181: Chapter 181 A Frog in a Well

The silence of the Eternal Graveyard was so heavy that even Souls would drown in it.

The faint sounds that had previously drifted through the air—the suppressed gasps of the Cultivators, the rustle of silk robes, the soft patter of dust falling on withered bones, even the drum-like beating of one's own heart—were now all tightly gripped by an invisible, icy hand, choking the very throat of the silence.

The wind, carrying a bone-chilling cold from the ages, rushed forth, but the moment it touched the space within three feet of the black-robed figure in the center, it struck an invisible wall, instantly freezing and dissipating into nothingness.

Even the pale, withered bones, which had been swept up by the gale and had existed for who knows how many years, hung eerily in mid-air, maintaining their tumbling, flying postures; it was as if they were an ink painting from which time had been instantly drained, forever nailed into the void of time, transformed into a chilling, silent ukiyo-e.

Every Cultivator present, friend or foe, near or far, regardless of their cultivation level, stood stiffly in place like frozen Puppets, unable to Move a muscle.

Their bones felt as if they had rusted, their flesh as if it had turned to ice; only their eyes, widened to the limit, could struggle to Move, turning their gazes into bundles of venomous needles quenched in ice and fear, pinning them tightly, firmly, onto the figure in the center who stood tall like a solitary Peak.

In those gazes, the initial scrutiny, contempt, or calculation were long gone—there remained only the purest panic, the deepest bewilderment, and... a terror sufficient to freeze the Soul after one's perception was completely overturned and one's faith ripped out by the roots!

A Golden Core Realm Cultivator, could actually be this formidable?! This thought, like a curse, gnawed at everyone's Dao Heart.

They had once believed that the word "Prodigy" meant being invincible among one's peers, meant that a Foundation Establishment Stage Cultivator could slay a Golden Core Realm one, and a Golden Core Realm Cultivator could challenge a Nascent Soul Realm one across levels; it was synonymous with breaking conventions.

They had firmly believed that the cultivation Realms verified and clearly divided by countless sages and mighty figures—Foundation Establishment, Golden Core, Nascent Soul, Soul Transformation...—were the iron-cast ladder for climbing the Dao and leading to immortality, the only yardstick for measuring all strength, with strict barriers that could not be crossed.

But the scene just now, that display of playing with three top-tier Prodigies in the palm of his hand with such casual ease, causing them to collapse and vomit blood while chatting and laughing—it ruthlessly, brutally, and completely... ground into dust the perceptions they had held as the standard of cultivation and the ultimate truth of heaven and earth for decades, or even centuries!

Not a single remnant was left.

Xuanyuan Zhanxian slowly withdrew the palm he had extended, his movements as gentle as brushing a newly fallen snowflake from his black robes, untainted by even a trace of worldly dust.

Behind him, the black and white Taiji Diagram—which had once reflected heaven and earth, devoured all techniques, and caused the desperate combined attack of the three Prodigies to pale into insignificance—followed the retraction of his palm, its brilliance receding layer by layer like moonlight during an ebb tide.

In the end, it transformed back into that initial wisp of slender, agile, black and white Qi that seemed as if it might break and dissipate at any moment, like two living spirit snakes, coiling docilely back around his fingertips, flowing leisurely, flickering uncertainly.

This aura was as faint as a breath of hot air exhaled by a Mortal, ready to be blown away into nothingness by the eternal cold wind of this graveyard in the next instant.

Compared to the earth-shattering, heaven-reversing, awe-inspiring Dao might that had just caused heaven and earth to lose their color, it was like the difference between clouds and mud, a world apart.

In a daze, it even made one wonder if that terrifying scene of reversing everything and crushing the Prodigies was merely a collective dream, a bizarre collective hysteria born from excessive fear.

His gaze, calm as an ancient well or a deep pool, without a single ripple, slowly swept across the entire scene.

That gaze was indifferent, ethereal, as if he were not observing a group of living, decently powerful Cultivators, but rather browsing through an insignificant, already frozen landscape.

His gaze first swept over the three Prodigies lying on the ground in the distance, in a wretched state—Fentian was slumped in the pile of shattered bones, crimson blood continuously trickling from the corner of his mouth, his once unyielding, flame-surging body now sinking limply into the bone fragments, like a broken skin bag from which all bones and Soul had been extracted.

Lei Potian's arms were twisted, and he lay on his back, his chest heaving violently, every gasp accompanied by bloody froth; those copper-bell-sized eyes that had once flashed with thunder and arrogance now held only distraction and bewilderment, staring fixedly at the gray sky.

Senior Young Master Yu Qingxuan knelt on one knee, using his sword to support himself; his stunning face was as pale as snow, the blood at the corners of his lips not yet dry, his cold and aloof temperament completely gone, replaced by a precarious weakness and a defeat that had seeped into his bones; his ice-blue longsword was stuck diagonally in the ground, and the cracks on its blade appeared particularly glaring in the dim light.

His gaze then swept past Second Prince Wu Yuanchen, who was under the distant ruins, looking pale and like a bird startled by the mere twang of a bow—this prince who had once been ambitious and thought highly of himself now had his fists tightly clenched, his knuckles squeezed white and devoid of blood, the veins on the backs of his hands bulging like twisted, struggling green earthworms, extending all the way to his convulsing arms.

Veins were also throbbing wildly on his temples, his breathing so suppressed it was nearly suffocating, his chest heaving weakly, as if his heart might stop beating entirely from excessive terror the next second; he was biting his lower lip so hard he had even drawn blood, yet he was completely unaware, merely staring fixedly at the center of the scene with bloodshot eyes that seemed about to burst from their sockets.

Finally, that gaze, calm enough to be heart-palpitating, like an invisible yet incomparably heavy shackle, traversed the space and landed steadily, irresistibly, upon Li Chengsi, who had remained still and watched from the sidelines from beginning to end.

This Cultivator, known for his intelligence and deductions, who had always maintained the last shred of composure and grace, now had no trace of that calmness on his face, replaced instead by a gloominess so heavy it could be wrung out like water; his jawline was taut like a fully drawn bowstring, his lips pressed into a bloodless straight line; even the wide sleeves hanging by his sides, which should have swayed gently in the wind, were now trembling uncontrollably and minutely, exposing the fact that the owner's heart was far from the calmness shown on the surface.

"Now..." Xuanyuan Zhanxian's voice finally sounded again.

There was no deliberate raising of volume, no fluctuation of emotion; it was even a few shades flatter than before.

Yet, this flat voice was like a stone made of ten-thousand-year black ice falling from the Nine Heavens, smashing hard into the heart-lakes of everyone that had already solidified and frozen.

"Did you see clearly?"

"Thump-thud!" The sound of a heart skipping a beat, incomparably clear, seemed to explode simultaneously within everyone's chest.

Li Chengsi's Adam's apple rolled up and down uncontrollably and violently, emitting a dry swallowing sound that seemed particularly abrupt and harsh in the absolute silence.

"Gulp..."

He had seen clearly.

He had seen it more clearly and in more detail than anyone else present, and because of that—he was more... desperate than anyone else.

In that lightning-fast moment of life and death, Fentian's World-Burning Purple Flames, Lei Potian's Heaven-Collapsing Thunder Fist, and Senior Young Master Yu Qingxuan's Fatal Sword Net—the killing Moves of the three Prodigies had erupted simultaneously, Spiritual Qi surging like a breached flood, Dao techniques roaring like the collapse of heaven and earth, the destructive energy weaving into a death zone.

Yet Xuanyuan Zhanxian had only lifted his hand so casually, almost perfunctorily.

That wisp of black and white Qi coiling around his fingertips, which seemed weak and vulnerable, had suddenly expanded, transforming into a sky-covering, Dao-imbued Taiji Diagram.

It not only handled those three violent forces—which could blast a small mountain into powder and cause a great river to cease flowing—with understatement, like a sponge absorbing water... but also, in that "instant" too brief to be measured by time, when everyone's thoughts could not keep up—it precisely found the "stagnant gaps" in the most instinctive operation of those three distinct yet equally exquisite Cultivation Techniques when they were pushed to their limit and their power erupted to the Peak... and the "power voids" during the transition of Moves, which were most hidden and extremely difficult, even impossible, for the users themselves to detect!

This was the most subtle lag when invoking Heaven and Earth Spiritual Qi, the briefest stutter when switching the path of rushing Spiritual Qi within the body, the absolute vacuum of one-ten-billionth of a second when old force was exhausted and new force had not yet been born!

Then, the black and white Qi transformed into the sharpest, most precise, and most ruthless "Blade of the Dao" in this world!

Following those imperceptible, almost non-existent gaps and voids, like the ox-butchering knife in the hands of Pao Ding, entering the void with no thickness, it quietly drilled in, moving with ease.

It did not destroy violently from the outside, but started from the most fragile connections and the most delicate operational nodes within, just like pulling out the key piece at the bottom of a block tower, or cutting all the control strings of a marionette.

"Crack," "shred," "poof"... these were not actual sounds, yet they seemed to ring deep within the Divine Soul of every witness.

Three violent forces, capable of shaking a Nascent Soul, were quietly disintegrated, shattered, and dismantled from their most fundamental "structure" into the most primitive, harmless Spiritual Qi particles.

Then, the black and white Taiji Diagram brightened slightly, and a force even more majestic, purer, and closer to the Origin Laws of heaven and earth, followed the dismantled "channel" and, in a more direct and overbearing manner, irresistibly and solidly... rebounded back!

This was not a brutal crushing based on the amount of power, nor a simple comparison of the depth of Spiritual Qi.

This was like a master who had immersed himself in the way of chess for ten thousand years, looking down on a child just learning chess; the moment the opponent placed a piece, he had already seen through all the changes and fatal points ten steps, even a hundred steps ahead.

This was like a Great Grandmaster proficient in the ultimate principles of all things facing a child waving a wooden stick; with just a light tap on the point where the child's force was most awkward and uncomfortable, he could cause the Move to collapse without an attack, or even cause the child to injure himself.

It was a gap as vast as heaven and earth in terms of Realm, understanding, and the perception and application of the "Dao"—a gap that was despair-inducing and could not be bridged by any external object!

"I... I saw clearly."

Li Chengsi finally spoke slowly, his voice dry and hoarse, as if two pieces of coarse sandpaper were rubbing against each other.

Deep in his eyes, the last shred of forced composure was completely shattered, replaced by a sense of dejection at being completely seen through and having nowhere to hide, as well as a trace of irrepressible, Soul-deep shock and anger.

"This... this is definitely not the means and Realm... that the Golden Core Realm should possess."

He squeezed this sentence out through gritted teeth.

"Realm?"

Xuanyuan Zhanxian heard this and shook his head very lightly, very faintly.

The black and white Qi leisurely flowing around his fingertips seemed to pause slightly, slowing down a bit, and in its flow, it carried a faint mockery of someone who understood the essence of all things and looked down upon the lost paths of all living beings.

"The so-called 'Realm' that you understand, pursue, and hold as the standard..."

He paused, his voice seemingly carrying a certain echo that pointed directly to the Dao.

"...It is nothing more than a cage, drawn casually by predecessors for the convenience of passing on their Legacy, for dividing the strong from the weak, and even... for imprisoning the thoughts and footsteps of those who come after—seemingly solemn, yet in reality, narrow-minded."

As his voice fell, as if to prove that his words were not empty, and to deliver the final blow to this subverted perception—the tyrannical Spiritual Qi fluctuations that had originally lingered around Xuanyuan Zhanxian, belonging to a Cultivator of the Golden Core Middle Stage, began to undergo... a drastic change without any warning!

Like a receding tide—no, even more rapid and resolute than a receding tide!

The dense and surging Spiritual Pressure of the Golden Core Middle Stage, like snow under the scorching sun, rapidly melted, dimmed, and plummeted;

The pressure of the Golden Core Early Stage flashed and vanished, then immediately retracted without a trace;

The aura of the Core Formation Peak was like a punctured balloon, instantly shriveling and dissipating;

Following that was the Foundation Establishment Stage—Foundation Establishment Peak, Foundation Establishment Late Stage, Foundation Establishment Middle Stage, Foundation Establishment Early Stage...

His "Realm" slid all the way down at a speed that was jaw-dropping and completely contrary to common sense, unstoppable, without any pause or hesitation, as smooth as if it were meant to be.

Until finally... that powerful aura, which had been like a mountain or a Peak and suffocating to those of the same rank, completely disappeared.

Replacing it was a layer of Qi Refinement Stage Spiritual Qi fluctuations lingering around him, so weak that it was like a candle in the wind, as if any slightly stronger breeze could blow it out...

That aura was weak, thin, impure, and unstable.

It was so weak that it seemed any Mortal Cultivator who had just channeled Qi into their body and entered the immortal gate could, relying on slightly more solid Spiritual Qi, easily suppress and defeat him.

"Whoosh—!!!"

The suffocating silence of the Eternal Graveyard was completely and ruthlessly torn apart and crushed by this unbelievable and shocking scene!

The entire crowd of Cultivators, regardless of friend or foe, regardless of their stance, were like cold water dropped into boiling oil, erupting into an earth-shattering clamor and uproar!

"Dispersing his cultivation?! Is he... is he destroying his own Dao Heart foundation?! He's crazy! This is definitely a collapse of his Dao Heart, he has suffered Qi Deviation!!" Someone let out a scream so sharp it cracked, filled with incomprehensible horror and a sense of absurdity.

"Self-abolishing his cultivation? In this extremely dangerous ancient battlefield? This is simply rushing to his own death!"

"Golden Core Middle Stage! That is a Realm that countless Cultivators struggle for a lifetime to achieve! With the Great Dao in sight and the immortal path ahead, how could he... how could he be so foolish?!"

"Could it be that when he took the desperate joint attack of the three Prodigies just now, while it looked easy, he actually sustained a terrifying Dao injury that was irreparable and affected the Origin of his Dao Heart?"

"Is his injury erupting now, causing his cultivation to plummet?!" Someone projected their own thoughts, trying to use the "common sense" they could understand to explain this scene that completely exceeded all common sense, their voice trembling.

"No! You all look! Look at his fingertips! Look at that black and white Qi!!!"

A sharper exclamation, almost piercing the eardrums, suddenly drowned out all the noise and speculation.

Countless gazes, whether horrified, bewildered, or incredulous, were like being pulled by invisible threads, once again focusing sharply and intently on the slightly raised fingertips of Xuanyuan Zhanxian's right hand!

Just as his own Spiritual Qi cultivation, representing the traditional "Realm," plummeted to the bottom of the Qi Refinement Stage—that wisp of black and white Qi that had been coiling around his fingertips, appearing weak, seemed to be injected with boundless power, and began to, at a speed visible to the naked eye, crazily... expand! Solidify! Sublimate!

The black Qi became increasingly profound, thick like tangible ink, and like a cosmic abyss capable of swallowing all light and Souls; just by touching it with one's gaze, one felt a cold tug on their Divine Soul;

The white Qi became increasingly blazing, pure as the most pristine sunlight from above the Nine Heavens, and like a Holy Light of Origin capable of purifying all filth and Impurities in the world; where it shone, it seemed as if even the gloom in one's heart would be dispelled.

The two auras fiercely entangled, circled, and underwent Fusion!

Their volume grew larger, their light grew brighter, and the mysterious, ancient, vast, and supreme "Dao Rhyme" and "Spiritual Pressure" they emitted caused the surrounding space to begin to visibly twist and ripple, as if it could not bear their weight!

Finally!

"Hum—!!!" Accompanied by a faint, yet seemingly existent since the creation of the world, Dao sound reaching the Origin of the Soul, the black and white Qi, expanded to its limit, suddenly spread outward!

In an instant, it transformed into a black and white Taiji Diagram, over a zhang in diameter, condensed like solid crystal, and slowly rotating on its own!

This diagram floated behind Xuanyuan Zhanxian, like a supreme Dao ring crowning him.

The Taiji Diagram rotated slowly, the boundary between black and white not distinct, but mutually blending and permeating; where they merged, a faint yet incomparably noble dark golden Dao radiance flowed.

Inside the diagram, light and shadow shifted, and Dao Rhyme flowed—faint phantoms of mountains and rivers could be seen rising and falling within, the sun, moon, and stars moving through birth and destruction according to mysterious trajectories, the changing of seasons and the withering and flourishing of plants constantly playing out, and even blurred phantoms of living beings experiencing a grand Reincarnation of birth, growth, aging, death, and rebirth!

Every rotation of it seemed to be elucidating the ultimate principles of Heaven and Earth, and acting out the birth and destruction of the Universe!

Even more shocking to the Divine Soul was that, as this tangible Taiji Diagram rotated slowly, the mixed and dense Heaven and Earth Spiritual Qi that had accumulated in the entire Eternal Graveyard for unknown tens of thousands of years seemed to be summoned by a supreme monarch, and began to tremble and resonate in synchronization with it!

Faintly, it seemed as if countless tiny Dao sounds were ringing out throughout the graveyard; those were the fragments of Law responding to this diagram!

It was as if this ancient world, which had buried countless experts, was paying homage in a silent and solemn way to this... supreme Dao that had manifested in the present world!

"I am Xuanyuan Zhanxian." He spoke again, his voice still calm, but for the first time, it was tinged with a hint of clearly perceptible emotion.

This was not arrogance, nor was it mockery of the weak, but a kind of condescending compassion that naturally arose after standing at a higher dimension, looking down upon the lost masses, and discerning their limitations and sorrows.

"In my youth, I drifted, luckily saving my life in a mountain of corpses and a sea of blood, and I have also curled up in the ruins of dilapidated temples, fighting wild dogs for food, and gnawing on hardened tree bark and roots." He spoke slowly, his tone as flat as if he were telling someone else's story.

"Approaching eighteen, my bones and muscles already set, only then did I, by chance, touch the threshold of cultivation. Compared to you Prodigies who have never lacked resources since childhood and have had famous teachers to guide you, I started more than ten years late, didn't I?"

He paused slightly, and the light of the diagram at his fingertips seemed to shine even brighter.

"However, I used Innate Five Elements spiritual objects, which are hard to find in the world, to forge a supreme Dao foundation; what I practice is an archaic secret technique that has long been lost in the river of time and listed as taboo; and by Destiny, I possess this... Taiji Yin and Yang Chaos Body."

He raised his eyelids, his compassionate gaze falling like a physical weight upon Li Chengsi's face, which was as pale as paper and devoid of color. Deep within his gaze, there was an added hint of a faint sigh, like that of a Heavenly Immortal looking down from the clouds at a lost lamb struggling.

"And you..." His gaze slowly swept across Fentian, Lei Potian, Senior Young Master Yu Qingxuan, swept across Second Prince Wu Yuanchen, and swept across every pale-faced Cultivator present.

"These so-called worldly Prodigies, these so-called descendants of famous families, rely on nothing more than Cultivation Techniques that have been passed down by their Family for countless generations and have long lost their true meaning. Relying on a Spiritual Root talent that is only slightly better than ordinary people, they feel superior, complacent, sit in a well looking at the sky, and remain stagnant..."

He shook his head gently, the wisp of black and white Qi dancing at his fingertips.

"Taking your power that is imprisoned by rules and regulations, taking your understanding of the 'Dao' that is as shallow as a stream..."

His voice suddenly sank, like a deity from above the Nine Heavens pronouncing the fate of the Mortal world: "What do you have to compete with me? To compete with this 'Dao' that points directly to the Origin?"

"Boom—!!!" These words, this scene, this power, were like billions of thunderbolts exploding simultaneously in the depths of the Sea of Consciousness of Li Chengsi and all the onlookers!

Li Chengsi's complexion, from his initial solemnity and gloom, to his panic and loss of color, to this moment—was a completely lifeless, pale, and ashen grey, like an ancient corpse dug out of a grave. The last trace of color also faded from his face.

He finally... completely understood.

The reason Xuanyuan Zhanxian could, with his "Golden Core Middle Stage" cultivation, lightly crush them, the Prodigies of the same generation, and even treat a combined attack at the threshold of the Nascent Soul as nothing... was never because of the vastness of his Spiritual Qi, nor the height of his "Realm" in the traditional sense.

What he relied on was an understanding of the essence of the "Dao" that went deep into his marrow, and an almost instinctive, terrifying control over the rules of Heaven and Earth, the Origin of all things, and the changes of Yin and Yang, life and death!

This was a kind of... supreme power that completely transcended the shackles of the traditional cultivation system, jumped out of the evaluation framework of "Foundation Establishment - Golden Core - Nascent Soul," and pointed directly to the root of the Great Dao and the Origin of Heaven and Earth!

To him, the cultivation Realm was perhaps no longer a ladder, but... an outer garment that could be worn or taken off at will! His true "Realm" lay in the depth of his understanding of the "Dao," and that could no longer be measured by conventional categories!

"The path of cultivation is long and arduous."

Xuanyuan Zhanxian slowly raised his arm, his movements solemn and grave, as if he were performing some ancient, sacred ritual.

As his arm raised, the black and white Taiji Diagram behind him, which was about a zhang in radius and condensed like solid matter, expanded outward again with a boom!

The black and white Qi, like awakened archaic Dragons, surged and roared, gushing out!

On the Dao diagram, countless mysterious and ancient runes, as if carrying the ultimate principles of Heaven and Earth, lit up one by one, emitting a light that was gentle yet contained an unquestionable, irresistible, and supreme majesty!

This light spread rapidly, like mercury spilling onto the ground, infiltrating everywhere, and in an instant, it enveloped the entire core area of the Eternal Graveyard!

All the Cultivators enveloped by this light, regardless of their cultivation level or location, felt their Souls tremble, as if their own "Dao," in front of that black and white Dao diagram, appeared so small, so crude, and so... vulnerable.

Heaven and Earth were silent, only the Dao diagram rotated gently, and Dao Rhyme permeated the air.

Xuanyuan Zhanxian stood at the center of the Dao diagram, his black robes like ink, his figure seeming to merge into one with the black and white Dao diagram that elucidated the ultimate principles of the Universe.

He was the Dao, and the Dao was him.

"In the final analysis, it is nothing more than a path... of perception."