391: Chapter 382 The Sixth Incarnation: Heavenly Venerable (Seventy)

"Even if it means refining the heavens with blood and bringing about a boundless slaughter tribulation, you won't hesitate?"

Dao Lord Yuqing's voice remained cold, yet it seemed to carry a chill from the depths of the torrent of destiny, striking directly at the Dao Heart.

The Dao Rhyme of "Karmic Affinity and Mortal World" around Yuqing rippled slightly, reflecting the phantom images of billions of living beings struggling and sinking in the calamity, only to vanish into bubbles in an instant.

Dao Lord Shang Qing fell silent for a moment.

This silence was not hesitation, but a heavy confirmation.

Shang Qing once again turned his gaze toward the ancient withered skeleton beside him. Dao Monarch of Destiny's remains were silent under the washing of the light ribbons of destiny; those broken threads of destiny, which seemed to still be trying to entwine something, swayed slightly like a silent questioning or a long-written answer.

"This is what he saw back then,"

Shang Qing's voice lowered, every word carrying the dust and weight accumulated over eternal time.

"Among the infinite tributaries of the future he glimpsed—in those possibilities that were either annihilated, cyclical, or held a glimmer of light... this is the path with a relatively higher probability."

Dao Lord Shang Qing's gaze traced every deep crack on the withered bones; they were not just marks of time, but witnesses to the backlash endured when breaking free from destiny, eventually leading to the death of the Dao and the withering of the body.

"A path..." Dao Lord Shang Qing paused, a slight tightness in his throat, but it was immediately replaced by an even firmer, icy coldness, "...a blood-soaked path that requires endless corpses and an entire era as a sacrifice."

"Since the creation of heaven and earth, all practitioners who have gained sentience, breathed in Spiritual Qi, and pursued transcendence—whether they are Dao Monarchs or ants—their very existence, their accumulated Dao fruits, and their condensed 'spiritual' nature... will all become 'fuel' to fill the deficiencies of heaven and earth and forcibly push the Great Dao toward Perfection."

"This is the only method that can 'ripen' the Soul Transformation opportunity fastest and most likely before those old fellows' states decline further and their patience runs out."

Dao Lord Shang Qing looked up, his gaze piercing through the mists of the torrent of destiny, as if seeing the impending blood-colored storm sweeping through the heavens and myriad worlds, seeing countless practitioners dissipating into points of light amidst confusion and despair, seeing the end-time scene of civilizations severed and Dao Lineages turned to ash.

That scene was cruel and real; under his "Karma and Heavenly Mandate" perspective, it was already a gradually clearing, blood-stained road.

"We inherited his memories," Shang Qing's voice was steady and emotionless, yet it carried a bone-deep indifference, "and we know the possible price. We also inherited his... sin. The sin of pushing for the blood-refining, permitting the slaughter tribulation, using all living beings as chess pieces, and an era as a sacrifice."

Dao Lord Yuqing watched him quietly, her moon-like eyes reflecting Shang Qing's calm face, the withered bones, and the flickering points of light representing the destinies of all living beings in the torrent, which seemed to be mourning.

She held authority over Tribulation Fate, and her perception of "sin" and "Karma" was far more direct and... heavy than that of Shang Qing, who seemed to transcend Karma but actually focused more on the chain of causality.

"Do you have no regrets?" Dao Lord Yuqing asked softly; this was no longer a questioning of the plan, but an inquiry into the Dao Heart.

Dao Lord Shang Qing slowly closed his eyes and then opened them again.

The last trace of complexity and exhaustion in his eyes vanished like mist blown away by the wind, leaving only a pure, icy clarity and an unshakeable resolve.

"Regret?" A faint, cold curve seemed to appear at the corner of his mouth, not out of joy, but the indifference after seeing through all attachments. "Yuqing, you and I both know that from the moment he was driven to a dead end by 'destiny' and did not hesitate to slash himself, splitting into you and me to seek a glimmer of a chance to break free... we have already stepped onto this path of no return."

"This sin, I acknowledge. This Karma, I bear. The boundless slaughter tribulation arises because of my schemes; the towering sea of blood has my hand pushing it. If there is karmic fire, it shall burn my body; if there is a monument of sin, my name shall be carved upon it."

Dao Lord Shang Qing's voice was not loud, but every word was like iron, crashing into the torrent of destiny, even causing the surging ribbons of light around them to stall.

"But," he changed the subject, his gaze suddenly becoming incredibly sharp, as if it could pierce through all Delusion and hesitation to point at the only truth, "the struggle for the Great Dao is inherently about seizing a thread from heaven and a chance from earth. A seeker of the Dao only seeks the uniqueness of the Great Dao and only asks if transcendence is possible."

"Those who block my Dao are enemies; those who obstruct my path can all be slain. Heaven and earth are not benevolent, treating all things as straw dogs; the Saints are not benevolent, treating the common people as straw dogs. Today, I shall be 'un-benevolent' for once, treating the heavens as straw dogs and all spirits as fuel to pave my path to godhood!"

"Even if a thousand tribulations are added to my body and ten thousand sins weigh upon my head," Dao Lord Shang Qing took a step forward, surrounded by clear light—not peaceful Immortal Qi, but a decisive Dao Rhyme that cut through all hesitation and bore all sins—"I shall bear it all on my shoulders! No regrets, and no retreat!"

As his voice fell, the withered bones of Dao Monarch of Destiny beside him suddenly made a very faint "crack" sound, as if it were an illusion.

The most solid thread of destiny, connecting the skull and chest of the withered bones, quietly snapped, turning into specks of light dust and dissipating in the surging torrent of destiny.

The empty eye sockets of the withered bones seemed to turn slightly toward Shang Qing, or perhaps it was just an illusion of the Light and Shadow in the torrent.

Dao Lord Yuqing remained silent for a long time.

She looked at this "Senior Brother" who shared the same source as her, saw the unquestionable firmness in his eyes, felt the coldness in him that would stop at nothing to achieve his goals, and beneath that coldness, a near-obsessive desire to "transcend destiny."

Ultimately, Dao Lord Yuqing said nothing, only nodding slightly.

The Dao Rhyme of "Karmic Affinity and Mortal World" around her slowly retracted, returning to a deep silence, like the calm before a storm.

No more words were needed.

The path was chosen, and the sin was shared.

Whether it was for the unwillingness inherited from "destiny" or for their own pursuit of "freedom" and "possibility," they would continue down this blood-soaked path.

Until... at the end of the road paved with the corpses of all living beings and the blood of Ancient Venerables, they would either grasp that singular "Soul Transformation" opportunity and break free from everything, or be buried together with this world, this era, and the sins of this boundless slaughter tribulation.

In the depths of the torrent of destiny, the silence and resolve of Shang Qing and Yuqing were like a drop of ink falling into a surging river, quietly staining a patch of invisible blood-red.

And in the deepest part of Chaos, a forbidden realm that transcended ordinary concepts of time and space—where even the chaotic air currents were completely repelled, and only the purest "nothingness" and "concepts" intertwined—several blurred and grand wills were conducting a cruel conspiracy that could decide the destiny of all heavens, myriad worlds, and all practicing beings.

This was the "Court of Nothingness." At this moment, the true bodies of the ten oldest Dao Monarchs—death, Time, Order, Destruction, Chaos, and others—descended here, like ten "Great Suns" of different colors, each emitting a suffocatingly terrifying aura, floating in this absolute void.

There were no pleasantries, no testing, only an anxiety suppressed to the extreme and an ice-cold, bone-chilling weighing of options.

The destruction of the heaven refining cauldron, the losses from the premature descent, Shang Qing's calculations, the rise of Wei An and Blade Absolute Edge...

A series of variables, like strings tightening more and more, strained the Dao Heart of every Ancient Venerable.

"We can't wait any longer."