Chapter 446 - Internalizing Dao
Shi Hao’s mind immediately felt a chill. The indistinct cold laughter full of disdain and contempt seemed to transmit all the way from high up in the heavens down through the great calamity.
Was the wasteland region going to be exterminated?
The great calamity continued. Shi Hao landed on the mountaintop and did not recklessly make any moves. Instead, he meditated while sitting on top of a large rock. He discarded the negative feelings he had as well as all distractions, allowing his mind to clear up.
The hu hu sounds of the wind roared like thunder as all types of light flew about. These divine blades formed from the natural law hacked in all directions. There were also black spears that pierced through everything.
Those that dared to resist were killed without exception!
The net extended over the world, not allowing a single divine existence to escape. This was complete eradication. The fish that escaped the net would all be hacked down by spears and brought into the heavens with not a single one overlooked.
The truth was extremely cruel. All those that understood what was happening felt their bodies go cold and started trembling. Even those that were as powerful as supreme experts and the deities that made it out with a remaining breath were captured. How ridiculous was this?!
However, during the great calamity, there was also great karma as well as extraordinary opportunities.
The great dao was distorted and the upper realms were distorted. Symbols scattered down, bringing about the great dao and even more profound mysteries into this world. Those that grasped these great opportunities could defy the heavens as they progressed and benefited from this perilous situation.
Shi Hao released his thoughts and cleared his mind. He was going to seize that heavenly opportunity and obtain his own dao fate, capture the indescribable trajectory to pry into the natural laws’ profound mysteries.
The wind was extremely great, and heaven and earth were dyed in blood. It was like a scarlet whirlwind. It was sad and stifling, as well as incomparably mournful.
All those that cultivated were frightened. They had originally thought that the falling stars had vanished and thus the great calamity had passed, only to find out that it had just started. The current situation was just too terrifying.
“What about ordinary people?” Someone shivered inwardly. When strange circumstances like these appeared and the world was changing, wouldn’t normal people be scared to death? This world was definitely going to be thrown into utter chaos.
However, the city wall remained the same. Ordinary people couldn’t sense anything. They actually couldn’t see the supernatural events that were going on.
What kind of method was this? It was only directed at cultivators. However, for normal people, from a certain perspective, this could be a type of ‘mercy’. A cruel type of ‘mercy’, however.
There were many sharp minds that pried into what might be happening. The cultivators studied the symbols and observed the five phases of the world. They watched it change, and some naturally noticed differences. After a few individuals broke away, they used the eyes of normal people to look at this world. Then, through their deducing skills, they pondered over a few principles of the great calamity and began to comprehend them.
Shi Hao sat on top of a large rock. As the great dao distorted and the world overturned, he sank into a deep state of mind to capture a fragment of the dao.
Even though he was in the middle of the calamity, his entire body lit up, and his eyes would occasionally open and close. When he gazed into the void, many symbols would flicker and release auspicious light.
This was precisely the opportunity. Shi Hao wholeheartedly tried to peer into these profound mysteries that rarely appeared in this world. Those were the boundaries of the great dao that were taking form.
Right now, he threw himself inside to earnestly study it. Using his spirit to refine it, he himself became increasingly brilliant. A type of fragrance started to disperse from his body.
This still wasn’t a promotion of his cultivation realm, but his body was serving as a furnace to refine himself further. Shi Hao guided these ‘dao traces’ into his body to cleanse the mortal energy inside of him and refine his true body.
It was just as the Willow Deity said. The great calamity would also bring new life and even more great opportunities!
If he could seize them, then it would naturally be a great heavenly karma. It would greatly help him in his future cultivation. This was setting up a foundation, using the most sturdy divine rock to form an immortal dao foundation.
At this moment, quite a few people in this world noticed that nearly everyone else was trying to capture the great dao’s trajectory and were guiding the tangible substance to resonate with their bodies.
At special times, the great dao would emerge in the world, allowing them to capture an odd bit or piece. For these powerful individuals, this was a tremendous opportunity that would benefit them throughout the rest of their lives.
Shi Hao sat with his legs crossed. A white mist that carried a fragrance curled about his body. It cleansed the mortal energy, allowing him to become detached from the world and become more divine and holy. He was no longer polluted by the energy of mortals and became more and more pure.
He received extraordinary benefits. Even though his eyes were opening and closing, this was only a type of instinct to capture the natural dao and study their origin. All types of things moved about in his mind, and there was a type of comprehension that was difficult to describe.
Honglong!
He was supported by a wave of dao energy, allowing him to rise and fall on the mountain peak like a small boat trying to cross the bitter sea of dao to reach the other shore.
However, there were also intense waves and harsh winds that could overturn him at any time. This was the great dao. It was too majestic and boundless. How could a mortal try to dominate it? The boat might be overturned and eliminated at any moment.
Shi Hao continued to try and cross. In the end, he even stepped off the small boat and wandered around the sea while bathed in the endless ocean waves.
This was an extremely dangerous action. He was trying to harmonize with the boundless great dao. A single person was too insignificant and could be drowned in an instant, crushed to pieces and forever eliminated from this world.
In the real world, Shi Hao led all of the densely packed symbols inside of him to harmonize with his flesh. He was constructing a precious flesh-carapace boat.
He was trying to ‘amass potential’ and bring up a great dao foundation. This was for the sake of his future, his own boundless world.
Guiding the dao into his body, using the endless symbols to baptise his body. He was building an everlasting shell around his body and saving his body’s potential, waiting for the day when he will rush into the heavens so that he could soar even higher.
It would be like a fish leaping out from sea and turning into a dragon to ride the wind. This type of fundamental change would allow him to shed his body and be reborn so that he could obtain his own dao.
Four days into the great calamity, Shi Hao sat in the void with his legs crossed. He was surrounded by symbols that wrapped him within. This was true for both inside and outside his body. Those symbols condensed and formed a flame that blazed around his body.
This was a type of tempering, using the dao to refine his body.
In the end, they took form. The great dao fragments that had turned into symbols already linked up to form a cauldron. He was at the center of it, and the raging flames refined his true self.
Hong!
Finally, when the sun rose from the east, everything dispersed. The world returned to its clear and bright state.
This was already the fifth morning. Shi Hao opened his eyes, feeling a bit different. There was an orchid-like fragrance around the outside of his body. This was a sign of his body successfully becoming close to the dao.
Under normal circumstances, even supreme experts failed to obtain these types of accomplishments.
Previously, his flesh was sturdy and comparable to the Western Sect’s Vajra Unbreakable Body, but now, since it was close to the dao, allowing him to easily form symbols, his body advanced just like the natural dao.
The road of cultivation was extremely difficult. The further one reached, the harder it would become. The vessel and the individual could fall to ruin at any time.
Today, he obtained an additional safeguard. His precious flesh vessel was stable, containing dao light and constantly providing protection and support. It nourished his vital energies. This was the result of his precious shell-covered vessel and his vital energies improving together.
Shi Hao grasped the opportunity and used the great calamity to construct his own dao foundation. He could now camly wait for the foundation to germinate, sending him high into the sky and covering the heavens.
The wind stopped, and the flowing light that covered the sky disappeared. There were no more bloody lights or murderous tribulations.
He opened his eyes and raised his head. The sky was completely empty. The great magical artifacts had vanished without leaving behind a trace. There was no more murderous energy in the world, and everything was peaceful.
“Four days and four nights. I do not know what happened during that time.” Shi Hao said softly. He descended the mountain and walked towards the distance.
Based on his perception, he knew that many things definitely happened in this world. It was likely that the entire world was trembling and boiling with commotion.
The great calamity passed just like that? Shi Hao didn’t know. He frowned, thinking that it couldn’t have been that easy.
It was because when he called the little pagoda, it continued to remain silent and unmoving, pretending to be dead. It was clear that there was still danger.
In the end, he forcefully opened the precious interspatial case and forced it to explain, only then did it revive. It seemed extremely impatient, telling him that it was temporarily safe, but the great calamity wasn’t that simple.
“For you, it shouldn’t be that big of a problem. However, for me, there is still too much unknown, so don’t disturb me.”
The little pagoda was incredibly serious. It told him to not contact him for a while no matter what. Even if Shi Hao was in danger, it could only remain in hibernation and not help him.
The first wave might have ended. If one wanted to open the world between realms, then they had to pay a huge price. Not even a big player of the higher realms could continuously open the gate. They had to wait for an opportunity before doing so.
Shi Hao departed from the great mountain and headed for places where the others were. This area belonged to Stone Country because he entered from the western border, so he was naturally within Stone Country’s borders.
A day later, he entered a huge city and heard a lot of information. He was temporarily shaken, and his mind continuously trembled.
During the four days, ill winds angrily roared. The natural laws’ divine swords and war spears moved through the air, killing supreme experts and sweeping through the wasteland region. It was simply unfathomable. That type of killing intent caused all of the cultivators to become terrified when they thought about it.
In this time, all of the supreme experts had vanished without a trace. It was unknown whether they were all killed or if there were some who avoided the great calamity.
After all, the people had also seen some strange changes during these four days and four nights of strange events. Deities were killed, and blood dyed the heavens without dissipating for a long time.
Too many different things happened in the various areas and it was difficult to speak of them all.
The most shocking thing was that Fire Nation Imperial Capital was vastly transformed. That place was half destroyed, with half of its city capital turned into ruins. The other half was surging with black clouds and a bloody light.
“What? Was Fire Nation Capital wiped out after suffering from the great calamity?” Shi Hao trembled. He didn’t know if Huo Ling’er or her father escaped this disaster. He hoped that they were able to get to Heavenly Divine Mountain first.
Otherwise, it would be truly tragic.
“Several days ago, inside of the remaining half, mist gushed out from the collapsed ancient tree. A boundless battle took place, and the will above the sky was resisted.” Someone said softly.
Shi Hao was astonished. There was something strange after all. There was something formidable sealed beneath the previous divine tree guardian spirit.
“There was also the sound of an ancient deity crying inside. The great calamity couldn’t even destroy that place and overlooked it.”
Shi Hao really wanted to pay that place a visit, but as he was in Stone Country right now, the distance was too far.
After all, the great calamity had just ended. All information was limited to Stone Country and Fire Nation. There was no news of any place further. Shi Hao decided to first take a look at Stone Country Capital.
Along the way, he heard many things, even a world-shocking rumor!
“There is something in this lower realm that drew the higher realms’ attention. They felt like they had to come down and carefully investigate. This had always been the case for thousands of years, only, no one has been able to obtain it yet.”
Only, it was unknown who leaked this information out. Regardless, those that dared to say such a thing and expose such a great secret were definitely formidable.
It was clear that there were some that were able to escape, and they were all those that understood a bit about the secrets of the great calamity.
“Only, coming down is easier said than done. Risks had to be taken, and even the big players of the higher realms that are always playing games have to face danger. They have to use others to assist them in the search.
It was unknown where this type of information came from. It unknowingly began to circulate among cultivators, causing people to shiver inwardly with fear.
Before reaching Stone Country Capital, Shi Hao heard another piece of news. The Heaven Mending Sect, Immortal Mountain, and Western Sect were all sending people over to Stone Country Capital.
“En, why?” Shi Hao was puzzled. He asked the cultivators along the way.
“Rumor has it that they plan to scheme against the country. The Stone Emperor has vanished, and the world is unstable. Now that these great sects are descending, they are going to foster puppets or even directly take charge themselves.”
Shi Hao was furious. Even though he had no good feelings towards the Martial Imperial Manor, they all still had the surname Shi and had a similar ancestor. How could the Stone Country’s foundation fall to the side like this?
“Those from the higher realms wish to search for something, but they cannot personally come down. They have to borrow the strength of those below them.” A cultivator along the way sighed and said.
Even though this was hidden news, it was still spread around by a few cultivators. Needless to say, there was someone alive in this world who was spreading these rumors.
“Fairy Yue Chan, Immortal Mountain’s talented individual, and the others have all brought large numbers of experts over. It is possible that an election will take place to determine who will control Stone Country.”
Hearing this information, Shi Hao could already determine that the relationship between the immortal great sects outside this region and the higher realms weren’t simple. They might even be their spokespeople.
“You all can’t come down, so for your selfish desires, you all dare to defy the heavens in such a way?” Shi Hao’s eyes looked to the skies. He knew that this was only a part of the great calamity’s reason, but it was already enough to make him furious.
“If you are scheming against Stone Country, keeping dreaming! Don’t even think about obtaining that thing!” Shi Hao laughed coldly.