Chapter 1594: The Conflict Between Van and Taichu
Van Tôn's heart sank. The one watching him most closely was probably Taichu.
Because of his own flaws, Thái Đế had used the Thái Sơ Emperor Sword as his foundation, growing a Dao Tree, blooming a Dao Flower, and forming a Dao Fruit. During the battle of the Thần Thức Đại La Thiên, Thái Đế had perished, body and soul destroyed. Van Tôn had seized the opportunity to take control of the Thái Sơ Emperor Sword, startling Hao Tôn into retreat, and the Emperor Sword became his divine weapon.
This Emperor Sword was Taichu's companion treasure, born with him. When Taichu had broken from his shell and emerged into the world, Thái Đế had taken it from him. The longing for the Emperor Sword had always been Taichu's obsession.
The moment Van Tôn's figure charged into the Thần Thức Đại La Thiên, a Nhất Khí Đại La Thiên came crashing viciously toward him, colliding with the Thần Thức Đại La Thiên!
Van Tôn could barely keep his footing. Fortunately, his Dao Tree was not like Thái Đế's—flawed and incomplete—but a complete Dao Tree, fully capable of withstanding the impact.
*Shua—*
The Dao Tree's roots whipped through the air, plunging into his back. Instantly, torrents of the Dao of Divine Consciousness surged through the roots, empowering his physical body.
Inside Van Tôn's body, the Spiritual Embryo split open, evolving into the Ancestral Court Continent. The Star River soared and transformed into Huyền Đô. The Heavenly River pierced through the sky, surging majestically up from the Heavenly Sea, threading through Huyền Đô.
This Heavenly River cascaded down from Huyền Đô, circled once around the four extremities of the universe, establishing the Four Extremes Divine Depths, and the great divine depths of the Tứ Cực Thiên opened one after another.
Then Nguyên Đô opened. The Heavenly River passed over Nguyên Đô, flowed into U Đô, transformed into the River of the Underworld, and U Đô was established.
The River of the Underworld flowed from U Đô into Quy Khư, and Quy Khư was established.
From that moment on, the seven great realms of the New Divine Depths had been cultivated by him!
These were the Seven Realms of the New Divine Depths that Lam Ngự Điền had taught him. These realms differed from the old Seven Divine Depths—they did not borrow the power of heaven and earth. In the old system, aside from the Spiritual Embryo, the other six realms all borrowed power from external things, from the Ancient Gods.
But the New Divine Depths involved observing the Dao of heaven and earth, opening divine depths within oneself, not borrowing power from outside, but using oneself as a universe, referencing the Dao of heaven and earth to evolve the magnificence of an inner universe.
Van Tôn's cultivation and strength surged dramatically. In truth, by the time he reached the U Đô realm, he had already escaped life and death, becoming like the gods, possessing boundless lifespan, sharing the same longevity as heaven and earth.
If possessing boundless lifespan were the standard for becoming a god, then the sixth realm of the New Divine Depths—the U Đô realm—could be called the Divine Realm.
However, the realms established by Lam Ngự Điền had no so-called Divine Realm, nor even the Heavenly Palace realm.
After Van Tôn opened his seven great divine depths, his Primordial Spirit stood atop the Ancestral Court. The Great Dao converged, passed through the Four Great Heavenly Gates, underwent the baptism of the Dao Pool and Dao Terrace, endured the tempering of the Heavenly Sea Dao Heart, then entered the Execution Platform and the Nine Hell Platforms.
Ahead lay a hazy, chaotic vastness. His Primordial Spirit appeared before a majestic and magnificent Ngọc Kinh Thành, yet it could never cross into the city.
The realms established by Lam Ngự Điền: the Seven Divine Depths were the foundation-building stage, followed by the Ancestral Court realm. The Ancestral Court realm was divided into the Four Heavenly Gates stage, the Dao Pool Dao Terrace stage, the Heavenly Sea stage, the Execution Platform stage, the Nine Hell Platforms stage, the Ngọc Kinh stage, the Five Primordials stage, and the World Tree stage.
The Seven Realms of the New Divine Depths were completed by Lam Ngự Điền alone, while the Eight Stages of the Ancestral Court were jointly developed by Lam Ngự Điền, Hư Sinh Hoa, Hoa Tuyên Tú, Tư Bà Bà, U Minh Thái Tử, and others.
However, the Ngọc Kinh stage, the Five Primordials stage, and the World Tree stage were not completed by them.
The Ngọc Kinh stage required comprehending Ngọc Kinh Thành, but Ngọc Kinh Thành was sealed by the various Tôn of the Heavenly Court, with troops stationed to guard it. Lam Ngự Điền and the others could not enter to comprehend it, so they only had a hazy vision of Ngọc Kinh Thành without being able to cross into it.
The Five Primordials stage required comprehending the five innate Great Daos of Thái Dịch, Thái Sơ, Thái Thủy, Thái Tố, and Thái Cực. Lam Ngự Điền and Hư Sinh Hoa had traveled to the ruins of the five great mines more than once, attempting to comprehend these five Daos, but these five Daos were truly profound and unfathomable—they could never perfect them.
The World Tree stage was somewhat similar to the traditional Dao Realm, similar to Khai Hoàng's thirty-six levels of the Dao Realm leading to enlightenment, cultivating the Đại La Thiên, growing a Dao Tree, blooming a Dao Flower, and forming a Dao Fruit.
But the World Tree stage differed from the traditional Dao Realm. The Dao Tree of the Dao Realm imitated the World Tree, while the World Tree stage involved comprehending the World Tree of the Hắc Sơn Holy Land, nurturing a World Tree within one's own Ancestral Court using one's own Dao.
Once the World Tree was cultivated, it would govern all the various Daos within the body. The Great Dao would center on the World Tree, forming a Đại La Thiên.
The World Tree within the Đại La Thiên could also bloom Dao Flowers and form Dao Fruits.
Unlike the Đại La Thiên of the Dao Realm system, the Đại La Thiên of the Ancestral Court system did not need to be anchored in the Ultimate Void. The Đại La Thiên of the Ancestral Court system was manifested from one's own Dao.
This was the conception of Lam Ngự Điền and Hư Sinh Hoa. They planned to use this method to avoid the Ultimate Void being crushed by too many Đại La Thiên, which would cause the great destruction of the universe.
If one did not anchor one's Dao externally, but merely cultivated the Đại La Thiên within one's own Ancestral Court system, then there would be no excessive pressure on the Ultimate Void. Perhaps this would be a path to solving the destruction of the universe.
Moreover, different people cultivated different Daos, so the Đại La Thiên and World Trees within their Ancestral Courts would also differ.
The traditional Heavenly Palace Heavenly Court system achieved enlightenment through force, while the Dao Realm system achieved enlightenment through Dao—both were anchored externally. Lam Ngự Điền, Hư Sinh Hoa, and the others anchored internally. This was the greatest difference between the new and old systems.
Van Tôn was able to cultivate the new Ancestral Court system to the Nine Hell Platforms stage in such a short time—such aptitude and comprehension were truly extraordinary.
But the new system was incomplete. Even its creators, Lam Ngự Điền and Hư Sinh Hoa, had not fully cultivated it—how could he, a mere learner, do so?
His magical power was still far too inferior compared to Taichu, who was the culmination of the Heavenly Palace Heavenly Court system!
Taichu appeared beneath the Dao Tree of the Nhất Khí Đại La Thiên, his gaze turning toward him. Sensing that Van Tôn had multiplied the power of his physical body countless times in such a short period, he could not help but show an expression of approval.
"Van, you are a Tôn I enfeoffed. Back then, it was also on my orders that you descended to the mortal world and established the Tiêu Hán Heavenly Court in Nguyên Đô. I even enfeoffed you as the Heavenly Emperor of Postnatal Beings."
Taichu sighed emotionally: "How did you repay me? You conspired with Hao Tôn, using the beauty trap to seduce me, causing me to lose my position as Heavenly Emperor. Van ah Van, I treated you well. I recognized your ambition to contend for the world, so I nurtured you—yet you betrayed me time and again. Are humans truly so untrustworthy?"
Van Tôn frantically mobilized the power of the Dao Tree behind him, reached out and grabbed—a flash of sword light passed, and the Thái Sơ Emperor Sword fell into his hand. He said solemnly: "Your Majesty ordered me to descend to the mortal world to establish the Tiêu Hán Heavenly Court and rule over Postnatal Beings. Then you ordered Hao Tôn to descend and establish the Long Tiêu Heavenly Court, sowing discord between us, making us face off, fighting and slaughtering each other. Your Majesty's intention was simply to see the Demigods and Postnatal Beings prospering while the Ancient Gods' rule was threatened, so you used this opportunity to make us kill each other, to wear down our strength. I realized then that to overthrow the Ancient Gods, I had to kill Your Majesty first. If Your Majesty did not die, the Ancient Gods would rule the world forever, and the world would remain forever dark!"
"So you joined forces with Hao Tôn. You controlled the Heavenly Alliance, and to borrow the power of the Demigods to kill me, you had to give him half of the Alliance's authority."
Taichu sighed and said: "But he played the cuckoo in the magpie's nest, slowly devouring the Heavenly Alliance. Van Tôn, after you overthrew me, did you ever regret it? Your Heavenly Alliance became the Heavenly Alliance of Hao Tôn and the Ten Tôn. You overthrew the rule of the Ancient Gods, only for the Demigods to continue ruling the myriad worlds. You humans and Postnatal Beings are still sacrifices, never escaping the fate of being enslaved and blood-sacrificed. There is no difference between overthrowing me and not overthrowing me."
Van Tôn also sighed, then said solemnly: "There is a difference. Before, there was no hope. But now there is hope—that is the greatest difference!"
Taichu laughed heartily, flicking his sleeve: "Hope? What a ethereal and ironic word—Van Tôn, you call the countless times over these million years that the gods of humans and Postnatal Beings were blood-washed and slaughtered 'hope'? You call the Long Hán Calamity, the Xích Minh Calamity, the Thượng Hoàng Calamity, the Khai Hoàng Calamity, and the Diên Khang Calamity 'hope'? Postnatal Beings are like leeks, cut down again and again—is that what you call hope?"
Van Tôn flicked the Thái Sơ Emperor Sword with his finger. The sword rang clear and bright, stirring the heart: "How is this not hope? Your Majesty, back then we had no power to fight. In the Long Hán era, Postnatal Beings had only a few Emperor Throne experts. In the Xích Minh era, Minh Hoàng could already fight all the way to the South Heavenly Gate. In the Thượng Hoàng era, Lăng Nguyệt shook the foundations of the Heavenly Court. In the Khai Hoàng era, Vô Ưu Hương made the Ten Tôn unable to sleep or eat at ease. And in this Diên Khang era, Your Majesty, we can already stand as equals against the Heavenly Court."
Taichu's gaze fell upon the Emperor Sword in his hand, and he said leisurely: "You Postnatal Beings are truly like insects—no matter how you kill them, they cannot be exterminated. Instead, they come back to life again and again, growing stronger each time. But you have no more chances."
He surveyed the Thần Thức Đại La Thiên, sighing with emotion: "The Dao of Thái Sơ is divided into the Innate Nhất Khí and Divine Consciousness. Thái Sơ achieved enlightenment, transforming into the Thái Sơ Đại La Thiên, divided into the Nhất Khí Đại La Thiên and the Thần Thức Đại La Thiên. I need your death to achieve enlightenment as Thái Sơ."
A vertical eye in the center of his forehead slowly opened, revealing a crystalline, radiant Thái Sơ Primeval Stone. This primeval stone was missing half. He smiled: "After you die, the two Đại La Thiên will merge, and I will be the true Thái Sơ."
"Your Majesty, I am the same."
Van Tôn smiled slightly. A vertical eye in the center of his forehead slowly parted its lids, revealing a Thái Sơ Primeval Stone. He smiled: "If Your Majesty dies by my hand, I can use Your Majesty's Nhất Khí Đại La Thiên to achieve enlightenment as Thái Sơ. Your Majesty has the Thái Sơ physical body, and I have the Thái Sơ Emperor Sword. Who will live and who will die—that remains to be seen!"
Taichu's pupils contracted sharply. The Thái Sơ Primeval Stone in the center of Van Tôn's forehead was precisely the stone he had searched for endlessly without finding!
Back then, Thái Đế's physical body had been shattered to pieces in the Chaos Sea formed from the Chaos Mine. The primeval stone had fallen into the Chaos Sea. The various Tôn had gone searching for it, but none of them had obtained that stone!
Taichu had entered the Chaos Sea more than once to search for the stone's whereabouts, but it had vanished without a trace as if it had grown wings.
What he did not know was that Hư Sinh Hoa had obtained the stone. Hư Sinh Hoa had brought it to the Hắc Sơn Holy Land, where he and Lam Ngự Điền had comprehended the Dao of Thái Sơ contained within the stone together. Both had gained greatly from it.
Not long ago, Van Tôn had come to the Hắc Sơn Holy Land seeking knowledge. Lam Ngự Điền had taught him the new cultivation system. Hư Sinh Hoa, learning that Van Tôn had obtained Thái Đế's Thần Thức Đại La Thiên, had gifted him the Thái Sơ Primeval Stone, allowing him to master the power of the Thần Thức Đại La Thiên.
Van Tôn planted this stone in the center of his forehead. With this stone, activating the Thần Thức Đại La Thiên became much easier. The power of the Dao Tree and Dao Fruit of the Đại La Thiên could be mobilized at his leisure.
"Your Majesty probably doesn't know why Mục Tôn insisted that I go to the Hắc Sơn Holy Land. I learned much there—besides the new cultivation system, I also obtained this stone. More crucially, Khai Hoàng Tần Nghiệp is also in the Hắc Sơn!"
Van Tôn vibrated the Thái Sơ Emperor Sword, his expression solemn, his eyes fixed on the sword's tip: "Back in the Long Hán era, besides impersonating Mục Tôn, I also impersonated Khai Hoàng. In the early Long Hán years, I caught a glimpse of their battle and comprehended their divine powers and techniques. I can imitate their divine powers and techniques with perfect fidelity, so lifelike that they are indistinguishable from the real thing! And in the Hắc Sơn Holy Land, with Khai Hoàng—the number one sword master—personally guiding me, the power of the Thái Sơ Emperor Sword in my hands may exceed Your Majesty's imagination!"
*Shua—*
Van Tôn swung the sword. The tip of the Thái Sơ Emperor Sword pointed diagonally downward. Behind him, purple energy filled the sky, dyeing the Thần Thức Đại La Thiên like an unsurpassed realm cast from purple jade.
A sharp, unstoppable aura of the Sword Dao surged from his body—a force that could pierce anything!
Beneath the Đại La Thiên, layer upon layer of Sword Dao heavens suddenly spread out, forming a protective formation!
At the same time, layers of heavens manifested from the Dao of Divine Consciousness merged with the Sword Dao heavens, compensating for his deficiencies in the Sword Dao!
The two kinds of heavens combined—the power was even greater!
"Your Majesty, please—"