77: Chapter 77 I, the Nine Nether Hound, Advance to the Escape Realm as a Great Cultivator

"Roar!!!"

Finally, Wang Teng's human body could no longer contain the violent torrent of energy.

Accompanied by a roar that shattered the clouds beyond the nine heavens, the black robes covering him instantly turned into dust.

"Rumble!"

Endless black mist gushed out from every pore, instantly drowning the sky for ten thousand miles around.

Within that rolling black mist, an indescribably massive Ancient Fiendgod manifested its true form!

Nine-Nether Ao—Ultimate Form!

It was no longer a half-hidden dharma image like before, but a true body of flesh and blood.

The wolf head was ferocious, its fangs like heavenly blades, and every single hair was as thick as a Order Divine Chains.

Its body was covered in ash-gray scales, upon which flowed the Nirvanic Runes unique to the Progenitor.

The most terrifying part was the nine tails behind it.

At this moment, these nine tails had completely materialized, and each took a different form!

Some burned with Shura Bloodfire, some flowed with the Long River of Time, and some were wreathed in the Divine Light of Samsara...

"Awoo roar!!!"

The massive wolf head howled toward the sky. In this howl, there was no pain, only a kind of—delight from breaking free of shackles!

Under this roar, the two conflicting forces within Wang Teng's body...

Were actually forcibly suppressed, fused, and swallowed by the Nine-Nether Ao's innate "Big Eater" attribute!

The Power of Samsara on the left?

Eat it!

Turn it into blood energy!

The power of time on the right?

Chew it up!

Refine it into the bones!

His massive body was glowing, undergoing a transformation.

The bottleneck that originally belonged to the "Zhanwo Realm," under the impact of energy from two Immortal King level artifacts...

Was like a thin layer of window paper, completely unable to withstand a single blow.

"Crack!"

Something seemed to break inside his body.

Severing the self to understand the Dao, cutting away the past self to realize the true heart. Wang Teng had already perfected this step long ago.

And the next realm was called—Dunyi Realm (the final step before the Supreme Realm).

The Great Dao is fifty, the Heavenly Evolution is forty-nine, leaving the 'One' that escaped.

This realm means jumping out of the established trajectory of the Great Dao, becoming that 'variable' that cannot be deduced or controlled!

At this very moment.

Wang Teng's massive Nine-Nether Ao body floated in the void, surrounded by Primal Chaos Qi.

"I am not the Heavenly Dao, for the Heavenly Dao is unkind."

"I am not Samsara, for Samsara is heartless."

"I am myself."

"I am... the 'One' that escaped!!"

"Boom!!"

A terrifying aura that transcended the constraints of heaven and earth and stood above all Daos erupted from Wang Teng's body!

How could this aura be only ten times stronger than the previous Zhanwo Realm?

It was a qualitative leap!

The void behind him began to collapse on a large scale, forming a massive black hole.

But this black hole did not swallow him; instead, it became his throne, his backdrop.

With a gentle flick of the nine tails.

Bang!

Bang!

Bang!

The surrounding space directly exploded, forming a vacuum zone.

Time stood still here, and Samsara failed here.

Only that ash-gray giant beast remained, eternal and indestructible!

Realm breakthrough—Dunyi Realm, achieved!

Moreover, this was no ordinary Dunyi Realm.

This was the strongest Dunyi, having swallowed the reincarnation disk, fused with the laws of the immortal bell, possessing two of the Ten Fiends' secret techniques, and backed by the Progenitor's Mark!

"Whew..."

The massive Nine-Nether Ao slowly withdrew its dharma image, transforming back into human form.

Wang Teng stood bare-chested, towering in the void.

At this time, his skin was no longer bronze, but presented a strange, semi-transparent jade-like quality.

Beneath his skin, one could vaguely see golden Kunpeng runes, gray Nine-Nether runes, red Samsara runes, and silver Time runes...

These runes intertwined to form an incredibly complex Great Dao Heavenly Map.

He clenched his fist.

Within his palm, the space was directly crushed, letting out a crisp pop.

"Is this... the power of the Dunyi Realm?"

Wang Teng felt the surging divine power within him that seemed capable of punching through world barriers with a single fist, and a wicked, arrogant smile curled at the corners of his mouth.

He slowly raised his head.

Those ash-gray Double Pupils were like two searchlights, piercing directly through layers of void, looking toward the direction of the Three Thousand Provinces in the Upper Realm.

There, a group of Sect Masters and giants were still jumping in anger over their heavy losses.

When Wang Teng's gaze projected over...

Across the endless distance.

All the giants felt a chill down their spines, as if their throats were being stared at by an ancient ferocious beast.

"Everyone."

Wang Teng's voice was calm yet carried an endless arrogance as it followed the lines of karma, echoing clearly in the Upper Realm:

"Thank you for the hospitality."

"I am very satisfied with this meal, and I even managed to level up while I was at it."

He raised the tianhuang great halberd in his hand and pointed it from afar:

"Don't be in a hurry to leave."

"Wait for me to digest this a little."

"In a couple of days, I will personally come up..."

"To give you all... a return gift!"

Wang Teng had just withdrawn his overbearing Dunyi Realm pressure and was about to stretch his newly reconstructed muscles.

Suddenly.

A strange, delicate fragrance, like a clear stream amidst this bloody catastrophe, drifted through the cracks of the shattered mountains and rivers and lightly entered Wang Teng's nose.

This scent was too special.

It was not like the usual fragrance of plants, but a scent of the Source Dao that contained the beginning of heaven and earth and the birth of all things.

Just taking a single sniff made every pore in his body relax, and the blood energy that had been somewhat feverish due to the forced breakthrough instantly calmed down quite a bit.

"Hmm?"

Wang Teng's eyes, which were still flickering with ghostly light, suddenly brightened.

He sniffed his nose, like a Taotie who had just finished his main course and was looking for mouthwash:

"So fragrant..."

"This scent is a hundred times more pure than the Quasi-Saint Medicine in the Kunpeng Nest!"

Shi Hao, beside him, had an even stronger reaction.

This Bear Kid was just feeling pained over the little pagoda he had gnawed into a bumpy mess, but the moment he smelled this, he instantly tucked the little pagoda into his arms.

His eyes bulged like copper bells, and he started drooling on the spot:

"Brother-in-law!! It's a precious medicine! A great precious medicine!!"

"I smell it! That's the scent of the first spiritual root!

I've read in the ancient books of Baiduan Mountain that there is a 'first spiritual root' born of heaven and earth in this Wasteland Region.

It flowers once every ten thousand years and fruits once every ten thousand years; eating it allows one to become a deity on the spot!"

"first spiritual root?"

An amused arc curled at the corner of Wang Teng's mouth.

He had just eaten some scrap metal (the immortal bell and reincarnation disk); although the energy was sufficient, it was indeed a bit dry.

If some juicy 'fruit platter' came along now, then this buffet would truly be considered complete.

"Let's go."

With a wave of the tianhuang great halberd, Wang Teng didn't care about the direction and rushed toward the place where the fragrance was strongest:

"We just had the main course, now... it's time for dessert!"

...

Ten thousand miles away from Shi Village, there was an ancient forbidden land called Luofeng Slope.

This place was no longer a forbidden land but had turned into a meat grinder.

On the ground, corpses were everywhere.

There were cultivators of the human race from the Lower Realm and the remains of Ancient Remains; blood gathered into rivers.

It dyed the originally brown earth into a shocking dark red.

And in the center of that mountain of corpses and sea of blood...

A small tree only three feet tall, with purple and gold Qi flowing through its entire body, was rooted in the void.

It had only nine leaves, and each leaf seemed like a small world evolving.

It held up a crystal-clear, infant-shaped purple-gold fruit.

This was the first spiritual root.

Around this spiritual root, two groups of people were fighting frantically.

One group consisted of local powerhouses from the Lower Realm, making their final struggle.

The other group was composed of Upper Realm 'Primaries' and geniuses who had sneaked down while the Great Void Crack was open earlier!

Although the giants had retreated, these younger generations who had been sent down long ago, or had just smuggled themselves down, did not give up.

They carried secret treasures bestowed by their elders, and in this Lower Realm, they were like tigers among a flock of sheep.

"Puchi!"

A young man wearing golden battle armor and holding a crimson divine sword sliced off the head of a pure-blooded White Tiger with one strike.

His expression was haughty, and his eyes were filled with contempt for the living beings of the Lower Realm. The tip of his sword pointed at the surrounding cultivators who were still resisting:

"A bunch of Lower Realm pigs, do you also think you're worthy of touching such a heavenly spiritual root?"

"All of you, get lost!!"

This young man was named Holy Son Jindeng, a hidden Primary of a great sect in the Upper Realm.

Within his body burned a companion 'Everlasting Golden Lamp,' and his strength was extremely terrifying.

In this Lower Realm where the Divine Fire Realm was suppressed, he was an almost invincible existence.

"This spiritual root belongs to my Upper Realm!"

"Whoever dares to take a step forward, dies!!"

Behind Holy Son Jindeng, there were more than a dozen Upper Realm geniuses with similarly powerful auras.

They formed a battle array, tightly surrounding that spiritual root, and were frantically slaughtering any living beings who dared to approach.

"How hateful! That is a supreme treasure of our Lower Realm!"

"These bandits! Kill them!"

The Lower Realm cultivators roared, but in the face of the absolute gap in strength and equipment, they could only fall in droves.

Just as Holy Son Jindeng sneered and reached out his hand, preparing to pluck that purple-gold fruit...

"Hey you..."

A lazy, magnetic, yet inexplicably chilly voice rang out extremely abruptly above his head:

"Take your dirty hand away."

"That fruit... I've taken a liking to it."

Wang Teng had arrived!