427: Chapter 418 The Sixth Incarnation: Heavenly Venerable (106)

No, perhaps from the very beginning, the Dao Monarch of Destiny never had a chance of "winning."

He thought he was the chess player, the strategist, the peerless hegemon who would defy the heavens to change fate and seize the fortune of the "Child of the Great Trend."

But in the end, he discovered he still couldn't escape the fate of being a chess piece. Even the "defying fate" and "overwriting the great trend" he so self-righteously believed in were merely nutrients for the other party to nurture their "Chaos Dao Body" within the torrent of the great trend—they were the "key" to "guiding" the other party here.

Eons of struggle, endless Blood Sacrifices, the fall of All Venerables, his own madness and obsession...

Every single bit of it was like an absurd and pathetic farce, and he was the clown performing diligently on stage, unaware that he was merely the warm-up act for the true protagonist's entrance.

“Haha... Hahaha...”

The Dao Monarch of Destiny suddenly burst into laughter—a hoarse, dry laughter filled with endless self-mockery and desolation.

He no longer looked at Xu Yuan, nor at the Nine Ancient Venerables who remained frozen yet whose consciousnesses were already surging with monstrous waves. He simply lowered his head, staring at his own hand—knuckles white from excessive force as it still gripped the armrest of the "throne of the dao"—as his laughter grew softer, finally turning into a long, despairing sigh.

“O vast, boundless Heavens... why have you treated me... so poorly...”

This sigh held no more of the previous resentment and indignation; only a sort of resigned, bone-deep exhaustion and despair remained.

His Dao Heart and aura—which had previously reconsolidated and even surpassed their former state because he sat upon the "throne of the dao" and was about to achieve "Soul Transformation"—now collapsed and dissipated rapidly like an avalanche, becoming incredibly weak and ashen.

Beneath him, the "throne of the dao" developed more and more cracks, its light dimming completely, even beginning to emit faint, overburdened sounds of fracturing.

Meanwhile, Xu Yuan did not spare another glance at the Dao Monarch of Destiny, who seemed to have completely lost all spirit.

His gaze calmly swept across the Heavenly Ladder at the Nine Ancient Venerables, who were temporarily frozen and unable to move by the Dao Monarch of Destiny's use of the "throne of the dao" and supreme methods.

They had also heard the conversation between Xu Yuan and the Dao Monarch of Destiny. They were equally shaken to their cores by the truth of the "Chaos Dao Body," "nutrients," and "guidance." They felt Xu Yuan's unfathomable, terrifying aura that seemed to share the same source as the Great Dao of Heaven and Earth, as well as the supreme majesty of the true "throne of the dao" behind him, formed by the worship of ten thousand Daos.

Fear, bewilderment, disbelief, and a sliver of awe toward a higher-level existence—which even they were unwilling to admit—surged frantically within their imprisoned consciousnesses.

Xu Yuan’s gaze was like looking at the most ordinary scenery in the world as it calmly swept over each of them.

In that gaze, there was no killing intent, no contempt, and not even any emotion; there was only an absolute calm, a pure objectivity as if he were processing "resources."

Then, he once again raised that unremarkable palm.

This time, his movement was not a casual flick like when he dealt with the Dao Monarch of Destiny's "Destinys Return to the Void," nor was it a gentle beckon like when he summoned the ten thousand Daos to form the throne.

Instead, with fingers slightly spread, he pressed down gently toward the summit of the Heavenly Ladder—toward the nine frozen Ancient Venerables and the Dao Monarch of Destiny, who sat slumped on the brink of his shattered "throne" with a collapsed Dao Heart and decaying aura.

There was no world-destroying explosion of energy, no dazzling divine light, and not even a single shred of extra Dharmic power fluctuation.

But with this gentle press—

Buzz!

An invisible yet infinitely vast ripple of "Dao," seemingly originating from the deepest part of the Origin of the myriad realms, rippled out gently with Xu Yuan as the center.

On the Heavenly Ladder, those nine frozen Ancient Venerables—who represented the pinnacle of power in the myriad realms—along with the Dao Rhyme boiling around them that they could not deploy, their peerlessly powerful and near-immortal dao bodies and Divine Souls, and the complete, core Origin Daos they had spent their lives cultivating, comprehending, and condensing—

It was as if an invisible, irresistible giant hand had gently wiped them away, or like snow thrown into a furnace, or morning dew struck by the scorching sun—

Silently and soundlessly, they were annihilated.

There was no struggle, no scream, no trace left behind, and not even the slightest ripple caused in the surrounding space.

It was as if they had never existed in this world.

Their vast life force, their powerful Origin Dao laws, and their unique "Daos" that were sufficient to support the foundations of worlds were, under this single press, completely and cleanly "stripped" from the level of "existence" by some higher-level, incomprehensible power, turning into ten lights of the Origin Dao—each with different colors and forms, yet all containing the supreme true intent of the Great Dao and being pure to the extreme!

The "destiny" Dao of the Dao Monarch of Destiny was a hazy gray, like an eternal river carrying all trajectories and ends.

There were also the unique Dao Origins representing the extremes of their respective paths that the other Nine Ancient Venerables had cultivated for countless years—be it death, life, space, or time...

These ten lights of the Dao Origin, representing the oldest and most core "Daos" of this realm, circulated slightly in the void, emitting an alluring yet terrifying Dao Rhyme.

Their very existence was the most precious treasure of heaven and earth.

However, before Xu Yuan, they appeared so submissive, so... natural.

Xu Yuan's gaze calmly swept over these ten lights of the Origin Dao floating and slowly circulating in the void. Within those eyes that seemed to reflect the heavens yet were empty of everything, there seemed to be a very subtle, almost imperceptible ripple. That ripple was not greed, nor was it desire; it was more like a... confirmation, or perhaps, an inspection.

“The current Dao should also be completed now.”

He murmured softly to himself, as if taking inventory of some long-predetermined items.

As his voice fell, he once again beckoned gently toward those ten lights of the Origin Dao.

This time, those ten lights were like swallows returning to their nest or a hundred rivers flowing into the sea. Without the slightest resistance or delay, and even carrying a nearly "joyful" and impatient sense, they transformed into ten brilliant streaks of various colors, cutting through the frozen void and shooting toward Xu Yuan!

No, their target was not Xu Yuan himself, but...

They plunged directly into the true "throne of the dao" behind Xu Yuan—the one that reached from heaven to earth and was formed by the spontaneous worship of ten thousand Daos!

The moment the ten lights of the Origin Dao merged into the throne—

Rumble!!!

An indescribable, grand roar originating from the Origin of the Dao resounded simultaneously from infinite heights, endless depths, all directions, and from the past and future!

That "throne of the dao," which was already radiating ten thousand beams of light and infinite majesty, saw its radiance explode once more in this instant!