The Seven Ironclads held their breath in rapt attention, listening to the old geezer boast.
"In the primordial age, there were immortals and gods in this world, born directly from heaven and earth. These deities fed upon all living things; they devoured the very world itself."
"Countless ancient creatures existed—dragons, phoenixes, taoties... They multiplied and thrived, standing at the absolute pinnacle of the mortal realm, yet they were nothing more than mere rations for these supreme beings."
"Naturally, where there are predators who feed on the world, there are also those who refuse to be treated as mere livestock.
The ancients studied the strengths of the immortals and gods, cultivating to transform their own vessels into immortal bodies. This was the true origin of shape-shifting."
"From that era onward, the legacy was passed down generation after generation. Today, all intelligent beings in the world possess human forms, but in reality, they are walking in immortal forms."
Li Yundou furrowed his heavy brows, tapping his chin thoughtfully.
His surprisingly clever brain started turning the gears. "So, I'm a beast?"
"Humans are the transformed descendants of ancient beasts; they no longer need to undergo shape-shifting to become immortals.
They possess those ancient inheritances dormant within their bloodlines. If you choose to understand it that way, then yes, what you said is technically correct."
Ancestor Lan nodded in deep gratification, silently praising himself as the greatest teacher in the world. Just look—a blockhead had finally managed to comprehend his own beastly nature.
Seeing the Seven Ironclads rendered utterly speechless.
Ancestor Lan continued calmly, "Passed down through the ages, humans adapted the methods of the immortals and gods to create Dao methods, seizing the world's rules and karmic luck from the deities, thereby gaining the power to resist them."
"Over tens of millions of years of honing this inheritance, some mastered the Three Thousand Great Daos to reach the Body Integration realm, rendering them capable of matching the terrifying strength of true immortals."
"Some fully integrated the Dao into their flesh, shattering illusions and breaking the laws of immortals with brute force."
"This continued until the Twin Emperors descended upon the world. The Twin Emperors fought the Immortal Emperor, decisively ending the primordial era of immortals and gods."
"Later, however, the Twin Emperors fractured into warring factions, plunging the realm into a great war that shattered the ultimate authority and divided the Emperor thrones into twenty-four."
Li Yundou suddenly sensed something was terribly off-topic and raised a massive hand. "Hold on. I asked why you lured enemies to our Southern Frontier. Why are you rambling about all this ancient history?"
In truth, they vaguely recalled hearing this story before; it was a profound secret their Fourth Aunt had unearthed from the God-Hunting Village.
"At that time, everyone in the world knew that the catastrophic war between the two Great Emperors was maliciously instigated by their own subordinates."
Ancestor Lan smiled bitterly.
"Even after driving away the old rulers, a new batch of tyrants would inevitably emerge. The people of the world began seeking a true method of salvation. In the final analysis, absolute strength is the only key."
"Thus arose the Human Emperor and the Dao Ancestor."
"Human Emperor, Dao Ancestor?" Li Yundou froze in sheer bewilderment.
"The Human Emperor governs the Great Emperors of the world, but relying solely on his martial might is not enough." Ancestor Lan took a long, deep breath.
"The Dao Ancestor, conversely, gathers the Great Daos of the world into himself, vastly restricting the number of people who can attain the Great Dao; otherwise, even the mighty Human Emperor wouldn't be able to suppress the resulting chaos."
"Wait, you are the Dao Ancestor?"
Li Yundou's eyes bulged. This smut-peddling old geezer was actually an existence on equal footing with the Human Emperor?
"The mantle of the Dao Ancestor is passed down through generations." Ancestor Lan furrowed his brows, a heavy shadow crossing his youthful face. "This old man is merely the third generation."
"What happened to the previous two generations?"
"Dead." Ancestor Lan's gaze turned chillingly cold.
"Just like what is happening now. The Empress believes that my existence unjustly hoards the Great Daos of the world.
By killing me, she will allow the Imperial Dynasty's numerous reclusive Void Refinement experts to finally break through to the Body Integration Great Dao, weaponizing them to conquer the world."
"Damn it!" No matter how incredibly dense Li Yundou's brain was, even he completely understood the severity of the situation now.
Gritting his teeth, he asked, "Now that the Blood Moon is coming, and those hidden experts might soon emerge, do you have a backup plan, old geezer?"
"I do."
Li Yundou felt a brief wave of relief wash over him. Beside him, however, Li Yunzai forcefully nudged his ribs with an elbow.
"Huh?" Li Yundou froze for a moment and followed the direction Li Yunzai was discreetly pointing.
A massive travel bundle was already hanging inconspicuously from a nearby tree. As the mountain wind blew, the bundle jingled with packed treasures.
What an absolute animal.
...
[Your descendant Li Yaozu learned that the Sword Ancestor resides in the Sword Pavilion, reigning as the sole supreme figure of the Sword Dao, thereby rendering the path of the Sword Dao utterly hopeless for others.]
[A true swordsman contemplates principles and wholly refuses to be bound. Consequently, he halted his pursuit of the ultimate Sword Dao and stubbornly settled for the next best thing.
Spending years guarding outside the Grotto-Heavens where his clansmen cultivated, he silently sensed the flowing rules of heaven and earth, gradually gaining profound enlightenment.]
This year, Li Yaozu sat serenely beneath the Old Tree, probing the depths of his Dao path once again.
At nine hundred years of age, the most righteous-looking figure within the entire Li family was undeniably Li Yaozu.
He habitually wore stark black or pristine white robes, and combined with the heavy sword box strapped to his back, he looked exactly like an open, honorable, and peerless swordsman.
With his forward progress on the Sword Dao reaching a dead end and the clan's myriad tasks left to the capable younger generation, he had also inadvertently become one of the most leisurely individuals in the family.
"Old Tree, help me read an omen."
A clear, refreshing breeze blew past, and Li Yaozu let out a long, heavy breath.
The ancient Old Tree possessed another mystical ability: 'Omen', a divine art capable of peering into both the past and the elusive future.
Back in the turbulent early days, many children in the family had viewed their impending futures upon the Old Tree, and tragically, very few had survived. Thus, this method had become a strict taboo.
Now that the family was growing increasingly powerful, Yaowen had said that the world operates on strict cycles of karma; forcefully peeking into the future ultimately severs many of that future's infinite possibilities.
There were very few who could successfully walk out alive from a foreseen destiny.
Tianyi, Tianqi, Tianming, Kuanghua, Kuangren—they were absolute top-tier anomalies in the world who could forcefully step outside the bounds of fate, yet even they still required Yaowen to constantly shield their tracks with destiny arts.
As for the Seven Ironclads... they were neither human, nor Wu, nor demon, nor monster. Theoretically speaking, they were entities that should already be dead.
But last year, when his seven brutish nephews had returned from the immortal sect, cursing and swearing up a storm, Tianqi had immediately ventured to the Western Frontier to take a measurement.
By the time the encroaching Blood Moon finally reached the Southern Frontier, it would roughly coincide with the time the Human Emperor was fated to die—a mere three hundred years.
Who cared about whether they would personally die or not; there was simply no telling what catastrophic horrors they would encounter when that fateful time finally arrived.
He was the sharpest sword of the Li family, but over these past few centuries of stagnation, he found that his edge had grown terribly dull.
The gnarled human face on the bark of the Old Tree slowly opened its eyes, staring at Li Yaozu for a long, silent moment. If it used its precious Spiritual power for this, Dalong would undoubtedly scold it.
Fang Linglong, idly swinging her ethereal legs inside the dark confines of the sword box, murmured softly,
"Destiny arts are the physical manifestation of heavenly principles; those who touch them bind themselves to their heavenly fate for their entire lives.
This Ancient Tree of Delusion Breaking, when viewed through the lens of Dao methods—just who bestowed such a thing upon it?"
Puzzled, she immediately looked up toward the heavens.
With swirling black mist gathering in her eyes, her Dharma gaze pierced the veil, revealing a dense net of red silk threads woven tightly over Azure Cloud Prefecture, and faintly, the majestic projection of a soul fiercely guarding the region within its swirling karmic luck.
A sudden flash of profound realization passed through Fang Linglong's spectral eyes.
"I heard that the fourth child of the Li family voraciously read books from a young age, walked the mortal world, and successfully endured the Five Decays of Heaven and Human.
The delusion breaking isn't the Old Tree breaking the world's illusions at all; it's the fourth child breaking those illusions. The Old Tree is merely acting as his rooted medium."
"Those who daringly cultivate the destiny arts of karma can never have a peaceful journey, nor can they ever meet a good end.
Even almighty gods and immortals rarely dare to touch it. Even Huang Xiujin of your Li family no longer dares to brush against those threads."
"Sigh."
A solitary red leaf drifted down, landing softly upon the wooden sword box.
Fang Linglong had suddenly heard that phantom sigh, unable to pinpoint where it originated from. She froze for a moment, then, seeing the Old Tree visibly hesitating, she smiled warmly at Li Yaozu.
"Ah Zu, don't make things difficult for the poor tree. You once wielded your sword and walked the length of the world unhindered.
In the past, you challenged swordsmen all over the world to ask for their swords, walking all the way to the Northern Frontier and treading across the desolate snowy plains.
Three hundred years is an incredibly long time; why not try walking that path once more?"
"Walk it once more?" Li Yaozu furrowed his brows, not entirely understanding.
"Yes, walk it once more. You once caught the drifting snowflakes of the northern region, and you observed that every single snowflake was fundamentally different.
The current you is also no longer the past you. You stand at the Void Refinement realm, have witnessed far more of creation, and understand the intricacies of the world better.
Why not use your current, elevated state of mind to transmit the sword, whilst battling the remaining swordsmen of the world all over again?"
"Alright." Li Yaozu focused his mind, a sharp gleam returning to his eyes. "Many years have passed; I do wonder if their spatial rings have grown plump and heavy."