303: Chapter 304 The Heavenly Dao's Self-Salvation Plan!

In the Saint Realm, people like Lin Mo and Ye Yun were not few in number.

Some were originally just mortals, but one day they woke up with a memory in their minds that didn't belong to them.

It was information from another world and another era.

They were called Demons from Beyond the Heavens, who had taken over the bodies of people in the Saint Realm with the same name through Possession, quietly integrating into this world with the knowledge and thinking of another world.

Others were those who had failed in Undergoing Tribulation and perished in the future, yet for some reason, their Divine Souls had returned to the time before the Heaven and Earth Boundless Great Tribulation to live another life through Rebirth.

They carried memories of the future, knowing the direction of the tribulation, and understanding who would rise and fall at what time.

Each of these people had their own "cheats."

Some had something called a System bound to their Divine Souls; as long as they completed designated tasks, they could obtain cultivation, Cultivation Techniques, Spirit Treasures, and even come back from the dead.

Others had experienced an Awakening of some extraordinary talent, with a Cultivation speed far exceeding ordinary people, or the ability to see through others' Luck and find hidden Opportunities.

For a time, undercurrents surged within the Saint Realm.

Those Reborn were cautious, not daring to expose the fact that they knew the future.

Those Transmigrators struggled and worked hard to establish a foothold in this unfamiliar world.

If this had happened in the past, it might have just been an occasional individual case in the world.

But now, with so many anomalies emerging at once, one couldn't help but ponder deeply.

It was as if an invisible giant hand was frantically manipulating the threads of fate behind the scenes.

It was as if this world was desperately trying to save itself.

That's right, all of this was the work of the Heavenly Dao.

The Heavenly Dao has existed since the creation of heaven and earth.

It is not a person, nor a god.

It is an order, a rule, a power that transcends the understanding of all living beings.

It governs the operation of All Heavens and Myriad Worlds, balances Yin and Yang and the Five Elements, and adjudicates Karma and Reincarnation.

Once upon a time, how vast was the authority of the Heavenly Dao.

The Saint Realm and the Immortal Realm, these two twin Major Thousand Worlds, were its core territories.

Three thousand Middle Thousand Worlds surrounded them like stars around the moon, and countless Minor Thousand Worlds dotted the sides like a galaxy of stars.

All things and all matters were under the gaze of the Heavenly Dao.

Every sip and every bite was predetermined.

Every life and every death was decided by the heavens.

But now, the Immortal Realm is gone.

The three thousand Middle Thousand Worlds are gone.

Those vast lands that once belonged to the jurisdiction of the Heavenly Dao completely disappeared from its perception overnight.

As if they had never existed.

The Heavenly Dao did not know what kind of existence that space was.

It could only feel that its authority was being swallowed bit by bit by some mysterious power.

First the Immortal Realm, then those Middle Thousand Worlds.

Every instance of being swallowed caused its range of perception to shrink and its power to diminish.

Now, it only had the Saint Realm and those insignificant Small Thousand Mortal Realms left.

The Heavenly Dao was afraid.

It wasn't the kind of fear a Cultivator feels when facing a powerful enemy, but a more fundamental panic rooted in the instinct of existence.

It feared that one day, it would be swallowed whole, just like the Immortal Realm.

At that time, it would disappear.

Death at least means having once existed.

But its disappearance would be complete annihilation; even the concept of its existence would be erased.

Speaking of which, the Heavenly Dao's current disaster was somewhat self-inflicted.

A long, long time ago, in order to promote the development of All Heavens and Myriad Worlds and encourage healthy competition, it would occasionally draw some Demons from Beyond the Heavens from outside other worlds into its own.

Those people brought knowledge, concepts, and thinking patterns from another world, which were completely different from the creatures of this world.

Their arrival indeed injected fresh blood into this world and brought unprecedented vitality.

Many innovations in Cultivation Techniques, institutional reforms, and civilizational leaps were inseparable from the push of those Demons from Beyond the Heavens.

But it never imagined that among those Demons from Beyond the Heavens, one of them would actually grow to such a terrifying extent.

And began to swallow it in return.

The Heavenly Dao had also tried to remedy the situation.

It went back in time, trying to return to when that Devourer was at their weakest, attempting to kill them in the cradle before their wings were fully grown.

But it couldn't find them.

That person seemed not to exist within the river of time.

No matter how it traced back or investigated, it could not find any trace of the other party.

Even anything related to that person.

His relatives and friends, his footsteps, the Karma he left behind.

All were obscured by an invisible barrier that the Heavenly Dao could not touch.

The Heavenly Dao could feel that person existed somewhere, slowly eroding its authority.

But it simply couldn't find them.

It was as if that person's existence itself was a negation of the Heavenly Dao.

If it could start over, the Heavenly Dao swore it would never again court death by bringing any Demons from Beyond the Heavens into any of its Major or Minor Thousand Worlds.

Not a single one would be brought in.

To hell with healthy competition and civilizational development.

Wouldn't it be better to live a steady and peaceful life?

But now, it was too late for regrets.

What's done is done; spilled water cannot be recovered.

That Devourer had already grown to a point where even the Heavenly Dao was helpless.

All it could do was one last thing—save itself.

Therefore, the Heavenly Dao began to frantically extend invisible tentacles beyond All Heavens and Myriad Worlds, constantly drawing Demons from Beyond the Heavens from other worlds.

It constantly sent those with great Luck who had fallen in the future back to the present.

Reborn ones, Transmigrators, System Holders.

It accepted them all.

The more, the better.

The Heavenly Dao wasn't afraid of them causing trouble.

It was afraid they wouldn't cause trouble.

The Reborn carry memories of the future and will disrupt the established lines of fate.

Transmigrators bring the thinking of other worlds and will break the inherent patterns.

System Holders are even more lawless; who knows what they will do.

The more these variables, the more chaotic the situation becomes.

The more chaotic the situation, the more difficult it will be for that Devourer to smoothly swallow the Saint Realm.

Perhaps among these variables, someone will be able to check the footsteps of that Devourer.

Perhaps someone will grow to a point where they can contend with that mysterious existence.

Perhaps someone will block this tribulation for the Heavenly Dao.

Or perhaps, these variables mixing together will produce some changes that even the Heavenly Dao cannot predict.

But variables mean hope.

Even if that hope is as faint as a candle in the wind, it is better than waiting for death.

The Heavenly Dao does not seek to defeat that Devourer.

It only seeks—to survive.

Even if it must pay the price of the entire Saint Realm becoming a battlefield.

Even if it must push countless living beings into the abyss of tribulation.

It doesn't care.

Because the Heavenly Dao has never been benevolent.

It is order, it is rules, it is the underlying logic of the world's operation.

Order is indifferent to good and evil; rules are indifferent to mercy.

All actions of the Heavenly Dao, in the final analysis, are only to maintain its own existence.

Nothing more.