497: The Universe Within

The top floor of the “Drunken Immortal Pavilion,” a high-end restaurant in Eighty-First Fortress City.

Dao Ancestor Xuan Zhen and Xu Qing sat by the window.

Outside the window, clouds and mist swirled, vaguely revealing the full view of the Fortress City.

On the table was a pot of “Drunken Immortal Brew,” its aroma permeating the air, refreshing the mind.

“Dao Friend Xu’s actions today were truly gratifying,” Dao Ancestor Xuan Zhen raised his cup in a toast, a hint of admiration in his eyes.

Xu Qing took a small sip of the Spiritual Wine and said indifferently, “I was merely stating my stance!”

Dao Ancestor Xuan Zhen shook his head and smiled bitterly, “Fellow Daoist, you don’t know, these four have been entrenched in the Fortress City for a long time, and their respective subordinate forces are complex.”

“Lei Xiao controls the Punishment Department, and his three hundred thousand Thunder Guards are all elites; Dao Ancestor Xue He manages the Intelligence Department, with informants spread throughout Eighty-First Fortress City; Dao Ancestor Jin Que commands the War Department, with hundreds of thousands of battle Cultivators under him; and Dao Ancestor You Yue, though not holding real power, has cultivated a group of assassins.”

“Furthermore, the families of these four are all within Eighty-First Fortress City, thus they abuse public power for private gain, and the entire Eighty-First Fortress City is under their control.”

Xu Qing toyed with his wine cup, deep in thought, “So, the benefits of the Fortress City have all been carved up by them?”

“Precisely.” Dao Ancestor Xuan Zhen sighed, “The City Lord has been in seclusion for many years, not bothering with worldly affairs. When this old man first arrived, they also made things difficult. If not for my proficiency in Formations, which are of great use for the Fortress City’s defense, and my dislike for contention, I would probably have been targeted by them long ago…”

At this point, Xuan Zhen suddenly lowered his voice, “However, Fellow Daoist’s performance today has made them hesitant to act. After all, an existence who dares to challenge four Dao Ancestors simultaneously is not someone they would easily provoke.”

Xu Qing chuckled softly, “Dao Friend Xuan Zhen, you didn’t invite me today just to say this, did you?”

Dao Ancestor Xuan Zhen’s expression became serious. He took out a Jade Slip and pushed it towards Xu Qing, “This is the Fortress City’s resource allocation record for the past hundred thousand years. Fellow Daoist, please look at page thirty-seven.”

Xu Qing’s Divine Sense swept over it, his gaze slightly narrowing, “Ninety percent of the Chaos Secret Realm quotas are occupied by their people?”

“More than that.” Dao Ancestor Xuan Zhen smiled bitterly, “Six tenths of the Fortress City’s annual tax revenue flows into their pockets; eight tenths of the Dao Veins and Ancestral Veins discovered outside the city are controlled by their people; even new merchant caravans entering the city must first ‘pay tribute’ to them to establish themselves.”

Xu Qing put down the Jade Slip, frowning, “No wonder Brother Zhan Tian told me to be careful. These four have turned the Fortress City into their personal property.”

“How do you plan to deal with it?” Dao Ancestor Xuan Zhen probed, “If you need my help…”

Xu Qing raised his hand to interrupt, “No need. I have my own plans.”

He looked out the window and saw a squad of Thunder Guards swaggering through the street, with surrounding Cultivators hastily making way.

His eyes were calm, and he wasn’t angered by this scene.

What did their antics have to do with him? As long as they didn’t harbor designs on him, he would choose to ignore them.

If these people truly intended to target him because of today’s events, then he wouldn’t mind letting Eighty-First Fortress City bleed.

Moreover, this Xuan Zhen was not a simple person. Although his words seemed to be befriending him, Xu Qing still detected an element of instigation.

As the two drank, in the Blood River Hall on the other side of the Fortress City, the four Dao Ancestors were gathered, their faces grim.

“This Xu Qing is too arrogant!” Dao Ancestor Jin Que slammed the table, causing the entire hall to tremble.

Dao Ancestor Xue He toyed with a Jade pendant, saying sinisterly, “He has Dao Ancestor Zhan Tian backing him, so it’s not advisable for us to act openly.”

Dao Ancestor Lei Xiao snorted coldly, “Then let him ‘accidentally’ die in the Chaos beast tide.”

Dao Ancestor You Yue, who had been silent, suddenly spoke, “What do you intend to do? I advise you to think carefully before speaking! Who is Xu Qing? He is a Supreme Elder of the Sacred Hall. If you want to court death, don’t drag us into it!”

Not all Human Race Dao Ancestors could become Supreme Elders of the Sacred Hall; the Sacred Hall also evaluated people when recruiting, and some Dao Ancestors were unwilling to join the Sacred Hall, as was the case for the four of them.

Although they heeded the Sacred Hall’s call, they were ultimately not people of the Sacred Hall.

If they harmed Xu Qing, how could they avoid the Sacred Hall’s scrutiny? Therefore, they could suppress Xu Qing, but they could not endanger his Life.

“Then tell us, what should we do?” Dao Ancestor Lei Xiao asked.

“Didn’t he say it? He won’t participate in the city’s affairs. Just warn those below not to provoke him!” Dao Ancestor You Yue said.

Dao Ancestor Jin Que said discontentedly, “Then what about today’s incident?”

“Are you suggesting we still want to fight?” Dao Ancestor You Yue retorted, “To put it bluntly, today’s matter was because the three of you insisted on this stunt. From the beginning, this Venerable One advised you that Xu Qing is not Xuan Zhen, but you refused to listen!”

“You must endure, even if you can’t! I heard that on the day Xu Qing broke through, he displayed the phenomenon of an invincible Dao Ancestor. If you think you can handle it, then go try; this Venerable One will not get involved with you!”

“Invincible Dao Ancestor? Are you sure?” Dao Ancestor Xue He was startled.

After all, it had only been a few days since Xu Qing’s Breakthrough, and they were billions of light-years away from Pass City Number Seven Square, so it was normal for them not to have received the news.

“This was told to me by my good friend in Pass City Number Seven. You can weigh it yourselves!”

After Dao Ancestor You Yue finished speaking, she turned and left.

The three Dao Ancestors, Jin Que, looked at each other, and eventually let the matter drop.

At this moment, Xu Qing had already arrived at his Immortal Palace. The Immortal Palace was situated deep within a mountain range, and beneath this mountain range lay an Ancestral Vein. Although it was only a Low Grade Ancestral Vein, it was sufficient for a Dao Ancestor’s daily Cultivation.

Ancestral Veins differ from Dao Veins. Although Ancestral Veins are divided into four grades: Supreme, High, Medium, and Low, this classification refers to the overall capacity of the Ancestral Vein, and the Ancestral Crystals produced from them do not have such four grades.

Xu Qing did not need to go into seclusion here. He looked at the nameless plaque above the Immortal Palace, said nothing, and with a thought of his Dao, the two characters “Qiankun” appeared on the plaque.

Then, his entire being appeared within the Qiankun Great World, and the sight before him made his Dao Heart tremble.

The entire Qiankun Great World had undergone earth-shattering changes.

The once vast and boundless Qiankun Continent now floated in the center of the boundless Void Realm.

No longer were isolated ancient stars orbiting it, but tens of thousands of brilliant star systems!

The former Supreme Stars had all transformed into stars with a diameter of tens of billions of miles, attracting countless planets to form magnificent stellar spirals. Even the ordinary ancient stars in the fourth orbital ring had evolved into either scorching or icy planets, operating in an orderly fashion, maintained by mysterious Laws.

“This is… a nascent Universe?”

Xu Qing’s Dao thought swept past a newly formed star system, where seven planets were orbiting a crimson star.

On the outermost ice-bound planet, primordial Dao rhythm was actually being nurtured within the glacier cracks.

How similar this was to the structure of the solar system in his memory!

As his thoughts stirred, more astonishing details emerged:

The space between celestial bodies was no longer filled with ordinary Spiritual Qi, but with Chaos starmist condensed to the extreme;

Silver light flowed at the edge of the star systems, clearly indicating that the space-time barrier was autonomously evolving;

Deep within certain gaseous planets, Dao crystals had begun to condense… “So that’s how it is.”

Xu Qing suddenly understood that the operation of the Qiankun Great World was inherently different from a Dao Realm. To unleash the power of the Myriad Daos, it should evolve towards a continuously evolving, true Universe!

His previous method of simply arranging stars was like a child building a sandcastle, having only the form but not the essence.

He gazed at a young star system where a third planet was being born. Chaos Dao power spontaneously formed spiral arms of a nebula, and in the delicate balance of gravity and repulsion, a sapphire planet was condensing water vapor.

“The cradle of Life…”

The Dao Realms of other Dao Ancestors allowed their inner worlds to follow their will, evolving the Dao world they desired, thereby augmenting their own combat power.

But the path he walked was the Dao of Myriad Daos, where each Great Dao was independent yet compatible. As the controller of the Dao Realm, what he needed to do was to let the Dao Realm evolve autonomously, like a Universe, following the true Laws of the Universe.