Chapter 1174: Stele Forest
Translator: Atlas Studios Editor: Atlas Studios
This method of extracting the power from the flesh of void beasts was impossible for someone without at least the power of five Dao Fruits.
Of course, the method of those Dao Ancestors at seven Dao Fruits and above was even more incredible, as they could refine void pills as naturally as water flowing in a river.
Compared to them, Fang Yuan felt like he should be able to work as a small craftsman and make some hard-earned money.
“Okay, one last important issue left!”
Fang Yuan put the pills away and stared at Xu Junzi with bright eyes. “What should I do if I want to continue cultivating and master the power of the Great Cosmological Abyss?”
“What should you do?” Xu Junzi smiled bitterly with desperation on his face. “There are over a thousand Dao Ancestors in this city and more than ten thousand Dao Ancestors in the whole Final Destination… If anyone could break through, I would have begged to be their disciple!”
Fang Yuan could see from his expression that he meant every word.
“If Fellow Daoist wants to see what’s in store for the future, why don’t you visit the city center!” Xu Junzi said sincerely before they parted.
“Thank you!”
Fang Yuan cupped his hands, and with a determined expression, he went to the city center.
This place did not have the residences of the peak Dao Ancestors or the city lord. Instead, there was nothing except for… steles?
A large number of black steles formed a forest. Just wandering outside allowed him to sense a strong unwillingness.
Fang Yuan walked into the stele forest and stopped in front of a stele.
“I am ‘Dao Ancestor Chaos Flame’. I was born in the North Frost Universe, and goddesses descended to congratulate me when I was born…”
At the beginning of the stele was a short introduction about the things that this Dao Ancestor Chaos Flame had been proud of in his life. The happy note changed in the second half.
“… I reached the Final Destination and cultivated for ten thousand years without the slightest bit of progress. My lifespan is approaching its end, and I am turning back into yellow dust… Hate! Hate! Hate!!!”
These three ‘hates’ condensed all the grievances of a Dao Ancestor, and it would have inevitably turned into a terrible evil if it were in the outside world.
“A Dao Ancestor was buried here…” Seeing this, Fang Yuan sighed, a little sad.
He took a few steps forward and saw the second stele. “I was a void spirit who achieved the Dao and was known as the ‘Lord of Void Spirits’. I was blessed by the heavens and was born a Dao Ancestor. I killed all of my enemies in my life and made rapid breakthroughs. Three Dao Ancestors were willing to be my subordinates… I couldn’t break through in the outside world, so I entered this Final Destination and searched hard. However, I couldn’t achieve the Great Cosmological Abyss. It’s all fate…”
“To have three Dao Ancestors as subordinates, this means that he had strength at least at five Dao Fruits… That’s almost invincible in the outside world, but he also silently fell here?”
Fang Yuan pursed his lips. His footsteps were heavier as he continued to walk further in.
“I am Daoist Seven Slaughter from the Huaxia Universe… I killed everything in the Great Cosmological Abyss and finally reached peak Dao Ancestor before killing myself. Alas! Alas!”
This person’s boundless killing intent carried in his writing even to this day.
“Peak Dao Ancestor? Someone with the power of ten Dao Fruits came from the Huaxia Universe. A true almighty even among Dao Ancestors perished here as well?”
Fang Yuan exhaled and continued his tour.
“I am Three Wood Void…”
“I am Segmented Demon Insects…”
“I am Lord of the Nine-Level Maze…”
Every stone stele represented the fall of a Dao Ancestor, and there were hundreds of stone steles here!
Such a forest of stele graves gave Fang Yuan a very terrifying feeling. The terror was enough to destroy the Dao Heart of a Dao Ancestor!
An ordinary Dao Ancestor would have probably been destroyed on the spot.
However, Fang Yuan was not an ordinary Dao Ancestor, and his Dao Heart was stronger than that of ordinary Dao Ancestors. He surpassed this feeling and saw more information.
“They should have been residents of Dao Ancestor City. Among them, thirty percent came from the Huaxia Universe. How scary…”
This point alone made him realize how strong a force the Huaxia Universe was.
Even in this Dao Ancestor City, it could hold on firmly to power.
“However… what really disturbs me is this other force—the Huxia Universe. It actually occupies twenty-five percent of the names and is practically rivals with the Huaxia Universe…”
Fang Yuan pondered. “Huaxia? Huxia? Could this have been the beginning of the internal strife?”
Of course, there was not much meaning in unraveling this information now. What really held Fang Yuan’s interest were the summaries left behind by these Dao Ancestors about the power of the Great Cosmological Abyss.
They might just be a few words, but it was enough for him to piece together their thoughts about mastering the power of the Great Cosmological Abyss.
“First… is this Final Destination. It’s similar to the Great Cosmological Abyss in that it has no energy at all. The only source of the power of the Great Cosmological Abyss is from the void beasts!
“The Dao Ancestors were able to refine the power of the Great Cosmological Abyss through continuous trial and error and divided it into three small realms. The first realm is ‘Save’! Saving the secondary power of the Great Cosmological Abyss from the void beasts in your body and drawing it out in times of need. The drawback is that it can only be supplemented with void pills This is also a level that Dao Ancestors can break through after some hard work.
“The second realm is ‘Create’, Creating something out of nothing. It’s the power of the Great Cosmological Abyss extracted from this world, so there is an endless stream of it. You can make void pills without void beasts. This realm is pretty rare, and rumor has it that only a few almighties can do it… However, even achieving this doesn’t count as complete mastery of the power of the Great Cosmological Abyss, and you still won’t be able to break through the Dao Fruit realm!
“The last realm exists only in imagination, and it’s called ‘Refine’! It implies that you can completely refine the power of the Great Cosmological Abyss, integrate it into your Dao Fruit, and have it become your own natural source. As a result, the secondary power of the Great Cosmological Abyss will also evolve and become the true power of the Great Cosmological Abyss. The Dao Ancestor will then be able to break through the shackles and leave this Final Destination.
“Save, Create, Refine… I only have some experience with Save in these three small realms. Create will depend on chance coincidence. As for the final Refine?”
Fang Yuan pursed his lips and looked at the stone steles with regret. “Perhaps it’s already comforting to me that I can see a road ahead. But I wonder if there is someone who has reached the second realm among these Dao Ancestors.”
“Friend, that’s where you’re wrong!” a voice interjected, and a burly man in black approached.
Fang Yuan narrowed his eyes. He seemed to see a strange tiger with two heads and six legs and immediately understood that this was a Dao Ancestor from another species. He nodded to show goodwill. “Please do enlighten me!”
“Haha… I am Shan Jun, and I love making friends. You don’t look familiar, so I came over. I hope Fellow Daoist doesn’t mind!” Shan Jun smiled heroically. “However, I can tell you that there are powerful existences in Dao Ancestor City that have reached the Create realm. Otherwise, did that many void pills fall from the sky?”
“That’s true…” Fang Yuan smiled. “To be able to create something out of nothing, to create void pills, I wonder which almighty…”
“They must have reached peak Dao Ancestor. We wouldn’t be able to match them even with ten of us. Unfortunately, they can’t break through the last realm and will die of old age here when their time is up…” Shan Jun sighed and then looked at Fang Yuan with bright eyes. “Is Fellow Daoist new here? I have many things I want to ask you…”
“I might know a bit about the situation outside, but the Great Cosmological Abyss is endless, and I might not have visited Fellow Daoist’s universe before…” Fang Yuan shrugged as he blocked the other party’s words.
“Haha… That’s all right. It would be nice if Fellow Daoist could tell me a thing or two about your travel experiences…” Shan Jun was straightforward and good at chatting, and they soon started addressing each other as brothers.
“It’s simple if you want to stay in Dao Ancestor City in the long term. You can just pay with void pills. To be honest, Brother, it’s much safer and more convenient for people to stay together…”
Shan Jun enthusiastically helped Fang Yuan to arrange matters of his residence before saying, “Don’t only look at the fact that there are only a few hundred tombstones here. More than ten thousand of us have fallen here. Especially outside Dao Ancestor City, there is nowhere safe, and you have to worry about everything you do. Brother, if you don’t mind, how about forming a team with me? I just happened to have found a nest of void beasts a bit ago, and we can definitely take the whole nest out if we join forces.”
“In that case… I’ll take you up on your offer!” Fang Yuan agreed after giving it some thought.
…
There was no light or darkness in the Final Destination. The sky was always lit with a layer of dusk.
In Dao Ancestor City, there was a special hourglass that measured time, and each day was over when the last grain of sand dropped to the bottom. After three turns, Fang Yuan left Dao Ancestor City with Shan Jun.
Shan Jun was carrying a big bone bow made of an unknown void beast on his back, and there were more than a dozen bone arrows in his quiver, shining brightly.
“Actually, I’m curious…” Fang Yuan looked at the vast mountains in the distance. They looked like a monster with an open mouth.
“Oh? What is Brother curious about?” Shan Jun stopped in his tracks and gazed at the walls of Dao Ancestor City.
“Where did so many void beasts come from? Why can they produce secondary power of the Great Cosmological Abyss? Are they all also existences at the ‘Create’ realm?”
“In fact, most of them are at the Save realm… The power of the Great Cosmological Abyss in their bodies can’t be used for long.”
Shan Jun rubbed his head. “Dao Ancestor City sent people to observe them in secret before, and they realized that all of them have the same lifestyle. They have to head to dangerous places after a period of time. We’d only perish if we went to those places as well… All right, I answered your questions, so can you go with peace of mind now?”
“Go with peace of mind?” Fang Yuan was slightly surprised.
“Hehe… I don’t know when you started seeing through me, but you must have some trump card since you dared to exit the city with me. Let’s show them together!” Shan Jun’s face became savage. “You aren’t stupid, but neither am I. What are you waiting for? Let’s end this with a joyful kill!”
“You might not be stupid, but you are half-mad…”
Fang Yuan took a deep breath. He pretended to fall for Shan Jun’s trick knowing that he had ill intentions, but he did not think that this person was so crazy!
At the same time, a breeze beneath his feet sent him back a huge distance.
The next instant…
Rumble!