Dao", and everything was insignificant.

He simply stood there, at the beginning and end of everything, in the gap between "Existence" and "Non-existence".

Then, he gently clenched his fist.

The light of the Three Realms in his palm faded.

He turned and looked toward the boundless, slowly expanding depths of Chaos.

There, more "possibilities", more "worlds", and more "Dao" were waiting.

Devouring Hongjun and perfecting himself was not the end.

It was just a beginning.

A new beginning belonging to the Chaos Demon God Lu Jiuyuan.

He took a step forward.

His figure disappeared into the Chaos, leaving no trace.

As if he had never existed.

And as if he had already become Chaos itself.

Heaven and Earth were silent, and all Daos flowed back to the source.

"The Dao is attained."

"I depart."

(End of book)