548: The Great Way Competition

The phenomenon of the Ancestral Dragon attaining the Dao was like a giant boulder thrown into a calm lake, stirring up unprecedented, stormy waves within the True Self Realm.

That dragon roar which echoed between heaven and earth, and those majestic Dao marks branded upon the firmament, proclaimed a shocking fact to all living beings.

The path forward was not cut off; a higher Realm truly existed, and it could be reached and conquered!

This single dragon roar sounded the horn for the second stage of the Era of Myriad Races—the Era of Competition for the Great Dao.

The first to react were the Phoenix Ancestor and the Qilin Progenitor, who stood alongside the Ancestral Dragon as Innate Divinities.

Witnessing their old rival take that crucial first step, the long-dormant hearts of these two ancient beings suddenly surged with emotion.

The Phoenix Ancestor spread her wings and flew into the depths of the Origin of the Nanming Li Fire, drawing upon the Nine Heavens Astral Wind and the Eternal True Fire, attempting to fuse the extremes of wind and fire to seek a path of Nirvana and transcendence.

The Qilin Progenitor stepped into the core ley lines of the Ancestor Mountain, sensing the true meaning of the thick earth carrying all things and benevolent virtue moistening the world; auspicious Qi steamed around his body, faintly resonating with the pulses of the earth.

Across the entire central divine territory, the Dao Rhyme became unprecedentedly active and solemn.

The aquatic races rejoiced, viewing the Ancestral Dragon as their supreme glory and guide; the water veins of the four seas and eight wastes seemed to become more spirited, and countless aquatic elites began to emulate the Ancestral Dragon, trying to comprehend the more profound Great Dao of Water Elements, even attempting to derive branches such as the 'Ice Dao' and 'Mist Dao'.

The endless sea of clouds where the Ancestral Dragon resided temporarily became a place of pilgrimage for the aquatic races and all who thirsted for strength.

The Yao Race was shaken, the wildness in their Bloodlines and their worship of power being thoroughly ignited.

Many Yao Kings were no longer satisfied with fighting over territory and Bloodline instincts; they began to consciously breathe in the essence of the sun and moon, tempering their Divine Abilities, attempting to excavate deeper Dao Laws from their own Bloodlines in the hope that one day they too, like the Ancestral Dragon, could engrave their own Dao upon the world.

The Law of the jungle remained, but the level of competition had been raised.

Within the Human Territory, the initial shock was followed by deeper reflection and a sense of urgency.

Their wisdom allowed them to better recognize the gap between themselves and the Innate Divinities at the starting line, but it also stimulated an unprecedented drive for progress.

The trend of observing the heavens, measuring the earth, and studying the principles of all things flourished.

Some wise men began to systematically summarize the Cultivation methods of the myriad races, attempting to analyze the essence of the Great Dao; Cultivators worked even harder in their practice and actively explored external paths such as Artifact Refining, Alchemy, and Formations, trying to use wisdom and tools to compensate for their Innate deficiencies, and even opening up a Cultivation System unique to the Human Race.

The various city-state Alliances accelerated their integration, aiming to gather the strength of the race to deal with the potential turmoil caused by changes in the power structure.

The landscape of the myriad races underwent subtle yet profound changes due to the Ancestral Dragon's attainment of the Dao.

Peace did not descend; on the contrary, a more purposeful competition concerning the Great Dao began to spread.

Conflicts were no longer merely for resources and living space, but more to validate one's own path and seize that mysterious Dao opportunity.

Xu Qing sat high atop the peak of Ancestor Mountain; from the perspective of the Heavenly Dao, the movements of the myriad races were all within his sight.

He could clearly perceive that as the Ancestral Dragon supplemented the Dragon Dao into the world framework, the Foundation of the True Self Realm became tangibly thicker.

The upper limit of energy the world could carry, the rules, the calculations, and so on, were all enhanced.

This fed back into himself, manifesting as his True Self Realm cultivation rising along with the tide.

Although the increase in the power he could mobilize wasn't earth-shattering yet, that feeling of his Foundation widening and his connection with the world becoming tighter was incredibly clear.

“From the inside out, from the bottom up...” Xu Qing silently contemplated. “Beings attain the Dao and give back to the world; the world grows and feeds back to me. This is a virtuous cycle and the unique growth path of the True Self Realm.”

He realized that he did not need to laboriously collect resources or comprehend external Great Daos to push his own progress like a traditional Dao Ancestor.

His path was bound to the evolution of the civilizations within the True Self Realm; every Breakthrough of civilization, especially this kind of Breakthrough touching upon the fundamental Great Dao, was his most precious nourishment.

This had certain similarities to the original Qiankun Dao World, but in the True Self Realm, this manifestation was even more pronounced.

The years that followed confirmed his judgment.

The Ancestral Dragon's attainment of the Dao was not an isolated case, but a beginning.

About three thousand years later, deep within the Southern Undying Volcano, after undergoing countless cycles of wind and fire tempering and life-death Nirvana, a clear phoenix cry tore through the sky!

The Phoenix Ancestor successfully fused the extremes of wind and fire, nurturing new life from destruction, attaining the Nirvana Wind-Fire Dao and likewise stepping into the Emperor Realm!

On that day, red clouds stretched for a hundred thousand miles across the southern sky, and the Wind-Fire Dao Laws were branded into the Void Realm, echoing the Dragon Dao from afar; another pillar was added to the Great Dao of the True Self Realm.

After another five thousand years, auspicious clouds gathered over Ancestor Mountain and golden lotuses sprang from the earth as the Qilin Progenitor sensed the earth with a benevolent heart. Carrying all things with thick virtue, he finally attained the Benevolent Virtue Carrying Dao; auspicious Qi nourished the four directions, blessing all living beings as he too ascended to the Emperor Realm.

Although the Dao of Benevolent Virtue did not focus on slaughter, it greatly stabilized the ley lines and harmonized some of the world's baleful Qi that had become too sharp due to the Dragon Dao and Wind-Fire Dao, making the world's rules more balanced and stable.

Thus, the three beings later generations revered as the Three Sages of Creation had all reached the Emperor Realm through their own paths, their Great Daos deeply integrating into the world's Foundation.

Their success was like three bright lighthouses, illuminating the path ahead for the masses of the True Self Realm and thoroughly igniting the fanaticism of the myriad races to explore the Great Dao.

Competition entered a brand-new dimension.

Among the Yao Race, a White Tiger Yao Saint observed slaughter and warfare for tens of thousands of years, comprehending the 'Gengjin Slaying Dao' amidst a mountain of corpses and a sea of blood. Although he did not immediately attain the Emperor Realm, he had already condensed a Dao Seed, possessing heaven-toppling combat power and becoming a powerful hegemon of the Yao Race.

In the Human Territory, a brilliant Human Emperor observed the stars, examined the geography, and managed the people, gathering the race's Luck and wisdom to try and forge a Path of the Human Dao Imperial Sovereign. Although it was difficult and bumpy, it also condensed the Human Race's Luck, and several experts approaching the Emperor Realm level appeared.

In the aquatic races, there was the Black Tortoise Great Saint, who comprehended the ultimate softness and ultimate solidity of water, studying the Xuanming Guishui Dao; in the Spirit Race, there was the Ancestor of Ancient Trees, who realized the cycle of life, death, withering, and flourishing, groping toward the Yimu Longevity Dao... the myriad races competed in the Dao, and a hundred flowers bloomed.

Although the vast majority of explorers were still far from truly attaining the Dao, every realization they had and every firm step on their own path left a mark on the Great Dao web of the True Self Realm, making this web denser, tougher, and more vital.

As the Heavenly Dao, Xu Qing could 'hear' the humming of the world caused by these explorations; it was the sound of the world's rules being touched, understood, and attempted to be changed.

For every additional path practiced and every additional perception of the world generated, the Foundation of the True Self Realm increased by a fraction.

Reflected in the world's body, this meant more abundant matter, more exquisite energy flow, and even the beginning of the gestation of unique Heaven And Earth Treasures and Blessed Lands.

Reflected in Xu Qing himself, it was his increasingly effortless control over the True Self Realm and his more exquisite utilization of the world's power.

However, the contention for the Great Dao was not only about glory and progress. Different understandings of the Dao and conflicts over the resources and philosophies needed to practice those paths caused contradictions between the myriad races to erupt at a higher level.

Because the Ancestral Dragon had attained the Dao, the Dragon Clan's arrogance surged; they considered themselves the Dominators of the water veins, intensifying conflicts with the land-based Yao Race and even the Human Race, who sought to control parts of the rivers.

The White Tiger Yao Saint, who believed in the Gengjin Slaying Dao, shared a border with the descendants of the Qilin, who emphasized benevolent virtue moistening the world, leading to constant friction.

As the Human Race expanded their territory, they inevitably had disputes with many indigenous races.

Bloodshed and war, accompanied by the exploration of the Great Dao, became the norm of this era.