The Dao at My Feet

Though no longer than half a thumb, the severed arm—lacking a forearm but with the upper arm perfectly intact—weighed as heavily as Mount Tai in Xiao Chen's heart.

Without the slightest ripple of energy or shred of sacred power, the arm silently merged into Xiao Chen's body. A crisp clang rang out, like two magnets drawn together by fate, as it fused with the broken stone man within him.

Though fragmentary, the stone leg and stone arm were now connected by a hazy radiance. The missing parts were filled in by light like rippling water. A stone man sat silently within Xiao Chen's body.

A multicolored butterfly fluttered down, scattering a few gentle beams of light. Zhuangzi, far from the battlefield, descended from the sky, his wings trembling softly as he approached Xiao Chen.

As if in a dream, Xiao Chen gazed upon this legendary sage of unparalleled brilliance, a man whose talent could look down upon the ages. It felt unreal.

He was standing so close to Zhuangzi.

Ripples spread, and Xiao Chen realized that the ruins before him had vanished. The vast grasslands were gone. He stood alone in the void with only the butterfly.

"What is the Dao?"

A voice devoid of emotion sounded in Xiao Chen's ear.

Xiao Chen knew that this Perfected Man, who infinitely approached the Ancestral God in spiritual depth, was asking him. Without overthinking, he answered honestly: "Nameless, the beginning of Heaven and Earth."

The butterfly gently flapped its wings, its cold voice clear in the void: "Is that so?"

"The Nameless is called the Dao. The Dao is formless, therefore it cannot be named. The beginning is the root of the Dao. It breathes forth and transforms, emerging from nothingness, the origin of Heaven and Earth."

"Do you truly understand the Dao? Is that your Dao?"

Faced with this question, Xiao Chen had no reply. He was silent for a moment before opening his mouth: "This..."

"Heaven and Earth were born together with me, and the ten thousand things are one with me. And you?" Zhuangzi was utterly calm.

Zhuangzi was the one closest to the Ancestral God in spiritual realm. He seemed to be intentionally guiding.

Xiao Chen quickly calmed himself, pondering in silence.

But Zhuangzi's realm was too ethereal. Xiao Chen could not grasp it.

Just then, the indifferent voice came again: "Where is the Dao?"

Xiao Chen felt as if he had fallen into an abyss, trapped in a dark world with not a single ray of light to catch. His spirit was dazed.

High above in the sky, the Four Execution Swords, the Seven Treasures Tree, Allah's great hand, and the Martial Saint Sun Wu had already sunk into a region of chaos. The fluctuations there were terrifying; a single drop of chaotic power that splattered out could shatter a group of cultivators.

But the four peerless experts did not wish to cause slaughter. They sealed that space, confining the world-destroying power within the chaos they had opened.

Below them, cultivators fought fiercely over a dozen rare treasures. Though the power was not comparable to that of the four great cultivators, the brutality was no less.

Chi, the legendary son of the dragon, shaped like a jackal, his black scales gleaming with a cold light. Blood mist swirled around him as he charged among several fallen angels.

Fallen angels were born with formidable combat power. Once they reached adulthood, they possessed at least demigod-level cultivation, and were worshipped as gods by some weaker races. Their black wings spread, stirring up endless nether mist, turning the sky pitch-black.

"Roar!" A thunderous cry shook heaven and earth. Though Chi's body was enormous, his speed grew faster and faster, until he transformed into a streak of blood light.

His ten-zhang beast body swept through several fallen angels like a blood blade. With a few wet thuds, blood sprayed. The bloodthirsty Chi cut through two fallen angels, black feathers flying, blood blossoms scattering. A mist of blood hung in the sky.

On the other side, five-colored divine light blazed. Kong Xuan had not even manifested his true form; hidden within the light, he swept through a host of cultivators. He was far more fearsome than the savage Chi. The five-colored divine light was like a shredder, pulverizing every cultivator in its path. None could stop him.

As if venting his discontent at being unable to contend for the Ancestral God's supreme treasures, he struck without mercy. Whoosh! In a flash, Kong Xuan appeared beside a thirty-meter-long winged dragon. The five colors—cyan, yellow, red, black, white—swept across. A heaven-shaking scream tore through the sky.

Dragon scales shattered and flew through the air. Blood surged like waves, staining the vault of heaven. The winged dragon's colossal body burst apart in an instant. Its enormous dragon head, bearing an unwilling expression, plummeted from the heights.

A mighty winged dragon had been slain in a single instant.

Kong Xuan, such a demon of slaughter, made all cultivators dodge and flee. No one dared approach him.

In the sky, sword qi crisscrossed, blood flowed freely. The rare treasures that had appeared in the Ancestral God's palace drove many cultivators to fight to the death. The heavens blazed with killing intent.

Even those on the ground were stirred. Tens of thousands of people looked up at the sky, but lacking cultivation, they could not ascend to contend. Finally, many cultivators began to sift through the ruins that had fallen from the sky, hoping to find something valuable.

Far off in the heavens, the handsome Tongtian Jiaozhu stood on a divine island and sighed helplessly. Facing both the Seven Treasures Tree and Allah at the same time, even he could not hold out. Now that the Martial Saint Sun Wu, with his unparalleled soul force, had joined the fray, he was even more outmatched. He considered unleashing the formation diagram that paired with the Four Execution Swords, but aware that unknown experts might still be lurking in the shadows, he decided to withdraw. Obtaining two supreme treasures was enough.

Over the ruins, the Immortal-Slaying Sword and the Absolute-Slaying Sword vibrated violently, finally blasting away the stone dagger they had sealed. The Martial Saint roared, tearing through chaos, and charged on his heavenly steed to grasp the stone dagger. The Seven Treasures Tree and Allah's great hand were not far behind.

The Four Execution Swords guarded the stone sphere, their chaotic sword qi shattering the sky and carving a tunnel through the chaos to the distant heavens. In an instant, they vanished. The Seven Treasures Tree wanted to block them but ultimately gave up. Tongtian Jiaozhu was not one to provoke easily; if pressed to leave both treasures, he would surely cause chaos.

The three mighty ones fought over the stone dagger in the chaos, the battle growing even more intense.

In the unknown void, Xiao Chen still stood woodenly.

"Where is your Dao?" The voice was cold, devoid of emotion, resounding through the void once more.

"My Dao... lies ahead. It must be explored." Xiao Chen was deep in thought. The Yellow River Divine Stele, the Dragon Island Divine Stele—both had once recorded the Mark of the Dao. The elders in the Pure Land had also expounded different 'Daos' to him. But they were all ethereal, seeming to lie in the distance, hard to grasp.

The butterfly fluttered, its nearly translucent wings stirring ripples, as if the void itself shattered. A bolt of spiritual light pierced the mist of darkness.

Xiao Chen seemed to awaken somewhat. "The Dao lies ahead. I simply need to advance."

Zhuangzi sighed. This made Xiao Chen waver again. "The Dao lies behind, a single turn away." He recalled the several times he had entered that empty, numinous state, where he felt merged with the Dao, one with Heaven and Earth. That mysterious, ineffable sensation—if he could look back and see it clearly, it seemed he would grasp the essence.

"Where, then, is your Dao?" Zhuangzi asked again.

This time, Xiao Chen seemed truly fully awakened. He fell into a long silence. At last, he spoke: "The Dao is beneath my feet. The road I have walked is the Dao."

His tone was utterly firm, as if he had completely shattered the fog in his heart. He knew how to proceed from now on.

"Very good. Is there more?"

Xiao Chen's gaze grew even more resolute. "The Dao is in you. To tread across you is to enter the Dao."

Zhuangzi's laughter rang out. He did not oppose Xiao Chen's 'Dao.' "When sages do not die, great robbers do not cease." He himself had once spoken such world-shaking words. To establish norms of conduct for the world and become models for humanity—this had become a shackling force. "Heaven-born sages, models for the world" needed to be broken to clear the path.

The butterfly fluttered, gently beating its wings. The void shattered, and Zhuangzi vanished.

Xiao Chen found himself once again standing amid the ruins on the ground, his gaze fixed firmly into the distance. This sudden enlightenment gave him extraordinary insight. He understood his future path.

He stood motionless, seeming to merge into Heaven and Earth. The sounds of slaughter above seemed to fade away. The tens of thousands of cultivators on the ground seemed to disappear. In this world, only he remained.

His spirit roamed beyond the heavens. He seemed to stand above the heights, looking down. A great roaring river rolled by, turbid yellow water surging for a thousand li. An ancient stele appeared and disappeared amid the waves, rising and sinking.

An isolated island stood alone in the middle of the sea. Dragons roared without ceasing. A dead city flickered in and out of view as an ancient stele slowly rose from within it.

The Heavenly Diagram of the Ancient Stele appeared in Xiao Chen's heart. The Profound Art began to circulate on its own. A mysterious, ineffable realization dawned in his sea of consciousness. At the same time, his nine divine acupoints blazed with incomparable brilliance. Streams of life essence surged forth, flowing through his limbs and hundred meridians.

The divinized acupoints were connected by blinding beams of light. Divine meridians were being forged. Life essence gushed like a spring, watering Xiao Chen's nearly withered body.

As if receiving a baptism of life, Xiao Chen's five viscera and six bowels, his limbs and hundred veins, his bones, every inch of his skin and flesh were moistened by life essence.

It was like a life-giving river flowing through a barren desert, irrigating it with abandon.

The cultivation that had stagnated for over two years now burst forth like a breached dam, rushing upward with sudden, violent force.

Break! Break! Break!

Breaking through again and again, he continuously advanced. Divine meridians manifested. The life essence within his flesh and blood grew exuberant beyond measure.

The void left by two hundred years of lost life was completely filled by the essence surging from his divine acupoints.

In that moment, Xiao Chen clearly heard the sound of something cracking inside him, as if a barrier had been shattered.

In an instant, he leaped from the Third Heaven of the Spirit-Treasury realm, breaking through three barriers in succession to ascend directly to the Sixth Heaven of the Spirit-Treasury.