431: Chapter 422 The Sixth Incarnation: Heavenly Venerable (110)

Having understood the path beyond Soul Transformation and grasped that the essence of his own "Golden Finger" was merely the legacy left behind by two predecessors who had attempted to "reduce to emptiness," Xu Yuan's heart felt no great turbulence, only a sense of realization—a "so that's how it is"—and a clearer understanding of the road ahead.

He sat upon the throne of the dao, beneath him the supreme symbol formed by the worship of all Dao in this realm, surrounded by congratulatory phenomena spontaneously manifested by heaven and earth.

He was now the undisputed Dominator of this realm; with a single thought, he could control all Dao, and with a single glance, he could survey the past and present. Heaven and earth were laid out before him like a scroll, waiting for him to take up the brush and paint.

Achieving Soul Transformation and wielding all Dao and laws was the limit of what could be reached within this "scroll"; it was true supremacy and eternal freedom.

However, after learning of the path of "reducing to emptiness" and knowing of the potentially vast and boundless "existence" that might exist outside the "scroll," this supreme authority and eternal freedom he had just ascended to—which would have intoxicated any life—seemed... no longer so intoxicating.

It was like a painter who had just learned to appreciate a peerless masterpiece; while marveling at the exquisite nature of the painting itself and rejoicing in his ability to take up the brush and modify it, he was suddenly told that outside this painting, there existed an even broader, real world filled with countless unknowns and possibilities.

And that unimaginable "existence" who had painted this masterpiece before him, and even painted more unknown scrolls, might be right there.

"Transcendence..."

Xu Yuan gently closed his eyes, feeling an unprecedentedly close connection between himself and this "scroll of heaven and earth."

All Dao flowed through his heart, the fates of all living beings lay within a single thought of his, and the long river of time wound before his eyes.

This feeling of controlling everything and becoming the Incarnation of Heavenly Dao—this "omniscience and omnipotence"—was enough to make anyone with a weak will lose themselves completely, sinking into this supreme authority and never again thinking of things outside the "scroll."

But Xu Yuan's heart was as calm as an ancient, deep pool.

The faint yet fundamentally high-level legacy of "Reincarnation" and "point-adding" left behind by those two predecessors had long since merged with his Soul and Dao Body. Subtly, it seemed to give him a perspective naturally a cut above those ancient Soul Transformation experts who had cultivated in this realm for endless years and were already deeply bound to every inch of the "scroll," unable to let go.

"It truly makes one... yearn."

He whispered to himself, and in his calm tone, a faint, barely perceptible ripple finally emerged.

It was a longing for the exploration of the unknown, curiosity about higher dimensions, and a yearning for "true great freedom and great liberation."

Compared to those ancient Soul Transformation experts who had been immersed in the "scroll" for countless epochs, having long since become intertwined with the "scroll" itself—where they were in it and it was in them, their Origin of Dao and brand of existence deeply carved into every texture of the "scroll"—he, Xu Yuan, undoubtedly possessed a huge, incomparable advantage—

He was "young," and his "binding" to this world was still shallow!

He was not native to this realm; he had come through Transmigration carrying the "legacy," and his true spirit Origin inherently carried a trace of an indescribable "variable" attribute from outside the "scroll."

He had been cultivating until now, all told, for only a few hundred years!

This amount of time, in the eyes of Soul Transformation experts who measured time in epochs, was but a snap of the fingers.

Although he had ascended to Soul Transformation, wielded all Dao, and been crowned by heaven and earth, all of this was more like a "passive" acceptance and Fusion, the result of the combined effects of his "Chaos Dao Body" and the "worship of all Dao."

His connection to this "scroll" of heaven and earth was certainly incomparably close due to his ascension to Soul Transformation and his control over all Dao, but this closeness was more a matter of "authority" and "status," something "external."

But like those ancient Soul Transformation experts who had cultivated, realized the Dao, controlled, and managed this realm for endless years, their "Dao," their "existence," and their "Karma" were already deeply entangled with the underlying rules, historical threads, the beliefs of all living beings, and even the material Foundations of the "scroll," like the roots of a thousand-year-old tree, long since merged with the earth, difficult to distinguish from one another.

For them to want to "reduce to emptiness" was like trying to pull this towering tree, which had grown for endless years, out of the earth completely without damaging its roots; the difficulty was almost unimaginable.

Every thread of connection stripped away could be a shaking of their own Foundation, potentially triggering backlash from the "scroll" itself, and the risk of failure was despairingly high.

But Xu Yuan was different.

His "tree" had only just "taken root" in this realm a few hundred years ago.

Although the roots had gone deep, they were far from reaching the level of complete symbiosis with the earth, where one could not tell where he ended and the earth began.

The "threads" of his "binding" to this realm, while becoming extremely tough due to his Soul Transformation, were relatively few in number, and the structure was relatively clear.

More importantly, his "Chaos Dao Body" inherently possessed the characteristic of accommodating all rivers while remaining a Chaos unto itself, naturally carrying a latent trait of "encompassing everything while remaining independent."

The legacy of "Reincarnation" and "point-adding" were, moreover, fragments of authority related to the deep rules of the "scroll" that the two predecessors had stripped away during the process of "reducing," and they inherently carried the characteristics of "simplifying operations," "targeted modification," and even, to a certain extent, "bypassing certain inherent rules."

All of these invisibly weakened—or rather, ensured that—his "binding" to the "scroll" of this realm was not the kind that was deep-rooted and unshakable.

"The sooner I attempt it, while my binding to this realm is still shallow, the fewer 'Impurities' and 'entanglements' I will need to strip away during the 'reduction,' and the resistance and backlash I face will be relatively smaller, making the possibility of success... all the greater."

Xu Yuan's thoughts flashed like lightning, and in an instant, he had weighed the pros and cons.

This was a simple logic: a new brushstroke on a blank sheet of paper is naturally much easier to erase than a key feature on an ancient painting that has long been completed, with layered colors and blended brushstrokes, and the damage to the painting as a whole is also much smaller.

Perhaps it was precisely because those ancient Soul Transformation experts were too deeply bound to the "scroll" and had too many entanglements that, even though they knew "reducing to emptiness" was a possibility for further advancement, they dared not try it easily, or if they did try, because pulling one hair affected the whole body, they ultimately failed, faded into nothingness, and left behind only a few traces.

And he, Xu Yuan, was uniquely gifted. With the "legacy" as his Foundation, the "Chaos Dao Body" as his boat, and his "few hundred years of shallow binding" as his opportunity, the moment he ascended to Soul Transformation, he stood at a starting point that could be called "uniquely gifted" for "reducing to emptiness."

This moment was perhaps the best time for him to attempt "reducing" and take the first step toward that realm of "transcending the universe and wandering boundlessly," perhaps even the only "golden opportunity" with an extremely short window.

If he missed it, as he continued to exist as a Soul Transformation expert of this realm, his ties to the "scroll" would only become deeper and more complex. If he wanted to "reduce" then, the difficulty would increase exponentially, and the hope of success would become increasingly slim.

Xu Yuan slowly opened his eyes.