deltrittennovels Chapter 289 The Mark of the Great Dao
Chapter 289 The Mark of the Great Dao
Deep within the Primordial Demon Abyss of the Heavenly Mystery Realm.
Lin Hanzhou held the Five Elements Life and Death Sword, which had completely returned to calm, in his hand. The demonic energy around him slowly dissipated, and he returned to his appearance as a human cultivator.
As the [Primordial Unity] was activated, the remnant soul of the Five Elements Sword Saint, like ice and snow thrown into a furnace, was rapidly refined into streams of extremely pure energy and information, which surged into his sea of consciousness.
"boom--!"
A massive torrent of memories, like a river bursting its banks, instantly washed over Lin Hanzhou's mind.
The legendary life of a man known as the "Five Elements Sword Saint" flashed before his eyes like an epic movie on fast-forward.
From his extraordinary talent in childhood, to his youthful vigor, to his sword that shone brightly across nineteen provinces in middle age, and finally to his later years... that world-destroying catastrophe that could overturn the world.
After a long while, Lin Hanzhou slowly opened his eyes, having already digested all the information.
Of course, he only glanced at a lot of useless information in the other party's memory before deleting it directly, without choosing to integrate it into himself.
After all, digesting all of the other party's memories from the past million years would be a considerable burden on his current soul.
Through a comprehensive analysis of the Five Elements Sword Saint's memories, he discovered that while most of what the old man had said was true, his most crucial point—his "persona"—was a complete disaster.
What does "spending his life slaying demons and monsters, shedding his last drop of blood for the human race" mean?
That's all pure nonsense!
In the true memory of the Five Elements Sword Saint, when the demon race first invaded and revealed their terrifying fangs, a large number of ninth-tier powerhouses, including him, did not react with "fighting for the human race" but with "what does it have to do with me?"
After all, the strength displayed by the demon race was truly astonishing, with over a hundred ninth-tier demon emperors appearing on the scene, and more and more ninth-tier demon emperors continuing to be added, giving them an absolute advantage in numbers.
Although in terms of individual combat strength, one of their Mahayana Realm cultivators could defeat several of the opposing Demon Emperors.
However, these Mahayana cultivators are not united and cannot work together as a cohesive unit.
Even if the Mahayana cultivators manage to form an alliance, it will instantly fall apart as soon as they show any signs of weakness.
As Mahayana cultivators at the pinnacle of the Heavenly Profound Realm, with lifespans of hundreds of thousands of years, they have long since transcended the shackles of the mortal world.
Want them to fight to the death? That's obviously impossible.
What do the lives and deaths of ordinary cultivators and mortal ants have to do with them?
Moreover, if the demon race were to truly unify the Tianxuan Realm, they would have a way out.
At that time, they will simply activate the ascension platform, dust themselves off, and ascend directly to the upper realm.
Is the lower realm being flooded?
That was nothing but fleeting smoke.
It is precisely with this mentality that many Mahayana cultivators, even those who join the so-called Demon-Slaying Alliance, merely go through the motions.
However, these Mahayana cultivators never expected that the demon race was even more ruthless and cruel than they were!
Lin Hanzhou saw that shocking scene in his memory.
Once a certain number of Demon Emperors descended upon this realm, they all gathered together and focused their fire on the Ascension Platform!
That method of sparing no expense, even using a large number of Demon Emperors to self-destruct, completely blasted the only passage connecting to the upper realm—the Ascension Platform—into fragments!
This move, known as "drawing the firewood from under the cauldron," directly cut off the retreat of all ninth-tier powerhouses.
Even more ruthless, the demon race also dispatched a large number of "hunting squads" composed of top demon emperors to hunt down these lone Mahayana cultivators who were trying to protect themselves from harm.
It was under this desperate situation of "fight to the death" that those old monsters, who were originally self-serving and had their own ulterior motives, were forced to join forces and show an unprecedented unity.
"The so-called Demon-Slaying Alliance is nothing more than a bunch of desperate, cornered dogs."
Lin Hanzhou shook his head, having lost all respect for these so-called ancient sages.
However, this did not affect his greedy absorption of the Five Elements Sword Saint's vast amount of cultivation knowledge.
After all, character is one thing, and academic knowledge is another.
The knowledge treasure trove contained in the mind of a ninth-order Mahayana cultivator who has lived for millions of years is simply priceless!
……
First, there is the detailed cultivation system for the "Eighth-Order Tribulation Realm".
In the Five Elements Sword Saint's memory, the eighth rank was called "Crossing Tribulation" because from this level onwards, every time a cultivator broke through a minor realm, they needed to experience a "calamity" sent down by the Heavenly Dao.
This calamity is not just the simple and brutal lightning tribulation that Lin Hanzhou encountered before.
There are even more bizarre and unpredictable ones—the tribulation of inner demons, the tribulation of the mortal world, the tribulation of the five signs of decay, the tribulation of karmic fire…
Every calamity is a gateway to hell!
If one fails to transcend the tribulation, at best one's cultivation will regress and the world will collapse; at worst one's life will end and one's soul will be destroyed!
"No wonder..."
Lin Hanzhou suddenly realized.
"No wonder that even in the ancient era when the cultivation civilization was extremely prosperous, although there were thousands, even tens of thousands, of eighth-order Tribulation Transcending Realm experts in the entire Tianxuan Realm, only a mere hundred or so were truly able to overcome numerous tribulations and ascend to the ninth order!"
The attrition rate is frighteningly high.
However, this wasn't a major problem for Lin Hanzhou, who possessed the powerful skill "Primordial Unity".
Tribulation lightning? That's a tonic.
As for other tribulations, as long as his foundation is deep enough, they are all insignificant!
……
Besides that, there was the secret about the "Ninth-Order Mahayana Realm" in the Five Elements Sword Saint's memories—the Great Dao!
After a cultivator successfully survives nine Heavenly Tribulations and reaches the eighth rank, tenth level.
The "world" within the body has evolved to its limit. To take another step forward, one must come into contact with the most fundamental rule of this world—the Dao!
How to come into contact with the Tao?
Those are the marks left by polishing.
Using one's own insights as a pen and the laws of heaven and earth as ink, one can inscribe traces of a certain Great Dao on one's own "soul"!
This is the "Tao Traces"!
Each Dao mark represents a cultivator's understanding and control over this Great Dao.
The more Dao traces a cultivator has, the higher their affinity with this Great Dao, and the more terrifyingly powerful the corresponding attribute martial arts and divine abilities they unleash will be, multiplying their power several times over.
Take the simplest example:
If a cultivator is honing the "Great Path of Fire".
When he accumulates 100,000 "Paths of Fire", a small fireball he casually conjures may be as powerful as a martial skill used at full strength by a cultivator of the same level.
When he has accumulated a million "Path of Fire", he can even make his words come true and burn the sky and boil the sea!
In the blink of an eye, he could turn the void within a radius of ten thousand miles into a sea of fire, instantly annihilating an opponent who was also at the eighth level and tenth stage but had not yet cultivated any Dao traces!
This is what makes "Taoist Marks" so terrifying.